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mass-piplup-outbreak · 2 years

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End of the Line - Chapter 11

[first] - [previous] - [next] read it on ao3! ( special thanks to digitalpen, baryonyxxlsx, Asperanna, and IDs_Fantasy for beta-reading this chapter!)

Chapter 11: Opelucid (Part 1) Ingo and Emmet go on a trip.

“Hm…” Shauntal hums in thought, narrowing her eyes. “I arrived as soon as I could when you mentioned an emergency, but…”

Emmet, who’s been nervously hovering behind her and twiddling his thumbs together, steps forward. “Don’t say this isn’t an emergency.”

“Well, it’s certainly concerning,” Shauntal agrees. “But it’s not an emergency.”

“He broke the TV last night!” Emmet exaggeratedly gestures to the still-sparking remains of their television. He’d been rudely woken up by the crashing noises in the wee hours of the morning and, forgetting momentarily that he had a ghost brother, had grabbed his bedside lamp to defend himself against any potential intruders. The scene that he found in the living room was both disappointing and horrifying.

“He doesn’t even remember that he did it.” Emmet lowers his volume, afraid of voicing that particular fact too loudly. Ingo’s definitely embarrassed enough. “That is an emergency.”

“Calm down now.” Shauntal places a hand on his shoulder, halting his jittery motions. “The whims of a specter are easily understood if one simply asks.”

Emmet’s anxious smile morphs into a look of utter confusion. “What does that mean?”

Instead of responding to his inquiry, Shauntal turns to the journal, which Emmet has left open on the coffee table for Ingo’s input. Though Ingo hasn't spoken since Shauntal's arrival, Emmet did not want to deprive him of the chance to speak if he chose to, especially given the journal was his only form of communication (not counting Ingo's rather disastrous displays of ghostly power).

“Ingo,” Shauntal says. “Is this the first time you’ve lost awareness of your actions?”

Emmet bites the inside of his cheek, restraining the urge to remind Shauntal that this was just a one-off situation. After all, he would have noticed if Ingo was doing stuff like this on the regular, right?

After a moment of hesitation, the pen lifts off the table.

It isn’t.

For the briefest of seconds, Emmet is sure his shock is visible on his face and he shouts, “What?!” Almost immediately after, he instinctively slaps a hand over his mouth.

Now was not the time to let Ingo see him all worried! No way! Nope! Nuh-uh! Emmet has to be a supportive brother right now, even if Ingo has been hiding some major issues for a while. “Uh, I mean,” he clears his throat. “It’s okay?”

Shauntal looks at Emmet like she’s looking at the biggest idiot in the world. He flushes in embarrassment, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact.

“Right. Well, I’m not your therapist, so here’s my suggestion. You two…” she points her first two fingers at Emmet and in the vague direction of Ingo. “Need to decipher the meaning behind these events of shrouded times.”

Emmet tilts his head. “Huh?”

“You need to find a common thread between the blackouts,” Shauntal clarifies, clearly unimpressed. “Also, Emmet, you need to stop calling me at 3 AM unless someone is actively in danger. I’m going to block your number if you do this again.”

“Mm-hm!” Emmet nods enthusiastically. “No more calls before 8 AM!”

“Make it 10,” Shauntal argues.

“No more calls before 10 AM!” Emmet amends his previous statement. “You got it! Okay, byyyyyyye Shauntal!” He begins quickly and eagerly pushing her out of the apartment.

“Wait, I wanted to use your bathr-”

Emmet slams the door in Shauntal’s face. Once she’s finally gone, he sighs in relief, slumping his shoulders and turning back towards his seemingly-empty apartment.

“Ingo.” Emmet looks at the journal when he speaks to his brother, which he hates. He’s keenly aware that Ingo exists beyond his journal, but without any visuals on him, it’s hard to decipher exactly where he’s standing. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

When the pen lifts up again, Emmet crosses his arm and peers over the page.

Sorry.

“I’m not-!” Emmet stops himself and takes a deep breath. “I’m not mad, Ingo. I just…”

Unable to come up with the right words , Emmet balls his fists and forces himself to take a seaton the couch. He presses his knuckles into his temples and sucks a breath of air through his clenched teeth, trying desperately to force himself back on-script.

Emmet feels something poking into one of his palms and looks down. When he sees the pen, floating in midair right in front of his face, it’s like all the stress leaves his body at once.

“You’re right.” Emmet drops his arms. “I am only hurting myself. Thanks.”

A beat of silence passes, without so much as a scratch of pen against paper, and it’s so familiar that Emmet doesn’t immediately realize that it’s out of the ordinary. Ingo hasn’t exactly caught on that Emmet needs time for his words, and yet here he is, patiently waiting for him to find his way back to the conversation. Did he remember that fact, or did he figure it out all on his own?

Either way, Emmet’s impressed with him.

The air beside Emmet feels cold, a sensation he knows the meaning of by now. A small smile returns to his face, just slightly. He has to resist leaning over to rest his head on a shoulder that isn’t there.

“I am going to help you,” Emmet finally says. “We are going to figure this out. Together.”

Promise?

“Of course,” Emmet smiles. “So. Have you noticed any patterns in your blackouts?”

‥

‥

As much as they love trains, it’s a little awkward to take the subway when Emmet’s off the clock. Too many passengers recognize one of the famous Subway Masters and demand a battle from him, which is annoying when he’s just trying to enjoy his day off. In a way, it reminds him of their Pokémon journey all those years ago, when every trainer was itching for a fight against each other, and just making eye contact was an invitation to battle

For that reason, Emmet takes up Elesa’s offer for a car ride. Of course, only after Ingo assured him that he hasn’t phased through any of the planes or trains he’s been on so far, so an automobile should be fine. The degree of control over his corporeality was still a mystery, but Ingo seemed to be able to interact with furniture. Theseat next to Emmet is cold yet comforting.

