#also i have never been able to remember pokemon type advantage/weakness

[samipekoe]

Samipeko which is your favorite Pokémon Miku (from Project Voltage)

it's a tight battle for 1st between fighting and poison!!! fighting is sooo cool I love gakurans, and poison looks like she's from splatoon...a close second is fairy as I am a gyaru lover

here's some drawings I never finished lol

[sunsetzer]

I came up with a pokemon fusion AU where the figabros got a pair of twin shiny eevees for their birthday a few years before The Coin TossTM (it just seems to me like shinies would totally be a status symbol bc of their rarity so ofc the princes would get one for their birthday) and because it's an AU and I love my boys they unintentionally discover two new eeveelutions entirely by accident- Edgar discovers steel, and Sabin discovers fighting. They're both shiny so nobody knows what they would normally look like yet but Edgar is so thrilled at his little indestructible robot cat-fox and Sabin is very proud of his super strong buddy. When they meet back up during the events of ff6, their new eeveelutions recognize each other!

Behond: Macheon! ("machine evolution")

I was going for a steampunk looking vibe to match the setting of the game! I also went on about Macheon's stats and Edgar's strategies a little long so I'll put the rest under a cut so it doesn't take up too much dash room.

It evolves with high friendship + high def + holding a TM 053 (as of gen 9, this is Smart Strike). Edgar figures this out fairly quickly by attempting to replicate it with another eevee, so he can make notes about Macheon's physiology, behaviour, and temperament for the pokedex. (Edgar gets to write a whole new pokedex entry!! He's the first one to discover Macheon!! He's absolutely ecstatic about it.)

Macheon's highest stats are his defensive stats (physical and special def, HP) and his offensive base stats are in the more average range, the lowest stat is his speed (because he's made of metal lol). Edgar being the smarty pants he is had Macheon learn Trick Room to make his low speed an advantage!

Macheon's moveset:

Smart Strike (70 base power phys steel attck, never misses)

Trick Room (status move that warps the battlefield so slower pokemon move first)

Work Up (increases phys and sp attck by one stage with each use)

Parabolic Charge (electric type sp attck with 50 base damage that restores the user's HP by 50% of the damage dealt)

Depending on the situation, Edgar will have his partner learn or remember moves as well- if he can, he always goes in prepared. Macheon can play both support and offense well, just like Edgar himself in ff6. Its learnset has several status moves, as well as attacks that inflict status conditions and debuffs on the opponent. Edgar will usually swap out Trick Room for a move like Screech (lowers opponent's phys def by two stages), Supersonic (inflicts confusion), or Thunder Wave (inflicts paralysis) if he's battling alongside allies with faster pokemon. He gives Macheon a Covert Cloak to hold, so it can avoid the additional effects of moves like Discharge or Shadow Ball that may inflict status conditions or debuffs. Pokemon with status moves like Haze (resets all stats to their base value), Safeguard (protects from status moves), and Taunt (prevents the use of status moves) would be The Worst if he wasn't able to run a mixed setup with Macheon, but he is!

Essentially, Macheon is very similar to Umbreon, except without the weakness to fairy, bug, and psychic type moves. It still has a weakness to fighting though, as well as being vulnerable to fire and ground. However: as a steel type it is immune to poison! The irony of which has not been lost Edgar, what with his father having been poisoned by the Empire and all.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Viability Speculation - February 2023

Palentine’s month came in with some high expectations I never really expected to go anywhere, but I figured I’d hit at least one.  Little did I know I hit two.  The most obvious two, but still, two.  The bad news is, literally every other aspect played out terribly.  I will not front.  I’m not satisfied with this month’s outcomes at all.  Like, at all.

SS Lysandre and Volcanion I’ll say it: Volcanion’s lame.  It looks dumb, it’s wholly irrelevant as a Pokemon with no interesting traits, and it’s set as either Fire or Water type, which we have too many of in the game already.  I don’t love this alt, which is a damned shame because holy shit my man looks good.

Volcanion got Water, and what’s endlessly comical to me is that they didn’t even make Steam Eruption important.  It’s just for utility, and has bad DPS for a 4-bar move.  No, his DPS is his Buddy move, which is also hilarious, in Hydro Pump, which is an AoE move that has the base power of a sync move.  The problem?  It only works if a foe is burned.  While he has Heat Wave for AoE burn, it’s a bad burn rate and his natural multipliers can’t make it work.  So he’s purely on Steam Eruption, then spam Hydro Pump.  Which works okay in CS where you can just keep the no status conditions effect off.  But in Gauntlet?  This man lives and dies entirely by whether the foe can be burned.  And I’m not going to front.  I don’t like Burn, so I have no idea who’s immune to it.  Uxie and Cobalion can become immune.  Lysandre has to use Steam Eruption alone on Bar 2 Uxie, and if he can’t take out Cobalion, the second half of that entire fight is a wash.  He can’t address Tornadus well.  If Moltres or Entei are immune to burn, they’re potential problems too, despite his advantage.  He’s weak to Rock so Regirock is a no-go.  I just...don’t know how I feel about the guy.

Grid gives him Furious Brain and a 50% chance to burn off Heat Wave to save some CS needs, but the rest is once again reliant on Burn.  I think my misgivings come from not knowing how much is Burn immune.  It could be fine.  But I don’t love that entire fights are outside his ability because of that.  Also, just putting it out there: the only interesting thing he does, debuffing Atk/Sp Def, is a 5/5 node.  No thanks, bro.

Anabel and Snorlax First, I need to know: does Anabel use Snorlax?  I don’t remember her using Snorlax, but also I don’t like Gen 7 so it’s been a while.  Either way, I hate the partner choice, it’s bad and should feel bad.  Second, why PokeFair?  I mean, it’s what Anabel deserves, but also I don’t think this unit’s that great, and I’m kinda stunned given that Looker is just a regular pool unit.

Headbutt with Aggravation is good.  Protect...exists.  Reflect...exists.  Trainer move buffs +2 attack, but also gives crit shield, status shield, and Light Screen.  ...okay.  She can GMax, so Max Replenish turns these 1MP moves into 2MP if nothing else.  She’s able to buff special defense by 1 every time an MP move is used, heals 50% HP when using her Max Move, and gains +20% to all stats when any field condition is active.  Note: absolutely nothing in her kit extends the duration of these effects.  PokeFair.  Melony.  Just saying.

Her grid hurts me physically.  Move Gauge Acceleration when a field effect is present and Synchro Healing 1 would be great tools, if they weren’t 5/5 locked.  But they are, so...  Healthy Healing is fine.  Quick Cure is nice.  Charging Infliction 2 is something I guess.  Durable on Trainer Move is fantastic.  Crit Squad 1 on Trainer Move is nice but insufficient to cap crit.  Shielded and Shielding Strikes are okay.  No built-in Vigilance, no gauge control, slow-ramping and potentially insignificant defense buffing, can’t cap any offensive stat, no extension of her myriad field effects.  I legitimately struggle to see Anabel’s status as a PokeFair.  This does not seem...particularly mind-blowing.  And I’m betting good money that grid will have energy issues regardless just trying to fix what she needs.  But hey, maybe the other one is good.

Emma and Crobat Hey kids, you like PokeFairs?!  Oh, and it’s Crobat!  Not Espurr.  For no reason.  Also Crobat is the first Pokemon to three major trainer appearances.  Gengar and Charizard could do it, but only because of MU’s eggmons.  Crobat has Koga, Janine, and now Emma for Triple Bat.  So it’s gonna be good, right?

Poison Fang!  No Hostile Environment!  Lucy!  Just.  Saying.  Potion!  On a Striker!  That’ll help!  Buddy move operates similarly to Lysandre, only working if the foe is Poisoned.  Now that one I know is bad.  Tornadus and Cobalion are right out, Uxie poses problems as well, and because she can’t even guaranteed Toxic by herself as a FUCKING POKEFAIR, teambuilding considerations exist.  Her Trainer Move is the only legitimately good thing about her, giving +4 speed to the entire team.  That, legitimately, helps.  Her passives also attempt to remove gauge considerations with Toxic Freebie...4.  Head Start 2 is an attempt at Fast Ramping, which some will love.  And her final gives guaranteed crit to her sync, which is nice, considering her buddy move also guaranteed crits.  She’s pretty free from setup costs, being 1MP for +4 attack and guaranteed to crit on every attack that matters.

Emma’s 5/5 grid is...really nice.  +1 evasion to the whole team per attack is great.  Ruthless Toxin is really good.  Toxic after sync is something, not too convinced it matters though.  Super Toxic is fun given her buddy move, being a great source of DPS in CS, but utterly worthless in Gauntlet where nothing is Poison weak.  Inertia and Ramming Speed are nice and synergistic.  There’s not too much of overwhelming value, but there’s good stuff.  She’s not too shabby, I just...really wish her DPS weren’t locked behind the foe being poisoned.  That’s going to really hinder her.  Like, severely.

Palentine’s Mallow Now that Mallow has an outfit I can respect, I can safely say I just don’t like Mallow.  I took one look at this and felt nothing but disappointment.  Shame she’s the support with Appletun.  Should’ve been Cheryl.

Mallow seems weird.  Dire Hit All+ is good, but her trainer move is +3 defense to the team and then move gauge recovery.  You know, like Lance and Rosa did.  I don’t know why that’s a thing.  Her Grass-type move is great, hitting -1 special defense per attack, but she doesn’t double up like Brendan, and her main designation is Dragon despite Dragon Pulse being terrible for a support.  Her passives are a buttload of healing, but all super conditional on her attacking, one pop heal of 50% when she’s under half HP, and Initial Synchro Healing 2, which is atrocious for a support, because your allies aren’t going to be significantly hurt by the time you bust that out for double damage.  She gets Hype Up 9 and Staggering 4 for Dragon Pulse, but (1) that’s the wrong attack move, and (2) that’s way too slow to build up special attack boosts.  She does get Vigilance and Revenge Boost 9, alongside Triage Tank 4 (not Team), but if it seems like I’m kinda glossing over Mallow it’s because I am.  I don’t like the partnership, this feels like Palentine’s Marnie and Bea all over again, but more in the Bea camp where the unit’s kinda bad.

Palentine’s Elesa Welcome to five alts, girl.  Togetic is an odd choice, but I guess it pairs with Winter Skyla’s Togekiss.  Metronome, Fly, Dire Hit+, and a trainer move that gives +3 to both offenses.  Not the best look.  Super Powered 5 is neat for her sync, but otherwise you’re rolling the dice on Metronome.  She does get +1 stack of both physical and special moves with each status move’s use, and guess what Metronome is.  Her grid even offers the boosted rate to all secondary effects, so the inclusion of moves like Rock Slide and Blizzard in its arsenal is wildly interesting.  It’s super luck reliant, don’t count on it, but random luck can sometimes pull through.  I don’t have a ton to say.  She’s a fairly standard Striker that lives for their sync nuke, but has a really interesting approach with Metronome shenanigans.

Lodge Morty Okay.  F2P support.  Boosts Special Attack and Crit.  Separately, but still.  This is unique.  Trainer move also boosts evasion and team speed, which is really useful.  Full Heal is situational, but can be clutch.  My misgiving is that Morty...has some issues because of his F2P designation.  Bad stats, mostly, but also he didn’t get Endurance.  Given low stats, this is a potential death sentence, given that others with much stronger and faster buffing kits have desperately needed that skill.  Morty takes 6 turns to fully cap all offenses, and I can pretty much promise he won’t survive that long.  You pick one buff or the other, and you ideally stick to it.  After that, you hope on some evasion, and aim for your 30% boosts to all stats per attack, with Healthy Healing and Ridicure as backup.  I won’t lie, I really like the buffing potential, but I can’t help but feel a little wary about the stats and lack of Endurance.  This won’t pan out so well in CS, but Gauntlet...maybe he’ll shine?

Common Grid War Act 14 I’m start Roark because I’m scared.  Standfast 3, 5, and 7.  Glad to know my fears were founded.  Pinpoint Entry, First Aid 4, and Sharp Entry aren’t bad, though.  Trainer Move getting gradual healing is great, and giving Follow-Through for potential sync is nice too.  Haymaker as a sync multiplier is divine.  He gets +1 physical moves up next on trainer move as well.  And Double Down 5 for good measure.  150% bonus sync damage, and his trainer move gives a lot of really nice effects now.  I can’t lie.  That’s...actually kinda good.  I’ll have to see how he plays, but he might just be the best Rock-type in the F2P pool now.

Maylene time.  Rock Smash On a Roll 1.  Natural Remedy.  Precision Pals on trainer move.  Pep Rally on trainer move, holy shit.  Quick Cure.  Superduper Effective 5 on Drain Punch for better healing?  Sterner Stuff, Safety Tether, and Unbending?  Those...are not bad at all.  Maylene realistically just wanted her MPRs to cap attack and crit, but she got some decent tools beyond that too.  Her trainer move giving speed is wildly helpful, as gauges were one of her biggest issues.  This is...pretty great.  I can’t lie.  I just wish she had a bit more healing potential as a support.  No Master Healer...hurts a bit.

Shauntal...please.  Please do neat stuff.  “Gritty 5 and Lessen Burn 9!”  Baller.  Endurance.  Ramming Speed, radical.  On a Roll 2, beautiful 60%.  Critical Eye 1 on trainer move, nice.  30% chance to burn foes when they hit her, nice.  Brain Sync 5, we take those.  I like it.  This seems like a metric ton of fun.

Grid Expansions Base Elesa gets Brawn Sync 5, Critical Eye 1 broadly, Standfast 9, and Fleet Feet 2 on her trainer move.  These are pretty reasonable effects.  I do think her overall power leaves a lot to be desired, since her sync was pretty awful and 50% isn’t fully salvaging that, but the remaining self-sufficiency and huge improvement to damage reduction in a single half-cost node is great.

Alder got Pinpoint Entry 1 and Brain Sync...2.  Wow.  Wow, okay, yeah, I’m gonna...I guess I’ll shut up about Anni Lillie now (lies).  Dismay is faster Devastation setup.  BOGO on Struggle Bug is...not worth it, but okay.  Impervious to block his own trainer move downside is okay.  Furious Brain for a move multiplier is hilarious.  It’s fine.  It’s all just fine.

Sycamore gets Quick Cure, Team Sharp Entry, Team Beef Up, and Freevenge 4.  Just...get it, man.  Team Sharp Entry was all I wanted to see, but even better gauge control and immunity to first trap to fuck over Entei?  Beautiful.

Miscellaneous Leon is bad with Gigantamax, and now we have Fire Damage Field, which means that much like Stealth Rock, this will be utterly useless and he would’ve been better off with just Sun.  Why the fuck doesn’t it inflict Trap on all foes?  That would’ve been something.

Oh and apparently there’s a Champion Select Scout at the end of the month, and Steven’s there.  Okay.

Oh, and we get regional Meowth in the eggs this month.  Galarian has Iron Head Aggravation which is nice, while Alolan has Bite Aggravation so not as good, and is probably better off taking the support for max speed.

Final Thoughts I’m crabby about this.  Volcanion is lame, no Looker alt, Emma and Anabel are PokeFair but legitimately don’t feel that great to me (though Emma’s DPS will likely change my tune), the Palentine’s alts aren’t all that exciting to me, and even the grid expansions feels decent but not all that exciting.  I dunno.  I know I set my expectations way too high, almost as a defense mechanism, but this...isn’t quite what I wanted.  At all.  Like I got the CS, but not Drasna, how did that happen?

But.  Anabel is here.  Which means she won’t be taking a spot in Alola.  Lusamine and Nihilego is back on the table.  Please, game.  Do not fail me there too.  Not like this.

[rizavi-m]

More pokemon headcanons, this time with Rika and her team

Rika is quite the perfectionist and the strategist, so when the world lined up coincidences to give her quite the balanced team, she was ecstatic. It's not because she wants to have the perfect team for battles, but rather she wants her pokemon to be able to protect each other from the types they're weak against.

During the day, Espeon lingers around Rika the most. Chandelure does too, but would often stick around shadowy areas, unlike Espeon who very much likes the sun. The Sun Pokemon is quite playful and would usually mess around with Rika's friends whenever they're near, not that her trainer minds, they're both mischievous after all. With how he's often around Rika, he can easily tell when she's not feeling confident or happy. He, along with Absol who can also sense their trainer's changes in mood, are always the first to comfort Rika.

