#but more importantly i get to go to town to play pokémon go :))

[binch-i-might-be]

I'm outta here in two hours and then I have to wash my hair because I did not do that yesterday for personal reasons (didn't want to) and eat something and maybe get in some work on the valentine's fic and THEN. therapy

[doubleddenden]

Continuing on with this fakemon AU thing, I decided to try a what if team for Ash if he visited the Eldiw region from Xenoverse Per Aspera ad Astra, aka Pokemon Xenoverse. This one was kinda tough all around because there aren't really a lot of new Pokémon. However, sticking with how he usually does things, I decided to just do my best.

As per usual, I made Ash's sprite based a bit on the design for the male MC from the original game. The Pikachu situation is rather interesting this time, but like the other sprites used, I found it in the game's files. I'll elaborate on this below.

But before I do, yall, play Xenoverse. It and Uranium are probably my favorite fan games, and Xenoverse is insanely high quality all around.

Now let's go to cringe town

So the way Ash comes to Eldiw I think will be different. This Ash is on his way to another region via a boat and happens to get caught up in some weird Xenoverse distortions that unleash Sharpedo X upon the ship. It's a massive incident where everyone is saved merely by being caught up in a dimensional portal by Dielibi and taken to another dimension. Upon waking up, Ash finds himself and Pikachu in an unfamiliar place saved by Aster, Kay, and Alice, and most importantly, something is weird about Pikachu after this happens.

Ash learns about the X Pokémon breakouts in the Eldiw region and decides to help out and do some adventuring and gym challenges, all while discovering strange things that are different from his dimension, and searching for a way to go home.

I imagine he travels with both the MCs and Aster, and Pikachu gets along well with both of their X Pikachu from conflicting dimensions. He is determined to help Kay find his missing father, and along the way they meet certain strange Pokemon.

Pikachu (Retro), was afflicted by X energy from the Xeno wormhole that opened and the trip through dimensions. Other than a changed color pallette, Pikachu remains largely the same, except he now has access to a sort of "soft evolution" to a strange creature called Gorochu, in which he gains a massive power boost but loses control of his own power. He is able to transform back, but only after being totally exhausted. In places that weigh heavily with Xenoverse energy, Pikachu can turn somewhat feral, but does his best to fight this. He's still the best boy.

Trishout, Fire/Sound, capable of shifting through Earth, Xeno, and Astro Forms. Kay already has Shulong from childhood, Alice eventually finds Shyleon, and Ash finds Trishout trapped in a hidden Team Dimension hideout where he is rescued. Trishout is a bit of a naughty boy that enjoys pranks and is highly curious about everything. Trishout, as well as Shulong and Shyleon, can ascend forms and become stronger, but still retains this playfulness in battle. He likes to ride Ash's shoulder in base form and gets along famously with Pikachu, but seems to have strange secrets with the others.

Vesperfum (Plant Bat, Grass/Dark) is the reliable flier of the team and decent in a fight as well. Ash caught it after a quick detour to Dorado village, and Aster seems to have taken interest in its line, as well as the lines for Swelephant and Croakraze. Vesperfum in particular is crazy for fruits.

Swelephant (Elephant man, Water/Fighting) started out timid, and even as a fully evolved Pokémon he is afraid of small Pokémon, particularly rat Pokémon, even Pikachu. Vesperfum is more or less Swelephant's emotional support friend, but Swelephant will absolutely wreck things if it needs done or someone is in danger.

Whisteract (Ghost/Fairy) saved Ash and co from a haunted forest by lighting the way. It is very affectionate and acts as sort of the team mother. It especially dotes on Swelephant, and will emphasize the Ghost in ghost type to those that threaten or harm her friends. She came through for the gang during the G.E.I.S.T. incident

Honchen (Dragon) tried to destroy a village after being exposed to too much Xenoverse energy, and Ash just barely managed to catch it to save it. It turns out that Honchen is rather agreeable when in its right state of mind. It is slightly bigger than average, but is actually a tad weak and is a bit insecure. That being said, it has won very important battles, and everyone loves him.

Other than these, I imagine he would have caught a Sharpedo X for Aster to study.

Again, just for fun.

[shhhhyoursister]

okay im gonna post this right before i go to bed because i havent posted new stuff in a while and its like AHH but okay so here is the first of the unfinshied/unedited things ive written, and the first of the two lets say..... niche aus i have.....very niche and very exposing of how much of a loser i am!! 

i mentioned this one a few times and before everything got bad in the world i had so many ideas but here yall go here is my beloved davenzi pokemon au i hope all you other losers enjoy

(also please excuse all the brackets i write things out of order but always need to make notes of what happens in between)

Matteo pushed the door open, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and let out a loud yawn as he stretched an arm over his head. He raised the glass of Pinap juice to his mouth and took a sip, smiling around the rim as he looked out at the large meadow behind his house.

The berry trees were growing tall around the perimeter of the fence, patches of grass at various lengths sprouting out of the ground. The large pond off to the side had its own waterfall, a feature his mother was extremely proud of, and he could admit that it added a little something special to the space

It wasn’t much, but they  did what they could with what they had. It was enough for the Pokémon they cared for, at least. 

At that thought, he felt something tugging at his pants, and he glanced down and smiled at the Vulpix at his feet. Its teeth were caught in the fabric but he reached down to pat it on the head anyway, knowing that was just its way of greeting him. It let go and stood next to him, like it was expecting something.

“What do you want?” he asked, poking it lightly in the side with his foot, and laughed when it rolled onto its back and latched onto it with its paw, and tried to secure its hold with the leg that was missing one. Matteo got it off easy and it sprung back up, ready to play.

He rolled his eyes, and walked further out into the meadow, the Vulpix trotting along happily beside him. There were a few Pokémon that he needed to check on before breakfast for himself or the rest of the Pokémon roaming around the property, and he wanted to get it done fast because the Tauros with the bandage over its eye was snorting at him from over in its usual corner. He quickened his pace.

He was looking for the Luvdisc that his mother had found a few days before, alone and hungry in shallow water, and his eyes scanned over the mostly clear water, trying to catch any sign of the pink water-type swimming around. He saw it just as it darted around a Buizel and behind a rock, seeming to be in much better shape than the day before. He was about to turn and head to the small shed in the back where they kept some of the Pokémon in more serious condition, but he looked up when he heard the door slide open, and his mom call his name.

“Matteo, Jonas is here to say bye!” She yelled out, and he turned and started making his way back.

“I didn’t get to look at the Pachirisu yet.” He said, jogging up to her. She was smiling softly at him, her long brown hair pulled back in a bandana. She was holding a bowl in her arms, no doubt the breakfast she had been making for the Pokémon when he had come downstairs that morning

“Don’t worry about that, go see your friend, and wish him luck!” she said, walking out the back door, “He’s going to battle his next gym leader!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Matteo muttered as he walked past her, setting his glass down as he went. 

He found Jonas by the front door, six Pokéballs attached to his waist, and a large bag on his back. He had his Jigglypuff out of its ball by his side, and it started bouncing when Matteo got closer.

“Hey, Luigi!” Jonas exclaimed, pulling him in for a hug, and Matteo squeezed his arms around his backpack. The hug was bittersweet, and he almost didn’t want to let go. He didn’t have many friends in his little town, and his responsibilities at the Pokémon Sanctuary made it difficult to go too far.

“You feeling ready?” Matteo asked, knowing what Jonas was going to say. He had always been confident, and was getting through the gyms at a rapid pace.

“Of course, bro,” he said, grinning and punching Matteo in the arm, “I feel ready to battle anyone after beating that ghost-type gym leader. That was rough, it took me four fucking tries!”

Matteo nodded as Jonas went off. Matteo had heard the stories many times, not just from Jonas, but similar ones from other trainers in his town; the gym leader that happened to be the closest to them also happened to be one of the toughest. His Pokémon were strong, he was strong, but most importantly his connection to each of them was strong. He was admired, envied, and heavily respected.

Nobody knew anything about him, though.

The gym was off deep in the woods, off of one of the random routes running through their town. It was not only hard to find, but hard to navigate, as once one entered it was quite clear that the house was designed to keep people out. There were traps and dead ends and looping hallways that all just led back to the beginning, and Jonas said it took him hours to even find the staircase that led to the gym leader.

“I should be heading off if I want to get to the city before it’s dark,” Jonas said, and extended his arms for another hug. Matteo squeezed him again, and said his own goodbye before Jonas ruffled his hair and went out the door, the Jigglypuff following close behind. Matteo let out a sigh, and walked back through his house. 

“Matteo, can you come here a second?” he heard his mother call from the kitchen, and he sighed again and poked his head into the room.

“Yeah, mama?” He asked, itching to get back outside. He had been making progress with the skittish Ponyta that hid whenever anyone else came near it, and he had been wanting to see if it would eat out of his hand that morning.

“You seem sad,” she said, and he stopped himself from rolling his eyes and walked further into the kitchen as she continued, “you’re not usually sad when Jonas or your other friends go off to battle.”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to miss him,” he said, knowing that wasn’t all, “last time he left he didn’t come back for a month. And I haven’t seen Abdi or Carlos in longer than that, and I don’t even know where Amira is right now.”

His mother nodded. She had heard him say that before, note that as the reason he was upset anytime the idea of gyms or badges or battling was brought up. She walked over to him and put a hand on his cheek, and smiled gently.

“You know, if you want to take a break from this and train,  you can.”

Matteo closed his eyes. It was something she had offered before, and he knew that there was almost no way he would be willing to take her up on it. The sanctuary was too important to him, no matter how much he might’ve wanted a party of his own. He didn’t need his own Pokémon when there were dozens that needed him right at home.

“I’m not going to stop helping you here, mama,” Matteo responded as usual, “this is more important than winning a few gym badges.”

“You wouldn’t even have to stop if you don’t want to,” she said, patting him on the cheek and moving back over to the stove where she was cooking their breakfast, “if you want to do both, find some Pokémon from the sanctuary. I’m sure some of them would be more than happy to battle with you.”

Matteo laughed sarcastically, and then actually thought about what his mother said, and his mouth drew into a line. He didn’t know if he wanted to put that burden on any of the Pokémon that they were caring for, even though he knew in the back of his head that some would be willing and able. He thought about that little Vulpix that would follow behind him and nip at his heels, and the Butterfree that would always swoop over his head and chirp happily at him, and even the Tauros with the eyepatch liked him as long as he was fed.

“I don’t know,” he settled on, and then turned to the door, “I’m going to check on the rest.”

****

Later that night, Matteo was sitting out on the roof outside of his room, after climbing through the window. It looked out over the entire sanctuary, but it was too dark for him to see much. He could see some small ripples in the water in the pond, but beyond that the only thing he could make out were sounds. He could hear something, probably a Rattata or Sandshrew, scratching and digging around the grass, and the melodic chirps of a Kricketot. He heard the same Noctowl as before cooing quietly in one of the trees, and he closed his eyes as a breeze blew by.

They were the sounds he had grown up with. Matteo was raised out in the sanctuary more than he was inside his own home. His mother and father had opened it soon after getting married, had built it into something highly respected in their community. They had a large staff working with them and they would get multiple calls each day from people finding injured Pokémon out in the wild.

There were photo albums full of him as an infant being stared at by a confused Pikachu, being (very carefully) held by a Kangaskhan, laughing as a Ledyba flew overhead. Once he was old enough he started working alongside his parents, and everyone in town loved the Florenzi’s, the couple that would save wild Pokémon with their wild son by their side. 

When Matteo was around twelve, things went a little sour. His dad started talking more about battling, and gyms, and how cool it would be to go out and see the world beyond their small town. He tried to convince Matteo that they could go off and battle together, father and son, and when Matteo refused, his father had gone quiet. A few days later, he came down for breakfast to his mother crying, his father’s stuff gone, and six of the Pokémon from the sanctuary missing as well.

He took a deep pull from the joint in his mouth, remembering the fierce promise he had made to himself that morning; he would never, ever, leave his mother like his father did. Battling and gym badges weren’t worth it.

But there was something in the back of Matteo’s head that was starting to get louder as he sat there. Something saying that just going to one gym wouldn’t be the same; he could work at the sanctuary during the day, train with (willing) Pokémon at night, and in a few weeks make the short trip to the ghost-type gym. He wasn’t expecting that he’d win, no matter what gym he went to, but the desire for something more was unfortunately undeniable. Matteo hated what his father did, but could understand the urge to run away. 

He stubbed the joint out and took one more look at the sanctuary before going back inside and getting ready for bed. As he climbed under the covers, he realized he made up his mind. His first task for the morning, alongside his usual morning chores, was to see which Pokémon wanted to, and were able to, battle. 

****

[Matteo makes a party and its kind of a mishmash of misfits but it’s the best he can do because he doesn't want to go out and catch wild Pokémon especially when he has some that want to battle with him]

[He spends a few weeks training and it's really tough and they aren’t amazing but they're better than he expected, and he doesn't really get why they love him and listen to him the way they do]

[One day he decided that he's ready and he promises his mom that he's gonna be back that night and he goes off to find the ghost type gym]

[He finds the gym and it looks completely abandoned and he has to climb over a gate to get in but he does it and then he has to walk through this super creepy dark place and he's having a rough time and he's getting more and more scared and worried that he's in the wrong place and that what he's doing is a bad idea and that he should just turn around when-]

And then finally, a staircase.

Matteo saw it at the end of the hall and sighed in relief. He was exhausted, glad that his Pokémon were in their Pokéballs so they weren’t as tired as him. He wiped the sweat off of his brow, and then tied his bandana around his head to keep his hair out of his face as he walked towards the stairs. He placed his foot on the first one and winced at the loud creak that came from it. He walked up the stairs carefully, seeing a door as he got closer to the top.

He finally reached the top of the stairway, and his shoulders dropped when he saw the door. There was a board across it, blocking it off, and Matteo felt anger start to bubble up inside him. He had spent hours trying to find the fucking place, had banked on Jonas mentioning a staircase, and had gotten so hopeful when he saw it. He huffed and, like a child, kicked hard at the door. His jaw dropped when it swung open.

He carefully made his way inside, his eyes scanning around the large room, too dark for him to make anything out. There seemed to be a fog making it even harder to see, and he waved his arm in front of him to see if he could clear it away. He took a few steps, and then a few more, and was about to take another when he heard a quiet, “I’d stop there if I were you.”

Matteo’s head snapped up and he froze, unable to tell where the sudden voice came from. He could feel his breathing pick up, and he could even hear it in the silence that followed the voice, and was about to turn and bolt when he heard, also quiet but with a bit of a laugh under it, “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just didn’t want you to fall in.”

Matteo whipped his head around, trying to figure out what he was about to fall in, when it seemed like the fog seemed to thin. He looked around the room as details became clearer, the blueish-green tiles on the walls and the white, chipped paint, and he looked down at his feet and stumbled back a few steps; he was standing right at the edge of what seemed to be a huge, empty, swimming pool.

Well, almost empty. As the fog cleared, Matteo could make out a figure on the other side, who seemed to be sitting on the edge, their feet dangling into the empty space below. He watched the figure kick off the edge and land with a quiet sound a few feet below in the pool itself, and then they started coming closer.

Matteo felt himself get nervous. Not scared, like he had been initially getting to the building, and wandering around in the dark, and when he had first come into the room and seen the fog. He was nervous, because there was no way that this person wasn’t the gym leader, which meant that he was about to battle a gym leader. 

“Are you going to come down here?” The voice asked again, definitely coming from the approaching gym leader. 

Matteo took a breath before looking around and spotting a ladder that led down into the pool. He made his way over on shaky legs and got himself down as carefully as he could, landing hard on his feet and stumbling a little. He righted himself just as he heard the gym leader stop, and he took another deep breath before looking up.

And he huffed out that breath, because the man standing in front of him had to be a dream, or maybe there was a Pokémon there that had some kind of power that was making him hallucinate, because there was no other explanation for how he was so beautiful. And Matteo knew that he shouldn’t have been focusing on that, but he was only human, and he was very, very gay.

“You’re quiet,” the gym leader said, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling, “you are here to battle, right?”

“Yes, I am,” Matteo said quickly, grabbing a hand around one of the Pokéballs around his waist, “my first one.”

