#shroomish is okay. the only thing i can really say about them is that i love kinogassa— what the fuck is its english name

[front-facing-pokemon]

[akirameta84]

Warning: This is VERY LONG. i got carried away.

"hey don't you have a wip fic for another au?" yeah shush i have a new idea that's not as fleshed out (after writing that turned out to be a lie) as the chunibyo one but i had to share it.

its in every fandom, but Saiki K Pokemon Au time. it's always cliche but who cares its amazing.

Kaido is the mc. for sure. he chooses a froakie because the professor (its kusuke, he's totally it) said it was a dark and mysterious as him. at first he's disappointed by the frog but once it evolves he starts loving it. him and greninja wear matching outfits. he tied red wrist wraps on its arms and he wears a pink scarf.

nendo is his rival lmao. he met him when kaido left with his first pokemon and challenged him to a battle, immediatly. he said loser has to buy the other persons ramen. "but i dont even know you??" "oh. well lets be friends, runt!" "you just asked to fight me???" nendo uses an eevee because his mom gave it to him when he was young. kaido wins because nendo didnt use a single attacking move. he just used sand attack and growl. the battle lasted 10 minutes because kaido kept missing.

now with his newly self proclaimed rival, after going to eat ramen, kaido sets out on his journey. i like to imagine a region with just every pokemon cause its cool that way. kaido mainly looks for fighting type pokemon, and a few dark types, and it takes him a bit to realize that this is probably a bad strategy and that he isnt finding anything, as cool as they are. he catches a shroomish, not knowing it became a type he wanted, because he was impressed with it's "battle capabilities" because it survived an attack that had fainted others. he names it doomslayer cause he's such an edgelord.

somewhere along the way nendo finds him and says that he's going to challenge a gym, and that kaido should join him. kaido agrees because "oh yeah, thats why im on this journey" and they go to the first gym.

The first gym is ghost type, run by toritsuka. why is he first? cause he's prolly not very good at battling and he knows it. the gym itself would be very foggy, and kaido has to traverse it to get to toritsuka. along the way toritsuka has spirits tell him where kaido is, and he'll release a pokemon near there for him to battle, and this happens 2 times. Torisuka himself uses 2 pokemon, a Litwick and a Galarian Yanmask. both are female, obviously. kaido absolutely demolishes these two pokemon, with his water and grass type, seeing as they're part fire and ground. first badge complete.

surpsingly, nendo also beats this gym, mainly because eevee can use bite. guess he figured out how to use attacking moves lmao. also yes ik bite is learned at 25, and rn they're at like lv 12 but shh. he found a tm or smt. it also helps thst toritsuka could barely hit nendos eevee due to the ghost and normal type thing.

nendo tries to travel with kaido, but kaido usually manages to worm his way away from him. he usually gets away whenever nendo challenges someone else and they have to tell him that he can't catch someone else's pokemon.

second gym is chiyo's gym. she uses grass types, and her gym is covered in flowers, trees, and it looks like a forest. the puzzle itself is rather simple. the floor is covered in large flowers, and you have to step on the correct ones or get sent back to the start. i like to imagine a giant vine yeeting kaido. chiyo also forgot to write clues over which ones are correct and ends up helping kaido, and winds being endeared by his determination. chiyo uses a Fomantis and a Petilil, because she thinks they're cute. kaido actually struggles quite a bit because he brings a water type and a grsss type. he wins in the end though, because chiyo ends up lovestruck and forgets to attack. she daydreams about inviting him to run the gym with her because he's so talented in her eyes, but he leaves before she can ask, grass badge in hand.

after chiyo's gym, kaido's froakie evolves into Frogadier, and he cries. in-between gyms again, kaido catches a rockruff because it was cute and it whined when he tried to walk away after battle. again, kaido catching types he likes without even knowing, provided his rockruff evolves at nightime. he names it Decimator. at this point i place kaido's levels at 19-21 ish, and close to rockruff and shroomish evolving.

next gym is hairo's and surprise surprise, it's a fire type gym. his gym his very, very intense. he has actual jets of fire lining his gym. there's no puzzle because he believes in just battling for victory or whatever, kaido didn't catch it behind the roar of the fire jets. kaido just walks along a pathway and gets challenged to battle by 3 randoms. i like to imagine one of them is nendo, and its never discussed. he has a fire type and everything, and its just not brought up. he's back to his single eevee after this too. kaido also wins with relative ease, considering he has a water type and rock type, although he makes the mistake of sending shroomish out at some point, but makes a clutch switch after it survives a flamethrower. fire badge obtained.

right after this, his shroomish evolves into breloom and he cries again. he gets very happy when his pokemon evolve. and also, after a few random encounters, his rockruff also evolves. its day form because kaido is a clueless baby. he still loves it all the same. at some point nendo challenges kaido with a single pokemon again, but this time it's a leafeon. kaido asks how he knew to evolve it, and he just says he battled next to some funny looking rock and it changed. of course. it actually manages to oko Frogadier because kaido wasnt expecting anything other than an eevee, but his breloom deals with it easily, because nendo kept using not very effective grass moves because it worked once. how does he have 3 badges again? nobody knows. level 25-27 now.

next gym is saiko's, and he uses normal types because all the other types were "too needy for someone like him." he's got 2 Persians and a Toucannon. he tried to use 3 persians but he was told that he needed something else just in case someone brought a fighting type by his dad. so he grabbed the first wild bird he found and evolved it. saiko doesnt have a puzzle, and instead just has an elevator that you can pay 5000 Pokedollars to use, otherwise you have to take the stairs like a pleb. Kaido takes the stairs because he's keeping his money dammit. its only 3 stories until saiko's floor, so it's really not much. Kaido sweeps easily with breloom until toucannon comes out. breloom gets slaughtered by a flying type move, and he sends out lycanroc to finish it. normal badge complete.

when he next sees nendo, he has a meowth with his leafeon. kaido asks where he got it, and nendo says he found it near the rich looking gym. kaido concludes that nendo accidently stole a pokemon and they go to return it. saiko says that the plebs can have it as a reward for defeating him, and dismisses them. levels 30-33.

