#mossdeep city is really nice

[might-be-mightyena]

Hello Again

Hello! I haven't been online for a bit because I finally was able to move out to Hoenn like I have been planning to for a long time now. It took a little while to get settled but I am doing well. My aunt was able to help me out and I got a little house in Mossdeep! Shadow has loved being back in her home region and my other pokemon have been enjoying the ocean air. I like the way secret bases are done here and I may have made one ;) if anyone else here is a secret base enthusiast and wants to try to find mine send me an ask!

[aura-acolyte]

Actually, you know what, lets start discourse. Hoenn cities ranked:

Lilycove. Basically my home base, and my two favorite places (Sharkie's Magikarp Sanctuary and the Aqua-Magma Conservatory) are nearby.

Mossdeep: I have a lot of memories there, some good and some bad, but its all cancelled out because Tate and Liza are there and they are objectively the best gym leaders.

Sootopolis: City built in a crater. Real cool. Loses points for having Groudon and Kyogre trapped under it.

Pacifidlog: You built a whole town on the water! How cool is that!

Meteor Village: Gotta give a shoutout to Z's hometown. Great place to learn about Ancient Hoenn stuff.

LaRousse City: Home of the Battle Frontier. Kickass in general. Had to help out in a hurricane there once.

Lavaridge Town: Still think its insane to build a town next to a volcano but it does have Flannery.

Dewford Town: I know, I know, there's not a lot there but its where I met Steven for the first time. Technically also where I met Zinnia depending on what you count as "Meeting."

Fortree City: I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty sure this city is every 8 year old's dream. Or it was when I was a kid, at least. Not sure how into treehouses modern kids are.

Slateport City: I love the sea and I love port cities. It reminds me of all the best parts of Goldenrod but without any of the shit parts (you know, like Team Rocket and my bio father). Plus, if you hang around the market enough you can hear all sorts of stories from trainers from all over the globe.

Verdanturf Town: There's not a lot interesting here but I gotta give a shoutout to my boy Wally's home.

Mauville: Mauville is problematic for obvious reasons but also its really fucking cool. Plus Wattson's there.

Littleroot Town: Finally getting around to my Hometow. Well, my Hoenn Hometown. Its nice and quaint and my Uncle and Mom live there so, you know, cool.

Petalburg: It's only this low on the list because I refuse to give Norman a break.

Oldale Town: Booooorrrrriiiinggg! I'm sure the people are nice but its such a boring town. I legit have more interesting memories from Route 103 than Oldale.

Ever Grande: Its a League City so there's not much going on there during the off season but its absolutely bustling during League Season. Sometimes I like to watch the League Matches on the big screens they have. Nobody's beaten Steven yet but a few have gotten close.

Falarbor Town: Hmm... a town created for the purpose of mining meteors to study which directly led to the death of Zinnia's sister. I wonder why I have a negative opinion of this place.

Rustboro: Capitalism ho!

Some of these are arbitrary, most of them aren't. Bye!

[musesbymeri]

big shoes to fill (meeting the other Champions for the first time)

It seemed fitting - or, perhaps, a cruel twist of fate - that Hoenn was the one hosting the Inter-League Conference this year. Elites and Champions from all over the world were gathering in Mossdeep City, and May, being the newly crowned Hoenn Champion, was the face of it all.

It would be fine. It had to be. Steven had helped her learn to speak as a champion, had helped her figure out polite, boring, grown-up conversation - after all, she didn't want to be mistaken for a kid, even if she still was one.

If Steven thought she was ready, she would have to be.

May stepped out of the car and took a deep breath, grounding herself before she realized she'd already been left behind by the elites. Seriously? Why wouldn't they wait for her?

She scowled a little and followed them inside, reminding herself to keep her back straight and look like she was the one in charge. That suggestion had come from Wallace, who had been more than happy to show her the ropes of posture.

Walking into the room made her realize just how small she really was. There was Lance, from the KanJoh League - the man she should have taken down, instead of Steven. The bitterness of moving to Hoenn only weeks before her journey was to start was still in the back of her mind. Cynthia, from Sinnoh, Alder from Unova, Diantha from Kalos... all of those trainers with their extraordinary legacies... and then there was May. A thirteen year old who had somehow taken down the most powerful trainer in Hoenn. She was just an upstart.

(She'd done much more than beat Steven, but the rest was classified from the rest of the world. The adults had thought it better to protect her from the media when it came to legendary Pokemon that tried to drown the world)

May glanced up at the clock. There was another hour and a half before she needed to make the opening speech, to give late arrivals time to show up... but what was she supposed to do in the meantime? "Mingle" hadn't been a very helpful instruction, not from Steven, Wallace, or any of the League employees.

The snack table seemed like a decent place to hide wait until she was needed. At least she'd been informed someone would fetch her when it was time for the speech to begin, so she wasn't going to be floundering when it came to that.

"Hey! Are you May?"

May startled and dropped the piece of cheese she'd been eating back onto her plate. Someone wanted to talk to her? Here?

A boy who looked to be around her age, beamed at her as he approached. "I'm Leon! From Galar!"

Leon from Galar looked like a walking billboard with how stupid his cape was, but she gave him a smile if relief nonetheless. "Yes, I'm May. It's nice to meet you, Leon from Galar."

"What are you doing standing around here? Aren't you going to talk to people?"

May glanced around and shrugged. "People don't seem interested in talking to me."

Leon stared at her like she'd grown another head, before grinning and shaking his in disbelief. "What? Don't be silly! You beat Steven! That's worth a conversation or two. Come on! We're gonna have a champion time together!"

[fairyprince7]

I finally made a list of my Steven Stone headcanons!

-autistic. Special interest is very much gemstones and rocks and crystals and all the science and mystery behind them

-goes nonverbal sometimes. Communicates through texting emojis when that happens

-needs very specific bed conditions to sleep: no light, ocean white noise, a weighted blanket and a hard pillow. He really struggles to sleep without these

-he really loves big bangles with jewels inside cause they're perfect to stim with. He really likes rotating them around on his wrists specifically

-birthday is November 26th, topaz is the birthstone for that month so that's obviously his favourite gemstone

-short king. He's only 170cm (5'6")

-very much gay. The media asks him if he has any women he's interested in and he gets visibly uncomfortable and tries to dodge the question completely and avoid it

-did date Wallace for a while but they broke off. They're still good friends though

-has 4 tattoos. A Primarina on his right forearm, a Metagross across his chest, a small Aron on the left side of his stomach and a shiny Skarmory tramp stamp

-also has a heap of ear piercings like a topaz crystal hanging from a chain in his right ear and a spacer and industrial piercing in his left ear

-not great relationship with his parents. His mother mocks him for being into guys and going nonverbal, and while his father doesn't do any of that he often tries to tell him to be nice to her and give her a chance to redeem herself

-really loves Aron! One of his favourite pastimes is breeding them and giving them out to young trainers. He unfortunately has not found a shiny yet but that doesn't really matter to him

-does actually enjoy rock music. He got recommended it as a joke cause it's called rock music but he does listen to it occasionally. Still prefers calmer music though

-his main partner isn't all that cuddly so he loves the Metagross plushie he got gifted once and he snuggles with it often at night or when he's feeling overwhelmed

-very good friends with Cynthia! Her love for anything mythical and mysterious goes well with the stories Steven has about a lot of the special rocks and gems he finds

-has a penthouse hidden somewhere in Ever Grande City, but he doesn't like it there due to how empty and cold it feels since it's just him living alone in such a large space. He much prefers and mostly lives in his little cottage in Mossdeep

[howlingday]

pokegirl au) ruby rose is a pokegirl fanatic but she has to admit something, for all her enthusiasm she has no idea what to do with yang. like she got the typeing matchups and even knew how to teach her how new moves. her issue was that she didn't know WHAT to teach her

"i'm sorry yang, i'm the reason we lost to that alolan vulpix" said ruby nursing a huge bruise on yang.

"it's alright ruby, you're just starting out. we'll find out what we need to do!" said yang wincing as she moved a little too fast. the two were gonna head right to a pokecenter as soon as they had recovered enough from their fight to walk

"it's just... i don't know what to teach you! i can teach basically any move and there's just too much to consider!" said ruby still lamenting her wealth of options

"well what if you taught her sunny day? along with morning sun flare blitz or solar beam she'd be able to sweep basically anything... so long as the first move lasted." said a blonde man with a pikachu walking behind him he offered a smile and kneeling down offered a oran berry. yang took it with a thank you and with the healing powers of the berry stood up "that's a great idea!" said ruby standing up "i could also let her keep attract to avoid taking damage in the first place! yang you can look pretty right?"

"i don't know rubes, maybe that would be too overpowered i mean look at me" yang said with a laugh and a flounce of her long golden mane

ruby was too caught up in having a plan that suddenly remembering the stranger that helped them came as a shock. ruby turned about and struggling to look up at the man from embarrassment "uh t-thanks, i'm r-ruby r-rose, this is yang" she said pointing to her sister

his pikachu zoomed forward "nice to meet ya! i'm nora, the cutest pokegirl in the world! and this is jaune-jaune! jaune Arc, the names short, sweet, and the ladies love it!"

no one knew it but this meeting would go down in history as the formation of the greatest team of pokegirls in history, and the greatest trainer duo as well

Jaune: So, where are you two headed?

Ruby: Beacon. We're going to sign up for the Pokémon League there.

Nora: Wow! Same here! Jaune here is obsessed with the League. He talks about it non-stop!

Jaune: (Blushing) I don't talk about it that much.

Nora: Every time we train, he tells me, "Nora, that's not League permitted," and "Nora, the League isn't going to like that," and "Nora, not now, I'm using the bathroom!"

Yang: (Chuckles) Sounds like you two are close. How'd you two meet? Blind date?

Nora: Jaune and I fought a really strong Pokémon, and we decided to stick together.

Ruby: Ooh! What Pokémon?!

Jaune: Well, to be honest-

Nora: A super strong one! See, Jaune and I met while I was climbing Mt. Silver, and it was there we encountered the terrifying Pokémon! She was twenty stories high, breathed silver fire, and had trucks for hands! We managed to stun her and seal deep within the depths of Mossdeep City!

Ruby: (Looks to Yang)

Yang: (Shrugs, Both look to Jaune)

Jaune: (Sighs) We met in the woods by my family's house, met a Pokémon we've never seen before, and we managed to paralyze her to allow us to get away.

Yang: (Chuckles) Sounds like a stunning encounter.

Ruby: (Groans) Ignore her. So, what did she actually look like?

Jaune: Hm, well, she was kind of far away, but she stood about... I'd say ten feet tall? She had pale skin and white hair, and she wore a long, black dress. Oh, and I think she used Psybeam!

Ruby: So she's a Psychic-Type?

