We ARE supposed to be picky with our core team though?
Counting Sheep - A Pokemon Trainer quest
- Thread starter ReverendSwing
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Another theme might be pokemon than can glow/use light. Mareep and evolutions all have glowly tails, fits wide variety of pokemon (many electric types, grass types, some Ground types (Onix fits!)
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We'll I've already thrown my hat in the ring when it comes to Family Mon at this point it's just a matter of seeing which idea is the most popular. After we get some guidance from the Serpent Mistress on how themes actually work of course.
Does it though? Can't we train our Pokemon towards developing Traits? @ReverendSwing, is it possible to train a standard Pokemon to have a Trait? Like say for Beauty, we monitor their food and ensure the nutritional intake is right, do skincare and stuff like that to help them get the Beauty Trait?
Our teacher prefers bringing out native talents.
Basing our theme on a trait like beauty would be a doubleledged sword. It would massively increase our selection species wise while still being focused enough to feel like a speciality, but that would be at the cost of making it much harder to get a specific member of any species, instead making it so we have to be far more reactive, deciding to pick up team members as we find beautiful pokemon.
I just remembered a pokemon that I think would be great if we are going to go for a 'diva' or a 'beautiful' theme, salandit, salandit is perfect for that.
Specifically a female salandit, because sazalazzle, is just perfect for that.
Specifically a female salandit, because sazalazzle, is just perfect for that.
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Ok heres the issue with this, themes seem to be about how we can learn things about our mon and then apply them to other mons in our theme, beauty is an inherent trait that means that particular mon is an exemplary member of its species…..which means they are individual and not likely to make it so you can apply the same broad training scheme to them, each one would have to be narrowed and specific, meaning mutch harder, honestly nost other people would likely say you have no theme compared to thinking you had a beauty theme
I mean red and blues themes were also pretty broad, so beauty i'd say is a valid option
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Using red and blue as a counterpoint doesnt work as well when they are basically an exemption, no one else pulls off the insane things they do.
Well first of all literally probably all the protagonists/rivals probably have as broad a theme, plus a couple champions like cynthia, alder, dianthe and leon, my main point being theres probably not really any trainer in the world who hasn't got a theme, its just that there theme is broad and or esoteric in nature
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Some thoughts:
Battery'so description makes it sound like as long as Mareep can stay topped up on electricity, it won't run out of stamina. If health points in the game mechanics sense represent the will to keep on fighting more than actual health (as i suspect, given that this pokéworld presumably isn't an edgy gorefest), then with training it should be possible to hone it into something similar to Volt Absorb. Absorbing electric attacks to heal half your health, regaining an eight of your max health every turn and being immune to all status effects on Electric Terrain, that sort of thing. Likewise, Marigold's magnetic senses should be able to synergize with Electric Terrain to give her basic omniawareness. I'm also fairly sure the Battery trait effectively grants limitless power points for moves so long as we have electricity to spare, so we should take advantage of this as much we can by setting up Electric Terrain to passively draw in ambient electrical Type energy from the environment and then use high power moves that are normally balanced out by their stamina-intensive nature.
Generally, I think a strategy revolving around electric terrain will work well for Marigold, so having the rest of our team be built around taking advantage of Electric Terrain or specializing our battle style around Terrain moves in general (like Raihan specializes in weather) would be best.
Battery'so description makes it sound like as long as Mareep can stay topped up on electricity, it won't run out of stamina. If health points in the game mechanics sense represent the will to keep on fighting more than actual health (as i suspect, given that this pokéworld presumably isn't an edgy gorefest), then with training it should be possible to hone it into something similar to Volt Absorb. Absorbing electric attacks to heal half your health, regaining an eight of your max health every turn and being immune to all status effects on Electric Terrain, that sort of thing. Likewise, Marigold's magnetic senses should be able to synergize with Electric Terrain to give her basic omniawareness. I'm also fairly sure the Battery trait effectively grants limitless power points for moves so long as we have electricity to spare, so we should take advantage of this as much we can by setting up Electric Terrain to passively draw in ambient electrical Type energy from the environment and then use high power moves that are normally balanced out by their stamina-intensive nature.
Generally, I think a strategy revolving around electric terrain will work well for Marigold, so having the rest of our team be built around taking advantage of Electric Terrain or specializing our battle style around Terrain moves in general (like Raihan specializes in weather) would be best.
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Yup I'm fine - stuff has just kept on piling and taking over my free time, so I wanted to wait until things were a little stable before giving an update. I've barely had the time to work on the update, let alone the energy. Schedule's finally mostly cleared up now, so it shouldn't be much longer !
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Glad to hear that you're okay Rev. And take your time on the update, it'll come when it comes. Just wanted to make sure that nothing had happened to you.
0.6 Let's talk about snakes maybe
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[X] Aspiration: You want that. That confidence, that awe-inspiring presence. A mountain stood before you, but someday, you swore that you would reach the top, you would demand the World bend to you-and it would Obey.
[X][Plan: Light Em Up!]
-[X] Start off by figuring out what Marigold's upper limits are. How much charge can she store before she can't move? Or simply can't hold any more of a charge?
-[X] From there work into expressing the charge, and try to get across the idea of projecting it in a concentrated form instead of spreading it on the ground. Ask for some help from Yasigi as a safe target.
-[X] Don't go in for trying to train Take Down just yet, as young as she is the backlash of the move could hurt her quite a bit. Just focus on her being able to recognize when she's hitting the point that she needs to shed a charge.
-[X] If we manage to get Marigold to figure out Thundershock, the next step will be control. Making sure that she doesn't blow her entire charge on the first strike.
[X][Plan: Light Em Up!]
-[X] Start off by figuring out what Marigold's upper limits are. How much charge can she store before she can't move? Or simply can't hold any more of a charge?
-[X] From there work into expressing the charge, and try to get across the idea of projecting it in a concentrated form instead of spreading it on the ground. Ask for some help from Yasigi as a safe target.
-[X] Don't go in for trying to train Take Down just yet, as young as she is the backlash of the move could hurt her quite a bit. Just focus on her being able to recognize when she's hitting the point that she needs to shed a charge.
-[X] If we manage to get Marigold to figure out Thundershock, the next step will be control. Making sure that she doesn't blow her entire charge on the first strike.
You're up bright and early the following morning — not so much by choice as you are roused by the enticing smell of breakfast cooking, a definite lack of enthusiasm very much shared by a sleepy Marigold.
She's far quicker to shake it off than you are, though.
The sun clearly hasn't been up for long, but Melati must have risen before it considering she seems fully ready and energised already, giving her work a quick taste before calling her team back over.
You give her a sleepy greeting that even you are aware was probably closer to incoherent mumbling, and devour your food with more gusto than usual. It takes you a little while to figure out why through the sleepy haze addling your mind, but eventually you finally manage to piece together everything you'd done yesterday and the substantial physical effort involved.
Yeah, it's not surprising you were famished.