5th gym! mera runs this one, and there isn't a type. she has an Alcremie, Appletun, Cherubi, and a Vannilish. what can i say, girl loves her food. kaido is genuinely concerned that she is gonna eat her pokemon though. the challenge is cooking. kaido has to cook curry, and if its bad, he fights a trainer, up to 3 times. if its good he gives it to mera and moves on the next curry. the actual battle goes okay, but its fairly difficult due to not having a single type, and being unpredictable. obviously he wins in the end, and the badge is a bowl of curry.

frogadier evolves into greninja finally, and they have the matching outfits going on. nendo laughs at it. somewhere nendo also got an applin. kaido is fairly sure he took this one from mera as well, but he decides to let it go, and tell nendo how he can evolve it. he doesn't think nendo understood, but he tried. kaido also realizes he only has 3 pokemon, and decides to find two more. he finds a braixen, which he evolves into delphox. her name is Lucifer's Eternal Flames. Lucy for short. he also catches a noibat. the noibat was caught because he got lost in a cave, and the noibat was leading him out, so he decided he couldn't just leave it there. he names it the Jet Bat Wings. yes im doing that and yes its hilarious. levels 37-39.

gym 6. fighting type, and its kuboyasu. he tried to leave behind his violent days behind him, and become a poison type gym, but eventually gave in and did fighting instead. after he had already dyed his hair purple for the colorscheme. he kept the fighting gym purple because he already commited dammit. 4 pokemon, and hes got Toxicroak (yes ik the irony), Lucario, Grapploct, and Pangoro. greninja faints quickly, and so does lycanroc, but after some paralysis tricks with breloom and delphox sweeping the rest, pangoro comes in and ko's delphox. noibat pulls through in the end, with flying type moves. fighting badge earned.

next battle with nendo, and it turns out he actually evolved applin, and now he's got a flapple. kaido is midly impressed. kaido catches his 6th and final pokemon, an absol. he was overjoyed when he finally got another dark type. he names it Fluffy. yes, the dark type doesnt get an edgy name. levels 44-46, there was a longer gap in between the 6th and 7th gyms. oh also, you may be wondering about an evil team in this au. and my answer is....¯\_(ツ)_/¯

gym 7. Fairy type. Teruhashi. you knew she'd be coming eventually. and yes i saved the characters people prolly wanna know about until last haha. and because i think they fit the more difficult gyms. girl's got 5 pokemon, Mimikyu (i think it fits her fake perfect girl personality), Slyveon, Gardevoir, Florges, and Magearna. how does she have a legendary? prolly cause she's perfect and just asked for it, and someone actually found one. No puzzle here, but having to find his way through the mobs of teruhashi fans is prolly hard enough. Kaido actually has to try this gym several times due to him lacking anything good againist fairies. he gets it eventually though, and teruhashi has to reassure her fans that it's okay that she lost before they murder kaido. fairy badge down.

at this point kaido has no clue how nendo keeps getting gym badges. he has 3 pokemon, and one isn't even evolved. especially considering how easily Kaido himself can beat him. kaido I shrug it off as the plothole it usually is in pokemon games. levels 47-50. Noibat evolves into Noivern, and kaido has himself a pretty strong team. Greninja, Delphox, Absol, Lycanroc, Noivern, Breloom. although he has just been choosing based on personal preference, it turnes out nicely. and yes I'm padding this out cause y'all know what gym is next.

Gym number 8. The psychic type gym, run by Saiki and Aiura. It doesn't get more cliche than this. The challenge in this one is a maze. There's no extra trainers here, instead Kaido fights Aiura everytime he encounters her. She only uses 1 Pokemon in these battles because they happen a lot. Kaido wonders how she keeps finding him, let alone getting through the maze so easily when there's walls everywhere. He brushes it off as her just knowing the layout. battle itself happens, and it's a double battle. they each have 3 pokemon. Saiki has a ditto, espeon, and an alolan raichu (because he thought it was cute) Aiura mainly runs the support side of the team, and she's got a female meowstic, alakazam, and reuniclus, and wishes she had a cuter team, but she makes it work. This is prolly Kaido's second hardest gym. not harder than teruhashi's because he had no advantages, unlike this one where he's got several dark types. the battle is hard because they know exactly what kaido is gonna do. the minute he sends out his breloom to get a cheap paralysis, out comes ditto. the breloom ditto nearly wipes out both dark types, but noivern takes care of it, only to meet a sad demise at the hands of raichu, despite the dragon advantage. he's able to win on his second try, after he refused to send out breloom due to the fact that they just seem to know his next move. it creeped him out. Psychic badge done.

nendo tries to take saiki out for ramen with him and kaido after his gym fight, declaring him his best buddy, and it's not explained why nendo decided this. nendo eventually wins the argument and they get ramen. kaido notices saiki looks disturbed everytime he looks at nendo, but brushes it off as "yeah he disturbs me too." they part ways and onto victory road because im still mourning how there wasn't one in sword and shield. after victory road, kaido is nearing level 60 on everyone.

elite four? eheh i don't know who'd make it up. prolly 4 previous gym leaders with fully evolved teams and more pokemon. not tlo worries about them tho.

Kaido bests the elite four, and marches on to the champion.

Champion Akechi. Full team of 6 Pokemon, and he's a formidable opponent. He's able to easily predict what moves are going to be used next, and always has type advantage. Although, unlike before, while difficult to do, it is possible to do something unpredictable to trip him up, which is the only way Kaido is able to win. His team consists of Serperior, Glaceon, Gyrados, Ninetales, Togekiss (it's just there to be annoying, it can barely attack, and akechi did this to be a nuisance so he can't be clean sweeped), and Mew. Again, I love unexplained lengendaries on teams okay. To Kaido, it seems like with enough switching, he could easily defeat Akechi, but Akechi is very good at predicting. So againist Akechi, it's like the team as been catered specifically to beat Kaido. But, knowing him, it likely was. It takes him ages to beat Akechi. Like literal ages. The only saving grace is Akechi can get tripped up if Kaido is unpredictable enough. It's likely a mixture of that and para hscks that lets him win, and Kaido is champion. Nendo did try to challenge him (somehow beating the elite four) but was beaten. I love how the rivals always beat everything but then get horribly beaten by you.

Holy shit this is longer than i thought it would be. I have been writing this for literal hours. Hope you enjoyed. This is what my brain had inspiration for today apparently, instesd of the fic im working on.

Hadn't seen too much Pokemon stuff for saiki k yet, so tada. and yes, i came up with most of this while writing. the only idea i had before i started writing was the saiki and aiura gym

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 2]

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

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

Breathing Pokemon:

Boeing (Latios)

Frogger (Seismitoad)

Timon (Tepig)

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

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

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

Welp.

....

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

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

Congratulations, Boeing.

You’re temporarily useful.

Grass! Beautiful grass!

Also Team Plasma.

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

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

Or will the grass pursue us.

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

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

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

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

Victory!

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

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

Your name shall be... Grape.

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

Such thought. Much wow.

I think it’s time for healing and grinding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now I should be able to go.

Ha. I have conquered the plot barrier.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whoops.

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

Okay.

Back to making forward progress, hopefully.

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

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

Okay, let’s go squad.

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

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

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

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

Let’s see what we get!

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

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

!

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

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

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

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

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

I’m sorry, what.

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

...

Oh.

It knows Aurora Beam.

It got a critical hit.

Grape was only a few points off of full health.

There was no way to know.

This is really sad.

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

The exp grass is a dangerous place.

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

It’s too late.

Grape is a raisin.

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

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

Oh hey we found something already.

Okay, I can roll with that.

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

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

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

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

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

Boeing could you please just learn something good. Please.