As fashion-forward as Elesa is, her car is the exact opposite. She only has it for sparse occasions when it’s absolutely necessary, and this definitely shows. There are rips and tears in the seats, some of which are still fresh from the last time the Emolgas had to visit the Pokémon center. There’s also a suspicious stain on the floor, in the same spot Emmet vaguely remembers throwing up after a night out.

This is the first time in a while that the three of them have gone out on the road together. It’s nostalgic, and for the first time in a while, that nostalgia doesn’t hurt. Ingo and Emmet ran into Elesa for the first time on Route 5, where she’d demanded a battle after watching them steamroll the old Nimbasa Gym. They had no idea back then that they’d just met their best friend.

The pen pokes the side of Emmet’s head.

A small pain stabs through Emmet’s heart. Things are different now. Ingo is different now. What he wouldn’t give to bring him back, to hug his living, breathing brother once again.

“Yes?” Emmet tilts his head.

Ingo taps the pen on the journal, which lays open in the small space between them.

Family?

Emmet nods excitedly. “Yup, Uncle Drayden is our family! We are going to be staying with him for a few days.”

Were we close?

“Well…” Emmet leans his head against the car window. Damn, how is he supposed to explain this? “He raised us both. We were all the family we had left, so we cared about each other. He’s proud of me. He was proud of you, too.”

Elesa rolls her eyes. “If you cared about him so much, you would have said something.”

“Elesa.” Emmet glares a warning at her. There are some things he’s not ready for Ingo to hear just yet, like the huge falling out their family had when he went missing. There’s no point, anyway! He’d just blame himself, and the only one who holds any blame here is…

“It’s been three years.” She holds her ground, drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. “I just thought that after you went through the whole legal side of declaring Ingo dead, you’d-”

“Elesa!” Emmet shouts, cutting her off. “Ingo doesn’t need to know that!”

“He’s literally dead!”

This time, Ingo pokes the pen into Emmet’s hand. Ingo is like an ice pack, and without even trying to, the red hot rage melts out of Emmet’s chest.

I know you did that, Ingo writes.

“You do?”

I was there.

“Right,” Emmet coughs awkwardly, slumping back in his seat. “You were there.”

“All I’m saying is, Drayden loves you both,” Elesa reminds him. Emmet tilts his hat down in shame. “You don’t have to spill the whole ghost situation on him, but he at least deserves to know why your stance changed.”

Emmet crosses his arms, staring up at the ceiling. If Ingo is confused by the conversation, then he doesn’t show it. He leaves the journal untouched, the closest thing they get to an awkward silence these days.

“This will be a good visit,” Emmet insists. “It will help Ingo’s memories to see where we grew up.”’

What about you?

“Me?” Emmet waves Ingo’s concern off. “I am Emmet! I will be fine.”

“Don’t listen to him, Ingo,” Elesa states. “Your uncle is going to kill Emmet.”

“Our uncle is going to kill me,” Emmet confirms, a bright smile on his face nonetheless.

‥

“Alright! Last call for those bound for Drayden’s house!” Elesa announces as she pulls up to the nicest, biggest house Ingo has ever seen. “Choo choo!”

“I appreciate the vernacular,” Emmet nods, slipping Ingo’s journal and pen back into his coat pocket for the time being. Though he knows it’s probably for the best that they don’t use them in front of their uncle, he still can’t help but mourn their absence.

As Emmet and Elesa work to pull his bag out of the trunk, Ingo busies himself with surveying the town. Opelucid City is a perfect blend of historic and modern architecture, a town that looks towards the future while preserving its past. The view from the lawn is familiar in the same way that Emmet was, in the same way everything’s been since that fateful day.

He can just barely…

“EMMET!”

Ingo’s introspection is interrupted by a pink blur barreling into his brother. His shock lasts only a few seconds, before Emmet lifts the young woman over his shoulder with a victorious smirk on his face.

Does Ingo know this lady? She does seem a bit familiar…

“Got you, Iris!” Emmet beams as Elesa hands his bag over. Since when was Emmet this strong, anyway?! “Thanks for the ride, Elly!”

Now that he starts to think about it… Ingo did spot Iris at his funeral, didn’t he? Maybe they were this close, once upon a time. A friend of Emmet’s would have been a friend of his, after all.

“I’ll be back to pick you up early Monday,” Elesa promises, before turning to Iris, who’s uncontrollably giggling. “Iris, I need an answer. Are you joining us for the end of summer girl’s weekend?”

“You know it!” Iris offers a thumbs up. “See you Monday!”

Emmet and Iris both wave as Elesa slips back into the driver’s seat and drives away. Ingo is surprised to find himself doing the same.

“Okay, okay!” Iris starts to struggle in Emmet’s grip, kicking her legs slightly. “You can put me down now!”

Emmet graciously allows Iris to return to her own two feet, dropping her without much fanfare. “What are you doing here, anyway? I didn’t know you were also visiting.”

“Come on, Em.” Iris lightly punches his shoulder. “You think I wouldn’t take the chance to see you again? We’re getting the family back together!”

Wait, wait, hold on. Family?! Is Iris also their family?! Ingo thinks he knows even less about their relatives now than he did before.

“Right, yup!” Emmet nods. “The whole family!”

“Oh.” Iris freezes in place, her shoulders drawing up as she winces. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

Ingo can practically see the gears turning in Emmet’s head. “Oh, yes,” he finally says, too stilted for even him. “It’s fine. Do not worry.” He robotically pats Iris’s shoulder, like it’s something he should do instead of something he wants to.

With the situation resolved, Iris loops her arm around Emmet’s and guides him inside. “Drayden had to go take care of an emergency at the gym, but he’ll be back for dinner!” she explains. “Do you need help getting settled in?”

For some reason, watching them walk away, without knowing if they could be leaving him behind, makes Ingo’s heart break. His feet are glued to the ground, and he can’t make himself move, and it’s just like-!

Ingo snaps his eyes shut and shakes his head. He is not in the Alabaster Icelands anymore. He’s in Unova, and he’s safe! Emmet saved him.

