@Joshua Tamashii Heh. There were numerous additional factors that led to Jacques interest. I will say that he could tell most of Amelia's character with a single look and fill in a bit more with what Kalmia said, so although he doesn't know exact details he felt he understood enough for now. Ren... acted a bit unexpectedly, and there are a couple of greater unknowns that awoke his interest. It has a bit more to do with her character, too. Her actions hinted at something, and he can't tell what it is and he can't tell where she came from. In any case. It's a special case, no need to worry.
Anyways. Yupp. Nicely posted. Let's talk with the ghosts. Haha.
My random comments on the entries, for those who want them.
Alright. So it is north mythology. Odin fights Fenrir and Thor the midgards-snake whatever it was called, that’s Ragnarok. I actually don’t know a whole lot more about Ragnarok. Would I understand more about what you’ve written if I did? Unfortunately, the only reaction I can come up with at the moment was “Alright, then”. But good on you for contributing! Hope someone else can provide better feedback. Haha.
Shhhhhould I I associate the entry with your username? I was thinking of that or Warhammer, which it has a certain similarity to, buuuut it’s probably not. It’s probably your thing, or something I don’t know of. Hahaha.
Anyways. You surely conveyed the atmosphere of his helplessness here, leaving me wondering strange things like “how did he end up like that”, “who’s the one trying to twist everything” and “how would he get back, and if he does, how will it go”. Haha. Anyways. Yeah. Nicely written.
Whelp. Now I’m depressed. Oh, well. Let’s move on.
Well. That’s one incredibly inconvenient resolution. I mean, you have to confirm the length of every name before you talk with them, and when you’ve confirmed you can’t talk to someone, that someone might just be your boss and then you’re in a heap of trouble. Yeeeaaah.
… … … Okay. That was odd. You win the odd award. Doctors need to talk to a lot of people. Will he be able to keep track of which have twelve letters in their names? … EH! Nicely written. Um. Yeah, that’s about it. Hahaha.
... Ooof. A worthy piece of fiction celebrating one of our most well-known ancient works of fiction. Seeing things from the perspective of a minor character is a nice touch. It’s really well done. Excellently done. I know quality when I see it, I’d like to claim.
But ooough. Knowing pretty much exactly what’s going to happen sure put a damper on my mood. Can’t say I could enjoy it, for I was way too busy letting depression set in. Gah. Hahaha. Anyways. Excellent characterization of the family, the other soldiers were somewhat forgettable but good for making it feel more authentic and alive. All in all, very well done. It’s just too bad my stomach now feels uncomfortable from reading it. Hahahahaha. Oh, well.
Well. Wasn’t that an epic little tale. You sure managed to make us root for our main character. We know where she came from, and what she’s been through. This is but the final part of her story, after a much longer one. I can approve of that.
It does feel a little weird how this evil god managed to get such a following. It does make me wonder how he came to power, and if Gautz was aware of the evil nature of his god. Also, was he right? Is there an afterlife paradise in exchange for the suffering, or was that just made up for the sake of making his evil deeds forgivable in the eyes of his followers?
I dearly wanted there to be an epilogue. I wanted to know if her actions made the world better. I can guess, with the hints that were dropped, but that’s not the same as knowing. Also, it felt like she killed the god a little too easily for my taste, and he felt a little too open about his wicked nature for someone pulling a ruse, but eh, short story. Haha. All in all, very nice entry. It had a feeling of epicness to it. Well done.
Not entirely sure why she died, or if she had to. Oh, well.
Hoooo boy. Alright.
It’s nice. You take an impressive amount of time fleshing out what it means to be a fang, and the wolf symbolism is nice. Also, that tale about their beliefs and such is nothing short of amazing, their own little tale of mythology which they follow, I like it. I like how the tale is so simple, yet it leads such power within this society and can inspire such conviction. Your characters are pretty nice, too, and their dynamics is interesting.
Though, I question their choices to become friends with the traitor. Sure, reasons and all that, and had Aurin intended to beat them down and be on his way I get the impression he could have. Not to mention, they wouldn’t have needed to be branded traitors in the way that killed Gael. But, eh. Alright, then. I kind of wasn’t a fan of that premise. Sure, Aurin’s past has been really sad and that happening upon his death was nice and all, but… hah.
