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the-endless-storm · 4 years

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Nuzlocke Shield Part Four

Part Three

An we are off again. Three zones to go through to get to Hammerlocke, let's see what we get.

Stony Wilderness it is snowing, and we get Sneasel, which is a dupe so let's try for a second one. It's a Chubcoo.

Oreo - Chubcoo (m) Slush Rush Sassy (SDf up / Spd down) “It scatters things often!”

Giant's Cap is sunny (thank god) and we get Lombre! Wasn’t expecting this.

Pina Colada - Lombre (m) Rain Dish Docile (no change) “It's impetuous and silly!”

Lastly Hammerlocke Hills is raining and we get Pelipper. Meh.

Febreeze - Peilipper (f) Drizzle Modest (SAk up / Atk down) “It's very finicky!” Rainy Mark

This is the first Pokemon I’ve caught that had a mark on it, but it's not enough to warrant putting Pelipper on my team.

I see Bede and the Chairman in the middle of Hammerlocke, but let's do some exploring before story time. First up, a house with a Blakckbelt and a level 2 Cottonee. Um ok.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. I forgot about Endevour. It left Snapper with 1 HP! That could have been a disaster!

I’m wary about going into the Battle Cafe. I know they're double battles against fairy types, and the only effective move I have at the moment is Acid on a baby Pokemon. So I’ll give that a miss for the moment, maybe come back when Toxel has evolved and I have some Steel moves somewhere.

Mmm, Chairman Rose knows exactly what he's doing walking around the city in those shorts. There's a guy outside the far left Pokemon Centre, trying to meet someone. Maybe if Chairman Rose spent more time on Grindr he wouldn’t want to resurrect ancient deities.

I wish we had a chance to explore more of the castle part of Hammerlocke. There are loads of paths and stairwells with gates on them that look like they should open up.

Anyway, let’s see what Route 6 has on offer, thankfully not another damn Ice type.

Oh wait, Team Yell first.

Yay, Jett is evolving into Toxtricity Amped Form!

Ah! Bullseye is evolving in Mudsdale too! Awesome sauce.

Ok finally back to Route 6 and our encounter is a Heatmor! Interesting, I have genuinely never used this Pokemon before.

Otis - Heatmor (m) Flash Fire Modest (SAk up / Atk down) “It takes plenty of siestas!” Rowdy Mark

I think I’m going to swap out Carcoal for Heatmor. It has better stats and isn’t four times weak to Water and Ground. There's a TM for Fire Spin in the Hammerlocke shop too, and whilst it's not the greatest attack it should cover Heatmor until it learns something else.

While I’m back here, I’ll check the Move Relearner for my newly evolved Pokemon too. Heatmor can relearn Incinerate, so Fire Spin isn't needed now. If money weren’t so easy to come by I might be upset about spending 10k.

Get to the end of Route 6 and the dumb fuck trainer has his Koffing use Self Destruct, good thing I swapped Otis out for Snapper otherwise that could have been a short career again.

I like Stow-on-Side, it's good a good look to it. No encounters here though, so I'll head up to the mushroom forest bit and see if I can catch a Psychic, Ghost or Dark type and not another useless bird or something.

Dammit Hop leave me alone.

Dammit Opal leave me alone.

Dammit Team Yell leave me alone. Can’t do anything I want these days.

Fine, Glimwood Tangle is out of the question until I beat Allister. Going to go train a bit.

Got everyone up to 35-36 and raided a few dens to get some TRs that really didn’t help a great deal with moves. A lot of my team have totally the wrong natures, boosting Attack when Special Attack would be better and vice versa (Toxtricity being a prime example). But we'll see where we go.

Also Drumroll has evolved into a Rillaboom. This play through is notably the first time I have used one of the starters, as I generally dislike all three in this game.

Time to hit the Gym.

The trainers didn’t put up much of a fight, but I’m wary of GMax Gengar doing a lot of damage because I don’t have anything that resists Ghost attacks. I hope Drednaw will be fast enough to get off a Max Darkness and survive anything Gengar throws at her.

Not faster than Gengar, but Gengar used Max Ooze which Snapper resists, and the Max Darkness KO'd it.

Ghost Badge get!

Dammit Bede leave me alone

If Rose disqualifies Bede in the name of keeping things fair, shouldn’t help also disqualify Marnie (or at least issue a warning) as a result of her supporters actively attempting to sabotage other gym challengers?

Dammit Sinistea leave me alo... oh no never mind. Sinistea you can stay :)

Chamomile - Sinistea (g) Weak Armour Gentle (SDf up / Dfc down) “It likes to fight!” Vigor Mark

Goodbye Machoke, Sinistea is on the team. I'll use the Cracked Pot I have to immediately evolve it into Polteageist, and as always check back with the Move Relearner.

I'm half way through the Gym Challenge. I have two zones left to explore in the Wild Area (Dusty Bowl and Giant's Mirror) not counting the two I need to cross water to reach. I’m in no immediate need for new Pokemon right now, so I’ll see what the weather is like on them going forward and visit when it's not snowing or raining.

I love Ballonlea, it's such an amazing looking town. This is the best looking location in the entire game, it's like all the design budget went here instead of being shared out elsewhere.

Got some eviolite, useless atm but you never know if I might need it in the future.

Let’s take on Opal and get that out of the way.

A trainer's Morgrem almost knocked out Chamomile with an attack, but luckily I was faster and able to take it down first. Close though.

Bullseye makes quick work of both Weezing and Mawile, and Opal's stat boosts certainly don’t go amiss. I was intending to use Jett here, but with Bullseye's Stamina boosting its defence, plus a speed and special defence boost from Opal she might not be needed.

It took three Max Steelspike's but Alcreamie fell to Bullseye. Opal only asked two of her three questions.

Fairy Badge get!

Back to Hammerlocke and Chairman Rose's Grindr hook-up is still waiting at the Pokecentre. I think now that I’m back I’ll do the Battle Cafe I skipped last time.

Oh fuck yeah, they're level 37 each. If I’d tried this back when I thought about it I would have been under level 30 and it would have been game over for me.

What a crap prize. An item that restores 20HP. Wowee.

Eww Bede is here again. Gross.

Let's do the two spots in the Wild Area now to get them done and out of the way before I head to Circhester.

Giant's Mirror gets me a Roselia. Not great tbh. Oops, knocked it out. Oh well.

Dusty Bowl gets me a Dubwool. A Dubwool!? Of all the Pokemon in the Wild Area I get the big goat!? Ffs.

Babs - Dubwool (f) Fluffy Relaxed (Dfc up / Spd down) “It's capable of taking hits!”

Back to Hammerlocke, past Sonia and the pointless bit of storyline that has no impact. Though it is refreshing to hear characters say “this isn’t for kids to worry about” instead of the fate of the universe resting firmly on your shoulders while the elite trainers sit and watch as is the norm in most Pokemon games.

God do I have to fight Hop AGAIN!?

“The way you battle, it kind of reminds me of Lee” you mean, well using proper strategy and skill instead that'a expected of someone aiming to be the champion, Mr “ive studied all my brother's battles, now wooloo use tackle on the steel type”?

“Now have a taste of our true power!” Water attack against a grass type. Ok.

Route encounter is a Corviknight, so another dupe. Next one is a Shelmet. Ok, I like Shelmet, but being unable to evolve it makes it pretty useless.

Kiniggit is a bad name I can't enter. I assume it's because the French used it as an insult against King Arthur during his quest for the Holy Grail.

G'night - Shelmet (f) Shell Armour Naughty (Atk up / SDf down) “It takes plenty of siestas!”

Ok, that's enough for today, this has been a long one. No deaths though so that’s good. Might finally have some balance to the team.

Current Team Drumroll - Rillaboom (lv 40) Bullseye - Mudsdale (lv 41) Snapper - Drednaw (lv 40) Otis - Heatmor (lv 40) Chamomile - Polteageist (lv 40) Jett - Toxtricity (lv 41)

Boxed Joltik Slowpoke Charjabug Croagunk Oddish Snorunt Sizzlepede Sneasel Chubcoo Lombre Pelipper Carcoal Machoke Dubwool Shelmet

Losses Bandit the Nickit - Knocked out by a fat squirrel Gumball the Tympole - Devoured by a centipede with a moustache Castlevania the Rookidee - Torn apart by a cute mole HaagenDazs the Vanillite - Murdered in an act of revenge by a smelly frog

Wild Area Tracker Rolling Fields West Lake Axewell East Lake Axewell South Lake Miloch Dappled Grove Watchtower Ruins North Lake Miloch Giant’s Seat Motostoke Riverbank Bridge Field Stony Wilderness Giant's Cap Hammerlocke Hills Dusty Bowl Giant's Mirror

Part Five

#me #pokemon #pokemon shield #nuzlocke #long post

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bluerosesburnblue · 6 years

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Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Chapter Two

And we’re back, baby! Finally back with the second chapter of Bravely Second: What’s Past is Prologue

Buckle up, pals. This one’s a long one. Lots of ranting about sidequests and one amazing reveal

Warning that I start cussing more than usual around the mid-chapter reveal, should anyone care about language

Geez, yeah, Yew actually got shot last chapter. Glad to see that he’s alright

He’s also still upset about what Janne said. Turns out Janne had a point: Yew only did what he did because it was his duty as part of House Geneolgia and the Crystalguard. He doesn’t think any of his life has been his own choice

The rest of the team disagrees. Duty dictates that Janne should be executed as a traitor, but Yew consistently keeps trying to reason with him out of compassion

Edea’s giving a speech about how the Crystalguard’s actions may have been black, but the organization as a whole may have been a lighter shade of grey or white with a black mark on it. Coming from last game’s foremost “black-and-white morality” thinker, that just goes to show how much Edea grew during Bravely Default, especially since she’s no longer painting entire organizations as a single color, but noting that they’re a mixture of both good and bad people

Agnès is crying and now Tiz is SUPER pissed that they may have hurt her. Turns out it’s just the smoke irritating her eyes and making it hard to breathe

So... to Eisen? We’re gonna need a bigger boat!