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

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

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

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

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

Grape casts a long shadow already.

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

!!!!!

It’s. Grape’s replacement.

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

Yesssssss.

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

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

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

Wow. That’s a nice collection.

Oh hey and this happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then the very first trainer has a level 17 Patrat.

I feel less silly in my decisions.

Followed by a level 17 Herdier.

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

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

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

Heals, then fight. This should be fine.

I want this office.

Ready... FIGHT!

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

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

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

I remembered she had this one.

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

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

Uh.

Huh.

Fuck?

That’s. Wow, okay.

Watchdog with Retaliate. Awesome.

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

Of course it has Hypnosis.

It’s so red. So close.

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

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

Geez this is scary.

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

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

Switched to Palm and now Palm’s asleep.

Switching back to Frogger.

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

What in the fuck.

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

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

Not worth it.

Lenora I don’t like you anymore.

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

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

I don’t know and care even less.

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

...Bye.

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

Next Gym gets grinding. No complaints.

[twilightsunclan-fr]

reality tackles Disco like Ophrys does aggron

Disco had built a rather elaborate image of Ophrys in his mind. Adding or taking away from it each time Ivory gave him a new piece of information. It was understandable the picture he had drawn from the short talks he’d had with Ivory.

What he knew about Ophrys was:

-Named after a flower

-Blind from a childhood accident

-Owned and operated a berry farm.

-Loved grass types

-had a service pokemon, a chikorita named Bean.

-Baked poke puffs as a hobby. (and what poke puffs they were.)

-packed meticulous care packages for Ivory and his entire team.

None of these things remotely warned Disco for reality. None of them even hinted at the truth.

And the truth was. The truth was Ivory looking across the sooty remains of the campfire one morning and asking:

“Hey, is it okay if I take a few days off while you go into the village? Rhys’ place is nearby and I wanna spend some time with him.” Which was an entirely reasonable request. They were about half way done with their survey and ahead of schedule too. There wasn’t any reason not to grant Ivory some time to visit his boyfriend. Though this did give Disco the perfect excuse to actually see the mysterious Ophrys.

“Would it be okay if I came too?” He asked, adjusting the straps of his backpack. Slightly nervous. This was very much beyond the territory of employee and employer but lines sometimes got blurred on the road. And Disco was curious dammit.

“Hold on, lemme ask him.” Ivory pulled out his phone, thumbs already moving as he texted. (That had been another clue, that Disco completely ignored. He never heard Ivory calling Ophrys nor did he ever hear Ophrys call Ivory, they always texted.) “He’s really, really shy.” Which also did not help change Disco’s mental version of Ophrys as a slim, brown haired boy with a basket of berries on his hip.

Of course such a person, being blind and managing a farm so far from the nearest city would be shy. It was probably his sweet, gentle personality. The person who took such time hand packing those care packages with such attention to detail, could only have a caring, bordering on mothering personality.

“He says yes. Think he wants to meet you since he doesn’t really get out enough to meet my other friends.” Despite being pleased at having an invite out to the farm, Disco cocked his head toward Ivory. Who wasn’t really paying attention to him.

“So we’re friends?” He asked hesitantly.

“Uh yeah dude.” Ivory seemed amused. “I only turned down like five other escort jobs for you. We’ve been doing this since I was fresh out of the league.” And that, that sent a warm feeling down Disco’s spine.

“Oh.” He said softly.

“Great, let’s get moving, we got some ground to cover before we see the farm.”

“Wow,” Disco panted, stumbling along the dirt road behind Ivory. “It is really out here.”

“Yeeeeaaaaaaup.” Ivory drawled, bobbing his head as they plodded along. Around the next bend, trees gave way to a wide dirt road, right up to a white picket fence with a small enclosed yard full of flowers and plants. The farmhouse was rather picturesque. One story with a single second story addition around the back. A broad front porch and next to it were neat lines of berry bushes and trees, with a large beautiful barn looming up behind them. “Okay so,” Ivory hurriedly. “He’s shy and he’s mute, but don’t worry! He’s got a phone that he types things out on and I can translate sign language if needed.”

“I’m sorry what?” Disco blinked, Ivory spoke far too fast sometimes. And to tell him that not only was Ophrys blind he was also mute? Now? That was a lot to suddenly process. Not that Disco had much time for that, because out from the berry fields came a charging aggron.

“Well, fuck.” Ivory muttered, he was tensing like he might just start running in the opposite direction. Disco had enough time to grab his breloom’s pokeball and shift slightly behind Ivory before he noticed that the aggron wasn’t running at them but had turned to run parallel to the house. It kept running, running faster then any aggron Disco had ever since as its pursuer hit the ground out of the berry fields behind it.

It was a man. Disco didn’t know men came in a size larger then Ivory but here he was, being proven wrong. He was taller then Ivory and broader in the shoulders with a wide body. Having no less muscle then Ivory did and Disco had seen Ivory wrestle his garchomp to the ground. Speaking of, the man was gaining on the aggron, long legs fairly eating the distance up. And then, caught it in a flying tackle, taking the pokemon down.

“Should...should we help?” Disco asked hesitantly, still holding onto his breloom’s pokeball. Ivory’s grin was halfway smug and half way fond as the man wrestled with the aggron. Ivory no longer looked ready to bolt himself.

“No, aggron hates taking his supplements.” On the ground the man had gained the upper hand, and appeared to have shoved his fist down the aggron’s throat. Distantly, Disco wondered where a shy, berry farmer boy like Ophrys could ever have met a farmhand like the man before them. He also distantly wondered where Ophrys even was. Shouldn’t he be out here greeting Ivory?

“Come on,” Ivory’s voice was light and happy. “Let’s go say hi.” He fairly bounced on his way over. Disco actually had a hard time keeping up. The man and the aggron had finished their tussle. The aggron lay in a half circle around the man, on its belly, looking particularly petulant. The man was sitting cross legged, leaning against the aggron and was petting long soothing strokes down its un plated foreleg.

“Babe,” Ivory said once they were close. “You’re a fucking powerhouse, I ever tell you that?” Disco looked sharply up at Ivory. As far as he could tell, Ivory meant that pet name as a term of endearment. For as long as he’d known Ivory, he’d never used pet names for friends. But the only person around besides them was the very big, very masculine farmhand. And that couldn’t be Ophrys.

Except, when the man turned his face toward them, lips quirking in a grin, Disco could see that he was extremely blind. There couldn’t be that many blind berry farmers living on the same farm...or even the same region. Which meant that this giant of a man climbing to his feet and towering over both Disco and Ivory, was:

“Ophrys.” Ivory sighed, the name coming out as Ophrys cradled the side of his face in one huge palm. Ivory stood silently, his hands loosely clasped around Ophrys’ wrists, soaking up the attention. Ophrys’ thumb brushing over Ivory’s cheekbone and nose, his fingers fanning over his forehead, down Ivory’s lips to his chin, which he gently tilted up and bent his own head down.

