tippler 2023/01/27(Fri)17:46 No. 1054826 ID: 9ea24b
File 167487036168.png - (107.83KB , 500x500 , p1.png )

You watch the mountain shake and finally stabilize before flying back to Smeargle’s den. As you soar over the land, you can’t help but feel a little guilty. You’re not responsible for the kid in any capacity, but maybe you could have done something. The sun is hot on your back.

>World ending event
Like Mightyena said, this has happened several times in the past 20 years and Hoenn still exists. Maybe this time Groudon will fight Kyogre again in Sootopolis, or the kid will catch him, or something else entirely. Hm, guess Groudon can’t fight Kyogre if the whale isn’t awake yet.

What the kid did is definitely bad, but it won’t impact you unless you want to get involved.

>The kid
Will keep doing his thing. Is it even illegal to awaken a super ancient powerful Pokemon? If this Maxie guy is still around you guess not. Well, it’s more likely that once a trainer’s Pokemon get strong enough the authorities can’t arrest them. Since Kirlia is now your friend, you can hold the ethical trainer intervention if you’re confident you can defeat the kid’s Pokemon.

Troubled, you have a quiet night in with Smeargle, who shows off the completed Trapinch painting. You try to show your enthusiasm (it really is a nice painting), but can’t muster your usual manic energy.

You still have a 25% chance of encountering the kid if you leave the Daycare area. What would you like to do this sunny morning?

A. Flight practice with Salamence

B. Go back to the Magma Hideout and investigate (Groudon is still there)

C. Other (visit/romance a Pokemon (Ditto, Blaziken, Kirlia, Sealeo, Breloom, Gengar) or Tracy, Dig for treasure/forage, etc.)

Flight practice. When you evolve, you'll be strong enough to carry others out of danger like Salamence.

Learn the technique "ENUCIATION." You learn to carefully maneuver your vocal chords in order to speak human languages again. It also reduces the accuracy of your opponents in place of Sand Attack, as they are too put off by your shrilling, uncanny voice.

>>1054826
Kid might be beatable with some help. Let's visit Blaziken and get him on board, before we get Kirlia. He should appreciate the chance to challenge a strong trainer and we can make it up for the tournament turnout, and forcing the kid to help fix his mess will keep Tracy safe.
And then maybe 'make it up' to him later if all goes well.

B. We can talk to Groudon, wish him good morning, he might actually be a chill dude to talk to. Who knows?

>>1054894
Addendum, bring Smeargle too. We can give him the full Battle Tower experience.

Hmm. Yeah, that seems like a plan - get Blaziken (and maybe Smeargle as well?) to help beat the kid, and Kirlia to communicate, and explain to him the error of his ways, very pointedly. And maybe learn something about the Groudon hijinks, while you're at it?

Do you think you can reliably FIND the kid if you're actively looking for him?

Talking to The Kid seems like a good idea, but we should prepare carefully. We only have one healing item, and we don't have a plan to escape if things go badly. We also don't really know who he has on his team, it's possible he has a full team of six by now. Maybe Mightyena or someone who was at the hideout knows. Or we could ask at a poke center, he probably is a regular.

I suggest B. Let's try to get Groudon on board with the plan. That's a scolding The Kid would remember.

tippler 2023/01/29(Sun)16:21 No. 1054989 ID: 9ea24b
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>Can you reliably find the kid if you’re looking for him?
You’re currently stuck at a 25% random encounter rate. If you had Fly, you’d have a much higher chance of crossing paths with him since you could cover more ground, with the downside of having to face him alone (at least until you evolve and can carry your friends). Also, with Fly you’d be able to stake out distant locations like gyms and Victory Road where he’d eventually show up.

>Free action, ask Smeargle if she and Blaziken can help defeat the kid
Blaziken won’t fight a trainer without Tracy. I think it would be good if the kid was better behaved, but I don’t really feel comfortable with seeking him out and traumatizing him.

I’m not trying to hurt him or anything.

I know, but once you knock out his Pokemon he’s not going to be very enthusiastic about being cornered. If he tries to run, what will you do?

I mean, we can keep him there…

Yeah, and what if he starts screaming and crying and freaking out?

I don’t know! I’m just asking for help, I don’t want to think about hypothetical scenarios!

I’m telling you what I think about the situation, don’t shout at me!

You leave the den, mad after your spat with Smeargle. It sounds like she and Blaziken won’t help fight the kid.

>B, go to the Magma Hideout
>Kid avoidance check (75%): Success
You get out your energy by flying back to the mountain. It’s already heating up and you’re panting by the time you reach the man-made hole in the rock. There’s a grunt at the entrance, a different one from the woman you met yesterday.

A. Sneak inside and look for Mightyena
B. Dig straight to Groudon

A. Mightyena does know enough to be a guide to the volcano.

B. moments like these is why we learned dig. Who knows, we might find something under ground on our way to Groundon

A. We probably shouldn't dig blind into lava tubes.

A, Don't go straight to Groudon yet. He's big and scary.

>>1054989
You definitely need to apologize to Smeargle later. She didn’t do anything to deserve getting yelled at like that.

>sneak or dig?
A

You really shouldn’t risk digging and accidentally running into some lava!

>>1054999
Yes. You're stressed, but you should still feel guilty about yelling at your girlfriend. Especially right after she showed you the painting you inspired her to make. I don't think you should dismiss your own feelings, but calm down and explain them while hearing out hers. She'd likely understand trainers temperaments pretty well, having surely watched so many get endlessly frustrated at the baton pass strat.

>>1055011
Yeah, it's good to apologize and explain that the kid waking Groudon makes you really worried what dangerous stunt he might pull next.

You should apologize to Smeargle about shouting when you go back. Tell her you don't want The Kid to be hurt but you want to do something to help because the whole wish thing makes you feel kinda guilty, like you could have done something before he caused a catastrophe. Maybe we can just send him a letter instead of cornering him?
Speaking of wishes, maybe we should start tracking down Jirachi too. We could use a wish right now. And we are helping her fulfill wishes, we can probably bargain a "it doesn't count as my wish if it's to save the world" clause. You know, just in case.

A. If Groudon awakes regularly she probably knows how this usually goes and things like if you can speak to him and how. Also he is scary to face alone and maybe we should be careful not to set him on a rampage after the kid. We want to help but we have to be careful not to make things worse.

tippler 2023/01/30(Mon)20:02 No. 1055036 ID: 9ea24b
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>Apologize to Smeargle
You will once you’ve cooled off and returned to the den. You were stressed about the whole Groudon thing and it didn’t help that she raised some valid points.

>A, caution is smart in the face of potential molten rock
Would you like, die if you touched magma? Surely there are Pokemon attacks that are more potent than that, though it’s also kind of weird to think you’d survive and suffer no permanent damage if you were truly made of flesh and blood like a human. Best to avoid it so you don’t have to find out.

