#really any pokemon that evolves with a pretty quick level up

[kidfur]

would you share your pokefarm or would prefer not? i decided to make an account btw so thank you for introducing this to me

my user is wishypaw! ^_^ no problem its super fun!! i just got into it recently thanks 2 my friend zack @/201xs

[crystalelemental]

I've been mulling over how to start this one for a while now, and I think I've settled on this. I've talked a lot about watching stuff from Professor Bopper, and his Pokemon videos in particular have been fun. But one of his independent videos is about yellow paint mechanics in videogames, and he specifically calls out that gamers, as a group, are uniquely bad at games, often ignoring the function of what the game wants you to be doing in favor of what they think you should be asked to do, and getting mad when the game meets expectations. This broadly rings very true, and it's that very bias in myself that I aim to combat with a lot of my replays lately, and it's been liberating.

However. I feel like sometimes the gamers are right. Sometimes it is bad design. Sometimes they developers made a decision, and they design their game around that decision in a way that teaches the player exactly what they should be doing, but the baseline concept is just...bad. It wasn't properly thought out, and it feels, in its entirety, like it would've been better if they had made some changes. I'm sure that doesn't happen often, though. Certainly not in any big name franchises.

Anyway, I finished Let's Go Eevee.

Positives first. The game is a pretty interesting take on Pokemon as an adventure game. Eevee is wildly overpowered. It gets higher base stats, and a special 90BP move with an absolutely busted secondary effect in every one of its possible evolutionary types. The combination of Electric/Ice/Psychic/Dark perfectly answers the entire Elite Four, while also providing Dual Screens and sure-Paralysis. Ice's only flaw is a pretty middling secondary effect, compared to sure-Burn, sure-Leech Seed on a damage move, HP recovery, or curing all status. Eevee is a monster that can handle pretty much everything.

I find this interesting, because in some measure, Pokemon is always about making bonds with your Pokemon. The idea of having your Signature Partner that does everything with you is a neat approach to the usual rotation of a team. It's always been possible to steamroll the entire game with a single partner, that's most of the basis of a speedrun. But it's rare for the game to lean so heavily into it. The sheer breadth of tools given to Eevee give it a presence similar to that of the Chrobin combo of Fire Emblem Awakening. More on that later.

Because now it's time to shift steadily into the problems of this game. Difficulty in Pokemon is a big topic, and has been for a long time. Personally, I have come down strongly on the side of "I don't think any Pokemon game has ever been difficult, and there is no point in time where chasing the white whale of a difficult Pokemon game resulted in improvement in the experience." Pokemon is not fun because of challenge. It is fun because of effort, and having something to work toward. The reason older games appeal so strongly to me isn't because they are harder. RBY and GSC are kinda piss-easy. But what they are is limiting. Movepools barely exist, and a ton of a playthrough is finding ways to keep your preferred teammates relevant across various challenges, all while acknowledging you do not have access to most of their best tools yet. It's scrounging around through TMs to find a set that works, and coming up with some really creative solutions that many modern games don't push you to do. As a quick example: Larvitar. In Gen 2, it doesn't learn Earthquake naturally until 49, which balloons to 56 as Pupitar. Pupitar can evolve at 55, and if you don't stop these evolutions, Tyranitar cannot learn it until 61. This is a beast you find just before the postgame superboss at around level 15. In Gen 9, it learns Earthquake a level 31. There's just far less to actually build to, as players are given early access to most everything, and much earlier access to complete movesets.

Let's Go...kinda has this issue? But only kinda. I expected Brock to be an immediate wall for an Eevee, only to find that Eevee now learns Double Kick super early and can two-shot his Onix no sweat. Whoops! The progression of special moves also open up right at points you'd want them. You get Fire, Water, and Electric in Celadon, which answers Misty and the Rock Tunnel hikers. You learn Dark and Psychic in Celadon, which is ideal timing for all the Poison types you're about to encounter between Erika and Team Rocket, while Dark...okay, Psychic also answers Ghost but you know. Ice, Grass, and Fairy drop in Fuchsia, but I think that's because those three weren't going to hard counter anything past that point anyway. Like it gives you exactly the tools on Eevee that you'd want to answer the present threat for free, so Eevee never truly struggles with anything. It's always a clean sweep.

Which raises a big issue when it comes to the general feel of the region. I recently replayed LeafGreen, and while the postgame is rough, the main game never feels like too much to me. Even the "slower" segments are fun, because by then, I'm working with something new that's low level. It's why I never minded all the Rocket segments in Johto either. Sure there's a billion fights, but I need about that many to train this Horsea. I wound up picking up a Poliwhirl, intending to trade for Jynx, and accidentally landed a Modest nature. Blastoise was not doing so hot, and I decided fuck it, I'm rocking Poliwrath. Which meant leveling up something far behind, using those extra routs and the Silph Co section. That's great! That's as intended!

What purpose do those sections serve in a game with only one Pokemon? When you don't need a team, and have no reason to train anything else...what do they do? It's just busywork for no real reason. "But they give you three Pokeballs!" Pokeballs stopped working around level 10, my dude. This is not a reward. And there's no EVs in this game, so it's completely trivial to fight anything but the keynote bosses.

The removal of EVs was...not ideal. Instead they use Candy, which is specific to a stat. You gain candy by sending Oak copies of Pokemon, or rarely when you catch them. With a higher catch chain, where you keep catching the same beast repeatedly, you have better odds, but it's never guaranteed or even all that likely. This system is, in some ways, meant to be a controlled form of Stat EXP. You just naturally gain your stats as you accumulate candy. It's not a terrible idea, but its implementation is Extremely Bad.

Candy, as it turns out, caps at +200 in each stat. In case you're wondering how many that is, it's approximately 500 of the basic candy, 300 of the L candy, and 600 of the XL candy. For context, I tried doing a chain with Eevee on Route 17, which gives Sp Def candy. I caught enough to get a chain of 20, and upon that 20th catch, I received nothing. Just fucking nothing. The 21st catch gave me around 6 basic candy, and 2 L candy. To say this takes forever is a wild understatement. By and large this is not necessary. My wife did not do as much catching as I did, had far less candy, and still beat the League pretty much exclusively with Eevee. For main game, this is...annoying, but unobtrusive.

The instant you hit postgame it's a nightmare. Because, Red is back. And to fight him, you have to beat six Master Trainers, who will do a 1v1 mirror match with a specific Pokemon, but theirs is trained to have like +150 in three stats. Doesn't that sound fun? For context, I put all my massive candy stocks from repeated chain captures onto Eevee and hit around +80 in like two stats. My playthrough was like 20 hours.

This begins the descent into the really bad, which is that Let's Go bears two great sins: one of its birth, and one of its maker. Let's Go is, at its heart, a gacha. It was literally born from Pokemon Go, which is designed to be eternally tedious to force microtransactions, and Let's Go emulates that in its postgame perfectly, without the microtransactions. The one of its maker is that, as someone who will grind in Pokemon Crystal literally just because I find it fun to do so at certain points, this system still could've had me. Opposing trainers very clearly have sequentially boosted AP from candy application, it's not a bad system to use for difficulty curves. It's a lot steadier than BDSP's sudden "everything is maximized without warning," and I don't begrudge the idea of doing this, even going so far as to question why they don't do this with EVs in the main series. It's not a terrible idea, and in fact has some serious merit.

Unfortunately, it is blockaded by the sins of its creator. Masuda just really though it was super important that people fulfill his vision of immersion by having to throw the controller like you're catching Pokemon. Nevermind that motion controls have been known garbage since about a week after the Wii came out and no motion that resembles an actual throw gets registered by this system, we have to do some dumb flailing shit that, for no discernible reason, either goes straight on target or miles to the left despite the same arc being used. Worth noting: Pokemon will run from you if you don't catch them fast enough. Sometimes "Fast enough" is in two balls. If they run your chain breaks instantly. Are you having fun yet?

Let's Go has the honor of being the worst capture mechanics in a series with continuously terrible capture mechanics. Their decision to demand motion controls, refusing to just let it be buttons if you're using the console docked and not allowing the pro controller hookup at all, torpedoes everything positive this game has, because it renders it borderline unplayable. "But didn't you say Eevee sweeps?" Yeah, but it relies on you catching things. Not just that, but getting good at the arc. Battle EXP is truncated, you get far more from effective captures, and the biggest modifiers are "first try" and "excellent" when the circle is tiny. I'm sure someone will insist it's fine when you get used to it, but from my experience, it never gets better. It is always incomprehensible which way the ball will go. Moreover, trying to use a quick flick of the wrist motion resulted in a 100% rate of the ball immediately dropping to the ground, so I had to actually swing my whole arm, and mysteriously I have had this growing pain in my shoulder all week despite playing in shorter and shorter bursts. Add this one to the same pile as Hades, under "Games that cause me to take recoil damage" I suppose.

But, I can hear it now. Some are going to call this a skill issue. And you're right, it is. There are people much better about this than I am. However, I still think this is a problem, because as a mechanic, it fails to do what games are supposed to do for players: provide control and feedback.

Main game Pokemon games have terrible catch mechanics, but this is usually only around Legendary Pokemon and the occasional hard to catch thing like Beldum or something. That difficulty is just pure RNG, because the rate is so low. But even in those scenarios, the player has options to control how bad it really is. Knock them to low HP, inflict Sleep for best odds, catch a bunch for critical capture Gens 5+, use a Roto Power in Gen 7; there are modifiers the player can apply that are inherently beneficial. NPCs will tell you about them, but even without listening to a single one, you can actually experience the difference yourself through the gameplay. Trying to catch a Pidgey or something with full HP does mean it can break out. Trying to catch one at like 1/3rd HP almost never does. Hitting something with status seems to result in much more assured captures. The player takes actions, and the game provides feedback on whether those actions were the right call.

Let's Go's catch mechanics do not have any of this. It's so disconnected from the idea that all the NPC advice is now just "if it's a red color it's gonna be harder," which is useless because guess what, Ultra Balls don't actually change the color for things that push level 40, and Legends are glaring red no matter what you do. Throwing it dead center for an Excellent toss did not ever seem to improve my odds; I had just as many breakouts from that as I did wildly off-center barely touched the catch circle tosses. I can take no action aside from finite berries, which disappear after a single use of a ball, and do not seem to have any method of acquiring more since they don't seem to be sold in shops. I learned very early that Razz Berries are functionally worthless when I hit a Great toss on a Yellow circle and it just broke right out and was Orange again. So maybe I'm being uncharitable. It does give feedback, the feedback just tells you not to do anything but keep throwing and hope you get lucky, because nothing you do will help. What a fun system!

Unquestionably, Pokemon Let's Go is the worst Pokemon game. But I feel like that is solely based on direction. Had the catch mechanics been less awful, there is merit to the idea of a game where you have one (1) defined partner through everything. I think it would've benefited from a Legends Arceus style approach that fixated more on catching as a primary goal than battling, given how meaningless the constant trainer fights were, but maybe that's just me. Whatever the case, I feel very strongly that this is the worst Pokemon game, and that it is the poster child for upper management staying the hell away from things. The instant you let them talk about their great ideas for what the art should be like, the instant you are damning that art.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2970: Dragonite-GX (Dragon Majesty)

Dragonite-GX tried to do a few things at once. It had its quick attack for surprisingly good damage, undercut by being a Stage 2. It had a big hitting attack for an awkward cost that prevented it from attacking again during the next turn, which was still possibly worth the downside with that damage. There was also a GX attack that just let you put Evolved Dragon-type Pokemon from your discard pile onto your Bench. This was probably the biggest reason to look at Dragonite-GX, as that was truly crazy if you could actually get that set up quickly.

Dragonite-GX had plenty of bulk, as 250 HP was higher than most Pokemon would be able to reach. The Fairy Weakness did let Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX reach that number, and while not the most popular deck it had some nice results so it was rather notable. The Retreat Cost here was 3, meaning that you really needed to include a decent bit of switching cards to use after a Giga Impact or Dragonporter GX.

