#the fancy supernatural types aren't the only ones with Power alright?

[you-must-choose]

Ritchie and Laura

So I vaguely implied it in the very first post, but I'm heavily leaning into the whole "Ritchie is a Discount Ash" Thing in the Papa Meowth AU by making him a Zorua whose parents are a Zoroark and Sandslash from the future, as a parallel to Ash and Delia's whole Mystery Dungeon thing. Why they time traveled is spoilers for Sinnoh. He also has a human sister named Laura who has a mysterious connection to Celebi (mysterious because I haven't figured out what it is or what it means and this buys me some time), as Maria's counterpart.

They've got their own, mostly off-screen journey that strongly parallels Ash and Maria's, including stumbling into their own World Saving Adventures at roughly the same time, though the two journeys overlap occasionally, usually at either the few Canon times Ash and Ritchie have run into each other or during Adventures that are too big to have a reasonable counterpart. This means the two of them and their problems are going to end up plot relevant, especially in Sinnoh.

Anyway, here's their teams up through Orange Islands (they don't show up in the Orange Islands for the record, that's just where Ash and Maria's team list stopped so far). And yes, they both nickname their Pokemon.

Ritchie

Sparky (Pikachu)

Happy (Butterfree) (he probably caught it as a Caterpie but I'm basing the initial stage shown in the list on whatever they first get introduced as)

Naginata (Spearow)

Rooter (Venusaur)

Zippo (Charmander>Charmeleon) (evolves during his battle with Ash's Charizard, which is an actual battle this time)

Torpedo (Tentacool>Tentacruel) (evolves off-screen, not sure when that'll be revealed)

Alec (Morgrem>Grimmsnarl) (A perfect gentleman, in contrast to most of his species. Makes liberal use of Charm and Flatter.)

Sir Daniel (Cubone>Marowak) (the one I mentioned as evolving in the same match as Ash's Cubone. When he's a Cubone his skull helmet is a bit oversized and misshapen for some reason, so it covers one of his eyes and muffles his voice to the point he's almost completely unintelligible, though it doesn't seem to hinder his battling too much and it's fixed when he evolves. based on Sir Daniel Fortesque from Medievil, Because I Can)

Cowl (Arbok)

Grit, Gravel, Grunt, Grace, and Gray (five Dugtrio who Ritchie stumbled into catching in Digglet cave as Digglets. Counterparts to the Tauros Herd)

Quackers (Farfetch'd)

Flare (Beedrill)

Yogi (Ursaring) (Yes, he lives up to the name. How else would he be able to be Sorlax's counterpart?)

Laura

Cadmus (Meowth) (No, he can't talk)

Odie (Growlithe>Arcanine) (Actually evolves in the same scene he's introduced, since Laura bought a Fire Stone from the same vendor as Maria for the same reason that Maria bought Clefable's Moon Stone, at roughly the same time, and that's how they end up meeting each other.)

Rock (Squirtle) (basically Mega Man as a turtle since I made the Squirtle Squad Leader basically Sonic. Has Mega Launcher, Protean and Trace, and somehow knows Sketch, Mimic and Copycat) (yes I rotated which starter ends on what stage. because why not)

Zingo (Electrode)

Hobbs (Hitmonchan)

Grill, Grape, Grand, Gravy and Gru (The other five Dugtrio)

Mochi (Dratini)

Majesty (Nodorina>Nidoqueen) (also evolved at the Stone Vendor at the Indigo Conference because Counterparts)

Arc (Electabuzz)

Lilac (Alolan Vulpix with cybernetic augmentations. I'll explain when I'm done with the lists)

Whirl (Lapras)

...alright, so what's going on with Lilac?

Well, I needed to give them an equivalent to Mewtwo Strikes Back since Maria got a Pokemon out of it, but by that point in the timeline there's only one Mewtwo, and something Celebi-related made the most sense since Laura's connected to it somehow and Ritchie has his whole "my parents are from the future and my egg was laid there" thing, but there's no Pokemon that has a similar relationship to Celebi as the one Mewtwo has to Mew...

...so I made one up.

Celeborg is what happens when you try to take shortcuts when making a Time Machine. Some idiot Mad Scientist in the distant future decided that instead of actually working out how to travel through time, or bothering to program a proper AI, they'd instead install a Celebi DNA sample into a robot and call it a day. The resulting Reverse Cyborg went through a massive existential meltdown blowing up the lab and stumbling backwards in time in the process, and in its unstable mindset decided to make more cyborgs so it wouldn't be alone as the only Thing like itself (and also the scientist may have been working for an Evil Team so the programming that the Celebi DNA wasn't able to sub in for possibly included world domination-type stuff). Somehow Ritchie and Laura got involved and managed to calm it down and it decided to find a place in the present to live peacefully with any of the Cyborg Pokemon who were interested in staying with it.

