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    Haven't posted in a while so here's some random assortment of drawings from the last few years with varying degrees of completion, all belonging to a project of mine I've had for a while.
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    The Center of Gravity Levi's Notes and Thoughts on Team
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    Chigusa marveled once again at the psychic power that Selini displayed, briefly wondering how comparable she was to a psychic pokemon, as they blew away a few of the crowdent. Then a bit of fumbling around, it had seemed that there were now new pokemon out on the field, ones that were decidedly not trying to crowd and eat them. Well, Chigusa was taught not to be a hasty judge of character and the newly freed pokemon hadn't been given the chance to eat them yet, so perhaps it was more of a presumption on her part. One she hoped to be true. It took her a moment, then, to realize that she was being called to. She looked back over to Shawn, realizing that he had called her by the nickname "Useless." She was pretty sure that she had already said that her name was Chigusa, or Chi or Aki for short, but he had gone and said something like this. Truthfully, even if it didn't show on her face, Chigusa was quite surprised by this man's forwardness going straight from her actual name to a nickname. She knew that nicknames were generally reserved for the popular and friends, and since she had never been to Gallar nor this region she was certain it was not the former. She had been called many nicknames in the past, though it generally was some kind of thing like "Weirdo," or "Strange Girl," or some variation of "Hello" in several different languages - something that took her sometime to figure out was not just people enjoying saying a greeting over and over again. "Useless" was however a first for her, and as it had been something she herself had said she was certain that the boy was also paying attention to what she was saying. This must've meant he was actually far friendlier then she originally thought, already having one of her premature presumptions overturned. As such she wasn't quite sure if the new pokemon were going to eat them or not, but as everyone else seemed to think that she should get one for her own use she was fine to follow the crowd on this one. Of course, as Shawn told her to get one herself, and she let go of him, she immediately knew that there was a problem. She knew it before she let go of him, really, but it was all the more evident now that her legs were not behaving and she was immediately wobbling trying to take even a single step forward. Thankfully her new friend, at least on his end, was there to help her out and drag her along to the pokemon. Dahlia had already taken one for herself, leaving both some kind of snake pokemon and a cow with a fishtail. The Calfin looked to her and she locked eyes with it, it slowly dragging its way over to her while she then let go of Shawn and bent down to look at it closer. She stared at it, as it looked curiously to her. The girl finally spoke up asking, "are you going to 'ai me?" The Calfin cocked its head, not sure what the girl had just said. The girl, looking at the blue tuft of hair on its head went to pet it without warning, an act that seemed to startle the Calfin but not displease it. "Ooooh...suave..." After a moment more the girl asked, "do you want to help?" The Calfin looked around, and nodded before taking on a much more confident stance ready to fight. It then looked back to Chigusa, as if waiting for her to say something to which Chigusa realized that she was now probably considered this Pokemon's trainer. Chigusa never had much of an interest in becoming a trainer but, being into literature as she was and living where she did, it was quite frankly impossible to not be aware of them and what they were like. In fact her time in Paldea forced her to learn about being a trainer due to how the largest academy there was structured. All the same, she only had a surface level idea of what moves a pokemon could even learn were but she figured she should give it at least the most basic of commands to get it to fight. Looking at its blue tail, the girl was reminded that Anna had called it out as a water type pokemon. So, she flatly told it, "use a water move." The Calfin eagerly nodded its head and then went to fire off a jet of water from its mouth, like what someone would expect from some kind of water gun, attempting to aid its fellow water type in fending off the Crowdent.
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    "There is no way you were two hours late because of me! You probably ran off after another Pokémon!" That… was not wrong. Anna had, in fact, gotten distracted by a Pokémon. A Rattata who had alerted her to some unrest going on at the harbor. Not that she had seen any sign of that herself. Still, she hadn't been in the city for very long, what with hurrying to make it to the meeting spot on time. She was sure that Professor Appel had meant for this to be some grand meeting with at least a couple dozen young trainers. The sun would be shining overhead, like it usually was in the Zeia Fields. The professor would arrive, right on time as usual, where Lytos Pier met the main harbor. As he would call it, "the junction between land and sea." There would be a speech, since it was expected, but it would be short, because it was him, after all. And everybody would smile and laugh and even the most nervous of them all would relax. Because that was who the professor was. And they would depart with more smiles and waves, and then Anna would return to the lab with the professor to continue his research. But that was not what happened. Instead, Anna had volunteered to do this for him, and now she and the five remaining trainers huddled in a circle to dry off in a dark warehouse. Outside, a veritable hurricane lashed its fury against the walls, rattling the rafters and blowing rain into the open doorway. None of them were far enough inside to avoid the rain entirely, but none of them dared to venture further in where they couldn't see, either. At least, not until Nikolaos brought out his flashlight. The rest of them seemed to ease up at the light and named themselves, but Anna tensed. Not even the introduction of two of their Pokémon was enough to drop her shoulders. Because she could hear something. Something that the others seemed unaware of, though those with sensitive ears would hear what sounded like high-pitched squeaking. Dahlia had hit the nail on the head with her comment. They were not alone, and the others did not like the light. "Light." "Bright." "Sun?" "Lightning?" "Bad." "Twofeet." "Two others. Bigmouth and dreamflower." "Dangerous?" "Dangerous." The Totodile and Munna, called Chomper and Pinky, both tensed and moved forward to stand between the group and the inner part of the warehouse. Anybody paying attention to the two Pokémon would be able to tell that something was wrong. Anna sucked in a breath. "It's nice meeting you all," she said, keeping her tone steady. "But, uh, I need to bow out for a moment. I'll be… right back." The girl walked past the two Pokémon to face the darkness. Small pinpricks of red light broke up the blackness, which from up close could be identified as glowing eyes. "It's fine, it's fine," the two-toned girl reassured. "We won't hurt you. We just came in to get out of the storm. The light's for us to see by." "Hurt us?" "Storm." "Bad light." "Hate light." "Bad twofeet." "Run?" "Bighouse no escape." "Attack?" "Attack." BGM: Pokémon Anime Sound Collection - Raid! "Come on, listen to me. Wait, no, hey, turn off the light—" Anna turned around to shout at Nikolaos, but she wasn't able to finish her sentence. Something small and heavy crashed against her back, and then several more followed suit. The girl fell to the ground on her stomach again. "Ouch," she groaned. "I did not need another crash landing today. And this time, I don't have somebody to break the fall for me." She glanced up at Shawn and the others, who were all a good several feet away now. Closer to her, Chomper and Pinky faced off against the darkness. Tiny claws dug into the back of her raincoat as several creatures ran forward at the group. One of them jumped into the beam of the flashlight, revealing itself as a tiny brown rat Pokémon with black extremities and red eyes. Anna struggled to rise, but found herself unable to when several rats stood on her, their weight keeping her down. She lifted her head instead to shout out a warning. "Be careful, everybody! These are Crowdent! They're pretty weak, but don't underestimate them, especially in these numbers." OOC: Our first fakemon appearance! I will be including a picture of Crowdent and any future fakemon in the Discord chat. Also, we have our first battle! However, only two of you have Pokémon. Guess the rest of you should've decided to bring your own, too bad so sad. :P However, there might just be a way for those of you without a Pokémon to join in as well... And yes, the Crowdent are attacking all of you, not just Chomper and Pinky. Fortunately, those two Pokémon are also between all of you and the rats.
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    Chigusa watched as the next girl who declared their stay here walked up to the door. It had seemed that her suggestion to break down the door had been taken into consideration as the girl began shoving on it to try and get it open. Though, there was definitely something off about how she was shoving it. The rain and wind had obscured her vision but even then she was confident enough to say that the girl wasn't actually touching the door. In fact, she wasn't even moving towards it to preform such a shove. The girl wondered what was going on here and curiously leaned forward, only to immediately feel the ramifications of her actions as she took a slight step forward, losing her balance from the lean. Chigusa seemed to be frozen in place in her half stepped pose, a small wobble in her legs, and let out a heavy grunt as the original three to talk had begun to discuss leaving. Chigusa looked to the girl who advised against breaking an entering. Nodding she said, "gracias," thankful as if the advice had never occurred to her in the first place. Then as each of them began to introduce themselves Chigusa parroted, "Isaac, Reina, Qadir," before the trio left. With a soft spoken, "bye bye," she watched them disappear into the rain. Now it was only the five of them left, to which Chigusa could still only stare in curiosity at the girl attempting to force the door open by putting her hands up to it. However, Chigusa found her attention caught by something else. A strange foreboding sense of being watched and eerie noise coming from the sea behind her. Turning her head to look at it, making out nothing but the darkness and flashes of white from the occasional bout of lightning, the girl didn't end up wandering towards the eerie noise only because a secondary noise had come to distract her instead. In fact her attention was split two ways, the first with the sound of running and the second with the sound of the door being forced open. Chigusa didn't know how the girl did it, wondering if she was magic, and just let out a somehow both awed and flat sounding, "ooooooh," her expression barely changing at all as she slowly brought up her arms and managed only a single clap. She then looked down at the pink girl, who had crashed into one of the two remaining boys, and greeted her. "Alola." Chigusa attempted to make an arch with her arms, but they too seemed to wobble at attempting this action only to eventually fall back down to her side. The girl blinked up at her, eyes still glazed over from the pain. "Alo-what? Huh?" She made no attempt to get up. "Hm." Chigusa stared at the pink haired girl for a moment before saying, "hi." "Oh, hi!" the girl's expression cleared and she smiled brightly, though the side of her mouth twitched in a wince. "Sorry to uh... crash in like this. But I'm here now!" She looked around. "Not a lot of you here though, huh? Did the others not see the poster?" Chigusa blinked a few times, processing the things she had just said before saying, "ooh. The assistant." She looked over to the collapsed boy and with a near impossible to read tone said, "nice find."
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    The boy in the beanie said nothing while the others spoke their piece, but the darkening expression on his face said it all. He was annoyed at their disagreement. "Sure, you can't get anymore wet, but you can get sick. And it's not stupid at all!" By the end, his voice rose into a shout. "What's stupid is staying here! Why wait around like this when it's obvious that nobody's coming? That poster was probably just a prank or something! And you!" He whirled on the girl currently trying to break the warehouse door down with her mind. "What are you doing?! What if the cops show up?" His voice rose in dismay. The girl in an orange shirt, who until now had seemed willing enough to stay, looked to have changed her mind as she listened to both him and Dahlia. She leaned away from the latter, as if further distance would prevent her from getting either condition the woman spoke of. "I think…" she started. "I think I'm going to leave now. Even if I can't start my journey now, I'd rather not start off on the wrong trench foot—er, foot. And it's probably best not to begin our journey with breaking and entering either," she drawled out with a look toward Chigusa and Selini. The boy in the headband shook his head. "I doubt anybody will notice right now. Still," he glanced at the sky. "The weather's not getting any better. And I don't know if it's the storm or something else, but I can't get any signal here with my phone." He took out his phone and showed the screen to the gathered people, but especially Shawn. "I tried to call my brother an hour ago, but wasn't able to. Honestly? Kind of spooky." Despite his words, his voice itself came out flat. "I hate to agree with him," he nodded at the beanie boy, "but I think we all might be better off finding some shelter before we get electrocuted. And not in the warehouse," he added. "Yes, there's a low chance anybody notices, but I'm not risking getting my trainer's license revoked over this." "Argh! Why did everything turn to shit?!" the boy in the beanie scrubbed at his hair through his hat. "What if we got the wrong place? Or what if something happened to the assistant? Or maybe it really is a prank? Crap, I don't know, and that makes everything worse!" He shook his head. "It doesn't help that the longer we stay here, the more likely we all are to come down with something later!" The boy seemed to realize he was spiraling. "Listen," he took a deep breath. "I can't stick around any longer or I'll go crazy. You're all free to do what you want. I'm not your boss. Just… be careful. And don't get arrested. I'd hate to hear of anything happening to you all later on. Would make me feel bad." He took another breath. "The name's Isaac, by the way." "I'm Reina," the girl chimed in. She leaned toward Dahlia briefly before darting away. "Good luck with your trench foot. I'm leaving before I catch that." "She was obviously joking," the last boy muttered. Then, even quieter, he said his name. "… Qadir." Isaac adjusted his beanie one last time. "Well, hope I see you all later on our journeys." Then he turned around and walked away from the pier, toward a hazy building in the distance. For those who had already booked a stay, they would recognize it as Hotel Atlantica. Through the rain, they could only make out bright points of golden light and the vague outline of pointed spires. But even that seemed like a beacon of warmth and safety in the storm. "Stay frosty, but not too frosty, you hear?" Reina waved and followed Isaac toward the hotel, Qadir trailing behind with one last nod. And then they were five. Qadir's words proved true. The storm was not getting any better. In fact, it seemed to worsen, as if determined to make the group of five change their mind about staying behind. The clouds had covered the sun and cast the land below into an early night. Soon enough, everybody was treated to the sight of rain falling sideways. In the distance, a small potted plant hurtled through the skies before crashing onto the deck of the cruise ship S.S. Lemu, still docked at the port. The warehouse door was giving way with each psychic shove. Perhaps it was because of the ruckus Selini was making, or the ambience of the storm, but Chigusa was the only person to hear what came next. A low, mournful howl that came not from the land, but from the sea. One could have mistaken it for the wind itself, but for the deeper, almost yawning cries. The sound blended with the crashing of the waves like the notes of a song. Chigusa and the others would get the unmistakable sensation of being watched. It was an eerie feeling, made even more so for the girl by the deep singing that only grew louder as time passed. Try as she might to look out over the sea, though, she would spot nothing capable of making that sound. Though it was difficult to see much of anything. The scenery would go from pitch black to a blinding white whenever the lightning flashed. There was not enough time for one's eyes to adjust to either the light or the darkness. And then suddenly, the singing stopped. Soon after, Chigusa heard the patter of frantic footsteps from the opposite side. A few seconds later, a young woman who looked about the same age as everybody else whipped around the corner, hands clutching at her duffle bag. Though far more bedraggled, her distinct cotton candy locks identified her as the same girl that Nikolaos had traveled with for part of the route to Khalk Harbor. "I'm here! Sorry I'm late! I got lost on the road of life!" she shouted. The girl skidded to a stop, but her feet gave out on the slippery path. For a second she stood there, arms spread wide like a bird's in an attempt to right herself, and then she crashed forward, headbutting Shawn in the stomach. The two fell to the ground, splattering mud and rain everywhere. "Ow…" the girl groaned, rubbing at her skinned knees as she sat up. "That really hurt..." Distracted by her pain, she hadn't yet realized she was half sitting on the boy. At that same moment, Selini finally broke the warehouse door down. It fell to the ground with an even louder crash, revealing the shadowy interior of the warehouse. A few pinpricks of light winked at the group from the darkness. OOC: A lot happened in this post! Feel free to react and respond. You can also post more than once this round if you feel like it, though that's of course, entirely optional.
