Aw yeah! I'm really enjoying the way you're writing these scenes. Feels clear yet fast-paced and chaotic, all with more exposition sometimes mixed in. The XP pop-ups almost serve as scene breaks, and are sometimes situationally amusing too.
[x] Plan Golden Rule
Works for me. All the main parts were what I would have voted for, and the write-in parts look reasonable.
So we know a bit of First Aid, yeah? Enough to know that kidney shots hurt like a bitch? I know a few other, more esoteric less-than-lethal weak points, but clapping someone on the side of the neck or breaking the arch of their foot is less intuitive than hitting the relatively well-exposed kidney, and breaking someone's knee in the middle of an arena full of hungry, hungry Hippowdon seems...I dunno, cruel?
Voting is now closed! No contest, @AnimalKrazed's Plan Golden Rule is the winner! Great job!
VOTE TALLY
Plan Golden Rule
[X] a bit guilty – it was every kid for themselves versus a Hippowdon and it's not like you could have done much, but leaving them to keep the monstrous creature busy was both your best chance and also kind of awful.
[X] fight dirty – throw sand in Mystery-douche's face, maybe plant a well-deserved drop-kick to his unprotected neck or try to choke him out with your good arm, something that he won't expect, something that'll give you an edge against your obviously bigger, stronger opponent.
-[x] The Golden Rule - You live by the Golden Rule, do unto others as they would unto you. He just kicked your would-be partner's throat and attempted to leave you defenceless. He is also choking out your ally. Kick him in the throat as he is just in the right position to be vulnerable to that. After that, disable him and take what he has on him. He tried to take something, or rather someone, important to us. See if he has anything useful on him... Also, kicking him in the throat is sure to panic him into letting go of Jason, right? If not, kick harder. -[x] save the pen – save the pen for later, you can manage.
[X] Tell/Signal the Zangoose to:
-[x] Watch for Danger - If this guy is a sign of things to come, it's best to have Zangoose on lookout duty for incoming 'fellows' who are on the watch for weakness. Also, can't forget about the Hippowdon that are about. Yeah, not having someone on lookout duty here could be all kinds of dangerous. It also gives Zangoose a chance to catch it's breath after the Foul Play move this jerk used. Probably should give it a few crumbs of meat to entice it to stay while you handle the jerk. No. of Votes: 11 AnimalKrazed Coshiua Malaquez Muer'ci RagnorakTres Sereg veekie Ψυχή Oh I am slain! Sendicard Smugraptor
I would like to point out I don't want our character to utter the words Golden Rule while doing this, because that is a sure way to get kicked in the throat.
Why do all my classes want all the projects done in the same week?! Wish me luck, I need to beg one of my Professors to allow me into a class only offered in the Spring that I don't have a pre-requisite for as to not royally fuck up my graduation schedule, so here's to hoping. I've also been sucked into the Undertale fandom, and am rolling in my deep feels as we speak. So back to our regularly scheduled programming of second-hand childhood trauma! And remember kiddies, feedback and discussions feed the GM's starving SOUL!
Arc 0.06: Sam DOESN'T Recommend Playing Chicken with HUNGRYHUNGRY Murder-Hippos
Now, Sun Tzu you are not, but with some passable tactical planning you quickly formulate a plan as you kneel in front of the Zangoose who'd crawled toward you for safety.
With your good hand, you fish out half of the crumbly meat-strip from your pocket and you quietly offer it from the flat of your palm.
"Hey," you make brief eye contact, then break it, remembering that most feline Pokémon don't like too much unbroken eye contact; you also hope to hell that this Pokémon is as human socialized as you thought it was, if its reaction to your previous desperate plea for cooperation was anything to go by, "you keep watch, catch your breath, yowl if anything approaches, human or Pokémon."
This other kid was a vulture, weakness was not affordable here, Zangoose watching your back is as good as you're going to get right now.
