#ingo: oops? :3

[nell0-0]

Emmetober day 17: Sacrifice 

Emmet: Brother, stop fainting my pokemon. It’s verrrry annoying. 

Ingo: It was a necessary sacrifice for our victory, Emmet.

Emmet: No, it wasn’t.

[nettlesketches]

a figure in the dark (3/3)

prev

first part

[eelektroenthusiast]

There were some... roadblocks and complications when they were baking christmas cookies for the depot agents (what a trainwreck) (how it even got this bad exactly is up to your imagination ;b)

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

also i know it’s not a common take but i DO think it would be really funny if sneasler and melli actually got along. turns out they just have Bitch Energy at similar frequencies and it results in a mutual understanding

[critterbitter]

Ok so you’ve shown how the patrat children + Elesa met but how exactly did all 3 meet Skyla? It was mentioned before, something about her plane crashing into the train station iirc? Super interested in how Emmet and Ingo met Skyla, and how Elesa met her aswell. And I’m intrigued by the graveyard adventure mentioned in the same post the first meeting was mentioned in lol. You’ve infected my brain with submas and I love it. Pretty sure these fellows appeared in my dream last night. Oops this was longer than I thought sorry!

(Does a lil jig)

Writing a oneshot for the Skyla-Twins meeting! I’m posting these funny lil guys in roughly chronological order, so keep an eye out for it. (It will… take a bit. I still have a few comics in queue from the infante nimbasa trio’s adventures.)

But for people who want to know! (Subject to change because I’m flighty and picking up new headcanons every which way.)

A. Skyla and the twins have beef, because in my iteration she runs her homemade plane abomination into gear station’s front lawn.

B. Skyla and Elesa meet at a junior gym soirée, and kept hanging out afterwards in airport coffee shops and electric skateparks.

In the grand scheme of things, the crush they nursed for each other’s borne from mutual admiration— skyla’s drive to keep trying despite public scorn, and elesa’s level headedness with the modeling world’s criticisms. (It also helps they both like emolga.)

But also hahah goofy!

(Thinking about their canon dialogue once again…)

C. The twins have to accept Elesa’s super into short queens that shoot people out of canons.

[subwaytostardew]

▽ Adoptable Joltik  - Sidetracked Events⚡️

I added a 7-event (more like 3, really) storyline included as an update to the Adoptable Joltik mod. It consists of Emmet not taking loss well. He misses his Joltik. He doesn't want to bother you about it. He will get back on track eventually.

These play when you enter the backwoods/mountain pass between 6:00 and 10:00 AM after seeing the adoption event and have at least 8 hearts with Joltik. Enter the mountains at the same time for the 5th event (with Ingo). Each event unlocks a new line of daily dialogue from Joltik and starts a cooldown for the next event to not start until after 4 days. The final (7th) event requires 9 hearts with Joltik.

As always... Commentary under the read-more.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

This update didn't really have any planning. It was a spontaneous decision to make more events and all the content was written as I coded so it's a bit rougher than previous events.

I've been wanting to update the Joltik mod to use Emmet's new recolored spritesheet and lock adoptability behind 8 hearts as intended (and also... fix the event requirements since I realized it was set to 10 hearts instead of 8... oops). The file was also zipped in a way that removed the containing folder so it made using mod loaders like Stardrop and Vortex more finicky.

If you've already seen the adoption event, there wouldn't be much incentive for downloading an update since Emmet doesn't appear outside of events. I'm not ready to release him as a full NPC to the general public just yet! His heart events are still broken. I dread going back and fixing them. I got a bit burnt out from working through my backlog of things to do for the mod and wanted to switch tracks from pixel art (so many portraits...). Eventing is my favorite thing to do regarding the mod, so I decided to make more events to include in the update as a break of sorts (not working on the mod? Taking an actual break? Why, I'd never!). More events are the perfect solution for me wanting to show off the new art for Subway to Stardew while also not implementing submas as full NPCs in the Joltik mod.

I could make Emmet's 9-heart event but... I feel like that's more of a Subway to Stardew thing than an Adoptable Joltik thing... if that makes any sense. I might include it later when I get around to writing/coding it, but I thought it would be a bit abrupt to add in the Joltik mod since you don't really get to befriend Emmet as intended there. There's also some people who aren't obsessed with submas and do download the Joltik mod for well, Joltik! Only Joltik. I went into eventing with that in mind and well...

I missed Emmet. I wanted him to be clingy again. I think you can tell where I got a bit self-indulgent. Making a mod is a lot of work and if I have the ability to turn Stardew into an Emmet friendship simulator, I'm going to make the most out of it. I need my emotional support Emmet to keep me on track. So for people familiar with Subway to Stardew and do like submas, you can get Emmet hugs at 9 hearts with Joltik now because I got derailed. Yippee!

The sneaking around in the mountain pass part was just silly. Since you can't visit Emmet in the Adoptable Joltik mod, I wanted to write around you not being able to find him. He's actively avoiding you now. Whether or not you notice him doesn't matter. He's not going to talk to you. It's safer that way.

I was thinking that Emmet doesn't take loss or changes in his routine very well; adopting Joltik would cause him to split tracks with you for a little bit. He's clingy and can't stand the few he cares about being gone even a little bit. He overthinks Joltik being happier with you so his inferiority complex flares up and he gets insecure about you forgetting him, too. He's jealous of you being a two-car train and he misses having Joltik aboard. He knows it's wrong to direct his frustrations at you since all you did was make Joltik happy.

