#should i even tag gengar?? you know what fuck it

[corethetrueidiot]

GRAHHHHH I LOVE LYRA SMM. BABY. 🥹🥹

I decided to give her heterochromia because its BEAUUTIFUL and shes related to Kris in my headcanon book (its a very big book) (its not for sale)

Bonus doodles (marill is colored weirdly bcs i wasnt using reference lmao, also i have a new phone so my artstyle is funky)

[arrowsperpetualcringe]

14 questions, 14 people

tagged by @florenceisfalling

nickname: Arrow/Ambi

sign: Libra

height: 5'3.

last thing i googled: "Leon Kuwata" SDFGRHFDSDFGH

last song stuck in your head: The fucking "Cheer Readers" song from Rhythm Heaven

number of followers: 910??? What???

amount of sleep: who cares

lucky number: for some reason I convinced myself it's 3.

dream job: i don't know anymore. writing? illustration? what does it matter anymore.

favourite song: idk but lately I've been listening to Rachie's cover of Unknown Mother Goose... other than that... uuuh... probably Rat by Penelope Scott.

favourite instrument: I too, enjoy the violin.

aesthetic: it varies. Pastel Goth I suppose. Other than that... cottage core? It depends.

favourite author: i can't fucking read

no seriously it's a really difficult thing for me to do. I can write for hours but as soon as i have to read my brain shuts off. I can't even proof read my own shit.

It's not fun.

random fun fact: Here, I'll give you two absolutely useless and unrelated facts about myself.

I was born exactly at 12:01 am.

Gengar is my favorite pokemon. Its entry in pokemon Sun reads "Should you feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill, it is evidence of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Give up."

Cool

tagging: only a few people bc i

am scared for my life everyday all the time of everybody.

if u don't wanna be tagged in stuff like this, sorry, just lmk. I rarely do this type of thing anyways.

@kurixta @puppy-pokemon @dustin-but-gayer @caseyisweird

[palettes-and-prompts]

Character Palette/Personality Palette

If I have seen the movie/show/or whatever this character is in I will let you know! But if I haven't I'm just gonna give my best guess to their personality or what I think they like and everything. I will make them two palettes, one based on their appearance and one based on what I think their personality is. If you'd rather not see this just block the tag "character palette and personality guess" I figure no one's tagging anything like that so it should be easy to filter out. If you genuinely like this character and I lowkey diss them I'm sorry, I'm not going to apologize though, you're going to have to live with it. If you wanna send me a character for a palette and my guess at their personality/interests just drop it on anon and I'll see what I can do.

Alright so this is Jiang Cheng from the novel/series Mod Dao Zu Shi. Haven't read or watched this, let's jump in!

He is evil. I can sense it. The dark colors, the scowl, the purpley aura? Evil. He's nasty and a bitch. However, I love his color palette but that's just cause I'm a sucker for cool tones. Love that shit. He reminds me of someone but I can't think of who it is, I think it's just the outfit and not him that does it. Like, the top half reminds me of a Power Ranger with the big sleeves, but the bottom half reminds me of Shredder from TMNT, but that's also cause he's got a dark kind of color scheme going on. I like it, it's really dope. This is the kind of guy who roots for the bad guy in every movie he watches. The kind of guy that actually goes "Hmph!" when he doesn't win something. I don't know what he sounds like but I can hear the anger, the deep voice, the sound of him telling me he will destroy me, not kill, never kill, but DESTROY. I like him, he's dramatic I can tell. The sword, the ribbon, the belt, the RING. I can tell he causes some mischief, he's a little trouble maker. I think the fact that he doesn't have all his hair up or all of it down says a lot about him, and the fact that he has bangs says even more. Something about him doesn't feel complete, like his outfit is missing something very important. I don't know what it is, but it's not there. Maybe it's a place to keep his sword or maybe it's a horse or something, but something is missing about the outfit. This guy looks like he's got a poison gas power or like ghost abilities. Oh my god, I can see him as a pokemon trainer with nothing but ghost type pokemon. That'd be cute, he's one of the elite four and you go to fight him but you have to face like two or three other elites before you get to him and they're slightly annoying but super easy. And you get to him and he's so cocky he's like "No one's ever beaten me, that's why I'm the best!" and then you just one hit his fucking Gengar and he just starts using full restores, like an asshole, for the rest of the battle. His character design is super cute, some sexy ghost culture costume, you know, but like battling him is the worst part of the game. Everyone hates him but he'd also be the character everyone thirsted after. I haven't even battled against him but I already can't stand battling him.

Anyway here's his palette based on his character design.

And here is his palette based on what I think his personality is.

[sage-nebula]

em-exceeds-change-zearu replied to your post:

same mood. I want to see Alan in squishy pokeani 2020 style but after they handled korrina episode...it wasnt bad but it wasn't super impressive either so im just kinda...waves hands

I haven’t seen the Korrina episode yet, so I don’t have any opinions on that specifically. My main feelings have to do with how they ended Alan’s story (and by extension Manon’s), and to a lesser extent how they’re handling Ash now and what I think that could mean for Alan’s return.

I’m sure you’re familiar with my gripes re: Alan’s ending, but to summarize them again here: XYZ044 showed us that Alan was traumatized and depressed to the point of dissociating even when at a table filled with friends and family and having thoughts that sounded a whole lot (to older / experienced viewers) like suicidal ideation as a result of Lysandre’s abuse and manipulation. Ash makes Alan promise to battle him again someday, and while Ash makes that promise with a lot of people, in this particular case the way Ash phrased it and the general anxiety and fear he showed as he phrased it (as well as Alan’s reaction to it) made it sound like he was giving Alan a reason to keep living, something to look forward to. It was really beautiful, and I felt a big, needed step toward the healing and recuperation he was bound to receive at the lab since Sycamore had told him that he was needed there . . .

. . . only for him to take the “start from zero” approach like Ash’s other companions and immediately fuck off into the wilderness in search of Mega Stones again, Manon at his side. This was phrased as him picking up the work he was doing before Lysandre picked him up, but it’s also continuing the work he was doing for Lysandre, in a way, since Lysandre had him going after Mega Stones in addition to collecting Mega Evolution energy. (Notably, the Mega Stone he finds in TSME 1 is Gyaradosite, and we all know who ended up using that.) More importantly than that, though, is that Alan’s trauma seems to be magically gone. He’s magically all better. He’s “starting from zero” (whatever that means) and so he’s all better. He’s not needed at the lab anymore, apparently, nor in Lumiose, despite everything that happened. Nope, it’s fine to have him just fuck off into a cave somewhere. That’s cool.

As you can tell with my tone, that’s not cool for me. XYZ044 set up a beautiful ending for him, but the actual last episode he appears in (I think it’s XYZ046? I can’t remember) throws that out the window. It’s obvious that the writers wanted to wrap up his story in a neat bow while showing Just How Influential Ash is by having Alan copy his words (even though Ash already had a positive influence by giving Alan a reason to look forward to the future ffs), but in doing so they completely disrespected Alan’s character and his story, and to this day I remain salty about it. Given that, I really don’t trust how they’d depict him if he showed up again, particularly considering that I’m absolutely positive they wouldn’t give his battle with Ash the emotional weight it deserves given that they tried to throw that weight out the window immediately after introducing it.