The Zangoose stares at you for a moment, as if searching for, –something– watching your face as the creature breathed, shortly and more than a bit wheezily than was healthy. Then something gives, because the creature leans forward, gently taking the meat strip, rather gratefully you can't help but think, before chewing and swallowing rather quickly.
"And you keep that Rattata from wandering away 'kay?" You add quietly, after all it wouldn't do to save Jason and have to track down another 'mon, what with your jaw and wrist being more than a little messed up and Jason getting choked out and all.
The felid head ducks down and its breathing grows less labored as it complies with the order.
'Good.'
[ You gain 30 EXP in the Animal-Taming Field Skill. ]
Onto deal with this problem.
You approach the struggle quietly, watch as Jason's attempts to freedom grow sluggish, as his eyes start fluttering shut and you steel yourself for what will surely be a race against the clock. The sand itself does wonders for muffling your footsteps, Jason's attacker is big, taller than both of you, with broad shoulders and large, knobby hands wrapped around Jason's neck.
You flank the boy from his left, staying just at the outer edges of his field of view, human blind spots, and then you take four quick strides-
The boy can't see you-
So you drive your foot into the guy's throat.
[ You re-discover the Brawling Combat Ability at Rank NOVICE. ]
'Payback's a bitch, huh guy?' You can't help but think viciously, as the boy gave an aborted cry as he topples down atop of Jason, hands now slack as you hear Jason gasp desperately for that sweet, sweet oxygen.
[ You gain 1 EXP in the [Human] First Aid Field Skill. ]
You deliver another kick to Mystery-Douche, this time landing a hit to his shoulder in an attempt to kick him off of Jason, but only managing to send him about halfway off, the kid lay prone but half of his body still covering Jason's. You grit your teeth in frustration as you move to stand over them both and grasp the back of the attacker's shirt to drag him off-
Mystery-Douche flails-
-!
And hard elbow to the face causes you drop to him, staggering back as white dots dance appear in your vision and your loose jaw rattles.
He's rolled onto his knees, trying to get up-
'No, nononono,' you panic, 'if he gets up, we're cooked, screwed-!'
You aim your left leg to kick at his throat again, but he sees it coming and dodges right before propelling himself forward into your right leg toppling you to the ground, hard.
The spots in your vision grow brighter as your head hits the sand.
Suddenly, your opponent moves and then he's on top of you, basically sitting on your chest and pinning your good arm with one of his knees as he huffs out angry, coughing breaths, he smiles-
'Fuck-!'
A fist comes down-
You vision blurs, as another meaty punch slams into your face-
You barely register your opponent's throaty, wheezing laughs-!
And another-!
You scream as the boy's fist jars your loose, probably-broken jaw-
And another-!
You taste blood-
And another-!
Your pulse pounding-
And another-!
Your head throbs, still he laughs-
And another-!
Your right hand, twinging with pain as you claw up sand-
Another r r r-!
You drive a fistful of sand into his face, into his EYES.
He screams as he stops punching you, hands now occupied with rubbing his eyes frantically.
"Raaaaaahhh!" With a feral cry, you thrash, you thrash violently, you're not even entirely aware of what your body's doing other than twisting, bucking and flailing, but suddenly you're free and you scramble blearily to your feet, head pounding, lungs screaming and wrath pumping through your veins.
Suddenly, Jason shoves the other boy down, when had he gotten up-?
You rush forward and aim a kick at Mystery-Douche's throat again without preamble, bitter snarl on your lips.
"Gkkkk!"
This time you don't miss.
Circling quickly around, you deliver two kicks to the back of his head, making the boy go limp as he falls unconscious.
[ You gain 10 EXP in the Fortitude Mental Skill. ]
[ You gain 20 EXP in the Brawling Combat Skill. ]
'Thank Arceus.'
You and Jason stare at each other, more of him looking at you really, breathing heavily, bruised, bleeding, in pain-
"I'm Sam." You say for little reason at all, for some reason remembering that you hadn't actually introduced yourself to Jason… Head trauma is weird, and your face hurts a lot.
