PlatinumSkink

Pokémon: Start

@Gardevoiran Supersonic would affect it just like it'd affect any other creature that is affected by supersonic... though that's not really information you can use, now, is it? Have your trainers figure something! Heh.

Pokémon: Start

@Eklispe That's alright. Any update on when you think you're going to be able to post?

@Dusksong Heh. I must admit that the idea to wave the tail at the opponent was quite amusing, and I really had to reward it. That said, you're facing the most disagreeable rival here, so... let's see how you're going to proceed. You have one advantage here. How do you use it?

@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam Nicely posted. I will, though, need to occasionally note not all plans are going to go well, if I reason they won't. Also, sometimes I use things that aren't entirely part of the game. Like Barboach's Pokédex entry. ... Yeah, blinding a Pokémon with an internal radar-system is not gonna do you much good. XD

You're obviously free to argue I got something wrong if you feel so, in the meantime. What will you do now?

@Rune_Alchemist Nicely posted. Anyhow, here I'd like some player input before I move on. You can just say "yes/no" and that I should continue with the same strategies, in which case I could just edit in the rest of the battles. On the other hand, maybe you want to type out a post at this occasion. In that case, that's up to you. Teh-heh.

Pokémon: Start

@Dusksong@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran@Demon Shinobi

In the background, Kalmia suddenly got a phone-call and had to take a couple steps away from Jacques, but she still very much kept her eyes on the battles. She did look suddenly perplexed from what she heard over the phone, but overall smiled. Her attention was still on the battles, Jacques turning to eye her a bit curiously a little before looking back.

__________________________

@Dusksong

Oaken dropped the confident smirk at Eryn yelling back at him, frowned a little _{as he internally considered that perhaps his little speech had been uncalled for} and he simply refocused on the battle, looking at Skorupi going in to attack against Dei. Then, both Skorupi and Oaken heard Eryn’s next command.

'Heh,' Oaken made a small amused sound, 'I understand your desperation, but something that isn’t a proper move is not going to serve you. Skorupi! Go!'

'Skoruuup!' Skorupi sounded out, Growl reducing its attack as the scorpion tried to go in for another Knock Off… when the flaming tail was waved at it.

'SKRPI!' Skorupi sounded out in a positively terrified tone and winced backwards, crawling back and away from Dei. Oaken blinked a bit in confusion.

'… Skorupi, what are you doing? He has no moves that can hurt you. At him. Knock Off,' Oaken commanded, frowning at the thing not doing what he wanted.

'Sk-skoru-pi…' the scorpion replied, looking back at his trainer and then towards Dei, shaking a little.

'You’re… afraid of the fire,' Oaken stated, getting it finally. … He reacted by closing his eyes, frowning hard in annoyance, lowering his head, and closing his two hands into fists with enough annoyance one could hear the bones knack a bit. Skorupi tensed up, scorpion-eyes wide, hearing the cracks.

'Skorupi… Do you remember… what I told you when we met?' Oaken stated, in a barely restrained focused tone, seething in contained anger. 'You understand… what’ll happen if you lose this battle that by all accounts you should win?'

'Sk-skoooo…' Skorupi sounded scared, this time both of the fire before it as well as the trainer behind.

'You do understand,' Oaken confirmed, like a teacher done lecturing a naughty child. He pushed his glasses back a bit, and then stated in a tone that said that there were no other options. 'Go. Win.'

That command made, Skorupi forced himself forward, trying to find a manner to get a Knock-Off in without getting hit by the flaming tail.

… What would Eryn command?

__________________________

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran

Cici shot out a Smoke Screen pellet, which hit #8 straight on and a cloud of black smoke emerged around them, close enough to Cici that there was nothing to be seen… except the sudden burst of Mud-Slap coming out of the smoke to hit her in the face. The burst of mud did some Ground-type damage, and some got into her eyes to lower her accuracy slightly.

'That’s it! Keep up the Mud-Slap! Use her loss of accuracy, dodge the bubbles and Mud-Slap again!' Simon commanded from over there, and #8 pressed on the attack. The fish appeared to have a pretty good idea of where Cici was despite the smoke in its face. #8 kept close to Cici, trying to dodge the Bubble attacks and going in for another Mud-Slap. Seeing how Mud-Slap is also the only move in #8’s arsenal, that’s probably how it’d continue, too.

Meanwhile, Seabreeze was setting up and starting to Water Gun at Scraggy’s “pants”. Scraggy didn’t even register anything except the force, stumbling a bit but preparing to attempt to jump. It was a bit heavier, but with such a burst of water it was hard to actually make the make the majority stick to the pants… but Scraggy was confused with reduced accuracy.

'Scraaaaaaaa-!' Scraggy let out a yell and leapt right into Seabreeze! … Except, instead of hitting Seabreeze with a kick, it instead just flew straight up into the bird, headfirst!

Scraggy inadvertently used Struggle! As such, both Pokémon took a significant dose of damage. In addition, Scraggy fell out of the air headfirst and hit with his head first into the ground. It hurt itself in confusion! Seabreeze could just keep afloat.