Disco really got the feeling that he was intruding on an intensely private moment. But he couldn’t bring himself to even politely cough. Disco was certain his mouth was hanging open and it wasn’t because the kiss had gone from ‘possible tongue slip’ to ‘tonsil hockey makeout’ while he’d been standing there.

Staring.

His brain was too busy rebooting after having crashed. Not a single damn thing that Ivory had told him warned him for the reality of Ophrys. Blind, mute, berry farmer who Ivory loved desperately. Not even a slight hint that Ophrys was the six foot giant with a full beard who recently wrestled a full grown aggron to the ground and was currently deep kissing Ivory completely senseless.

This was so not fair.

Ivory managed to disentangle himself from Ophrys. His face had the most blissed out expression.

“Oh right,” He said faintly, having caught sight of Disco. Disco was relieved that he remembered to close his mouth before that happened. “This is Disco.” He nudged Ophrys’ shoulder and the man obediently turned until he was facing Disco. “Disco, this is my boyfriend, Ophrys.”

Ophrys held out his hand in the vague direction of where Disco was.

“Ple-pleasure to meet you.” Disco managed to get out and it wasn’t until Ophrys’ large hand closed around his own that he realized, this was the hand that had been in the aggron’s mouth. The image of the slender short boy with brown hair, and freckles turned to dust and shadows in his mind.

(Later that night, safely in the guestroom on the second floor, Disco could still hear the very muffled sounds of Ivory enjoying his boyfriend’s company. Disco pulled a pillow over his face and screamed into it. How could he have so fully missed his mark?)

The first city they visited after leaving the farm, had two care packages. One for Ivory and one for Disco. Disco was surprised to see it and even more surprised to see a section set aside for his breloom. Ophrys had been very pleased with Disco’s pokemon and even more pleased with Disco for raising his shroomish correctly.

(Disco hadn’t felt such a pooling of warmth and pride in his stomach since he successfully brewed his first full heal.)

“Guess he really liked you.” Ivory mused, peering at his package and grinning.

Oh, thought Disco, no wonder Ivory loves him.

[crossroadsdimension]

World Collision -- Chapter 16

Dungeon Zone

Seeker didn’t want to set up camp in the small abandoned town that they’d come across.

“We’re too out in the open.” He motioned to the Time Barrier that was mere steps away from the front of a building with a red roof and busted-in doors. “Airam could very easily come through the Time Barrier and come after us, and summon who knows how many Dark Arms down on our heads as a result. We’re going to have to go in deeper into the World Zone before I’d feel comfortable setting up a base.”

“Oldale Town was never this close to the Petalburg Woods.”

Everyone turned and looked at Crystal, who ducked her head at the stares she was getting.

“I-I mean, there’s supposed to be another town with a Gym and a coastline between here and—“

“Is this your home zone, Crystal?” Myra asked in surprise.

Crystal looked over at Myra and nodded. “Y-yeah. This is my home, but…not like this. Everything’s all wrong.”

“If this is your world, then it’s going to be different from what I originally thought it was going to be.” Seeker frowned, folding his arms across his chest. “At least that explains why Sonic and the others aren’t involved in this.”

“Who?”

Seeker shook his head at Crystal’s confused expression. “Don’t worry about them; they aren’t here, so they were able to stay out of this. What I’m worried about is who we’ve got to go after in order to win this Zone back.”

Crystal gulped. “U-um…do you know about a Pokémon called Mewtwo?”

Myra blinked. “Didn’t you say that was your brother or something?”

Seeker groaned and dragged a hand down his face.

“How bad’s this cat-two thing?” Tony Stark folded his arms across his chest and frowned.

“A mafia organization created Mewtwo to be a genetic weapon,” Seeker replied. “They were planning on using him to take over the world.”

Myra gulped.

“But, his attacks are mainly psychic in nature.” Seeker looked over at Myra. “We might be needing your help in order to take him out, if your mind can stand an assault like what he could dish out.”

“Mythos is mine.” Crystal stepped forward and frowned at Seeker. “I know his moves and his limits, and I’m not limited by what he is. I can take him.”

“What if there are any Mew in the area?” Seeker argued.

Crystal hesitated, then shook her head. “Rosa and Catzin are too smart to let themselves be caught. They’re okay. They have to be.”

“We’ll have to see.” Nightwing looked around at the open clearing right in front of the forest. “You are right, Seeker; we’re too open here. We’re going to need somewhere more hidden.”

“If you are intending to enter the forest, I doubt that we will be able to follow,” Optimus said from where he stood towering over the rest of them.

“Agreed,” Megatron said in his rasping voice. “I suggest we remain here until the World Jumper has decided it is time to catch up with the rest of us, then find a way around to reach our Zone.”

“You’ll be leaving yourself vulnerable for if and when the Dark Arms decide to strike,” Captain America argued instantly.

“In case you haven’t noticed, fleshbag, it’s a little more difficult for us to conceal ourselves.” Starscream leaned down and sneered at the humans gathered below, causing those near his feet to back up a few steps. “We would be attracting their attention to all of us regardless of whether or not we stayed or went!”

Megatron shot Starscream a dark look as the silver mech with wings straightened himself up. “Yes. And I do not intend to insure that we are to lose every chance of finding a way to not only stop these pesky creatures, but also separate our dimensions. Go ahead without us; we will cover your tracks and give the Dark Arms a merry chase across the World Zones.” He grinned widely, showing more sharp teeth than Myra thought was possible to fit into a mouth.

Seeker inclined his head at that, then nodded. “All right. Everybody except for the Cybertronians into the woods. We’ll find a hiding place in there and plot how we’re going to return everything back to the way it’s supposed to be. The Cybertronians will watch our backs and keep an eye out for when Flare-Up follows after us; either she’ll come straight to us or leave this World Zone and help the Cybertronians in the Cyber Zone. Let’s go.”

Seeker turned and started into the forest, Nightwing falling into step next to him. Myra was quick to follow, Crystal right on her heels as the rest of the human-sized group split into groups of twos and threes.

“There’s something I should tell you about the Dungeon Zone,” Crystal said as they stepped into the trees.

“What is it?” Myra looked at Crystal with a frown as the other looked around at the trees.

“Forests and other places like these are giant mazes.”

“Mazes?”

“The locals call them Mystery Dungeons. We’re gonna have to get through one in order to find a safe place inside here, which is…probably the Petalburg Woods? I think?” Crystal looked around, and Myra noticed that the trees to either side of them seemed to be closer together than trees were supposed to be. It was almost like they had formed a wall. “Anyway, it’s not gonna be normal woods. And we’re going to have to watch out for wild Pokémon attacking us.”

“You mean, we could run into those creatures you’re always talking about? The ones that can do what we can?”

Crystal hummed as she nodded. “I can take them on, no problem. I’m pretty sure you can, too, since your powers are already Pokémon-ish. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine!” She grinned and gave Myra a thumbs-up.