He wanted to slap a hand over his face for saying that. He didn’t think that was good information to tell the person that he was about to battle if he wanted to seem confident, not that that wasn’t already out the window with his obvious panic. He watched the gym leader smile bright, and he wished it didn’t make his stomach jolt the way it did.

“Aw, you chose me to be your first?” he asked, placing a hand over his heart, “I’m honored.”

Matteo smiled. He was funny at least, even if he was going to beat Matteo and his Pokémon within six rounds probably. 

“Mostly just out of convenience, this is the gym closest to me.” he explained, not really knowing how much he was supposed to be talking. He had no idea what he was doing, at all, but the gym leader didn’t seem to be rushing anything along.

“That makes sense, I’m not usually the first gym people come to. I don’t know why that is, though,” he stepped back and threw his arms out, “I try to make it nice, you know?”

Matteo snorted, “Yeah, that fence you have to hop to get in is really welcoming, and the board across the door really makes me feel at home.”

The gym leader laughed, and Matteo let himself laugh with him, losing a bit of the nerves he had coming in.

“Well, I’m glad you like it,” he said, and then grabbed a Pokéball seemingly out of thin air, threw it up and then as he caught it turned to Matteo and asked, “so, are you ready for your first battle? I’ll go easy on you.”

He said it was a slightly patronizing grin, so Matteo grabbed his own Pokéball in his hand, tilted his head with a sweet smile and said, “Don’t worry, you don’t have to.”

David looked happily surprised and nodded, and before Matteo could react he threw the Pokéball into the air, and a Mimikyu landed on the ground in front of him. Matteo looked at it in shock.

“You have a Mimikyu?” he asked, wanting to get closer to look. The Pokémon was looking at him, or at least the disguise part was, gently flopping around on top of the Pokémon it was concealing inside.

“Yeah, it was one of my first,” the gym leader said with a small smile, and then shook himself out of it and grinned cocikly, “which means it’s one of my strongest.”

Matteo nodded, and threw his own Pokéball into the air, Vulpix springing onto the ground in front of him. It looked ready, stanced and nose pointed at the Mimikyu in front of it. The battle started when the gym leader called out his first move.

And Matteo lost. Badly, and quickly, and if he wasn’t so worried about getting home so he could tend to his Pokémon he would've been more embarrassed. He dropped to his knees next to his Sandshrew as it trembled on the ground from the last attack laid on it by the gym leader’s second Pokémon.

“That was pretty good for a first try,” he heard echo through the room, and he looked up and pushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

“It wasn’t good. I wasn’t meant to be a trainer, and these Pokémon weren’t meant to battle. I should just give up.” He sighed, and held the Pokéball out so the Sandshrew could return to it and rest. He got up and dusted himself off, and saw the gym leader standing much closer than he had been.

“It’s not that you weren’t good, you just weren’t ready. You have a connection to these guys. I can see it.” the gym leader said earnestly, reaching his hand out. 

“That doesn’t mean they should be battling,” he sighed, “they’re all from the sanctuary me and my mom have. I shouldn’t have made them do this.”

“You weren’t making them do anything,” the gym leader said quickly, “seriously, you can tell they’re enjoying it because they’re doing it with you. I’ve been a gym leader for a while, you should trust me on this. I know Pokémon.”

“Well, so do I,” Matteo said with an angry huff, making his mind up again, “and I’m done battling.”

He turned, ignoring the disappointed look on the face of the gym leader, and climbed up the ladder before hurrying home.

****

[Matteo really doesnt think hes gonna go back but the pokemon were having fun and he kinda wants to see david again so he starts training again, gets a bit stronger and goes back]

He found it easier the second time, and made his way through it easier the second time too, as if he actually remembered the way through the crazy maze inside. When he got to the top of the stairs and saw the boarded up door again he snorted, and took a deep breath before pushing his way into the room again.

He was greeted by the same thick fog, the same tiles around the walls, the same chipping paint, but he knew to not take too many steps in. He figured the gym leader knew he came in, as the fog started clearing again once he was in the room, and he saw the same figure seated in the same spot on the edge of the pool.

“Oh, the boy from the Pokémon sanctuary!” the gym leader called out as he jumped down onto the pool tiles, “I’ve been expecting you.”

Matteo laughed and said, “I didn’t think I was coming back, how could you have been expecting me?”

“I could see it in your eyes,” the gym leader took a few steps closer, “you want to win. Or you want to prove something. No matter what it is, you have a reason to be here.”

Matteo smiled before making his way down the ladder and into the pool. His feet hit the tiles and he turned around so he could the gym leader, who he was getting very tired of only referring to as ‘the gym leader’.

“What’s your name?” he asked quickly, before he could think better of it, “Like, I know your whole thing is being mysterious but I have a feeling I’m going to be coming back here again.”

“Oh, so we’re already on a first name basis?” the gym leader asked, spinning around and a few steps towards the wall he had been sitting on, and he leaned his back against it, smiling.

“I just figured it’ll save us time later. Easier to do it now than in a month when it’ll be awkward.” He shrugged, offering a half smile. He tried to play it off as a joke, but he wanted to know.

He watched the gym leader smile, and then bite his lip and look down at the floor. He tapped his foot on the ground a few times before kicking off the wall and saying, “Okay, then. I’m David.”

Matteo smiled, nodded, quietly responded, “I’m Matteo,” and took a Pokéball off of his belt. 

[hilltopsunset]

I Regret Buying Pokémon Shield

I told myself I wouldn’t do it. I’ve seen time and again the lack of innovation from main-series Pokémon games, and I insisted nothing would convince me to buy this latest atrocity. Yet here I am, reviewing the game I said I’d never purchase. I should have listened to myself. I KNEW BETTER! Strap in, ‘cause this one’s pretty long.

Pokémon has been around for a long time—like, a long, long time—and I’ve been around for every single new main-series game that’s been released since the franchise’s first arrival in North America back in 1996 with Red/Blue. I was not yet 10 years old, and I still remember the childlike excitement of finding rare, never-before seen creatures, the stress of trying to catch a wily Abra or elusive Pinsir, and the challenging first encounter with the Elite Four and the Champion, a 5-man gauntlet of trainers with powerful Pokémon rarely (if ever) seen in the game prior to that moment. It was exhilarating in a way that keeps me coming back for more, hoping to rekindle those same flames of wonder. 

While the main gist of the games hasn’t changed much over the years, one of my favorite parts of playing a new Pokémon game is seeing the improvements each game brings to the series. Many of the initial sequels made huge leaps in progress: Gold/Silver introduced a plethora of new mechanics like held items and breeding; Ruby/Sapphire introduced passive abilities and was the first to include multi-battles in the form of double-battles; Diamond/Pearl was the first generation capable of trading and battling online and brought us the revolutionary physical/special split so elements were no longer locked into one or the other. These changes all had significant impacts on how players approached battles, formed their teams, and used each Pokémon.

Those changes, combined with the addition of new Pokémon to catch, regions to explore, and enemies to fight, were enough to keep me interested. But I know I wasn’t alone in imagining all the possibilities of taking the franchise off the handheld platforms and moving the main series games over to a more powerful home console. In the meantime, each generation that followed Gen IV highlighted a new, troubling pattern that became more and more prevalent with each addition to the series.

1.       Gen V: Lack of meaningful gameplay innovation

By Generation V with Black/White, not only was Game Freak quickly running out of colors, they were quite obviously running out of ideas for significant gameplay innovation. The bulk of Black/White’s biggest changes were improvements on or adaptations to existing staples to the franchise: many new Pokémon, moves, and abilities were added, and the DS platform allowed for greater graphical quality where Pokémon could move around a bit more on-screen during battles, the camera wasn’t as rigid as it had to be in previous games due to machine limitations; perhaps most importantly, they FINALLY decided to make TMs infinite. Thank goodness. While the updates were nice, they were nowhere near as impactful on the game as previous generations’ changes were and served more as needed quality of life adjustments.

I would also argue Gen V also had the least inspired Pokémon designs (like Vanillux and Klinklang) with the worst starter choices of any Pokémon game, but that’s a discussion for another time. Excadrill and Volcarona were pretty cool, though.

 2.       Gen VI: Gimmicks as the main draw

Pokémon X/Y (See? They ran out of colors) continued this new downward trend in innovation. Mega-evolution—while admittedly pretty cool—wasn’t enough to carry the new generation into an era of meaningful improvement because it was equivalent to adding new Pokémon rather than developing innovative gameplay, ushering in a new era of gimmicks in lieu of substantial updates.

Though the gameplay innovation for X/Y was minimal, the graphic updates were substantial: Pokémon X/Y was the first generation to introduce the main series to a fully 3-dimensional world populated by 3D characters. However, since X/Y was on the 3DS, it was a ripe target for the 3D gimmick seen in almost all games on the console, which I personally used for all of 5 minutes before feeling nauseous and never using the function again.

Despite the fresh look of the new 3D models, the battle animations were, to be frank, incredibly disappointing. Pokémon still barely moved and never physically interacted with opponents, nor did they use moves in uniquely appropriate ways. To my point, for years now there’s been a meme about Blastoise opting to shoot water out of his face rather than his cannons. I was sad to see that they didn’t take the time to give each Pokémon’s animations a little more love. But I figured, in time, when or if the franchise ever moved to a more powerful machine, they would be better equipped to make it happen, right? I also convinced myself that the lack of refined animations were kind of charming, harkening back to the games’ original (terrible) animations.

 3.       Gen VII: Focus on Minigames

The main innovation (gimmick) that came with Generation VII, Sun/Moon, was the lack of HMs in lieu of riding certain Pokémon. Sun/Moon also added Ultra Beasts (essentially just new Pokémon) and Z-moves (just new moves) which only added to the number of gimmicks present in the games. These changes, which provide some mild adaptations to gameplay from previous generations, don’t fundamentally change the way players go through each game, the way that updates in the earlier generations did. I personally played through the entirety of Sun/Moon without using a single Z-move or seeing a single Ultra Beast outside the one you’re required to fight to progress the main story. Ultimately, these changes were not a significant enough experience to warrant an entirely new game that is otherwise full of more of the same stuff with slightly different creatures who have slightly different stats and occupy a slightly different world.

Though Sun/Moon was comfortably embracing the franchise’s affinity for gimmicks, it brought to the forefront yet another troubling trend: mini games. Between photography, the Festival Plaza, and Poké Pelago, the focus on and attention to detail toward mini games had grown considerably over the years. Pokémon games have always had minigames and other time-sinks—which is great! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate having more to do than trudge through the main story. But it is apparent that, with each new generation, more time seems dedicated to development of these extras. Pokémon Contests, Secret Bases, Super Training, feeding/grooming; a lot of their larger innovations after Gen IV were centered on non-essential parts of the game, which results in diminished game and story quality overall.

Admittedly, Sun/Moon did have some of the best exploration moments of any of the Pokémon games, which I did very much appreciate. More on that later as it relates to Sword/Shield…

 4.       Generation VIII: You Can’t Be Serious

When Game Freak finally announced they were launching Generation VIII, Sword and Shield, on the Switch rather than a dedicated handheld console, I was beside myself with excitement.

And then I saw gameplay footage like this, and my heart sank.

What is the purpose of launching the game on a stronger console if they are going to continue copy/pasting their sprites and their animations? If they aren’t going to provide the Pokémon any unique flair or create more appropriate animations? It was disappointing enough seeing the same animations/models from X/Y for Sun/Moon, but that was sort of expected since the games were on the same console. But now that the game has moved to the Switch, this is unacceptable.

When I learned that they were significantly cutting the number of Pokémon available in the game, I thought for certain that would translate to more time dedicated to the ones that made the cut, to focus on adding animations and character to the critters to make them feel like real parts of the world, rather than avatars of a child’s imagination, unable to fully process how the world functions. Alas, what was I thinking?

I thought the Dynamax gimmick would be one of my biggest gripes because it’s so pointless, or maybe the Wild Area’s severe lack of organic belonging (all Pokémon are just wandering aimlessly, weather can change drastically after crossing an invisible line, trees look like they were cut and pasted out of Mario 64, you can’t even catch Pokémon if they’re too high a level) but honestly the most disappointing part of the game for me was the pitiful routes between towns/gyms. Previous installments of the game included routes full of trainers and puzzles you needed to defeat or solve before you could progress—in Sword/Shield, the only thing that ever prevents you from progressing are some Team Yell grunts barricading paths the game doesn’t want you to take yet, for literally no reason. It completely removes player autonomy and a sense of accomplishment earned through overcoming challenges—now instead of learning that you need to find an item that allows you to cut through certain trees to gain access to new areas, you simply follow the story beats and then, upon returning, the path will be open. It’s inorganic, it’s clunky, and it’s extremely lazy.

Speaking of lazy, the story itself was another massive disappointment for me. Pokémon games are not particularly known for having deep stories, but Sword/Shield takes it to a new low. Every NPC simply pushes you to battle in gyms, and every interesting story beat that occurs happens just outside the player-character’s reach. Any time something interesting happens, you are shooed away and told to let the grown-ups handle it while you just get your gym badges. There COULD have been some interesting story moments where your character gets more involved with helping fix the havoc occurring around the Galar Region, but instead we as the player are simply TOLD what happened, why it happened, and who fixed it (usually the champion, Leon).

I honestly think having the game focus on the story of Sonia, Bede, Marnie, or even Hop (was not a fan of this kid) would have been a much more interesting game, because those characters actually had some depth to them, some bigger reason for taking on the gym challenges than simply “I want to be the very best.” Albeit those stories would have required a tremendous amount of work to add depth and details, the potential for a better story is in those characters. There is just no story at all to the main character, who is ushered from gym to gym because…because? Because that’s what kids do? I’m not even really sure what the motivation is.

There are SO MANY exciting, interesting, innovative ways Game Freak could drive Pokémon into a new and exciting direction while still maintaining its charm and building on existing mechanics, but they instead choose to demonstrate their lack of interest in significant graphical and gameplay innovation. I imagine this is largely because the masses will eat up just about any Pokémon product produced so long as there’s a new bunny to catch, and Pikachu is still involved. I’m disappointed, and I wish the Galar region could meet the expectations of my 10-year old mind’s imagination.

When abilities were added, we suddenly had to consider whether our Earthquake could even hit the enemy Weezing and adapt to the tremendous changes the passive skills added, reconsidering how we faced each battle. When the physical/special split occurred, entirely new opportunities opened up and certain Pokémon who were banished to obscurity due to their poor typing and stat distribution, like Weavile, were suddenly viable. Some even became incredibly powerful, like Gyarados, who had been hit pretty hard by the Special attack/defense split. There were also already-powerful Pokémon (Gengar, Dragon-types) who became even more so through access to STAB moves that benefited off their strongest stats.

I want new games to include updates that feel as impactful as these changes. If you’re interested in how Game Freak can improve on the main gameplay, I have some fun ideas that will be fleshed out in another article: How to Breathe New Life into the Pokémon Franchise. That article will be dedicated to explaining what those changes are, why I want them, and how they can improve future games.