Jaune: Maybe, but it didn't look like any Psybeam I've seen on TV.

Yang: Eh, maybe it's just a variant of it for her. I wouldn't worry. Besides, you've got bigger things to worry about.

Jaune: Like what?

Yang: Like us! (Grabs Ruby's shoulders) If you're going to take the Pokémon League challenge, just know that we're not going to lose, especially not against someone like you!

Jaune: Like me?

Nora: Oh, is that a challenge?! Bring it on, hot-shot!

Yang: Oh, it's been brought, Pinkie!

Jaune: (Sighs) So, how'd you two meet?

Ruby: We're sisters.

Jaune: Oh, really? Does that mean you're a Pokémon, too?

Ruby: Not really. My parents are both human, but my Dad was first with his Pokémon, Yang's mom, Raven, who's a Mightyena.

Jaune: Oh, I see. (Pulls out a book) Let's see.

Ruby: What's that?

Jaune: The Pokémon League rule-book. I'm trying to look up a rule about the gym challenges.

Ruby: Which rule?

Jaune: (Opens his book) About Tag-Team matches.

Ruby: Tag-Team matches can be allowed on a case-by-case basis if both challengers are of equal standing, at the Gym Leader's discretion, that is.

Jaune: ...(Shuts his book) Huh. Word-for-word.

Ruby: My dad is a gym leader. You kind of pick these things up.

Jaune: Which gym?

Ruby: Patch Village. He specializes in Fighting-Type moves.

Jaune: Oh, really?

Nora: Yeah, really!

Yang: Well, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?!

Nora: I don't eat money! Just pancakes!

Yang: Oh, you think you're cute?!

Nora: Ohohohoho! I'm adorable!

[pokemon-just-pokemon]

But also, can we talk about how our girl Mallow got the short end of the stick in the last episode?

This sweet person right here!☝️☝️☝️

Lets break it down, school ends, right? Vacation, yay! Most of her friends are leaving, some aren't going to be back for a long time, or ever.

Lana, the bestie, off with her dad of a hunt for Manaphy. Who knows how long that'll actually take, yeah I assume that her dad would bring her back in time for the next school year, but who actually knows?

Next, Lillie, off with her Mom and Brother to search for her Dad. I assume they're not going to call ot quits just because school starts back up.

Sophocles! He's off to Hoenn for his vacation, Mossdeep city, for their space program to be exact. So unless something happens, he'll be back in time for school👍

Kiawe is working towards becoming a kahuna, so he'll probably stick around for a while, but he'll be really busy, especially with the farm too.

And Ash, Ash is doing what Ash does. Leaves to another region. He's not coming back for the next school year. Which is sad, cause I enjoyed him being in school. But Mallow doesn't know when or if she'll ever see him again.

So her friends are essentially gone for the vacation at MINIMUM. So she'll be working the restaurant with her dad, with her Pokemon, Tsareena and Shaymin, right?

Except Mallows brother comes home. Seemingly for good? Or at least for a while. He brings her flowers, which is so nice! Except they're Gracidea, the certain flower that lets Shaymin transform Into its sky form, so its easy to see where THATS going.

AND THEN SHAYMIN LEAVES.

So Mallows Vacation is going to be so lonely and I feel so BAD for her!

S3 EP54, Thank you, Alola! The Journey Continues!

[lycaran]

Meet Lonnie

So uh...May have made a Hardenshipping fankid.

His name's Lonnie, an orphan street kid that Archie and Maxie adopted who counts as a fankid in my eyes, god damn it.

I can’t draw muscles or children to save my life.

Originally @cryptidanaphafsi​ did this I with their fankid I believe? 

Info under the cut because I really started to ramble about details...A lot. 

Bad Quality picture, but his adult versions both have a keystone in the middle of their mask that they use for Mega Evolution.

Notes:

RSE canon is Emerald, which leads in Alpha Sapphire in the future, though in this canon way, RSE events get resolved Without a protagonist. Hypothetical game futures for the SM and USUM games.

RSE Version -

-Still living on the streets at this point, 8-10 in age.

-Met a few times over the course of the story, usually found hiding around a corner after an encounter with Maxie or Archie(outside of hideout encounters), seems mostly in awe of how cool the plans seem.

-Selectively mute, if talked to he'll make gestures towards the player but since the player is about ten, all you really get from talking to him is "...."

-Jumpy, running off as soon as the player is done talking

-Vitiligo

-In the Sapphire & Emerald versions of the game, post game, he's absolutely Terrified of Kyogre, developing Aquaphobia as he grows older.

-Sometime post game, Archie and Maxie pick him up bc he still seems to tag along just behind one of them, and hey, the kid needs a home. And when they’ve patched things up, they’re really good dad’s.

ORAS Version, constants-

- Adopted pre-game and raised by Maxie and Archie before they split bc of differing ideals...again.

- Mid-twenties.

- Team Magma Admin.

- Aquaphobia from past trauma, selectively mute.

- I can't draw muscles but he's definitely the strongest person there, thanks to Archie and a bit of Matt.

- As an adult, Vitiligo patches have spread and caused part of his hair to grow in white.

- Personality wise, he's a rather nice man, only really being a sore loser. And takes after Maxie alot in the brains department, including dumbassery. 

- He’s dating both an Aqua Grunt and a Magma Grunt, don’t tell his dads though. A grunt in the Magma hideout asks you if you want to place a bet on that happens when the bosses find out, then realizes you are Not one of the grunts, and runs off.

- Aqua Grunt is named Dew

- Magma Grunt is named Ashe

- I will draw them eventually, they will be mentioned elsewhere.

Omega Ruby -

-he appears somewhat sporadically, usually around Maxie. Fought once at Mossdeep city when the player beats the gym, viewing the player as a threat to Maxie's goal...and wanting to make use of himself, aquaphobia keeping him from following the rest of the team down to the Seafloor Cavern. Team: Crobat, Camerupt, Mightyena, Sealeo.

-A Grunt, Ashe, follows him around and acts as an interpreter. Talking directly to Lonnie is always "..." before the grunt buts in to explain what he's trying to say.

-When defeated by the player, he'll turn to the grunt, signing furiously, only for the grunt to exclaim "I can't say that to a child!" before Lonnie leaves in a huff.

- During the Delta Episode he's fought at the Magma Hideout, without Ashe, absolutely Livid about what Zinnia did to Maxie, and fighting the player as soon as they enter, seeing them as just something else that'll upset his dad. Team: Crobat, Camerupt, Mightyena, Walrein.

- Post Delta Episode, you'll actually find him alone in a house on the Battle Resort. When talked to, he still won't talk, but after interacting with him Maxie walks in to explain that he and his son were there, trying to lay low, relax a bit, and they're waiting on "a certain someone" to show up for a talk.

Alpha Sapphire Version, aka the Canon Version-

- Not very active story wise, always seen rather ominously popping up mere seconds after an interaction with Team Aqua. He doesn't have an interpreter this time, so all the player really gets is "...." then a yes/no text box before he leaves.

- Appears on Mt. Chimney with Maxie to try and stop Team Aqua's little attempt. Maxie will actually translate some of what Lonnie's trying to say, and while it would be nice, he doesn't exactly explain Why Lonnie tends to be tailing Team Aqua, Archie most specifically

-And ho boy. When Kyogre gets awoken, this poor man is having the Worst day.

- In Sootopolis, he's seen quite visibly shaking, signing Something at Archie, who might be having a "Oh shit." moment and a half because his Son is VERY MUCH AFRAID OF WATER, AND VERY MUCH CAN. NOT. SWIM.

- So yeah. Not a fun time.

- Half of what he's signing is ruined by how shaky his hands are. Ashe looks ready to strangle Archie, and Dew is reeling from the reality and Actually starts cursing Archie out as soon as the player leaves to handle Kyogre.

- Tbh if the two boys didn’t start trying to murder Archie first, Maxie might’ve.

- When Kyogre is captured, when the player leaves and all is said and done, he gives the player a piece of Cameruptite with a small little Thank You note.

- Battle Resort/Battle Maison, he is once again found in a house, but this time Maxie is already there. And once the player talks to the two, Archie walks in, but when that happens, the player is asked to leave so they can have a Family chat.

Sun & Moon Games-

- Okay this is just me being self indulgent and including him in my favorite games of the series, plus it’s just neat.

- Basically, he’s there on a honeymoon with Ashe and Dew.

- Even after the teams disbanded, he’s very partial to his Magma outfit. Only real change coming coming from the removal of the Magma symbols on his vest. Still keeping the combined symbols on his mask.

- More or less appears as a cameo. The only reason they’re even having a Honeymoon in Alola is because it has both Water and Volcanos near eachother.

- Shows up in post game, investigating the Altar of the Sunne/Moone as the idea of other worlds really peaked his interest.

- Funny Images: 6′0″ string bean and a 5′7″ man with average muscle trying to carry a 6′5″ man with muscle from hell because the waves touched him and he freaked out.

Ultra Sun & Moon Games - 

- Mostly the same.

- With the addition of the player actually getting his help against Rainbow Rocket

- When reaching the mansion, Lonnie will be there. Along with Ashe and Dew.

- He’ll then “ask” which side the player wants to take on, fighting either Archie or Maxie depending on choice. Vs. Archie, he takes Ashe with him, Vs. Maxie, he takes Dew. The other of his husbands goes with the player to help handle the other boss.

- After this, you can find Lonnie, Dew, and Ashe at the battle tree.

- Funny Images: Trying to get Lonnie onto Aether, a man made island in the middle of the ocean.

Pokespe Version -

- His age is more me throwing darts at a board trying to guess when shit happens.

- He’s alot more playful and joking in this version.

Ruby Sapphire Chapter -

- 16

-Actually adopted prior to the Ruby&Sapphire Chapter, but in a surprising twist, stays mainly with Archie.

- Interacts with Ruby and Sapphire once, maybe twice through the whole Manga.

- Hard for Archie to be intimidating with a giant of a teen in a life jacket clinging to him everytime they get near water, but he makes it work

- He stays with Arche and team Aqua for two reasons and two reasons only

- One, he lacks past trauma with Kyogre in pokespe, thus doesn’t fear water as much and can stand to be around it more. Two, alchoholics scare him more than water ever could.

-Along with that, Archie also has the safer public persona, so win win on his part

- Lonnie, being a teen, does tend to wander though. Barely seen for most of the chapters. When Archie and Maxie have their fight, he's there for a split second, before letting out his Crobat and fleeing.

-I don't have it all ironed out, but basically, the whole battles between Magma and Aqua through the whole arc have slowly built up this fear in Lonnie's brain when it comes to his dad's, and this is the tipping point.

- Sadly, both leaders are a bit preoccupied to notice at first that he's gone, and it's a fullblown panic after the fact.