'Scraggy!' Vivia called, somewhat worried. However, the Dark/Fighting-type wasn’t out yet, struggling back to its feet. 'O-okay. Um. Run and help #8! Go Low Kick the Horsea!' Vivia commanded.

'Scraggy!' Scraggy confirmed, trying to run in the direction of the other battle… in a less than straight line, considerably damaged already.

So, how would Alice and Skylar proceed?

__________________________

@Rune_Alchemist

The Gym Guy looked like he was considering how to answer Claire’s first question, then she went on to say she got this. He smiled in reply.

‘Alright. Go show them what you’re made of!’ he encouraged, and then Claire climbed the stairs to enter the gym.

Aroma Lady Tanya would like to battle!

Shroomish was slower than Zeal, meaning Zeal immediately got his Taunt off. Trying to get some damage off, Tanya commanded Shroomish to Tackle, hoping Effect Spore would be induced on the contact. However, while Shroomish got a Tackle in, Zeal was too hot for spores, and Zeal Embered the Shroomish into smoking ruin.

With Tangela, Tanya went all out with the Vine Whips, ignoring any possible Taunt! Despite being Not-Very-Effective, Tanya got an additional Vine Whip off while Zeal was Taunting, counting on just being overall stronger with the vines! Zeal replied with Embers, that did way more damage, however come the time when the burns on Tangela finally caused it to faint Zeal was pretty badly hurt.

Treecko quickly turned out to be Tanya’s most capable Pokémon. Zeal being damaged, Claire switched to Ritz. With Ritz being Bug/Flying Absorb would do Treecko no good, so Leer plus Quick Attack it was. However, after the Leer he was quick to impact into a Reflect wall, making life difficult. The two Pokémon found themselves pretty evenly matched. Treecko was overall more formidable, but Reflect evened the playing field. Quick Attack and Comet Punches were exchanged, the punches doing 3-3-2-5 hits, leaving Treecko badly damaged. However, Ritz was damaged too by repeated Quick Attacks, and as such Claire switched to Lure who promptly Gusted the damaged Treecko to its defeat.

Lure grew to level 13! Lure learned Bug Bite!

_{for good and bad, hah}

Claire is victorious! Claire gained 303P!

‘Fuhuhuhu… Ouch, having to use Grass-types only really hurts~! One day, I’m leaving this gym and town behind and make a name for myself with a more varied team~!’

With that, Claire could walk by Tanya, then up to Daisy!

Lileep was prevented from using Confuse Ray by taunt, but in a move to make Taunt less OP, it instead sent Acid shooting at the chimp-Pokémon without sacrificing a move. Power-Up Punch was super-effective, but as Chimchar wasn’t a Fighting-Type yet and Lileep had considerable Defense, Lileep was still tethering onto a smidgeon of health left after two punches. It had managed to spit acid onto Zeal thrice before Zeal could finish it off with a punch that ultimately was powerful enough to have OHKO’d it, Daisy having to hurry to return Lileep before she flew over the edge. The three acids, the second one lowering Zeal’s special defense, had left him pretty damaged. However… speaking of not being a Fighting-type yet…

Zeal grew to level 14!

… … … … …

Oh?

Zeal felt a certain energy having gathered within him. He can choose when he wants to release it. Is this the most optimum moment? For dramatic reasons, the event that approaches would fully heal him, along with the more notable thing it’ll do. The choice is his, and potentially his trainer’s if he manages to ask her. Not going through with and leveling more would not have any negative consequences long-term when it comes to moves.

If he so chooses to

A burst of fire emerged from within Zeal’s stomach. The energy built up surged along his limbs and muscles, growing them, changing them. Fire and a bright light erupted around him as this significant event took place, limbs growing longer, fire burning fiercer, muscles growing stronger. His tail, of which he had none but a flame before, grew long and flexible with an intense flame on its end. And on his face, grew the blue markings around his eyes that their kind were the pride of the kind…

Zeal evolved into Monferno!

Pokédex Entry #391 – Monferno, the Playful Pokémon. A great and playful martial artist, it is known to climb walls and ceilings to spring from and attack. Its tail is a weapon right alongside its limbs, and it increases the intensity of the flames for attacks and keeping enemies on an ideal distance. The brighter the blue pattern on its face, the greater its rank in the pack.

Zeal learned Mach Punch!

New Pokémon evolved! Claire earned 2000 P!

And, because of the dramatic change that is evolution, Zeal’s damage was healed!

We pause here a bit, because that decision might impact all the battles ahead.

RPGC #19: Beware The Metal Age - Voting and Critique

Well, guess I better get a move on. I’ve read all the participating entries, so I might as well.

The following things are just my personal opinion that I’ve formed upon reading the entries. Yeah.

Flesh & Steel

Yeah. It’s good. It’s well written. It’s basically the first thought I had when I read the challenge, except I didn’t go through with it because of the second thought being that someone else was already doing that… kinda. This doesn’t really feel like the story is about fighting the metal menace, does it? The story is about Adelaide and her quest to become Empress, and I really do wonder why she needed to banish Siegfried through a portal and why she couldn’t just cut his throat in his sleep earlier. Eh, there’s probably plenty of reasons.

