#aaand finally made good on that pokemon capture thing

[ninthextrication]

The Soprano

Rating: G Word count: 1333

Junpei had found himself in the little town in district Lambda with a bit of a frown on his face. In hindsight, that email had probably been spam- but the address had looked real! Who else would have the ‘hivescientist@hivemail.com’ email than one of the scientists, after all? And he would’ve ignored that too, considering he wasn’t exactly fond of the scientists… but it’d said there was BTTF merch out here.

The longer he thought on this, the more certain he was that he’d just been suckered, but he was too stubborn to admit as much by now.

He’d ended up too embarrassed to admit the actual reason he were here to any of the people who lived in the little down, so he’d just lied and said it was for work… which technically, could be true? He could at least tell Boss that he’d been investigating an email scammer out in Lambda… and just avoid the part about how he’d been suckered in by the most obvious lie email possible.

Mountain climbing didn’t really seem like a fun time to him, but at least it made for an interesting walk for his pokemon. Kuebiko in particular seemed to love it, there was plenty of stuff for him to examine, and room enough that he could run around forwards and back as much as he needed. Junpei on the other hand wasn’t enjoying it as much- and after only about a half-hour he’d decided to take the first (of what would likely be many) breaks, resting on a boulder that was beside a stream, in a rather open area.

The view from this place was really nice- the stream was a color of blue Junpei’d never seen before, and the sky and mountain made for something fantastic to look at. He figured he might as well take his phone out to grab a few pics, thinking that Akane might like to see them… but when he looked at the first one there was a weird dark blur in it, like something was falling.

Frowning, he looked closer. It wasn’t Kuebiko- he’d been behind Junpei, and the colors were too off for it to be Inari or Sakuya. So after a moment, he looked up from his phone… and saw a box in the water. It was shrink-wrapped, so it wasn’t soaked yet- a fact that had him heaving a sigh of relief when he realized exactly what it was that’d dropped from above.

Leaping forwards, Junpei scooped the box up from the water- it was the magnetic “levitating��� car figure! This thing was worth well over a couple hundred dollars, and he’d just found it? He didn’t even bother to question why or how- he was fucking pumped, and he hadn’t been scammed!

He took immediately to inspecting the box- it’d be hard to tell if it was broken or not like this, but no way was he going to open it way out here in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like this was the best he could do… and then he felt something weird. It was fairly immediate- a weight on his head, and the pricking of little claws. They weren’t from Sakuya, this definitely wasn’t her weight- and he didn’t have time to think much more before a beak pecked him square on the forehead.

“YEEEEEEOWCH! GODDAMMNIT!”

His shout scared the bird, taking off for a short moment, and then landing on the rocks in front of him. It was a weird looking bird for certain, with a blue body and cloud-like wings- after a moment it occurred to him that this was probably a pokemon, but that didn’t make it any less odd to look at. (Or make the pain on his forehead any less real, but that was beside the point.)

“Blu. Bluuuu.”

The bird cooed softly as it looked up at Junpei, hopping around a bit and then looking pointedly at the box.

“This? Oh no. Ooooooh, no. This thing is a collector’s item, it’s not nest material. Sorry bud.”

“Bluuuu.”

“D-Don’t look at me like that! Besides, it’s a bunch of plastic and cardboard- that’s not good for a bird!”

The pokemon seemed to consider his words for a moment, fluttering up- and then landing back on his head once more. His pokemon had taken notice right after his shout of pain earlier, a growl catching in Inari’s throat, but Junpei tried to wave them off. After all- he trusted his partners, but this bird was on his head. There’s a limit to trust, sometimes.

Rather than pecking at him again though, the bird this time started… well, for lack of a better word, dusting him. It was patting off his head and shoulders with its wings, hopping from his head to his shoulders, then onto the box itself. Everything was getting a cleaning, apparently, and Junpei had no idea how to react. Was this… normal? Was this a thing that happened?