(As a side note, I also remain upset at how he’s traveling with Manon again specifically, and not just because her stans / the shippers were particularly obnoxious back in 2016. I’m upset by it because it’s not good for Manon, either, with regards to her independence as a trainer. Manon became wholly reliant on Alan protecting her, never once attempting to battle herself outside of the time she captured Flabébé (RIP) in TSME 1, and while she did have that heroic moment in TSME 3 where she dragged Alan’s unconscious body off the ice, that still wasn’t an attempt on her part to battle. In fact, while Hari-san did assist Mega Metagross in fending off attacks that were headed toward Manon and Alan, that wasn’t on Manon’s orders. She never told Hari-san to protect her. In TSME 4, when Alan brings up the very real danger he finds himself in as a result of his work, Manon dismisses it and says that it’s fine because he’ll protect her. He tries to argue back by saying that she’s depending on him too much, and she again talks over him and ignores it. The thing is, she does depend on him too much. For someone who claims to want to be a strong trainer, she never trains nor battles and instead just takes cover whenever Alan himself does. Setting aside the very real issues with how Manon consistently overrides Alan’s consent and how that itself is an issue with them traveling together considering that she never apologized for that (because it takes two to fight and Manon crying in TSME 4 doesn’t change the fact that the fight that led to her crying was due to her pushing and pushing and pushing and not taking no for an answer until he snapped), Manon doesn’t ever take responsibilities for herself as a trainer. She depends on Alan to do the battling for her, tells Hari-san to “leave her alone” in a strange place instead of putting him in his pokéball (which leads to him helping Squishy escape / becoming comatose), et cetera. And while it’s not wrong for Alan to protect her given how inexperienced she is (though it is wrong to deny him a choice in whether he will or not by tagging along without his consent), it’s not doing her any favors to continue the habit of depending on him if she truly wants to be a trainer. She needs to learn and grow on her own, and so having her travel with Alan again not only rewards her for overriding his boundaries and consent so many times (see, just keep pushing and cry some and you’ll get what you want in the end!), but it also doesn’t give her the opportunity she needs to stand on her own two feet to grow as a trainer, like she’d have if she resumed her original journey on her own, rather than tagging along on Alan’s. This was a much longer side note than I wanted it to be originally, but I feel it’s all worth saying so I’m saying it anyway.)

All of that aside, though, the way Ash is being handled in the new series gives me another layer of concern, in that I feel like he’s being handled super powerful pokémon with the express purpose of being able to steamroller anything in his path. With the exception of Riolu (who is a literal baby) and arguably Galar Farfetch’d (who is still Stage 1), the new pokémon that Ash has acquired in this series are super powerful from the outset, either because their species as a whole is powerful and they’re in the final form of it (Dragonite) or because they were previously trained up to the final form and he just got to inherit them (Gengar). People are upset that Ash didn’t capture Sobble, but they’re missing the fact that Ash is acquiring pokémon that are going to give him an edge in every battle, presumably to satisfy those in the audience who care about nothing other than to see Ash win. Farfetch’d will undoubtedly become Sirfetch’d (something that gives it a battle edge over Gou’s Kanto Farfetch’d, and you don’t see any Gou fans upset that he got the competitively useless one), and Riolu is bound to become Lucario. Ash is being handed a team that will make it “understandable” when he defeats Leon at the end of the series, in a way that makes it honestly seem that the only reason he is here at all is to placate those who are only interested in the anime to see him win and to help Gou grow as a trainer (since he does have moments of mentoring Gou). 

And if you’re wondering how this relates to Alan . . . I feel like, if Alan comes back, he’ll come back solely to battle and lose to Ash. And while I’m not one of those people that feels that MY FAVE MUST ALWAYS WIN EVER (TSME 3 is my favorite of the TSME episodes and Alan nearly dies in that one), not only do I feel that their promise to battle again won’t be treated as the lifeline it was in XYZ044, but I also feel that Ash would only win in order to make him seem like The Most Powerful Trainer Ever to placate his stans, particularly those that to this day remain bitter about the Kalos League. (Yes, there are still people bitching about it four years later. Unsurprisingly these are usually people who don’t understand basically anything about battling, but I digress.) And considering how much emotional weight was given to their future battle in XYZ044—that it was about giving Alan something to look forward to in the future, a reason to feel like living to that future was worth it—having it reduced down to something to Make Ash Look Cool and Apologize For The Kalos League (which doesn’t need an apology) would be really upsetting to me. It’s not about who wins or loses, but about why the battle is taking place and the emotional significance of it. And I really don’t trust the PokéAni to pull that off.

So with all that said, should Alan come back, I actually don’t want him and Ash to battle yet, and I’d rather Manon be on her own journey elsewhere so that she can gain that much needed independence. But I can’t see them bringing Alan back and not having him and Ash battle, so at the end of it I’m just kind of left like

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 10]

Elite Four grind time.

With some time spent pushing rocks into holes, just in case I need to go places in the future.

Team:

Caspet (Gengar)

Nessy (Milotic)

Diego (Gardevoir)

Stormy (Metagross)

Vertex (Luxray)

Photon (Rayquaza)

So here we are, leveling up our team before our chaotic last stand, and that means... we’re in a new route. One more for the road.

What will it be?

It’s a Fire type!

I’m a moron!

No, Diego, no.

...

FUCK I HAD A MASTER BALL I COULD HAVE USED.

WHY DOES MY BRAIN CONSISTENTLY GO TO THE “yeah there could be a type problem but I’m sure it’ll be fine,” ARENA WHEN I’M TRYING TO CATCH THINGS. YOUR OPTIMISM IS KILLING THIS TEAM. KILLING IT.

IT’S CAUGHT ANYWAY.

I GUESS THE LITTLE MURDERER WHO’S LIKELY TO BE PART OF THE TEAM GETS A NAME.

YOU’RE DAMIAN. IN ALL CAPS.

I’m so sorry my optimism killed you, Diego.

I have a Dawn Stone now.

Maybe things would have gone better if I had it earlier.

I might be sorrier I have to grind something else. But I’m mostly just sorry.

-sigh-

Rest well, friend.

Now then.

Hey there. You’re Serious and often doze off.

I guess I’ll train you now.

We’ll be back when the demon child is up to 60!

Or when I’m in his patch of grass again and cool, Sunflora and Manaphy. Mareep is in more common grass. As is Rhyhorn and Manectric. Ninjask in the water. Look, the wild one live longer. Braviary is occasionally here too, with Marill in the deep spots.

Heeeeey, DAMIAN made it to 60 without dying! Also without anyone else dying! Nifty! We’re throwing Caspet back in front, handing the Exp. Share to Photon for now, and just going to go through this Victory Road.

What I assume to be Victory Road. This part of the game blends together for me even worse than the rest.

...Well, now I’m on it, so no matter!

Wait. We had a planned thing?

N, this is why there’s so much fanfic written about you. Thank you, friend. Even if it’s only because I remind you of your boyfriend from the last cartridge set.

What do I teach it to, though? It’s a physical Water attack. A very good one, but I don’t think any of my physical attackers can learn it. I might have to take something out of a box for it... In that case, I might as well also get something that can learn Cut. There are trees about.