You shove a boulder down the slope and wait for the grunt and his Golbat to look towards the commotion before zipping inside.

There are long strips of lights along the rock walls, and everything seems intact after the earthquakes yesterday. You fly though the short tunnel to a larger room that’s styled like a visitor center slash gift shop. There aren’t any visitors but you spot a few more grunts dealing with the debris from fallen displays.

One of them is Mightyena’s trainer, and you soon spot Mightyena playing with some Poochyena.

Mightyena, it’s me! The Vibrava from yesterday, I came to ask more about Groudon.

Oh hi again. He seems to have calmed down a bit but we’re still keeping everyone out for a few days.

Have you seen him?

Wah! Me? He’s super scary, I wouldn’t dare.

Aw, maybe he’s actually a real softy.

Yeah, maybe. I think because he’s been woken up so much recently he’s kind of worn out.

Can you show me to his lair? I just want a little peek.

Fine, but don’t upset him.

She barks a few orders to the Poochyenas so they keep an eye on the grunts, then leads you down several flights of stairs. The air grows hot and stale, until finally you reach a sturdy metal door.

He’s behind here. There’s sensors and stuff that monitor his condition. If you want to go in there I’d bring a crew and a bunch of healing items in case Groundon’s in a bad mood and starts a fight.

Thanks!

Your local Level 100s would love to take a crack at Groudon. You can now assemble a four mon team to fight a juiced up boss monster should you feel that it’s the best way to calm him down.

Since the Friendlies are kind of on your way home, flight practice with Salamence is an option this afternoon.

A. Flight practice with Salamence
B. Dig for treasure/forage near home, apologize to Smeargle
C. Dig past the door to see Groudon (50% chance he’s hostile)

B.

>>1055036
B.

Eh, B. But don't feel too bad. Friends argue now and then. It's not like she hates you now.

>>1055036
B, say your sorry to best girl

tippler 2023/01/31(Tue)19:26 No. 1055075 ID: 9ea24b
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>Forage as an action based apology to really show you’re sorry
>Rare berry check: Failure
You thank Mightyena and retrace your steps to the exit. It’s gotten even hotter, and you’re grateful for your green tinted eye lenses as you return to the den.

You soar from tree to tree to collect a half bundle of tasty fruit. Unfortunately your rotten luck when it comes to finding status curing berries continues, and you’re stuck with the usual Oran.

Do you want to trade a quarter bundle to Linoone for any items? Smeargle will of course be happier if you bring everything home.

>>1055075
We've got a back pocket Revive already, so we can go without trades for now.

Maybe a Burn Heal for our next visit to the volcano.

You'd better have Burn Heal!

>>1055075
Go back with everything. It'll help with your apology to Smeargle.

I misread it. changing vote to just go home with everything

>>1055075
bring everything home.

tippler 2023/02/05(Sun)08:44 No. 1055272 ID: 9ea24b
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>Take all the food back to the den
You can’t think of anything you want from Linoone, since he doesn’t have any Full Heals that could be useful in the case of a burn. Also, you want to make the best apology possible.

It’s quiet when you return to the den. You drop off the bundle in the main area, but take the largest, most succulent apple with you to see Smeargle.

She’s not painting, which is unusual, instead lying in your shared bed. You creep closer until you can see that she’s awake. You place the fruit near her paw.

I’m sorry for shouting and not listening to you earlier, you’re right that I should think about how the kid will react.

Smeargle sits up and bites into the apple. After chewing and swallowing, she replies.

I’m sorry too, I was worried because I was scared, I don’t want you to get caught and whisked away to a PC somewhere.

And if your fighting pals from Team Friendlies were caught, that could be it for the kid.

They’d kill him?

Well they’d try to destroy the Pokeball first, I hope.

Smeargle finishes her snack, leaving only the seeds and the stem.

I’ll come with you when you go to fight the kid, just to make sure he doesn’t catch anyone. I’ll stand back and use Spore if things look bad.

Thanks Smeargle!

Thank you for the food, it was delicious.

You now have Smeargle’s backup for the kid's intervention, which ensures nobody will be caught. You spend a cozy evening with her and Espeon, who seems particularly energized.

Thanks to the Groudon enhanced sunlight, Espeon’s psychic sensing powers are stronger than usual.

Would you like to bring Espeon or Blaziken to fight at Team Friendlies tomorrow? What’s your strategy against Breloom and Sealeo? You haven’t won a fight in a while, so it’d be good to use all the tactics you can. You still have a Revive.

>>1055272
Being Espeon, but mostly so you two can track Jirachi after. She was closer to the Friendlies so it saves you some walking!
Go solo vs Sealeo and use Sand.
Team with Espie against Breloom, open with Dragonbreath and then use Dig tanking strats.

Bring Blaziken for a double battle. Tactics... Using Dragonbreath to paralyze Salamence before you start digging to hide?

Bring Blaziken for doubles. This is to make up for my mistake from the previous thread (still sorry about that)

Bring Espeon to track Jirachi after the fight.
Fight solo, use the revive as needed and don't hesitate to use Sand if it's not banned.

Blaziken, he'll give us better odds of winning and will likely appreciate getting the chance to fight. Whatever we need to do for Jirachi will probably require levels and other strong Pokes, so we might as well focus on building ourselves and our relationships up first. Getting to Fly sooner will also help speed up everything else we need/want to do.

tippler 2023/02/06(Mon)18:54 No. 1055385 ID: 9ea24b
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>Bring Blaziken to fight in modified double battles
Hopefully this will redeem you in the fiery bird’s eyes. Your first fight will be against Sealeo and Salamence, with the goal being to knock out Salamence before he knocks out Blaziken. You and Sealeo are the support roles.

Sand Attacking or Rock Tombing Salamence will make a huge impact. You decide to go with Sand Attack since it’s more accurate. Since Sealeo has been having so much success with Ice moves, she chose to forget Body Slam, the most useful move in this type of format because of the chance to inflict a status condition. You and Blaziken can definitely do this!

Movesets have been added to the wiki (Team Friendlies mons don’t have competitive movesets, Blaziken does). With neutral natures Salamence is faster than Blaziken, though one Rock Tomb hit would make him slower.

>Turn 1
>Salamence: Dragon Claw (45% on Blaziken)
>Blaziken: Rock Slide (90% accurate, hit, 50% damage on Salamence)
>Vibrava: Sand Attack
>Sealeo: Aurora Beam (2.3% damage, not enough to matter)

Blaziken and Salamence do a bit of posturing, puffing their chests and strutting around, to the delight of the crowd. Salamence slashes at Blaziken with big glowy magic claws, after which Blaziken tosses boulders at Salamence, dealing the perfect amount of damage for a 2HKO next turn.