Food acquired and mostly awake, though, it's time to start… your chores. Now that you're cleared with Cassiopeia, it's fine if you loiter a bit in her territory, and the stream you saw yesterday when you were foraging had crisp water and a strong enough current you're comfortable using it to clean your laundry, the dishes and your own body.
Melati joins you to do her own, and since there's enough foliage to preserve your modesty you take brief turns to bathe yourselves — brief, because this is still early-ish spring, and the stream is mostly full of freezing meltwater that chills you to your bone. At least you're very much awake once that's done, and on the way back down to the beach you work through the last bits of your plan for the day while the sun warms you up.
"What's your plan ?" Melati asks you as the two of you make it back to your camp, her first words since returning from her own dip in the stream. Thinking back to her blissful expression whenever she stands in sunlight, you think she's not too crazy about feeling cold.
"I was thinking of working on her charge first," you reply. "See how much she can hold, what her upper limit looks like and whether it impedes her in any way, and then once I have a better handle on that, try to guide her towards Thundershock. Her only viable offensive option at the moment is Tackle, and that's a bit limited, even with the spin her static puts on it."
"Hmm. I see. She has Take Down too, though."
"I was thinking it was still a little early for that," you confess. "I'm not sure she can handle the recoil."
"Remember what I said about Moves ?"
You wrack your brains trying to think about what she means, until the tidbit she's doubtless referring to finally resurfaces in your mind.
"It was… 'they don't ever learn moves which actually hinder them. Only things that might not mesh with what you or they want to do', right ? Which means…"
You groan, as Melati gestures encouragingly at you to finish your thought.
"… It scales with what she can output and handle, so the recoil is almost always exactly the same level of threat to her no matter her strength."
She nods sagely at you.
"You aren't wrong to worry about using recoil moves with such a young pokemon, but you're focusing on the wrong thing. Her body wouldn't let her learn something that's actively dangerous to her. The risk isn't in injuring her, here. It's in pain tolerance."
"Pain tolerance ?"
"She's only ever had one very short battle against an incredibly weak Wingull. And that playful tussling with the young Nidoran. She has virtually no experience with taking damage, or with the concept of pain. If her first exposure to it is via her own attacks…"
"… Then there's a risk she'll associate using her moves with unpleasant experiences. I hadn't even thought of that."
"Not surprising. If you were focusing on the risk of actual injury, it wasn't worth taking into consideration. Anyway, after that ?"
"After ?… Oh, the training. Well, if and when she gets Thunderbolt down, that's the principal objective, but after that, mainly try and make sure that she can recognise the point where she needs to shed a charge—"
"Needs ?"
"Yes ?…"
"What sets apart Mareep's electricity charge from most other Electric types ?"
"It's… external. It's external, so maintaining the charge isn't actually harmful to them, is it ?"
"Got it in one. The worst risk she has is tripping over her fur, and considering you're teaching her rolling… You're thinking of standard training for Electric type. Don't forget to keep each species' specificity in mind."
"I was trying to do that…" you grumble, which draws a (small) chuckle out of her.
"I know. It's nothing you wouldn't have quickly worked out yourself once you started. But it's good to excise bad habits early."
"That sounds like you."
You're not sure when you got comfortable enough with her to sass her back, but it seems to have happened.
You'll take it.
"You missed the other actual mistake you might have made if you'd gone for that angle though."
"… What is it ?"
You're coming up empty. It grates at you to admit it.
You thought you were ready for all this, and the ceaseless reminders you weren't sting a little more every time.
"What do you think you're training when you train her to charge up fully until she can't hold anymore electricity, and then unleash it ?"
And just like that, by rewording what you said in the most damning way, Melati points out another problem in your plan.
"… I'm not trying to teach her Thundershock, but Discharge ?"
"Exactly. Thundershock isn't the kind of move you build up for. It's a quick accurate zap. A chip move. If part of your work on learning it involves releasing a full charge…"
"I'll just end up crossing her wires," you end her sentence with a sigh. "So much for that."
Your brooding doesn't even have the time to get started before there's a sharp sting on your shin, drawing a yelp out of you.
"Stop brooding," comes the dry reprimand. "You were taught like a generalist, and you've been at this for three days. You're doing fine. The only thing you would have lost is time."
"I know… It's just…"
You're not actually sure what the second part of this sentence is supposed to be.
Melati, though, continues to read you like a book and finishes it for you.
"You want it so bad you can't wait to get there."
"… Yeah."
"Good."
You turn to her, not hiding your surprise.
"Good ?"
She nods with an absent hum.
"So long as you struggle to reach what's in your mind's eye, you'll grow. If you stop striving, you stagnate."
She doesn't finish following her chain of logic, swallowing her words a little.
But she doesn't need to finish spelling out her thoughts for you to hear them loud and clear.
You're very grateful to Melati for taking you along. You enjoy her company, odd as it may be, and you very much respect her talent when it comes to your life's passion.
But Melati Meriwether shares many things with her snakes, and one of these is that she can be incredibly cold-blooded.
If you stagnate, you're worthless.
You wonder what she'd have been like to know if she hadn't sensed… whatever it is she does in you.
As if she senses your uncertainty at her harshness, however, she softens her posture a little and gives you a rare, very slight smile.
"We all make mistakes. Nowadays, I could train a Magikarp with Pep's potential into a Gyarados in months. It took me three years back then. It'll come with time," she tells you reassuringly. "We all hold ourselves to unreasonable standards, but it's good to remember from time to time that it's normal they are hard to live by."
There's a little silence as you mull it over. You know she's right. You have been at this for all of three days, half of that time having been spent hiking. It doesn't do anything to quench the burning ambition within you, and the frustration at not being there yet… But putting back in perspective helps.
Although that last sentence left you wondering something.
"What's your unreasonable standard, then, if it's not rude to ask ?"
"Hmm… I probably wouldn't go asking other Trainers, but I don't mind," she drawls consideringly. "When I was ten years old, I met Rayquaza up close, in the flesh."
She doesn't elaborate, and she doesn't need to. Her mother is from Pacifidlog, and you know from your research she often goes there. Hell, it's where Pep and Jura came from. Which means she comes from the single town that's closest to the fabled Sky Pillar where the Prime Rayquaza is known to live.
It's one of these things that's half urban legend, half assumed truth. Trainers usually end up running into a legendary or two. You haven't asked Melati about the truth of it, partly because it's not a thought that's really cropped up in your mind since meeting her and partly because you don't want her to think that you're just in this to chase legends. You know she'd know better by now, but… it just feels like asking would make you seem childish.
That's people who have dedicated their lives to training, though. You can only imagine the kind of impression that meeting must have made on Melati. Just meeting with Cassiopea, someone who would be considered weak amongst regular Named pokemon, was enough to leave you shook. Above her are the great Named, and above them legendaries… and above them their Primes.
Suddenly, her fascination with snakes makes much more sense.
And it's no wonder she calls her standards unreasonable, if the level she aspires to reach with her pokemon is that of a Prime who quells down other Primes as a literal side job, on top of his actual job preventing global catastrophe.
It's a little scary, too. Just how much did that single encounter come to define her ? You've seen enough of her to know that her snakes are basically her life.