Photon and Nessy are the only ones that can learn Waterfall. I don’t think I want it for either of them. To the nearest box!

I don’t know if this is a way to a box, but this is really, really cool and I dig it.

Okay, do I have anything that can learn both Cut and Waterfall? Mayhaps? Or Fly?

No, this isn’t going to be that straightforward. Nessy and Caspet are in the box since they need exp least. Replacing them temporarily are Amuro the Charmander (Cut), and Winn the Whiscash (Waterfall and Surf).

Photon’s in the first slot, Exp. Share moves to Vertex for now.

There’s this maze of Cuttable trees and trainers out before Victory Road proper. I don’t really understand what this gen likes so much about random maze areas, but I think most Pokemon games are into that on some level. It’s just annoying right now because Sun and Moon spoiled me. HMs are obnoxious.

On a related note, Winn now knows Strength.

There are also now Kabutops everywhere.

Having gone through the maze, I’m going down Victory Road with Nessy back in the party and Amuro back in the box. Thanks for your service, bud. Where we’re going, we don’t need Cut. ...I hope.

This gen’s needless drama makes me happy.

And the first pokemon of Victory Road is...!

Hi there. You’re gen appropriate. What are you doing here.

Quick Ball for a quick catch, and your name’s Kansas now. Get in the box.

Other possibilities that can no longer be counted as such are Lickilicky, Psyduck, more Psyduck, Aggron, Spheal, Smeargle, Dragonite, Dewott, Starly, Zweilous, Trapinch, Marill, Swellow, Mismagius, Weavile, Genesect... there were a lot.

Throwing the Exp. Share at DAMIAN for the now.

We’re secretly the same person.

The number of trainers on Victory Road who have history with Team Plasma one way or another is really satisfying. In this sequel game, the events of the game preceding it had an impact on NPCs. Delightful.

Also, I repeat my desire for NPCs to not be allowed to have things that have Sturdy. I hate Sturdy. It makes me sad. So do caves that need Flash to see in. Instead of teaching anything Flash, I’m going to stumble around in the dark. The dark that says this is probably an optional section.

I made my way to an outside!

Hmmm.

Russell?

Russell!

Fuck. Rival fights just when I’m really wanting to see a Pokemon Center are not my favorite thing. They are even less of my favorite thing when I have a  slot taken up by an HM slave.

!!!

Hey, this is the rival fight that starts with an Unfezant in this corridor!

It’s level 55, and Russell only has four pokemon, so this should be relatively okay. Bouffalant comes out as a result of Unfezant’s U-turn. Nessy deals with it, but is in the orange. Simisage is next, go DAMIAN. Samurott following, go Vertex. Samurott is level 57. Stormy goes in to finish the Unfezant since Stormy has a Quick Attack replacement.

And that’s the fight! Yay!

Pokemon Center?

Fine, I can take the Thunderbolt TM I guess.

Geez, what happened in the past two years, huh?

Oki doki, I’m going to go back through Victory Road and check out all the things I didn’t want to before finding the health point on the way out. When I’m done with that, I’ll look at the resting levels and decide what I think.

Stormy with the Exp. Share for the moment.

The heck.

Am I going to want to give something Flash?

Randomizer is fun.

Now then. What are you gonna do?

Nothing. Well great.

That kind of leaves with one thing to do, doesn’t it.

Yeah.

Soooo.

I think based on the levels I’ve been up against to get here, continuing to grind kind of defeats the spirit of the Nuzlocke. I also don’t have Fly, so I’m going to stick with what I have available here to construct team improvements.

To the TM page.

Nessy’s going to forget Twister for Ice Beam.

Photon’s going to... actually no.

DAMIAN’s ditching Crunch for Toxic just so someone knows it.

And that’s it for TMs that I could change up their movesets with.

Leftovers for Nessy, Magnet for Vertex, Wide Lens for Stormy, Charcoal for DAMIAN, Spell Tag for Caspet, and Razor Claw for Photon.

Going to spend most of my money on recovery items, and then. In we’ll go.

After giving Caspet all of my remaining Rare Candy. Caspet it level 69. Nice.

I think Fighting dude is to the far right. He’s been a problem in the past, so I’m going to go ahead and try to get that out of the way. Stormy up front because while Photon might have Air Slash and STAB, all these things are likely to have Stone Edge. The worst of everything. Next to Sturdy.

Yeehaw.

...Huh.

Well then.

So Marshal’s first pokemon is a level 56 Throh. At the risk of feeling very embarrassed in a few moments, I think I might be slightly overleveled for this. Uh. Stormy, use Zen Headbutt?

Bye Throh?

Mienshao is up next, and for that one I think I want to switch into Photon. Or do I. See, I can’t remember if Bug is super effective against Stormy or not. Steel clears up a lot of the Pyschic weaknesses, but I am not allowed to look things up, and gaaah.

Stormy can survive one hit of anything, probably. In Stormy stays.

One Zen Headbutt later, Stormy is also staying in to fight Conkeldurr. It’s level 58. It uses Bulk Up (yes, it lived. its berry even brought it back to orange!). Stormy uses Zen Headbutt. Conkeldurr is no more.

Next and last is Sawk. Let me guess. This is still the Sturdy version. It is. It uses Payback, which does a pathetic amount of damage. Stormy uses Bullet Punch to simplify the future, and Marshal Full Restores Sawk. Stormy uses Zen Headbutt.

Yay, I won.

...This is sincerely awkward. I thought they’d be in their 60s. And maybe they are for the second round, but I’ve spent so many hours in this gen that my plan is to call it after beating the Elite Four. So uh. This is my final battle.

To the Psychic room?

I like how two years later, the Elite Four has agreed to stairs instead of moving spiral stairs.

Caspet is up in front.

Caitlin sends out a level 56 Musharna. Caspet uses Shadow Ball. Musharna faints. Caitlin sends in a level 56 Reuniclus. Caspet uses Shadow Ball. Reuniclus faints. Caitlin sends in Sigilyph. Caspet uses Shadow Ball. Sigilyph faints. Caitlin sends in a level 58 Gothitelle. Caspet uses Shadow Ball.

And that’s Caitlin.

Ghost girl next because I already have Caspet up front.

Shauntal sends out a level 56 Cofagrigus. Caspet uses Shadow Ball. She’s about to send out a Golurk, and to keep from being too arrogant, I switch to Nessy. Nessy uses Surf. Bye Golurk. She sends out a Drifblim, I go back to Caspet. Caspet uses Shadow Ball. Nessy gets sent back in against a level 58 Chandelure. Nessy uses Surf.

Nessy’s level 67 now.

Three down.

Stormy, you can sit in front for this next one.

Grimsley sends out his level 56 Liepard. It uses Fake Out. Then it uses Night Slash. Stormy is at 156 HP out of 192. Stormy uses Hammer Arm. Liepard faints. Nessy comes out to handle the Krookodile. It uses Earthquake. Nessy uses Surf. One is left standing.

Scrafty is next.

I don’t have anything I’m super comfortable having out against it, so I think I’m going to go for an odder pick and have Vertex fight it. If nothing else, yay Intimidate.