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    Quinn flinched the moment when Route One Oh Two became the smallest bit wet. It was not enough to keep from carrying on, but she kept thinking about it as it took further and further steps. Quinn was intimately familiar with mud, for reasons they rather kept to hirself. As Route One Oh Two became a full-on bog, Quinn spent more time looking for the safest places to step than zir stated goal of hunting for Pokémon. Cassiopeia had to help with a few of those jumps, putting all her effort into pulling upwards, giving Quinn just a few extra moments of airtime to navigate safely. It did not always work, and every piece of clothing below Quinn’s knee suffered the consequences, but there was still entertainment in the process, so Quinn did not mind. There were wild Pokémon to encounter, of course, and for those, Quinn did faer best to stay in place. Normandie did not seem to mind the environment fighting with her trademark ferocity, and Cassiopeia was unaffected by most terrain in general. The Pokémon that truly caught Quinn’s eye, however, was a Bearble standing stock still and facing away from her as it approached. Quinn recognized it immediately. “Peat? Where is your friend Nathaniel?” Quinn asked. But the Bearble did not respond, still looking ahead and growling under his breath. “Ahead, then? What is he doing without you?” Quinn made a move to continue, but Cassiopeia suddenly jerked its hand back, pulling the rest of the young ghost back with her. “Oh!” Quinn said, in more of shock than actual pain. “What is with you, you silly balloon?” That was when xe heard the whispers. In all likelihood, they had always been there since first stepping into the marsh, but it had taken breaking focus to notice them, and now they were impossible to ignore. The whispers in the back of Quinn’s mind were incomprehensible, but in the sort of way that promised comprehension if one only listened harder. Quinn tried again to approach the statue -- the whispers had to be coming from there, right? -- but Cassiopeia once again refused. “Do you want to go back into your Pokéball?” Quinn asked. That seemed to be an acceptable compromise for Cassiopeia, who practically opened her ball for Quinn as ze took it out. Approaching the statue alone made staying clean a practically impossible task, but Quinn no longer cared. The statue’s aura was awesome in the literal sense, with all the terrifying implications that that implied. It was no wonder that both Cassiopeia and Peat were not interested in such a place. Nathaniel was also there, hesitating just before placing his hand on the edifice. Quinn did likewise but overcame that final mental barrier to find out what the statue felt like. The statue was warm, but not in a way where the rock had absorbed sunlight all morning and was now radiating excess heat, nor was it warm because Quinn’s skin, as a ghost, was naturally cooler. No, it felt warm because it felt like it was alive, an impossibility in itself, but that was what it felt like. Even more, it felt like it was breathing, too. There was a pulse of energy in the statue. Its rhythm was slow, but it was there and it was consistent. Quinn could tap along with it if they didn’t feel compelled to keep his hand on the rock. “Material or Astral, I have never encountered anything like this,” Quinn said, Quinn’s voice soft. The voices in her head got louder, and faster too. And yet, Quinn still could not understand it. “What secrets do you hold?” Quinn mused. Still keeping faer hand touching the rock, Quinn began walking clockwise around the base, searching for more phenomena to experience -- an irregularity in the rock, perhaps, or a change in the statue’s beat.
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    Hi everybody, I just created my account here because of the mess on the old cardmaker forum and I really need some explanations on what happened/is happening. So the old cardmaker forum is now being spammed by some bots advertising Temu gift code or some shit like that, and I can't find any evidence of some staff doing anything about it. I tried to look for topics about that, but nobody is talking about that (or anything else for what matters). Tho I found an old topic from 2019 that implied that there was some drama on the old forum, and the moderators have migrated from there to this new forum, but I can't find any information of the reason for that. I also found a topic that said the creator of the old YCM forum was the healthcare CEO killed by Luigi Mangione and idk if that's true ? So I'm really confused rn, I need answers and find no informations. What happened back in 2019 that lead to the creation of this forum ? Does the old forum still have any staff ? Was its creator really that healthcare CEO ? And why does this new forum (don't take this the wrong way pls) seems kinda desert too ? (only 2 topics in Custom Cards since the beginning of the year) I just want a nice place with a good staff to post the cards I create, and an active community to get feedback on them ...
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    Thank you both for your quick answer ! I understand a lot better now. It's true that the golden era of forums is long gone now ... I like discord too but I grew up on forums so it feels kinda sad. I think I'll post my cards on both forum for now, because NCM looks cool but there's still some people on YCM that I like and that provides me some precious comments on my cards. Is it ok if I post cards that I make on the YCM card maker instead of the NCM one ? I got used to the old one and it feels more natural to me (and it's not because of the fact that I have to save the cards on my computer myself, I already do that because it feels safer). Also don't hate me but ............ I've used AI for the "art" of some of my cards already (not the YCM generator tho) ....... I'm not really proud of it, working with AI was a pain in the ass and I'm not even satisfied of the result. Anyway thanks again for your answers, and for confirming that YCMaker is in fact Brian Thompson !
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    Okay so basically. The admin of YCM (YCMaker) has been largely absent for most of its time. For a long period the mods there (including me!) tried to keep things running but there kept being more issues that only the admin could fix but he wasn't around. One day the site just stopped working entirely. Gathered up the mods and we decided to make a new forum. YCMaker miraculously got contacted and brought the site back but we decided we didn't want to have to deal with him anymore and stayed here. Some people came over here some stayed there and some left entirely. There are two mods there that YCMaker made mods after realizing they had no mods anymore (and then promptly got rid of most of their mod powers, so they can basically only manually ban people and move or lock topics and I think that's all?) The healthcare CEO thing is just a joke/meme. As far as why this forum is also not active there's a few reasons. 1. Forums in general are less active than they used to be. 2. A lot of the active people moved on over time especially with all the problems mentioned earlier. And those that are around sorta are split between two forums. Those staying here don't wanna deal with bots/ycmaker being absent/etc, and I can't speak for why the people on YCM stay there. 3. Specifically the card section is less active because a lot of the people who are still around were never very active with the card side of the site (It's why you'll see RP and such getting posts while other sections don't as much) For a while I hoped more of the card making people would make way here from there and we could have a stable and chill place but I dunno if that'll happen anytime soon. I think that covers it all?
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    As the bell had rung, Anima was at least a little happy that she had been given a little time for sensation to return to her limbs. She was lucky the Frillish was apparently young, she decided, as that meant the poison wasn’t as strong as it could have been. If it had been much older, or even on the verge of becoming a Jellicent, it was very likely that her entire body would have gone numb; or that, at the very least, she would have been lacking sensation in her arms and legs still, rather than drying off with a towel she had packed in her backpack. In fact, since she had dried herself mostly off, and draped the towel over her back… She had cradled the ball in her hands, staring at it idly, as Confi toddled around her. The ringing bell hadn’t changed that fact; for even if she showed them her catch… She was determined to hold onto it, and keep it. An encounter with a Pokémon like that was rare enough in these parts, and she… Couldn’t help, still, but feel a bit bad for the Pokémon. As she understood it, for a Frillish to be cast out to make their own kingdom, was tantamount to being thrown away from their family, and that… Had to hurt, one way or another. So it was, that she was barely paying attention as they examined her catch, instead, her attention almost entirely drawn to the Pokémon itself as he seemed to pose for them. Twirling in the air, the Jellyfish-like Pokémon let his ‘leg’ like tendrils flutter about not unlike a dress, or a robe as he showed himself off, clearly enjoying the attention he was getting - and even seeming to perk up when they called him rare. A small smile came to Anima’s face as she chuckled, only to pause as she was then… Given a Dusk Stone?! “I… Th… Thank you so much!” she spat out, after a moment; with enough force that her Frillish seemed to startle-mid twirl, tumbling down onto the table, as she stared down at the stone. The Dusk Stone, as it was, had a connection to many ghost-type Pokémon, and had been studied by many researchers who had shown interest in the typing. She felt as if she needed to thank them more, somehow, and yet… Before she knew it, she was being shuffled off so the next person’s catch could be evaluated. Her smile, only grew, as the Frillish flew through the air to come up in front of her, crossing his arms, as if to get in her way. He let out a loud chirrup, not dissimilar to that of Confi’s, but with an almost annoyed tone… And she laughed a little, as she gently lowered a hand to his head, and began to scratch around the side of his cheek. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to almost leave you behind, they were just moving me on already,” she laughed a little, seeming a bit more in her element as she interacted with the Pokémon than she did with people. “Still… You’re rather special, you know? I’m going to have to figure out what to call y-” "My goodness, I did not think that there were so many Pokémon in the water! I believe I've seen Finneon before but I have no idea what that is, Anima! Are these new friends?" Anima cut herself off as she glanced upwards, from her new Pokémon, to see Anneliese. She paused then, for a moment, before nodding, lightly. “...Yes, this is my newest friend,” she finally replied, voice wavering a little. At this, the Frillish flew upwards, between them; still floating a bit off the ground, as he began to twirl again; determined to be the center of attention in this moment. She felt as if she was unsure what to say, or how to continue, words seizing themselves in her throat as the Frillish began to twirl… And then Jacklyn spoke up as well, filling that dreadful silence, and giving her time to think. “...Right,” she nodded, a smile coming to her face once more, as she crossed her arms; an almost proud look coming to her face. “You’re not far off from the truth, actually, Jacklyn!” she turned to the girl, with an excited look in her eye. “Frillish - and Jellicent - are thought to be the remnants of nobility and aristocracy who perished long ago, their souls returning to the sea and being reborn as Frillish. As you’ve stated, they make their Kingdoms underwater; though they’re actually way deeper down than that light would have you believe! Instead, Frillish use that light to attract food and those who are nearing the end of their lives, so that they can join their court, and help them establish a new Kingdom…” she trailed off, voice lowering. “As… Well as to keep the souls of the departed from wandering the seas alone, because they’re well aware of how lonely it is to do so themselves. That’s… Why they make Kingdoms, after all, isn’t it?” she mused, or wondered aloud as she stared at her twirling Pokémon-- And for a moment, she felt as if she understood then, why he had come to her. Still, she let her arms fall back down to her side, as she knelt down to Confi - who had been toddling around her legs - and began to give her a bit of attention, seeing as she had been letting out annoyed chirrups the entire time she had been focused on their new ally. “...Ah, that’s it, isn’t it?” she asked; as if anyone would know what she was saying. “Confi, your name is short for Confidante-- Because for the longest time, that’s what you were for me. My trusty Confidant,” she explained, even as Confi let out a satisfied chirping noise, before looking up to her Frillish. “...So, by that logic, since you’re a member of the Aristocracy, who sought some friends... Why don’t we call you Aristo, then?” she asked, as the Frillish finally stopped twirling-- And lowered himself, to meet her gaze… Before letting out an affirming chirrup, swishing from side to side as he closed his eyes, and looked quite pleased with his nobility being recognized.
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    Nate swiftly pushed Peat aside and launched to his feet. “What was that? Is everyone alright?” he asked loudly, head whipping from side-to-side. People were starting to panic and push away from whatever had caused the commotion. Peat plodded forward to stand protectively in front of him. Nate ran forward and scooped him up under one arm, which the Bearble did not appreciate, if the rumbling was anything to go by. “Sorry bud! No time to let you walk right now! I’ll put you down at the first sign of danger, but we have to find Quinn and Bridget!” Peat stopped struggling against him after that. Nate sprinted in the direction that everyone else was fleeing from. It was hard to pick either of his friends out of the panicked crowd. Much easier to identify was the source of the attack; the guy who had stolen Arthur, some chick he didn’t know, and the girl who had thought he was a bodyguard. The three of them stood proudly in the smoking rubble of what used to be a wall. Nate set Peat on the ground and stepped forward. His fist was clenched so tight that it drained the blood from his knuckles, and his starter seemed to feed off his anger, hackles rising and teeth flashing. “What are you doing here? Trying to steal my friend’s Pokémon wasn’t enough?” He lifted his chin, his eyes flashing. “Or do you wanna try again? Because I promise I’ll do a lot more than tackle you this time if so.” He was outnumbered 3-to-1; probably worse once Pokémon came into play. That fact did nothing to tame his defiance. His eyes flicked toward Alicia. “Aren’t you the girl who thought I was a bodyguard?” His face fell. “I was excited to have a rival. Someone else shooting for the championship spot. It’s too bad.” His eyes sharpened into a glare. “No champion-level trainer ever had to resort to hurting other people to get what they want.” Peat rushed in front of him. Nate swelled with pride. His Pokémon was just like him. “Go ahead and send out your Pokémon so I can send you packing.” His focus landed on the bags they all had slung across their shoulders. “And put those bags down. You aren’t leaving with whatever you’re trying to steal.” The lady he didn’t recognize reached for a ball on her belt. Nate had half a mind to bounce an empty PokéBall off her head before she could release her first Pokémon. A Zubat materialized in a beam of red light in front of her. “What is with you lowlives and giving Zubat a bad name? They’re good Pokémon y’know, but all you lunatics catch them and make them help you break the law, so now everyone thinks they must be evil too.” “You talk too much kid!” the Phoenix grunt yelled. “Admin Alicia already gave me the go ahead to dispose of you, so the training wheels are off! Zubat, use Absorb!” The Zubat flapped its wings desperately and its fangs glowed with energy. A small bit of light was siphoned out of Peat, but the bear cub barely even flinched. Nate snorted. “Type effectiveness isn’t everything. Absorb isn’t a strong move and the Zubat line doesn’t use it well. Peat, use Bubble!” Peat opened his mouth like he was going to roar. A stream of soft bubbles flew out instead, pelting the Zubat and popping on contact. They left tiny welts wherever they hit. A thin, sticky residue clung to its wings, clearly making it harder for it to fly. The Phoenix grunt gasped. “Lucky shot kid! Zubat, use Supersonic!” Nate knew that there was no real way to dodge a sound-based attack. He just had to hope that Peat was able to tough the confusion out. “Peat, push through it and use Scratch!” The wave of sonic energy clearly hit Peat judging by the way his ears jerked and his eyes lost focus, but he managed to leap forward and smack the struggling Zubat out of the air with a meaty smack of his flipper. “Good job bud!” Nate glared past the grunt at Alicia. “Not so easy to dispose of a real future champ, is it?”