"… I'm sorry," is all you offer. "I didn't really think before asking."
You want to ask more so badly right now, but even you know better than to push. She left it at that little information for a reason, and her tone didn't really invite further questioning — but Arceus knows it's tempting.
"Actually," she unexpectedly muses, "this is a good opportunity for a lesson. Come sit."
She heads for the camp you've finally made it back to, and settles down on one of the larger rocks you'd been using as chairs for your meals, making a patting gesture next to her to tell you to follow.
You settle down, letting Marigold out to play as Yasagi once again takes up babysitting duty — she seems to genuinely enjoy it.
"You've gotten a little taste of the different aspects of trainer life, by now. Well, not battling and catching, but those aren't the point. But this is a good segue into something important."
She stares straight into your eyes, unblinking, to make sure you're listening.
"What did they tell you about team composition, in trainer school ?"
You've had enough of these conversations to know the correct answer by now.
"Since I'm guessing you're not talking about its tactical implications… Not much ? They mostly talked about competitive stuff, and I think that's the lens they saw Trainers through too. Proper Trainers tend to have some kind of theme or aspect they specialise in, even if it'll throw their team composition out of balance. They said it was because it's easier and more efficient to have common threads in the way you train all your pokemon, and develop your own battle style. I imagine there's more."
"Idiots," she groaned flatly. "If they don't know, they should shut up."
She paused, taking a moment to think her words over.
"Well a lot of Trainers think of it like that too. But that's poor self-awareness. They're not wrong. But they don't realise. It's fine to think about tactics and team balance, but if that's the only thing on your mind you'll never grow beyond being decent."
Fiddling with her belt loop, she released Nekeh, the Arbok immediately coiling itself around her as she absently scratched at the scales under its jaw.
"Joan. I assume you know what the Trainer Bond is ?"
You nod. School had its flaws, but even the worst trainer school wouldn't have let you graduate without understanding that a trained pokemon shared a bond of sorts with its trainer which empowered it — you'd even already discussed it when talking about Frustration.
"Why do we call it a bond ?" she asks after checking you were following. "It's something the pokemon draws from, right ? Why not call it a Trainer Boost, or the Trainer Force, instead of something that implies mutuality ?"
And suddenly your mind freezes in its tracks. You can already see the answer she wants you to give, and in a way it shouldn't be surprising. Everyone kind of knows it already, at the back of their mind.
But you've never taken the time to think on what exactly that actually implies.
"… Because it is mutual," you breathe out to her acquiescing nod.
"Correct. What you give, they return to you."
You understand why she let Nekeh out, now. For the first time, rather than observing Melati or her Arbok, you look at them together. That little smirk on the snake's face is the same she gives when she's in a teasing mood. She idly trails the her right-foot toes in the sand in the exact same manner Nekeh does the tip of his tail. Her hand reaches out for another scratch in the exact same instant he exposes his neck for easier access.
You think back to all the obvious signs you noted but didn't really elaborate on. The unnatural flexibility. The cold, pragmatic streak. Her love for coiling around things. The way she swims, like her pokemon. The way she looks absolutely blissful when she can lay on a rock in the sunlight.
Nekeh gives a short hiss you realise you've learnt to identify as a sharp laugh by watching his trainer at whatever face you're making, mirrored by Melati.
"Before you go too wild in your imagination, keep in mind it is limited. Of all the Named Trainers in Johto, I am one of the most in tune with their pokemon. And I only have a fraction of their strength and beauty. But the strongest of us…" she sighs longingly as Nekeh gives her an almost tender, reassuring squeeze. "Ever seen that footage of Pryce helping out after the Ice Path collapse in 2008 ?"
You blink at the non-sequitur, but nod tentatively. It was a pretty distressing disaster, one that could have been a complete tragedy had his Mamoswine not basically carved out half of the Ice Path anew on its own, saving the trapped survivors.
"What was he wearing ?"
Ah.
Yes, now that she says that, you see where she's going with this.
The collapse happened at the tail end of January in Johto's coldest, most mountainous area. And all the iconic imagery of that time has him in a striped t-shirt.
"… He can just ignore the cold ? That's a thing ?"
"Yes," Melati actually laughs openly, giving you for the first time a proper glimpse of her teeth. Those sure are some long, pointy canines, and you can spot the hint of curve on them. "No one ever seems to stop and think about why Chuck can split boulders or Wallace can swim full speed under water and barely ever come up for air. But it's no accident they can. Just like Agatha."
"What do you mean ?"
Agatha is… not someone most people enjoy thinking about. By all accounts, she is extremely unpleasant, and being a pioneer of Ghost-type research and training, on top of a Poison specialist at a time when discrimination for one's team composition was much more prevalent… Well, she's the one parents told their children would come and take them away in the night if they didn't behave, and her retirement was met with a sort of universal relief.
"She held on to that Elite Four position harder than Pryce does to his Gym. And ever since her sudden unexplained, unrumoured and rushed retirement, she has barely ever been seen and only ever at her mansion in Lavender Town. Where she hasn't seemed to age in twenty years. A woman so in tune with her Gengar she let it eat and replace her actual shadow."
Yeah things like that are the sort of reason why no one wants to think about Agatha… Wait. Is Melati implying what you think she is ?
"Agatha is— ?"
"I don't know. And I don't want to know. But think on it."
"… I'm not sure I want to."
"Good instincts. Anyway. Team composition. The reason why those of us who understand these things don't care about strategy and stick to a common theme is because we know that just as we mould them, they mould us. That's why we find a theme. Something that expresses what we are, what we want to be."
"But then why do Gym Leaders have such vague things as Type specialisation ?"
"They don't. It's a League requirement to present themselves like that, and they have to use pokemon that share that Type in official battles, but they usually have more specific specialties. There's always more to a Theme than meets the eye. Something deeply private, at the core of it, that speaks about the kind of person they are or want to be. That's why asking about it can get pretty personal. Let me run you through a few Trainers so you can get a better idea."
And as announced, she runs you through her own theme and some of the more famous Trainers' in order to give you a better handle on what she means.
Profession: Named Trainer
Moniker: The Snake Charmer
Theme:
- All pokemon are snakes or serpents
- All pokemon have at least one of Beautiful, Graceful or a notable physical Trait (i.e. Large)
- All pokemon have the Proud Trait
Profession: Violet City Gym Leader
Moniker: The Elegant Master of Flying Pokemon
Theme:
- All pokemon are birds
- All pokemon have the Graceful Trait
- All pokemon were previously owned and raised by his father, or are direct descendants of those
Profession: Olivine City Gym Leader
Moniker: The Steel-Clad Defense Girl
Theme:
- All pokemon have some affinity for sensing, manipulating or interacting with magnetic fields
- All pokemon have the Battle Affinity (Defense) Trait or an evolved/compiled derivative Trait
- All pokemon either have the Heightened Senses (Magnetic), Heightened Control (Magnetic) or Disruptor (Magnetic) Trait, or an evolved/compiled derivative Trait
- All pokemon have the Nurturing or Protector Trait
Profession: Cerulean City Gym Leader
Moniker: The Tomboyish Mermaid (formerly), the Cerulean Siren
Theme:
- All pokemon are Water-types known to be at least occasionally found at Cerulean Cape
- All pokemon have the Battle Affinity (Offense) and Vigorous Traits, or an evolved/compiled derivative Trait
- All pokemon have the Gladiator Trait
- ???