-Sadly tho, this doesn't slow down their plans. But Blaise and Amber are put in charge of trying to track him down and find him.(Not in a bad way, more in a Extremely worried parents with a missing son way)

- Cue end of arc.

Emerald Arc

-still 16

-Makes brief cameos, he tends to linger around the back.

- Actually, screw it, I'll make this pretty later but he and Emerald do become friends.

- Has a small interaction with Emerald, writing about how he finds his equipment cool, and is in awe of how he calms pokemon.

-And boy oh does this lead to some Fun

- Cut the confrontation with Guile in the cave, the first Jirachi attempt

- Alot changes here.

- First of all, while Jirachi still escapes, Guile lingers for a moment. Looking at Lonnie for a long moment. And while he does 'reflect' back the attacks with his sword, he sends the attack flying off into a wall instead of at Emerald and Lonnie.

- Later, Guile actually snatches the poor kid, pulling off somewhere just to have a few moments to make sure he's okay

- If you know the manga, you know it's gonna be revealed to Lonnie at this point that Guile is, in fact, Archie. And while he tries to avoid the details, he does tell Lonnie he needs Jirachi to fix things

- Lonnie assumes, sadly naive, that this has to do with Maxie and their family. Even asking Archie where his other dad is, only to be met with silence.

- That doesn't settle well with him, actually demanding to know what happens, atleast as much as you can demand when you can’t talk. The last he heard about them was nearly destroying Hoenn so what happened?

- Archie doesn’t tell him, straight up Refuses to tell him what happened.

- This does not go well. Leading to Lonnie once more running off.

- Lonnie keeps in touch with Emerald after the arc is over, basically adopted him as a little brother because they’re both weird looking kids, Emerald being unusually short, and Lonnie having Vitiligo.

- He runs into Amber after this and kind of just, vibes there, treats Amber like an uncle, and that’s who looks after him for the next few years.

ORAS Arc -

- 20

-Lives with Amber, mostly helping the man with fishing and all around, just trying to have someone around he can 'talk' to without needing an interpreter or to write down every word he says.

-Team Aqua....2!

-He does end up joining the New Team Aqua, since he feels more safe with them in Pokespe. Along with this, he’s curious about where they came from and what’s going on here.

-Looks most like my concept sketch for him in this version.

- Eventually just, disepears in the midst of fighting. He's learned enough and doesn't want to face that all.

- Listen when I tell you. When he sees Maxie and Archie, he's pissed.

-And when The Dustening happens...

- He actually does cry. Hell, it's probably the only time he speaks, begging in a hoarse voice he never uses for his dad's to stay there. Just for once. Let them be a family just for Once.

- It doesn't work.

- Funny Images: Emerald, looking up at Lonnie who is like 3-4 times their height: “I AM GOING TO STEAL YOUR KNEECAPS!!!!” Lonnie, amused, signing: “You-can-try.”

-Pokemon Seen: Crobat, Sharpedo, Sandslash.

Sun and Moon Arc -

- 22

-He actually appears here.

- Listen, he's a smart man, and he knows a lot.

-Appears after that small time skip after Sun and Moon disepear through the portals, ultimately he's here investigating the portals.

- He 'talks' with Kukui and Burnet to try and figure out what's going on.

-I don't know how it'd be incorporated, but basically, he's trying to figure out where the Hell his dad's are. And if these Wormholes can help him, by god is he going to use them

- Knows that, most likely, they’re dead and gone for good. But still holds out hope that somewhere out there, they’re still alive.

- He's still wearing the life jacket. Less for Aesthetic, more because he’s scared shitless about being on an island.

- Are this chapter is where he would have started dating Dew and Ashe, having met them when that whole, other Team Aqua & Magma were made in ORAS.

[darktypeimagines]

Can I request a scenario where Leon and Raihan(seperate) meets up with their S/O's ex which so happens to be Steven from Hoenn? (Note: Steven is still a gentleman and they broke things off on a good terms)

I found this one a bit challenging.  Maybe it’s just me, but I feel break-ups are very different person to person.  So it’s a bit hard with such little information. Not only that, I have difficultly relating to dealing with exes, as I don’t actually have any myself. (I’ve only dated one person for the past 10 years, and while we broke up once early on, we got back together and are still together).

I spent a week thinking about this one, but couldn’t come up with a good, unique scenario for Leon.  And since the Raihan scenario turned out really long, I decided to only do one of them.  I hope you still like it though!

—————————————————————————————————

It had been almost a year since you broke up with your ex, Steven, the former Champion of Hoenn.  While there were numerous rumors as to why the two of you split (many of which were not flattering), it was amicable separate overall.  

It just wasn’t working anymore, and the two of you, fortunately, both agreed. 

It wasn’t long before you found someone else and settled into a comfortable relationship with them.  But while you had moved on, it was always weird for someone who had previously been such a huge part of your life suddenly gone.  You hadn’t really heard from Steven since the split, and it was a bit hard to find information on him lately.  When he gave up his title, he had become much scarcer publicly.

You had only been dating for a short time, but being with Raihan was a bit of a whirlwind at times.  Steven, in contrast, was a stroll through a park on an autumn day. Sentimental, not necessarily boring… But much more stable.  With Raihan, while he was chill most of the time, he could be quite intense when excited. While you didn’t know what to expect, in a way, this was refreshing.

So, when he suddenly announced he wanted a Salamence, you weren’t totally surprised.  What surprised you was he bought tickets to Hoenn.

It was pretty clear what his plan was.  But, you asked him what his plan after was.  How exactly was he planning to take a Salamence (or it’s pre-evolutions) across the Galar border?  It was restricted.

He grinned and said you’d find out.  What did that mean?!  You knew you wouldn’t get it out of him, though, so you settled for enjoying the vacation and experience.

You two landed in Mossdeep City; in addition to having the launch pad for the space center, there was also a small airport on the island.

As you walked through the city, to get something to eat and eventually take a boat to the mainland, you passed by Steven’s house.  It was odd, seeing it again.  You hadn’t been here since you broke up.  You had many memories, mostly fond ones, inside.

After a couple of days of travel (neither of you were in a rush), you finally came to your destination; Meteor Falls.  A bit of online research led you two to believe this was the only place in all of Hoenn where Bagon could be found.  But even then, they were very rare.  You could be here for a while…

You searched each floor meticulously.  The first floor proved fruitless, so you scaled the waterfall to further up the caverns.

The next two floors didn’t seem to have Bagon, even. You were a bit disheartened, but Raihan urged you forward and was calm. Salamence were rare after all, he said, so that must mean the pre-evolutions must be rare, too!  He knew it wasn’t going to be easy!

But, it was harder than you both expected.  You got lost in a room filled with columns and debris. After carefully stepping over rock piles and past cracks, you saw a figure off in the distance, in a narrow corridor.  It couldn’t be…

Yep.  It was Steven.  Somehow, you weren’t surprised.  You knew he was fond of this place, and he seemed to spend half of his life inside of caves.

You and Raihan greeted him, and you asked why he was here.  Turns out he wanted to get away for a while, do some “soul searching” as he put it.  You thought he was just doing he normal spelunking…  Of course, he also asked why you were here, and you told him about your search for Bagon.

He seemed interested, and mentioned he might have an idea of where they might be.  Fortunately, he was rather familiar with the Falls, and could guide you there.  After hours of searching, you two eagerly agreed.

Steven led you to where he thought he saw the Pokemon. The three of you caught up along the way.  While you never spoke negatively of Steven with Raihan, he was understandably wary at first.  But, by the time you three made it to your destination, Raihan was completely at ease with your ex.

It was a relatively small area blocked off by water; you two probably would’ve missed it had you not met Steven!  However, you didn’t see any Bagon at first.

But, there appeared to be tracks.  So, your group was in the right spot, at least. You overturned rocks and looked in every crevice.  Nothing.

Eventually, Raihan suggested they might be hiding somewhere because of them.  It was decided to move back a little, across the water.  Steven had the idea of leaving his Cradily there, hiding below the water.  Cradily was an expert at ensnaring prey with its tentacles, and could hold a Bagon in place so the trainers could return in time to catch it.

It took longer than you expected.  These Bagon seemed very cautious; maybe it’s because of all the trainers that come to try to catch one?  You spoke some more in the meantime; it turns out Steven is thinking of traveling.  Raihan suggested he come visit Galar sometime, maybe stop by his Gym for a battle! Steven seemed to seriously consider this.

But, before the conversation could go further, Cradily cried out, and the three of you rushed over.   Cradily had a Bagon tangled up, and the little dragon was putting up an incredible fight despite the size and experience difference!  The other Bagon, if there were any, were nowhere to be found.

Steven ordered Cradily to use Confuse Ray on the Bagon before letting it go.  The little dragon stumbled a bit, but didn’t appear to be looking for a place to run off to.  It seemed ready to fight.

And, now it was time for Raihan to shine.  He was the one looking for the Pokemon, after all.  He sent out Gigalith.  A sandstorm (somehow?!) enveloped the cave system due to its ability, further disorienting the Bagon.

Despite having losing odds, the Bagon still didn’t back down.  It rushed into the sandstorm, using Headbutt on Gigalith!  Only… to immediately fall back, in a bit of pain.  Turns out headbutting what is basically a sentient rock isn’t the best idea.  The Bagon got back up, though.

Raihan had Gigalith use Stealth Rock to limit the Bagon’s movements, then Sand Tomb to further hinder it.  The Bagon seemed frustrated.

And in its frustration… it seemed to draw on new power. A blinding light shone, and the Bagon began to evolve, while being held by Sand Tomb!

It became Shelgon!  And in evolving, it broke the Tomb, and launched a Dragon Breath at Gigalith. Seemed it learned to not headbutt rocks!

Gigalith took the hit, then used Rock Blast in response to weaken it.  The Shelgon withstood the attacks well, but everyone could tell it was starting to tire out.

Raihan threw an Ultra Ball at the Shelgon, which it broke out of instantly.

It turned into a long battle.  The Shelgon flung itself away from each ball, and broke out of most of the others.  Raihan even had to ask you for more, as he run out! Luckily, you came prepared.

Finally, Raihan made an excellent throw.  It smacked Shelgon right in the face.  The ball didn’t move at all at first, then after a few shakes, it clicked shut!

Raihan let out a cheer, then ran to scoop up his catch.  You had to remind him to withdraw Gigalith though… The Sandstorm was a bit strong.

Once it subsided, you finally got a good look at Steven again, and he looked completely disheveled.  His hair was a complete mess, and he was working on dusting sand off of himself.  You couldn’t help but laugh a little, and in seeing you laugh, he laughed a bit, too.