There is a lot derailing his train of thought. While it's hard for him to stay on track, he still cares about you; you're still his best friend and favorite passenger (at the end of the line...). He doesn't want to split tracks forever, so he'll steer himself away in case if he accidentally lashes out or you end up thinking he's annoying with his visits for Joltik. He doesn't want you to hate him. He just wants to make sure Joltik still cares about him and still care for them while he takes the time to adjust to the changes in his routine. He's still frustrated with you, but that's his problem, not yours. He knows that. He thought it was a good idea to avoid you until he adjusted.

After all of that, his frustrations die down and he's a little deprived of his favorite (not-Joltik) passenger. He's clingy again. He won't let anyone derail him. Not even you. But he's back on track!

[fraymotiif]

Okay, I gotta know. What's the "oops I did it again" one about? 👀

that one actually has a bit of a misleading title bc the "i" in it refers to me, the author, and what i am doing again is putting the pokémon train twins through the wringer dhgfsjdds

it's for my dnd au which i reallllly should be posting more about bc i have Many Ideas. this wip in particular is a 3-part fic about emmet's search for ingo after he disappears through a rift on one of their excursions– finding him in the feywild, the aftermath, and the after-aftermath (i'm being purposefully vague because if i give too much away i'll lose my motivation to work on it lol. but i'm excited to post it!! eventually!!!) here's a snippet:

”If you require assistance in navigating the Feywild, I would be more than happy to conduct back you to your home.” “But…that’s…you.”  “I beg your pardon?” And Dragons help him, Ingo looked genuinely bewildered.

[winterbirb]

My daydreaming can't be put on hold until late 2025 so here's some of my PL:ZA!AU

Characters

Juliette [Sycamore] - the head doctor of the Blue Cross (an × shape instead of +). Doesn't like pokemon because she's dealt with so many pokemon-related injuries. Not a fan of the city's renovation for how it's causing more pokemon-human injuries. Juliette (July) like Augustine (August). Xerneas. Prof Sycamore's curly hair pulled back into a bun; streaks of grey at her temples. Has her descendant's typical flair when talking about medical innovation.

Liliane [Fleur-de-lis] - Kalosian royalty, a descendant of the ancient king. The main financial backer of Lumiose City's huge renovation—and thus, also the protagonist. Liliane because... lilies, and I couldn't find a great lion name that wasn't trying too hard. Yveltal doesn't tie in as neatly. Maybe death of the old ways, in with the new? Long red hair like the female version of that lion pokemon I forgot the name of. Not wearing Lys's Yveltal gijinka suit.

Governor Désiré. Diantha's ancestor. The political force behind the renovation... and yes, this does follow the PL:A template, thabks for noticing. He's the "twist" villain, seeking to build a version of the Ultimate Weapon in Lumiose Plaza that's powered by none other than... *drumroll* Diancie! He wants to build a beautiful city and then turn it all, people and pokemon included, into Diancie's pink diamond so it's "beautiful forever." The Governor's Mansion has pink diamond statues which he refers to as his "beloved pokemon." Masc version of Diantha's face structure with the same base hair color, but styled in a perfect Politician's Cut with perfect streaks of grey at his temples... almost like he dyes his hair. Maybe he doesn't even leave grey streaks. Dresses in white suits with pink accents, a white ruffle collar with a pink diamond gem.

Emmet <3. He's in The Tunnels, for some reason. What tunnels? Well. IDK if catacombs would fit Pokemon (but it would certainly fit the life/death theme). If not actual catacombs, then some sort of ancient Diancie-created tunnel structure. He remembers more about the past/future than Ingo—same with my Serena vs Lucas. Why? Because it's my story, and I want them both to suffer in new ways. Emmet is seen as a strange ghost-like figure who haunts the tunnels, looking for his brother (how to find a way home).

Serena - originally from Unova, from the same town as Rosa (B2W2 protag), but a year younger than her. Moved after the Kyurem thing. Loves fashion, looks up to Elesa.

Mechanics

Serena (as the MC) needs to change clothes to fit in different parts of the city (like Looker doing disguise stuff; my Lucas has Looker's detective skills)

Zygarde is the "sponsor" this time, much like Arceus in PL:A. Some sort of Zygarde-tablet-thingy. But also Serena needs to do the Find Zygarde's Cells quest, because of course she does.

I don't really have any other mechanics. This section was just made to include the fashion thing.

Oops, I forgot about Mega Evolution. It's there, I guess.

I just remembered Hoopa. It helps Serena travel around the city and get into places she shouldn't be in. Why, when its chaos is the opposite of Zygarde's order? IDK, Governor Désiré probably pissed it off.

Other

It's Paris in the late 19th century. It's gross. It's overpopulated. Greedy capitalists abound, and so do the horrors of poverty. There's also an overconsuming Royal Class. She has to hold onto her ideals despite all the signs pointing to the "easy out" of Lysandre's hardcore-Malthusian philosophy. She succeeds with flying colors, because "kill all the poors and unworthy so humanity has enough to survive" is a terrible philosophy.

Might be redundant because Zygarde, but a major theme is ecology and ecosystems.