The basics of this victory is that Magic > Technology, which works. Magic might be more situational, but used right it has no limits and is extremely unpredictable. Yeah, it’s simple enough. Your writing is good and descriptive, you’re pretty artistic in your word-choices and all that. I just didn’t entirely see anything in this entry that stood out to me as noteworthy, I’m afraid. I’ve seen plots of betrayal and coup d'etats before, and the metal army could really have been replaced with basically any threatening force as far as the main plot goes. Eh, oh, well.

Evolution MKII

*reads title* I really hope this is Gundam-inspired somehow.

Nope, it was not. XD

… That was amazing. Well done. Hank made himself immediately likable, and there was always something off, but their conversation was really nice. Something off developed, and you made it into something interesting. The “Metal Age” wasn’t just something invading, it was far more interesting. And… I’ve never thought of there being a third stage behind machines, heh. Homunculus developed because machines wanted humans, huh. That’s so interesting. I have not heard of that before. Well done. I am thoroughly impressed.

The sun rises and the world has changed

Hm. This entry, unfortunately, didn’t feel very alive. Trevor and Mikhal’s first conversation felt far too casual for the horrific nature of being invaded, and the fact they had to speak one another’s names for no in-universe reason so the reader would know felt off. The conversation didn’t feel natural. Later, while having Trevor be captured immediately might be realistic, it was very bland to read about. It feels like there would have been ways to write that in a more interesting way, somehow.

Lemitsa’s little additional bit felt really random and didn’t feel like it added anything. … Linda appeared out of nowhere and I’m not sure she made anything better, hah. Yeah, you established that this was a fantasy world, but yikes. She’s a bit out-there for me to accept out of nowhere.

Alright. I’m sorry to say, but that was somewhat of a drag to read through for me. The story wasn’t particularly interesting. I’m not sure I can pinpoint how or why, but that was one of the reasons I opted against actually writing about an invading army for my entry, because it could easily become uninteresting. More than that, the conversations felt empty to me, and I’m not entirely sure how to fix that.

This entry is long, and it isn’t even the full story. It might become more exciting later, because hearing about our heroes being successful is more entertaining than hearing about our heroes failing to protect their kingdom, but that’s not what we have here. I’m sorry to say so. Oh, well.

I’ll mention I think my own entry suffer a couple of similar problems. I don’t feel that it’s among any of my better work, hah.

Batten Valley

Woah. Second-person point of view? Okay. Let’s see where this goes.

… Yupp. Guessed the twist within the first couple sentences. Sometimes, I really wish I could just, like, NOT make those guesses, but I guess I’ve just been subjected to too much media for that. Oh, well.

“You” kind of works when we’re able to relate to the person we’re in, in a weird way. It goes out the window when the individual in question does something we’d never do. It’d been cool if you somehow managed to keep the person logically acting within what we’d reason ourselves to do, and THEN sprang the twist out of nowhere, heh. That would have been much more disturbing, suddenly thinking back and perhaps a death you accidentally caused or so was actually perhaps not so accidental. Eh, not necessary. You just made an entry as you wanted it. Well, this made me smile, anyway. So nicely done on that part.

Sunday

Um. Okay. So it’s a story about machines taking over the world, told in newscasts, kinda. I’m, uh… well, good work. I’m just going to move on now, because I felt virtually nothing while reading, and as such don’t have a lot of comments that would be interpreted as helpful, hah.

Edit: Suppose that’s just me being a brick while I was writing. Okay, let me try to add something.

The concept is cool. Telling about how machine-inducement slowly takes over and fewer purists remain until nothing remains of the original humans. Everything being told in broadcasts is pretty cool, yeah. You’re pretty fancy in the editing, too, and your language is most certainly up to par. It’s simply that I, personally, did not feel particularly grabbed by the story that was going on. I realized what was happening, knew where it was going, and saw it go there. No big surprises, no characters for me to relate to, nothing in that vein. The last jump into the future went really far, which threw me off additionally. It was simply a story, told in a slightly new way, but yeah. It told the story as you wanted it told, and suppose you may have told that perfectly, I don’t know if I’d have changed anything. Others seems to have liked it, while I’m indifferent. So, yeah. Well done.

The Program

Whelp. Uuuuh. Okay, so I’m sincerely confused right now. In the end, who was the machine? The Program? Prime? The Government? The news broadcasts? All of the above? … Hahahahaha. I don’t know who’s word I can trust. Would be cool if it was Prime, though.

Okay, that was interesting. Kudos to you for writing something interesting. The end was a bit disappointing, but perhaps that’s just because I’m stupid and don’t get it. In any case. Well done. I was really interested in what was going to happen there for a bit, and that’s a really good thing. Nice.

My Vote

I vote for Evolution MKII, because I personally found it the most charming and interesting entry out of those available. Well done, Broken.

Shoutout to The Program, too. It’s really good. If I was more satisfied by the end, I may have considered it over the one I now voted for. Anyways, yupp.

Edit: Here’s to the missing thing. Oh, and I added some more to Sunday, because I don’t think I was being fair there.