[phantom-mizero]

In my opinion there is always one character on the good-side of every pmd game that does some really bad things that are sometimes even worse than what the bad-side in the games do. Gates to Infinity: Many Pokémon have problems stemming from depression in this game and the one thing that is actually bad is Espeon entrusting the Entercards to a child. It is the most understandable of the bunch, but so many things could have gone wrong if Munna and her gang would have found out. Espeon apologizes and I can forgive the thing because it was a tense moments after a long chase, but still. Rescue Team Blue/Red: Team ACT or more specifically Alakazam. From the first time Alakazam sees Hero he knows that they are a human and makes vague statements that can be interpreted that he knows about either the future or about the Ninetales Legend. Not to mention that he sends Hero and Partner to Xatu, which confirms this even more. Team ACT is regarded as at least one of the best teams on the continent, which also doesn't have to mean a thing, because they are just on par with Hero Partner and Absol. All of this makes Alakazam and his Team seem rather pretentious and arrogant, not to mention that Alakazam specifically doesn’t want to tell Hero any of the things he knows so they can enjoy life here more. I do not understand Alakazam’s reasons or why he isn’t even telling the Pokémon of Pokémon Square, who are literally rallying against Hero anything that he knows. Alakazam infuriates me a lot. Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky: Chatot with his shady business practices and bad leadership skills, which makes him rather unsuited for his position. I am not mad that the guild takes a rather large sum of your earnings, but the fact that Chatot doesn’t tell you this a) upfront and b) for what it’s used is really bad. You can only guess where all the money is going to. Literally any workplace would tell you this upfront, or at least when you get the job. Wigglytuff believes in second chances, which I adore, but that makes him bad to approach for things like Team Skull, so you should go to his Assistant Chatot, who doesn’t take you serious for insulting a known explorer team, even if what you say is the truth. After you have no Perfect Apple’s he doesn’t even give Partner and Hero a chance to explain why, he just shuts them up, cancels their dinner and wants to present them as the scapegoats for when he doesn’t even know why one of their best new teams didn’t make it. Canceled Dinner also means that they would go two days while working without any food except dungeon rations, which would be kept as such, because you only have limited storage and aren’t guaranteed to find or buy extra food. The other apprentices sharing some food with Hero and Partner is not only precious but could have kept them from fainting in the dungeon the next day. Not only is all this bad leadership, but also extremely dangerous for someone who’s under an older more experienced persons guidance who want’s to learn their trade. I also don’t think that Wigglytuff knew about this, nor about the next point. On the night after the incident he tells you that you shouldn’t hope to be on the big expedition. Not only is this a dick move, but he is also just the assistant of Guildmaster Wigglytuff. Chatot can not, in anyway, make a decision like that or even tell you this because he is not the leader of this Guild and does not decide such things. He also wanted to say something, when he read Partner and Hero’s names, but knows enough about Wigglytuff that he doesn’t. On the Expedition he get’s mad when you are “too late”, even tho your whole Team is made out of new recruits and probably got lost on the way for a bit. Additionally there is extra dialog when you take the wrong path that leads you around back to the camp, so he want’s to hear your good news, because you came back, but you have none, so gets even madder about it insisting you go back in again. You don’t have to talk with Chatot after Azurill and Marill ask you to get their item for them back, but if you do he insists that, no, you can’t take the day off, because they are already understaffed. Gee whiz, I sure wonder why?! I sure do wonder why everyone turns their backs on this guild after they found out how badly this place is run. He recaps what Hero and Partner did after they came back to the guild from the bad future, before he makes fun of them, basically calling them crazy, doing a 180, when he gets accused of not trusting them for telling the truth and ends up laugh-crying out of sheer desperation because this is the first time he got backed into a corner for being really shitty to anyone because he is in a position of power. Wigglytuff assigns Chatot to look after the guild, but more importantly Hero and Partner on the mission were a bunch of dangerous criminals await them. He insist that they shouldn’t drag him down, before running after Team Skull, when he finally realizes that they’re thiefs and going even further without Hero and Partner and running into said criminals. At that point I do not care that he protects them from the criminals first attack, because he lost any loyalty or trust I ever had in him quite awhile ago. PSMD: Ampharos is an overall bad leader, who and lies and betrays Hero and Partner more than the actual bad guys of this pmd game – which is something. Ampharos sets out to Serene Village without telling anyone, with his terrible sense of direction, which makes him bumble around like he’s drunk in unknown locations. When Partner asks if he works for the Expedition Society, he declines and after getting to their base in Lively Town he says that he doesn’t work for them, because they work for him. He admits them in the Expedition Society actually as full members, but tells them that they’re only Junior members, making that up on the spot, while NOT telling ANYONE in the Society about ANY of this! He sends you off to wake Jirachi up, but does not tell you that Jirachi sleepfights anyone who tries that and acts surprised afterwards that you look as if you were just in a boss fight. This was also in a library with precious books and equipment to study astronomy, including a large and important telescope. They do a big expedition to the volcano and every member, except Hero and Partner, get told that Entei lives there, so they need to be careful. So he decides to let Buizel watch over them, because what are the chances of them getting to the peak first!? Espurr plays double agent in the late game for both sides, but I am 100 % sure that Ampharos tells her to not say anything about that to Hero and Partner so their reaction are genuine and they can bust in a few minutes later anyway to look heroic. The outcome is just that I trusted no one but Partner at this point. I was even convinced that Lapras and the shopkeepers where in on it. There is also the post-game where you only want Partner back after a really long fetch quest were it turns out that Ampharos with Xatu and Mawhile came up with a dumb kidnapping plot, with the reason that Dark Matter is still in Mew and Nuzleaf and the Beheeyem trying to get rid of it, which would erase Mew from existence. That is contradicted by Partner’s words when they disappear and the real reason that Mew is sick is because Partner was still, in a way, alive in them, but could only be brought back if Hero had strong enough emotions for them otherwise they would disappear. Ampharos is someone irresponsible and incredibly childish with a hero complex, while having negative communication skills. Yet he is quite manipulative, while he lies and withholds important information to the rest of the Expedition Society. There is also a line of dialogue where he talks about not wanting to ruin it this time, referencing that he most likely took in children in the Society before, which didn’t work out so well. The whole Expedition Society jokes about leaving because they see all of his flaws, but I actually want them to kick Ampharos out. He rather hatches big convoluted plans, not telling anyone about them, than talking something out and making plans actually with them. Literally anything that he does wrong can be fixed by talking to someone, telling them his plans and what he wants to do.

[taehyungiestummy]

Stuck -- Chapter Eighteen

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Word Count: 3180

           “This is so much fun,” I smile, looking up at the night sky. “If only I had a skateboard.

           “Birthday present,” Jimin chuckles.

           Taehyung happily swing our clasped hands, humming a happy tune.

           After some light begging to the boy’s manager, we were able to have a few hours out on the town. All we have to do is stick together, and update the manager every so often. We just had dinner at a cute diner, and are now walking the streets looking at the shops still open.

           “There are so many Pokémon out here,” Jungkook giddily says.

           “That’s Kookie’s girlfriend,” Hoseok teases. “Pokémon Go is his new love.”

           “It’s not like we can play Overwatch at the moment,” I come to Jungkook’s rescue.

           “It’s cute,” Nari coos. She’s near the back of the pack with Seokjin. Her arms are wrapped around Seokjin’s middle, and his arm is draped over her shoulders. “Let the boy have fun.”

           “As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid,” Yoongi gives my hand a squeezes. “Then we can do whatever he wants.”

           “If Amber had hands she could play too,” Seokjin laughs. “Too bad she’s taken all the time by two boys.”

           “It’s fine,” I giggle. “Tae is actually playing for me, so I am getting experience and Pokémon. It’s all good.”

           “Don’t you want to play?” Namjoon asks.

           “Amber plays regular Pokémon games all the time,” Emily answers for me. “So this games doesn’t have anything she hasn’t seen before,” she rests her head on Namjoon’s arm that she is hugging.

           “All I need to see is level up screens, and all I ask is to name them,” I smile, looking at the candy shop as we pass by. “Tae wanted to play a Pokémon game, and now he is. It all works out. It’s such a lovely night,” I take a deep breath.

           “I’m glad you wanted to do this, kid,” Hoseok pinches my sides from behind. “We need to go out and do fun things. This is relaxing.”

           “Girlie is always coming up with good ideas,” Jungkook smiles.

           “I didn’t want us to be stuck inside a hotel room all night,” I firmly nod. “That’s just boring, and we deserve to live a little.”

           “Usually I’d want to stay in, but I’m glad I came along,” Yoongi kisses the top of my head. “All for my sister.”

           “And your friends,” Seokjin lets out a breath.

           “Eh, a little for you guys.”

           I chuckle, “Sorry boys. Yoongi loves me more.”

           “I love you the most,” Taehyung speaks up. “I’m out with everyone, having a good time, but I can’t kiss my jagi.”

           “That’s all Tae thinks about,” Jimin chuckles, shaking his head. “Kissing the love of his life.”

           “Jealous?” Taehyung smirks.

           “Tae don’t,” I squeeze his hand.

           “The maknae’s are already fighting,” Nari chuckles. “We all get together, and the teasing begins.”

           “Leave me out of it,” Jungkook says. “I am just playing my game, not messing with anyone.”

           “He’s right,” Emily nods. “The very youngest is the most behaved right now.”

           “Kookie can be good, sometimes,” Namjoon joins in on the teasing.

           “Seriously?” Seokjin shakes his head.

           I laugh, “This is why I love this group so much.”

           “We tease and torment each other all the time?” Jimin questions, looking at me with his eyebrows furrowed.”

           “Well, that makes me giggle, but not the reason I love all of you so much. It’s because we all know the other is joking. That it is all in good fun. We are a family, and that makes my heart swell with such happiness.” The big smile on my face is beginning to make my cheeks hurt.

           “We love being a family, and more importantly, your family, little one,” Yoongi flashes a gummy smile.

           “The best family for Amber,” Emily says. “She needed seven crazy boys to give her the time of her life. This is the happiest I have even seen my best friend, and it makes me overly happy.”

           “Me too, Emily,” Nari agrees.

           I giggle, “Everything happens for a reason, so they say.”

           “I believe it was meant to be,” Taehyung looks down at me. “No doubt in my mind.”

********

           “This is awesome!” I blurt out as we are lead to a private balcony in the LA arena.

           “We’ve never watched a concert from a fans view,” Emily takes a seat in the few seats in our area.

           “You unlucky girls,” Nari chuckles, walking to the balcony edge. “They are amazing. Out of this world.”

           “I have no doubt in my mind they are,” I walk around the balcony, not being able to sit down just yet. “This is going to be so much fun. I can’t believe they got us these seats.”

           “Thanks to the CEO, Hitman Bang,” Emily giggles. “Since he knew of all of this so far in advance. He was so supportive of the whole thing. The manager was very helpful too.”

           “It’s so nice to be together again,” Nari grabs my wrist, pulling me into her body so I stop wondering around. “Calm down, sweetheart. Why are you so all over the place?”

           “I’m just, anxious,” I shrug. “Will the boys look over at us? Will Tae blow kisses? How easy will it be to get back to the boys? Will this be as fun as I hope?”

           “So many questions,” Emily chuckles, shaking her head. “You need to just enjoy right now. Don’t think too hard about it.”

           “I know, I know,” I wiggle around in Nari’s grasp. “I think too much.”

           “Just a tad too much,” Nari rubs her cheek against mine. “My lovely cousin, so cute.”

           “Oh, shut up,” I giggle, pushing out of Nari’s arms. “How much longer now?”

           “Just a few more minutes,” Emily smiles. “Hang in there, girl. You’ll see your boy soon enough.”

           “Yeah,” I take a seat in a chair. “I see him every day, yet when we are apart for short periods of time, I miss him so much.”

           “Be careful, you might get tired of him,” Nari takes a seat as well. “Though, I doubt that will ever happen. You two are deeply in love.”

           “That’s clear to see,” Emily pats my shoulder. “The cutest couple, as I will always say.”

           I look down at my lap, a stupid grin on my face, and a blush rushes to my cheeks. “I’m so lucky. I can’t even believe it sometimes. But I am so very lucky.”

           A comfortable silence falls on us, as the hum of fans all around grows when the lights dim. The boys were introduced by two people, but I wasn’t really paying attention. The giant screens behind the stage begin playing an opening video for BTS. Little clips from what looks like the ‘Forever Young’ music video. In the next second, the boys are on the stage, and lights are back on to make them seen. All of them singing a bit of ‘Forever Young’ as they walk to the middle of the stage.

           “Amazing,” I breath out.

           “Agree,” Emily grabs my hand.

           As ‘Fire’ starts up, the three of us jump out of our seats. Just like everyone else in the arena did. This is the beginning of the hype. I can’t help myself as I dance along. The moves engrained in my mind.

           “They all look so good,” Nari’s voice is barely audible above the roar.

           Yoongi’s hair was rebleached, and is wavy to look like me. Seokjin and Namjoon also have blonde hair, straightened unlike the other boy. Jimin is the only other boy with dyed hair as it is now midnight black. Jungkook has his natural light brown locks, shaggy and wavy thanks to humidity. Hoseok is back to light brown as well, shining when the light hits it. Then Taehyung’s soft brown hair has me wishing for him to be by my side so I can run my hands through it.

           “Their outfits are so perfect,” Emily squeezes my hand, trying to follow my dance moves.

           To save my voice, I don’t shout back, and just normally sing along.

           ‘Fire’ ends too soon, the lights going out as the boys walk towards the back of the stage. The suspense building in the few seconds of silence before ‘Save Me’ begins. Nari, Emily, and I are now goofily dancing around the balcony. Laughs fitter through our lips.

           “They look so healthy and tan,” Emily lets go of my hand, slinging an arm over my shoulders. “Thanks for taking care of those boys.”

           “I do what I must,” I giggle, looking back at the stage.

           Once again, the lights go out as ‘Save Me’ ends. Moments of darkness as the boys regain their breath. The three of us have calmed down, smiles taking up over our faces. The lights turn back on, showing the boys up and moving around the stage.

           Las Angeles,” Namjoon speaks up in English. “Are you having a good time right now!?”

           The crowd goes crazy; screams the only noise that fill my ears. It’s an amazing feeling.

           “Hello, we are,” Namjoon starts.

           “BTS,” the seven boys say in unison.

           The screaming continues, and may never really stop.

           “Yoongi’s smile,” I point at the awe on my brother’s face.

           The seven boys are now standing in a line, ready for some speaking time.

           “Two years we’ve been here for LA KCON, and so nice to meet you guys,” Namjoon is back to speaking. “Um, I’m Rap Mon, from BTS. I’m the leader of this group. Nice to meet you.”

           The screaming peeks for a few seconds.

           “I’m so proud,” Nari pulls me closer to her.

           “Please say hi to, everybody in LA. Like, each one of us,” Namjoon is gasping for air. “J,” he points down at Hoseok.

           “LA,” Hoseok holds at the ‘a’ sound. “I’m your hope. I’m your angel,” he says in his accented English. “J-hope, nice to meet you. Wow,” his smile is big, and he’s being his extra self.

           “LA,” Jimin is waving with his free hand. “I am Jimin. Let’s have fun today.”

           “Hello,” Jungkook gives the word a sing-song vibe. “Nice to meet you guys. I’m, Jungkook,” he gives a tiny bow.

           “Hello, I’m Jin,” Seokjin gives a dramatic air kiss, winking before he lowers his arm.

           “Such a dork,” Nari chuckles.

           Yoongi  brings the microphone up to his lips, but lowers it as the scream volume increase. He takes his earbud out, coaxing the fans to be louder.

           “Now he’s just cocky,” I shake my head.

           “Nice to meet you, I’m Suga.” He returns his earbud to its spot.

           “All you guys make some noise!” Taehyung shouts out, raising his microphone up.

           I can’t help myself from screaming out. My cheeks heating up for some reason.

           “I am Kim Taehyung!” Taehyung shouts again, and I can’t hear the last bit.

           I pout, wishing the screaming would calm down.

           “So like I said,” Namjoon is back to speaking. “You know, we always look forward to this, when we come to LA because, like this, city. You guys are so hot, and you guys know how to turn up. Thank you guys, and we gotta few songs to go, so you guys ready to turn it up!?”

           The next moments are crazy as the boys transition into the next song. All of them rushing around to get everyone hyped for the third Cypher. I can’t help myself, the scream that leaves my mouth, and I am jumping around like everyone else. Nari and Emily aren’t as hyped, but are bouncing around with me. All of us doing our best to rap along. My eyes are glued to Taehyung as he dances around, loving the song more than anyone. It only he was given a bit of rap like Jungkook. Yoongi’s rap comes along, and I focus to be in time with him. His lessons showing in my ability to keep up with the rap leader. Too soon the stage is covered in darkness, and the hype clams down. The crowd stops the crazy screaming, and it gives everyone a chance to breath.

           “Is the end near?” Emily leans against the railing.

           “I think so,” I can’t seem to get the big box smile off my face. “This was amazing!”

           “It really was,” Nari pats my cheek. “It’s a good thing we planned this.”

           The lights come back on, and ‘Dope’ starts up. Instantly the crowd is hyped up again, and the screams are overwhelming.

           “Dance with them, Amber,” Emily gives me a slight shove.

           I sigh, but give into the request. When the chorus comes, I dance along with the boys.

           “Impressive, cousin,” Nari gives me a smile, patting my head.

