#fr nuzlocke

[pumpkin-bread]

Nightlocke 2022 Prologue

Entry 1 I don't remember anything. But I'm sure it shouldn't be like this. The air is so heavy here. Can't take a full breath. The fog is thick. I can't see the trees around me until I brush past them, and my clothes are so damp they're weighing me down. This journal is damp, too. Smells like mold, but it's all I have. Even my body feels... wrong. Like I don't quite fit in my skin. I don't know if it's just the cold. Don't think it is. I don't know how I got here. I don't know how long I've been wandering. But I'm exhausted, it feels like forever. I swear I've been walking straight, but the trees all look the same. I need to find shelter, food, anything. If I mark the trunks, I can at least be sure I'm not going in circles. I need to sleep...            

[inshadowofthegods]

Sunset

Days quietly slipped into weeks as Ciron continued to try to formulate a plan to end things for the better. If he'd only known that Edan's clan was searching for him on the mainland, mere miles away, he would have sought them out - but such was not the case. So instead he spent his days hunting for and protecting his so-called clan, offering quiet, subtle kindnesses to the dragons who worked around him in the rare times Altiel wasn't watching. He hoped he'd make a few allies for when the time came to... well, he wasn't sure. Cut and run? Fight? All the possibilities scared him. Paralyzed him. But he'd find out where loyalties lay soon enough, and in a terrible way. He could hear a commotion while heading back from a hunting trip alongside the banescales, Geron, and Valsig, and found a crowd gathered around Altiel, who was berating Pox. He saw the pendant he'd let her hide so long ago clutched in his father's claw, and rushed to intervene - But somehow Mitzi was faster. She launched herself from her perch on Valsig's shoulder to grab Altiel's wrist as he prepared to strike. The white pearlcatcher flinched, then threw his arm outward, sending the fledgling crashing into the nearby rocks. There was a sickening crack, and she lay still. Ciron let out a cry, but it was drowned out by Nara and Meika as they ran to their sister's side. He moved to follow, already charging his breath for as strong a healing spell as he could muster, but Altiel grabbed him and pulled him away. "Gods' sake, do your job for once," the older pearlcatcher hissed, shoving him toward Pox. "I've been letting you play house a little too long, everyone needs to learn their pl -" Ciron loosed a gout of flame directly into his father's face and then charged forward, crashing into the older pearlcatcher with all the strength he could muster while he was still stunned. Pox dashed away from them both, rushing to Mitzi's side. Ciron watched for any sign of life from the banescale for a moment too long, and then he was blinded by searing light. Altiel had risen, and his magic was overwhelming. Blindly, Ciron charged again, heard his father grunt as he made impact, and grabbed on. He channeled flames through his claws and did everything he could to hold on as he heard chaos erupt around him. There was fighting all around them, he had no doubt of that, but he could only see vague shapes and black blots over vague white - and then pure white again as Altiel's magic cut through him once more. Ciron shut his eyes and aimed his breath as best he could before letting loose another blast of fire, assured only by Altiel's screaming that he had hit his mark as the elder pearlcatcher fought free from his grasp. Altiel was shouting commands, but he couldn't focus on what they were in his desperation. As his vision slowly began to clear, he saw Altiel urgently attempting to heal his wounds, and one of his footsoldiers - a mirror - rushing forward with a sword pointed directly at him. Ciron didn't have a chance to try to evade it. It was then that Nara and Meika flew to his defense, clawing at his attacker's face as the mirror tried to swat them both away. Ciron clasped a talon over his wound, trying to catch his breath to tell the fledglings to just get away, as Altiel's mouth began to glow with white-hot light. The ground began to shake. Valsig and Geron rushed forward, the guardian standing between him and Altiel, and the ridgeback continuing on, unnervingly fluid in spite of his massive size. Though Geron blocked much of what he might have seen even - and his eyesight was still damaged from the light magic, at that - Ciron still saw Valsig's massive form blot out the sun as he raised up on his hind legs. Then, in the blink of an eye, the ridgeback slammed his talons down. Altiel let out a scream that faded out like a sigh, and the fighting all around them died out. "It's done. Leave," Valsig said, his voice utterly empty of emotion. There was very little movement from the other dragons, most still just staring at what was left of their leader, captor, whatever else. "You 'eard 'im," Geron growled, turning to address the crowd. "Leave." And then, all at once, the group scattered. The bulk of the clan immediately took to the air, with a scattered few undoing the bindings of the others, and some rushing to grab whatever valuables they had before leaving. Ciron had just managed to close his wound enough to stop the bleeding. He fought to stay on his feet, but ultimately had to lean against Geron's leg to steady himself. The guardian didn't react, still watching the others retreat. The two banescales stayed huddled against him, and for the next long minutes, all he could hear was the churning and splashing of water as Valsig washed his talons. His eyes stung, but the sunbursts ebbed away. Ciron silently looked over the remnants of the camp, the... mess... of his father's remains, and finally to Pox - and to his surprise, Peony - huddled by the rocks. "Pox, is Mitzi - " he began, but in his heart he knew the answer. Pox turned, the banescale still cradled in her arms. The skydancer shook her head, choking back sobs. Peony put her claw on her shoulder, and she took a deep breath before responding, her voice ragged. "She's - she's gone."