Myra blinked at Crystal’s sudden show of confidence, then nodded and smiled a little in reply. “Yeah. Okay. So what do we have to keep an eye out for?”

“Well, that depends. If this is the Petalburg Woods, it’s going to be Bug and Grass-Types, mostly. Your fire should scare them away at least, since it has the potential of burning the forest down if it’s powerful enough. If that doesn’t work, I can handle spitting Flamethrowers at them without a problem.”

Something shifted in the trees ahead of them, and Myra noticed suddenly that they were following a path that turned sharply to the left up ahead. She clenched her fists in preparation for whatever was coming through.

Something waddled around the corner – a green-brown creature with deep green spots all over its rounded shape. The frowning expression it had on its face almost seemed cute.

“A Shroomish?” Crystal blinked. “Well, that is common enough here—“

The little creature shrieked and shook itself, expelling a dust that was bright yellow in color.

Crystal reared back a little. “Flamethrower!”

The blast of flames that came shooting out of her mouth caused Myra to jump back in surprise as the attack engulfed the Shroomish in flames. The creature shrieked again, then dashed off into the trees, still screaming.

Myra stared at Crystal. “Did you really have to set it on fire?”

“It was either that or we got paralyzed from the Stun Spore it set off,” Crystal replied. “Come on; let’s keep moving before something bigger finds us.”

The two quickened their pace as the screaming faded behind them. Myra couldn’t help but look back to make sure that the thing wasn’t following after them.

“So, that was a Pokémon?”

“Yup. Shroomish are pretty common around here, but they’re normally found deeper in the forest. They like dark, damp places – like mushrooms.” Crystal tilted her head to one side, ears twitching a little. “Or are mushrooms like Shroomish?” She shook her head. “I’ll have to ask Professor Oak about that one when I find him again.”

“So, there are Pokémon like inanimate objects or…?”

“Well, that depends on whether or not the object was invented before or after the Pokémon. I think Voltorb came into existence because of an accident making PokeBalls, but no one’s exactly sure on that.” Crystal shrugged.

“Th-that sounds crazy!”

“Maybe to you, but it’s normal for me. But if you think that Voltorb sound crazy, wait until you meet my team! My first Pokémon has a giant flower growing out of—“

Something rustled in the trees ahead of them, causing Crystal to cut herself off and turn her attention to what was ahead of them.

A figure stumbled onto the path ahead of them, humanoid in shape but mostly colored green, with a large, round hat on top of its head.

Crystal stiffened. “No way…”

“What is it?” Myra stepped back. “Is it related to that Shroomish thing you took out earlier?”

The figure turned its blank gaze on the two girls, and Crystal sucked in a breath sharply.

“Not on my watch!” Crystal pushed a hand forward, and a blast of strange, purple energy blasted out and slammed into the creature, sending it flying back against a tree.

Something black and sparking flew off the back of the creature’s neck as it sank to the ground.

“Samuel!” Crystal ran forward, leaving Myra standing confused.

“Samuel?” Myra repeated.

Crystal ignored her, instead helping the strange-looking Pokémon to its feet as the creature shook its head, the dazed look leaving them.

“Bre?” the creature asked in confusion.

Crystal laughed and grabbed the creature in a hug. “Samuel! You’re okay!”

“Breloom?!” the Pokémon stared at Crystal in confused shock, then proceeded to repeat the word rapidly, leaving Myra even more confused.

“I’m fine; they haven’t gotten me.” Crystal showed the creature the back of her neck. “There are others in the forest who are free, too; they’re here to help us! But we have to get through the Petalburg Woods Mystery Dungeon first; think you can help?”

Samuel nodded quickly. “Bre!” He motioned for the two to follow him, then started down the path.

“You can understand what…he’s saying?” Myra asked as she fell into step behind Crystal.

“Yeah. Since I’m part Pokémon, I can understand what any creature from my world is saying.” Crystal smiled back at Myra. “Samuel is one of the Pokémon on my team; he’s a Breloom, which is mostly what it sounds like he’s saying when he talks.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. So, that Shroomish we ran into earlier would be saying its name over and over?”

“Yup! Breloom are actually the grown-up forms of Shroomish, so I probably Flamethrower’d one of Samuel’s cousins or something.”

Samuel snorted at that. “Bre.”

The trek through the woods continued on for what felt like a few more minutes, and then the path opened up into a small clearing with a strange statue in the middle of a creature with a smaller version of itself in a pouch on its stomach.

“Kangaskhan Rock.” Crystal let out a sigh of relief. “This is a good spot to stop for a quick breather. Maybe other people have come through here.” She started investigating around the statue as Samuel leaned against it with a tired sigh.

“Are these things important?” Myra moved closer to the statue curiously.

“In Mystery Dungeons, they’re vital for survival.” Crystal nodded. “They can store items, and work as teleport points if you get damaged to the point of being knocked out. Because it’s either you end up at one of these or kicked back to the entrance.” She nodded back the way they had come. “No one else has come through yet, so either that means we’re ahead of everyone else or they’re taking different paths through the woods.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yup! But other paths will only end up looping in on each other; they’d have to come through this way eventually. So, do you guys want to sit and wait here or keep moving forward?”

Samuel snorted and muttered something, motioning with one of the red, hoof-like paws on his front towards the path that led out of the clearing.

“What’d he say?” Myra looked at Crystal.

“He said there’s a better spot further in, but it’s being used by people controlled by the Dark Arms right now.” Crystal frowned in thought, tail twitching. “What are we up against, Samuel?”

“Bre-bre.”

Crystal’s frown deepened, and she gritted her teeth. “Dark-Types. Of course.”

“Dark-Types?” Myra repeated.

“The only Type that can resist Psychic attacks like what you and I can do.” Crystal shivered a little. “I’ve had���bad experiences with them, in the past. I’m moving past it, though.” She straightened herself, gaining a more confident expression. “And I know moves that can knock them out, and Samuel does too. You hang back while we take care of the Dark-Types; you can handle the rest of them.”

Myra blinked at that, then nodded. “Okay, then. If you’re so set on it, let’s get moving.”

Crystal nodded in agreement. “Samuel, come on!”

The next part of the Petalburg Woods was even darker than the first, and the two girls and the Breloom ran into more Pokémon as they went deeper in – more Shroomish, mostly, but there were some spider-like creatures that Crystal called “Ariados” that she also said weren’t supposed to be in the area.

“It’s almost like Petalburg and the Viridian Forest merged together.” Crystal frowned. “This can’t be good for the Pokémon that are living in the area.”

Myra thought she could see spiderwebs through the trees and figures that didn’t look human trapped inside them. She did her best to ignore them and hit the next Ariados with a purple Flamethrower as they kept going deeper.

Eventually, the path opened up again into another open clearing – this one far larger than the one they had reached earlier.