That was a really long journey back, huh. Several months. Eh, that’s just a detail. At the end of the story, I was conflicted about what I wanted to feel about this. On one hand, that’s sad and relieving and epic and yeah. On the other hand, haaaaaaaah… Should I sum it up to just not being of my taste? Oh, well. Very nicely written. Dramatic and stylish and very well fleshed out. The world’s impressive, the tale left me wondering if they’re foolish and then a bit of a lonely taste in my mouth. Oh, well.
Hm. What I wrote myself isn’t very much in the style I enjoy, either. Hmmm. Wonder what I’m doing. Eh, I’ll see.
Most of these deserve recognition in one way or another, but the most? None stood out as the overwhelmingly most deserving. I will hold off on my vote a bit, and think about things. Hmmm.
@RomanAria I figured. It makes sense, too, the longer ones took longer to write so they ended up later. Not always the reason why (was also because I was a lazy ungf who didn't start writing until time was almost out XD), but, heh. It's just that it made for an amusing effect. XD
Lataniva stood silent, listening to the words of the others. Hadrain Saul, the chef. Sasha, the medic. She knew she needed roughly the same nutrients as a human, and didn’t in particular have any medical conditions or she wouldn’t have been here in the first place. As such, there was no need to speak out. Vavnr Samn, a Kzargett. Very well. She stood and listened to Hadrain and Vavnr’s conversation. Those seemed to have hit off. Maybe there was a chance of good teamwork in this group despite how the captain and mushroom had interacted.
And then, they were going to be late. That wasn’t an issue. With the gathered group practically in chains, they had done their waiting already. But…
‘Do we have a lie prepared of how we all met, where we gathered and what our purpose is? Should research be done, what will be our last known locations? That a team of such diverse backgrounds suddenly all gathered on one ship might seem… unnatural, if we can’t explain it if we’d ever need to. Like, did this man recruit us?’
She asked, gesturing to Stryker. She knew they’d have to lie. It was likely death was preferred to being captured. Oh, and now that she had opened her mouth, anyway…
‘For any of you who do not know. I am Lataniva Allvert. In addition of being granted the gifts of psionics, I read and manipulate minds. If we want to extract a secret code or want a high-profile politician to murder his family or something. Might not have the intended effect if they know I’m on the crew.’
She shrugged briefly, giving a suggestion.
‘Oh, and feel free to kill any other Dalentians we might see. I won’t be offended. We’re rare, but it would be terrible if one were to read one of our minds.’
Lataniva delivered her warning with a tiny smile. Highly improbable, given how few Dalentians existed in the universe at large, but the possibility existed.
Was that all? Have I made a mistake somewhere? Have I forgotten anything? ... No idea. Eh, I'm posting it like this. Any questions, comments, clarifications or so are welcome. Hahaha.
@Joshua Tamashii I completely had to google what "eaves" are. Now I know. Wonder if that has anything to do with the origin of the word "eavesdrop"? You're, like, dropping down the eaves to listen in on something inside a building, perhaps? Oh, well. Anyways. This made sense.
@Pyromaniacwolf *looks at list of Pokémon per route* Of all the routes to search for poison-types... XD ... Don't worry. Can't always be lucky with the search. But hey, you found something, right? Haha.
@Pikmin Eye A new challenger approaches. Well, a not-underpowered one, anyway. Haha.
@Rune_Alchemist So, I had resolved that the first person who delved deeper into Infested Woods would walk into the web trap. ... Did not have it accounted that said person would be accompanied by Laurinda, but let the trap be there anyway. XD
@Pink Madness There you go. Double battle. Against a pair of birds. Good luck.
@Delta44 And now you get to be the only one to listen to me wrapping up the rival-thing a little. Just a little, still with more to see. Just because I wanted to write that, and then used something to give it a reason. There you go. Heh.
@Pirouette Don't worry. While I would appreciate you posting a bit more often, you're still free to prioritize as you please. Roleplaying's about having fun, after all, and forcing things isn't fun. Still, I am going to require at least one more lucky roll before Venonat goes down. Haha.
Deciding to run, Dawkin fled through the tunnels. He ran out into the wettest tunnel, the water reaching to his thighs in depth, and more wings sounded. He heard the sound of a dashing fire-dog in literal hot pursuit, but something else was also heard. As he moved, the sound of wings became apparent. So, a number of Zubats were flying about, disturbed by the sudden movement in their tunnel.