[dreamslayer-fr]

Nuzlocke Update

Finally got around to writing the next chapter!

Prologue: The Worrier

Fletcher was fearful by nature, never wanting to leave his mother’s side. The clan he was born into was a traveling clan, always on the move. Fletcher was always nervous anytime they were on the road. Any number of things could go wrong. Someone could get injured, they could get separated from the rest of the clan, they could get attacked. The list went on and on. Fletcher was always relieved whenever the clan decided to stop and make camp. It was never for long, but in Fletcher’s eyes, it was better than being on the move. 

Fletcher never understood the need to constantly be on the move. Why couldn’t the clan just find a place to call home and stay there. He never voiced these thoughts though. His clutchmates always called him a baby for being so afraid of everything and this would just be another thing for them to make fun of him for.

When the clan was on the move, it was always in the middle of the night under cover of darkness. Being Nocturnes, they were nocturnal afterall. That, and it was safer to travel during the night, less likely for other dragons to stumble upon them. That was another thing that confused Fletcher. Why travel so much if there was the worry of other dragons finding them. None of it made sense to him. 

It was as normal a night as any when Fletcher’s worst nightmare came true. They were traveling through Dragonhome, stopping to admire the way the moonlight reflected on the many crystals along the way. The clan had found a place to stop for the time being, setting up their individual nests. They were in a deep canyon that had many cave openings along its walls. It would have been the perfect place to set up a permanent home. 

However, the clan’s movement throughout the canyon unlodged some loose stones which tumbled down the canyon walls straight for where they had been setting up camp. A warning call echoed through the canyon and dragons hurried to get out of the way of the falling rocks. Fletcher was not as lucky. His wing got clipped by one of the rocks and he fell, crushed to the canyon floor. No one came to rescue him. 

Thought to be dead, Fletcher’s clan left, thinking the canyon too unsafe to make camp in. Fletcher lay at the bottom of the canyon, wing pinned beneath one of the many rocks that had come loose. He tried to call out for help, but no voice came out. He was scared and he was alone. 

—

What happened…? We were setting up camp and… My clan abandoned me. They just left! Why did no one help me? 

Fletcher tried to lift himself up, but a sharp pain in his wing kept him from moving. He winced, looking around with nervous eyes. It was dark and he could hardly see what was around him. What if there were monsters down here? What if he couldn’t get out..? 

A shuffling sound to his left startled him and he looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the noise. This is where I am going to die… He thought morbidly, closing his eyes as he resigned to his fate. The shuffling got closer and Fletcher’s whole body started shaking with fear. He didn’t dare open his eyes.

There was a sound like flapping wings and suddenly he could sense someone staring down at him. He kept his eyes squeezed shut. Then there was a startled gasp.

“Oh, you poor thing! Let me help you.”

Fletcher cracked his eye open cautiously. A Nocturne dragon he had never seen before was sitting by his pinned wing, looking at the rock in contemplation. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here,” the other Nocturne said. 

Fletcher couldn’t help but feel hopeless in his current predicament, but for some reason the other Nocturne made him feel less worried. She seemed so sure of herself. Fletcher admired that. He wished he could be like that. 

After some trial and error, the other Nocturne was finally able to free Fletcher’s wing from under the rock. He was able to sit up and examine the wing. It was definitely broken and still hurt, but at least now he wasn’t going to die on the canyon floor.

“I’m Gaia by the way! What’s your name?” The other Nocturne asked. Fletcher glanced at her.

“Fletcher,” he said quietly, watching her curiously as she looked around the canyon. She just motioned for Fletcher to follow her and began walking along the canyon floor.

Fletcher was frozen in fear at first. She was a stranger! She could just be leading him astray, tricking him into thinking she was safe. She had freed him though when his own clan had abandoned him… He looked around at the canyon walls, at the various cave openings. Anything could be living in those caves watching him, waiting… Gaia was getting further and further away. He had to make a choice…

Fletcher swallowed nervously and took a tentative step forward to follow Gaia.

[transandor]

POKEMON.