Profession: Unified Silver/Indigo Conference Elite Four member
Moniker: Mistress of the Night
Theme:
- All pokemon are primarily nocturnal in Johto, with a preference for Dark-types
- All pokemon are female (bar her Umbreon, her starter and a gift from her mother)
- All pokemon have the Proud Trait
- ???
Profession: Top Coordinator, Model, Actress, competitive Battler (formerly)
Moniker: The Shining Gem, one of the New Bark Three
Theme: Cuteness is Strength : Marina was very much raised to become a competitive Battler despite her own love for Contests, at a time where those were still marginal at best and considered markedly inferior — either you had cute show pokemon, or strong battlers. Her team was explicitly built around showing all the people who believed that wrong, and that you could raise pokemon for Contests and still make terrific battlers out of them. Because that's also what she wanted for herself : respect for her strength, without having to abandon her cute side.
- All pokemon have the Singer, Dancer, Graceful and Cute Traits
- All pokemon have either the Beautiful or Good-looking Trait
- All pokemon have either the Gladiator or Keyfabe Trait
- All pokemon come from species which Marina considers cute
The amount of information is a little overwhelming, but it certainly gives you something to think about. It's kind of insane how easily you accept things like a supposed Dark-type master having a Vileplume, or never stop to think about why Crystal went out of her way to bring a Jigglypuff and Misdreavus to the Silver Conference and not even bother evolving them.
It's also pretty clear that things aren't quite as clear-cut as you might have thought. For example, Crystal's Ace is well-known to be a Feraligatr, and you'd personally never consider it cute — but she does, and so it makes the cut. Besides, for all its hulking saurian figure, you've seen it in enough adverts and dance routines to know it was surprisingly good at acting adorable.
This whole thing also allows you a little glimpse of something unexpected. Although she explained what she knew of Misty's theme mostly relying on information known to the media, there's definitely more familiarity when she speaks of the other four, especially when it comes to Falkner, Jasmine and Marina. You'd even tentatively guess the latter two must be good friends — something the grudging disdain in her voice when she talks about Falkner indicates isn't the case when it comes to him.
Either way… It's all stuff to think about later. You still have plenty of time to think about what you might build yourself around.
Though it does beg the question… When you were younger and dreaming of future glory, what did you see ?
This is not locking you into a determined path. This is flavour both to help me shape Joan's wants and priorities a little further, and to help you guys have a clearer image of what you want when the time comes to decide on a theme.
It also doesn't lock you out of your other options. If you select Competitive Battler, and then later on decide you want to enter a Contest to try it out, that's perfectly fine. Growing up and changing your outlook or desires is also part of the journey, after all.
It also doesn't lock you out of your other options. If you select Competitive Battler, and then later on decide you want to enter a Contest to try it out, that's perfectly fine. Growing up and changing your outlook or desires is also part of the journey, after all.
[][Competitive Battler] You dreamed of competitive success, of taking the pokemon you raised yourself and guiding them to victory after victory, and taking a crack at the great Conferences — and in your wildest dream, earning your pass the old way, by collecting badges
[][Coordinator] You always had an affinity for Contests — and an understanding that it was a path just as worthy of respect as any other, once you hit the big leagues. Hoenn's Champion isn't a Top Coordinator by accident.
[][Specialist] You didn't dream of becoming a Competitive Battler, because when it comes down to it, they're not what matters. They're not the ones that get remembered, by a few exceptional ones. That's the Gym Leaders, and above them the Elite Four — and they are the ones whose ranks you craved to join.
[][All About that Life] In some way, you've already reached your goal — to be a Trainer. Not that you lack ambition ; rather, you didn't care about recognition or accolades, so long as you can carry on working to become the best you could be whilst living the Trainer life.
[][Trainer to the Stars] Your personal fascination has always lied more in all the myriad ways you can train up a pokemon, rather than what you'd actually do once it gets there. You'd love nothing more than to be one of those Trainers who gets hired for interesting training jobs by the rich and famous, and see the pokemon you raised flourish all over the place.
[][Explorer] Who cares about the things you could be doing in the known parts of the world, when there's so much to discover still ? Sure, satellite imagery has ruined some of the magic, but there's still plenty of areas that haven't been actually explored even if the world now knows what they look like.
[][No Idea] You don't know. And that's fine isn't it ? The possibilities are endless, and you intend to get a taste of everything before settling on something. You can live with being a bit of a dilettante for your beginnings.
[][Write-in] Subject to approval, but if you've got another idea for a goal to strive for by all means throw it out there.
Having decided to leave you to mull on things a bit more before adding anything else, Melati frees you to your training, which you begin as planned by trying to see where Marigold's upper limits lay. Even if there's not much point exploring potential negative effects, it's still useful to know exactly where her limits lie.
You have her put up her Electric Terrain, and use Charge, allowing her to reach critical floof pretty damn fast, and only stop once it becomes clear it's not having any further effect. After making sure with her that she's not feeling any particular strain from it, you get to the hard part.
Trying to explain to a baby sheep how a lightning bolt works.
You attempt to try and describe it to her at first, but you give up pretty quick. You don't actually know the fine details enough to break it down into an easy explanation, and it's pretty clear that Marigold probably wouldn't understand you even if you did.
Instead, you start with what you already have.
For good measure, you have her spread out her Electric Terrain, and then tell her to try and shape it so that it only spreads in front of her. You don't really succeed — it's a spread move that is precisely not supposed to be targeted, after all, but that wasn't really the point. It was just about trying to make her get a feel for wanting to target her charge.
Now comes the fun part, and you mean that quite literally.
This would have probably been much more complex thirty years ago, but the world has changed in many ways since then — and so have the Pokedex and satellite internet too.
You can't exactly mime what a Thundershock looks like to her, so ordinarily you'd have had to work through trial and error trying to get her to do what you wanted her to with her charge. But while you're taking a break to have lunch, and with the power of having loaded up a 'How to Learn! ep27 : Thundershock' tutorial video you ripped off from PokeTube in preparation before leaving, you don't have to.
Oh, the video is garbage aimed at housemon trainers, but you don't really care about the instructions so much as the footage of a Magnemite repeatedly demonstrating what a Thundershock looks like, which you show to an awed Marigold.
"That's right girl, you could do that," you coo encouragingly. "Remember when I was making you aim your Terrain ? Now that you know how it feels, do you think you could try to do that ?"
Your Mareep reacted the only way a hyperactive child to whom you are dangling the power to throw lightning bolts in front of could : immediately trying to drag you to your designated training area by biting on your sleeve and attempting to pull you along, bouncing excitedly on the spot.