With his head between his hands, Ingo trails after his family.

‥

Ingo barely gets a chance to look at the room Emmet barricades them inside of before his brother practically collapses against the door. He takes a deep breath, and Ingo instinctively reaches out to ground him. Emmet flinches and shivers slightly, but the smile he offers in Ingo’s direction is all the assurance he needs.

“Thank you.” Emmet pushes himself off the door, pulling out the journal and pen from his pockets. He leaves them on top of a desk on their right hand side. “Ingo, this is our bedroom. Do you remember it?”

Ingo pauses, finally allowing himself a moment to take in his surroundings. The bedroom is practically split down the middle, a twin bed and a desk on either side. On the left side, the bed has a white comforter and sheets, and the desk is piled with books on battle strategies. Emmet at some point hung up photos of himself and their friends, often candid shots of them messing around as teenagers. There’s a rather embarrassing picture that appears to show Ingo sprawled out on the ground after falling off a skateboard.

And the right side…

Oh, Ingo definitely knows this.

His bed has a black blanket draped over it, and just like in his room in their apartment, there are star stickers on the ceiling above it. His walls have a few old posters from bands Ingo’s sure he was obsessed with back in the day, as well as a few of Emmet’s pictures. They’re joined by some sketches, which Ingo vaguely recognizes as coming from his own hand.

It’s another example of the person he used to be, perfectly and lovingly preserved, awaiting the day he would come back.

Ingo’s not sure if he recognizes this old version of himself, both three centuries and six years out of date. That Ingo may no longer exist.

Right, Emmet asked him a question, didn’t he? Picking up the pen from his desk, Ingo decides it would be rude to keep him waiting any longer.

I think I do.

That bright, genuine smile returns to Emmet’s face, and Ingo feels like a fraud.

#submas #subway boss ingo #warden ingo #ingo #subway master emmet #subway boss emmet #subway master ingo #gym trainer elesa #fanfic #rav's writing #twin spirits

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thetravelingymleader · 1 year

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(CLOSED STARTER FOR @three-out-of-four)

"Heh, ain't you cute?" Nox chuckles lightly as he sits down next to his beloved gengar, who currently has the zorua egg encompassed in it's lap, stubby arms wrapped tightly around it.

Pluto looks over at his trainer, his red eyes full of curiosity at them, before grinning, "Gen!" he enunciates happily.

"Well, I'm glad you like your baby brother," Nox stretches his arms toward the ceiling, getting comfortable on his aunt's plush purple couch, "I'm sure you two are going to get along great." he rubs the soft spikes on Pluto's head before resting his eyes for a moment or two.

"Gen?"

"What's up buddy?"

"Gen? Gen, GEN GEN GAR!"

Pluto is practically pulling Nox's arm off, excitable alarm in his voice, The trainer groans.

"Pluto okay, I heard you already, 'the egg', 'the egg' I know-" Nox suddenly stops mid-sentence, his eyes widening as he finally looks back over at his partner.

The egg is shaking violently with intense fervent. Soon after, tiny cracks start appearing along the fragile shell. Nox's heart shoots into his throat.

"AUNTIE, THE EGG, IT'S HATCHING!" He all but shouts to Shauntal in the other room.

#pkmn irl #pkmn rp #the egg arc #closed rp #three-out-of-four

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princeofpasio · 1 year

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Going through the datamine pairs

Palentine's

Mallow looks like a great tank, reminiscent of Fall Allister. Her constant healing is absurd, and being able to max defense, crit, and lower sp.def is nice. Her grid is great as well, giving her more healing and defensive options (on grid Vigilance and Impervious is always nice), plus more ways to debuff the opponents.

Elesa is probably the weakest of the new pairs; a striker relying on super effective damage is fine, but when that damage relies on fly and metronome? Kind of sucks. You definitely wouldn't want to use her as a main damage dealer, but it's hard to see her as an effective secondary damage dealer either. Also she ruined the trend of Palentine units being techs and supports with debuffing move.

Kalos VA

SS Lysandre looks fine. He's definitely made for his Extreme Battle and CS fights. A one use B move is kind of funny compared to Emma who has a similar B move, but it's expected to take out all the opponents in one shot anyways, so you won't need a second use.

Anabel's kit is kind of annoying because she's relying on field effects to be tanky, but doesn't actually do much to help the team in way of stats. Other pairs that rely on field effects to reduce damage at least boost a bunch of offensive stats (Lyra, Sabrina, etc), but Anabel doesn't really do that. Plus headbutt flinch kind of negates it anyways, reducing damage doesn't matter when the enemy is flinching. Her grid also requires a lot if you want her to do anything significant.

I think Emma is the strongest of the VA pairs. She has the same B move gimmick as Lysandre, but I'd said hers is stronger just by virtue of being unlimited; as long as you use it against a poisoned opponent, you can pretty much spam it with toxic freebie. She doesn't buff crit but she literally doesn't need to when her B move and sync are guaranteed to crit. And despite being a striker, she's very useful in supporting the team since she has potions and buffs team speed, plus team evasion at higher grid levels.

Lodge

...Is Morty the first male character to have 5 alts? He looks good, even though no gengar. He's sort of out of place with the lodge units for having three trainer moves, but otherwise his kit fits in. He's the usual evasion support, but I always appreciate a synchro healing pair.

Upgrades

The long awaited Sycamore upgrade... Looks pretty good, and pretty much what you'd expect for him. I was hoping for a way to max crit, but Team Sharp Entry 1 is better than nothing. Quick Cure is nice, and Freevenge makes him even better for gauge hungry pairs. Team Beef Up is redundant since he already has Team Shout, but it's at least good for faster ramp up.

Leon getting Max Moves finally is nice, and gives some hope for other pairs getting similar upgrades.

Elesa's grid expansion looks good. Just the usual expansion to make her more self-sufficient and give her more sync multipliers.