Emmet and Ingo both disappeared and came back in 2011; BW happens in 2010, B2W2 happens in 2012, XY happens in 2013, and Serena disappears a few years after 2013. Emmet remembers being in the past, and is very alarmed when a younger Serena becomes the Kalosian champion. Elesa, who is troubled by how much the twins have changed and how little she knows, eventually gets in contact with Serena. When? IDK. I just want them to meet up eventually.

Lysandre isn't dead in the present time. Even in Y, in-game dialogue implies he's still alive. There was plenty of time to drag him out of the Ultimate Weapon.

Perhaps Zygarde traveled through an Ultra Wormhole to bring Serena back and prevent Désiré's dumbassery... but got scattered into Z Cells. Or maybe Hoopa brought it to the present, but on the way back to the past it had to use an UW and got scattered. IDK, I'm just trying to figure out a way for post-games Lucas and Serena to meet in Alola (to harass Looker and give Nanu a headache ofc).

[crystalelemental]

With the introduction of Ice Zone this month, we have officially done it.  All major types have a Zone.  Except for Normal.  Brace for anniversary, that's all I'm saying.  But with each type now having a Zone, and the introduction of these newfangled rebuffs...how are the types doing?

See, when I started playing, it was pretty well accepted that Fire, Water, and Psychic ruled the meta.   Electric wasn't too far behind, but didn't have the same powerhouses behind it.  As someone on Reddit so eloquently put it back when Second Anniversary pairs were being dunked on: "They don't feel underwhelming because they're bad, they feel underwhelming because they don't abuse field effects.  Every top meta threat has focused on application or abuse of field effects.  It shouldn't be a surprise that these new pairs don't feel as overwhelming when there's nothing to take advantage of." But now, that discrepancy is (mostly) over.  And are those types still top dogs?  Today, I will be going over the types, and how I feel they perform in the current meta.  This will include F2P tools, highest potential, and what I think is missing from the archetype.

18) Poison I mean...is anyone surprised?  The entire type lives and dies by the question "Did you pull Emma?"  Roxie getting an EX at least raises some hope, but I'll be honest, I don't anticipate much.  Their F2P pairs are really bad at damage, and even premium options tend to be a rough time. Their Zone setter, H!Iris, is by far the worst of the bunch, having virtually no utility unless 3/5, where she gets a really crappy debuff rate on a shit-tier move.  Poison is just depressing to think about.

17) Bug Though man, Bug is not far behind.  Here's a fun question: did you pull SC Emmet or SS Hilbert?  No?  Good luck with life, then.  Even Alder feels like a genuine struggle by comparison.  And to be frank, I don't consider SC Emmet that good either.  He's a clean sweep in CS, but in Gauntlet, I think I wind up benching him most times, even with long streaks.  The F2P crowd seems good, but Bugsy and Noland both come with a ton of issues, including "Oops I couldn't quite take out center on second sync, my bad!"  The general pool is also loaded with some of the worst.  Guzma sucks, Burgh isn't great, Lusamine's stupid frail. And of course, SC Ingo is a really bad Zone setter, focused entirely on physical and not doing much else for the team.  It has oddly solid supports in Aaron and Lodge Dawn, but like...Bug is not doing well. 

16) Normal Now to make the sincere argument that Normal, a type who lacks Zone and can never deal the same damage as any other type due to supereffective modifiers. Yet I stand by it.  Normal gets great utility.  SC Steven is absurd.  C!Red's SEUN application was downright unique before Jasmine sniped it from him.  Even among the commons, you get a lot of nice effects for checking Gauntlet gimmicks, ensuring they often get used.  That's more than I can say about Poison and Bug, frankly.  It's not a good position, but I think Normal as a type at least offers better value than the last two, thanks to its range of effects.

15) Flying Flying is so weird to me.  On the one hand, you have Lysandre, who is legitimately great after his expansion, and Kahili, who is one of the best F2P sync pairs for damage, backed by Skyla, one of the best F2P walls.  But on the other.  Anni Steven is the worst Master Fair.  All of the type's options tend to be weirdo gimmicks like P!Elesa.  Nate is there.  Flying has some of the lowest lows the game offers, and just a few standout performers.  Even its top competition often doesn't feel that exceptional.  Like I know intuitively that SS Ethan is strong, but he never quite feels that great in CS or in Gauntlet.

14) Fairy Perhaps another contentious one, given recent additions, but Fairy sucks ass bro.  How do you have three goddamn Zone setters and not one of them helps physical?  I know Rain has similar issues, but Calem at least tries.  I think the main problem is that no one actually fixes the issues present.  Diantha, SS Wally, and Bede are the only good damage dealers, but anything else?  Get out. Valerie got a shit grid, Mina's stats let her down, Lodge Lillie is great for Stall but needs EX to function as a competent syncer.  And there's like no general pool fairies.  Even at the top, NY!Lisia doesn't have a single good Zone setting partner, holding the type back way further than it needs to be. "But Sycamore-" always takes first sync and has serious issues with survival given how many Fairy-weak stages are physical.  Despite having like a billion options to choose from, Fairy still feels like one of the worst types, which is staggering.