It's pretty tough going, but not for the usual reasons. It's just slow. It only takes her about an hour to show the basic framework of the attack, but it's weak, unfocused and very imprecise. The rest of the afternoon, instead, is spent trying to refine that over and over again into something that can actually be called a Thundershock, cut with frequent breaks to make sure she doesn't too bored and frustrated.
You're proud to say that by the end of the day, she can make a lightning… bolt might be a little optimistic, to be honest. Jolt ? Something that is recognisably a strand of lightning, at any rate, in that strange yellow colour Electric-type energy gets instead of the normal spectrum.
… She can't actually hit anything with it yet, but at least she can get it to shoot out in a fourty-something degree cone ahead of her, so there's definite progress.
Dinner is a pretty subdued affair — Melati has been running her own team through the wringer, and she works no less hard than they do, considering she spent most of the afternoon out at sea with Pep and Jura without stopping to rest even once as far as you could tell.
You do notice she seems a bit less closed off than before, and wonder about it for a bit until you realise the obvious answer : when she's more expressive, her sharper teeth tend to peek out from her mouth, and her odd body language is much more noticeable. She must have grown used to being less obvious around people, and decided to stop caring now that you know.
It's still a little wild to you, the thought that this could all just happen and not be common knowledge. Sure, she did tell you she was one of the more extreme cases, but surely with all the Gym Leaders and Champions there have been, someone would have noticed something, right ?
Then again… If Melati is really as drastic as it really gets, she doesn't really seem to have much trouble hiding it so you can see why it others might slip by. Hell, when you take into account what she said about it all being about what you want to be, it even makes a weird sort of sense. Her fascination with her pokemon very much stems with a fascination for the serpentine form and what you're pretty sure is a desire to emulate it — you can't imagine too many Trainers sharing that particular want.
So when you think about it like that… Wait, is this why so many top Dragon Trainers are pompous assholes ?
That would explain so much.
Either way, you don't have much time to mull it over before sleep takes you.
You're surprised by how routine yet right the following day feels. It's not like you've been at this for a long time, but the whole ritual of waking up with sun, scrounging around for breakfast, heading off to do the dishes and laundry….
Perhaps it's because you've had so long to dream of it that finally getting around to living the life feels plenty natural.
Chores done, you finally go back to your training. There's not much for you there to supervise, since now that she has the basics it's all down to repetition, so you take advantage of the opportunity to get your own exercise in — you weren't too worried about falling off your routine, considering all the walking you'd been doing, but it's just one of these things for which regularity pays off.
Besides, even Melati — since you now understand that what she means by 'cheating' is most likely that the whole bond thing is likely an explanation for her ridiculously strong core muscles — is pretty much always exercising in some way or another, so you're fairly certain it's not wasted effort.
(Not to mention you still carry your childhood hope that if you just keep on keeping on you'll finally have a manlier physique one day. It'll have to happen one day, r-right ?)
Eventually, you're pulled away from your own efforts at self-improvement by triumphant bleating, the source of which is no surprise.
It seems Marigold has finally gotten it down to something you'd feel confident calling a proper Thundershock, and you make sure to congratulate her effusively on it. Taking a quick look at where the sun is, you decide to leave her under Yasigi's ever-watchful supervision whilst you go fetch a few things to make lunch a bit more varied. Thankfully, after your foraging reveals a couple of Berries, you dig out some tofu you'd frozen and dried for travel, a pack of dry noodles and some of the chicken broth you'd saved up from one of the previous meals and whip out… surprisingly decent ramen, actually.
You'd have made proper Azalea ramen to stay on theme, but you have no clue where you'd pull the pork broth out from.
It's all entirely more effort than you objectively needed to put into it, but you were getting a little bored with endless variations on eggs and you feel like the first time you've successfully taught a move to a pokemon of your own deserves a little celebration.
It's a very much welcome break, but as soon as you're done eating it's back to the grind.
Now that she can make the move, it's time to make sure she can actually use it.
You conscript Yasigi for this second part, after she gives you her approval for using her as a target. Not like she'd be feeling it anyway — at a certain level of power, 'immunities' are more really strong resistances than outright nullifiers, but Marigold is absolutely not there yet.
And so goes your afternoon. You start off trying to hit a static Yasigi, and once Marigold starts getting a satisfying amount of those Thundershocks on target, you mix it up a little, having Yasigi move around a bit more, jump or do small 'dodges' (it became quite clear very fast that if Yasigi really tried to dodge, your poor sheep's bolts would never connect).
Surprisingly enough, with pauses included to replenish Marigold's charge, recover some energy and overall make sure she doesn't grow too bored with things, this ends up carrying you all the way over to dinner. Thundershock may have been an easier move to learn for her, but it doesn't change the fact that learning any move is hard work.
Or rather, learning how to use them with anything resembling proper proficiency is hard. Hence why you had no qualms calling that 'easy' PokeTube tutorial complete and utter garbage.
Rinse and repeat on the following morning, where you finally start to incorporate movement on Marigold's part into the whole thing, trying to make sure that she doesn't need to stay rooted to the spot to use it — and hopefully allowing you to work its use into her nascent movement style in Electric Terrain, so that she can fire the things off almost for free.
It's clear she's far less precise in those circumstances than when she can take her time, but you're happy to say she's gotten good enough you'd actually try it out in battle by the time lunch rolls in.
Which is convenient, because your plan to further work on it in the afternoon is interrupted by none other than Melati during lunch when you tell her about what you intend to do.
"Hmm… You should battle."
"… I'm sorry ?"
"I get why you're reluctant, but you have ideal conditions. Weak Wingull with a double weakness to the move you're practicing, and my team around in case it draws up something tougher."
"I know, but I wanted her to be a bit more familiar with the move before doing it…"
"I thought so," she smiled. "I won't call it a mistake per se, but think about it that way : this is the easiest way to see what you need to train further. Too many trainers practice a move or strategy until they have it down perfectly, and realise too late that they'd neglected something when they try to use it in battle. Which means they have to waste time unlearning things afterwards. I'd always try and throw in a few battles whenever you reach some kind of milestone in training, to make sure it all fits well together and see if any issue comes up."
That makes sense actually. Sure, you'd probably not be anywhere near as at ease with the idea if you hadn't seen that Wingull's pathetic showing a few days back, and for now you'd still be happier only doing this when you're sure there's nothing that could really threaten Marigold, but it's worth a try.
So it is that afterwards you find yourself setting up closer to the cliff face where the gull pokemon nest, flanked by a sleepy Nekeh and an encouraging Yasigi — Yero having presumably gone off to hunt after gauging that his presence wouldn't be needed.
You have Marigold put her Electric Terrain in place ahead of time — no point in not stacking the deck in your favour — and are wondering how to attract the bird pokemon to you when Yasigi suddenly just… dives into the cliff.
Right, she can do that. It's surprising just how easy to forget it is that walls and floors are more of a suggestion to her than anything amidst everything else you've seen, but it never stops throwing you for a loop.
A few instants later, she suddenly emerges at the cliff's edge, scaring away a couple of young Wingull into flying off, one of which makes its escape towards you.
