#i just really like the idea of florence being a badass with a sword and felix being brilliant at necromancy

[leavemetoplaythesims]

another fantasy villain au edit because i like it

before:

[crystalelemental]

Alright, I have reached the League in Platinum.  We’re going in.  I’ll be doing one long post again, instead of the breakdown per character, to avoid cluttering Dashboards.  The team:

Eleanor the Dusknoir (Brave, lv 60).  Elemental Punches and Shadow Punch.  I had wanted Trick Room, but can’t find a justification to remove any of the coverage.

Cadence the Chimecho (Modest, lv 58).  Extrasensory, Shadow Ball, Charge Beam, Hidden Power.

Florence the Cherrim (Timid, lv 58).  Solarbeam, Hidden Power Fire, Leech Seed, Sunny Day.

Arianne the Floatzel (Rash, lv 58).  Surf, Waterfall, Ice Beam, Crunch.

Perrine the Gliscor (Careful, lv 57).  Earthquake, Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, Swords Dance.

Melanie the Skuntank (Naive, lv 56).  Night Slash, Poison Jab, Flamethrower, Strength.

As always, I don’t use items during the match, but will heal up between matches.  If a Pokemon faints, however, they’re out for good.

First up is Aaron, a guy who claims to be Bug, but whose main I am certain is Drapion.  I decided to lead with Perrine, since I’m not taking any chances early on, and Rock/Ground coverage should clear this entire team.  I was confidence the Yanmega lead was Speed Boost, unfortunately I had guessed Protect and tried to boost first, so it got two Air Slash on me.  Thankfully, one Swords Dance let Perrine absolutely demolish his team.  That said, I’m pleasantly surprised by his spread.  Scizor was terrifying, I wasn’t sure we could OHKO, and Heracross covers the Rock/Ground coverage that’s so good against the rest of his team.  Gliscor is just a surprisingly hard counter.  I also really enjoy Air Slash/Speed Boost Yanmega as a lead.  That’s pretty nasty.

Next up is Bertha.  I always kinda liked Bertha.  Anyway, this is Florence’s time to shine.  Gliscor was scary.  Fire Fang as I set sunlight, I am astonished we didn’t die.  Once sun was set, though, Solarbeam took it down.  And took down everything else.  I didn’t feel like messing with Hippowdon.  I could feel something was up, and we were too low on HP and Sandstorm was active.  I swapped over to Arianne.  Turns out, I was right to do so.  Stone Edge crit.  That would’ve killed Florence, but Arianne survived and got the KO with Surf.  So far so good.

Next up is Flint, who has always been my least favorite.  I think Diamond and Pearl made me mad at him.  Fire-type Elite Four, but only two Fire types out of the five.  Pathetic.  Anyway, Platinum has more options, so I confidently lead with Arianne.  We take out four of his Pokemon with Waterfall alone, but Flame Body procs with Magmortar, so it wasn’t a perfect run.  Still, I’m disappointed.  At least he has all Fire types, but come on.  It’s kinda like Volkner, just a stream of the same type, all easy to handle with a counter.

Now for the asshole.  Lucian is a pain in my ass every time.  Anyway, I decide to go Eleanor.  Maybe it’s a mistake, but I feel like she can take him.  Unfortunately, my decision to not play Trick Room comes to bite me instantly, as Mr. Mime uses Reflect.  Uphill battle from turn one.  Thankfully Shadow Punch still OHKO’d.  Espeon has Shadow Ball, and got the lucky Sp. Def. drop.  So that’s bad.  Eleanor is basically dead on her feet when it arrives.  That fucking Bronzong.  I switched to Florence.  He got a crit with Gyro Ball, and evaded my Leech Seed the first time, necessitating a second.  So that’s great, two Calm Minds for his special defense.  If this could be going any worse...  I swap to Skuntank.  Thankfully, I got it right, Psychic.  I opt for Night Slash.  While not as strong, it seems the safest option.  It knows Earthquake.  Of course.  God dammit, Lucian.  Only half damage, and a bit of Leech Seed healing keeps us alive, but wow, we have three injured Pokemon and he’s only half done.  Alakazam’s next, and I briefly entertain the idea of switching before realizing that would be a disaster and stay put.  Focus Blast hits, and Skuntank lives with 17 HP.  That...was scary.  But now it’s worse, because we’re staring down Gallade.  In the possibly worst call, I switch to Perrine.  He hits with Stone Edge, because misses don’t happen for him.  Thankfully, I have a Flying move with Aerial Ace.  Unfortunately, it survives.  But a second one finishes it.  Four severely injured Pokemon, but no deaths.  What a painful fight.