Edea and Magnolia talking in their sleep is keeping Yew up at night. I feel ya, buddy. Edea’s snoring is grating as anything

Oh god Yew’s getting accosted by a mysterious voice with a music box backing track. Run!

“I... haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about” neither do I, Yew. You wanted a boat and this voice went on a tirade about cabbage

Voice’s advice is use your rowboat and go through a whirlpool that MIGHT go away. That’s TERRIBLE advice. Just rent a boat! We have SO MUCH money thanks to my level grinding

Guess the whirlpool IS gone. Still

*Insert months long break for college* At least this liveblog lets me know where the hell I am in the plot

The boat ride to Eisen is super long even with encounters turned off. Who thought the canoes on shallow waters only idea was good?

Oh! OH! Fox girl! She’s the one with the Yōkai job that I heard was super broken oh please let me get the demonic summons (unavailable until Chapter 6. Aw)

Ah, she’s the princess of Yunohana and is looking for her missing brother. And she’s joining us temporarily! Normally I’d be excited because she seems cool, but RPG experience has taught me that most of these situations end in betrayal, so now I’m suspicious (especially since the Yōkai asterisk involves summoning demons)

Princess Yōko is flirting HARD with Yew and Magnolia is so offended (older siblings Tiz and Edea are giving the most backhanded compliments right now)

Commander Goodman is back at Eisen Bridge! Good to see some old faces again, even if it’s under less than ideal circumstances

How good of a shot is Aimee that the entire Eisenberg army is at her mercy?

“Yew Googlymoogly and his three yutzes” is the new party name. It’s taken “ Agnès’s Avengers,” put it in a stranglehold, and had it beg for mercy it’s so strong

Giving the cowgirl a Boston accent is bizarre to experience

God she is just smitten with the Patissier boy, huh?

Magnolia just saved Yew, but Aimee... psychically moved the bullet to hit Goodman when it missed? Guess that explains the cross-continental shot

“The wound is deep” the man was wearing full plate armor. At that point it’s more blunt force impact damage than a bullet wound

The Hartschild festival looks great! I still love the graphical upgrades in this game over Default’s. The town looks gorgeous

How on earth DID we carry Commander Goodman to his home half a continent away?

Patissier boy is funding all of Hartsfest. He’s also absurdly tall like what

Aw, Yew and Magnolia are on a goldfish scooping date. Edea ships it so hard it hurts

Yew got flowers for Yōko and Magnolia, but I sense some cultural confusion happening on Magnolia’s end

Yeah, Magnolia thought that giving a flower was a marriage proposal because that’s what it is on the moon and now she’s crushed because she legitimately thought Yew was her maybe-fiance

DAMN YŌKO. HARSH. MAGNOLIA JUST RAN OFF CRYING

That was some mood whiplash. We just went from a heartbroken Magnolia to HEY GOODMAN’S DOING FINE YAAAAAAAY

Eleanor’s missing and the culprit is probably Patissier Angelo, using his cupcakes to mind control the town because duh. What else would Aimee’s boyfriend do?

Oh for fuck’s sake. Voice is writing in Yew’s journal and he’s soliloquizing about ONIONS now

He knows French. Potential moon person?

Yōko’s brother is here and he’s not a fox boy. Shame. Though the sibling matching clothes are cute

Danzaburō’s hair kinda looks like the Kaiser’s, but it’s hard to tell under the hat. He doesn’t sound like Kaiser, though, so it’s probably just coincidence

So a samurai’s gonna help us fight a sniper. Rad

It’s been so long I forgot about warp pig. How could I forget warp pig?

Ughhhhh the inn’s out of commission. Damn, that makes journal grinding so much harder. Ugh. Okay. Better solve the Hartschild disappearances first

This sidequest is starting with a grandpa and granddaughter moving into the old boat shack. I’m certain this will end in failure

YEAH THERE’S PROFITEUR’S FAKE MOON PERSON ACCENT

And HOLLY. Because you two were just my FAVORITES in Default

Actually, I already spoiled this one skimming through the TVTropes page, so reminding everyone that I am actively making the this The Worst Timeline: we’re siding with Holly. Probably for the best, as I technically already have a healing job

Does this grandfather... have a face? He looks like a yeti. It’s just all hair

So what I got is that Profiteur wanted to buy the sea shack from the family, probably to fix it up and flip it for commercial use. Which was fine because it had been abandoned for years, but the family suddenly came back. And Holly was just here... and against it for some reason

??? Does the sidequest not continue until you’ve solved the Hartschild problem or am I just missing something?

Man, Yōko ADORES her brother. Yew is sighing and musing about how nice that relationship is. Jealous?

Danzaburō’s plan is for the party to use the aqueduct to go under the bridge and sneak up on Aimee from behind while he distracts her. Not a bad plan at all

Damn. He just sliced a bullet in half in midair. Woah

And Hartschild’s fine now? Ooooor it’s only active at night? Is this a town of vampires now? Is that why there’s a “play with dog until dusk” option?

Profiteur wants the inlet to turn it into a trade port. “Old Codger” objects because the inlet is pretty. And Holly is projecting her own childhood sadness onto that girl and that’s why she’s intervening

So unlike the impression I got in Defualt... Profiteur is actually a decent businessman? He was scoping out Eisen Bridge, too

Profiteur does make a decent point. The party’s been mostly listening to old, retired men who aren’t directly effected by the changes, they’re just against the idea of change in general. Ask the young folk currently in the workforce and they’ll want to try anything to make things better. Nostalgic emotions vs practical problem solving

And another good point! They can’t ship things through Eisen Bridge due to the fighting, but the Empire doesn’t have a hold on ocean trade. Siding with Holly really is the worse choice here. That little girl being sad about moving is a worthy price to pay for improving the lives of all Eisenberg citizens

Aaaaaand the little girl’s missing. She left to try and get a job so they can keep the house. Children are bad at big-picture thinking

Oh good she’s in the Mythril Mine. That never went poorly for any child, ever

Damn, Profiteur came to help the kid? I’m liking him more the longer I do this quest

Holly, I don’t need your whole dang life story about how your grandfather worked so hard he ended up neglecting you. It’s sad, but you’re gonna subject a lot more kids to that if you keep harping on this one girl

Holly, it’s not like Profiteur hired the miners. They were working there on their own. Because the economy is bad. This ain’t his fault. He’s trying to fix this exact problem

“Is this the cost of rebuilding a nation?” Did you listen to a thing he’s said? He’s trying to open up trade ports so that they DON’T have to rely on the mine!

Is it obvious that I have little patience for characters who think emotional gratification gives them moral superiority yet? Or characters who prioritize it over actually solving the damn problem?

“It may not be feasts and finery, but isn’t it better just to live together, as long and as happily as you can?” WHO SAID ANYTHING ABOUT FINERY. These people are scrounging to EAT, Holly. They ain’t gonna be LIVING for long if they don’t get the money to buy food and shelter you useless high school economics flunkie

Sorry game. One sad girl and her grandad do not outweigh the needs of a nation. But I’m siding with them anyway, because Worst Timeline

“There’s something wrong with driving a family out of their home for the sake of a country!” NO EDEA THERE REALLY ISN’T. JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING MAKES YOU SAD OR UPSET DOESN’T MEAN IT’S WRONG. YOUR EMOTIONS ARE NOT A MORAL SCALE

“What is zis sentimental nonsense you fools are spouting!?” THANK YOU PROFITEUR FINALLY SOMEONE WITH LOGIC AND SENSE

I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but I appreciate that the game gives you a summary of the two potential sidequest jobs before you make the choice, as well as warning you that you only get one. It’s nice, clear, and considerate

“It seems you’re having trouble understanding simple economic theory” is the theme of this sidequest

I don’t see why they had to give Profiteur generic villain quotes when you fight him. He was doing so well this sidequest

I don’t think I’ve ever seriously used the Merchant class and I doubt I will now

I don’t want your approval, Holly

AND THE PAYOFF WAS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT BARRAS WANTS TO SETTLE DOWN AND OPEN A CLINIC WITH HOLLY this was not worth it

At least Profiteur’s bestiary entry has Magnolia comment on his accent, even if it’s more tongue-in-cheek “wow he sounds dumb who would talk like that” than “...was he secretly from the moon, too?”

I don’t think I noticed before, but if you Brave multiple spells together it seems to merge them into one animation and that’s cool. Not sure if that’s something related to Yew being a Bishop or Magnolia being a Wizard, since it only seems to do that for Yew

This is the most lava-riddled sewer I’ve ever seen in my life

*gasp* Ancient ninja artifacts have been found in the sewers! Clearly Konoe Kikyo must have been here (and since she’s on my sidequest list for this chapter, I imagine she’s nearby)

I’m so overleveled for every dungeon. The joys and pains of bestiary completion

Why are there so many dragon men in these sewers?

Oh no! Yōko’s been shot trying to protect her brother! Time to conveniently exit the sewers with dramatic timing an end this

Is Aimee’s guncleaver just the next step up from gunblade?