>Turn 2
>Salamence: Dragon Claw (66% accurate, hit, 45% on Blaziken)
>Blaziken: Rock Slide (90% accurate, hit, 50% damage on Salamence)

Your team wins and you gain a whopping 3 levels! You don’t learn any new moves. Next time Salamence will use Fly against Blaziken.

What would you like to do before you fight Breloom and Gengar?
A. Get Gengar to introduce you to an Electric Pokemon
B. Ask Salamence about Houndoom
C. Other (Talk to someone else)

>>1055385
B. Doom still isn't coming out for the battles, so there still must be something wrong.

>>1055385
B! Cute gay boys! What'd they dooooo!

A. Meet new folks!

B. It probably has something to do with his wish.

>>1055385
A!

>>1055385
B

A!

>>1055409
I agree with this, so I'm voting B.

tippler 2023/02/07(Tue)19:59 No. 1055468 ID: 9ea24b
File 167582877765.png - (36.83KB , 500x500 , p7.png )

>B
You feel like you’re on the cusp of a breakthrough with Salamence. Talking to him now might not help with your Fly practice, but it’ll cement your friendship with the dragon and you’ll learn about his wish.

Salamence is applying a few Hyper Potions to himself, conveniently off to the side of the main spectator area. You flutter over to him.

Hi Salamence! That was a good battle, I could tell you were holding back though.

Fly seemed a bit mean to use against Blaziken for the first fight. He cares a lot about winning and I know he was upset after last time.

Hey, that just shows you’re a nice guy, as I suspected.

A nice guy…who maybe also gave his pal Houndoom a pleasant massage?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I-I did, a couple nights ago. The oil smelled good, it was vanilla scented. I still have some left.

And? Did you get to stay over?

Well, no, Houndoom said he was going out that night. He still does some patrolling, once in a while.

Salamence kneads his big paws on the ground nervously while he looks around to check if anyone is within eavesdropping distance.

Houndoom has been really unhappy ever since we finished our training and reached Level 100. At first I thought it was because he was bored, but there’s always lots of rescuing to do.

A lot of the new recruits barely know who he is, he never comes out during the day. I thought a tournament would get him excited, which is why I proposed it, but he just found his candidate and went back to ignoring us.

I wish he’d tell us what’s wrong, I don’t know what to do!

You’ve learned about the second wish: Houndoom is depressed for unknown reasons and Salamence desperately wants to help him. You’ll need to investigate further and talk to Houndoom himself to resolve this hard to conclusively solve situation.

What’s your strategy against Breloom and Gengar? Again, you’ll be targeting Gengar while she and Breloom target Blaziken.

>>1055468
Use a Sand, and then use Dragonbreath once to hope for a lucky paralyze and alternate the two. You probably won't do much damage even with a SE Dig from the level difference.

>>1055468
He has become... too strong...

This time around, no sand attack, gotta do new techs to not be stale with the audience.
Rock tomb, then dragon breath

Dragonbreath then rock tomb. Try to paralyze first.

>>1055488
I'll be down with using dragonbreath first before rocktomb

tho I'm sticking with rocktomb first because that has a chance to lower our opponent's speed.

Use Rock Tomb until Gengar is slower, then Dragon Breath. I think being faster is better, it's like being able to take an extra turn. If you do paralyze her and are allowed to target Breloom, do the same to her to prevent her from supporting Gengar.

Houndoom does seem depressed. Maybe he feels like he lacks a goal or a challenge? You could test that by suggesting he fights Blaziken. Or Groudon if he isn't depressed too. If that's not a challenge I don't know what is.
There seems to be a lot of powerful but unhappy pokemons around here. Gengar was unhappy to not be able to teach someone, Houndoom is depressed for reasons we still don't know, Salamence is sad because his friends are unhappy, Blaziken is bored with retirement, Groudon is mad or tired to be woken up so often... No wonder Jirachi sent someone to do something about it. Or maybe she is disillusioned with her job too, saw us and just thought "Yeah, close enough, they will do. It's not like they can complain to the management anyway.", who knows?

tippler 2023/02/08(Wed)19:21 No. 1055600 ID: 9ea24b
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>Rock Tomb into Dragon Breath
Gengar is faster than Blaziken, but will be slower after one Rock Tomb. Blaziken will use the optimal play which is Fire Blast (85% accurate, 74% damage) and then Rock Slide (90% accurate, 40% damage).

Breloom will use Leech Seed (90% accurate, 12.5% health loss at end of turn) and then Sky Uppercut (90% accurate, 8.5% damage). Gengar is going to go with the most consistent move and use Shadow Ball, a 4HKO by itself and a 3HKO with Leech Seed

>Turn 1
>Gengar: Shadow Ball (30% damage)
>Blaziken: Fire Blast (Hit, 74% damage)
>Vibrava: Rock Tomb (Hit, damage doesn’t matter)
>Breloom: Leech Seed (Hit, Blaziken takes 12.5% at the end of turn)
There’s a flurry of activity. Gengar smacks Blaziken with an ominous, pulsing orb, then gets a face full of concentrated fire. While she’s distracted, you throw a boulder onto her toe and Breloom spits seeds at Blaziken’s feet.

>Turn 2
>Blaziken: Rock Slide, hit!

You’ve defeated Gengar! You gain two Levels, putting you at Level 40. You don’t learn any new moves. Next time Gengar will use the maximum scum strats and go for Confuse Ray into Hypnosis into Dream Eater.

After making sure that Gengar is okay, you hop in Salamence’s bundle with Blaziken, who’s very pleased with himself, and go home.

By this time you figure the kid has beaten the seventh gym. Since Sootopolis will be evacuated until the Groudon situation is resolved, he won’t be able to progress in the gym challenge.

What would you like to do the next morning?
A. Flight practice with Salamence

B. Visit a Pokemon (Any Pokemon, including those at the Friendlies Base. Friends will give options to be romanced and you can challenge Sealeo and Breloom to bonus fights)

C. Forage for food/Dig for treasure

>>1055600
A

A

>>1055600
Ask Blaziken if he'd be interested in some group lewdness with Smeargle sometime while he gets dropped off.

And then A. since Sal will be with you anyways. You can ask him about what sort of things Houndoom likes, or thoughts on what might have set off his ennui if not boredom.
Could he be feeling like the work they're doing isn't making an impact, since bad things keep happening despite their efforts?

Can you visit Lanette today? If not, practice Fly until it's not as difficult to do so.

A, and maybe discuss with others the possibility of visiting Groudon to try and resolve that little issue.

A.

tippler 2023/02/09(Thu)12:51 No. 1055645 ID: 9ea24b
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>Talk to Blaziken about a threesome
You’ll need to talk to him in private for that (aka use an action), bringing it up while hanging from Salamence’s neck would be awkward. Also you’ll want to romance him beforehand.