Once finished ‘dusting’ him, the little bird hopped over to the stream where the box had been dropped, and started bathing itself. It seemed like the little guy cared about cleanliness, continuing until its wings were somehow more shining and spotless than they’d been before. It then hopped back over again.. and once more, went back to staring at the box.

“Wait… was it you that dropped this?”

“Blu.”

“And… you’re saying I stole it, is that it?”

“Bluuuu.”

“I-I’m not a thief! That’s… ugh. Fine. You can have it back…”

He didn’t really know how he’d managed to lose to a bird, but he held it out to the little pokemon- who instead hopped on top of the box, ignoring it completely and staring at Junpei instead.

“O-Oh, come on! I’m offering it back, what more do you want?!”

“Bluu, bluuuu.”

“I don’t know what that means… guys, help me out a little?”

His pokemon didn’t respond to their trainer’s call for help- Sakuya was content to rest in his lap, Inari had decided that this bird wasn’t a threat so she’d curled up beside him, and Kuebiko was hopping around once more, playing. So much for helping… eh, he couldn’t hold it against them, not really.

However, he had no idea what to do about this bird.

It’d hopped back onto his head at this point, cooing and chirping and occasionally fluffing up its incredibly soft wings. Well, he wasn’t going to be rid of it, clearly- so after a sigh of defeat Junpei pulled out a pokeball, and tapped it against the pokemon. There wasn’t any fight put up there, and once it clicked shut Junpei opened the pokeball up again, not surprised at all to find that the bird near-immediately found its way back onto his head.

“Seriously?”

“Bluuu.”

“Fine… whatever. You need a name now, don’t you?”

“Blu.”

There was something so matter of fact to the way it chirped and cooed, staring right at him. She didn’t seem to be a very patient bird, though, because yet again she was brushing him (and the box) off with her wings, then hopping right back over to the little river to wash up.

“Azukiarai.” He blinked, then nodded to himself- he’d accepted that he now had some sort of ‘theme’ going after picking up Sakuya, so he’d ended up spending time googling up on random Kami and yokai on weekends, in case he found himself faced with another pokemon partner. “Rai for short. Because you keep washing off your wings- that work for you?”

“Twee~”

She was singing now, her chirps happy and light and relaxing to listen to. Junpei was glad at that- smiling to himself, he picked himself up and started his way back down, figure in hand (and Rai still quite content to perch on his head).

“Actually, wait- where’d you find this thing?”

“Blu. Blu.”

“You’re… not gonna answer, are you?”

“Twee~”

“Fine, Fine… that’s what I get for asking, I guess.”

He’d just leave it at that.

[nuzblog]

November 2nd, 2017

Hey there everyone. So... how about that failure, right? It disheartened me a bit, but I'm fine, I'm back at 'em, I'm ready to rumble! I did transfer everyone, living and dead, to my Pokemon Bank. By the by, the theme was South Park characters. Not sure what made me pick that, but it worked out fine.

I restarted yesterday, and I also got to Cerulean again yesterday, so we're gonna be rushing through things. A lot of it was pretty uneventful, but even still there's a lot to cover, so let's get going! But first, I do want to say that while the ruleset hasn't changed yet, if it does prove too difficult yet again, I might just end up changing it. "No healing items in battle" is a popular one, and it is definitely the healing-related rules that have been the biggest obstacle for me. We'll see how it goes. If you have any rule suggestions for the event of a fourth failure, send them in!

I named my player Arthur. Why? Because I was watching a Potter Puppet Pals video when I did the restart, and wanted a name that wasn't like, immediately identifiable as Potter-related, but was still. So I named him after Ron's dad. My rival, on the other hand, is named Dingus, because... he's a Dingus. I dunno if I like the whole thing of like, naming the rival an insult, but at least Dingus is relatively innocuous. And I... am bad at thinking of names!

I rolled my random calculator and got a Squirtle, who I named Minos. As before, if anyone catches onto the naming convention, you can get one of the Pokemon from the run!

Same ol' routine as ever. Potion, parcel, a level up on Route 1, heal at home, deliver the parcel, get the dex, then back up to the Mart for balls relatively uneventfully. Once I have balls, I decide that captures are gonna be top priority, starting on Route 1, which yields a Pidgey! Aaand... I killed it. This bodes well. Oh well, there are other Routes!

