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rbbalmung · 4 years ago

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Pokemon SwSh GPL AU: Get to know _____

I mentioned yesterday that I would go more into why I like Bea and Bede as a pair, and this is how I’ll do it! Quick notes for newcomers: I’ve aged up the main cast a bit so instead of being 10-12, they’re 16-17 (as an adult, I cannot fathom a 10 year old living on their own for a year). I head cannon Bede as 17 and Bea as 18, so they’re only about a year apart in age. I think I’m gonna call them Pinkpunchshipping? Thoughts? I’m open to workshopping the name.

Original prompt by some-imaginative-otp-imagines:

Get to Know Bea x Bede (Ship name still being determined):

1: Who spends almost all their money on the other? Bede. 100% Bede. I don’t see Bea as someone who would show affection through gifts, but Bede is the complete opposite. He is constantly bringing her little sweets as pick-me-ups.

2: Who sleeps in the other’s lap? Bede will sleep with his head in Bea’s lap all the time. It’s hard not to nod off when she’s playing with his fluffy head of hair.

3: Who walks around the house half-naked and who yells at them to put on some clothes? Bea, probably, but not in a seductive way? She works out a lot, so it is common for her to come home after a long workout and immediately get out of her sweaty clothes. Bede doesn’t yell at her because he gets too flustered whenever it happens (how these two got together in the first place is a mystery to everyone).

4: Which one tells the other not to stay up all night and which one stays up all night anyway? Bea is a morning person and Bede is a night person. They’ve tried to adjust it so that they wake up and go to bed together but gave up after an irritable week. As long as Bede is around when Bea goes to sleep and Bea doesn’t wake him up at the crack of dawn, they’re good.

5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies? Bea can cook one thing and it is ramen. They are damn lucky that Opal forced Bede to learn how to cook, otherwise it would be takeout every night.

6: Which one reads OTP prompts and says “Oh that’s us!” and which one goes “Eh, not really”? Neither. Bea is a realist and Bede is an individualist that doesn’t like being compared to other people.

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes? On stay-at-home days, Bede will borrow one of Bea’s oversized hoodies to wear (his sense of fashion means he gives up comfort for beauty, so he owns next to no sweats). Bea thinks it’s adorable and teases him all the time for it.

8: Which one spends all day running errands and which one says “You remembered [thing], right?” Okay, stick with me on this one. I think that they almost always do errands together because, early in their relationship, they would always buy the wrong thing for the other. Going shopping together started as something they had to do as a pair, but now I think it’s just a lowkey way to spend time together.

9: Which one drives the car and which one gives them directions? Bea would drive, Bede would give directions. She is better at staying focused for long periods of time and he’s better at planning ahead.

10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws? Bea would definitely draw Bede. Bea picked up sketching to de-stress from Honey, so it is incredibly likely that Bede would be an eventual model for her (it’s not like she starts sketching him constantly when she recognises her feelings for him and nearly bursts into flames when he finds her sketchbook. That would be silly).

11: If they were about to rob a museum, which one does backflips through lasers and which one is strolling behind with a bag of chips? My first thought was that obviously Bea would be the backflipper, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised Bede would be the backflipper. He is so freaking extra about everything. OF COURSE he would try to show off.

12: Which one of your OTP overdoes it on the alcohol and which one makes the other stop drinking? Bede is a casual drinker, so his tolerance is pretty high. Bea hardly drinks, so it only takes her about 2 shots to get drunk. Bede tries to get her to take it easy, but if someone (like Raihan) challenges her, she will not back down. There hasn’t been a New Years Eve party that Bede hasn’t carried Bea home.

14: Which one keeps accidentally using the other’s last name instead of their own? Bea. It takes separation and a lot of long talks for her to realise that her home life was very toxic. The only reason she decides to take Bede’s last name when they get married is to spite her parents.

15: Which one screams about the spider and which one brings the spider outside? Bede 100% is freaked out by bug pokemon, but he tries to play if off like he isn’t scared.

16: Which one gives the other their jacket? I feel like it depends on the situation. Space Heater Bea is never cold, so if it’s chilly, Bede is the one getting the jacket. However, Bede will give Bea his jacket as a form of comfort if he senses something is off.

17: Who keeps getting threatened by the other’s overprotective older sibling (or a similar figure)? Bea is very intimidated by Opal. They are complete opposites when it comes to personality other than their shared competitiveness. Bea is convinced that Opal hates her (Opal actually really likes Bea, she just would rather die than tell her that).

18: Who’s the first one to admit they have feelings for the other? Oh my god, when I say it took forever for one of them to confess, I mean three whole years of hopeless pining. Neither of them are good at talking about their feelings, so they’ll try to find subtle ways to confess to the other. Unfortunately, they are also as dense as each other when it comes to romance. I think Bede would eventually get so frustrated that he blurts it out, then immediately tries to take it back. Thankfully, Bea was too stubborn to let him.

19: How good would your OTP be at parenting? Terrible. Absolutely terrible. I think they would definitely try their hardest if it ever happened, but I also don’t really see them having children?

20: Which one types with perfect grammar and which one types using numbers as letters? Bede = Perfect Grammar. Extra dramatic. Will call someone out if they send him a spelling error. Bea = short, chaotic sentence fragments. Bede tried calling her out on it once but she shut him down real fast.

21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them? They are both SUPER protective people, so I like to think they take turns. Bea tends to scare them off by fighting them, and Bede destroys people with his words.

22: Who makes the bad puns and who makes a pained smile every time the other makes a pun? Bede has definitely picked up some dramatics from Opal’s training. Whenever the occasional “pink” pun slips into his sentences, Bea has to try very hard not to comment on it.

23: Who comes home from work to see that the other one bought a puppy? If Bea finds a stray pokemon, she will hold onto it until it can be returned to its owner. She also catches a lot more fighting pokemon than she will every need and goes camping with them once a week. 6 pokemon Bede cannot relate.

24: Which one gives the other a piggyback ride when they’re tired? Oh my gosh, neither. It’s not that they wouldn’t give the other a piggy back: Both are too prideful to ask for one, so they mostly just end up leaning heavily on the other until they return home.

25: Which one competes in some sort of activity and which one does the overzealous cheering? Bea gets waaayy to into Bede’s pokemon matches. She will scream at the TV (or from the audience if she is in Ballonlea that day) until she is hoarse. Bede gets really embarrassed, but it's because he’s flattered.

26: Who takes a selfie when the other one falls asleep on their shoulder? Bede. I mentioned earlier that Bea falls asleep faster than Bede (unless his head is on her lap), so he has a secret folder of photos on his phone with the two of them cuddling together. Bea knows he has this folder and will get incredibly flustered if it’s brought up.

27: Which one would give the other a makeover if they asked? BEDE. He wants nothing more than to give his sporty girlfriend a high fashion makeover. Bede thinks she’s beautiful, of course, but he just wants to see what it would look like. One year on his birthday, she humors him and he is BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT.

28: Which one owns a pet that the other is absolutely terrified of? Bede is super intimidated by some of Bea’s pokemon. (Bea is intimidated by his type advantage against her, but that’s different).

29: Which one holds the umbrella over both of them when it rains? Bede. He’s taller and insists on being a gentleman.

30: If your OTP went on vacation, where would they go and what would they do? Who would take the pictures? I feel like they would go to Kalos. Bede would insist they visit the boutiques while Bea made sure they hiked in the mountains. Bede would take the pictures, but Bea would sketch a lot.

#pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #GPL AU #pokemon headcanons #bede x bea #pinkpunchshipping #beade #pokemon bede #swsh bede #bede #rival bede #gym leader bea #swsh bea #pokemon bea #bea #Pastel boyfriend x buff girlfriend

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nonbinarylowkey · 5 years ago

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Who’s the Fool

Summary: It's Loki's first April Fool's Day. You might end up regretting introducing him to the holiday.

Word Count: 2135

Pairing: Loki/Reader

Rating: G

So this is like two weeks late, but I wrote it so I wanted to post it. It’s also completely unedited because it’s midnight and I just want it to be done. So hopefully it’s good. Please read and give me validation.

Also posted on Ao3.

“Have you ever heard of April Fool’s day?”

“Fools have their own day on this planet?” Loki lowers his book just long enough to give you a look of disgust before reburying his nose in it with a scoff. “You Midgardians live such short lives and you choose to spend part of them celebrating fools. I will never understand humans.”

“It’s not a day celebrating fools, Loki. It’s a day dedicated to playing tricks on people. Turning them into fools,” You slouch in your seat so you can stretch your legs and playfully kick him, but you barely manage to do anything more than brush your toes against him. He grins and helpfully lifts one of his legs so that it’s within your foot’s reach. But when you go to kick him again, he moves his leg away faster than you can keep up with so you end up falling ass first onto the floor.

“Well now, that does sound interesting. Tell me more,” he says, laughing at you.

"Just for that, I don't think I will," you stick your tongue out at him, uncaring of how childish you might look. It's not exactly like he's the perfect mature adult either, after all.

"I'd rethink that attitude of yours, little mortal. I am the God of Mischief, after all. I may decide to use this little holiday as an excuse to make a fool of you ."

"Don't you 'little mortal' me, mister. You might live for thousands of years, but I know you're not actually immortal," you cross your arms over your chest with a huff. "Besides, you love me too much to prank me…. too much, at least."

You start to grin because who could argue with your obviously flawless logic until a shock hits your side, startling your smugness away. The shock wasn't painful, exactly, but it certainly wasn't pleasant.

"Alright, little human ," Loki says, voice low and dangerous. He leans forward in his seat, book forgotten about for now. "If you wish to challenge me, I have no choice but to accept."

"Actually, you could choose not to accept. I'm not forcing you to do anything," you suddenly feel a little nervous, what with his grin suddenly seeming a whole lot sharper and more dangerous.

"Where would the fun in that be?"

"Tell me about the Midgardian holiday April Fool's," Loki demands of Thor about an hour after his conversation with you.

Thor's shoulders slump. The conversation has barely begun and he's already exhausted by it. He contemplates lying and saying he doesn't know anything about it. After all, what would Thor know of Midgardian holidays? He's Asgardian; he doesn't pay attention to Midgardian holidays!

Except Thor has never been a very good liar, least of all when he's lying to Loki. He puts the barbell he'd been using back in its place. Better to be prepared for this conversation to take a turn for the stabby than to trust Loki to behave when talking about something like April Fool's.

"What do you know of it already?" Thor asks. A question should be safe, he thinks. No lying or giving out information that could potentially be disastrous in Loki's hands.

"That it is a holiday meant for tricks and making people into fools," Loki says. "Not a typical Midgardian holiday."

"If you already know that, why come to me?" Thor swipes a towel across his forehead to catch the sweat before it lands in his eyes. "It is not a holiday based on a religious or spiritual belief system, so far as I can tell. It is simply a holiday Midgardians came up with to amuse themselves."

"I see. And what are the parameters for tricks played during this holiday?"

"No killing," Thor says, perhaps a little more forcefully than strictly necessary. Then, as an afterthought, "No physically harming anyone, either."

Loki raises an eyebrow and scoffs.

"I'm well versed in all sorts of mischief, Thor, not just the kind that involves a blade."

With that, he turns and leaves. He has some scheming to do.

You have glitter in your hair, paint under your nails, and pot gummies in your backpack when Thor yells your name.

You slam the cover back on the coffee container in front of you. When you turn around, you can only hope your body manages to hide the glass jar filled with coffee grounds behind you.

“Have you seen Loki today?” Thor asks you, thankfully not giving any sort of hint that he thought something was off with you. In fact, he barely looked like he was giving you any attention at all beyond what he needed to give to ask his question.

“Uh, no, not since I woke up. Why? Did he do something?”

Truthfully, the lack of Loki sightings had been worrying you. It’s April Fool's day and you’d hoped you two could team up for some pranks on the other Avengers, but after you’d messed up and kinda sorta challenged him the other day, it seems you’re having to watch your back for his tricks instead.

“I’m worried he’s up to something nefarious. I ran into the Spider Boy, Peter earlier. He said he caught Loki tampering with his suit, but couldn’t find anything wrong with it.” Thor runs a hand through his beard. He looks around the room, like Loki might’ve materialized nearby in the half a minute he’d been standing there.

Knowing Loki, it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibilities. The room is still Loki-less. Which is a shame because you’ve got some real questions hearing that Loki was apparently tampering with Peter’s suit and everything looked fine .

“Did he test everything out? It all looked good?” You ask, casually. You lean casually against the counter, too.

“Yes, he tested it in front of me. Everything was fine.”

“Even his web shooters? Nothing weird came out of them? Nothing that definitely didn’t come out of it before?”

Thor squints his eyes at you. It isn’t quite a glare; more like he’s trying to see through you. You squirm, shifting your weight from one foot to the other.

“No, why?”

“No reason. It’s just, if I were Loki and I were going to play a prank involving Peter’s suit I’d probably replace the synthetic webbing with something else. Y’know, if I were hypothetically doing this.”

“Right…” Thor definitely looks suspicious. He stares at you a moment longer. “If you see Loki, tell him I’m looking for him.”

You give him a two fingered salute.

“Will do.”

You turn back to the counter once Thor is out of sight and shove the glass jar into your backpack after a quick sweep to make sure you hadn’t spilled any coffee grounds when you switched them out.

“Have you seen your boyfriend lately?”

You turn to face Same, mentally preparing yourself to have the same conversation you’d just had with Thor.

You are not quite prepared to see Sam holding his wings. His perfectly normal, unpainted wings.

“Uh, something wrong?” You ask.

“Not sure yet,” He says. “But I saw him messing with my wings earlier and he disappeared before I could confront him. Everything seems normal, but…”

Sam doesn’t finish the sentence, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s saying.

“Did you actually see him doing something to them? Or was he just, like, standing around near them?”

You take a step towards Sam to get a closer look at his gear. Everything does look normal.

No paint or tissue paper in sight.

Nothing to make it look like butterfly wings at all.

“He had a towel. Looked like he might’ve been rubbing something off. Or on knowing that guy.”

“What in the world is he up to?” You ask, mostly to yourself.

“That’s what I want to know. If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him.” Sam says.

You nod.

“Hey, Darcy? Have you seen Loki today?”

“Hey! I was just gonna ask you the same thing!” She shoves a tin in your face and opens the lid to show you the contents. Inside are several perfectly normal looking gummies. “I saw him closing the lid on this, like he was messing with my gummies or something.”

She sniffs them. “Do they even have weed on Asgard? How’d he know where I kept my stash? Oh, you think that asshole switched them for normal gummies? I did not buy those so the guy who tried to take over the world could get high!”

Darcy pops one of the gummies into her mouth and chews it so hard you can hear her teeth gnash together.

“Hey, Darcy?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe for now just assume he was just trying to make you think he did something when he didn’t really.” You say gently, trying not to let your own annoyance show.

“You think he’d do that?”

“Yeah, I do.”

When you’re out of Darcy’s sight you open up your backpack to take a peek inside.

Staring up at you from the bag you’d put the pot gummies in is a vaguely misshapen gummy Gengar. It’s surrounded by a few other Pokemon gummies; the same number of gummies that Darcy had in her tin when you got to it this morning.

You walk into Tony’s lab.

“Just the person I wanted to see,” He says. None of the equipment is wrapped in bubble wrap. “Have you se-- ”

You leave the lab without hearing the last part of Tony’s question.

There’s a list hanging on your refrigerator door when you get back to your apartment. It’s a list you wrote of all the pranks you planned for the day.

Except for the item on the back of the paper. That was written by someone else. And it says:

“ Undo all of this. Leave the Avengers panicking. ”

Well.

You can’t say this is what you expected of Loki for April Fool's day, but it certainly is creative.

And maybe it isn’t too late to do something to get back at him.

When Loki returns to the apartment at the end of the day there’s a small chocolate fountain sitting on the kitchen island. He’s looking far too smug for your liking and you can’t wait to wipe that beautiful grin off of his stupidly beautiful face.

“Another attempt at a prank?” He asks as he approaches you.

“Nope, I know when I’m beat,” You say, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. “This is just a prize for you beating me. I didn’t get any of the reactions I’d been hoping for and all of the residents of this compound think you messed with their stuff when it’s all perfectly fine. You win.”

“Smart girl,” is the only thing he says before sticking a finger into the flow of chocolate. He pops the finger in his mouth.

And immediately gags.

“ What is that?” He yells, taking a paper towel to his tongue.

“That is extremely bitter dark chocolate. Nasty stuff. Not what you usually eat when you have chocolate,” You put on your best shit-eating grin. “You may have gotten me by undoing everything on the list, but I didn’t write this one down.”

“You do understand I will have to take my revenge on you for making me eat that vile excuse for chocolate, yes?”

“Nuh-uh, loverboy, because that’s not all I have for you,” You pick up a second chocolate fountain from the stool next to, just low enough that it had been out of his sight until now. “I have another one, this time with the good stuff. I’m not stupid enough to prank you and not make up for it.”

“A shame,” he says, and when he tries the chocolate from the second fountain his eyes light up at the realization that it is, in fact, the good stuff. “My revenge would have been such fun.”

A sudden bang on the door causes you to jump and nearly fall out of your seat.

"Loki!" Thor's voice booms from the other side of the door. He bangs some more, apparently not content to stop until he's able to speak to his brother. "Open the door! I know you're in there!"

"What's with him?" You ask because all you had planned for Thor was to switch his usual coffee with decaf. And if Loki really had just undone everything you'd done, then Thor should have no reason to be angry with him.