  15. 2 likes
    The way Bridget explained Technical Machines made Quinn feel like knowledge of them was information e should have absorbed before setting off on this journey, but there had been so many other things -- so many books, so many pamphlets -- that Quinn supposed it was understandable that things fell through the cracks. Before Quinn could ask any follow-up questions, though (what sort of magic? would they have to forge contracts with denizens of the infernal planes?), Bridget had both proposed and taken action on progressing further down the route, away from the baleful statue. By the time Quinn had managed to pack up and follow suit, Bridget was already well on her way. It was all Quinn could manage with their not-even-five-Starly-tall body just to keep up and the questions were forgotten. Quinn was glad to have Route One Oh Two behind hir. Meeting Bridget had been exciting and the encounter with the Malamar was a strong indicator of what the next few steps on the journey would be like, but also, of course, there was mud everywhere now. Every step was uncomfortable, even as the ground firmed up. Wet socks squelching inside wet shoes gave way to the somehow even more intolerable feeling of dried, crusty fabric rubbing against ghostly skin. The only thing keeping Quinn going was the glimpses of Islebury on the horizon, the red roof of its Pokémon Center in clear view promising laundry, lodging, and loving care for zir exhausted Pokémon. Quinn stepped out of the Pokémon Center a couple of hours later, having made good on those promises, having even found time to shower between loads of laundry. There were still somehow hours left in the day, too, and a whole new town to take in. She had already heard murmurings of acquiring fishing equipment and other fishing-related materials, and while he was excited at the prospect of a new experience, surely there was more to Islesbury than just its aquatic neighbor. Case in point: it did not take long for Quinn to stumble across a kindred spirit in this regard. A taller woman -- taller than Quinn, at least -- came out of a diner lamenting the menu, and though Quinn did not mean to stare, the commotion the woman caused certainly attracted a reasonable amount of attention, and when she demanded food with the threat of starvation, Quinn could not help but feel a pang of sympathy. “Oh! Yes, I have…” Quinn reversed their backpack to be more of a chestpack and dug around the various pockets, bypassing Normandie’s berries with a mumbled “No, those are not mine to share…” before seizing on some granola bars at the bottom of the bag, buried between a travel paint kit and the book of star charts. It pulled one out and offered it up to the woman. “It is a little smooshed, but still fine nourishment for both body and spirit.” The woman sighed. “I suppose I cannot be picky. Very well, that will do for now,” she said. The flourish she made with her hand indicated she thought Quinn was doing her a favor, even when Quinn felt quite the opposite as he gingerly placed the bar in the woman’s hand. “I know what it is like to be starving,” Quinn said. “I would not wish such a fate on anyone.” But with such morbidities out of the way, Quinn immediately perked back up. “Oh, but we should acquaint ourselves, too. My name is Quinn. I am a ghost!” “Yes, that would be- you’re a what now?” She looked Quinn up and down, looking suddenly tense, and then poked their forehead. She sighed again, this time with relief. “Is that some kind of joke from… wherever it is you’re from?” Quinn smiled. This was familiar territory for him. “I am from Sinnoh, and still a new ghost, which explains my materialism,” xe said. “I am trying to make the best of my death. Surely you would want to do the same? Oh!” An idea crossed Quinn’s mind, and fae went digging back into eir bag, finding zir Pokéballs much easier than she did the granola bars. “You can poke Cassiopeia too if that is something people do where you are from? I promise she is just as corporeal as I.” “It’s not,” the woman said, her lips pursed. She looked over Quinn’s shoulder. “What about them? Are they ghosts too? Is this city not only full of fish but haunted as well?” “That is a good question! I have not asked them,” Quinn said. It turned around and waved at their companions as they wandered the harbor. “Hey!” Quinn called out. “This woman wants to know if you are also ghosts! You have to say if you are, you know. That is part of the Ghost Law!”
  16. 2 likes
    In this new society, only a select few become Digi destined. Will we be playing the select few chosen.
  17. 2 likes
    Vanilla, fuck the haters if you can't enjoy vanilla it's a skill issue this will filter out the weak 141
  18. 2 likes
    "Your her... help is here!" Min Opinions
  19. 2 likes
    The One Who Found The Rest Of You
  20. 2 likes
    While light enough not to be crushing her, being pinned by the little Crowdents was less than ideal; something that Dahlia was terribly aware of as more moved in to hold her down, face staring upwards towards the sky as she heard… Several things happen at once. Nikolaos had realized that they did, technically, have other Pokémon to fight with; the first truly smart thing he had said and done. Of course, what he did next was less smart, she gathered, as it sounded like he was charging into the Crowdent to retrieve the Pokémon. Next, then, the people with Pokémon actually got their act together, for once; a miracle, really. They had seemed as hopeless as they came when it came to actually acting in any sort of assertive manner, or making a decision-- Or at least, the guy who seemed to suck the fun out of anything did. Of course, the little psychic girl was as impulsive as ever, something she noticed as raw force lightly crashed into her, and sent a smattering of the Crowdent flying. The perfect diversion, and a weight off her shoulders; literally. Taking her cue, Dahlia forced herself up to her feet, and swept her arms upwards and downwards; slapping the remaining Crowdent, disoriented by the psychic throw from before (not to mention the inertia of her getting up), towards the ground. Their claws dug deeper, briefly cutting into her skin, before being wrenched free by the force of her movements, a distinct frown coming to her face as she noticed that while many of the Crowdent were going towards the active Pokémon, just as many seemed intent on getting her. She had intended to protect herself with the Umbrella, not make herself a target… And yet, just as she braced to try and dodge, there was a bright flash of white-- And their saviors appeared in the center of it all, disorienting the Crowdent with their flashy entrance. They were small, to be sure, but they were helpful just by their presence, and they each looked vastly unique compared to one another. Of course, as Anna spoke, Dahlia had already been moving towards them, using the momentum from what was originally going to be a motion to dodge the Crowdent, to instead propel herself closer to the Pokémon. “Crowdent are a Pokémon extremely similar to Rattata, in a way; even if they’re more pathetic. Meowth and Ekans are known to hunt Rattata where I come from-- Delcatty and Seviper too…” her mind raced as she came to a sliding stop beside the Pokémon, eyes scanning over them, with a distinct, important thought: “So which one of you appears to be the best hunter of the group?” Her eyes darted from Pokémon to Pokémon, before settling slightly as they came not to meet the top of a head, as she expected, but sky-blue eyes which darted from person to person, before settling on her with a growl; all while an enchanting blue tail shook and illuminated the room around them from behind the little creature. “When it comes to show business, and when it comes to entertainment, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you need to catch the attention of those around you. When you want to entertain, you need to draw their gaze to you by sticking out; and when you want to deceive, you need something to draw their attention away from your left hand… All while making sure you’ve got an eye on every person present, to make sure that you’re not being deceived yourself.” In an instant, Dahlia dropped to a crouching position, eyes locked with the growling Cub, and… She gave a slight nod, as she let her smile soften a little. "...Perceptive little one, aren't you? You don’t trust a single person here-- Especially not me, which means you’re an excellent judge of character,” she winked, before throwing a thumbs up at herself. “...But you can trust me for now, friend. After all-- We’ve got bigger problems than one untrustworthy lass right now,” she nodded, gesturing towards the Crowdent around them, who had rallied in the moment her conversation had taken. “So, mind teaming up with me for a moment?” The Felight watched her with narrowed blue eyes, unwilling to remove their eyes for any period longer than the second it took them to glance away and see the Crowdent, before… Releasing a quiet huff, that almost sounded like a sigh, growl dissipating for a moment as they shifted their weight slightly, turning in an instant to face away from Dahlia, tail thumping into the ground, light bobbing up and down not unlike a lure. “...See? Bigger problems,” Dahlia teased-- Earning a hiss from the Felight as she spoke; tail thumping the ground heavily with displeasure as they continued to size up the Crowdent. “Right, right, that’s not what you wanted to hear,” Dahlia smiled, still staying crouched behind the Felight. “Wait for the right moment…” she trailed off, eyes scanning the approaching Crowdent, voice growing hushed as her mind raced-- Going to the only move she could be sure that a cat like this would know. “...And then scratch, disabling as many of them as you can. Don’t charge in, since they outnumber us still,” she advised, as the Felight began to slowly stalk at an angle, waiting for the right moment to strike, as they were instructed.
  21. 2 likes
    I legit haven't played the game in years and when I did I was bad; anyway I had an idea so here have a card NCM. This card can only be activated on the opponent's turn. For every 1000 damage you have taken this turn you may Special Summon 1 "Slime Token" (Aqua-Type/Water/Level 1/ATK 500/DEF 500) in Attack Position.
  22. 2 likes
    With Ryia still holding Lucas in place after her devastating combination attack with Keres, Lindow intended to take full advantage of the situation. Appearing at the Lycan’s flank with the Cleaver raised high above his head, the Thunder Chosen tore into the back of his foe’s legs with a brutal two-handed slash. Lucas snarled in pain, erupting to life once again and furiously shaking Ryia off before turning to lash out at his new attacker in feral rage. But Keres was ready. She quickly blasted him with another powerful jet of water, causing the hulking figure to stumble and leaving him vulnerable to Lindow’s follow-up. “Ha! Atta girl…” Lindow sneered through his fatigue. Pushing his speed to the limit, he quickly closed the gap again, this time slashing at the Lycan’s stomach. The plan was simple, requiring no communication between the Water and Thunder Chosen despite their lack of affinity. With Lucas’s wounds clearly fatal, all they had to do was overwhelm him until his body realized he was dead. “Tsk,” Lindow muttered. Even at death’s doorstep, the Lycan managed to avoid the brunt of his attack. Lindow’s eyes narrowed in begrudging admiration as Lucas countered with his claws immediately. The shriek of scraping metal rang through the clearing as Lindow turned the Bandit Cleaver flat in a desperate parry that sent him skidding backward. Panting, Lindow retook his stance as Lucas charged forward. He could tell his foe’s strength was finally waning, noting that the follow-up attack seemed sluggish and sloppy compared to earlier in the battle. Growling with effort, Lindow ducked and weaved under another series of swipes from Lucas before darting under his arm and slicing at his ribs with the Bandit Cleaver yet again. The wound wasn’t deep enough to end the fight but enough to keep Lucas’s attention away from the spectacle happening behind him... Meanwhile, Keres swirled the water above her, moving it faster and faster into a spinning vortex. With all her might, she shot it up into the air and curved it above the wounded Lycan just as he turned to attack Lindow again. The water crashed into him between the shoulder blades. At first, the beast stayed standing even as the water tried to crush him. But his wounds soon caught up to him, and his legs gave out. He came crashing to his knees and then, as the rest of the water rushed over him, fell forward, catching himself with the palms of his claws. Seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for right in front of him, Lindow dashed forward one last time. With his own primal roar, he swung the Bandit Cleaver in a deadly arc, aiming for Lucas's neck. The blade bit deep, severing the Lycan’s head from his body, and seemingly causing the entire woods to grow silent. The beast’s lifeless form slumped to the ground, finally still. The Thunder Chosen stood over the fallen Lycan, panting heavily but victorious nonethless. “It's over,” he muttered, wiping the blood from his blade with a wide swipe to the side. "let's have a rematch in the underworld someday, kay?"
  23. 2 likes
    Chigusa's ears perked up as her face continued to be pressed against the ground. While she could barely see anything going on, save for the area illuminated by the flashlight, the girl could definitely hear something coming. It wasn't just the various introductions of everyone else, but the introductions being made by some things else. She wasn't really sure what it was at first, simply hearing the high pitched squeaking but before long a pack of something called a crowdent was rushing them. Chigusa, of course, could not see them. She also lacked the strength in any of her limbs to get herself up, let alone run. So, naturally, she was pretty sure that meant she was simply going to be eaten by the whole swarm. What a bummer of a way to both start and end the journey. It seemed, however, that she was not first on the menu to be eaten. She could hear the struggle of the others as they started fighting the crowdants, and specifically two more of the people here had fallen to the ground as she had. Chigusa had never experienced so many kindred spirits in one day and if the situation were different she would've found it heartwarming to know there were others who had problems standing on their feet as she had. Unfortunately her imminent demise dampened this. It was then that someone had walked over to her, telling her to get up. While this was a task that was impossible for her, she looked to see the boy reaching out his hand to her and so decided to try with some assistance. Reaching up and weakly grabbing onto his hand, the girl managed to get to her feet, shakily as it may have been and said, "merci," as he told her he didn't want to see her get eaten. She was glad to receive such a compliment, and stood behind him as she decided to confirm his suggestion from earlier. "Oh, I am useless in a fight." Though thinking back on her life Chigusa was starting to wonder if she were perhaps less than useless in one. With no special abilities to speak of and the ability to lose to a first grader in a foot race quite convincingly, she was certain that she was more likely to drag the boy down with her than anything else. But she reciprocated his feelings in not wanting to see someone get eaten, broad or otherwise, and so she had a thought. If she couldn't fight, maybe there was someone else who could? "Ooooh...Selini." the girl called out, still in a very unconcerned tone at a normal volume to the pyschic. "Can you shove them?"