13) Steel On the one hand.  Palentine's Marnie is a very good partner to the majority of the Steel type.  On the other.  Gauges are atrocious on literally everyone who isn't Molayne.  Like, why are gauges so hard to work with on this type?  And Marnie being so slow is the biggest problem, it doubles down on the worst aspect of the type.  I do think Steel has some decent if limited performers in the F2P pool, and Gloria popped off but only really takes off under certain conditions.  The type isn't exactly hurting, this is a fair break from the other types I think are just bad, but Steel does not feel like it's doing particularly well.

12) Ice I am going to make the bold declaration that Ice went from the worst type, to #12 overall, solely from Irida's inclusion.  Like, if it were just SS Silver, I think I'd still put this at the bottom.  But the Zone setter for this type went so hard that she's pulling Lorelei to off-type clears.  That is, to put it bluntly, insane.  The type went ballistic with Irida's presence.  But as we're soon to find out, it takes more than one good sync pair to save a type, and when Irida isn't in play, oh my god does this type suck.   It's the only weather to not have a competent support.  All of your damage dealers are bad.  Ghetsis has serious claim to the title of "Worst Legendary Pair," with people like me being entirely serious about Candice seeming better.  The type was in complete shambles, and Irida alone does not make it good.  Moreover, she helps the worst in the type, not the best, so Ice tends to not feel like a standout performer.

11) Ground Ground is blessed with Courtney, a general pool pair with Zone access.  This is unheard of.  She's literally the only one in the general pool with this effect. That's how bad Ground was.  But time has been good to the type, and has resulted in them getting much needed improvement.  SS Giovanni was a CS killer, Cynthia's expansions popped off, Maxie remains relevant, and Bertha and Courtney offered legitimately good general pool ground-type damage.  These are the traits that put it above Ice.   The trait that holds it back is that your F2P pairs are garbage.   Naomi's good, but she's limited F2P, so that's not counted. Hapu and Clay were like the only Ground types most players had in my day, and are still the only really accessible options.  And they are trash.  They are absolute trash.  Even with advances in the meta, they fail constantly.  Ground succeeds by virtue of being less pigeonholed into a single option to make the type function, but it's definitely not good.  I think it just needs a seriously good Lodge Striker in the type, and we'll call Ground much better.

10) Rock Rock is like Ice, if Ice had some competent independent performers.  The type lives and dies now by the good graces of SS Diantha, who is the only way to salvage SS Brock, Grant, and Kukui.  Again, you can't rely on one option, but thankfully it wasn't.  Olivia was a great CS striker with her absurd sync, and the triple premium options of C!Blue, Emmet, and SC Hilda carried well enough to work.  Rock wasn't as down and out as Ice was at its lowest point.  But it's also never really risen to fame.  There's not a great Rock-type solution.  Emmet relies entirely on Sandstorm, Blue is the awkward physical sync/special DPS, and SC Hilda's technically weaker than both but more consistent, if reliant on setup support for attack and speed.  They have options but nothing exceptional yet. Roxanne alt when?

9) Dragon Dragon has some of the better damage dealers in the game, so why am I being mean?  Because they're not that great.  Unless you are the combination of SS Brendan, Lucas, and SS Serena, Dragon is not doing so hot.   Lance's expansion was good but not Cynthia tier, and C!Iris is falling off really hard.  The bottom of the barrel picks are so bad as to be laughable (Sorry Iris and Clair, I love you but oh my god), and the free legendary pairs are awkward.  Cyrus has better Water damage than Dragon, and Zinniquaza has a lot of competing demands.  The type functions.  It does well enough, but truthfully I consider it like the exact middle of the road type.  Good enough that it's not struggling, but not so good it's standing out.

8) Fighting If Fighting succeeds at anything, it's having two exceptional Zone setters.  Fairy may have three, but they're all super limited.  Fighting is not so limited.  On the one hand, Aura Cynthia is perfect godwall that emphasizes DPS play on a type with a ton of high-DPS options.  On the other, NC Hop is fantastic debuffing potential and manual Zone, to let allies sync as needed.  These are insanely strong tools that give the type relevance.  Add to it, they have a standout performer in SC Diantha, who is so good that Cynthia not supporting her sync was considered a knock against Cynthia.  And among F2P options, Bruno is fairly competent.  But you'll note the issue.  Each side only has one competent actor to follow up.  A!Cynthia does not fully support the offensive buff needs of a pair like Brawly or Marshal.  Hop can take a different support, but he's the type of Zone setter that eclipses the significance of any possible partner, which I consider a detriment.  Why have other options if Hop is just better than all of them?  So Fighting exists in a space with some real standouts, but there are very few of them, and don't ask about the rest.

7) Ghost Oh yeah, Ghost type.  When I started, Anni Lillie was the big name.  Ghost was considered one of the worst types, just no competent damage dealers.  But when Lillie showed up, suddenly it was relevant.  And I feel like every step since has been trying to make everyone better so Lillie is worse.  Lillie had serious, notable limitations, and SS Korrina doesn't seem nearly as limited by comparison.  Fantina and Shauntal are exceptional damage dealers on a cheaper budget, and Agatha is one of the best technical supports with Sleep and tremendous gauge control.  Renegade Cynthia as their Zone setter could be better, but has a lot of beneficial tools for her type as well.  Even for support, BP Morty and Lodge Morty are some of the best F2P pairs you can grab, while SC Lillie is the most efficient Sp Atk/Crit buffer around. While there are still some pairs that really struggle, Ghost is a type significantly improved, with a lot of viable options that compete.