Shauntal's grid looks great and finally gives her a purpose. Lessen burn 9 and Gritty was pretty much a given to make her base kit usable. I think an ability like Mutually Assured to burn an opponent when she burns herself would've been more fun, but Hot to the Touch works okay, even if it conflicts with her evasion boosts.

Roark's three Standfast tiles are extremely funny to see. He still won't survive any long battles, but at least he got them.

MAYLENE. Very happy to see her grid, she got Pep Rally like I wanted, and Sterner Stuff is nice to see. I wish she had gotten some move multipliers like HP Trade-Off, but her grid is still decent.

#op

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moonvalecrossing · 4 years

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Now that you got the Gym Leaders and such out of the way, how about one for the Elite Four members (Champions will not count since only, like, 3 of them have a specialized type)? Since only 8 out of the 14 types used have more than one E4 member, this means that Koga, Aaron, Bertha, Siebold, Olivia, and Kahili literally have no competition. :P (Also, I do know that you're not really fond of either Fire-type Elite Four, so for favorite, I guess you gotta choose the one you dislike less)

LETS GO. For types with only one elite four representative, I’m gonna talk about why I like or dislike them.

Normal Type- There isn’t one. MOVING ON.

Fighting Type- Least Favorite: Bruno is terrifying. In Generations he’s just muscles on muscles on muscles. And I saw an image of him from Lets Go games and good lord that man has demon eyes.

Fighting Type- Most Favorite: Marshal. Sure he’s the only other one but I do genuinely like his design. Even if his eyebrows are out there. He wears a mouth guard to protect his teeth! Man’s smart.

Flying Type- I like Kahili. Her design is cute. And I absolutely love how the flying type fits her as a golfer! I just wish she hadn’t come out of nowhere.

Poison Type- It’s just Koga and I’ve talked about him already. :P

Ground Type- Bertha’s the only one. I really love this sweet looking old lady. She’s totally Agatha’s twin sister or cousin and no one can convince me otherwise.

Rock Type- There’s only Olivia. While I love the idea of a strong rock type leader woman, I hate the character on a design and character basis. Sexy, barely anything wearing single woman. Not to mention all the robotic stufful in her house being popular among single women. Because IF A HOT CHICK IS SINGLE WE MUST MAKE SURE ITS KNOWN. Women are distinctly tied to a man in their life, don’t you know. And stop pointing her ass at us in the game, Game Freak. Its freaking gross. Especially considering its not just her butt pointed at us and they’ve arched her back in such a way for it to bring to mind.. things. Doesn’t help that she’s another female character who’s wearing ‘pants’ that are about as useful as boxer style panties and might as well just be that.

Bug Type- Shout out to Aaron for being unexpected on my part. Of all the types I could see in the elite four, Bug Type is not one of them. Precious bug boy.

Ghost Type- Least Favorite: (ITS ACEROLA. SHE COUNTS!) Okay fine I’ll pic someone else. We’ll go with Shauntal. For whatever reason her color scheme just does not work for me. Its too bland. I feel like a long dress would have looked nicer on her. Also that freaking.. whatever around her neck. Its supposed to look like a cat but.. why? Why though? Why not just give her a weird ass poofy neck thing with a clasp that looks like a duskull’s head or something since she’s a ghost type trainer? I mean I know the answer. They want her to be totes kawaii ghosty spooky girl. That’s why she’s got a short girlish dress instead of a cool long dress. Her being a writer’s cute though.

Ghost Type- Most Favorite: Sassy attitude grandma Agatha is best ghost trainer. I want to see her in a game again. That ISN’T a remake. YOU BETTER NOT HAVE KILLED HER OFF, GAMEFREAK. If freaking Oak gets to keep kicking, his rival better freaking get to as well. She’s in pokemon masters and that’s cool. But she looks like they have her a youth lift so she’s not TOO OLD LOOKING.

Steel Type- Least Favorite: Twig Legs Molayne. I was happy so see him in there though.

Steel Type- Most Favorite: Wikstrom is a knight. That is funny. His face reminds me of Steiner from Final Fantasy IX.

Fire Type- Least Favorite: Ronald McDonald I mean Flint. Yeah. Flint McDonald. Because I hate clowns.

Fire Type- Most Favorite: I might dislike Malva for being a member of the evil team and not getting removed from her position but I do like her design much more than basically anyone else in Team Flare.

Water Type- I love Siebold. He looks like a grumpy chef and I can picture him as the Gordon Ramsay of the pokemon world. He’s also cute.

Grass Type- There isn’t one~

Electric Type- There isn’t one here either~

Psychic Type- Least Favorite: CAITLIN. Sleepy spoiled little rich girl who went from having her butler do all her battles for her because she couldn’t control her emotions and psychic powers and then somehow becomes an ELITE FOUR MEMBER? Shit I’d accept her as a gym leader first but not basically one of the five most powerful trainers in a region. At least she seems like less of a sleepy rich bitch in Black2White2. Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s a sleepy brat in Masters again though. Also I want to cut her hair because god damn is that unnatural.

Psychic Type- Most Favorite: Lucian and Will are basically the same person in my eyes and neither of them are Caitlin, so props to both of them.

Ice Type- Least Favorite: Lorelei. Because she’s an ice queen in personality and the booby character in design. Also in Fire Red/Leaf Green she collects pokedolls because we gotta make sure to have something kawaii girly for our titty character. But it has to be a SECRET because people knowing her dark dark secret of collecting cute dolls as a smart adult calculated ice queen would probably leave her embarrassed and venerable and ugh sometimes I hate Japanese characters. ALSO, SHE GOT TIDDIES MAKE SURE YOU NOTICE HOW MASSIVE THEM THINGS ARE. Anime sure won’t let you forget it. Also put on some clothes suited to the cold. Jeez.

Ice Type- Most Favorite: I love Glacia’s design. Especially since it doesn’t look like she’s be too cold in an ice filled battle room. She has that older dignified woman thing going for her. My brain wants to give her more of a southern belle accent.