Dragon Claw only needed a Lightning Energy and did 70 damage. That was a lot for the low cost, held back by the big HP numbers of the time and the fact that this was still on a Stage 2, meaning there was the extra set-up to do anyway. You could pair this with a few Altaria and get over 100 damage in while healing with Max Potion since you could easily charge the attack up again. It wasn't easy to get it all into play but could get a good loop of making progress when the opponent couldn't if you pulled it off.

Giga Impact was 200 damage for the awkward cost of a Water, a Lightning, and 2 Colorless Energy. The damage was potentially worth it, as it was just a Choice Band away from hitting some notable GX numbers. The catch was that Dragonite-GX couldn't attack at all during your next turn after using this attack, so you needed a way to switch out and likely had to take Prizes to make the attack worthwhile. Big damage was still really nice in many spots, of course.

Dragonporter GX sounded almost unfair to opponents when you first looked at it. 3 Colorless Energy, and your GX attack for the game, let you put 3 Dragon-type Pokemon from your discard pile onto your Bench. These did not have to be Basic Pokemon, and getting access to 3 Pokemon that didn't have to evolve from something else was amazing in a vacuum. The problem here was just that Evolved Dragon-types weren't really that impressive and they didn't all work together due to their differing Energy type needs. You could get the aforementioned Altaria with this, which was the most consistent approach. You could also lean into other Pokemon and just use the Dragonite-GX to get things onto the Bench, using Pokemon like Salamence and Salamence-GX, Noivern-GX, Naganadel-GX, or whatever combination you could come up with that didn't stretch Energy needs too far. It was a cool concept, admittedly held back by so many big Dragon-types of the era being Basic Pokemon and therefore not really needing this attack to get going.

Dragonite-GX was really close to being good. Boosted attacks for a single Energy actually had some promise, Giga Impact hit pretty hard, and Dragonporter GX could get multiple big Pokemon into play. The problem was that the first strategy mostly relied on an early Dragonporter to get to decent damage levels to keep enough pressure on while trying to repeatedly heal, Giga Impact was the type of attack that was good but more easily done on Pokemon that had a type with better Energy acceleration, and Dragonporter was the kind of attack on any type with better synergy with each other. This is all to say that Dragonite-GX was fun, but not a serious competitive option and was best kept to more casual decks where its interesting qualities at least made for a somewhat new experience.

[kafus]

ok quick team tour before the E4 because i'm way more attached to these guys than i thought i'd be. and by quick i mean this might be a long post sorry. i will go in order of acquisition of various team members :]

first up lovebug! named by my friend venty and also who i'd consider my starter :] butterfree's movepool isn't super wide and getting the twisted spoon or silver powder would be more trouble than it's worth at the moment, so aside from teaching Psychic with a TM, i left him with his level up moves and a quick claw for some speedy sleep powders. he has compoundeyes which makes sleep powder nearly 100% accurate and has been incredibly useful this entire run, especially with catching pokemon since sleep is so effective. i love him

next up QUIVER MY BELOVED... i saved her evolution for level 53 literally in the middle of victory road, was super satisfying. nidoqueen can only learn crunch as a nidorina, once she evolves she can't learn it anymore, and nidorina learns it at level 53 so i played the long game to get that one cool move. she has blackglasses to boost the power of it. earthquake is from a TM and i used her as my strength user during my playthrough, but it's a pretty useful move so i just kept it instead of going out of my way to remove it. and then after evolving her i used the move reminder after farming some tinymushrooms to get superpower to top off her moveset. very proud of her she's come so far from being a level 6 nidoran lol

say hello to TACO (BELL)... thanks for the shitpost name @ my qpp SDJFKDFS the miracle seed is from the celadon game corner! did you know weepinbell learns razor leaf at mfing level 42? and before that it only has vine whip for grass stab? it's awful. i waited that long to evolve him. i wanted to save some of my tms for the postgame so i decided to hold onto giga drain and solar beam and the like, decided to just keep razor leaf. i didn't wanna repeat niches by giving him sleep powder or something so i grinded even more tinymushrooms and taught him spit up and stockpile from the move reminder for the meme LOL who knows if i'll actually get use out of it. but i love taco he has been fun to use since i almost always have bulbasaur as my grass type

EGG!!!! he's named after my real life jolteon plushie with the same name. bite is exclusive to eevee at level 30 and since all dark moves are special in this game, it is actually useful on jolteon! i went pretty overboard on this guy because i love him. thunderbolt was a tm from the game corner, and uh... well... i found out he has hidden power water, with 70 base power, which while not the literal Best means he can hit ground types for super effective special damage at the maximum power possible for hidden power which is Based. UNFORTUNATELY hidden power can only be obtained through a 5% pickup drop in FRLG, so i caught a team of 6 meowths and spammed pickup until i got one lol. as for his held magnet item, that's exclusively obtained in FRLG by stealing off of wild magneton... a 5% chance. so i caught a level 31 meowth by bond bridge on two island, taught it thief, and used a repel trick with it to get all encounters to be magneton at the power plant... and just kept encountering until finally got the magnet 18 encounters in. pretty epic. nothing on his moveset is jolteon's natural moveset except thunder wave LOL and he has a pretty rare item for before the postgame

next up is creamsicle who is surprisingly one of my favorites despite being a pretty straightforward pokemon with a limited movepool. icy wind, ice beam, and rest, are all levelup moves, while surf is obviously an HM. mystic water is from the celadon game corner. all of the pokemon on my team are pokemon i've never brought to the endgame before, but dewgong is among the pokemon i've never used before in like... any capacity. so it's been really fun to use her! dewgong is underrated and very cute. but i understand why no one uses it, pretty out of the way in lategame seafoam islands

and last but not least here's torch! a pokemon i've DEFINITELY never used before as mt ember is optional before the postgame and i sometimes don't even take up bill's offer to go, much less linger on mt ember running around for a 5% encounter that late in the game post-blaine. BUT i wanted variety and this is certainly a fun choice after using ninetales a million times in my life. moveset is just levelup moveset except brick break which i taught by (thankfully renewable) TM, and the charcoal is from the game corner. he's the only mon caught in an ultra ball bc i could not be bothered oops... but the yellow matches! (btw he has a special attack IV of 0. LOOOL i still love him though)

and that's my weird ass leafgreen team where i boxed my starter and went out of my way to get pokemon i've not used before. i am at around 30 hours of gameplay and i'm going to fight the E4 shortlySDFKFSD

[canesvenatici-ribbons]

Hello it is me again!! I have looked into the natures of my pokemon and my Girafarig is considered Timid but my Gengar is Relaxed and my Luxray is Lax. The Emboar, Cubone, and Cranidos are very close to me but they are more useful for my job so when looking at their natures (Bashful, Adamant, and Timid respectively) I decided it was best to keep them as my work buddies.

I’m considering heavily with my Gengar or Luxray but don’t know the first steps of training either to help with my anxiety. Do you have any recommendations on tasks I can try to teach her for it?

-💜

Hello again! I would definitely be considering the Gengar or Luxray then, as service mons.

INFO UNDER THE CUT THIS POST IS SO SO LONG...

Many people already use Gengars to eat nightmares as PTSD survivors and the like! Luxrays can be used for medical alert as well as anxiety, since their eyes can sense nerve impulses and electrical signals. (Most electric types have a sensory organ for sensing electricity, very cool stuff!)

Gengars can hide in your shadow if size might be an issue, but I definitely recommend the Luxray, since they can learn to associate heightened electrical impulses near your heart or even smell heightened levels of cortisol. (Most pokemon tend to have a heightened sense of smell compared to humans, but it probably depends also on sapiency honestly? Don't need to worry about getting food chained if you're able to communicate through spoken language rather than behavioral and auditory cues).

Whichever your choice, most methods to training a service mon are pretty simple; you have to rely on whatever is most reinforcing to the Pokemon!

Some researchers have found that Pokemon with certain natures tend to prefer certain types of flavors and berries, even! I've read up a couple studies on this- [here] and [here] are some cool ones that translate a lot of behaviorist jargon into laymonds terms c: If your pokemon doesn't eat meaty treats or other treats you could always try the berries!

Quick breakdown of behavioral terms real quick- reinforcing means increasing the behavior, punishment means decreasing the behavior. Both are forms of consequences- neither have bad connotations in the field of behavioral science!

Positive means adding something, negative means removing something- pretty easy to get a hang of once you're familar with the terms.

For example, if you want your Luxray to nose or paw at you as an alert for anxiety, you would give it something it likes as positive reinforcement. This is encouraging the behavior to continue!

There's also extinction, which is when you completely ignore a behavior to get it to stop, like ignoring vocalizations to get it to stop. I could go into HEAVY detail but unless you end up having issues with training and behavioral issues, I won't, haha.

I think with anxiety it might be easiest to start with DPT, depending on the mon. With how heavy fully-evolved pokemon tend to be, it might benefit you to train them to only lay part of themselves on you, like head and front paws, or your Gengar to lean on you. You can read a little bit about my process for training DPT for service mon on my last answer related to this [here]!

Eventually, your pokemon will begin to recognize your DPT command and start alerting, when it senses your tells. You can reinforce this behavior as well, and teach them how to properly alert (sometimes they can get overexcited when alerting because a lot of service mon love working). It can be a little hard to catch when they're trying to tell you at first but when you notice the tells you can redirect the behavior into something different.

You can also train behavior interruption if you have any behaviors that go along with your anxiety, like leg bouncing, nail picking, hair pulling, skin picking, etc. the list goes on. This can be really similar to alerting behavior! However, alerting is often meant to be unobtrusive like nudging you or pulling on your clothes, behavior interruption involves pawing, licking, or attempting to make you stop the behavior. This works for panic attacks especially well, when you train the signal for the task properly (you'll probably feel silly acting out a panic attack for your mon but its all apart of learning! I know I did, haha. Fake crying as well feels silly). I'm not sure if you want a gengar licking you though. Huge tongues lol.

Lots of rewards, lots of reinforcement, lots of treats. Keep training sessions on the shorter side so your pokemon doesn't get bored and make sure to train after they've been well-exercised, that's the best way to get them to focus.

Tl;Dr:

Train the behavior first to make sure they understand what to do, then train the cue for them to perform the behavior (again, unless its DPT, you can just have that as a command for them to do that), reward them for recognizing the cue and performing the behavior. If they start to get confused it'll benefit to take a break from harder commands and do a couple easier ones or tricks. Something I learned when having difficulty with a command is working through it backwards as long as they already know the behavior.

SORRY THIS WAS SUPER LONG BUT I HOPE IT HELPS AND WAS VERY INFORMATIVE!!

[pequenosol]

Alright!! Hi!! It's been a while....again....but this time I actually accomplished quite a bit of stuff!!

So, after beating Tulip, I decided to take on Grusha. I actually postponed doing so for like a day or two because I was so nervous X"D

And when he showed up, he didn't really help with my nerves hffggxxfxgxfxfxfxf- I get it, Grusha!! You're edgy and have a tragic backstory, STOP CALLING ME COCKY DOES THIS SOUND LIKE IT'S COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO'S COCKY?!? 👀💦

Thankfully he was a pushover and I one-shotted all but his last Pokemon with Cinnamon and Osaimhthus c:

After that, I got EXCITED! Not only did I beat the last gym, but the next boss for me to take on was none other than the wonderous, spectacular little boi, ✨Ortega!!!✨ (for context, he's probably my favorite character in the whole of the Pokemon franchise <3<3 He's great...)