"I may have turned all of his coffee into snakes."

"Loki," you say, with all of the exasperation in your body.

"And one of those snakes may have bitten him before I could transform them back. It was an accident, really."

But from the grin on his face, you aren't sure if it was an accident at all.

#loki fic #loki x reader #idk it's too late for me to be able to think of what tags should go on this #who's the fool #my writing

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artgurusauce · 5 years ago

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Oh hey what’s this an AU without Haudion in it? What sorcery is this, Saucy?

Yes yes, another AU spreadsheet. Twist this time: The prompt ain’t for shipping. I’ve been playing with this specific idea in my head for a while now and after rewatching an old playthrough of God of War 4, I got a tad inspired.

Without further ado, let us begin.

Context: As you can probably already tell, the prompt here was “What if Gladion was much younger when he joined Team Skull?” The question of how young I’m afraid I can’t put into precise numbers buuut, about the age he was in the anime when Lillie was attacked by that Nihilego. I’m assuming he was around 7 at that time but that’s just an estimate. Anyways, he runs away from home after stealing a Pokeball containing a Type:Null from his mother. Unfortunately, he grabbed a rather aggressive Type:Null that is poorly trained. It doesn’t kill him, but it often lashed out at Gladion and attacks him, scratching and headbutting him. One day, in the pouring rain, Guzma finds this crying boy sniveling and covered in all manner of bruises and cuts. Taking pity upon him, he decides to take him in.

1.) New Clothes

Since Gladion’s old clothes while expensive and cozy were absolutely ruined, they had to be replaced. Not only were they soaked, but they were terribly scratched up and beyond repair thanks to Null. Luckily, one of the grunts happens to be an expert in sewing clothes and makes up just the cutest little getup for him. However, she makes the sleeves just a tad too long. Guzma also gives Gladion an old pair of sneakers he used to wear when he was about his age.

2.) Roughhousing

Gladion, even as an older more mature boy is quite the emotional one. Often times he’ll lash out quite easily and it’s not hard to get under his skin. Imagine if you were to upset an even younger Gladion with far less experience, poise and who’s freshly emotionally damaged by his mother’s neglectful behavior, not to mention his frustration with trying to train Type:Null. So it’s not hard to imagine that Gladion still wouldn’t get along with the grunts. In fact, they pick on him even more since he’s so tiny and pathetic and gets far more attention from Guzma seeing as he’s the youngest one and needs more care. Usually it would lead to a grunt stepping out of line, saying something like, “Why don’t you go back home cryin’ to your daddy?” or “I’ll bet your ugly little pet would make a better jacket than a Pokemon.” This would obviously lead little Glad to attempt to beat up the older kids, biting and scratching and kicking them. And of course, Guzma would have to break it up and drag Gladion off to give him a stern talking-to, man to boy. Just what on Earth was Guzma going to do about all this pent up aggression he had?

3.) The Little Moments

Of course eventually after a while it should come as no surprise: The little brat is startin’ to grow on big ol’ bad Guzma. Even for the spoiled rotten, picky, ungrateful rugmuncher he can be sometimes, he’s not quite that bad of a kid. After all, Guzma actually somewhat admires his spunk. It’s not hard for him to see himself in this kid. He knew how scary it was being away from home at such a young age, and especially with such a goliath under his belt with no experience what-so-ever. This illustration is one of a few wholesome little instances you could probably imagine. Poor little Glad got tired from training and fell asleep while listening to one of Guzma’s post-battle lectures. It’s almost kind of cute.

4.) Motherly Advice

Oh but of course, Guzma isn’t the boy’s only parental figure. Plumeria, more docile and passive aggressive in nature is sure to give little Glad any advice he needs. While it is important he learns to toughen up, he’s not a brick wall. She’s there to talk to him whenever he needs it. While at first he’s not privy to talking to her as putting up with Guzma is enough of a challenge in and of itself, eventually, he warms up to her offers to listen when the grunts’ verbal jabs begin to wear down his self-confidence. She also is prone to helping Gladion understand Guzma’s rules and why he’s so hard on the poor little fella. They weren’t so different, even if it didn’t seem that way. “Might be tough for you to believe it, but everybody here has had it rough, even me.” Gladion definitely takes all her advice to heart, frankly just appreciating that someone would just talk to him like...a mother would.

5.) Tough Love

And now we get right back to Gladion’s biggest conundrum: Type:Null. I headcanon pretty much in any AU that there are 3 Type:Nulls in existence: A docile one, an aggressive one, and a pack leader. Gladion this time around ends up taking the aggressive one, not knowing the difference between the Beast Killers. While under Guzma’s wing, Type:Null and Gladion both endure intense and rough training that while unconventional is actually quite necessary. Guzma knows how to handle a bulky mass of rage after all. So first thing’s first, he uses his Golisopod to battle Type:Null in order to help it get out all that pent up aggression and channel it in a productive manner. The more it associated it’s power and ability with Pokemon battle rather than throwing temper tantrums, the better. Golisopod is more than happy to help, which creates a tense rivalry between the two. Often times they will even spar without either of their Trainer’s request. In a similar fashion that Guzma is a mentor to Gladion, Golisopod becomes somewhat of a mentor to Type:Null. Then of course, there’s the trust-building lessons to help Gladion and Type:Null establish a Trainer-Pokemon relationship rather than a Master-Prisoner mentality. It doesn’t quite understand that Gladion is it’s ally, it only knows that it is free from the tazing devices and cold, claustrophobic cages that prevented it from ripping anyone that crossed it to shreds. It had to understand that the boy was it’s friend, not it’s foe. Leading that, Gladion himself would learn how to battle using his Pokemon. A process that requires surprisingly a lot more paper than hands-on studying. After all, he has to memorize all the moves and rules if he’s to become a proper Trainer for that powerhouse.

6.) Am I Supposed To Apologize?

After a long, long, looonnnggg time of building trust and coming to see Guzma like a second father, Gladion finally spills the beans about his mother’s cruelty and his father’s tragic death. Surprisingly, rather than Plumeria, it is Guzma he confides in. He breaks down, confessing every little horrific detail. How his father died in a horrible research accident. How his mother shut them out emotionally after the funeral. How she forced him and his sister to dress perfectly proper in almost all white. How she ridiculed and belittled and shamed them just to make them complicit. How she locked him and Lillie in their rooms for hours on end for simply wearing the wrong shoes. How she took away their Pokemon, saying they weren’t worthy enough children to be Trainers. How she began to pretend as if Gladion didn’t even exist anymore and gave all the attention to his sister just to spite him. All they were to her were ugly, useless children. She didn’t love them anymore, and they didn’t understand. He didn’t understand. He didn’t know what to do. All he wanted to do was run away. But he also wanted to piss her off, give her something to really be upset about. At least then she would give him attention. At least then she would acknowledge him, wouldn’t she? She had to! But she hadn’t even bothered to look for him, she didn’t care about him. She never would. Why did she act like this? Did he do something wrong? Was he supposed to apologize? Why did she hate him so much? Guzma is obviously taken aback by all this and takes pity on the poor boy again, letting him cry out all of his frustrations and woes. Nothing is more painful for Guzma than hearing the things some of these kids he takes in have gone through, but coming from the mouth of someone so young, it also boils his blood. Lusamine will surely regret what she has wrought upon this boy...

7.) Po Town Raid

So I came up with an interesting plot idea, perhaps a sort of climax to this story. Team Skull is still very much a group of criminals. They steal, vandalize, and sometimes even shake down young Trial-Goers who were unfortunate enough to run into one of Guzma’s lackeys. Up to now, nobody really knew where they were hiding out. However, the police somehow found a lead, and raid the entirety of Po Town to arrest and detain everyone. Guzma knows there’s not enough time to save everyone, and decides to make a split second decision as the police come dangerously close to knocking down the door to the mansion. He calls out his Golisopod, ordering Gladion to hide under him and not to come out no matter what he hears. Of course, Gladion is terrified and objects to this, but Guzma manages to convince him that he can handle himself. Begrudgingly, Gladion hides in Golisopod’s grip as it curls up into a ball, shuffling itself under some floor boards beneath a rug on the floor. With bated breath and tears trickling down his face, Gladion is forced to listen quietly as his father figure is arrested and escorted out of the building, insisting there’s no one else left to detain. Golisopod is just as saddened as the boy, hesitant to sit back while it’s Trainer is being hauled off, but obedient enough to keep the boy safe as ordered. After a few hours of complete silence, Gladion and Golisopod finally emerge from their hiding spot, wrought with grief and panic to find Po Town was completely empty and devoid of any other humans or even Pokemon. Everyone was gone.

Sooo another plot twist, I may consider actually writing a fic for this one but obviously not right now. Or I could just keep posting about it here, lol. Honestly I really like this one so I’m definitely gonna continue it regardless. But lemme know what y’all think.

#pokemon #pokemon sun and moon #team skull #guzma #plumeria #gladion #golisopod #type: null #alternate universe #doodle dump #fan art #baby Glad #he a rambunctious boyo #pouty boyo #fussy boyo #yo why is drawing golisopod so hard tho

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medea10 · 5 years ago

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My Review of The Rising of the Shield Hero

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Yeah, this warning because apparently I curse more than normal here. That should give you a fun indicator of what you’re in for.

Is this a joke? Is Medea really going to watch a recent Isekai anime?

No joke. I am. Yeah, since just about every Isekai I’ve ever watched was made before the year 2012, I thought it was time. And in case you’re not hip to the lingo, Isekai is where a random person is transported to a strange world (different from their’s) and go on an adventure. Things like Escaflowne, InuYasha, Fushigi Yugi, Kyou Kara Maou, and to a far-lesser extent, Sword Art Online! But because I haven’t watched anything made past 2012, and haven’t watched things like Konosuba, ReZero, or Overlord, my knowledge is shit and I should be ashamed.

So I’m going to start with one of 2019’s best animes, The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Naofumi Iwatani was checking out light novels when he was transported into another world. But unlike many other Isekais with this similar setup, Naofumi isn’t alone.

He and three other boys (from alternate timelines of Japan) are transported as well to the kingdom of Melromarc. These four boys are going to be the saviors of the kingdom as the “Four Cardinal Heroes” where they must combat against these entities known as “waves”. However, Naofumi is seen as the weakling from the very beginning due to being the holder of the shield (and is now known as the “Shield Hero”). But it goes even further than that! The king of Melromarc immediately shows his disdain for the shield hero due to the previous shield hero doing something to him. I don’t know what, just fuck the king. The kingdom, the other heroes, and the people of the kingdom did just about everything to Naofumi to make him feel like trash. If he was on fire, they wouldn’t even spit on him to put him out!

Being the lowest-level weapon user, no one will join his team and even if they did…they would swindle him, set him up for failure, and spread the worst lie you could ever lie about. But Naofumi can’t return home due to all four weapon users must be there until they defeat the waves. So Naofumi is stuck in a new world where literally everyone hates him or fears him.

That is until he buys a slave (named Raphtalia) and their EXP points can grow. Along the way, he obtains an egg that hatches into a filolial (later named Filo) who has the ability of turning into a human female. And every now and then, the second princess of Melromarc (named Melty) will come along with Naofumi. Trust me, she’s the nice one in that family.

Let’s watch the struggles and rising of the Shield Hero!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this is licensed by Crunchyroll (but I think FUNimation dipped it’s cookie in this milk). I know these two companies divorced some time ago, but FUNimation sees no problem piggy-backing off of Crunchyroll when they get a hit. And yes, this got an English dub and because of that, YES I watched the whole thing dubbed! Done by the good folks in L.A.! I gotta say this was a well-done dub. Well, they did one thing right by hiring Erica Mendez to play Raphtalia. Just about everything Mendez plays is friggin’ gold! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Naofumi is played by Kaito Ishikawa (known for Kiawe on Pokemon SM, Genos on One Punch Man, Mitsuo on Golden Time, Urui on Tokyo Ghoul :re, Sakakibara on Assassination Classroom, and Rinne on Kyokai no Rinne)

*Raphtalia is played by Asami Seto (known for Officer Jenny on Pokemon SM, Mado on Tokyo Ghoul, Young Yukiatsu on Anohana, and Shizu Delta on Overlord)

*Filo is played by Rina Hidaka (known for Last Order on Index/Railgun, Ririchiyo on Inu x Boku SS, Kohane on xxxHOLiC, Silica on SAO, Nemesis on To Love Ru: Darkness, and Urara on Food Wars)

*Melty is played by Maaya Uchida (known for Norman on The Promised Neverland, Rikka on Chunibyo, Rui on Domestic Girlfriend, Frenda on Railgun, Yoshino on Food Wars, Irina on High School DxD, and Yusa on Charlotte)

ENGLISH CAST: *Naofumi is played by Billy Kametz (known for Jousuke/JoJo on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part IV, Osomatsu on Mr. Osomatsu, Metal Lee on Boruto, and Galo on Promare)

*Raphtalia is played by Erica Mendez (known for Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon redub, Emma on The Promised Neverland, Nico on Love Live, Yuuki on SAO II, and Tsubaki on Your Lie in April)

*Filo is played by Brianna Knickerbocker (known for Rem on Re:Zero, Akane on Durarara x2, Arisa on Love Live, Anna on The Promised Neverland, Iori on Charlotte, and Erica on Berserk 2016)

*Melty is played by Jackie Lastra (known for Conny on The Promised Neverland and Selka on SAO: Alicization)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: I know I’m gonna have fun with the next category, but I think I spent most of this series hating on several people where I forgot to pick a character I liked.

Well folks, I gotta say that I loved Raphtalia. And after her, Filo! Then Elhart, Queen Melromarc, Melty, and Fitoria! With the exception of Elhart, it’s all women! That’s rare! Don’t worry, there’s one woman that has received a restraining order from this category. On with the worst!

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Y’all know what’s coming!

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Prior to watching this series, I have gotten several warnings about one particular character! Princess Malty or Myne, whatever people call her. This woman is despised throughout the anime community and even going so far as to say she’s on “horrible character” status left only to infamous characters like Griffith, Makoto Itou, and Shou Tucker. And I’m like, “WOW, what did she do, kill a pope?” I mean seriously, how bad could she possibly…?!

*one episode later*

FUCK THIS BITCH: Oh this bitch can burn at the stake for all I care! Yes, everyone else who treated Naofumi like shit can go jump off a bridge. Because I hold no sympathy for towns-idiots that treat a hero with no respect (as I’ve said before with One Punch Man and Dragon Ball Z)! But Myne just took that zero respect and pushed it to a crispy 425 degrees of fuck-roast! In the first episode, she seemed genuine with pitying Naofumi because no one would join his team. That didn’t even last a whole day. Myne ends up faking a rape by lying to the kingdom that Naofumi sexually assaulted her.

Faking a RAPE!

Faking a FUCKING RAPE!

Bitch, this is 2019 (I KNOW IT AIN’T THAT IN THIS KINGDOM, I’M JUST FUCKING PISSED). Faking a rape is a big, fat, NO-NO!

After he spends the little money he had on her to buy equipment, she double-crosses him by setting him up for immediate trouble and switches to the Spear-Hero side. Well fuck you too, you skank! Have fun with your dickhead Spear Hero. And may that be the last time I ever see you!

*several episodes later*

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! You cheating, lying, slut! Just when you think she can’t possibly get any worse, this bitch takes worse and shoves it off a fucking cliff. As if faking an assault wasn’t bad enough, screwing townspeople for your own gain is another story. She would take over a whole town and give no fucks if it’s destroyed by her or her fuck-face spear-hero. Add to that fuck-cake, every time you run into Naofumi, you find some way to screw him over time and time again. This bitch tampered with a fight between the shield and spear hero so that Naofumi could fail and they could steal his only team member away from him! You have your father, the church, your dickhead boy-toy of yours, and the royals wrapped around your little finger. Myne just continues to be worse than tainted peanut butter. I wish she would catch the worst STD imaginable and die a painful death!

*several more episodes later*

AAAAAAAH gabba da da ffuuuu worble BITCH FACE gararba fruznuss SET FIRE plskay adkkin aidnnlwjsnda UP DONALD TRUMP’S ASS galidamdh amoiejwm wwwaasosoh A POPCICLE! FUCK! AAkajrriaja DIDIA LEJHE KLHAEHAE FYUEEajejioqih3hv SSLLSHE3V ADKDKDDHEI333!!!!

Oh, you do not want a translation from my…whatever the fuck I just wrote. Just know that Princess Malty or Myne is worse than hemroids up the ass. I can’t believe this woman is still around, breathing and shit. Also, I’m tempted in re-writing my Top 10 Least Favorite Anime Character list because Myne would definitely be at #4 after Griffith from Berserk.

Okay…Okay…I think I’m calm now.

WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE CUT THIS FUCKING CUNT’S HEAD OFF LIKE A CHICKEN IN CHINA TOWN?!

Now I’m calm! Now then…

ANYONE ELSE WHO NEEDS TO DIE IN THIS SERIES?: So obviously I hate Bitch and Trash (Myne and the King). And I have the same kind of respect for the townspeople who treat Naofumi like shit. I ain’t got time to be dealing with townsidiots again. But if there was anyone else that should get a mention of how much I want for them to be set on fire and I’ll just sit there drinking my ginger ale, it would be Motoyasu.