Route 2 yields... another Pidgey! This one, I caught. Its name is Horus.

Route 22 yields a Rattata. Oh well. No Nidoran for me! I name the Rattata Pincho, and get grinding on Route 1.

Whoops. I was spacing out, not really worrying about grinding, and, well. Pincho doesn't quite make it. Oh well! I'm sure I'll see another Rattata somewhere. Not that I really need one.

Speaking of spacing out while grinding, I may have done it a little much. Both Horus and Minos ended up being Level 12 here, which is... quite a bit more than Dingus' Pidgey or Bulbasaur who I still haven't fought. Curious, I decide to head up to Viridian first, to catch something there, exhausting my options, since 2 Pokemon isn't much.

In Viridian Forst, I catch a Metapod, whose name is Xuth. Now, the thing about Metapod, is that it only knows Harden. This guy is Level 5, meaning I need to get it to Level 10 to evolve it using the switch out method. This... takes a while. I do try for it, first by grinding in the grass, and then, frustrated by how long that is taking, I decide to go fight the trainers in Viridian Forest. My free Antidote from the tree is depleted pretty quickly, and while the XP haul is pretty solid... in a battle, both Horus and Minos get poisoned, and me with no Antidotes. I count my steps carefully, using the first of my two Potions on Minos before even leaving the forest. Horus had more health left, and it was my hope that it would survive on the way to the Pokemon Center, which I also didn't want to use, since I had hoped to have it still unused before Giovanni, but we don't always get what we want, right?

Unfortunately, Horus was at one health just outside of the Center. It was pretty hilarious, but it also meant I had to use my other potion, depleting both of my Potions AND my Pokemon Center heal from Viridian City. Pretty bogus!

When Xuth does hit level 10, it evolves into Butterfree... and I realize that Butterfree learning Confusion at Level 10 wasn't the case until Yellow. In Blue, it still only knows Harden for two more levels. Not patient enough for that, I go ahead and box Xuth up to fight Dingus. Who... crumples like paper to my way overleveled Horus and Minos. Welp! No problems there. Better than losing, anyway.

Since I've already cleared out the forest, heading back up through it to Pewter is no problem at all. I grind on Route 2 (Pewter side) until Xuth learns Confusion, I heal in Pewter City, I box up Horus, and I face Brock. Who... I also crush with no effort. Again - overleveled, a little. I don't even need to heal again afterwards - I just go right through Route 3, easily tearing apart trainers on the way.

Speaking of Route 3, I do get to encounter another Pokemon there! It's a Spearow! Normally, this wouldn't be particularly exciting, but in this generation, I could trade a Spearow for a Farfetch'd, so I'm pretty down to catch it... and then Minos crits and murders it. This is the downside to being overleveled - everything is cardboard, even the stuff that I don't WANT to kill.

I heal outside of Mt. Moon, and head in. My catch there is, of course, a Zubat. (Someday I'll hit that 5% and get a Paras...!) I name it Vlad. I'm... probably just plain not gonna use it? It's so garbage. I carry it with me but I don't grind it or train it at all. It's still at the level 7 I caught it at.

Mt. Moon is Mt. Moon. Again, I'm overleveled, so it isn't giving me very much trouble. I do go back to use my Brock heal before facing the fossil nerd, but that's more because Confusion was out of PP than anything else. While in Mt. Moon, since out of the 7 Pokemon I could have, I only have and am using 3, and they're already high level, my team stays ahead of the curve. Minos evolves into Wartortle, and Horus evolves into Pidgeotto.

I pick the Helix Fossil this time, but again - I'm not reviving any Fossils. I still want to do... Things, with Cinnabar Island.

Leaving Mt. Moon on the Cerulean side, I do catch a Spearow on Route 4, making up for the last one I killed but also depriving me of that sweet sweet Sandshrew. Ah, Leopold... we hardly knew thee. Oh well! Spearow's name is Lanius. As I said, I'm probably gonna trade this for a Farfetch'd in Vermillion City. I actually am shocked I caught it, given that it also took the brunt of a critical Tackle, and ended up holding on with one health.