My team for the base was Lemon, Mei, and Cinnamon. I took out Ortega's piano teacher and defeated the thirty random Pokemon with ease- then. Then the little boi graced me with his presence ✨✨✨✨~

When he showed up on his Starmobile, I FLIPPED OUT.dtsrdrxtftcgvyvhhhvvvhvhcgcg- Just. God d@mn he's such a good character....I love the small sassy ones <3

ANYWAYS *clears throat* As for the actual battle...well. He definitely was a challenge- at least at first. Ortega sent out his Azumarill first, and OH MY GOD. That THING was a BEAST. It's Aqua Tail was SUPER POWERFUL on its own, BUT. BUT IT WAS RAIN BOOSTED TOO!! And I couldn't switch out to Cinnamon or Mei, because they'd absolutely get destroyed!! So, really the only thing that I could do was spam Max Potions on Lemon until either Azumarill missed an attack or used up all its Aqua Tails, and pray I didn't get critted- To quote Ortega, "Do you realize how out of your league you are now? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)" Yessir. Yes, I do 🥲

Thankfully, my prayers were answered and the Azumarill went down without taking any lives. I switched to Mei because Lemon did her job and did it well and deserved a break <3 Mei outsped everything and all of Ortega's other Pokemon weren't a problem, and so he went down and I could enjoy some cutscenes and lore about him c:

Next on my list was the False Dragon Titan! I trained everyone up and caught a Mimikyu named Sakura (he/they/fae) to use in the fight. Nothing really remarkable about the fight; Lemon took care of the Donozo and Sakura defeated the Tatsugiri without any problem.

After that though...MAN, THE CUTSCENE WITH ARVEN AND MABOSTIFF GOT TO ME HARD 🥺🥺🥺 I was freaking sobbing by the end of it you guys... T~T So beautiful...

Then Professor Turo ruined it and Arven started talking about his daddy issues >:/

Now, the last thing for me to do before all the big conclusions to the three paths happened was to take down the Caph base and fight Eri. And. Um. Can I just say I'm super intimidated by her??? X"D So, to cope with that intimidation, I put Guayusa and Coconut on the Team, and fully evolved them into Dragonite and Salamence, and leveled them (and Cinnamon) up to level 65. Yup. That's how scared I was 🥲

Thankfully, my preparations all payed off!! :D I killed all the Pokemon in the base. All of them. Without any problems c: Heck, I even out-sped and one-shot Eri's Annihilape(which was what I was the most afraid of)!!

Also quick detour I love the aesthetic of the area surrounding the Caph Base...it's so pwetty 🥺🥺

Anyways, I made Eri cry (sorry Eri :c) and then Cassiopia was like, "I'm the Team Star boss!! Meet me in the school parking lot at 2:00 am for a fight!!" And I was like "ok, cool."

So. Yeah! I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game, which is very exciting! :D Here's some art I did while I was gone, and I'll see you guys next time!!

[meganuzlockediary]

Soul Silver! A Photo before disaster!

January 26th

Cameron the photographer is great! He creates some real good memories but also... a sad one.

Yeah I goofed massively

On the way to ecruteak city theres a psychic he had 2 abras which zubat easily took out. Then came Kadabra! Zubat will be fine I said! Its just a trainer battle I said... Yeah Zubat was so unbelievably destroyed there was nothing left of him after.

Then while battling the sudowoodo with skiploom she went down too! A stupid play on both parts but I didnt want to over level croconaw and I was rushing because I'm an idiot. So now after losing what were going to be two good members of the team I have to refresh the strategy.

On a new catching spree I catch a Nidoran F from route 35 and boxed it for emergencies and then went north to route 37 to catch a stantler I named him Sven and added him to my team. I have never used Stantler and was honestly going to wait until legends arceus but perhaps not. He does have intimidate which is great ability for nuzlockes. Maybe he'll be a staple team member.

Finally I catch the real target which is now a guaranteed encounter in Vulpix. A fire type is essential for this run and I love ninetails its one of my all time favourite pokemon. Now Vulpix doesnt learn any absolutley essential moves past level 25... so might as well evolve her straight away! Because Ninetails evolves via fire stone I need to go to the pokeathalon. Its a rougher time this time but I watch a little lord of the rings and grind away and eventually buy the fire stone and now I have my gorgeous ninetails!

In some ways I really wish ninetails was part ghost type. Having stab shadow ball and some immunities to play with would be so fun. Alas Ninetails is a pure fire and I will have to do.

Right next up is a rival fight in burnt tower. Losing Zubat to combat bayleef sucks but just like last time having a fire type now destroys this fight. Honestly I actually do this battle before evolving vulpix and its no trouble at all. I start with croconaw vs Gastly and bite my way to victory. He brings in bayleef and I bring in Ninetails. 3 flamethrowers later takes out Bayleef, Zubat and Magnmite in quick succession and no damage taken. WIN!

Finally is Morty and while I am nervous about Gengar I really shouldnt have been.

I start with Stantler which is fun (never thought I'd say that honestly). Who OHKOs Gastly with a single astonish! Next up is the dreameater haunter but I use hypnosis before he does finishing it off with 2 Astonishes again. Next is Gengar who does outspeed. Fortunatly I equipped Stantler with a Lum Berry so I immediately wake up and hypnosis him back! I felt good with this one. This however starts a little battle of attrition where I wittle genegar down with confuse ray and astonish as we take it in turns to put each other to sleep. Morty uses a potion at somepoint but in truth Gengars only viable attack is sucker punch which is really easily played around so eventually Gengar does get defeated. For the last haunter I decide enough is enough and I switch to croconaw who takes one more suckerpunch before OHKOing with bite. Honestly a domination from Stantler and now I like him even more!

A few new friends and some lost. Chuck will be hard now I'm missing 2 of my flying types. With Flaffy however it should be pretty free. We will see when I get there.

Badges won: 28

Pokemon Used: 70

Pokemon Defeated: 17 (RIP Zubat and Skiploom)

[prof-peach]

Hey Prof, I need your advice.

My sister recently decided she didn't wanted her bulbasaur anymore (she got him on a whim about a month ago) and gave him to me, he is quite violent and tends to attack when I try to get close to him.

Now, that wouldn't be a huge problem, but my Purrloin has gotten hurt trying to befriend him, she's quite outgoing and never really liked fighting (we enjoy contests so she knows a few more flashy attacks), so she couldn't even defend herself properly.

I don't want to give up on him and my local rescue center is filled with Bunearies (you know, after Easter kids don't want their Bunny anymore) so they can't take him in right now, any advice in how I can go about this situation?

Sounds to me like you have a tricky little dude on your hands. So you're not battle orientated which will make this harder, Bulbasaur in the wild are actually quite combat minded to defend their families and territory, and a lot of their herds consist of strict hierarchy based on power and skill, often led by older, fully evolved members of their group. 

Before you take any actions to befriend them, its worth noting that any pokemon who comes into your care showing aggression is usually doing so for one or two reasons that are pretty universal for any species. Fear being the main issue with pokemon who have been ditched, if a pokemon is unwell, if it feels exposed, if it is unsure of you or your home, your partners, it may lash out because it is afraid. Even what looks like pure anger can stem from a fear. Of course some individuals are just full of rage, its not unheard of, but for the most part it comes from somewhere else. 

For a moment, take the time to put yourself in this pokemons shoes. It was chosen, with hopes and ambitions of its own, by your sister, a stranger to them, and for whatever reason they were cast aside. This reason may be unclear to the pokemon, it may be unfair, unkind, or even without malice just out of pure indifference. No matter the reason, this pokemon has been left behind by a trainer it at one point probably wanted to try to get along with. I don’t know what your sister may or may not have done, or provided for the bulbasaur, but it will help you understand how its feeling, if you were to ask her about their relationship prior to you receiving the pokemon. If it has always been aggressive and angry, i’d seriously consider talking to it about release, not rehome. 

We humans have a preconceived notion that pokemon are pets and things to keep with us. This may be true for some sure, but not every pokemon wishes to be a captive to a human, they may want more for themselves, and wish for a free life with their own kind. We cannot put our wants and desires above that of the pokemons, so you two need to have a talk, at a respectful distance for safeties sake, to see what the Bulbasaur feels they may want. These are herd pokemon, born and bred to be with their own kind, if not a larger group, if its lonely, if it wants to go home, to start a family, or simply to not be held in a ball as some creature to be owned, then you as its current carer must give it what you can. You can always find another pokemon who wants to be your partner, but you cannot give back lost years to a pokemon who has lived a life its unhappy with. Treat them with respect, and be open and honest. At the end of the day we have a chance to help pokemon, and forcing what we want onto them is a hinderance, and will lead to them feeling unsatisfied and bitter in the long run. 

Some pokemon lash out due to the process of being handed off to someone else, trust is earnt, not always just simply given to whoever holds the pokeball. Remember this as you move forward, and try to keep your other pokemon away from them, Bulbasaur are territorial species, and have to accept pokemon into their families before simply allowing them to come and go freely into their personal space. Despite their grouchy natures at times they usually do have a morally positive compass, and defend with ferocity when they love something. Perhaps in you showing genuine concern for their welfare and future, offering them not what you want, but instead what they want, they may give you a chance to get closer, but take baby steps, and try to be their friend above all else. I bet they're feeling pretty lonely right now. 

Its worth sharing interests with the pokemon, talk about contests, see if they're interested, some pokemon have a predisposition for this, others have no interest and prefer more battle based lives, or even peaceful non-competitive existences. no amount of pressure will change a pokemon’s nature, and some just aren't cut out for the fine art of showmanship that contests require. You can however use powerful attacks in showy ways, so theres always hope that they could enjoy it, if you can work with them to their strengths. 

If possible, work to getting them outdoors, cooping grass types up can lead to stroppy, testing personalities, many thrive in the outdoors, he may need some serious outside time to compensate for the lack of exercise and natural stimulation they may have not been getting prior to your ownership. There are plenty of areas in public that are much like tennis courts, areas of space you can book for a set amount of time too exercise difficult pokemon, these locations are often secure facilities, both outdoors and indoors, to suit a range of species. find one that has outdoor facilities and book a few hours per week to go there, increasing the time whenever possible. This exercise and time with you may help to find common ground, and topics that you and the bulbasaur can bond over. This can be anything from battles, to sun bathing, playing sports, games, swimming, running or digging, and everything in between. Bulbasaur naturally are great foragers and tend to like to snaffle about in long grass and shrubland, hiding treats like berry slices in a secure environment is good enrichment and can tire the pokemon out. a tired pokemon is usually a little less aggressive, having lower energy levels and less want to expend attacks. this process also associated you with something fun, and your scent will be on the treats too, so they'll know you were the one to provide this activity for them.   

I’d also take plenty of time to observe the bulbasaur, as your sister got them on a whim, they probably had no prior knowledge of the species, or how to correctly care for them. In a month, a health complaint could have begun to show, so observe their colouration, feet, walking gait, sleeping patterns, feeding habits, and general behaviour. Excess scratching, heavy breathing, or unusual shaking or moving can suggest a health condition is starting to take form. Most can be helped if caught early, but some illnesses give the pokemon discomfort, and can lead to snappy tempers and irritability. It could be that this individual is in pain, or finding life difficult due to its health, which can cause a lot of hostility as i’m sure anyone would agree. It can suck to be sick!

This species can be won over if you can prove you have a skill of worth to them. This is the case with a lot of pokemon, having respect for something they cannot do, and learning that they need things from you can lead to them at least tolerating us humans. Its a foot in the door. A trick i like t use with particularly difficult bulbasaur is to give them their fav food, whatever it is, then put it in a clear container the pokemon cannot open. They have no thumbs, and their vines though dexterous, aren't able to open every kind of container. The pokemon will want whats inside, and be unable to access it. they will eventually give up out of frustration. this is where you come in. enter the space, don’t let your pokemon approach as this can be threatening, and open the container. leave it on the floor open, making sure they've watched you get the thing open. They can then approach and enjoy their fav food, all thanks to you and those wondrous thumbs you have. repeating this process yields good results, and starts a mutual relationship of tolerance and acceptance between you and a bulbasaur. Most will accept they want the food more than they want you gone, and you provide something they can’t get to. whatever you do, don’t let them see that you were the one to lock the food up in the container. Get a friend to do it, or do it in the room, and leave it in place on the floor, before allowing the bulbasaur to enter and investigate the item. If they see you're the one doing it, the trick is foiled, and your back to square one. Eventually this does tend to lead to the pokemon becoming less stressed with you around them, and eventually it leads to trust, and even friendship. This trick is good to use to get them use to you, once they're ok with you being around them because of your use to them, they may start to take food from you directly, engage in play, or even just sit and tolerate company for short periods of time. Do not expect this to be quick, but it does usually do the trick. 