Now by no means do I hate him more than Miss Bitch over here. But I hate him on the same level as Shinji from the Fate series (which is now teetering on my top 10). I question why he’s still alive and why no one has introduced his face to a jagged boulder. Unlike the other heroes Ren and Itsuki, this guy has got a vendetta against Naofumi from the get-go. And this was like before the sexual alligations came about. After that incident, this fuckturd tries at every turn to make Naofumi’s life worse than it already is by stealing away his crew and challenging him every chance he gets. And when he’s not doing that, he’s screwing over the townspeople and doing very little to be a “hero” (which is his freakin’ title). Then again, Ren and Itsuki aren’t great heroes either, it’s just I really need to lay into Spear-Dick for the shit he’s done.

SHIPPING: Hmm…aaaaahhhh….eeeeee…urrrrggggh…

Naofumi x Raphtalia: I know Naofumi doesn’t see Raphtalia as a romantic partner and more as a partner on his team, but Raphtalia doesn’t see it that way. She is 100% loyal to Master Naofumi. Who could blame her? Naofumi saved her from a lifetime of enslavement and cured her from an illness she’s had for years. She’s grateful and every other hero is crap in her eyes! She’s worshipped the shield hero since she was younger when she would hear stories about the shield hero. So imagine her worry every time Naofumi talks about going back to his home world, she gets horribly upset. Me being very skeptical here, I can’t really imagine this going any further than team partners. I can’t see at the end of the day Naofumi staying in Melromarc forever or Raphtalia somehow returning to Naofumi’s world when all of this ends. So for now, I’m just going to see where this takes us.

FUNNIEST MOMENT: Whenever Motoyasu gets conked in his frank-and-two-beans by Filo! If anyone deserves to be whammed in the nuts, it’s Motoyasu.

SADDEST MOMENT: I don’t usually mention sad moments in anime anymore, but one moment touched me and that was episode 15 where we learned a little more about Raphtalia’s past. Raphtalia, even after losing her parents in a wave attack, she tries her best to keep a smile on her face. But shortly after that, she and many other demi-humans were taken away from their homes and sold off to a nobleman. This is when we see some pretty inhumane moments where Raphtalia and many of her friends are whipped for the fun of it, starved to death, and sold off to traders.

In this episode, we learn about a few of Raphtalia’s friends (Keel and Rifana) from her younger days. The day Raphtalia got sold off, it looked like Rifana was teetering towards death. When the Shield Hero’s party came to rescue the surviving demi-humans (like Keel), Raphtalia went to see if Rifana could possibly be alive. And if the disturbing picture of Rifana’s skeleton doesn’t churn your stomach, I really don’t know what will. God damn, that was just messed up!

I CANNOT TELL A LIE, THIS ANIME HURT: I know I have sadistic tendencies and take joy in the misery of others. But I seriously cannot enjoy any second of the humiliation and degredation given to Naofumi. And it was because of the abuse put on the Shield Hero that made me feel sick to my stomach just watching all this happen to this guy. I thought it would last for a few episodes at the most, but it carried on a lot further than I imagined. Almost to the very end! And every episode you put on, you just wish for some kind of karma to kick in or for one more person to be nice to Naofumi or something, anything to happen!

But because the king has a vendetta against the previous Shield Hero, Naofumi has had to pay a heavy toll by having every horrible crime or offense thrown at him including rape, murder, attempted murder, cheating, witchcraft, and treason. AND HE COMMITTED NONE OF THESE OFFENSES! So you spend just about 20 episodes watching this poor boy having to go through this hell. I can’t even imagine having to go through this kind of torment and some of these moments make me ill in my stomach and quite pissed off. So like I said, this anime hurts to watch.

ENDING: As it turns out, the kingdom is corrupt under the rule of the king and his daughter, Princess Cunt (yeah, BIG shocker there). How corrupt? Well, they were in cahoots with the church that had their own religion praising only 3 of the Heroes (guess which one they don’t praise)! That was until the pope decided that everything must be wiped away because they are “unclean”. That includes the monarchy, the heroes, and their crew! Thankfully, they were able to put an end to this cult, with a little help from the true leader of Melromarc, Queen Mirelia of Melromarc. She finally shows herself and her powers on the battlefield. And now ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the moment everyone and their mama have been waiting for.

JUSTICE IS SERVED: With the queen’s return, come some harsh sentences to her own family. Her husband, the king and her daughter, Princess Malty! I gotta tell you, seeing these two in chains makes my heart so happy. The king was guilty of summoning the four heroes prematurely and causing a lot of harm to the kingdom of Melromarc with the church. Then the queen puts a seal on Myne’s chest, giving her unimaginable pain whenever she lied. That still didn’t stop the bitch from lying! In one swoop, it’s proven that Naofumi was innocent the whole time and that the king and princess were worse than period cramps. And for their crimes, THEY ARE SENTENCED TO DEATH BY GUILLOTINE!

FUCK YEAH! BRING IT ON!

CUT THEIR FUCKING HEADS OFF!

Yeah…unfortunately for my blood-lust self, that didn’t happen. Instead, Naofumi stopped the queen seconds before blood was to splatter. Claiming that the princess and king should be stripped from their titles and must go through life with new names! The king will be named “Trash” and Malty/Myne will be named “Bitch” (or “Whore” when she’s traveling). Okay, I guess it’s all good. With that, the church of the three heroes is abolished and handled a lot better than I thought.

But seriously Queenie, was it really, REALLY a good idea to keep your daughter alive? I know she’s your own daughter and you felt severe hesitation (in the anime) before calling for her execution. But for fuck’s sake, literally a day after she’s spared from the guillotine, she’s poisoning food meant for her sister Melty, Naofumi, and his friends!

IN THIS AFTERMATH: Now has Naofumi finally obtained acceptance throughout the kingdom? Yes and no! Yes, it’s true that the people of the land respected Naofumi after all he’s done. It’s just that some of the other heroes and castle men who still treat Naofumi with such disrespect. The queen wishes for all four heroes to be treated equally and to get along so that maybe they can defeat the waves without too much trouble. Hell, the queen of the filolials also said the same thing! I think Ren and Itsuki have kinda been on board with this for a while (even if they are kinda dickish about it). It’s just that Motoyasu’s still a condescending dick to Naofumi! Sigh!

FINAL WAVE ATTACK: Final one for now! On their way to another land, Naofumi ends up getting chummy with two travelers (L’Arc and Therese).

We meet these fuckers three episodes before the finale.

They’re bad guys, aren’t they?!

Something like that! Yeah, the next wave attack was coming up real quick. And the heroes have to go up against Glass again (the woman who caused a lot of trouble in the midway point of the series). But it turns out L’Arc and Therese are in cahoots with Glass. But it gets really…complicated here!

Glass and L’Arc are both fan and scythe heroes from another world. And they’re destroying the waves on this side along with destroying the people of this world to prevent catastrophy in their world. Yeah, finale time guys! How many parallel worlds and heroes are there?

READ THE LIGHT NOVEL!

Fuck me! Well, Naofumi and the other hammy heroes were able to stop the wave attack once more. And we even get to watch Queen Melromarc in action again! In this aftermath, Naofumi gets a new member on his team. Yes, it’s another female, but at least this one is older than all the other girls that hang with him (making this a little less ewwwie). Rishia was abandoned by Itsuki’s team for…reasons. So she’s going to join Naofumi after she helped in the last wave attack. And we get some last-moment hopeful scenes as we see things that give me hope for people in this series. Raphtalia’s old friends and homeland is getting back into the swing of things and Naofumi will take control over the land. And we wait for this promoted second and third season Crunchyroll swears by. Seriously guys, when are we getting more Shield Hero?

DON’T KNOW! READ THE LIGHT NOVEL AND STOP ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!

If you can’t already tell, I liked this series! Yes it was unbelievably painful to watch certain things where all of these people gang up on Naofumi and screw him eight ways from Sunday, but I guess good stories have a little struggle. Except here, it’s a lot of struggling! It was an interesting tale and is giving me a little hope for the Isekai genre as a whole. Will I get into all the other recent ones so I can one day watch Isekai Quartet? Don’t get too cocky! I’ll stick to this and maybe head on over to Konosuba later on.

Rising of the Shield Hero was definitely a tale and I highly recommend it. It’s just that if you’re prone to anger when it comes to absolute injustice, half of this series might be a little unbearable to handle. But there were several great moments (particularly from Raphtalia) that kept me going with this series.

Especially episode 4! Best episode of the series! Her undying devotion for Naofumi was definitely one to behold! I can’t wait to learn more about these different kinds of worlds, kingdoms, and heroes in the upcoming stories. In the meantime I will await for these seasons two and three Crunchyroll assures us are coming…They are coming right? You guys weren’t just blowing smoke up our asses in the last CRX convention, right?

READ THE FUCKING LIGHT NOVEL, YOU AUTISTIC TWAT!

I can’t do it! There are too many chapters!

Currently, both FUNimation and Crunchyroll have the entire series subbed and dubbed.

Okay, great stuff! What’s next on my Amazon/Netflix…or Crunchyroll licensed anime!

Magical Girl Site?

Oh fuck. I heard about that first episode. This is gonna hurt.

#the rising of the shield hero #anime review #raphtalia #naofumi iwatani #motoyasu kitamura #malty melromarc #myne #filo #melty melromarc

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samsonet · 5 years ago

Text

What matter to me if their star is a world?

No encores. Not songs, not moves, not Pokemon.

But then what does that make her?

Title from Robert Browning's "My Star"

When Marnie is five years old, her brother gives her a Pokemon.

It has to be a dark-type, but it looks so bright that the idea is hard to believe. It waddles over, sniffs her ankles, then raises its arms. Marnie knows what that means. It wants to be picked up!

“I thought havin’ a partner might help ya not be scared all the time,” her amazing big brother says.

He hands her its pokeball.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Next, Piers asks a gym trainer to battle her. Marnie wins her very first time. She runs on the field and hugs Morpeko tight. Everyone says she’s so talented and that they’re proud of her.

(Later, she’ll realize that the older trainer let her win. But back then? She was five. She thought the world belonged to her.)

Marnie can’t sing. Can’t pour out her soul. Can’t even yell. Her voice is small and soft, a violin among electric guitars.

Her brother seems to realize that. He finds other ways for her to support him. Help carry the microphone, Marnie. Raise your arms like this to get the audience hyped up. Stand there and look cute, Marnie, people love that.

She jumps to obey the first time, because her brother hates repeating himself.

No encores. Not songs, not moves, not Pokémon.

But when the show is over and they go home, when it’s just him and her in their messy cold apartment, he’ll keep singing the same lullaby until she falls asleep.

The trouble with Morpeko is this: it never stays in one mood for long.

It goes from cheerful to angry in the blink of an eye, and it continues to catch her off guard. Every time a trainer yells or Piers’ Pokémon surprise her or there’s another sudden blackout — every time that a younger Marnie would have cried — well, now Morpeko needs her. There’s no time for crying now.

She feeds him berries and hugs him close to her chest. He’s her best friend. (Her only friend.)

It takes a while for her to understand her partner well enough to cope with his moods. She likes to think it made them closer.

Piers wants her to take over the gym.

That’s the plan. That’s always been the plan, ever since the day Spikemuth’s last leader croaked and Piers somewhat-accidentally ended up with the gym. He’s been holding on to it, taking care of all the trainers and whatnot, but it’s not his dream.

(It’s not hers, either, but someone has to do it.)

She’s growing like a dandelion, poking her head through a crack in the concrete. She should consider herself lucky to be under the care of someone who thinks she’s worth nurturing.

(She still can’t sing.)

None of it matters.

One day, she’ll grow tall and strong. One day, she’ll master dark-types. One day, she’ll stand on Piers’ stage, wearing his uniform and battling with his style, and all the yells will sound the same.

One day, when she and Piers are setting up the stage, Marnie’s world changes forever.

Her brother says, in a casual voice, “I’m thinking of endorsing you for the gym challenge.”

She nods, stuffs some paper under a wobbly leg on the drum set, and then has a double-take.

The gym challenge. A way to get out of this town. A chance to make a name for herself, to be someone other than Piers’ dear little sister. The possibility of battling the champion. The possibility of beating the champion.

She’d never really thought of it before.

It surprises her, how suddenly she wants it.

She meets her brother’s eyes. No amount of makeup disguises the exhaustion, but he puts the effort into smiling for her.

She gives a small smile in return. “So I’d be representin’ you, huh?”

“You don’t have ta worry about representin’ me. You’re my champion no matter what.” It’s corny, but no one is around to hear. “But you’d be representing Spikemuth, Marn. I know it’s not an easy task. Do you feel up to it?”

She looks to Morpeko. Her partner gives a cheeky grin.

“Yeah. We c’n do it.”

Of course, her brother doesn’t let her go alone.

“I’m gonna be sendin’ some people with ya, okay? They’re there to protect ya.”

His gym trainers, dressed in the most paper-thin disguises, follow her out of Spikemuth and onto Route 9.

“What are ya doin’, dressed like that?” she asks.

Joshua answers: “We’re Team Yell! We’re gonna support you through the whole challenge!”

The other trainers give yelps and woohoos. “Go Marnie! That’s our Marnie! Yay Marnie!!”

It’s so easy to be talked over and shouted down.

She’s not getting rid of them as long as she stands here, though, so Marnie keeps walking and pretends they aren’t there.

She makes it to Motostoke safe and sound, and that’s what counts, right?

Leon’s girl is quiet, even by Marnie’s standards. She looks at everything with wide eyes, like she’s overjoyed and overwhelmed. She’s brown eyes and brown hair and brown skin, plain posture and plain clothes. Either she hasn’t figured out her aesthetic yet, or her aesthetic is to be so normal that one might overlook her.

She’s got a lovely smile, though.

Marnie decides she likes her.

“You’re lookin’ a bit gobsmacked by all this,” she says.

The girl nods, grinning sheepishly.

“You must be from some small country town, is that it? I’m quite the same myself.”

The girl stands awkwardly, like she’s not used to conversation. Then she kneels down and makes faces at Morpeko. For his part, Morpeko seems to love it. Fair enough. Don’t trainers usually connect through their Pokemon? Maybe that’s what this girl is trying to do.

Leon’s brother rushes up. “Gloria, come on! Sorry, everyone, we gotta go!”

He grabs the girl by the hand, and in the blink of an eye, they’re gone.

Marnie will learn later, from magazine profiles and TV interviews, that Gloria is the childhood friend of Leon’s little brother. The pair of them are like peas in a pod, apparently. In the interviews, Hop is always the one talking. He speaks like he’s never heard of an indoor voice. Gloria is almost silent beside him, nodding along, only saying a few words when specifically prompted.

Marnie understands. When everyone around is so loud, sometimes it’s an advantage to be quiet.

She hopes they’ll get the chance to speak properly.

At the hotel, Gloria has just battled a group of Team Yell grunts. Inwardly, Marnie groans. Like it or not, Team Yell is her fandom, which means she has some responsibility for what they do.

Does Piers know how much of a pain his trainers will be if they keep acting like this?

They're there to protect you.

Her brother hates repeating himself.

She tells Team Yell to just go home. Piers can send them out again later if he wants.

She turns to the other kids, explains what Team Yell is doing. “Sorry if they caused you any trouble.”

She expects them to look at her with scorn. Look at this girl, with a thick accent and dirty clothes. Look at how she thinks she’s so special, with a team of hooligans following her around.

But then Leon’s little brother speaks.

“So you’re a gym challenger, too?” Hop folds his arms behind his head. He’s got a cute toothy grin; he’s obviously used to being happy. “Team Yell, was it? Pretty impressive that you already have a set of fans to call your own!”

He really doesn’t know.

But Marnie smiles all the same.

She’s in a boutique in Motostoke when she sees Hop again.

“Watch out! I’m coming through!”

He pushes blithely past anyone in his way. Of course, no one gives him any trouble. He’s the champion’s little brother. He can do whatever he likes.

It seems that what he wants to do is look at the same rack of snapbacks Marnie is.

He picks up a League Sponsored Normal Type Hat (™). “Hey, Marnie, how does this look on me?”

He says it like they’re not basically strangers.

He says it like he’s entitled to her thoughts.

(Being Leon’s little brother must come with a lot of perks, huh.

But that’s a mean thing to think.)

She decides to humor him. “It looks fine.”

“Aw, come on! Look at me!”

She does.

She’s struck with the strangest sense of deja vu, but in a moment she understands why.

Hop has his brother’s face. Hop has his brother’s smile. Hop has his brother’s eyes.

People say that Marnie and Piers look alike, but a good portion of that is because they’re both punk. Put them in prep clothes, and the resemblance grows less distinct.

(Piers’ eyes always look so tired. If Marnie takes over the gym, will her eyes start to look like that, too?

No encores.

She’s probably a remix.)

“Are you figuring out what you want your image to be?” she asks.

“Mm. Yeah, I guess? You gotta give the audience a way to find you outta all the other challengers.”

Marnie hums. “You’ve already got a good template if ya play up how much ya look like Leon.”

Immediately, she knows that was the wrong thing to say. Hop drops the hat as if burned, and he shoves his hands in his pockets.

Marnie looks at the hat that she’d been considering, a League Sponsored Dark Type (™).

“Y’know, though,” she says, kneeling down to pick a more generic newsie cap, “my big brother is always talkin’ about not doin’ encores. It’s good ta always have somethin’ new, right?”

She hands him the cap. It’s blue, a shade off from the jacket Hop is wearing. He fits his hair under it, then tilts his head to give her a better view.

“It looks good on you,” she says.

He grins, then reaches down and pulls out a bright pink cap. He places it on her head, but her pigtails get in the way, and they both scramble to catch it before it hits the floor.

