I don't think either Koffing or Skuntank learns Poison Powder. Pretty sure it's just two kinds of Poison Gas, or possibly Poison Gas/Toxic and Venoshock.
PMD: Broken Mirrors in The Sky (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon)
- Thread starter Trainerzygarde
- Start date
- Pronouns
- He
Isn't voting using the X in the brackets?
True, the potency is way higher, but the way it's affected by Gust shouldn't change since it's specifically a Gas and not a Solid or a Liquid.
Never voted on this site, so IDK, I was just copying the example display. I'll probably change it just to be safe though.
And that depends on how much force is behind the ejection of the gas, and if it's a gas at all. Toxic's been depicted as a liquid more than it has a gas, and Venoshock is absolutly a fluid, so if it's that combo Gust wouldn't do much.
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It's always been depicted as a gas, specifically a smell in the games, though things could change in this universe as Venoshock wasn't actually invented until Generation 5 meaning N.G.C is actually even more potent than in the original games.
I can see Skuntank and Koffing both using Poison Gas and Zubat using Gust to direct the attack.
Huh, thought Venoshock was older than that. And also, please ignore me speculating that Noxious Gas Combo might be a liquid.
- Location
- USA
[X] Shuppet/Misdreavus - Ghosts make excellent scouts, able to flutter through walls for all manner of mischief. Also have lots of support moves like Confuse Ray and Reflect/Light Screen
[X] Pigeot - Every pokemon team needs a good travel buddy, Pigeot is big enough and fast enough to carry a handful of passengers to those more distant Mystery Dungeons
[X] Rhyhorn/Lairon - Big bulky bruiser to be mobile cover and a strong point for smaller, faster teammates. Dont want to go all the way to final stage.
[X] Pigeot - Every pokemon team needs a good travel buddy, Pigeot is big enough and fast enough to carry a handful of passengers to those more distant Mystery Dungeons
[X] Rhyhorn/Lairon - Big bulky bruiser to be mobile cover and a strong point for smaller, faster teammates. Dont want to go all the way to final stage.
- Location
- USA
I'm operating off the assumption that a majority of Story Relevant NPC Pokemon are off limits.
Like, Grovyle is probably gonna get rescued, but I doubt the author is gonna let us pick up any of the Guild members as permanent teammates.
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You assume correctly! Wild recruits are blank slates we can mold into what we want; I frankly don't see any canon character that would stay with us permanently and completely follow all of Watt's craziness without question like Flora does.
Krazyfan1
Worrying for the future.
- Location
- Australia
what about members of the same species?
no recruiting THE Grovyle, but A Grovyle that is different entirely might be doable?
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Yeah, of course! As long as it is an enemy that can be recruited in a dungeon, it's possible! Keep in mind that I'm going to have to write the characters beating up your feral pick so hard that Defeat means Friendship kicks in.
In other news, the writing bug bit me, so I'm working on the new chappie rn!
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That's also locked to post Temporal Tower btw.
Was trying to keep my suggestions before that since that's a lot closer atm.
Author is capping out at 11 after all iirc
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I think I borked the voting system. Lemme try again
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Eh, there weren't that many votes to begin with tbf.
All the votes for Pokémon were at one except Absol who was at 2.
Edit: Just for listing purposes to get everything into a single post. These are all of the pokemon that have been voted for so far by people not the author, along with their number of votes.
2 - Absol
1 - Buneary
1 - Ralts/Kirlia
1 - Starly/Staravia
1 - Bronzor/Bronzong
1 - Sableye
1 - Gible
1 - Shuppet/Misdreavus
1 - Pidgeot
1 - Rhyhorn or Lairon
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Well, bad news is, I wasn't able to release the Chappie because I fell asleep for like... 20-30 mins while typing and had to turn off the generator😭
Good news is, most of it is done and will likely drop today or tomorrow. On the votes, including SB... There should be 9 or so Pokémon I'm looking at. Funnily enough, if someone really good pops up organically in-game I'll keep em. Otherwise, I'll go hunting with cheats on for the Pokémon voted for when I have the chance.
Good news is, most of it is done and will likely drop today or tomorrow. On the votes, including SB... There should be 9 or so Pokémon I'm looking at. Funnily enough, if someone really good pops up organically in-game I'll keep em. Otherwise, I'll go hunting with cheats on for the Pokémon voted for when I have the chance.
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- He
Fun fact: while it's incredibly unlikely even with cheats and you would need to be incredibly powerful to even start, Kecleon is actually a recruitable pokemon.
Short of just spawning in Kecleon into your party, it's probably not gonna happen, but people have done it lmao
Nine: You shall Not Pass!
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Flora was overjoyed at the fact that one of the extra items we received from Geodude for rescuing his teammate was yet another Grass Gummi, but I had it deposited in Kangaskhan Storage to save it for later, to her dismay.
Heh… Future motivation to do well secured.
The next morning, after assembly we get an unpleasant surprise.
"HEY, you two!" Loudred booms from across the main hall, standing next to a now uncovered hole in the ground with Diglett beside him.
For fuck's sake, this again?!
While Flora winces out because of this asshole's loud as hell voice, I waste absolutely no time marching up to him, cheeks barely sparking as a reminder; he may technically be a bit stronger than me, but I sure as hell can beat him anyway.
"What is it, Loudred?" I grit out, annoyed.
He seems to get the point, and reduces his volume a little bit. Nowhere near good enough, but the lobby's a public space, and I can't discount the fact that it might be something important he's going to convey.
"You two are on sentry duty today!" He rumbles.
The fuck? Why?
My question must've shown on my face, because Diglett looks a bit sheepish as he starts to explain.
"I'm sorry. I'm usually the one on sentry duty, but my dad Dugtrio got called away for something, and he told me to handle the notice boards for today." He explains with a short bow.
"It would be great if someone could help."
Ha! Such pitiful looks mean nothing to me-
"Of course we'll help!" Flora agrees, nodding, and it's like a record scratch in my head as I turn over to her in disbelief.