Until the present day, the memory of Eevee evolving into Espeon still remains fresh in Rika's mind. Whenever she remembers it, it always makes her snicker. She can never forget how it took her and her pokemon a full minute to process the change, they were just playing around after all.

Chandelure is a shy sweetheart who stays very close to Rika, except when the sun is out. She still hides in the dark places, trying to stay close to her partner as much as she could. It's quite useful though, since Chandelure can easily get rid of danger before it can even come close to Rika.

Rika's signature purple flames were inspired by her Chandelure's own flames. The girl got the idea to match the color of her fire magic with her pokemon when she was still young, when Chandelure was still Litwick. The purple flames soon became synonymous with their strong bond.

Absol took care of Houndoom when he was still a Houndour in the wild. That's why in the team, Absol is seen as the parent figure. It's a common occurrence to see Absol pulling on Houndoom's ear to pull him away from trouble. It's also quite common to see him scolding Feraligatr. Other than that, Rika could tell that Sceptile is his favorite.

Houndoom is an energetic one. Despite her intimidating looks, she's actually very playful, especially around Rika. More often than not, she's seen walking ahead of Rika. If not her, then it's either Espeon or Feraligatr.

Rika is very protective of Absol and Houndoom. She knows what her peers think of them, but of course, she doesn't mind it. If they bring disasters like the rumors say, then how come she had always been showered with prosperity ever since she welcomed them?

Sceptile is shy like Chandelure, and this behavior can be traced back to when she was still a Treecko. He often stands behind Rika, but no longer hesitates to step forward to protect her trainer when needed. She also likes head pats, and deeply appreciates it when Rika's friends do it. Aside from that, she also likes to bask in the sunlight with Espeon.

Feraligatr is a cuddle monster, and only Rika knows that. The water type would often run up to people she's familiar with to get a hug, only to have them run away from her. Rika would always coo at this before she rushes up to the pokemon to give her a hug. Aside from that, she also likes to walk ahead of Rika, and it makes her trainer grin whenever she looks back to check on her with a warm smile.

Rika finds it funny how her peers finds Feraligatr the most intimidating when she's the most affectionate.

Rika also knows how intimidating her pokemon look. She takes advantage of this and would send out two or three of them to scare off any enemies who try to approach her. Of course, they're more than happy to make sure she's safe.

Some Sweet and Spicy content because I can-

Espeon was the first to approve of Trey. It didn't take him long to like the vice dorm leader, just a bite of his dish was enough to make the Sun Pokemon like him.

Absol was the next. He was a bit wary of Trey, but decided to lay down a bit when he noticed how lighthearted Rika seemed to be around him. He eventually gotten himself to like the Trey, and appreciates the fact that the male knows he doesn't bring disaster but rather warn people about them.

Chandelure was the next one. It took her quite a bit to fully trust him, she was protective of Rika after all. Rika knew this and allowed her to take her time. That's why it made her smile so much when Chandelure's flames became stronger around Trey, more so than it did before. It was a sign that she had finally let herself relax around him.

Surprisingly, Sceptile also took quite a while to accept Trey. It's not like she doesn't trust him, she's just shy around him. She knows he's not a bad person since Absol and Chandelure approved of him. Eventually Sceptile warmed up to him and can sometimes be seen following the vice leader around, especially when he's in the Botanical Garden tending to his plants.

Unsurprisingly, Houndoom and Feraligatr were the last to approve of the male. They're the most affectionate pokemons, so it's not difficult to see why. The two eventually devised a test to see how Trey would act and then give their final judgement about the male.

So the two approached Trey without Rika, and the male immediately asked if their trainer was alright since they're always around her. When they reassured him she's fine, he immediately offered them food. The last trigger was when Trey offered to hug Feraligatr, since he remembered what Rika said about the water type wanting to be hugged a lot. Houndoom soon gave in as well when he took a bite of the food. Nevertheless, Rika was still surprised to find where the two affection duo had ran off too, Trey was just as surprised as her though.

[sliggoons]

Raihan, hm? How about a Drabble of Raihan and a crush that has an altaria that mega evolves??? And he's like, j e a l o u s

Yesss FINALLY my time to write for raihan has come!! Also, to be honest, I haven’t finished any of the games or watched the show that actually HAS mega evolution in it (YET) so I did a teensy bit of research and hopefully I’m getting all this right lmao

(also I just wanna say that this was the perfect request UwU so thank you! Specific enough that I had something to go off of, but it left plenty of room for creativity, it was so fun to write!)

???? And I can’t remember if the actual battle against Raihan is in the Vault?? Or just the gym mission thingy? Forgive me 

Mega Crush, Raihan x Reader

    Raihan was confused from the moment you set foot into his gym. Well, long before that actually. There had been talk amongst all the gym leaders that there was a particularly strong challenger battling their way through the league. Milo had confirmed this, adding in the details that you were from a far away region and you were older than the typical preteen gym challengers. Nessa learned that you didn’t Dynamax your pokemon, which Piers was over the moon about, he couldn’t wait for your battle. And Kabu had told Raihan about your beautiful, strong Altaria. 

    As soon as he heard that, Raihan was weak in the knees. He could not WAIT to battle you. He had never seen an Altaria in person. So soon after your victory against Kabu, Raihan spent his free time loitering around Hammerlocke, hoping to find you as you passed through on your way to Stow-On-Side. Just to his luck, he did just that. He had watched recordings of your battles with the previous gym leaders after they told him about your Altaria. And he had watched you blow through the battles with ease. You didn’t even need to use your dragon type pokemon in the first two battles. Through this, Raihan was able to recognize you as you cleared the long staircase leading into his city. He followed after you, conveniently ‘bumping into you’ as you were headed into the pokemon center. 

    “Hey, you’re Y/N?, right?” the gym leader asked, grabbing your attention from the mid-day bustle of the city. 

    “Hm?” You turned to look at who had called your name. It couldn’t possibly have been Raihan. You weren’t from Galar, so you didn’t know him as well as the other gym challengers, but you could definitely put name to face, and you knew the status and fame he held in the region. 

    “I’m Raihan!” He greeted, sticking out his hand for you to shake and flashing you an award winning smile. 

    “Uh, yeah. I know. I’m surprised you know who I am?” You said curiously. He had to admit, Raihan’s heart sank a little when he found out you knew who he was. He was hoping he could just meet someone who would get to know him as Raihan, not The Great Raihan, or Gym Leader Raihan, or Dragon Tamer Raihan. Don’t be mistaken, Raihan loved the fame, and adored his fan base, but it’d be nice for someone, especially if they were as cute as you, to have no previous opinion of him. 

    “I saw your match with Kabu! That Altaria is sick!” Raihan’s heart skipped a beat as he saw your face light up. “You know, all the gym leaders are saying you’re the trainer to watch out for. Might even light a fire up under Leon one of these days.” 

    “Oh, for real? Well, I’m flattered then,” you could feel your face flushing red. “I gotta get some of my pokemon into the center, though. You coming?” 

    “Oh, yeah, that’s where I was headed. The whole reason I ran into you,” Raihan laughed, nervously, it starting to dawn on him that this whole situation might come off as slightly… creepy. He was just doing his duty as a gym leader right? Keeping up with all the strong challengers who have a chance at the championship. You walked up to the counter, handing over your pokeballs to Nurse Joy for treatment. 

    “Can I buy you something to drink while we’re here?” Raihan asked you, following you over to a small table and set of chairs. “Maybe some fresh water or lemonade? I take it you just got in from training hard in the Wild Area?”

    “You don’t have to do that. But yeah, it’s a good place to train up! There’s nothing like it back home. Weren’t you here to heal your pokemon too?”

    “Oh! You’re right. I’ll just go, uh, do that then.” That was a big, fat lie. Raihan’s pokemon were perfectly fine and he knew it. In fact he had only left the house with his Duraludon. But Raihan was in too deep now. So he awkwardly shuffled over to the counter, greeting Nurse Joy and handing over his sole pokeball. 

    He stopped by the cafe to get two lemonades before plopping down opposite of you. Within seconds, Nurse Joy came back over with a tray, delivering your healed pokemon to you. She handed Raihan his one pokeball, a confused look on her face.

    “Raihan, your Duraludon was just fine, there was no need for it to be healed.”

    His face turned red, he looked over at you, a questioning look on your face along with a slight smirk. “Oh, uh, really?” He chuckled. “My mistake!” He gave Nurse Joy an innocent smile, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. When Nurse Joy left, he turned back to you. 

    “What’s that all about? Everything okay, Raihan?” You sipped your lemonade, watching him from over the top of your glass. 

    “Yeah, it’s nothing. I’m just really looking forward to our battle!” Except nothing was okay. Raihan had just made a complete and utter fool out of himself, and the way you said his name might just send him into cardiac arrest. He wished Nurse Joy would have just played along. 

    “Oh.” It seems like he took you by surprise. “I’m looking forward to it too. I’m sure you’ll be quite the match.”

    “I’m sure I will be, princess,” Raihan smirked, his confidence slowly coming back.

    The next time you saw Raihan it was at Stow-On-Side Gym. You weren’t even sure it was him. You caught one quick glimpse of a very, very tall man in the commentator’s booth during your battle. Of course, you were secretly hoping it was him, coming to watch your battles. But your logical side knew he was busy, and besides, would he really be that interested anyway?

    You flew through the Stow-On-Side Gym with ease, passed Opal’s tests with flying colors, Circhester started to slow you down a bit, until finally you reached Spikemuth. You had heard Piers didn’t Dynamax his pokemon. You were a bit disappointed, actually. You respected his traditional ways, of course, but you were hoping for an opponent whose strength called for the trick you had been hiding in your sleeve all this time. Your Altaria’s Mega Evolution. 

    You were confident you saw Raihan’s signature hoodie and bright orange headband sticking out of the crowd in Spikemuth like a sore thumb. Was he really coming to watch you battle?

So when you found yourself walking into the Hammerlocke City Gym, Raihan was eager to get to know more about you. What better way to do that than through the long anticipated battle? The media had picked up on you too, anxiously awaiting for the day you faced off against Raihan. As one of the few remaining challengers, you’d be surprised if all of Galar wasn’t familiar with your name by now. 

Raihan’s team was no laughing matter. He had managed to get you down to only one pokemon, your Altaria. But luckily you had done the same and you were facing off against his Duraludon. The gym leader certainly knew how to manipulate the weather, and his unique double battle style had helped him gain the advantage. 

You smirked, knowing you had finally found what you wanted. Mega Evolving your Altaria took a lot of effort, and wore it out, just like Dynamaxing, so you saved it for when it really counted. You had seen Raihan eyeing the Mega Bracelet that hung on your wrist, and you wondered if he recognized it. He had to, right? He was a gym leader after all, but then again the entire Galar region was hyper fixated on the Dynamax phenomenon. 

You watched as Raihan called his Duraludon back, preparing to Gigantamax it. You knew this would be a tough match up. Your Altaria transforms into a dragon and fairy type during mega evolution, so Raihan’s dragon type moves would do nothing. Mega Altaria would be weak to steel type moves, however. You had spent extra time training your Altaria’s speed. You knew that in order to win this match, you’d have to be able to dodge some powerful blows. 

Raihan had never been this exhilarated in his life. Pokemon battles were when he really came to life. He loved the atmosphere in the stadium, the thousands of fans yelling his name, the raw energy pouring from his Gigantamaxed Duraludon. He was so curious to see how this would play out. He had gone to watch every one of your matches after he met you, and you had yet to dynamax your altaria, or any of your pokemon for that matter. At the beginning of the match he saw something glint on your wrist. Not a dynamax band, definitely not, could it be a Mega Bracelet? Soon all his questions would be answered. 

“Ready, princess?” he asked, just loud enough for you alone to hear over the stadium, a wild smile on his face as his Gigantamaxed Duraludon loomed behind him, dwarfing your Altaria. 

The entire stadium fell silent as you Mega Evolved your Altaria. This was a very, very rare occurrence in the Galar region. Most of the spectators were witnessing this for the first time. Raihan was among them. 

The color drained from his face. A MEGA ALTARIA? He knew your Altaria’s flying type moves would barely harm his Duraludon, but this was something very unexpected. He had learned somewhere that some pokemon switch types when they Mega Evolve. What type your Altaria switched to was a mystery. 

Raihan quickly gained his composure, even though his heart was beating a million times a minute. You were ogling at the crowd, flattered by their insane interest in your pokemon, and Mega Altaria seemed to be enjoying it too. Your opponent took this chance to fire off his first shot, Max Wyrmwind, a dragon type move. He stood there stunned as Altaria remained unaffected.

Unfortunately, neither dragon nor fairy moves would work great against Duraludon’s steel and dragon type, but you did your research. You had been helping your Altaria perfect it’s Fire Blast over the last week. You were surprised to learn that Altaria could learn the fire type move when you found the TM in a dusty old shop in Motostoke, but glad it could come in handy. Steel types were hard to beat. 

Mega Altaria immediately retaliated with Fire Blast, and you could tell how effective it was against Duraludon. Raihan looked even more shocked as he gritted his teeth, dug in his heels, and told Duraludon to use Max Steelspike. Your Altaria just barely missed the hit, moving out of range before you even began to shout. 

“Great dodge! You can do this!” You cheered on your Altaria. It seemed like it was your lucky day, because one more powerful Fire Blast fainted Duraludon, sending it shrinking down to normal size, and back into Raihan’s pokeball. 

You met the gym leader in the middle of the pitch where he gave you a hearty handshake. “Well met, Y/N! What a stunning battle. It seems I might have gotten a bit too cocky with my team, huh? And who knew, that was Mega Evolution, wasn’t it?”

“It was! You definitely presented quite the challenge, I just had to do some special training before I came.”

“Well, congratulations, princess. You beat the Great Raihan,” He handed you the Dragon Badge, a huge smirk on his face. “You get the honor of going through the Finals now! I’ll be looking forward to our next battle, facing off for the chance to take down Leon. Though I s’pose I’ll have to find a way to beat that Altaria, huh?” You thanked Raihan before being ushered off the pitch, a few reporters waiting to greet you and ask about the battle. 

After all the chaos subsided, you were surprised to see Raihan jogging over to you as you left the gym. “I thought you might want this,” Raihan gave you the dragon type TM, as well as the dragon type gym uniform. “I just wanted to say, that Mega Altaria is super cool! Way cooler than I wanted to admit out on the pitch,” He chuckled, nervously. 

“What, is the Great Raihan scared of looking like a total nerd in front of his fans?” you teased.

“Oh, shut up. It just wasn’t a good time. Besides, I’m getting to talk to you again now, aren’t I? How about I take you out to dinner to celebrate your victory?” Raihan winked, taking your hand to lead you to his favorite restaurant.

[beckettsthoughts]

11 Questions

RULES Always post the rules Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you Write 11 questions of your own Tag 11 people (or however many you want)

I was tagged by @shark-myths, who is an absolute gem for always tagging me in these because I love them so much! Honestly, I never used to get this kind of thing but it makes me smile every time I see one in my notifications. Thank you! 

1.    What is one thing you always want people to ask you?

Anything about any of my special interests, or anything about any of my hyperfixations. So, any Fall Out Boy questions, any creative writing questions, any natural phenomena questions, any Pokemon questions. Anything about autism and ADHD is also welcome. I just really like answering questions and infodumping about my favourite things, which is probably obvious at this point.

2.    What is one thing you hate to be asked?

“But how are you going to survive on your own?”

It’s really condescending and it always comes from within my own family, which hurts.

3.    What three words would you use to describe yourself?

Creative, anxious, and ambitious.

4.    What three words would someone else use to describe you?

I asked my best friend but he couldn’t narrow it down, so then I turned to Tumblr and a lovely mutual gave the answer “cool, stylish and kind” which made me blush a lot, it was sweet as heck. I also got “young, cool and hip” from another mutual of mine, which I love.

5.    What is the thing you’re looking forward to most in the next month?

I have my best friends’ prom coming up soon! I’m really looking forward to it, especially after my own prom. I don’t know many people from his school but the few I am friends with will also be there, it sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic night. There are other things I’m looking forward to, such as going on holiday and taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo, and likely several other events will come up that I’m not even aware of yet.

6.    Have you ever cast a spell? Has it worked?

I am a wicked non-believer, meaning I’ve never tried. I don’t think I’d be very good at it. However, I do have a friend who was raised Wiccan and once cursed a bracelet before giving it to her mean aunt as a birthday present, which is a hell of a good story.