Hop starts laughing first, because that’s the kind of person he is, and soon Marnie is giggling too.

In this moment, she and Hop don’t represent anyone.

In this moment, they’re simply two kids in a new place, trying out different styles and having fun.

They buy the newsie hats. They buy matching jackets and shirts and trousers, too, because they have money now and no older brothers to stop them.

Hop gives her a cheerful goodbye and promises to meet her in the next town.

Marnie heads into the dressing room. She wants to examine the new clothes.

The inside of the cap and the lining of the jacket’s sleeves are both some silky fabric. The blouse is wooloo wool, soft as Morpeko’s fur. She runs her hands over it, enjoying the sensation, then puts the outfit on and snaps a selfie.

She looks like a princess. Not the ones like Cinderella, who came from poverty and ascended with the help of fairy godmothers. No, Marnie looks like one of the princesses who was born a princess. She looks like she’s used to elegance and influence.

It’s a nice daydream.

She puts on her usual outfit back on, then packs up the new clothes and mails them home at the next postbox.

It’s too late to be changing her style now.

“You’re Piers’ sister, right?” Milo asks, moving a hay bundle like he doesn’t realize how much of a flex it is. “I was listening to his stuff the other day. He’s really good.”

“He is.” Marnie holds up a pokeball. “But I’m here to battle you.”

The next TV spot describes her as stoic and emotionless. They say she’s serious, goal-focused. She doesn’t know how to feel about it.

It turns out Gloria likes normal-types. Beside her Scorbunny, she’s got a Wooloo and an Eevee. Plain girl, plain clothes, plain Pokemon.

But however plain Gloria is, her smile is genuine. It’s the kind of expression that connects with an audience.

Later that night, Marnie examines herself in her Rotom-phone’s camera. Her natural smile is so small that it’s not much different from her usual flat expression.

She puts on finger on either side of her lips and physically pulls them up.

It’s better, but still not enough.

She meets Bede on the outskirts of Stow-on-Side.

He’s got a Copperajah by his side. It’s not the kind of Pokémon she would expect him to have, but if the league was supposed to be about growing as a person…

He almost barrels over her. Lucky for Marnie, she’s got Team Yell behind her. They keep her from falling, and one of them grabs Bede by the back of his coat.

“Get your hands off of me,” Bede growls.

“You gotta apologize to Marnie first!”

“Why would I waste my time —”

(Why doesn’t the Copperajah do anything? Does it not care what happens to its trainer?)

Marnie’s eyes meet Bede’s.

“Well?” he asks, his lip curled into a sneer. “I know you, Challenger Nine-six-zero. You’re the little sister of Spikemuth’s gym leader, right? Your city wants you to become champion so you can bring some glory back. But you’ll never make it to Wyndon.”

“How dare you say that to our Ma—”

Bede’s sneer gets bigger. “You depend too much on your brother’s screaming gang. He’s not going to be able to baby you forever. Can you even speak for yourself? I don’t think you can.”

It’s so easy to be talked over and shouted down.

She turns to her fans. “Let him go.”

“Let him —?”

In the moment of surprise, Bede wrenches himself from the grunt’s hold. He hops back, arms up, hands loosely curled into fists.

“I don’ know what yer problem is,” Marnie says, as loudly as she can, “but it’s not my trouble to deal with! I don’ wanna hear another word from you! Get!”

Bede huffs.

Then he and Copperajah continue on their path.

When they’re out of eyesight, Marnie turns to her fans.

Something must be wrong with her expression, because the grunts look scared.

“Marnie…?”

“Tell Piers that I don’ need ‘im ta baby me anymore!”

She turns on her heel and stomps on, alone.

When Marnie sets up camp for the night, she thinks about her rivals.

At the opening ceremony, there had been — what, twenty?

Right now, she can only remember three.

Whatever Bede is getting up to, it can’t be good. (She hopes his Copperajah eats him.)

Hop has been nowhere in sight. It’s unusual and worrying. She hopes the pressure isn’t getting to him.

And Gloria...

Gloria is lucky. Her town is already prospering, because it has already produced a champion.

She has no older siblings to overshadow her; she has never had to feel empty when they’re distant, or smothered when they make their presence known.

Gloria doesn’t even have to worry about representing her sponsor. Everyone’s expectations of Leon are placed squarely on Hop’s shoulders.

Gloria has the privilege of fighting for herself.

Marnie envies her.

She curls up in her sleeping bag and thinks, who am I really fighting for?

She fights for Spikemuth.

Her city has fallen into hard times, and it feels like everyone back home is expecting her to bring new life back to it.

(Dirty accent, dirty clothes.)

She fights for Piers.

Her brother wants her to take over the gym. Her brother gave her her first Pokémon and everything he’s done since has always come back to the damn gym.

(“I want to focus on my music.”

Marnie still can’t sing.)

She fights for herself.

...and she fights for Morpeko.

Morpeko needs her. She has caught other Pokémon, yes, and they all depend on each other, but Morpeko is her partner. She understands him the most. She understands his moods, his wants, his thoughts and feelings.

She knows what it’s like to hunger. She’s faced the pain of an empty belly and the anguish of an unrealized goal, and she finds them equal.

Morpeko is a right little brute when he’s hangry, though.

Of course, Team Yell is causing trouble. Did Piers tell them to close the gate? It would be consistent.

She shows Gloria the way into Spikemuth. Maybe another challenger would let her competitor struggle (and Marnie does, indeed, let the others struggle), but Gloria is her rival. Rivals help each other, right?

Gloria, of course, passes through the gym without any trouble at all. She powers past all the obstructions, never showing the slightest hint of frustration.

And then she comes to Piers.

Marnie is watching from the sidelines. She studies Gloria’s face, looking for any indication of what she’s thinking.

For some reason, Marnie really wants her brother to make a good impression on Gloria. To represent what’s good about Spikemuth, to make it so Marnie looks good as a result.

(Dirty accent. Dirty city. Dirty, tired man at the center of it all.)

Piers goes all out, giving his best performance.

Gloria hops in joy when she wins.

After Gloria leaves, Piers looks to Marnie and asks, “Are ya okay? The trainers told me you’ve been actin’ differently lately.”

“It’s nuthin’. Just getting a bit tired.”

“Do you wanna rest here tonight? You don’t have to continue —”

“No!”

She says it a bit louder than intended. Piers looks at her in surprise.

Marnie clears her throat and tries again: “I need to keep up wi’ my rivals. One of us is goin’ ta be facing Leon. I want it to be me.”

Her brother looks at her with those tired eyes.

(Is she a bad sister, looking for a way to escape his burdens?)

“Well. Kick Leon’s arse for me, ya hear?” Piers kicks up his microphone and tucks it under his arm. “And when you get bored a’ bein’ champion, Spikemuth Stadium will be waiting for ya.”

I don’t want to be your encore, she thinks, but keeps quiet.

She tugs on the pendant connected to her collar. Beside her, Piers does the same.

Hammerlocke Stadium is cold.

Gloria had her match here two days ago, Hop the day after that. Bede would probably have gotten here before either of them, but —

Somewhere along the line, Bede got disqualified.

She wonders if the same thing could have happened to her. If the Chairman or the Champion decided that her fans were being too disruptive, could they have her sent away, too?

Her brother is strong, but his power has limits.

“Hey, kid!” Raihan says. His grin is full of sharp teeth. “You ready to battle me?”

She nods.

“You’re not like your brother,” Hop says.

They’re in the Wyndon Stadium locker room, waiting for the semifinals to start. Hop and Gloria had walked in together but quickly split apart, going to opposite sides of the room.

Hop decided to sit next to Marnie. She’ll take it as a compliment.

“I mean, your brother’s cool and all!” Hop continues, “But I’ve been watching your battles. Your battle style is totally different from his!”

It is. Piers can’t keep his cool, can’t stop shouting out his strategy in the middle of a match.

And Marnie…

Marnie stays quiet. That’s her advantage.

“Thank you. For what it’s worth… yer style is pretty distinct from Leon’s, too.”

He smiles and leans back. “Thanks.”

The minutes tick by. The anticipation is almost unbearable.

Hop says, “I’ve been thinking… after the cup, what do you think you’re going to do? If you don’t become champion, I mean.”

If you don’t become champion. A nice way of saying if we battle, I’m going to win.

Marnie herself has no intention of losing, but… well, everything’s a possibility.

“Piers wants me ta take over the gym. He wants ta follow his own dreams.”

“Do you want to take over the gym?”

Do you want to be your big brother’s encore?

Marnie thinks about the Spikemuth Stadium. Neon lights. Punk trainers. Dandelions growing through cracks in the concrete.

Despite everything, it’s her home.

If she can’t take Leon’s throne… she wouldn’t mind sharing Piers’ stage.

His songs. Her battles.

I’m not an encore, Marnie decides. Not a replay. Not a remix.

I’m a brand new song.

She says in answer, “I think I’d be happy there.”

When it comes time for her semifinal match, Marnie walks out on the pitch to the sound of roaring applause.

Gloria is waiting, plain as always, but she’s smiling that lovely smile.

(Oh, how Marnie wants that smile.)

The commentator announces them, putting them in boxes one last time. There’s Gloria, the trainer endorsed by the champion. There’s Marnie, endorsed by Spikemuth’s gym leader.

Marnie thinks of Piers: his prideful self-loathing, his harsh stage voice, his team of hooligans he’s sent to cheer for her.

She thinks of Spikemuth, the dark dirty town that has pinned all its hopes on her.

She thinks of her rival, standing before her.

She’s come too far to lose here.

#pokemon swsh fanfic #marnie pokemon #WMTMITSIAW

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eggscellentflan · 5 years ago

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extremely self-indulgent swsh self insert au concept (warning: horny level off the charts) @traumadotwav tagging in case ur interested

I’m sonia’s sibling, younger only by a year or two (I’m assuming sonia and leon are the same age)

as kids we both wanna take after our grandma and become professors, sonia is less dead-set on the idea tho and also considers becoming a trainer, she’s very skilled in both areas but more passionate about battling and becomes leon’s rival, meanwhile I have almost no interest in battling and just study experimental breeding and conservation

leon and hop’s family are obvs our family friends, and at some point I share with them the results of some of my breeding projects - pokemon who can absorb and benefit from dynamax energy WITHOUT actually dynamaxing (think like the legendary wolves) with the intention that they a) are more generally hardy, helping with maintaining wild populations and healthy gene pools, and b) cannot dynamax and therefore cannot cause large-scale environmental havoc as easily

Leon points out that they could also be extremely strong in battle, and persuades me to use my partner alcremie in a test battle against him, I very nearly beat him and he’s like jesus christ wtf

I realise my alcremie Really likes to battle. This sparks a significant shift in both my and sonia’s interests: I get into battling with my uniquely bred pokemon, and sonia is amazed by their strength and starts helping me more with further research on them, to the point she’s contributing more than I am

eventually we both come to the conclusion the bred pokemon (I’m gonna call them tinymax pokemon for the sake of convenience) should be tried out in the gym challenge, leon is the champion by now and is keen to endorse us both but I’m the one who ends up entering despite having less battle experience because I already have an established tinymax team, sonia supports me with continued research

obvs I blast through it pretty quick, everyone is amazed, basically canon story events now but replace the protag w me and I have a tangible reason to be doing so well lol, and instead of just sonia doing the historical research it’s both of us as a team... hop is still also doing the challenge as well but is younger than me, so he kinda has two older sibling rivals he wants to beat

rose also gains interest in me Because of the tinymax pokemon and their economical and ecological potential. his big plan is a bit different now because of this - he’s actually confiding in me and trying to work with me for starters, he thinks the genetic factor I discovered with tinymax pokemon is the key to controlling eternatus, if there’s some way to introduce that factor to it while it’s still in the egg thing with like gene therapy

obviously that goes wrong, prompts eternatus to wake up, just like in game as I’m about to fight leon in the finals, leon goes to fight it and gets wiped out, I come save the day etc etc

leon ftr is like having a major Time about me leading up to all this, like fuck what have I done I’ve unleashed an unstoppable battling machine I’m gonna get dunked on and I can’t decide if I hate or love that (oh yeah and they might accidentally help rose destroy the world with bio engineering if they’re not careful, fuck scientists are scary and hot)

so when he comes to and finds out I didn’t do that and instead saved everything and caught an Actual God in a pokeball he’s like ok motherfucker I am so angry and proud and ashamed and turned on and confused we gotta fight RIGHT NOW and he’s just barely awake hobbling into the stadium like earlier than in the game, a dozen people behind him begging him to go lie down, he loses bc he’s only half alive but technically that still makes me the champion, chaos ensues as he’s dragged back to bed and everyone’s reeling over what just happened and whether it’s fair/official

for a couple days everything’s kinda in limbo, I’ve been officially crowned champion but nobody feels good about it, waiting to see if once leon recovers there’s gonna be a rematch or w/e, then news gets out that he’s just gone? like just up and left, nobody knows where, there’s some panic (esp cause of his infamous sense of direction lol), hop is of course the first one out trying to find him and knows him better than anyone else so does end up finding him (with me hot on his heels) in the slumbering weald

turns out he wasn’t running away or anything, everyone was kinda panicking over nothing like w the rose tower thing, he was just interested in the legendary wolves since they’d helped w eternatus. He Does want a rematch though and is like welp I was gonna wait til I got back to wyndon to announce it but since u can’t stay away from me I guess we can do it now ; )

hop’s like wtf this is a terrible idea but we’re already fighting, it ends in a draw with his charizard and my alcremie simultaneously KO’ing each other, leon is like well... I guess that means we’re both the champion, hop now you can strive to beat both of us simultaneously (we get back to wyndon and everyone’s like um that’s not how this works KC is still officially the only champion, we end up sorta taking turns? bc we‘re evenly matched so we keep taking the title off each other, everyone just calls us both the champion tho lol, anyway leon and I start dating and become the ultimate power couple and sonia and I keep doing research as well, hop becomes a researcher AND a trainer bc the real moral is u can do both, everyone lives hornily ever after the enD

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bbs-backlog-challenge · 5 years ago

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BB’s Games Of 2019

2019 as a year felt like it lasted two years, and a lot happened in my personal life. Got a new job, learned to drive, got my first car, moved out of the in-laws’ basement into our first real apartment, started my first long-term game of DnD (which in itself has involved a new relationship and an emotional breakdown)- and between it all I somehow managed to play 77 games. Backlog’s down to 35 titles, lads- at this rate, I’ll be down to zero by July 2020. (Not gonna happen.) In 2020, I’d like to explore the SNES catalogue a little more, but before that happens we have to review everything 2019 brought me, in a somewhat chronological order.