Pokédex Entry #41 – Zubat, the Bat Pokémon. It lives in colonies in dark places. It has no eyes, but when flying it is constantly emitting ultrasonic sounds which it uses to navigate through echolocation. As sunlight burns it, it’s usually only found in caves or at night.
… But, the Zubats seemed to be more interested in the other Pokémon out, for some reason, and flew straight past Dawkin and hampered the Growlithe. It slowed down the dog-Pokémon momentarily before…
‘Roar.’ The command echoed through the cave, and immediately afterwards Growlithe let out just that. An echoing, intimidating roar which pierced the caves, sending the Zubats scurrying. However, they had delayed Growlithe long enough that Dawkin had already reached the water, where Growlithe stopped and barked at him.
The Ducklett was right behind, diving into the water. Now, it appeared the water was the right route to avoid being pursued by the Growlithe, but the Ducklett was far faster than him in water. In addition, letting Atlas out here would cause him to end up underwater. As far as he could see, there was no clear end to the wet tunnel, it just went on and on, Ducklett was going to catch up to him like this. He may need to change tactics.
There’s, um. A random blue Pokémon standing on a rock extruding out of the water, staring at him with a stupid expression. He might recognize the species, depending on how much we retcon.
Pokédex Entry #194 – Wooper, the Water Fish Pokémon. It lives in cold water, sleeping on the bottom and seeking food by the shore when it's cold. When walking above water, wild Woopers cover their bodies with a slimy, poisonous film that keeps them from dehydrating. It's slightly dull-witted.
‘Good luck! I’m rooting for you!’ Amelia got wished well by Kalmia before she was on her way, into Pureplain.
Being so plain, Pureplain didn’t actually have much of their own local delicacies, but the harbor ensured that they had delicacies from elsewhere around the world. Like, Rage Candy Bar from Johto, Lava Cookie from Hoenn, Old Gateau from Sinnoh, Casteliacone from Unova or the Lumiose Galette and Shalour Sable from Kalos…
And, there were multiple random people around who were more than happy to talk their hearts out, regardless of if Amelia spoke or not.
‘I told my boyfriend I wanted a Luvdisc, and he went north to the Travel Outpost to try to fish one out of Route 27 for me. But, now that he left, I kind of feel like I miss him.’
‘Oh, you’re a new trainer? From Kalmia? Good on you. Professor Kalmia’s Pureplain’s own future pride and joy, a rising star among Pokémon Researchers! What she’s done so far? Well… uh… L-last night’s Super Contest was amazing, wasn’t it!?’
‘Technology is incredible! … There really isn’t anything new around, but think of all we’ve achieved! Pokéballs, storage systems, communication and transmitting data, aaah. What a time to be alive.’
‘Ah. New trainer. Here, take this. You should have use for it.’
Amelia received Heal Ball!
‘The path east is so rough. Infested Woods and Wet Caverns. The path north is so much nicer! Silent Forest is so lovely to walk around in!’
‘Hubgah, the north path is so boring. Only a small variety of Pokémon appears, and they’re rarely hostile. The path east holds true excitement that no Pokémon Trainer should miss!’
‘Because of Pureplain’s connection with other regions, the Pureplain Harbor has such an incredible marketplace, with things from all over! Hey, do you want a Lava Cookie from Hoenn?’
Amelia received Lava Cookie!
‘G-gah. I came all this way to challenge the Pureplain Gym… Wh-why couldn’t the Gym be as plain as the city!?’
But, soon enough after treading through the town the people started thinning out, going home for their respective businesses. Soon, the streets were dark and a new aspect of Pureplain City was discovered. Absolute silence, darkness. A few people were still about on their personal businesses, but the city had otherwise gone still, to sleep. Some were still hauling goods by the harbor, others were awake for their own reasons. Like Amelia.
So, there was no luck in the center of the city, with all the tall buildings. There were no Pokémon she could sense in that area. The search continued for a while, and it would almost appear that all the Pokémon had gone to sleep alongside the people. Dark and silent, few lights up, this was not a city that never slept. Amelia had to simply wander and hope for the best.
But, then there was something.