7.    If you could be any type of monster, what you be?

Something that lurks in the forest. An urban legend, a creature that makes it’s home in the bedtime stories used to warn children from straying too far. In reality, a guardian of the fae realm with no malevolent intentions, but when seen through the sea-fog it could be easily mistaken for something far darker.

Aesthetically, something bipedal but somehow animalistic. Perhaps birdlike, perhaps feline. I imagine it to look like something from the world of Spirited Away.

8.    What’s the last song you sang?

It was Champion, okay? It’s been stuck in head since the day it released. I’ve also recently sung a few songs from new Paramore album while I was making my lunch, and hummed some KT Tunstall as I wandering round the supermarket. I sing a lot, and like, every day.

(Actually, between writing this and posting this, it is now Paramore’s Pool, but there were tracks from Soul Punk in between and several indie songs about Los Angeles. I told you I sing a lot.)

9.    What is the best thing that happened to you today?

I got a new fidget spinner and it’s beautiful! I’m really happy because it’s usually so hard to get good quality stim toys and I used to have to get them off Amazon, but a local shop now stocks a whole range and you can try and test them before you get one so you can see which you like and how comfortable it is. They have other stim toys too now and they donate a percentage of the cost to a local autism charity, and in general I just love everything about this development. It really made my day, man, and they even have signs educating people about the purpose and use of stim toys. I got to speak to the owner and he was telling us about the advantages of different shapes of spinners, and honestly it felt so refreshing to have an honest conversation about stimming with a neurotypical and have it be something valuable and cool to discuss rather than being mocked for it. There are pros and cons to this trend, of course, but this is a huge advantage to me that I could not have anticipated in a thousand years.

10.   Where do you wish to be right now?

Paris! Which is nice, because I will be there in a couple of weeks. I can’t wait to walk those streets again; visit the bookshops and the boulangeries, the papeteries and patisseries. Paris is by far the most beautiful city I have ever visited, and one of the most interesting. At our hotel you can take the rickety old lift up to the roof and look out across the whole city at night, see the Eiffel Tower to the south and the Sacre-Coeur to the north, both grandly lit and standing tall amongst the apartments of their respective arrondissements. I left a piece of my heart in Paris, I believe.

11.   Answer either 1 or 2.

So the answer to the question I hate being asked is this: I can cook, I can clean, I can manage money and I can talk to people. There are many things I can’t do, off the top of my head, but I can use Google to cross those bridges when I get to them. Just because I have a neurodevelopmental disability doesn’t mean I’m inept or incapable, it just means that some things are a little bit harder for me than for neurotypical people. If push comes to shove I can always ask for help, which is not the sign of weakness everyone makes it out to be. They always ask the question as if they’re expecting me to survive alone on a desert island with no way to communicate to anyone, when in fact “living independently” means nothing of the sort. Living on a desert island, I probably couldn’t do. Living in student accommodation surrounded by helpful resources and a whole community of people in the same situation, however, doesn’t seem completely inconceivable.

And now, my questions. I tag @skyward-sheik, @toadstoolfuel, @murdereratthematinee, @inadragon, @littleduckalex, @heardyouloudandqueer, @astro-ocean, @mcnamak, @baz-pitch-is-alive and @takeasmiletoday! No pressure if you don’t want to, of course :)

1. Do you remember your dreams? If so, what’s the weirdest dream you can remember?

2. Describe your favourite cinema. Is it nearby, or hard to get to? Why is it better than the others?

3. What was your favourite class in school? In terms of atmosphere, classmates, teacher, anything.

4. What’s one hair colour, piercing or tattoo you’d love to get someday but probably never will?

5. Describe one person who you’d love to be friends with, but only know as an acquaintance through work, school or other friends. What about them makes you want to know them better?

6. What is your personal “white whale”? Something you encountered in the the past and have never been able to find since, no matter how hard you try?

7. What was your favourite movie when you were a child? Does it still hold up now that you’re older?

8. Do you have a favourite ‘local’ food? It could be a local delicacy unique to your town, but it could just be a particular snack from a particular shop. A favourite meal from your favourite restaurant, maybe, because nobody else makes it the same way that they do?

9. Have you ever skipped school or work to hang out with your friends or to go to a particular event?

10. What is something you’d love to collect but haven’t yet?

11. Are you the kind of person who saves tickets from travelling? If not, what’s your favourite type of souvenir to collect?

[kalosstarters]

One-shot: Silence

Mairin likes talking, sometimes too much for Alain’s liking, so he has to use his imagination to make her quiet down.

This is something I wrote months ago (in October or something like that), planning on making this a part of a series of fics about Mairin’s Kalos journey, but I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to finish that one, so I decided to edit this ficlet and post it as a one-shot. Awful fluff, be warned. Oh and Mairin is 17 and Alain 22.

Mairin talked a lot. Sometimes Alain was happy about it, sometimes he wasn’t. Most of the time he was relieved when he didn’t have to come up with new topics to talk about because she already took care of that, but as someone who was used to traveling on their own and who liked their peaceful, quiet moments too, the constant chatter got onto his nerves sometimes. For example, after she won her Fairy badge, she went through pretty much every moment of the battle with Alain even though he had been there to see it.

“I was just about to call Chespie back when…” she recalled when he stopped her rather rudely.

“Mairin, I was there. I saw it. Chespie’s Overgrow was activated and he beat the Sylveon with a Wood Hammer.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, I guess I get a bit carried away when it comes to my gym battles…” she looked a little embarrassed when she realized how childish her excitement must seem.

“It’s OK, but in the future, you don’t have to explain every moment to me. Though, if you ask me, you took quite a risk using Chespie when you know it’s weak against fairy type Pokemon.”

“Maybe true, but you know I don’t believe in type advantages. Chespie and I have experienced so much together. Remember the time…”

She gave him a long list of moments when she and Chespie had managed to win a battle despite Chespie’s weaknesses, and he sighed. Did this girl ever get tired of talking? Alain was listening to her with just one of his ears, and took in the view in front of them. There was a movie theater right in front of them, and it occurred to him that if he took her there, she would have to be quiet for a few hours. Mairin didn’t know about Alain’s secret motive, so when he asked if she’d want to go there, she was just excited and of course wanted to go, because it was not every day they got a chance like this on their journey.

Unfortunately for Alain, the theater only showed one movie that evening, and it was a romantic, but tragic story about a Chespin who had fallen in love with a Charizard even though he knew their relationship could never work because they were like a day and a night. Weird coincidence, Alain thought, his and Mairin’s starters in his mind. ‘Though in this case it was the Charizard’s owner who…’ he stopped himself from finishing that sentence in his head.

It seemed Mairin didn’t have similar thoughts about the movie; she just enjoyed it, and cried a bit when the Chespin had to say goodbye to the Pokemon he loved. “What?” she looked at Alain who was slightly amused by her reaction. “Didn’t that make you at least a little bit emotional?”

“Not really. It is just a movie.” he answered coolly.

When they got out of the movie theater, it had become dark, and the moon and the stars were shining brightly on the night sky. Mairin was still in a romantic mood after seeing the movie and kept talking about her favorite parts (one of them had been when the Chespin had saved his loved one from a certain death when she was just a little Charmander). Alain smiled a bit at her rambling, but then Mairin suddenly confirmed that he hadn’t been the only one to notice the similarities between their starter pokemon and the main characters of the movie.

“Isn’t it funny how those main characters were a Chespin and a Charizard, just like our starters? And that Chespin saved the Charmander from the Rayquaza just like you saved me back in Hoenn…”

“Huh? I wasn’t really thinking about it too much,” he lied to her.

She then suggested they stop to watch the stars on a giant rock* and Alain accepted because having done this often before, he knew this might be his chance to get her to stop talking about the movie for a moment. Well, this time it turned out he was wrong. When they sat down, she continued commenting on it: “It was sad the Chespin never got the kiss he wanted…” Alain got a feeling she was going somewhere with this, but he didn’t say anything. Soon Mairin broke the silence: “You know… I haven’t ever been kissed either. I wonder what it feels like.”

Alain turned to look at her and from her serious face he realized she meant it. And the Rockruff like eyes she made made him realize that she actually wanted him to kiss her. Not even once before this had it occurred to him that she might actually be interested in him, because she had always treated him like a sister would treat her brother (well, minus the affectionate hugs, touches, cheek kisses, cutesy things she gave him on his birthday and Valentine’s day, and the fact that they usually shared their tent or bed at the Pokemon center and more often than not fell asleep cuddling, because that made them both feel better and lessened the likelihood for nightmares). His own feelings had started to become clearer and clearer, and in that moment, he couldn’t just push back the realization that the spark had been there ever since this girl had returned from Hoenn and now… It was already a flame. Not even a particularly small flame. She might have her annoying habits, she might be several years younger than him, and a bit naive sometimes, but she had always been there for him even when he had his difficult days, and she always seemed to know what made him feel better. Well, sometimes all it needed was her presence and the gentle smile on her face, Alain admitted. 

He took a deep breath, staring at her lips and contemplating whether he should do this or not, but finally decided to act on it. She seemed to realize what he was about to do and her eyes widened and she let out a small gasp, but didn’t make a move. 

Alain’s heart seemed to beat faster than it had beaten in a long while. Nervously, he put his left hand on Mairin’s cheek, touching the corner of her lip lightly with his thumb, as if asking for her approval, and when she nodded, he leaned in. When their lips touched softly, Mairin froze for a moment, and Alain was worried that he had freaked her out. He almost pulled back, but then the girl responded to the kiss, making it more passionate. She also slid her hand in his hair, and moved her body closer, showing him she didn’t want him to stop.

The kiss that Alain had expected to be a quick peck lasted at least a minute, but finally they both pulled away to breathe, faces red and lips still tingling from where they had touched. It took a while for both of them to calm down and to be able to say anything, and Alain quickly thought that apparently there was a way to make the red head to shut up. She just smiled, her eyes shining brightly in the moonlight, but eventually she did open her mouth. After a couple of seconds she managed to get the words out:

“What… was that for?”

“Just so you don’t have to experience the same as the poor Chespin,” he answered sarcastically, “and…  to make you shut up.”

She looked baffled and maybe even a little bit angry for a moment, but when she saw his expression, she understood that he didn’t mean any of it. Alain was looking at her softly, in a way Mairin had seen on his face only when he was looking at his Charizard. His usually pale cheeks also had a faint blush still left on them.

She run her fingers through his hair once, and then settled to rest her head on his lap. Neither said anything until they left the rock, but both knew something had just changed about their relationship. In the future they would have to talk about it, but right now they just wanted to enjoy the moment, quietly.

[badcowboy69]

1 through 52 for the fallout oc meme for Travis

Gosh anon you don’t know what it is you’re asking lol  Ok my dear Anon get yourself a snack or a drink (or both) because you got yourself a LOT of reading to do ;)   Thanks for asking, this was a serious challenge and a lot of fun actually!!!   I put the answers under the Read More thing just because it’s super long and I don’t want to annoy people with such a long thing on their dash.  So here you are....ALL 52 Fallout prompts!!!  