- Near A Tomato Carry-over from last year’s post since I was in the middle of playing it at the time. I definitely never quite got a handle on the combat and I think some of the themes went over my head, but I still had fun here, and the 9S hacking minigame never got old. It was a gift from an old friend who I miss. Was nice to reconnect. - SSBU With my new main Zelda, I cleared all of WoL and got every spirit on the Spirit Board. I never really used her before but she’s cute now! Really liked the attention to detail in the spirit encounters. Unfortunately, Cloud is still in the game. - Mega Mans 1 2 and 3 I actually spoke about my experiences with the Mega Men in my BBLC post for Mega Man Eggs, so you should read that right now. - Metroid Samus Returns It’s Good. Like, a solid Good. Never Great, never Bad, just Good. It’s nice to see one of the least accessible games in the series get a remaster, but it feels very disposable, if that makes sense. Like they just needed a Metroid to keep people busy while they reboot Prime 4 development. AM2R is vastly superior, go play that. One point of amusement- the game tells its story without narration, and also seems to pre-suppose you know Metroid lore. I was entertained by the thought of a newcomer to the series being completely mystified by the sudden space-dragon that comes out of nowhere to wreck you at the end of the game. - Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls You can click here to download it, ‘cos it’s free, which is almost criminal. This is one of the higher tier games I’ve played this year. A little bit Mega Man, a bit Metroid, with hints of Touhou and Undertale, it’s pretty tough at times but never to ‘precision platformer’ levels. It’s a lot of fun and the dev deserves your support. - Steve And Ollie RPG Oh, I made this one. Making something else next year? Question mark? - Prof Layton 3 Feels like these are getting weaker as they go along. The story has always been absolute boohockey, but the puzzles feel like they’re degrading in quality too. With over 200 in each game, that’s not super surprising, and I’m glad they didn’t bulk it out with a load of the awful block-slider puzzles. Still, it’s Layton, if you liked any of the other games you’ll like this cos it’s the exact same thing. - Fault Milestone Two Yo, there ain’t a damned thing I can say about Fault, so go play the first one and then play this and you’ll understand. - Full Throttle I never bothered to finish it. The obtuse old Sierra puzzlers were hard enough to deal with back in the day, and just feel kind of inexcusable now. I don’t have the patience for it. - eXceed 3rd Slick and fun bullet hell with a nigh-incomprehensible story and great music. Touhou fans will like it. Music by SSH who is relatively well known in doujin circles. - ASAMU Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Eternal Senia Everything I said in my post rings true- do your best to look past the wonky translation, because there’s a heartfelt story underneath it. Very accessible gameplay, by design. - Inivisble Inc You have never before been, nor will you ever again be, so aware of having left a door open. I fully expected to hate Invisible, but I got hooked pretty hard. Quite tempted to do another run of it once the backlog is clear. - Pyre GOTY. Supergiant’s best game so far, and that’s not an easy thing to say for this Bastion veteran. I sobbed by the end. I’m not being dramatic- literally sobbed. Please play it. Music and writing and, just, heart, are all top tier. All the Nightwings are the best, but Hedwyn is the best best. - Ellipsis Finished it before writing my BBLC post! - Just Cause 2 I found myself getting bored very quickly. The main missions are all identical (really, they are) and the side missions are very uninspired. Blitzing around in a jet or grappling around a mission target is a lot of fun but it feels very shallow. There’s a lot to do but not really any reason to do any of it. I dunno, it’s a kind of hollow experience, that I nonetheless had fun with. - LiEat It went over my head a little, but that’s more on me I think. These horror-esque, eccentric japanese RPG Maker games usually do. But, it’s neat, and short. If this sort of thing usually sticks on you, I think this is a good title. - Shantae Pirates Curse These games always felt non-essential to me; I’m not sure why they never stuck. They never really go below or above Good. Entirely enjoyable but I don’t feel like I’d have really missed anything if I hadn’t played them. It is, however, absolutely worth investing in for the utterly superb sprite work. That doesn’t sell a game by itself, I know, but Shantae is a pixel art masterclass. - FF5 I’d more or less finished it by the time I wrote my BBLC post, so I don’t have much to add. It’s a refreshingly goofy entry in a series known for taking itself too seriously, even compared to its predecessor. Look forward to my entry for this game in my Games Of 2020 post, having played the Four Job Fiesta! - Touhou 17 It’s mid-tier in the touhou hierarchy, IMO. Didn’t set my soul alight but I did enjoy it. Playing as Wolf Marisa makes the final boss too chaotic to really enjoy, but playing through again with Reimu made it more fun. I beat Extra on my third run through, which gave me false confidence that after 10 years I might actually be good at these games- to then be quickly humbled by attempting Th11’s Extra. Final Boss’ theme song has one of the greatest lead-ins of all time, especially given you start the fight by running away from her! Also really loved the Stage 4 theme as you barrel head-first into Hell (the real one this time), and the haunting, calm-before-the-storm serenity of Stage 5, overlooking the City Of Beasts. - HackNet + Labyrinths GOTY. (Yes, I know I already said Pyre was GOTY; it’s my post, I can have two GOTYs. Make your own damned post!) It’s hard to say what I loved about these games without spoiling too much- just know that they play very much like investigation games, and figuring out the puzzles feels great. Labyrinths technically takes place during the events of Hacknet, with a somewhat more Black Hat approach to things- despite this, play all of Hacknet first, and then play Labyrinths. The expansion introduces a lot of new stuff and much trickier challenges, such that going back to the base game afterwards to finish that would leave it a little hollow- a disservice to how great the ending is. - Mega Man X I said everything I wanted to say in my BBLC post, and anything I didn’t cover was better said by Egoraptor. - Octodad Finished it before my BBLC post! - Chroma Squad The final mission is disappointingly poor, but everything up to that point was pretty good. Huge variance and creativity in the bosses. However, the most fun I got from it was when I realised the game allowed me to customise my team name, transformation name, and other such terminology. Dave, Dayve, Davy, Davina, and Dehve shouting “It’s time to Chromatise, Chroma Squad!” very quickly became “It’s time to shit, you bunch of fucks!” and it was funny every single time. (Personal favourite bit of dialogue- “I tried to shit! It worked!”) - Pyrite Heart Finished it before my BBLC post! - Starfox 2 Finished it before my BBLC post! - Burly Men At Sea Finished it before my BBLC post! - Disc Room Finished it before my BBLC post! - Kokurase Finished it before my BBLC post! Should have broken these ones up a bit! - Metroid Rogue Dawn Very, very impressive romhack let down by a distinctly un-fun final section. They managed to fix so many of OG Metroid’s problems, I’m surprised the gauntlet of terribleness that is Tourian escaped with only a cosmetic change. Nonetheless, it’s free, and the other 95% of the game is superb, even from a purely technical standpoint. - Wuppo I dunno what happened here! I was full of praise for Wuppo when I played it, but somehow I just couldn’t stick with it and just never felt like playing it. It’s a very aimless game, and I wonder if that might be why? It’s a shame, I feel disappointed in myself for not seeing it through, but ultimately I play games to have fun and I just wasn’t quite there with Wuppo. - Super Mario Odyssey I loved it, obviously. I wrote my BBLC post towards the end of my time with Odyssey so most of that stands- I do want to add that the controls always felt a little loose, like I wasn’t quite as in-control as I was in Galaxy. Also Mario prioritises walljumping over ledge-grabbing and it’s super-hard to unlearn that instinct after 20 years. Finally- Long Journey’s End is just bullshit. - Secret Of Mana Dropped it pretty soon after Finning it. There’s some logic to the way the game works, some kind of hidden turn-order system, that I could not at all figure out. My AI companions (useless, btw) would hit an enemy which meant I couldn’t, except sometimes the hit would still register but only actually go through 3 seconds later, without any way to tell which way it was going to go. It takes like 7 months for your character to get back up after taking a hit. It’s just, wonky, and I couldn’t solve the puzzle of how to make the game do what I wanted to do. - Pokemon Shield Still working my way through it. It’s- yeah, it’s pokemon. Get a similar vibe to Sun/Moon with it that it’s kind of unfinished- lots of small (and some not so small) parts of the game just feel like there were bigger plans that couldn’t be realised in time. I’m still enjoying it! They did a great job of making the gym battles, and the whole process of 8-badges-then-champion, feel like a spectacle. I think only the anime has managed it to this degree before. - Earthbound Man, I really, really want to like this game, but the battle system is terrible. I need to play through the game again buffing my party up with cheats or something, because it’s so unbalanced and cheap. Everything else about the game is wonderful, but I got so frustrated with the fights! - Mario Kart 8 Didn’t play any of the single player this time, it was midgi’s christmas present so I just joined a couple of multiplayer games. Absolutely baffled that the game features F-Zero style anti-gravity courses, has Mute City and Big Blue, and even has the Blue Falcon as a selectable vehicle, but they haven’t put Captain Falcon in it. Like he’s ever going to get another game of his own? Let him have this! - Carmageddon 2 It’s pretty clunky by now, being 20 years old, but still plays well enough. The physics are super loose so you slide around like your tires have been buttered. It was more fun when they were zombies instead of just normal people. Missions are brutally hard and should be skipped with cheats. - Neopets After 15 years of playing, I finally got a Ghostkersword. The site as a whole has gone through a lot, and certainly its heyday is long gone, but there’s no other game quite like it. I’m playing the Food Club every day, still. - SIF New phone can’t run the actual gameplay section well enough, so I just log in occasionally to grab free scouts. Here’s another one whose golden years are behind it, sadly, but I certainly still have a lot of affection for SIF. - FF1 Mobile version, which fixes a lot of the bugs with the NES original. This year I completed a solo run with 1 Red Mage, a 4-black belts run, a low-level run, and a 4 White Mages run (which ended up being a lower-level run than the low-level run). I’m fairly comfortable in calling myself an expert in FF1, now. There’s still not really any other games like it- build a party as balanced or imbalanced as you like, and see how they fare. I’d like to build my own game in a similar style, one day. - Re: Live Gacha games and RPG just don’t mix! Both gacha and events do not gel with core RPG mechanics of your character(s) developing in strength as the game goes. It seems impossible to balance the game well- do you cater to the whales who spend and spend until they have the strongest teams possible, meaning the free players or the terminally unlucky can’t stand a chance, or do you cater to those players and give them no reason to spend for the more powerful characters? It’s a shame, because the anime was baffling but in that enjoyable way where you just kind of go with whatever it throws at you, and exploring that in a non-freemium game with a solid beginning middle and end would be really interesting. - Tiny Thief Mobile game that’s not available any more, I think my BBLC post covered it well enough. - F-Zero One of the criticisms most commonly levied against F-Zero is that it wont hold your attention for long. While that’s true, it’s not like you have to make a purchasing decision about it any more- it comes bundled in with the other games you’re buying, so the only investment is time. Ignoring that, it’s still fun to burn around the tracks, and the sense of speed hasn’t ever diminished. The music, too, is underappreciated, with Port Town being my personal fave. - F-Zero GX I can’t believe Nintendo hasn’t done anything with this ridiculous universe for 15 years now. The cutscenes are so hilariously overwrought, and the cast of characters is huge! It could so seamlessly intersect with the Starfox universe, too. There were rumours of a Starfox Racing title some time ago, and I really hope that’s the case. It’d work so well (by which I mean, a particularly enjoyable kind of awful). Anyway, the game still plays great, Story Mode is WAY too hard, Dr Stewart’s theme is a Tune. - Stratosphere This game is from 1998! Build a flying fortress, deck it out with fortifications and weapons and power supplies, then use it to destroy other fortresses. I only ever played the demo as a kid, never got the full game. Took some cajoling to get it to work on modern hardware, but eventually I got in and it wasn’t worth it at all. Wow, that performance, apparently it was designed to run at a terrible frame rate and it wasn’t just a result of my 1998 PC not being up to the task! A shame, but I guess it put one of my ghosts to rest. - DKC 2 The best of the three SNES games, despite the inclusion (and protagonism) of Diddy Kong. Lots to love here, but the OST is top notch. - DKC 3 Not as good as 2, but IMO better than 1. There was a much heavier emphasis on gimmick levels in 3, not all of which hit their target, but does provide a great deal of variety. Consensus is that 2 is better, but if someone claimed 3 was the best DKC, I’d let them get away with it. - King Arthur’s World (SNES) Speaking of putting ghosts to rest… We somehow always managed to get this game whenever we got a SNES, and kid!Beebs most certainly didn’t have the patience for it. Adult!Beebs barely does, either. It’s a very ambitious attempt at some sort of RTS/Puzzle hybrid, somewhat comparable to Lemmings? King Arthur must make his way from his starting position to the throne elsewhere in the map to claim it as his own, using the myriad abilities of his soldiers to get him there in one piece. I decided this year that I was finally going to play through the whole damn thing, start to finish, for the first time ever. With copious use of save states and rewinds, I was finally able to slay this demon. For as fiddly and frustrating as it is, I would still say people should check it out if they have the tools to do so- there’s not really anything else like it, on SNES or otherwise; you’re guaranteed a unique experience, if nothing else. - Oscar (SNES) Terrible. - Spanky’s Quest (SNES) With a name like that, how could I refuse? It’s a weird little puzzler, aping (wahey!) Bubble Bobble and Parasol Stars a little. You’re a monkey who can blow bubbles that stun enemies, but if you bounce the bubble on your head it gets progressively larger and can be burst to send a barrage of similarly-sized sports balls at your opponents to knock them out. You know, just like real life. - Addam’s Family (SNES) This easily-dismissible movie tie-in is actually a very competent platformer with some very, very light metroidvania exploration involved. Gomez has to go through Addams Mansion and rescue the members of his family who have been kidnapped by… something. There’s hidden secrets everywhere and the family can be rescued in any order you like. Genuine recommendation. - Panel DePon/Tetris Attack The only vs puzzler I enjoy (yep. Not even puyo puyo. I know.) I played the HECK out of this in my teenage years, and got crazy good at it. Tendonitis says I’m not allowed to do that any more, but once I shook the rust off I was still pretty strong! It was released as Panel DePon in Japan and was fairy themed, but for the western release they replaced all the fairies with Yoshi characters and renamed it Tetris Attack despite having nothing to do with Tetris at all. Up to you which you prefer- language isn't too much of a barrier here. Soundtrack is killer. - Subsurface Circular Finished it before my BBLC post. Still not decided if I liked the way it ended. - Master Of Orion 2 C’mon. After playing three other pretenders to MoO2’s throne, I had to give the real deal a couple of spins too. It’s Civ 5 in space. Customisable race builds. A whole galaxy to bring peace to, by whichever means you prefer. Would love for someone else to get into it. - Touhou 8 Last minute entry I just played yesterday ‘cos I wanted some Touhou and I haven’t played this entry in a long while. A Solo Marisa Normal Final B run, if you’re interested. Kaguya beast-mode tearing apart the Spell Of Imperishable Night at the end of the game is still an awesome moment, but it’s a shame you can miss the last couple of spells if you take some unlucky hits. - And here’s the list of Bins, which are all covered in their BBLC post: No Time To Explain MoO Skyborn Jumpjet Rex StH 4 Ballistick Munch’s Oddysee Outland Project CARS RiME Magicka Waking Mars Urban Chaos Divinity: Dragon Commander Strike Suit Zero Hell Yeah! Lambda Wars Beta Stranger’s Wrath MoO 3 XCOM Lots more Fins than Bins this year! Good to see!

#gaming #video games

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pokeshippingflashfic · 6 years ago

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One word prompt: facepalm

(Sorry for the delay. As I said in my mod note awhile back, I had a rough 24-36 hours, and then got a bad cut on my finger a day or two later that made it hard to type so I had to give it a couple days to heal up.)

If there’s one thing you’ve learned over the past eight or so months of traveling with him, it’s that Ash Ketchum is quite the embarrassment.

You’re halfway to sleeping when the initial thought crosses your mind but it sprints around in ascending circles inside your head before you think to stop it in its tracks.

Whether he’s running off to do something bullheaded or eating himself into a coma while spectators take bets or his pants are falling down in the middle of the street (who cares that it only happened that one time Sabrina’s dad used his psychic power; the point is that it mortified you to witness such a thing), Ash Ketchum is an embarrassment to have around sometimes.

The whole thing stresses you out beyond belief. It’s even led to you eyeballing him out of the corner of your eye nearly constantly just so you can be mentally prepared to handle his next stunt. Sometimes your instincts kick in and you grab a hold of him to try and tell him off, dragging him in the opposite direction. Sometimes you need to scarf down a parfait in the closest cafe you can find in the city your group’s currently traveling through just to relieve the pressure of being in Ash Ketchum’s company. Oh, and sometimes you end up wrapped up and pulled into one of his stupid scenarios too, which is far too exhausting to consider the reasons for!

But now, for the first time since tagging along on that dumb kid’s dumb Pokemon journey, you’re eroded with a random wave of insomnia while sharing a room at the local PokeCenter and all you can do is lay back and think about what a gawd-awful embarrassment that Ash Ketchum is.

All of the above commentary is not to say that he has a tendency to keep you up at night (though the current situation may seem evidentiary to the contrary). And, while a partial statement lifted from your aforementioned thought process could be construed as something akin to caring about him, you’re setting the record straight and clearing that air asap! You don’t care about Ash Ketchum, not really. Sure, you’re civil most of the time, you’ve even felt concerned enough once or twice to personally check in and make sure he’s still alive but… but any decent human being would do the same thing so that shouldn’t count!

No, the truth is you can barely stomach him more than you can stand the presence of bug-type Pokemon. That’s what Ash is to you. A bug. An annoyance.

Though, and your brows furrow together, forehead creasing down and nose scrunching up, it’s not… quite the same. Bug Pokemon are creepy, they even kinda… if you’re gonna go so far as to admit it… scare you. Ash, by comparison, makes you feel neither creeped out nor afraid.

In fact, haven’t there been a couple of times when you’ve… depended on him? Even when it concerned bugs?

You groan aloud to yourself, going immediately stiff in the dark when you hear one of your companions shuffle as they roll over on one of the other beds in the room. You squint in the direction of the silhouette as it shifts and eventually stills, concerned someone would wake and ask questions about what’s preventing your sleep. And there’s no way you’re going to let anyone lord over you the fact that Ash Ketchum is keeping you up at night.

Because he’s not. Because that’s absolutely ridiculous.

… Though, even if someone asks, it wouldn’t be frowned upon to admit that the densest, most frustrating Pokemon trainer in the world is haunting you.

No! You snap onto your side, wrenching the pillow halfway from under your head and covering the ear that is on the other side as if this tactic will somehow drown out your thoughts. No, no! If there’s one way to prevent such a thing from even cropping up in conversation, it’s to change your entire thought process right now before it spirals any further!

If Ash Ketchum makes you think of other things you don’t like then the best way to combat that until you finally get called to dreamland is to think of things you do like, right? Hah! Flawless plan!

So you think about the water, and swimming, and swimming with water-type Pokemon, which are your favorite… That’s nice… But really, Pokemon in general can be quite nice… and so, quite definitely, are the people who treat Pokemon well…

… People like Ash Ketchum?

I’ve never met anyone like him before…

Your eyes shoot open as the direct quote of your past self flutters through your mind. Some part of you, the part that really had begun to doze off again, can still feel your fingers lace together behind your back, can remember the fullness bursting in your heart as you admire him from afar. But that tender scene took place months ago now.

This isn’t working, you think, rubbing both of your palms against your strained and burning eyelids, falling once more onto your back. What’s the saying? You’re doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t?

What can you do when a particular someone else is invading your consciousness and keeping you from the rest you need? Your ire burns in first, screeching that you should obviously cause that person the same disturbance they’re causing you. It’s what they deserve for insighting such distress!

And yet… and yet there’s another piece of you, logical, more mature, that chimes in next, stating that… perhaps there’s something to be worked out here in the middle of the night involving this other person if they’re capable of keeping you up.

Ash Ketchum is an embarrassment. That’s the root thought that started everything. But Ash Ketchum is admittedly… quite a lot of things. He’s a… decent trainer, you suppose, though he’ll never compare to you. He treats Pokemon like equals, like friends, and it warms your heart to know that people like him indeed exist. You always felt out of place for thinking similarly in Cerulean City. It’s not that people back home were cruel to Pokemon but… was it the same as the level of personal sacrifice Ash tended to lay on the line?