Huh, so that's her game.
"Now Marigold, Thundershock that Wingull !"
On the bright side, she immediately understands you and does what you ask.
On the less bright side, the Wingull saw it coming and dodged fairly easily.
Alright, so things wouldn't be quite that simple.
It dives at Marigold, but… Well, there's a reason you had her practice her movement first and foremost, and that dive is neither very fast nor particularly hard to predict.
You wait a little bit, until it's too far to easily avert its course.
"Dodge like we practiced !"
You yelled out the order to make sure, but truth be told she's a clever mon — she'd already started moving before you opened your mouth. With a bounce and a roll, she avoids the Wingull, which unfortunately manages to avoid faceplanting into the sand and instead turns his descent into an awkward landing of sorts.
Not that this puts him in a much better position.
"Tackle, and then Thundershock !"
Not the fanciest of orders, but that Wingull clearly looks as though it doesn't have much of an idea about what it's doing — something very much confirmed when it tangles it gets its legs tangled up trying to dodge, and eats a charge and a Thundershock from your Mareep which leaves it down for the count.
… They were really weak, huh ?
Then again, hatching season wasn't all that long ago, and this looks like a nice, safe cozy place where they wouldn't really have had any opportunity to face challenges that would let them grow.
Proof : Marigold wasn't even a week old and clearly a cut above, even without factoring in Type advantage.
You have a few other similar bouts, Yasigi isolating a Wingull and sending it towards Marigold for her to train against, which allows you to notice a few things.
First, Marigold still struggles to hit them with her Thundershocks, which isn't all that surprising — birds can dodge three-dimensionally, and she was still having trouble hitting a static target only yesterday. Nothing that won't be remedied with a little time and practice, but something to keep in mind.
Second, when Yasigi ups the difficulty by sending groups of two or three at a time (you'd all realised it was always going to end the same way otherwise when you'd noticed not a single one of them has any kind of sufficient proficiency with Water Gun to actually fight Marigold at range. Isn't that one of the very first things they're supposed to learn ?), you realise a little something you didn't think about — or rather hadn't gotten round to having to think about yet. Right now, Marigold has two battle 'modes', so to say, the standard Mareep 'let them hit the wool and hope it paralyses them' tactic and the friction-generating movement you've been having her do in her Electric Terrain. She's proven that she can actually translate both to battle, at least in easy fights like this, but the problem arises when she manages to dodge the first of two Wingull but the latter actually gets her.
It's barely more than a scuff, but it does mean she automatically reverses to her static, defensive mode to take it… And it quickly becomes obvious she doesn't know how to switch back to her more mobile mode after being put in that position. It doesn't stop her from clocking them out with a couple of Thundershocks, but it's good to keep in mind you'll probably want to either completely train her out of that immobile defensive mode or train her to fluidly shift between both in the future.
After a few harder fights with groups of threes, you can tell even her never-ending energy is beginning to flag a little (it's already amazing that she managed over fifteen battles in one go and only started feeling exhaustion now, despite still being a baby) and you decide to call it a day, leaving her to take a nap in your tent while you go off for a little more foraging — you're leaving tomorrow after all, so might as well make sure you have some extra supplies for the road.
- Marigold has learned Thundershock. It's useable in battle, but the accuracy, power and speed of execution still leave a little to be desired.
- Marigold has grown fairly comfortable with the idea of battling, although she's not seen much of a challenge yet.
- You have managed to make Marigold understand she should utilise the way you taught her to move in battle. For now, she doesn't really know how to keep it going if her opponent manages to break her rhythm, but it's a start.
- You have discovered that when pushed on the defensive, Marigold will instinctively revert to the usual Mareep turtling. You will either have to find ways to break her out of the habit, or incorporate it in a smoother manner into her fighting style if you want her to become a more fluid battler.
- Marigold has a better handle on how much energy she can build up at once, and how much a Thundershock uses up, meaning she is less likely to leave herself exposed by overcharging her moves.
After a quieter evening, you awake the next morning to find Melati has already packed all of her things up, despite you finally having managed to wake up at the crack of dawn proper.
You go through your usual groggy morning ritual of trying not to silently fall asleep into your breakfast, and when your mind finally follows suit after your body, you pack up your tent and belongings — it's time to set off.
The first part of your journey is pretty quiet, on account of not being able to hear anything from your spot on Jura's back as she carries you back to the small beach you'd originally reached from the road.
Which actually begs a question — namely, since your destination is Silverwing Village ahead, why aren't you just having Pep and Jura carry the two of you over there ?
You don't know what kind of answer you expected when voicing your question to Melati, but it should have probably been this one.
"It builds character," she nods sagely, though the edge of a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips betrays her amusement at your groan.
Nonetheless, you set off on the road again, ignoring the gawking of the young couple who'd clearly hoped for a tranquil morning getaway at the beach and had the fright of their lives when a giant Gyarados made a beeline straight for them.
Those damned snakes. You know he could have afforded to land further away, but he went full throttle towards them just to give them a scare.
After a few minutes, Melati suddenly speaks up, her monotone betraying nothing whatsoever.
"So, what do you think of my changes ?"
You sputter violently, absolutely unready for that question.
"Guh-what ? I mean — Sorry ?"
"My changes. What do you think ?"
Yes, you heard her right.
Oh sweet Celebi, what are you supposed to say ? You mean, those are physical, so it's like commenting on her appearance, which you don't really want to do because you don't want to sound like a creep which is stupid because you've already shown her you're not looking at her like that but you still can't help but worry and also not saying anything or saying something negative might be rude and—
Wait a minute.
Ignoring your furious blushing, you take a better look at her. Her voice might betray nothing, but her eyes do. You've seen it enough in her Arbok's eyes whenever it decides to amuse itself by giving you a morning fright.
"… Did you have to do that ?" you
"Maybe not like that. But actually yes," she carries on, voice gaining a little amused lilt before going back to serious mode. "If you go far enough down this road, you'll change too. Maybe it'll only be in tiny ways, so unnoticeable you don't even realise yourself — though I will be very disappointed with you if that's the case — but it'll happen. It's good to sort out how you feel about it beforehand."
… Huh, what do you know, she actually makes a point.
Did she have to do it like that, though ?
(No, no she didn't, but she did it anyway and you just know she'll do it again.)
Back to business, however. How do you feel about that thought ?
[][Write-in] Once again, like with the "how do you feel about Named" vote, give me a quick summary of how Joan feels about the thought of the Trainer bond having that deep an effect on him. There's no wrong answer here — don't feel like you have to be immediately fine with it or enthusiastic or even feel particularly strongly about it.
The relatively trip is uneventful, with Melati moving away from heavier topics to spend time lecturing you about the area, and the things you can find in the wild around here, both in terms of pokemon species and when it comes to foraging, until the two of you finally make it to Silverwing in the early afternoon.
Unsurprisingly, you both head straight for the Pokemon Centre.
At first, you're surprised to see that's it's almost completely empty, until you remember that you are in arguably the region's least frequented Centre and it's the middle of the day, meaning most people are out and about doing their own thing.