As she wandered the sub-urbs of the vast area of family-homes, she walked by a building. A fairly large building, two floors, white walls and a large parking area where three cars could easily stand yet only one did. It looked like the kind of house a moderately rich person might but, it stood up a little compared to the surrounding ones. Inside the house, she felt the presence of ghosts. Or, wait. Inside wasn’t quite accurate. Beneath the eaves of the house?
Coming closer, she could see a small line of ghosts. A specific kind of ghosts.
Pokédex Entry #353 – Shuppet, the Puppet Pokémon. It senses the emotions of others, and feeds on dark emotions like jealousy, malice, anger and sadness through its horn. They’re very active at night, and search cities for the houses of vengeful people. They like to gather under eaves.
… So, regardless of what this meant about the person who’s house this was, that meant Amelia had found some ghosts. A few of them had noticed her, and was giving her analyzing stares from under the eaves.
So, Houndour went to work, seeking the smells of poison. Yet, everywhere he smelled, the grass was wet and fresh, the waters clean and cared for. While Houndour was an excellent searcher, he simply couldn’t find what wasn’t there.
There are no naturally appearing poison-type Pokémon on Route 2.
However, as he was searching and looking into one of the flows of water on the route, Lucian located at least one new kind of Pokémon, which was a half-meter tall bug that was skating on the water, so idly, gracefully and without a care in the world, not having even seen him yet.
Pokédex Entry #283 – Surskit, the Pond Skater Pokémon. Found on lakes or in puddles after evening downpours, feeding on microorganisms. It secretes an oil from its feet that enable it to move on water as if skating. When endangered, it secretes a sweet fluid from its head.
Of course, it’s up to Lucian if this Pokémon interests him or not. If not, he could always just return to make a new choice.
‘Dark… Knight…!?’ The “king”’s eyes widened in alarm at Martin’s exclamation, staring at him with somewhat of a mix of awe at how cool that sounded and alarm that this might be someone way out of their league.
‘Rattata! Use Quick Attack!’ Donald commanded, and the Rattata jumped forward in a really fast flash, hitting Nincada straight on. Nincada took almost no damage.
‘… Tatta?’ Rattata briefly asked before Nincada’s scratch impacted. Now, one scratch wouldn’t be quite enough to take it down in one blow, but the inexperienced Rattata panicked and made the second attack extremely easy to hit. Rattata fainted.
‘Ah! Rattata!’ Donald shouted out, startled.
Martin was victorious! Martin gained 118 P for winning!
‘My lord! The Dark Knight… He’s too strong!’ Donald turned back, looking alarmed at his king. The little “princess” was looking at Martin with wide eyes of excitement and awe, for some reason.
‘Hm. We may have to take desperate measures.’ The youngster king frowned, and looked to another trainer who had easily defeated one of the other knights. ‘Fabled Mercenary! Our kingdom is under threat of a powerful Dark Knight! May we enlist your aid?’
‘Oh! Yeah, sure! For the standard fee!’ A female trainer, excited to partake, came forth.
‘Standard fee acknowledged. Any spoils of the battle are yours.’ The youngster acknowledged. Though, of course, that would have been the case anyway. The picknicker smiled in Martin’s direction.
‘Accepted. Let’s do this, then.’
Picnicker Mercenary Lena would like to battle!
‘So, I have stronger Pokémon, but to stay at the level of this tournament… here!’ Lena lobbed a Pokéball, which landed on the ground and erupted to form a pink little creature which sounded out loudly.
‘Skitty!’
Pokédex Entry #300 – Skitty, the Kitten Pokémon. It lives in holes in trees of forests. It easily becomes fascinated with things and chase them, and it commonly seen chasing its own tail. While popular due to perceived cuteness, it is very difficult to earn a Skitty’s trust and friendship.
‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!’ The stand-in princess sounded out. ‘It’s cute! I want one!’ She cried out, looking wide-eyed at the little kitty.
‘Heh. You like it?’ Lena smirked at the little girl. ‘They live in the Silent Forest, if you’d like to go get one yourself. Kind of uncommon, but they’re there.’ The picknicker told, demonstrating how that feature of the game works.
‘Now. You ready?’ Lena grinned a little and asked, her Skitty prepared in an excited stance as well. Nincada and Martin both would be able to tell this trainer and her Pokémon was a little bit more… considerable. Equal. And that was without factoring in what she had said earlier.