1.  Which Fallout game are they from?Fallout New Vegas2.  Which faction(s) did they join and which did they destroy? Why?Travis went Independent. He originally was going to join up with Mister House, but once the man asked the courier to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel, Travis balked and said no fucking way. You don’t go against your allies like that. They trusted him and called him brother. He wasn’t about to be a backstabbing betrayer. As for what he destroyed it was most certainly Caesar’s Legion. Although the man did have a few good ideas, Travis couldn’t sit by and allow slavery, mistreatment of women, destruction of the remaining Tribals, and many other things. Their ideals were too extreme and too dangerous to allow to be left alone.3.  What is their S.P.E.C.I.A.L.?Strength 10Perception 9Endurance 6Charisma 5Intelligence 8Agility 8Luck 64.  Give us a summary of their backstory.Travis was born the son of brahmin/bighorner ranchers.  He was home schooled and taught the proper cowboy code of the west.  In his mid-teen years he joined a brahmin round up in the Big Circle.  He realized ranching wasn’t really for him so he went off to join the Mojave Express and become a courier.5.  What’s their full name and does it have a meaning? Do they have any nicknames and how did they get em?My courier’s full name is Travis Blackfox.  His last name stems on the fact that his father is a Tribal.  The name no doubt had to have come from the quiet, stealthy, and cunning traits his father has.  As for a nickname, he doesn’t have any he’d normally go by.  However, he will answer to Courier Six or simply Six as he was the sixth messenger in a task set up years ago to deliver a special package to the mysterious Mister House on the New Vegas strip.6.  What’s their sexual, romantic, and gender orientation? Do they feel comfortable telling other people?Travis is a confirmed bachelor (gay).  He is male and loves males.  He has no problem with telling anyone because fortunately in the Fallout universe people aren’t homophobes like they are in ours..  His parents knew he was from childhood when he took a strong liking to the male couriers or traders that passed by their ranch almost on a daily basis7.  Do they have any mental illnesses? How do they cope?Nope not at all8.  Do they have any medical conditions? Is medicine/ treatment available for them?Memory loss from being shot in the head.  He can only remember what he did from joining the Mojave Express and onwards.  Everything else in his past is gone except for maybe a few scant memories.  He also gets occasional headaches, but that's easily remedied.  9.  How much do they care about their outer appearance? What’s their “beauty routine”? How often do they shower/ bathe?Travis LOVES his facial hair and will always make sure it’s trimmed to the length he likes.  If you ever see him with it longer than normal it's wise to ask him if he's alright as that's a sign something is seriously wrong. As for showering or bathing he does that almost every day he’s able to either at home or in any non-radiated water source he can find.10.  What do they fear the most?Being betrayed by someone he loves is something that he’s the most afraid of happening to him. In a relationship Travis puts his entire heart and soul into it. He loves pampering his partner and does all he can to make them happy even if it might cost him his own happiness. To know that person truly didn’t love him and was only using him all along or waiting for someone better is something that occasionally lurks in the back of his mind and terrifies the hell out of him.11. They’re biggest flaw? Do they recognize it as a flaw?Travis’ biggest flaw is that he’s very insecure and he knows this.  He gets worried what he does isn’t good enough or even enough.  He also feels that his significant other doesn’t really love him as much as he claims, if at all, or will leave him.  He feels if he states a complaint on something or disagrees the other person involved will get angry with him12.  What are they most insecure about?Being loved or liked.  He feels that people are generally only around him because they feel bad for him or don't want to hurt his feelings.13.  What Wasteland threat do they fear the most? (ex. Deathclaws, super mutants, raiders)Cazadores.  14.  What’s their zodiac sign or which one do you think they relate to the most? What are their placements (if you know them)? (ex. Aries sun, Taurus moon, Aquarius Venus) Gemini15.  What’s their Myers–Briggs Type? (ex. ENTP, ISFJ)Travis is an INFJ    Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging.16.  What Harry Potter house would they be in? (ex. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw)Hufflepuff17.  Which Pokemon Go team would they choose? (ex. Instinct, Valor, Mystic)Valor as he loves all things pertaining to fire as well as the color red.18.  Out of the nine forms of intelligence (rhythmic, spatial, linguistic, mathematical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential) which one(s) are they really good at and which one(s) is(are) their weakest?Travis most certainly is interpersonal as well as intra-personal are his strong points.  He can easily read people and knows how to interact with them depending on the situation.  His weakest would be existential as he doesn’t care why things are.  He simply accepts them as such.  Mathematical would also be another weakness.  Even though he’s good at balancing budgets, numbers give him a headache.19.  What natural alignment are they? (ex. Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil)Travis has been told more often than not he’s too good for his own good.  He won’t knowingly harm an innocent nor steal from someone unless it can’t be helped.  He doesn’t even particularly care for killing bad guys, but he most certainly will not hesitate when it comes down to it.  He does his best to uphold any laws and morals, but sometimes out in the wasteland things like that have to be ignored.  Still, he’s not totally “good” per say and will do things considered bad, especially if it means his own survival.  If it means saving his ass, or someone he cares about, Travis will lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc…anything to assure he lives to see another day.20.  Do they have any hobbies? What are they?Travis loves collecting anything related to Nuka Cola. He also loves to collect as many pre-war books as he can to add to his already massive collection. However, his most favorite thing to do is repairing things and trying to get junk in the Mojave re-purposed. He already made himself a running motorcycle which operates on the fuel cores from Mister Handy robots. Currently he’s building himself a life sized horse based on the smaller toy models of Giddy-up Buttercup. He’s not exactly sure how he’s going to get it to function or work right now, but he’s not giving up and has high hopes for his latest creation.21.  Do they have a favorite holiday? How do they celebrate it?Up until recently Travis had no clue what holidays were all about.  His partner introduced him to Christmas so of course that's his favorite holiday.  They celebrated by getting a small pine tree from the woods, decorated it with paper cutouts and shot gun shell casings topped off with a glowing bottle of Nuka Cola Quartz.  This was all followed by a small gift exchange and a nice meal with close friends.22.  What’s their favorite season?Being in the desert there really aren't seasons.  However, he does love when he's on the east coast and spring arrives.23.  Do they have a temper or are they level headed?For the most part Travis is quite level headed and it takes a lot to really piss him off, but once that happens look out.24.  Do they express their emotions freely or hide their true feelings?Angry he always tries to hide because it can be a very destructive emotion from him if given the chance.  Sad can be considered weak and weakness isn’t anything a person wants to have shown out in the Mojave.  Those are the two main ones he’d try and keep hid if possible.  Fear he most certainly hides.  You never let an enemy know what gets to you and sometimes not even your closest friends.  Fear can always be used against you.  For the more positive emotions like joy and love, Travis certainly has no problem expressing those.25.  Are they a leader or a follower?Even though Travis has led people into battle and is currently co-ruling New Vegas, he hardly feels he's a leader at all.  He would much rather take orders and do things for someone else instead of having sole responsibility for something.26.  How do they come off to others? What first impression do they usually make?People generally see Travis as friendly and helpful and sometimes a push-over. The latter is something he’s certainly not, but people tend to see him that way because he is so caring and generous. Generally those are the people that try and take advantage of him and his good nature.27.  Do they prefer to travel alone or with company? Who have they traveled with if any? Current companion if any?Although he does enjoy solitude more often than not, Travis does enjoy being with his cyberdog Rex and eyebot ED-E. He’s traveled quite a lot with Craig Boone and did enjoy his company to more than just a companion.  Currently he has his cyberdog and eyebot and bonded partner from the Boston Commonwealth.28.  Would you describe them as selfless or selfish? Does it depend on the situation?Travis is very generous and always tries to make other people happy or comfortable before doing so for himself.  Even if he tries to be selfish that feeling doesn’t last for long and he still ends up helping someone anyway.29.  What do they find most attractive in others? Name at least one psychological and physical trait. (doesn’t have to be romantic attraction)For psychological trait Travis loves intelligent conversation.  Nothing irritates him more than talking to someone who’s so dense it’s a miracle they even know how to tie their own shoes let alone survive in the world.  He likes someone that’s at least close enough to his own intelligence, but a little over he doesn’t mind either.  Travis loves learning new things.  However, the person in question should not so intellectual where it makes everything spoken become a task to listen to and understand.  Physical he’d have to go for the cliche feature of a smile.  A true and genuine smile is one way to certainly get Travis’ attention.  He’ll know if you can be trusted or if you’re a faker depending on how you smile.  Like the eyes, one can read a lot through a smile and fortunately for Travis he’s learned to read them pretty good.30.  Do they flirt often? How easily do they fall in love?He is a smooth talker and can use this ability to get what he wants even if it means flirting, but that's as far as anything would go.  He also doesn't fall in love easily either.  He might develop a crush, but for actual love to show it would have to be something groomed and tended to in order for it to blossom. He’s only been in love three times in his entire life and the third is most certainly the last as he loves him more than anything.31.  What’s their love life like? Are they interested in anyone or in a relationship?His love life is fantastic as he's with the most amazing man in the world.  He's very happy, content, and deeply satisfied in both the mental and physical.32.  Do they prefer to solve things diplomatically or using violence?Travis is peaceful by nature so he would much rather try and talk out a situation rather than blasting everything away.  Sometimes folks can't listen to reason so of course he'd have to get physical.33.  What is their combat style? What range do they prefer? Do they sneak?He's very calculating and thinks about a situation before rushing in with guns blazing.  He can and will sneak for the most part as that's part of his being calculating.  As for range, that's what his sniper rifle is for.  He'll pick off the most dangerous enemies first or at least lure them in closer so he can blast them with explosives or his powerful rifle.34.  What weapon(s) do they always carry with them?His rifle named Medicine Stick.  He also has his scoped, silenced sniper rifle. One can also always find any sort of explosive with him IE dynamite, mines, or grenades.35.  Their most prized possession?His rifle Medicine Stick.  It’s very powerful and it’s the one gun he’ll use above all else at all times.  He likes the feel it has in his hands and he loves the sound it makes when fired.  Most of all, he loves the leather cover hand-stitched on the stock that is adorned with a sewn Tribal Medicine Wheel with beads and feathers.36.  Their thoughts on power armor?He honestly has no use for it.  He was trained to operate it, but doesn't like it in the least bit.  He feels it's too big and bulky to do much good.  Granted you might be protected more, but you really aren't as you have no agility or way to get out of a bad situation quickly.37.  Favorite armor/ outfit?Armor wise Travis loves his elite riot gear as it's quite sturdy and offers great protection as well as making him look good.  His regular outfit is a red plaid shirt, blue jeans, black cowboy boots, and a black cowboy hat.38.  How’s their aim? Do their hands shake while pointing a gun?When Travis rejoined the world of the living after being shot in the head, his aim and gun skills literally were pathetic.  Thankfully as his time in the Mojave went on, Travis’ aim became more true.  It wasn’t until he spent a lot of time with an NCR 1st Recon man named Craig Boone that his shooting skills became honed and seriously deadly.  He now nails headshots more often than not and sometimes at a full run.  His aim is true and he generally uses one bullet to kill someone these days.  As for hands shaking, only when he’s truly upset about a situation IE friend being harmed or going to be harmed in close proximity.  When that happens he’ll generally use the gun as a striking weapon instead and bash the enemy upside the head with the stock and continue to beat on them until they’re no more.39.  What are their thoughts on having to kill on a daily bases in order to survive? Does it take a toll on them? Or do they shake it off rather easily?Fortunately not too many people or critters harassed Travis to the point where he had to kill them on a daily basis. Powder Gangers flee in terror when they see him and for the most part Fiends are all but non-existent these days. Legion was the only folks he had to constantly be on the look out for and even then it wasn’t daily. In their case it was always self-defense on Travis’ part, it wasn’t like he was seeking them out to kill them. Travis is very passive for the most part. He doesn’t enjoy having to kill anything, self-defense or not, but it also doesn’t bother him. He’s not jaded, just a realist and knows it’s a cold hard fact of life in the Mojave.40.  Thoughts on death if any? (ex. Fear it, accept it)Since Travis has already been considered dead once already, he doesn’t think much of death anymore.  He’s not afraid to die now and almost feels invincible as a result of what happened to him.  He was lucky the first time in cheating death and he knows he might not be so lucky again, but he does accept it as a harsh reality.  These days, however, he’s more afraid of death happening to the one he loves as opposed to himself.  In that aspect he truly does fear death.  41.  Do they move around a lot or prefer to have a place to call home?His home will always be out in the Mojave.  He does travel back and forth every six months to the Boston Commonwealth.  42.  What’s their favorite location?Anywhere that his partner may be....but mostly in the desert of the Mojave.  43.  Their opinions on ghouls, feral and not feral?Travis has sympathy for all ghouls in all honesty. He does what he can to help those with their wits still about them. He also has no problem in putting a bullet in the head of those ferals as it comes down to being a “kill or be killed” in most situations upon meeting them. However, some time ago, he had a horrible nightmare which involved a ghoul and currently he has a very different attitude towards them. He’ll help if need be, but mostly now he’d much rather avoid them. He doesn’t want to resurrect the images from his nightmare because he knows it’ll set him off on some kind of angry rage and he’ll end up slaughtering the hapless beings.44.  Do they scavenge for their supplies or simply buy them?Travis likes to nose around looking for things overlooked or left behind. However, he knows that people do need to make a living out in the wasteland so he tries to buy from local merchants as much as possible to give them support.45.  Are they the type to get distracted and go off to an unknown nearby location or do they stay on track?For the most part Travis tries his best to stay on track with what he’s supposed to be doing. However, he’s quite curious and a little bit nosy and can and will drift off to check out something or explore a cave he discovers. Sometimes these distractions prove to be pointless, but a lot of times he ends up unwittingly helping someone as a result or even finding things to help himself like piles of forgotten caps, ammunition, or even on occasion weapons and armor that he can sell to traders for what he really needs.46.  How do they sleep? Are they picky about where and how or can they sleep basically anywhere?Travis can sleep anywhere at any time.  His only nit-pick would be sheets.  They have to be clean and he does keep a set with him in his pack just in case clean sheets somewhere is not an option.47.  What’s their favorite radio station and song? (post-apocalypse)Travis loves the Mojave Music Radio station.  He used to like Radio New Vegas, but once his deeds started to get well known and he became the headline in the news given by Mister New Vegas more often than not, well, Travis couldn’t stand it so he stopped listening.  The Mojave station provides some great tunes including a lot of great western/country songs.  His favorite being “Big Iron” performed by the pre-war star Marty Robbins.   48.  What’s their favorite post-apocalyptic food? Are they a picky eater? Do they know how to cook?Travis loves brahmin steak and gecko stew.  He's not picky at all as one can't afford that trait being out in the desert.  He does know how to cook and really well.  He makes a great stew and a great omelette.49.  What’s their favorite beverage? Do they drink alcohol?He does love Nuka Cola and has a small liking for Sunset Sarsaparilla.  He does drink alcohol and prefers beer above all else.  He will drink whiskey, but sparingly as the first time he really celebrated he got really sick and doesn't want to feel that again...but that won't stop him from getting drunk from time to time.50.  Do they have any tag skills?Guns, melee, and sneak51.  Anything they like to collect? (ex. Unique weapons, Bobbleheads)He loves pre-war toys and especially anything pertaining to Nuka Cola.52.  Are they good at disarming traps or do they constantly miss them?For the most part he does very well at disarming any traps, but that's if he discovers them first.  Lots of times he plows into a location only to set off grenade traps or even get hit with metal beams put in doorways.  He also got his leg snapped in a bear trap a few times, but fortunately those few times the items were seriously rusted so they didn't cause him too much damage.

[overflowchute]

made this af 4 am weeks ago an dstuck it in my drafts but you know what im never finishing it soy ou get it as it is hve fun

Some of you probably have already heard of the fact that Psychic types were extremely overcentralizing and powerful in Generation 1. But actually understanding just why and how that power manifested involves doing a little bit of analysis. Pokemon has been a complex game from the beginning, and the dominance of the Psychic type in Generation 1 is due to a wide variety of factors. I wanted to cover this topic just because it's something I find fun. So without further ado, let's go.

Psychic, as a type, has always been kind of strange. It lies outside of the standard element types, as well as the specific entity types like Dragon and Bug. Psychic's main advantage has never lain in its ability to hit lots of pokemon super effectively, but rather in its superior neutral coverage. Nowadays, Psychic is a relatively weak offensive type even with its good neutral coverage due to the popularity of the Dark and Steel typings, with Dark types being completely immune to Psychic types and also being able to threaten them with a variety of dangerous moves. However, both Dark and Steel were types introduced in Generation 2, purposefully to counter the dominance of the Psychic type. Once you remember this, you soon realize that there is NO type in Generation 1 that resists Psychic... except for Psychic itself.

This, on its own, gives Psychic a unique position. The only other type in Generation 1 with such significant neutral coverage is Dragon, which would be a strong type except for the fact that there are no standard damage dealing Dragon type moves in Generation 1, making its offensive capacity completely irrelevant. Naturally, the power of Psychic as an offensive type means that you're pressured to run a Psychic just to counter a Psychic, and things quickly snowball from there. Curiously, the extreme viability of Psychics as a type actually means that few Psychic types run Psychic type moves in competitive Generation 1. Because running into other Psychics is so common, running another typed move like Thunderbolt or Ice Beam is going to do more damage in general. You'll still see Psychic occasionally, especially since it has useful side effects and is the only STAB move available to pokemon like Alakazam, but it's not the move you're going to see the most of.

But wait - you may say - why do we have to run Psychic types to absorb Psychic moves? Why play the game defensively? Can't we just scare them out using their weaknesses? Game Freak clearly intended to balance Psychic types the same way it balanced other types, through assigning them a variety of weaknesses. Even if Psychic types could hit any pokemon with devastating blows, that wouldn't matter if a faster pokemon with a super effective move came in to scare it, right?

Psychic was meant to be weak to Bug and Ghost type moves, representing stereotypical fears that presumably could prevent a Psychic from focusing their formidable powers. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this idea. Much like Dragon, Ghost is an extremely rare type in Generation 1, being limited to a single family and having very few effective moves. There are only three Ghost type moves, one being the damageless Confuse Ray, another the set damage dealing Night Shade, and finally, Lick. Lick is very weak, but it is a Ghost type move that calculates damage normally, meaning it could theoretically be used to hit Psychic types. Lick is even physical, meaning it'd probably hit Psychic's weaker defense, even if Gengar's also using its weaker attack stat.

The problem is, first of all, that Game Freak actually made a legitimate mistake when making Generation 1. Due to a bug, Ghost type moves aren't super effective on Psychic types - they're actually completely ineffective, just like Normal moves on a Ghost. Worse yet, the Gengar line is part Poison, meaning that many a child probably caught a Haunter and went to fight Sabrina, like Ash did in the anime, only to see Lick fail completely followed by their pokemon taking a Confusion to the face and fainting instantly.

Even if this wasn't a problem, Lick is a really really weak move. Having less base power than even Tackle, a super effective Lick from Gengar would be worse than Thunderbolt (30 BP + 15 BP for same type = 45 *2 for super effective = 90 Power, vs 95 Base power TBolt off Gengar's special stat). And it's this problem of weak moves that negates the other attempt to balance Psychic types - the general weakness of the Bug type.

Bug types in Generation 1 got the short end of the stick. The obvious beginner bugs are pretty weak by the time you get halfway through the game, and even the bugs that show up later have serious difficulty dealing damage. Compared to the anemic Ghost and Dragon types, Bug has an astounding 3 total damage dealing moves - but they have terrible distributions and generally low power. The most effective Bug type move in general is Twinneedle, which has an essential power of 50 BP (equivalent to modern day Tackle), but Twinneedle is the signature move of Beedrill, a pokemon with low stats and an unfortunate Poison typing rendering its chances at stopping Psychics. Leech Life, the second bug move, has better overall distribution but is utterly, pathetically weak, to the point where you're really better off just using Normal moves unless you have to. Pin Missile, the last Bug type move, is actually the most usable. Although it's very unreliable, with an average power of 42, it can theoretically deal 70 BP of damage. Pin Missile is really the only bug type move you'll ever see used in Gen 1. But make no mistake - you're not going to see Bugs using it. In fact, the only pokemon to learn Pin Missile in generation one are Beedrill... and Jolteon, who doesn't get STAB but runs it to fight Exeggutor anyway. This also highlights another problem - the only Bugs with Bug moves are the mediocre and bad ones. Gen 1 put some powerful bugs later in the pokedex for people who wanted to use them late game, but Pinsir and Scyther have the dubious distinctions of not learning a single Bug type move until Generation 2 gave them Fury Cutter.

So Psychic types weren't just offensively powerful, but they effectively had no weaknesses either. The

<i was also gonna mention that therewas only one special stat that did both special attack and defense in gen 1 and all spychics had a good special stat by necessity so that let em win too>

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 8: Spheal the Deal!

Narrator: After their brush with Team SubZero, our heroes have recovered from the harrowing ordeal only to come to an abrupt realization.

“I never got to actually go inside the aquarium!” Astrid shrieked. Considering it was 10 in the morning, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sound. The twins gave her the most annoyed look they were capable of. (Especially considering that they woke up late.) Janine thankfully, was spared from the sound since she was inside taking a video call.

“You didn’t realize?” Kaytlyn raised an eyebrow.

“No I didn’t!” She scowled.”I was caught up in that poacher stuff!”

“You tend to not notice a lot of things.” Kayla muttered. “There was the Double Contest thing last week… and now with the aquarium.”

“Shut up!” the teen huffed, “Why don’t you ever tease Janine about anything?”

Kayla thought for a moment before turning to her sister. “Should I?”

“Janine never really does anything tease-worthy-”

“Yes she does!” Astrid interjected. “First of all she’s a total weeb.”

“True.”

“She has scoliosis.”

“Also true.”

“She’s an emo.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s-“

“I’m what?”

Astrid let out a shriek, unaware that Janine had somehow snuck up on her. The trainer gave her an unimpressed look before continuing.