Dragon Type- Least Favorite: I’m putting Lance here only because I have to have a least favorite. I love Lance.

Dragon Type- Most Favorite: Drake looks like a crazy old man who spent years at sea hunting down that giant Dragonite Bill saw in the anime as his white whale. Hot Grandpa Energy. This is a man you respect. Those eyes are scary intimidating.

Dark Type- Least Favorite: Karen, because I have to pick someone as least favorite. I love Karen.

Dark Type- Most Favorite: Sidney is cute and has a very friendly personality that I like a lot. He totally feels like the type who’d see a little girl crying because she didn’t win the cute prize at a carnival and would win it for her. Also, unlike Grimsley, SIDNEY KNOWS HOW TO WEAR SOCKS WITH DRESS SHOES. God damnit, Grimsley what is wrong with you.

Fairy Type- There isn’t one. I hope next gen has one!

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ghxstwritten · 5 years

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bulletproof angels.

starter for @streethxart

"'Ey, yer that famous writer lady, huh... whatcha got in the bag?”

Had she anticipated being followed tonight, Shauntal would’ve indulged in a few less drinks at the bar prior. And yet, here she is, stumbling about the alleyways of Virbank, and immediately landing herself in the sour company of several street rats. Oh, how quickly a relaxing night out can spiral toward such undesirable depths...

“I-I don’t have to answer to any of you, you know that, right?” Ballsy, her voice is, each word slurring the further she speaks. It’s true that, as a member of the Elite Four, she could easily wipe through the three men cornering her now... when fully prepared, that is. However, seeing as she’s accompanied tonight solely by her Chandelure, Isobel, the chances of her being outnumbered are as apparent as the men’s growing hostility. The bespectacled author holds her ground as they zero in on her, their tones becoming all the more malicious behind their snarling catcalls.

"Oh, c’mon lil’ lady... do we scare ya? Just show us what ya got there...”

Clutching her possessions with a ferocity, Shauntal continues to stand firm. She takes a large gulp, however, as footsteps can be heard approaching from the shadows that linger in the back alley labyrinth. Quickly reaching for her sole capsule, she’s ready to put on a fight, even though she’s uncertain any good will come of it. Despite how powerful Isobel is, the odds are tipped terribly out of their favor, their chances of escape slimming with each passing second.

“I-I’m warning all of you to b-back off!” Her shouts ricochet between the acoustics of the alleyway, and yet, her threat falls upon deaf ears. The men each pull for their own capsules, their crooked grins gleaming beneath flickering neon signs. “T-This is your last chance...!”

#[ t: bulletproof angels ]#streethxart #[[ ok this is FAR from my best #it's messy but hopefully a decent starting point??#i can't wait for her to meet violet! c: ]]#;✨gravekeeper [defunct threads]

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indepthpokemonheadcanons · 6 years

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Unova Elite Four

The Unova Elite Four is considered to be one of the toughest in the world, with all four Elites boasting a victory rate of above 90% and over four years experience in their respective positions. They all utilise wildly diverse battle styles, which requires the challenger to be flexible in order to triumph over all of them. This diversity, combined with the leniency of the Unovan Battle Code and the fact that each Elite pushes it to its limits, renders them a brutal and uncompromising set of opponents. Alder’s long reign as Champion is mostly attributed to the success of the Elite Four; because so few could surpass them, Alder was rarely forced to defend his title.

Shauntal

Shauntal is famous in the battle industry for her adaptability. Having trained with many different type specialists all over the world, she has learnt to perfect defensive, offensive and status-led plays, able either to sweep or to play the long game depending on her opponent’s weaknesses. Of the four Elites, she has the widest choice of pokémon to assemble her team from, bearing eleven highly-trained ghosts capable of changing strategies whenever an initial plan fails. Her unpredictability stumps challengers who prefer to plan their plays in advance (Cheren failed to beat her for this exact reason) but can sometimes leave her exposed. When she chooses the wrong strategy and has to swap, she becomes vulnerable.

Most Notable Pokémon

Cofagrigus - Mostly used in longer plays, this is one of her most iconic partners. Typically, it will obscure the field with Haze, then proceed to extend and retract its long, shadow-like arms so that the foe can only see dark shapes moving within the fog. As the opponent’s paranoia builds, the cofagrigus may inflict them with poison or burns, trip them with low-lying Dark Pulses, or wear them down with broad swathes of Ominous Wind (never Shadow Ball or other projectiles, as they would reveal the cofagrigus’s location within the fog). In recent years, Shauntal has combined the Haze Strategy with use of Double Team, so as to make it even harder for the opponent to track the cofagrigus’s position.

Although rarely used offensively due to its slowness, Shauntal’s cofagrigus has been known to seize hold of smaller opponents, trap them inside itself and use Curse, forcing them to share in the self-inflicted damage. This is extremely painful. Shauntal’s first use of this strategy provoked a heated debate as to whether it should be banned or not, but it was eventually declared to be legal.

Chandelure - It compensates for its lack of dodging ability with a masterful, hair-trigger command of Protect. Moreover, it will often use Fire Spin to shroud itself in a fire vortex, as this activates its Flash Fire ability and prevents opponents from getting too close. Because both Fire Spin and Protect are difficult to maintain over long periods, it is somewhat of a firework pokémon, powerful for a time but quick to burn out. It boasts an array of hard-hitting special moves, but is most well known for its explosive use of Inferno. If the foe can survive the first few minutes on the field with this pokémon, it becomes far easier to take down. But making it through the first onslaught is no easy feat.

Froslass - Trained to be fast above all else, Shauntal’s frosslass is known for her relentlessness. Her moves lack the power of the chandelure’s, but by summoning repeated, unceasing hail, wrestling the opponent back with Icy Wind and even mentally restraining them with Telekinesis, she wears foes out by use of fairly simple, low-effort techniques. If that fails, she drags them down with Destiny Bond. Because of her perceived viciousness, commentators have taken to calling her ‘Ice Queen’, though her real name is Dysnomia.