Vertex uses Spark. Scrafty uses Rock Tomb. Vertex’s Speed is lowered, but Scrafty’s down to half health. Vertex uses Spark. Ugh, a sliver of health left. Scrafty uses Rock Tomb again and Speed is lowered again. Grimsely is going to use a Full Restore, so I’m going to use Charge.

Scrafty uses Crunch.

A moment of fear for Vertex. Yike.

Charged Spark takes out Scrafty, though.

Grimsley’s final pokemon is Bisharp. DAMIAN, this is your time.

DAMIAN uses Flamethrower. Bisharp faints.

4/4.

Yay.

The question now becomes what I want in front. If memory serves, Iris is now the Champion. I don’t know if her Dragon theme is changed up at all. I do know that her levels will be a bit higher than what these four fights have entailed.

I think I’ll put Caspet up front. She’s faster than anything, and does enough damage that unless something goes very wrong, she has an excellent chance of just nailing the first thing.

...On second thought, no.

Iris might have a Hydreigon. Likely not first, but I do not need to ever give a Hydreigon extra moves. So.

Stormy, I guess. Stormy’s reliable, and whatever happens, probably won’t die in one hit. Okay.

Hi I’m Iris and I’m extra af.

AF.

Oh, I don’t remember her theme music. Feels... prancy. I like it.

HEY WAIT LOOK I DID A SMART THING SHE DOES HAVE HYDREIGON FIRST.

STORMY USE HAMMER ARM AND PLEASE HIT.

(It’s level 57.)

Hydreigon uses Flamethrower. I figured there was a very good chance of that happening, but Stormy endures the hit in the green, and Hammer Arm hits.

Hydreigon down!

Stormy grows to level 65!

Aggron is next.

I don’t want to risk Earthquake, Nessy’s taking this.

Level 57 Aggron, Nessy uses Surf. No point wasting Hydro Pump on something likely to have Sturdy.

Okay so it doesn’t have Sturdy.

It’s also gone now.

Nessy’s level 68.

Iris sends out a Lapras, Vertex needs something to do. Vertex uses Charge as a safety measure/to see if I can one-shot the Lapras. Lapras uses... Ice Beam, I think, but I was typing in this window when the attack went off. Because this has my full attention.

Vertex uses Spark. Lapras faints.

Iris has a Haxorus. It is level 59.

Well, Nessy has Ice Beam.

Haxorus hits first with Earthquake. Nessy stays green.

IRIS WHY DOES YOUR HAXORUS HAVE A FUCKING FOCUS SASH COME ON I’M SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO LIKE YOU.

Siiiigh. Nessy gets to use another Ice Beam, likely after the inevitable Full Restore comes in.

Yes to both those things.

Haxorus faints.

Iris sends out Druddigon, Nessy stays in. Nessy uses Ice Beam. ...Druddigon survives with a sliver of red, but is frozen. Nessy uses Ice Beam again. Druddigon faints.

Last up is Archeops.

I am, at heart, a sentimental man.

Caspet. I believe in you. You, the closest thing to a starter this run had after the first hour.

Use Shadow Ball.

WE WIN.

That...

Geez, that certainly happened, didn’t it? I can’t say I’m disappointed, exactly, because I like winning too much, but. Outside of Vertex vs. Scrafty, there wasn’t much fear involved. Kind of anticlimactic.

And sad, to think that Diego could have been part of it if we hadn’t met DAMIAN first. He missed it by so little.

Iris.

Iris.

Please.

Wait, where’s the shot of my entire team? Game!

No.

Here are our available living pokemon in the box. Hark and rejoice, my friends I will never play with again. The friends most of you never met are victorious.

Here lie Dreamor, Tagg, Sylarana, Sasuke, Itsy, Stella, Puff, Boruto, Cerberus, and Diego.

Thank you, and farewell.

Final team:

Nice job, guys.

Caspet, level 70.

Photon, level 65.

Nessy, level 68.

Vertex, level 64.

DAMIAN, level 65.

Stormy, level 65.

Phew.

So all of the tension went out of order for this one. My starter died early, I was massively overleveled for the Elite Four and didn’t even expect to be fighting them this round, then I was, and meaningful deaths weren’t that common or devastating.

But I had fun, and I hope the two of you who sometimes read these enjoyed the adventure. I’m done with this gen for like. at least a year, but I have decided to do a Nuzlocke of either Fire Red or Leaf Green. I don’t know which, but I’m not going to Randomize the run. I am going to have one very specific rule changing things up to make going back to the gen three version of gen one hopefully very worth it, but yeah.

I don’t know when that will be happening, but I seem to enjoy having one of these going. Plus, I think the rule changes I have in mind would make my posts less meandering.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

[periwinkle-porcelaindoll13]

Ghost of a time

Prompt: “What are you trying to do, give yourself a concussion?”

Pairing: Gladion X Hau

Word Count: 1868 words

Rating: T (one cuss word and violence)

Tags: Hau, Gladion, Moon (mentioned), Haunter, Gengar, blood, fluff, Mimikyu, I’m sorry that I hurt my baby Hau! Hala Pre-end gameish.

Title: Ghost of a Time

Summary: Hau wants to go find Moon a helpful Pokemon and takes Gladion with him. Bad Times ensue.

Ghost of a Time

I looked back at Gladion with a smile. “Well let’s get going Gladion.”

“Hau, Moon is doing something dangerous and here we are, doing what exactly?” Gladion asked.

“Well, I’m glad you asked. We’re going to be getting Moon something useful.” I replied as we stepped foot onto route 14.

“Okay, what are we getting her?” Gladion inquires.

“A Pokemon.” I laugh.

“You dragged me out to this island, away from my training, to find a Pokemon.” Gladion deadpanned.

“Well, when you say it like that it sounds silly. We’re not just trying to find any Pokemon.” I began, “Have you ever heard of the Pokemon Mimikyu?”

“Mimikyu?” he asks.

“Yep, Moon and I both had to take on a Mimikyu for Acerola’s Island Challenge. But that Pokemon was super strong and had a special ability. The first hit didn’t hurt it at all. Well I think that Moon will be super duper grateful to have that on her team.” I explain.

“Geez, so you do think, huh?” Gladion states.

“Of course I do.” I reply as we step up the incline to the abandoned thrifty megamart. I take a breath and slowly let it out. “Honestly though this place freaks me out a bit.” I explain scratching the back of my head.

“That’s what I’m here for isn’t it.” Gladion sighs. I nod with a nervous laugh. “Well let’s get this over with then.” Gladion remarks. When we step in a chill runs down my spine, and I feel as though I’m being watched. I reach for Raichu’s Pokeball and then think better of it. Psychic is weak to Ghost, after all. I reach out to Primarina’s Pokeball instead. Gripping it is reassuring in a way. I catch Gladion’s eyes as he looks slightly worried.

“I’m okay, just felt like someone’s watching me.” I state. Gladion steps closer to me and looks around.

“Do you still feel that way?” he asks narrowing his eyes. I nod grabbing onto his jacket with my left hand and tightened my grip on Primarina’s Pokeball.