6) Electric Electric was the forgotten child when I started playing.  The three great types of Fire, Water, and Psychic had their field effects, and were known for crazy offensive potential because of them.  But Electric also had one, dangit!  Why weren't they as relevant?  Well, it's because N had some glaring setup and gauge issues, and Marnie was a Tech with relatively limited DPS.  Electric Terrain had no one to big up.  Nowadays, Electric has the best sync pair in the game with SST Red, and the highest DPS by miles in Ash.  So why isn't it top 5? Because its F2P game still sucks.  Marnie and N got huge improvements, but when you look outside of premium?  Elesa's fine but not exceptional.  Hau, Sophocles, Surge, and BP Surge are all atrocious.  Volkner's fairly poor as a terrain setter, Hau's Buddy move makes his terrain much worse off, and SST Red is so stupid good that partners are optional.  The lower class in this type suck and need help, and their help is not helping.  Electric is a type that, to this day, when I opt for more F2P budget runs, is the type I hate facing most.  The options outside of premium are just so bad.  It's like dying for a good Lodge striker.

5) Psychic At this point, I want to preface by saying I play a certain way, and pick favorites based on utility.  Among the Three Great Types, Psychic fell off the hardest in the damage meta.  You know it's bad when Lear, a sync pair nearly two years old, is still like the best sync nuker.  Electric decisively has stronger options.  But. Psychic's F2P and general pool game is immaculate, and while they're on longer top performers, premium pairs still put in exceptional work.  Moreover, you have the blessing of Lucian, the supreme general pool unit, Giovanni's insane power, and Mesprit as the best Master BP pair.  Psychic maintains relevance, but I feel like it's on the cusp of slipping really hard if it doesn't step up its game.  Yes, C!Bede as the best support in the game is a massive win for it, but what it's really looking for as a specific archetype is the Terrain Supporter.  It wants its SS Morty.  So far we're getting Bianca, who's fine but falling off; Anni May, who's alright but got a bad expansion; and SS Lana, who frankly just makes CS conditions more annoying by removing the option for Physical Damage Reduction 8.  I think the Terrain setters have, over time, been revealed to be really bad.  They're far more focused on damage than utility, and it's to the type's detriment.

4) Water When I started, Water was the de facto best type.  Archie ruled the meta with an iron fist, and having both Roxanne and May in his corner just made the whole situation perfect.  It's been two years since those days, and in a meta with NC Serena and SS Lysandre, why do I think Water fell from grace?   Well, a few reasons.  While Water has one of the highest potential ceilings for damage, and some really standout performers...its F2P game kinda sucks ass.  No, I'm sorry, we need to talk about this.  Unless you have EX Siebold, F2P Water is handled by Cyrus, a Dragon.  Your actual Water pairs are garbage.  Lodge Rosa and Lodge Silver are terrible at their jobs.  Lodge May struggles ridiculously to compete.  Barry has really difficult sync conditions to fulfill.  Crasher Wake needs the foe to be flinched which is a death sentence.  Water lives and dies by its premium fare, and while that includes many a busted damage dealer and one of the best supports to ever do it, their floor is quite low.   Moreover, three Rain supports, and not one of them perfectly helps SS Grimsley.  Poor dude.  Water has a lot of support behind it, so it's definitely in the upper echelon of types.  But I think time and an evolving meta has made Water less versatile.  It's all high DPS premium stuff while anything below that seems to struggle without SS Kris' presence.

3) Fire Fire, as one of the Three Great Types with Water and Psychic, succeeded based on having a field effect that was easily accessed.  Only four types did, but Fire was considered one of the best, due to the routine application of some of the dumbest DPS units available in SS Red and Leon.  Fire never let up on that particular gas, producing constant offensive powerhouses with fairly efficient self-setup.  The reason I think Fire adapted better than Water, however, is that Fire has SS Morty.  See, Fire figured something out.  Instead of raw DPS and pumping that higher, Morty offers the alternative: I've got enough firepower, what I need is survival.   And they hired someone immortal.  Fire feels more versatile than Water now, and better able to handle the nonsense that's thrown their way.  Moreover, every Fire type, barring like Flint I guess, benefits from Morty.  There are Water types that don't mesh with Kris.  But every Fire type that doesn't cap crit, handles offense well enough.  And if they don't (Leon), Eevee Lucas filled the gap.  Fire is just...consistent and efficient and flexible.  I think they got it all down pat.  But they also don't reach the same plateau that Water does.  There's no obscene damage comp like Dual Frogs + SS Lysandre.  SS May is great, but not as good as Dojo Gloria.  Water one-ups Fire's damage, but I think Fire just offers better utility.