The three of you left Meteor Falls together, and when he found out you two had to go back to Mossdeep for the plane, Steven continued to travel with you.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  Raihan tried to befriend the Shelgon on the road, but the little one seemed stubborn.  It would take time to win them over, it seems, but Raihan was up for the challenge.

You split up with Steven in Mossdeep.  It was a bit bittersweet, but it was nice seeing him again, and it was even nicer that he helped you two in your quest.

The Shelgon turned out to be quite the fighter.  In only a week, it had evolved into a Salamence, and became a permanent member of his team.  When it finally evolved, it was so happy, it nearly burned down the castle! It was quite the news story in Galar.

And no, you still have no idea how he was able to pull strings to get the Pokemon across the border.  But hey, Kabu had a Torkoal, so it’s possible.  You figured he just ironed everything out before getting the tickets…

You and Raihan started weekly flights over Hammerlocke on the back of Salamence at sunset; it was an amazing way to bond and see the city

[mgrgfan]

Past of the future, future of the past...

Chapter 4. Breaking the blockade.

"Finally," said the Emperor, looking at the monumental machine, placed in the largest temporary sort-of-a-VAB built so far. "Finally! FINALLY!!!" Officers, which were standing not too far away from this genius, but a crazy one at that, exchanged looks of understanding. After all, this was his dream made real, even if forced to be remade for destruction… and protection. The ship itself - the first real, atomic explo-flyer, envisioned long ago, but built only recently - was truly a masterpiece of technology. Massing 4000 tons fully loaded, equipped with the most advanced sensors, protected by the arcanotech-enhanced composite armor, armed with railguns, howitzers, rotary cannons, space combat missiles and retro-missiles for planetary bombardment, this was the most powerful warmachine of the Soris Empire... so far. The nuclear fission reactor of this ship was built with inclusions of components from the reactor of Space Lab 2, as a way to drive the point of revenge and attract the blessing from the Red Spirit (though barely anyone believed in this one). After all, according to the mythology, this spirit gave its blessing to anyone, who was fighting to avenge the fallen comrades. Right now, the giant rocket was quietly sitting on the launchpad (built specifically for it) and receiving final checks. The first stage - the NUCLEUS booster - had simple, but pretty efficient chemfuel engines, which used liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. A titanic tank of fuel in center of rocket, a sectionalized torus-like oxidizer tank around it, a monstrous plug-cluster aerospike engine right in the middle of bottom and several blocks of control engines near the edges - all of that could lift two thousand tons to orbit just by itself and then safely come back and land. However, that was not needed - it only needed to raise the payload roughly halfway to the space... The payload - the first manned interplanetary spaceship in the history of the world, remade into first space warship - had the nuclear pulse engine. When the separation happens, the shock absorbers, collapsed for the duration of the first phase of launch to make the rocket more compact, will first extend to full length, then the shaped-blast charge will be launched from gas gun between them and fly through the trapdoor in the pusher plate, before exploding and launching a wave of superheated nuclear plasma, which will impact the plate, protected by the layer of graphite, and transfer the momentum to the ship through two stages of shock absorbers. Then the auto-sprayers will apply the new layer of graphite, the new bomb will be launched and explode, and then it will repeat again and again... "Comrades, I think those nine months of accelerated work weren't for naught!" the Emperor finally stopped laughing like maniac and got himself together. "Prepare to remove the building shell. Prepare to fuel the NUCLEUS booster. All cosmonauts - prepare to board the ship. Begin the launch countdown." "Aye-aye, Your Majesty. Countdown begins, T-72 hours and counting. Beginning the launch pad preparations. Beginning the VAB final disassembly." Most of the stuff in the giant building was already removed in the preparation for launch. Now, the only thing they've needed to do was to activate fast-disassembly mechanisms, which will safely collapse the roof and walls outwards, without damaging the launch pad and the monstrous ship on it. ---- Empress knew, that her husband was crazy. She knew, that this launch can - and, likely, will - worsen the already-far-from-good terms, on which the Soris Empire now was with the Pokemon Nation (culture clash did not help, especially with the whole thing about decent amounts of nationals worshipping Legendaries and Mythicals). She knew, that Nation can see it as an act of war. But for some strange reason, she was nearly as excited to see this launch, as her husband was. Or, actually, like the most of sorisians will be very, very soon, when the "Red Explorer" gets finally unveiled. After all, her internal political campaign about honoring the memory of 11th expedition to the Space Lab 2 really helped. The sheer growth of the metal processing and nuclear, chemical, arcanotechnological and many other industries, amongst other developments… it was wonderful. Besides, this launch, should the ship survive the upcoming battle, will majorly lift her support. Even after all those years (The Shift not included), "Bread And Shows" still worked great time - both for the Soris Empire (some parts of the space program, along with most entertainment) and Pokemon Nation (League and Contests). And if the Nation decides to try to attack them… well, that's what for the ship has several "Lightning" retro-missiles with city-buster warheads! ---- "Look at this," said one of the operators in the Mossdeep Space Center, showing the director, who was walking nearby, transmission from the kantonian research plane, which was flying near the Soris. Right now, the biggest building in the complex of Zemlino Space Center has just… fallen apart, slightly reminding them of a flower, and revealed a giant rocket inside. This rocket was roughly comparable to those, which Pokemon Nation used for the Moon missions… except much, much thicker. "Are you even sure, that this is a rocket?" wondered director. "It's so huge… How would it even take off?" "No idea," replied the operator. "I suggest we get some Cornn Berries and watch the fireworks, when the Rayquaza destroys this thing!" "Be careful with your words!" notified him superior, then quietly added, "I agree. If they didn't get yet, that as soon as it flies to strato - it dies, then we can have some good views. Though I wonder, what they are overcompensating for…" ---- "T-10 minutes and counting," announced one of the operators in Zemlino. After several very hard days of final workings and pre-flight checks, the "Red Explorer" was finally preparing to leave the ground. The nuclear reactor of the ship was now working at minimal capacity, cooling through external loop, the NUCLEUS booster was checking the thrust vectoring and aerodynamic control surfaces, the cosmonauts were getting more comfortable in their chairs… The final launch poll resulted in "go" and now there was only one way - the way up. ---- "… Seventeen, sixteen, water suppression system online, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, ignition sequence start, six, we have ignition, four, three, two, all engines are running!" reported the announcer. "Liftoff! We have a liftoff, thirty-two minutes past the hour, liftoff on "Red Explorer"!" With a horrifying roar, the giant rocket started to slowly, but surely rise above the launchpad and accelerate, shock diamonds visible in the exhaust flames of working plug-cluster aerospike engine, rest of the launchpad clouded in steam, created by evaporating water from the water suppression system. "Tower cleared!" happily screamed Emperor Ivan the Second, tearing the microphone from the hands of announcer, when the giant machine passed the tower - the last remain of VAB's scaffolding. "T plus ten seconds, tower cleared, speed increasing as planned! The roar is terrific! The building is shaking! Look at that beauty go!" People, who were in this room, saw the Emperor going flat-out childish, jumping around while laughing like a madman and crying tears of joy. The last time he was like that was during the launch of Imperial Moon Mission on the Water Dragon rocket. ---- "Holy crap," mumbled one of the telescope operators in the Mossdeep Space Center. "Josh - do you see what I see?" "If you're about the unreasonably giant rocket finally going up - yep, I do. Honestly, what in the name of Ray… sorry, but still, what is this thing?" "No idea." Image from kantonian observatory was quickly routed to the main screen, allowing everyone to have a nice view on the rocket. Finally, the main engine in the first stage has gone silent. "The stages separate… Wait, what? The first stage is actively decelerating, and the second… What it this? I don't even…" The second stage indeed looked weirdly. Instead of the usual great bell of the rocket engine or the cluster of smaller engines, there was a thick plate with some kind of a tube in the middle of it, installed on several shock absorbers, a cone between the shock absorbers - and that's all. On the screen, suddenly, something was launched from the cone, flew through the plate, and… "Feed from O7 is dark. No idea, what the Reverse World was that, but the telescope's matrix is dead." "Routing the SolOb6 to screen… Arceus the Original One, what the frak?" "..." entire room got speechless, as the telescope camera, designed for studying the Sun, showed ship steadily accelerating on what seemed to be huge explosions - probably, nuclear in nature. Thick plate (which, for some reason, was varying in thickness as the explosions were going - probably, serving as an another shock absorber) and long piston-based shock absorbers served well to protect the giant ship from explosions and soften the acceleration. Blast after blast, the giant ship was surely rising higher and higher... ---- "Separation commencing," reported the pilot, looking at the screen, which displayed the data of active autopilot. "Separation complete. Booster is out of the danger zone. Initiating nuclear pulse propulsion. Stand by for acceleration. Bomb drive now firing." Entire ship shook, when the drive bomb, launched from the gas gun, detonated behind the ship's aft. Wave of superhot tungsten plasma, along with aerial overpressure wave, struck the plate, but thin layer of graphite worked well, ablating, but protecting the arcane-enhanced steel alloy underneath from getting damaged. Under normal conditions, the sheer acceleration would've instantly killed the cosmonauts and collapsed the hull of the ship. However, thanks to the gas bags right behind the plate and heavy, two-staged hydropneumatic shock absorbers, the fraction of second of acceleration got elongated, proportionally lowering the loads on the machine and men inside it. Milliseconds after the plasma from the detonation of the drive bomb dispersed, auto-sprayers deployed themselves and created a new layer of graphite on the plate, then retracted back, right before the new bomb was launched and exploded. And then it repeated again, and again, and again, and again... ---- "So, if I'm understanding even remotely right, the first and, so far, only launch table for ultra-heavy rockets got destroyed by the exhaust?" Empress Svetlana asked her husband. "Yep," replied Ivan in surprisingly jolly voice. "Launch Table ST-1 has partially melted now due to insufficient power of water suppression system, but the ship is in space and there is barely any radiation trail in the atmosphere! By the way, launch stage recovered successfully." "That's good to know, but still, we've lost our only launch table for this kind of rockets and it'll take a long time to repair it." "I know. It's not like the Sea Launch Platform was an option for us at that time, though…" "On the topic of the sea launch - are you planning to use the Water Dragon rocket for building the replacement space station, since the Space Lab Two was destroyed by the Rayquaza? I've seen some suspicious increases in funding…" "Yep. The NUCLEUS rocket will remain for launching explo-flyers mostly, while the Water Dragons take lesser operations. One of them is getting prepared right now for launching the supply block to the "Red Explorer", when it gets to the orbit." "Uh-huh. And what about your spaceplane project?" "The Project BLUEBIRD? So far, so good, tests of the final version should begin in a week or so. I must admit, the hypersonic hybrid air-breathing nuclear rocket engines are still somewhat problematic, but we are very close to ironing those problems out." "Range?" "Unmanned - all the way to the Red Planet. Manned - to the Moon in a reasonable amount of time." "Docking to the "Red Explorer"?" "Possible through the expandable top adapter, but the spaceplane won't be able to fit into the docking bay." ---- "We are on the action orbit now, comrade captain," said pilot, getting himself more comfortable in the acceleration chair. "Drive bomb magazines and propellant storages for the reaction control system are at optimal level after orbital injection, we can go to the Moon and back on those reserves in just a day!" "Nuclear ordinance for anti-space engagements and planetary bombardment is nominal, awaiting codes and targets," reported weapons operator, scrolling through the lists and making some mental notes. "Point defense rotary cannons ready, main caliber railguns ready, Lance Howitzers ready." "Targeting telescopes nominal, thermal scopes nominal, radars nominal," sounded the report from the sensors operator, who was already switching through the feeds, monitoring the surroundings. "Radiators deployed, cooling system nominal, reactor nominal," said the engineer, feeling proud of his participation in creating power plant of this ship. "Shock absorbers are fine, pusher plate is fine, drive bomb launcher, graphite sprayers and plasma deflection cone are fine, RCS nominal. Oh, nearly forgot - life support is also nominal and will be in this condition for at least a year. We'll run out of food much earlier. And landers, along with space workpods, are also fine and ready." "All comm systems are ready and tuned," added the comm officer, fiddling with headset, then suddenly turning pale. "Uh-oh. Comrade captain, FCC just told us, that Rayquaza is exiting the atmo and will engage us in few minutes, arrives from the east." "Then all hands to battle stations!" ordered captain, feeling shivers. Of course, their ship was the technologies of tomorrow embodied, a state-of-art space warship, armed with the most advanced, yet reliable and efficient weaponry Empire has created, but their opponent was no less than the Sky High Pokemon itself, who was once considered by less developed humans to be god of the skies and even now, it remained a great force to be reckoned with. However, this battle was a decisive one. There can be only one winner… and all of the humans aboard the "Red Explorer" will do their best to make sure, that the Rayquaza won't be it. "Aye-aye, comrade captain! Retracting the radiators, reactor output set to combat levels," reported the engineer, trying to keep his confidence in the great machine. "Railguns and point defence are deployed, the capacitors are charging up, anti-space missiles are armed, Lance Howitzers are loaded," calmly stated the weapons officer. Among the fellow crew members, he was the calmest and most confident one - mainly because dozens of nuclear missiles and howitzer-launched shaped-blast bombs, along with electromagnetic railguns (with nuclear and canister shots) and rotary cannons, were now under his control. "RCS and bomb drive are ready," said the somewhat unnerved, but slightly cocky pilot. The drive bomb counter and RCS propellant storages indicators told him, that the battle can go on for a decent amount of time - the NUCLEUS chemfuel booster allowed them to save a lot of bombs during the ascent. "Radars located bandit retrograde-breaking the atmo west and a little south, but no definitive lock so…" began the sensor operator, suppressing his nervousness with deep focus on work. Calling the Rayquaza "bandit" helped all of the officers to distance themselves from the fact, that they were fighting an actual Legendary