“We should probably keep looking…” I remark tugging on his jacket. He moves his opposite hand on top the the one tugging on his jacket. I relax a bit, but still feel wary. I catch sight of a shadow ball right before it gets to us. Thinking quickly I push Gladion to the side and take the full brunt of the attack.

Before I know it I’m flying backwards and into the wall. I expect my head to hit the wall, but I come to a sudden stop and look back to see a Haunter with a large grin. I’m lifted into the air by the Haunter and it chuckles. Its friend the Gengar that must have sent to shadow ball meets us halfway. I struggle suddenly remembering the entry on Gengar and Haunter. I watch Gladion start to stand up and boy does he look angry.

“Are you a fucking idiot!” he yells up at me. The Gengar and Haunter look down at him with a laugh. I look down to catch a movement of something gray behind Gladion. I almost yell before I watch it vanish a second later. The next second the Haunter behind me lets out a pained screech and I’m caught by a psychic attack. Slowly I’m lowered to the ground while Gladion just stares. I look at the Mimikyu in front of me. It’s the color of ash and I’m surprised. As it uses a protect to keep all three of us safe.

I throw out my Flareon and Gladion throws out Null. “Flareon fire fang on Haunter.” I order.

“Null, pursuit.” Gladion states. They follow the orders, but I am thrown against a wall with a shadow punch moments later. My head collides with the wall hard, and I am seeing stars.

“Hau!” Gladion shouts. I take a shaky breath and stand with  a smile.

“I’m f-fine.” I reply. “Mimikyu can you get me back over there please?” Mimikyu wraps me in a psychic and I am brought gently back to Gladion’s side.

“You’re bleeding.” Gladion exclaims. I move my hand up to my head and sure enough there is blood. I catch sight of a shadow ball aimed at Gladion, and react immediately. I reach out and push him aside again as I’m thrown back for a second time with a call of his name. This time my vision spots and I almost black out.

“Flareon, you know what to do.” I call out over the throbbing in my head. I watch as Mimikyu runs back to me and protects me from further harm as Gladion, Null, and Flareon fight with the Haunter and Gengar. As soon as they go down Gladion rushes to my slumped form and gets on his knees beside me.

“What are you trying to do, give yourself a concussion!?” is the first thing he says to me.

“Not exactly my intentions. I just wanted to protect you.” I smile.

“You idiot, I was worried the entire time.” Gladion frowned. I couldn’t help the light laugh.

“I thought you were too cool for feelings, Mr. Edgelord.” I tease.

“Hau, this isn’t a joke. I was genuinely worried for you.” he states.

“Heh, I thought you hated me.” I can feel the tears.

“Hate you? You really are an idiot. I care about you way too much.” he claims. The smile slowly fades until it’s trembling and I fully start crying. Gladion’s eyes go wide and he reaches a hand out and places it on my shoulder. “Hau…?” he asks. I throw my arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder. The movement jostled my head, but I feel numb to the pain right now.

“I thought it was unrequited and was going to do anything in my power to protect you, even at the cost of my own life.” I sniffled.

“Unrequited…? Wait, what?” Gladion’s eyes go wide.

“I really do like you a lot Gladion.” I smile with wet eyes. He gingerly wraps his arms around me.

“I like you a lot Hau.” he whispers. We stay there until I meet eyes with the Mimikyu and my Flareon. Flareon nuzzles his Pokeball and I nod returning him. The Mimikyu quirks it’s head and waddles to me. It nuzzles my hand and I bring my hand up to pet it.

“Would you like to come with us?” I ask the Mimikyu.

“Mimi…. Kyu!” it exclaims. I smile holding out a Luxury Ball to it. It clicks it open and lets me catch it. I smile at the Mimikyu inside the Pokeball.

“No offense to Moon, but I love this little guy too much to give it away.” I tell Gladion.

“It makes sense, Mimikyu and you seemed to form a deep bond from the beginning.” Gladion remarks. I laugh and fall forward feeling weak all of a sudden. “Hau!” Gladion exclaims.

“Sorry to bother you, but do you think you could get me some medical aid.” I ask. Gladion gently picks me up and quickly carries me to the nearby Pokemon center. Nurse Joy looks me over and lets Gladion in the room with me upon my insistence.

“You have a concussion.” Nurse Joy states. I take a look at Gladion who has a slightly frustrated look on his face directed towards me. I let out an airy chuckle.

“Looks like I was trying to give myself a concussion.” I remark. Gladion lets out a short laugh. I at least have the decency to look embarrassed.

“I’m going to release you, because it isn’t that serious surprisingly. Mr. Gladion will you accompany him home and make sure he gets rest and doesn’t do anything that strenuous or dangerous until you get him evaluated again and cleared?” she asks.

“Of course.” Gladion nods.

“Okay I will give you all the information you’ll need on how to care for him. Gladion nods and they walk out of the room. I cross my arms. Now what do I get Moon? I guess I could give her some revives and full potions she likes those. She’s gonna need them when she comes back from getting the Legendary Pokemon’s assistance. I start to muse about things more when Gladion comes in.

“Hey.” he remarks.

“Hey.” I smile.

“Let’s get you out of here, white does not suit you.” Gladion states. I let out a small chuckle.

“It smells funny. I wouldn’t mind leaving.” I reply. That gets Gladion to let out a small laugh.

“C’mon then.” Gladion extends his hand and I grab it. He helps me out of bed and I try to get my balance with Gladion helping me. We walk outside and he helps me get onto a Charizard, and gets on behind me. He holds on to me so I don’t fall. We get off at Melemele Island in Iki Town. He takes me home and explains to Hala what happened. Hala sighs and nods.

“Of course Hau would do that.” he states.

“That’s Hau for you.” Gladion nods.

“I’m counting on you Gladion to keep Hau in line while I go and do my duties.” Hala stated.

“Yes, sir.” Gladion nodes. I can’t help the laugh that bubbles in my throat and I laugh.

“You don’t have to call him sir, Gladion.” I choke out over laughter.

“He’s right, I’m just good ol’ Hala.” Hala states.  

“Okay, then yes, Hala, I will take care of Hau while you’re out.” Gladion stated.

“Good, I trust you then.” Hala nods. “Hau, be good.”

“I’m not a kid. I can stay out of trouble.” I protest. They both give me looks of disbelief.

“Really, Hau?” Hala states, “What about that time you-” he started.

“You promised we wouldn’t talk about that again.” I interrupted with an embarrassed face.

“But your friend hasn’t heard about the time you and Tapu Koko decided to pull pranks because you were bored.” Hala teased. I groan and put my face in my hands.

“I want to hear this.” Gladion perked up.

“Well, it was just last year and those two decided while I was out on one of my duties that they were bored. Well they moved things all around in the house and lined the wooden stage with Pokebeans. When I came back I caught him and Tapu Koko, but I couldn’t even be mad at them.” Hala recounted.

I crossed my arms and turned away from them both as Gladion and Hala laughed. “That’s just great.” Gladion finally remarked.

“It was the best.” Hala nodded then looked at the clock. “Oh, would you look at the time, I need to get going. Be good.” Hala waved as he left. I kept turned away from him.

“Oh, come on it was a cute story.” Gladion teased.

“No, it’s embarrassing.” I shoot back with a pout. Gladion shook his head.