[duckduckngoose]

Don't underestimate trainer battles holy shit my entire Nuzlocke team is dead except one sheep

[hamingo]

So my first gym battle sure did happen D:

[thatlesbiancrow]

black and white 2 having difficulty modes but doing it so terribly is such a letdown. wish i could play challenge mode :(

[curiooftheheart]

Some of the most annoying without being malicious kind of Pokemon fan are the people like "Oh you want to play a Pokemon game without giving Nintendo money? Jump straight to trying this romhack, Pokemon Testicular Torsion. It's a brutal FR hack fangame with halved XP game, defaults to Nuzlocke rules, every trainer's level is between 1 and 20 steps above the base game, the plotline has been altered so now Team Rocket are kidnapping people to use as slaves and you see one executed on screen to show how adult it is, and Lance says cunt."

[findingyourrootscomic]

Gameplay Retrospective #3 (Chapters 8-10)

Hello all, and welcome back to Finding Your Roots: Gameplay Retrospectives! FYR is based on a type-restrictive nuzlocke run of Pokemon Omega Ruby. This series is where I describe the events of this nuzlocke run, so you all can get an understanding of how I transform the gameplay into a story! Today, we’ll be covering Chapters 8-10 which ranges from leaving Slateport City to the Team Magma encounter at Meteor Falls. Sorry it’s been so long since the last one, thank you for your patience!

The Current Team

Cedar- Marshtomp

Gender: Female

Met: Route 101, lv 5

Ability: Torrent

Personality: Brave, Good endurance

Shelly- Nincada

Gender: Female

Met: Route 116, lv 6

Ability: Compound Eyes

Personality: Rash, Proud of her power

Brawler- Geodude

Gender: Male

Met: Granite Cave, lv 10

Ability: Sturdy

Personality: Careful, Quick to flee

Nauki- Trapinch

Gender: Male

Met: Granite Cave, lv 1

Ability: Arena Trap

Personality: Jolly, Strong willed

Ember- Numel

Gender: Female

Met: Route 112, lv 14

Ability: Oblivious

Personality: Brave, Somewhat vain

Copper- Slugma

Gender: Male

Met: Fiery Pass, lv 15

Ability: Magma Armor

Personality: Rash, Impetuous and silly

Lockheed- Skarmory

Gender: Male

Met: Route 113, lv 16

Ability: Sturdy

Personality: Modest, Likes to run

Eclipse- Solrock

Gender: Neutral

Met: Meteor Falls, lv 17

Ability: Levitate

Personality: Jolly, Takes plenty of siestas

Tuffy- Numel

Gender: Female

Met: Jagged Pass, lv 21

Ability: Simple

Personality: Hasty, Quick to flee

Gyms Completed

Mauville Gym: Leader Wattson

New Catches

Fiery Pass: Copper (Slugma)

Route 112: Ember (Numel)

Route 113: Lockheed (Skarmory)

Meteor Falls: Eclipse (Solrock)

Jagged Pass: Tuffy (Numel)

Evolutions

None

Deaths

None

Chapter Eight’s gameplay was especially fun to translate into story, since it contained a rival battle AND a gym battle! The chapter picks up at the Pokemon Center visit that I made after winning the prior rival battle against Brendan, who fainted one of my pokemon and reduced the rest to low health. I used repels to make sure we didn’t get jumped by wild pokemon and rushed my poor earth-type babies to the Slateport Pokemon Center to heal them up. Since I had three revives to use on any fainted pokemon I wanted throughout the run, I used the first on Cedar and rezzed her at the Pokemon Center. I stocked up on potions and other heal items, now paranoid that this run may not be as easy as I was hoping. After that, we set off for Mauville.

In the comic, Team Hearth never visits the comic’s stand-in city Mawhill, the lightning elemental capital. This is different from the gameplay, where you are of course unable to skip visiting Mauville since it has the third gym. I made this change since it wouldn’t really make sense for Team Hearth to visit an elemental capital so soon after what happened with Briar. I also just didn’t want to introduce and design a new city, and I figured I could connect the needed gym battle to Mauville by having the gym leaders be Mawhill citizens. It made sense anyway since lightning elementals live there, and the gym is an electric gym! So that fell together pretty nicely.

But before the battle begins, Cedar and Nauki run into Wesen the ralts, the comic stand-in for Wally! I was pretty excited to get to bring Wesen back for this chapter, since he left Cedar so abruptly ages ago in Chapter Two. It was fun to get to pick at the unresolved drama between these two, because Wesen is avoidant to a fault but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad about the things he does. Cedar is a fun character to throw at Wesen because her very nature is antithetical to what Wesen expects from the world. These two shake each other up and I love their chemistry.