  24. 2 likes
    "My nom is Chigusa Akihara." Was this girl broken in the head as well as the body? She had basically crumpled to the ground and now she was talking about eating while introducing herself? "Aki Desu? What's that supposed to mean?" While he was still worried about the girl's physical and mental state he was growing even more antsy as the older girl, apparently some kind of weird magician, kept hinting that something was wrong. What did she know? Was this some kind of trick? Were her buddies about to come out and mug them when they were paying attention to her? He nudged Chomper in the hopes that the Pokemon would get up to no avail. "You know I don't think any of us has much money on us right?" Shawn said. Then glanced at the bright and fancy flashlight. "Well maybe he does." "I'm Selini, but please just call me Lini. As pointed out, I'm a psychic. I'm generally not awake and alert like this, but for all intents and purposes, please just treat me like anyone else. And this here is Pinky, my partner. He's a service pokemon meant to help me with my powers." Shawn was about to make a snarky comment about psychics but stopped himself at the latter part of her introduction. Service Pokemon? So some sort of disability right? Maybe he shouldn't be so harsh...at least not right away. That's when the other weirdo, the one that had run into him, started once again to talk to the darkness. At first he tried to ignore her but then he noticed something concerning. Chomper wasn't just up. He was alert. Something like that almost never happened and it immediately put Shawn on guard. "Uh, I think..." He wasn't able to get his full sentence out when suddenly a swarm of....not Ratatta came out of the darkness towards them. "Blimey!" he called out. "Be careful, everybody! These are Crowdent! They're pretty weak, but don't underestimate them, especially in these numbers." "Weak for a Pokemon you mean right? Ever get Tackled by a Zigzagoon before? I'd rather you run into me again than that!" He didn't have much time for more than that as everyone surged to action. The magician girl looked like she had armed herself and the other guy was trying to go grab the Pokemon that the assistant had brought. Which brought to mind his own Pokemon. "Alright Chomper lets show em what you're made of, Aqua Jet!" He called out and water surrounded Chomper as he surged forward and crashed into the nearest Crowdent. "That's right mate, keep it up!" He shouted for Chomper to continue like that. As he did this he took a few steps back towards the Aki Desu girl. She had fallen to the ground and he imagined she would have trouble standing up. Especially if she got swarmed by those Pokemon. He thrust his hand towards her "Get up, and stay behind me if you can't protect yourself." His blush was hidden by the darkness but he still snapped defensively at her, "I just don't feel like seeing some broad get eaten by Pokemon okay, that's all!"
  25. 2 likes
    Nikolaos had decided that he was the stupidest person in Lemu. He was a complete and utter dunce. His spirit Pokémon was a Dunsparce—no, Dudunsparce—and even amongst his dopey kindred, he was particularly empty-headed. Stupid. Stupid. How could I miss a thing as obvious as that? What am I gonna tell Vasia? Sorry I couldn’t come and find you, I was dumb and failed my journey on my very first day. How? Oh I just ignored all of the stuff you ever taught me. A little kid would have done better. To understand what had caused such a revelation, though, one would have to turn the clock back a few minutes. “Chomper is awesome!” Nik crowed. He swooped in and leaned as close as he dared to the Totodile. “He looks tough. Is he native to Galar? Have you ever battled together before?” His amber eyes were alight with awe and, to a lesser degree, envy. “I hope my starter is half as cool as Chomper.” He had wanted to ask more questions about Chomper when one of the girls collapsed. She treated the whole ordeal like it was totally normal for her, not even bothering to roll over so that her face wasn’t smooshed against the floor. “Hey. Uh, Chi, Aki, uhh… is the desu part of your nickname? Or was that separate? Because you kinda paused between the two.” Nik used his flashlight to start rummaging in his backpack for some pre-packaged snacks he had tucked away. “Are you okay? Do you need help? Is it a blood sugar thing or something? I have some snacks with sugar in them. You can have them if you want.” His hand was still shoved into his backpack when Dahlia approached. Nik frowned. That was the girl that had jumped to blaming him for abandoning Anna. “I’m not causing her any trouble,” he said defensively. Even to his own ears it sounded petulant. “I’m being careful not to point it where it will blind anyone. The dark is a danger too, you know. Someone could trip and break an arm or a leg. But if it bothers you I can turn it down. It’s adjustable,” Nik twisted the cap near the end of the metal flashlight counter-clockwise and the light dimmed considerably. “Happy?” Dahlia gave him a thumbs-down and walked away. Nik rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and muttered something rude in Greek under his breath before he went back to rummaging through his bag, triumphantly pulling out a package of peanut butter crackers just as Dahlia started to introduce herself. She was apparently a performer. A street magician. Nik had questions he wanted to ask, but he was too stung by her attitude and repeated attempts to make him look bad to put voice to them. He was a performer too. He had made some of the money he used to put towards his journey by playing on street corners and singing popular songs. That was exactly where the money for his flashlight had come from. He would have assumed they had a lot in common, but she was more than happy to throw him to the Woofes. Did I do something to her? Was it some kind of cultural boundary I overstepped? Am I just being too sensitive? Nik was glad when Linni the psychic released a munna that she called Pinky. It was a welcome distraction. “A service Pokémon to help you master your powers?” He wasn’t a very learned person. School was hardly his favorite subject, and the feeling was mutual if his test scores were anything to go by, but even he knew that service Pokémon were hard to get. There was a whole process that involved proving to the government that one was needed and also that they were properly trained. Once the process was done, that Pokémon had a lot of privileges that a normal one lacked. Access to Pokémon resisted areas. A pass to travel through most international borders. Nik shook his head. “Being psychic must be a lot harder than I thought. I always figured it was just cool powers and no drawbacks. Glad to know the secret of my underwear is safe at least, I guess.” Chomper and Pinky tensed and moved in front of Shawn and Linni. Nik blinked, shocked. He recognized a danger response when he saw one. “What’s going o-” Anna sucked in a deep breath and then cut him off. Her tone was even, but he could still see how tense she was. Nik watched her leave and walk into the darkness. She started to talk to nothing. Again. She had done that several times on the trip to the city. Nik was beginning to wonder if she was crazy. She was saying something about not hurting… someone? It was hard to hear. Then something about the light. His irritation flared again, unsure why his flashlight of all things was such a contentious subject. The moment that made him realize he was such a dunce struck. He heard something the moment after Anna stopped talking. Faint, easy to miss, but when he really strained his ears he could make it out. Squeaking. Chittering. Nik gasped. He knew that noise. Crowdent. It was just a pest. They got into houses and had to be removed by traps or by being caught, but they weren’t a threat. They were scaredy-rats on their own. The only time Crowdent would pose a problem was if they had formed a swarm. Which never happened domestically. It only happened in… in… "Come on, listen to me. Wait, no, hey, turn off the light—" Something slammed into Anna and knocked her into the ground. That was the moment Nik decided he was a total dunce. Of course this warehouse has a Crowdent infestation. Anna tried to warn me. Even Dahlia realized something was wrong and she isn’t even from here. I’m supposed to be the one that knows this area, but all I did was make everything worse. Nik was frozen. His flashlight hung limply at his side, still casting a dim beam of light forward toward where Anna had fallen. The pack of crackers slipped from his grip. This is my fault. I have to fix this. I can’t let everyone else get hurt because I’m stupid. What would Vasia do? Dahlia tried to bludgeon a few Crowdent away with an umbrella. Several more leapt onto her and pulled her to the ground. Come on! Think! Vasia would say that all the best trainers would make the best of a bad situation. Know your environment so that you can avoid danger. Not like that helps now. I shoulda been paying attention. Nik growled and slammed the heel of his hand into his forehead hard enough that it broke skin. What else did she say? Improvise. Use what you have. All I have is this dumb flashlight. I don’t even have a Pokémon yet. Getting a Pokémon is why I came here. Gah! Why did Anna not hand them out yet?! Nik jolted like he had been hit by a super-effective Thunderbolt attack. “I’m so stupid! Anna, where are the Pokémon the professor promised to hand out? Please tell me you brought them!” “Oh! Yeah, they’re right here in my bag!” She shouted from somewhere in the darkness. “We have to get to them! Crowdent are cowards! They’ll run if you have enough Pokémon out!” Nik hadn’t wanted to admit before that part of the reason he had been so quick to pull out his flashlight was that the dark scared him. It wasn’t a phobia, but it made him uncomfortable. A lot of the Pokémon that dwelled in the dark did too. They were just so… different. Unlike any of the daytime Pokémon. They scurried and scavenged and hid. They were attracted to messes and superstition said they carried all kinds of diseases. He knew that had been disproved, but the connotation was still there. No time like the present to suck it up. I need to get over it anyways. Vasia always said that there were plenty of awesome nocturnal Pokémon. Nik shucked his bouzouki case off his back and put it on the ground between the two people with Pokémon. “Hey. Watch this please. It’s really important to me.” Nik said loud enough for Shawn and Linni to hear. He didn’t wait for a response. He turned and cranked his flashlight all the way up to max. The beam of light tripled in intensity, shining all the way to the other wall of the warehouse. It revealed a swarm of Crowdent rushing toward him. His hand shook, but he pointed it directly at the group. The bright light caused them to hiss and spit and stumble, freezing. “Cover me, if you can!” Nik shouted. His stomach churned. His skin prickled up into goosebumps. You caused this. Fix it. A good trainer cleans up his messes. He summoned all of his courage and rushed forward, toward the Crowdent swarm. At the last possible second he jumped and soared completely over the swarm he had stunned. A second later they recovered and turned to chase after him. One of them jumped for him and Nik swatted it away with his flashlight, sending it sailing across the warehouse. He kept moving toward Anna without stopping. He knew that if he stopped his legs would quit working.
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    It was always great when someone with a knack for it could pick up what she was laying down-- And Anna had taken to what Dahlia had instructed like a skrelp to water. Of course, it helped that the chatty-guy self-incriminated; or given enough of a reason to blame him, when he confirmed that he abandoned her. Dahlia didn’t have to talk, or comment on that; merely clicking her tongue in a disapproving manner as he confirmed it, and with a slight shrug going. “Oh, and I thought better of him,” quietly enough so as to be heard, but not so loud as to spark a conversation, as everyone kept moving. It was always a good thing to reinforce who was supposed to be in the right, when trying to change a group’s opinion in your favor; and it wasn’t as if the chaos this could bring wasn’t more than interesting enough for her to try and sway public opinion here. Still, that was all for that as one by one everyone entered into the darkness of the warehouse, and as Dahlia smoothly side-stepped the collapsing form of the human-translation machine. Of course, things didn’t get any more normal either, as they stepped inside (and as she closed her umbrella, and leaned it against the warehouse wall), what with her newest prospective protégé talking to figures that no one else could see, and… The chatty-guy, who introduced himself as Nikolaos, pulling out a stupidly-high-powered flashlight. A hiss escaped Dahlia’s mouth as Nikolaos was illuminated by the light, and the fact that Anna had been talking to something, and promised not to disturb it, came to mind. She let the others who were prone to introduce themselves; the grumpy-looking-guy was apparently called Shawn, and already had a Pokémon… Who was way, way more chilled out than she could ever see him being. And code-talker had a name too-- Chigusa, and a few other nicknames like Chi or Aki. It was only after those two finished, and a lull set in for a moment, a singular moment, that Dahlia took a step forwards and extended a hand towards Nikolaos, though, she wasn’t sure if he could see her. “Careful there,” she began, twisting her wrist lightly as she turned a gesture of greeting into an accusatory point towards that light of his. “IIII’d probably turn that off, if I were you. We’re in an awful dark place, and-- Well, I don’t know about you, but I like having my corneas-- So let's maybe cool it with the miniature sun, m'kay?” she paused for a moment, bringing her hand back up to her mouth, as she smiled mischievously, tapping idly at her chin. “...And also, wasn't Ms. Anna talking to someone just a moment ago, and promising not to disturb them? Y’know, you’ve caused an awful lot of trouble for her-- It'd be rather rude for you to cause even more after she got lost because of you, wouldn't it? And isn't that a truly terrible way to start a journey? Causing trouble for a potential friend not once, but twice? It’s bad form to break someone else’s promises, after all,” her voice dipped slightly, taking an almost disappointed tone as she clicked her tongue, and gave him a thumbs down, before turning away from him rather suddenly; towards the rest of the group (or at least, where she expected them to be). “...But that’s enough chastising for now, don’t you think?” she closed one eye as she stared lazily through them all, waiting for the occasional lightning-strike to tell her where they were again. “My name is Dahlia-- Dahlia King. I’m a street magician from Kalos, though, I came here while practicing my trade in Unova,” she explained, planting one hand on her hip as she gestured habitually with the other, a coin rolling from one finger to the other, illuminated only by the constant, near-rhythmic lightning strikes outside. “Gotta say, so far, this place’s beaten Unova in excitement when it comes to welcomes,” she paused, timing a flourish so that she flipped the coin during one lightning-strike, and caught it just as she was illuminated by the next. It was always good to use your environment to your advantage when making an impression, after all.
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    "Feel free to thank me later," What was that supposed to mean? Thank her for what exactly? Shawn stared at the girl for a good few moments, more like glared, trying to work out if she was pulling his chain or not when the excitable boy from earlier chimed in. “Huh? Of course it didn’t come off on its own. That sleepy-eyed girl from Borya Town used her psychic powers to knock it down.” "Oh is THAT all?" Shawn said. "Just your casual every day occurrence right?" Shawn said then muttered under her breath, "this place is loony." “She isn’t reading our minds though. At least as far as I can tell. She didn’t react when I thought about my underwear.” "Wha...why're you trying to get her to react to your underwear in the first place?" Shawn couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this kind of thing normal for people of this region? He supposed it could make sense. After all they didn't really have contact with the outside world so there was no telling what kind of strange behaviors are normal here. ...Which made him even more leery about going into the warehouse. Who knew what kind of mad things they might find inside it. As more of the remaining people began to make their way inside Shawn found himself at an impasse. Sure he didn't know what was in the warehouse, he wasn't afraid of the dark or anything of course just logically it made sense to be worried about something so unknown, but realistically he also didn't know much about the city itself. For all he knew there could be people who roamed these parts and kidnapped people in the middle of storms. Ultimately he decided to follow the majority and went into the darkness and for the first time in hours out of the rain. Which of course only made him more aware of how wet he was. "Bloody cold innit..." He groaned. He paused as the girl who had crash landed on him began to talk to the darkness. What....exactly did she expect to respond? Was this place haunted? Or maybe they had just stumbled into the hideout of some Rocket-like gang? The moment passed pretty quickly but it was enough to make Shawn feel even more nervous about standing around there. "That's not important right now, though. It's time for introductions! I'll go first. My name is Anna, and I'm Professor Appel's assistant. I volunteered to substitute for him today to meet you all and ask you for a favor on his behalf. He's been pretty busy at the lab, so it worked out okay, I think. Weeded out some of the less worthy." Shawn groaned again and rolled his eyes. "Yeah I can really feel the worthiness of this group." It sounded like they were expected to introduce themselves. Which, okay, sure, if they were going to be stuck in this place it'd be good to have names he supposed. That Nikolaos guy started to brag about his flashlight and Shawn held himself back from telling him a lantern would have helped a lot better if they wanted to actually see what was in the warehouse more than a straight line. The only reason he didn't was....he might need Nikolaos and that flashlight later. Still it didn't really make him any more comfortable standing around in the dark surrounded by strangers. "I'm Shawn." He said simply. "And don't think just cause little miss assistant got the drop on me that I'm some pushover, got it?" A thought came to mind and he decided to let out his Pokemon. Chomper came out and seemed quite confused at having been let out in such a dark place. "This is Chomper, toughest Totodile around....I'm just letting him out because it's been a while, not cause I think I'll need him or anything." Even though his thought process was in fact "If something's gonna attack me I better have someone I can trust ready." Though as Chomper's first action was to sit down and nod off between his feet perhaps he wasn't much better off anyway. "He, uh, likes to conserve his energy for when he's battling."