“Everything about you is adorable, cute, and perfect to me.” Gladion stated.

“I never thought I’d hear those words uttered from your lips.” I mumbled. As I leaned towards him. He wrapped his arms around me, and held me for awhile. Slowly we fell asleep like that in content happiness.

Authors comments: Thank you for reading. I will try to write something each day and even have a bunch of prompts from tumblr I’m working on. This is one for example off of tumblr when searching “writing prompts.”

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 7]

It is time for badge number seven.

Lesgo.

Vertex (Luxray)

Caspet (Gengar)

Nessy (Milotic)

Diego (Gardevoir)

Photon (Rayquaza)

Cerberus (Dodrio)

Squad goals.

Why won’t Unova Gyms ever just let me leave?

And apparently I’m not going through Twist Mountain? I’m getting a lift on a plane?

If that’s the case, that’s happening later. I think I’m going to get Cerberus up to level 40 in the sad death tower before I do anything else. I don’t want to have members of my team lagging consistently. You will all be useful. I will make it happen.

Also, something I haven’t mentioned yet (...I think, it’s been a while to get this far) is that Pokemon Breeders in this gen seem to be available to fight every single time you enter that route. Not like you can fight them if you want. After beating them, if you leave and go back to the route, they will do the exclamation point thing.

This is annoying.

Route 7, also known as that place before the sad death tower, has one.

It is not irritating enough to conjure up hate for. And yet.

Flash forward into the future a bit later, and we have a team where everyone’s above or at 40 except for... Photon. Photon, my friend, we’re just gonna slap the Exp. Share on you and continue with the plot. Your legendary status means me stacking the deck with levels is less important.

I can’t believe this place has a purpose in this game. Or that I get to fly in a plane (I assume, my memory on the sequel games is even worse than my memory for Black and White starting out). There’s something weird about using a plane to get around in a Pokemon game. Doesn’t feel natural.

Oh well, too bad so sad.

...Lentimas Town.

I have no memory of this place.

Hey, Bianca’s coming with us! Yay!

I really have no memory of this place, but there’s some Fire pokemon in Reversal Mountain, apparently, and also Professor Juniper reminds everyone that Black and White happened, so it makes no sense for Team Plasma to be trying to wake up a dragon; they’re all accounted for after all.

My exploits from last game mattered, you guys. They really did happen.

No, but I’m easy to please. Any time the games reference games that happened in the past for the current game, I am made a happy camper. Us and N catching a legendary dragon each is a good thing to keep in continuity.

I’m starting to maybe remember this place... maybe?

I guess we don’t stay here long, so time to not really care. I do continue to like how the setting is not an exact copy of the previous games, though. There’s a lot of repetition that comes from this being a sequel, but everything’s been thought out well enough that it really does feel like a new journey.

Now see, my question is if there’s a cave to this Reversal Mountain, and is it marked with a different title. I’m catching something very soon, but do I have the option of picking between outside Reversal Mountain and inside, or do I... perchance... get both?

It’s probably just one and I should just march into the grass.

I don’t wanna.

Ah, but it looks like I have to step through grass anyway. But there is the option of dark grass vs. normal grass.

I am too battle-weary and scarred. Normal grass.

!!!! A Normal pokemon for the normal grass! Hi Miltank! Let us be the best of friends and not roll each other into death. Photon’s the best bet for not accidentally killing the little lady (I did not check this with numbers and have no plans to).

Only while I was typing, Miltank used Bide, and I missed that, so Nessy with her excellent HP had to go out and deal with the consequences of Photon’s one attack. Nessy and Twister are taking Miltank down at a safe rate. She’s in the orange, so throwing time.

While she’s using Rollout.

Of course.

Hey, first ball! We’re Pokemon Going over here!

Her name is Bessy. Because it is.

But whoops, I need to head back to the Pokemon Center for a hot second and get her out of the Graves box. You’re not dead yet, darling.

Dark grass has Luxio.

It also leads to a strange house instead of fun cave time.

See, right there in the title. Can has pokemon?

Coool. Want to join my gang?

Nessy and Twister seem to be an okay catching combo. Let’s see if we can get it working twice in a row.

Damn it, Nessy. Your first one left him in the green. The green. Sigh.

Farewell, unnamed shark friend.

(he woulda been bruce)

Ahoy random Gigalith in the upstairs of the house with the moving furniture I can’t cap because these are stills. Sadly I’m not in the mood to deal with Sturdy, so I’m going to run from those instead of harvesting them.

Awww, there’s a Castform downstairs. Plus a Spell Tag.

Then the furniture moves and clears up a doorway. Behind which is a trainer.

I feel like a lot of the NPCs we meet in these games have very hard lives. Hello Sentret in the middle of the room. Are you keeping this one company?

Ludicolo is in the front room.

Caspet learns Dark Pulse. Bye-bye, Night Shade.

Waaaaaait. Wait. Aren’t you the ghost girl from the bridge in the last games? I remember you! Is this where you get something to do instead of just being odd? Note that it doesn’t count if it’s an event thing that needs a code or internet or special event items!

She’s looking for her parents.

And her Abra.

....Then a wild Abra shows up.

Is that scripted, or did the Randomizer just give me an amazing gift?

Weepinbell back downstairs.

I go through another door, and get a Full Heal for my trouble. With added wild Octillery. Fuck you, Octillery. You are banned from all my runs forever.

Ooooo wild Haxorus. Look at all these things I can’t have. Downstairs has a stray Riolu. The trouble I go through for a... Dusk Stone. Yeah, okay, that’s nice to have. Toxicroak is also here.

Then back upstairs, suddenly Gible. What’s this place usually supposed to have?

The second floor’s chairs have moved, so I go through one of the upstairs doors. Another trainer room. Yay. With a Mr. Mime. Yay.

I’m really sorry about your life/undeath, NPC Ghost Girl.

Oh, neat. Lunar Wing.

I have no memory of which legendary that belongs to. I want to guess Cresselia, but I don’t know if it’s even in this game. I do know it’s a gen four legendary, which would make sense for the sidequest feel of this house.

Oh wait it doesn’t matter because Randomized Nuzlocke.

...Well fine, but I’d still like to know.

That makes me feel surprisingly sad.

One last door to check out. Empty but for Golett (want) and a Rare Candy. Time to leave.

Back outside there’s an Exeggcute I wouldn’t have wanted. The normal grass has Whismur.

There was a cave after all. Ugh. I can’t believe this counts as the same route as outside. Cave and grass should get to be different.

Heeey! Bianca! Wait, before we team up and I abuse your healing for exp, I need to check the other side of the cave.

Oh. The other side of the cave has a Max Repel and that’s it. Back to Bianca, I guess. And she’s psyched for Heatran, which is a very relatable feel.

Zoroark and Tangrowth for the first encounter of the cave. I say, pretending it matters. Stoutland can also be found here. Knowing their propensity for knowing Crunch, I think maybe something not Caspet can be in the front. Photon, gain your own exp for a change.

Crawdaunt is another feature. It’s a dark, Dark cave.

I was checking to see if Cerberus can learn Acrobatics. No, but he can learn Fly. You know, that classic Dodrio usage. Fly. Which he is absolutely learning.