Cedar and Nauki bring Wesen back to meet their new team, and some aggression from a recently retraumatized Shelly helps to lead both into the upcoming rival battle AND the gym battle. The conflict causes Nauki to run off on his own, which separates him from his older protectors and frees him up to get kidnapped by the lightning elemental gym leaders. This event thus gets Shelly even MORE pissed, and once she identifies Wesen as at fault for Nauki’s kidnapping, all bets are off. Shelly attacks Wesen, violence ensues, and the rival battle commences. Check that one off the list!

In-game, I used Shelly against Wally in Mauville. She was still weak af but was getting a little stronger now that she was getting to higher levels, and bug is good against psychic. Wally only has one ralts here, so it was a pretty easy fight even for Shelly. It went by quickly, and does as well in the comic, though in-comic Shelly is so overcome with raging emotion over the kidnapping that when Cedar intervenes, the explosion targets her instead. Wesen is spared, rival battle is cut off, and Shelly runs away. After the Talk happens, we cut to Nauki with his lightning elemental captors, and the third gym battle is imminent.

Gameplay notes for the Wally battle (Yeah it was literally two turns lol):

Shelly vs ralts- Cut, half yellow.

Teleport, no effect.

Cut KO.

Originally, I was actually going to show the third gym battle in-comic. It would have been Nauki beating the everloving shit out of these lightning elementals to protect his sisters from potential harm, and it was gonna be cathartic and awesome and glorious. I ended up cutting it for time. Chapter Eight was long as fuck even without this battle, so it unfortunately just couldn’t happen. The camera cuts away as Nauki charges in, and by the next time we see him, the cave is reduced to rubble and Watts, Gadget, and Mango are beaten to a pulp. In-game, you’ll never guess what happened…

I swept the gym with Nauki. Wow, how’d you guess? :V

Yeah, it was super easy. Even the battle against Roxanne was harder and I was fighting with a frigging water-type. Once the gym battle was done, we moved onwards towards Hoenn’s arid region! Finally, I had gotten to the good part of the game… THIS NEXT PART OF HOENN IS EARTH-TYPE CENTRAL! I was gonna be getting catches on almost every route, instead of every few levels like the early game! I was so excited to finally fill out the rest of the team, and I caught lots of new pokemon!

My first new catch was on Route 112, where I encountered and caught a female numel that I named Ember. I was so fucking excited because numel is one of my favorite earth-types to raise, and what better place to do so than Hoenn! She was the fifth pokemon to join the team, and then we went to Fiery Pass where I caught a male slugma named Copper. I’d never raised slugma before, so I was pretty interested to see how he would do. Full team!!!

The next step in the game was to head to Fallarbor, and I knew from my research that Route 113 would have a possible skarmory encounter. I really, really wanted skarmory on the team (steel-type, flying-type, cute design, nostalgia for my skarmory from my first Emerald playthrough, GOOD). So once we got there and I encountered and caught the male skarmory Lockheed, I suddenly had choices to make. 7 pokemon, but only 6 slots on the team. It was time to send someone to the PC!

This was the point in the run where I made pretty liberal use of the PC boxes to switch the team around. It was a kinda chaotic time for the team, pokemon would regularly get boxed and come back and get boxed again as more new catches were made. I was trying to balance the team type-wise as well, so that we weren’t leaning too heavily on ground-types versus rock and steel. Cedar and Nauki were the only real permanent fixtures on the team at this point. Lots of switching up!

In Fallarbor, you get a quest to save a kidnapped professor from Team Magma, who dragged him off to Meteor Falls for whatever reason. You also encounter Brendan here, who doesn’t battle you but rather accompanies you to Meteor Falls. I decided to skip this rival encounter because honestly I forgot it even happened. Brendan just leaves very little impression on me as a character lol. I skipped the professor thing, too, because it was just kinda boring and would’ve taken an annoying amount of time to set up, just needlessly extending the comic further. Once Team Hearth made it to the desert, I wanted to send them to Meteor Falls without spending a ton of pages on it. I definitely wanted to include the Team Magma encounter there, since I was taking this opportunity to introduce the comic stand-in for Maxie. I used Team Molten’s strong desire to fight Team Magma as the bridge to get us from one story point to the next as quickly as possible.

I don’t exactly remember how I got the idea to connect Team Molten and Team Magma. The numel catches were definitely part of the inspiration, since Maxie also uses a camerupt as his ace. Bridging different elements of the story also helps to streamline things; Team Molten wanting to fight Team Magma can serve to drag Team Hearth into the conflict as well, even though our main characters don’t yet have a personal stake in the conflict. They will have a personal stake eventually. But for now, their major motivation is to help their new friends out. Thankfully, with Cedar and Nauki’s personalities, it was easy to justify this.

In Meteor Falls, I caught a solrock named Eclipse. I was kinda miffed about this catch I’ll be honest lol, because solrock is a psychic-type but also a physical attacker??? And I don’t even think they learn zen headbutt. So at the time I was just kinda like… Eclipse you’re just a less good Brawler… But I kept them on the team for far longer than I anticipated at the time of capture. So its kinda funny how that all turned out!