Regardless, i do have concern that the pokemon may want to be with its own, should you discuss this and find they're not interested in being housebound and a pet, feel free to send them our way, we had exactly this situation in mind when setting up the islands facilities, and have extensive locations designed with grass pokemosn needs at the forefront. Theres a small herd of about 12 bulbasaur evolutions that live north of our labs, no people see them, they are happy as a unit, and are left alone to go about their lives, with the only interactions between humans being us giving them their yearly health check, or should we spot them with an issue, we may intervene. They live away from others and pretty much free, in a poacher safe environment. Its not ideal, we like to keep pokemon in areas they come from, with people who love them, and you show great concern for the pokemon so it would be a shame to have to let them go, BUT sometimes thats just life, and theres nothing to be done about it other than accepting that the pokemons wants come first. They may just be mistrusting so try everything else first, and see how you go. hopefully you’ll yield some results from this all. Good luck out there trainer. 

[archetypal-archivist]

Playing Pkm. White 2, It’s Cool

I have a rom of Pokemon White 2 on my laptop that I’ve been playing on, with a minor tweak so I could have a paras as my starter instead of any of the standard ones (for roleplay/fun reasons). So can I just say? Having an utter blast, I swear the mainline pokemon games peaked with the Unova region.

My current party is Parasect, Audino, Swadloon, Roggenrola, Golbat, and Magnemite and everyone is chilling at around level 25.

 Parasect and Swadloon are super frail tbh, but I love them anyway and I *could* evolve swadloon, his friendship is really high, but I love my orb boy too much. Parasect makes up for it with her move spore, which does guaranteed sleep, but poor swadloon has almost no good moves except for return. 

Golbat is a step away from being a glass cannon, I just need to grind friendship on her and she should get that fixed though. Not super strong, but she’ll get there, crobat hits like a truck. Roggenrola is there mostly to balance my party and because I love my orbs, he’s pretty decent and a good counter to whatever would take out parasect and swadloon. Magnemite would be a glass cannon all the way if they weren’t a steel type, that poor child. Strong special attack though, and sonic boom cuts through sooo much stupidity when it comes to pokemon with high defense.

My audino is my ace though, no doubt. He is brokenly good, with two high defense stats, the leftovers item that returns some HP every turn, and the moves rest, return, and work up. He’s my switch if I’m ever in trouble, and can one shot soooo many things if I can lay the ground work right. He is also very, very hard to kill. 

Which brings me to my current situation- trying out the Battle Subway in Nimbasa. And oh. My gosh. I love it~! Like, it’s the train boys, which if you follow me I’ve been posting a ton about, but I also adore the thrill of battle. It’s so tough getting through trainer after trainer and I faced down some real nail-biters that I squeaked through on Parasect’s quick claw, or Swadloon landing a crit return, or Audino tanking with the best of them. I’ve only really done the Singles train but with those three pokemon, I made it to car 12 before I lost a battle.

Can’t wait to go back and get murdered by a Parasol Lady’s archen again. :D

(Advice is welcome, lmao.)

[3centsofbutter]

Things I’ve missed about the sun - Bakugo Katsuki

Bakugo katsuki x reader

You used to be my sun, that’s what I always saw you as. 

A bright blistering star that blinded me if I ever dared to look upon you. You were dangerous to the touch but I basked in your warmth nonetheless. I missed that about you, how you were always there for me even if it wasn’t intentional.

“Oi Baka, you gonna keep starin’ at the window or are we gonna have a conversation like regular people do?”

Hatsume waved her hand in front of your face in an attempt to pull you from your thoughts. It was a humid Sunday afternoon and you had joined your friend for tea at the mall. College exams were finally over and done with so you both decided to celebrate before you were thrown back into the busy rhythm of life. 

“Since when did they have Bakugo collectables at Toyco?”

An all too familiar face stared back at you aggressively on a giant poster advertising the new line of hero collectables plastered outside the Toyco opposite the cafe. It seemed like his presence always found its way into your life no matter how far away he was. 

“Hm, Ground Zero merch, never thought it would be this quick before that bastard had his branding stuck all over the shirt’s of kids.” She lifted the straw out of her iced tea and pointed it at your face. “You’re not still hung up over that sack of trash, right?”

You sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of your neck, a light blush dancing on the apples of your cheeks. It had been a while since you had talked to the hot-headed blonde but your high school crush on him had persisted. You were in the support class F and frequently interacted with hero studies class A for support items and general classes which coincidentally made you form an odd friendship with Bakugo. You were both really close at one point but fell off once the school year had ended. You really missed him even though he was just a phone call away, you could never bring yourself to make an excuse to call. 

“Well, it’s really hard when his face is every third news story on TV!”

Hatsume threw her head back and laughed. 

Bakugo was strange, obviously, and was infamous amongst the school for having the worst temper and the many incidents Class A somehow found themselves in, and by default, you found yourself in the midst of the chaos. 

“Bakugo! You know my workbench is not a bed, right?”

It was after Bakugo’s kidnapping fiasco that you found him lying on your workbench in the shared support facility. It was 5:30 in the morning and he knew that only you’d be there. 

“I want you to upgrade my gear, all of it.”

His voice was soft, almost a whisper, a rarity you had never heard from him before. You decided to entertain him. 

“Gotta be more specific, Sir.” You picked up his gauntlets and ran your fingers over the minor scuffs and scratches on its surface. “You can’t level up your gear like you evolve pokemon, tell me what you want done.”

His voice was still quiet. “I just want it to be better, got anything for that?”

You placed the gauntlet down on the table next to him and pulled out a wheely chair from underneath the table. 

“Is everything alright Blasty? Things have been rough for you recently but it’s not your fault, y’know?”

He sighed and raised his arms towards the overhead lamp and stared at the scars and burns that decorated his forearms. You had never paid much attention to them before but now in the light, it almost seemed like a work of art, you remembered that Hatsume once said that each uneven patch of skin and scar that marked a hero’s body was like a war trophy, a symbol of their resilience and hardships that they faced to get where they were today. 

“I hate these scars,” He said, as he dropped his arms back onto the table. “Those bastard villains gave me 6 more to hate.”

You carefully took one of his arms and held it in your hands. His silence was enough for you to know that he didn’t mind the invasion of personal space. You lightly traced the scars with your fingertips in silence, some had faded but some were more prominent than others. 

“Your hands are rough, you know that?”

You chuckled and lifted one hand into the light, fully showing the callouses that marked them. 

“You gotta have this many when you’re working with metal all the time.”

He grunted in agreement, not saying a thing more. 

“I like your scars y’know.” You placed his arm back on the table. “They show how hard you worked to get here.”

Your eyes met for a second in which it felt like an eternity. He was the one to break it. 

“Thanks.”

You both sat in silence as you watched the sunrise from the UA windows, relishing in each other’s company. It was such a simple interaction that was forever ingrained into your memory and probably the first time you ever fully realised your feelings for the boy. 

“Maa how long has it been, 5 years you’ve liked him?” Hatsume teased as she stole a forceful of your cake. “Maybe you should call him, would be a lot better than daydreaming about him all the time.” 

You furiously shook your head. “He’s probably busy doing hero stuff y’know, he doesn’t have time for a lowlife like me.”

You pointed to the poster that almost felt as if it was constantly eavesdropping on your conversation. “He’s got bigger things to worry about, Hatsume.”

She sighed and propped her chin on her hand. 

“Mmm, maybe if you didn’t leave so early at the reunion night last month then maybe you wouldn’t be in this position.”

“You know how I am with parties! If it’s past 10 I gotta go home, not all of us are night owls like you!”

It was honestly a terrible night. There were over 30 people crammed into Yaoyorozu’s penthouse apartment and there was too much going on to have any meaningful interactions with anyone. Sure it was nice to see everyone again but it was more like small clusters of people in their own conversations and you didn’t really seem to fit in anywhere. You had talked to Bakugo that night, but only briefly before he was dragged off by Kirishima to greet some other people. You had learnt that he was currently stationed in Kyoto in a partner agency with Kirishima. 

You sighed and stared at the empty plate in front of you. Hatsume had taken the liberty to finish off the rest of your blueberry yoghurt slice while you were lost in your thoughts. 

“Why don’t you make some support gear for him?” She asked. “He always liked the stuff you made anyways.”

You drummed your fingers on the table, you guessed that was true. 

“He probably has some big shot designers working for him right now, he wouldn’t want anything a college student is making.”

“Maa, you’re so annoying you know that?”

You simply laughed at her, even you could acknowledge you were a piece of work. 

“Mum, Mum! Look it’s the real Ground Zero!”

You looked outside the window once again to see a child pointing excitedly at that stupid poster. Every time you looked at it, it seemed to infuriate you even more. 

“Can you please sign my lunchbox, Mr Hero? Pretty please!”

You did a double-take at the Toyco and noticed a very familiar blonde headed boy, albeit his hair a little shorter since the last time you saw him. He was dressed casually in a pair of shorts and a graphic tee, different from how you usually saw him on the news. You watched him as he bent down and signed the kid’s red lunchbox and ruffled his hair with an encouraging smile. It looked like the public relations training worked wonders on him. 

He noticed your staring from the across the mall and you quickly turned away. Hatsume was nowhere in sight and a napkin with the words ‘GOOD LUCK!’ messily scrawled onto it was there in her place. You began to panic as you felt the heat rising to your face. 

The bell on the cafe door tinkled. 

“Is that you?”

You sheepishly looked up at him. 

“I thought you were in Kyoto, Bakugo. What brings you here?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “I missed home so I thought about setting up an agency around here. I guess I’ll be around a whole lot more now.”

His face was a slight tinge pink and the awkwardness hung in the air like a thick blanket. 

Hatsume hadn’t bullied you about this for all those years for you to let him slip away from you again. Maybe it was time for you to pull up your bootstraps and act upon your feelings for once. 

“Are you free tonight?”

That caught him by surprise. “I guess I am.”

“Wanna grab a bite to eat?”

The widest smile stretched across his face. 

“Is this a date?”

Your face was heating up to an unreasonable degree. “It is if you want it to be.”

He laughed. 

“I’d be honoured.”

Your sun was back to stay. 

Master list of all my stuff

A/N Getting a bit inspirational by posting 2 in a day after leaving the site for like what, a month or so? lmao.

[crystalelemental]

Well, on to the next game, I guess. My wife's turn: she's been trying to find games that are more to her tastes for gameplay, and after exposing her to Pokemon several years ago, has determined that maybe monster catching games are something she'd like to try more broadly. So we found Nexomon and Nexomon Extinction for like $20 online as a bundle deal. It's a pretty shameless Pokemon clone. Like, I do not say that lightly. I know not every monster catching game is Pokemon, but like...I've been inside the healing place. That is a Pokemon Center.

It's still pretty neat. My wife chose the like...normal fox starter thing, and seems to be enjoying herself. I'm going Velokitty, and found another Rare cat (Bastet?) early on, so we're on track for Cat Sweep. It's a bit corny, but sure, let's see how it all shakes out. For the sake of engagement, we're not looking up anything about type matchups or what evolves into what, we're trying to be surprised as we go along.

Quick things I do like, things I don't like:

Leveling up restores all HP, that's a very efficient system.