[ You gain 1 EXP in the [Human] First-Aid Field Skill. ]
"Thanks," Jason coughs out as he looks away, and you notice the bruises on his neck starting to form.
"Yeah." You mutter out, half-heartedly attempting to spit out the pooling blood in your mouth as you kneel down to go through the unconscious boy's pockets. You come away with a small multi-tool, it's a little beat-up, but still serviceable, so you pocket your find quickly-
[ Put Engraved Multi-tool x1 in pocket. ]
"Yaaaarrrrraaooow!"
Your gaze flits to the Zangoose, who had been circling the fight, and had even managed to keep the Rattata from scarpering off, as the ground rumbles and the thistle-furred Rattata's fearful chitters reach your ears.
"C-!" You try to shout out a command, and Jason's eyes widen with fear.
"BWWOR!" Instead of simply tossing you all up, the Hippowdon rises up out the sand two scant meters from you and then you find yourself staring into a maw of flame.
'-!'
You can't move, the scent of smoke-! Burnt flesh-! You can't-!
'Daddy! Peter! Gonnadiegonnadiegonnadie-!'
The Hippowdon charges-!
-And something slams into your side, driving you out of the Hippowdon's path as a white blur leaps onto the murder-hippo's back as it charged past, lightly glowing foreclaws driving into its head in six successive, non-penetrative strikes.
And the flames cut out almost immediately.
"POAWR!" The Hippowdon tosses its head, presumably attempting to charge up another fire attack, it jaw glows with an abortive heat and the attack fails.
"Movemovemovemove!" Jason is screaming, grasping at your grimy shirt, he must've tackled you out of harm's way, "get up!"
You come back to yourself, and right now Sam Demetriou is nothing but pain, adrenaline and hazy memories as Jason tries to save her dazed self.
The ground rumbles near, but not toward you as Jason drags you back onto your feet, your bad arm slung across his shoulders as you catch sight of the Zangoose close by, standing upright, long foreclaws brandished forward, ears flat, pure, nervous aggression plain in its body language.
But it's still here, listening to you, saving your bacon.
"Ksssshhh!" The creature hisses defiantly at the murder-hippo, then it engages in what looks to you like the most terrifyingly one-sided game of chicken ever, leaping and dodging atop and fro of the Hippowdon's head as it charges and snaps at the much, much smaller Pokémon.
You feel Jason start to pull you in the direction of the fearful Rattata, good idea, pick up the Rattata, then Zangoose, then somehow lose the Hippowdon.
"Come on!" You manage to bark out, you don't want to lose-
Then the Hippowdon changes its course-
"DAAOORRWN!"
And heads right for the tiny, quivering Rattata, currently frozen in fear.
"No!" You and Jason cry out, still too far away, you won't make it in time-!
Zangoose makes a mad dash for the rodent-
"THE EYES!" You spit out, too fired up to care about the sharp pain lancing through your jaw.
The Hippowdon gets there first, its head dips beneath the earth then upends and tosses up the Rattata, high into the air.
"SCREE!"
The Zangoose leaps-
-time, crawls, for a moment-
-And rakes a long pair of foreclaws over one of the beast's eyes and they coming away in bright red.
The jaws snap shut, the falling Rattata bounces off the hulking mass of the Hippowdon's nose and lands in the sand.
"BWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAOOOOORRRRR!"
The roar is earsplitting.
Well… The good news is that Jason's Rattata isn't dead, the bad news is that the Hippowdon is probably going to really kill all four of you now.
With a toss of its head, the earth shifts, and shoves you all up and aside into a sprawled heap, now boxed in by raised sandy walls as it turns and its jaws open, mouth crackling with power, a ball of energy condensing-
'Death by Hyper-beam, what a way to go.' It's then that realize that the creature, probably all of them even, have been sand-bagging this whole time and you just managed to piss it off enough to get murderate you all with impunity.