Well then, if we're going to do this, it has to at least be worth our time, right?
"Tell me, Loudred. Why are we supposed to be the ones to do this, not you? Do you really think this is worth our time?" I ask, probably cutting a hilarious figure as I try my very best to loom over a Pokémon that is nearly double my height. Jokes on them; I can see bro sweating.
"I mean, there's a reward for exceptional results?" Diglett offers when he sees Loudred floundering—wait.
Say less!
I was already halfway down the steps; free shit is free!
"Oi, Flora! What're you waiting for? This work isn't going to do itself!"
Well… This was both time-consuming and ridiculously easy for me.
"Shieldon!"
I mean, I'm one of those freaks that remembers the footprints for practically every Pokémon, and those that I don't remember, I can simply infer from what I remember they look like.
"Riolu!"
The last part that made this ridiculously easy?
"Holy shit, those bars must be strong!" I whisper under my breath as a massive form nearly blots out the light from the grate entirely.
"What was that, Watt?" Flora asks from her position closer to the only window near here, where she was relaying my 'guesses' to Loudred.
"It's nothing; Snorlax!"
The grate may be pretty fine for their tech level, and the light from above means all I'm looking at are shadows...
"That's a Chimchar!"
…But I can still kinda see who they are from underneath, ya know?
"Yep, that's Phanphy!"
Also, how are you supposed to find out who someone is by footprint? Does Loudred have some sort of eidetic memory or something? Isn't this kind of racist?
…God, why won't this day just end? It's been hours!
"*Yawn*… It's Persian." I yawn, blinking blearily from the light.
This reward better be fucking worth it, man.
When we get back out, the talking rat with wings is waiting for us, ready to 'evaluate our performance' in his own words. He seems pretty bored with the entire thing until he actually looks at my results.
"You identified everyone perfectly?! On your first try? In seconds?!" The birdbrain screeches, feathers all poofed out and eyes wide, and I preen smugly.
"You did it, Watt!" Flora cheers, giving me a neck hug, and even Loudred is simply nodding along happily instead of yammering on.
"A-According to Guild rules, we'll have to... Generously reward our top sentry!" My wonderful supervisor Chatot grits out before hopping off to rummage through the storage room.
While he's rereading the simple visitor list carefully as he goes, as if an error's supposed to materialize out of nothing—the dick—I discretely shimmy up to someone who can tell me if what I did is supposed to cause this much commotion or not.
Flora? Nah, she knows a lot, but she doesn't know about this.
Chatot? Hell no!
Loudred? Yeah, if I want to have me asking broadcast to the entire guild, that is.
With all other options eliminated, I slide over to Diglett, who's now looking at me weirdly.
"So… Am I an outlier or something? Why's Chatot freaking out over my work?" I whisper.
"It took me a few moons learning from my dad before I could do what you just did. You just blew my dad's record away!" The Ground type whispers back, slightly unnerved but even more starstruck.
"Ah, so I'm just that good. Thanks for the clarification." I huff, pleased.
"Yeah, you are... Can… Can you teach me some of what you know?" Diglett asks shyly.
"Maybe we can exchange notes on this later; Chatot's coming back." I inform.
"Oh… Okay!" Diglett agreed, nodding.
Just as I said, the feather duster returns, dropping a small sack that had the beautiful jangle of currency and a sharp, musty smell wafting from it. I quickly snatch the precious container before that bastard gets any funny ideas and take off with Flora back to our room.
When we get there, I take a deep breath, once again confirm that the door is shut to satisfy my paranoia, and then spill out our haul onto the little wooden table we had.
… A decent amount of coins, a positively vibrant seed that looks so polished and perfect that I thought it was a ceramic replica, a picture-perfect root of ginseng, and another seed that looked like it was nearly swollen with energy.
I don't know what most of this is, so I turn to Flora, whose eyes are wide with awe?!
"Give it to me straight, Flora; what're we dealing with here. I can recognize the ginseng, at least." I ask, practically unleashing the floodgates as my partner starts word-vomiting all over me.
"Ohmygod that's a Life Seed! AND a Joy Seed! I thought they were a myth! Life seeds I know about at least; they're super rare and only the hardest or rarest dungeons make them. They're really hard to grow outside the dungeon, and I don't really think those ones are ever as effective as the dungeon ones. They fill you with so much Aura and Life energy that it just makes you healthier in general. I've only seen these in a few big bazaars at the square; they were really expensive!
As for the Joy Seed?" And here, her voice slows, almost becoming reverent; "I didn't think they really existed until now; these things are supposed to be dungeon-only stuff; no-one has the slightest clue how to start growing them out of one. If anyone did so, we'd know, because while a Life Seed makes you healthier? A Joy seed is condensed life."
"Wait, so what exactly does condensed life mean?" I ask, having a tiny flicker of disbelief at what I'm hearing; there ain't no way that the Guild has access to these things, right?
"I don't really know how to explain it; there are a few stories I got from word of mouth, and I'm not too sure. Supposedly it does what the Life seed does, but with every other part of you; you become faster, stronger, more durable and such."
Sweet Alpaca Jesus the Guild has Rare Candies in stock. HOW?!
"Flora?" I whisper lowly, clutching both sides of her head, squishing her cheeks and making her look right at me.
"This will not leak; nod if you understand."
Her cheeks are too smushed to for an answer, but she mumbles an affirmative, nodding.
"We're not dealing with this now, and this thing will immediately go so deep into storage that we forget about it for like a moon, ok? Now tell me about the Ginseng." I order, trying to get the shaky look in her eyes back down to normal and mostly succeeding.
"Ehem… Yes! Ginseng's a root that also makes you stronger after you eat it; never had one before, but the garden I was talking about said that some aspect of your moves gets boosted by a lot." She explains after I let go of her, trying her best to not make eye contact with the literal holy grails lying on our table. I make things easier for her and sweep them back into the sack they came with; I choose not to comment on the little whine she made.