now. "Yeah, telescopes acquired it! Locked on!" "SCMs away, 3 "Firestorms", 4 "Firelances"!" nearly screamed weapons operator, pressing the launch trigger. On the ship's hull, several round armored hatches opened, revealing missile silos. Right after it, seven of the streamlined machines of death were ejected by small explosive charges, turned around and engaged their solid-fuel engines, accelerating at 100 g and doing their best to track and intercept the designated target. Even with remote guidance from the ship, sensors of which were far superior to those, which could be installed on space combat missiles, it was not an easy task. The Sky High Pokemon, seeing several dots leave the more massive target, started to perform the evasion maneuver, as uneasy as it was during the already-ongoing Dragon Ascent. It was a wise decision and, probably, would've helped… were it not for the missiles with Lance warheads. When four of the missiles, armed with shaped-blast charges, reached the optimal distance, the "Red Explorer" sent a very simple command to them - "detonate". Under normal circumstances, this command would have served only for performing self-destruct… but the circumstances now were anything but normal. The small stars of exploding 10kt thermonuclear warheads grew for a split-second in space. It would've been a nearly-harmless firework for the Rayquaza… but, unfortunately for it, for each of the "stars", more than 80% of the thermonuclear power got channeled and concentrated onto a small tungsten disk. Even this metal could not withstand such a magnitude of energy, so, it turned into plasma and, shaped and accelerated by the still undergoing fury of the fusion reaction into a tight stream, flew in the desired direction at the recognizable fraction of the speed of light. Four jets of very hot relativistic plasma impacted Rayquaza. Even with the energy of Dragon Ascent surrounding the Legendary, it still hurt major time… and then the rest of the missiles came. When the Sky High Pokemon was distracted with the pain from the nuclear lances, warship directed the last three small machines of destruction to come in-close and detonate the neutron warheads. Even though the effects of fireballs were negligible (as it was with most of the nuclear detonations in space), the neutron flux from explosions was pretty decent, especially with overlapping irradiation areas. Now that the Rayquaza's body was irradiated like this, the combat capability of this Legendary will be lowering and lowering as the time goes, until the radiation poisoning takes the max effect and turns it into the agonizing wreck, before the death finally comes. As a nice bonus, those explosions have also caused enough of a shock to the Rayquaza to cancel out the Dragon Ascent. "All hits scored. I think the battle has started pretty good, comrade captain," cheerfully reported the weapons operator. "Don't get too cocky," warned them all commander of this ship, silently reminding, that they were still fighting a being of incredible power, which held the atmospheric and orbital superiority undisputed for who-knows-how-many years, only occasionally leaving its position and allowing a few travels up there. "Bandit has recovered from the shock and prepares to use the Hyper Beam," grimly stated the sensors operator. "Acknowledged, stand by for rotation. RCS now firing," warned everyone the pilot, slightly smiling to himself. The relatively small attitude control jets expelled streams of superhot hydrogen, turning the massive ship around. The Hyper Beam is a powerful move. Really powerful. But it has some drawbacks - the first one being exhausting user and forcing it to spend some time recovering and the second being relatively low velocity of the energy beam itself. The space is big. Really big. Even in low Earth orbit, dozens of kilometers are still considered pretty small distances. Between Rayquaza firing the Hyper Beam and it getting to the "Red Explorer", a pretty long time has passed. Long enough for the ship to turn and take the stream of destruction not the nose- or side-first, but on the pusher plate, built to withstand close nuclear explosions and covered by ablative layer of graphite. "Attack over, no damage to drive. Graphite layer restored. Stand by for acceleration. Bomb drive now firing," reported pilot, smiling even wider. Wham. Wham. Wham. Only the crew of the ship, who got pressed into acceleration chairs upon the drive's operation, heard those sounds, as the vessel began to change its trajectory. "Railguns charged, #2 locked on, "Firecracker" loaded. Firing," said the weapons officer with a slight smirk, as he pressed the trigger. Deep inside the ship, a one of three groups of electric capacitors of tremendous, well, capacity, already charged by the energy from ship's nuclear power plant, discharged all at once, transferring the power to the two parallel rails of one of the simplest electrodynamic mass drivers. The railgun spat out a projectile with barely any fireworks (save for plasmified remains of launch assist armature). In the vacuum of space, there wasn't even a characteristic "crack" of sonic boom… and the projectile experienced no aerodynamic drag, keeping the velocity at constant level with no need for active propulsion. And since this velocity equaled more than 2503 meters per second, and the projectile carried a small nuclear warhead… ---- ""Red Explorer" is firing "Thunderlance" railgun, "Firecracker" 1kt nuclear shell"- emotionlessly said one of the operators in the Zemlino's FCC. "Hostile Rayquaza's biological armor is being damaged." "Is she always like this?" whispered Emperor to the FCC's director. "Sometimes." "Huh. You know, I'm still unpleased, that we weren't able to make guidance system being capable of directing more than seven space combat missiles and two howitzer charges at once before the ship was launched…" ---- "Bandit is temporarily inoperable, trajectory - full retrograde orbital, roughly similar to ours," reported the sensors operator. "The respite will be brief, assume re-intercept in 45 minutes." "Acknowledged," said the engineer. "Deploying the radiators, beginning cooling." Several small square hatches opened on the hull of the ship, allowing the thin metallic structures to unfold from them and start barely noticeably glowing dull-red, allowing the waste heat to leave the heat accumulators and prepare the machine for the new round of combat. Combat, which will need a lot of energy and leave a lot of waste heat. ---- The big digital timer above the main screens in the "rubber room" of the Zemlino Space Center ticked off the seconds since the launch of the "Red Explorer". When it passed half-hour, Emperor said, “Try it now.” He put on his own headset. Far outside of the armored launch bunker, across the entire Empire, both on the ground and on the sea ships, many giant parabolic antennas started turning around, trying to lock onto signature of the first space warship and establish connection. "Routing through the Grey Sea fleet… link established!" happily reported the comm operator. "Dancer, this is Pothouse, report!" said the Emperor, deciding to use codenames of both ship and flight control center for some reason. Sometimes, it was really hard to understand this man. "Pothouse, this is Dancer. No big scratches so far, re-intercepting bandit in five minutes or so. Radiators are now retracted, cooling is internal, preparing to launch SCMs." "Dancer, this is Pothouse, acknowledged. Be careful - bandit is likely to employ new tactics, don't let it hit the shock absorbers!" "Pothouse, this is Dancer, understood." "That's good. May the Red and Green Spirits bless you, guys!" "Thanks. Warning, bandit is in range, engaging!" The link cut off, as the ship resumed the combat. ---- "Go, Dragon Lord, blast this thing!" young Draconid cheered, looking at the TV screen. An hour or so ago, the live broadcast of telescope and radar surveillance of the Imperial warship started and, less than an hour ago, Rayquaza started the battle with it. So far, the battle was going… strange. The giant weaponized spaceship of the Soris Empire was constantly turning around, engaging her explosion drive from time to time and attempting to take beam and projectile attacks on the aft plate, which was more than capable of withstanding them without getting scratched, since the nuclear explosions were the primary method of propulsion for this ship. In addition to this, most weapons of this warship, as the TV commenter pointed out, were also using nuclear explosions to cause damage. Few Draconids knew about nuclear technology enough to understand full ramifications of it, but those, who did, were really worried. If the sorisians have harnessed the power of atom and truly mastered it, then even the mighty Lord Rayquaza was in danger. ---- "Bandit now re-engaging!" warned everyone sensors operator. "Ancient Power, two seconds!" "Incoming projectile attack," noted weaponry operator, who was obviously enjoying this battle. "Point defence firing… Attack neutralized. Seven "Firelances" away… Hits scored." "Warning, damage to the lander bay #2 armor!" reported engineer in somewhat worried voice, then eased up. "No penetration, no damage to contents." "Stand by for acceleration and rotation," said pilot in steel voice, while his eyes were burning with excitement of being among those, who fought the Rayquaza itself. "RCS and bomb drive now firing." Hiss. Hiss. Wham. Wham. Wham. Wham. The whole battle turned into series of reports and memorized actions, which happened a dozens of times on the ground simulator already, combined with sounds of propulsion and reaction control systems, weaponry and occasional hits to other places, than the pusher plate. Rayquaza was a formidable opponent… but the ship, originally intended for peaceful space exploration, then remade into warship, was designed to be capable to take on even the most powerful opponents and be victorious. Entire nuclear industry of Soris was recently redirected to supply the ship with enough propulsion bombs and weapons. Hundreds of millions were watching their battle right now. They've had no right to fail, lest the humanity forever become prisoners of this planet, with insanely territorial feral dragon ruling the skies and killing everyone, who dares to try to break free of gravity's hard embrace and turn their eyes towards the distant stars. Not to say anything about the Pokemon Nation, which, probably, will consider starting the war with Soris Empire, if the ship goes down, along with all the nuclear armament. "Bandit prepares Dra-Met, five seconds," noted the sensors operator, monitoring feeds from targeting telescopes, radars and thermal scopes at the same time. "Acknowledged, railguns charged, #1 locked on, "Dustbin" loaded. Firing…" half-reported, half-mumbled the weaponry operator, looking at his screens. "Draco Meteor dispersed and denied." Indeed, shooting a canister shell, loaded with tiny pellets of depleted uranium - byproduct of nuclear industry - right in the direction of Rayquaza's mouth was not a bad way to prevent the dangerous attack from being performed. As a nice bonus, several pellets hit eyes of the Legendary, causing it great pain and making it squirm. "Stand by for acceleration. Bomb drive now firing." Wham. Wham. Wham. ---- The old dragon was hurt. Really hurt. For thousands upon thousands of years, it ruled sky undisputed. It showed the inferior beings their places. Even the Eon Duos were rightfully afraid of it. A few… days? Weeks? Months? ago the Sky High Pokemon has destroyed the human constructions, which violated its territory. It thought, that this time, they'll learn, that higher skies and space are not meant for them… but they didn't. They've decided, that they can force their point. They've built a giant machine, far beyond any previous constructions. It wasn't like old ones, which were frail, sacrificing everything to save the weight - no, this one was huge and sturdy, capable of taking hits and unleashing inferno in return. More than just capable, in fact. The battle was going on for a several hours already, filled with constant flybys and intercepts, where the combatants did their best to injure the opponent as much as possible and don't get killed at the same time. The whole body of the Legendary was either in pain, like from fire (even though the dragon's body should've been resistant to it), or slowly going numb. The machine, however, was still kicking with no visible major problems and unleashing attacks like no tomorrow. In fact, for one of the combatants, there indeed will be no tomorrow. Someone will remain victorious and hold the control over skies, someone will be destroyed and burned upon re-entry. The old dragon prepared for the final, death-or-glory attack… and suddenly the entire world for it turned blinding-white for less than a split-second, before everything disappeared and the complete abyss came. ---- "All nine hits with Lances scored - seven SCMs, two Howitzers with "Matchsticks"." "Bandit… completely inoperable and will re-enter atmo in two hours," reported the shocked sensors operator. "Guys… did we just... win?" "I hope so," replied the engineer. "I really hope so, since the heat accumulators are nearing critical and if it goes on like this for another dozen minutes or so - it's either scramming the reactor, dumping a decent amount of our hydrogen for open-cycle cooling or deploying radiators mid-battle!" "Deploy the radiators," gave an order the captain. "Power down the weapon systems and retract the weapons. Set reactor output to non-combat level. Return the ship to patrol orbit. Activate the habitation centrifuge. Report to the ground… that we've secured this frontier and avenged the 11th expedition to the Space Lab 2. Red Spirit should be proud of us now." "Aye-aye, comrade captain!" replied all officers in unison, before the attitude control jets hissed again, the pulse engine thumped a few more times and commlink received happy screams from the FCC. Captain of the "Red Explorer" barely cared about all of that. He was just happy, that this battle ended with them as victors… and he also hoped, that, whatever this dragon was doing to keep the balance on this boulder, humans will be able to do just as fine. "Comrade captain, FCC congratulates us! They say, that, when we return to the ground, Emperor and Empress themselves will give us the Medal of Skies!" happily screamed the comm officer, who still could barely believe, that they've done what was considered to be next to impossible - they've successfully defeated the higher-grade Legendary! "Yeah? Okay then. And what shall we do now?" "... Emperor told me, that we should just… "Soar over space"? What does that mean?" "It means, pals, that we did fine and we can take a break. A well-deserved break. Tell the service team to start total damage evaluation and repair." Author's notes: Green Spirit - yet another mystical being in Sorisian mythology, which patrons those, who protect and help others. Launch configuration of the "Red Explorer" and the "Red Explorer" itself were based on the data about the Orion Battleship, gained from here. SCM-1 "Firestorm" - mid-range solid-chemfuel space combat missile with TD-ENF-10K-1 enhanced radiation thermonuclear warhead (a.k.a. "neutron warhead"), 10kt yield. Radio command guidance. SCM-2 "Firelance" - mid-range solid-chemfuel space combat missile with TD-SB-10K-1 shaped-blast thermonuclear warhead (a.k.a. "Lance warhead", based on the real Casaba Howitzer project), 10kt yield. Radio command guidance. PBRM-1 "Lightning" - planetary bombardment retro-missile with liquid-chemfuel engines, armed with TD-CB-25M-1 heavy "city buster" thermonuclear warhead, 25 megaton yield, or six TD-CB-1M-1 1mt yield "city buster" multiple independently targetable maneuverable reentry vehicles. Combined radio command/inertial/active terminal homing guidance. Lance Howitzer - simple auto-loading mortar for firing "Matchstick" shaped-blast thermonuclear warheads. STW-10K-1 "Matchstick" - shaped-blast 10kt thermonuclear warhead with basic radio command guidance system and some tiny attitude jets, launched from Lance Howitzer and detonated shortly after. ERMA-2-S "Thunderlance" - 127mm electromagnetic rail mass accelerator (a.k.a. "railgun"), adapted for space and capable of accelerating shells up to 2506 m/s. NRS-1K "Firecracker" - nuclear shell for the ERMA-2-S, 1kt yield. Contact/remote/timer detonation. CRS-3 "Dustbin" - canister shot for the ERMA-2-S, depleted uranium pellets. RC-6-20-S "Chestnut" - 6-barrelled 20mm rotary cannon, adapted for space and used in the PD-1-20-S "Sweeper" space-adapted point defence system.