'Congratulations Sam.' You think as you stare at death in the face, scrambling back in vain, you're going to die, you're all going to die, it's all your-!
BRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGG!
The wail of an alarm filling the air does little to relieve you, your heart clenches, the beast wouldn't stop now-
"BWWAAR-!" It's going to fire-!
KA-SHING-CLANG! KA-SHEEE-BOOM!
A large mass shoves the beast away as it fires that Hyper Beam, and the resulting explosion rocks the arena hard enough to make your teeth rattle. You look up to see what looks like a large, floating shield and a sword with ethereal, tassel-like arms now float between your group and the snarling beast.
"Congratulations," comes a familiar voice, boots moving into your field of vision, "you both pass."
Your head feels so heavy, but with effort, you look up.
It's the man from earlier, Blondie.
"Who tamed the Jack?"
You struggle to your knees, heart hammering wildly in your chest and feel the Zangoose brush up against your arm.
You can hear the smile in Blondie's voice, "guess that answers that question."
You look at Jason, he's speechless, his expression is nothing less than awestruck.
Blondie grabs your uninjured hand, and one of Jason's, and pulls you both to your feet, you turn and can see other proctors leading kids back to the center of the arena.
"Well, come on," Blondie says confidently as he herds you both forward, leaving his the sword-and-shield Pokémon to deal with the angry Hippowdon like it was nothing of note, "don't want to miss your induction now!"
The Zangoose brushes against your ankles, following you close, not really looking at you but looking out at everything else with great suspicion. Not the best of friends, but it's a start, and you're all alive.
It's something.
'Survive today, live tomorrow.' Peter would say.
"Today's a proud day," Blondie steps forward and faces the crowd, "I see not boys and girls, but future brothers, sisters-in-arms, pillars of our community without which it would be defenseless. Today, you were asked to push not only your limits, but what you were willing to give in order to achieve the best in yourselves to better serve the community."
The man pauses, arms open, he smiles.
You look around at all the tired, dirty faces, and notice that roughly only a little over half of them have Pokémon at their sides or squirming in their arms.
"You are no longer children," he speaks, "but not quite yet men or women, you are our greatest hope, our future, the defense that which must not fail!"
Your feel your spirits lift as he walks around, you're so tired now, what-?
"Our Community has given you everything! All that is asked of you is that you reach your fullest potentials!"
The crowd's mood rises, his Sword-and-Shield Pokémon floats over to his side, his words-
"It is my honor to look upon you here today, as your guide, your Father-"
Some of the kids start to cheer sedately, respectfully-
'What.'
"The Community expects only the best, from each and every one of you! Only then can it grow, only together may it prosper!"
"CONTRIBUTION!" Everyone suddenly shouts, yourself included, what the he- "OBEDIENCE!"
Your head doesn't hurt now, it's just… Fuzzier. And the pain is… Duller.
"-FIDELITY! HONOR!" You feel the words fall from your lips, where are they coming from- "DISCIPLINE! ONLY THEN MAY THE COMMUNITY PROSPER, SIR!"
"Welcome to Boot Camp!" Blondie announces, the leader of this place apparently, "dismissed!"
His words feel wrong.
Now the inside of your skull feels icky.
0+0+0
You're all led away, back into the Compound, first to the showers and then to what is one of several Infirmaries. By then, the adrenaline rush of running and fighting for your life has worn off and you barely register your surroundings as you toddle after Jason to an Infirmary and the attending doctor sets your jaw. It turns you were right, your jaw is cracked, your right wrist is fractured and sporting a rather nasty-looking bite, and you've got a black-eye and a bruised everything. You nod blearily as the grizzled man tells you that you're going to be kept overnight.
Everyone's words sound like you've got your head in a tub full of water, ugh.