Fucking cultivation drugs, for Llama's sake. When did Pokémon become some kind of Xianxia where we have to down powerful roots and seeds for power?
…Wait, we kinda already do that in the games with the X-Series, stat boosters and stat berries.
And levels and evolution neatly tie in to cultivation stages...
…Shit. Was I in the wrong genre this whole time? Should I switch things up a bit? I mean, it's still early days, but foundations are really important for cultivation stuff.
"Dinner's ready!" Chimecho rings, the psychic pulse lifting their ringing across my senses.
I'll have to think more on this later; both on what this means for our training, and just how much resources this guild has to pull on.
"Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings later; let's eat!"
"Mm!"
A.N: Ah yes, Racial Profiling, the minigame! I have no idea how one guy is meant to check who is right or not; maybe he has a list on hand that he flips through by species when they make it to the gate? Maybe he uses scent cues and visual differences to know? Not my problem.
What is my problem is that I guess we've figured out where a good chunk of our money goes to—sentry prizes! The prizes for that thing are insane! Why am I getting a Rare Candy, HP Up and a permanent move booster for the simplest of OpSec?
Heh… Future motivation to do well secured.
The next morning, after assembly we get an unpleasant surprise.
"HEY, you two!" Loudred booms from across the main hall, standing next to a now uncovered hole in the ground with Diglett beside him.
For fuck's sake, this again?!
While Flora winces out because of this asshole's loud as hell voice, I waste absolutely no time marching up to him, cheeks barely sparking as a reminder; he may technically be a bit stronger than me, but I sure as hell can beat him anyway.
"What is it, Loudred?" I grit out, annoyed.
He seems to get the point, and reduces his volume a little bit. Nowhere near good enough, but the lobby's a public space, and I can't discount the fact that it might be something important he's going to convey.
"You two are on sentry duty today!" He rumbles.
The fuck? Why?
My question must've shown on my face, because Diglett looks a bit sheepish as he starts to explain.
"I'm sorry. I'm usually the one on sentry duty, but my dad Dugtrio got called away for something, and he told me to handle the notice boards for today." He explains with a short bow.
"It would be great if someone could help."
Ha! Such pitiful looks mean nothing to me-
"Of course we'll help!" Flora agrees, nodding, and it's like a record scratch in my head as I turn over to her in disbelief.
Well then, if we're going to do this, it has to at least be worth our time, right?
"Tell me, Loudred. Why are we supposed to be the ones to do this, not you? Do you really think this is worth our time?" I ask, probably cutting a hilarious figure as I try my very best to loom over a Pokémon that is nearly double my height. Jokes on them; I can see bro sweating.
"I mean, there's a reward for exceptional results?" Diglett offers when he sees Loudred floundering—wait.
Say less!
I was already halfway down the steps; free shit is free!
"Oi, Flora! What're you waiting for? This work isn't going to do itself!"
Well… This was both time-consuming and ridiculously easy for me.
"Shieldon!"
I mean, I'm one of those freaks that remembers the footprints for practically every Pokémon, and those that I don't remember, I can simply infer from what I remember they look like.
"Riolu!"
The last part that made this ridiculously easy?
"Holy shit, those bars must be strong!" I whisper under my breath as a massive form nearly blots out the light from the grate entirely.
"What was that, Watt?" Flora asks from her position closer to the only window near here, where she was relaying my 'guesses' to Loudred.
"It's nothing; Snorlax!"
The grate may be pretty fine for their tech level, and the light from above means all I'm looking at are shadows...
"That's a Chimchar!"
…But I can still kinda see who they are from underneath, ya know?
"Yep, that's Phanphy!"
Also, how are you supposed to find out who someone is by footprint? Does Loudred have some sort of eidetic memory or something? Isn't this kind of racist?
…God, why won't this day just end? It's been hours!
"*Yawn*… It's Persian." I yawn, blinking blearily from the light.
This reward better be fucking worth it, man.
When we get back out, the talking rat with wings is waiting for us, ready to 'evaluate our performance' in his own words. He seems pretty bored with the entire thing until he actually looks at my results.
"You identified everyone perfectly?! On your first try? In seconds?!" The birdbrain screeches, feathers all poofed out and eyes wide, and I preen smugly.
"You did it, Watt!" Flora cheers, giving me a neck hug, and even Loudred is simply nodding along happily instead of yammering on.
"A-According to Guild rules, we'll have to... Generously reward our top sentry!" My wonderful supervisor Chatot grits out before hopping off to rummage through the storage room.
While he's rereading the simple visitor list carefully as he goes, as if an error's supposed to materialize out of nothing—the dick—I discretely shimmy up to someone who can tell me if what I did is supposed to cause this much commotion or not.
Flora? Nah, she knows a lot, but she doesn't know about this.
Chatot? Hell no!
Loudred? Yeah, if I want to have me asking broadcast to the entire guild, that is.
With all other options eliminated, I slide over to Diglett, who's now looking at me weirdly.
"So… Am I an outlier or something? Why's Chatot freaking out over my work?" I whisper.
"It took me a few moons learning from my dad before I could do what you just did. You just blew my dad's record away!" The Ground type whispers back, slightly unnerved but even more starstruck.
"Ah, so I'm just that good. Thanks for the clarification." I huff, pleased.
"Yeah, you are... Can… Can you teach me some of what you know?" Diglett asks shyly.
"Maybe we can exchange notes on this later; Chatot's coming back." I inform.
"Oh… Okay!" Diglett agreed, nodding.
Just as I said, the feather duster returns, dropping a small sack that had the beautiful jangle of currency and a sharp, musty smell wafting from it. I quickly snatch the precious container before that bastard gets any funny ideas and take off with Flora back to our room.
When we get there, I take a deep breath, once again confirm that the door is shut to satisfy my paranoia, and then spill out our haul onto the little wooden table we had.