Act 1

I didn’t really read why this wasn’t submitted for voting, but I suppose I could guess. This story isn’t finished, is it? You didn’t even get to actually telling us what it was you were hiding, which is, like, the big thing in stories like this where you’re hiding something from the audience. I personally never got to a point where I thought I had any grasp of the situation that was going on. I also feel like this might have needed a couple examinations. These blocks of text uses a lot of complicated word-choices yet I could barely understand what they were saying in many occasions. Perhaps try to simplify just a bit? Or is that me being a bad reader? I dunno. But I did find a lot of the sentences here confusing, heh.

Merely trying to find examples I find more and more confusing bits that I swear wasn’t here first time I read it. Hah. Who was screaming? The owners of those arms trying to grab him? Why could he sink into the ground? If he’s walking on a mountain of corpses, why is it described as the ground? What’s even the dimensions of this place? Why was that blue beam recognizable, what did it mean? Wires apparently dug into him, but apparently he ran off no problem? I can imagine why, but no description of them not affecting him or so? Why did he think of grabbing the device between Rytok’s knees? Did he have the cleaver with him when he came down? Was he thrown down, but they’re apparently under a fake sky?

Wait, now that I read it again, it was a foot he grabbed that inserted itself into his… … … I’m going to stop reading now, because apparently I was not in a state to read this when I read it, I missed way too much. I'm losing faith in my ability to read here.

Still, I was curious where it was going, and that’s a plus. I wondered what kind of world you had in mind here and read to the end… and didn’t get anything, hah. So, yeah. The first part. You had something going here, at the very least. So nicely done on that part.

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

The flashback is in my post because Old Amsterdam asked me to write something like that.

@Old Amsterdam If you find it too boring, I can rewrite it. This is simply how I imagined it when I wrote it originally, just a boring little crush that ended for completely understandable reasons. If you'd like me to rewrite it into something more fun, I can do that. I can even take your suggestions if you have any. Otherwise, if this suits your purposes, there it is. Hah.

Other than that, I'll assume I should be waiting for a GM-post about the current contents of the Rockers hideout, and I'll wait for that unless told otherwise, hah.

Capes of Denver: A Worm RP

Creep

Sheila Hopkins

Streets of Denver

---

… Swarm had followed her. She didn’t know his intentions, but surely, it was no good. Perhaps he had intended on attacking her after they came to a less public street. Fortunately, Creep had the tools to vanish forever, without which she was unsure what she would have done. Thunderbolt appeared… what had he been intending? To protect his investment? It must have been because of seeing Swarm following Creep that he came along. She hadn’t heard their conversation, and said conversation ended the moment they came past the corner. … Okay, then. Sheila simply resolved to keep this event in mind, and then keep going. At the very least, Swarm did not have a power that could see her.

Despite being invisible, Creep took a monstrous detour through town just in case someone unseen still followed her. There was only one place she could safely store the vials, and that was by the house she now lived. Sneaking in without alerting Viola, she hid them behind a couple books in the bookshelf. They’d be safe enough there for the moment, Viola never looked through these books. Sheila never informed Viola that she had come home, simply departing again. Her sister was way too busy with her current video-game to notice, headphones on and all that. With that, Creep departed through the streets of Denver once again.

On her walk, she had a lot to think about, besides watching for potential followers. She had isolated a group of people as the only ones she could imagine giving these two vials to; her own friends from her former life. She’d actually drag two of them into this hellish life? Could she do that to them? … If they wanted it, she decided. She would give them a refusable offer. If they wanted it, she could give it to them. She really needed allies, after all, and this was perhaps her one chance to earn one that was more than just temporary. Actual allies, who she was willing to put in danger, unlike Viola. … She grit her teeth, thinking of them one at a time.

Briefly appearing within her mind, there was the boy that had once been her boyfriend. It had been only for a very short period of time, they never really did anything other than go on numerous dates. … Was he an option?

Sheila thought back to her experiences with him…

@Old Amsterdam

Flashback, the Boy who Loved

‘I’ve fallen in love with you! Please, go out with me!’

So the boy had called to Sheila, at a time when she was still yellow blonde and didn’t have any powers, right after school. She had staggered, eyes wide looking at him. He held forward two tickets to a local, rather fancy restaurant. Assumingly, it was to show how serious he was that he had already bought them.

It wasn’t that Sheila didn’t know who he was. A classmate, not a particularly close classmate but a classmate all the same. She didn’t think that much of him, certainly wasn’t attracted to him, but he wasn’t a bad kind of person. Yet, here she was, feeling her heart all aflutter because someone had actually asked her out!

‘S-sure! I’m…’ Sheila gave him a smile, feeling the joy of an innocent young romantic. ‘I’m willing to give you a chance,’ she said. Hey, springtime of youth and all, right? She was willing to give it a shot. Seeing his face brighten up and that he then started jumping in celebration right after, she felt she had done a good deed. If nothing else, it would be a good memory.