“I got a call from Adrian. He’s gonna be here in a few minutes and he wanted to make sure that we were still here so we could finally battle.” Janine explained.

“You do know that Adrian has a type advantage on you right?” Kayla pointed out. Janine shrugged.

“I’ll just do the same thing I did with Romeo back at the gym.”

“Uh, but what if Mudkip evolved?”

“What?”

Kayla gave her a concerned look before Astrid cut in, “Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp, complete with a Water/Ground-Typing. Fire has a quarter of its usual effectiveness, and Electric does absolutely nothing.”

“Well… that’s a problem.” The trainer stated, dumbfounded.

“Yeah. On the other hand it becomes double weak to Grass-Types.” Astrid said smugly, offering Kayla a hi-five since they both chose grass-type starters.

“Well. Time to spam Double-Kick.”

“You can’t just do that!” Kayla pointed out.

“Yes I can.”

“That’s the most basic and unoriginal strategy I’ve ever heard.”

“Bet. I’ll beat him.”

“I hate you.”

~*~*~*~*~

After a few minutes of waiting, Adrian and his friends had shown up at the entrance of the Pokemon Center. The group caught their attention with a series of shouts and joking cat-calls. (At least on Astrid’s end)

“Please shut up. You’re all so embarrassing.” Adrian pleaded, glancing around to other bystanders.

“You love us.” Astrid crowed, meaning to embarrass him further. She narrowly dodged an incoming slap and moved over to hug Sheyla and Andrea.

“How was Route 3?” Janine motioned to his ragged appearance.

“Other than the ungodly amount of Mightyena and Poochyena everywhere, it was great! I caught two Pokemon!”

“Woah! Two?” Kayla asked curiously. At Adrian’s nod, the teen beckoned Astrid over, hoping she would lend the Pokedex to her for a few minutes. Wordlessly, Adrian reached to two more Pokeballs hanging at his hip (Wow, how did they not notice those?). Each Pokemon popped out with their own unique cries.

“An Aron and Ralts?”

Astrid handed her Pokedex to Kayla and knelt down to poke at the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts senses the emotions of people using the horns on its head. This Pokémon rarely appears before people. But when it does, it draws closer if it senses that the person has a positive disposition.”

Kaytlyn snorted. “Well that makes absolutely no sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“Adrian, you are one of the most aggressive people I’ve ever met. Second to a rampaging Tauros.” She snickered. Adrian gave her a hard look before sighing.

“True.”

“Is there a particular story behind this?” Janine asked, remembering her Mareep.

“Not with Ralts. He just threw the Pokeball as soon as he beat him. Pretty standard.” Andrea shrugged, “But Aron? There’s a story behind that one.”

“Ralts is a he?” Kayla gave Ralts a onceover, not understanding how such a feminine Pokemon could possibly be male. “Remind me to introduce you to Astrid’s Vulpix.” she muttered.

“Sh! I want to hear the Aron story!” Kaytlyn threw leaves at her sister, acting over dramatic. Kayla gave her a wounded look and simply scanned Aron in response.

“Aron, the Iron-Armor Pokemon. This Pokémon has a body of steel. To make its body, Aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. Occasionally, it causes major trouble by eating bridges and rails.”

“Okay, so basically.” Sheyla began, “Adrian had already caught Ralts like the day before, and he was training up her Magical Leaf attack. And then out of nowhere the Aron comes out.

“Adrian’s like ‘Oh this is going to be great training experience!’ and he sends Ralts to battle. Andrea and I just sorta… move away because this is probably the eighth time he’s done this in the past hour or so. He’s insane.”

“I was training my Pokemon!”

“You couldn’t have waited until we got to a Pokemon Center? You’re the reason it took 3 days to get here! Whatever.” Sheyla waved him away and the boy sat down, no longer able to tell his own story, “Anyway. We were just talking about how stupid Adrian is, and then he starts screeching. Out of nowhere.”

“It was concerning.” Andrea added, giving the gay a disgusted look. Adrian narrowed his eyes in response.

“Mhm. Well. We go over and we’re like,

‘What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is Ralts hurt?’ But no. Instead he starts yelling at us to give him his bag, and he won’t answer when we ask what’s going on. So we just fling his bag over and he’s all panicky, and he doesn’t even look and he throws a Pokeball at Aron. But it doesn’t work. Obviously. And Aron escapes and starts to run.”

“Yes, of course, I’d run too.” Astrid nods, unhelpfully. Janine scoffs.

“And instead of battling it again, like a logical human being, Adrian throws another Pokeball. Which doesn’t work. And he continues this maybe 4 more times before finally throwing a Great Ball.”

“Why on Arceus’s green Earth would you do that?” Janine turned to the boy in question.

“Aron has a Secret Ability!” Adrian said, showing them his Pokedex.

“Secret Ability?”

“You know how Pokemon have abilities?” Sheyla began. Janine nodded.

“Arroz has Static as her ability.”

“Arroz? Who the- Actually, nevermind. Anyway, Secret Abilities are just really rare abilities that a certain Pokemon species may have. For Aron species in particular, their secret ability is Heavy Metal, meaning they become heavier in battle. Most Pokemon have Hidden abilities that make it so that they have a better advantage in battle.”

“I heard about Hidden Abilities before in school, but I didn’t think we’d actually meet a Pokemon with one!” Astrid said in wonderment. Kayla had a similar look as they inspected Aron thoroughly.

“I wonder if any of our Pokemon have a Secret Ability.” Kaytlyn thought out loud.

“I wouldn’t even know the difference.” Janine admitted. She turned her attention back to Adrian, “So about that battle…” Adrian nodded in excitement and was about to set the terms before Astrid interrupted.

“Woah, woah, woah! I’d just like to remind you that I haven’t gone to the Aquarium yet!”

“Literally no one cares.” Adrian gave her a harrowing look. Astrid glared right back.

“You can wait. I’ve wanted to go to the Aquarium since the first day we got to this sandy purgatory! Listen. You two can battle after we visit the aquarium.” She turned to Kayla and Andrea and began to drag them along, “Before something ridiculous happens and Team SubZero decides to blow up a daycare or something.” Sheyla watched the coordinator drag her friends along before a thought struck her.

“Who’s Team SubZero?” Janine took a double-take.

“You haven’t encountered them yet?”

“It doesn’t really matter, they’re just a bunch of Pokemon stealing weirdos in parkas.” Kaytlyn said dismissively.

Adrian nodded sagely. “Like Team Rocket.”

They have him a look.“Who’s Team Rocket?”

“This group back in the 90s that- actually nevermind it doesn’t matter. Just follow them before they get themselves run over.”

~*~*~*~*~

Turns out saving Pokemon from being kidnapped comes with its perks. When they started to pay for their tickets, the lady at the ticket booth had told them ‘It was already taken care of’ and told them to pass right through.

Andrea eyed the ticket booth in suspicion.“Did you somehow join the mafia in the time we’ve been gone?”

“More like stopped the mafia.” Kayla corrected, “We got Team SubZero to back off yesterday, so I’m guessing this is their way of saying thank you.”

“You keep mentioning this Team SubZero.”

“Bruh. We met them the first day we started our journey!” Astrid began her over dramatized tale of rescuing the twins, much to their chagrin.

“You never finished that story back in Rocens, you know.”

“I was nervous for my contest.” She shrugged. Janine narrowed her eyes.

“So you mean to tell me that they never crossed paths with you guys once?”

“Nope!”

“We’ve crossed with them twice! And they’ve tried to kill us both times!” Astrid exclaimed. Kayla could only offer a long-withering sigh.

“Coincidence?”

She glared up at the sky just long enough to avoid permanent eye damage. “Arceus is playing some huge trick and is laughing his plates off right now.”

“Wait a minute! Backtrack!” Adrian paused in front of her, “What do you mean tried to kill you?”

“Uh. Kind of? The first time there was this Ciela woman who wanted to catch the twins and she took their Pokemon too.” Janine thought back.

Astrid giggled. “Then we destroyed her stupid machine.”

“Yeah, and then she wanted to freeze-dry us with her Froslass!”

“Don’t be stupid. Froslass can’t learn Freeze-Dry.” Kayla gave her a grin.

“You’re all surprisingly calm about facing a criminal organization.” Sheyla pointed out.

“Oh, it’s never calm. Every minute it feels like I’m about to either cry, punch someone, or a mix of both.” Kaytlyn grimaced, “It’s not fun.”

“Either we’re suppressing our trauma, or we’re sociopaths.” Kayla glanced at her phone, “At least according to Google.”

“Or you’re adrenaline junkies with hero complexes.” Sheyla suggested. Janine considered for a moment before agreeing dejectedly. Astrid let out a loud gasp and dragged Kayla through to a glow-in-the-dark display.

“Kayla! Check out these Tentacool!”

“I already saw them- Stop pulling on me!”

Kaytlyn heaved out a sigh before following her sister. “Sweet Arceus.”

The group slowly crept through the aquarium, stopping frequently to marvel at the different types of Water-Type Pokemon that called the aquarium their home. Janine had to admit that there were details she hadn’t noticed before when she was running around looking for culprits. The silence was broken every few moments when someone would crack a joke or had an interesting fact to share.

The teens followed each exhibits, until they had gone through the entire building, exiting in the courtyard. From there, it was of little argument where to go, as they all agreed that it would be most interesting to watch one of the upcoming shows.

Their curiosity led to a designated pool area that was surrounded by glass, likely to keep people from getting too close to the Pokemon. There were hardly any people sitting in the arena, maybe two or three adults and the rest were staff who were easily recognizable in yellow polos.

Next to the pool was a platform where a man in a wetsuit was standing with his arms crossed staring down at a group of round blue Pokemon.

Janine took out her Pokedex and scanned the Water-Types.

“Spheal, the Clap Pokemon. Spheal always travels by rolling around on its ball-like body. When the season for ice floes arrives, this Pokémon can be seen rolling about on ice and crossing the sea.”

“It’s so round…” Kayla looked at the Pokemon with wide eyes. The group of Spheal clapped enthusiastically, some rolling around dumbly. A single Spheal was the outlier of the group far away, and refusing to even get close. The Pokemon began to practice some sort of routine, each taking turns bouncing a beach ball to each other. In a word, it was one of the cutest displays they’d ever seen. Until it was the last one’s turn.

The Spheal smacked the ball back with more force than necessary, bonking one of the others in the face.

“Spheal, come on! Please cooperate for once!”  The trainer pleaded to no avail as the Spheal absolutely ignored him. “Spheal!”

“Woah, that Spheal really doesn’t want to listen to him.” Astrid whistled, pressing closer to the foggy glass. Kayla nodded.

“Maybe it doesn’t want to do their routine?” she suggested. The Spheal bounced closer to one of the others and promptly smacked it so hard that it rolled backwards into the water. “Or. Maybe it’s just mean.”

The man seemed to be at wits end as the Spheal bounced/rolled around causing chaos amongst the others.

“Spheal it’s not that hard! Bounce the ball!” The handler seemed to try a different approach, giving a nervous laugh as he gently tossed the ball in said Pokemon’s direction. The Spheal gave him an angry look at smacked the ball back again. The handler barely caught it. Spheal opened its mouth and began to form a ball of ice.

Sheyla recognized the move immediately. “That’s Ice Ball!” The handler seemed to notice and thankfully dodged the first time. However, he wasn’t so lucky the second time and was knocked backwards.

“Shouldn’t someone intervene?” Andrea looked around nervously and spotted some of the staff ignoring the scene in front of them, or maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal?

“Woah, let’s talk about this!” The handler scrambled backwards as another Ice Ball shot past his face.

“I think we should intervene!” Adrian said, prompting his friends to run to the glass door on the side that read ‘Employees Only’. The teens pushed their way past each other through the narrow door. Kaytlyn was the first to throw a Pokeball out.

“Charmander, use Ember!” Her Fire-Type released a barrage of small fires at the Ice Ball, throwing it off it’s trajectory and down to the tiled floor. Andrea helped the man up while Kaytlyn faced down with the angry Pokemon. The Spheal stared down Charmander with a surprising amount of ferocity. The Spheal let out a bark and began to roll towards Charmander at an alarmingly fast pace. The lizard hopped to the side to avoid the attack.

“That was Rollout!” Astrid exclaimed as the group parted to avoid the still rolling Pokemon. She threw down a Pokeball, “Vulpix use Fire Spin to keep it in place! Wait- but not too strong!”

The fire fox popped out and released flames from its mouth that quickly formed a circle of fire around the spheal, a muted version of it’s usual fire tornado. The Spheal rolled in place inside the fire circle for a few moments before rolling out, completely oblivious to the flames. Astrid let out a shriek and scooped Vulpix out of the way.

“Charmander, use Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a collection of orange energy in its mouth and released it towards the Spheal resulting in a cloud of dark smoke. When the Water-Type came into view, it seemed injured, but continued to glare at Charmander as if it wanted to continue fighting. Charmander let out a growl and Spheal’s glare faltered for a moment.

“That’s it! Spheal, return!” The handler recalled Spheal back to its Pokeball. The man sighed heavily before turning to the teens, “I’m sorry for Spheal’s behavior.”

“Is it usually like this?” Andrea asked warily. He sighed again.

“Unfortunately, yes. Spheal’s been causing trouble for the Aquarium for quite some time. Because of that, Spheal is the only Pokemon here that needs to be in a Pokeball.”

Sheyla looked up from where she was staring at a snoozing Spheal. “Is Spheal originally from the wild?” “No.” He replied, “Spheal was hatched and raised here in this Aquarium. We have no idea where he learned how to battle though.” He rubbed the back of his head, “He’s been picking fights with the other Pokemon, so we couldn’t have him in any exhibits. Similarly, he struck out in the petting zoo…”

“You let him around children?”

“Yeah, that was a mistake. This Spheal show is the last chance we have for him.”

“What do you mean last chance?” Kayla gave him a curious look.

“Well, if Spheal can’t live in the Aquarium, we either send him somewhere else or we release him to the wild. Because Spheal is so volatile, they’re leaning towards the latter.” 

Sheyla narrowed her eyes. “Don’t Pokemon raised in captivity die in the wild?”

“Wait they do?!” Kayla’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“Pokemon that are raised in captivity aren’t used to life in the wild; They don’t know how to hunt  or protect themselves. It’s almost as if their natural survival instincts have been wiped away completely. Unless a Pokemon is exceptionally strong, it’s not advisable to send them into the wild on their own.”

“That’s cruel! Why would they be leaning towards that option?”

“Because Spheal’s built up a reputation as being difficult with other people and Pokemon. None of the Breeding Centers and Aquariums we’ve contacted want him.” The handler glanced down at the Pokeball in his hands. “We can’t find anyone who can handle him, and he’s purposely been messing up the shows by trying to fight everything in the immediate vicinity. Including me. The most we can do is hope that when we release Spheal, he’ll be caught by some nice trainer.”

“Or…” Adrian cut in, “You could cut out the middle and just give Spheal to a trainer directly.”

Astrid gave him a look. “What trainer could control Spheal?” She held her hand up, “And don’t say you.”

“Pff, no! I already have a Water-Type. I meant Kaytlyn.”

“What? Me?” Kaytlyn and Charmander had been half-heartedly been listening to the conversation until her name was called.

“Well, yeah. You got Spheal to back off long enough for its handler to call it back to its Pokeball. I’m sure you could handle it.” He gave her a pat on the back as if it was any consolation.

“That’s right! You took on Romeo and beat him despite the type disadvantage! You’d totally be able to handle a water type!” Astrid joined in, blatantly ignoring Kaytlyn’s motions for her to shut up. The twin turned to Janine in the hopes that she’d stop them.

“...You might be able to teach Spheal to calm down. You’re pretty calm in most situations.”

“No I’m not!”

“You have to admit that Spheal gives you a tactical advantage. Spheal would give you an advantage over Rock-Types and Ground-Types. Which are strong against Charmander.” Sheyla added. 

Kaytlyn turned to her Charmander who was staring up at her intently. “What do you think? Would you be okay with another Pokemon on our team?” Charmander seemed to consider a moment before letting out a happy sort of growl, letting the flame on its’ tail grow larger. “Well if you’re okay with it…”

“You seem to be a strong trainer. I’m trusting you with Spheal okay? So… take good care of him.” The handler gently placed the Pokeball in her cupped hands. “I should go practice the routine with the others, so good luck with Spheal!” The handler said brightly, leading the Spheal herd away through a door.

“So… what now?”