… A decent amount of coins, a positively vibrant seed that looks so polished and perfect that I thought it was a ceramic replica, a picture-perfect root of ginseng, and another seed that looked like it was nearly swollen with energy.
I don't know what most of this is, so I turn to Flora, whose eyes are wide with awe?!
"Give it to me straight, Flora; what're we dealing with here. I can recognize the ginseng, at least." I ask, practically unleashing the floodgates as my partner starts word-vomiting all over me.
"Ohmygod that's a Life Seed! AND a Joy Seed! I thought they were a myth! Life seeds I know about at least; they're super rare and only the hardest or rarest dungeons make them. They're really hard to grow outside the dungeon, and I don't really think those ones are ever as effective as the dungeon ones. They fill you with so much Aura and Life energy that it just makes you healthier in general. I've only seen these in a few big bazaars at the square; they were really expensive!
As for the Joy Seed?" And here, her voice slows, almost becoming reverent; "I didn't think they really existed until now; these things are supposed to be dungeon-only stuff; no-one has the slightest clue how to start growing them out of one. If anyone did so, we'd know, because while a Life Seed makes you healthier? A Joy seed is condensed life."
"Wait, so what exactly does condensed life mean?" I ask, having a tiny flicker of disbelief at what I'm hearing; there ain't no way that the Guild has access to these things, right?
"I don't really know how to explain it; there are a few stories I got from word of mouth, and I'm not too sure. Supposedly it does what the Life seed does, but with every other part of you; you become faster, stronger, more durable and such."
Sweet Alpaca Jesus the Guild has Rare Candies in stock. HOW?!
"Flora?" I whisper lowly, clutching both sides of her head, squishing her cheeks and making her look right at me.
"This will not leak; nod if you understand."
Her cheeks are too smushed to for an answer, but she mumbles an affirmative, nodding.
"We're not dealing with this now, and this thing will immediately go so deep into storage that we forget about it for like a moon, ok? Now tell me about the Ginseng." I order, trying to get the shaky look in her eyes back down to normal and mostly succeeding.
"Ehem… Yes! Ginseng's a root that also makes you stronger after you eat it; never had one before, but the garden I was talking about said that some aspect of your moves gets boosted by a lot." She explains after I let go of her, trying her best to not make eye contact with the literal holy grails lying on our table. I make things easier for her and sweep them back into the sack they came with; I choose not to comment on the little whine she made.
Fucking cultivation drugs, for Llama's sake. When did Pokémon become some kind of Xianxia where we have to down powerful roots and seeds for power?
…Wait, we kinda already do that in the games with the X-Series, stat boosters and stat berries.
And levels and evolution neatly tie in to cultivation stages...
…Shit. Was I in the wrong genre this whole time? Should I switch things up a bit? I mean, it's still early days, but foundations are really important for cultivation stuff.
"Dinner's ready!" Chimecho rings, the psychic pulse lifting their ringing across my senses.
I'll have to think more on this later; both on what this means for our training, and just how much resources this guild has to pull on.
"Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings later; let's eat!"
"Mm!"
A.N: Ah yes, Racial Profiling, the minigame! I have no idea how one guy is meant to check who is right or not; maybe he has a list on hand that he flips through by species when they make it to the gate? Maybe he uses scent cues and visual differences to know? Not my problem.
What is my problem is that I guess we've figured out where a good chunk of our money goes to—sentry prizes! The prizes for that thing are insane! Why am I getting a Rare Candy, HP Up and a permanent move booster for the simplest of OpSec?
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- He
AFAIK, you can't do those events just whenever. They're one-offs that only occur in the story.
That's why I always reset to get the best possible prizes on those. They're incredibly powerful.
The way I always saw it, they compared the species trying to get into the guild with their collection of outlaws and if any of them matched they would let them in for further investigation.
It made sense to me since in the mini game the bottom screen is always a clipboard with a bunch of papers.
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Well, yeah, but I'm looking behind the game to the world beneath.
The fact that there's a tier list of prizes means something.
Does this mean the Diglett fam and Loudred are hogging all of this?
Or more sensibly, is sentry duty some sort of psuedo-rotation thing? Like if you want to volunteer, maybe to skip having to do anything else, maybe as a punishment, maybe as an attempt to get a prize, you can do so. But it's not mandatory, since Loudred basically intimidates us into doing it in game.
Funnily enough, I was contemplating not doing the minigame at all, hence why Watt nearly exploded all over Loudred. If not for the prizes, they would subsequently ignore them.
...Huh. Never avtually noticed that last part.
Okay, so they at the very LEAST have that.
What about every other time a Pokemon shows up and isn't the Outlaw but shares the same species?
Hell, when would it ever even BE the outlaw? If I were a criminal with a bounty, however small, I don't think I would be waltzing up to literal law enforcement.
I'm imagining Loudred seeing a huge bounty for a Zangoose and hearing that a Zangoose is showing up. He panics, cuz this is a post-game-level bounty, and 'subtly' puts the guild into alert. Lo and behold, it's just a regular high-level adventurer here to pick up a bounty reward of his own.
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I doubt it. Otherwise, they would be far stronger than they've actually demonstrated, though that could be attributed by the fact we don't see them do much.
Honestly, I always found the minigame fun tbh, even if lore-wise it's just you sitting at the bottom of a hole all day.
There are a multitude of other figures to be fair.
Clients, possible suspects, witnesses, authority figures, the paparazzi, adventurers associated with guilds other than Wigglytuff's. That sort of thing.
We see a bunch of clients as well as Officer Magnezone and his Magnemites showing up inside the guild all the time, and these sorts of things need to be confirmed if someone is trying to impersonate other Pokemon by being the same species.
Edit: Like, better it's the Adventurer and not an outlaw impersonating an Adventurer. [Transform] and Disguise abilities exist. The whole 'gatekeeping' job doesn't really give info other than the person's species, so I always imagined a second checkpoint in the guild somewhere for identity confirmation.