---

They became boyfriend and girlfriend, and they told all their friends. They were congratulated, and all was nice for a bit. Viola teased about them doing all the things they obviously hadn’t done yet. For a time, it was nice. Sheila got to experience the excitement of having a boyfriend without actually having to put in the effort of finding a boy she liked and confessing, which suited her introverted self nicely. He seemed more than happy to shower her with gifts and attention, call her a lot and taking her on an excessive amount of dates…

… It was too much.

Sometimes, she just wanted to hang out with her normal friends. Sometimes, she just wanted to relax in the quiet solitude of her home, reading, watching TV, any number of activities. He kept calling her, and far too often he had bought tickets for both of them without asking her because he wanted to surprise her. He showered her with gifts, to the degree Sheila started wondering how much money he really had. Her parents liked him fine, but over time, the flutter in her heart died down, and it became… troublesome.

Sheila became deeply aware she wasn’t attracted to him. His friends had been telling her how he spent less and less time with them to focus on her, how he was disregarding parts of his life entirely so he could devote himself to her… it felt wrong. He was nice, and it was very annoying to her that she couldn’t reward him being nice. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful to all his gifts and affection, but eventually she had to put her foot down. She had to explain she wasn’t comfortable with all of it. He was understanding, and kept his distance. Except, now she already associated him with the creepiness of his amount of affection.

She felt guilty, him giving her so much when she couldn’t return the affection. There was a balance, she wanted to reward him for being nice but at the same time, doing so would be at the expense of her own happiness. She realized he wasn't the kind to usually attract girls and Sheila didn’t particularly want to become one of “those girls” that ignored nice men but went for the more exciting bad ones or so, but ultimately she realized she couldn’t be happy with him. This was no basis for a healthy relationship. As such, she felt forced to call him, telling him she was coming over to his house. This had been the first time she called him and not the other way around.

---

‘I’m sorry. The truth is, I’m not attracted to you. I gave you a shot, and I am happy that I did. I want to make it clear I am really, really thankful for all that you’ve given me, but in the end… I don’t feel like you’re the one for me. I’m sorry.’

So she told him, feeling guilty but nonetheless determined to say her mind. They couldn’t be in a relationship she was unhappy with.

‘W-was it something I did? Anything I said? I can change for you. Just let me know, and I’ll-’

She held up a hand for him to stop. The bargaining reminded her of why she was doing this.

‘No. I don’t want you to be anyone but who you are. Trust me, you’re great, but you’re wasted on someone who doesn’t appreciate you fully. On me.’

‘I don’t feel so. I couldn’t be this invested in anyone but you. You’re the only one I feel this way towards.’

That stung. She was going to be breaking his heart. She was already breaking his heart. The guilt within her was palpable. But ultimately…

‘If you let me, I’ll-’

‘Stop,’ she told him, her voice forceful, showing her first hint of annoyance. He stiffened, despite already having quieted. ‘I… don’t love you. There’s our fundamental problem. I won’t stick to a relationship in which I’m not happy.’

He got quiet. He had no rebuttal to that. That… might have come out harsher than she intended, but it got the point across.

‘I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. F-fortunately, we’re still young. I hope you find someone better suited for you, who rewards the effort you put in, because I cannot,’ she said, for some reason feeling a couple of tears from the guilt and sadness she was causing him. She stood up from the chair, legs shaking a little as she stepped away from him. ‘Thank you for everything. When we meet next, we’ll be normal classmates again. … Friends, if you so desire. I’m sorry.’

So she said, without him returning any words, as she walked away. She put on her shoes and her jacket, for this was during the winter months, and didn’t say another word to him as she walked out. On the streets, she felt sorry and guilty for the heartbreak she had caused him… but also relieved, she had gotten it out, she was now free. Suppose that last part proved that what she had done was right for her.

---

Two months later, Sheila vanished from school, from their lives, her house suddenly standing empty. This was due to her trigger-event and the events after, her father having sold her out to villains for his own skin and so on after she had confronted the villains he was helping. Her trigger event had been seven or eight months ago, she hadn’t entirely kept track of dates since. Sheila really hoped that her disappearance hadn’t impacted the boy too harshly. It was out of her hands, and it had been the same for everyone. Now that she was intending to go back and share the vials with people she trusted from her previous life…

… No. She couldn’t go to him. The reason was simple; if she did, it was possible he’d throw away his life, drink the vial, all because he wanted to be with her. They’d be back in that unhealthy relationship all over again. Sheila would feel the guilt for having strung him along when she knew for a fact she didn’t love him, but at the same time he’d be fighting, abandoning all he had and risking his life, all for her. She couldn’t subject him to that, and more importantly, she couldn’t subject herself to that. That had to be her absolutely last option, if she really and truly became that desperate…

She shook her head, discarding the line of thoughts and kept going. She headed towards the Rocker’s current base of operations, intent on seeing how they were currently doing. Depending on what condition she found them in, she had to prepare herself for what was to come. Creep would have to announce herself as their new leader, and with that… she’d just have to see how it’d go. She briefly thought of Visage, but Visage was her junior in the group, but perhaps it wouldn’t appear so for the Rockers. It was too early to tell. For now, she simply had to head to them, and see how the place looked.