‘Claire. Ralia. It seems you have spirit. That’s good. That’s how it should be. Hi.’ Laurinda smiled a bit and said in response, as she walked on behind her Delphox who really looked like she couldn’t care less about the recent arrivals. It wasn’t long walking towards the darker regions of the woods before Laurinda spoke up again.
‘Now, the Outer Infested Woods is child’s play, an area cleared out by all the Volbeats to make it safe. For the bugs deeper in here, they prefer the dark. Now we move to where the true threats live. I bid you welcome to what I’d like to call…’
True Infested Woods
The woods grow tighter and tighter, until vegetation became the most prominent existence. With every step you had to wave some form of plant or another out of your way, any perceived paths were most likely an illusion. Small ponds existed here and there, as if inviting anyone to misstep and fall in. The open areas of the Outer Infested Woods was gone, the lights of the Volbeats was gone, and here fell a certain darkness that threw a dreary tone over the entire woods. In the distance, sounds of impacts of something fighting could be heard, surely sending chills through any traveler as otherwise the woods became very silent, countless tiny predators undoubtedly lying in wait.
‘Rule #1 of True Infested Woods.’ Laurinda spoke as they walked on. Suddenly, Delphox thrust her wand downwards, and a spike of flame surged down into the plants at her feet. The fox then proceeded to lift the wand to blast it between two trees where they were going, and something lit on fire. Something that had almost been invisible to the naked eyes. Some tiny Pokémon quickly scurried away along the trees.
‘Beware of spider webs.’ Laurinda finished, gesturing towards the spiders.
Pokédex Entry #167 – Spinarak, the String Spit Pokémon. It weaves traps of web in fine but durable silk, and then waits for days upon end for prey to be captured. Its webs are connected to its nerves, letting it know exactly what has been caught. Its web is used for fishing lines.
‘Rule #2, at least for your level…’ Laurinda glanced further up a specific tree and gestured, giving a little smile as she pointed on… ‘Avoid evolved Pokémon.’ … A considerably bigger spider.
Pokédex Entry #168 – Ariados, the Long Leg Pokémon. Its rear constantly spins new web. It attaches threads from itself to its nest so it can always find home, likewise it's also known to attach threads to prey and then let them flee so the prey can lead the way to friends and family.
The Ariados was unmoving, attached to the tree-trunk staring down, likely aware the Delphox was above its level.
‘That’s it.’ Laurinda nodded pleased at the big spider. ‘Let’s move on.’ And so the woman kept walking, following after the Delphox that barely stopped moving other than to shoot the fire at the web in the way, moving ever deeper into the forest. Everywhere, there felt like there were tiny eyes that watched their every move…
But, of course, Claire could do as she liked.
1. Find Pokémon. Can be specified what kind of Pokémon is being searched for, and how you search. 2. Train Pokémon. With this command, we can jump ahead in time and skip posting about grinding. Beware doing it in areas above your level, though. Haha. 3. Seek trainers. There could be some, even out here, in the tightest of woods. 4. Talk. If nobody else, there’s Laurinda. There might be trainers here and there in the woods, follow the sounds and you might find some. 5. Move along. Move along normally, letting any events that may come happen naturally. Might be following Laurinda in this case. 6. Hurry along. Intentionally avoid confrontations and try to get safely to the next destination. Like, if you want to flee back. Haha. 7. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result. 8. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you. Laurinda would not appreciate it. 9. Area Specific: Delve deeper. What Laurinda’s doing, and what she’s expecting you to follow and do too. 10. Area Specific: Sounds of fighting. There are violent sounds in the woods. You could investigate on your own if you want to. 11. Spinaraks + Ariados. You already found these. You could stay behind to engage them or whatever if you wanted to.
Connected areas: Outer Infested Woods. Behind you. Always possible to flee.
Audrey blinked somewhat at the suggestion, a tiny bit of a trace of apprehension that told that she wasn’t entirely confident in her abilities to have such a battle, but…
‘Yeah, sure! Pidgeys, go!’ Audrey said, letting her birds fly out, the two Pidgeys flying out side by side.
Watching her opponents, Audrey made her strategy.