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    Lini's efforts were ultimately, to her great relief, not fruitless. She didn't like using her powers like this, and she certainly didn't like the idea of breaking and entering, but if asked to pick between that and spending another minute in this storm, she'd break as many doors as it took. Especially once the storm managed to get even worse. At the first sign of the weather's increased severity, Lini didn't waste a second hurrying in through the now-doorless doorway, if only to get herself out of that accursed wind for a time. Plus, she had to admit, breaking stuff was a bit fun, once one looked past the potential consequences. That was just human nature. The inside was, as one would expect, extremely dark. Lini couldn't see anything inside, despite her best efforts. She tried to feel around on the walls for a light switch, but if there was one, it wasn't anywhere she was looking. A fact probably owed to the fact that she tried to stay near the door, juuuuuust in case. The only times she could see further into the warehouse were when lightning flashed across the sky, and even then, a flash of lightning was hardly enough to have time to really make out what she was seeing. Just shapes and some little red lights was all she could discern, really. Some shapes big, with hard edges, some smaller and softer. Lini was also fairly sure she could hear something in the warehouse, but honestly, it was hard to tell through the noise created by all the wind and rain outside, plus the thunder. For all she knew, what she heard was in fact the storm. After concluding the warehouse was suitable shelter, Lini poked her head back out of the doorway, holding down the hood of her poncho to keep it over her head. Just in time to hear someone address what was surely one of two obvious Donphans in the room. "Nobody else finds it weird that the bloody door was just ripped off the warehouse!?" "Feel free to thank me later," Lini smiled. Neither her expression nor her tone were mocking or sarcastic; it was cheerful and genuine. Except for the glance she cast at the girl who was apparently Professor Appel's assistant, the other Donphan in the room. So he couldn't even bother to show up himself? Again, Lini didn't blame him in this weather, but for want of a means to reach him and tell him the hellish two-hour delay his assistant had made everyone sit through, that girl would be hearing a word or two about it from Lini once she had the chance. "But for now, how about we all take this inside? I mean, unless you want to stay out there. You do you, I guess, if this is your kind of weather."
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    "Non. There was no bangou on the ad." "The heck is a bangou? Is that some kind of fruit? Did you suddenly break halfway into your sentence?" Shawn's disbelief was wasted on the girl who immediately shifted to asking if they could break down the warehouse door. Even if it was that easy to do he doubted the law would be very happy with them if they started busting up what was likely the city's property. "And I thought I'd be the 'delinquent' here." He muttered. The trio from before seemed none too happy about the various suggestions, and Shawn shared the sentiment that the phones suddenly not working was somewhat eerie, but he still didn't feel like up and leaving was the way to go. Or to be exact he didn't want to get lumped in with that Issac guy. Shawn couldn't really put any reason for it but perhaps he simply didn't like his face. Still he almost immediately began to doubt his decision again as the storm only increased in intensity. So intense was it that he could swear he heard the door to the warehouse being battered by it. "Wouldn't it be funny if the storm we're stuck in broke the thing down anyway..." Distracted as he was he didn't notice the person approaching until it was too late. "I'm here! Sorry I'm late! I got lost on the road of life!" Shawn turned just in time to get struck by something hard, though perhaps empty as well, in the stomach and was knocked off his feet. Landing with a splash and getting himself somehow even more wet. His instinct was to hit whatever was on top of him but he soon noticed it was just some weirdo girl with pink hair and stopped himself just before swinging. He lay there confused for a moment as he waited for the girl to realize she was on top of him when suddenly the warehouse door came crashing down. "Bloody hell..." he groaned at the surprising turn of events. "Not a lot of you here though, huh? Did the others not see the poster?" And now they were just having a chat while she sat on top of him. Did she not realize still that he was there? Should he shove her off? But if he did she'd probably end up getting hurt and Shawn would feel guilty and everyone would target him as the jerk in the situation despite having been crashed into. "nice find." "Oh, yeah, totally meant to do that. I always try and draw people to me by making them tackle me into the ground its kinda my thing." Shawn responded with heavy sarcastic bite. And then this other weird bird came up and started to chat with the girl too. Was she ever going to stand up? "Oh, and thanks to you too! Sorry I sat on you," Finally he was freed from the awkward situation but he wasn't any happier about it. Still the girl just seemed so....chipper that he couldn't respond with all the snark he had been saving up. "Whatever just...don't do it again I guess," he grumbled. “Here, take my hand. That was a nasty fall.” He glared at the other boy's hand and found that the snark had simply skipped a few moments, or maybe he just didn't want to look so pathetic to be needing help after being knocked over by some girl, as he immediately refused to take the offered hand and stood up on his own, saying "a fall, sure, that's what I call it when someone gets body slammed into the ground." Now that he was standing instead of focusing on the girl, apparently who they were waiting on all this time, Shawn turned his attention to the Cufant in the room. He gestured over at the broke down door and shouted, "Nobody else finds it weird that the bloody door was just ripped off the warehouse!?"
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    Nikolaos ran after the departing trio before they could get very far. “Hey! Wait up!” He stopped when he caught up to them and smiled. “You guys said you’re staying at Hotel Atlantica, right?” “Yeah,” Isaac replied with a smile. “What’s up?” "I'll try to send a message to the front desk for you when the professor finally gets here. Just in case you want to come back. It's only like an 8 minute trip if you hurry. The professor is a good guy. He wouldn't stand us up, I promise." Isaac cast him a look. “Man, I’ll be real with you. At this point, I don’t want anything to do with the professor. He can keep his reward. Thanks anyway, though.” The others nodded their agreement. “Ah, yeah,” Nik pushed his soaking hair back out of his face. “I don’t blame you. This rain really is something else, and, uh…” he looked back at the girl from Borya Town who was currently trying to bash the door down with her freaking mind. “Things are starting to get kind of crazy here.” Nik gave a farewell salute. “Was nice meeting you all! Order some avgolemono soup from the kitchen when you get back to your room. It’ll chase the chill out of your bones faster than a Fire-type.” “Yeeeah,” Isaac drawled the word out. “Not sure I want to stick around for that. I’ll try it though, thanks for the recommendation. Hope I see you around!” He waved before continuing to walk back. Reina gave one last glance at Selini and shook her head before leaving as well. Qadir just turned and left. Nikolaos shouldered his carrying case and walked back toward the waiting group. Most of his attention was on the girl from Borya Town he had spoken with before, who had not mentioned in their conversation she was apparently a PSYCHIC. Which to be honest he thought was fair. It wasn’t exactly something he would tell just anyone if he had been born a psychic. A lot of superstition surrounded the whole thing and people tended to treat psychics differently once they learned about them. Hey. Heeyyyyy. HEY! Can you hear this? Are you reading my mind? Helloooo! I’m wearing pink boxers with moons and little howling Woofes on them right now! Nikolaos watched the girl closely to see if she reacted, but if she had been reading his mind, she was a great actor. She continued to mentally rail against the warehouse door. The frame was giving way though. It was bending, and then, just as it was about to give way, Nik heard a familiar voice shouting. “Anna?” Nik spun around just in time to see the cotton-candy haired girl slam into the boy from Galar he had been talking with earlier, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Behind him he distantly heard the sound of the warehouse door slamming into the ground. The whole situation was rapidly devolving into chaos. It only got worse once the street magician from Kalos helped the girl up and the two quickly came to the conclusion that—”You’re gonna blame me?!” Flabbergasted was not a word that Nik used lightly. Mostly because he thought it was a very silly word, and he couldn’t say it with a straight face, but also because it was not an emotional state that came over him with any frequency. His day-to-day life was usually a very predictable thing. Nik was utterly flabbergasted. He was so shocked that when his hair fell past his bandana into his face and became a soggy red curtain that blocked his vision, he barely noticed. “What did I do?” His experience traveling with Anna had been confusing from start to finish. She had stopped them both to chat with wild Pokémon no less than three separate times. “I started running when the rain started and then when I looked back, you had disappeared! I thought—” Nikolaos shook his head like a wet dog and sent tiny drops of water scattering in every direction. “That isn’t important right now. Are you okay man?” Nik walked over and crouched down to offer Shawn his hand, his expression kind and concerned. “Here, take my hand. That was a nasty fall.”
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    To say her joke had fallen on deaf ears would have been incorrect-- But it also wasn’t fair to say it had done exactly well either. For the most part, the comments had, at least seemed to either put them off, or been ignored out of ignorance, though, that was to be expected. Something like Trench Foot, or Chilblains… They weren’t exactly the most common of knowledge, especially if you hadn’t traveled anywhere where they may have been the most common thing. But, regardless-- The comment had done its job in getting under the skin of one or two of the stragglers, and prompting them to leave so that there were only five. And, of course, with their departure, Dahlia could glance towards something a bit more interesting, which prompted a raised eyebrow from her as she twirled her umbrella a bit. Though, of course, the act of looking wasn’t anything special or worth noting in the slightest; anyone would have looked at what Dahlia heard-- And was now witnessing. One of their number, of the five remaining, was… Slamming full force into the door, someway, somehow. She wasn’t… Touching it, but she was certainly focusing on it very hard, and it was certainly rattling, like a beast was slamming into it. Dahlia raised a gloved hand to cover her mouth, and her smile, as more responses than she could verbalize at once came to mind. One of admonishment (a rant starting with something to the effect of-- “Ah, so are you trying to get us thrown out, accomplices to your tantrum? Tsk, is that any way to treat prospective colleagues?”), another goading (a snap of her fingers, followed by a “Ohhh, why didn’t I think of that? He must be trapped in there! Perhaps we should all try and find crowbars, ehhh? Though, I hardly think we’ll make much of a difference with how you’re going at it right now…”), and even one which merely spiraled into questions (beginning, of course, with wonders of if the girl had ever considered showbiz). But… She didn’t exactly have a reason to state any of them, as the door began to buckle-- And as, at the same time, someone new joined their group, slamming into the crabbiest-amongst them. A laugh escaped Dahlia, even as she brought her hand up again to cover the smile, shaking her head as the scene played out in front of her. The property destruction, of course, was entertaining-- But this? This was priceless, especially as the girl who had rattled off more languages than Dahlia could count greeted their new arrival-- And helped to swiftly unravel the fact that she was, in fact, the assistant they had been waiting for. Dahlia’s smile softened a bit, back into the grin it seemed perpetually stuck in, as the girl wondered why there were so few-- And Dahlia held out a hand towards the girl as she took a step forwards, offering to help her up. “Nope!” she announced, nodding. “Or, well, it’s more apt to say that there’s no one here left. There were a few people here, around the time the poster said to be here, but,” Dahlia paused, idly spinning her umbrella with her other hand as she chuckled lightly. “Guess they didn’t have the stomach for the wait!” she exclaimed. “But hey! That’s a good thing, right? Lets you weed out the ones who aren’t patient enough-- Or who won’t be committed enough, right?” "Huh, really? Oooops," the girl drawled out the oops, though her chipper tone belied her words. However, Dahlia caught the slight downturn of her mouth. "I guess I was even later than I thought! Ahaha, the professor's going to kill me," she ended her sentence in a singsong. "But you have a point! If they can't stick around this long, how do they expect to make it as Pokémon trainers? Law of the jungle, and everything." She took Dahlia's hand then. "Thanks!" A light flashed in her eyes. "Oh, and thanks to you too! Sorry I sat on you," she apologized to Shawn. “Exactly, exactly,” Dahlia reassured, her grin staying as she nodded along to the second half, taking careful stock of the emotional state of the girl in front of her. “If they can’t tough out an hour or two of rain, they’ll never make it a night stuck camping in the forest during the rainy season-- And if they can’t do that, then they’ll never make it as trainers, it's as simple as that,” she continued with a gesture towards the sky, and a quick thumbs-up. “And, on the note of the Professor, just tell him one of us delayed you-- I mean, it’s not that far-fetched, is it? New people, new foreigners, new town… We’re bound to get lost, right?” she suggested, her tone taking on one less of reassurance-- And now, one of mischievousness. "Yeah! Exactly!" the girl grinned, agreeing wholeheartedly with Dahlia. "Being a trainer isn't just standing in an air-conditioned gym or ordering your Pokémon around while you do nothing. At least, that's what I feel, anyway. The professor, on the other hand, might disagree..." However, her eyes lit up at the woman's suggestion. "Yes! I'll say, I was delayed talking to uhh, him!" she pointed at Nikolaos. "I did meet him earlier, so it counts, right?" “Exactly, exactly!” Dahlia grinned with a quick nod. “And it’s believable, too! He’s a bit of a talker, you see, so the Professor won’t have any real reason to doubt you,” she explained. “And worst comes to worst-- I’ll back you up! Two against one is always preferable when it comes to corroborating someone’s stories, after all,” she gave a quick wave, before glancing around. “But for now, I should leave you be-- Let you apologize or talk to anyone else you need to without crowding you, so if I do have to back you up, it looks more credible-- Wouldn’t want them to think we were working together, after all,” she gave another quick thumbs up, and then took a few steps back, as if that entire conversation hadn’t been within earshot of the others.