>Oh wait, wasn’t Blaziken supposed to only stay for one fight?
He was having such a great time he forgot to worry about Tracy! The next time you bring him he’ll adhere to the one fight resolution though.

>A, practice Fly
You can’t wait to be able to travel freely, and you’ll be able to chat with Salamence more about Houndoom. You smooch Smeargle when you get out of bed in the morning, grab a quick breakfast, and head north on your merry way.

>Kid avoidance check (75% success): Success
Another swell, sunny, kidless day. The Friendlies Base is buzzing with new Pokemon, it sounds like the earthquakes caused some tunnels in the mountain to collapse and you spot a herd of rescued Numel and a lone Torkoal munching on berries.

Salamence looks tired, but immediately joins you in the air for more lessons. He teaches you about steering with your tail, which you’ve never thought about before. It’s a lot easier for you to do turns this way, and you manage to hold a conversation with him while you zip around.

Would you be interested in fighting Groudon? It’d help stabilize the ground and this sun can’t be good for the environment in the long run.

Oh! That’s true, yes, I think that’d be good. A good brawl makes me sleep better at night, so Groudon might be able to go dormant again after we defeat him. I can bring some of our healing items.

Salamence has been recruited for the Groudon fighting team.

I don’t want to pry, but why do you think Houndoom is depressed if it’s not boredom?

I think boredom is part of it. There are always Pokemon who need to be rescued no matter how hard we work, and I think he got discouraged after a while. New trainers come through and catch Pokemon all the time, which leads to the usual abuse problems. He really doesn’t like trainers.

Why’s that?

He–well–it’s not my story to tell. He had a trainer who he separated with by force.

He killed his own trainer?

I-I didn’t say that! How did you know that?

I mean I’m surprised more trainers don’t get killed by accident with all the superpowers that get thrown around.

Agghghhghhhh…

Suggest tips and tricks to add bonuses to your Fly learning chance (+5% for each reasonable tip). Also, how do you respond to Salamence?

It sounds like he feels he isn’t doing enough to save other Pokémon from his situation. It’s going to take some humans’ help to stop humans from perpetuating this behavior, for instance Officer Jenny.
Pro tip: Lean into your direction to go faster.

>>1055645
Maybe if we get together the mon Houndoom helped and they give him a thank you, we can remind him that even though one person can't always change the world, he's changed their worlds.

Protip: Bug wings aren't as good for gliding. But you can buzz in short bursts to slow descent while conserving energy.

Deeeeeeefinitely sounds like Houndoom is dealing with some guilt - even if they were on bad terms by the end, I really doubt he completely meant to kill the guy. That's gotta scar something fierce. Maybe he thinks he's too dangerous or irredeemable to do anything other than stop similar situations from getting to the point that his did?

Pro-tip: Try learning how to pitch and yaw; angling yourself up and down might make altitude changes easier to pull off.

tippler 2023/02/10(Fri)19:49 No. 1055720 ID: 9ea24b
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>Get human help to mitigate the Pokemon treatment problems
This can be a long term goal for you, but it’s not something that Team Friendlies would be enthusiastic about because of the human element.

>Organize some Pokemon that Houndoom’s helped to show their appreciation to the dog
You can work with Breloom to put this together.

It sounds like Houndoom is dealing with some guilt about his trainer.

Yes, but he never talks about it and I don’t want to bring it up and upset him.

This is a job for zen master Vibrava.

Okay, but be careful.

Vibrava Fly learning (30% + 10% third attempt chance + 10% Salamence bonus + 5% buzz suggest + 5% angling suggest + 5% lean suggest= 65% chance success): Success!

Your underdeveloped wings feel stronger and the weariness of the practice session seems to melt away. You’ve learned Fly! You can now travel to any part of Hoenn with ease.

You thank Salamence profusely for his help and input on Houndoom, and wish him luck on his rescuing duties.

What would you like to do this afternoon? Also, which move do you replace with Fly? You currently know Sand Attack, Rock Tomb, Dig, and Dragon Breath.
A. Visit a Pokemon or person (Lanette or Tracy)
B. Visit a new location
C. Gather food/Dig for treasure

A
Oh man, we gotta have smeargle on our back and fly around! She'll have lots of fun!

And i vote sand attack.

So long Sand Attack... We have to go see Lanette!

>>1055721
Oh haha, that seems like a good idea. (Uh, assuming she's not scared of heights or anything. I guess run it by her.)

Not sure what move to forget. Probably not Dig - it's a useful utility ability. Gengar suggested Sand Attack would become MORE important as we leveled up, so I'm leaning away from that, too.

>>1055645
>asking about threesomes when barely into the good friends stage
Guess we are really going for the homewrecker speedrun, aren't we? (also they could be monogamous, or not see us that way) Answer is likely no if we do ask, although fuck it, if yall want to ask, then go for it.

Voting B. See if mirage island is there today.
Forget Rock Tomb.

A. Let's go see Lanette and get that settled.

>>1055721
As long as it's not too high yet, wouldn't want her to fall off.

>>1055720
A, Lanette

A. Visit Lanette, you have a lot of things you could talk to her about, including asking her to help you talk to The Kid, and the long term goal to help prevent pokemon mistreatment.

Forget Rock Tomb. Dig is useful for its out of combat utility and the other two are more useful in combat than Rock Tomb.

>>1055745
Also seconding this one.

Yeah, let's forget Rock Tomb.

>>1055732
Okay, from a practical standpoint, rock tomb is super effective against a type we really have trouble with, ice, but we could also just... fly away or rely on a friend to deal with that. Battles aren't our priority outside of this tournament. right, rock tomb it is.

>>1055739
>wouldn't want her to fall off.
We're a Vibriva that's pretty much the same size as her, so there's a high chance she might fall off of our tiny body. But if we evolved into a Flygon, she'd be less likely to fall off our large body!

tippler 2023/02/11(Sat)18:36 No. 1055803 ID: 9ea24b
File 167616937136.png - (77.45KB , 500x500 , p11.png )

>Give your friends a ride!
You’re not large enough yet, once you’re a Flygon it’ll be safe and comfortable for all parties involved.

>Forget Rock Tomb
You had a good time with the TM taught move, but you prefer the utility of the rest of your kit over speed control.

>A, visit Lanette
You pick up your notepad and pen from the den and set course for Fallarbor.

>Kid avoidance check (75% success): Success
Since you’re covering a lot more area, you keep a close watch on the ground and the skies for the kid. No sign of the rascal.

You make it around the mountain to where the volcanic ash is falling steadily on fields of brittle grass. There are still people walking around in the haze, even trainers battling! Maybe they’re used to the bad air quality and it doesn’t bother them.

>Skarmory avoidance check: Success
There are a few armored birds gliding on the lower thermals, but none of them notice you.

Fallarbor from a top down view seems like a pleasant enough place. It reminds you of Verdanturf, but brown.