It's older style, so it doesn't seem like much, if any, EXP is shared with non-active Nexomon.

EXP scales really freely. It takes very little effort to level up currently, so this hasn't been a problem.

Random encounters also give you money for beating the opponent. Trapping gets you just the creature, but winning the fight gets money. Stuff is relatively expensive, but if you're training your options, it's not too bad.

Type matchups we've discovered are a mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Electric is good against water, Fire and Wind are good against Grass. But then Wind is good against Mineral, and apparently Fire is good against Wind? Still piecing stuff together.

[pokesplendor]

Line up of Andy’s pokemon team gijinkas! I adore these lot.

bios and info about them beneath the cut

Bits - Emboar - he/him - bi Self-appointed team leader, and a good one at that, he’s able to wrangle his ragtag group of weirdos to focus on one given task, or battle, depending on what kind of day it is. He’s boisterous for sure, but has calmed down as he evolved, and knows when to dial it down. However, he won’t quiet down if you insult his friends and can get quite heated over it. (Haha, because he’s a fire-type.) He’s reliable, friendly, and a great guy really.

He’s childhood friends with Jo’s Samurott, Blu, and Mia’s Serperior, Olive, and were thick as thieves growing up. Never seen without one another around the lab, they were a package deal. He was so glad their trainers weren’t too far behind each other so they were never far off.

He’s married to Digger, happily in love with stars in his eyes about her all the time. Smitten with her huge muscles and her power, not to mention how cute she is under all that thick dirt coating, he loves her to the stars and back.

Creeper - Zoroark - he/she - bi Self-proclaimed ace of the team, Creeper is a little schemer. Always with a smug grin and a haughty little giggle, he’s quick and powerful, hitting big when it matters. He loves sweets, and steals from the labeled food in the fridge no matter who it belongs to. Creeper, unsurprisingly, loves playing pranks with his shapechanging abilities, and usually changes into Crybaby or Wings because it upsets them the most. Awful little creature.

While he doesn’t have the biggest fans in his own family, Bits doesn’t mind his tomfoolery and Puff tolerates his presence, he’s close friends with Sydney, Mia’s Cinccino, as they both love causing trouble together.

He’s a little girl-crazy, boy-crazy, all kinds crazy, big bi on campus. He’s just has a problem keeping relationships going due to his childish nature.

Digger - Excadrill - she/her - pan Digger is a very quiet person, she doesn’t mince many words and rather actions speak for her rather than words. She’s also not the best speaker, often stumbling over her words and easily getting nervous when she messes up what she meant to say. She keeps her mask on most of the time because she’s worried about people reading her expression wrong and making assumptions about her. Digger is a powerful source in battle, but she rather be in her studio, welding metal art pieces.

She’s not the best at communicating, but her family loves her all the same, and she’s closest with Bits, her husband. But close second is Wings, who’s also of few words, who’s been teaching her sign language.

Digger is absolutely in love with her husband, the two of them don’t need words to communicate, which is a huge relief for her. She’s had a crush on him since very early in their journey, but she was too shy to make the first move.

Crybaby - Cofagrigus - she/her - lesbian Crybaby, well, is a crybaby. Her name fits her well. She laments her past life, an Eevee dying young before her time, and she’s haunted by memories of her death. She’s slowly been coping with the trauma thanks for support from their family, mainly Wings, who’s very patient with her. When she’s not crying, she enjoys fashion and designing outfits. She’s teaching herself how to sow with hopes of making her own clothes. Her family affectionately refers to her as “C.B.”

She’s often terrorized by Creeper, much to her misery, turning into her and mirroring her movements. Wings puts a stop to this and is her closest confidant. She struggles to communicate with Digger but appreciates her art.

Crybaby doesn’t consider herself stable enough for a relationship right now, but god does she love girls. Girls are pretty.

Wings - Sigilyph - he/him - gay Wings is a mon of few words. He’s often nonverbal and communicates with sign language, something he’s tried to teach the rest of the team so he could easily speak with them. His lessons don’t always yield results. He’s level-headed and eloquent, previously a merchant in the desert resort, selling shiny stones he found in the wastes. He still collects shiny things on their journey, drawn to their gleam. He likes to wear these shiny things and show them off, attempting a sale when he has the chance.

Wings is sort of team therapist, despite Bits being the leader, the rest of the family usually turns over to Wings for help. He doesn’t mind this role, he enjoys helping people, even if it’s difficult for those that won’t learn sign language.

He isn’t looking for a relationship right now, he has enough on his shoulders with the rest of the family being enough as a mess. He’s open for dates, however!

Puff - Braviary - he/him - gay Puff is team baby, despite how tall his growth spurt left him after evolving, he’s the youngest of the group and the most out of sorts because of it. Just barely younger than Creeper, he’s much more mature in that he knows how to behave himself and not cause trouble every single day. But he’s not really sure what he wants to do in life. He’s jumped through the different arts, for which he seems without talent for, and he’s nervous to try new things, for fear he fails. Crybaby often enlists him to be her model for fashion, and he likes doing that.

Because they’re both young, Creeper often hangs around him and tries to convince him to go along with his pranks. Sometimes, Puff is weak-willed and goes with him, usually regretting it later, especially when they’re caught. He’s seen Mothra, Jo’s Volcarona, around and thought of making friends with him.

He knows he’s gay, boys are all very pretty, but he’s not sure what to do about it. He drops the spaghetti at any point trying to talk to one.

[fluffybunnybadass]

Obligatory Father’s Day fic

Title: Get Rekt With Embarrassment, Silver (no, I will not be taking CC) (yes you can shorten it to ‘get rekt silver’)

Characters: Silver, Gold, Blue; brief appearances by Lance

Word Count: 4600

Rating: idk pg-13 for language?

tw: uhhh cursing and bad dads club, threats of violence by silver but none actually happening

inspired roughly by masters but mostly because it’s a funny idea of silver sending lance a “happy father’s day” text and then it spiraled from there thanks to plot bunnelbys. please enjoy and leave your feels in the tags or rbs, thank you.

You can read on ao3 here cuz my theme is atrocious to read on desktop, I apologize

also please don’t tag this as ship wrt lance and silver or else.

-----------------------------

“Are you going to text him?”

“Gold, you know about my father.”

“No, not him. I meant Lance!”

The redheaded teen gave a suspicious stare at his friend, who was mirthfully grinning at him, playing the innocent but well-intentioned fool. He knew what Gold really meant, but he decided to play along, seeing if he could get his companion to drop the conversation before it even started.

“Why.”

“Because it's Father's Day!” The redhead's face went full flush and he angrily glared at Gold, who only grinned more at his best friend, knowing that he had hit his target. “C'mon Silver! We all know that Lance has been a better father figure to you than your actual father. The guy's got total dad vibes!”

Silver gritted his teeth, his anger and embarrassment growing more with every word that Gold said. “Don't even--! I don't have a dad and that's it, Gold!” He barely held himself back from getting in his friend's face, wanting to hit him but knowing that he would regret it if he did.

Gold help up his hands in a defensive, placating manner. “Okay, okay! I get it! You don't have a dad. You came straight from an egg like Togepi and Sneasel did,” he said, laughing at his own joke.

“... Let's just get on with training today.”

The two had planned to hang out for part of the day. Gold knew that days like today brought his friend some unnecessary reminders of the past that would always haunt Silver, and he wanted to help distract his friend from the cloud of despair, at least for a little bit. Blue was going to join them later on, her understanding of Silver's feelings too good for the redhead to stop her from dropping by unannounced. Silver knew exactly what his friends were doing, and when Gold had asked him to hang out today and train, he shrugged and said, “Suit yourself.” Now he was starting to regret that decision, if Gold was going to be like this the entire time....

They had spent a few hours training. They sat down for a break, letting their Pokemon rest as well. Gold looked over at Silver, sizing him up as he tried again.

“Hey Silver! Can I borrow your phone real quick?”

Silver gave his friend another suspicious stare.

“. . . Why.”

“I wanna see something.”

“No.”

“Aw, c'mon, please? Pretty pleeeeaase? With a cheri berry on top?” Gold had clasped his hands together and bowed his head, begging pointedly.

“The answer's still no.”

Gold gave his friend a pout, and Silver shook his head, sighing a bit. But Gold was relentless in his teasing, and pushed once more.

“You know, you really should send him a text.”

“I'm not sending Lance a text!”

“But he really is a dad! It's courtesy to send your friends a 'Happy Father's Day' text if you know they're a dad.”

Silver gave Gold a skeptical look. In the time that he had spent training at the Dragon's Den in Blackthorn, he had never heard any mention of Lance having kids. Even though the man was pretty private for a public figure, he felt that the bond he shared with his mentor would have earned him some information like that. Not even Clair, who loved to share embarrassing things about her cousin with Silver, had made any mention about being an aunt, any niblings, or anything embarrassing about Lance and fatherhood.

“Oh really? Who's this kid I haven't heard about?” Silver asked, a smug look on his face. He was probably going to regret this, but he felt confident about his information.

“You!”

Silver flushed redder than a Charmeleon. He lunged after Gold, who cackled and leapt out of the way of his glaring friend who shouted at him.

“I'M GONNA PUNCH YOU!”

Silver chased after his friend for a moment, stopping only when he noticed Blue had join them for the day. He stopped and put his fist down, embarrassed that Gold had gotten a rise out of him. He turned away, glaring at where Gold had stopped to watch him, grinning at his friend.

“Don't let me stop you two from your games,” Blue said, teasing her best friend.

“I'm not playing any games...!” Silver said, gritting his teeth. He took at deep breath to calm himself like his two mentors had taught him, and turned around, putting on a smirk to mask that he had been caught acting like a fool.

“We were training.”

“Uh-huh. And part of your training involves literally kicking Gold's ass?”

“...Not literally.”

“That's not what it looked like to me,” she said, teasing her friend still in a playful greeting. Gold caught back up with the two trainers, slinging an arm around Silver's shoulders, who shrugged him off with a groan.

“Hi, Gold.” Blue exchanged a look with him, and the other teen shook his head slightly at her when Silver wasn't looking. “Have you guys taken a break yet? I brought snacks.”

“Nah. We were in the middle of one when Silver got mad at me all of a sudden,” Gold told her with a huge grin on his face, looking at Silver when he said it. “Don't know why though. All I did was ask to borrow his phone...”

“You...” Silver growled in warning, but he shook his head to rid himself of his frustration. “I wouldn't let you borrow my phone even if it meant you were dying.”

“Yeah, because we all know you would be the one using it!” Blue and Gold both laughed, and Silver's face flushed.

“Tch...”

For all their ribbing at him, Silver was grateful that he had earned himself some true friends. He had spent a lot of his life alone, with only Blue beside him as part of a childhood promise they had made. But when they got separated, he vowed to never have any friends again, the pain and ache he felt without them too much to bare. He had spent a lot of his childhood and early teen years telling himself that it was better off that he was alone, that he operated better like that, that he didn't need friends because they'd only hold him back. He didn't need anyone. Not a father, mother, any siblings or any cousins either; just himself. Even his Pokemon were tools to him, no companions in any way that he could have wanted.

But things changed when he met Gold. He kept running into this trainer who kept beating him, even though he knew his Pokemon should have been stronger because he trained them to the ground. He evolved them as soon as was possible. And Gold, who still had a Togepi, a Pichu, Pokemon that were unevolved and powerless on their own, had won against his team that he trained harder and harder each and every time this dopeyheaded trainer crossed his path. It was unfathomable to him that he could ever lose to someone who spent his time laughing and playing with his Pokemon as much as he did train them.

And then he ran into him.

Lance had thoroughly trounced his team with no effort at all. The Dragon-type trainer had given him a pitying look, as though he felt sorry for Silver and his Pokemon.