Yew, that was the saddest cheer I’ve ever heard. Good to know Aimee still ships Yew/Magnolia, though

I’ve accidentally made Edea a physical attacking monster. I think she just took out half of Aimee’s health singlehandedly

And the gunslinger goes out apologizing to the Patissier boyfriend. A lot of dying apologies in this game

Gotta get Tiz up to Level 8 Catmancer before fighting her boyfriend. I want 100% completion and there’s a skill in that fight

Yōko’s giving a dramatic death speech and then Danzaburō cuts in with “she’s fine we’re taking her to a hot spring to relax.” Already loving the sibling dynamic

...I just noticed that her fox ears were actually a bow. The small details in this series are incredible

Aw, that’s cute. Magnolia wants to travel the world and eat every food she can because they’re all so different from moon food and from dishes in other regions

Edea’s all for it. Of course

And we’ve just crossed the border from medieval Europe into feudal Japan. Eisenberg is weird, but the music here is great

Aw. Danzaburō is carrying Yōko. What a good big brother

I now present to you: A Generic Anime Hot Springs Episode in a Medieval Fantasy

Oh I’m so glad Danzaburō’s hanging out in the hot spring with Yew and Tiz. And that he wore his hat in

Yew please. We all know Danzaburō has great pecs. They ain’t even submerged

Girls come on. You JUST gave the guys a talking to about peeping. Don’t you three go turning it around on them like that. Guys have a right to privacy, too

Does Danzaburō have a chinstrap beard or is that the actual chinstrap of his hat?

“We should peek back” “If you peek on my sister I will murder you without hesitation” This is exactly what I expected

Ah, Yōko’s asking Yew about a Sword of the Brave. MacGuffin senses tingling

Awww. She wants it because her father won’t let Danzaburō take the throne until he returns with it, since he’s not the emperor’s son by blood. An impossible task, and I suspect that the emperor doesn’t want Danzaburō to succeed

And Yew knows more about the sword than he’s telling, so I’m sensing a tragic sword-related backstory

Oh, damn. Yōko went after the sword on her own, didn’t she? Great

And another sidequest. Sorry Yōko, you’re gonna have to wait a bit

Aw great we’ve injured a delivery man. Nice going Edea

Ominas Party... Guess Black Mage is coming up. And they hired Artemia. It’s a safe bet we’re doing Ominas vs. Artemia this quest

It looks like 1/4 of all undead in the game are in Grapp Keep. What the hell happened there?

Earthquake happens and everyone falls unconscious + stairs are out of commission? At least we have food

Seems like the conflict is going to be Ominas wants the food for himself, and Artemia wants to ration it

Jambalay, Risotto, and Paella? Ominas, dude, you guys are screwed. When your hired help is named after food during a food shortage you know things have gone bad

So the moral conflict is mutiny with Artemia so no one starves or side with Ominas because he’s funding it and nominally in charge. Guess I’m siding with Ominas for Worst Timeline reasons

I don’t mind it for gameplay reasons, though. I like Ranger. It was one of the jobs I used most in BD and I already have a spellcasting job in Wizard

...that Currently Alive status screen was more worrying than necessary

Ah, so the conflict is a little deeper that I thought. Ominas is training his d’gon to smash the rubble out of the way, and I imagine he’s gonna want the food to keep Bahamut’s health up. So do we get out faster by prioritizing Bahamut, or do we wait for the search party while keeping everyone alive?

Ominas is still an ass, though. So I’ll have to side with him regardless

Oh. He wants Bahamut to learn Femto Flare to kill the Ba’als. I know the game isn’t gonna go this route, but I’d love it if I could side with Ominas and learn Femto Flare, and then loop and side with Artemia, but still teach Bahamut Femto Flare after we’re out of threat of starvation

I also have the benefit of meta knowledge. We have to make it out alive so there’s no real threat of at least the party dying. Similarly, I doubt Bahamut is gonna solo the final boss for us, so learning Femto Flare will be useless in the long run. Artemia’s solution ensures that the NPCs survive to be rescued, while Ominas’s only ensures Bahamut’s survival and little gain for our future because the game has to have Boss Fights for us. Also, assume someone never did the sidequest. No Bahamut either way

Worst Timeline prerogative sometimes makes this game hard to get through. It’s better to get it over with now, but still. I really like Artemia and I so want to side with her, but time to give Ominas’s baby dragon the rest of the food

Wow we tied Artemia up? Seems a little much

This actually ended pretty well. Ominas managed to teach Bahamut Femto Flare early and everyone made it out alive. Artemia ain’t even mad. ...did I fail to make the Worst Timeline?

“Hustle, don’t hurry” is some pretty good advice, Tiz

So Magnolia’s learning to cook and just ended up making as many rice dishes as she could, because the team likes carbs. At least Edea’s into it?

So the Geyser Grotto gimmick is that each room has you start the battle with a different status (ex. Magic Up, Berserk) due to the spring waters. It’s a neat concept, but wildly inconvenient for my bestiary completion

Welp, Yōko found the sword and it’s pulling a Sumrbrandr from Magnus Chase and speaking

Ohhhhhh shit Yōko made a pact with it to claim its power and said she’d pay any price, so it took Danzaburō’s sword arm. It never said she’d be the one paying

Yew’s having a trauma flashback! Awww, he had an older half-brother that he loved a whole lot and was so excited for him to inherit House Geneolgia, but their dad picked Yew as his heir

Their dad gave Yew’s brother the ultimatum of “prove yourself by finding the sword or leave forever” and his brother left, so Yew went looking for the sword to get his brother back

You know, I’m playing Hogwarts Mystery at the same time as this, so between Yew’s brother, Danzaburō, and HPHM’s Jacob, that’s three instances of “older brother leaves/disappears and devoted younger sibling goes to fix the problem” in games I’m playing

These drawings of baby Yew are adorable. His hair’s a complete disaster

And since this is a flashback relevant to the current situation, Yew’s brother finds him just as Yew is about to make a pact with the sword (which big bro Geneolgia claims is a demon) and the sword attacks Yew’s brother as the price. He survived, but disappeared and no one’s seen him since

Wait, so Yew had this whole flashback, none of the party heard it, and then the second he wakes up he goes “I’ll tell you everything” and we get a fade to black as he tells the party what we just saw in flashback? Why not just have the flashback be Yew telling the party? This is a baffling structural choice

His brother was also going to be the leader of the Three Cavaliers, and the only reason Yew joined was to take up his brother’s position. Yeesh, kid, you’re 16! When did all of this happen, when you were 12? How the hell did you accomplish all of this?

Whhaaaaaaaaaat the fuck? What the... Okay, I knew Yōko was the holder of the Yōkai asterisk and that it involved collecting “Sins” that act as dark summons, but I was not expecting her to be a literal yōkai fox demon using illusions of the sword and creating the characters of “Yōko” and “Danzaburō” (who is not real) just to elaborately fuck with Yew

My actual theory was that Danzaburō was the son of the Emperor of Yunohana and Yōko was a demon (or half-demon), but also his adopted sister, and the whole “find the Sword of the Brave” thing was actually going to be to name Yōko the heir, not Danzaburō, and he’d just lied to Yōko about the real reason he was looking for it. Maybe Yōko had lost her memory of being a demon, so Danzaburō and their father made up a story to cover it up, explaining why she thought Danzaburō wasn’t the true heir of Yunohana. Guess I was pretty far off

Wait, does this bring my missing big brothers in games count down to 2, since Danzaburō wasn’t real? Man, that’s not an impressive number at all!

“You, who let your poor little brother die. Has finding a new “little brother” freed you of your guilt?” Bitch, I was literally just about to say how Yew and Tiz were good for each other because they filled the familial roles that the other had lost. Do NOT speak ill of my brOTP. It is a relationship of mutual healing

She’s also accusing Magnolia of defeating Ba’als just to run from the pain of losing people on the moon

OH HELL YEAH I KNOW THAT VOICE AND MUSIC. The sweet, echo-y tones of Alternis Dim!!! Just as Yōko was about to go after Edea, not-quite-Ringabel-but-close-enough shows up to save the day, to the theme of last game’s Asterisk fight theme, “That Person’s Name Is”. THAT PERSON’S NAME IS ALTERNIS DIM, BABYYYY!

...well he got blown up fast. Typical Alternis

Well, Yōko thought this whole thing was fun, so she’s gonna let us live and give us some information. Go to the Temple of Fire. That’s it. That’s the information

Alternis confirmed that no one died in the opening sequence when Agnès was kidnapped. He’s also glad to see Tiz awake

If only “you know who” could be here... Edea, are you talking about Agnès, who has been kidnapped, or was that a really harsh dig at the fact that you love Alternis’s alternate timeline self more

Awww, she tied a bow just like hers on Alternis as a bandage. Girl, he’s already in love with you you’re just gonna drive him nuts like this

Aternis: UHHHH WELL IT’S BEEN FUN GUYS but I’m gonna go chase after whatever the heck that demon was byeedeabyetiz

So the Fire Crystal is going out of control, just like what happened when you charged the crystals in Bravely Default. So the Kaiser is overloading the crystals to bust through to another world, like Airy did. Only a Vestal can do that, though, and Agnès claims that she hasn’t been doing that, and they never replaced the lost Vestals from the previous games. So either Agnès is getting controlled randomly and forgetting, or there’s someone else with a Vestal’s power hanging around

...didn’t Bella refer to herself as a Dark Vestal? I assumed she was dead, but she could still be alive. That, or the Kaiser has assembled a few “Dark Vestals” for this purpose

So the plan is to beat the Kaiser to Florem, where the only crystal he hasn’t visited yet is

...dammit Janne, you edgy loser. How many times am I gonna kick your ass? I was like, 10 levels too high for the last dungeon. What are you gonna do? Make scary wolf moves with your stances again?

Was that dialogue specifically because I defaulted the first few turns, or is it based on the amount of turns I took regardless of my actions?

“Fight like you mean it!” Yew’s my healer, Janne, I don’t think he’s gonna

Oh nooooo Janne fell from the bridge. He definitely not gonna come back I promise. That’s why there’s still a bestiary entry for him! Dude is so extra

Being able to turn off random encounters is so good for backtracking. I appreciate the variable combat frequency feature a lot. It’s great. Cuts down time for bestiary entries and grinding, and makes travel faster (though no less tedious at this point)

Kaiser’s got a robot hand. I imagine that that’s all that scene was for. I wonder where this could be going (I already know I was spoiled on the Kaiser’s identity, but for potential readers I’ll keep my mouth shut)

Nikolai: Janne’s gone maybe we should look-

Anne: Nah

Kaiser: Nah seconded, let’s book it

And Patissier boy works for the Kaiser. Like, duh. He was Aimee’s boyfriend, why wouldn’t he be?