‘I’m pretty sure that cherry can only tackle! You’re faster than it! Pidgeys! Avoid the cherry and take down the fox, first! I’m pretty sure it can shoot fire, so do your best to fly high and dodge! Tackle it!’ She commanded, and the Pidgeys acknowledged, flying at about three meter height around trying to bait Flame to use ember so they could swoop in to tackle with reasonable safety, all while avoiding Rosa.
‘Ah, yes! Of course!’ Kalmia answered happily to Ren’s statement, and looked to the excited Pokémon with a potion, It really was all he needed, there wasn’t any more damage than that. That was, when another person threaded forward, with a somewhat interested stare.
‘You. Ren, was it?’ The resident Elite Four walked forward, Jacques looking at her with curiosity and appreciation in his look. ‘You’ve awoken my interest. The way you handled yourself in battle, the way I know absolutely nothing about you… It’s curious. You match nothing of what my sources told me to expect from Kalmia’s trainers, aside from the black sheep.’ Jacques said, one hand on his chin.
‘Hold on there, you.’ Kalmia said in a cautioning tone, looking up to him where she was still kneeling down to Shyn. ‘You already snagged my assistant. I have my eyes on you if you try anything like that again. Don’t you already have your own hopefuls? Most of which got a thorough thrashing from my trainers…’
‘Ah, but it would be a shame not to examine talent where I find it, wouldn’t it?’ Jacques but smiled. ‘Don’t get me wrong. My own hopefuls have talent. Oaken’s got an excellent academic mind, if he finds his compassion for Pokémon he’ll easily become a Pokémon Master, which I happen to know was the thing you turned him down for.’
‘… I couldn’t approve of his mindset.’ Kalmia shrugged a little, looking just a bit guilty.
‘Yet, the foundation of a master is there.’ Jacques smiled. ‘The same with the rest. Joshua’s a natural at connecting with Pokémon. Ewan’s got a firmer grip on reality than any kid should at that age. Rodger’s brave and surprisingly resourceful. Ellyn’s a genius, you just have to draw it out of her unenthusiastic mind. Maple’s virtually immune to fear, apprehension or the feeling that something’s impossible. Cathia has a powerful goal that will drive her to mastery. Vivia’s such a jewel of untapped potential I just couldn’t let her remain but an assistant.’
Kalmia gave him a little glare at that. Wasn’t like she wasn’t going to use that potential for something.
‘And Simon’s… Well. Simon’s Simon.’ Jacques nodded to himself.
‘Yeah. Simon will be Simon.’ Kalmia sighed and admitted to that.
‘But, I can hold one of those speeches, too. Claire’s the shiniest young girl I’ve ever seen. Dawkin’s a good kid who I know deserves the chance to show his skills to the world. Lucian’s, uh,’ Rich. ‘a great potential that simply needs to be steered in the right direction. Donna’s a child pursuing her dream, and always had a good relationship with Pokémon. Erika’s got a good head on her shoulders, and will go far if she has the drive. Martin’s got a goal, and will prove himself working for it. Amelia’s got a connection to Pokémon unavailable to normal people. And Ren’s the girl that came to me on her own, purpose in her eyes, and I believe in her determination.’
‘Oh, no doubt about that.’ Jacques responded. ‘But I am curious as to what that purpose is. For as it stands, I know nothing about her.’ He looked to Ren.
‘Most people I can tell the majority of their tale with a single look. You… I cannot. Which interests me. Would you tell me what drives you?’ Jacques asked, looking to Ren. Of course, it was entirely up to her what she wished at this point.
Sno was having trouble, on account of being confused, as Venonat closed in. So, it was once again a question if she would be able to get off a Powder Snow or not. Venonat was closing in. So she had to focus all she could and…
She got it off again, and the Powder Snow hit Venonat straight on, freezing the outer areas of the purple bug. ‘Veeeeeeeenonat!’ The Pokémon cried out yet still managed to force her way through the attack and tackled Sno, sending her back a bit. But, Venonat was obviously the one that had suffered the most damage. However, the purple Pokémon wasn’t quite up yet.
‘Keep tackling!’ Vivia commanded, hoping that her two-turn preparation to get the Snorunt confused hadn’t backfired to mean nothing. Sno was still confused, and had taken a bit of damage from that tackle. But, if she could get through another Powder Snow, that would surely finish it, this time.