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Would you want to cut your rare and expensive portion of a great cultivation resource in half?
Nah; lore reason is that there's no telling if it'll make it useless; I've already turned the item from a processed drink to an actual ginseng root.
Ooc reason is that I'll probably either flip for it, save it until someone gets a move I really think needs a powerup, or just wait until they have another one for fairness.
Do note that Ginseng has less of a reason to exist; I'm borrowing an idea from a rom hack where constant use of attack moves eventually levels them up, and expanding it to include evolving into different moves, even if the movepool never has it.
Fun Fact: Do you know GROWLithe never learns Growl? Dunno if they've fixed it yet, tho.
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If you want, you could try using the Ginseng as an excuse to learn a Pokémon's Egg Moves that they can't really learn naturally.
Since, apparently, Staraptor does not learn Detect naturally outside of Legends Arceus. Weird right?
Ten: Nailing an Outlaw the RIGHT Way!
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Well, it's been a few hours since we got the haul of a lifetime from sentry duty of all things, and I am glad that none of the Pokémon involved are being suspicious about it. Well, except Chatot, but I actually like the fact that he has to use some breathing exercises when he sees me.
The order from on high – Wigglytuff, presumably – is for us to once again head back out there and make the guild some more money, so we set off for Kangaskhan Storage right afterwards.
Why? Because I'm a smart cookie and already picked out a few jobs during a short break in yesterday's monotony. Today's not a day for further experimentation with the dungeons sadly, but we have to offload our dangerous cargo first.
Once we've deposited our precious items for future use, we head to my favorite part about the square!
"Good morning my good sirs! We're here for the good stuff!" I greet the front faces of the Kecleon syndicate, feeling the Poké burning a hole in our pouch begging to be spent. The payout from the Sentry duty was huge compared to what we usually pull in for a job, and it shows.
Pleasantries are exchanged, and with a glint in their eyes, the green brother pulls out a seed that seems to be… vibrating?
Oh sweet Alpaca Jesus, is that some Pokémon vibe? Are there seeds that people use for that?!
Oblivious to my mental worry about whether or not the PG rating of this world is at severe risk, Flora oohs and aahs at the seed and begins to pop off with exposition.
"This is pretty good, Watt; it's a Violent Seed! Apparently, it makes you super strong for a while out here, but…" She starts, then trails off, eyes darting between the seed, the slightly smirking brothers and me.
She does this twice, and that finally snaps me out of my funk when I realize that something's wrong.
"Uh, give me a sec, gents. Flora?"
"Mm?" She's not sweating since she's at the end of the day some kind of dino-plant – more plant emulating dino, but semantics – but the expression she has on her face makes me feel like there should be a comically large sweat drop on her temple.
"Let's talk a bit, ok?"
Whether or not the two believed my little lie, or more likely didn't care enough to, it didn't matter to me as I led my partner away to a spot hopefully out of earshot.
"What's the matter, Flora? Is it the seed?" I whisper.
"Y-Yeah. The seeds are great when used in the dungeon; the super strong part is amplified, but the… side-effects are barely there at all." She whispers back, and I start thinking on what the side effects for a probable X. Atk would be.
"The seed turns you into some kind of berserker? Makes you violent?" I guess, and she nods a little.
"Mhm. No one cares if you manage to get a seed from a dungeon on your own; they appear in very strong ones and can't be grown otherwise, like the Joy seed. If you're strong enough to get one from there, you're strong enough to use it without much consequences. But because of what they do to Pokémon out here, selling them isn't really…" She explains, voice getting smaller and smaller.
"Legal." I finish, and suddenly the smirks bloom into something a bit more sinister in my mind.
Holy shit. What's the plan? Do they want to frame us? Are we being 'invited' for knowing too much? I knew I was on the money about the cabal thing, so why the hell was I mouthing off about it?! And I had the guts to ask them for a reward after; why didn't I think that would come for free?!
It's not like I trust the feather duster and the other apprentices to do anything if we disappear, so backup's not coming. The badges don't work since we're not in a dungeon. I'm sure they're terrifyingly strong in the first place so fighting in the square will do jack. Even if we do get away, where will we buy our gear from? We're screwed either way; may as well see what they want, right?
… Fuck it, we ball.
I put an arm around Flora's shoulders, a smile on my face and lock all my paranoia into that little box in my gut. Then we walk back to the Kecleon, who still have the probable contraband right there on display for anyone to see.
"Sorry, we just needed a minute to discuss some stuff. We'll be taking the seed, all three of your Gummis, and a Max Elixir." I rattle off, watching them pack up our purchases and hand them over to me. The Violent seed is nearly as expensive as the Gummis.
As he's handing them over, Green leans over the counter to whisper in my ear, staring right into my eyes.
"Don't be too obvious, kid. It's a simple purchase, right?"
"Y-Yeah, right." I answer, my voice shaky despite my best efforts. My smile's still on my face though, so I'll take that as a win.
"Great! Thank you for your patronage!" He says, and the world seems a bit brighter as we skedaddle the fuck away from there.
God damn, the mafia's scary in Pokémon Land.
After offloading even more dangerous cargo – Kangashkan is a saint that hasn't blinked an eye at all the stuff we've brought in – we get back to the square, but before we head over to the watering hole, Flora's eyes sparkle and she beelines towards a group of-
Is that a team of fully evolved Pokémon?
By the time I rush over to join the Arbok, Drapion and Weavile, she's already gushing over them. The Weavile and Drapion seem to preen about it, standing taller and looking smug as she's asking them all about their accomplishments as an 'Item Search and Retrieval' team. Pretty sure it's big talk for saying they're treasure hunters, but they're fully evolved and look like they can drop my ass very quickly if I piss them off, so I don't put my foot in my mouth.
While she's speaking with the Weavile I get to talking with the other two about why they're in town.
"We've been searching for the ultimate treasures, and our leads brought us here…" Drapion starts, before glancing around at the town.