~*~*~*~*~

With the aquarium trip cut short, the teens sat out in the grass outside the Pokemon Center, lounging on the grass in various states of relaxation. Kind of.

“Kaytlyn, just let it out!” Kayla was thoroughly done with her sister.

“No! It’s going to attack me or something!”

“Then I’ll do it for you!” Kaytlyn dodged her sisters hands before she could grab the Pokeball. “Why are you so scared? Charmander is right there.”

Astrid looked up. “We could all let our Pokemon out if that helps.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Janine placed her hand on the Coordinator’s shoulder to keep her from releasing her Chikorita. “If there are too many Pokemon around it might get intimidated and then it’ll actually attack.”

Astrid let out a groan, “Then do something already! We didn’t even get to see the petting zoo area!” She threw a short twig at Kaytlyn in annoyance.

The girl gave her a dirty look before taking a deep breath. Charmander cooed in support while the other trainers backed up significantly.

“Here goes.” Kaytlyn flung the Pokeball into the air and tensed up. When Spheal materialized in front of them it immediately looked around and began to glare at Charmander. She quickly stepped between them, blocking their glares. “I’m just gonna cut in here, Spheal, I’m your trainer.”

“Way to rip off the bandage!” Kayla teased from her safe spot behind Janine. Kaytlyn sighed and knelt down to offer her hand to the Pokemon.

“Listen, we didn’t start off on the best terms, but I hope we can work together.” The Water-Type gave her an unimpressed look and turned away huffily.

“Maybe Spheal is still mad at you and Charmander.” Andrea tried.

“At this point I think it’s less that Spheal’s holding a grudge and more that this is just how he acts.”

“Oh That’s right!” Adrian nodded, “Spheal didn’t even listen to his handler!”

“You two need some bonding exercises.” Astrid suggested, “Why don’t you play a game?”

“What game do you play with a Pokemon?” Adrian wrinkled his nose.

“Ducklett, Ducklett, Yungoos?” She tried.

“No.”

“Rowlet’s funny. That’s why we get along. ” Kayla mentioned. Adrian looked at her and decided to offer his advice as well.

“My Pokemon and I have a common goal: to be the strongest team in all of Niacal.”

“Ooh, same!” Astrid gave him a hi-five, “But also Chikorita, Vulpix, and I have a lot in common personality-wise.”

“So what I’m getting from this is to have a common goal, find what we have in common, and try to find a good personality trait.”

“Yeah.”

“Basically.”

She sighed again. Janine thought for a moment.

“You battle.” Janine paused, “Or share a life-threatening experience. That’s how it worked for Arroz and Pollo.”

(“She still hasn’t explained why they’re named after food.” Andrea muttered to Sheyla.)

“Wanna re-enact the Mightyena attack?” Kaytlyn gave her a sarcastic look.

“No, but battling is actually a really good idea!” Sheyla said, “In fact it’s probably what’s gonna help you and Spheal learn more about each other! There’s a whole study about how battling strengthens the bond between Trainers and Pokemon and helps them grow!” At this, Spheal suddenly rose to attention, growing more interested the longer he heard about battling other Pokémon.

“Yeah, but who wants to battle Spheal?” Kayla asked. No one volunteered until Janine spoke up.

“I know I promised to battle Adrian today, but actually, Adrian, would you mind battling Kaytlyn and Spheal instead?” “It’s good with me, but you’re going to have to battle me next time.” Adrian said, pushing himself up off the grass. “I assume you’ll be using Spheal for this?” Kaytlyn faltered for a moment.

“I’m… not so sure… Spheal will hardly listen to what I have to say.”

“Then start off with Charmander. Having Spheal watch the battle would mean he’d understand how the battle works first.” Kayla said. Astrid let out a few condescending scoffs before pulling Kayla back by her shoulder.

“Actually, it would be better for Spheal to experience the battle with Kaytlyn. They’d get a first hand experience at a partnership.”

“And Spheal could also completely ignore Kaytlyn and do whatever it wants getting itself, Kaytlyn, or other people and Pokemon in the process.”

“Kayla, I can watch the Olympics for a week straight. It doesn’t mean I can do backflips! You can’t learn it just by watching- Especially not with battling. Besides, it’s just a practice battle. You act like they’re facing the League.”

“People could get hurt!”

“Yes. And?”

“What?”

“I thought we’ve already gone over this: I don’t care about people.”

“Wha- Astrid!”

“Kayla!” she mocked.

“Or?” Sheyla stepped to intervene, “They could double battle. That literally combines both your solutions. You’re both stupid.”

Adrian swept stray grass off his pants and stood in a battle-ready stance. The twin gave him a look before turning to the Pokedex Janine had stuffed into her hands. It said that Spheal’s known moves were Ice Ball, Water Gun, Encore, and Rollout.

“So I’ll just avoid the obvious type disadvantage. Go! Marshtomp and Ralts!”

“I told you it evolved!” Kayla pointed out to her travelling companions.

“Janine, I don’t mean to alarm you, but if Adrian’s your rival, then maybe you should invest in some Grass-Type Pokemon.” Andrea stage whispered, causing the teen to let out a sigh in acceptance. Astrid took the opportunity to scan Adrian’s evolved starter.

“Marshtomp, The Mud Fish Pokemon. This Pokémon plays in mud on beaches when the ocean tide is low. Living on muddy ground that provides poor footing has made its legs sturdy.”

“Charmander, Spheal! Let’s go!” Surprisingly, Spheal was compliant, easily hopping up next to Charmander, giving a somewhat intimidating stare to Marshtomp.

“Ralts, start us off with Magical Leaf!” Ralts raised its hands above its head, summoning up a group of glowing green leaves. Ralts threw his hands down sending the leaves spiralling towards Spheal.

“Use Ember to burn that up!” Charmander hopped in front of Spheal and shot bolts of fire at the offending leaves, burning them up to ash.

“Marshtomp, Mud Bomb!” Marshtomp dug its arms (fins?) into the ground and hurled a blob of mud at the Fire-Type who was left momentarily defenseless. Kaytlyn opened her mouth to command Spheal, but hesitated a moment too late, unsure that Spheal would even bother listening. Spheal took action for her and formed an ice ball and throwing it back, countering the attack before it could hit.

“Have more confidence in your Pokemon!” Kayla cheered from the sidelines.

“Spheal reacted before Kaytlyn did. Interesting.” Sheyla hummed, “And Spheal countered the Mud Bomb just as Charmander did with the Magical Leaf.”

“He’s learning!” Janine marvelled, “He’s a natural battler.”

Spheal reared back and prepared another ice ball to throw at Ralts.

“Spheal, wait!” Kaytlyn called out. Spheal paid her no mind and shot the Ice Ball anyway.

“Ralts use teleport!” Ralts popped out of existence for a moment dodging the ice, leaving Spheal both confused and vulnerable to attack. “Marshtomp, use Tackle!” Marshtomp let out a cry and moved to throw itself onto the Spheal with full force. Spheal panicked for a split second

“Block that with Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a small amount of orange energy in its mouth and shot it out at Marshtomp, not hitting it, but preventing it from continuing its’ attack. This bought Spheal enough time to bounce away from the Marshtomp in the chaos.

Janine leaned over to Sheyla and Andrea.

“Kaytlyn isn’t going to win this is she?”

“Nope.” Sheyla didn’t bother to take her eyes off of the field.

“No, she isn’t.” Andrea cast an amused glance to the side, “Marshtomp is an evolved Pokemon with a double advantage against Charmander. And Ralts knows a Grass-Type move.”

“What’s important is that Spheal learns to that Pokemon Battles aren’t just about fighting.” Sheyla explained. “Battles are about showcasing the bond between Trainer and Pokemon.”

Andrea nodded, “That’s why Adrian’s holding back on attacking. He wants Spheal to realize that. Or maybe he’s getting a feel for the battle before destroys them… Either way.” She shrugged.

“That’s kinda… brutal…” Janine turned back to the practice battle.

“Charmander, use Scratch!” Charmander aimed its claws at the Marshtomp but was easily blocked. Most of Charmander’s moves would be useless either way, the most she could do was use Smokescreen to buy time-

“Use your other Pokemon!” Kayla yelled out to her, “Idiot.”

“What?!”

“Ralts, use Confusion on Charmander!” Ralts’ eyes were glowing blue under its bangs while Charmander seemed to have a blue outline. Without warning, Charmander was flung backwards into the dirt. “Marshtomp use Tackle again!” Marshtomp nodded in assent and threw itself at the Ice-Type Pokemon. Without Charmander to help defend, her only option was… Kaytlyn threw caution to the wind and took a chance.

“Spheal, use Rollout!” Spheal had no hesitation as it began to rapidly roll and landed the first actual hit in the battle, slamming into Marshtomp’s stomach. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn with a happy expression on his face. “Great Job!” She received a happy bark in response.

“It listened to her!” Janine let out a happy whoop and clapped a bit in encouragement.

“Marshtomp use Water Gun!” Marshtomp puffed its’ orange cheeks up then released a strong stream of water at Charmander. Kaytlyn looked to the Pokedex in her hand before deciding her next move.

“Charmander, use Ember to counter! Full Power!” Charmander glanced back at her with a ludicrous expression but followed her direction and shot out at the water. The Fire-Type move didn’t do much, barely keeping the strong water at bay. “Great! Spheal use Rollout on Ralts!” Spheal got a flopping start and spun its way over to the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, use Teleport to get out of there!” Ralts easily popped out of view for a few moments, allowing him to dodge Spheal’s attack. Ralts reappeared in the same spot, confident in having dodged the attack.

“Come back!” Kaytlyn let herself grin watching her half-formulated strategy come to fruition. Like a yo-yo, Spheal rolled in place for a moment before rolling back in the same direction, hitting the unsuspecting Ralts. “One more time!” Spheal stopped for a second before changing direction and hitting Marshtomp who was busy fending off Charmander’s full strength Ember. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn, clearly satisfied with his accomplishment.

“That was so cool!” Astrid skipped over to shower the clearly uncomfortable Spheal to shower it with head scratches.

“You can’t just- This is a battle!” Adrian yelled from his side of the field. The coordinator didn’t even spare him a glance as she scratched behind the Water-Type’s ear.

“Practice Battle. We both know that if you really wanted to battle Kaytlyn, you wouldn’t have deliberately focused on one Pokemon at a time.”

“He was what?” Kaytlyn turned to her opponent in question. He shrugged unapologetically.

“I wasn’t about to straight up destroy the Pokemon you just got. I’m not stupid. You needed to build trust.” He rolled his eyes.

“Wow. Adrian being prepared. What a scholar.” Sheyla teased. He ignored her determinedly, even when the others joined in. Meanwhile Kaytlyn crouched down to Spheal’s level.

“So, Spheal, do you wanna stay on my team?”

Spheal gave her a funny look, like he was asking something. Kaytlyn mirrored the look before deciding to just explain in general.

“I’m aiming to be a Top Trainer here in Niacal. Maybe even the Champion given enough training. There’ll be plenty more battles like that, and you can grow stronger with me and Charmander. We work together as a group. So?”

Spheal gave some aggressively enthusiastic barks, clapping its’ fins against its’ round stomach.

“I’m assuming that’s a yes.” Kaytlyn gave another grin and scratched its’ head in thanks. When she dragged her attention back to the group, Adrian was discussing tomorrow’s activities.

“Tomorrow I’m taking on Romeo. Are you guys staying to watch it?” Astrid made a hissing sort of sound.

“Yikes. We’re kinda leaving tomorrow morning…”

“Are you serious? Every time?!”

“I don’t know, if you’re upset ask Mew for advice. Anyway, we’ll be heading to Silkgem for Janine’s second badge.” Kayla explained. She glanced at her other friend, “And probably stopping at any and all contests for Astrid. I can almost guarantee that you’ll catch up in a day or two.”

“If we don’t run into trouble.” Janine sighed, “Our battle is postponed again.”

“I don’t get it, why can’t we battle now?”

“For one, your Pokemon are exhausted and second, you should probably rest for tomorrow’s Gym Battle. Just a suggestion.”

“Also, Janine has the Harbor Badge and you don’t. If you ask me it’s kind of unfair since she has more badges than you.” Astrid cut in, clearly hoping to rile him up. She clearly succeeded if his indignant tone was any clue.

“Oh shut up!”

“On the upside,” she continued, “We can finally have that sleepover we didn’t get to have in Rocens city. We can make face masks!”

“Please don’t make face masks.” Janine groaned, causing her friends to laugh.

Narrator: With a new friend by her side, Kaytlyn begins to build her Pokemon team! With adventure just beyond the horizon, what will our heroes face next?

The entire group was sitting in a room that was clearly too small to house them. There were two bunks on either side. The bottom bunks held Sheyla, Andrea, Astrid and Adrian while Janine and the twins opted to sit on the floor rather than cram themselves onto the Pokemon Center beds. After their 4th round of Uno they began to calm down and were leisurely throwing down cards without any real malice. A thought crossed Janine’s mind as she threw down a Red Two.

“No seriously, you’ve never met team SubZero?” Janine asked seriously. Andrea shook her head while Popplio gave tilted its head.

“Not once.”

“Huh.”

“If you do, try to stop them from whatever it is they’re doing. It’s probably going to be nefarious and involve destruction.” Astrid brushed her Vulpix’s tail while he obediently sat still.

“Honestly.”

“It’s so weird though, what are their goals? Why drill in the forest? Why poach Pokemon and go through all the effort to kidnap them again?” Sheyla pointed out, “And why would that guy let you go?” She motioned to Janine.

“He said something about truths and ideals; Honestly I blanked out.” She shrugged.

“And why hire other people to do the poaching when they could clearly do it themselves?”

“The poachers said they were offering lots of money too.”

“It doesn’t add up!”

“You know what does? This Wild Draw Four!” Astrid howled, breaking the tense silence. Kayla who was next to sighed and accepted the cards with slight grumbling as the game heated up again and the topic was almost completely forgotten.

[dontfindyourcenter]

Chapter 9/Trial 3:  Trial hard with a vengeance

Rules: https://dontfindyourcenter.tumblr.com/post/177027661290/rules

Previous Chapter: https://dontfindyourcenter.tumblr.com/post/177417565235/chapter-8trial-2-grass-and-electric-boogaloo

Ok guys, I know I’m meant to go to the Battle Royal Dome.  I know the game spent a whole lot of the last chapter name dropping the Battle Royal.  I know that I am, eventually, going to have to go into the Battle Royal Dome.

But I don’t have to go in yet.  And that makes me kind of curious!  Since the very beginning of this game, I’ve been unable to wander too far ahead of the plot development in front of me.  When I had to go to the trial on Brooklet Hill, two unbattlable Sudowoodo stood in the way of route 6; when I first touched down in Heahea City, a man riding a Stoutland blocked the way to the other half of Heahea City; and I can hardly think of a single pathway from one part of Melemele Island to another that wasn’t originally blocked off by either a tauros, a barrier, or the disembodied voice of an NPC.  So with nobody blocking off the alley leading away from the Battle Royal Dome, how far can I actually go without going in?

All the way to the top of Wela Volcano Park, as it turns out!  It’s only when I get to the gates of the third trial when someone finally says “uh, you can’t go in here, you have to have a cutscene introducing the trial captain after the Battle Royal first.”  I’m glad the game is starting to recognise that it doesn’t need to hold the player’s hand quite so tightly, and I celebrate my freedom by picking up all the items I can find both inside the Volcano Park and in the watery area outside on route seven, including the TMs for Thunder Wave and Rock Tomb..  Poor Hau and Gladion are probably going bored out of their minds waiting for me to turn up, and I don’t care one bit.

All right, I think that’s everything.  Let’s see what this Battle Royal fuss is about, shall we?

Oh yeah - the Masked Royal is here to inject the game with campy fun!  Something that I really enjoy about this game is that - as far as I’m aware - his true identity is technically never revealed.  Oh, a lot of people in the game make some wild accusations about it being Professor Kukui, but apart from the two characters sharing their skin colour, little goatee, signature pokemon, and habit of baring their chests… there’s no actual proof.  Ok, also I guess they reveal later in the game that Kukui owns a mask that looks identical to the Masked Royal’s one, but what, are we meant to believe wrestling merch isn’t a thing in this world?  Headcanon:  Kukui is just a massive fanboy of the Masked Royal’s.

The Masked Royal ropes me, Hau and Gladion into a battle royal, then says “and now we have our foursome.  Woo!”  Please don’t call it that, mister Royal, you’re a barely-clothed grown man talking to a group of children.