There’s a snort from one of your roommates, presumably the same boy that’s consuming your consciousness, though it irks you some to think a split second later that you know him well enough to recognize the odd sounds he makes while asleep… Where has the time even gone these past eight months?

Ash is - well, he rarely ever allows you the gracious firsthand experience but he’s - a decent person to have around at all. Sure, there are times when he’s annoying, when he’s dumb, dense, stubborn, reckless, immature - oh, wait, you’re working yourself up again… Let’s give it another go…

The point is, despite all of these traits you have bared the brunt of, there are other times when… when he’s more than decent. The times when he stands up against Team Rocket, for instance! Sure, they’re not much of a threat but it’s not like Ash is obligated to fight them… and yet he does almost daily! And there are the people he helps on a regular basis too.

And… well, beyond interpersonal exchanges, Ash is… he reminds you of yourself… which is kinda weird to consider now but once the thought is in your head it refuses to dissipate. He’s young yet passionate enough about training Pokemon that he wants to run headfirst at any challenge coming his way. He cares about nothing but his Pokemon and being the best, his spirit occasionally overwhelming bystanders, including yourself. It’s nice to see that same fire in someone else on a daily basis. It reminds you of how much dedication and work you have to do as well in order to make it to the top.

Was there… a reason for these thoughts circling your mind?

You can’t quite remember, but they put you at ease, comfort you as you lull into a snooze.

The lightning strike of emotional turmoil stamps you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes, both your hands immediately, instinctively clamping over the front of your face as you straighten up against the mattress. You can feel your eyelashes flutter against your finger tips, your hot breath puffing against your palms as you moan quietly to yourself in the dead dark and quiet.

You’d thought that Ash, in all his frustrating egoism and with all his childish quirks, was the embarrassing one… But here you’ve been using him as a coping mechanism to help you fall asleep, internally listing reasons for admiration and likeness and telling yourself it’s a must in order to find any peace tonight…

And honestly, is there anything at all more embarrassing than that?

You spend the next few minutes rolling around, mourning your less emotionally aware state of mind, gone now after half the night’s been spent on dissecting your relationship with this dumb boy…

But after that, you spend the following five or so hours sleeping soundly among your companions without any disruption until it’s time to get the next part of your journey together started.

And you’re remiss to confess even to yourself that thinking good thoughts about Ash Ketchum effectively did its job.

Thus your next round of denial begins.

#pokeshipping #flash fic #fanfiction #ash ketchum x misty waterflower #ash x misty #aaml #1wordprompt #requests #word count: 1329 #faolenwolf

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ghostmartyr · 6 years ago

Text

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 2]

Here we are in Part 2, where I have maybe learned a thing about how to keep these from being dreadfully boring. Part 1 saw us defeat the first Gym, as well as my dawning sadness about the HM state of my available pokemon.

Now we move into the Badge 2 phase of the game.

Breathing Pokemon:

Boeing (Latios)

Frogger (Seismitoad)

Timon (Tepig)

I think I will be ignoring the Cut problem until I absolutely can’t, which will be in about five minutes.

I don’t know why I didn’t walk left earlier, but I didn’t. Is there grass here? Can I catch something? My team is basically just Timon and Frogger. I love Boeing, but he is not made for this rough life. He likes relaxing and eating. Not fighting.

And the answer is that the Professor’s scientist friend has supplied a plot barrier. Sigh.

Welp.

....

I can’t even pretend to be surprised. Dang it, Boeing.

I don’t want to use anything outside the confines of the challenge if I can help it. The idea is not, “win all the fights” under these conditions, it’s beating the game.

Congratulations, Boeing.

You’re temporarily useful.

Grass! Beautiful grass!

Also Team Plasma.

Cut is so much more useful than Psywave and I am very sad.

Team Plasma dealt with, obligatory plot detail I wasn’t paying attention to dealt with, we are now free to pursue the grass.

Or will the grass pursue us.

I can’t remember how Tangela evolves normally, or how it evolves given the settings of the run, but I do think that Tangela probably could have learned Cut just fine, and I can’t remember if the Move Deleter costs anything, or even where it is in this version.

But that’s only a concern if I catch a thing that can learn Cut. Let’s do this, Boeing.

Sleep Powder is hypothetically useful. I don’t think it has ever hit when I try to use it.

Two Poke Balls and nothing. I think I am going to sacrifice the Great Ball some random NPC gave me.

Victory!

Good job, Boeing. See, isn’t life more fun when you’re useful?

You know, I don’t normally nickname my pokemon. They just keep the same name every edition of them in the wild has, and that’s perfectly fine with me.

Your name shall be... Grape.

Because look at all those vines writhing... writhe... wrath? Grapes!

Such thought. Much wow.

I think it’s time for healing and grinding.

Oh, but first, Grape! Let us find something out about you.

He is Brave and quick to flee. His Speed suggests that he isn’t that great at fleeing.

Other pokemon we could have gotten from the HM grass spot of doom include Sudowoodo and Beedrill. Tangela looks to be rarest of the set, so I suppose we can add lucky to Grape’s list of traits. There’s a Potion and a Parlyz Heal lying about that I go grab, and until the plot brings us back later (probably sometime after we get Strength), this area is just going to be a grind station.

Until I get bored after about three minutes and want to go back to exploring. I’m not sure I’m made for a Nuzlocke.

...Why is Constrict a move? It’s about as useful as Splash, only with the false hope of being capable of dealing damage.

Yeah, I don’t have the patience for this. I’m going to go left again and see what there is now that the plot isn’t keeping me trapped. ...Only after I talk to Fennel again. Apparently just letting her collect the whatever thing is not enough, I have to listen to her discoveries.

I do not. Button mashing away, we now have our C-Gear and Pal Pad. I think the first of those will end up having uses. I mostly remember all these different event skins being available for the gear.

Now I should be able to go.

Ha. I have conquered the plot barrier.

Since this is a separate section from the garden area, I think once I have some kind of rod or Surf I can come back and nab something from the water. ...I wonder if grass vs water even matters in a randomized run. Are they all completely random, or random within water? I should know these things.

My guess would be completely random. I cite the level 4 Salamence on Route 2. But either way, something to come back to.

Aw, how cute. I’m gonna demolish you (I hope).

It looks like battling is going to happen before finding out what pokemon belong to this route. In the interest of learning how to do this better bit by bit, I think I’ll limit capping battles unless something truly ridiculous happens. This early in the game there shouldn’t be much tension.

I will probably keep track of how many times Psywave misses if I use it, though. That obviously falls into the realm of Importance.

I will also say that Lillipups continue to be terrifying. And that I am so temporarily glad that Boeing knows Cut. Consistent damage. That hits.

I can’t believe this game encourages taking preschoolers’ pocket money. I know I’m only ten, but wow.

Ah, but the nice thing about beating up preschoolers (’ pokemon) is that they have a teacher around very used to healing pokemon up. Walking back to centers to heal is one of the not so fun aspects of

Whoops.

So it’s a good thing I only did grinding, because I clicked the load file option instead of the save file when I was trying to save. Good grief. I am become error. Will return momentarily. With one fresh water short, because I was stupid and a Beedrill almost murdered Timon. Also Timon now knows Flame Charge.

Okay.

Back to making forward progress, hopefully.

Let me go in the grass, Cheren. You’re supposed to be one of my two best friends. The fact that I had to be reminded by a professor whose name I also couldn’t be counted on to remember myself does not take away from our friendly bonds.

There really are a lot of non-NPC duels at the start of this version.

Okay, let’s go squad.

Boeing and Timon do a good job taking down his Meganium. I think I’ll let Frogger take the Purrloin. As the one on the team who did not need grinding, he hasn’t been used in a bit.

And that’s that. Cheren is sad/frustrated because we have the same number of badges, his starter is fully evolved and useful, and yet he still can’t win. Of course he can’t; the run would be over if he did.

But before we can celebrate and get into the grass, the plot arrives.

Team Plasma please. At least I have the option of going into the grass before getting the little girl’s pokemon back. Which I will take.

Let’s see what we get!

...Another thing that doesn’t need my help to evolve. Sigh.

As ever, that only gets a chance to annoy me if I catch it, so time to see how that train goes. I’m going to try throwing my only Great Ball. Psywave got it into the red, so...

Awesome! Based on videos I have seen recently most people aren’t that lucky when it comes to catching these things. Now I can sulk about having a fully evolved team (except for the treasured Timon) in peace.

What the heck do I name you, though? You’re a dinobird... Oh, I know. I’ll call you Ptera. Welcome to the team, Ptera. Let’s check you out.

He has a Mild nature, and he’s proud of his power. I feel like that Defense is going to end up making me cry, and I don’t think you’re a Special Attacker, so the Nature is pretty much all flavor. It’s nice to have something that can Fly; hopefully he’ll be around to use it.

...Oh geez, that Ability. Ptera Ptera Ptera... You are going to make me so sad.

The good news is he can kill his wild kin in one hit. So that’s convenient.

I’m sorry, what.

This is the exp grass now. Other finds include Octillery. Grape eats them for breakfast.

...

Oh.

It knows Aurora Beam.

It got a critical hit.

Grape was only a few points off of full health.

There was no way to know.

This is really sad.

I am so sorry Grape. You were a valued member of the team. You were only with us a short while, but you knew Grass moves. You balanced everything out wonderfully.

The exp grass is a dangerous place.

Maybe if I had just gone after the little girl’s pokemon...

It’s too late.

Grape is a raisin.

In the process of going after Team Plasma, it looks like Chimecho might be replacing Audino in the rustling grass. Maybe once, maybe always. Who can say. That would take paying more attention when messing with the settings.

A place to find Grape’s replacement. It would have been where we’d finally have a team of six, but...

Oh hey we found something already.

Okay, I can roll with that.

......Surprise, Ptera is stronger than expected. I knew enough to use Wing Attack, not Rock Throw, but I guess Ptera is just that good. Filed away for future reference. No new pokemon. A fitting tribute to Grape’s absence. The slot may remain empty for a little longer.

We get some Heal Balls from the little girl, and those could actually really come in handy. Assuming I ever properly catch a new teammate again.

One battle against an NPC later, and I think it’s safe to say Ptera is the new Frogger. He is overpowered for this section of the game.

You know what wouldn’t be overpowered? A Slugma.

I forgot about the darker grass. Route 3′s has Minccino, Teddiursa, Quilava, and Emolga.

Boeing could you please just learn something good. Please.

Whenever I see an Octillery now I’m just going to be filled with so much hate. I will kill every one that comes across my path. Unless I screw up and it kills me again, which is an absolute possibility.

We’ve made it to the next Gym city. Normal type. That shouldn’t cause any particular problem, but I do remember this fight packing more of a punch than I was expecting the first time I played, so cue the grinding montage I’m not going to screencap.

As well as the exploring the town montage I’m not going to screencap.

One of the NPCs asked me what I started with, so like a fool, I said Snivy, since that’s what Boeing replaced.

Now I have a Miracle Seed. And nothing that knows Grass moves.

Grape casts a long shadow already.

New area means new pokemon. Ones I have no plans to murder, but might very well anyway.

!!!!!

It’s. Grape’s replacement.

I love Shroomish and Breloom. One of the best pokemon in any gen, and I would dearly love one to follow me on this journey.

Yesssssss.

Let’s see. How about Palm, because your design reminds me of a pomegranate.

Palm has a Calm nature, and is somewhat of a clown. I’m pretty sure that is not the combination I want, since Breloom is more of a physical attacker, but hopefully it won’t matter too much. Poison Heal is a useful Ability to have.

Other things we could have caught in Pinwheel Forest: Vileplume, Froslass, Klink, Clamperl, Bellossom, Glaceon, Ducklett, and Metagross.

Wow. That’s a nice collection.

Oh hey and this happened.

Timon is now a robust Pignite, and has a move that will be of great use in the Gym!

We’re just going through the forest and annihilating everyone, but I spared a moment to commemorate Palm’s moment.

Tympole confused him, and he still used Absorb twice in a row instead of hurting himself. Then he snapped out of confusion and won. Contrary Nature aside, I am liking our new addition very much.

Especially since the fight against the next Tympole followed the exact same script. Good job, Palm.

The rest of this is basically all grinding, which is fun for me since I don’t have to come up with something clever to say when nothing much is going on. That is one benefit of doing this in this format.

My usual rule of thumb for these games is ten levels per gym until that much grinding becomes unbearable. Everyone’s currently level 18 (Ptera’s 16 and trying to fix that almost resulted in a Glaceon murdering him), and I’m thinking I might have hit that point.

...Yeah, I definitely have. I’ll just hit the Gym and let Ptera nom some things. Boeing will probably have to sit this fight out, because as we all know, what Normal type really means is Lillipups that know Bite. Those are not things for Boeing to face.

It is amazing how many different patches of grass suddenly have pokemon when I’m trying to leave a place, good grief.

Hello, am I fighting you again already? Or are you just doing your mysterious thing?

No, yeah, we’re doing a battle. And he opens with a level 13 Pidove to my level 17 Ptera. I don’t think he’s going to win this one. N, of course. Ptera has it in the bag, because I think it’s fair to say I have overleveled myself.

Palm was continuing his great streak of not letting Tympoles make him hurt himself, but sadly he did hurt himself once in this fight. Still, not bad, and much better than I usually get saddled with.

Ptera fighting the Timburr might be an incredibly stupid idea. He can one-shot them, but if they get a Rock Throw crit, it will be bad. This has been learned from the Fighting trainers in the wild that I didn’t screencap.

Those guys were at level 16, though. N’s level 13 is nowhere near the same brand of problem, and Ptera cleans up.

Alright, that settled, can I enter the gym now?

I forgot about the museum in front. Lenora’s got good taste.

Another Fresh Water for me. This one I don’t plan on using up. I don’t think I’ll need to, based on N’s levels. I really overtrained for this whole badge, probably. But that’s okay. I don’t like worrying about my pokemon dying every fight. Steamrolling is fine too. The main fun with all of this is finding out what I’ll end up with and raising them.

Then the very first trainer has a level 17 Patrat.

I feel less silly in my decisions.

Followed by a level 17 Herdier.

This is where I would consider doing more grinding, except by the time I’ve decided to stop grinding, I am generally not going to start again for a while.

The trainer with more than one pokemon starts with a level 15 Lillipup, so the Gym Leader’s are probably around 17-20. That should be okay. I’m healing before I go forward anyway, and Ptera’s going to grow another level beforehand just by beating this last trainer.

I really like Lenora’s Gym. It’s educational and has a secret staircase. I don’t think you can ask for more (though if memory serves, some of these get pretty wild this version).

Heals, then fight. This should be fine.

I want this office.

Ready... FIGHT!

She’s opening with a level 18 Herdier with Intimidate. Sigh. I forgot that was an ability. That might make this a little more awkward than I want, but Ptera is still part Rock. If things are going to go wrong, they should go wrong slowly enough for me to switch.

Take Down with a Leer boost only does 12, so yeah, this should be okay.

She uses a Super Potion, it takes three of any of Ptera’s attacks to down it, but Ptera gets a crit, and it’s Watchdog time!

I remembered she had this one.

For the sake of safety, I’m going to let Timon and his super effective attack handle this one. I think the Watchdog likes to sleep things.

A level 20 Watchdog. Do not want. But I believe in you, Timon. Go for it.

Uh.

Huh.

Fuck?

That’s. Wow, okay.

Watchdog with Retaliate. Awesome.

I don’t trust Ptera’s Defense to withstand whatever comes next, so Frogger... please do not die. Please. I need you to be alive and useful, because I just lost one of the greatest helps to this run.

Of course it has Hypnosis.

It’s so red. So close.

Retaliate does 30 damage without the fainting teammate ahead of time, and now Frogger is asleep and in the red. He needs to get out of there now, but I think Pursuit could be one of Watchdog’s moves.

I have one Soda Pop. He’s asleep anyway, so I’m willing to try it.

Geez this is scary.

tfw Watchdog also has Crunch and now Frogger’s Defense is lowered.

He isn’t faster, I don’t think. Even if he wakes up...

Switched to Palm and now Palm’s asleep.

Switching back to Frogger.

Frogger takes two Crunches, needs a Fresh Water, the next Crunch is a critical hit, and Frogger is still asleep. I have two Super Potions, now one, and Frogger is still alive and still asleep.

What in the fuck.

I know the sleep counter gets reset if you pull it out, but come on.

He finally wakes up, and because Watchdog only needed one more hit, victory is achieved.

Not worth it.

Lenora I don’t like you anymore.

And before we can end this segment, Team Plasma attacks the museum. Yay, plot. Plot to distract from the pain. The horrible, sad, awful, pain.

I can’t even remember their excuse for stealing the skull. Was there one?

I don’t know and care even less.

So we are assigned to search for the thieves with Burgh, Castelia’s Gym Leader, while Cheren and Bianca stay at the museum. Bianca is playing Fennel’s gopher, so we now have Dowsing Machine (MCHN) we will never remember to use, but if you’ll excuse me, I have more important matters to attend to.

...Bye.

I know the screenshots don’t show it, but you did a great job. Nothing else would have survived the gym if you hadn’t made training in Pinwheel Forest so straightforward. You did good, Timon.