"…But this place doesn't seem to be much of a prospect."
Wait. Is this dude really dissing this place? Does that mean there are far more developed towns and cities out there? Or is he just bullshitting me?
"Ssspeak plainly, Drapion." Arbok admonishes, before turning to me, "Thisss ssspot isss pretty dingy, isss what he meansss."
Well, shit. He just straight up said it, then.
I shrug; it's not like I know any better place, but I come from a modern world, and this place is pretty rural by my standards too.
"You're not wrong; the place's pretty local, but my partner and guild are here, so it's home."
My response surprised them a bit; maybe they expected more solidarity or pride in this place? There are no phones here, man. This is this close to being hell for me.
Eventually, Flora's done with her convo, and we finally head over to the Watering Hole to plan a bit more before leaving. She waves goodbye with her leaf and Weavile returns it, to the visible interest of his peers.
Heh. My peach is super charming, isn't she? Dark types stand no chance!
"Watt, you have that look on your face again!" Flora pouts, and I laugh, bumping into her.
Maybe this place is dingy, but if Flora wants to stay, then we stay. When we're strong enough, we'll be able to go anywhere and do anything, so maybe she'll want to see the sights?
Beach Cave B1F
Flora's still a bit nervous, and I totally understand; it's our first proper job to take on an outlaw.
Client Machop (D)
Objective: Apprehend outlaw Lileep and take back stolen Blast Seed
Place: Beach Cave
Reward: 150 Poké
After the absolutely bullshit fight, we had with Drowzee, I'm not taking any chances. My Silver Bow's secure around my neck, and Flora's Zinc Band is tied the same. We have nearly 20 Geo Pebbles ready for lobbing, and two Blast Seeds. Finally, an Oran for us both.
No distractions or training until we nab the criminal, so we're practically a blur.
True to Pokémon bullshit, the enemies that were actually a fight before can now barely even scratch us; no moves required when a hearty tackle or kick to the face does the job just as well.
That Lileep's got no idea what's coming.
Beach Cave B4F
We reach the floor as fast as a bullet, with only the Sleep Seed we found on the previous one anything of note. The criminal has to be on this floor, so we remain tense and cautious as we go room to room.
It happens when we enter a long hall-like room; Flora's been a bit twitchy with firing off Razor Leaf at any threat my pebble throwing can't reach. Just as we cross the middle of it, something drops down from the roof behind us. I ready a strike, thinking it's another Kabuto, but my kick lands on tough petrified plant-flesh that giggles maniacally, before I'm sent flying with a blow to my everything.
"Watt!" Flora cries, spinning up Razor Leaf at the Lileep, and the move connects, sharp leaves carving out little gouges in her body. That's when I realize that she's tough. Maybe as tough as Drowzee.
Well, let's see how much this training has paid off, huh?!
"Don't worry! Focus on the others!" I assure, rushing back in with a Thundershock arcing out and grounding itself in the rock/grass type. I grit my teeth when she spasms for a second or two, but seems alright afterwards. Right, type disadvantage.
"Hey! Watch the sparks, you brat!" She huffs, and I'm about to fire back some kind of witty reply but she shoots Acid at me, and I'm too close to dodge.
"Fuck! That burns… Not so much, actually." I grit out, flopping on the wet ground to get most of the pink globs off, before realizing most of it had gone inert already. Guess Pokémon acid is milder than regular acids? Before bigger levels and moves come into play, that is.
I shake off the thought I should not be having in the middle of a fight, and throw myself to the side to dodge another sizzling glob. I take a glance to the side and see Flora sniping at Kabuto and Shellder that are trying to come at us with Razor Leaf.
They're practically nonentities, but a distraction may prove to be horrible when we're already fighting the outlaw. Seeing as a few more come trooping through a corridor, I realize that we can make this fight easier with the strategy that should have worked on Drowzee that time.
"Drown 'er!" I cry, already firing off a Thunder Wave, and the cloud of toxic powder settles around the wiggling silhouette of the suddenly less cocky Lileep just after I see her body twitch and spasm with paralysis.
It worked! Hell yeah!
The cloud's already dissipating since Flora didn't have much time to make it before turning back to clash with a Kabuto, sending it flying, but it's done its job enough that when the Lileep comes rocketing out of it, discolored tentacles stretched out to grab, all I have to do is hop back and blast her right back into it with Thundershock!
She wails a bit as the cloud dissipates, leaving her twitchy and raggedy, but any sympathy I have for her dies when she whips around a Geo Pebble from absolutely nowhere to crash into my face!
"Ow! Fuck you!" I cry nasally, feeling the bump on my head already forming. The dungeon will heal it pretty soon, but that hurts!
Flora finishes off the last Kabuto and turns to help me out, firing a Razor Leaf that the outlaw tries to dodge, but she's no Drowzee, and she gets pinned. I ignore the ache of my poor front and face and instead pour on the pain with one more Thundershock-
She's down.
She's down!
We won a fight without getting half-dead! Ha! Level-ups for the win, baby!
"We did it, Flora!" I grin, nearly giddy as I gingerly hug my partner, who never got scratched once in this fight – This is why range is king – as she looks down on the knocked out Lileep with something approaching sympathy in her eyes.
Oh boy. Time for some damage control; I do not want her getting soft over this.
So, I gently grab her cheeks and direct her away from the Lileep to look right at me.
"Flora?"
"Mm?" The currently squished peach responds.
"Repeat after me, okay?"
"'Kay."
"That is an outlaw."
"That is an outlaw."
"It's our job to kick outlaw ass."
"I-It's our job to… kick outlaw… butt?" She says instead, and I chuckle. Yeah, not gonna get that out of her anytime soon.
"We do not feel bad for kicking butt." I press on.
"…" She averts her eyes to the side, but I furrow my brows and lightly knead those squishy peach cheeks to get her to look at me again.