Marshal

Marshal is the most conventional trainer of the four. His style is not particularly different from that of most fighting-type specialists - a practical, head-on approach that prizes high damage above all else. Nevertheless, he provides an earthy balance to his deceptive colleagues and has the most classically powerful team, always using the same six in official matches. Having been in the position for seven years, he is the longest-serving member of the Unova Elite Four.

Most Notable Pokémon

Mienshao - Revered for her speed, reflexes and preference to trip up opponents by slapping them hard in the ankles, she attacks in a way typical of the species. The one atypical technique she uses is the evoking of sunlight on the battlefield. As Marshal spent much of his early life training abroad in hot countries, his pokémon are perfectly used to fighting at full capacity in searing heat. The same cannot be said for most of his opponents’ teams.

Sawk - Marshal’s sawk has been trained extensively to fight with his feet. As a sawk’s toes are almost as dexterous as its fingers, Marshal’s can wrench opponents to the floor after kicking them and hold them there while stamping down with the other foot. As Marshal’s sawk used to be wild, training him to attack using non-melee methods is difficult, so he mostly fights hand-to-hand. Some would expect this to be a limitation, but his reflexes are so formidably quick that it is anything but.

Grimsley

Grimsley’s style is notorious for its cleverness. He is widely considered to be one of the most cunning trainers in the industry, adept at targeting blind spots, misleading the opponent and completely disorientating their pokémon. Almost all of his pokémon are trained in taunting (riling the opponent to the point that it starts blindly attacking), and several of them combine the technique with Countering to create a risky strategy known as the Offensive Taunt (or, more archaically, as Foul Play).

Grimsley is also known for being unorthodox. He would rather win savagely than lose gracefully, so is not above directing his pokémon to yank tails, poke eyes or spit in faces if it grants him the slightest advantage. Purists find him distasteful. The general public can’t get enough of him.

Most Notable Pokémon

Liepard - As his ace, his liepard features in virtually all of his matches. She is his best taunter, considered by many to be the most accomplished taunter in contemporary battle, and has been thoroughly trained in both dodging and Protect usage. She defeats foes by riling them, confusing them, paralysing them, then biting and slashing at vunerable areas such as the neck and legs. Evasion is the cornerstone of her strategy, as she can only withstand limited hits, but she is an unexpected nightmare for many challengers. People go in worrying about the hydreigon, only to discover they can’t land a single hit on the liepard.

She is also excellent at false signalling, a technique that involves ‘playing dead’, waiting until the last few seconds before being delcared unfit for battle, then launching oneself at the opponent to deliver a surprise attack. Despite the fact that he is famed for this strategy, people still fall for it. His liepard is so attuned to him that she often knows when to false signal without being instructed.

Hydreigon - Grimsley is one of few hydreigon users in the battle industry and the only one that isn’t a dragon specialist. Out of concern that people will underestimate how dangerous raising the species can be, he often doesn’t use his in televised matches. Those lucky enough to have seen her fight note how Grimsley capitalises on intimidation tactics while commanding her. He encourages her to vocalise at the beginning of matches, letting out harsh, eerie roars that set the foe on edge before the battle has even begun. Once it commences, however, the strategy simplifies: hit, and hit hard.

Absol - As absols train very much like psychic types, Grimsley’s provides a mellow contrast to the rest of his team. While not the fastest, the absol has a developed precognitive sense that allows him to sense impending attacks before they occur, and to launch his own into the foe’s path. Maintaining the focus required for precognition is no easy feat in the heat of battle, especially not while attacking, so he is careful only to strike when confident that the blow will do severe damage. Watching him battle is a surreal experience - his movements look dreamlike and out of sync, and he sometimes does things that make no sense until a few minutes later in the match. Even Grimsley is often unclear on his absol’s intentions, but he trusts him to take the best course of action, never disrupting his focus by shouting out commands.

Caitlin

Caitlin is the most recent addition to the Unova Elite Four, but her sweetly cruel style fits perfectly with the rest of the League. Owing to her contest experience and her years in the Battle Castle (a facility where elegance is esteemed), Caitlin’s pokémon are more than just fighters - they are performers. Her main strategy is to entice the foe with beautiful displays, holding back on doing proper damage so that they are lured, despite themselves, into a false sense of security. She recognises that foes fight best when they feel at risk, so makes it her strategy to appear non-offensive, to almost ‘seduce’ them into thinking she means no harm. Then, once they are at their most captivated and confused, she strikes.

Most Notable Pokémon

Gothitelle - Caitlin’s gothitelle is excellent at seduction. Her most famous technique is the Stockholm strategy; she repeatedly hurts her opponents via Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and Psychic only to revitalise them with Heal Pulse a moment later. The sheer dissonance of the technique wears the foe down; because it is so unlike what they usually experience on the battlefield, it disorientates them, makes them confused and unsure of how to react. This leaves them vulnerable.

Sigilyph - Her sigilyph is less scheming, but every bit as cruel. She combines the use of heavy Gravity with Toxic, forcing the foe to the ground while waiting for the poison to eat away at them. She is also excellent at long-range use of Mirror Coat, favouring the technique of summoning a barrier directly in front of the foe so that their released move blows up in their face.

#physics-official #you sent a message asking for more about the unovan elites so I hope this pleases you #honestly you guys have no idea just how many organs I would sell for the chance to go to the pokemon world and watch grimsley fight #his matches would be so tense and so clever and so eXCITING #pokémon #unova #elite four #grimsley #caitlin #marshal #shauntal #pokemon #pkmn #indepthpokémonheadcanons #indepthpokemonheadcanons #indepthpkmnheadcanons #pokemon headcanons #pokémon headcanons #pkmn headcanons #gen 5 #black and white #black and white 2 #by the way I know sigilyph can't learn mirror coat in the games but I imagine most psychic types being capable of it to some degree #generally there wouldn't be too many hard and fast rules about what pokemon can and can't learn #obvs you're not going to get a lapras using flamethrower #but trainers are constantly proving all the time that certain species can learn moves none would've thought possible

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jaybug-jabbers · 3 years

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Bug Run 5: A Clean Victory

There was something I needed to do before going any further in this game.