And this one had spiders on the outer edge and seven strange, jewel-covered imps running around every which direction.

“Sabeleye.” Crystal gritted her teeth. Then she raised her voice as she started glowing with a bright pink aura. “Hey, gremlins!”

The imps stopped running and looked over at the trio before pulling themselves together into a large clump.

Crystal threw a hand up above her head, the pink aura massing on her open palm. “Moonblast!”

The pink aura exploded in a bright pink flash that hit the weird-looking Pokémon and sent them flying back into the trees with a loud screech that sounded like rocks scraping together.

“Take care of the Ariados! It looks like they’ve got some people trapped in their webs!”

Myra looked around at Crystal’s yell as more Pokémon started coming out of the trees: six four-legged, black-furred, dog-like animals, with red and yellow eyes and snarls on their faces.

“Samuel!” Crystal barked. “Vacuum Wave!”

“Bre!” Samuel lunged for the Pokémon as Myra started covering her arms in purple fire, preparing to hit the giant spiders as they turned their attention from the wrapped-up bundles in their webs to the intruders.

“Yah!” Myra threw a fireball at one of the Ariados as it started to get close to her, but it pulled back, leaving the purple fire to burn into the grass.

Myra blinked a couple times. “U-uh—“

“Don’t just throw the fire! Direct where it should be hit!” Crystal encouraged. “Use the yo-yo!”

Samuel swung around and hit one of the dogs with his tail, sending it flying into a nearby tree with a triumphant yell.

“Got it!” Myra gathered fire in her hands again, a thin spindle of flame wrapping around her ring finger on her right hand before she threw the fireball again – this time with a curve.

The fireball hit the Ariados in the side, causing the creature to let out a loud screech as the “string” between Myra’s hand and the fireball dissipated before another fireball formed in her hand. An identical one formed in her left hand a moment later, and she started throwing them at the large spider Pokémon more quickly, using the “strings” to direct where the fireball was going.

One missed and Ariados, which leapt at her with an angered screech.

Myra unleashed a shockwave of purple flames on instinct. “Mental Blast!”

The shockwave caught the Ariados and sent it flying backwards. It landed a short distance away from Myra, legs in the air, unmoving.

“Bre-loom!” Samuel whacked the last of the large black dogs into a tree, then stood back, head held high. “Breeeee!”

Crystal laughed. “Yes, that was awesome!” She looked at the six dog Pokémon for a moment. “Help me see if they’ve got any black boxes on them like you did – I think one of them might be Mike.”

“Bre?!”

“Myra, can you get those bundles opened up? I think there might be some people I know trapped inside them.”

Myra nodded to Crystal’s request as the pink-eared girl started going through the fur on the back of one of the dog Pokémon. She reached the first of the six bundles of webbing and frowned at it before she set her hands aflame and started pulling away at the sticky white string.

A boy tumbled out of the first one, a red and gold baseball cap worn backwards on his head and with a matching jacket and shorts. A sprig of black hair was sticking out from under his hat, and there were a small number of red and white spheres attached to the belt at his waist.

Myra checked to see if he had a black box on the back of his neck and blinked in surprise when she found he didn’t have one. “Uh…”

“Gold!” Crystal leapt up as one of the black dogs she had been looking over started to get unsteadily to its feet. Crystal crushed a black box in her hand and ran over. “Is he—“

“He doesn’t have one and I have no clue why.” Myra shrugged.

“It’s because he’s part Electric.” Crystal looked up at Myra with a grin. “They don’t like Electric-Types because they mess with the circuitry of the MindTech. Come on – let’s check the other ones; there could be more people like Gold here!”

Crystal instantly went to the second one and started tearing it open; Myra followed suit and started working at the third.

The two pods of webbing opened to release two more boys: one dressed in red, with orange dragon wings on his back and a tail with a small spurt of flame on the end, and the other with brown, spiky hair dressed in blue, with a turtle shell affixed to his back.

“Red! Blue!” Crystal checked the backs of their necks and let out a relieved sound. “They haven’t been boxed, either. This must’ve been where they were holding caught prisoners until the Dark Arms could pick them up.”

“Then doesn’t that mean we should be moving on as quickly as possible?” Myra started pulling at the fourth pod’s webbing worriedly.

Crystal’s excited expression faded a little. “Yeah, yeah, that definitely sounds like a good idea.” She started pulling at the fifth pod’s webbing as Myra pulled out a girl with bright red flowers in her brown hair.

“So, who’s this one?” Myra lay the girl down gently on the ground and checked to make sure there wasn’t a black box on the back of her neck.

“That’s Leaf. She’s a Grass-Type, Red’s a Fire-Type, and Blue’s a Water-Type.” Crystal started pulling out a the fifth figure – a little girl with long, yellow hair and a straw hat on her head. “And this is Yellow – she’s a Normal-Type.”

“There’s such a thing as a Normal-Type?” Myra asked in confusion.

“Well, yeah.”

Myra turned sharply at the new voice and saw Gold starting to push himself up to his feet.

“They’re the only Pokémon that don’t have a Type they’re super-effective against,” Gold added. He brushed off his jacket, then paused and looked at Crystal as she started working at the final pod. “Wait. Crystal? What are you doing here?”

“Saving you, what does it look like?” Crystal gritted her teeth as she pulled a little harder on the strings that were holding the last pod together. “Man, this is stronger than the last ones – Myra, do you think you can—“

Something purple sparked from inside the pod, causing Crystal to stumble back with a yelp of surprise as purple electricity danced up her arm for a second.

The pod wriggled, and a muffled yell came from inside the pod seconds before it exploded with a bright purple flash of lightning. Myra pulled an arm up over her face to keep her eyes from getting hit by a large glob of the stuff.

“Guh! Man, if one of those things comes near me again, I’m frying it!”

Myra lowered her arm and stared at the figure who had just released himself from the pod of spider webbing: a dark-skinned teenage boy wearing a purple, black, yellow, and white outfit with a lightning-bolt shape on the black shirt he was wearing.

“Geez, and I thought that—“ The boy cut himself off and looked over at the rest of the group standing in the clearing before getting into a defensive stance. “Who are you?! Are you with them?!”

Crystal held up her hands. “C-could you calm down? Just a little bit? W-we’re not with the Dark Arms if that’s what you’re—“

He was instantly in Crystal’s face, purple sparks flying from his hair and fingers. “And how am I to know that for sure?”

“Hey!” Gold stepped forward and grabbed one of the boy’s hands. “I’ve got the Lightning Rod ability and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Even as Gold spoke, the purple sparks were starting to dart up Gold’s arm, causing the other to look at him sharply.

He pulled his arm from Gold’s hand. “Okay, okay, so you’re not with them. Who are you?”

“I’m Crystal, and these are Gold, Samuel, Mike, and Myra.” Crystal motioned to each of them in turn.

“I hope you’re not forgetting about us.”