The world's most bored looking Joy is manning the desk, surprisingly enough.
Joys and Jennys are kind of one of these things you don't think about, like Agatha, because that way lies madness. They're all strictly identical. And they all act absolutely cheerfully oblivious to it, especially if you push them on the subject.
The worst part being, of course, that some people are actually able to tell them apart perfectly accurately, meaning at some point the world had to accept that there was actually a difference and most people just couldn't figure it out.
And then there's those who actually try to dig out the truth of it. Try to force interviews, sometimes even break into their old clan compounds. Wannabe hard-hitting journalists and conspiracy theorist, who dream of unveiling the secret behind two of the great Clans.
They don't disappear, or die in mysterious circumstances, or even anything nefarious. One day, they'll push too far, and then they'll just… give up. Issue apologies (sometimes public ones if they made enough of a ruckus), often quit their jobs, reform themselves. Many move far away from where they used to live to make a clean break with their old life, and devote themselves to being good people and becoming pillars of their new communities.
People becoming better people should never be so horrifying.
And yet no one ever calls the Joys and Jennys out, because who would ? They've done so much for humankind. Literally : they are each one of the pillars upon which civilisation rests. The Jennys were among the first actual trainers to dress domesticated pokemon, and chartered for themselves a mission as guardians of law, peace and order for the various human communities of Kanto, Johto and later on the rest of the continent — without ever demanding so much as a tithe, or any history of power abuse. The Joys pretty much invented modern medicine, pioneered the field of pokezoology and actually freely shared their discoveries with the entire world at no cost whatsoever. Despite what the League occasionally tries to pretend, they founded the Pokemon Centre system as a way of helping the Leaders and militias defending the various human settlements, and still own, run and staff them, offering their services pro bono to any and all Trainers.
They're an existential nightmare and yet have been such a force for good in the world that everyone just… agrees not to say anything about them.
Anyway, you digress. All this to say that you have very much never been the kind of person who could tell them apart, which is what makes it so weird to you that you immediately recognise this one as 'none of the Joys you've ever met'.
You couldn't exactly put your finger on it, but something about her face just feels a little off, has just a touch of the unfamiliar, even though you couldn't quite put your finger on what it was or why you picked up on it now.
Days of trying to puzzle out the nuances of Melati's various stone-faced expressions ? Or maybe of trying to actively work out the body language of various creatures vastly different in shape and movement from human beings ?
… Wait, is this why all the people who seem to be able to tell Joys and Jennys apart are almost always trainers of some kind ? Is that a thing ? It's that simple ?
Either way, she makes a decent effort at pretending to light up when you turn up at the counter to register some rooms for the night and take advantage of the quick offered meals — not exactly stellar cooking, but the fact that they offer free food to literally any trainer makes up for any lack of quality. Melati actually seems to greet her by name, which is a very weird feeling to get when she's called the exact same thing as all her relatives, but there's a strange inflection to the way she says it that somehow makes you think it was a personal address to this particular Joy.
… Do they also have slightly different names to tell them apart ? Why not just name themselves something different then ? This is just weird.
You both scarf down your food, pretty famished — you'd actually kept up a pretty punishing pace on your way here, Melati not wanting to arrive too late — and it's only a few minutes later that Melati informs you she'll be off for the afternoon, since she has something she wants to do over at the Silver Feather Shrine.
She says you're welcome to tag along if you want to — she's sure you'll find something of interest to learn over there — but that it's by no means mandatory, if you want to do something else with the rest of your afternoon, as she won't really have the time to stick with you.
[][Go to the Shrine] Accompany Melati to the Silver Feather Shrine, you didn't get that degree because you were incurious when it comes to myths and legends ! That said, you know for a fact the shrine has been abandoned by its patron deity, and it's hardly reputed for having riches beyond imagination or even anything particularly interesting aside from its titular feather.
[][Stick in the Centre] Your legs are killing you, you have some reading with you and if nothing else you didn't miss the hopeful look that Joy sent you when she heard you had no plans — you might as well stick around and save her from her boredom. You don't think there's such a thing as a Joy that's a bad conversationalist, and if there's one thing that will never not be useful as a Trainer it's fostering good relations with the nurses — it's well-known that their gossip network might be one of the better ones in the world.
[][Explore Town] You've been a handful of times to Silverwing for day trips and the one memorable weekend, but you've never really taken the time to just… discover it. See where your feet take you — it's not like it's a big place.
[][Write-in] Subject to approval, keeping in mind that this really just a big fishing village that happens to mostly get tourists from Violet/Azalea looking for a day trip at the beach. That said, so long as you keep that in mind, go wild !
A/N: There you go, it's finally done. Apologies in advance if this one reads a bit off - I had to write it small chunk by small chunk, and that makes it feel choppy in places. Re-reading was also uneven, when it actually took place, and there's a pretty big chunk in the middle that got rewritten from scratch. I'll try and put out more forewarning if there are ever delays like that again, or at least keep y'all a bit more updated, I just kept thinking it was over when suddenly it wasn't.
So ! We've actually talked about Themes, at last ! I told you we would get there. You also get to find out that so far I've been giving you approximations, an outsider's view of sorts of a Trainer's Theme. Finding out the actual reasoning and constraints of a given Trainer's Theme require either getting to know them well, them straight up telling you or the information already being out there if you know where to look. Also, the RNG decided only female Trainers mattered, apparently. You were always going to get the updated Melati, Falkner and Jasmine examples (as your mentor, your local Gym Leader and Melati's best friend), but the other three I just pulled at random from the list of important trainers. Considering part of the point was to avoid using obvious examples, you should have seen my face when the first name I pulled out was Misty. (on a side note, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a pic of a vaguely adult-looking Misty that isn't hypersexualised ? because I should have guessed, but I didn't and I wasted entirely too much time on this)
Falkner has a shorter and less interesting description of his theme than anyone else because Melati doesn't like him and kind of glossed over things. (For someone who keeps telling you to practice self-awareness, she doesn't seem to realise that she's a snake trainer feuding with both of the continent's biggest bird trainers).
As you've noticed, you're not choosing a theme yet - this is for you all to tread the waters as a thread, so to speak, now that you have a better idea of what a theme means. Once again, two character building votes, which I promise will be the last ones, I think I have a decent handle on Joan now.
Oh, which reminds me : now that we've all got a bit of a better idea of what Joan's like, feel free to suggest pics for him. Subject to approval, obviously, but I'll probably put my favourites together and have a side vote in the near future to give him a definitive pic (unless y'all want to keep Kuroko - it's surprisingly hard to find soft-boy-that-still-has-some-muscle pics).
Anyway, that AN is too long and I'm happy to say I am finally done with this chapter
Votes this update :
[][Future Goal][Approval] The goal you've been setting for yourself in the future, at least as of now
[][Trainer Bond][Approval] How you feel about the Trainer Bond's potential future influence on you
[][Wat do][Approval] What you want to do this afternoon in Silverwing
There will be a TWELVE HOURS moratorium, because I am still pretty damn busy and cannot guarantee I'll be around to answer questions in a timely manner, and I feel like there might be a few.