You learn from a woman, maybe she's a Pokémon doctor or vet here? That the Zangoose you'd befriended back in the arena was male and about six months old, and about an average size for his age.
The more you know.
[ You gain 2 EXP in the [Pokémon] First-Aid Field Skill. ]
Jason sits at your bedside with his stony, pensive face, sticking around long after he was initially released, about an hour ago actually. His makes these awkward yet genuine attempts at conversation with you, all beat up, drifting in an out of consciousness, you find it amusing.
"Hey," Jason says as he pets the rather sedate Rattata in his lap, they bonded rather quickly, "thanks for… All that, back there Sam."
You nod blearily, blinking, trying to smile a little as you mutter out… Something, ugh, your brain's pretty much scrambled eggs right now, must be the drugs, probably not the best, you imagine the good stuff would've put you out by now.
[ You gain 1 EXP in the [Human] First-Aid Field Skill. ]
Jason rubs the back of his head, "Thistle would probably be dead otherwise, and I guess I would be too." Then he looks down, "I guess I should probably let you sleep, Doc Hansen'll probably kick me out if I stay any longer... Hey, if you're feeling up to it, maybe you'd like to meet my Mom tomorrow, she's a Logistics Officer down in the Warehouses you know- I mean, if you want?"
You're so tired, you think-
"I already released you! Shoo now! Git!" The aforementioned Doctor Hansen seemingly appears from out of nowhere, shooing Jason and the newly-dubbed Thistle out of Infirmary C with much nagging.
Back in the showers, you recall barely having the presence of mind to transfer the pen, the jerky and the knife to your new pants pockets, with much more mental strain than should be necessary you fish out the last of the jerky and beckon the Zangoose up to the Infirmary bed.
Click-click-click. You cluck your tongue, patting a space on the bed beside you, "come on, up here."
He hops up, and eats, head shying away from your touch after a single stroke as it opts to sit near with full view of the door, ears perked as he began grooming a bloody foreclaw.
"Hey boyo," you slur out, "you did good today, thanks."
Ears flick back toward you once, the only indications that he was listening to be honest.
It's okay though, you have the time at least, you hope. You're not dead, your new Zangoose partner is alive and you might have a friend(that might be the concussion that other kid give you?), all is good for now. Offhandedly, you start to brainstorm some name ideas for your new partner, you'll probably get to run them by him tomorrow, something like: -
You start to drift off, barely able to keep your eyes open any longer as you think on tomorrow and deciding that:\ -
[X] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways. [] you're sleeping in tomorrow, maybe meet Jason's Mom another time – you look like crap and you feel like crap, you want to recover first.
And it's with these thoughts that you simply pass out into the sweet, blissful land of nod.
Species: Zangoose (plural: Zangeese) Gender:♂ Type:Normal Age: 6 months (Juvenile) Weight: 50.2 lbs (22.77 kg) Movement: Run Pokeball: ??? Temperament:Adamant
LIKES: ??? DISLIKES: ???
LOG Cost: 1 Any-RAT & 1 WAT/day
CURRENT STATUS:
CND
Healthy
MOOD
Tired
Wary
INJRS
Bruised throat
HUNGER
Satiated (Comm. Pay)
THIRST
Not thirsty (Comm. Pay)
Currently Equipped:
NECK
(empty)
BODY
(empty)
???
(empty)
MOB
Run
FLWSHP
5
(Likes you a surprising amount)
LVL
6 (EXP: 0/10)
STR
F+ (0/2)
END
F (0/4)
MAG
F- (0/1)
M. RES
F (0/4)
AGI
F+ (0/2)
[Normal]Type Affinity
- This pokémon is of the [Normal]-type classification, with an increased mastery over Normal-type techniques (or in lay-man's words "moves") as well as a natural aptitude for learning Normal-typed techniques. This typing affords this pokémon immunity to [Ghost]-typed techniques barring extenuating circumstances as well as naturally taking more damage from [Fighting]-typed techniques due to [Type] energy-interaction.