Myra turned around sharply at the unfamiliar voice, her eyes widening when she caught sight of Red standing upright and with his arms crossed over his chest as Blue picked Yellow up and Leaf rose unsteadily to her feet.

Crystal turned and gained a sheepish expression. “R-right. I just wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up anytime soon.”

“Being out in the fresh air helps.” Red looked over at Myra and frowned a little. “You two shouldn’t be alone in the middle of the woods like this. We have a hideout not far from here.”

“You’re hiding out in the middle of the woods?” the dark-skinned boy asked, frowning.

“This entire area’s been taken over by the forest,” Blue replied flatly. “It’s not like we have any other choice. Come on; let’s get away from the Ariados nests before they wake up and start combing this part of the woods again.”

“There are more of us out here,” Crystal spoke up quickly. “People from other places that got mixed up in all this. We’re gonna need them to get where we’re going, too.”

“I’ll find them.” Leaf took off into the trees, a black dog from the pack of six loping off after her.

“U-uh—“

“The Mighteyna’s safe; I checked her,” Crystal gave Myra a reassuring look. “Come on; she’ll be able to find the others and get them to where we’re going.”

Myra frowned, then nodded a little. If Crystal was willing to trust Red and the others, then that meant it was probably safe to follow them.

“And what’s your name?” Gold looked over at the dark-skinned boy.

“…call me Static,” the boy replied in a guarded tone.

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 3]

It’s time for hunting for thieves with Burgh! Long may no one else die in the process!

Team headcount:

Boeing (Latios)

Frogger (Seismitoad)

Ptera (Archeops)

Palm (Shroomish)

I’ll also throw the Miracle Seed on Palm, since I forgot to do that last time.

Hm. This is technically part of the same route Palm came from, but it’s a different area. I think if the randomizer considers it part of a different area, I will too. So if it has something from the outside part, I won’t catch it. If it turns out they both happen to have some things in common, and the first one was one of those, oh well. It was the first one in the area.

Stepping forward to find out if we get a new one or not.

I don’t want it.

This might be a bad idea, but I think I’m going to let Palm just murder it. I do not want an Octillery, and then I’ll still only have one thing from Pinwheel Forest. It might be something I end up regretting, because as of right now, if my team wipes, I have nothing eligible to start over with, but.

Exp gotten, Grape avenged one more time.

So far there is nothing in this forest except for Octillery. What is this hell.

I do not like the Patrat line. I might never like it again. Appropriate that Team Plasma currently seems to do almost nothing else.

Okay, so for future reference, the insides of Pinwheel Forest are counted as a different area by the Randomizer. That future might not be so far off, depending on how this goes. The important thing is that something besides an Octillery can exist in these woods.

I have photo evidence.

Without it, even I wouldn’t believe at this point.

Awesome, recovered the skull. Considering the size, I am not sure how a boy my age manages to do anything with it but not be crushed by it, but thankfully the plot is uninterested in such complications. Skull get.

I have no memory of what that means. I assume it means that if I live long enough, I’m gonna beat you up.

Oh good, we give the skull to Lenora. She’s someone I have faith in to be able to lift it. She is very mighty, and when I don’t think about the consequences of our battle I still am highly appreciative of her.

I basically don’t do anything for the next twenty minutes but run around and let Ptera kill stuff. I am overusing Ptera because Ptera can one-shot everything into oblivion, and that’s a comfort.

But.

There is good news after I remember I have other pokemon.

Boeing

no longer has Psywave.

I’d never really bothered looking up the accuracy, I just was sad when the damn thing never hit. It turns out, in addition to having variable damage, Psywave has 80% accuracy.

I have never hated a move so much.

It’s gone now.

Boeing can murder things.

Together, friend. We will make it to the end of this.

Oh, the bridge! This is the one with the bridge! Bridges, even!

Best part of this generation for sure.

Now we’re in sections I think I remember a little more about. Mostly in relation to how often I ended up lost in this place. It’s not really that difficult, but for many, many years all of the towns and other locations were nice and neat 2D things. You might not know where to go next in some spots, but having trouble figuring out where you were wasn’t really a thing.

Along comes Castelia City, and it’s all “hold my drink,” and I, a mere ten-year-old, trip down back alleys trying to find out what in the heck I’m meant to be doing.

Now I, a mere ten-year-old, will probably do much the same. With an active interest in seeking out any grass.

The real question here is which evolution stone I want. I can’t use Panpour. So I guess... hm. I might as well go with the Fire option? I think I mussed with the evolution settings, so I’m not sure if I need them or not (I shouldn’t need to trade anything to get it to evolve, but past that, it’s one giant shrug). I also don’t have anything in my party that needs a stone yet, and there is no way to guess at what I might find in the future.

What I do know is I have a Grass and a Water pokemon, so let’s just round that out. That’s what the chimp options are there for, after all.

Fire Stone get.

I have zero memory of what’s up with the ship, but boats usually mean trainers to fight. Whatever the case, it is presently plot-locked.

We’re going through the city to try to gather all the Dancer trainers for a squad, which basically means beating up more of the Pan-squad, and a guy in the alley jumps out and gives us Flash.

Pokemon games are the best.

Dance squad assembled. Now that I think about it, I think this might be the version where rotating battles are introduced. I also think that might not be the right name, but the important bit is that three pokemon are participating at once and you can rotate through. I bring this up now because I’m wondering if talking to these guys again will set one off.

...Nope. I do get an Amulet Coin, though. Those are always good to have.

A building full of trainers I didn’t remember! That’s much better than running back to Pinwheel Forest or going ahead for grinding. Too bad this resource doesn’t renew itself.

Oh, nice. The guy to our right gave us Quick Balls and Timer Balls. Those are some of my favorites.

I’m not touching the Gym until everyone’s 30. I already regret that decision, but you know something else I regret? No longer having a Fire type. So yeah, this is the program and we’re sticking to it.

A Hyper Potion and Revive are also in this building. One of those has no use to us, so yay free money. Here’s hoping that we don’t use up the other one right away. I’m already imagining the horror that is the Elite Four.

Also, since I never play these games with the volume on (ancient suspicions about battery life from the era of AAs), can I just say how wonderfully spooky the Scientist theme is?

Heeeeeey. That is a good thing to have.

Time to check if I’m able to go forward, or if my grinding has to be stuck at Pinwheel Forest. As much as I like the bridge, let me tell you my preference.

Forward enough, anyway.

I think there will be some sort of roadblock ahead, but I should be able to come across my next teammate first. And some Fishermen.

Palm enjoyed meeting the Fishermen.

First encounter spotted.

Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever used one of these in a game before. The evolution is never worth bothering with unless you’re shooting for the pokedex entry, and I think by the time you run into its first form, you’ve already got most of your team arranged already.

The real question is if I have something that won’t kill it...

I think Cut might be the answer.

...I am the worst trainer ever, fml.

So. Uh.

The Escavalier is caught.