Once Eclipse was caught (and introduced in-comic as a character with OCD, as I had promised a friend I would write one), we move on to the Team Magma encounter and introduce Mantle and Tabs (stand-in for Admin Tabitha). In-game, there are three Magma Admins that you regularly fight (or two?? Was it two or three??? I remember Tabitha and Courtney uhh), but in the comic, only one of these admins is still currently with the team. This is to just streamline things more so I don’t have a billion cast members to keep track of. The other Magma admins can be seen in Ember and Tuffy’s flashback, so they are at least referenced. In-comic, Team Magma is here for the same reason as in-game: To steal the meteorite. Team Molten find them first, chaos ensues as the numels three reunite, and then Team Hearth arrives. Molten has outed themselves as being connected to Team Magma. Team Magma successfully steals the meteorite (same as in-game p sure) and leave. I literally don’t remember what they do with it after the fact lol, but I at least remember that much.

Sometime after Meteor Falls, I went to Jagged Pass and caught the second female numel, Tuffy. This was fucking awesome because I love numels and now I had two of them fuck yeah. And thus, we had nine team members in total: Cedar, Nauki, Shelly, Brawler, Ember, Copper, Lockheed, Eclipse, and Tuffy! Earthen party, earthen party! Things were going strong at this point, with lots of fighters to choose from and all sorts of new type coverage. As you can see, in-game Tuffy was the last of these five pokemon to be caught, but she’s introduced as one of the first new catches in-comic. I streamlined all the new catches by introducing three of them (slugma and the two numels) as a unit. I wrote in reasons for why all these new pokemon would start hanging with Team Hearth, though all have yet to officially join the team. I try not to rush new catches onto the team, since it can come off really unnatural. I want to give time for the characters to meet and get used to each other and have them join up when the moment feels right. But for now, all these new pokemon are traveling with Team Hearth!

Aaaand that’s about it! Thanks for reading this gameplay retrospective. Next one will come at the end of Chapter 13. Laters!

[dramarising-replacement]

Perma-Bans, Petty Bans, and Poor Appeal Process

Recently I had my account banned for multi accounting. Now why would I be so pissed about this? Because the alt I had made was because of lost credentials and never interacted with the actual account I have, abandoned with literally two dragons in the lair the instant I got the creds for my real account back. But the account in itself isn’t where my peeve comes in. It’s the permanent ban of an active account after an alt was made two years prior. How was this alt found, you wonder? I sent a ticket in with the wrong email linked to my primary account asking about something related to copyright of FR on an upcoming project of mine. Okay that’s a little strange that I only got banned after I asked a question like that specifically, surely the appeal process will go fine when I provide context? Wrong! Even accused of funneling in the process (didn’t happen). What happens when the ticket staff are asked for receipts of said funneling? Permanent denial of response and ban stays in place. It genuinely goes over my head how genuinely abhorrent the process for handling potential multi-accounting is. I have met many people who have gotten away with very blatant funneling and multi accounting and willingly admitted it but are able to explain it away by lying in regards to something like siblings with shared devices. Even people who I personally have reported for funneling with verifiable evidence go untouched. How is this such a frequent issue? And why is it that people who make the most minor mistake of happening to make an account under a lost creds context gets all of their money and work zapped from them when people who do much worse in regards to TOS get off free? How is there no nuance to these situations by now? Are the staff just that petty and unwilling to work with the literal community that funds them? Why would making an account with zero work, interacts, etc be a constitution for a permanent account closure? Do the staff just not realize there is more punishment options than ‘oh you know what you lose it all, fuck you’? They have the ability to actually see context as clear by their forums punishment system, but refuse to take any strike actions on something with valid context? There’s so many other things that could be done, temporary bans, lockdowns on CR/AH, etc. But that’s just too difficult for them huh? What’s the damn point of the appeal function if they don’t actually bother to reconsider a choice? You cannot tell me either that gimmick accounts like nuzlocke form accounts aren’t also Alts. You would be a liar, and you would also be lying if you said that people don’t often make alts for ‘new starts. It’s honestly kind of funny at this point how many people ive heard the stories from who either got perm banned because they made an alt when they were like 14 and got banned 5 years later and stories of people actively funneling in major ways but haven’t been banned for years. The issue is so fuckin prevalent and yet half the time a ban happens because of it it’s for the most minor version of the rule break and almost never the people who actually violate the terms. “Economy advantage this, flight forums that” my ass. If the staff can’t hold even a small bit of understanding for such a minor issue which context resolves, maybe they don’t deserve the use of their site at all. Half the time I’ve seen staff interact with people they’re unbelievably rude and petty, especially Aequorian or whatever their name is. Always have to have a last laugh. But I digress. Maybe I’ll come back to my little account in 5 years time and appeal again and get denied. Kinda weird to think the accounts that had so much genuine time and effort dedicated into them are forced to rot for longer than they were ever active because of a faulty term of service and faulty enforcement of it.