“Why...? Why? How did I lose so terribly against you?” He had been holding back tears of frustration, shaking as his emotions played with him, the defeat stinging far worse than any against the kid he kept running into. Tears slowly filled his eyes, threatening to fall once the child closed them. He couldn't cry on top of the embarrassing defeat, he just couldn't--

Lance looked at the prone Silver, who had his hands curled up into fists as he slowly beat on the ground, the frustration the child felt too much for the young adult's heart. Lance let out a long sigh, and stood in front of Silver. He knelt down to the child's level, as much as he could.

“You lost because you don't trust your Pokemon. You don't love them.”

Silver found the empty despair within himself burning up with anger. His shaking stopped. He looked up at Lance, and spat on the ground next to him.

“Tch. I lost because of a thing like love and trust? Don't mess with me! I don't need things like that.”

Lance let out a sigh. The child, a preteen, wouldn't be open to hearing an explanation, but he wanted to try anyways. If nothing else, maybe it could plant the seed that would let this kid grow into becoming a better trainer to his Pokemon, and a better human. How he had acted during their battle... To treat his Pokemon so terribly during the match, he almost wanted to stop it before the child had called out the other half of his team. How much had this kid gone through, anyways, to think like this?

“Listen carefully. If you really want to become strong, then you'll need to love and trust in your Pokemon's abilities, and they'll fight their hardest for you. It starts with treating your Pokemon with respect. They're not tools; don't run them ragged in an attempt to be better than someone. Having a rival is all well and good, but don't use it as an excuse to abuse your Pokemon. I hate that. It's things like that, that will cause a trainer to lose, no matter how much training their Pokemon undergo. Once you've established respect with them, spend time with them outside of training. Play with them. It's okay to let go and be childish every once in a while. You won't be able to establish any sort of connection or bond with them if you don't show them love and appreciation. And that bond will turn into trust.” Something it felt like the kid hadn't seen a lot of in his life. The realization pained him to think about, but there was nothing he could do about it if the child wasn't open to him.

“I don't get it....! What does any of that have to do with being the strongest Pokemon trainer there is?!”

Lance let out a half-chuckle, shaking his head. He didn't know how else to explain it to him, but... “I hope that one day you will be able to understand. Please let your Pokemon have some well-earned rest. Even with how poorly you treat them, they still made an effort, and deserve some time off. I think that you, as well, should take some time off to think about things. If you're ever near Blackthorn City, stop by the Dragon's Den. You might be able to find some answers there.”

That had been several years ago.

Silver had grown a lot since then. He had made friends, and re-connected with someone who had vowed to stay beside him. He had confronted his own father, the weak, spineless man who had abandoned him years and years ago, and while he hadn't exactly made peace with his feelings on the matter, it didn't eat him up inside to think about his old man like it used to.

That didn't exactly mean that days like today --where good-natured salesclerks brightly asked him about his plans for Father's day as part of their scripts, or tried to push a sale on him under the notion that he would be seeking a gift for or spending time with anyone who could even remotely be considered a dad-- were any easier or better than they had before. But as he watched Blue and Gold talk and laugh, as they sat around and ate the snacks that Blue brought them, it made him feel a little better to know that he had such good friends that stuck by him. Friends that trusted him, and people that he could.... rely on.

His hand reached into his pocket, absentmindedly tracing the edges of his cell phone.

“Hey, Silver?” Blue asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. He quickly pulled his hand out of his pocket, crossing his arms over his chest.

“...Yeah?”

“Can I borrow your phone real quick? I think I left mine at home and I wanna call to find it.”

Silver gave her a suspicious look. She was good at talking her way into and out of things, being sneaky while seemingly innocent. He looked over at Gold, who was busy playing with his own phone and feeding an Aipom he was training today.

“Can't you get Gold to do it?”

“Gold doesn't have my number saved and I don't remember it.” She gave him a plaintive, sad look.

“You don't-- What do you mean you don't remember your number!?”

She shrugged, looking at him sadly and innocently.

“Grrr....”

“Pleaaaaase? Pretty pleaaaase? It's just to call it!”

Silver had a feeling he was going to regret this. “...Fine.” He jammed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, shoving it at Blue. “Take it. Just don't do anything to it, and definitely do not give it to Gold.”

“Aye-aye!”

He rolled his eyes and turned towards his Pokemon, remembering Lance's words about raising them. He had learned how to love and care for them, from his time watching Gold in order to figure out what exactly made the trainer stronger than him, back when they were still kids. Now they were older, practically young adults, and he wondered what he would have thought of himself back then, if he saw who he had become now. No doubt he'd call himself another bleeding heart like he did Lance that one time... But his Pokemon were happier than they had ever been; his Golbat had evolved into a Crobat once he had learned how to change himself and his attitude towards his Pokemon. He had gone to the Dragon's Den a reviled child, but now he was considered respectable among his peers there. Even Clair had remarked on his change, and it was hard to get some good praise out of the easily jealous, haughty lady.

Blue nudged his phone back at him.

“Thanks! I found it! Turns out it was on vibrate in my bag the entire time!” She laughed at her foolish mistake, waving her phone in her hand.

“...You're welcome.”

“Oh cheer up! You did a good deed today! You helped an absolute damsel in distress.”

He rolled his eyes, and was about to speak, but a text notification on his phone went off, nearly startling him. He gave Blue and Gold a suspicious glare, but they only grinned at him.

“Oh? Wonder who that's from; Gold and I are already here, so I'm not sure who else would be texting you...”

“Shove off.” Based off his friends' grins, Silver had an idea of what had happened. He shoved the phone in his pocket without looking at it, turning away from his friends who were waiting expectantly for the chain of events that were about to happen. “It's probably some spam mail or something.”

“You didn't even look at it!”

“I don't need to look at it to know that it's spam!” he yelled. “You two are right here, as you said! Leave me alone!”

The two other trainers exchanged looks, and Blue sighed. “Fine, fine. So what have you guys been up to?”

Gold and Silver explained to Blue what they had been working on as far as training went, and Blue offered to join in. The two boys weren't about to turn her down, so the training regimen for that day was adjusted to allow for a third person, including a three-way battle amongst the trio. Curiosity had itched at Silver's mind. He had managed to put the text out of his mind by focusing on training, but now that they were having another break, their Pokemon cooling off in the nearby river, Silver couldn't help but wonder exactly what it was. He wasn't signed up for any text messaging offers like Blue was, and he didn't give his number out to just anyone, like Gold did. Silver looked over at his friends, who were busy chatting and dipping their feet into the cool riverbank.

Hmph. They sure are spending a lot of time talking to each other today, he thought with mild bitterness. He chided himself before the selfish, jealous thoughts could spiral, and looked at them once more. They were distracted enough that maybe... Maybe he could sneak a glance at the mystery message.

Silver slowly pulled out his phone, looking around quickly to make sure no one else was nearby. The teen took a deep breath, turned on his lock screen, and took at look at the name on the message preview.

Lance.

He immediately threw down his hand holding his phone, the screen turning back off. His face flushed immediately as he looked over at his friends, knowing exactly what had happened.

“Ho-oh damn these people with its Sacred Fire...” Silver muttered under his breath, trying to calm himself down. It could have been a coincidence, but he didn't believe in things like that. Okay. Fine. What did they send him?

He took a deep breath, and looked at his messages.

<<< Happy Father's Day

That's it. That's all they sent. He breathed a sigh of relief that it had been something simple, nothing big, silly, or extremely out of character for him to send; only to seize up once he realized what the implications were, since he was still very certain that Lance had no kids of his own, biological or otherwise. In a mixture of frenzy and fear, he looked at Lance's reply, worried that the Champion had questioned the message at all, or said something equally as embarrassing as the sheer fact that his friends sent this message at all. Silver's thoughts were rapidly trying to figure out how to escape any exchanges that could have happened, as he looked at Lance's response.

>>> Awe, thanks Silver. :-]

Silver stood there, stunned into confusion as his face flushed. He just.... accepted it? Didn't question it? Didn't press for more? There was no comment on if it was in relation to the implications of Silver sending it. There were a lot of people among the Dragon Clan who swore that the mentor-mentee relationship had evolved into one more familial, of a father and son, and he didn't seem phased at all by them being proven right, had the text been truly sent by him? But more importantly....

<<< What the fuck is :-]

Was that... supposed to be an emoji? A clown? Did it even mean anything? Silver was too embarrassed by the entire thing to even remember to deny any implications that the message could have given Lance, or any that the Champion could have inferred...

His phone's text notification went off almost immediately, and it startled the redhead out of his confusion as he quickly looked up to see if Gold or Blue had noticed what he was doing. He didn't see them by the riverbank anymore, or anywhere nearby, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Well... Whatever.” He looked at his phone again. An arm was suddenly swung over his shoulder, as Gold leaned against him, chin resting on his friend's shoulder.

“Soooooooooo, who was that message from?” Gold asked loudly, peering at the phone with the biggest grin on his face.

Silver scowled and tried to shove him away. “None of your business!”

But Gold held on as Silver struggled to push his friend away. In the process, Silver's phone dropped. Before the redhead could retrieve it, a purple flash ran by, swiping the phone in the process. Gold's Aipom had the phone gripped in the hand on its tail, waving it around playfully before passing it over to its trainer. Gold quickly unlocked the phone and read the message aloud.

“Awww, he said thanks! Aren't you lucky to have such a good dad in your life? He didn't even question it! It's almost like he knows.....”

“GOLD...”

Blue was standing by Gold, and read over the younger trainer's shoulder, before looking at Silver with a mock gasp. “Silver! You really use that language with him?”

“That's none of your concern!”

“Eh, I'm not surprised,” Gold said, as though Silver weren't right in front of them. “Though I'm surprised Lance didn't tell him something like to mind his language or anything. He seems like the kind of dad who would frown on cursing. What is that thing he put anyways? Oh, he replied! Let's see....... 'A smiley face'. What is he, fifty? Use an emoji like the rest of us. Or call it that...”

There was a pause. A devious smile crept onto Gold's face. “I'm gonna reply!”

“DON'T YOU DARE.”

“D...A....D, That's dad....  space... P...L...S..... please. There, sent!” He tossed Silver's phone back to him, darting away from Silver before he could lunge at him.

“I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!” Silver growled at Gold, who was busy laughing his ass off. Blue wasn't helping, as she was trying to stifle her own giggles. This was great. Just great. He loved his friends, but sometimes.... Sometimes he regretted being friends with them. This was one of those times.

“You--”

There was another text notification. Silver snarled at them, then quickly looked at the message to see what kind of damage had been done.

>>> Did you just type dad?

Hastily, Silver replied back, his face hot from embarrassment and ignoring his friends' teasing laughter, asking him to read Lance's response out loud.

<<< NO. MY PHONE AUTOCORRECTED

<<< YOU'RE NOT MY DAD

<<< I DON'T HAVE A DAD I WAS JUST BEING NICE

For some reason, he didn't have the heart to tell him that Gold and Blue had gotten a hold of his phone and sent those messages. As easier as it would have been to explain it, his flustered feelings had gotten in the way, and he found himself responding in a panic before he could even think about his responses. Silver's own panic had given a response to Lance that was possibly worse than telling him that his friends were pranking him and not Lance,which would have meant that there were no good feelings in the messages at all. He could have at least spared him that had he just been more honest and upfront about his feelings, but his own denial made it difficult to even see that he cared about what the older trainer had thought of him until it was too late.

Silver groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Arceus end me, please.”

He ignored his friends, shrugging them off when they gave him apologies for the teasing, asking what he had furiously texted back. Silver showed them, embarrassed, head hung as they read.

“You guys couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?” Silver snapped. He shook his head, realizing that was harsh. He knew they actually meant well, despite all of their teasing. They really were just trying to get him to open up and see that he had at least one potential paternal figure in his life that cared about him, that he could have had given the barest recognition to. Another groan escaped from Silver and he crouched down, embarrassed and ashamed of all the hard work that he had done thanks to Lance, resulting in this rejection of him. “...He's going to hate me now.”