I made a little visit to the Name Rater.

Truth is, I was never satisfied with the nickname I gave my Galvantula OR my Crustle. For Galvantula, it was just such a plain and common name, and she deserved better. For Crustle, her name was alright, but a little too long and awkward to say outloud, you know?

After christening the new names, we were prepared to tackle anything!

However, the moment I took a step toward my next destination, I ran into my rival. The encounter was a tad unnerving, which is the only reason I bother to mention it here. Tonka took care of my rival’s bird with Rollout just fine, so that wasn’t so bad. (Yes, I know. I still had Rollout. What can I say? It takes a while for Scoliopede to earn its better moves, and in the meantime, a rock move really is darn useful.)

It was Emboar that worried me. This was the first time I was facing it fully evolved, and the thing is damn intimidating even for a very balanced team, let alone a mono-bug one. My newly-named Crustle, Gaia, went toe-to-toe with the massive swine, dishing out Rock Slides. Emboar decided to use Rollout and start powering the move up on me. So that was a pretty scary moment. Thankfully, Gaia did not miss any of her Rock Slides, and the pig went down.The last foe, that water monkey, was trivial when I had a Leavanny with Leaf Blade.

The next gym we faced was the dragon-themed gym with Drayden. I noticed there was a big of a level jump with that gym, though, with just the gym trainers outlevelling my team. So I decided to do a little grinding beforehand. In our travels I taught Volcarona Psychic, because at this point, the poor moth’s moveset is still quite terrible. (It still had String Shot and Whirlwind, for pete’s sake.) I also taught my Galvantula Thunder and … well, Flash. I didn’t want to teach it Flash, but I was wandering around a cave attempting to reach some TMs. Sadly, a roadblock prevented me from ultimately getting the TM, but we’ll talk more about that later.

After a little training, the fight with Drayden wasn’t too bad. Ra took out Druddigon with Psychic, Green Bean got a 2HKO on Flygon with Leaf Blade– after a lucky miss with Flygon’s Rock Slide– and Tonka took on the big boy Haxorous with a combination of Toxic and Venoshocks.

After finishing off the dragon gym, we’re treating to another piece of the plot with Team Plasma. Some giant steampunky ship shoots ice cannons at the city, there’s a lot of running around and shouting over some “DNA Splicers,” and lots of grinding on Plasma grunts. The usual.

I MUST take important note of one event that took place in the midst of all this, though. As I was running back and forth between Pokecenters and the Plasma ship, I ran into a random trainer with just a Crustle. And it wiped out my entire team.

The problem had been it got off two Shell Smashes and I hadn’t been paying it close attention and was fooling about. So, naturally, it outsped everything and destroyed us with rocks. Also, I was super dumb and forgot my Galvantula had Sucker Punch. (Look, it was really late at night and I was tired and being stoop.)

Wounded by this experience, I took a lengthy side-quest to grind for Blue Shards by losing many times at the World Tournament (they give shards as consolation prizes) so I could visit the Move Tutor and give my Scolipede Superpower. This is actually only neutral on Crustle and in the end I still needed to use my own Crustle v. Crustle to take care of the foe cleanly, but. Still. Superpower would end up proving very important on my Scoliopede. I suspected as much, as it was excellent coverage for a team largely lacking coverage.

Anyway. I finally reached the Colress fight.

This was a fun one. I had to actually think very carefully about his team. Colress opens with a Magnemite that loves to thunder wave and then Volt Switch. I eventually decided to try equipping Green Bean with a Cheri Berry and getting up a Swords Dance. Then he just stubbornly hacked away with his Leaf Blade. This is a very difficult approach, but it was important for someone to take out the ‘easy’ pokemon so I could save my other pokes for the tougher ones. Colress used a Full Restore once on Magnemite, so after that, I did the same for Green Bean. Then continue with the Leaf Blades. Green Bean somehow barely takes two Flash Cannons to the face and finishes Magnemite off, in red health and paralyzed, but alive. He did a very good job.

Next, Magnezone came out. This one was for Tonka. Superpower brought it to the low yellow, and then Magnezone thunder waves. I have to take a big hit, but a second Superpower takes Magnezone out.

Beheeyem is the easiest for my team to cope with, being pure Psychic with low defense. It does Calm Mind, which can be scary, but I can easily take it out before it does anything awful; Gaia just X-Scissors it to death.

Metang, on the other hand, is not easy. Zen Headbutt messes with Tonka, Meteor Mash cuts through Gaia and gives scary boosts, and the thing has ROCK SLIDE to add insult to injury; plus Agility. With a Steel typing, it resisted a lot of crap, too.The trick, as it turns out, was fucking it up fast and hard with F-Zero’s Thunder before it could do much damage. Thunder brought it to the low yellow and luckily paralyzed it; Signal Beam finished it off.

The ace was Klinklang. I find it odd this pokemon is pure steel when it has so many electric moves, but okay. F-Zero uses Thunder, which brings it into the yellow and paralyzes again (whoo!). Klinklang Shift Gears. I know it resists bug so I need to Thunder again; unfortunately I get the miss. However, the foe gets paralyzed. I Thunder again and finish things off.

It was a good battle, but Team Plasma wasn’t finished quite yet. We run into the true man behind the scenes, the foul abusive-parent Ghetsis, and chase him off his ship and into some backwater cave somewhere.

Then N shows up, there’s some drama with legendery dragons, and Ghetsis is very cranky about the whole thing. Without giving us a chance to even save or anything, he launches right into attacking us.

Not gonna lie, this last fight is exciting and the music is damn good. It feels high-stakes.

Ra was first out, since I’d just used him to take care of Kyurem. He was able to take care of Confagrigis with some Psychics– although we had to get toxiced and put up with a full restore, but held on long enough to take it out. A special defense drop did help us.