[pumpkin-bread]

Wish Rising: Holiday Edition

It’s that time of year so I’m doing WR.

Here’s my wish!

If you guys happen to enjoy either of my nuzlockes comments mean a lot and also make it slightly more likely other folks read ‘em too!

It would be a wonderful Christmas gift to me if you took the time to read my stuff, and comment on it if you happen to enjoy it!

Here’s my recently finished longform nuzlocke, and here’s my quick and easy to read, currently active NotN locke!

[the-sprog]

My friends and I are still on our pokémon nuzlocke bullshit so I'm still poke obsessed.

But separately I'm also on my how to train your dragon bullshit and I realized how similar the relationship progression of Ash and Pikachu and of Hiccup and Toothless is.

They should meet.

Ash getting slung on Berk would have pretty much the same effect as Hiccup ending up in Unova. Going from no electricity to that would probably give the kid an aneurysm before he starts taking pokedexes apart to learn how to build them. I don't think Toothless would scare people as much as they'd probably assume he was a legendary from another region. He'd be Dragon type, probably pure.

Toothless and Pikachu wouldn't be able to communicate, which would probably weird Toothless out since usually he's not this cut out from the rest of the world. I mean, Hiccup and Ash also probably speak different languages here, but it's easier for humans to learn a new language than it is for animals from different universes to do so.

For these kinds of universe shananigans I can always only think of a few main culprits, Arceus being the main one. I mean It does a lot of things for Its self without worrying about who It's using. Palkia and Dialga might not be the teleporting around type, but Giratina might meddle. And the Lake Guardians do some kind of transportation shananigans sometimes but they're not as mischievous iirc.

Thinking about Hiccup somehow meeting Lugia and being all "it's ok it's ok" *hand think* while Lugia looks at Ash and goes "is this kid fr?" And Hiccup has a heart attack because he's never heard a Dragon talk. And pokemon also usually don't so this was a surprise all around.

Them exchanging stories of how they met their life long partner.

"I uuh- I shot him down. He can't fly without the artificial tail fin I made. But hey! He got me back, didn't he? Couldn't save all of me, so-" *points* "peg leg."

*Warble*

"Woah. And you made it? Both of them?"

"Yeah. Took me a while to perfect the design but now Toothless can fly with my help. I... Tried making him one he didn't need me for, but he rejected it."

*nods* "I get it."

"We didn't get along for a while. I was scared and he was resentful. But I was also stubborn and he was curious. "

*chuckle* "Me and Pikachu didn't either."

"Yeah?"

*nods* "He didn't want a trainer, and I didn't want him as my Pokémon. But, like you, I was stubborn. And even though we didn't get along, I never would've let him get hurt."

"Naturally."

"So when a murder of Sparrow attacked us, I protected him. And then he did the same. And I think we started bonding more because of the trust and respect that came from that incident."

"Pikapi! Pi pika pika-chuu."

*nods* "True. It wasn't smooth sailing. But with time, we really came from an understanding."

"And now you're inseparable?" *Smile*

*smile back* "yeah."

I was also thinking about what pokémon Toothless would be if this was a universe fusion and not a universes meeting kinda situation and I came to the conclusion that it should be Zekrom.

C'mon. Night Furies are said to be the "unholy offspring of lightning and death itself". I can totally see some culture getting that idea if they know the original story and lore.

I don't know what the Red death would be in this scenario, but this would be like a Hisui situation with people hating or being scared of Pokemon in general. I have less ideas for universe fusions type crossover.

[dreamslayer-fr]

Nuzlocke Update

Prologue #2 for my Nuzlocke!

Prologue: The Explorer

From a very young age, Gaia felt different from her clanmates. Gaia knew she wanted to see the whole world, but her clanmates were content remaining in their burrow. Being born into a Nocturne clan, they were a secluded type, preferring to remain in the shadows. Gaia wanted more than that. She knew there was more out there and she wanted to see it. 

Gaia wasn’t allowed to leave the burrow. Her mother said it was too dangerous, too many things that could harm her. Gaia suggested an older dragon go with her then. Still she wasn’t allowed to go. Lots of her clanmates were allowed to venture beyond, so why couldn’t she?

To aid with her curiosity, Gaia was brought back trinkets from other clanmates whenever they went out hunting. Gaia treasured every single item she was brought back, keeping them all on display for her to admire. It worked for a while, but eventually all it did was make Gaia more curious about where they came from and cemented the thoughts in her mind. She had to see the world for herself.