Aww, a wild Togepi. It’s gone now.

I love getting to wander with someone who handles the healing. It’s so nice battling without stress. Also known as grinding without needing to use up items.

Haa. See, normally you’d be right, but.

Huh. There’s a Magikarp and a Weedle through a different passage. Neat. You will not be missed. Then we come across a bizarrely gen-appropriate pair of Tympole.

Can Triple Battles not be a thing? I don’t care for them. They make me worry. Arguably I could help myself by arranging my team so I would have a good comp for whenever I fell into one, but where would the fun in that sane choice be.

Dust clouds come with Munchlax. Neato.

We’re in a legendary’s nest. They’re all like this.

...Why can you find Luxray and Ninjask here???

Ditto for Steelix and Porygon. Yay for Randomizer randomizing every single room of an area. It’s cool, but in the larger places it can be really disorienting. A male Nidoran also says hello.

I don’t know where to find the Magma Stone to get Heatran, so we’re done with Reversal Mountain, I believe. Geez I hope that’s the name of this place. I’m too lazy to check at the moment.

I have escaped!

And found a Shiny Stone. Win.

I didn’t recognize this place, then I remembered. Water. Bay. Post-game trauma. They messed with the map to keep things interesting.

What.

My curiosity is piqued.

But I want to get something random in the waves before I investigate.

Um.

Well this is awkward.

Level 39.

Photon should not be out front for this. Nessy?

Okay. Nessy gets Regice in the red. Regice knows Curse and Ancient Power. I do have a Master Ball. I can’t deny that I’m seriously tempted by it, but we’re going to try doing this like a standard trainer first.

Net Ball doesn’t work because of course it doesn’t (I just wanted to use it because Surfing), and Regice knows Superpower. Ah yes, the Regis and their. Stuff. First Ultra Ball doesn’t get anywhere. Same for second. Icy Wind is Regice’s last move.

My team has no Fire or Fighting on it. I miss having those options.

Have I been able to buy Timer Balls anywhere? Those would be nice to have right about now, as my Ultra Ball supply dwindles.

I am out of Ultra Balls.

Look, Pokemon Go legendary catching can be rough. You only get so many balls, and even if you do everything perfectly, it still might run on you.

But you don’t end up spending twenty minutes trying to catch one thing.

Seconds after I type that:

Heeeeeyo.

What do I name it, though?

Refrigerator.

That doesn’t fit.

Refriger8r.

Okay, so I have to stock up on Ultra Balls, and possibly also healing options depending on my mood when I look at the prices. Then we go see what Undella Bay and Route 14 have to offer.

The Undella Pokemon Center only has Luxury and Dive Balls. :(

My beloved Timer. Where...?

And then I bought 50 Ultra Balls.

I’m going to sell some stuff.

Okay Bay, what do you have for me?

Yeah, I can make this work.

Assuming I don’t accidentally kill it.

Thank goodness for Nessy still knowing Twister. Gottem.

His name is now Zentrotta. I think we can agree he’d be happier if I hadn’t caught him. Tragedy at its finest.

Caspet is back up front, and for now Nessy will carry the Exp. Share. She’s not had much to go up against, so she’s lagging a tad.

Aw, there’s a little Deerling on the water. Aaand it’s gone.

Hello what is this.

Indeed.

...I have questions I can’t really make myself care about enough to type.

So this guy only moves if we beat him, and before we get the chance to beat him we have to pass some game-acknowledged strength test. I probably need another badge or something. But there’s enough ground to walk back and forth, so what have you got for me, Seaside Cave?

Cool beans.

Nessy, come help not kill it.

Yay, caught.

His name is Blimperton now. Welcome to the box.

Outside, the deep water spots can be Venomoth. How pleasant.

Jelli to you too, good sir.

Huh, okay, they just give you a random Jellicent encounter here.

Game. I was just trying to speed along to the Pokemon Center. Please.

Unfezant down, Simisage down, Vertex can be in for Samurott. Level 41, so I’m. not as overleveled as I usually am except for Caspet. Caspet has reached 47 and I don’t mind her being completely overpowered.

For an update, since I think I’m pretty bad about keeping track of their levels in this: Caspet is 47, Nessy is 43, Vertex is 43, Diego is 44, Photon is 45, Cerberus is 43. Everyone is healthy and alive.

Geez I hate Triple Battles. Random trainers don’t share my feelings. This is an annoyance.

ROTATION BATTLES AREN’T THAT MUCH BETTER, OTHER RANDOM TRAINER. STOP THINKING YOU’RE SPECIAL JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE AN ACE OR A COOL OR WHATEVER THE HECK YOUR TITLE IS I DIDN’T READ IT.

And I can’t continue down through Route 14 because there’s a block of people in the way. So I guess all that’s left to do is check out what the sequel to this route has in store for me.

Last game it did not have anything I wanted.

But this time...!

Eh. I’ll catch you I guess.

Her name’s Tux now.

Meanwhile, in the dark grass...

Yep.

Wormadam, too. Such grass. Much excite.

Off up to Route 13.

New route means yet another new pokemon. ...After we fight a bunch of trainers because I care more about levels than pokemon I’m hoping to never use at the moment.

Several minutes later, the only other trainers are through grass, so let’s go!

Eyo. I don’t think I’ve had you before.

Cerberus, are you up for helping?

Well, one hit almost took half your health. So let’s say no.

Nessy!

...You know, given the amount of damage it’s doing. I think I’m going to Surf and risk fainting before it kills Nessy. Aaand... yeah. Mienshao out.

This grass also has Sandile. And Cascoon.

Nothing I have knows Cut. Languish there for all days.

That Ranger wants a Triple Battle.

Why is this route like this.

Hey, a Heatran! Bianca, guess what!

Oh so you don’t need Cut. Meh. I’m not in the mood.

Professor Juniper and Bianca say hello in town. Bianca, walk about twenty steps to the right so you can find something neat. You’ll love it, promise.

But no, it’s time to listen to an old lady talk about the Giant Chasm. I don’t wanna do that, either. I want my badges. I maybe should have taken the aquarium route to speed that along, but I don’t know if that would actually do anything.

Wait, I was spamming A. Was there a directive in there?

Hm. I sense plot ahead.

This villain understands me.

Oh cool battle time.

Russell, buddy, you run almost as much as blondie scarf from gen 4. Take a chill pill. You have won all the good big brother points you possibly could just by caring about a Purrloin this long.

So everything’s telling us to go to Opelucid. For Dragons.

Hard pass, where’s the surfer Gym? Water sounds way friendlier. I’m going to see if that one’s blocked off or not.

DAMN IT.

The janitor won’t let us pass. ;-;

Okay fine, I guess we’re heading to Opelucid. And plot, probably. The plot is of no interest to me. This is true in pretty much every single one of these games. I’m in it for the pokemon. The human with their human troubles are way less fun.

New route! What will it have for us?

I had to embrace fun when I saw one of the grass patches shaking. Our first route with a wiggly grass option! And it is...?

I’ll gladly take it!

...If I can catch it!

...Preferably without anyone dying!

I’m going to let Photon take a stab. Crunch should be super effective, but Photon doesn’t have STAB adding to it, and Metagross has rocking Defense. So this might be pathetically sad, but nothing should die.