Next out was Hydreigon; Green Bean used X-Scissor. After that was Eelektross, and I was fearing the Flamethrower, so I sent out Gaia. It’s a bit rough, with thunderbolts and acrobatics, but it never actually pulls out the flamethrower and I finish it off. After that is Seismetoad; that’s easy as pie with a grass move.

Drapion is out next, and I really want to use Psychic on it, but Ra is pretty weak from his long fight with Confagrigis. I try it out, but he’s outsped, as I suspected. Dang. I send out Green Bean next, and take it out with three X-Scissors.

Toxicroak is handled cleanly with Thunder. And then that’s it!

In retrospect, the battle didn’t give me any trouble. But somehow they still made it feel exciting. Possibly it’s just because I remember the fight vs. Ghetsis from original Black/White, which really left an impression on me.

(Lord N was there to talk to me after the battle. Still love him so much.)

After the Plasma plot wraps up, we move on to Victory Road. And that’s when I run into some trouble.

See, the plan all along had been to add my sixth and final teammember at Victory Road. That is where Durant, a super-late-game bug, hangs out. The problem is, I was playing Pokemon White 2, and apparently they tweaked it so that you can’t even reach Durant until post-game.

That really stinks! I have no idea why they did that, but I decided I wasn’t going to let a technicality like that slow me down. Like previous game runs I’ve done, if a particular version I was playing didn’t technically have full access to the species I needed for a bug run, I … bent the rules slightly.

So we snuck into Clay Tunnel. This trip was only for one thing: capture a Durant. We grabbed the first one we saw. She was lovely, and we named her Kolibri. She didn’t have Hustle, and honestly? I think I’m ok with that. Missing is pretty darn annoying.

Once we had our final team member, it was all about going through Victory Road and doing a little grinding. We met our rival one last time along the way. His Emboar was tough enough by now that it could shrug off Gaia’s Rock Slides. So I went with a new tactic, using Volcarona’s Psychic. The rest was easy enough to deal with. Then it was on to the Elites!

(MIGHTY BUG POWER DETECTED!)

Unfortunately, I made a mistake when I was grinding before facing the Elites. I thought they would be around level 60, so I brought my team all to level 60. As it turns out, no. They were all in the high 50s. So I was ever-so-slightly overlevelled.

Not a huge deal, but it is a shame. I really prefer to never be over-levelled, even by a little bit. Unfortunately there wasn’t much I could do about it.

The Elites were not too hard. Shauntal’s fight was kind of fun. Ra took on Confagrigis with Heat Waves, but got a Spec. Def drop with a Shadow Ball, so I had to switch out when Chandelure came in. I decided to bring Tonka in. As cruel as it sounds, Tonka was kind of expendable against this particular team. I got a Toxic off before going down, though. Ra came back in to blast with Psychics for neutral damage, but unfortunately the darn thing was hitting all its Fire Blasts and it got a crit, so Ra went down. Luckily it was injured enough that F-Zero could finish things off. Golurk was easy pickings for a Leaf Blade, and Drifblim went down to a Thunder.

Marshal fight had Tonka doing some work on the opening Throh. I feared Guts on Conkeldurr, and sent out Kolibri; however, it did not fare well against those Hammer Arms. Thankfully those moves dropped Conk’s speed, though, so I felt safe bringing Ra in, even against the inevitable Full Restore, and I could just Psychic. (See, at the time, I didn’t realize that thing is actually slow as dirt anyway.) The rest of the team was an easy clean-up, especially when Meinshao misses its High-Jump Kick and I put a Rock Wrecker in its face.

It may not be very effective, but nobody’s surviving a boulder to the face at half health.

Since the other two Elites are Psychic and Dark type, I don’t think I even need to bother mentioning their fights. With a full team of Bug types, it was pretty trivial to get through.

The Champion battle was decently difficult, so I was glad it wasn’t too anti-climactic. Tonka used X-Scissor on Hydreigon and managed to tank a Flamethrower– in the very low yellow health, after Leftovers. He finished the dragon off and Druddigon was out next. I honestly forget what I did with that fellah. I probably used F-Zero against him. Aggron was out next, so I went with my special attacker Ra. Heat Wave did a respectable chunk, but Rock Slide was, of course, a death sentence for Volcarona. Knowing that the Full Restore was incoming, I sent Tonka out and potioned up too. Then I used Superpower, which ALMOST killed. Tonka goes down and I clean up with F-Zero.

Archeops is next; one Rock Wrecker is all it takes, after Gaia survives the Rock Slide. Very happy Gaia hit all of her Rock Wreckers when she needed to.

Lapras was a bit of a troll. I sent out F-Zero, confidant in one-shotting the beast with Thunder, but it didn’t quite kill and it used freaking Hypnosis on me. Urgh. Swapped over to Kolibri and took a Surf very badly but finished Lapras off.

Finally, the ace, Haxorous. I sent out Green Bean. It was a tough choice, knowing this thing was probably going to Dragon Dance, and that was pretty scary. She could have easily gotten her late-game sweep if I let things get out of hand; my team was already weakened a bunch. I decided to get a Reflect up. I think that ultimately saved my butt. It did use Dragon Dance as predicted, and Green Bean used one X-Scissor before going down to an X-Scissor of Haxorous’ own. Then I sent the low-health Gaia in. He managed to survive the Earthquake thanks to Reflect and finished Haxorous off with an X-Scissor. (Yes, that’s an awful lot of X-Scissors going ‘round, but to be fair, this *is* a mono bug team)

And that’s it for Pokemon White 2! It was a fun little romp, but I admit it was very easy. I did expect that, though. Oh well! Maybe next time, if I’m hunting for a challenge, I can do that all-Vivillon run of X/Y I keep considering. :P

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Feb 25, 2019.

#pokemon #bugrun #bugrun5 #mycontent #pokemon playthroughs

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