It seems that relationship may have been one-sided. Angelo says he doesn’t care much for Aimee, but Anne thinks he’s bluffing

Are those soldiers Angelo’s admirers from town? Did he recruit random Hartschild women, or were they spies while in Hartschild

And back to Sidequest corner: Knight Heinkel vs. Ninja Kikyo! Ninja was the only one of the two I used in Default, but Worst Timeline prerogative determines the outcome here

Sholmes and Whitson? Seriously? We’re gonna solve the mystery of Edea eating Yew’s dumplings?

So Sholmes is Heinkel’s nephew, Heinkel is now an Inspector for the Yunohana police, Sholmes is going to interview for a position somewhere, and I imagine that Kikyo is the other person they mentioned

She is. She’s a private eye and apparently also related to Sholmes on his mother’s side? She’s his aunt?

Both cancelled the interviews to investigate a Starkfort murder! I imagine this is gonna be a battle of who each person thinks the culprit is

Man, so in the first game Heinkel and Kikyo went the whole game without mentioning either of their siblings AND the fact that their siblings were married to each other. Weird

The location card reads “Starkfort (For Sale by Owner)” oh my gosh???

Lord Earl Gulliver. This man has too many titles (I know that’s probably his first name, but still)

So our three witnesses are Gulliver’s wife, Madam Goldiga (pronounged “gold digga”), the owner of Starkfort, Lande Lessor, and Gulliver’s financier, Noah Entreste

Sholmes please. This is serious. You can’t just scream that someone in the room must be the murderer, even if someone in the room is probably, definitely a murderer

(It’s us. The party has killed people in the past and they shall do so again, even if this game made most of the murders in the first game non-canon)

You wanted Starkfort as a vacation home??? It is literally infested with demons

Goldiga left during some point in the tour for seemingly no reason, so she doesn’t have an alibi. The real problem is figuring out if the game is cliche enough to make her the killer, or if they’re gonna subvert it

Kikyo believes that the murderer was someone Gulliver trusted, since there was no sign of a struggle. That rules out Lessor, as they hadn’t met until that day. She suspects either Entreste or Goldiga because Entreste could move about freely since he was the owner and presumably had the keys, but the method of murder points to Goldiga

Edea accuses Kikyo, and Kikyo just hauls off on every way the murderer was an amateur. The blade was rusty, which would’ve taken two hands to use. It was poisoned, but a slash on the belt indicates that they missed, but the presence of poison suggests that the murderer had weak upper body strength, indicating Goldiga. Hell yeah you go Kikyo show that assassin knowledge

I actually do like this sidequest. I’ve got a thing for mysteries and solving this one is fun

Lessor and Entreste both wanted the sale to go through. Lessor wanted this demon-ridden property off his hands. Entreste is a banker looking to make a sale. They met that day. Goldiga has the most motive, though Edea and Heinkel are skeptical, as I was

Can I guess now that the culprit was Gulliver and he accidentally killed himself with his own poisoned dagger like a chump

Actually, scratch that. I want to say it was Whitson. He’s using too many ellipses

He’s going on about how his entire family has just been the assistants to the members of Sholmes’s family. It was definitely him

Goldiga’s dead you say? I’m so shocked! I could not possibly have seen this game attempt to subvert expectations!

She had a note reading “I shall follow where you go”. So now it’s a question of planted to make it look like a suicide, or an actual suicide

So Sholmes and Whitson worked at Starkfort years ago. Whitson is the murderer is looking more and more likely

I think I was wrong about what the conflict is. It’s should Sholmes be a police inspector or a private investigator. Honestly, I’d say neither, but at least Heinkel could whip him into shape. So let’s pick Kikyo

Man, that pissed Whitson off

There really isn’t a “worse” option here, I just personally think the police office is better for Sholmes. He needs someone to tell him when he’s out of line, and I feel like Kikyo would sooner ignore him and go off on her own than help. Besides, Heinkel’s trained worse, and he could do a lot for Sholmes in terms of training. So naturally I’m gonna tell Sholmes to go with Kikyo and kick Heinkel’s ass

Damn, I forgot how hard Heinkel could be. I ended up spamming my Zeus’s Wraths near the end of that

It WAS Whitson! Actually, Whitson was Heinkel, at least for that fight!

So the epilogue says that Whitson told Goldiga about the hidden passages in Starkfort, and she killed Gulliver. She tried to get Whitson to help her. The note was from Gulliver. It was part of his novel. Sholmes is working solo and acting as a police consultant a la his namesake

Kikyo actually likes Sholmes and she’s proud of him. “I feel compelled to come to every crime scene with a batch of freshly baked cookies.” You know what, I like Kikyo. She’s good

Off to get a decent boat! And meet the lord of Yunohana. For the boat!

Kusatsu Arima, Lord of Baths. Can that be my new title?

He... only has a gondola. And only makes soap and bath puns. And oh Angelo’s here. Team’s about to get pastry drugged, aren’t they?

Aaaaand now Tiz is unresponsive because I let him eat first

Oh was this the boss fight already?

Tiz just faded from existence? Because his cakes literally whisk you off to heaven? And he did that to all of Hartschild?

Tiz is a ghost in this fight and can only use magic BUT DOES THE CATMANCER ABILITY STILL WORK???

Well, I completely murdered the girl who gives the Catmancy skill, so it doesn’t matter. Oh well, I think there’s more in Florem

I had ghost Tiz summon a Tiz doing a gun special attack and that wrecked everything. I feel it was poetic considering Angelo’s trash talking Aimee

Angelo just tried to commit Suicide by Cake. He was stopped by a ring with a farewell note from Aimee tied to it that I imagine she shot into the air when she died, and because she’s just THAT GOOD of a shot it made it to Angelo at precisely this moment

Her last request was for Angelo to open a pancake shop and make everyone as happy as he made her, as long as he loved her even a little. And he’s gonna do it, even though he’s calling her annoying as he was agreeing to do it

Can the hot springs cure Tiz’s... ghost status?

Oh they dumped spring water on him and it worked. Okay?

Just Yew and Tiz in the baths again, since it turns out Danzaburō wasn’t real so they were alone in the first place

Aw, Yew and Magnolia are talking about the accidental engagement. Magnolia admits she overreacted, but she was so touched when he proposed

Ah! Voice is here! Man with the Purple Pen that for some reason everyone’s cool with!

So the hot springs were a boat, and Voice just unanchored it

The lord’s actually excited about this. He gave us the boat. So now we can take the springs to Hartschild and save the people Angelo ghosted

Edea’s gonna drive? Where’s Alternis when he’d actually be useful?

I was wondering what the last icon on the bottom screen was gonna be for. It’s boat access and switching to the raft

We just accidentally adopted bath lady Sakura as our mom

Oh come on, I just want the chapter to end. We did the boss fight! Why are Sergeant Sapp and Private Piddler here!?

That fight sucked

And we have fixed Hartschild. Nice. And Goodman’s okay! Nice.

Magnolia, stop waxing poetic about Goodman and his wife having to put their love aside to fulfill their duties. I get how it’s relevant to you and Yew, but can we just end this chapter?

Yew has named our boat the Rubadub. Cute

The Skyhold has been hit! By a laser! CHAPTER END

Female voice monologues about memory and regret. Every day was meant to change you into a better person

And theme song. Is this gonna happen every chapter? Not that I mind, because it’s a good song. Gives the whole game structure a very anime feel

FINALLY. This chapter feels like it took me a century. I’ve been on it for several months, at least! That’s not to say it was BAD (certain sidequests aside) but boy did it feel like it was dragging on forever. I’ve gotta wonder if the arc fatigue was just due to how I was playing the game, or if other people felt it, too. The Yōko reveal was pretty stellar, though

Hopefully the next chapter won’t take me at least 1/4 of a year to finish!

SPECULATION SPOILER CORNER

Rereading this to edit, I’m pretty sure Danzaburō ’s physical similarities to the Kaiser weren’t just a coincidence like I brushed them off as above. That had to be intentional on Yōko’s end. Yew’s jealousy about Yōko and Danzaburō ’s relationship also makes much more sense now

#bravely default #bravely second #liz liveblogs bravely second #oh man it's finally here: the liveblog a whole two people read #the holly/profiteur sidequest just killed the momentum for me #but we be back

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overlyawestruckdane · 6 years

Note

1 through 100. Let's go! Answer em aaaalll!