“I don't know... He didn't seem to hate you when you met; actually, I remember him being concerned about you during the shutdown of the Mahogany hideout,” Gold said, trying to be helpful.

“Gold's right! He's helped you grow and change your life around so much! I think Lance knows you better than that. You're pretty tsundere after all.”

“Ugh. I hate it when you guys call me that.”

“Well, maybe you should stop being one!”

“Nah, if he did that, I don't think he'd be Silver!”

There wasn't a very long wait to find out, as Silver's phone now began to ring in his hands.

All three of them looked at the caller id at once.

“Oh.”

“Should I answer it?”

“What do you mean should you answer it. Do you really think he's going to just give up if you don't answer him? He knows that you're looking at your phone right now!!”

“I don't know! I've never had this issue until you guys made it a thing.”

“Hey, don't look at me! I told Gold it was a bad idea.”

“You still took part!”

“Guys...” Silver sighed loudly, trying to quiet down the squabbling. “I'm answering it.” The other two immediately shut up.

“Hey.” His voice was unsteady as he tried to play it cool, like his usual, detached self. The other two listened intently, trying to hear how the conversation was going. Silver turned away from them, going a few paces away.

“Y-yeah.... Sorry about that. ….Mhmm.... Yes... No, not like that! It's just...” There was a sigh and the other two trainers leaned in, straining their ears to hear as Silver walked away further from them. Blue pouted. Gold threw his hands behind the back of his head.

“Think we might'a pushed it a little too hard?” he asked Blue.

“Mmm.... Maybe? It's not good for him to pretend like he doesn't feel some sort of way towards his mentor. Lance really has been the father figure that Silv's lacked in his life. And I felt a little guilty for awhile that I got my parents back while he still... but the few times I've seen him with Lance, it's like... he actually has a parent for once? Even if Silver hates to admit it, he doesn't wanna let Lance down. He wants to surpass him, sure, but...” She frowned, looking at the silhouette of Silver in the distance. “He's probably wanted a better dad than what he had, and now that he has someone who could fit that bill,  he... doesn't think he's good enough for that? I don't know how to explain it. I just know he needed a push in the right direction and I'm pretty sure that Lance isn't gonna sign some adoption papers unless Silver wanted it. And,” she gestured in Silver's direction. “We all know how that would go if we don't.”

“Yeah, that sounds 'bout right for him. Well, maybe one day he'll feel okay. Maybe next year he might actually send him a text without us saying anything!”

Blue laughed. “Wouldn't that be nice? 'Hey Silver, did you remember to text your dad this year'?”

“ 'Yeah, I did, and he said I was a good son'--” Gold broke off, snorting in laughter. “Okay, okay. He probably wouldn't say that. But maybe we could try again next year. Who knows? Maybe by the time we're thirty, they'll have adoption papers.”

“Pffffft.”

The two broke off their chatter when they saw Silver heading back towards them. They watched as he approached, his expression surprisingly calmer than it had been the entire time they had spent together. He looked... relieved?

“Okay... Yeah. ….... Bye.” Silver put his phone away as he walked back towards his friends, the smug expression they were used to back on the redhead's face.

“What happened?”

“What'd Lance say?”

“...Heh. You two are in sooooo much trouble.”

[whale-shark-queen]

I have to know. How did you beat the full-force battle in N's event? I've got several good characters above level 100, but I can only get 1 trainer to faint after using all 9 of my sync pairs.

Okay here is what I can remember of my strat, but I feel it won't be too helpful to some since I've been playing since the beginning and gotten really, REALLY lucky with my rolls, all of my sync pairs being level 125 and their sync grids kitted out as much as I could. I'll also point out some alternative helpful trainers at the end! The orders I say the trainers names in at first is what order I put them in from left to right, with the right most trainer being the 1st target and your wall, left most being 2nd which will usually be support, and middle being main striker.

But just incase, TLDR; your main goal for your first team should be to focus only on getting rid of all the side trainers apart from using sync moves on the middle trainer, 2nd team should be to finish off Aerodactyl and whittle down as much of Kingdra as possible, and final team to do as much DPS to finish off Kingdra and Kabutops as fast as possible. Best of luck!

Full personal strat below.

SS Kanto Trio is up first, with Leaf, Red and Blue. Use razor leaf to lower their defense and poison them, buff Red, and Blue's buffs asap, and take out the side trainers first. Aerodactyl is annoying as hell, but there's no point focusing on it with meagre attacks when you can easily take out the side peeps so you can focus on the middle trainers. Only ever use sync moves on the middle ones apart from, of course, razor leaf, and the occasional heat wave of Red's if both side trainers are low enough for that to take them both out at once. Blue's sync move powers up the higher his defense has been buffed and Leaf's against poisoned opponents, but they do piss poor damage compared to Red's. But, you'll want to do Leaf, then Blue, THEN Red's sync moves in that order. Why? I can't remember what if any buff Leaf gives when she mega evolves but Blue's gives a free endure for the whole team, which will be useful when your team is starting to get worn out, and you don't wanna waste it early on when it can save you later on.

The chances are you'll get through all but maybe one of the side trainers, and about a quarter of the aerodactyl's health. Don't panic! You can get the badge even if 6 sync pairs get knocked out. It just means you'll have to save the best till last and keep all 3 alive, and the best way to do that is to wipe out the side trainers first so you can use your main powerhouses to whittle away the middle trainers as fast as possible.

My 2nd team is Rosa, Barry and Skyla. Rosa has been made 6 star EX from the free rally a little while back but we won't be using her as much, because Barry has my utmost favourite Pokemon, I poured all my tickets into him from the very beginning, so he's a maxed out 5 star for me (since he doesn't have a 6 star ex yet) and I've buffed his sync move to 4/5 using 3 star candies. The idea here is to buff the fuck outta Barry so he can melt through the opponent's health with bubble beam and his sync move. Rosa can use giga drain in a pinch, but your main DPS will be Barry. The 2nd middle trainer has Kingdra that can use rain dance which will be extra helpful for Barry since of course, bubble beam and his sync move are water type moves, it's their own undoing. If you're lucky and managed to get rid of all the side trainers you will most likely be able to get through Aerodactyl with ease and get through most of Kingdra's health. But again, don't panic if it seems you haven't done too much. So long as you've gotten all the side trainers and Aerodactyl out of the way, you're on track. This is why we save the best for last.

My final trio is Hilda, N and Hilbert. And yes, it's an incredibly reckless team, but your focus should be DPS. All three for me have the Unova theme skill maxed out as well as Hilda and Hilbert having the main character theme skill maxed out, and N has the 'unbending' lucky skill, which means that when he uses his 'ideals will prevail!' ability, it won't lower his defense. Which is pretty OP. But he is still a glass cannon to use, especially in this setup, unless you have him buffed to atleast 3/5 (which can be done with 5 star move candies, not just rerolling him) and unlocked the part of his sync grid which also prevents him from getting confused after using outrage. Which is INSANELY OP.

The idea here is to basically just have N and Hilda finish off the final trainer(s) before they can any of your team. My strat: have N use both his X attacks while Hilbert uses X speed all, and Hilda use flame charge twice to get her speed up 2 (keep an eye on the icone above their health bars! When a stat gets raised it gets a bit bigger with a number showing you what it's at so you don't waste moves) so that after Hilbert uses both his X speeds, she will be at 6 speed so she can use her ability thing that basically raises her attack the same as her speed level. At this point your sync move should be ready, but if not you'll probably wanna sneak in a quick 'ideals will prevail' and an outrage to get an extra little kick out of that move against Kingdra since the super effective buff doesn't apply if you use it after a sync move.

After your first sync move, your priorities should be; keep Hilbert alive with Hilda's potions; her sync grid can give her a passive that gives her one free heal per battle if she reaches a certain point so you don't need to worry about her too much at first. Hilbert should only exclusively use waterfall to try and get a flinch on the opponent. It'll do basically no damage but preventing the opponent from attacking is vital. Hilda can do okay damage with flame charge at this point, though it's IMPERATIVE you have her sync grid things that lessen recoil unlocked. All of them, or she'll just KO herself. N will be the trickiest to work around.

If you have him at 3/5 and his prevent confusion thing applied OR you sacrifice the potential lucky skill spot to prevent lowered defense for a prevent confusion you won't have as much trouble, otherwise it's a bit up to luck once you've used outrage once. Using Hilbert's other ability that I forget the name of that can raise team attack based on his own health can be useful to top up N's attack if he doesn't trigger his MP regen on X attack up (stats can go up a maximum of 6)

And uh...yeah, that's my personal strategy. And again I know this won't be at all helpful to some so even though I didn't use them in this particular battle I'll give some alternative trainer shout outs that I know can be super helpful if used right;

- Serena has an AOE sleep move which is super helpful as support

- Clemont is pretty OP since parabolic charge not only hits all opponents but heals him massively too, same for electroweb hitting all opponents and lowering their speed.

- Cheryl is pretty amazing support; she has x special attack all and her other ability heals a team member as well as raises their defense

- Forget paralysis and confusion and look for anyone who can do burn, poison, sleep or trap for your first team, since even if an opponent finishes off your team, if they have burn, poison or trap, they will still be hurt by that after your team get KO'd. It won't carry over to the other teams but it's still an extra chunk of damage that can be a lifesaver.

There's probably more indepth guides on the subreddit for Pokemon Masters, and I know this will be useless for some but that was my strategy and some tips. I hope it helps, and best of luck!!

[super-trouper]

Wayhaven Week 2020 Day 4

Pairing: Felix/F!Detective (Grace Buckley) Prompt: Tranquil/Thrill Note: 90% of this is just my detective fawning over Felix and you know what? It’s what he deserves.

--

Adam would be proud of him, Grace thinks, amused, as she watches Felix frown in concentration, fully absorbed in his task. He’s taken to the new information like a fish to water and Grace’s heart swells with affection for the vampire at her side. The two have spent the entire afternoon with her explaining everything and running him through the basics, and she struggles to think of an instance she’s seen him more focused on learning; it’s inexplicably adorable.

“Babe!” Felix jumps suddenly, jolting her out of her thoughts. “Look at that, my Pidove evolved!”

Then again, she doubts Adam would approve the focus of that intense concentration is Pokemon, of all things.

This raises another curious thought if Adam even knows what Pokemon is, but that’s a question for another day. Right now, Grace can’t really pay attention to anything but Felix, which, in general, seems to be the case quite often. She shifts around to prop her chin on his shoulder and glances down at her old 3DS in his hands.

“Wait, you have a shiny Tranquill?”

He does his best to shift his head around and look at her. “What’s a shiny Tranquill?”

They haven’t covered the topic of shinies yet, mostly because Grace didn’t think it was essential information, but now here Felix is, with a shiny on his very first time playing the game. She would be more surprised, really, but it only serves to confirm something she’s known for a while now; Felix is no ordinary man in a way that has nothing to do with the fact he isn’t human.

She can’t stop herself from pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and basks in the way a familiar grin spreads on his lips.

“I think I like that whole shiny Tranquill thing.” He winks at her, or at least does his best to with their faces so close together, before adding, “No, but really. What is it?”

“Well, basically, a shiny is just a regular pokemon with different colouring. They’re usually pretty rare, though. Less than a 1% chance to get one.”

Felix’s eyes gleam. “I guess I’m just that lucky then,” he says, and as he meets her eye once again, his gaze so warm and affectionate, it’s hard not to think he means more than just Pokemon. Grace can’t stifle a smile.

“Keep it up and you’ll be the very best in no time at all,” she reassures, referencing the show’s theme song. They listened to it earlier and Felix seems to enjoy it very much, if their impromptu karaoke sessions throughout the afternoon are of any indication.

They continue playing for some time, with Grace’s head remaining propped up on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around him. Despite her excitement over the existence of the supernatural world, she finds she enjoys those quiet, mundane moments with Felix just as much. Not that moments with him can usually qualify as ‘quiet’, but his voice is quickly becoming one of her favourite sounds so it’s not like she minds.