You remember that Lanette lives a bit further away from the main town and bank west. Ah, that’s a bit nicer on your eyes, there are several irrigation ponds fed by a clear mountain river, and greenery that can get a foothold out of the ash. A lone house with a red shingled roof stands out among the pine trees at the base of another, non-volcanic, mountain.

>Lanette at home check: Failure
You hover next to a window and look inside the house. Yeesh, it’s a complicated mess of computers and cords and stacks of paper. You check the other windows, but don’t see any sign of Lanette.

Do you:
A. Explore a nearby landmark (suggest) and come back to find Lanette another day
B. Wait for Lanette to return (1/3 chance either Salamence or Gengar spots you while you wait)

B

>>1055803
B, can't keep them in the dark forever so if they spot us they spot us.

B. You could Dig yourself a hiding place. If they do spot you, pretend you were interested in how the PC storage works in case you need to escape it some day.
It's not too bad if they see us, but I think it would probably be better to tell them the truth at some point rather than wait until they discover it themselves by accident.

A. Do they have a contest hall in town still? Ooh, or you could check out the meteor crater nearby.

B

>>1055841
>It's not too bad if they see us
They might immediately beat us up and they know that we live in Smeargle's den, allowing them to harass us or one of our friends whenever they want. I'm pretty sure that would be considered pretty bad if they discover the truth and don't like what they hear.

>>1055847
Another thing that would be bad is Team Friendlies is our source of easy level ups. If they hate us, then they won't want us around and we won't be able to level up anymore!

>>1055847
I really don't think they would react with violence. Salamence especially, from what we have seen he is the nicest person around. When the grunt stumbled upon the tournament at the end of the first part he merely grabbed her and brought her back to her hideout. He reacted peacefully to an unknown human that could threaten the pokemons he helped rescue, he wouldn't be less peaceful with someone he knows.
Beside, they won't guess we are a human just because they see us here. Being seen would lead to awkward questions, they would probably come to the conclusion we are hiding things from them, and at absolute worst they might think we had hidden motives for training with them, feel hurt and not trust us as much anymore. But attacking on sight and hurting our other friends is a bit disproportionate, and something they probably wouldn't do even if they knew our secret.
If anything our current situation is a sign we should talk to them about being a human before we end up having to explain why we are doing something weird. I think we are friendly enough with Team Friendly that it wouldn't be that big of a deal in the end.

I mean, we do have "trainers are misusing your PC system, how do we make them stop" on the docket for our discussions, right? (Maybe put a surcharge on long-term storage?) No reason we can't simply omit some of our other reasons for visiting if we are spotted, so, B.

Wait, I'm lost. Why exactly did we come here again? I thought our character already decided that he liked being a pokemon and wasn't in a hurry to change back. So why are we trying to find the lady that might be able to change us back?

>>1055850
I agree, confiding in Salamence first seems like a good idea and seeing how he thinks the others would react.

tippler 2023/02/12(Sun)14:00 No. 1055863 ID: 9ea24b
File 167623920643.png - (94.66KB , 500x500 , p12.png )

>Why are you visiting Lanette if you don’t want to be turned back into a human?
Getting Lanette on your side would help with revamping the PC system, part of your goal to improve human Pokemon relations.

>Would Gengar and Salamence beat you up if they found you?
No, though Gengar would be much more upset given her dislike of Lanette. The chance of you encountering either of them is low, though, so you decide to risk it

>B, wait for Lanette
>Friendlies avoidance check (2/3 success): Success
You find a cozy spot in a tree and watch a flock of Swablu hop around the grass. There are Lotad and Lombre soaking in the large pond and you spot a Barboach leap bodily out of the water.

No sign of Salamence or Gengar, and after a few hours a woman with reddish brown hair and a green dress comes striding along the walkway towards the house.

Lanette looks like she’s deep in thought and you don’t think she’s carrying any Pokemon. How do you approach her and what do you say (via writing)?

>>1055863
Introduce yourself as the Vibrava Tracey mentioned and present your credir card as proof of ID.

Make annoying cicada noises from the tree you're in and wave if she investigates. Otherwise you can meet her at the door to her house.
Write: Was human, am pokemon. How this happen?
Later, ask: Why trap pokemon in PC? What happens if they never get let out?

>>1055863
Write a hello and introduce yourself. Apologize for not arriving sooner because you needed to evolve to a Vibrava and learn Fly in order to get here.

>>1055864
>Introduce yourself as the Vibrava Tracey mentioned
We were actually a Trapinch when Tracy mentioned us.

>present your credir card as proof of ID.
Can’t do that. We can only bring one held item with us, which was our writing materials. We don’t even have our Revive with us, so we’ve gotta be careful about running into anyone on our way back later.

Start with "Hi" in big letters.

>>1055865
Seconding the cicada noises. If it doesn't work just land on the ground away from her, smile and wave. Start by writing "Hi" in the dirt. Introduce yourself properly via notepad once she has seen you.
You need to ask her about the other human who got turned into a pokemon and back into a human, how and why it happened. Ask if there is some way to contact them. If she asks how you ended up being transformed tell her what you know.
Once that's done you can tell her about The Kid, and the pokemons being sentenced to life in the PC and ask if there is some way she could help. Don't mention Gengar, she might know her, and don't tell her about Team Friendly either.

A cicada or cricket your size... wouldn't that sound like a viola or something?? A really loud one?

tippler 2023/02/13(Mon)14:47 No. 1055956 ID: 9ea24b
File 167632844403.png - (116.68KB , 500x500 , p13.png )

>Tracy wrote a letter to Lanette describing your situation
Oh yeah! It was a couple weeks ago but hopefully Lanette will make the connection once you get her attention.

>You can only bring one held item with you
This was true while you were a Trapinch, but now that you’re a Vibrava you have a larger carrying capacity. If you can’t convince Lanette you can bring your ID next time.

>Operation bug noises
You buzz your wings and click your segmented body against itself, making quite a racket!

>Lanette attention check (2/3 chance success): Failure
You’re flabbergasted to see Lanette walk right past your tree and dig around in her pocket for her house key without even sparing you a glance. You have no choice but to jump down to greet her.

You don’t think you’re a very intimidating figure, but Lanette flinches and edges away warily as you scuttle towards her.

You do anything to me and the PC system with all of the stored Pokemon in it goes down.

That’s an ominous thing to say. You hurry to scribble a large ‘Hi’ on your notebook and hold it out to her.

Huh?

>Lanette memory check (2/3 chance success): Success

The woman’s entire demeanor changes, her tense shoulders slump and she leans against the door with a sigh.

Oh, you’re the human who was transformed into a Pokemon, you scared me. You wanted me to get you in touch with Bill, right? Come inside, sorry about the mess.