Omg Kate you’re absolute mad!!! Thanks tho’ I love answering these things ❤️😁Hoo boy here we go!1. What is you middle name?Don’t have one! Neither does my brother.2. How old are you?203. When is your birthday?The 15th of may 🌸4. What is your zodiac sign?Taurus ♉️🐃5. What is your favorite color?Baby pink! 6. What’s your lucky number?Dunno about lucky number but my favorite number is 77. Do you have any pets?Yep! Two dogs.One sweet, blonde girl named Emsi (based on the danish word Emsig meaning officious)And a neurotic chihuahua named Henry. We got them both cause their owners no longer could take care of them and I love them to the moon and back ❤️8. Where are you from?Hirtshals in Denmark! I love my town to death9. How tall are you?Uuuh around like 1,65 m10. What shoe size are you?3911. How many pairs of shoes do you own?Too many.... we get a lot of free stuff so I have a lot. Probably around 10 pairs?12. What was your last dream about?The only thing I remember from my last dream was that I got a pimple on my forehead lol13. What talents do you have?I’m good at art, dancing and just performing in general and I’m getting pretty good with makeup!14. Are you psychic in any way?Nope15. Favorite song?Right now it’s brain damage and eclipse from The Dark Side of The Moonby Pink Floyd. They remind me of my mom ❤️16. Favorite movie?Don’t actually have one! But the last film I think I saw was carol and I absolutely loved it.17. Who would be your ideal partner?Just someone who’s intelligent and kind I guess! And has a similar sense of humor18. Do you want children?I do, but I’m probably never gonna birth any cause I have an illness I don’t want to risk transferring and also might be going on T soon!!19. Do you want a church wedding?I don’t really care20. Are you religious?Nah. I’m a spiritual atheist21. Have you ever been to the hospital?Only as a visitor. I’ve gone to the emergency room but I’ve never been admitted.22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?Nope23. Have you ever met any celebrities?My cousins a model who’s dating one of the Danish x-factor judges so yea.24. Baths or showers?BATHS25. What color socks are you wearing?White. I prefer just plain whites rn, but there’s was a time in my life where I always wore fun, colorful socks and never matching them26. Have you ever been famous?Lol no but a stranger did come up to me last week and told me she’s a huge fan of my work ❤️ a lot of the locals like my watercolor portraits27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?Honestly yea I do fantasize a lot about it 28. What type of music do you like?Music is a huge part of my life! My main Spotify playlist is 161 hours now and it’s all extremely diverse!The only music I don’t particularly like is blues and trap cause i find it boring. Right now I’m really into old grungy rock, punk, experimental stuff, rap and disco 💃🏼 29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?Sure have! I did it countless times this summer at the beach. There’s nothing more freeing than swimming naked in the ocean 💙30. How many pillows do you sleep with?Just one, but it’s a really good one. Oh and sometimes and extra one just to cuddle 31. What position do you usually sleep in?Fetus position is my fav but I’m trying not to do that cause it’s bad for your back32. How big is your house?Pretty big. Two stories plus a garage where my friends and I hang out. And also a two bedroom annex33. What do you typically have for breakfast?Toast or oatmeal with nuts and berries34. Have you ever fired a gun?No35. Have you ever tried archery?I tried it a couple of weeks ago and it was really fun! 36. Favorite clean word?I like words like clean and crystal and chemical 37. Favorite swear word?Fuck.38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?Don’t remember. Pretty long. But I’ve started to be very careful with sleep cause my mental health REALLY depends on it39. Do you have any scars?Lots. Anything from self-harm to getting burned by a marshmallow lmao40. Have you ever had a secret ?Bitch my whole personality used to be a secret. So yea a lot41. Are you a good liar?Yup. I’m very creative and anxious so if I feel like I’ve done something I shouldn’t I immediately have a good lie ready. Also I’ve had some problems with compulsive lying whoops42. Are you a good judge of character?Nooo not really cause I always feel bad for disliking ppl so I force myself to keep an open mind. But I’ve learned to just follow my instincts a bit more43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?I’m pretty good at like southern American accents and also an American accent In Danish is so fun and cute. 44. Do you have a strong accent?It’s pretty strong. I used to fake a British accent out of embarrassment but then I started feeling pretentious so I let it go45. What is your favorite accent?I love a Colombian accent and French ofc. Also Indian and Chinese. Oh and a lot of African ones too, especially the ppl from Congo! But I love accents in general. They’re literally my go to ASMR trigger46. What is your personality type?INFP47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?My winter jacket... my mom wanted to buy me one that was new and when we finally found one that didn’t give me dysphoria I was so excited I forgot to look at the price tag... and she just bought it for me anyway.48. Can you curl your tongue?Yea and I can stick it between my tooth gap49. Are you an innie or an outie?Outie all the way50. Left or right handed?Right51. Are you scared of spiders?No, I used to have pretty severe arachnophobia but i worked through it and now I actually really love them! Also I don’t care how scared you are of them, don’t you dare kill them in front of me! That makes me so uncomfortable. Just let me know there’s a spider and I’ll get it safely outside for you 52. Favorite food?Love sushi with crab meat or fried shrimp!53. Favorite foreign food?Well probably sushi? Lol. Or anything Italian!54. Are you a clean or messy person?Super messy but I’m trying my best!55. Most used phrased?“Bid I det sure æble”. Basically “bite the bullet” in English 56. Most used word?Probably bitch. I use it in an affectionate manner towards friends lmao57. How long does it take for you to get ready?Very, very long58. Do you have much of an ego?Yea I think so59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?Suck60. Do you talk to yourself?Nope. 61. Do you sing to yourself?Yes!62. Are you a good singer?I’m decent. Think I could get good if I got a vocal coach63. Biggest Fear?Getting ridiculed, being misunderstood and being unwanted 64. Are you a gossip?I love gossip...65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?I don’t really know sry!66. Do you like long or short hair?Love all hair. I love running my fingers through long hair. I prefer short hair for me tho67. Can you name all 50 states of America?LOL NO68. Favorite school subject?I really liked art and foreign language classes69. Extrovert or Introvert?HUGE introvert!70. Have you ever been scuba diving?No but I’d love to try it!71. What makes you nervous?Public embarrassment is a big one. But racism, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny will also make me very, very nervous.72. Are you scared of the dark?Not at all73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?Depends on the mistakes? Never on like grammar and stuff like that.74. Are you ticklish?Very. I can tickle myself. But then again I am schizophrenic lol75. Have you ever started a rumor?Once in high school my friends and I started a rumor that I was “a hermaphrodite” and we kept it going for years. At first it was just to fuck with people but then I started getting like a kick from it. For some reason I loved the idea of people thinking I was intersex. Aaaand that was the start of me getting gender identity issues lol76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?I used to teach dancing lessons for kids at a local church lol does that count?77. Have you ever drank underage?Only a couple of beers. But the drinking age is here is 15 so that’s not a huge problem 78. Have you ever done drugs?a couple of times. Done ecstasy and Valium once which was really fun. And I’ve tried speed a couple of times but it has no effect on me. I also love weed if you consider that a drug 79. Who was your first real crush?Had a huge crush on a guy at my boarding school. And also a girl at the school... they became a couple and I remember wanting to die asdgsa80. How many piercings do you have?None! Had a septum once, but I never had my ears pierced as a child or anything 81. Can you roll your Rs?“Yea82. How fast can you type?Pretty fast!83. How fast can you run?I’m not a great runner but I’m getting better84. What color is your hair?Blonde85. What color is your eyes?Green86. What are you allergic to?Nothing. Tho I do get allergic reactions to extreme swifts in temperature 87. Do you keep a journal?Yup!88. What do your parents do?Both retired now but my dad used to be a fisherman and my mom ran a daycare and later worked with elderly people who suffered from dementia. 89. Do you like your age?Yea?90. What makes you angry?It takes a lot to get me angry but unnecessary hate and harassment usually gets me to tick91. Do you like your own name?I really like it actually! 92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?I have but I don’t remember them... think I repressed those daydreams when I decided never to bear children :(93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?Idc94. What are you strengths?Intellectuality, kindness, curiosity, creativity and bravery. Also I get a lot of praise for being so open and aware of my mental illnesses and for fighting so fiercely to get healthy. 95. What are your weaknesses?Bad self criticism, naïvety, laziness and having trouble asking for help and taking initiative 96. How did you get your name?My brother decided it.97. Were your ancestors royalty?Pff highly doubt it98. Do you have any scars?Already answered this99. Color of your bedspread?That really popular, white IKEA one with flowers100. Color of your room?White, although I cover them up with posters, drawings and sometimes literal trash when i get psychotic cause white walls make me hallucinate like crazyThis was a fucking blast!!! Thanks Kate 😚❤️

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shachaai · 6 years

Note

for the AU mix it up, if you want! Assassin AU + Soulmate AU + psychic connection AU! (for EngCan or FrUk? :D, please if you want!)

I went with fruk for this one, and it was a toss-up between this piece or a later piece set in the same ‘verse with them arguing about the Compare The Market meerkats. I’m not sorry. It’s more thieves than assassins here, but please just take it as ‘how not to recruit your soulmate to a shady black market organisation.’May tackle the engcan at another time.

If someone were to, before this disastrous evening began, have forced Francis to guess which of the many people he was to interact with that night at the gala would be most likely to pull a blade on him and shove it through his shoulder with enough force to hit the wall behind him, Francis would not have placed his bets on the nearly-naked male dancer with the incredibly pert bottom - even after watching the man sneak away from the other entertainers at the gala and following him to the restricted area. If only because, wearing only heels and a particularly strappy body harness, Francis could not figure out where the dancer had been concealing his knife.

Both the thud of Francis hitting the wall and his strangled yelp of pain are muffled by the music and crowds of the gala they have absconded from, a hand tight over Francis’ mouth sealing the deal with a knee pressing dangerously hard against his crotch.

The library where Francis had followed the dancer to is dark, save city lights coming in through a thin crack in the curtains. Grabbed coming in from the lit hallway, Francis’ eyesight is still adjusting to the library’s dim - an amateur’s mistake, making him almost (but only almost) deserving of his circumstances for underestimating the scantily-dressed.

(He could never have fully deserved a knife through his shoulder, though it seems to have missed the bone, puncturing through layers of cloth and skin. For the sake of all things holy - his suit is Versace.)

The curve of a shadowed cheek moves not far from Francis’ face, a low, angry voice inquiring: “Did your mother never teach you not to harass the staff at work?”

“You,” Francis mutters as he contemplates the nerve damage his shoulder with suffer if he goes for his own concealed blade, idly hating how garbled his voice comes out through a grabbing hand (it is ruining the beautiful enunciation everyone he hates hates him for) but primarily concerned with the matter where his whole body is trying not to cringe because he is impaled to the wall and his shoulder feels like it is on fire, “do not look like the one who is being harassed here.”

The dancer does not look at all like he has understood anything that Francis has just said. Francis can see him better now as his eyes adapt to his surroundings, his assailant a contrast of shadows with pinpricks of city light picking out wispy strands of his dark blond hair, the perplexed blink of his eyelashes.