But not nearly as bad as the ultimate being.  God, Cynthia is such a badass, I love her.  I decide to lead Florence.  I know, I know, risky business with the Milotic, but I really don’t have a good lead against Spiritomb, so I have to trust in this game plan.  I go for Leech Seed to get some passive damage and healing, and plan to switch to Skuntank next tu-oh god she knows Silver Wind.  OH GOD SHE GOT THE BOOST.  FUCK, IT’S TURN ONE AND WE’RE ALREADY ON RED ALERT.  Okay, switch to Skuntank and another Silver Wi-IT GOT IT AGAIN, FUCK ME.  I try twice to poison with Poison Jab.  No dice.  I try to finish it before Full Restore can be used with Night Slash.  It survives.  Skuntank goes down.  DOING GREAT, GUYS.

At this point, it’s full-on red alert, I go straight to Perrine and start the Swords Dance boost as she Full Restores.  I get to the second, and find out Shadow Ball absolutely trucks through Perrine’s weaker special defense.  That Careful nature isn’t saving you for shit, girl.  I take the shot with Earthquake.  And it hangs on by a thread, and gets a KO with Psychic.  We are so, so fucked.

I bring in Florence, and to my surprise, she doesn’t heal again.  Spiritomb gets a shot off as I set up Sunny Day, but we’re not dead.  A small victory, but I count it.  Togekiss comes in.  I can’t beat that.  I try to Leech Seed.  It evaded the attack.  Why?

I bring in Cadence, realizing that we really cannot bring in the other two right now, and...oof.  Togekiss outspeeds.  And knows Air Slash. She gets a flinch on the second hit, and now Cadence is down.  If this could get any worse, it’d be a miracle.  But Arianne can...oh my god id only dealt like half damage with Ice BEam, and she nearly killed me in one shot with Shock Wave.  Good god, why is this happening?  Roserade’s in, Ice BEam does shit-all, and Arianne is down.  Only Eleanor remains.  She wins, but not before taking some damage.

Lucario hits Stone Edge, because I haven’t suffered enoguh.  Fire Punch doesn’t even one-shot.  Another full restore as I punch again, and no luck.  Also it knows Shadow Ball.  And got the special defense drop.  And to end the match, Milotic got a crit on Ice Beam.

I have never experienced such intense bad luck in a match before.  Christ.

[hirazuki]

How about we go with - B, D, P, S and T?

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Short of running from hollows, fighting on Edo-period streets, or cleaning up after a Grail War? XD I think that I probably subconsciously draw inspiration from personal experience for dialogue and stuff, but the only inspiration I can think that I consciously draw upon is sword technique and martial arts. That is very much deliberately based on my own experience.

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?

There’s a couple of songs that I associate with my two main fics:

“6″

Alive, by Sia

Cold Desert, by Kings of Leon

Echoes, by Universe

After Dark, by Asian Kung-Fu Generation

Nothing Anymore, Bleach OST

Step Inside, Bomb LA

Bite (The Hand That Feeds), Jordan Reyne

Desert Song, Def Leppard

No Light, No Light, Florence + The Machine

“A Fleeting Dream”

Somewhere over the sea, by Blackmore’s Night

21 Guns, by Green Day

Noon, Hakuouki Kyoto Winds OST

Someday Out Of The Blue, Elton John

I know there are more but I’m drawing a blank atm

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Lmao I’m an architect all the way. I sat and made an all-comprehensive (anime, movies, psp + ps3 + steam versions of the game) 13-page timeline for Hakuouki before I started writing for it. I also poured through the Bleach timeline and broke down my fic’s progression into months/years. Although some greenery does tend to sprout as I’m actually doing the writing; the actual dialogue might change as I’m typing, or I might get an idea for an additional scene, and at that point I’ll just garden as I go XD 

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Lol, yes but I’m blanking on official names. Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Captain/Lieutenant or some kind of authority/supporting role, befriending the monster, training together, bookworm to battlefield badass, person A being seemingly problematic and being fixed by person B but it turns out person B is actually way more fucked up. And all that good stuff XD

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Yes, so many, but more so in the way they are used rather than the tropes themselves. Basically anything that is cliche and is included just for the sake of including it, instead of it serving any purpose in terms of character development or plot, etc. I really don’t mind things being predictable, I actually love a certain amount of predictability based on tropes and character archetypes, but when it’s done just for stuff like shock value and superfluous fanservice, often at the expense of characters remaining in character, it really turns me off of a fic.