           The song ends in the blink of an eye, and it is dark once again. It seems like the concert is over, and the end of KCON has arrived.

           “Damn brilliant,” Emily takes a seat. “Best first concert to go to.”

           “I fucking loved it,” I skip around the balcony. “My babe, brother, and close friends doing what they love. I need to be in the crowd more often.”

           “You do,” Nari chuckles, taking a seat as well. “I’m sure they’d love to see you in the crowd.”

           The crowd’s screaming picks back up as all the groups that preformed tonight. The MC’s talking, but I’m trying my best to grab my boyfriend’s attention. Taehyung is bouncing around, messing with anyone that will let him. His eyes scanning the higher seats.

           “Ugh, he’ll never see me,” I pout, leaning on the balcony railing.

           “Have hope,” Emily taps my butt with her foot. “He is looking for you.”

           “You’ll see him in thirty minutes or less anyways,” Nari says. “You can make it.”

           I am about to turn away from the stage when Taehyung looks right up at me. A boxy smile takes over the tan face of my boyfriend. He frantically waves a me, sending me a heart with his hands. I giggle, waving back, and making a heart with my arms, placing my hands on my head. “My soulmate.”

           “See, he really wanted to find you,” Emily grins. “It was fate.”

********

           “Amber, are you awake?” Emily pokes my back.

           “Can’t sleep,” I sigh, flipping over in the bed, I’m sharing with my best friend, to face her.

           She giggles, “Just like old times then. You’ve always been a crazy sleeper.”

           I tiredly smile, “It’s because I’m not with Tae. He’s helped my sleeping pattern become somewhat normal.”

           “That’s so cute. His warm embrace must soothe your body and help you calm down enough to sleep.”

           “He’s my big teddy bear,” I squeeze my teddy into my chest. “Speaking of that giant stuffed bear, it’s in our closet, and our dogs snuggle it when it storms.”

           “Adorable. Say, have you been keeping up with the Cubs?”

           “As best as I can. I stream games when at work, or as we travel at home. Tae has gotten more into baseball because of it.”

           “He wants to be able to talk to you about what you love. That’s so considerate of him. He loves you so much.”

           “I know,” I smile, looking down to avoid her gaze. “I’ve learned what he loves too. Singing, dancing, rapping. I take sneaky photos of him, and write love poems for him to read. We play video games together, and he leaves love notes for me to randomly find. I let him drive, and he picks up dog poop. He knows my period schedule, and lets me hold the dog leashes. There’s so much more, but I think I made my point.”

           “I’m so glad that you found this pure love. That you are so happy with this boy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted for you. Pure happiness with some significant other.”

           “What about you?” I can’t help the yawn that escapes my mouth.

           “Me? What about me?” Emily giggles.

           “What do you and Namjoon do that make you a good couple?” I force my eyes open.

           “Hm, well, he invites me over to the dorm when we both don’t have work, and I spend the night when the next day is a day off for me, I take pictures of him when he asks, and when he doesn’t. He lets me cook for him, and he just watches. He’s written songs for me, and I always tell him how amazing he is to keep his confidence high. We go on walks, and talk of the future. His intelligent ramblings remind me how he’s much more than a pretty face.”

           I poke her stomach, “I’m so happy you found true love. You two are a perfect couple. We could talk about our boys for house and not run out of things to say.”

           “It’s a good thing we decided to travel for a summer, and take a walk on such a beautiful day, and Taehyung walked up to you. It seems like yesterday it just happened.”

           “I know. The best decision I have ever made.”

           “Girls?” Nari’s sleep drenched voice shocks both Emily and me. “Are you two awake and talking?” She lets out a long yawn.

           “Yes,” I peek over Emily to see Nari lying on her back in the other bed.

           “What is so important that you are talking about it so early in the morning?”

           “Boys,” Emily and I burst into giggles.

           Nari chuckles, and I know she’s shaking her head. “Of course you are. You two are big dorks.”

           “Well, Amber is the Queen of Dorks,” Emily wipes the tears of her cheeks.

           I take a deep breath, “We both were having trouble sleeping, so we decided to talk for a bit.”

           “Sorry if we woke you.”

           “It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Nari sighs. “It wasn’t that great of a sleep anyways.”

           “Say, Nari, tell us about you and Seokjin,” I wiggle around to get more comfortable. “All the couple things you do.”

           “Hm, I guess I can,” Nari replies. “Well, Jinnie and I cook together as often as possible, making lovely meals. He always texts me to tell me when he’ll be home, and we send gushy texts back and forth. We watch dramas, cuddled together on the couch. Walks in the park give us time to speak our minds, and we know one day we will get married. He’s supportive of all I do, and I am supportive of all he will ever do.”

           “We are all so lucky,” Emily releases a happy sigh.

           “It was fate,” I close my eyes, snuggling into the pillow. “We were meant to meet those seven boys, and fall in love with one.”

           “I agree,” Nari adds. “The universe knew just what to do at the right time.”

           “I feel a lot better now,” I smile.

           “Me too,” Emily flips over. “Sleep will finally come.”

           “Good night girls,” Nari giggles.

           “Night Nari,” Emily and I yawn out.

           “See you two in the morning. We can tell the boys how much we love them then.”

           “Sounds perfect,” I whisper out before sleep overtakes me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hope you enjoyed reading! Thanks to YouTube I was able to watch this KCON concert, so that was fun. :D

[mrslittletall]

Don’t tell me where to go.  Earlier I watched a video about the flaws in Pokémon Sun/Moon. One of them I heavily agreed with, that annoying red flag that indicates where you should go next. In an already very linear game.  Imo, it is just unneccessary. I barely am able to explore the world and even when I am allowed to go exploring, sooner or later I have to go back to the part where the latest roadblock was. I probably haven’t forgotten about it, because I am stuck in a small area. Also, Rotom Dex is reminding me constantly where to go anyway. So why is there this red flag on the map? It’s pointless.  Thinking about this, I started Trials of Mana to get the last spirit. The remake, not the original. And just like in Pokémon Sun/Moon, I got annoyed. There is always that glowing big star on the map, telling me where to go even though this game is as linear as Sun/Moon! The elfin elder told me to go the mana goddess statue in the northwest of the forest, I can press on minus and see a map with this exact same statue on it and still, a shiny glowing star points on it! It is unneccessary!  I played the original, the original didn’t had a map, the map was also divided in screens because old game and guess what? I still was able to found this mana statue! In fact, even just two weeks ago because I like to play the original with my husband.  Why are games so adamant to tell you where to go? Heck, even one of my favourite games, Okami, did it. Not often, but at a few points, mostly when you have to hurry (but actually have all the time in the world), a glowing red arrow shows in which direction you should run. This actually gets me out of the immersion. That giant red arrow doesn’t make any sense, especially when Okami normally never tells you where to go with a marker, you just can look into your log and normally get Issuns latest hint where to go, but you have to find out yourself just how to get there. And mostly, in this “hurry to a location” events you already know where the location is, because you have to run back to it!  I am getting more and more annoyed by this... do the game developer think we gamers are stupid? That we can’t find our way? That we have trouble when there isn’t a giant marker on the map, especially in linear games? Alright, now let’s talk about Open World games. One example I play atm is Death Stranding. That game actually TELLS me where I need to go, BUT, while I know where I need to head, the way to the location isn’t clear at all. Often you can’t just cross in a straight line, the world is in your way and you are just a basic human without any superpowers (ok outside of the whole BT sensing thing and not being able to die thing), but you get the gist.  The thing is, you have to go from point A to point B and have to figure out HOW you get there. Do you pack a bunch of ladders to scale the mountains in your way? Do you try to find a way around the mountains? Do you pack weapons to take out the MULE camp in your way or do you try to sneak through it? Do you try to avoid the timefall and the BTs or do you take them head on?  You have a lot of choices in this game how to handle the situation and it is beautiful. Moreso, the game profits from its online features. When you are alone, you can see and use structures of other players, you can see signs that warn you and you can see footpathes that have been created by other players. It really makes it fun to reconnect the world and connect with the other players you never see but know are there.  Alright, different game. Zelda Breath of the Wild. That game has a huge world. You are in a tutorial arena in the beginning, but after you got all your shieka stone apps, you are free to leave.  And that is meant literally. Once you are done with the tutorial, BotW lets you do WHATEVER you want. You can literally go straight to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon and it is a common speedrunner thing.  But you don’t have to defeat Ganon. The game gives you several objectives, like tame the titans or find the shrines or the memories.  Now, the only thing that downright points to where to go are the titans and they are actually pretty easy to spot from a hight point, because they are HUGE. Everything else? Find it on your own. You get a sensor for shrine and you get quests for them. Nothing ever points to them with a marker, you have to solve the hints and find the shrine yourself. The same for the sidequest of the game. You get pointed to who gave you the quest, which is a good thing because it isn’t easy to remember where they were, but the actual quest? Read the text and figure out where to go. Normally it is near the quest giver, so just exploring a bit will help.  And the memories! You have twelve photos and have to find the places they got shot at. So how do you find the needle in the haystack?  There is this painter in each main town and a few stables and you can show him the photos, he then gives you a hint just where to search! I pretty much found every memory with his hints, I just needed to look up the last memory that wasn’t on the shieka stone because it had been three years since I visited that area and I forgot where it was (I still remembered that it existed, so iconic did it look).  BotW gets praised a lot for his sense of freeness and I totally get why.  Ok, now let me talk about the last games for now...  Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro.  When I started Dark Souls, I was really upset. Why? Not because the asylum demon crushed my sorry ass five times, not because I thought I had to beat him with the sword hilt, not because of the boulder trap that killed me.  That game had no map! I would get so lost! I am HELPLESS without a map!  To my surprise... I was completely fine without the map. Sure, in the beginning I got awfully lost and stumbled to the skeletons, but then I found the Undead Burg. I fought myself through it, explored, remembered where which enemy was when I was running back to Taurus the 20th time (I really struggled, ok?) and the gameworld... just made sense.  It became a really aha-moment when the shortcuts clicked into place. Granted, the shortcuts aren’t a big part of the game anymore after the lordvessel, but the first half is beautifully done! Finding the shortcut back to Firelink, finding the back exit out of Blighttown, seeing how Anor Londo opens up, the shortcut in Sen’s Fortress, beautiful. That was what let me thought about Dark Souls as Metroidvania. That game is a Metroidvania. Sadly, Dark Souls 2 and 3 don’t have it as much anymore, especially Dark Souls 3 is a lot more linear, but still has loads of optional stuff to do for me and most importantly, never tells me where to go.  Bloodborne is a lot like the first Dark Souls and also different. Bloodborne has a lot more areas that are disembodied, but they have that beauty of the Metroidvania in them. One of the most mind baffling things was finding the back entrance to Iosefka’s clinic... coming from the Forbidden Woods! And the finding out, HEY, that is that gate I saw at the start of the game and couldn’t open!  Slowly, you open up Yharnam and even the other areas like the nightmares have cool shortcuts to find. It feels like your exploring got rewarded, that you don’t have to fight through all this enemies anymore, only a few, to get back to the boss.  Now let me talk about the last game... Sekiro.  This game opens up at a certain plot point and your only hints? You talk with Kuro and Emma and they tell you a few things they found out about. I was SO confused. I had no idea what they were talking about and where to go. So I decided to check the areas out they talked about and try to make sense of the riddles they told me.  I couldn’t find a lot at first and went back often to listen to their riddles, until I just went full risque and jumped into a pit only to find out that this indeed had been the right solution!  One by one, I found out how to find the other locations.  The game never pointed them out for me, I followed the hints and found them myself.  So, to conclude. Video games, please don’t tell me where to go.

[gottagobuycheese]

Tag Thingy

Thanks @silent--sonata for indulging my terrible sleeping habits XD

(fyi this will probably be unnecessarily long and rambly, so it’s going under a cut (EDIT: whelp the song list got a little out of hand, I’d apologize if I were even remotely sorry)) 

Rules: Answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to get to know better  

Nickname: Cheese (or Lactose Wedge, or Dairy Product of Unspecified Origin and Purpose)

Zodiac Sign: Gemini! 

Height: 160.5 cm/5′3″ (Bubbles I refuse to believe you’re actually that much taller than me) 

Hogwarts house: Somewhere between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff allegedly, both of which I’d be honored to get sorted into, but honestly I’d just be stoked to get sorted at all 

Last thing I googled: I think it was something along the lines of “how to speed up audio playback in GarageBand,” but but my train of thought was derailed before I actually looked at any of the results so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (and on a related note, thanks again for the magical audio editing @imperiousheiress!)

Song stuck in my head: The end credits to Legacy of the Wizard (which is SUCH a jam, thank you for enlightening me @jessicafish) Following and followers: 227 (goodness just looking at that number is stress-inducing) and...104?! When the HECK did you all get here??? I think just last summer I was happily floating about in the 50′s. Anyways, to anyone I have not said hello, hello! Hope you enjoy your stay, and I am sincerely sorry if you expected Quality Original Content, or even just regularly scheduled other people’s content. Sadly, neither of these things tend to happen here. 

Amount I sleep: During the school year it’s usually anywhere between 30 minutes and 6 hours (DON’T EVEN START BUBBLES YOU HAVE NO RIGHT), usually landing in the 3/4 hour ranges if I’m smart about it, but now that I am on Unofficial Break, it’s usually at least around 6 hours (except today was 3 because Avatar is an excellent show and the weirdos in this house have regularly scheduled breakfast at 9-something every morning). Sadly my sleep schedule can only be forced to tolerate normalcy for so long before careening back in the other direction, so we’ll see if this is just a blip or if we’re back to normal mid-Atlantic Ocean hours!

Lucky number(s): I wouldn’t say these are necessarily favorite numbers, but I do like 2 and 9. But come to think of it, second attempts at Official Things do tend to go better for me than first attempts, so maybe there’s some merit there after all! Dream Job: Don’t think I’m really cut out for dreaming anymore, haha (unless you are a theoretical future employer in which case I am Extremely Full of Ambition and Passion). The bed-adjacent metaphor has been made, and not to brag, but I can sleep on pretty much any surface. Currently studying my Not Favorite aspect of STEM (was there ever a favorite or did I just like being good at things sometimes) and learning how to People™ properly (and also learning a gazillion convoluted drug names like what the heck dude, did you just fall asleep on your typewriter coming up with these), so I’ll take whatever place hires me and pays me enough not to depend on my parents for everything, I suppose. In an ideal world, that would entail a job where I could make friends, and even more importantly, a job where my shortcomings would not cause Massive and Irreparable Harm, but I don’t think this line of work really meshes with that last one, so I guess I’ll either have to get my shit together™ extremely soon or fake my death, adopt an alias, and flee to a completely new place with no ties whatsoever before trying to get another, less high stakes job. 

(Though I guess, less cynically, I like helping people well enough? And stories are fun! Maybe there could’ve been something with that. Not that there still can’t be, mind, but there’s still a long way to go between Here and There)

Wearing: Black shorts. Navy t-shirt. Brown some-specific-kind-of-jacket-I-forgot-the-name-of jacket. Is it summer? Is it fall? Am I in middle school? Who can say, but they are COMFY so sadly I have no cares to give

Favourite song(s): way way WAY too many to list here, and I do not have them all organized in a handy playlist separately, but to name a few (and these are not necessarily the MOST favorite okay, it doesn’t mean I don’t love stuff not on this list, it means you can’t force me to pick between my children and I am going to find at least one quick thing from a few things I like before I need to hit post and go back to looking like I’m being studious, and also things I think you should listen to right now, but for everything I’ve linked assuming I mean the whole OST), here’s a spam of links in no particular order: 

LoZ Wind Waker - The Great Sea (aka the epitome of optimism) 

Undertale - NGAHHH!! (I was about to link more but then I realized it’d be the whole soundtrack lol) 

LoZ Breath of the Wild - Hateno Village (Night) 

A:tLA - Peace (bad call BAD CALL NOW I HAVE EMOTIONS) 

Legend of Korra - Final Scene/Ending Theme (MISTAKES WERE MADE MISTAKES WERE MADE) 

Kung Fu Panda - Oogway Ascends (I feel like I’m taking you on a whole little album journey now XD) 

PMD: Explorers of Sky - Dialga’s Fight to the Finish (aka the Gotta Shower Fast song) 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pursuit ~ Cornered (aka the HURRY UP AND PACK UR SHIT YOUR FLIGHT LEAVES IN THREE HOURS song) 

Apollo Justice: A New Trial Is In Session (very underrated soundtrack imo) and also Apollo Justice: Telling the Truth (because these two are very closely associated in my head and it’s getting harder and harder to narrow things down so maybe I should stop lol) 

Your Name: Katawaredoki (in which I am forcibly thrown heart first into the bedroom of my second apartment at approximately 12-something A.M.) 