Next Gym gets grinding. No complaints.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke Challenge

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onisionhurtspeople · 7 years ago

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i’m 100% for lainey labeling their gender in whatever way feels right for them, dressing however feels right, and using whatever pronouns feel right. i’m not gonna doubt or question their identity or anyone else’s. what rubs me the wrong way is how they emulate and almost fetishize the “teen” aesthetic. when they’ve said they look like a 12 year old boy and implied that it was attractive/hot/a good thing, i was kinda creeped out. idk how to explain it but i think it sends a really bad message.

Ah, yeah, that’s another thing I’ve been considering writing about for a while: how much Lainey seems to fetishize adolescence. Get ready for another one of my pointless tl;drs that nobody ever reads or cares about, y’all!

If Lainey was removed from the context surrounding the reasons why we all spend so much time scrutinizing her behavior in the first place, I doubt most people would have a problem with the fact that she seems almost pathologically obsessed with portraying herself as a 15-year-old girl in both style and personality, rather than as the 23-year-old wife and mother of two that she is.

But the issue, of course, is that Lainey’s preferences do not exist in a vacuum; they mean something, and that’s what we’re here to analyze. She is married to a man who fetishizes teenage girls himself, because they’re easier to control and manipulate. She indulges in, and relates to, a culture that heavily emphasizes youth and immaturity (referring to boyfriends as “daddy”, having a DDlg (Daddy Dom/little girl) fetish, being “taken care of” by men (and treated like a little princess in bed), constantly alluding to not knowing what they’re doing in life, assuming a guileless pose in selfies that reflect a certain youthful confusion and spontaneity, constantly referencing their childlike habits (”touch my butt and buy me pizza”, “I have no idea what I’m doing”, “im a crybaby” flavors of meme), dressing like a 12-year-old in overalls, children’s Pokemon panties, and pastel-colored hair and clothing with simplistic, childlike patterns, etc - not that I think there’s anything inherently wrong with any of these things, but all of these pieces of the puzzle fit together to paint the picture of a person who is unhealthily obsessed with living out their life as a teenager. You guys know the ~aesthetic~ that I’m trying to drive at here).

She indulges in cultural trends targeted towards children and young teens. Her entire personality revolves around sensitivity, helplessness, passivity; she exudes anxiety, uncertainty, and confusion; and openly discusses being so sensitive that she becomes completely overwhelmed by even the most simple of tasks that adults are expected to be able to do. And again, I’m not saying that these are inherently negative traits (although obviously when these qualities run your life, it can become problematic); but Lainey seems almost proud of these traits. She’s more than just open about it. She brags about them. She romanticizes them. She constructs elaborate internal fantasies around them. Her entire identity revolves around being a ~smol sensitive anxious space prince daddy~.

On top of all these things, almost everybody that she hangs out with or considers to be her friend (from Sarah, who lives with her, all the way down to the girls who she interacts with on Discord) is a teenager. She does not speak to women her own age. It’s bizarre. I used to have a friend who was quite a bit younger than me, by three and a half years - the first time we met in real life was on her 16th birthday, and I was 19, almost 20; and despite the fact that we were best friends and that I had so many other friends my own age, there was a very obvious and noticeable difference in our maturity levels. I’m not saying that uneven friendships like this can’t work or are inherently inappropriate, but again, within the context of Lainey’s life, it’s an enormous red flag that she seems to be unable to relate with women her own age, and can only form friendships with teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 21. Even outside of the context of her marriage (because let’s not forget that she’s married to a man who openly admits to having a sexual preference for young women, because they’re at “peak fertility” according to him), the fact that she relates the most with teenage girls is a huge indication that Lainey herself is either a) extremely mature, b) purposely seeks to enter uneven friendships with younger girls because it balances the friendship in her favor, giving her more power and control (which wouldn’t surprise me if true, given that she’s married to Onision - she needs to be able to exercise control in SOME way), c) is emotionally stunted and frozen at the age of ~18 due to Onision’s influence on her psychological development, or d) a sexual predator who herself prefers teenage girls. I’m sure everybody has their own theory on why this is, but personally I think it’s probably a mixture of all four, with option c being the most prominent motivation.

I think Lainey projects herself onto teenage girls because she feels very much unprepared for this world, threatened by it, and does not trust her own ability to navigate adulthood successfully. In this regard, I think Greg managed to find almost a perfect partner for himself - a girl who is trapped in her adolescence in perpetuity (largely by choice, but partly through direction by Onision), who purposely cuts herself off from growing and learning and emerging as a young adult because it’s less dangerous and challenging for her to remain within her psychological safe zone, being coddled like a baby and completely controlled and taken care of by Greg, who looks after all of the hard things in her life that she struggles with (doing taxes, making money, going outside to get groceries, paying bills, interacting with strangers, making appointments, earning a living wage) - all of the practical, adult things that Lainey is terrified of doing, because it’s so overwhelming to her. Greg, of course, loves this. Lainey is his ideal partner: a woman who needs to be with a man like him, who defines her entire identity for her. A man who directs her, tells her what to do, is domineering and aggressive, and who makes all of her decisions for her. Tells her what to do, who to be, what to feel, how to act. A man who has complete control over every aspect of her life. A narcissist (him) and an inverted narcissist, or codependent (her).

And so this is why Lainey is so obsessed with portraying herself as a teenager. Teenagers hit that sweet spot in between childhood and adulthood that Lainey feels trapped by in perpetuity. On the one hand, she is not a child - she is a sexual being; she has kinks, and preferences, and desires to express herself and her sexual identity. On the other hand, though, neither is she an adult - she is immature, self-absorbed, has an unstable sense of self, doesn’t know who she is, hypersensitive, anxious, gets overwhelmed easily, indulges often in her learned helplessness, and makes no attempt to change any of this - she revels in her dysfunction; she romanticizes it. And there is no age that typifies this combination of traits better than a teenage girl does. She doesn’t just relate to teenagers; she wants to be a teenager, forever–and in some ways, she really is, because the interference of Greg on Lainey’s emotional, psychological, social, and sexual growth has had a catastrophic impact on her development. She is essentially a 16-year-old girl trapped within the body of a 23-year-old mother of two. And that’s exactly what she wants.

I think what’s ultimately going to be what destroys Greg and Lainey’s marriage is that eventually, Lainey is going to be too old for Greg, and he’s going to feel compelled to pick up another 17-, 18-, and 19-year-old girl again from his existing pool of die-hard fans. Already it’s quite apparent that Greg is bored of Lainey (as evidenced by the fact that he is still actively trying to find women to cheat on her with, even after what happened with Billie); but once the cost of maintaining her becomes more expensive than the cost of replacing her with a new, hot, young, alternative, impressionable teenage girl, he will do what he tried to do once before with Billie, and eject Lainey in favor of a new wife to manipulate. And the whole process will start all over again, until the day that either Greg dies, or he becomes incapable of drawing in new women. And at that point, sadly, the fact that Lainey is still a teenager - but only on the inside - will end up becoming the most painful struggle of her life, when she is forced to take on all of the adult responsibilities that Greg currently carries for her, and realizes that she is dangerously under-qualified to live her life as an adult woman instead of a pampered, permanent 16-year-old girl.

(Sadly - or maybe luckily - I think that Lainey is the type of woman who needs to be in a relationship with someone like Greg (an inverted narcissist; in other words, a codependent), so I guess here’s to hoping that when this inevitably happens, she will quickly find herself a new narcissist to date and define her entire identity for her, I suppose?)

Press F to pay respects for this ridiculously, unnecessarily long fucking essay that I just wrote that NOBODY is going to read. Praise the Noodle Lord. Amen.

#onision #laineybot #anti onision #anti-onision #narcissism #npd #still gonna use the npd tag #deal with it

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thisisnot-chris · 3 years ago

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No story is perfect.

Never in a million years would I have thought my life's journey would turn out the way it has these past 29 years.

I remember growing up imagining what my life would be like after high school - wanted to be a meteorologist, thought I'd graduate college, have a wife and kids, you know... a "traditional American life".

Fast forward about a decade after high school - college wasn't for me in the long run, figured out I'm gay, and am now working in the music business - concert venue by day, producer by night.

Didn't see that coming.

Now obviously this didn't just happen out of nowhere - it came after years of working on a craft I never imagined I'd put my time into, putting myself out there after being a super shy little punk for so long, learning so many lessons the hard way, and connecting with so many people I never thought I'd meet. Through it all, I discovered what my life's passion is - to create genuine and authentic music listeners can feeling intense emotion from while bringing people together through it.

It's funny to look back on this because I HATED doing music related things when I was a young kid, from piano lessons, to choir practice, to playing the alto sax. But all it took was one moment to change my perspective on it and end up devoting my life to it.

That moment was during my junior year of high school.

An old friend that just transferred to my class from another school caught my attention when I discovered he was practicing guitar after school in an empty classroom while I was waiting for the school bus to pick me up and take me home. I wish it took longer for the bus to come because he was INCREDIBLE and I wanted to sit and listen endlessly. Imagine being 16 and playing Metallica's "Master of Puppets" spot on; that's what he could do alongside so many other songs. Pantera? Megadeth? Ozzy? Van Halen? Slayer? He could take it all on. (Fun side fact - I got to perform Aerosmith's "Dream On" and Ozzy's "Crazy Train" with him for our high school graduation and I WAS THE SINGER - definitely not a rock vocalist when I look back on it but it's a memory I still cherish today).

So that moment and hanging around him shortly after convinced me to try out the guitar.

And then a couple years later, it led me to try songwriting.

And finally during my freshman year of college, it led me to electronic music production (Thanks to Skrillex's music blowing up at the time).

Not what I expected but it got me somewhere thanks to my old friend.

Unfortunately he is no longer with us today; hearing that news back in my junior year of college crushed me. The impact he made on me is something I wish I could thank him for today. I ended up carrying the impact through an alias I made years ago.

That alias is Full Metal Jackson, or as a lot of people have come to know the name as now, FMJ.

It was conceived in 2013 as an ode to him and combines two things he loved in the name - his favorite movie "Full Metal Jacket" and his Jackson guitar.

Since that year, I spent endless hours on learning music production and songwriting (alongside learning music theory and aural skills from college at the time) so I could take my best shot at writing music I liked and could then share. That early music would range from dubstep, electro house, progressive house, future house, tech house, tropical house, big room, future bass, jungle terror, drum & bass, trance, moombahton, and other various styles.

While the skills for writing/producing music consistently built, the real challenge at the time was the matter of sharing it with others; even just a few people.

Of course I'm still gonna make music because I like it but I strive for something with music I share - if one person can get something positive out of what I wrote and shared, I'll be satisfied. If it took my old friend to just play guitar in an empty classroom to impact me that much, imagine what could happen if it was me playing the music for someone else.

But still, sharing music (or more specifically electronic dance music) in my small hometown of Neenah, WI... well, no one in that town was really into that kind of music (or at least who I knew and associated with at the time). Nothing wrong with that but I felt stuck from it. As 2016 hit, I stopped publicly sharing music for about 2 years because of this stuck feeling.

Around that same time though, a long period of self discovery began. Who was I and what did I want to do with my life? During it all, I met so many different people, travelled to different places (even out as far as Toronto, Canada), and found out there was more out there for me.

2018 comes and I got convinced to check out concerts that I didn't even know were happening in this state (thanks to my close friend Spookybro who I met when working at this e-commerce company selling toothbrushes in Neenah). I got to meet even MORE people but this time they had similar interests and love in the music I was so enveloped in for the longest time. Next thing you know, I start playing some small shows that summer and then shared music again publicly for the first time in years that September (the song was called "Number One", which I wrote for two good friends that got married that same month). More opportunities then came when I moved to Madison, such as playing opening slots for all kinds of international touring acts ranging from Downlink to Eptic to Tisoki (even got to perform with him for a B2B on stage); more music came from it that I still love today and I was able to share it with more people and see positive impacts made on some. There was even one song called "Snake Jazz" I released that (I felt) got a significant amount of attention in the underground scene; it even got support from names I've come to love like ATliens, Blanke, Eliminate, Crankdat, and more. Obviously it's not like I became some superstar making hundreds of thousands of dollars while being signed to some major label or agency from any of these opportunities and experiences, which that's not what I'm after, but it was still crazy when looking back on it.

That's where life led me with music.

Never thought that would happen.

Yes, there were tons of rough times, low points, and challenges during it all. Friends were lost. Relationships were put on the line. Periods of intense stress, anxiety, even depression set in. It even came close to a point of ending my life from a struggle I faced I've shared about too often during that all, but it and nothing else ended up stopping me in the long run.

And from everything I've gained from that entire period, I wouldn't change it ever.

But during 2020, I came to a point where I asked myself an important question - is this what I want to do with music and my life in the long run?

...

So while the pandemic took the world by storm, an opportunity came for me to find out what I was meant to put out there.

And after writing music for over 11 years now...

I finally found my sound.

This opportunity let me take everything I have come to love throughout my life, such as different kinds of music (Porter Robinson/Virtual Self, Illenium, Seven Lions, RL Grime, Skeler, The Prodigy, The Crystal Method, Pendulum, Linkin Park, etc), to different kinds of shows/games/toys (Pokemon, Bionicle, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Death Note, Halo, Portal, etc), to nature/outdoor settings (sunsets, cityscapes, skyscrapers, etc), even to different colors (blue, orange, purple, pink), and combine concepts based on them all in various ways to make a sonic identity that is truly me. It may not be the most innovative identity at this point, but it is 100% me. Not to mention I'm always one to try different things and experiment, seeing if something new can come forth and grow exponentially from where this starts.

Which it all starts tomorrow, July 14th, 2021.

And while I'm beyond scared to reveal it all, I'm excited nonetheless.

Funnily enough, I originally planned on launching this project in September 2021 but an opportunity was given to me (thanks to my friend Synymata) pushing up the launch date; now from it though, the project's debut release will be on a well-known EDM record label I am happy to be a part of now. Guess it ironically ties into the name of the project a bit.

But knowing this is the point I'm at currently from looking back years ago is insane to me and I can't wait to see what could come from it.

As I said before, I'm not trying to be some superstar but I'm obviously gonna try and take it as far as I can. Even if there's days or even weeks where nothing productive comes from my sessions, I can't let it stop because I'll never know what could happen from it without trying. Maybe something unbelievably crazy will happen. Maybe it will take me to cities and countries I never imagined to see with my own eyes. Maybe it will connect with new people I end up calling life long friends. Maybe I'll meet the love of my life along it all.

Or maybe none of this will happen.

I honestly don't know.

But I'm never gonna know unless I try.

That's the mentality that changed my life for the better within the past few years than if I didn't approach matters like that.

And it has and/or could for those reading this too with that mentality depending on the situation.

Yes, mistakes were still made; lessons were learned. And they continue to be made and learned from. The same can apply to anyone reading this.

But it's all part of the journey.

It's not perfect.

It's inconsistent.

It's not a smooth straight line - it's rough, jagged, and curves in many different directions.

It's broken.

But, for me at least, I wouldn't have it any other way. All the memories made; the realest and most genuine people I've come to call friends; the family I am fortunate to have; the lessons learned; the skills gained; the experiences; the happiness, sadness, anger, confusion, ALL the emotions and feelings that came from them. All of it was worth it.

Crazy how unexpected moments whether in high school or at some e-commerce job you're working at can change it all for the better in the long run; they basically shaped my story into something why better than I could’ve imagined.

So if you're reading this and feel your story isn't what you had in mind so far - your story isn't over til' you say it is. You'll never know what it could be unless to give something a shot. Getting that new job, going on that trip you've dreamed of, finally asking that crush out; you never know unless you give it a shot. Of course everyone's life is different and situations aren't all relatable, heck you may not take on the opportunity once it appears and that could be better for your story too!

Regardless, whenever an opportunity comes, you'll know what will be best to do.

In the end, the story will continue til' you say so. And I feel it is best to keep telling that story for as long as you truly can.

Hey, like I said, no story is perfect. Ever.

But the best stories aren't all "happily ever after fairytales".

The best I feel are the ones that you get something positive out of.

They TEACH you; INSPIRE you; make you FEEL; CHANGE you for the BETTER.

They give you this indescribable feeling that lingers over you that you can't seem to shake off at first and it may even feel scary at times but after it subsides, you know something good happened to you from it.

Those are the stories that define you.

And what more could you want than to share them alongside that indescribable feeling and so many other emotions with someone else in this life.

In this journey.

This saga.

That's what this new project is all about.

And you're all welcome to be a part of it.

This Broken Saga.

#brokensaga #nostoryisperfect

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nuzblog · 7 years ago

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November 4th, 2017

I was pretty anxious about Misty going in, here. I remember double checking my boys, making sure my inventory has got potions and such, and frankly being pretty worried about the Misty fight. She whooped my ass something fierce on my last go around. Speaking of, I think it's pretty fun to note how consistently my deaths have been to noteworthy foes - first to the Rival, then to the first Team Rocket goon encountered, then to Misty. Based on this pattern, my next loss will probably be to... I dunno, Giovanni?

Fortunately, this concern is unfounded. I go into the battle with Misty with Horus and Minos, my fearsome twosome. Staryu is basically nothing, I flick it and it goes down. Starmie is the tough one. Horus sand attacks it and gets taken to critically low damage, so I swap out to Minos while she uses the safe turn to use an X Defend. My resistance to Water urges it to Tackle, and Minos' high defense keeps it pretty darn safe. I tail whip it twice, to discount the X Defend and weaken it further, and then start Punching, which takes it out clean.

Game progression! Hooray! I get Xuth and Lanius back from the PC. Vlad can stay there forever and rot for all I care. I love Zubat, but... it was not worth it the first time, and that choice ended up killing Gary. Gary is a dead child now, thanks to his Zubat whose name I've already forgotten. Probably like, Cartman or some garbage like that.