Anyway, the Battle Royal starts, with Hedwig going toe to toe with Royal’s rockruff, Gladion’s type:null and Hau’s brionne.  Having met Hau before, I know that he’s the weakest player here, so I focus all my attacks on his brionne.  His brionne faints.  The Battle Royal is over.  What a terrible introduction to a cool new feature of the game.

And having finished that, we get the cutscene with Trial Captain Kiawe I was promised!  The camera immediately focuses on his bare chest, where it becomes apparent that he’s wearing a necklace in the shape of a games console’s “+” control pad.  Dude, we get it, you’re a gamer.

I’ve already pointed out how much of an edgelord Gladion is, and he’s at it again here, doing a whole monologue about he and his pokemon have to make it on while covering half of his face with his hand.  “Oh no the disembodied hand from before is back and it wants my eye!  Flee!  Flee for your lives!”  Even Hau picks up on how over-the-top it all is, calling him a “ray of sunshine” as he walks away.  I get the feeling there’s probably a lot of fanfiction about those two.

All that done, my pokemon have been fully healed.  Don’t know who did that or when, but I’ll take it.  And just in time for the third trial, too!  To Wela Volcano Park, everyone!

Since I can remember that this trial doesn’t let you switch the order of your team around between battles, I put Celine McQueen the Slowpoke in first position, because I think she’ll have the best chance against the totem pokemon.  In the meantime, though, I don’t want her getting tired out, so I switch her out to other members of my party to take care of the non-totem pokemon.

First up is a dancing alolan marowak, and since it’s part ghost type, I switch to Jabba the alolan grimer.  Jabba does a fair bit of damage by biting it, but here’s the bit I stupidly overlooked; it’s a marowak.  That means it knows Bone Club.  That leaves Jabba on less than half health.  Correctly assuming that the marowak will use Bone Club again, I switch to Hedwig, who’s immune to ground type moves, and since he outspeeds marowak, he’s able to finish the marowak off with no trouble.

Next up, the internet’s favourite photobombing Hiker, who sends out a magmar.  My initial response is to send out Wash the trumbeak, since he’s a strong pokemon that is nevertheless unlikely to be particularly useful in the totem battle.  The magmar thwarts me, though, by continuously using smokescreen until Wash’s moves have no chance of hitting at all.  Frustrated, I apply a super potion to Jabba and send him out again, and he’s able to beat the magmar with a couple of Rock Tombs.

Finally, the totem Salazzle!  Her aura flares to life and boosts her special defense, which frankly stops Celine being quite the secret weapon I was hoping for - the only psychic- and water-type moves she currently knows are both special attacks, and her special attack isn’t her best stat to begin with.  I think this battle’s going to be a toughie.  She starts things off with a Toxic attack, while Celine uses yawn, and then a wild salandit gets summoned to join in the fun.  Feeling like Celine might be more useful later on now that she’s already yawned, I switch out Nina.  It’s a good thing I do too, because the salandit uses venoshock, which does double damage on poisoned targets.  

Nina can take a hit, though, and now the totem is asleep, so she doesn’t have to worry about being hit by toxic.  I decide that it might be useful to use sand-attack a couple of times, hoping that I’ll get the totem’s accuracy low enough by the time she wakes up that I won’t have to worry about Toxic quite so much.  No such luck though, because the supporting salandit uses taunt, stopping me from using any other status moves.  I use rock throw instead, and end up doing quite a bit of damage before she wakes up and uses toxic.  Luckily, the salandit only uses poison gas, which is useless with Nina already poisoned.  Still, time to switch out to someone new, I think.

I choose to send out Wash, the only pokemon on full health without a major weakness against my opponents.  It’s at this point that the single sand-attack I managed to use earlier surprisingly pays off; Salazzle’s attack misses, and Wash is able to use two whole attacks against it during his time in battle.  Even better, one of those moves is pluck, so I can rob the Salazzle of an advantage I didn’t even know it had - a Petaya berry, which (had it not been stolen) would have raised her special attack as a result of that very hit.

Less fortunately, Wash is only on 8 HP now, so I have to switch pokemon again.  I’m quickly learning that this is a pretty major disadvantage when you’re facing two pokemon against one, since it gives both opponents a free move.  So even though the salazzle won’t be able to take another hit, the pokemon I switch in will have to be able to take four hits in order to deal that finishing blow (unless it manages to outspeed the salazzle, but the only pokemon likely to do that is Hedwig, who definitely can’t take three hits from these guys).  Since both my opponents seem to mostly use poison-type moves, I think my best bet is Jabba.

I was wrong. Salazzle uses Flame Burst and it does much more damage than I was expecting, and salandit uses scratch.  Jabba faints.  ...That’s not great.

Ok, wait, maybe I can use a revive and still salvage this.  Celine might be poisoned, but she’s on nearly-full health.  If I let out Celine and use the revive, she’ll still be able to take two hits, and then I’ll be able to switch pokemon to someone else and be really sure that salazzle won’t use flame burst, because that’s a terrible move to use on a slowpoke.  It’ll be ok.  Here we go.

I was wrong again guys, venoshock did more damage that I was expecting too, Celine dies.  Fuck.  

I guess it’s time to accept that not everyone is going to make it out alive.

Resigned to that fate, I actually manage to finish the battle without all that much trouble.  With Celine dead, I’m able to send out Hedwig without giving the other two any free moves.  Hedwig doesn’t outspeed the salazzle in the end, but does manage to evade her attack and finish her off.  At this point, I realise that I actually already know all four of the salandit’s moves and none of them are fire-type moves, so I switch in Digit Al, who beats it easily.  But with Celine dead, it’s a bittersweet victory.  I’ll really have to train more before the next trial.  Sorry, Celine McQueen.  

Still, on the plus side, the average quality of my team’s nicknames has just shot up.

Weird plot hole here, by the way.  Kiawe says “the totem pokemon was carrying a firium z.  It is yours now.”  That’s a bare-faced lie!  The totem was carrying that petaya berry, and even totems can’t carry more than one item!  What’s that all about?  Still, Kiawe gives me ten quick balls, which should be helpful for catching Celine’s replacement.  I can let him off for telling a weird lie.

On my way out of the mountain, I catch a cubone to fill Celine’s slot in my party.  Since I know she’ll evolve into an alolan marowak, I call her Donna, after the Mamma Mia character.  You see, she’s a dancing queen, and there’s a fire within her soul.  Could have been worse, when all is said and done.

End of chapter 9

[junyuyangsbloggerapp-blog]

My Life and Pokemon

The long road to my current obsession. 

I live my life as a slave to Pokefanaticism. Just when I think I am free—that the lore of Pokemon will no longer excite me—there will be some other aspect of the franchise that will draw me in. I suppose it’s not too unlikely--this franchise has multiple manga storylines, an anime, many movies, and way too game continuities to keep track of. And yet again, for the fourth time, I am drawn in.

Both of these are Pokemon. Semantically, they are the same type. 

A rundown for those who may not have heard of or seen this franchise: Pokemon centers around these creatures called Pokemon. We’re not quite sure if they’re animals, plants, or household objects, because they are all of the above and also dragons.

But  we know is that they are all birds, because they all hatch from eggs.

Even the Ice Cream Pokemon.

Humans and Pokemon have a mostly mutualistic relationship, where they feed and help each other. Humans can catch and train Pokemon to battle each other, a process which is said to help both the human and their Pokemon. The storylines focus on different aspects to varying degrees, thus appealing to more people. It’s very common to find fans who have only played a specific series of the games, or only read the anime, or only played the card game.

My run-in with Pokemon first began in 2006 when I was eight and saw people playing with Pokemon cards. They all seemed like cool and well-adjusted people, so I thought, “Hey, if I play Pokemon, maybe I’ll become cool and well-adjusted too!” I bought some Pokemon cards because they were cute. I still flip through them sometimes.

Little me then set my eyes on the Pokemon games themselves. I really wanted to play Pokemon Emerald, which came out in 2005. It was hot off the griddle and looked absolutely packed with content. (It was. I still assert that it was one of the pinnacles of Pokemon main game development, even if I’ll have to fight one-hundred-and-one people who will try to convince me that ORAS is a better game. Literally, in order to beat some of the optional Emerald endgame content, you had to do calculations and strategize.)

There was only one problem.

My parents don’t believe in American food, Chipotle, Costco cakes, chicken tenders, or video games. They thought the latter would completely derail my life and firmly refused to get any consoles for me.

And so I learned to settle at a young age.

I settled for the anime. You know, the one about Ash, the annoying, forever-ten-years-old kid with the z’s on his face who refuses to evolve his Pikachu because merchandising and publicity said so. 

You might have heard bits of the age-long discussions “Who the heck is his dad?” (because only his mother has ever been revealed, and we don’t think his father died in the War) and “Why is he still ten?” He’s been ten for nearly twenty years now. 

That was a ridiculously childish show, where every episode had the same exact plot except the bad guys got increasingly better at crossdressing. Even 8-year old me could plainly see this and rant about it. The anime is pretty much responsible for many people delegating the entire Pokemon franchise to the “kids only” section of their heads, even though there are many parts of Pokemon that are...not so child-friendly. For instance, in the manga, there’s a scene where the villains kill the protagonist’s father and then decide to burn him so he can’t be revived.

But what the anime did right, and what no other branch of Pokemon has quite successfully captured. is the magic and spontaneity of battle and the vibrance of the Pokemon themselves. Sure, the anime characters are almost all some variation of “good-hearted and way too cheerful”, but they still had heartwarming and unique interactions with their Pokemon. The lack of human focus also allowed for entire episodes based on specific Pokemon and Pokemon families. And they would often showcase rather esoteric Pokemon too, which is great, because when you have hundreds of critters and your franchise only wants to promote the ones everyone already knows about, everyone else tends to slip through the cracks. People will wax lyrical about how Pokemon Adventures (the most well-known manga) brought forth increasingly complex, dark, and trashy plots, but it never really allowed you to observe the cute critters and watch battle mechanics because you would be too focused on whether or not the main character’s really annoying love interest was going to die.

Perhaps some of the introduced plot twists in the anime were rather...lame. Ash gets a badge at some point by accidentally triggering the sprinklers in a Rock type gym. Rock-type Pokemon are weak to water, and so he won. Regardless, that was pretty funny and shows how Pokemon actually interact with their world outside of battle (which may or may not be really violent dog-fighting, depending on who you ask). I quickly became entranced by the cute little mons dancing around, showing off their quirks and abilities, although the formulaic plot and pattern of the episodes easily bored me. You can only watch “Team Rocket shows up, tries to steal Pikachu, and then are lambasted into space” so many times.

Then, in 9th grade, I learned that instead of watching a bunch of too-peppy ten year olds duke it out, I too could take part in this violence. At that time, I was taking Fundamentals of Programming. The class itself was okay, but we were also learning Alice.

Thanks, Carnegie Mellon.

I mean, it wasn’t a bad programming language. It’s drag and drop, and most of the graphics have mansions in the Uncanny Valley, but it is far superior to Scratch. You could make some pretty sophisticated animations and games.

There is only so long you can gaze into the empty eyes of Alice Liddell.

And so we discovered the joys of Pokemon Showdown, a website where you could battle real life people. There are various tiers of battling you can partake in--each tier has its own unique limits on which Pokemon you can use--and the one we always battled in was “Random Battle”, where you and your opponent are both given a completely random, computer-assembled team. It was easy and quick, since we didn’t have to think about team-building (which takes literally eons) at all.

My peers and I became very involved in this. I remember battling out of boredom one day, picking the one-time username of “Grack 331” because Mr. Grack taught Fundamentals of Programming in Room 331. Out of the blue, my opponent messaged me: “Do you go to Troy High School?”

Turned out he was very bored in Robotics class and also indulging in the pleasures of virtual dog-fighting. (Although Generation VI asserts that this helps build a mutualistic bond between you and your Pokemon that will allow them to strip themselves of all humanity and inhibitions. This sounds like BS, but it does sort of hold up--Pokemon with human trainers are able to reach new levels of power. Given that some of Pokemon got the short end of the power stick, that’s pretty important.)

In this era, I became entranced with the complexity of battle mechanics. I learned about movesets, stats, and breeding. All were important considerations in selecting and creating powerful Pokemon who could counter almost everything thrown at them. In Pokemon, there is a concept of weaknesses and strengths. Think of it as a very complex 18-way game of rock-paper-scissors, except you could be rock and paper (and maybe have some scissors DNA lurking in there somewhere), and even if you were only rock, you could probably learn paper-like moves if your father was a piece of paper. Almost every Pokemon, regardless of strength, could be honed into a fine weapon capable of sweeping any opponent. (Well, except for Sunkern.) It was simply intriguing to see the way people play movesets and team compositions to their team advantage. I watched as very savvy battlers set up the field so that a pathetically weak pokemon could overpower opponents of huge power.

I think what ultimately stopped me from getting too into competitive Pokemon battling was the community. Interspersed between all the nice people, you had the hardcore fellows who believed in might over all else and delighted in tearing down others. They’re the kind of people who would go and curse you out if they didn’t like the way you battled, even if they literally didn’t know you at all.  My high school was already toxic enough--I really didn’t need more toxicity in my life. And so the second phase of my Pokefanaticism waned.

The next era came in the summer after 12th grade. Like everyone else, I started playing the darn new-fangled Pokemon Go (PoGo), where Pokemon appear as you walk around. You then throw balls at them and try to walk around more so that you could “catch them all”. I didn’t expect to like PoGo, because it looked like it would lack many of the features which drew me to Pokemon. There was no battling mechanic at all, no real human-Pokemon interactions, and the Pokemon themselves did not do much except engage in very basic battles and roar at you when you tapped them.

In here lay the ingenuity.

The game is so simple that there is literally nothing to distract you from ogling the cute mons. There are some noticeable patterns like “Water Pokemon tend to appear near rivers” and “Ultra Balls are more likely to capture Pokemon than normal PokeBalls”, but you really don’t need to understand very much to enjoy PoGo. Just look at the extremely simple catching mechanic, where you toss balls at Pokemon until one sticks. In the main console games, you have to think about weaknesses, properly trapping Pokemon so that they don’t run, inflicting status conditions like poison and paralysis, and picking the most optimal ball from an assortment of over 20 PokeBall varieties. (Things have gotten better, but PoGo is definitely a “appeal to as many people as possible” sort of game. Though it’s expanded its roster, it still focuses overwhelmingly on Kantan Pokemon and events, even though the last Kanto games Fire Red and Leaf Green came out in 2004. After all, when most older people think of Pokemon, they think of the Pokemon they grew up with, even though a lot of those critters had very clear design issues. These Pokemon happened to be Kantan Pokemon, Generation I.)

Thus, Pokemon Go lured in players who otherwise would have never touched Pokemon. The most hardcore players I’ve met understand all the in and outs of PoGo, but very little about the lore behind it. Heck, I met someone who had no idea that Mega Evolution is a thing, even though it is such a huge part of the games and advertising.

There’s nothing wrong with being a casual player, because I’m a casual fan for many franchises and I can still get a lot of enjoyment out of them. The problem (and why a lot of people are getting increasingly irked by Pokemon’s reattempts at mainstream approval) is when your games get dumbed down and gimmick-fied to appeal to more people. Take, for instance, the recent Pokemon Let’s Go! Series. It’s cute and all, sure. Many fans, me included, would rather see all that effort geared towards Sinnoh (Generation IV) remakes. Sinnoh is a grand region with so much lore and possibly the best Champion of all time. And yet, what do we get? We get another return to the most hackneyed region, because it’s the one everyone grew up with and remembers.

I digress.

No matter how I feel, I inevitably fell. PoGo preyed on me where it mattered. It fed on my love for cute things and targeted my tendency to hoard things. Just look at my nail polish collection.

And before I knew it, I was taking extra long laps around MIT just to get more mileage and losing weight. Sometime in my sophomore year, I discovered the MIT PoGo community. This broadened my horizons. I could now engage in “raids”, where you take down an extra powerful opponent with your “friends”. Just two months ago, I was carefully planning my day so that I could go to important raids. I remember getting my timeslot for an exclusive raid and realizing that it conflicted with a presentation I had to give. So like a normal person, I hunted down one of my friends who was free, carefully arranged teams, and gave my PoGo community the details of his appearance so that they could find him if necessary.

So what snapped me out of my PoGo craze?