2) Grass Grass types recently went ballistic.  SS Lyra was the first popping off.  Not only did they get Grassy Terrain to finally join the field effect meta, but Lyra's guaranteed flinch rate with easy quad queue made literally anything viable, without Lyra completely overshadowing her teammates offensively.  Grass had some odds and ends additions, including the incredibly fun SC Rosa, but largely kinda held back as a consistent but decisively okay type.  And then SS Acerola showed up, and packed the most consistent physical DPS stacking you could imagine.  And now we got Adaman, who's offering absurd damage with no gauge cost, and permanent Sun.  Grass was already doing well, but it's exploded recently.  I think it's still in a position overall where it would really like some better special support, but it's hard to find fault with Grass.  Moreover, it carries the same general benefits as Psychic, thanks to a wide array of supporting tools.  Sleep Powder Ramos, Stall Master BP Erika, Gauntlet Master base Erika, SS Leaf's shenanigans going through the roof, SC Rosa's fascinating debuff combination.  Grass just offers a lot of value, and some generally unstoppable team compositions.

1) Dark But nobody is doing it like Dark.  For a while, Dark was one of my least favorite types.  You just had like nothing good to work with.  Nanu wasn't damage, BP Karen just died, base Karen struggled like hell, Grimsley was there.  But man, things have changed.  Not for Grimsley.   He's still a mess.  But like...SS Cyrus came in as a great disruptive tool with Zone.  He didn't specifically boost damage of allies, but the AoE sleep was valuable on literally any team, making him one of the better Zone setters.  Champion Calem then came in with tremendous benefits to the physical side of the type, while offering some support to special.  Then SC Zinnia came in, perfectly complemented his needs, and packed some of the funniest broken nonsense available, including shutting down all buffs for the enemy team for a duration, and a 70% flinch rate and zero gauge cost on unbuffed foes.  And of course, NC Marnie comes in with Ash-like survival, sacrificing his absurd Buddy move DPS for more consistent damage and a 50-60% flinch rate.  Dark is riding high, and it's incredibly hard to find a flaw in the type.  Even among F2P pairs, Nanu got an insanely good grid, base Karen popped off on her expansion and it turns out my fear around BP Karen was unfounded because damn she gets a job done.  Dark currently feels like the strongest and most well-rounded team composition.  It actually leads the sync damage leaderboard, though Dark-type NC Serena.  Dark's just been on a roll lately.

[nell0-0]

When I typed up Emmet breaking rules, I meant younger Emmet but it seems the 'younger' got deleted. The 'no hugging' rule is a rule placed in like 3/5 schools in my county and was put into place saying that 'by hugging someone you are friends/family with, you are actively discriminating people who do have friends by doing so'. No one take it seriously but you always got those few teachers who did. Emmet totally understands and respects boundaries but I meant it as a silly example.

Little Emmet would just break rules until he learnt to bend them and probably learnt that skill before Ingo.

Other then that there hypocrisy is only for laughs because I find it funny for one to say 'no jumping the turnstiles' only for the other to try and parkour over them and fail.

Oop- Sorry anon, it's difficult to get tone across by text and gotta be careful out here in Tumblr sometimes. Since I create both serious and funny content, just in case, you know?

But what the heck, that's a rule? That's so dumb.

tHERE.

[yewsoup]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @wingedarrows (But I'm posting it here rather than the tagged blog bc i've posted my writing here before.)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 

12

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

150,398

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

Well I started writing and posting pokemon stuff. But I've also written and posted some D&D stuff that I might post more of, if catches my fancy. Currently I'm writing DC stuff though!

Only one of them is posted because I'm trying to finish things more before posting them though. Plan on finishing pokemon stuff too <3

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Language Barrier that Should Not Be (471)

Hot under the Collar (257)

Big Trouble, Little Bats (257)

Everstone Statue (243)

Out of the Corner of His Eye (153)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! But I got overwhelmed about it n felt bad for not updating some fics so I kind of... fell off it. (Oops)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

Well, I think angst is all about perspective. But people have accused me for ripping their hearts out with Everstone Statue

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 

Once again, perspective, but probably Being thought dead sucks actually (especially if you have a grave) despite it's angsty start.

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Not yet!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? 

Absolutely not.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Yes! I love crossovers and like thinking about them with friends. Of my posted works I think there's only Subway Boss: Become Nobody which is a pokemon/D&D crossover sort of AU where ingo ends up in a D&D world rather than Hisui. Though it's only a glimpse of that AU.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

No, but it's quite welcome if anyone wants to do that! They just gotta link back to the original as credit/say it's a translation.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

Sort of! Under the Stars is an RP with @wingedarrows, and there's a plan to write a fic called Paradoxical together

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? 

Friendship

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? 

Hot Under the Collar unfortunately. It's a fic I wrote on my phone so I have to like... write on my phone to work on it.

Unfortunately, I do not write on my phone.

16. What are your writing strengths? 

Highly dependant on the vibes bc holy shit do my skill vary

17. What are your writing weaknesses? 

Once again, vibe-dependant. I can write fantastic mind boggling prose one fic and write people nodding at eachother ten times in a conversation the next

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

Very impressive for people that do it right without knowing the language! I am horrible at learning languages so I have to study the grammar and look up individual words for each one I use. Though I have used bits of Japanese in one fic I believe? and Sign Language in another.

I do think they should have translations put somewhere for people who don't know the languages if they're used extensively though. Whether the vibes fit to have them incorporated into the narration, or just at the bottom. It's good to have either way.

19. First fandom you wrote for? 

Fics? Pokemon all the way.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I can't pick favourites among them! If I must, though... No, I cannot. They're all wonderful in their own ways and have different things I love. Except for After the War bc that's my shitty poetry I posted for some reason and it's just. Man there's a reason I don't write poetry.