The game seems to be going well too. By the time he reaches Slateport City, Felix has assembled one of the cutest teams she’s ever seen, which makes the following exchange inevitable, really, when she thinks of it.

“Wait, contests? You never mentioned that!” he says as if she’s committed a personal offence against him and in retrospect, yeah, she thinks she should’ve figured he’d be interested in that.

“They’re not really a thing in most of the other games,” she admits somewhat sheepishly. “I guess I just sorta forgot.”

“They’re not? Why not? I wanna show off my adorable pokemon.”

“To be honest, contests were pretty crappy back in the day. It was just piling accessories on top of your pokemon and hoping for the best.” Felix’s expression tells her her explanation’s done nothing to discourage him and Grace laughs. “Trust me, it sounds a lot more fun than it is.”

“But in this one it’s better?”

“Definitely. And you know, I don’t think I ever collected all the ribbons in any of my playthroughs.”

Naturally, Felix absolutely cannot move on until he has all of them. His journey to becoming the very best is quickly sidelined in favour of becoming top coordinator and honestly, as long as he’s having fun Grace is happy. Late afternoon seamlessly bleeds into early evening, but neither of them pays any particular attention to the change outside, much too wrapped up in their little bubble of joy and casual domesticity.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Grace thinks about how she could never enjoy moments like these with Bobby. He never really showed interest in any of her hobbies, much less tried them out himself. And she’s not in the habit of thinking about Bobby, usually, but with how much he’s inserted himself back into her life as of late, it seems inevitable not to notice how much he falls short when compared to her new boyfriend.

Boyfriend. The mere word is enough to send her heart into a flutter and Grace snuggles deeper into Felix at the feeling.

“This is taking so long,” he complains as he fails to win another ribbon. “How did Chaz beat me? My Tranquill is way cuter than his Mychoke.”

“Machoke,” Grace corrects with a smile. “Why don’t you make some pokeblocks and feed them to Tranquill? That should give you an extra edge in the first round.”

Felix takes her advice and in the next contest, he manages to beat Chaz by a few points.

“Ha!” He pulls away from Grace in order to fully turn around and face her. His grin is wide, his amber eyes practically sparkling, and Grace already feels an answering smile tug at her lips, a subconscious response to his excitement. “Gracie, you’re a genius.”

“I do take great pride in my Pokemon knowledge.” She laughs but pulls him in for a quick kiss anyway. At the very least, it’s supposed to be a quick kiss but once their lips touch, she can’t help but get distracted and the kiss lingers.

A part of her marvels at how no matter how many times they kiss, it still never fails to give her butterflies. She doesn’t consider herself particularly sappy or overly romantic, but with Felix, everything just feels more meaningful and exciting.

“We should do that more often,” he grins at her once they part.

“What, kiss?”

“Well, yeah, definitely that too. But I meant more the whole ‘spending time together without crazy killers or deadly illnesses lurking around’.”

Once again she smiles, something she seems to do a lot around Felix. “I’d like that. And technically, we still haven’t even had an official first date.”

He blinks as though the thought has only now occurred to him. “Let’s go on a date then.”

“Right now?”

“Why not?”

Well. No time like the present, Grace supposes and nods along, giddiness rising in her chest. “Okay. Sure. Let’s go on a date.”

A familiar cheeky grin spreads on Felix’s lips and makes his entire face light up; Grace is pretty sure her heart skips a beat.

“This is going to be the best date ever,” he says and she has no doubt he’s right.

--

Tranquill: a dual-type Normal/Flying Pokémon that evolves from Pidove starting at level 21.

@otomefandomevents

[annsparksthegmr]

Pokemon Black Nuzlocke - Part 4

Hello! Surprise everyone I got another Nuzlocke update. And for a quick minor spoiler. I tackled two Gyms down in the next part. Might surprise you but I got a feeling the last two Gyms may pose a challenge. But you can read more below!

Back into we go with a Vanillite encounter at the Cold Storage. Once again, I caught a female one and decided to name her BananSplit. Totally spelt it wrong but that shall be her name for now on. Then I went inside of the building to go deal with Team Plasma and level up my team. After that I went to the Gym, watched Ghetsis truly do “totally not villainous” things before busting down the door to challenge his Gym. After buying a bunch of Moomoo Milks because they are surprisingly affordable for the time being.

I managed to reach Clay with no casualties. But then came our battle and immediately after his Krokorok used Swagger, he got a critical hit Bulldozer which Captain thankfully survived. I switched into Queen to handle the incoming Palpitoad and heal Captain back up. Queen then easily took out Palpitoad, but then came Excadrill. Which I’ve heard can be an end runner if I wasn’t careful - or at least I thought so. My main goal was to use Leech Seed and have Queen slowly take it out. After all, she resists most of its moves besides Slash. And I can switch into Captain if her HP gets too low. But thankfully Leech Seed secured the victory after using a hefty Grass Knot.

Another Gym secured with no casualties! I am so happy for my team. Queen and Captain really helped pull their weight. It might be because I get over prepared at times. Maybe a bit too much with items, but I feel like it's fair to use items. I headed to Route 6 and had a battle with Bianca. Not sure if I was supposed to do this before the Gym Battle, as all my team was around level 30 and her team was level 28. But she was easy to deal with.

Route 6 arrived so far all I am getting are Vanillites, which I use dupes to ignore for another. I understand it is because I am playing in winter so most options don’t appear. But I ended up running into a Foongus. A male one, who I decided to cheekily name Voltorb for the encounter. Never really going to use it right now but it shall hang out in the box.

Clay opened the way to Chargestone Cave and I got the TM Bulldoze. And I remember why I like Clay so much. Just like with all the other Gym Leaders. Oh, also N sent ninjas - I mean Shadow Triad - so we could chat. Here comes when N reveals Cheren is ideals, Bianca is truth and the main protagonist is somewhere in between. And it's kind of scary after N apparently walks off and teleports away then Bianca and Professor Juniper appear to explain the floating blue gemstone mechanic. I really miss stuff like this. I get the Lucky Egg and manage to find my encounter for Chargestone Cave - a Klink. Never got one of them before, so I nicknamed it Geartown.

After defeating more of Team Plasma I finally fought against N. We beat him no problem. I arrived in Mistralton City. Skyla had her little speech which led me to Route 7. On the way, Odette evolved into a beautiful Swanna. And I got my encounter as a double - with a male Watchhog and a female Cubchoo. I decided to go with the Cubchoo because I have found memories of my Beartic on my first one. Plus, if memory serves - a Beartic can learn some potential HMs. I named the adorable Cubchoo Snowball and she’ll rest in the PC until I need her.

Arriving at Celestial tower, I climbed up to the top and on my way caught a male Litwick. Decided to name Gracey after Master Gracey - neat Haunted Mansion reference because why not. At the very least, if Ramona faints before I reach the end I can use him. Or if the Modest nature on Ramona becomes too big of a problem to ignore. Plus Ramona also has Hustle as an ability. Though speaking of Ramona, she evolved into a Darmanitan. I reached the top and rang the bell. I really miss stuff like this. But a quick check of the PC revealed how both my Fire-Types have their natures lowering their respective attack/special attack. Whelp. Guess I have to wait and hope Reshiram will have a decent nature.

But now, I’m about to do something risky. I’m going to take down Skyla’s Gym at the same time. I already have a decent pick of Pokemon already prepared for this. Which hopefully, she won’t be too much trouble. By the way, what are the odds of a Trandquill getting off three Detects in a row? Just curious. There were no problems and with my confidence boosted so high in the sky, I challenged Skyla to showcase the power and potential of my Nuzlocke team. And I’d like to say, Pebbles and Zigzagzop clearly brought Skyla down to ground level.

Two gyms down a single update? I might be getting a bit too cocky, considering how N nearly spooked me as I exited the Gym. He wanted to chat with Pebbles - and seriously N, call Pebbles by her nickname and not Boldore. She takes great offense after defeating Skyla. He left about spouting about the Light and Dark Stones.

I plan to end things on this high note for the time being! I am only slightly considered regarding the next two Gyms. Brycen is Ice-Type, but with Ramona I feel okay with challenging it. But the bonus of Ramona getting Sheer Force now, I’m fairly confident in her performance. Though I may train up Gracey a bit, since I don’t think having Zigzagzop would be totally okay. My Zebstrika might have Flame Charge, but I don’t think it would help out as much as another Fire Type. 

Though after that will come the final Gym Leader. Who I currently have is either an Ice or Dragon Type in my party. Meaning that Drayden could honestly kick my butt if I went with how I had now. *has flashbacks to his Gym Battle* His Haxorus is scary… I do, at the very least, have BananSplit and Snowball currently relaxing in my PC. I may have to plan to do some extensive level grinding to get up prepared for that challenge. If I don’t end up suffering any unsuspecting battles which end up taking out members of my team.

Maybe it is my experience with casually playing Pokemon and trying to keep a balanced team of Pokemon which has me pretty much not having any deaths so far. Though, I won’t be surprised if an upcoming battle decides to add a bunch into the death category. But for now, I played enough for the time being. Next time, I plan to at the very least challenge Brycen or hopefully get a considerable chunk of the way through to the eighth Gym. Not entirely sure if I’d be up to face Drayden - since I am playing Pokemon Black, which means no Iris fight. 

But overall for my team, I can’t help but feel extremely proud of them so far. I knew for the later Gyms, Queen would have to practically be benched since Grass does not fare well against Flying, Ice or Dragon Type Pokemon. But she still carries herself well otherside of Gym Battles. Pebbles was definitely a surprise pick who I thought I’d bench her right after Lenora’s Gym. But this girl’s been proving her weight with her massive defenses enough where I want to keep her around. (And I swear if Pebbles dies, I will actually cry. She may not be able to fully evolve but I’ve grown attached to my rock). Zigzagzop was meant to be dropped after Elesa’s Gym, but he’s actually been proving himself with this latest Gym to keep around. I feel like he has a strong friendship with Pebbles considering I got them back to back. (Even with the funny Jaiden Animation reference.) Captain has been… well, I don’t really like his final evolution but having the Water/Ground typing makes him a good enough tank and Water-Type Pokemon to have on the team. Even if Odette is on the team. He might end up being Boxed, but it may just depend how things go. And Odette has already been showcasing why I needed a Flying-Type Pokemon on my team. Even if she is x4 weak to Electric. Even after fully evolving, she’s already showcasing her worth. 

The only dilemma I have will have to be addressed soon. But I really hope even with losing Puppy and Fountain, I won’t have to say goodbye to anyone through a death. I expect to have to switch some out for the upcoming Gyms. Until next time though, which, I do plan to draw what my final team will end up being. And who knows? Maybe I’ll end up finishing the main story of Pokemon Black right on Christmas? Wouldn’t that be a treat? 

Smell ya later!

Team Recap:

Queen - Female Servine (Lvl 35)

Pebbles - Female Boldore (Lvl 36)

Zigzagzop - Male Zebstrika (Lvl 36)

Captain - Male Palpitoad (Lvl 35)

Ramona - Female Darmanitan (Lvl 35)

Odette - Female Swanna (Lvl 35)

In Box/Reserve:

Ghost Girl - Female Liepard (Lvl 20)

Cassandra - Female Sandile (Lvl 21)

Trashie - Female Trubbish (Lvl 22)

Lowen - Male Cottonee (Lvl 20)

Lady - Female Minccino (Lvl 23)

BananSplit - Female Vanillite (Lvl 21)

Voltorb - Male Foongus  (Lvl 23)

Geartown - Klink (Lvl 26)

Snowball - Female Cubchoo (Lv 30)

Gracey - Male Litwick (Lvl 26)

Deaths: 2

Fountain - Male Sampour (Lvl 15)

Puppy - Female Herdier (Lvl 25)