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Okay, so what now? Do we continue what we are doing with marigold or do we ramp her training up and see if she proverbially swims? I'd personally would want to train her up a bit more then see if marigold can bag us a pokemon to add to our team of one.
And ten pokedollars on joys and jennys being dittos.
And ten pokedollars on joys and jennys being dittos.
- Location
- Texas
Spark, the Team Instinct Leader from Pokémon Go might be a good profile picture. Unless he and the other Go characters are already running around.
The new trainer profiles are really neat, though I am curious as to what exactly some of those new traits do. And seeing that Jasmine'a Theme has a good chunk of the magnetic/terrain ideas I had is a surprising ego boost, though it also kinda nixes the idea for ourselves as a primary focus since I imagine everyone wants to blaze a new path. So, mixed feelings. I do think my "Dragonborn" theme is still viable though, so that's nice.
Let's work through this.
I'm pretty sure Ditto are failed clones of Mew created and disposed of by Team Rocket as the step before finally making Mewtwo.
Jenny and Joy Pod People though… No, wait; they're actually pulling an Einzbern, but they're nice. There were an original Jenny and Joy clan with homunculi, and then the original clans died out and the homunculi kept self propagating. At this point they're basically human, but still have a few bugs to work out.
The new trainer profiles are really neat, though I am curious as to what exactly some of those new traits do. And seeing that Jasmine'a Theme has a good chunk of the magnetic/terrain ideas I had is a surprising ego boost, though it also kinda nixes the idea for ourselves as a primary focus since I imagine everyone wants to blaze a new path. So, mixed feelings. I do think my "Dragonborn" theme is still viable though, so that's nice.
Let's work through this.
A definite contender, especially since we've got a bit of a chip on our shoulder over being underestimated for our appearances. The Traditional Path, and one that everyone has mostly similar expectations for. My main concern, tediousness and boredom from the same path everyone does, is alleviated by Rev's style thus far.
Never was a fan of Contests myself since the mini game was more about spamming a move or two, and the anime had them come up with a new mostly unrelated performance every time. But it's still a possibility, have Joan lean into it and go for Pokémon with appearance traits.
Now this, this could be interesting. Setting up a gym, maintaining a wider pool of Pokémon, recruiting and mentoring other trainers that want to walk your path… this could be fun. And it'd let us see some more world building on the organization that seemingly dominates every facet of life, the Pokémon League. Of course, there's only so many Types that haven't been used yet, and building a Theme through the lens of one of those specific types could be a hassle.
Maybe a good placeholder until we get some major life changing event that focuses us. Other than, you know, becoming a Trainer in the first place. Kinda feels like the Tutorial Ambition; build up a solid foundation as a Trainer before anything else.
Eh…I can see it as a sort of "best future for my kids" outlook, but this is the one I'd give a pass. Wait, no, I misread. It's less Breeder and more 'Mon Whisperer. That could be interesting, but I'm not feeling any real connection.
Lots of fun times, and ties in to that degree we got. Just imagine all the Indians Jones style adventures. Also, mythological relics in the real world are already crazy, imagine Pokemon artifacts of bygone eras. Probably the one I'll vote for, because I'm going to push that Dragonborn theme damn it, and we all know you've got a chest of daedric artifacts and enchanted doodads in your house in Skyrim. Don't deny it.
On the same level as All About That Life; a good placeholder, but more focused on outward than inward, if that makes sense. Actively going out of your way to try new things instead of maintaining your current course. Again, not for the long term, please assign random encounter tables, discard and reroll mentor death events.
I got nothing here, but I'm interested to see if anyone else does.
I like it, it's proof of how close you are to your Pokémon, how in tune you are. I'm not worried about being "less than human" either. To quote a certain swamp muppet, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter." I am my Soul, my body is just a meat suit.
Uncanny valley Joy, or Shrine. Decisions, decisions. Eh, I'll flip a coin in 12 hours. Er, more like 16.
I'm pretty sure Ditto are failed clones of Mew created and disposed of by Team Rocket as the step before finally making Mewtwo.
Jenny and Joy Pod People though… No, wait; they're actually pulling an Einzbern, but they're nice. There were an original Jenny and Joy clan with homunculi, and then the original clans died out and the homunculi kept self propagating. At this point they're basically human, but still have a few bugs to work out.
- Pronouns
- He
Fuuuucking hell. I'm sure Melati loves, dotes on, and enjoys spending time with her snakes, but I kind of pity her 'mons. Imagine knowing that the person you're bonded with has such a titanic, impossible ideal enshrined in their heart.
Played straight with complete aplomb. My guess is on cloning facilities or time travel.
Re: Goal, Joan so far strikes me as [][All About that Life] . That could just be because of the late start that was selected, though.
Honestly [All About that Life] seems like it would fit us the most, the world is just so big and there is so many pokemon to meet and catch that literally becoming a great ass pokemon trainer is supremely viable.
And I just wanna say, really? Three years to raise a karp to a gyrados? Give me a day or two and I'll have a gyrados raised up and ready to fuck shit up.
And I just wanna say, really? Three years to raise a karp to a gyrados? Give me a day or two and I'll have a gyrados raised up and ready to fuck shit up.
Glad I wasn't the only one to think that LOL. Also, totally calling all those "reformed" investigators were replaced. We absolutely have walked into an existential horror.
For the votes, I was thinking something like: Explorer, Shrine, and I can't think of exactly the right word I want for this but something like Respect - like a "I think it's only right that this bond is reciprocal and it only further impresses the responsibility to hold up my end" - or something, idk. I'd be okay with a wide range of options though.
I do agree that Joan's attitude so far feels most at home with "All About That Life" but I just feel an affinity to Explorer. Like with the Bond vote though, I'm fine with a couple of different choices there.
- Pronouns
- Any
He got brought up already - although Team Instinct doesn't exist, he's got a counterpart running around in Kanto, as do the other GO Team leaders. As a rule of thumb, assume that if they're a pokemon character, unless they were like a one-off in the anime I've found a way to shoehorn them in somewhere, even if it's sometimes blended in with others. (For example, Crystal is a mix between the protagonist of the game of the same name, her Adventures manga namesake and Marina from the anime, although the latter is the dominant influence there).
I do mention it in her Theme profile, but her snakes all very much share her ambition, even if some of them are a bit more realistic about it. That Proud Trait requirement isn't just for show.
Because I forgot to put it there.
Oh and @Noxlux013 has the right of it, Ditto are Team Rocket failed experiments, and the Joys/Jennies predate them by several centuries.
Also, since a couple of people have said it : part of the reason I have this future plans vote up is to help shape Joan. All About That Life is the 'keep status quo' option, but the whole point of the vote was to give people the opportunity to choose if they wanted something beyond that. Joan isn't going to be any less enthused with his circumstances if it doesn't win, so don't worry too much about it - it'll just be a second step on his already extant ambition to just live that life.
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