"C'mon, Flora. She's a criminal that stole some poor civilian's Blast Seed and ran into a dungeon. You told me that a lot of bad Pokémon have been cropping up with the rise of more dungeons. This is one of them." I explain softly.
"I know, but-" She starts, but I am not having it.
"Won't you be happy to see Machop getting his precious seed back? You know he uses them for construction, and this'll help him meet his quota and build more houses in town for Pokémon." I land the big guns, and if there's one thing I know she likes, it's helping Pokémon.
Her eyes light up again, and she repeats my words.
"We do n-not feel bad for kicking butt!"
Great! Let's skedaddle then. We'll do some more training tomorrow.
The order from on high – Wigglytuff, presumably – is for us to once again head back out there and make the guild some more money, so we set off for Kangaskhan Storage right afterwards.
Why? Because I'm a smart cookie and already picked out a few jobs during a short break in yesterday's monotony. Today's not a day for further experimentation with the dungeons sadly, but we have to offload our dangerous cargo first.
Once we've deposited our precious items for future use, we head to my favorite part about the square!
"Good morning my good sirs! We're here for the good stuff!" I greet the front faces of the Kecleon syndicate, feeling the Poké burning a hole in our pouch begging to be spent. The payout from the Sentry duty was huge compared to what we usually pull in for a job, and it shows.
Pleasantries are exchanged, and with a glint in their eyes, the green brother pulls out a seed that seems to be… vibrating?
Oh sweet Alpaca Jesus, is that some Pokémon vibe? Are there seeds that people use for that?!
Oblivious to my mental worry about whether or not the PG rating of this world is at severe risk, Flora oohs and aahs at the seed and begins to pop off with exposition.
"This is pretty good, Watt; it's a Violent Seed! Apparently, it makes you super strong for a while out here, but…" She starts, then trails off, eyes darting between the seed, the slightly smirking brothers and me.
She does this twice, and that finally snaps me out of my funk when I realize that something's wrong.
"Uh, give me a sec, gents. Flora?"
"Mm?" She's not sweating since she's at the end of the day some kind of dino-plant – more plant emulating dino, but semantics – but the expression she has on her face makes me feel like there should be a comically large sweat drop on her temple.
"Let's talk a bit, ok?"
Whether or not the two believed my little lie, or more likely didn't care enough to, it didn't matter to me as I led my partner away to a spot hopefully out of earshot.
"What's the matter, Flora? Is it the seed?" I whisper.
"Y-Yeah. The seeds are great when used in the dungeon; the super strong part is amplified, but the… side-effects are barely there at all." She whispers back, and I start thinking on what the side effects for a probable X. Atk would be.
"The seed turns you into some kind of berserker? Makes you violent?" I guess, and she nods a little.
"Mhm. No one cares if you manage to get a seed from a dungeon on your own; they appear in very strong ones and can't be grown otherwise, like the Joy seed. If you're strong enough to get one from there, you're strong enough to use it without much consequences. But because of what they do to Pokémon out here, selling them isn't really…" She explains, voice getting smaller and smaller.
"Legal." I finish, and suddenly the smirks bloom into something a bit more sinister in my mind.
Holy shit. What's the plan? Do they want to frame us? Are we being 'invited' for knowing too much? I knew I was on the money about the cabal thing, so why the hell was I mouthing off about it?! And I had the guts to ask them for a reward after; why didn't I think that would come for free?!
It's not like I trust the feather duster and the other apprentices to do anything if we disappear, so backup's not coming. The badges don't work since we're not in a dungeon. I'm sure they're terrifyingly strong in the first place so fighting in the square will do jack. Even if we do get away, where will we buy our gear from? We're screwed either way; may as well see what they want, right?
… Fuck it, we ball.
I put an arm around Flora's shoulders, a smile on my face and lock all my paranoia into that little box in my gut. Then we walk back to the Kecleon, who still have the probable contraband right there on display for anyone to see.
"Sorry, we just needed a minute to discuss some stuff. We'll be taking the seed, all three of your Gummis, and a Max Elixir." I rattle off, watching them pack up our purchases and hand them over to me. The Violent seed is nearly as expensive as the Gummis.
As he's handing them over, Green leans over the counter to whisper in my ear, staring right into my eyes.
"Don't be too obvious, kid. It's a simple purchase, right?"
"Y-Yeah, right." I answer, my voice shaky despite my best efforts. My smile's still on my face though, so I'll take that as a win.
"Great! Thank you for your patronage!" He says, and the world seems a bit brighter as we skedaddle the fuck away from there.
God damn, the mafia's scary in Pokémon Land.
After offloading even more dangerous cargo – Kangashkan is a saint that hasn't blinked an eye at all the stuff we've brought in – we get back to the square, but before we head over to the watering hole, Flora's eyes sparkle and she beelines towards a group of-
Is that a team of fully evolved Pokémon?
By the time I rush over to join the Arbok, Drapion and Weavile, she's already gushing over them. The Weavile and Drapion seem to preen about it, standing taller and looking smug as she's asking them all about their accomplishments as an 'Item Search and Retrieval' team. Pretty sure it's big talk for saying they're treasure hunters, but they're fully evolved and look like they can drop my ass very quickly if I piss them off, so I don't put my foot in my mouth.
While she's speaking with the Weavile I get to talking with the other two about why they're in town.
"We've been searching for the ultimate treasures, and our leads brought us here…" Drapion starts, before glancing around at the town.
"…But this place doesn't seem to be much of a prospect."
Wait. Is this dude really dissing this place? Does that mean there are far more developed towns and cities out there? Or is he just bullshitting me?
"Ssspeak plainly, Drapion." Arbok admonishes, before turning to me, "Thisss ssspot isss pretty dingy, isss what he meansss."
Well, shit. He just straight up said it, then.
I shrug; it's not like I know any better place, but I come from a modern world, and this place is pretty rural by my standards too.
"You're not wrong; the place's pretty local, but my partner and guild are here, so it's home."