He’s not meant to be here either, something whispers in the middle of the white-hot pain trying to overtake Francis’ mind, which is a ridiculous observation for Francis to make now. Of course the dancer should not be in this library; he’d snuck away from the gala to the off-limits area in the exact way that Francis had been meaning to sneak away from the gala right before he had been distracted by the dancer sneaking away first.

God, if any of Francis’ colleagues could see him now. Gilbert would shoot this mongrel and then never let Francis forget it. Antonio would… Francis is not entirely sure what Antonio would do, to be honest, but he would certainly let Francis put his head down in his lap and pet Francis’ hair very consolingly afterwards, because Antonio is many things, primarily confusing, but he is a darling. Francis sometimes wishes that at least one of them might have turned out to be his soulmate, one of the ones great cosmic justice has decided should be able to hear his innermost thoughts (and vice versa): Antonio, if only so Francis could understand what thoughts went through his friend and occasional lover’s mind, and Gilbert so he could end Gilbert’s ruthless teasing by threatening the other man to think of nothing but French love songs all day until Gilbert gives him some peace. But at first touch, when they had all first met each other… nothing. Their thoughts had remained firmly each their own.

“If you scream…” the dancer murmurs warningly - and does not say what would happen if Francis screams, though the weight of his hand and knee increases on the knife in Francis’ shoulder and on Francis crotch respectively. For someone with such lovely long legs, he has very sharp knees. Francis disapproves of them utterly, especially when applied to his own genitalia. (Francis refuses to die at the hands of someone who is too pointy.)

Refusing to humiliate himself with further garbled mutterings through a palm, Francis attempts to communicate through his eyes alone that he is not planning to scream. It is quite clear to both of them that neither of them are up to any good, and neither of them want to attract the attention of the gala’s security.

The dancer’s hand slips away from his mouth, down to his chin.

Francis smiles. Not kindly. “My suit, connard.”

Really? says the dancer’s expression, loud enough Francis practically hears the word in his head.

“It is Versace,” Francis hisses, having to breathe more heavily through his nose now. His shirt, jacket and waistcoat all stick to his skin, warm with his own blood. “And you have put two holes through the jacket! Do you know how much this outfit costs?”

“I couldn’t give a rat’s ass,” the other man snaps back at him, and Francis feels the angry huff of his breath warm against his neck. If the coarseness didn’t give it away, the crispness of his accent does - Francis has had the misfortune to be stabbed by an Englishman. The universe hates him. “Why were you following me?”

“Why were you sneaking away?” Francis counters, and lets his fingers - slowly - twitch towards his belt. “You think I don’t know you shouldn’t be here either? You were too furtive leaving the party.”

He’s good, Francis’ thoughts murmur and there is something about that -

“So - what?” the dancer scoffs, and Francis would rather like to knee him in the crotch. “You figured you’d follow the dancer in a skimpy costume and blackmail them into sex because you think they’re up to no good?”

Francis is insulted enough his hand pauses groping for his knife. “Stabbing someone into a wall seems rather like the actions of a guilty conscience, do you not think?”

“Self-defence,” claims the dancer, blandly enough Francis knows the shit is lying through his teeth. “I was assaulted by a stalkerish pervert.”

Pervert! Francis bares his teeth, the muscles of his neck going taut in his flash of irritation and making his shoulder shriek in agony. “If this is self-defence, salope, why are you not calling for security?”

I really wish, the voice murmurs in France’s head again, somewhere between exasperated and wistful, that I’d just hit him with the encyclopaedia.

Francis… Francis is nowhere near the encyclopaedias? His brow wrinkles, confused at his own random thoughts. He was supposed to have been in and out tonight: mingling at the gala until he could sneak away to the restricted area and steal the documents his client badly wanted and was willing to pay so much for. The dancer had not been part of the plan. A stabbing had not been planned. A stabbing should not jumble his processing like this unless the blade had been coated in some kind of illicit substance -

“I don’t use poison,” the dancer snaps at him, sounding aggrieved, and Francis can see his features better now, thick eyebrows, eyes liquid black from his pupils and a surprisingly lovely mouth twisted into an extremely unlovely scowl. “If I want someone dead that badly, it’s quick.”

The air freezes in Francis’ lungs, a feeling like something cold and sludgy slipping down his back.

I did not, he thinks, slowly, clearly, and as precisely as he can think with everything suddenly feeling incredibly numb, say anything about poison out loud.

Francis did not. Poison or not, he is in control of his own mouth - he has to be, for his own sanity.

“What sanity?” the dancer asks snippily. “I’m not deaf, and you definitely said -”

“Meeting my soulmate was supposed to be romantic,” Francis mourns, completely ignoring the denial in front of him and all the outrage that earns him. The universe is in the process of kicking him - hard! - when he is already down, so Francis feels fully entitled to complain. “You stabbed me - I was going to be suave!”

Do you even know the meaning of the word? the voice - the dancer’s voice, becoming increasingly familiar the more Francis hears it - asks in Francis’ mind, and if Francis were not currently impaled to a wall, he would put his face in his hands and weep. His soulmate is English. The voice he is going to be stuck with, narrating all of its innermost thoughts to Francis for the rest of his life - unless he kills his soulmate first - is English.

Francis might be a corporate spy, occasional assassin, and extremely good thief, but he has done nothing to deserve this.

“You are not my soulmate!” the dancer hisses at him, sounding as disgusted at the arrangement as Francis is.

Francis has no time for further denial. He has papers to steal, and would rather like to have the knife out of his shoulder - and either the name of his newfound soulmate or his soulmate’s knife through his neck, putting the both of them out of this misery.

“Put your hand on my mouth again.”

The dancer rears back a little. “If this is some kind of kink - ”

“Put your hand back on my mouth, salope. Then you will know I cannot be talking out loud when you hear me think.”

Black eyes glower at Francis, but the palm that had been resting on his chin claps itself back over his lips again.

So you can be trained, Francis thinks, as clearly and loudly as he can.

The eyes in front of him widen, and the dancer shivers - a full-body thing. In only his harness, he really must be cold.

“Fuck you,” he says. And thinks: I’m not paying for your suit.

“You’re buying me a new one,” says Francis, and smiles grimly at the resignation that flashes across the face in front of him. Even better is the realisation that Francis hears echo in his mind, clear, dry English that is already becoming far too familiar:

God, he is my soulmate. And then after a few stunned moments: I want a refund.

#rhymesofblau #Shacha fic #mixup challenge #fruk #Francis Bonnefoy #Arthur Kirkland #hetalia #personally I would not be arguing with any pissy England in heels - even without the knife being included

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dirt-mccracken · 6 years

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answer all the numbers

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ajapablog · 4 years

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Corona Chronicles VI

I think I missed three days of this series. On Friday, I heard from the program in Delhi about how everything was cancelled. I felt such a strong longing for the North Indian summer— the musty smell of archival files, the chlorinated swimming pool, the lightness of cotton clothes and the cool touch of silver jewelry on my body. I went down into an emotional spiral but I am fine now. I promise, no more sappy poems. If I write them, I will keep them to myself. I think I am going to lay low on the alcohol. We are all slowly starting to break, but I will not give into the psychological and emotional upheavals of this pandemic and I hope you don’t either. The first few news items that I’m sharing today were part of the reason why I felt so scared the past two days. In the News (disclaimer: because of the corporatization of information, I no longer have access to a lot of news stories on different news sites anymore —I basically finished my free quota): Yuvah Noah Harari Paints a Dark Picture of the Post-Corona World Yes, we are now referring to it as the post-Corona world. I feel mixed feelings about whether I want to be alive to see it or whether I would prefer the world for me to end by then. Harari basically reminds us that what this pandemic does is to create a surveillance state system across the world. It destroys political society. Baba and I were talking about what politics even looks like in a world where bodies after a long period of confinement will be scared to take the streets. What is the new polis? Can social media ever create political society? How do we make political claims without making our bodies visible in public? These are pertinent questions. See: https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75

The Horrors of the Cytokine Storm The idea of catching this virus didn’t become so existential until I read this piece. It is frightening to imagine that a non/living speck of matter with dna matter can wreak so much havoc in the world of the body and the universe at large. A cytokine storm is when the body realizing that a million viral particles are lodged as foreign creatures in the lungs fights so hard it kills everything that is good in the body, leading to respiratory damage and multiple organ failure. Before death, they say everything feels calm and possible. I think of the multiple kinds of death: creative death, emotional and psychic death and social death and the way that it seems everything is possible before these catastrophic damages. The last bit of this piece which talks precisely about this is so haunting. See: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/the-story-of-a-coronavirus-infection.html?fbclid=IwAR0bYFFi6rdohox8SQmV_7iuuA9MxlN0CmKp16ZhHv9t2qPtB8ROJcsYRb0

The Virus isn’t Alive to Kill Until about 10 days ago, I knew practically nothing about viruses. I have a vague recollection of drawing the figure of a virus in high school a squiggly dna encased in a protein structure but I had very little idea about how it transmits and what it does to the body. The more I know about it, the more I wish I didn’t. The virus frightens me at a fundamental level because it has the kind of reproductive power that a live being and mammals in particular cannot even dream of. With my one and half ovary and fears of not becoming a mother lodged in my brain from the age of 17, I feel particularly existentially threatened by this old an ancient foe for my desire to reproduce is working overdrive as I realize that death is impending and my biological clock ticking. I have to stop myself from playing the image of a child running bare feet on the green grass or from conjuring the sound of its voice or the smell of talcum powder on its soft skin. The virus doesn’t dream in technicolor. The virus doesn’t grapple with capitalist economies or castetist societies that shape endogamy and mating. The virus simply finds a host, replicates and moves on. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/23/coronavirus-isnt-alive-thats-why-its-so-hard-kill/