Creep went to the hideout and headed in, still invisible as she scanned the current situation. To ensure she wasn’t taken by surprise by anything.

Pokémon: Start

@Joshua Tamashii Oh. You're right. In fact, I'm confused at how I got that impression. Whelp. I'm sorry about that, I could have read that a bit more carefully.

Well, if you want me to change it, tell me and I'll do so, or if you want to work with this then go ahead, hahaha.

Pokémon: Start

@Rune_Alchemist Oh, alright, you just edited that into there. Alright, then. Nicely posted. With all that done, you said you'd be heading for the Stillwood Village Gym, right? I went ahead and wrote a bunch about that, so go at it. If you think I went forward too quickly, maybe you had questions you wanted to ask the Gym Guy or something, then tell me and we can work it out, heh.

@Eklispe@Joshua Tamashii And here you go, a Pokémon encounter for Dawkin, a "the GM rolled the die to see what happened" for Amelia, heh. Nicely posted. I will note the Cacnea are not as numerous as Amelia noted, they're just common enough that you will see a couple on your journey through the desert, but yeah. Nicely posted enough.

Five days had gone since my last post, so I posted for those who had posted...

@Dusksong@Gardevoiran@Old Amsterdam@Demon Shinobi So, entire new group. How are you doing?

Pokémon: Start

@Rune_Alchemist

Meganium gave Ritz a bit of a stare, but assuming he did nothing else he'd resume his resting.

Uxie looked at her as it was poked, but with her insistence that it should call her and she’d come running, it gave the slightest of smiles and did a small nod. Meganium barely acknowledged Claire, though if Pip was there he’d give her a grunt that wished her well, and that was about that. Back through the old forest and back to…

Stillwood Village

Stillwood Village

Inside these calm forest lies a village completely in-tune with nature. The buildings are built around or in the trees of wood and stone, the light shining onto the village stifled by the great trees above. In the air, meeting your nose as soon as you tread into the village, is filled to the brim with the smell of forest and spores. It’s a wild smell, but somehow it is extremely relaxing and any worries seem to be stifled before the calming village ahead where everyone is always so calm and happy, wild Pokémon walking freely on the roads of the place. This is Stillwood Village, the most relaxing place imaginable, it’s people in touch with nature and wishing the best to all those who come to their cozy and ancient little home.

Wild Grass Pokémon freely wander the streets, spreading their spores into the air which the townspeople actively walk through every single day. They are all smiles, very helpful, the entire village and all visitors afflicted by the relaxing sensations brought by the spores during their stay in Stillwood Village. However, these spores are the reason quite a few avoid Stillwood Village, arguing that it messes with one’s mind. It is extremely rare that a member of Stillwood Village moves out of the village, after all. It will also quickly become evident just how little the members of the village care about the world at large, all their worries gone by the relaxing spores and just continue living, no troubles in the slightest.

That’s Stillwood Village for you.

Budews, Roselias and Shroomish were above all the ones to blame for all the spores in the air, the relaxing smell and the effect that seemed to drain on a person’s worries entering the village. However, in the air drifted smaller beings.

Hoppips floated along the winds in Stillwood Village, and high above Skiplooms floated to catch the light heading down, further decreasing the amount of sunlight that actually touched the villagers treading about the village. Also walking about were…

Numerous Oddishes had apparently failed to understand that the relative dark was not due to night. That aside, the nice smell of the village was only occasionally interrupted by foul smell of a passing Gloom, but that problem seemed to only be bothering visitors as the villagers didn’t even seem to notice.

Now she’s in Stillwood Village.

Suggestions to actions, Stillwood Village

1. Find Pokémon. Can still search for Pokémon in cities~
2. Talk. In cities, there are considerably more people one can talk to. Talking can give you info on local rumors and such.
3. Exit. Exit the town to any of the connected areas.
4. Specify. If you specify what you want to do, the GM will take it into account and tell the result.
5. Trigger random event. Force the GM to use his imagination to make a scenario for you.
6. Notable Places. Visit any of the places in the city!
6.1. Pokémon Center. Heal all your Pokémon.
6.2. PokéMart. Go to a store and buy things.
6.3. Pokémon Gym. ???
6.4. Herb Store. Selling bitter medicine that is very good for your Pokémon!
6.5. Flower Shop. For decoration and for pleasant smells, the flower shop has the best selection in Isson!
6.6. Berry Garden. Allows trainers to rent earth to plant their own berries. New trainers gets a kit to start them off!
6.7. Treehouse Arena. Even forest-people want to battle it out sometimes. Lots of berries as prices~
6.8. Ancient Woods. An older part of the forest. Dangerous, but said to hold a link to the past. There are large old rocks here. What more could they hold?
7.1. Erika. Currently engaging in Treehouse Battles, Claire could go look if she wanted. Or enter. Hah.
7.2. Joshua and Ewan. The two friends are currently in Stillwood Village. They’re currently examining the Flower Shop. That is, Joshua’s eagerly examining it, Ewan’s waiting.