I rediscovered the complexity which had drawn me to the franchise in the first place. It all began a week before my second 7.05 exam, when I decided to check out the web series Pokemon Generations (again). It is a 18-episode official webseries, where each episode is five minutes or shorter. Apparently, they couldn’t afford to pay for longer episodes. Unlike the anime I described above, it stuck closely with the game continuity and was definitely darker and grittier without becoming edgy. The animation was also very sharp (whether or not it’s “beautiful” is hotly debated) and detailed.

I’m not sure why I decided to rewatch a series, however short, during this time. Maybe it was to actually view it; the first time around, my involvement dropped drastically after Episode 5. This iteration, I began watching with more attention to detail. In Episode 8, which is an episode that explores, “What if Team Aqua, the evil team that aspires to become global warming and raise sea levels, actually succeeds?” I noticed that someone refer to one of my favorite villains, Shelly, and she looked...very different. 

I expected the one on the left; I got the one on the right.

At first, I thought, “Maybe there is another Shelly,” even though Pokemon takes great pains to not repeat names. A few moments of googling told me, nope, same character. As you can see, Shelly used to be a fiery redhead. This was extremely distinctive, because everyone else on her team was either bald, brunette, or lighter brunette. I loved her when I saw her in the anime, because she was literally the only person during that arc finale who was competent. Her redesign (right above) was also pretty snazzy, but it’s also fairly jarring for someone who wasn’t expecting it.

In my googling, I discovered two things. The first thing was that many of the older Pokemon games got remade, where the plot was rewritten, the regional fauna elaborated upon, and the characters redrawn. The second was that despite these clear differences, and the fact that there are so many main console Pokemon games, all of them (yes, even the originals and the remakes) are supposed to fit into the same continuity.

Here, my foot fell into a rabbit hole. When my friend gave me a copy of the game Pokemon Soul Silver, my entire body sunk in.

 See, all this time, I had never really gotten up to date on the progression of the pokemon universe. We have 7 generations so far—each generation bringing forth a new region and new pokemon—and I had never really learned about anything after Generation IV. Being extremely young back in the day, I learned about the individual regions but never stuck around long enough to learn about their remakes. A lot of game developments also happened in the meantime, and it turned out that the Pokemon universe actually was a collection of Pokemon universes, where each continuity differed by maybe just a few details that eventually became huge life-changing inventions/events. Formerly, we assumed each game was somewhat standalone.

You might have noticed that so far, I haven’t really talked a lot about the humans of the Pokemon world, because I didn’t put too much attention into them. They’re fairly flat battling fodder in the original.  

But with the remakes, due to changes in creative direction, a lot of the humans in the games got more characterization. It was not a lot, just enough for you to feel the presence of a personality growing in there somewhere. And with the realization that their world(s) were so delicate and easily-disturbed came the potential for character development and interactions.

Immediately, I immediately became intrigued by how all my favorite characters back in the day had changed. Some are not too drastic—Clair from Gold, Silver, and Crystal was a...witch that starts with a b back then, and Clair from Heart Gold and Soul Silver (the remakes) is still that. Others are sweeping. Courtney from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald turned from a somewhat sly but also underutilized admin into a mentally unhinged and eccentric scientist who may or may not secretly have psychic powers that allow her to see the results of her actions. (Not that it stops her in pursuing her dangerous goals. Some contest that her visions of the world’s destruction might not actually be visions, but rather, disturbed fantasies. People are weird.)

And here I discovered a perplexing paradox.

I am very character and worldbuilding focused. If I were given a choice between a hardcore plot and really good character interactions, I will always take the latter. The fandoms which have jumped out to me are all fandoms with well-developed characters, even if the plot is weak. My Little Pony, for instance, is very slice-of-life, and many of its attempts to a plot are cliched and clumsy. However, the characters undergo a lot of individual growth and have extremely nuanced interactions that allow me to overlook plot issues.

The Pokemon games have neither a complex plot nor an intense character focus. (Really, the anime doesn’t either. Hence I stopped watching it.) The plot is quite literally: you, as a ten year old (somewhat older in subsequent games), venture out into the world and battle people. Along the way, you get called along to save the world since child endangerment isn’t a thing in this universe. After you defeat the Champion, the strongest trainer in the land, you can catch all the Pokemon that exist in your region. This is a very simple plot. Yes, there’s a lot to catch, and a lot of content and wade through. It still doesn’t change the fact that the trainers are basically fodder for you and that the entire setup is made to appeal to kids. What sort of parent would let their ten year old child wander out into a wilderness where there are threatening creatures in the fucking tall grass? There are so many, many other questions.

Look at this cutie, who you might encounter on your journey. Except its Pokedex entry reads:  “It is whispered that any child who mistakes Drifloon for a balloon and holds on to it could wind up missing.” -Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver

And then one day, as I was playing Soul Silver and trying to decide how some of these characters even functioned, it hit me why I kept coming back to this franchise.

In order for this very simple and formulaic plot to work, the world in which it takes place must be very complex. At the least, it needs to be radically different from ours. The process of understanding this foreign world and how they have adapted is what makes Pokemon so appealing.

Let’s start with an aspect of the Pokemon games that is mildly well-known: the extreme youth of the main character, especially when compared with what you can do. You’re in the early years of your adolescence, and yet you can summon gods while priests and lorekeepers trained to deal with them can’t (ORAS). Sure, this is all the result of a game mechanic that’s supposed to entice younger kids. Real Pokemon training would probably be very dangerous and arduous, because Pokemon are basically dangerous weapons that could kill you. No one wants to play a game about what is basically dog-training but where the dogs are also nukes.

But if the Pokemon world were real, training would be very dangerous and require lots of patience. And most certainly, no one would send out their ten year old into the wild. One can dismiss all of this, rewrite canon for their purposes, or comb through the dialogue and events and develop a reasonable society in which things like this can become accepted.

And so my current obsession is constructing a reasonable and nuanced headcanon where characters are distinct and multidimensional. This is twofold. It is always mind-broadening to see how other people have interpreted the context clues and gotten creative, in the form of fan art, headcanons, and fanfiction.

There is a special whimsy about the Pokemon world which makes it especially appealing despite all the plot voids which exist in it. It is a world of really weird people and really strange life motivations. You have the mishmash of multiple tropes, Chosen Ones who are passed over for you despite being more magical and gifted than you’ll ever be and a lot of heartwarming goodness where you would expect none. People take baths with their venomous Tentacruel, they get their dreams ruined, they drop their balls…what more could you want?

Thanks for letting me know? 

I imagine in a few months, my Pokefanaticism will wane once more. But soon, as more content and more oddities are added, it will flare up again and again. Generation VIII is coming out in late 2018, after all.

[thehallofgame]

Review: Pokemon Blue (3DS Port)

Release: 2016 (original 1999)

My Rating: 8/10

              Pokemon is kind of hard to review given that it’s basically a genre unto itself. However, as I’m a college student going into final exams, I figured I’d give myself a break this week. This is going to be a short piece that basically boils down to: this is a pokemon game. Probably not useful to anyone except someone who’s never played a pokemon and is thinking about starting. So, that’s the head’s up. Without further ado, let’s get into it.

              Given that the battery that supports saved games on all the Gameboy cartridges was rated to give out around now it puts players in a bit of a pickle if they want to revisit the first games in the series. Shockingly, cartridges are still floating around at a reasonable price but it’s a little risky to be gambling on someone’s home repair and the price climbs quickly for more professional jobs. Luckily, for those of us who want to acquire these games legally, some of the early pokemon titles have been ported to the 3DS eShop for 10USD each.

Pokemon Blue is an extremely faithful port of the original Gameboy title with basically no changes, except some reduction of the bright lights and flashing that earned the game its epilepsy warnings back in the day. It’s still black and white, extremely pixel-y, the text is massive on the 3DS screen, and many of the pokemon sprites are downright hideous. So, basically, just like I remember watching over my cousin’s shoulder as a child.

The warts-and-all port, which allegedly includes even the most game-breaking bugs, shows its age very clearly. It also reveals how very little pokemon has changed in its 20 years. The game, like basically all the others, opens with a child waking up in the home of his apparently single mother and being kicked out of the house and away on his pokemon journey. The local pokemon professor provides the player with their choice of three starter pokemon with an elemental affinity of water, fire, or grass. Once they’ve chosen, their rival who’s also starting his pokemon journey at the same time, will inevitably choose the pokemon with elemental advantage against the player’s pokemon. This will be useful to him during the many occasions he shows up to challenge the player to pokemon battles, block their progress and otherwise be a pest.

With their first pokemon in hand, it’s time to experience the dazzling gameplay of a twenty-year-old Gameboy game. Which is… anything but dazzling. There’s no running, only walking, and the bicycle won’t become available for a good while. Which means progress is slow as the player character crawls north to the next town with only one pokemon to their name and without the ability to capture more. Luckily, combat is largely avoidable as wild pokemon are sequestered in patches of grass that can be skirted around for the most part. Opposing trainers are the real problem because they swivel like mounted turrets, and if they catch the player in their range of vision, it’s an automatic pokemon battle.

Opposing trainers often have multiple pokemon, and wild pokemon are always encountered by themselves. Otherwise, the mechanics of both battle styles are the same. The player automatically tosses out the pokemon at the top of the list of six they can carry with them at any one time. As the opponents square up, the player will have their choice of four options: battle, use an item, flee or change pokemon. All of these options are pretty much exactly what they sound like. Items contain healing items and a few items that can be used in combat, such as pokeballs to capture wild pokemon with. Flee allows the player to escape encounters with wild pokemon, but not trainers. Change pokemon will allow the player to change pokemon out in exchange for not being able to perform any combat moves that turn. However, every fielded pokemon gains XP so this becomes a way to train up weak pokemon in high-level zones.

Each pokemon can have up to four combat moves at any one time, though low-level pokemon often have far fewer. As the signature gameplay mechanic of pokemon, battle is where all the game’s complexity lies. Each pokemon has one or two ‘types’ that indicate an elemental affinity or ‘kind’ of animal such as bug, flying, dragon ect. These types are all weak against some types and strong against others, which makes the juggling of pokemon in the player’s party very important. However, not all combat moves reflect type affinities. Many pokemon learn ‘normal’ type moves, or other moves outside their types which allow them to deal damage to types they’re disadvantaged to or hold back on enemies they have advantage over. Some attacks inflict status effects that last until the pokemon is healed, others inflict status debuffs that last only for the battle.

Unfortunately, this is where balance becomes an issue. Status debuffs can easily cripple a pokemon for the duration of a battle. Status effects, particularly poison, are basically death sentences because they will continue to damage pokemon after combat. The player can carry potions and items to fix specific status effects but if a pokemon is reduced to zero HP the player must return to town to heal the pokemon at a pokemon center. In the early stretches of the game when pokemon have low HP, there is little money and potions aren’t always available at stores this means a ton of backtracking to heal felled pokemon.

Training does have its rewards, however. In addition to the occasional new pokemon to send back to a highly illogical computer-based storage system, it repays its grueling necessity with new combat moves for leveling up pokemon. The best reward, and probably the best moment of the game for everyone involved is when a pokemon evolves. After a certain condition is met (typically reaching a certain level) a pokemon will transform into a new, stronger form with higher stats and stronger moves.

Grinding is literally inevitable in pokemon games, especially the early ones. Level progress is quite low against wild pokemon that tend to be lower level than the party’s pokemon, but higher level pokemon and trainers will quickly necessitate visits to the pokemon center. While there is a narrative based on constantly battling through an organized league of trainers and defeating the local pokemon-stealing villains, that feels like a formality. The vast majority of the game is spent crawling around caves, fields, and woods battling endless streams of pokemon, looking for a new one to carefully maneuver down to minimal HP in order to catch.

The way the world is designed feeds into this. Backtracking is constant and most roads are blocked off by obstacles that can only be overcome with special pokemon moves acquired later. This means the player is funneled town to town on an inefficient course they’ll have to re-cover later to collect any missed pokemon because roads are often one-way. The game’s stated mission of: catch every pokemon is all but impossible because of the fact the three starters can only be acquired at the start of the game and only one of each may be acquired per play through. The idea is that players will trade with friends to achieve this, but that alone would take hours upon hours even if the ‘friend’ is just you with a second 3DS and copy of the game.

Ultimately, Pokemon is super grindy and repetitive due to the fact there are only about 100 kinds of pokemon in the first game, many of which aren’t encountered in the wild. But, what pokemon isn’t is hard or taxing in any way. Its simplicity and monotony broken with occasional flashy reward was just the perfect thing for long trips twenty years ago, and the perfect things for quieting the endless panic and despair of a college student today. Pokemon is what it is, and apparently always has been. There’s not a lot of use in critiquing that. But hey, I did it anyway. Now, it’s back to studying math for me, which is just as repetitive but not nearly as fun.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasPlays: Pokemon Blue

Occasionally, I am struck with an urge to play Pokemon. An urge grown from unfulfilled youthful ambitions to catch them all.

In this case, I find myself going all the way back to play Pokemon Blue via the 3DS Virtual Console. Long time followers will note that Blue Version wasn’t my start, but my brother’s, while I had Pokemon Yellow, which was also available on Virtual Console.

But I decided to stick with the firmer canon of the Red/Blue pair. Though I supposed Red from Gen 2 has a team more logical with Yellow, but the anime nods within were dropped, thus, I’m playing Blue version.

It’s surprisingly more difficult than I expected. More recent installments in the franchise have had a relative easy incline for difficulty curves. With Blue, however, I had difficulties starting with the second gym. The game, it seems, really wants to encourage grinding, while most let you skate by with an understanding of type advantage.

After each trainer battle, I find myself dashing off to the nearest PokeCenter to heal back up, carefully switching pokemon in and out to spread the Exp and attempt to prepare for the next gym.

I humored the idea of doing a slightly modified Nuzlocke, where I’d escue the ‘catch only the first pokemon’ rule to try to complete the pokedex. However, it soon became clearly untenable, because of aforementioned frequent trips to Pokemon Centers still not being enough to keep some pokemon alive. It’s a tough challenge, and put bluntly, I don’t have the time to crawl through the tedium of spending hours leveling pokemon in hopes they wouldn’t die every time I stepped in front of a trainer (though, usually I’m the one starting battles. I just like the feeling of such things being on my terms.) I barely have time for playing Blue normally!

So no Nuzlocke for Canvas.

Heck, I remember LeafGreen being easier than what I’m facing now.

The path to Brock, and the rock gym leader himself, was simple enough. I’d selected Squirtle because I usually go with either the water or grass starter, and Bulbasaur has never appealed to me. So a couple Bubble and the Boulder badge was mine. I’d managed to grab a Pikachu in Viridian Forest first thing, so it was my legal mon while considering Nuzlocke. Misty should be easy.

It took me about five attempts to finally get the Cascade Badge, and that was mostly from luck, and spending several hours trying to get a weedle so I can prepare for Sabrina down the line. And the walk to Vermilion was a frequent pattern of ‘Take out a trainer, all the pokemon I’m leveling are too weak, run back to heal, run back to Route 6, take on next trainer, repeat.’

As I write this, I’m slowly fighting through the SS Anne. Why are old video games so tough? I just want to relax and enjoy nostalgia!

It’s also interesting how non intrusive the Team Rocket plot has been. I mean, it’s there when you talk to the right NPCs and battle them in Mt. Moon, but their actual motives remain rather vague, and if, say, you’re a very young child not able to read well and just quickly flipping through text, you might not even realize what’s going on at all. You don’t get dragged into exposition every time you step into town, and, in fact, they don’t even particularly mark where one area ends and another begins, I’m just sort of walking seamlessly off of routes and into towns.

This is more of a intrigued comparison with the old style games to Sun and Moon, where you had an informal party with Hua and Lillie, are pointed to plot points and encounter cut scenes. I’m a narrative first sort of guy, and still wish the Pokemon games had a bit more meat, maybe expand on the Gym Leaders more, but it’s so strange seeing Red just kind of stumbling haphazardly through his story when his successors are placed very intentionally to take down the Big Bad Organization.

And there’s a lot that the player is expected to infer than is outright stated. Such as the arc of Blue, which is either one of humbling an ego or (as I prefer to view it) the further humiliation of a sad, lonely boy.

Beyond that, it’s also fun to see how the world’s changed. There’s a sailor on the SS Anne who mentions jellyfish existing! I wonder how long until Pokemon overtake all fauna in the world?

So I’m going to keep going, excited to get to the end.

Because I have Gold queued next, and that’s where my Nostalgia really kicks my ribs.

Kataal kataal.