The US Senate Fights Over the Beneficiaries of the State The US senate is locked this morning in a battle characteristic of the larger Corona world. These kind of conversations about whether big businesses should be bailed out or whether the vulnerable and the working class should be bailed out should become more pertinent in a month when we realize that we depend so much on each other and yet differences of wealth shape our possibilities in life. I don’t know whether the senate will eventually decide on bailing businesses or bailing society but it is battle that will continue to shape the discourse. We must keep an eye out for it. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/03/23/trump-coronavirus-senate-economic-stimulus/

Chicago Intends to Turn Hotel Rooms into Isolation Chambers Is this 1984? But this might be a good move to keep the hospitals unclogged. They say that they are thinking of trying this model out in other cities. This might actually be good for New York. See: https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-chicago-renting-hotel-rooms-20200323-6ciawps5uvdlfm755jqvak5mhm-story.html

New York is the Epicenter of this Infection The places with the most dire circumstances move like pins on a map. I think last week might have been London and now it’s New York with roughly 5% of the world’s cases. It might have to do with increased testing or just the scalar dynamics of how this virus is spreading but projections of where and how the rates of infection will expand have been quite accurate. I am told Chicago is about a week and half behind New York. The best strategy right now is to stay at my desk and do all my pending work. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/nyregion/Coronavirus-new-York-epicenter.html The Tokyo Olympics is Postponed I don’t care so much about the Olympics but the fact that a major global event is upended by a global catastrophe comes as a reminder of the scale of this infection. I also wonder what 2021 will be like if we survive this. Everything we couldn’t do this year will be moved to that year. Spring will finally come in 2021. See: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/23/coronavirus-live-updates-congress-stimulus-us-deaths-donald-trump/2895096001/

WHO Expert Weighs in on the Future WHO expert Aylward says that the virus will probably continue to spread in a low-grade situation but life might get normal in about 6 months. Read this interview with Time. https://time.com/5805368/will-coronavirus-go-away-world-health-organization/?iid=obnetwork Drugs that are Potentially Effective Against This: There are several drugs that the SOLIDARITY group of scientists at WHO have listed as so far a potentially effective against this. I think the Indian doctors that I talked about in the last post were on to something. I think at this point, the thing for scientists to do is to understand the mechanics of each drug on the virus and to develop something with the attributes that seem to work. The drugs that are listed are: 1. remdesivir: It is something that didn’t work against Ebola, but worked against SARS and MERS. It is emerging as a major drug under consideration because of its ability to shut down viral replication by “inhibiting a key viral enzyme, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.”Science Magazine says it can do more good than harm so it is a forerunner among the drugs that the scientists at WHO are looking at. 2. chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine: These seem tricky. Touted by Trump as something he had a good feeling with, claimed to have been used by the Chinese and the French to treat cases, Science Magazine says that the data from the Chinese on their use is inconclusive. Similarly, hydroxychloroquine is said to have side effects that are more harmful than good. But the old malarial that is used to cure viral diseases like Dengue and Chikanguniya seems to have emerged in these dire times as a contender because of its ability to decrease the acidity in endosomes, compartments inside cells that they use to ingest outside material and that some viruses can co-opt to enter a cell. However, the SARS-COV-virus as the first news piece tells us attaches to a human cell through its spike protein receptor instead of co-opting outside material through endosomes. 3. ritonavir/lopinavir: These retroviral drugs used to cure HIV were used by the Chinese in over a hundred patients but against a control population that wasn’t given these drugs, these didn’t seem too effective. The contention is that perhaps these drugs were administered to the Chinese patients too late into their infection for them to be effective. These drugs are given together as protease inhibitors: they prevent the replicated dna strand of the virus from cleaving together. One drug allows the other to live a little longer in the human body reminding me of a happy couple. 4. Ritonavir/lopinavir and interferon-beta: This combination is like ritonavir and lopinavir going into couple’s therapy where the interferon-beta will help fight inflammmation while the two other drugs do their job. See: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/who-launches-global-megatrial-four-most-promising-coronavirus-treatments

With the happy news that our long knowledge of viruses might help us live, I leave you my dear friends till next time. Keep safe, wash your hands.

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vieuxnoyesrp · 6 years

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Isa. Elijah Mikaelson is an incredibly difficult character to nail; as the ethical backbone of his family, he is often charged with not only acting as his siblings’ moral compass, but also with damage control for the chaos they leave in their wake. On top of that are Elijah’s own emotional complexities and vulnerabilities, which are often at odds with the aloof and austere exterior he likes to exude. We were wowed by you attention to detail in this application, and the way you managed to tiptoe the line Elijah walks between disapproval and condescension, careful not to tip too far in the direction of superciliousness and superiority. It was clear to us that you had done an incredible amount of research in preparation for this application and we couldn’t be more honored or pleased to welcome you to Vieux Noyés RP.

Isa, thank you very much for applying. As for Elijah…

⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⤜ Name/alias: Isa.

⤜ Pronouns: She/her.

⤜ Age: 21.

⤜ Timezone: AEST/UTC +10.

⤜ Activity: I’m on uni break from now until February, so I’d say around 7 with work.

⤜ Best form of contact: Tumblr.

⤜ Any triggers? Nope, but thank you.

⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? From memory, I think it was a supernatural related RPG tag.

⤜ What drew you to the RP? I adore the shows and books this roleplay is inspired by and I have a huge respect for design… Vieux Noyés stood out immediately because it was so beautifully put together, then I read the plot and was hooked! The Appreciation Blog was also really encouraging to browse through! It seems like a wonderful group of people collaborate here.

⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? I’m watching (binging?) The Originals for the first time and the tension between supernatural species has me on the edge of my seat—it’s clear this is just as prevalent in the roleplay. I especially love that the VN plot incorporates the Salem witch cult to the mix. To see just how much pressure the NOLA coven can withstand, and how many shifts in magical balance their home can endure is exciting. A power struggle between the Originals and Marcel won’t matter if the city crumbles! How the wares, psychics, hunters and humans contribute to that war will also be undoubtedly epic (so basically all the elements, I’m terrible).

⤜ Desired character? The one and only Elijah Mikaelson.

⤜ Why do you want this character? I’ve always gravitated toward influential types who are strong willed and intrinsic to other’s development (I love to plot!). I’ve written as sadistic business moguls, security heads in dystopian angelic societies and warlock gang lords from the 1920s… I’m fascinated by prominent figures in history and the effect power has over an individual’s actions and sentiments, so I like characters that are dealt immense responsibility. I’m equally intrigued by their inherent weaknesses and the blurry line that separates honour and evil. The noble stag, the ripper of hearts, the eldest living Original vampire epitomises both extremes. Elijah’s Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator states that as an Architect, he presents as a paradox to most observers, and that he lives by glaring contradictions that nonetheless make perfect sense from a rational perspective. His sense of morality is unparalleled among vampires, but simultaneously he is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable of them all—I can’t wait to explore that synergy.

⤜ What are your future plans for this character? The Mikaelson siblings haven’t had a lot of fortune in the ol’ love department. Elijah particularly struggles to avert his attention from Klaus long enough to establish deep connections outside his family. It doesn’t help that on the extraordinarily rare occasion his focus has been elsewhere, tragedy has struck: first Tatia, then Celeste. There’s a quote from TO when Elijah says to his brother, “I have forsaken every single one of my desires in the name of your ridiculous redemption. No more. If I want something, I’ll take it. And nothing, nothing will stand in my way.” In the RP, I want Elijah to be pushed to this degree if he develops a romantic interest, triggering irrevocable consequences for his relationships and those inhabiting New Orleans.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time? As Klaus expertly manipulates those in the French Quarter like pawns in a wicked game of chess, Elijah is close by to collect the pieces, regardless of how damaged they may be. While his dedication to his family is relentless, he finds peace in the Tulane University library or at Rousseau’s on nights featuring live entertainment. Further spare moments are spent playing the piano or writing in his journals which are kept in his offices at the Plantation House: a sanctuary for his business in the quarter and a beloved, albeit temporary home.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice:

For a millennia, Elijah’s driving priority has been to protect his brothers and sister from their father, overconfident rivals, and each other. Elijah places family above all, even at the expense of his own happiness, but when they aren’t faced with imminent threats he utilises rare moments of peace to explore lands abroad; his favourite destination being Denmark where he lived with Klaus and Rebekah in the 1500s. Not sharing his sibling’s contempt for humans, Elijah has made many illustrious friends in his travels such as Caravaggio, Hemingway, and Ellington. Back in NOLA, Elijah continues to orchestrate alliances, believing unity is a necessary requirement for success.

After fleeing Mikael in the 11th century, Elijah settled with his family in Southern France. To assimilate into noble society, and for their true nature to remain undetected as they discovered the extent of their affliction, it was necessary to adopt local customs. This meant learning aristocratic manners and studying the arts. As his brothers found solace in paint or the blood of the townspeople, Elijah read every piece of literature he could get his hands on—discovering that strength came, not only from family, but from knowledge. This early exposure to formal education piqued a relentless curiosity that developed into something more sinister over the centuries. Elijah’s intellect is now his greatest asset, supernatural abilities aside. His penchant for establishing contingencies has proven invaluable and in battle, his strategic and calm demeanour only heightens his physical prowess making him near unbeatable (note: it’s always wise to carry a pocket handkerchief, just in case there’s a mess).

Elijah exudes elegance and is renowned for possessing an unfaltering gentlemanly demeanour. He values virtue over narcissism, but over a thousand years of life, an unparalleled encyclopaedic understanding of the world, and the inability to be killed has made the vampire supremely confident. He has no qualms reminding those that have forgotten that his niceties are a curtesy, not a given. Sassy Elijah is inevitable.

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your character?

As it mentions in the Plot Teasers section of Elijah’s biography, his future is entwined with his brother’s role in creating more hybrids, which will test loyalty. Furthermore, how will this impact his relationship with the Crescent Wolves and Hayley?

I’d love to do some flashbacks exploring the Originals’ historical ties to the city. There’s a great book I picked up after starting this application called “Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans” and the recounts from the early twentieth century in particular are magnificent.