In Cerulean, my team consists of Vlad at Level 7 who I'm probably about to box, Lanius at level 12 who I'll be trading but I'll use until then (actual flying type moves are nice!), Minos at level 18, Horus at level 19, and Xuth at level 19. Like I said - overleveled.

How's that for pacing? From start to Cerulean in one day!

Next time: Rival, Bill, maybe Misty? Also captures on Routes 24 and 25!

November 3rd, 2017

Just kidding. It's actually this time. I kept playing after I wrote that, but didn't actually make enough progress to make into its own post.

After the briefest spark of grinding, I potion up, shove Vlad into his home in the box, and head for Nugget Bridge, preparing to fight my rival. My plan at this point: Start with a Pidgeotto vs Pidgeotto, no items, final destination, sending out Horus at the lead. Switch to Lanius to mooch XP off of Abra. Rattata has the strongest base power attack here, with Hyper Fang, so Minos, with the highest defense, goes next, and then for type effectiveness, Lanius goes up against Bulbasaur until it's too weak to risk, and then switch to Xuth. Nice, safe plan... right?

Well, while it would be good storytelling to have such a plan go horribly wrong, things do not always work out quite so poetically when documenting true events. My plan was executed, with Horus's weakening to 8hp in the process of battling Pidgeotto as the one point of concern in an otherwise easy battle. Abra is, of course, of no worry (yet!), and Rattata goes right down in one hit. Sweet litttle new-to-the-team Lanius, shockingly enough, holds its own, not even needing to fall back to Xuth to finish the job on Dingus' starter.

Nugget Bridge is, from there, pretty easy. I'm past a point where money is hard to come by, and I have no qualms with spending the vast majority of funds at this point on potions (although I do stock up on repels, in the event that they become advantageous for trying to get certain Pokemon as first encounters, or for protecting my ass from death). As such, I'm going through Nugget Bridge a lot smarter. Also, having both Peck AND Confusion in the party made the still imposing Level 18 Mankey a piece of cake. For that matter, much the same strategy holds for Route 25.

Speaking of the routes, on the other side of Nugget Bridge, I make sure my first step is to enter the tall grass, before fighting any trainers. First, I avoid the Jr. Trainer to get in the grass further towards Cerulean on Route 24. My encounter here is an Abra! Alas, my kingdom for a Great Ball. I take the chance of throwing a ball at it, and of course it fails amd Abra teleports away.

I head right over to Route 25's grass, behind the hiker there. It's... ANOTHER ABRA. CHRIST. I throw my ball, and because of the consistently EXTRAORDINARY luck of this run through, it of course doesn't miss.

Also hey, what's the deal with dual-encounters in this run? Route 1 Pidgey killed, Route 2 Pidgey caught immediately after. Route 3 Spearow killed, Route 4 Spearow caught just on the other side of Mt. Moon. Route 24 Abra ran, Route 25 Abra ran. Weird stuff!

Anyway in retrospect, my chances would probably have been better if I had Xuth in front to use stun spore. Sigh. Not that they would have been good chances anyway.

Still, hurts to not have that Bellsprout for Misty.

Anyway, Route 25 ends up taking enough out of me PP-ways that, as I had already expected, I needed to use my Cerulean City heal. But, unlike last attempt - no disastrous loss of party here. All good, all around. I get to Bill no problem and I clear out the route no problem. Then, I get going on grinding a bit, making sure to hit the gym trainers. Lanius is now Level 19, just one below Xuth's 20, which is itself just below Horus and Minos' shared 21. This is a much better level situation to be in than last time. I use my heal from defeating Dingus...

And pause there, before fighting Misty. I do teach Minos the TM Mega Punch, though. My current plan, when I resume play, is to use Minos and Horus. But I'm gonna make sure I get this out FIRST. Like as in I'm gonna post it right now.