Digimon Adventure 01: Butterfly (MASSIVE 90′s childhood anime feels, and also Last Summer Before Everything Went to Shit feels (on a general scale I mean, not personal)) 

Pokémon: Lugia’s Song multitrack cover by Jordan Moore (would that I could have a talent of that musical talent) 

Pokémon the First Movie: Tears of Life (great now I’m on a Pokémon music spiral GUESS IT’S CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA HOURS NOW) 

PMD: Blue Rescue Team - Farewell and Run Away/Fugitives (you CANNOT make me choose between these guys okay, my brain WILL explode, and whoops now I want to link the whole ost) 

Palette by A Dear Friend (wink wonk) 

Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire - Fortree City (wow talk about mood whiplash)

Detective Conan: Main Theme (I can’t find the specific version since there are so many, but it’s a Good Theme) 

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl - Opening Theme 

Pokémon Colosseum - Relic Forest 

Song for Lindsay by Andrew Boysen Jr. (oh great now it’s time for marching band feelings I guess)

Mt. Everest by Rossano Galante 

Deltarune - Field of Hopes and Dreams and A Town Called Hometown (orchestrated) (aka the Lots of Work To Do song) and You Can Always Come Home and Don’t Forget (hey guess what I wrote a bunch of fake extra verses for) (also it looks my pathetic attempts at narrowing things down are getting even more pathetic so I’ll wrap up soon XD) 

 Guild Wars 2 - Fear Not This Night (never actually played this myself but my friend got me addicted to the music) 

Lord of the Rings - May It Be (Enya) (aaaand now I miss choir, THANKS BUBBLES) 

Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Multilingual) by Travys Kim (aka how I remembered how fun these things are) 

Original Song by Anonymous  

(The urge to add all the other songs I’m not adding is so strong but I’ve got so much work to do so just assume I mean all Nintendo music from any game I’ve played, all Ghibli movie music, every musical I’ve ever heard, and even more) 

Random fact:

Apparently as early as the 17th century, you could guess that a child would have a shortened life span if their foreheads tasted salty. Yes, there is a specific reason, and yes, you may already know what it is, and thankfully no, that life span projection no longer holds true, assuming access to Modern Medicine! 

Favourite Authors: Okay I have not read enough various books of enough various authors to be able to answer this, so I’m just gonna go with a few books instead. They are not necessarily all-time favorites, but I enjoyed reading them very much at the time and more often than not go back to them for comfort reads: The Martian, any of first three Harry Potter books, and The Rise of Kiyoshi. (That last one’s not really a comfort read but I am drowning in Loving Kiyoshi juice so here we are)

Favourite Animal Noises: Certain kinds of birds (UNLESS it’s some ungodly hour of the morning and you’re trying to sleep)? Ooh, and crickets! 

Aesthetic: A slob, but like...a comfy slob. An incredibly disorganized hermit who is happy to mill about in the uncontrolled entropy. (Are we talking about what aesthetic I give off, or what I like to look at, visually? Because I like space, and water, and mountains, and forests, and forests ON mountains, OOH and forests on mountains at night where you can see space, perhaps reflected in a body of water. Or just water, idk. Different things are pretty to look at at different times)

WELL THAT ONLY TOOK FOREVER SORRY FOR THE OBSCENE LENGTH 

@pachelbelsheadcanon @averybritishbumblebee @shingeki-no-korra @sailorlock @yeswevegotavideo @soultheta @queenerdloser @ifeelbetterer @rogueofdragons @peppervl @amadness2method @mutalune and anybody else who wants to do this! This isn’t seventeen, and I don’t know if any of you have already done it/been tagged, but I hear people moving around upstairs so that means this break is over XD. And ABSOLUTELY no pressure to actually do this, this is pretty much just me wishing you well! (and YOU of course, my dear reader! I hope everything’s going all right, or if it’s not, that it does soon)

[lovenotesuggestions]

Hey! Do you have any ideas/advice for easy and more importantly cheap dates? Thanks so much!

Picnics can be a good cheap date! Going to the local park and bringing food like sandwiches or stuff you’ve made at home/bought cheaply can be much less expensive than buying food whilst out

Similarly, places like parks can be great in nice weather. Going for a walk holding hands, taking photos, feeding the ducks (tinned peas/sweetcorn or rolled oats are cheap and healthy food for ducks!) etc. Depending what’s nearby where you live, there are probably some really nice places to go - by the beach or river, pretty wooded areas, etc.

People watching is fun and can be done anywhere. I spent half an hour people watching in a tesco car park with my boyfriend once eating a meal deal in my car and it was actually really fun

Local independently owned cafés and coffee shops are often cheaper than their chain alternatives, and you can get a hot drink each and a piece of cake between you for quite cheap. 

You don’t have to go out for a date - dates could be staying in binge-watching a series on netflix, eating microwave popcorn. Video games, board games, baking together/cooking together are all things that can be done cheaply at home. 

It’s worth seeing what kinds of things are on in your area. There’s a lot of surprisingly low-cost entertainment in towns and cites. Open mic nights for instance, independent theatre companies often have very affordable shows, same for independent cinema. Near me for instance there’s an independent cinema that charges half the price of the big name places for tickets and doesn’t care if you bring outside food, and there’s a really active improvised comedy scene with tickets that are only a few pounds, and a board game café that charges a very small fee to use any of the facilities there, etc. Anything like that really. Have a scour on Facebook and in local newspapers/online to see what’s in your area - you might be surprised by what sorts of great nights out you can have on a budget. 

If there’s a local animal shelter, they often aren’t opposed to people coming in to fuss and play with the shelter animals to give them some extra attention and socialise them with new people. 

If you play games like pokémon go that’s a fun, cheap date - you literally just need your phones. Back when it was really popular, my bf and I before we got together went on ‘pokémon go dates’ and we used to hang out in a really nice area of the city where there were a bunch of pokéstops and just chill and it was super fun. 

Ikea dates!! Play hide and seek or plan your dream home! Eat cheap meatballs! (also works at other large furniture stores but there may be less meatballs)

Followers: feel free to send in any ideas you have! 

[the-howling-wind]

Nuzlocke - Ultra Moon (Part 5)

Chapter 8 - This is the end, my only friend

<<Prev - Next>>

As I predicted, my team was desperately unbalanced and in the long run I payed it dearly. For the Electric Trial I had to recruit Cinzia to the team and evolved her in Dugtrio: she wasn’t my first choice, being a rather glass cannon Pokémon, but I had no choice and in the end I breezed through the Trial. It was the rest that screwed me up.

Back in Malie Town I met Guzma, the boss of Team Skull: it was my chance to take him down! The battle was fierce and in the end he got Soma with a Critical Sucker Punch, going over his defenses. As I mourned the fall of my comrade, the scum took the chance and ran away!

I collected my bearing and rushed in Guzma’s pursuit; a bloody battle ensued with a herd of wild Mudbray and I had to trade Cinzia and Ashido’s lives to catch Reinhardt. But I was exhausted and broken by the many, many losses. Never I could be prepared for what fate had planned for me.

An anonymous trainer, nobody important (although he believe he was the Kahuna of Route 12) wiped out my whole team with a Pinsir powered up by two Sword Dance and that outspeeded my whole team.

It was the end.

Chapter 9 - I came up from the bottom and into the top

I really thought about giving up. Many do at this point. But I had still Pokémon in my boxes and, more importantly, I could no let go to waste all the lost lives. I HAD to see it through, with a new team, carrying on an important legacy.

In those months that I trained, I was encouraged by words that Oliver once told me: 

I need to believe that no matter what happens in our lives, no matter how much darkness infects us, I need to believe that we can come back from that.

It was hard getting back on my feet, both physically and emotionally. Many had died. Sometimes it was my fault, sometimes it was an inavoidable tragedy. And it was bound to happen, hell as I was training the new team I had losses again.

But now it was my time to take back what my own stupidity and a cruel fate desperately tried to destroy.

In the months of my absence I still kept a line open with the Professor and I learned that Hau stopped the Challenge to protect people and Pokémon from Team Skull... Glad somebody picked up the mantle I left.

I therefore hoped to resume my Challenge without having him biting at my heels. I found Acerola and started the Ghost Trial: Mimikyu proved to be a formidable opponent, my initial plan of swooping in with Judith’s Steel Wing went to hell, as my opponent was stronger thant expected and to make things worse he summoned a Banette that burned and cursed my Pokémon. I swapped in with Ivan, gave him a Defense X; he was cursed as well, but at least that killed Banette. I played the long game with Mimikyu and he called a Jellicent; luckily Ivan had Discharge, so in the end I managed to take them both down.

I found my wat to Aether Tower, where I found Hau and Plumeria; so much for staying under the radar... I jumped into the battle, but once again she went down dragging one of my own with her: Ivan was hit by a Critical Sludge Bomb, leaving him with 1 HP and Poison in his body; his attack against Salazzle was not enough to KO her, so he died, poison burning in his veins. 

I later learned that Team Skull stole some Pokémon and retreated to their HQ, Po Town. It was time to pay them a visit.. They owned me three lives.

- - -

Info & Rules

Trainer: Howling Wind

Time: 41:47

Deaths: 23

Rules (I know I seem to be adding them as I go, but most of them I forgot to put there in the first place)

Random Starter

Double Clause

Battle Mode Set

No Exp Share

No Rotom Power Ups

TMs can be re-used, but there can be only one Pokémon that learned the move in the team at one time

No Pokémon Care (at least to the point of getting free crits and resisting the KO)

UltraNecrozma doesn’t count as Nuzlocke Battle (they told me you either over level and trample everything after that or you’re in for a team wipe, so I’m not to keen on these options)

Team:

Cobblepot (Golduck ♂️ Lv 40; Ability: Cloud Nine; Nature: Impish ; Moveset: Water Pulse, Aqua Tail, Psychic, Disable)

Judith (Fearow ♀ Lv 42; Ability: ; Nature: Docile ; Moveset: Drill Peck, Steel Wing, U-Turn, Focus Energy)

Ada (Lurantis ♀ Lv 40; Ability: Leaf Guard; Nature: Jolly; Moveset: Leafblade, X Scissor, Brick Break, Petal Blossom)

Yuri (Absol ♂️ Lv 38; Ability: Super Luck; Nature: Gentle; Moveset: Nightslash, Psycho Cut, Sword Dance, Detect)

Paul (Scraggy ♂️ Lv 33; Ability: Moxie; Nature: Rash ; Moveset: Chip Away, Brick Break, Payback, High Jump Kick)

Pamela (Floette ♀ Lv 36; Ability: Flower Veil; Nature: Bashful; Moveset: Magical Leaf, Grassy Terrain, Petal Blizzard, Wish)

Pokémon Caught:

Route 1 - Dammek (Grubbin ♂️ Lv 4)

Route 1 (Outskirts) - Krillin (Wingull  ♂️ Lv 5)

Route 1 (School) - Lupin III (Zorua  ♂️ Lv 5)

Hau’oli City - Monoma (Mime Jr ♂️ Lv 6)  

Route 2 - N/A (Abra that got away)

Hau’oli Cemetery - Gabriel (Ghastly ♂️ Lv 8)

Sandy Cave - Cobbletpot (Psyduck ♂️ Lv 9)

Verdant Cave - Jiro (Noibat ♀ Lv 8)

Route 3 - Judith (Spearow ♀ Lv 9)

Melemele Meadow - Weiss (Petilil ♀ Lv 10)

Seaward Cave - Platinum (Delibird ♀ Lv 12)

Ten Carat Hill - Raiden (Mawile ♂️ Lv 12)

Ten Carat Hill (Meadow) - Bastion (Carbink Lv 13)

Route 4 - Akande (Pikipek ♂️ Lv 14)

Paniola Ranch - Ivan (Mareep ♂️ Lv 15)

Route 5 - Ada (Fomantis ♀ Lv 14)

Gift - Soma (Eevee ♂️ Lv1)

Brooklet Hill - Gwen (Dewpider ♀ Lv 15)

Route 6 - N/A

Diglett Cave - Cinzia (Diglett ♀ Lv 22)

Route 7 - Buttercup (Wishiwashi ♀ Lv 14)

Wela Volcano Park - Douglas (Fletchling ♂️ Lv 18)

Route 8 - N/A

Lush Jungle - Glimmer (Steenee ♀ Lv 19)

Memorial Hill - Garruk (Phantump ♂️ Lv 23)

Akala Outskirts - Raine (Natu ♀ Lv 22)

Hano Beach - Ashido (Tentacool ♀ Lv 24)

Malie Garden - Natasha (Ariados ♀ Lv 25)

Route 11 - Mako (Komala ♀ Lv 28)

Route 10 - Ribrienne (Raticate ♀ Lv 29)

Mount Hokulani: Elvis (Elgyem ♂️ Lv 28)

Route 12 - Reinhardt (Mudbray ♂️ Lv 32)

Route 13 - Mileena (Bruxish ♀ Lv 32)

Blush Mountain - N/A

Tapu Village - Yuri (Absol ♂️ Lv 32)

Mount Lanakila - Nora (Snorunt ♀ Lv 32)

Route 15 - Kami (Gumshoos ♂️ Lv31)

Route 16 - Paul (Scraggy ♂️ Lv 32)

Ula’Ula Meadow - Pamela (Floette ♀ Lv 36)

Pokémon Dead:

Gabriel (Ghastly, Lv 8->14, Route 2, Pursuit by wild Spearow)

Lupin III (Zorua, Lv 5->16, Route 3, Silver Wind by Ace Trainer’s Butterfly)

Krillin (Wingull, Lv 5->19, Totem Aquarinid)

Bastion (Karbink, Lv 13->21, Tomem Marowak)

Monoma (Mr Mime, Lv 6->24, Totem Marowak)

Raiden (Mawile, Lv 12->29, vs Plumeria)

Douglas (Fletchinder, Lv 18->30, Thunderbolt by Trainer’s Raichu)

Oliver (Dartrix, Lv 5->32, Aurora Beam by Trainer’s Octillery)

Mako (Komala, Lv 28->28, Mirror Move by wild Fearow)

Raine (Natu, Lv 22->24, Pursuit by wild Crabrawler)

Ribrienne (Raticate, Lv 29->30, Critical Slash by Trainer’s Absol)

Elvis (Elygem, Lv 28->31)

Soma (Vaporeon, Lv 1->37, Critical Sucker Punch by Guzma)

Cinzia (Dugtrio, Lv 22->33, Wild Mudbray)

Ashio (Tentacool, Lv 24->24, Wild Mudbray)

Dadmmek (Charjabug, Lv 4->37, double Sword Dance rampage by Trainer’s Pinsir)

Jiro (Noibat, Lv 8->37, double Sword Dance rampage by Trainer’s Pinsir)

Weiss (Petlil, Lv 10->27, double Sword Dance rampage by Trainer’s Pinsir)

Reinhardt (Mudsdale, 32->34, double Sword Dance rampage by Trainer’s Pinsir)

Gwen (Aquarinid, 15->35)

Natasha (Ariados, 25->31)

Akande (Trumbeak, 14->18)

Ivan (Ampharos, 15->41, Critical Sludge Bomb by Puleria’s Salazzle)

[recentanimenews]

Ranking The Sword/Shield Pokemon By Which Ones I'd Defend With My Life

  Yesterday, Pokémon fans got a new Direct, showing them a bunch of cool stuff from the upcoming Sword and Shield games. We're getting a new region, we're getting open world Wild Areas, we're getting Raid Battles, and we're getting Dynamaxing which doesn't sound like it'll be that cool of a game mechanic, but it will be absolutely incredible for memes. But most importantly, we're getting a slew of new, cute Pokémon and I already love them all. I'd take a bullet for them. Do bullets exist in the Pokémon world? If they don't, scratch that. I'd take a Hyper Beam for them.