PHOTON.

FRIEND.

NOT FOOD.

Three Ultra Balls in, I am sad.

But we get it! Huzzah!

Its name is Stormy. :)

Ouch, Caspet’s trying to learn Destiny Bond.

Caspet?

You’re not dying. This is the definition of a useless move.

What else does this here grass hold when it’s not wiggling?

ELEKID. Noooo. Why must we always pass like ships in the night... Claydol is also here.

The dark grass’ first entry is Jynx and Magikarp. Chingling is also here. Buizel too.

Cerberus has learned Drill Peck! Oh happy days!

Normal grass has Vaporeon, Huntail, and Spinda to go with what we’ve already seen.

Vertex is moving up front, and Diego is getting the Exp. Share instead of Cerberus for the time being.

Another bridge, another route.

Another set of trainers that really make me want to have a Fire type.

There’s dark grass on one side of the bridge, normal grass on the other. A pass through on my bike didn’t get anything to pop out of the dark grass, so normal grass wins the prize for this route’s catch.

Before that, there are trainer battles.

Of the Triple variety.

yay

Ooooooh. I like this. I like this a lot.

Vertex, do not murder.

Vertex follows instructions, paralyzes Vileplume, and dodges getting poisoned twice. This is why he’s allowed to live. One Ultra Ball later, and new friend acquired.

Named... Bongo.

Geez, this grass also has Mamoswine. We’re not fighting that. The water’s dark spots get Zebstrika.

Uh.

So she shoves me out.

Rude. I’m the protagonist. I go where I want.

I’m starting to rush a little since this part is getting long and I haven’t even hit the badge town, but hey! I do remember this sequence! I remembered it belonging to a different game, but A for effort, right?

Made it to Opelucid.

Since the game itself suggests via Iris to go to Route 9 first, I’m guessing I should clear up anywhere that offers trainers to fight before trying the Gym. Dragon is a pain anyway. I don’t have anything except Nessy’s Twister that’s super effective against it. I think even at the level I’m at, it should be okay, but I also think it could go incredibly badly, which I don’t want.

But before that, Route 11 didn’t force me to go through any grass, so I still have a pokemon to catch there. Let’s watch.

Huh, interesting. ...Vertex, let’s swap you out before something unfortunate happens. Though it is level 36, and he does know Crunch... Yeah, we’re going to be stupid. Magnitude 7 doesn’t do a threatening amount of damage. Yay.

She is caught, and her name shall be Winn.

Now the other side of Opelucid, after healing up.

Miltank! But we have a Miltank. Next.

I like.

Vertex. Critical hits are for trainer battles. Sigh. Farewell, Route 9. I think we could have been great together, but alas. Now to go through all the everything else to do in this route and then go finally get the seventh badge.

Hm. I think maybe I’ll just get everyone on the team up to 50, then go for it. Nice, even number.

Other things of note: I have found a Mart with Quick Balls. The world is bright. But for now, grinding. ...Against Torchic and Deerling, apparently. Maybe I want other grass. Oh, but dude. Glaceon in the dark grass. Nice. Ha, randomized and still offering super effective options outside scary gyms. Golduck and Nidorina are here, too. And Braviary and Pansage.

-winds the clock forward a few hours-

K, we’ve got folks at level 50 now. So, Drayden?

Dragons.

Cerberus is going to sit in first for a while. He’s on the fragile side, but his Attack and Speed are good, and Flying should be neutral to everything in the Gym. Same cloth as Caspet, only physical. Nessy might take over just for the comfort of tankiness, but this is where we start.

First person in the Gym has one level 46 Fraxure.

Dragons are scary.

Oh fuck you.

Fuck. That’s partially on me. If I had used Drill Peck instead of Fly, Fraxure would have been busy Dragon Dancing and would have done zero damage. But I used Fly to try to hit Fraxure hard while avoiding any of its attacks, and.

Look, the screencap’s right there.

Fuck.

Nessy’s going in, under the theory that nothing on my team is going before Dragon Dance x2 Fraxure, but Nessy’s the most likely option for surviving.

It uses Taunt so it doesn’t matter.

Great.

Great.

Cerberus, I like Dodrio. An Adamant Dodrio? Wonderful. You will be missed. Fly will be missed. Many things about this feel awful.

Bye.

Stormy is a Jolly Metagross that’s a little quick tempered.

Welcome. You’ll be given the Exp. Share while your new friends try very hard to make it through the rest of this Gym without casualties.

-drums fingers-

With Dragon Dance being a move everything in this Gym is probably going to know, I do not want to play the long game with any of the trainers. I want to go in and kill everything in one hit.

...Caspet is in front.

-hides eyes behind hands-

-gives Caspet a Spell Tag-

One trainer down as planned.

IIIIIII hate this gym.

Druddigon has Crunch. Things to keep in mind.

So now we have the most obnoxious part of this Gym. I get to choose between Rotation and Triple Battle for the next peg up it. My usual path says I do both. In case you haven’t noticed, I hate Triple Battles. Doing one is not high on my list of desired outcomes.

But I’d feel weird avoiding it. Famous last words. -sigh- Caspet, Vertex, Nessy. That’s the order. Let’s do this.

Easy part done. Rotation Battle win. Ugh.

For the sake of my sanity, I’m giving Caspet all three of my Rare Candy. Yes, I have a favorite, yes, it’s the closest thing I have to a starter. If I’m putting her so close to the chopping block, I’m going to make sure she’s fully equipped. Druddigons are surviving to attack her right now, and that’s no bueno.

Triple Battle. Weeee.

It ends in a round because Caspet wins at life. Awesome. Okay.

All that’s left is Drayden.

This guy’s face is a lot less scary when it isn’t up close.

Sooooooo. Level 46 Druddigon is first. Shadow Ball finishes it. Flygon is next. ...That one, I think I can trust to Nessy. Flygon isn’t as much about hard hits.

Level 46 again. Crunch gets a critical hit that just barely keeps Nessy in the green, Nessy uses Surf. Surf brings Flygon to a sliver of red, so I go with Surf again. Hopefully Flygon’s other moves don’t do more damage than a critical hit Crunch, or Drayden feels like healing it.

Yeah, Drayden goes with a Hyper Potion.

...Flygon’s next Crunch gets a critical hit too, what the hell.

Surf after that faints it, though. So that’s two out of three down.

Drayden’s last pokemon is Haxorus. Nessy’s too far in the red to keep in without healing, and Haxorus is high on the Dragon Dance strat list. But if Caspet can’t get it in one hit, I’m pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck Caspet up.

But I’m honestly pretty confident in Haxorus’ ability to fuck my entire team up. Caspet would be the best bet for ending it fast. ...So, you know. Caspet. Go. Go. not die.

Level 48 Haxorus. Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

CASPET YOU BEAUTIFUL GHOST.

THAT’S BADGE SEVEN.

WE’RE NOT ALL ALIVE BUT ENOUGH OF US ARE.

AND I WAS PREWARNED ABOUT GETTING TALKED TO OUTSIDE ABOUT UNOVA’S MYTHOLOGY, BUT FOR NOW THIS PART IS OVER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.