You find a spot of free space on the couch and hurry to write a summary of your findings about your transformation and Jirachi. You ask Lanette if she knows about any other humans that were turned into Pokemon.

There was a story about maybe fifty years ago that a human became a Pokemon to stop a meteor from falling on Hoenn. I think they decided to stay a Pokemon in the end and by this time they’ve probably passed away. You know about Bill’s experiments already, of course.

You try to be delicate asking about the ethics of the PC, but Lanette immediately becomes guarded.

It’s not a perfect system, but it’s necessary for an advanced human Pokemon society to have a PC network for storing Pokemon.

It’s safe and the Pokemon are in stasis. Once a trainer has retired, all of the balls registered to them are taken out and the Pokemon are released.

You know there are some super old trainers, so this doesn’t exactly reassure you.

If you’re happy staying as a Pokemon, good luck, but I don’t have much I can help you with.

There's something she's hiding, because that stasis doesn't seem like a perfect system. What about pokemon like Porygon, who are already made of data? (or Rotom, who possesses machines, though he's not around as of yet.)
Tell us more about the meteor story. Was the meteor like a comet? Does it come around every fifty years or something?

>>1055956
Lanette is pretty sus, but don't say so. We can see about founding Team Plasma later.

Try to play it off as being concerned about being caught and stuck inside, which isn't exactly untrue. Is there any way you could register yourself somewhere to make yourself uncatchable?

It sounds like she's had to defend against accusations (and maybe more) before, so...I dunno, keep that in mind. Like, the way she reacted to you in the first place reads like she was worried you might be a pokemon come to enact revenge and used the PC system as a bunch of shield hostages.

Is the system actually designed to faildeadly from the point of view of the Pokemon or did she mean something else by go down?

>>1055956
Ask about that threat earlier when you first arrived. Have some pokemon been harassing her recently and she needed to say that in order to get them to not mess with her?

Also, give her a heads up on the Groudon situation. Let her know that some weird kid has woken Groudon up, so there might be some seismic activity and/or extreme sunlight for a while.

>>1055956
Tell her your honest feelings. After being a Pokémon for a while, you kinda don’t want to change back. But at the same time, you’re worried about what’ll happen to you if you get caught and stuck inside the Storage System.

She probably already had a lot of people talk to her about the ethical implications of PC boxes, it must get annoying. Ask her if she had any problems with pokemons threatening her, because it looked a bit like that when you met her. She kinda looks like she faces threats and resentment from one side, and occasional ethical accusations from the other.
Tell her you didn't meant to criticize, it's just that now that you are a pokemon, it's suddenly a lot more frightening. Especially since a kid seems to really want to catch you and that would mean never seeing your friends or family ever again. You are not accusing her of anything, you are just worried about what could happen to you.
Also, the part about pokemons being in stasis can't be the whole truth, else Gengar couldn't have escaped or even wanted to escape if she was in stasis, but don't tell her that.
You could ask her to try the boxes, to see what it's actually like, and maybe she is curious to have a first hand account of what it's like?

[Yeah, I'll admit my priorities had shifted a bit between when I first asked Tracy to contact you and now. I would like to debate PC ethics later - and I mean actually debate you in a genuine dialogue - but you don't seem to be in the mood for that right now. Although I can already tell you I won't be the sort to point out problems without suggesting any solutions.]

She sounds like she is lying about the stasis. Gengar was verte distraught about being left in a PC for months

I still propose that se learn Enunciation, as per post >>1054830

tippler 2023/02/14(Tue)16:00 No. 1056127 ID: 9ea24b
File 167641922556.png - (107.70KB , 500x500 , p14.png )

>Learn human language
I’m going to take a stand on this and say you can’t because there aren’t any speaking Pokemon (beyond a few words in niche cases) in the gen 3 games. Writing works fine for communication.

>Is the system designed to fail if Lanette is harmed?
From your limited experience with company IT, complicated tech needs constant maintenance or it breaks. Lanette wouldn’t even need a dead man’s switch to make good on her threat.

It sounds like Lanette has had to deal with both Pokemon coming for revenge and humans who have ethical concerns about the PC system. It makes sense that she becomes defensive when confronted, since it’s her life’s work, especially if she’s convinced herself what she’s doing is okay. You don’t want to make her hostile by bringing up your knowledge of Gengar, who was at least somewhat conscious in storage.

Right now your highest priority is some kind of safeguard so that you don’t get trapped in the PC yourself.

You ask Lanette if she’s been threatened by Pokemon before, and why she doesn’t have her own to protect her.

Yes, every once in a while. It’s frightening, but I can usually convince them to leave. Sometimes I think Ghost Pokemon are targeting me in particular, I get tripped a lot and the stuff in my house gets moved around. I’m too busy to raise my own Pokemon.

You ask if Lanette can register you in the PC somehow so that you can’t be caught.

Well, I could catch you in a Pokeball and then let you out, then no one else can catch you.

You make a face.

You’ll be registered to whoever catches you, so if I don’t know who that is I can’t code for it. I guess I could run a search on the system every so often to see if there’s a new Vibrava there, and then check if it’s you, but that’s a lot of work on my end.

A. Offer to stop the Pokemon who’s harassing her in exchange for the PC checking service (You’ll get in trouble with Gengar)

B. Let Lanette catch you (Would be bad if you come in conflict with her in the future)

C. Thank Lanette for her time and go home

C. If ghost pokemon in particular are haunting her then maybe the issue is confined to certain types of pokemon. Or those with formerly human souls. Which would include you. But that's a problem for another time.
If we were to pick a trusted human to prevent our capture, I would ask Tracey.

>>1056127
C. Let's head back.

>>1056127
C. It's likely we'll be in conflict with her in the future, and Gengar's wish probably has something to do with the PC stuff.

"If I ask a human to register me, it would probably be Tracey. Thanks for the offer, though. Could you watch for that and take me out of storage on your end? I can even tell you what it's like to be in storage; I'm honestly not sure how you'd know for sure if the PC system's stasis is truly perfect without a first-hand account."

>>1056143
We shouldnt push her too much, she seems lazy and lazy people are less likely to help on a whim if pestered about it.

>>1056127
>ghost type harassment
Tell Lanette that it’s weird that specifically ghost types are messing with her. Then ask if because ghost types can go through walls, is it possible that ability could also allow them to pull themselves out of the PC Storage System?

>what do?
C

There’s not much we can do to help her, so we should leave for now.

>>1056145
>lazy
Considering the fact that she’s responsible for the upkeep of the storage system that has everyone’s Pokémon in it, I think she’s overworked, not lazy.

>>1056147
Is it a good idea to warn her about this vulnerability?

Maybe a general, 'pokemon abilities are weird, how do you confirm that they are fully in stasis?'

>>1056165
Definitely a better way to word it, yeah. As much as I want to get more info out of her, I'm just leery of making her too suspicious or annoyed. Her tone and attitude make me think she's a dangerous enemy to have.