  So let's rank the new Sword/Shield Pokémon by how much I want to protect them with everything I have.

  9. Corviknight

  Let's face it - this bird doesn't need me. It doesn't need anyone. Sure, it flies you around, but it's just doing its job. I'm sure it has a heart, but it wouldn't come to my birthday party. And I can respect that.

  8. Drednaw

    Sure, Drednaw doesn't NEED my protection. It could bite me in half and if Pokémon were realistic, every battle with Drednaw would end with you begging for the carnage to stop. But then again, it's a turtle. And I don't want to sound like a viral video from 2007, but I like turtles. 

  7. Eldegoss

  I have a feeling that when we actually get to play these games, Eldegoss' Defense and Special Defense stats are gonna be in the toilet. Fire, Bug, Poison, Ice and Flying are going to trample it. So it'll need protection in the form of another Pokémon that can take a hit. But look at its face. That's a face that says "I got this."

  6. Zacian/Zamazenta

    These are Legendaries, but more importantly, they're puppies. And even more important than that, they're dang ol' good boys. One carries a sword in its mouth (because he's a dog that goes to sword fighting classes, oh yes he does) and the other has a barricade for a face (I bet it's hard to eat food with that big Digimon appliance around your skull, oh yes it is.) But I just want to pet them all day. And if Team Rocket or any other villainous team decides to step to me, I will jump in front of them like Ash taking that Mewtwo/Mew combo strike in the first Pokémon movie. 

  5. Gossifleur

    I don't know quite how to feel about Gossifleur because it's basically a bouquet that says its own name. But that's one of the main themes of Pokémon: Meeting new friends, learning about them, and then coming to love and respect them. So while Gossifleur currently looks like a flower shop mishap waiting to happen, I'm sure I'll come around on it and end up screaming at strangers on the internet about it in time. 

  4. Scorbunny

    I bet Scorbunny would be ashamed of my attempts to protect it. I bet it would look at me and my frail human body and think "I got this, bro. I'm a Pokémon and your attacks suck, so let me handle this, okay?" But I wouldn't stop trying. No, sad music would play and I'd just be getting torn apart by my foe. And then, suddenly, a triumphant score would sound, like the song that erupted when Gandalf and the Riders of Rohan appeared on the hill to turn the tides of the Battle of Helm's Deep. But instead of Ian Mckellan, it would be Scorbunny, saving me from Team Plasma or a Drednaw or a vending machine that wouldn't give me my Skittles or whatever. "You... you saved me...." I'd say, as Scorbunny helped me.

  "Of course," Scorbunny would reply. "Also, stop fighting Pokémon, you absolute idiot."

  3. Wooloo

    If you so much as whisper an unkind word in the direction of my Wooloo, we're gonna have problems. 

  2. Grookey

    JUST LOOK AT IT. I know that this is true of all of the Pokémon that we've seen so far, but don't you just want to hold it? I know I do. I want to put it up on my shoulder and walk around town with it. I want everyone to know what true friendship looks like. 

    1. Sobble

    "Sob" is literally a part of Sobble's name. That's like going to get Taco Bell with a friend and then nicknaming him "Gorditabro" for the rest of his life. So I already feel bad for Sobble because some jerk Pokémon researcher saw it and thought "Haha. It cries a lot. We should name it after the fact that it's super sad. That wouldn't be, like, the meanest thing ever." But I wouldn't treat you like that, Sobble. Apparently, when Sobble feels threatened, it cries and it causes everyone around it to cry, and that's okay.

  So if you want to find me in the Pokémon world, look for the little weeping amphibian and the dude beside it that is also weeping. I'll always be there for you, Sobble. Unless I end up picking Grookey as my starter. In that case, I will not be there for you in the slightest. 

  Which new Pokémon would you protect? Which starter are you gonna pick? Let us know in the comments!

  ---------------------

  Daniel Dockery is a writer and editor for Crunchyroll. You can find him on Twitter. 

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 1]

This is going to be a first in many ways for me. I’ve never done a proper Nuzlocke, I’ve never played any of these on a PC before, and my only previous experience with liveblogging belongs to things I’ve watched.

For people who aren’t familiar with Nuzlocke, here are the basic rules copied from Bulbapedia:

    Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead, and must be released or put in the Pokémon Storage System permanently.

    The player may only catch the first Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else.

Other rules that I’ll be using:

Each pokemon must be nicknamed.

If the first pokemon in an area is a species I’ve already caught, the first one that isn’t will become the catch option.

The catch rules start applying once I have the option of catching things.

No looking anything up on guides.

Team wipe means continuing on using whatever I have in the PC.

For added fun, all starters and wild pokemon are random. The rest of the game is as it is normally (or should be if I did this right), but considering how many years it’s been since I’ve played this version, that means very little to me except that gyms are going to have consistent typing, probably.

I think that’s it, so awaaaaay we go!

I neglected to screencap the dear professor because of course I did, but this generation’s tree name is Juniper. Hi Professor Juniper.

Thank you, I chose it partially myself.

See that? Two best friends I don’t know and didn’t bother taking screenshots of.

I don’t think I’m going to do a whole lot of commentary on things that aren’t related to the pokemon I get. I’m always pretty bad about paying attention to the plot of these games, which means maybe I should have picked a different gen for this, but yeah. I am here for the critters. The humans are boring.

(Cheren and Bianca are pretty nice, actually. I like how as the games go on they seem more and more interested in giving you good friends.)

So, the time has come for the randomizer’s first spin!

Let’s see what we’ve got...

That one’s out. Where’s the fun in picking a starter for a randomized run? Plus it’s already evolved. Part of the enjoyment is watching these things grow.

I’m going to go with probably not.

...

I think so.

I’m going to eat you alive.

That’s what I thought, anyway.

This is where, despite just starting, I got myself into trouble and had to start over. By which I means Psywave’s irregular damage meant that the Patrat murdered me. Legendary starter vs. Route 1 HM slave. The outcome could not be more obvious.

I’ve made the snap judgment that the catching rules might not be in effect yet, but the fainting rules are, so I restarted.

Then I realized that oh, because of how I’ve set things up, yes, it’s randomized from the original choices, but the same starters are still available. I also realized that I am far too interested in playing to really care that I’ve already botched this run, so whatever. Onward! Together we shall defeat the wretched Patrat and save the day!

Cue Psywave doing even less damage than last time.

While the Patrat just spams Leer.

All it needed to do was select Tackle once, and I could say goodbye to Latios, but thankfully, it did not do that, so we get to move forward a single step!

I appreciate I’m doing this the day after my dog got ink all over my carpet.

Next fight... go!

I can’t remember if Meganium has Poison typing to go with Grass. I’m leaning towards no, but hoping for yes, because I don’t really want to restart again. That would mean having to deal with figuring out the right randomizer settings, and please consider that I do not want to. We’ve got to pull through on this.

That’s... a good start?

I believe in you, currently unnamed Latios.

I can’t wait to find out if this is one of the versions that has you take poison damage outside of battle or not. I don’t think I will enjoy that. Watch, the first pokemon I catch will die because I have no antidotes and am too many steps away from a center.

Victory against Cheren achieved! With another nonexistent screencap because I am unprofessional as all heck. Yay for gratuitous amounts of exp because Meganium isn’t something level 5s usually fight!

It’s nice that my mother in this game is so understanding.

I see, so if they can’t stop you from going out in the wild grass, they’ll just inject plot to keep you from immediately running out the door. Geez I hope I get running shoes soon. I feel so slow.

I can’t remember what kind of jerk dad Bianca’s father is, but I do remember not liking him and very much liking the Electric gym leader.

It’s true, in an alternate universe that never happened she and her Patrat beat me up and I was very sad.

Loudly. Do not like.

Hi fellow kids.

The time to receive our permission to leave the town (aka pokedex) has come, but more importantly, it’s time for Latios to get his very own nickname! That’s how you know the difference between this one and the exact copy that died to a Patrat!

In the spirit of being uncreative, Latios’ new name is Boeing. Long may the two be attached to each other.

Every Pokemon game ever, until the end of time.

Bianca you are so cute. I sure hope nothing bad or inconvenient ever happens to you during the plot. Can you imagine how sad that would be for you and your bloodthirsty Patrat.

If I could have three wishes, one of them would be to skip the tutorial section in all of these games. Please just let me catch things and try not to kill them.

It begins.

You know, one of the problems with having Boeing only knowing Psywave for damage is that predicting what he’s going to do to the creatures I try to catch is going to be an entertaining mess. I predict whatever I catch first is going to be significantly more helpful in the process than he currently is.

(Don’t worry, Boeing. I am still obligated to love you until death.)

I really need to be better about screencapping things, but I don’t think I will.

Bianca starts a pokemon-catching competition between the three of us, and unless there are more routes than I think between where I am and where the three of us are going to meet up, I think I lose that by default.

What route is this?

Alrighty then. Let’s go forth and find out who our next partner is! Forward, Boeing!

You know. I wonder if I have made mistakes with my preferences for the randomizing here.

Okay Boeing. You and me. Trying not to die. If possible, trying to include catching our new friend in that mission plan.

Boeing, two misses in a row is not how we do that.

...Make that three.

He did dodge the Supersonic after he finally hit it. There’s hope here.

What’s a Seismitoad’s catch rate? I have my suspicions and they are not good, but...

Who thought this was a good idea.

Gasp.

Am I allowed to be disappointed that it’s already in its final form, or is that considered rude to my new friend?

I dub thee... Frogger.

I should probably run back and go heal before I get one of these overpowered little guys killed.

I can’t remember if you being Modest is a good thing or a bad thing, but you’ll hopefully be alive long enough for me to teach you Surf, so in theory it’s a good thing. Poison Touch is the good ability I think (thank you luck for not having Boeing know any physical attacks that could have gotten him poisoned). Frogger’s also “proud of its power,” which I think means might have max IVs in the category his nature isn’t good for.

What’s Boeing like?

He’s also Relaxed and loves to eat. I grant him the secondary nickname of Good Boy. Speed being lowered is probably the most neutral I could ask for that isn’t actually neutral, and I am not going to say no (like I have a choice) to having his Defense raised for a Nuzlocke.

Okay guys, it’s time to go grind and be sad about the things we could’ve caught. ...No offense, Frogger.

...

This run is going to be fun. I can tell.

I am not confused, and yet I still managed to hurt myself.

I think some people might have some rules where you can catch your first encounter for grass and your first encounter for water, but this one is just going to be straight-up, one pokemon per route. Hopefully I’m better at keeping track of that than I feel like I will be.

I imagine I will have much reason to appreciate the kindness of strangers in this game. I usually end up grabbing every single item I can, but out of me being a completionist, not necessity.

Every Shaymin I find during this grind session is mocking me.

I continue to be really slow about screencapping, and really fast about button mashing to speed through every solitary bit of text, so not pictured here is me and my two besties being happy about how all three of us have two pokemon each. Shaymin not included.

I can’t remember anything about these video chats. I hope they aren’t important enough that I feel the need to cap them.

Accumula Town. Pokemon seen here: None yet. I can’t remember if I can even get anything here. I remember so little about this generation. N’s entire existence was practically blotted out before I watched the intro cinematic.

When do I get my running shoes. I feel so slow.

Wait, is this the generation where the Marts and Pokemon Center get combined? Yessss. I have made one (1) good decision in my choices here.

Look, more names I don’t remember.

Hm. I am not used to having to do stuff with my money in these games. I just pick whatever up, heal at the centers, and maybe buy some healing items for the Elite Four. I’m not sure what the protocol is when you have to worry about your beloved partners actually dying.

Potions and Poke Balls. The two things I can buy here, and the two things I will probably need fairly quickly. Pokemon Go’s spoiled me with how easy things are to catch. This is going to be a rough awakening.

Current bag stock: 4 Potions, 1 Premier Ball, 13 Poke Balls. Plus Key Items.

I’m really starting to understand why most people just do these things in a video format. This has its limitations as a medium when I have my limitations as a competent host.

I put Boeing back in front so that he can maybe get enough exp to know something that isn’t Psywave, but I think that doesn’t currently matter because the plot has arrived.

Hi Team Plasma. Leave me alone, please. I am not here for plot. I am here for fun times and accidental murder.

This is sort of an unfortunate generation to Nuzlocke when it’s all about treating pokemon better. “Pokemon are my precious partners! Battling is a way to bond! Oh whoops Frogger’s dead.”

This is N. He hears pokemon. He also does what he can to speak for pokemon. He is a good egg, if memory serves. He also has a cooler outfit than I do, and that makes me sad.

Try... I don’t know, how many routes are there? Yell at Cheren and Bianca, not me. I’m going to be a very irresponsible pokedex filler.

Wait, this is a battle? Already?

Guess who thought, “I can’t remember if this is Dark or Normal. If it’s Dark Boeing is the least helpful thing I could use. It’s probably Normal until it evolves, it’s early in the game, right?“

Frogger, maim.

Frogger’s going to win and I’m not going to think any other way, but this would be a really sad way to go. Purrloin just murdering me because of critical hits and Boeing’s inability to hurt it.

Prediction proven correct. We win, Boeing gains a level, and yet again, no one is dead. Yay.

We blink the same way. That’s where you can really see the family resemblance.

Wait.

Is it...?

YES! Movement achieved! Best mom is best!

So the question is if we’re going to fight trainers or catch something first. I think I’ll take the lead and just step in front of the girl to the left. Then I’ll find out she has a Purrloin and Boeing will be sad.

Oh. She’s not a trainer. Learning all over the place.

Hello! Well, isn’t that convenient. Let’s hopefully not murder you!

That’s stage one accomplished. Now for the less fun part. Let’s throw the Premier Ball for luck.

...Let’s be sad when that has no effect.

Whoever wrote the reactions to the pokemon breaking out of the balls had a great understanding of what torture their players would be going through.

Success! Something normal to play with!

Hm.

You shall be Timon. Please don’t die.

I love being able to run back to the Pokemon Center instead of needing to walk like a peasant.

Switching Timon into first place since he is the weakest in every possible way. Don’t worry though, buddy. If you live long enough, we will change that together.

Timon is a Bashful boy and likes to run. The first neutral nature of the group. I have no strong feelings on that one way or another, but I do know me, and knowing me, I will be most sad if the Bashful one dies. You protect the Bashful ones.

Time for our first battle against an NPC. I foresee this going well. Even though Youngster Jimmy is a bearer of the dread Patrat. It’s level 7, so Timon belongs nowhere near it, and it’s a Patrat, so Boeing needs to stay far away. Frogger, you’re up.

Two hits later, the Patrat is gone, Frogger is level 8, and Timon grows to level 5. Progress.

Me too, as long as I win.

The theme of this run will just be never using Boeing in a fight.

Victory achieved, and Timon has leveled up to 7 and learned Ember! A productive fight.

Are you kidding me.

Hm.

Okay it turns out it knows Bite, so Boeing this is yet another creature to stay away from, Frogger, if you don’t mind stepping back into the role of enforcer? Yeah it’s a fierce dragon, but it’s also level 4.

Good Frogger. And you even all get to share the exp together! A solid group experience that didn’t take any years off my life, no sir.

I should probably give up on screencapping every single encounter. It’s not exactly entertaining for anyone, and if the post doesn’t suddenly stop, the answer of what happens should be fairly obvious.

We’re going to let Timon try fighting for once instead of going pure switch training.

And now we’re going to let Boeing take over, because Lillipups are the terrifying puppies with STAB. Timon takes a level up, and Boeing takes the pride of actually being useful again.

My first experience with Randomizer should not have been wasted on a Nuzlocke. My only real complaint about Pokemon games is that I’d like more variety in the ones you find on early routes, and with that solved, it’s like being thrown into a candy store where everything is free.

Except I already caught something in this route, so sorry Yamask, time for you to go.

This thing knows Disable. I... think Psychic can hit Ghost, it’s just not very effective. It’s Dark it has a problem with, but we’re not going to find out this fight because Boeing missed and Yamask Disabled it.

Things like that are why early game variety isn’t a priority. Pokemon pick up their better moves as they advance, and that translates to a lot of early moves not hitting Ghosts.