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    Shawn wasn't a stranger to getting caught in the rain. This didn't mean he enjoyed it in the slightest. He wasn't exactly dressed for it but at least he didn't have much with him to get soaked anyway. Something something clouds something silver lining right? "Whatta stupid saying what does it matter what a cloud is lined with not like you can get to it anyway." Shawn grumbled to himself and flinched as he looked around. He didn't like being in a crowd and the last thing he wanted was to draw attention as the weirdo who was talking to himself. Thankfully most people seemed to be either more concerned about the rain or being distracted by someone who was way too excited in this weather. That guy had come up to him earlier with the biggest smile and the dumbest questions. When Shawn had mentioned he came from Galar, no way he was going to talk about his even more disastrous first home, the guy's immediate response had been, “Galar? Is it true that the Pokemon there are 100 feet tall?” "Yeah sure and our Pokeballs are the size of cars. No of course they ain't that big that's just when they Dynamax." Thankfully the guy went off to talk to someone else not long after that and Shawn was left to his own thoughts. Okay, maybe that wasn't so thankful. It wasn't long before Shawn began to wonder if they were being tricked. Maybe this was some sort of TV show and there were thousands of people right now laughing at the dumb kids who decided to stand around outside a warehouse in the rain because a piece of paper told them to. What even were they there for? Why the heck did Shawn care about some task some professor in some weird region wanted them to do? He had half a mind to just up and leave. "We've been standing around for almost two hours, and the assistant still hasn't arrived. So I vote we just leave and start our journey now." Until someone suggested just that. The moment that the guy voiced the thought that Shawn had only internalized he could only respond in one way. "That's really stupid." It had come out so naturally despite that he himself had the thought seconds ago that Shawn wondered if there was some sort of deep seated psychological issue at play there. ...Yeah maybe the rain was making him even more negative than usual. His casual remark was drowned out by both the rain and by the much more...noticeable woman who had responded to the suggestion. The heck is trench-foot? Sounded like some obscure Poison Pokemon ability or something. Whatever the case the things she was saying was just making him even more paranoid. The more he thought about it the more this seemed like one big prank. Maybe this was some kind of special event that this region held to mess with people for their entertainment. After all this place was locked down most of the time right? The more this thought solidified itself the more on edge Shawn got. Until finally he blurted out, "This professor's gotta have a number right? Or an office or lab with one? Anyone got a phone? If you don't want to call em give it to me and I'll give them an earful for ya."
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    Few things were as bad for magic and sleight of hand, than your props being slick or soaked. Dahlia had learned that back in Kalos, and again in Unova; it was why some of her favorite spots to post-up had been underground, in the relative dryness of the subway, or in any buildings where she could reasonably set up shop. It was also why she was thankful she had had the foresight to leave all of her possessions in the hotel room she had procured for the next two nights, when she arrived by plane the day before. A more impulsive prospective trainer may have only purchased one room, before; in fact, that was what she had been counting on when she made the reservation, and she had lucked out for that very reason. After all, it only made sense, didn’t it? That if you got your Pokémon at 2:00 PM, you’d still have time to travel out of the town to begin your grand journey-- It was also foolish, and meant that if something such as this happened, not only would all your belongings be soaked or ruined by the humidity, no matter how ‘water-proof’ the snake-oil saleswoman had claimed your pack was, but also that you’d be lacking in a place to stay when inevitably you ended up not leaving until well after 7:00 that night. Then again, that was the kind of pessimism that most prospective trainers were young enough not to have yet; and so she found herself pleasantly surrounded by people that didn’t know any better, and likely hadn’t thought that far ahead, in her approximation. But, that wasn’t her problem, she decided; and so she continued to twirl the umbrella she had purchased from Virbank city before leaving Unova-- Simple, and large enough to keep all but her boots, which were rugged enough to weather the storm, mostly dry. Of course, her sleeves and vest had gotten reasonably wet over the hours, but she had kept her hair dry, and that was the part she had been most concerned about on her person. Of course, something larger, a golf umbrella, would have kept her dryer, but that would have been far more expensive; and far heavier, something she was thankful for as she stood motionless near the center of the group that remained. After all, that was another thing she had been rather careful about; her placement, and planning for her time of arrival. She had arrived roughly at six in the morning, early enough to find a prime-spot, and post up for the wait to come. That would mean she had waited for roughly eight hours until they should have started-- And now, she had waited for two more. For anyone else, the thought of staying in one place for so long may have been distressing, or at least taxing, but Dahlia had spent entire days without leaving her space-- So really, the only difference this time was that she had been painfully bored until other prospective trainers had arrived. Something that must have been obvious, as she had talked just about anyone’s ears off as they passed by, or posted up to wait near her. Of course, what was said differed from person to person; a slight comment on their appearance, a question of fashion, maybe a question of their origin. She had always had this way of finding something they were wearing to comment on, asking where it had come from or if it was from [____] brand, that she had had no trouble forcing short conversations with most of the people who arrived early. And then, there were those that arrived late; they too had been easy enough to talk to, or at least easy enough to drop in on the conversations of. For example, there was one boy who had been exchanging small talk with just about anyone who would listen, in much the same way she was. He had been using the same line of dialogue for each person that he came into contact with, so it was that when he reached her, she had barely let him finish his initial response, of--- “Oh that’s awesome! I hear the weather there is a lot different-” Before shaking her head, and shrugging. “Ah? Is that to say that this rain isn’t normal then? During their rainy seasons, Kalos and Unova actually have a lot of rain, especially when you don’t expect it. Ah-- Ah, did you know? Kalos even has it’s own version of ‘Its Raining Meowth and Yamper’, being that it’s Raining Honedge; which is to say that the rain is heavy enough to pierce even a knight’s armor. There’s also a Wind to Dehorn a Tauros-- Which really defines what we’re dealing with here as well, right?” The conversation had extended briefly from there with other bits of shared trivia, small talk, and the like-- But by and large that had been the end of that particular conversation, and they had both moved on to bothering other people, which had worked well for as long as there were other people, which wasn’t all that long in reality. So it was, that by now, she had naturally arrived back at her position near the center of the group; lightly twirling her umbrella whenever the wind would die down, because as much as she didn’t want to break the umbrella, she also needed to do something with her hands to keep herself from going insane from her self-inflicted wait; a prospect which made the exclamation that two hours had been a bit much by one of the boys waiting rather… Amusing in her eyes. It was only when their group extended an invitation to leave, that her smile grew wider, even as the boy who she had shared trivia with earlier gave a reply. “Aha, I’m afraid I’ve waited in places much longer for an opportunity less exciting than this, so I’ve not the sense to give up now,” she explained with a smile, voice light. “But, hey! You might have the right idea, yeah?” she asked, eyes taking an almost piercing quality as she spoke. “I mean, as much as the kid here is right - sorry, never got your name - staying wet can have detrimental effects, hm? I mean, trench-foot-- That’d be an awful way to start off a journey, wouldn’t it? I mean, it is rather wet and cold, the perfect combination for something like that to fester, eh? You’re probably the smart ones, leaving early enough to avoid something like that. I’m sure the Professor just put the wrong date down, anyhow, hm? I’m sure you won’t miss anything,” she gave a slight shrug, smiling as she spoke. “Oh-- Except for Chilblains, if this wind keeps up-- You’ll miss those, but, hey, that’s a good thing right?” she asked, an entirely unserious tone to her voice as she spoke.
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    Jacklyn had a proud smile on her face as Anima went off to learn more about fishing supplies, and even getting them fishing rods. After all, to go wholly into something like this and get that excited about it was too part of an adventure, so she was glad to see that spirit in her companions. And she would do well to match that spirit. As Anima called to them, Jacklyn shouted back, "of course! We'll become fishing legends in no time!" It was then that Jacklyn heard a splash come from the side to her, looking over to see that Anneliese had vanished from where she was previously. Walking over, bending down to look into the water and see Anneliese surfacing there, the girl smiled saying, "I like your enthusiasm Anneliese, but we got fishing rods to fish with! Maybe we can try using our bare hands later though, I haven't tried that before either." Were Anneliese to need help Jacklyn would either help pull her out or simply go into the water herself to help the girl. Finding a spot to go fish, the girl took out her rod and got ready. "Alright, let's see if I got this down. First all you do is take this little thing off and then go," pulling back her rod the girl shouted, "hiyah!" before swinging it as hard as she could, sending the line into the water. Standing there for a few moments the girl said, "alright and now we wait..." Jacklyn continued to stand motionless for a few moments more before saying, "hm...nothing's biting. Maybe if I do a little," the girl started to move her arms about, trying to shift the line's position, which was difficult in of itself due to how far away from her it was, before starting to essentially flail her arms as it trying to find the "perfect position" where fish or pokemon might be. Tiring herself after a bit of movement, the girl stopped for a bit grumbling. Then, after keeping her posture still as she tried to recover her stamina she suddenly felt a tug on her line. Excited for her catch the girl immediately pulled back her rod almost immediately, sending it out of the water to show that nothing was on the end of it. Giving a small glare at the hook before it plunged back into the water the girl sighed. "This is a lot harder than I was expecting."
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    “Does being an aspiring professor mean you know a lot about caring for Pokemon? Is there any advice you could give me with Peat? I make sure to brush and oil his fur every night, and I help him pick his teeth and claws clean too." "Weeeell..." Not really... Now that he'd mentioned it, it was probably best to double-check Arthur. He'd just been recovered from a kidnapping, after all, and Bridget wouldn't forgive herself if she was so caught up in having him back that she overlooked some sort of injury on the Trapinch's part. Thus, as the team continued along Route 102, did Bridget pop open Arthur's poke ball and give the creature a good, thorough inspection. And, like the impudent toddler it could very well pass for when not playing, Arthur resisted her every step of the way. "What kinda stuff do you have to do for Artur?” "'E's real fussy about 'is care, actually," Bridet answered, as she tried to part-coax Arthur into opening his mouth, part-pry it open herself. "Won't let me do anyfin' for 'im, 'side from feedin' and playin' wiv 'im. C'mon Arfur, open up, I'm makin' sure you're not hurt!" After several defiant chirps and chitters, and no small amount of trying to wriggle out of Bridget's grip, the Trapinch finally relented, and opened his maw of a mouth for Bridget to investigate. As she confirmed there was nothing of concern inside his mouth, and continued checking the rest of his body for anything that could be a possible concern, she remarked "See what I mean? Best I can do is force 'im to take a bath when he's dirty, and that should be its own category of battle." As if to prove her point, the mere mention of the word "bath" elicited a growl of obvious protest from Arthur, and further attempts to escape Bridget's grasp. The Trapinch only settled down once it seemed to process Bridget was just talking about baths, and not saying it was time to take one. "Pokemon care isn't really somefin' I know much about though. And I 'aven't seen that species until gettin' to Korova, either. Sorry. Peat looks healfy 'n' happy though. I'm sure anyone who knows more about care stuff would say you're doin' a good job." The bog up ahead was, as bogs went, certainly a bog. Nate and Quinn went on ahead into the marshy wetness with varying degrees of effectiveness. Bridget followed suit, taking to the marsh with a sense of familiarity gained from some field research back in certain parts of Galar. Which isn't to say she was just at home in a marsh as on dry land, but between having put up with this sort of terrain before, and having the appropriate footwear for the job, it was safe to say Bridget was faring better than her peers right now. Of bigger concern to her was the statue in the middle of it all. People could be fickle creatures sometimes, but Bridget was always willing to trust a pokemon. And as she eyed the statue's surroundings, she couldn't help but notice almost all of them were avoiding the statue. Peat even refused to follow Nate right up to it, which was an immediate red flag to her. She wasn't an art history major, or a geologist, or anything else that could potentially pertain to identifying a statue, but if all the local wildlife was avoiding that thing, it couldn't be anything but bad news, as far as Bridget was concerned. As much as she wanted to get up close and inspect the statue for herself - really wanted to, more than usual - Bridget made a point to keep her distance, and to keep an eye on the other two in case some sort of timely intervention was needed. Plus, somebody had to make sure Arthur wouldn't get into trouble. Bridget looked down to Arthur... only to find that while she was keeping a watchful eye on Quinn & Nate, her pokemon had slipped away, and was now proudly trotting about in the bog. Gonna have to give him a bath later. Might as well make something of this! Not keeping her attention away from her teammates for too long at any point, Bridget followed her Trapinch companion through the water and mud, then pointed at the first pokemon to cross Arthur's path. A Solosis that was otherwise minding its own business. "Let's blow off some steam, Arfur! Give it a good Bite!" Arthur, for one, seemed all too happy to oblige, charging up to the stray Solosis as best it could, jaws wide open and ready to snap shut on its new quarry.
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    Nate and Peat rushed into the water of the marsh without hesitation. The water went up to Nate’s ankles, soaking into his sneakers and socks. The mud beneath clung to his shoes like it was reluctant to relinquish him. Nate bulled forward. Peat, beside him, cut through the water with far more grace than he usually had on land. He barked and smiled and raced past Nate. “Oh no ya don’t!” the trainer shouted, pulling a burst of speed he hadn’t had a moment before. Wild Pokémon scattered into cover as the two raced by. Nathan was not a perceptive man on his best days, but even he might have noticed how the amount of Pokémon dropped severely the closer they got to the statue, if he hadn’t been so distracted. “Ha! Caught ya!” Nate was winded when he caught up to Peat. “Not as fast as ya thought, are ya, bud--bud? Peat?” Peat had stopped running. His teeth were bared and he was staring ahead at the statue in the marsh. It was probably only a few yards in front of them now. It was much more interesting up close; towering over the area and chiseled with the skill of someone that had obviously been a master of their craft. Nate felt the sudden urge to touch the statue. Which wasn’t that weird. His Mom had told him a thousand times throughout his life that he didn’t need to touch everything when he went to the store, but he lived in the physical world. His senses were driven by touch. He hadn’t ever felt the need to touch a statue though. He could guess how they felt. Smooth. Cold. Wet, in the case of the statue before him. Still, his Pokémon had stopped for a reason. Peat seemed unwilling to move even a step closer. “Wait right there, bud,” Nate said, moving toward the statue. “I won’t be long. I just… I just need to look. To get my hands on it. What if it has something to do with that rare Pokémon we heard about?” Peat gave him a look that he interpreted to be uncomfortable, skeptical, but he barked again and took a fighting stance. Nate usually trusted Peat. He trusted the instincts of Pokémon more than he did his own. They were connected to the world in a way that humans could never hope to be; more than one trainer had lost their lives by not listening to the Pokémon around them. But something was calling him forward. A tugging in his thoughts that demanded he investigate. “I’ll be right back.” Nate jogged toward the statue.