Connected areas:
Route 4. Forest route at the base of Mt. Strength leading west to Rainrock City.
Route 5. A grassy incline connecting mountains, forests, plains, Stillwood and Lakewatch.
Route 14. The waters of Dragon Lake are also known as Route 14. It connects Lakewatch Town, Highhill Town and Stillwood Village.
Mountain Valley. A passage between Mt. Strength and Mt. Chill, a shortcut to Worldedge City.

Stillwood Village, known Pokémon

Common:
#44 Oddish
#187 Hoppip
#188 Skiploom
#285 Shroomish
#315 Roselia
#406 Budew

Uncommon:
#45 Gloom

Rare:

Then, she headed for the Gym, was it?

The Pokémon Gym of Stillwood Village was a large treehouse, with a large stair leading up towards it. It was a grand creation, round creation circling the tree in white, pillars that looked like sprouted trees holding it afloat over the ground beneath. Under the treehouse was a nest of plenty of Pokémon. By the start of the stairs was a sign, declaring what this gym was.

Stillwood Pokémon Gym - Minor League
Gym Leader: Archie
“The Woodland Wanderer!”

‘Hey! Champion-to-be!’ A voice called out for her. She might recognize him as the same one that had appeared before her at Redcoast City Gym.

This guy

‘Taking on your next Gym, are you? Nice! You might need to know, Archie’s Gym is a traditional one, where you need to fight a couple of Gym Trainers to prove yourself before facing the Leader! Don’t worry, you get to heal your Pokémon between each battle. Now, then, if you wish to know…’ … In case Claire was still listening, he’d go on to explain the Grass-type.

Analysis

‘Archie’s a user of the Grass-type! It’s a type with a lot of weaknesses, Fire, Bug, Flying, Ice, Poison… But it’s also a type full of tricks! They have a variety of different powders they can spew at you to cause status-effects and skew the tide of battle, you’d do well to prepare for their usage! Other than that, Grass is effective against Water and the Rock/Ground types, in case you were intending on fighting with those, heh. I wish you good luck!’

With that over, she probably headed up the stairs into the first room. The inside of the building was a big forest of its own, soil spread around the ground-floor to let plants grow, yet in here one more great staircase existed, taking the challenger all the way up the giant tree that the building was constructed around. On the way up the staircase were three great platforms built out of wood, held up by a tree-pillar each, just a simple railing preventing a fall down below. In any case. Claire was to take the challenge, was she not? If so, she could climb up the stairs to the first platform.

Waiting there, like knowing she’d be coming, sat a smug-looking young Aroma Lady on a wooden chair, waiting for her approach.



‘Fuhuhuhu. You wanna challenge the leader? Well, you know the drill. You gonna have to go through me, first!’

Aroma Lady Tanya would like to battle!

Tanya’s Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #285 – Shroomish, the Mushroom Pokémon. It lives deep in dark, damp forest where it eats the composted soil and fallen leaves. By day it remains still in the forest shade, by night it moves to eat. If it detects danger, it can spout highly toxic spores from the top of its head, strong enough to make trees wilt.

Stun Spore and then Leech Seed, and if everyone’s still alive after that, it’s going to Absorb or Tackle until its opponent faints, it hopes. Effect Spore might Paralyze, Poison or cause Sleep on contact!

Pokédex Entry #114 – Tangela, the Vine Pokémon. It is constantly wrapped in countless constantly jiggling blue vines that never stop growing. The vines cloak its unknown contents, and are known to entangle anything that comes close. The vines easily detach if grabbed and grow back within a day.

Vine Whipping from a distance! If an opponent dare come close, it’s going to try Sleep Powdering it, and then make some distance before Vine Whipping again!

Pokédex Entry #252 – Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokémon. A territorial Pokémon known to nest inside large trees in the forest, guarding it from anything near. It has small hooks under its feet, allowing it to scale vertical surfaces. It’s famously stubborn, known to not budge an inch no matter how outmatched the opponent has it.

Absorb is its most capable move, but in a physical brawl it can Leer and Quick Attack. Will use Quick Attack to attempt dodging bad situations. Overgrow will boost Absorb’s power when heavily damaged!

Assuming Claire eventually got past Tanya, she could wander up the stairs and face the second opponent halfway up the tree. It was another Aroma Lady, her expression kind and welcoming, yet still very much ready for battle.



‘Hello! Welcome to Stillwood Pokémon Gym! I’m happy you’ve taken our challenge… but I’m sorry, I need to make sure you know we Stillwood Trainers are no pushovers!’

Aroma Lady Daisy would like to battle!

Daisy’s Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #345 – Lileep, the Sea Lily Pokémon. It attached itself to rocks at the bottom of the seafloor using powerful suckers and disguised itself as seaweed until it caught prey swimming close with its tentacles shaped like flower-petals, devouring said prey whole. It went extinct over 100 million years ago, exists today only due to reanimation through fossils.

Knows Astonish, Constrict, Acid, Ingrain and Confuse Ray. Will try to outlast its opponent by Confuse Raying and Ingraining, spewing Acid in the meantime. Suction Cups prevent it from being moved!