A wild Salamence was found after I went back to go heal. It made Timon flinch twice in a row.

In some ways, this is exactly what I wanted, in others, mistakes have very much been made. There’s probably an option to keep all the evolutions found in the wild level appropriate.

If Boeing ever hits a Psywave, I might just die of shock. My poor useless Legendary. I’m going to let him try to kill a level 7 Tepig just so he can feel needed. Though he is a Relaxed guy, so his performance probably isn’t bothering him nearly as much as it bothers me.

Bianca, you and your terrifying Patrat should feel no obligation to fight me. You could just. Not. You also have a Lillipup now. I do not trust this encounter to go well, because I am a paranoid sort.

Then Timon’s Ember burns the Lillipup as I’m typing that, so fine, maybe not everything will be horribly dramatic all the time just because death is on the table.

Boeing, I know it’s scary, but I’m going to send you in to fight your rival. Don’t worry. In this universe, I have other things to switch to once it starts murdering you.

She used a Potion? Really?

Patrat please stop Leering at my Latios.

...Also please undo your knowledge of Bite. Boeing’s accuracy with Psywave is so bad I actually can’t guarantee that he’ll live long enough to strike the final blow, so once more... Frogger, time to pick up the slack. Sorry you are the most useful of the team when you are clearly the most unloved.

We win and arrive at Striaton, which I think I actually remember now that I’m walking around in it. It’s the one with the waiter Gym, I believe. And the Dreamyard’s next to it, where we will likely have our next friend.

This Gym changes based on who you picked as your starter... I wonder what Boeing replaced.

New location get. Oh wait... am I remembering wrong, or can I not access the grass without HMs? I’m pretty sure this is the area where you get the chimp pokemon, but that’s a letdown here since I don’t think I randomized gifts and the like. Maybe we are not meeting our new friend here yet.

As I’m going through the trainers here, Boeing is still level 8, Frogger is 10, and Timon is 11, so... sorry, buddy. You’re going to have to face down another Patrat. Maybe it’s a good thing I banned myself from looking things up, because I am guessing that however long it takes for Boeing to get a new move, it will be too long. His only other move is Heal Block, and that is only theoretically useful at this stage in the game.

Against any type, actually, but I guess that’s the answer to what Latios replaced among the starters. I now have a Panpour.

I didn’t really think much about what to do with gift pokemon... I think I’ll just add to my personal rules that using pokemon on my team that have not been randomized is a no-go. As a sign of its ineligibility, Panpour will receive no nickname. I’ll ditch it in the PC before the temptation to use it grows.

Yeah, the grass is currently beyond my reach... I guess we’re doing the first Gym with these three, then. After our obligatory journey to the Trainer School.

I don’t remember so many battles with non-NPCs in other games, but it’s also been quite some times since I’ve played. And I was tempted to go with a no-items rule for this run, but then I remembered I am a coward when it comes to small creatures under my care being in pain.

...Geez, I probably have to worry about what level the Gym Leader has... usually I grind the heck out of things by accident, so it never comes up, but there’s room enough for error here to concern me.

Cheren having a Meganium is going to surprise me for a while yet.

Boeing being pretty useless against it won’t surprise me anytime soon. I guess I’ll have my answer about how this generation deals with poison if I make it through this fight.

I apparently forgot to heal when I ditched Panpour. Whoops.

But Timon comes through!

Thank you my intrepid fire pig.

Hey, Boeing learned a move!

.

.

.

Helping Hand.

Latios replaced the Grass starter.

Isn’t that supposed to be easy mode.

Lucky me, this is one of the versions where poison doesn’t kill you outside of battle. That’s a relief; I never remember things like antidotes when I’m playing the games normally, so it was fully within the realm of possibility that my entire team would die just because I forgot about the rules.

...

I’m gonna yolo it.

Frogger, I believe in you. Murder the Fire pokemon with your mighty Bubble.

The first trainer has a level 11 Lillipup... I would probably be way more comfortable taking this gym after some grinding, but that’s hardly the point here. The point is for me to entertain myself and feel terrible when it all goes wrong.

It’s weird how little memory I have of this gym. I remember the final fight, but absolutely nothing else. I think that’s because Cheren takes over being the first Gym Leader in the sequels, and who ever remembers the peons anyway.

I can’t believe I’m switch training a Latios.

We’ve got a long way to go, Boeing.

This could go so badly so easily.

His name’s Chili? Really?

At least he only has two pokemon--

Lillipup with status boosting move and Bite, run Boeing.

Timon bravely holds the line, and... yeah, this is the gen where the amount of exp is determined in part by the difference between your level and your opponent’s, isn’t it? Because grinding needed an added complication, naturally.

Level 11 Frogger vs. level 14 Pansear.

This should be fine, but I am so used to being a higher level in gyms. Being a lower level while playing for keeps is making me twitchy.

Atta boy, Frogger!

And he learned BubbleBeam! That is so much better than Bubble!

One badge down.

...Does anything in my party learn Cut?

Okay, with the badge, that seems like a good stopping point for this post. I don’t know how these will end up going, since, in case it weren’t painfully obvious and you didn’t read some of my comments above, this is all brand new to me, but hopefully this proved at least a little fun on some kind of level.

[aion-rsa]

Should Netflix’s Live-Action Pokémon Series Explore the Franchise’s Dark Side?

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Variety is reporting that Netflix is developing a live-action Pokémon series that is currently set to be helmed by Lucifer‘s co-showrunner, Joe Henderson.

We don’t know much about the show (the project hasn’t even been confirmed by Netflix as of the time of this writing), but this early report suggests that the decision to go with a live-action adaptation as opposed to the more traditional animated adaptation can be partially attributed to Detective Pikachu‘s success. It’s early days yet concerning this entire project, but it’s certainly easy to imagine this adaptation following in Detective Pikachu‘s footsteps so far as style and storytelling go.

While that may be the most likely (and potentially lucrative) approach, it’s hard not to wonder if this is the perfect opportunity for someone to really dive into the darker side of the Pokémon universe.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Hey, I hear you. The idea of a “dark” live-action Pokémon series probably sounds like a joke. Actually, the entire idea of a gritty live-action reboot/adaptation of a property previously intended for younger audiences has become something of a meme over the years. We’ve all seen that idea go very wrong in the past.

The funny thing about Pokémon, though, is that the darkness of the series has always been there. After all, we’re talking about a video game where a small army of trainers capture wild animals and have them battle each other for their own amusement as well as a chance at fame and fortune. Even Detective Pikachu sometimes played with the darker elements of that core concept, though that movie obviously ended up going in a different direction.

Beyond what social commentary you can extract from what was probably honestly intended to be a largely wholesome premise, it’s very much worth noting that there have been many times throughout the history of the Pokémon franchise when this series has embraced darker storylines that have left many to suspect that the franchise’s writers are harboring something sinister just waiting to burst free.

Maybe you’ve heard that every Cubone wears the skull of its dead mother, but did you know that the Pokémon Drifloon carries away children who mistake it for a balloon? Did you know that Gourgeist’s Pokédex entry notes that it “sings joyfully as it observes the suffering of its prey?” Did you know that Yamasks wear the faces of the humans that they once were? Have you ever dared read the creepy history of Lavender Town’s ghoulish urban legends?

Early discussions of Pokémon‘s darker elements can certainly be traced back to overenthusiastic fans trying to turn one of the most outwardly wholesome games in the world into something a bit edgier, but as the series has evolved, its developers and writers have done more to further those conversations than anyone else. This isn’t fan fiction; it’s a part of the Pokémon canon that just doesn’t get to see the light of day that often.

More importantly, calls for a “darker” Pokémon storyline have been growing a little louder for years now. In fact, the popular Pokémon fan game Pokémonn Uranium was widely praised for its more mature storyline which revolved around the fallout of a nuclear disaster as well as how we attempt to process grief for both personal and global events. When I recently spoke to Uranium co-creator Involuntary Twitch, she mentioned that part of her motivation to tell such a story was based on her desire to see a Pokémon story that wasn’t necessarily darker but rather offered something deeper.

“I have been saying my entire life that Pokémon can, and probably should, do a little bit better with its stories than, ‘Oh no, an evil team is attacking, and now they’ve been beaten by a ten-year-old,'” said Involuntary Twitch. “I don’t think Pokémon needs to tell this grand, epic story with all these plot twists and betrayals and darker themes, even though you could argue that this game is substantially darker than a main series Pokémon game, but I think that what makes a good story is the feeling that your actions actually matter and that the things you do are instrumental to the outcome of the plot.”

Maybe that’s the bigger point here. Do I want the Netflix Pokémon series to be a Brandon Cronenberg-directed epic where the body horror genre is used to explore the twisted origins and casual manipulation of Pokémon everywhere? Yes…yes, I do. That would be amazing. Realistically, though, this series has the chance to simply touch upon the more twisted side of Pokémon to tell a story that still captures the magic of this franchise while acknowledging that many fans are ready for something different, deeper, and yes, maybe just a little darker.

In all likelihood, nobody is going to derail this potential gravy train by telling Pokémon ghost stories or taking an extended trip to the darker side of the Pokémon universe. However, that doesn’t mean that a live-action Pokémon series doesn’t have the chance to offer something so much more interesting than more of the same.

The post Should Netflix’s Live-Action Pokémon Series Explore the Franchise’s Dark Side? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3eYmmiQ

[yourladyocs]

Hard mode: emoji asks for Vesta !

Oooo! Challenge Accepted! 

(I am going to do older Vesta (around 15). But if this time line changes, the answers might change)

🐰 what is one secret that you’ve never told anyone?

That I actually miss my family. Sure they weren’t the greatest, but I love them. I almost regret running away as many times as I did. 

💗 if you could hug anyone, who would it be? 

My dad, Mort. 

🐹 what are some of your favourite Pokémon and why?

Mismagius! I love the aesthetic, but also feel like they are one of the Pokemon that would love me the greatest! 

🌠 if you were in charge of the world, what would the world look like?

I don’t want that responsibility. I guess it would be free and have a good value system. I am not very good at this type of thing and I don’t want to be. 

👀 what was the most recent vivid dream that you had?

That I was standing on a boat with the sea mist splashing on my face as I went sailing forth. I had no ties to hold me back, but yet I felt guilty. 

☀️ what do you like the most about your best friend?

My closest friends would be Ternelle and Ariadne. Personally, I love their drive and their freedom. They are the most care-free people I know, yet the most hardworking. And more importantly, they stop and take care of each other. They stop and love each other. I don’t know if this is true, but I think the reason I like them so much is because they stop and share that love with me. It’s silly I know! :p

😘 talk about your crush or partner

I have several. Its a whirlwind to keep them all under control, but I do it. 

💁 if someone was rude to you, would you be rude back?

I probably just accept it and move on. I will sing a jam about them later to get back tho. Everyone will know about the rude thing you did to me! 

🌟 what do you like about yourself? (must choose at least 3 things!)

I love me, but I don’t know specifics. I love my ability to play an instrument. I love the way I can fight. I love the way I move. 

🐾 what are you scared of most? how will you overcome it?

Being stuck in this town forever. I left obviously. 

🎁 what never fails to make you happy?

Hearing Uncle Ternelle play his music! Or Ariadne showing me the ships! Or listening to Cade talk about Mae! Or Mae talk about Cade! I love how Arthur hangs out with me sometimes! 

💙 what annoys you about some people?

That sometimes they can’t see the problem right in front of them. That some people are just blind to everything around them. 

😤 do you get angry easily?

I don’t like to think so. 

🐇 what do you always daydream about?

Escaping! Running Away! ...Trading parents...Living a new life... a happier one. 

🌻 if you could change 3 things about the world what would you change?

I would change the way the city is run. I would change the fact that are pirates attacking Ariadne. I would change the fact that I am a demigod. 

🍓 send me 4 names: kiss, befriend, kill or marry?

(I don’t really know how to answer this one.).

✈️ what is your dream city and why?

Any place far away from here. 

☕️ talk about your ideal day

When my parents are home and don’t fight. But thats a dream! A day I don’t get yelled at! Impossible! 

🌸 are you an introvert, ambivert or extrovert?

I don’t know dude. I am not social. I like sticking within my bubble. I guess I wave high to the kids at the university, but I haven’t hung out with them. I usually bug Arthur or Cade or Ternelle, etc. 

💧 when was the last time you cried?

Yesterday. 

🎵 name 5 songs you love at the moment

Friends- MarshmeloI’m Born to Run - American AuthorsThe Wolf- PhildelHeads Will Roll- Yeah Yeah YeahsRun or Hide- Run River North

⚡️ if you had any superpower, what would it be and why?

Teleportation or Invisibility because then I could run away with ease. 

💛 if you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?

Arthur is your best companion, but learn how to hide earlier. 

💚 who are you jealous of and why?

Any kid with a functional family. 

💎 which one would you rather have more of: intelligence, beauty, kindness, wealth or bravery? why?

Bravery because then you can stand up to the things you are afraid of instead of running away. Or you will have the courage to run away fully out of a bad situation. 

🙊 what are you ashamed of?

I mean I feel bad for running away, but I had to do it. 

🌺 which languages do you know? which do you want to learn?

Elvish, Common, and I am working on others! 

🍀 if you could be any fictional character’s best friend/lover, which fictional character would you be?

I would love to be Sophie’s, from Howl’s Moving Castle, best friend. 

☁️ talk about your dream universe.

Where the city didn’t fall into the ocean, so that way my mother wouldn’t be mayor of the city. 

💜 which acts of kindness are you going to do today?

Plan for the kids at the university or help in the tenements. 

🐬 if you could transform into any animal/magical creature, what would you be and why?

I would love to be a fairy! I would love the ability to flutter and explore small spaces. 

🍄 talk about someone/something you really dislike

Ohhhh.... I mean it would be mean to say. But I really truly dislike Ophelia. She may be my mother, but I wish she would pay some good attention to me. I don’t want her scolding me all the time. I don’t want her yelling at me, forcing me to wear this or that, or performing my tasks properly in a certain way. Just stop and tell me you love me for once!!

😣 talk about some things that have been making you depressed/angry/anxious lately

My home life has. 

🍪 what did you want to be as a kid, and what do you want to be now?

I as a kid wanted to be someone who impressed my parents. I wanted to be a cleric and then maybe they would love me. But now I realized that I want to be a bard and play music. 

🍰 what are some of your favourite sugary foods?

Vanilla Cake! 

🍑 what are you obsessed with?

Running-away seems to be a theme. I kid! I don’t have a current obsession. 

💘 what happens to you when you’re stressed?

I panic and flee. I have to get out of the situation now and run away. 

😪 what are you sick of?

These questions. I don’t want to keep stating this, but I am sick of my home life and running away. 

🙀 are you an adrenaline seeker?

I guess?

💥 what are some unpopular opinions that you have?

That you can be Lawful, but doesn’t always make you good. 

☔️ would you consider yourself a good person?

I am pretty neutral. 

😊 what do you like to do as hobbies?

I love playing my instrument! I got a violin. My mother wanted me to pick a ‘noble’ instrument. 

🎤 what’s the last song you hummed or sang by yourself?

Friends by Mashmelo and Anne-Marie

🐝 what’s your worst trait? how are you planning to improve it?

My lack of ability to stick in a stressful situation and solve the problem. I want to, but I don’t know if I can at this point. 

🎨 what do you always doodle when you’re bored?

Flowers and hearts! 

🐻 what’s stopping you from chasing your dreams?

Money? Attachment? A need for a family connection? My want to stay with my support system? Good answers. But really it’s my cowardice. 

🌷 what’s your mbti personality and why do you think it suits you?

ENFJ. I don’t know. I tend to put out my emotions, but also everyone is usually happy to see me. 

🐶 send me 3 fictional people and I’ll choose my favourite!

(can’t do this one)

👑 who are your favourite celebrities and why?

(she doesn’t know)

🐴 opinion on __?

On horses? I mean they are a mode of travel. 

🍋 do you consider yourself an emotional person?

Yes! Unfortunately. 

📚 share 3 books that you love and your favourite quote from them.