Temperament: Adamant - Stubbornness, Grumpig-headed, headstrong, all are just synonyms for the iron-will that this Pokémon has in spades, once they've decided on something, they'll follow it through to the bitter end and woe betide to whatever gets in their way. This considered a magnificent trait for close-quarters and physical-contact combat techniques, not so much non-physical attacks though.
???
- ???
Scratch, Disable {Egg}, ???, ???, ???
Re-discovered the:
Brawling Combat Ability at Rank NOVICE
Gained:
30 EXP in the Animal-Taming Field Skill
3 EXP in the [Human] First Aid Field Skill 10 EXP in the Fortitude Mental Skill 20 EXP in the Brawling Combat Skill
2 EXP in the [Pokémon] First-Aid Field Skill
Gained:
Engraved Multi-tool x1
??? the Zangoose has joined your party
This chapter did not want to be written! I've always had a weakness for fight scenes so I hope I did it justice, constructive criticism and discussion is always appreciated! Hope you all enjoyed! And yeah, some bad rolls almost completely dicked Sam over in the middle of that fight, seriously, you guys lucked the fuck out, Zangoose rolled Disable, holy hell.
[X] Rake
[X] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways.
Well, that congratulatory speech was creepy. And that weird shouting makes me think that something's messing with Sam's head. That's...worrying, to say the least.
At least we made it out alive. And Zangoose knows disable? That's going to be really useful, I can just tell.
Good fight scenes, heavily pushing the intensity of the situation.
And yeah, not a coincidence that Aegislash moved to his side when it did:
[Aegislash] is said to be able to detect the innate qualities of leadership; legend has it that whoever Aegislash recognizes as a worthy leader is destined to become king. Indeed, this Pokémon has attended and served generations of kings. It is also known to use its spectral power to manipulate people and Pokémon alike.
In the hopes of deposing this 'King' a fitting name is in order, dontcha think?
[X] Zeus
[X] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways.
[X]Nasturtium
[X] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways.
This name pleases me.
Also, the fight scene was great. That last minute save was epic! The broken up sentences really drove the desperation and intensity through, though the lack of punctuation is annoying.
[X] Rake [X] you're sleeping in tomorrow, maybe meet Jason's Mom another time – you look like crap and you feel like crap, you want to recover first.
I don't think we should come down from paranoia just yet. We're being given the chance to rest and recover, we should take as much advantage of it as we can, and use the downtime to bond with our Pokemon. I like Jason (even if I somehow changed his name to Jonas in my omake, and isn't that a weird mistake to make), but we need to make ourselves an internal priority.
Also I'm wondering if Sam might be a latent Psychic. She reacted to what was presumably the Aegislash's manipulation by noticing it, which I'm not seeing any evidence of anyone else doing.
[X] Rake [X] you're sleeping in tomorrow, maybe meet Jason's Mom another time – you look like crap and you feel like crap, you want to recover first.
I don't think we should come down from paranoia just yet. We're being given the chance to rest and recover, we should take as much advantage of it as we can, and use the downtime to bond with our Pokemon. I like Jason (even if I somehow changed his name to Jonas in my omake, and isn't that a weird mistake to make), but we need to make ourselves an internal priority.
Also I'm wondering if Sam might be a latent Psychic. She reacted to what was presumably the Aegislash's manipulation by noticing it, which I'm not seeing any evidence of anyone else doing.
A) It's not paranoia if they need a Pokémon to mind-draw its new recruits, sir. The name does not dictate our stance — I don't even know if we can recognize what happened yet, so the name might just be subconscious
B) Technically it might just mean we're more Normal / Fighting than most Certainly more to look into on that front, tho
C) I just can't vote for Rake — it's soooo mundane — without at least knowing why it is being written in and voted for
My mind immediately went to the Feral Druid ability in WoW. One of his first combat actions was raking out the eyes of a Pokemon that outmassed him by a factor of five or more, and Zangoose looks sort of "rakish" with that fur pattern. Just seemed like a good name to me.