Pokédex Entry #547 – Whimsicott, the Windveiled Pokémon. It can shape its body to slip through the tiniest gaps, leaving white balls of fluff behind. They ride in the wind and whirlwinds, popping into people’s houses and playing around. There it plays pranks like moving furniture and hiding important things. Never settles down unless caught by a trainer.

Stun Spore, then Mega Drain! If more effective, it also has Gust.

Pokédex Entry #271 – Lombre, the Jolly Pokémon. Nocturnal, it sleeps on a bed of water grass by day. Naturally mischievous, it’s known to tug at the lines of anglers or popping out of rivers to startle people, among other things. Its body is covered with a slippery, slimy film that makes touching it very unpleasant to the common human.

Has Fury Swipes, Bubble, Absorb and Astonish, all to use depending on which is the most effective. Own Tempo prevents Confusion!

After Daisy, assuming she got that far, Claire’d be walking up to the third and final platform before the top, where she’d face a middle-aged man in a suit, standing politely and awaiting her approach.



‘Welcome, young trainer. Master Archie’s playing just beyond here. I’d let you go see him, but I must make sure you’re up to the challenge first.’

Butler Ramsey would like to battle!

Ramsey’s Pokémon

Pokédex Entry #672 – Skiddo, the Mount Pokémon. It is believed to be one of the first Pokémon to start living with humans in harmony. It is known to have a placid disposition, and only really battle if used by a trainer. If it has sunshine and water, it doesn’t need to eat, because it can generate the energy it needs to survive from the leaves on its back.

Knows Tackle, Growth, Vine Whip, Tail Whip, Leech Seed and Razor Leaf. Sap Sipper boosts its Attack if hit by a Grass move. It’ll start by trying to Tail Whip or Leech Seed its opponent, then go for Razor Leaf or Tackle depending on the enemy.

Pokédex Entry #470 – Leafeon, the Verdant Pokémon. Its cells have evolved to take the same properties as plant-cells. Performing intense photosynthesis, it cleans polluted air and releases fresh oxygen into the air about it, the air always feels fresh around a Leafeon. Although it tends to dislike disputes, it will sharpen the leaf on its tail into a blade should it need to battle.

Knows Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand, Sand Attack, Razor Leaf and Quick Attack. Sand Attack and Razor Leaf would make an excellent combo. Quick Attack a blinded opponent with Sand attack if type-disadvantage.

Pokédex Entry #274 – Nuzleaf, the Wily Pokémon. It lives in densely overgrown forests, where it bores holes in large trees to live in. It pulls a lead from its head and makes a flute with. The flute, sometimes heard by forest-land travelers, have special powers that strike fear and uncertainty into people’s hearts. It dislikes having its long nose pinched.

Knows Pound, Harden, Growth, Nature Power, Fake Out, Razor Leaf. If he faces someone he feels he can take the time against, he’ll Growth in place before shooting Razor Leafs. If type-disadvantage, Fake Out into the enemy, then start a Pound barrage from there.

What would be Claire’s strategies in the battles ahead? She’d be allowed to go heal between each, if she so wanted.

__________________________

@Eklispe

It wouldn’t take very long for Dawkin to find a Cacnea, standing on its own in the sands next to a rock. While they weren’t sprawling the place, so to say, it didn’t need much else than simply moving about to see the green of them standing out among the rocks and sands.

The cactus was sending out a scent to attract its prey, except humans are not part of its diet. _{Honestly, I am unsure what is, but anyways.} Not sticking to its usual tactics of waiting the prey to get close, the little cactus pretending to be a normal cactus spun towards Dawkin and directed its “hands” at him, obviously threatening the thorn-like attack which the Pokédex described.

‘Cacnea!’ it announced, looking vaguely threatening. It really only meant to make them aware of it and make them move on… but that’s not why Dawkin was here. Moving forth would most certainly result in a battle. What would Dawkin do?

@Joshua Tamashii

One thing Amelia’d note. She wasn’t the only kinda-mystic that had been attracted to this place. There were Hex Maniacs, Channellers and Mediums about, attracted by the mystic energies of the Old Tombs, and Amelia could feel they had Ghost Pokémon on them. There weren’t a lot of them, one of each specifically, trying to make it through the desert that was SO not their element. She could feel them, but they didn’t seem like they could feel her in return.

Also, wasn’t there something strange in the distance? There was a ghostly presence, but it was volatile. Somewhat akin to what she might remember Angelique caused the evil-minded Pokémon of Witchpeak Cemetery…

Pickup - Pumpkaboo is now holding Soft Sand. Where he found that is anyone’s guess.

Pokémon: Start

@Dusksong Yeah, purely statistically, this is going like this. How do you react to that?

@Old Amsterdam@Gardevoiran That went like this, heh. I did consider that Bubble is a multi-Pokémon affecting move, but Scraggy's a decent amount further back than #8, so I figured it'd be like this, yeah.

@Demon Shinobi Okay, so I'm going to reason that even the slowest Pokémon isn't THAT slow in the future, but I just looked over their stats to get an idea of how this interaction would go and saw their speed-stats, I just really wanted to write it like this. XD

@Eklispe@Joshua Tamashii And... here you go. Now off and do something, heh.