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    Dear YCM Community Members, Destitution does not arrive at our doorstep without warning. It is the culmination of a slowly beaten drum. Today, we on these very forums count the days that YCMaker has dared to abstain from implementing updates; tomorrow, we will live in a constant state of wait, never truly enjoying the fruits of his coding because of the anticipation we let to consume us. When I was a passionate card creator, I awoke each day overflowing with excitement, not about what new feature, what new interface, what new shiny effects might be unveiled— what pulled me out of bed each day was envisioning the cards I would create. The captions, the artwork, the attack-to-defense ratios and wondrous titles were so dreamy that when I awoke I often had to change my sheets. Today we count the days. In my day, we got lost in the hours. Tyranny does not just arrive at our doorstep without our complacency. Neither does the yugiohcardmaker disappear without our complicity. If we continue down the currently trodden path, we risk everything. I ask the yugiohcardmaker community— what is it that we value: facile novelty, or our fundamental craft? I already know in my heart that our community knows the answer to this question. Your deputy, Falling pizza
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    It was not every day that a person expressed genuine curiosity at Quinn’s condition, and Quinn took full advantage of Briget’s invitation. He told Bridget about its abduction, how xe was found dead on Mount Coronet, and how only a spirit and Cassiopeia remained. Even when a shorts-wearing Youngster ran up and demanded Quinn battle his brand-new Starly, Quinn’s focus was still mostly focused on her new companion. It was a good thing Normandie was used to fending for herself. “It does not affect my usual day-to-day activities as much as you would expect. I still walk along the material plane. I still consume food for nutrients, although, of course, more spiritual fare is preferred. Oh, use Tackle!” Quinn called out. Normandie hissed and charged right at the Starly, who flapped its wings in an attempt to escape, but by the time it was airborne, it had extra Ratffian weight keeping it down, and the two tumbled to the ground in a pile. Quinn continued, “Perhaps the part that is most odd to me is the occasional reaction I get. People identify me as strange, which is understandable, but when I explain my situation, it only seems to amplify their assessment. I do not see anything strange about it. You said it yourself. Ghost-type Pokemon exist. Can Human ghosts not also exist?” Bridget nodded. “You’ve got a really good point! Tho’, ‘sides yourself, all I’ve ‘eard of ghosts is just rumors. Bet everyone’ll fink this’s just hearsay too when I go back an’ tell ‘em about you.” “I understand,” Quinn said, returning Bridget’s nod. “I do not have a way to prove myself, but I do not have a particular desire for one either. Tail Whip, Normandie, let us make this next hit count!” Normandie was in the middle of dodging the Starly's counterattack but as she ran around the field of battle, she did manage a few cracks with her tail as requested. Quinn said, “Thankfully, I do have other things outside of being a full-time ghost. I have my art. I have this journey.” They broke zir attention completely away from the battlefield and stared at Bridget directly. “What are you besides a Pokémon Professor to-be?” It took a moment for Bridget to respond with anything more than “Hmm, difficult question, that.” She watched the two Pokémon battle even when Quinn did not. She came up with the answer: “A gym battle fan, I suppose. Dunno how the rest of the world handles ‘em, but in Galar they're a big deal. I’d even bet I’m one of the top fans of my hometown’s gym leader.” Quinn widened hir eyes. “Oh, your town has a gymnasium as well? Everyone in Eterna City knows the movements of our gymnasium leader, Gardenia. She is surely the city’s foremost celebrity. Even those who do not follow League movements know Gardenia. And why should they not? Everybody sees the influx of fresh young upstarts. We all want to succeed.” Quinn felt herself get a little melancholy, but ey pressed on anyway. “I want to succeed. What I did not have the opportunity for in life…” But the moment passed quickly. Quinn whipped back around to the battle. The Youngster seemed annoyed and was recalling his Pokémon, but Quinn put a stop to that. “Now, Normandie! Pursuit!” It was amazing how fast the Ratffian could run when she needed to, glowing with that purple aura as she raced forward to catch the Starly before it could fully retreat into its ball, a snarl so loud that even Quinn had to flinch. But Normandie did let up as soon as all could confirm the Starly had fainted. Quinn was glad for that, at least. “Well done, Normandie!” Quinn said, digging through faer bag. “Come get your reward!” The Youngster pouted. “It’s not as fun when you’re just battling a Pokémon. I wanted to banter too,” he said. Only then did Quinn realize just what he had done. “Oh! I apologize. Here, if you go and heal up your Starly we can go again if you like.” The Youngster wanted to sulk instead. Quinn forewent taking any money from the boy, though. It was the least ze could do. All Quinn could do after that was wish the Youngster luck on finding an opponent who would better respect his time and effort. Yet still, Quinn was happy for the victory. E turned back to Bridget, a smile escaping their lips despite her best efforts. “I think it is time for me to go looking for more Pokémon,” Quinn said. They pointed at the statue off in the distance. “I am going to go this way and see what I can find.”
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    It was an early morning in the extended stay inn at the outskirts of Erie Pennsylvania. The sun had not yet risen, but the room’s occupant had. Gwendolyn Hawthorne was shadow boxing in the corner of the cramped room, bouncing back and forth on her toes. Just a light workout to get her blood pumping before she started her day. After a few minutes fighting enemies that weren’t there, Gwen removed her weighted gloves and moved on to a set of push-ups, squats, and upside down crunches hanging from a pull-up bar she had wedged in the bathroom doorway. 250 jumping jacks later, she stripped out of her workout clothes and plunger herself into the cramped hotel bathroom tub that she had filled with ice water. The cold nearly sent her into shock, but she stifled a shiver as she felt her blood vessels contract and her heart rate slow down. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was familiar, which was comfortable. Gwen sat in the water perfectly still, meditating for the day ahead of her. Her meditation only lasted ten minutes, before the alarm on her phone went off, signaling to her that she had spent long enough freezing her ass off. Tying up her hair in a bun so that she wouldn't have to worry about it drying, Gwen quickly toweled herself down, slipping into a comfortable but form-fitting t-shirt, cargo pants, and tightly-laced outdoor boots. Slipping on a cheap hoodie, she grabbed her duffle bag and was out the door. |→ - ←—→ - ←—→ - ←| The car Gwen had parked was an old beat-up Subaru Outback, model year 1997. Or was it ‘95? The important part was that this tin can was a survivor, and as the Ontario license plate showed, it had lasted Gwen for quite a distance. Gwen tossed her bag into the fashionably spacious trunk, and after only a few tries, she managed to get the engine started. She adjusted the overhead mirror to look herself in the eye, admittedly a bit dramatically. “You got this. Regular Tuesday morning for a high-caliber sorcerer like yourself.” |→ - ←—→ - ←—→ - ←| Some distance outside of Erie, a lone girl walked down a Pennsylvania backroad. She’d done a lot of that since taking off on her own quest, the more she thought about it. Walking. Down backroads, across sprawling urban landscapes, into the middle of the woods, through mud and snow - sometimes both at the same time - in sun, wind, rain, or otherwise. If there was one constant, it was walking. Which was fine by her. It was good for her, and this kind of walking - down the highway with no distractions of civilization, yet a literal paved path to her objective - was her favorite. Still, the trek up here had been nothing if not long and arduous, and Kiara was at this specific time getting a bit tired of walking. It wasn’t long before the beat-up station wagon pulled up beside the girl. Leaning over, Gwen laboriously cranked down the passenger window, poking her head out, “Need a lift into town? I’ve got somewhere to be but I could spare a bit of time.” “If you’re offering.” Kiara opened the back door of the beat-up station wagon for just a moment to toss the large backpack slung over her back into the car, before getting in at the front and situating herself in the passenger seat. Gesturing down the road, she simply left it at “Thanks for the lift. I've got something to do out of town, so I'll just tell you where to drop me off.” “Looks like we're headed the same direction. Just let me know when to pull over.” After a few tries, Gwen managed to get the engine going again, and after peeling out a bit in the roadside gravel, the two were off. “So where ya goin’? Visiting friends?” “Job interview. Got a bit of an NDA though, so I can't say more than that.” “Mysterious! Funny thing though, I've got an interview later as well. Nothing interesting though, 007.” “Well, fancy that. Here's hoping we're both employed by tonight.” Gwen scoffed, driving with a knee for a second as she brushed a few stray bangs away from her eyes, “What's the matter? Not a fan of bumming rides off of interesting strangers?” “I just need the money.” Kiara cast a quick glance into the rearview mirror, and at the road ahead. “Didn't think they had this much nothing up north, to be honest.” “Trust me, the further north you go the more nothing you find.” The car slowed down, as Gwen read a road sign. She sped back up, clearly not having found what she was hoping for. “You know, they say hitchhiking is pretty dangerous. I could be one of those murderer cannibals you see on YouTube.” “They say picking up hitchhikers is also pretty dangerous. For all you know, I'm an escaped convict with a rap sheet a mile long.” “That's more what I’m expecting from the rest of my day.” Gwen pulled over indicating with her hand toward an off-road, “that’s my turn, hopefully you can find another person so cheerful for your next stretch. Good luck on that interview.” Kiara stared down the off-road. No doubt about it, that was the right way. “...that’s my turn, too.” Her gaze then moved over to the driver who so generously picked her up off the road. “One of us may have some explaining to do.” “No foolin’?” With a little smirk, Gwen pulled back onto the road, immediately taking the turn, “So are you a strong one, or a weak one?” Reciprocating the smirk, Kiara leaned back some in her seat. “I was taught not to brag about that sort of thing, but strong, definitely. You?” “Oh no no, I’m super weak. Lucky to have lived this long, really.” “Hopefully they don't throw you out on your ass, then.” “Wouldn’t be too bad, with this beauty,” Gwen gave her dashboard a few slaps, “she's pretty cozy, all things considered…” The two girls went for the remaining 20 or so minutes of the drive without exchanging words, but Gwen stole every glance she could at her passenger, trying her best to gauge what the girl might be really capable of. A strong one, huh? When Gwen arrived at their destination, she pulled up in front of the entrance, like a parent on the first day of school. “Shit, I never got your name, 007.” As Kiara got out of her seat, and grabbed her bag out of the back of the car, she responded, “Kiara. And I never got yours, either.” “Gwen. Good luck Kiara, not that it seems you need it.” “Same to you.” With a sigh, Gwen drove away from the supposedly strong hitchhiker, finding a parking spot well out of the way so her prized auto wouldn’t get scratched by anyone trying to park too close. Grabbing the duffle bag from the trunk, she slung it over her back and jogged up to the building. Bursting through the doors with a fierce grin, she spoke loudly enough to deliberately draw attention to herself, “So, do we just line up at one of those Test Your Strength carnival games to see who’s special grade and who’s getting neuralyzed, or what?”
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    What did Quinn look for when looking at the sky for banes or boons of fortune? It would have been difficult for Quinn to enunciate. On some level, fortune-telling was always an intuitive process, an internal question to oneself as it was externally to the world. How was one feeling? Quinn had noticed in their brief time as a ghost that most people assumed that the laws of action and reaction were those of the material. But that was not true. The laws were universal. You had to put energy out into the world to get anything back. The same begat the same. So perhaps Quinn carried the energy from the morning chase and the hospitality of breakfast when xe foresaw the rest of the day going just as well. Quinn and Nathaniel were on the road a ways -- side-by-side, with Cassiopeia on Quinn’s other flank gripping zir hand -- when Quinn’s curiosity got the better of it. “I had to step outside to feed Normandie and Cassiopeia, but you seemed in much better spirits when I returned. What were you and Billy talking about? Or was this simply the mystical power of breaking fast?” Nathaniel gestured to the extra Pokéball on his belt and said, “Wanted to ask him what I should do with this li’l guy. It's a Trapinch, apparently. It has these huge jaws and kinda looks like an armored bug. Billy told me that the trainer it was stolen from should be on the route we're headed to, so I said I’d find them and return it to her.” “Trapinch” sounded familiar. It was probably in a list of Sinnoan Pokémon that Quinn had skimmed once upon a time, but he needed to double-check the Pokédex for it now. “Oh, I see!” Quinn said. “That does look like an interesting Pokémon. We will keep our eyes peeled for anyone who looks like they are missing their precious contraband.” After a moment, hy added, “Hopefully they are not as destructive as that Magmortar was, or as strong of a hugger.” “I can deal with a strong hug. I want to see strong Pokémon.” Nathaniel grinned. “Speaking of, I asked Billy about the rumor he mentioned, too. We gotta explore that marsh area. If there’s a super rare Pokémon there, I want to meet it. It might be the next member of my team!” Quinn looked down at his shoes and thought about laundry again. “Well, I will try to stay out of your way this time. I know you were excited about seeing a Ratffian before I found Normandie and all those Ratatta,” it said. Nathaniel waved the concern away. “There is no such thing as ‘dibs’ on a Pokémon,” he said. “The way I see it, you were the right trainer at the right time for Normandie.” In hindsight, perhaps they had misjudged Nathaniel, Quinn thought. Nathaniel had always been forthright, but Quinn always saw him as struggling against destiny, trying to beat the odds instead of letting the cards fall where they may. Was he not the one obsessed with rare Pokémon? Creatures that needed an extra helping of luck to even find? But no, Nathaniel believed in fate. Maybe it was because he believed in fate that he struggled. It was an idle thought, though, not worth voicing out loud. Even if Quinn wanted to, by the time he reached the end of it, there were already new things to take in. There was a woman just ahead of them on Route One Oh Two, and she was waving them to her as she approached. “‘Scuse me!” she said. “You lot seen any shady individuals ‘round here? ‘Bout so-and-so tall, long red ‘air, jacket wiv a bird on the back, maybe bit of an attitude? ‘E took my Pokémon, and I can't find any leads on the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-- the fug who did it.” Quinn did not answer the question right away, partly because, well, partly because ze needed a moment to parse the woman’s accent, but also because Quinn was shocked at the whims of the universe, dropping everything right into their lap. “What a coincidence,” Quinn said. “Nathaniel and I encountered an egg thief who matched that description this morning. Nathaniel had to tackle him to the ground and got a Pokéball to the face for his trouble.” It felt Cassiopeia tug on their hand and quickly added, “Cassiopeia here was instrumental in slowing the thief down, of course.” Another half-formed thought crossed Quinn’s mind, and this one had more dire consequences, so they felt freer to ask, “Although, what if you are working with that man and are coming after us now looking to resteal the Pokémon away again?” The woman shook her head. “Not at all. I’m the victim! Took my Trapinch, ‘e did!” “Is that so?” Quinn said, eyeing Nathaniel’s belt. “That is the Pokémon Nathaniel told me was in that ball.” Eir gaze drifted upwards, trying to meet Nathaniel’s before returning to the woman. “I suppose the Trapinch would not obey you if you were deceiving us, so perhaps it would be best if you summon it with our supervision. Nathaniel?” Nathaniel handed the Pokéball over and the woman activated it without hesitation. Out sprung that strange orange creature. After a moment to inspect its surroundings, its eyes locked on to the woman’s and it let out a cheerful chattering sound before scurrying over to her side. “Arfur!” the woman said. “You had me worrie- OW!” Arfur the Trapinch had clamped his jaws around the woman’s ankles. “Hey, I missed you too, but don’t chomp my wellies!” the woman said, shaking her leg in a vain attempt to release herself. “I don’t got an extra pair, you know that!” She resorted to wedging Arfur’s jaws open by force, and the Trapinch settled for being scooped up into the woman’s arms and some more excited chirping. The woman said, “Bit of a biter, he is. I really can’t tell you have grateful I am to have ‘im back! If I can do anyfin’ for you lot, just say the word and I’ll do my best.” Quinn could not help but applaud the reunion, the second one they had managed that morning. Gone was whatever darkness and suspicion fae might have had. “Yes! Fate smiles on us this day. I knew the winds were favorable the moment I stepped outside this morning. It is an omen. Are you also on a Pokémon journey? You should come with us.” The woman looked at Nathaniel. “If your friend’s alright wivvat, I’d love to come along! I could actually use a new travelin’ group, if I’m being honest. The last one kind of…” She looked down at Arfur. “…kind of left us here?” “Of course he is alright with that,” Quinn said, now finally getting the gist of the accent. “In another miraculous coincidence, we had to say farewell to a companion of ours this morning as well.” Not that the woman would replace Belladonna, of course, but a third was still welcome. “I will let Nathaniel introduce himself, but as I said before, this is Cassiopeia, my partner and tether. My name is Quinn. I am an artist, fortune teller, new Pokémon trainer, and a ghost!”