I only read education books. I don’t have very many good books outside of that.(I think she would like Madame Bovary, The Family Fang, Maupassant. “She cut him off. ‘You know what I said. If you’re not happy, you know where the door is. Nobody’s stopping you. But I’ve promised, and I’m going.’” from Femme Fatale by Maupassant).

😔 what do you always do when you feel sad? does it help?

I always play my instrument or practice fencing. Or I run-away and go hang out with Arthur or Ternelle. Of course it does! 

😌 what thoughts keep you going when you’re sad?

That there will be tomorrow. That tomorrow could be better. 

🌍 which country do you live in?

(Fictional world)

🐧 describe yourself in 3 words

Romantic, Wishful, Musician. 

🐵 which quotes changed you?

“Feel what is great, cherish the beautiful” or “Her will, the veil of her bonnet, held by a string, flutters in every wind” 

💭 do you keep a diary?

Nope! 

💫 who inspires you?

Ternelle and Cade. They got to live their lives and making the most of it. 

👻 do you believe in ghosts and why?

I mean... I haven’t met one. 

🎀 what’s your fashion sense like?

I wish I could wear pants! I hate dresses. I want to wear a suit. Like I want beige pants with a white shirt and some sort of vest. 

🎬 what are some of your favourite films?

I don’t know!(Madame Bovary probably. Or some sort of run-away story).

🍦 what is one treasured childhood memory?

I remember the one time Ternelle taught me to play an instrument. It was a pan-flute I believe. When I expressed interest with it to my mother, she gave me a violin. I honestly think it was one of the best things to happen. Sure, my mother got her way with the instrument choice, but at least she gave me one! 

🐼 if you could meet anyone, who would it be and why?

Maybe I could meet Arthur’s family? I mean they are my family technically. 

[yvocaro]

Time again for the weekly handheld gaming news! It was an exiting week for me an my family as Sinterklaas once again found our door. I’ve mentioned this celebration in the Netherlands before, celebrating the birthday of Saint Nicholas. Lots of gift giving an writing verse, a cosy night with the family and to my joy, lots of sweet candy.

What an exiting couple of weeks it has been here on the site, as another great writer joined our ranks with a personal story about how her love affair with the DS came about!

The link to the first part of her story is here.

Vic shared her insights on the future of handheld gaming with us, which always gets us gamers going with some nice discussion. As she is also the one that started the successful Facebook group Handheld Gaming Network two years ago, she has seen the way we game change.

Her insights are here. 

But, lots more happened this week, so lets go!

The Game Awards 2017: Breath of the Wild is winner

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was announced Game of the Year! And not just that, the game was also voted Best Action/Adventure game and won in Best Game Direction. Of course, there where many more awards to be given, and these stood out to me. If you want to see the entire list, you can find it here.

Best RPG: Persona 5

Best Family Game: Super Mario Odyssey

Best Strategy Game: Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Champions Ballad, DLC for BotW

Nintendo took the opportunity to release DLC pack 2, the Champions Ballad and showed the trailer at the awards show. In case you missed it, the DLC is downloadable now!

The Champions’ Ballad DLC Pack adds a new dungeon, an original story, and even more new challenges. Many of these will guide you towards finding new outfits and armor. If you follow these, you will be able to find Zant’s helmet, Phantom Ganon’s armor, Ravio’s hood, and a royal guard’s costume. Most importantly, you be able to find Link’s lobster pajamas from The Wind Waker.

There is also a quest for an ancient bridle and saddle for your horse, which makes it easier to teleport them right to you and spur faster. Your journal will send you to a few locations to speak with locals or find journals with hints leading to these items. As for the awesome bike that is shown at the end, the Master Cycle 0, it can be unlocked once you clear the new DLC content.

In order to access the Champions’ Ballad quest, you will need to complete all four Divine Beasts and the quests surrounding them. When you’ve done that, you should hear a message from Zelda telling you to go to the Shrine of Resurrection. Go back, place your Shiekah slate in the terminal you find there and you’ll start up the DLC.

The Lost Sphear demo on Switch

The Lost Sphear demo has finally made it outside of Japan. North American and European gamers can head to the Nintendo Switch eShop to get the free demo for Lost Sphear. The demo is about an hour long, and it will give you a sample of what to expect. You go to the beginning of the game, exploring the initial town. When the final version arrives you can carry the data over too!

Monster Hunter Stories on mobile in Japan

Now this was a surprise to me: We’ve only had Monster Hunter Stories in the West for a couple of months, but Japan has had the game on 3DS for a year now. Still, it surprises me that Capcom has released the game on mobile in Japan.

You can try the game for free on both iOS and Android and then purchase it for 1.900 Yen, for the full game. That’s about $ 17, a lot cheaper then the 3DS version.

Stardew Valley will come to the PS Vita

Well, well! Good news if you have a Vita, and haven’t played one of the console versions yet: Stardew Valley will come to the Vita too. It’ll be available next year, and it will have cross-buy too, so if you’ve got Stardew Valley on Playstation 4 you won’t need to buy it again to play it on your PS Vita. However, it’s worth noting that the multiplayer update, that will come to the console versions, won’t reach the Vita.

New street view in Pokémon Go

If you’ve been into your Pokémon Go recently, you might have seen a change. Niantic is no longer working with Google Maps, but with open-source, user-generated OpenStreetMap. This means that they are now using maps that have been made using data people all over the world provide. I just now checked, and saw an immediate change. We are having a weather alarm today, as lots of snow is expected. And that’s exactly the info I got in Pokémon Go, along with snow on my screen. Nice!

World of Final Fantasy Meli Melo releasedate

Last week I mentioned the new World of Final Fantasy games that is making its way to mobile. WOFF Meli Melo got a release date: December 12 in Japan. Plus, the game reached 500,000 pre-registrations, so that means players will get all pre-registration bonus rewards, including the 4-star Shiva Mirage for hitting 500,000. No news yet about a Western release. 

RPG Dragon Fang Z will hit eShop in America

A new, rogue-like title will soon hit the American Switch eShop: Dragon Fang Z: on December 19. Toydea, the creator of the game wanted to make an RPG with over 200 monsters that appear with the possibility of befriending them. Monsters have abilities that will come in handy during your journey too.

In addition to taking on dungeons the game offers plenty of other elements such as weapon and armor creating, item appraisals, item storage, monster fights and evolutions, score attack, monster bestiary, achievements, 50 stages rule practice puzzle dungeons, and high-difficulty long-dungeons for advanced players.

Enough for this week, right? I’m going to go back to playing Portal Knights on my Switch. I also bought Xenoblade chronicles 2 yesterday, a game that I’m not sure of yet. But a couple of my readers who tend to like the same games I do are very enthusiastic about it, so I’m giving it a go!

Have a great gaming weekend, thanks once again for reading!

    Handheld Gaming News week 49 Time again for the weekly handheld gaming news! It was an exiting week for me an my family as Sinterklaas once again found our door.

[carolnein]

here’s the other thing i already wrote for the esports girls i posted last night

this one also has an issue with game stuff between america and japan, where i spent more time trying to look up details of a specific event pokemon distribution in japan than actually writing the whole thing, before giving up and using the american distribution as a stand-in

under the cut

The nearest game store was a little out of the way of Aiko’s usual daily routine, but she finally had a day off work and only morning classes. She just had to go to the register and pick up a card with the serial code from the promotional distribution, and then she could get udon for lunch at a great place she rarely had an excuse to go to, which was the real reason she was driving to the other side of town for a game she barely had the time to play.

She didn’t particularly need to make the trip, but she had been playing Pokémon for a long time and was never able to get a Mew in the newer games. There was no guarantee she’d be able to get everything from the year-long event, so she might as well do what she can.

The trip went as usual; the store wasn’t particularly busy on a weekday, and the only sound that stood out over the speakers was a loud girl with a stack of used games in her hands, asking another girl out on a date.

“I’m not…like that,” the cornered girl responded, backing away in palpable discomfort as she picked up a game box off the shelf.

“Ah, really?” The louder one raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down quickly like she didn’t believe her, but shrugged. “Can’t blame me for trying, right?”

She didn’t get a response, and Aiko ignored the pair to ask the employee at the counter for the code. She’d only just turned away from the counter to leave the store when someone blocked her way. The loud girl, just spurned, was now standing in front of her with a cocky smile. When Aiko tried to move out of her way, she was met with, “Hey, wait.”

“What is it?” Aiko didn’t have the time or patience to deal with someone desperate enough to hit on every girl she saw if she wasn’t at work, even if she was tall and pretty.

“You’re picking up the Mew code, right?”

“I already did, and that’s all I came here to do.” She took a step to the side, but the opposing girl took a few steps back to meet her.

“You know, most girls who play Pokémon should be pretty interested in me,” she told her, grinning obnoxiously.

“Why’s that?” Aiko asked, deciding her chances of a clean escape were better if she humored her.

“I’ve been told I must be part Lickitung,” she boasted, licked her lips suggestively.

With a disgusted groan, Aiko turned on her heel and left the store, not looking back to make sure she wasn’t being followed but listening for the lack of footsteps behind her. She made it to her car without incident, reassured in the knowledge that at least her lunch wasn’t going to check her out.

---

Late shifts ending at almost midnight didn’t leave much time to cook dinner, especially with a stack of homework to finish. Aiko kept her bitter thoughts about the coworker she was expected to cover to herself, and with the extra hours she could at least afford to splurge on a premade bento to save time for studying.

She was at this particular Family Mart between work and home at least twice a week because of work, and even more often when school became particularly rigorous. The occasional bento or rice bowl was a nice break from instant noodle cups, when she dared treat herself.

The only other person in the store was another girl with an armful of sodas and snack foods; she was familiar, but it wasn’t a feeling so strong Aiko could place her memory anywhere, nor did she care to try when it was this late. However she was struck with realization when the other girl grinned smugly and asked, “Have I seen you somewhere?”

“Doubt it,” Aiko lied, not wanting a repeat of their last meeting at the game store.

“Hmm.” She bit the inside of her cheek in thought before her face lit up. “Ah! You were the little Pokémon master getting Mew, right? I don’t easily forget cute girls that don’t tell me no.”

“Then I’m telling you right now I’m not interested,” she said firmly, ready to tell the store attendant she was being harassed.

“Ah?” She looked confused, but then shrugged. “Alright.”

Aiko looked at her suspiciously, but she only smiled. At her silence, she finally introduced herself. “I’m Ren, by the way.”

“Alright.” She didn’t offer her name in return.

“What are you doing here so late, anyways? Long night planned?” Ren wasn’t aggressively flirting anymore, but she wasn’t leaving her alone, either.

“Yeah, studying,” she said, making a point to emphasize she was doing something important. “You?”

She’d only asked out of the forced habit of indulging a customer in conversation, and winced when Ren started speaking, now engaged. “My little sister wanted to marathon some older games, I’m on a snack run.”

There was a lot in that sentence that didn’t match the impression Aiko had of Ren. “Your sister?”

“Yeah, she’s probably just sneaking a nap while I’m out, we started yesterday so she’s tired.” Despite her words, she didn’t look like someone who had been awake for about 36 hours. All-nighters for Aiko meant an even grumpier disposition than usual, dragging her feet and spacing out when she wasn’t buried in work. “But she doesn’t want to get caught sleeping before I do, thinks it’ll make her look weak.”

“Sleeping is weak?” Aiko asked this skeptically, almost judgmentally, at the statement.

“Eh, she’s 16, let her think what she thinks for now.” Ren grinned again. “And she’ll never get through the Castlevania games if she doesn’t refresh her mind a bit.”

“I can’t even remember the last platformer I played,” she said absently. If a game didn’t have a save function, she was guaranteed to not have the time to finish it, and the platformers she grew up with were intended to be beaten in one long session.

“Wanna skip the books and come over?” Ren’s smile turned hungry. “I was hoping to invite someone over for an excuse to sneak off into my room, catch a nap myself.”

Aiko decided that was definitely enough socializing with Ren for the rest of her life, and placed her bento on the check-out counter, ignoring that she was there before her. “Good luck staying awake for your sister.”

---

The thought of old-school platformers had stuck to Aiko’s mind even weeks after her last meeting with Ren. Maybe she didn’t have the time for one she grew up with, but a quick Google search assured her that the modern games in classic series had save functions. The Wii U she’d received as a gift a long while back had barely gotten used, but there were Mario games for the console. She could find the time for a level or two now and then.

It rested better on her conscience to buy a used copy, since she was putting an advance on her free-spending limit. The itch to play couldn’t wait another two weeks to be scratched.

One of the last people she expected – or wanted – to see was in the store already, browsing the Playstation shelf. Ren looked up and saw her, smiled, and Aiko’s stomach sunk in dread before Ren did absolutely nothing. She gave her a quick wave of recognition before turning back to the games display.

Aiko was more shocked at her inaction than her forward actions the previous meetings, and stayed on her toes on her way to the game, and then while in the line. She berated herself for the invasive thoughts – “she’s kinda tall,” “she’s pretty when her mouth is closed,” – and kept focused on the counter at the front of the line. Some yen and about three meters were all that was between her current position and leaving unscathed with the game.

Her self-control wavered at the counter when she paid, and was unable to not ask, “Can I borrow a pen?” She stepped aside while the next customer in line paid and scratched her email onto the back of the receipt.

Aiko called out, “Hey!” while walking up to Ren, catching her attention and shoving the receipt into her chest. She spoke over her before she could flirt and ruin her bold moment. “I’m not online until late most nights, don’t expect a response.”

Ren only managed a shaken, “Huh?” before Aiko turned on her heel and rushed out the door, heart pounding in anticipatory regret. She’d only given Ren her email, not her phone number or something else easily traceable. If she did regret this, it was easy to block and ignore her.

Thoughts of everything that could possibly go wrong, minor and major, weighed her mind down. She was almost nauseous with worry on her way home, and the ping! from her phone alerting her to an email did nothing but exacerbate it. In her rush to return to her apartment and check the message, Super Mario 3D World was forgotten in the car’s front passenger seat.

Aiko threw herself to the couch immediately, taking up every cushion in an effort to get as comfortable as possible before diving into risky territory. She opened the email, and read the short message. “Hey there Pokémon master, what made you change your mind?”

Her immediate reaction was to bitterly send back, “It’s Aiko.” It was too early in their...whatever stage of their acquaintanceship it was, for pet names. Before Ren – it was obvious that the unfamiliar address was her – replied, she sent a second message. “Changed my mind about what?”

It was a few seconds before the next message came. “You said you weren’t interested, and then you throw your email at me. Can’t stand not making the first move?”

Aiko paused to think about what it was that changed her mind. “Because you remembered that.” She didn’t have much more of an answer. What was most flattering wasn’t her efforts to get close to her, but that she remembered her, and more importantly, remembered what she’d said.

“Are your standards that low wwwww,” was her quick reply, and Aiko felt a twinge of irritation that she was taking her honest praise so lightly. It was followed with, “But I told you I remembered.”

“I didn’t expect you to remember, honestly.” She seemed too carefree, like she was spreading herself too thin to remember anyone for as long as the months between their initial meeting.

“It’s hard to forget a girl as cute as you, especially one who’s interested.” She punctuated it with a winking emoji.

“Or it’s easy to remember if your flirtatious gimmick drives them all away, and I’m the only one who didn’t shut you down.” She worried she sounded too annoyed; she was annoyed, but charmed by the brazen front that had some substance behind it.

“It worked on you, didn’t it?”

“What ‘worked’? Who said we’re anything?” Aiko had realized she was essentially accepting being asked out, but wanted to see what other depths she was hiding.

“So you don’t wanna be my girlfriend then?”

Aiko paused and considered the question. It sounded like a strong word for two people who were only just now emailing each other, but the thought didn’t turn her off either. “Maybe if you take me on a date first I’ll consider it.”

The next reply came quickly enough Aiko wondered if she used it before. “Get out your Pokémon and let’s battle. If I win, I get to take you out to dinner. You win, and I’ll treat you to dinner.”

It was cliché and corny, but Aiko let herself smile at the attention directed at her. She texted back, “Tonight is the only night I’m free this week.”

“Then I guess I’d better cancel my date with Zelda, I’ll see you at 7.” She followed it with a kissing emoji, and some options for restaurants that they could go to. Aiko slowly felt that free time rut veer away, with school work not on the table, and something more exciting than a game coming up in just hours.