Tagging:

@windsweptskies @stardustrabbitsgallery and I'm directly tagging nobody else it won't let me tag anyone else

[princeofpasio]

[ID: Screenshots from Pokemon Masters EX showing the teams for the completed Champion Stadium. The rounds and teams are:

Round 1: Aaron: SS Hilbert, SS Morty, Variety Lucas Round 2: Lucian: Selene, Aaron, Hilbert Round 3: Bertha: SC Emmet, Hop, SC Ingo Round 4: Flint: Lear, Lucian, Sawyer Round 5: Cynthia: Cyrus, Winona, SSA Cynthia

End ID]

Once again forgot to make this post OOPS. This week was significantly more fun than the previous fights.

Aaron was a nice opportunity to try out both SS Hilbert and the new Lucas. Unfortunately both were at 1/5 still, so not at their full potential, but still quite satisfying to use. Lucas was very useful in getting him and Hilbert to survive the sync thanks to debuffing Aaron’s attack.

Selene is my go-to ghost pair with Spirit Shackle, and this ended up being a fun round with that. Aaron got to sync the entire time so Selene could focus on DPS.

Bertha was the usual offtype, and Cynthia once again was the easiest fight. I find it funny how often Winona and Cyrus get paired together, even when Cyrus isn’t using Hydro Pump.

Flint was probably the most fun fight this week, which more than made up for how obnoxious he was last week. Normally I pair Lear with Rachel and Sawyer to make a full Pasio team, but this time I wanted to try out Lucian to help maximize Lear’s damage; he ended up hitting 99k on one of his syncs!

Still deciding on who to EX for this week. Torn between EX’ing a pair I rarely use but like a lot, or EX’ing a pair I use frequently but don’t actually care that much about...

[ur-favoriterecord]

Irida, gently nudging Sneasel!Ingo with her foot: Ingo, *please* move out of the way so that no one trips on you

Sneasel!Ingo, with betrayal in his eyes: [You *KICK* Ingo? You kick him like the football? Oh! Oh! Jail for Lady Irida! Jail for Irida for a thousand years!]

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Can I ask for Ingo and Emmet for that newest ask game? :3

you most certainly can!! (send me a character ask game)

First impression: i actually had skipped the battle subway in bw so when i played pla, my first impression on meeting ingo was "this guy is coded like a cameo from another game. not sure which one tho. anyway he looks like a stuffed animal that went through the washing machine by accident and i just know there is a certain sect of lesbians on tumblr who are going to want to put him in a bug jar." and i was right on all counts. i'm ngl my first emmet impression was probably largely based on fan content before i actually went back to see the canon stuff so it was mostly "damn, giratina (arceus?) should Not have separated these two"

Impression now: DAMN, THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE SEPARATED THESE TWO. ingo is my special lil guy who is duty oriented until it kills him and very competent and unreasonably polite which are all character traits that do in fact make me, personally, wanna put a dude in a bug jar. emmet is. my guy my man he's me he's my everything i'm incapable of talking coherently about him.

Favorite moment: gotta be the only time i have ever bothered to go through the hassle of exporting a whole video clip from my switch when ingo loses to the protag in your first battle. he is so happy about it... when else does he smile that genuinely... waaaahh...

Idea for a story: uh hmm the problem here is all my story ideas are in my pinned or my pitches tag lmfao. i guess one thing i've been rotating is it would be fun to do something else with the oop-canon thing where neither of them fully remember each other but also don't have a ton of spare time to interrogate the situation, bc i think it's a fun take. some other scenario where emmet doesn't even remember that they're twins, they're just both like, "alright, you look exactly like me, that's goddamn weird, but fuck it, we've got bigger problems so let's just work together for now." i like how quickly they fall into lockstep without knowing why. i think it's fun

Unpopular opinion: i know i've said it before but LET THEM KICK ASS! for real! they are hypercompetent pokemon trainers who also manage the cat herding business that is a subway system that doubles as legal wrestling tournaments. they're probably stronger than most gym leaders, if not the elite 4, just by virtue of how much battling they're constantly doing against such a variety of opponents. they're clever and capable of very quick thinking in a wide range of situations and very capable of both reading/understanding and guiding/managing others. they should not be losing to FUCKING WILD POKEMON in basically any scenario. they should be so hard for anyone in hisui to rattle bc none of this is NEW to them. they're just built different. also let emmet specifically be a competent adult i am on my knees begging you

Favorite relationship: can i say each other, is that cheating. i feel like that's a given. it's just good. they are on the same wavelength and ready to back each other up basically all the time and not even getting smote by god itself can change that. OTHER than that i'm a big fan of them w/ the surveyfam. lav and cyllene specifically i think they would all make a fun squad together. fuck, this is what i shoulda said for the story idea section. i want to expand on that like, 5 sentence thing from a while back where they were both in jubilife together along with the protag in a similar situation, bc i think that's a fun idea. kamado's headache is never going away ever again

Favorite headcanon: hmmmmm shit i have too many to choose. does asj qualify as a single headcanon or is that too expansive. oh, this is a random thing, but i still really like the idea that they're like, roxie's uncles or cousins once removed or something, through their birth family that they largely avoid interacting with other than a few people who are mostly chill. they're VERY different wrt personality but roxie's got this unexpected responsible streak when she's arguing with her dad, i think it makes for a fun connection.