Apparently it knew something besides Fury Attack and Leer. Funny story, that.

Boeing is dead.

Ahahaha. Wow. I do not want you. You murdered my best friend. You are also now more necessary than you were. So. You need a name.

You’re a dark knight.

First girl on the team is named Batman.

Batman does not kill.

The real challenge of this game is going to be whether or not I can ever have six usable pokemon at a time. Dang. This is much rougher than anticipated. Boeing was one of those beasts I thought would be with me until the very end.

Of course, the same can be said for all that now lie here. I was definitely arrogant enough to assume that I could go through the game with none of you dying.

Serves me right, I suppose.

I really hope I don’t need to teach something else Cut now.

Goodbye, Boeing. We had four levels of being useful together. You taught me to hate Psywave, and your sacrifice brought Batman to the team. In time she will learn to honor that.

Batman is Adamant and loves to eat. That is about the best Nature I could ask for. She isn’t going to be very useful at the moment, but she has the Exp. Share now, so. We’re going to change that.

This run just got much harder. Again.

Apparently Bug is the theme of this desert.

That is one definite disadvantage to starting with a Psychic pokemon. Bug hurts. It doesn’t help that I almost constantly forgot what Boeing’s typing was.

Huh. Geodude also frequent this area.

It’s funny. Out of what’s available, so far I’ve been pretty darn happy with what I’ve ended up with. I mean, I would prefer Batman being a little weaker so I still had Boeing, but Escavalier is not awful. And I’ve never used one before. All praise the randomness.

You know what else is funny?

All the wild Escavalier here need multiple hits even with moves that are effective. All those turns I spent Cutting Batman down to size, allowing room for Boeing’s death, were unnecessary.

Haaaaa. Live and learn.

Unless you’re Boeing.

Frogger’s just going to murder everything in this route while the meager party slowly grows to level 30. Once more I feel my boredom setting in, but at this point I don’t think being less cautious is really a good idea. Getting six pokemon in my party has become something to strive for instead of the expectation.

-checks in an hour later-

Someone save me from this hell.

I think when the time comes, I’m going to take Ptera and Palm back to Pinwheel. The level differences aren’t that great, and ALL the Blaziken kills would probably do them both some good. Ptera can probably take the things in the desert, but his Defense is terrible if something goes wrong (which it easily might) and I’m not so sure about Palm. Either way Palm’s getting the Exp. Share for it, and that’s probably still twenty minutes away, because grinding.

I really wish I hadn’t accidentally killed Timon and Boeing.

You never realize what a useful tool letting pokemon faint is until you can’t. Sigh.

I am going to giggle like a small child every time that question pops up. My only good decisions in this run are their names.

Fun fact: Grinding is boring.

Batman and Frogger are all set, so I did make my way back to Pinwheel Forest in the hopes of helping Palm’s unfortunate Nature out with some better EVs and just generally having him and Ptera fight against things they could kill in one hit.

That’s working out.

This is taking forever.

I refuse to do this for the next gym. Isn’t failure the spice of any challenge?

I don’t even know what the next Gym is... Wait. Is it the electric model one? I think it might be. I remember liking her. I like her pokemon less. Flying electric squirrels are hardish to kill.

Ptera learned Acrobatics. So that’s neat.

Two. More. Levels. Come on. Bring on the massive surge of wild Blaziken.

Have I already pointed out that this is one of the generations where exp is calculated in part by level differential? The more I need the less I get.

At long last. It is done.

In your memory, Timon.

Dude, c’mon. It was going to be touching. I was going to murder all your Bugs and be like, “this is for all the things I accidentally got killed on my way here!” and now you’ve gone and ruined it with your plot interruptions. Sigh.

I’m supposed to go to one of the piers. If I’d been reading the text instead of mashing buttons I probably would know which one, but walking down each option and trying them all in order is fun, right? Right.

It’s always the last one you check.

I remember just enough of the story to say that was one heck of a mistake they done made.

Oh wait, Bianca’s pokemon? Oh. That’s much sadder.

Team Plasma grunt shows up, and it’s time to run after it. After all, I am ten. I am the most reliable aid anyone could ask for in a situation such as this.

I say, brilliant deduction, Burgh!

There is probably art of Burgh and Looker somewhere on the internet. They solve crimes.

Guess who has thirteen levels on Team Plasma like a boss. It is all four of my remaining pokemon. Yay.

They keep bringing up the Seven Sages, and I keep not remembering any of them except for one. My memory was that there was the one guy. And even that guy was pretty blurry. Now there are seven?

I just wanna catch stuff and pick fights hurry up plot.

The plot hears my requests and punishes me with an infodump about pokemon mythology of the region. Why this.

For my current purposes, I don’t care, but I actually like Black and White’s background for Unova. I like stories about heroes and dragons, and having the cover legendaries being relevant in things that aren’t just glamorized sidequests. It’s a fun game.

The monsters are just so much funner.

Let us try this again!

I love all the gyms in this generation.

Our first victim starts with a level 20 Sewaddle and a level 20 Venipede.

Ptera covers his claws in their blood.

...Okay, that one’s a little too dark. The opponents’ monsters aren’t actually dying, just fainting. My guys are the only ones who can die, adding new weight to Batman’s name. She will go into battle for justice, never inflicting lethal damage, yet she might one day fall.

Burgh’s pokemon are probably mid-20s. It’s fair to say I didn’t need to grind as much as I did, and it’s also fair to say I’d do it all over again because the last Gym was traumatic.

I wonder if part of how they decide Gym Leaders is asking them what they’ll do if they get their own building and carte blanche to design it. That should be the new Sorting question: What Type would your Gym be, and what are your thoughts on its interior design?

I think one of them this gen has you being shot through the air with cannons.

We look so serious.

Burgh does not.

First up is a level 21 Whirlipede. I feel fairly confident in saying that Ptera is up to the challenge.

Following that is a level 21 Dwebble. It does not have Sturdy.

Last is a level 23 Leavanny, and if you think these short sentences are a really uninspired way of describing such an epic fight, you’d be right, but they did not have much to work with. Ptera took everything that didn’t have an Ability preventing such acts down in one hit.

His prize.

He has the option of learning DragonBreath, and I normally wouldn’t bother with it, but considering how worried I am about whether or not I’ll manage to have six pokemon in a party at once, AncientPower with its 5 PP taking up a move slot is... maybe not what I want to go with.

On the other hand, Ptera’s a physical attacker and DragonBreath only does 60 with no STAB.

We are abandoning the way of the dragon, Ptera.

That was Boeing’s realm.

Badge get! Now, are we going to be able to leave the Gym without the plot calling?

No. The answer is no.

Look, it’s free exp! I mean one of my best friends!

With that invitation received, our time in Castelia comes to a close. This segment saw our most painful loss yet. Hopefully that has taught me a thing or two about being careful, but those lessons tend to be really temporary with me and video games.

Until next time.