C. There is better choices that someone we barely know if we want to be caught safely. Don't push her on the subject of the PC system reliability, she is the expert on the subject, she is unlikely to take it well or seriously.
But maybe we could try to be a mediator (and a translator of course) between her and Gengar at some point, when we know Lanette better. Both side could benefit from working together, Lanette could improve her PC system, and Gengar could help improve conditions for the caught pokemons, and maybe raise awareness on the issue of neglected pokemons left to gather dust in the PC.

>>1056165
>pokemon abilities are weird
The author has stated that there are no pokemon abilities in this quest, so it wouldn't really make sense to address the issue like that.

Is there a reason on why shouldn't we just single out ghost types with how they can pass through things?

>>1056202
Because Lanette isn't dumb and we shouldn't key her in on Gengar.

>>1056202

Abilities in the common meaning of the term!

tippler 2023/02/15(Wed)16:20 No. 1056207 ID: 9ea24b
File 167650684164.png - (54.44KB , 500x500 , p15.png )

>If you’re going to ask someone to catch you, it should be Tracy
You never directly asked her, but if she wasn’t comfortable using your credit card, you doubt she’d be willing to catch you. You decided not to mess with Pokeballs yourself, so your options to avoid capture by pre-capture are extremely limited.

>Wish recap
Gengar wants to successfully mentor you and Salamence wants Houndoom to be happy. You don’t know the kid’s wish yet.

>Warn her about Groudon
Team Magma informed the general public that Groudon has awakened, so Lanette is already aware.

>Tell her about Gengar
>Don’t
No doubt Lanette has powerful friends who could cause problems for the Friendlies. Best to avoid a dangerous conflict.

>C
Lanette seems done with the conversation and you don’t want to push her any more right now. Since you’re not doing Lanette any favors, she won’t go out of her way to help you, though you can visit her in the future and ask her more about the storage system.

You write out a short thanks to Lanette and then hastily Fly home. Whew! That was an awfully long day and you have an enormous appetite after all the exercise.

Would you like to bring Espeon (2v1) or Blaziken (2v2) or neither (1v1) to fight tomorrow? Please also specify who will carry the Revive if you’re bringing a friend. If you’re bringing Blaziken, decide whether to fight Gengar or Salamence with him.

Bring Espeon and give her the revive while you keep your opponent guessing whether you'll fly or dig.

Blaziken, try fighting Gengar this time.

>>1056220
Seconded. Still want to go check out Jirachi after the match with Espeon.

>>1056220
>>1056244
these

I feel like it might be good to collect data from pokemon about how the PC system feels firsthand. Then you can go back to Lanette, with actual information.

Seems like it's been a while since we did a 1v1, might be good to mix it up. Also, I'm still leery of 2v1.

>>1056244
Good idea.
Don't use Sand Attack, try to paralyze with Dragon Breath instead.

Actually, question - did you know anybody while human that you trust? Enough to have them capture you?

>>1056278
I think we're definitely at an unsurmountable disadvantage againdt Sealeo 1v1 without Rock Tomb, unless we pick sand and pray.
We can probably go 1v1 against Breloom with Fly.
But I still want Espeon to come even if she doesn't battle, so we can investigate.

>>1056207
I want to bring Blaziken again so that we can keep winning and hopefully evolve again.

But I also want to bring Espeon so we can go looking for Jirachi.

I'm not too sure on what to do.

tippler 2023/02/16(Thu)19:02 No. 1056315 ID: 9ea24b
File 167660292080.png - (120.42KB , 500x500 , p16.png )

>Bring Espeon so you can get more info on Jirachi, give her the Revive and use Dig against Sealeo as much as possible
You cheerfully greet Salamence and clamber into his bundle for the ride to the Friendlies base. Espeon, who was up at sunrise, gracefully sits next to you.

Espeon, do you think you’d be okay if I tried to carry you around in the air during our break?

I’m the same size as you, it’d be awkward but we can try.

What are you looking for?

Uh, a legendary Pokemon. Just for fun, you know.

You don’t want to share too many details about Jirachi since she’s intertwined with your original identity as a human.

>Salamence pry avoidance: Failure

I can help, I’ll give Espeon a ride so you don’t have to worry about dropping her.

Haha, yeah, thanks…

Sealeo bans you and Espeon from using Sand Attack, while you ban her from using Aurora Beam, per usual. You and Espeon are faster than Sealeo, who’ll hit Espeon when she can’t target you.

>Turn 1
>Espeon: Confusion (17.5% on Sealeo, no confusion status)
>Vibrava: Dig setup turn
>Sealeo: Ice Ball (90% accurate, miss!)
You burrow underground, so you miss seeing Espeon nimbly avoid Sealeo’s rolling bulk.

>Turn 2
>Espeon: Confusion (17.5% on Sealeo, no confusion status)
>Vibrava: Dig (25.2% on Sealeo)
>Sealeo: Ice Ball (90% accurate, hit on Vibrava for 79%)
You bounce off Sealeo in time for her to flatten you with her ice coated torso. One more hit like that and you’ll be out!

>Turn 3
>Espeon: Confusion (17.5% on Sealeo, Sealeo becomes confused!)
>Vibrava: Dig setup turn
>Sealeo: Hits herself in confusion for 15%!
Salamence ends the fight before you can emerge and knock out Sealeo. The crowd cheers for the new tactics, but won’t like it if you defeat Sealeo in a 2v1 in the future.

Espeon gains two Levels thanks to her active role in this battle and learns Swift, forgetting Quick Attack. You gain one Level and have the option to learn Screech.

How do you search for Jirachi with Salamence literally hovering over your shoulder?

>>1056315
Pass on the Screech.

>Salamence
We were thinking about confiding in him anyways, and it's good to have Espeon with us to back us up on our intentions being good in case he gets upset.

Once we're far enough away, let's fill Salamence in gently on what happened, about Jirachi, and why we were asking about his wish.

If the fans liked our sand attack they're gonna love our Screech! Switch it out.
How? At a distance.

Don't learn Screech.

That's the perfect opportunity to tell the truth to Salamence without anyone else listening. Just be honest with him and answer his questions if he has any. Also tell him that you really want to help him and Gengar, not because you're forced to but because they are your friends.

Hmm, this might be a good time to think about the future. Will helping fulfill all three wishes turn you human? If so, do you *want* to be human again?

>reveal identity to Salamence?
Yeah, out of all the Friendlies, he seems like he'd be the most level-headed when we tell him.

But at the same time, I'm not sure if our relationship is high enough with him. Even if he doesn't freak out, that doesn't mean that he'll keep our secret from Gengar and Houndoom.

Basically, it's a risk to tell Salamence since there's a chance he won't take it well or he might tell the others. So we should really carefully think about if it is a good idea to tell him now.

