Remove ads

Counting Sheep - A Pokemon Trainer quest

Reader mode
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.

She's still a baby, so best make sure their playing stays fine. I don't think Nidoran poison spines are long enough to actually get through her coat unless actively trying a Poison Sting, but spooked Sheep may go Zap.

ReverendSwing said:
Once she gets it, however… Well, she certainly takes to it with enthusiasm. You'd had an inkling of it already, but beyond being simply good at building up a charge, she genuinely enjoys both the act of charging up and spending all that energy. She cavorts around with all the excitement only a child given free rein of a playground can, and while you'd never call what she's doing particularly graceful or agile, she eventually works out various ways in which she can work to quickly build up power while the Terrain is up.

The first, owing to Mareep's tendency to bounce around on its tiptoes, is by sticking close to any protruding features in the Terrain, and making sure she rubs alongside them when moving around rather than bouncing away from them. She also starts incorporating rolls to her bouncing around, which for now still leave her a little disoriented but seem both great fun to her and surprisingly efficient on a friction-heavy surface like sand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That sounds like a prelude to a highly charged Rollout.

Its also adorable
ReverendSwing said:
You wish you could say Marigold's first battle was a glorious thing, a hard-earned victory, but in the end the only thing you can call it is a let down. Before you have the time to issue the slightest command, it dives down with all its indignation to Peck at her, and your starter falls back onto any newborn Mareep's ingrained instinct : nestling into her fur for protection.

Unlike most newborn Mareep, however, she has spent the entire day in a highly-charged environment, building up the static charge in her fur and also knows Charge, which you feel her using on reflex.

The Wingull's beak disappears into her wool, before the Water/Flying type just… starts to twitch, and falls over to the side, properly paralysed — not the kind of mild inconvenience you see in proper competitive battles with pokemon who know what they're doing, but genuinely out of order. Not harmed in any actual way, but most definitely locked out of movement.

An offended Marigold's head juts back out of her fur in confusion, before taking in the situation. Then, with gleeful vindication, she waddles up awkwardly (the waves trip her up) to her immobile opponent and just Tackles it into submission.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
F
 
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?

Let's emulate our mon in playing with others waaay beyond our power level.
 
[X] The Nidorina that was sorting berries tries to attract your attention, apparently wanting some help identifying a pile of ones you're not sure you've all seen before. Where did these even come from ? By the time you're done, Melati seems to be done catching Cassiopeia up and has instead pulled out a bottle of… Is that alcohol ? Maybe you should investigate.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?
 
[X] The Nidorina that was sorting berries tries to attract your attention, apparently wanting some help identifying a pile of ones you're not sure you've all seen before. Where did these even come from ? By the time you're done, Melati seems to be done catching Cassiopeia up and has instead pulled out a bottle of… Is that alcohol ? Maybe you should investigate.
 
[X] The Nidorina that was sorting berries tries to attract your attention, apparently wanting some help identifying a pile of ones you're not sure you've all seen before. Where did these even come from ? By the time you're done, Melati seems to be done catching Cassiopeia up and has instead pulled out a bottle of… Is that alcohol ? Maybe you should investigate.

Joan, I think the term you're looking for is "berry juice." Oh wait, he's actually old enough to drink. What a breath of fresh air. More seriously, something about the nidorina just speaks to me and I can't find it in me to reject the request for aid. The berries are a nice potential bonus.

I also have to agree on Marigold being very adorable through all of this. I feel sympathy for the wingul, but its fate was a necessary sacrifice to see another side of our sheep.
ReverendSwing said:
Dozens of fresh Gyarados corpses, some of which had turned upon each other, but most of which had been torn to shreds by the very force of nature they'd tried to topple asunder. The reason there hadn't been a major disaster caused by a horde of rampaging Gyarados was because none of the newly-evolved rage monsters had wanted to submit to Akashi, and he had fought all these would-be challengers to the death. Quite possibly at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So what I get here is that the Red Gyarados brought a red sea along with its arrival. Thematically fitting, rather intimidating imagery and absolutely not child friendly, so I can see why it gets cut out of the offical retellings.
Noxlux013 said:
Does this imply the recoil from moves such as Takedown or Brave Bird can be nullified through training?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I mean, literally the same paragraph you just quoted ends with:
ReverendSwing said:
Start thinking in terms of how to maximise what advantages you get out of moves and how to orient them towards what you and your pokemon envision, rather than lose time and progress trying to mitigate perceived problems," she states, hammering her point in with a stern gaze.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So I guess the answer is along the lines of "Who cares. If you don't want the recoil, your time and effort is better spend on training a move without recoil in the first place."
 
Last edited:
You must be doing a great job writing pokemon since I want to rub the fluff of Marigold when I read you. You make her cute without explicitly saying so.

[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?

One day or another, we will have to face stronk pokemon and hopefully offer more than a bow. Developing our strength, and more importantly our courage, sounds great. Hard to find a better opportunity than this, unless our opponent wreck us in one second and we are left crying on the ground.

 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?

How cute. Our Soft Boy wants to be a Tough Man.
 
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?
 
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?
 
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?

This is a chance for some literal hands-on training for Pokémon fighting. It isn't serious, as we'd be taken apart in a second, but it would help us understand the Pokémon perspective and learn from it.

veekie said:
That sounds like a prelude to a highly charged Rollout.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
My god, giving Rollout a chance to paralyze on hit would be diabolical. I love it!
 
[X] The Nidorina that was sorting berries tries to attract your attention, apparently wanting some help identifying a pile of ones you're not sure you've all seen before. Where did these even come from ? By the time you're done, Melati seems to be done catching Cassiopeia up and has instead pulled out a bottle of… Is that alcohol ? Maybe you should investigate.
 
TempestK said:
How long are votes usually open in here?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Quest hasn't really seen enough regular activity for me to set a proper timer, so I usually look at when votes start dwindling down and give a timer then. Normally I'd already have given an update, but tonight is election night and I already don't want to hear about votes for the rest of the day, so I won't be calling it until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest anyway. As things stand, I'll probably give it another 24 hours since I'll be working anyway, but if people keep tuning in I might extend that.
 
Okay, switching my vote.

[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
[X] The young Nidoking and Nidoqueen wrestling circle has broken up a little in-between two bouts, and the winner takes advantage of the respite to throw you what you're pretty sure is a challenging taunt. You don't expect to beat a goddamn Nidoking in wrestling, but how often are you going to get the chance to try ?
 
[X] You're happy that Marigold found some playmates, but you'd still rather be close at hand in case there are any incidents. Follow the lot of them as they play around, and make sure everything goes smoothly.
 
Right, things seem mostly settled, so I'll end the vote later tonight after I get back from work - call it four hours from this post onwards !
 
We've currently got a tied-up vote. So it's still anyone's result.
Adhoc vote count started by TempestK on Apr 25, 2022 at 9:17 AM, finished with 44 posts and 37 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top