[deoxys-propaganda-blog]

Mauville and Fortree! I would say Mossdeep too, but the theme of your blog kinda gives that away XD

Mauville: Honestly? Route 7 of Kalos. I love that location so much and I feel like it would be just a nice to place to bike around with the flowers on one side and a beautiful river on the other. It really is an aesthetic place to bike through. If I had to pick a city, Hau’oli City in Alola. I love the beach and again it is just a really gorgeous place in the Pokemon world. As a beach person myself the ocean air is really refreshing while you bike~Fortree: I’m gonna admit I’m awful at decorating rooms lol. But I’d probably make it some sort of maze just because I don’t want people to get too me too quickly, while the area I’m at would just be Pokemon dolls everywhere. Max comfort at the end of a maze!tbh i actually have another space theme baby that i love just a touch more than sweet dnalien >w>;

[ryttu3k]

Time to hit up the Aqua base!

Here’s the details:

Chickweed the Blaziken | level 48 | male | Blaze | Serious, takes plenty of siestas | Flame Charge, Blaze Kick, Double Kick, Cut | starter

Snowdrop the Mightyena | level 46 | female | Intimidate | Lonely, loves to eat | Ice Fang, Crunch, Odor Sleuth, Rock Smash | found route 101

Sage the Claydol | level 42 | no thank you | Levitate | Bold, sturdy body | Earth Power, Extrasensory, Ancient Power, Dazzling Gleam | found route 111

Oleracea the Manectric | level 41 | female | Static | Brave, capable of taking hits | Discharge, Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, Bite | found route 118

Sequoia the Gyarados | level 40 | female | Intimidate | Bashful, nods off a lot | Surf, Ice Fang, Bite, Dragon Rage | found route 106

Edelweiss the Skarmory | level 39 | male | Sturdy | Gentle, very finicky | Assurance, Steel Wing, Fly, Swift | found route 113

Think Oleracea is looking good to tackle lots of Water types. First a quick explore of the northern part of Lilycove, though!

OR A RIVAL BATTLE, THAT TOO. Swellow, level 37, huh? Good thing Oleracea is in the lead! Next is Swampert, level 39. Still no Grass moves, so Snowdrop can just spam Crunch. She is like seven levels higher, haha. Next up, Breloom, level 37. Chickweed is eleven levels higher RIP. Oops, Effect Spore. Now he’s asleep, haha. ...And just went up ANOTHER level jfc XD Next, Magcargo, level 37. And this is Sequoia’s! Hell yes she can learn Crunch.

Aqua Grunt tells Atsuko not to go to the cave in the cove. Because they’re an adult and they say so. WELL IN THAT CASE.

Actually. Department store! Not doing secret bases... oh, TMs. Nope, none of those. Vitamins, nope I’m good. Okay, onwards XD

Rest TM, gotcha. And a Poke Flute!

Anyway. ‘Sup Aqua base here comes a twelve-year-old on a Gyarados. I like the plants and waterfalls, very nice!

First grunt! He leads with Grimer, level 35. That’s Sage’s! Okay lmfao that Sludge Wave did only 6 HP damage. ATTEMPTS WERE MADE. And now it’s dead XD Next is Carvanha, level 35. Oleracea’s - fuck it - Oli’s turn!

Next one in this room! Just a single Golbat, level 37. Oli’s already out, she can take it!

I love the grunts here. Not slacking off, just making very important drink decisions!

Oh, here’s one on the ball. Leads with Mightyena, level 34. Over to Chickie! Next is Golbat, level 36, let’s go with Sage, this time!

PROJECT AZOTH File No. 2 We intend to analyze the power of the ultimate weapon used in Kalos 3,000 years ago and work on the development of a drill weapon utilizing the technology. The Seafloor Cavern is sealed by the power of a Legendary Pokemon. The only way to gain access to the cavern is to break the seal with power that exceeds that of the Pokemon. According to the report from the Petalburg recon team, Devon Corporation holds the secret of the technology of the ultimate weapon. We will dedicate all our resources to obtaining this technology.

I would legit want to see a game with Devon Corp as the main antagonists.

Oh hey, Shelly’s room! And the picture of her, Archie, and JIRACHI. Please give us that backstory!!