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    go do your blue archive thread Kami North sons of calydon my beloved Heddy
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    1. Now this is an interesting question, as each one has their own quirks and ups and downs. But honestly, between the two...I prefer the Spider-Man villains. My reasoning is that while the Batman Rogue's Gallery has heavy hitters within the mob families (Falcones, Maroni, the Sionis Crime Family, etc) you also have the psychotic killers (Joker, Professor Pyg), immortal warrior (Ra's Al Ghul), a steroid user an assassins (Bane technically and Deathstroke), and then some of the more...outlandish ones (Poison Ivy, Clayface, Man-bat). On the other hand, the Spider-Man Rogue's Gallery has almost everything from every walk of life: many people in tech suits (Scorpion, Vulture, Rhino, Doc Ock), the outlandish ones (Morbius, Sandman, the Lizard, Electro), various machinery out to squash the spider (the Spider-Slayers), "mystic ones" (Inheritors, Mysterio...cause there are ones where he actually does get mystic arts)... Those galleries of villains from both sides are memorable in their own rights and give both characters various challenges that they need to navigate through. Personally for me, it's Spider-Man's gallery of villains that I prefer more. Maybe it has something to Spider-Man relating to me somewhat (honestly, I've always sort of gravitated towards this series of comics more than any other ever since I was young, so perhaps there's truth to this but I digress), or maybe it's the overall design of the villains, but they've always been a favorite of mine. 2. Now, as to favorites of each, I can work with this, I'll at least give a few favorites of each: Joker & Green Goblin: The most obvious of the two for sure, yes I'm aware. But lets be honest, these two are the heroes arch-nemesis. They're the two sides of the same coin, as it were. Both can be incredibly psychotic, both are the initial go to villains for these respective heroes, you get the gist of it. Now both have seen their shares of a Face Turn (Joker with the White Knight series and Osborn with his current run as the Gold Goblin...after his time as Red Goblin...I swear he needs to go back to normal), but honestly these both are better as villains. Mr. Freeze & Dr. Otto Octavius: Contrary to popular belief, I adore these two as well. For Freeze, it's the human aspect of it all. He did everything he could for his sick and dying wife, even after his heart grew cold (literally) and kept doing what he could to save her. One of the more relatable and most human Batman villains for sure. On the other hand, Otto has been a genius, only to be rivaled by Parker's genius. Same time, Otto is one of the few villains who understands what Parker has going for him. The man took over Parker's body and learned that indeed, great power = great responsibility and that the man has actually held his punches back. It gave him a bit of insight into things and even as Parker, he did his best to be a superior Spider-Man (title drop).
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    After moving her fishing rod around for a bit more, Jacklyn grew impatient enough that rather than do anymore she started to look around for a distraction. Seeing Anneliese had parked herself in between her and Anima, the girl looked at her and asked, "hey, have you gotten anything yet?" Anneliese, for her part, was chatting with her newly acquired Rookidee, the fishing pole not in her hands at all. "Hm? Oh. No, I do not believe so." She grabbed the pole and gave it a couple shakes as if checking. “Not holding it at all, I didn’t think of that…” The girl thought about the technique for a moment before looking at her Pokémon, an idea becoming an apparent. Bending down she said, “oh yeah, birds like fish right, so do you know what the secret is?” Eleanora stared up at Jacklyn for a few moments before turning around completely and trying to ignore her. “Huh?” With a slightly annoyed and disappointed face the girl sighed, before sitting down and casting her line out again. Then looking to over to Anneliese she asked, “so you’ve never fished before right? So what kind of stuff did you back home?” "Oh many things. My tutors would teach me many things each day. I learned piano. Watched performances and listened to orchestras in our home theatre. Took part in balls on occasion. Though I could not often speak with the guests as I would have liked..." “Whoa, sounds fancy…” the girl paused, actually processing what she just heard. She had known Anneliese to say some pretty strange stuff before but she had just chalked it up to her being a little eccentric and from somewhere else. But all of this together started to paint more of a picture to Jacklyn. “When you say an orchestra or something do you mean like the kind you’d find in some kind of concert hall or something?” "Oh yes, I believe they normally would perform at places like that. I often wondered why they did that when they could just go to people's homes just as easily." Blank faced as she again tried to process all of this the one question Jacklyn ended up asking was, “did you do like…everything in your home?” "Why, yes. After all mama and papa were often away for work so I could not very well leave. That is why the theatre was built in the first place." Becoming more concerned the girl said, "but that's gotta be so - oh!" Her expression shifted to surprised as a tug line appeared on her line, excitement crushing any concern she just had. "Looks like I got something!" As the girl started to pull, a thought crossed her mind as she said, "come on Anneliese, help me pull it up!" From the edges of the dock, a woman with messy black hair in a long gray skirt wearing an equally long sleeved black shirt had her interest caught by the trio. Of course the overexuberant and discordant method of fishing of one of them was noticeable to everyone and was likely distracting and causing issues for other fishers. To her, there was something obvious about them though, something that was only made more apparent by an observation she made. And it made her curious. Slowly she walked forward, every step of the way slow and almost labored as she closed the distance between her and the trainer. And eventually she made it to Anima, and asked, "do you mind if I sit here?" Were Anima to look at her they would notice that the woman's red eyes had bags under them, as if she had gotten barely any sleep. Her breath as well was labored and sweat was evident on her pale skinned face, as if she had just ran a marathon to get here.
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    Nikolaos stared up at the fat rainclouds above him with a smile. His jacket—one of a handful of things he had splurged on with his savings in preparation for his upcoming journey—was one of the expensive brands that marketed to trainers and was water-resistant and insulated. It did an admirable job of fighting off the chill that many of the other trainers were surely feeling, but water-resistant was not waterproof, and the rain had long since soaked through his jacket and into his t-shirt and jeans. He had styled his hair so that he would look cool when he met all the foreign trainers and travelers, but all the hair products had been washed out and now it hung over his bandana like the shaggy coat of a Stoutland. The only things not drenched were the sleek back carrying case that was slung across his back, protecting his beloved bouzouki from the elements, and his army green Pokémon League backpack. Those were the other two things he had splurged on for his journey, and they were waterproof. Still, his spirits were high. He continued to smile defiantly at the sky. Not even the Fates would rob him of his good mood that day. The world itself had been aligned against him starting his journey. His Mom’s car had broken down and forced him to make the three day journey to Khalk Harbor on foot. One of his neighbors had volunteered to escort him, since they had a Pokémon, but when they had been setting up camp at the halfway point between the two settlements they had received an emergency call and been forced to rush off. Nik made the rest of the journey by himself. Some of it was relaxing. He played his bouzouki and sang the first day, which had caught the attention of a pretty girl with two-toned hair and a smile that made his stomach flip. The nervous that came with being around pretty girls died not longer after she started talking, though. They traveled together for some time before they got separated. The third day it started to rain. He put away his bouzouki and ran the rest of the way into the city, making it to the meeting point the professor had given breathless with only a few minutes to spare. He had been worried that they would leave him behind. Two hours had passed since that point. His worry had faded. The ache in his side and his legs from his mad dash into town faded. Many people’s interest had faded and they had wandered off. Really, the only thing that hadn’t seemed to lose interest was the rain. Nikolaos had distracted himself by chatting with anyone and everyone that would listen. “Where are you from?” He asked anyone he thought was foreign. “Oh that’s awesome! I hear the weather there is a lot different. Is it true that—” What followed was a toss-up between a real, serious question about the environment, culture, or local Pokémon, or a completely insane question that to anyone local to whatever area they were discussing would sound totally absurd. The most recent person he had been talking with, a boy with dark skin and cropped hair that had been from Unova, had gotten bored and left not long before. Several of the people remaining were discussing doing the same. “I’m gonna stay,” Nik said firmly. His fingers drummed a tune against his thigh, a sign of his own restlessness. Still he smiled at the others. It looked somewhat comical with his wet hair hanging limply in his face and blocking his eyes. “It’s not like we can get anymore wet, right?”
  48. 1 like
    The wiki is finished now but all we need to do now is to make it look like the Steam UI as shown in this image if anyone knows how to code and do Java Script and CSS or 1 of the 2 please contact me and I will be very happy to get back to you. This is what I want. I want something like this for my site:
  49. 1 like
    BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! episode 8
  50. 1 like
    Jacklyn, pouting as she had attempted to reverse the conversation with a childish "no you" style of question, found herself more interested as the professor had explained just what her profession had actually entailed. The girl cleared her throat as she bashfully said, "well, I guess a professor is pretty cool then." As Jacklyn was about to ask something, curiosity coming over her, she had stopped as Anneliese's comment had caused a similar dumbfounded expression to cross her face as she let out a, "huh?" Staring at Anneliese, getting ready to say something, the girl looked back over to Anima as she kept conversing with the professor. Composing herself once their conversation had ended, and her curiosity now in focus the girl asked, "does a professor go out and explore to find out about stuff about pokemon?" The woman's gaze flicked downward for a moment. Then she responded. "Suppose some do." "And you raise pokemon too, so...does that mean professors are also trainers?" She groaned. "I guess someone could say that..." "So...does that mean..." Jacklyn trailed off, pondering what she had heard until she realized the evidence could only point towards one conclusion. Stepping closer, she looked up directly into the professor's face with starry eyes and an incredibly joyous expression. "A professor is like a professional adventurer!?" A look of horror crossed her face as she took a step back. "How did you come to that conclusion?" she asked. Jacklyn, seemingly ignoring the ladies horror, said, "oh man, that sounds so awesome. Rus, why didn't you tell me you had such a cool mom!" The Lepash let out an embarrassed sigh as the girl went off. Then, realizing what the woman had said though still ignoring her expression about it, Jacklyn said, "well, you go explore places. You train and battle with pokemon. You get to see all sorts of cool stuff and pokemon too. So that's basically an adventurer!" "I..." she looked over towards Anneliese as if asking for help. Only to find the girl looking wide-eyed and nodding along with Jacklyn. She sighed. "Are all kids so...imaginative these days? It's too early for this sort of thing..." "Hm, I thought we were already well into the morning." Jacklyn looked up to the sky before saying, "oh, we should probably get to exploring more though." Smiling she said, "thanks for teaching me about a cool job that's out there Professor, oh and thanks a lot for raising Rus too! I still don't really know what you meant by "what's being his trainer" or something, but I'll do my best to figure it out!" "Yeah...you do that..." at first she seemed she was just going to close the door then she paused. "Oh what the heck, here." She then handed Jacklyn what looked like a bell. The girl looked curiously at the bell, moving it around a bit in her hand. "Oooh, thanks...what is it?" As she asked, the professor then instructed her to look at the "item dex" portion of her pokedex. Bringing it out the girl used it on the bell to find that it was something called a "Soothe Bell" that supposedly amplified feelings of friendship and fostered bonds between trainers and their pokemon. "Whoa, so something like this exists huh?" The girl put it in her pocket before saying, "thanks a lot professor! I'll be sure to put it on Rus next time we rest...or maybe Cherry would like it? Hmmm...well, I'm sure it'll look cute on either of them, so thanks again! See you again sometime!" Though she had no idea when that would be. As she began to walk off to meet back up with Anima, Jacklyn said, "man, she was really cool...oh! Right, Anneliese. About what you said," remembering the thing that had halted her train of thought not minutes ago. "Outcasts don't have to be just witches or lumberjacks, anyone could be an outcast no matter what they do or look like." The girl frowned for a moment as she looked off back to the house and muttered, "like even a professional adventurer..." Clearing her throat she said, "so there's nothing wrong or weird about a person being an outcast. Got it?"
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