The first time Gaia snuck out, it was during the day when her clan slept. She stayed up late, waiting for her clan to fall asleep around her before sneaking out silently, careful not to wake anyone up. Her clan was nestled far underground and a single guard stood watch by the entrance, making sneaking out an easy task. Being a Nocturne, it was easy to mimic the call of another dragon from within the lair to draw the guard’s attention away from their post, and so she snuck out without any issues. 

The outside world was better than Gaia could have ever imagined. It took her eyes time to adjust to the sudden light, but once she was used to it, she didn’t want to stop looking. The sky was bright, the sunlight warm on her scales. Crystals grew straight out of the ground like the ones her clan excavated from within their lair. In the distance, a massive pillar shot straight up, reaching for the very stars themselves. There was so much to see and explore, Gaia had no idea how she would be able to see all of it in one day. She realized then that it would be impossible to see everything in only a single day. She would have to go out again. 

Gaia had to think of more creative ways to slip past the guards. There couldn’t always be someone calling for help within the clan, that would become suspicious very quickly. One time, she attached herself to a crate of crystals being shipped out for trade. One of the easier times, she snuck out during the guard changeover. Another time, she pretended to be one of the hunters making a run. She was shocked that one had worked. 

Gaia was obsessed with the outside world, always sneaking away during the day while her clan slept, unaware of her excursions. She would remain out for hours, exploring and finding new things to add to her collection, only returning when she knew there wouldn’t be a guard at the entrance anymore. 

This went on for weeks - Gaia sneaking out and exploring, but never venturing too far away so that she would be able to make it back before anyone noticed she was missing. She would return before her clan started waking up and then repeat the next day. It wasn’t until she decided to venture out during the night that she was caught. 

Gaia had grown bold in her ability to sneak out undetected that she decided to sneak out during the night while her clan was busy at work. The plan was simple really, wait for the hunters to leave and then follow a short ways after them. During the night, there wasn’t a dedicated guard at the entrance, so she didn’t have to worry about that. All she had to worry about was her mother noticing her missing. She only made it to the top of the entrance tunnel.

One of the hunters had forgotten something and had to go back, running into Gaia along the way. Gaia hadn’t known what to do or say. She wasn’t supposed to be out there, and they both knew it. So she did the only thing she could think of. She fled. She was tired of being cooped up, never allowed to see outside. So she ran. 

As she ran, many thoughts crossed her mind. Her mother would miss her. She would miss her mother. What if her clan found her? How would she get her trinkets? One thing was for certain, if she was ever caught and brought back, she would never be allowed to leave again. It was that thought that solidified her decision to leave for good. She would explore the world to her heart’s content. She was free.

[newtstesco]

SMG4 FRIENDSHIPS THAT I FEEL LIKE WOULD BE VERY REAL AND ALSO IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME I KILL YOU

FightingMario54321 and Meggy- they were both cops and have penchant for fighting, what more do i have to say? they set up play dates between Loaf and Cube

Luigi and SMG0- they both are so chill, and they’d probably discuss gardening and their favorite teas and have little tea parties and talk abt how chaotic Mario and Fred are

Niles and Kaizo- both have felt betrayed by someone they care about, and they’re both the bad boy trope fr fr, would listen to rob zombie together

Mario, Fred, and Spudnick- they are all super chaotic and love running around and causing problems on purpose, they’re not allowed to hang out a lot since they destroy so much when they’re together, but once a year the guardians allow a play date

Tari and EpicYoshiFan- i’ve always thought EYF was bit quieter and shyer than the other recolors, so i think he and Tari would get long great, talking about music and video games and staying up way too late doing things

XboxGamer997 and Melony- they both have this sort of main character energy with X’s omen sense and Melony’s fierce deity side, i also think X gets pretty tired frequently so they’ll just have lil sleepovers :3

Ruffman8890 and Boopkins- they’re both very high energy, and RM would love to watch anime with Boopkins because i said so fuck you

Karen, Toad, and Peach- tired of Mario’s shit and definitely need a break, they go drinking together sometimes

Jeeves and Toadsworth- weird old men gang! i am specifically thinking abt the 2018 video where Jeeves and Toadsworth were hanging out, they definitely would discuss like the weather and what the princess has been up to and how the milk is selling fr fr

Shroomy and Swag- once again, i am referencing a Christmas special, the 2021 one to be exact, they love going demon hunting on the weekends and blowing things up

Whimpu and Tari- they both like doing quieter activities and nerdy shit, so they’d definitely play pokémon together, Whimpu is a nuzlock GOD