‘SUP MATT STEALING YOUR DARK PULSE TM. Bro Special Vol 7. So ridic cute.

Oops a grunt XD She leads with Carvanha, level 35. Oli takes it. Next is Grimer, level 35. Edel’s a bit underlevelled compared to the rest (not to the Grimer, he’s on 40), so he can do this one!

Single grunt with Mightyena, level 37. Over to Chickie!

Aaand Archie's room! I'm pretty sure like three of these four Pokeballs are Splodeys... Nugget! Splodey. ...Splodey. MASTER BALL. Nice. And onwards!

“Ahahahah! You really kept me waiting!” Sorry Grunt was robbing your leader’s room. He just has Carvanha, level 37. Oli takes it!

THE QUINTUPLETS. These puppers are all level 18. A Discharge manages them! Sorry, puppers!

HEY MATT FIGHT ME. Okay Matt chill a bit XD His Sharpedo is now at level 39. Oli is at 43, so unsurprisingly, it’s a OHKO. lmfao Chickie is now at level 50.

Aaaand there goes Archie. Whoops. Matt totally has a crush, doesn’t he.

Alright, where next? Mossdeep, IIRC, gonna need that Dive HM.

Oh dang, was hoping to avoid trainers, haha. Anyway, Swimmer Roland has a Sealeo, level 39, Oli OHKOs it.

Anyway. To Mossdeep! Super Rod get! Quash TM get! King’s Rock get!

And time for the gym! Snowdrop is level 47 should be good.

Psychic Preston has a Kadabra, level 42. Cronch.

Psychic Joshua leads with Kadabra, level 40. Cronch. Next up, Medicham, level 40. This is Edel’s! JFC IT SURVIVED FLY, HIGH JUMP KICKED, AND WOULD HAVE TAKEN EDEL OUT IF NOT FOR STURDY.

Okay, we’re good. Next is Psychic Fritz, who leads with Claydol, level 39. Mine’s better. Cronch. Next is Starmie, level 41. Oli can have this one!

Hex Maniac Patricia has a Chimecho, level 41. Cronch.

And time for the twins! If memory serves me, they have Solrock and Lunatone? Yup, level 45. Snowdrop (level 48) and Sequoia (level 47) are on the case! Ooh, double Intimidates ;D Cronch, Cronch, Lunatone survives, Solrock doesn’t. Light Screen isn’t gonna save you now, buddy. Cronch, and down!

Mind Badge get! Now I just need the Dive HM!

Well that sounds worrisome. Very worried crowd, also Steven. Oh, and there’s Dive. Very convenient! Let’s see... yup, let’s replace Dragon Rage. Pretty useless at this point!

LET’S GO DIVING... ...and because it’s time for dinner, we’ll stop here, at the entrance of Seafloor Cavern!

Current Team

Chickweed the Blaziken | level 50 | male | Blaze | Serious, takes plenty of siestas | Flame Charge, Blaze Kick, Double Kick, Cut | starter

Snowdrop the Mightyena | level 48 | female | Intimidate | Lonely, loves to eat | Ice Fang, Crunch, Odor Sleuth, Rock Smash | found route 101

Sage the Claydol | level 45 | no thank you | Levitate | Bold, sturdy body | Earth Power, Extrasensory, Ancient Power, Dazzling Gleam | found route 111

Oleracea the Manectric | level 44 | female | Static | Brave, capable of taking hits | Discharge, Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, Bite | found route 118

Sequoia the Gyarados | level 42 | female | Intimidate | Bashful, nods off a lot | Surf, Ice Fang, Crunch, Dive | found route 106

Edelweiss the Skarmory | level 42 | male | Sturdy | Gentle, very finicky | Assurance, Steel Wing, Fly, Swift | found route 113

Reserves

Wattle the Taillow | level 9 | female | Guts | Quirky, alert to sounds | Peck, Growl, Focus Energy, Quick Attack | found Petalburg Woods

Bristlecone the Zigzagoon | level 14 | female | Gluttony | Lonely, good endurance | Tackle, Headbutt, Baby-Doll Eyes, Odor Sleuth | found route 103

Onion the Whismur | level 16 | female | Soundproof | Adamant, likes to relax | Pound, Echoed Voice, Astonish, Howl | found Rusturf Tunnel

Poison Ivy the Tentacool | level 5 | male | Liquid Ooze | Sassy, capable of taking hits | Poison Sting, Supersonic | found Dewford Town

Euphorbia the Makuhita | level 12 | male | Thick Fat | Hardy, capable of taking hits | Focus Energy, Sand Attack, Arm Thrust, Fake Out | found Granite Cave

Lithops the Numel | level 14 | female | Simple | Quiet, likes to run | Tackle, Ember, Focus Energy, Magnitude | found route 112

Rauvolfia the Seviper | level 19 | male | Shed Skin | Careful, impetuous and silly | Poison Tail, Screech, Venoshock, Glare | found route 114

Moraea the Spoink | level 23 | female | Own Tempo |  Quirky, quick tempered | Psybeam, Psych Up, Confuse Ray, Magic Coat | found Jagged Pass

Agapanthus the Pelipper | level 33 | male | Keen Eye | Modest, a little quick-tempered | Water Pulse, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Quick Attack | found route 104

Rosemary the Latias | level 30 | female | Levitate | Sassy, somewhat vain | Heal Pulse, Dragon Breath, Mist Ball, Psycho Shift | found Southern Island

Milkweed the Beautifly | level 26 | female | Swarm | Lax, somewhat stubborn | Air Cutter, Mega Drain, Silver Wind, Morning Sun | found route 102

Hydrangea the Kecleon | level 25 | male | Color Change | Lonely, often lost in thought | Feint Attack, Psybeam, Ancient Power, Slash | found route 119

Sunflower the Castform | level 30 | female | Forecast | Lax, mischievous Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Hail, Weather Ball | found Weather Institute

Banana the Tropius | level 27 | male | Solar Power | Brave, a little quick tempered | Stomp, Magical Leaf, Whirlwind, Leaf Tornado | found route 120

Uniflora the Shuppet | level 28 | female | Insomnia | Mild, alert to sounds | Will-O-Wisp, Feint Attack, Hex, Curse | found route 121

Monotropa the Duskull | level 28 | female | Levitate | Naughty, loves to eat | Foresight, Shadow Sneak, Pursuit, Will-O-Wisp | found Mt Pyre

Dead

Catnip the Skitty, found route 116, killed by Lass Janice’s Marill in route 116

Daisy the Pikachu, found Slateport City, killed by Archie’s Sharpedo at Mount Chimney

[pyrodragon3993-blog]

Hoenn Saga Team Maqubi's Journal Day 51: Skidds' Marks

Hello everyone, Ivan Ooze aka Melvin Tooz here to continue record- pardon? I'm going to the box? Okay... I get it... weighing down the team... no need for a Fire-type like me... no no I get it. You just want me to survive and not get hurt! Hopefully my replacement is better than I ever will be... sniff it was fun... but it looks like my services are no longer needed sob. Here Skidds... take back the journal... I trust you to do the right things.... No it's fine, I'll be able to socialize with all the other Pokemon and talk to Gurds and Bigglefoot again. Well everyone... good bye.... 

Hey guys! Skidds here to record everyone's Skidds' marks! I got this journal back! Where'd I get it again? Hold on let me look at the past entries... Melvin Tooz...? Melvin Tooz... Melvin Tooz... I don't remember a Melvin Tooz... anyone know a Melvin Tooz? 

The Game: Uhhh... wasn't that the name of the Vulpix Maqubi caught a few days ago? 

Grampa: ... Deathhhh.... Killlll..... 

MyEX: ... Jiggle...

Bobo: Bwark!

Cotton Jim: Oh yeah Melvin Tooz was that nice Macar- 

Whelp looks like no one knows a Melvin Tooz! But look at all of these journal entries! He must've been 

a, 

really, 

useful, 

and, 

strong, 

Pokemon, 

! 

Oh well, so Maqubi finally decided to add a sixth Pokemon to the team. Welcome aboard Bobo! So from what this Melvin said in the journal, the Mossdeep City Gym Leader is a strong motherfudger. So Maqubi is going to train us some more, but before that, Maqubi is going to explore Mossdeep City. So this city has a Space Center, neat. Some guy gave Maqubi a Sun Stone... lit! Oh yeah, that Steven guy is also here. He's keeping a look out for those Team Magma guys. He looks like he can handle it. So along the way we ran into... Scott... I still hate that guy, you know what we need? A Fire-type to roast that guy, but where can we get a Fire-type? Particularly one that has lava and stuff... where oh where? 

Maqubi got a Super Rod (slurp) from some fisher guy, so she's going to try it out. She started fishing at the edge of the city and reeled in a bunch of Wailmer and Sharpedo. Oh yeah Bobo  is here too getting trained with the EXP Share which he got... from someone.... Maqubi is still fishing and man are these Water-type Pokemon biting! They just keep nibbling on the balls... which are also bait.... By the way, you know what's entertaining? Watching a mushroom dinosaur punching a shark or whale. 

Oh dang, Bobo is already evolving! He got really fat! But he got a nice... Moustache! Moustache! Moustache! Mous- tick! tick! tick! tick! tick! Well that was weird.... Welp, Bobo is a Sealeo now, we got the journal back, and I'm beat. I'm a nap, see you guys tomorrow!

[kalosstarters]

Conversations with Steven

Mairin has a crush, but she doesn’t know what to do about it. So, let Steven help. (I’m making Alain only 3 years older than Mairin in this one. During the first conversation Mairin’s 14, during the second one 16-17)

[Mossdeep City, Hoenn]

“Mairin, you don’t look happy at all,” Steven Stone stated to his young friend who had a very upset expression on her face, something that was rare for her.  “What is wrong?”

“Ummh... I just got off phone with Alain...” was Mairin’s vague answer. She didn’t seem to want open up more, which also was rather rare for her, so Steven had to ask her more questions.

“And...? Was everything OK?”

“Yes. Everything was perfectly fine. He told me he has a new girlfriend.”

Steven had a very hard time keeping his poker face at this confession. He had sensed this problem might come up sooner rather than later, but he wasn’t expecting to have to deal with it quite yet. Mairin was nothing short of obvious when it came to her crush on her black haired friend, even though she tried very hard to deny it, but Steven had to admit that she had done a pretty good job at hiding it from Alain himself. 

“Teenage drama,” he sighed to himself, and Mairin asked: “What? Did you say something?”

“No, nothing at all. Mairin, I have to ask: are you upset about his new girlfriend?”

“Well... I just... I just really can’t picture him with anyone... When I imagine him in the future, I just see him riding alone to the sunset with... Charizard”

“And no one else?”