[claitea]

OH I AM SO GLAD I'M ALMOST HOME ALONE BC THE VOLUME I YELLED AT WAS VERRRY LOUD

[aster-art-disaster]

Sustenance Car

Side things that didn’t make it into Food Preference. Random bits that I wrote and finally feel comfortable sharing that didn’t fit well on main fic.

Each one will have an overall mood with it and the reason I cut it.

Ao3 link here soon

1/?

Sharp and Spice (Melancholy)

Reason: couldn’t think of a little Emmet thing to pair with it. It was going to be with a Plusle and Minun, but it would’ve made it double sad.

Blankshippers DNI

Age 26

Ingo held the sneaslets on his lap as his mentor attempted to spoon feed some medicine into the one of the little pokemon’s mouth. The Sneasel on his right kept dodging swiftly with minute movements, turning its head away even while delirious. The other tried to hold its sibling in place.

Two of the kits in Lady Sneasler’s litter had fallen a little bit ill that night.

As spring in the Highlands began, they had started to introduce the young boogle to the outer area of the den, well near the entrance and within a stride’s reach.

With the current Warden, Ingo, and Lady Sneasler, they would be able to handle any mischief the clowder of eight baby poison type pokemon could cause.

This current outing started fine with Lady Sneasler and Ingo looking after the more active ones. His mentor sat under a nearby tree, looking over a napping sneaslet and one playing with mud nearby.

Ingo had two kits clambering on top of him. One laid on his hat as another gripped onto his left sleeve. Lady Sneasler has the rest in her basket, pointing and explaining things of interest.

Ingo moves to check the basket. There were only two Sneasels inside.

He starts to address his Noble.

“My Lady, the-“

A splash is heard from the water storage basins. Ah the twins are at it again.

Ingo rushes over to scoop the soaked pair from the open water container. The Warden ushers the three of them inside the den to start a fire.

Out of the seven eggs of Lady Sneasler’s current clutch, the pair were the most surprising.

Physically mirrored, yet personalities seemingly opposite as time went on. The two would play with their other siblings, but they wouldn’t decouple from the other even if they fought.

They were also showing signs of being a mischievous duo, despite one being more calmer.

Ingo had to help detach the two from the wall as they had gotten stuck.

He had to patch them up after they tried to race each other and ended up tripping over the same divot.

A similar occurrence happened when he had sent Metro to get them down from a tree, but had to rescue all three of them when the Gligar also got stuck.

The undercurrent of familiarity turns in his mind as he remembers when he first sees them.

The top of the shell fell away as two small faces peeked out. Ingo’s heart leaped in excitement drowning out the sudden, unexplainable pangs of sadness.

“Bravo! Quite auspicious to have twins! One of them appearing to have situs inversus totalis is verrry uncommon. 1 in 10,000 in humans let alone pokemon!” he shouts in the den, growing confused at the words that departed from him.

His mentor looks at him deadpan, moving to hold the two newly hatched kits. Lady Sneasler tips his hat forward in response before going to clean her babies.

“Ingo, I will pretend that I understood that. I will teach you how to keep them warm now.” Teacher had replied. They moved to grab the cloths and blankets as Ingo dazedly followed behind.

Why would his mind immediately try to derail such a joyous occasion? It didn’t seem to be purposeful, and he thankfully caught himself by remarking on what is assumedly positive.

The word “twin” runs circles in his mind in a way he cannot fathom.

The Warden in training abruptly halts the memories as he tries to calm one of the sneaslets he is holding.

This right ear feathered Sneasel was refusing to partake in the cold medicine that its sibling happily consumed.

Too enthusiastic in Ingo’s slightly biased quick assessment. Maybe it enjoys bitterness? That would likely assume that the other one dislikes bitterness? Why would he shift tracks to that so suddenly?

“Teacher,” he addressed, “I feel as though this young one is refusing to depart due to the dislike of bitter flavors.”

“Ingo that does dull the potency of the medicine.” The Warden had pointed out, getting at what he was suggesting.

He nodded but countered “It is better than not consuming any at all. Once coupled with a favorable flavor, the sneaslet will be more willing to board.”

“This is true. Hm, good. You picked up on that. I’ll go grab a bowl.”

Ingo reaches for his food pack. The small assortment of berries he had picked was then presented to his mentor.

They had grabbed the berries to place in the bowl in front of him. They paused before addressing the stubborn pokemon.

“Well then, go on, little troublemaker. Pick a berry. You must comfortably rest to be able to traverse space once more.”

The sneasel had begun trying to sniff as much as it could at the berries. It paused for a moment at the cheri berry before catching a whiff of something in his pack.

The moment the kit points at his pack was when he knew his recently acquired figgy berry stash had been compromised.

Ingo sighs and before he could get a word in, two pairs of eyes were upon him.

Their faces pressed next to each other, eyes wide open and on the brim of tears.

Mirrored sad baby faces bore into his soul in anticipation.

Ingo feels his hands shake as he tries to resist. He tries to turn away from the heart wrenching display.

But that just made them double down, whimpers and tugging on his coat sleeves.

He ends up taking out the figgy berries in defeat as his mentor laughs at his gullibility.

Their tag team combo is unbeatable.

Why does that feel familiar?