Enzo and The Villager- they both recovered after the christmas crazies episode (a lot of christmas episodes, you can tell they’re some of my favorites) and now The Villager directs a children’s TV show (seen in the 10 year anniversary movie) and Enzo runs a birthday supplies store in bloopersville (source: my brain) and they have the same parole officer, and no one really understands what they’ve been through so they’re pretty tight

SMG3, Xboxfan996, and OiramOiram12345- evil dopple gang! they’ve mostly mellowed out tho, and 96 and OO live in bloopersville but come by the internet graveyard sometimes to get a coffee and talk about what’s new with them

SMG4, SLG4, and Minion- THEY ARE A FAMILY YOUR HONOR AND YOU CAN RIP THIS FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS! Minion and SLG4 live in bloopersville, and since they’re all sorta related to SMG4, they’re like “yeah we’re family lol” so SMG4 sometimes shows up at bloopersville for their birthdays

Desti and Saiko- they would have been BESTIES you can’t change my mind, Desti would totally go to Saiko for help with asking out Meggy

MCGustavo and Bob- i can’t explain this but just trust me they’d be best friends they’d smoke together lol

Chris and Belle- they both want to smack the shit out of their former bosses (Sergeant Mark and SMG3, respectively), they both get a little tired of the chaos and just wanna talk to someone who’s also tired of it for once

Jub Jub, Frankie, and the Weegee doll- they play roblox together :D

Mario and Ruffman8890- they are both so chaotic and love running around and pissing off Toad lmaooo

Waluigi and Tari- after the whole T-pose virus thing, they both see each other at a rubber duck store and hit it off immediately, they love hanging out and playing with their ducks

those are all the ones i can think of rn but this is so real and you will agree with me now

[oakgreenoak]

pokemon is kinda wild for how big but segmented it is fr. i think ive dipped my toes into every part of it over the years except tcg (simply bc i don't know how to play it lmao)

i feel like a games-lore enjoyer, an anime fan, a spe reader, and a vgc or challenge run gamer all have fundamentally ideas about what makes pokemon good or fun to them. and i love that!! it's all so fun

honestly if i had to suggest anything it's that more people try out other parts of the franchise. rewatch the anime. play some of the games you haven't in a while. read some of spe. read some of the other pokemon manga. try a nuzlocke run of your favourite game. make a smogon account. there's something to love in all of it. it might even unlock new ways for you to love your starting media

[dracononite]

Are you considering doing any stories within any of the worlds that you have created, perhaps a book series or a pilot pitch?

oh gosh IDK if I'll ever do something as big as pitch an idea for a show!! but yes one day I'd like to fully write out a few of the stories that I'm slowly developing in my worlds - especially Sparrowmage (my main headworld) and BANG! (a collab story with my gf)

It's likely Sparrowmage will one day be a book or graphic novel or - well, I wanna do something with this world and characters that I've put a lot of heart into and are near and dear to me. Even if it's one-off mini comics focused on the slice of life portion of it, or maybe something like a zine/collection of speculative biology notes on the mythical creatures in the world. I still have a lot of work to put into fleshing out the world and school, and have yet to determine if there's any sort of overarching plot or antagonist. Though I guess I'm not too pressed to come up with one, as the main focus of Sparrowmage is the personal struggles and growth of the characters and their relationships to one another.

And for BANG!, we have much more of an overarching plot planned out and it's been a bit on hiatus as my partner and I are working more on other projects, but I think it'll turn out to be a comic, perhaps with some writing sections! I have no clue when we'll get around to finishing the planning and starting to produce it but I look forward to when we do.

I'm actually planning on practicing comics with a mini-project of mine that I just started (a Pokemon nuzlocke, actually - it's familiar territory for me, drawing Pokemon, and I feel that battles especially will give me opportunity to learn/practice movement, framing, perspective etc). And for writing, I've been slowly writing/posting about a Flight Rising challenge that is also similar to a 'nuzlocke' over on FR with some single-player TTRPG mechanics like random encounters and roll-based decision making which I'm working into the story.... sheesh I sound like a nerd. But I hope putting these mini-stories out there in my free time will give me some experience to carry into telling the stories I truly care about - and that I hope others care about too, perhaps even enough to support my creating them?

I definitely have a fear of any of my stories, specifically Sparrowmage, getting big. I want to share it with people and have a small audience be actually invested in my stuff... but I don't want it to get to the point where there's a fandom, you know? I worry about my characters being misconstrued or my writing choices being scrutinized by so many people. So, nothing as big as a novel to sell or a show to pitch. I never want to sell any rights to my stories, they mean too much to me. BUT! If I do produce any of my stories in full, I will probably love to sell physical copies of it myself, maybe even some extra merch of "fan faves" or smth haha. That sounds fun!

Thank you for asking!! I didn't mean to talk so much but my stories are something I've thought about extensively so you accidentally opened a can of worms lol