Celeborg is Grass/Steel Type (because I continue to insist that Celebi's time powers come from its Grass typing and not its Psychic typing. though Celeborg does still learn plenty of Psychic moves) with Levitate as its usual ability and Download as a Hidden Ability. The version in the AU has both thanks to how Abilities work there. Might draw it at some point.

[vampiricvittles]

Wards and how they work a la my world.

Wards. I actually believe the wizards who say that everybody- magick users or not- that is exposed to the supernatural world albeit being; one of the races, the cursed, or the seeing.. Should learn at least the most basic of wards. Even that alone is enough to stop all but the highest of the food chain, and if you have them on your ass then chances are you're already powerful enough to have mastered the highest wardings anyway. That's why my first lesson here is going to be on what a ward really is, how you can go about casting it, and give an example of how it should be done along with some other examples I've seen of other's casting in their own unique ways.

So then. What exactly is a ward... Some of you may already know, some of you may have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about right now. No matter the skill level, you're all going to be amateurs tonight. Little babies who know nothing. Okay? Alright.

Wards are protections. Usually a circle. You don't need all that fancy schmancy stuff in the middle like you see in movies and media and all that. At least, not for the basic bitch ward. Those do exist, but they're only for higher powered wards. And usually only for those who can't do the necessary arrangements inside their head. It's not really based on education level or magick level, by the way. Being able to do the technicalities of magicks in your head, I mean. Some of the most powerful magick users out there rely on symbols of power to channel. It's nothing to be ashamed about. That was important. I don't want anyone getting high and mighty over here if you can't cast without channeling symbols. Simple wards though? Anybody can channel those in their head. Unless you have somebody else with you. That's a little different, but I'll explain it later.

Here's a fun little tricky bit for you. Anything that makes a circle can be a simple ward. I'm talking.. The lid of a bin, a tire, a hole in the ground. So long as you're standing in it or channeling a bit away from it, it's a ward.

I once used a full pizza to protect myself. Desperate times and all that..

What can wards keep out. Anything. Even angels. Even basic level wards, but a word of advice.. It won't keep for long at all if you're cahooting with powerful shit, so it's always good to have a backup plan. Most magick users will carry chalk with them, or sand they can spread out around them quickly. You should always have one somewhere in your house that's made of something permanent. Paint, probably. Iron paint. That'll keep the fae away too.

So then, I'll show you here an example. The lecture halls here all have a warding circle around the entire classroom. Every corner is covered, a special type of warding made for houses. It's usually not as strong as it's circular counterpart but it's one that allows magick to be channeled into it each day for extra protection. Pretty neat stuff. House wards won't repel anything inside with you, it only keeps things out. Circular wards however, will. If you aren't careful, if you don't channel with the ones with you in mind. It's very important you do this. I experimented last night, and let me tell you.. You fly very far and very fast.

[ The example goes well. Alli draws his own circle and has all the students stand inside of it, and he then goes quiet and hums to himself. In response, the circle that he had put down with chalk shimmers around the entire perimeter once. And then goes quiet. It seems like there's nothing happening, but Alli assures them that if anything now tries to grab at them all or step into the circle, it'll be repelled back. He then goes on to call over Marlo, who helps to show. He punches at the ward, and a transparent red completely blocks the punch, sending him back a bit. He'll laugh. Tell Alli he did a great job. That gets a little smile from Alli as he continues.]

Now, a ward's color will always match the color of your magick. It's different for everyone. Some magick users like to wear their color on their outfit. Doesn't mean much other than pride, really. Channeling is easy enough to do, but I'm gonna ask you practice this on your own time. You'll know you got it when the circle becomes the chrome loading symbol for a second. All you do, is think about safety. You do not stop thinking safety until you're safe. Not thinking about it is breaking the channel. Every strong hit to your ward will cause you to get a little fuzzy. It's how higher beings will break through easy. Eventually, with enough damage, even the strongest become addle brained and can't think straight anymore. This is where symbols come in. They conduit your thinking back at you, keep you going. Help you remember. Stronger wards start with that fuzz, that's a way around it.

Alright. Back to your seats. It's time to talk about some fun and creative ways to ward. Ah. We'll start with Marlo here. He uses his deck of cards to make a circle. It's.. Inefficient unless you know wind magick and have a hells of a dealing hand, but he's one of the fastest I know to ward in a dire situation. I will bite my finger and spin around, making a circle of my blood for quick casting. Couples who fight together will make the circle out of their arms and holding hands together. Fire magick users can just cast a simple immolation spell and set the ground on fire in a circle. Scorch the earth that way. You can definitely get creative with it. I always encourage finding your own style.

I'm not here to teach magicks, frankly I kinda suck at magick. This doesn't count. Wards will save anyone's life, magick user or not. I'm repeating myself because you need to remember this. If you have any questions you can ask now, otherwise.. I wanna see you all draw a circle. A small circle on a piece of paper. Get some practice in here, so I can answer any questions on channeling. It's tricky at first, but easy enough after a few times.