Mairin’s cheeks turned almost as red as her hair at the question, and she hesitated a long while before answering: “... And me.”

After this confession Steven decided to go straight into the business, because the poor girl clearly didn’t know what she was doing. “Mairin, I know you have a crush on him. I’m not blind. But you are here, and he’s there, and even though I know it doesn’t feel nice, he is allowed to see anyone he wants to. If you want to keep him in your life, be there for him and support him. It’s better than ruining your friendship, right? But please, don’t do anything drastic. You never know how things might work out,” he ended his lecture with an encouraging note.

“You are probably right. It just hurts...”

“Oh, love hurts. My love for rocks has my fingers totally destroyed,” Steven tried to crack a joke and managed to make Mairin smile a bit. “Thank you Steven,” she gave him a quick hug. “Maybe one day he will notice I’m not a little girl anymore...”

[A phone call from Kanto to Hoenn]

“Hi Mairin, you look delighted today,” Steven noted when he saw a familiar red head on the screen of his video phone. It had been a couple of months since she left Hoenn, and Steven had been a bit worried about how she’d cope with everything after hearing the upsetting news about Alain, but she seemed to be doing surprisingly well. Maybe Ash and Misty’s company was doing good for her.

“That’s because I am! I won my second Kanto badge the other day, and I think I finally managed to make Ash realize that Misty is head over heels for him, because he didn’t try to bicker with her this morning. He’s older than me, but I swear even more oblivious than...”

“Yes? Go ahead and continue?” Steven urged. He thought he knew where this conversation was going to go.

“...Alain.”

Her face seemed to fall a bit at the mention of his name, but she cheered up quickly. 

“But... that reminds me! I talked with Professor Sycamore yesterday, and he told me Alain is no longer seeing this Victoria girl. He didn’t really tell me what happened, but he kept looking at me in a weird way when he said that apparently Alain had something, or someone else in his mind. Gee, why can’t everyone just say what they are thinking? I hate it when people are being mysterious.”

Steven snorted at Mairin’s words, because it seemed that she was being the oblivious one in this case, but he didn’t say anything. He was sure that if the two of them were meant to be, time would take care of the rest. Right now it would be better if Mairin concentrated on her Kanto quest. 

“I’m sure he just meant Alain wants to focus on his Pokémon Doctor studies. And Alain will tell you everything when he feels like it. Don’t push it, just be supportive like I once advised!”

“Fine, if you say so... Hey, have I told you about this Pokémon I caught?.” Mairin changed the subject, and Steven was relieved. Dealing with his two young friends was hard sometimes.

[A phone call from Mossdeep City to somewhere in Kalos]

“Mairin, how is traveling with Alain going?” Steven asked. He knew that even after several years her feelings had not died, but rather gotten stronger, and that was getting hard for the girl who still hadn’t confessed anything to Alain.

“It’s good. Yesterday he taught me how to make medicine from...”

“That is not what I meant,” Steven stopped her. “I have seen your face when you look at him when you guys call me together. You still haven’t told him, right?”

“What is there to tell? I can’t... I know he doesn’t care about me that way. I’d only ruin our friendship! And traveling with him is awesome...”

“But I can see this secret makes you very unhappy. And you know you can’t just keep traveling with him forever. Eventually you both have to settle down. What are you gonna do if he finds another girlfriend, and this time someone who is going to stick around?”

“I’ll be supportive like you suggested?”

“I once thought that maybe you could be, but it’s been so many years, and you still aren’t over him. Do yourself a favor and tell him. Before it’s too late.”

“Tell me what?” Mairin heard a voice behind her, and Steven swore that even through the video phone he could tell that this time her face really was as red as her hair. He ended the phone call before he could hear more, thinking that this girl was in the deep, but now she finally had to deal with it.

A/N: Dun dun duu, how the conversation went is totally up to you, but I’m pretty sure good things happened because of it ;) 

[perfect-corroscience]

Took a quick detour to do a Trick House challenge. While the correct answer is “The Hoenn Catastrophe”, “The Meteor Mishap” is pretty amazing because it just blatantly downplays how badly Hoenn was devastated.

Just a little accident with a few meteors. No biggie! Everything is Perfectly Fine™.

The next stop is the Magma WH Hideout. I actually didn’t know until now that RUDO can learn Strength, but hey - 80BP is fairly decent. Tri Attack’s special effect is nifty, but I guess I can live without it – I do have RAYZA for paralysis and Sleep is a better status effect for catching mons.

God damn it, LOTTE! That 4x Dark/Ghost weakness does you no favors.

lol sux 2 sux

I forgot to get a screencap of this grunt and shamelessly cribbed from DrAkimbo’s translation playthrough, but: think of it as a good way to exercise.

Gotta say this guy continues to be one of my favourite mooks in an evil team.

Along the way, we run into this guy, called Nostratos in the translation. It’s always nice to see a mon you’ve used before.

Near the end, we run into Tabitha. He’s not too tough.

:ohdear:

Wallace is found standing before Groudon. And what’s that little creature to his right?

Turns out to be called Ordina – created for the purpose of awakening Groudon with its song and the power of the Blue Orb.

Wallace thanks Ordina (how nice of him!), but the little one takes off.

He wonders if CELIA helped Ordina escape somehow, and battles her.

Video: Wallace #2

Tentacruel isn’t too unusual – it does have Barrier to raise its defenses and Water Pulse can be annoying if it procs confusion.

Darca is just barely able to survive RAYZA’s Discharge attacks. Video was funny since it killed itself with recoil.

Unsurprisingly, Milotic is his star Pokemon. It is, by the way, completely walled by a Serplant with Water Absorb. Otherwise, just beware of Hydro Pump.

No, she does not. Neither do we, for that matter.

Next on the plot agenda, getting things going by having Team WH jack the sub and chasing them to their HQ.

In the process of picking up the Master Ball, there’s some Electrodes. Arguably a decent place to pick one up in hopes of evolving to Mastrode.

oh

At the end is… Aqua Admin Matt! This guy was totally forgettable in the original RSE games.

Shadow Ball is nice for STAB even if it’s going off of LOTTE’s pathetic physical attack.

Ouch.

While grinding – oh dear. Looks like we’ve run into the other Asufia form. 

RAYZA picks this up; it’s a useful special attack that will give her movepool some diversity.

Skipping ahead to Mossdeep, it turns out the city has been battered enough by the meteors that it’s mainly a series of close islands. Also, the kid’s Wailmer pun got changed to one with Dorfin. It’s a pretty good one too :p

This was one of the encounters – Foamdra, Nostratos’ first form. I can’t remember if Altair had a similar-sounding dex entry, but I’m just getting Pikmin vibes.

Some fluff dialogue hints at the identities of the Mossdeep leaders; obviously not Tate/Liza, but some new faces. It makes me wonder if the hackers forgot about their dialogue or if there’s something else to it, but more on that when we hit the gym itself.

Inside Brendan / Steven’s house, there is a Beldum just sitting there. Metagross is as great as ever, but if you want to use one you’ll have to do quite a bit of catching up.

This guy talks about the Sootopolis leader. Insert some joke about how Japan exists in the Pokeverse.

Inside the Space Center, we find it’s being run by Team BH. This guy mentions that the meteors have also affected some humans in unknown ways. Brendan’s there too, though I can’t imagine he’s very happy with the situation.

Original form, eh? The mystery of Ordina deepens. If anything, we now know Ordina’s female.

Onto the gym itself: the leaders, Molly and Chaz, are supposed to be a play on how plasma is pronounced, similar to how Liza and Tate are a play on “levitate”. It’s a little less obvious with the new leaders. 

They specialize in these two types, which basically means any Ground-type worth its salt will hopefully have a good time here.

It’s amazing how there’s still NFEs at this level on trainers.

We run into the leaders – it’s this line that gives me pause. Are they actually siblings? Were they gonna be siblings before being changed to being buddies? Or vice-versa? Are they pals who also coincidentally happen to have twin siblings?

Oh well, onto the battle! Those kids sure do have ahoges.

They lead with Phantasp and Scimitooth. Phantasp may be recognized from ornidl gets clubbed by moonrunes – this mon has special bulk and has a set of Flamethrower/Sunny Day/Solarbeam/Confuse Ray. As shown in the video, it has Levitate.  

Scimitooth is something more interesting – a very fast but frail mixed attacker, it’s Rock/Electric, has Thunderbolt, and Earthquake (handy with Phantasp’s Levitate).

 The strategy is to use TERRY for his Rock-type moves while partnering him with RAYZA – not just due to Light Screen (as everything they use have pretty good Special Attack), but because of her ability: Lightningrod. Her presence on the field basically keeps any and all Electric type attacks away from TERRY. That one ability did wonders in making this battle a cakewalk!

The other strategy is to gang up on one ‘mon.

I don’t recall Phenusc being any remarkable (it went down too quickly) but I’m sure it had Flamethrower and a Dragon-type move. It’s probably safe to assume this one has Levitate as an ability too.

Left alone, Mastrode can’t really do much. It has Charge for powering up its attacks, I guess?

We pick up this badge and the TM for Flamethrower. Nifty.

In the next part, Team WH / BH will be encountered yet again.

[dragongirlafro]

Pokémon OR adventures: Team Magma Hideout pt. 2

I found the TM for Dark Pulse.

I also found what I assume to be a computer with Maxwell’s social media page open… ???

“Energy supply: OK! Snack supply: OK!” Jesus I can’t take these grunts seriously anymore. Team Skull had more competence than these guys. And I love ‘em both equally either way.

Well, I see the sub in the distance.

… I guess the only 'alterations’ they made to it was that they painted it to look like a Camerupt?

… Oh, fuck.

IM FIGHTING FIVE MAGMA GRUNTS AT ONCE?!?!?

… Oh. They have level eighteen Poochyenas.

Well, that was a nuisance. Now I have to restore Kipper’s PP.

*gaaaaaaaassssp* Courtney!!!

Hey, I remember this scene from Generations, too!

“But… Now I just want to… … With you…” hot damn she’s still thirsty af out here.

So… is that it?

Imma check around just to make sure.

“Sniff, sniff… Today’s smell check of our beds is done! They’re fine. They smell good.” Alright, that’s it. I’m out.

“I heard our leader Maxie and Team Aqua’s leader Archie used to be on the same team.” Whoa, wait really? That’s super interesting…

Ah, shoot! Fell for the old 'Electrode disguised as a Poké Ball' trick!

... Twice in a row.

But oh, well. At least we found a Nugget and the girl's missing Master Ball.

"HOT! The magma flowing in this tube is super hot! I know better than to touch things that I know are hot." Pffft, I love these guys so much.

I'm glad I stuck around here. I got some extra items and met some genuinely nice people.

Previously: Team Magma Hideout

Next: Route 124 and Mossdeep City