My response surprised them a bit; maybe they expected more solidarity or pride in this place? There are no phones here, man. This is this close to being hell for me.
Eventually, Flora's done with her convo, and we finally head over to the Watering Hole to plan a bit more before leaving. She waves goodbye with her leaf and Weavile returns it, to the visible interest of his peers.
Heh. My peach is super charming, isn't she? Dark types stand no chance!
"Watt, you have that look on your face again!" Flora pouts, and I laugh, bumping into her.
Maybe this place is dingy, but if Flora wants to stay, then we stay. When we're strong enough, we'll be able to go anywhere and do anything, so maybe she'll want to see the sights?
Beach Cave B1F
Flora's still a bit nervous, and I totally understand; it's our first proper job to take on an outlaw.
Client Machop (D)
Objective: Apprehend outlaw Lileep and take back stolen Blast Seed
Place: Beach Cave
Reward: 150 Poké
After the absolutely bullshit fight, we had with Drowzee, I'm not taking any chances. My Silver Bow's secure around my neck, and Flora's Zinc Band is tied the same. We have nearly 20 Geo Pebbles ready for lobbing, and two Blast Seeds. Finally, an Oran for us both.
No distractions or training until we nab the criminal, so we're practically a blur.
True to Pokémon bullshit, the enemies that were actually a fight before can now barely even scratch us; no moves required when a hearty tackle or kick to the face does the job just as well.
That Lileep's got no idea what's coming.
Beach Cave B4F
We reach the floor as fast as a bullet, with only the Sleep Seed we found on the previous one anything of note. The criminal has to be on this floor, so we remain tense and cautious as we go room to room.
It happens when we enter a long hall-like room; Flora's been a bit twitchy with firing off Razor Leaf at any threat my pebble throwing can't reach. Just as we cross the middle of it, something drops down from the roof behind us. I ready a strike, thinking it's another Kabuto, but my kick lands on tough petrified plant-flesh that giggles maniacally, before I'm sent flying with a blow to my everything.
"Watt!" Flora cries, spinning up Razor Leaf at the Lileep, and the move connects, sharp leaves carving out little gouges in her body. That's when I realize that she's tough. Maybe as tough as Drowzee.
Well, let's see how much this training has paid off, huh?!
"Don't worry! Focus on the others!" I assure, rushing back in with a Thundershock arcing out and grounding itself in the rock/grass type. I grit my teeth when she spasms for a second or two, but seems alright afterwards. Right, type disadvantage.
"Hey! Watch the sparks, you brat!" She huffs, and I'm about to fire back some kind of witty reply but she shoots Acid at me, and I'm too close to dodge.
"Fuck! That burns… Not so much, actually." I grit out, flopping on the wet ground to get most of the pink globs off, before realizing most of it had gone inert already. Guess Pokémon acid is milder than regular acids? Before bigger levels and moves come into play, that is.
I shake off the thought I should not be having in the middle of a fight, and throw myself to the side to dodge another sizzling glob. I take a glance to the side and see Flora sniping at Kabuto and Shellder that are trying to come at us with Razor Leaf.
They're practically nonentities, but a distraction may prove to be horrible when we're already fighting the outlaw. Seeing as a few more come trooping through a corridor, I realize that we can make this fight easier with the strategy that should have worked on Drowzee that time.
"Drown 'er!" I cry, already firing off a Thunder Wave, and the cloud of toxic powder settles around the wiggling silhouette of the suddenly less cocky Lileep just after I see her body twitch and spasm with paralysis.
It worked! Hell yeah!
The cloud's already dissipating since Flora didn't have much time to make it before turning back to clash with a Kabuto, sending it flying, but it's done its job enough that when the Lileep comes rocketing out of it, discolored tentacles stretched out to grab, all I have to do is hop back and blast her right back into it with Thundershock!
She wails a bit as the cloud dissipates, leaving her twitchy and raggedy, but any sympathy I have for her dies when she whips around a Geo Pebble from absolutely nowhere to crash into my face!
"Ow! Fuck you!" I cry nasally, feeling the bump on my head already forming. The dungeon will heal it pretty soon, but that hurts!
Flora finishes off the last Kabuto and turns to help me out, firing a Razor Leaf that the outlaw tries to dodge, but she's no Drowzee, and she gets pinned. I ignore the ache of my poor front and face and instead pour on the pain with one more Thundershock-
She's down.
She's down!
We won a fight without getting half-dead! Ha! Level-ups for the win, baby!
"We did it, Flora!" I grin, nearly giddy as I gingerly hug my partner, who never got scratched once in this fight – This is why range is king – as she looks down on the knocked out Lileep with something approaching sympathy in her eyes.
Oh boy. Time for some damage control; I do not want her getting soft over this.
So, I gently grab her cheeks and direct her away from the Lileep to look right at me.
"Flora?"
"Mm?" The currently squished peach responds.
"Repeat after me, okay?"
"'Kay."
"That is an outlaw."
"That is an outlaw."
"It's our job to kick outlaw ass."
"I-It's our job to… kick outlaw… butt?" She says instead, and I chuckle. Yeah, not gonna get that out of her anytime soon.
"We do not feel bad for kicking butt." I press on.
"…" She averts her eyes to the side, but I furrow my brows and lightly knead those squishy peach cheeks to get her to look at me again.
"C'mon, Flora. She's a criminal that stole some poor civilian's Blast Seed and ran into a dungeon. You told me that a lot of bad Pokémon have been cropping up with the rise of more dungeons. This is one of them." I explain softly.
"I know, but-" She starts, but I am not having it.
"Won't you be happy to see Machop getting his precious seed back? You know he uses them for construction, and this'll help him meet his quota and build more houses in town for Pokémon." I land the big guns, and if there's one thing I know she likes, it's helping Pokémon.
Her eyes light up again, and she repeats my words.
"We do n-not feel bad for kicking butt!"
Great! Let's skedaddle then. We'll do some more training tomorrow.