I want to see Elijah’s investment in Gia Talwar’s training and plot how he will respond to her tenacious spirit. I imagine he’ll be a bit overprotective too.

Will Elijah intercede between Elena Gilbert and Klaus if they meet again? Can Elijah ignore the doppelgänger’s intoxicating familiarity?

I’m sure the unknown whereabouts of Finn has Elijah on edge, tracking him down may become something of a priority.

⤜ Para sample: Inspired by events and quotes: x

RFP

⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? Ooh probably Rebekah Mikaelson. Keep it in the family ;)

⤜ Have you read the rules? Thoroughly.

⤜ Anything else? Thank you for taking the time to read this application. Elijah is a considerably complex fellow and a beloved canon character, so I hope I’ve done him justice!

#elijah mikaelson rp #literate rpg #the originals roleplay #to rp #crossover rp #accepted

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ianmrid · 5 years

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...It's The Master Plan!

OK, strap yourself in; this one is a bit of a roller coaster.

For a good long while, I was pretty convinced that there was no way I could glitch either Mew or Deoxys into the Gen3 games, as I had done in Gen1 for Mew and Gen2 for Celebi, until I stumbled across a glitch known as Glitzer Popping. I have no idea why it is called this - it seems that it was intentionally picked to mean nothing specific, but also to not sound too generic.

A French hacker known as Metarkai fond a way to exploit some pre-existing glitches even further, allowing you hatch any pokémon you could wish for, and then these exploits were then documented in video guide form by a YouTuber called ChickasaurusGL. And man, are they ever complex. I am not going to even pretend I understand this stuff - it is way more complex than any of the glitching I have tried out previously - but I’m going to summarise the process in really basic terms. However, if you are interested in the original video, it’s linked below, but beware: it is is over an hour long!

youtube

In very basic terms, the glitch uses a bug known as the Pomeg Berry glitch in order to allow you to access the pokémon in your PC boxes during a battle - something you shouldn’t be able to do. This works by taking a Ghost-type pokémon that knows the move Curse. Curse reduces the HP of the pokémon by half - rounded down - in order to inflict damage each turn on your opponent. The ‘rounded down’ part is how to exploit the glitch. You essentially use Curse twice with a Ghost-type that has an odd number of HP, guaranteeing you are left with just 1HP. You can then use a Pomeg Berry on the pokémon, which reduces it’s Hit Point EVs, dropping it to 0HP without it having to be in battle, so it doesn’t truly faint. Now, when you enter a battle, you have no non-fainted pokémon in your party and the game glitches, sending out a placeholder icon known as Decamark (??????????). Once this happens you can open your pokémon party screen and scroll off the bottom, accessing pokémon that are stored in your PC boxes.

Accessing the pokémon in this way can cause them to become corrupted, turning them into eggs. You can then repeat the process an double ‘corrupt’ into something referred to as indicator pokémon. This part is where it gets tricky. To achieve it you need to use pokémon with specific stats, specific EVs, specific moves, and specific hidden IDs. These hidden IDs can’t be known in-game with the exception of the pokémon available as trades from NPCs. Since these are predictable values you can corrupt them by giving them the stats/EVs/moves needed.

I figured the easiest way to try it out would be to attempt it alongside the video. The glitch only works on either non-English EU cartridges or US cartridges, so I was going to have to buy another copy of Pokémon Emerald since mine was an English EU copy. This was fine - it’s not like I would risk corrupting my existing save file, containing all the hard work I’d put in so far, so I turned to the internet and eventually managed to obtain a US copy of Emerald. It took a while as there are a huge number of fake GBA cartridges on eBay and, despite my best attempts to be careful, I ended up with a few duds before I got a genuine one.

I threw together a very random team, since I needed to play through Emerald again to get to a certain point where I could try out the glitch. They needed to b high enough level to make things easy but not so high they wouldn’t listen to me. I’m not going to do a full entry on this team but here is a brief round up below:

Moone the Lunatone: I flip-flop on whether I prefer Solrock or Lunatone - and I was obviously in a Lunatone mood when selecting this team. The Rock- and Psychic-typing came in very useful in the early game where you normally wouldn’t see it.

Zippy the Banette: The key pokémon for this glitch as it is a Ghost-type that was able to learn curse. Curse behaves differently with non-Ghost-types so Banette was one of the few options available to me to execute the glitch.

Banquet the Swalot: A rather under-rated pokémon, it was nice to give Swalot an outing as it had a suitable level to make the game easy, but not risk getting too over-levelled.

Guy the Breloom: As with Lunatone and Swalot, Breloom was fully evolved but not too high a level to be useful. The part-Fighting type made short work of the early game Normal-types.

Humph the Camerupt: Since the glitch involves hatching eggs, I sent over Camerupt who has the Magma Armour ability. This reduces the amount of steps it takes for eggs to hatch, which could be handy.

Demi the Sharpedo: Originally a member of XD team until Walrein and Sableye ended up providing the same type-coverage. I needed a Water-type to get about, so I decided to give Demi a second chance to shine.

And here they all are (they still get a pic as I still played a full game with them pretty much!):

After smashing my way through the game as quickly as possible, and obtaining the in-game trade pokémon required, I configured them correctly and I was able to make the stages above work correctly. I used Bannette to correctly carry out the Pomeg Berry part of the exploit with no issue, and I even succeeded in the single/double corruption required to get he Indicator Pokémon. So far, so good.

The next bit is where it got really complex. I had to capture some Smeargle to transform them into Mew and Deoxys. It had to be Smeargle, due to it’s ability to learn any move through the use of its signature move, Sketch. Again they had to be set up a certain way - including being fed certain combination of pokéblocks to ensure the created Mew/Deoxys would be obedient, since this flag was usually set by the event item - a step we were skipping completely. I finally obtained and set up my Smeargle and now all I had to do was to double corrupt them, however...

I. Just. Couldn’t. Make. It. Work.

I just don’t know why. Things started out OK; I managed the single corruption stage after a couple of attempts, but try as I might I just couldn’t manage the double corruption step. Every single damn time, the Eggs remained the same. Now, it could be pure dumb bad luck since there is only a percentage chance of each corruption/double corruption working, but the chance is high enough that I would have thought I’d have seen a success at least once, given the number of times I tried. Additionally, there is no way to know for sure whether or not you are just endlessly trying out the same procedure over and over, with no hope of getting the desired result because you have screwed up a step earlier in the process. At one point, to try and mitigate that possibility, I started all over again, right from Step 1 of the glitch, but I ran into the same brick wall.

This was so disappointing. It was worse knowing there was a way to do this that I just seemed unable to achieve than when I thought Mew and Deoxys were simply impossible to obtain. In my frustration, and after spending many hours failing, I turned back to the internet and searched even deeper, looking for any other articles about the glitch, some clearer or easier instructions, anything! And then a ray of hope: Distribution ROMs.

Back in the day, before all games were online and internet compatible, whenever there was a event during which you could be transferred a rare pokémon, you actually had to go to a specific location - usually a store or festival of some sort - between certain dates and take your GBA with you. You would then be linked up to an on-site GBA which was running a specific cartridge that just distributed a rare pokémon or item direct to your save file. A good example of this would be the Old Sea Map which was an event-only item that was required in order to encounter Mew in-game. The distributions ran only in Japan during part of 2005, for attendees of either the Pokémon Festa convention or the PokéPark theme park. Incredibly, over on the site digiex, someone has manage to obtain ROMs of these original distributions, meaning it is theoretically possible to receive the event pokémon as if you were actually present at the time it occurred!

Now. Does this count as legitimate? The obvious answer is no - and that is true in as much as it only really ‘counts’ if you obtained it via the event legitimately at the time. But since this also means my Gen1 Mew and my Gen2 Celebi also don’t count ‘officially’ as they were obtained by glitching, I think this is an acceptable solution to my problem. I would argue that this is actually more authentic than if I had been able to glitch the game as described above, and certainly doesn’t violate my ‘no Action Replay’ rule. It is as close to the genuine experience as it is possible to get nearly 15 years after the fact. Now fulloy self-justified it was back to eBay to buy a GBA flash drive and a memory card.

First up; Deoxys. Deoxys was able to be encountered in-game once you got a hold of the item the Aurora Ticket. This could be used on the ferry to reach the otherwise inaccessible Birth Island. I loaded the Aurora Ticket distribution ROM onto my flash drive and managed to send my Emerald save file an Aurora ticket at my first attempt - it worked perfectly! As soon as I had the ticket, I headed to Birth Island and captured Deoxys - something I never though I would be able to do in Gen3! It was immensely satisfying and I enjoyed being able to battle and catch Deoxys rather than just being gifted one directly.

Next up is Mew. The Old Sea Map - the Mew-equivalent in-game item to the Aurora Ticket was something that was only ever released in Japan and unfortunately there is no ROM that has been discovered for this yet. However, I’m not too sad as there was also a direct distribution of Mew where you were gifted it directly - and the ROM for this has also been made available on digiex.

Getting directly the pokémon is slightly less cool, but at this point it is not a concern for me! I loaded up the ROM for the Mew distribution and attempted to send myself one. This actually took a couple of goes ot get right as it seems the GBA link cable I was using needed to be in a specific way round to distribute Mew - but once I fixed that, it worked like a charm. I’d finally done it!

Hoenn National Pokédex: Completed!

I quickly sent both Deoxys and Mew over to my final Emerald save file and my National Pokédex stats read 386 seen / 386 caught. With all the extra time I had spent in Emerald leveling up all the different evolutions, my total play time was up to a whopping 103 hours, 40 minutes! That isn’t even counting the additional 17 hours, 42 minutes that I spent on the US version, trying to get the glitch to work...

I am absolutely dreading what Generation 3 will have done to my graphs. But honestly? Worth it!

#pokemon #pokemon playthrough #e plays pokemon #nintendo #game freak #Pokemon Emerald #US version

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