(For reference, my dream Pokemon team is Flash(Luxray), Riot(Blastoise), Keeper(Marowak), Flare(Arcanine), Chrome(Aggron), and Trick(Gengar). I like simple, single word names.)
I would have to preferred to list off about six or twelve names until one clicked with him; it seems abominably rude to just decide a name for one when they aren't nearly as dumb as in the games.
[X] Mordred [X] Eric [X] See Ψυχή's post here. Politeness might have a shot, if we can figure out how to do it (needs to be better than dice rolls).
(What we're voting for has changed; everyone vote different things to maximize suggestions?)
[X] Eric
[X] you're sleeping in tomorrow, maybe meet Jason's Mom another time – you look like crap and you feel like crap, you want to recover first.
For the second option, I would like to pick the one with the most progress towards resisting and breaking mental influence, but I'm not sure if peace and quiet or talking to someone would be more effective for that.
[X] Rake
[X] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways.
For the second option, I would like to pick the one with the most progress towards resisting and breaking mental influence, but I'm not sure if peace and quiet or talking to someone would be more effective for that.
How about 'Kingslayer' then?
I'm okay with whatever name winning, as long as it fits. I picked Mordred because of Aegis' description courtesy of @Ψυχή and the connotations.
OOOOH if we're naming Pokemon, why not go with a theme? Our family did have an apothecary after all. So, plants! And plant language! Tried to pick stuff that fit our new pal, and still not sound too feminine cause flowers lol
Columbine - Resolved to Win, or Anxious depending respectively whether it's purple or red
Eremurus - Endurance
Ginger - Strength
Nasturtium - Conquest, Victory in battle
Oleander - Caution
Chotachand - just put this here cause there's a myth relating to how mongoose used to nibble snakeroot before fighting Cobras and got poison immunity. It's another name for it.
[x] Rake
[x] you'll meet Jason's Mom tomorrow – he was nice, and helpful, your body probably won't thank you for it, but you'll probably go straight back to the Infirmary anyways.
I'll go with Rake for now, but I'm free to switch if another good name is proposed. Rake seems a bit too informal, even though I like its simplicity. On the other hand, Mordred is too blatant of a reference from another work.
Kinda curious why Jason wants her to meet his mom. He seemed to think that it would be helpful for Sam to know her?
For a more obscure name of similar theme, there's Eric, à la "Eric the Usurper" from the chronicles of Amber (which has the bonus of sounding normal but we'll know what it means). There's also Brand, from the same. Sadly, they're both also insane and mostly fail in the end, what with one receiving a Blood Curse upon taking the crown and the other trying to cause a multiverse-scale apocalypse for similar reasons to that Galactic guy, but they still feel appropriate for someone abused and defiant.
I would have to preferred to list off about six or twelve names until one clicked with him; it seems abominably rude to just decide a name for one when they aren't nearly as dumb as in the games.
Okay, this sounds the best to me. I'd be down for fielding names to see what our Zangoose likes (whether that's dice or GM choice / applying depth of the 'mon and its history in the world), but echoing @Andelevion I think there should be names that have more of a personal connection to Sam and her process than what we want; Mordred / Zeus / the kingslayer names were my instinct as a "subconscious pick" as Aegislash hopefully can't mind-screw our Normal-Type buddy as effectively (plus the color scheme and my personal related research), but ultimately like names that mean more than simplicity or appearances alone
In any case, for seeing which names Zangoose likes thus far we have:
'Kingslayer' Names
Mordred
Eric
Brand
Zeus (thunderbolt stripe)
Plant names
Nasturtium
Columbine
Oleander
Eremurus
Ginger
Other [literary] names
Rudyard
Rake (hoping for @veekie to explain their choice as its origin)
Certainly more to look into on that front, tho