After getting Dig from a Rocket Goon, I am ready for a new route, finally! It has been so long since I've gotten to a place with an encounter rate I haven't actually tried to catch a Pokemon on before, and also I've had such shitearsed luck with catches this run that I'm super ready for it. I head right for that grass, excited to see what new Pokemon await me, and...!

Oh. It's a Pidgey. Well! Duplicate clause! What else we got. Bellsprout? Yeah, Bellsprout works. A little late, since I would have loved to see this beautiful thing's derpy nozzle face to help me combat Misty, but its resistance to Electric is still gonna help with Surge, and also, I absolutely adore the design of the Bellsprout line and I've never gotten the chance to use one on my team before. So I am happy to see it! I name it Penthes. The name scheme hasn't been guessed yet, by the by! If you want one of these Pokemon, you're welcome to guess.

The underground road thing has always been kind of weird to me. Like, don't get me wrong, I totally love the whole "let's dance around our big central city" thing this game does. I feel like if they did it now it'd be better and probably more story related than like, some guards are too thirsty to let people through (????) but it's neat, it's definitely better than throwing the one big city of the region at us out of the gate like Generations 5-7 have. And it's cool to have to go around this big thing in the middle, right, like... a normal walk through the Kanto region should have you going right through from Cerulean right into Saffron, but we can't go that way, so we have to go... around, right? Or under, or above. Skip Saffron, go to Vermillion.

But the underground path is so... boring? Like I know there's so many caves all the time forever, but you really could have had another Pokemon cave and just. Like, something with an encounter rate at least? Or even make it made by people, but have it also be such a suitable place for Pokemon to live that they end up nesting there anyway, and so you've got this manmade path that like, I guess if you want to be boring ol' Kanto you can put Rattata and Zubat in there, but wouldn't it be so much more interesting if creatures that were themselves sort of urban in origin lived there? Like, Grimer isn't found until Cinnabar, but it feels right at home slugging along that smooth floor. And like, since you can usually just go through Saffron anyway, nobody's really all that interested in maintaining the paths, so nobody's bugging these nests of Grimer and like, okay sure Zubats and Rattatas are there too.

Wouldn't that be nice? Not a dungeon, but a gloomy walk down a long corridor besieged by these gross poisonous monsters, instead of like... a long corridor. With no gameplay other than holding down.

There are items in there, but I don't already know where they are and I don't have the itemfinder, so I'm either gonna Google it like a cheapo, or check every tile which I super don't want to. I do want those items, but yikes on bikes am I not getting them yet.

Instead, lets emerge from this extended diatribe about the underground path by emerging from the underground path itself, like the Chilean miners rising from the underground, so too are we now freed, into Route 6! Where... the literal only Pokemon possibility is a Meowth. And finding it took a while. Like, everything else is a duplicate. So, hey... Meowth. Alright. I do find one, catch it. Its name is Maneki.

Vermillion! A new city! Mmm, breathe in that new city smell. By which I mean. Ocean. Hey, isn't it weird how Vermillion City is on the ocean, but the cycling road is between it and the ocean? Does the cycling road like, open up to let the S.S. Anne through? Is the cycling road a bridge, or is it like... on land? It's really long to be connected to nothing.

Anyway. There's an old rod here. I get it, if only to keep me from accidentally... throwing out all my money and items and Pokemon besides a Level 5 Magikarp at the Indigo Plateau and being stuck. I really don't want a Magikarp, so it's not gonna be great. Anywhere I'd be unable to catch anything but by fishing, I could wait until I've got the Good Rod or Super Rod and then come back.

Speaking of stuff I can get in Vermillion, this is where the trade for Farfetch'd occurs. However, before making this trade, I had the good sense about me to check movesets. After all, while I know Farfetch'd gets a rockin' movepool later on with things like False Swipe, Gen 1 is unfamiliar territory for me. And, as it turns out... it is pretty much just a worse Spearow in this game. Like... Farfetch'd has Sand Attack which is better than Growl, and it has Swords Dance and Slash...

Actually writing this urged me to take another look and now I'm seriously considering actually going to Farfetch'd. Like, Spearow learns Drill Peck which is nice solid STAB and Mirror Move which I'm never gonna use, but... Fly would be my STAB anyway, and now that I'm looking at it, Slash is... an underwhelming move otherwise, but might just be an integral part of my strategy in Gen 1. Get this: because of the way critical hits are checked for in Gen 1, Farfetch'd using Slash has a 15/16 chance of critically hitting. Crits might not quite be doubled, but they do turn a 70 base power move into a lawnmower that other Pokemon are fed to.

Okay there's actually more I need to look at to make this decision. Choosing a flying type for this run is gonna mean comparing three different Pokemon line's stats and move lists, so for now let's just move on and put a big fat "I don't know yet" on this Farfetch'd trade.

I didn't have the energy to go fighting the billion trainers that are now open to me, so instead I went for catching Pokemon. Diglett cave gave me a level 18 Diglett, whose name is Whaca, and Route 11 gave me that Sandshrew I wanted before, whose name is Cingu.

I then went onto the SS Anne... and found out that that healing lady on the SS Anne in the remakes isn't actually here in the original version of the game. So like. The infinite healing I wasn't worried about on the boat, is actually gonna be a huge issue - I otherwise can heal only twice to cover all of the S. S. Anne (which I need to do all of, if only because money is a limited resource) AND Lt. Surge, and he'll only give me one more heal back which I can maybe use to cover Route 11... unless I'm going back home through Diglett Cave? But running through the cave every time I need healing when there are powerful Digletts and even Dugtrios there who might kill my hurt Pokemon is a bad plan, and spending that much money on repels instead of potions when, again, money is literally limited in quantity in this game (before the Elite Four who can be fought infinitely, that is.)

A friend has suggested that I use the Gen 3 games and the lore of the SS Anne being an "all expenses paid cruise" to justify my free use of the Vermillion City Pokemon Center as long as the SS Anne is in its port, but I'm unsure if I want to go that route. On the one hand, part of the challenge as I had originally thought about it was definitely that I would be able to heal freely at the SS Anne, but part of the challenge is also that Gen 1 is weird and I don't know its weirdness all too well. Right now, I'm not sure, but I'll have to make a decision before I play next, since my boys are hurting.

Speaking of my boys, I also need to make party decisions, finally! Obviously I'm holding onto Minos. Right now the rest of my party looks like: Penthes, who I definitely want to use, and his grass type will resist Surge and generally be good type coverage for the whole game. A ground type who is gonna get me through Surge and probably also be good coverage for the whole game. Still weighing between Cingu and Whaca. Whaca I've got at a higher level, but if I'm gonna be healing freely I can just grind Cingu up fine, but jeez I haven't actually even LOOKED at their movepools and stats yet. For all I know I might be bringing both of them into Surge with me. I am more interested in using Cingu, since I don't think I've used a Sandslash before ever? Oh god it probably learns Slash too, oh god. A flying type, which, as I've covered, I'm gonna have to make a decision. Xuth, who is probably safe for now to be honest. I do always like to have a bug type on my party, since bug is my favorite type, but like... what if I get Scyther or something? Also, Confusion Butterfree will be obsolete if I were to, say, trade a Poliwhirl (who will probably be dead easy to catch someplace with a Super Rod) for a Jynx in Cerulean where I haven't caught a Pokemon yet, so I can have a Psychic type with STAB. And an open slot, which might have my spare flying type in it, or might have Maneki in it, but either way it's otherwise kind of an open slot for type coverage to fill when it becomes available.

So yeah. Big decisions, next time I play this game.

#nuzlocke #pokemon blue #pokemon #entries

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storylocke · 8 years ago

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Connections 6

[As late as it was getting, and still no word after meandering around town for well over an hour, Devin finally flew up to Mt. Hokulani again to see if perhaps Hau had decided to stay the night. It was certainly getting late enough to wonder, and while he wasn’t actually tired, he didn’t feel like spending the night in the garden. No surprise when he got there, he found his friend at the cafe in the Pokemon Center settling down for a break.]

Hau:

[Looks up from his cocoa as he had only just sat down. Waves him over.] Hey, D76! What are you doing here? [Rather than getting up to greet him, he sinks down in his seat a moment to use his foot to push out the chair across from him for Devin to sit down.]

Devin:

Just killing time, I guess. It’s too late to try to reach the next town on my own, since Lillie found herself a new girlfriend, and Kukui said he’s heading up Mt. Lanakila. I wasn’t sure if you’d heard, so I thought I’d let you know we’re not in Malie City anymore.

Hau:

[Sheepishly grins] I hope you’re not waiting on me then. I still haven’t gotten passed Molayne.

Devin:

[Rather defensively.] Hey, he’s actually hard though! It took me forever to get in! [Simmers down slightly as he’s started to draw attention from onlookers in the lobby. Right. Quiet hours.] But, um, don’t worry. Even with my big type disadvantage, Sophocles and the Totem Pokemon weren’t bad at all. I’m sure you’ll get through tomorrow just fine.

Hau:

I sure hope so. I don’t mind losing when it’s just for fun, but this is starting to get frustrating. [sips cocoa] We already got word from Kukui that I should head on to Tapu Village from here, but I overheard that you and the professor got in a fight with some Team Skull punks.

Devin:

… You did? [Well that was unexpected. Really, he hoped that Hau would have stayed none the wiser as then he wouldn’t have to lie to him, just not tell him.]

Hau:

[Just grins as he can see his friend is trying to not brag about it.] Ah, it’s okay. I just wish you didn’t get to have all the fun.

Devin:

Fun? No, no, not fun at all. Once the big bad bug boss showed up, he was downright mean. And, like, half your team is weak to Bug, right? Probably wouldn’t have ended well if you tried to take him on. I just got lucky.

Hau:

[eyes him with suspicion as he’s wondering if Devin is just saying that to make him feel better about not being there, but the concern seems genuine. Waves it off.] Fine, fine, I’ll stay out of his way. The grunts are still up for fighting though, right? [Devin seems to brighten and gives him a nod] Great! You want some Tapu Cocoa? They say it’ll help you sleep better.

Devin:

[Watches him get up, and is honestly surprised how quickly Hau dropped the subject. Perhaps it was Kukui’s words still in his mind, but he watched his friend with curiosity and concern to how casual he was about this.] Thanks, buddy. So what time do you want to go to Tapu Village tomorrow?

Hau:

[Pauses with the cocoa in hand and slowly turns around so not to spill it] Tomorrow? I think I’ll just meet you down there. Like I said, it could be a while, and I bet you’ve caught everything out here already. [sets the cup down in front of Devin, although it’s hard to say if it’s disappointment or tiredness that brings out the weary tone.] Besides, you already sent Team Skull running for the hills, right? I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Devin:

[Seeing the look on his friend’s face almost makes him feel bad. Much as Devin gave him a hard time about being slow, it seemed he’d started to take it to heart. Hau did have a point though that with Team Skull out of the way, where was the harm? Brightens up] Alrighty then~! Next time we meet, I’m challenging you to a Pokemon Battle. We’ll be at the same point in our Island Challenge, so if you can beat me, I’m sure you could take on anyone~!

Hau:

Really? [A soft smile at the vote of confidence as he holds his own cup in both hands to soak in the warmth.] I’ll hold you to that.

=+=

[Devin was in high spirits as he casually strolled along the sunlit mountainside with his new pony. Borrowed pony, anyway, but Hapu had made it clear she meant to give him the ride pager sooner than she had, and the area made for a good practice space as he slooooowly clopped along the rocky terrain. Today was going to be a good day, he told himself. After the day before, it just had to be…]

Hau:

[Calling from somewhere behind him] Heeeey, D76~! Wait up!

Devin:

[Hops down from the Mudsdale, a bright smile as he watches his friend run up. He knew Hau would breeze through that Trial in no time!] Alola, Hau~! You make it through your trial already?

Hau:

Yup! I heard the news from Sophocles you helped him with da kine, yeah? That Totem calling machine or whatever? It works great now, after I got to be test subject number two! After our talk last night, I made a few team adjustments for dealing with bugs in the future. But… Why didn’t you tell me the Electric Totem was a giant bug-type?

Devin:

Because… that would be cheating? [Honestly, it hadn’t even crossed his mind to tell him] No blackouts though, right?

Hau:

Only twice. I managed to get through pretty easily thanks to Raichu. [Mischievous grin] I’d like to think we’ve gotten pretty strong.

Devin:

[Oh yeah? Well he did promise him a battle when he finally caught up.] You plan to show me right here, right now? Let’s do thi-!

Gladion:

[Standing on the porch of the nearby inn, it seems quite possible he only just woke up as he glares down at them] You two really only have one volume, don’t you? Haven’t you ever heard the expression that Silence is Golden?

Hau:

[Somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance] Gah! It’s him!

Devin:

[Pulls up both hands as if to defend himself as Gladion marches down the steps.] Edgelord! What are you doing out here?

Hau:

Well, if we know Team Skull is around-

Gladion:

Would you both shut up?! I’m not here on a play date. Listen, Team Skull is looking for a Pokemon named Cosmog. Do you two know anything about it?

Hau:

[Clenches his fists as he copies Devin’s ready-to-fight stance] Not that we’d tell you!

Gladion:

[Hmph, somehow he knew he could count on Hau to be the one to slip up. Almost amused] So you both know something at least.

Devin:

[glares him down] So what if we do? You wanna scrap with me, think you’re gonna learn anything by-?

Gladion:

Can it, D76o6yttr! [As his frustration is obviously growing, his arm starts twitching slightly before he closes his eyes and grit his teeth as he holds himself back. There’s a bit of a growl to his voice as he tries to continue more calmly.] Look, Cosmog isn’t even that strong a Pokemon. But it has the potential to summon Pokemon so terrifyingly strong that you don’t even know. If something like that happened, it would be a disaster for Alola….

Devin:

[Still tense, but not so much on the defensive. His voice grows soft as his mind races to think what Kukui had told him about the Voices only showing up when there’s trouble. For all the fun They’d be having, he’s almost in disbelief.] A… disaster?

Hau:

Like... a real disaster? Then what’re we supposed to do about it?

Gladion:

Protect it! If you do find out where Cosmog is, or if you find anything out just… Just keep it safe!

Both:

…. [Share a glance with each other as neither is really sure what to say to that. Was this a trick?]

Gladion:

[He knows what you’re thinking, and finally just heaves a sigh] I know I might be working for Team Skull right now, so you may not trust me, or care but… I’m only going to tell you once. PROTECT. COSMOG. You have to protect it… no matter what!

Hau:

What do you mean “no matter what”?! You have people coming after us, or something?! Don’t leave us hanging!

Devin:

[As Gladion starts to march off, still holding his arm like he’s injured, he starts to go after him] Gladion, wait! If you don’t like what Team Skull’s doing, you could come with us! We… [glances back at Hau and motions for him to come over to help plead] ...don’t know anything about this whole Cosmog thing, but if you do, we could really use your help!

Gladion:

Tch, I’m just the hired hand, remember? I still don’t understand how Team Skull found out about Cosmog in the first place…

Devin:

Can we at least get you to the Pokemon Center?

Gladion:

You’re only making it worse! I just… I have to go alone. [Before Devin can say anything else, the guy shrugs him off and starts to hurry awkwardly down the mountain trail.]

Hau:

[He and his friend both watch the strange older boy take off, as neither one was sure what to say. After a moment, his voice comes oddly soft for him and filled with concern.] Devin…

Devin:

[Looks back at him in surprise as that’s the first time he’s called him by name since they’d met.]

Hau:

If they’re really looking for Nebby, then… Is Lillie going to be okay? I don’t really get what’s going on, but we’ve just got to keep both of them safe, right?

Devin:

[nods] I promised Kukui I’d keep us all safe. So long as we work together, we can do this!

Hau:

[Good, that’s good to know. Boy, the professor sure picked a time to leave though, huh? Tries to get himself pumped up.] Then if we’re on guard duty, I know what I’ve got to do. I’m heading for the next trial, so I can get stronger! I’ll finish my Island Challenge and get Tapu Koko to recognize my strength, and then I’m going to be the next Kahuna, and-

Devin:

[While this wasn’t unusual for Hau, Devin awkwardly glances away as there’s a subtle sting in remembering what Kukui told him. Tapu Koko had already accepted Hau, but he knew now why it meant so much to the kid. Has to cut him off before he says something.] Where is the next trial anyway?

Hau:

[That certainly seemed to bring him back to reality.] Uh… I don’t know. [Turns to look down the road they were following to begin with.] Sophocles said we should be able to find the next captain at the Aether House.

Devin:

[Quite uneasy to hear that as he’d had a growing suspicion to where Team Skull was getting their information from.] Aether… House?

Hau:

Yup! Come on~ It should be somewhere right on the other side of Tapu Village! We need to find the captain so we can let them know what’s happened!

Devin:

… Aether House. [He mutters to himself as he realizes he heard that right. While he’s in no hurry to meet with anyone associated with the Aether Foundation just yet, perhaps Hau had a point. As he watched the boy hurry on ahead, he rather reluctantly began to follow.]

~~~~~~~~

It was kind of funny re-watching the vids because apparently we blacked out and got warped up to the Observatory again and got stuck there a bit before flying back down. Also, after several attempts to make it through Route 12, it went from night to day by the time we got to the trailer park. Seemed like a nice place for these two to catch up.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

#twitch plays pokemon #connections #Devin #waning moon

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