I think if we also make it clear that we've never been a trainer, it'll be easier for him to swallow that information. while they may dislike humans, I think I remember them having more of a grudge against trainers more than humans.

also, idea for the next time we fight, I would love a 2v2 with us and whatever party member we choose (maybe Espeon) against Breloom and Sealeo one day.

>>1056345
Seconded, it sounds like it would make for a good match.

> Screech
Don't learn it - and if you do learn it, replace Dig (since it and fly are slightly redundant in utility).

> Salamence
Just come clean with him, but preface it with: "So, lemme start by saying that Gengar made an... assumption about my origins, and I've since been too scared of how she might react if I ever corrected her, given what her stance seems to be on... humans. I was never a trainer, for the record."

And finish it with: "And honestly, I've grown to like being a Pokémon, so while Jirachi seems to have made me one for the purpose of fulfilling wishes (in some stupidly half-assed and roundabout way, as per their modus), and while that is ultimately what made me aware of people having unfulfilled wishes like yours, my reason for wanting to help has nothing to do with any sense of obligation to a Legendary or any need to return to my previous life. I really do think of you as a friend, Salamence. Do you still feel the same way about me?"

tippler 2023/02/17(Fri)20:29 No. 1056410 ID: 9ea24b
File 167669456492.png - (106.42KB , 500x500 , p17.png )

>Don’t learn Screech
Most fights don’t last longer than a few turns anyway, so you don’t think defense lowering strats are worth it.

>Come clean to Salamence once you’re alone with him and Espeon
You and Espeon get back in Salamence’s bundle and Espeon points him northwest. After you’re high up in the air with no one else around, you break the news gently.

Salamence, I think you’re a very nice guy and a good friend.

Oh! Thank you.

I’m about to share a big secret with you, because I trust you.

Okay, what is it?

I was originally a normal human until about three weeks ago when Jirachi the wish Pokemon somehow saw the deepest desires of you, Gengar, and the trainer kid that’s been running around and offloaded the responsibility onto me to grant your wishes. I was never a trainer and I want to stay a Pokemon though I’m trying to find Jirachi to get more details on the consequences if I don’t fulfill the wishes. I’ll turn back into a human if I do fulfill them.

>Salamence panic avoidance check: Failure
Y-you–This whole time you’ve been secretly a human?!

Oh no, and you could turn back into a human at any time? Gengar will freak out!

No, not anytime, I don’t even know what the kid wants yet.

Vibrava, you’re in danger if you keep visiting the base. If Houndoom finds out I don’t know what he’d do.

Sheesh, don’t tell him then. Don’t tell anyone, I just wanted to give you context for why we’re looking for Jirachi right now,

Keep going, I think it’s this one there.

You follow Espeon’s tail to where it’s pointing to the mountain right next to Lanette’s house. The surface is barren and spotted with craters.

Meteor Falls. I hatched there, it’s a huge cave on the inside.

You now know Jirachi is somewhere within Meteor Falls. Salamence will go along with your choice though he’s uncomfortable with the situation.

A. Skip the afternoon battle and start searching inside the cave since you’re already here
B. Go back to fight Breloom (suggest strategy, you’re planning to do a 1v1 since you know Fly)

B.

>>1056410
Finding it was the hard part. We've got Fly, we can come back easily.
B.

>>1056410
Thank Salamence for being concerned about you even though it's a shock. If it ever comes to turning back into a human, you want to keep helping them rescue mistreated Pokemon from the human side. Even if it's not together.

B, let's not ditch them again. We know where to look now and we have Fly to get here later.
If Sand is banned, open with one Dragonbreath and then use Fly.
If she bans Fly, use Sand a couple times and then Dragonbreath.

"I want to make it clear that 1, the reason I didn't come clean earlier is because I had no clue how you would react for a while, and I still have no idea how Gengar might react - obviously, you just spelled out how Houndoom might take it poorly - and 2, this in no way colors my intent to help you. Yes, Jirachi is the reason I have the opportunity to help you and Houndoom, but I really am in no hurry to become a human again - I'm not doing this to get away from all this or anything... Although I am seeking out Jirachi to make sure nothing BAD happens beyond me keeping the 'curse' I want to keep anyway if I leave that trainer's wish unfulfilled. But even if there's nothing forcing me to fulfill wishes, I still want yours to come true."

Anyway, we have a general area to search, and we don't necessarily need Espeon's help anymore, so let's head back for now: B. Delay tactics aren't actually that useful when it's 1v1 and you don't have any damage-over-time. I say stick to Dragon Breath and Sand Attack. Switch Fly in if she bans Dragon Breath.

>>1056410
Reassure Salamence that you want to be friends with him and the others.

>what do?
B

We should come back to the cave later, after we evolve and we're big enough to carry someone with us.

tippler 2023/02/18(Sat)18:08 No. 1056450 ID: 9ea24b
File 167677253036.png - (105.91KB , 500x500 , p18.png )

>B, you can come back to search later
Salamence breathes a sigh of relief when you tell him he can turn around.

I still want to fulfill your wish Salamence, because you’re my friend and I want to help Houndoom. I was scared to tell you earlier about being a human but I feel a lot better now that you know.

I’ll get used to it eventually, sorry for panicking.

That just shows that you’re concerned about me. Thanks for being understanding.

Salamence drops you and Espeon off at the Friendlies Base, then soars away again, probably to clear his head.

>Breloom has an idea
Hey, if you don’t ban Sky Uppercut, I won’t ban you from using Fly. Deal?

Maybe next time, I do want to use Fly in battle but with Sky Uppercut you can hit me when I’m in the air.

Fair.

You ban Sky Uppercut and Breloom bans Fly, so you plan to use Sand Attack and then Dragon Breath. You’re faster than Breloom.

>Turn 1
>Vibrava: Sand Attack
>Breloom: Headbutt (2/3 chance to hit, hit, 39% damage)
You’ll set up one more accuracy drop and then pray Breloom misses, otherwise Headbutt will KO you before you can get solid Dragon Breath damage.

>Turn 2
>Vibrava: Sand Attack
>Breloom: Headbutt (1/2 chance to hit, hit, 39% damage)
Agh! Where’s your obscenely good luck from past fights? Maybe you’ll get the Paralysis with Dragon Breath and stabilize.

>Turn 3
>Vibrava: Dragon Breath (No paralysis, 29% damage)
>Breloom: Headbutt (1/2 chance to hit, hit, KO)
Oh no, you never got your Revive back from Espeon! You curse Breloom’s hard mushroom cap head as she defeats you in the 1v1 once more. Breloom gains two levels.

A mixed day on the battlefield, but you made a ton of progress towards finding Jirachi. What would you like to do tomorrow morning?
A. Visit a human
B. Visit a Pokemon
C. Gather resources

Lets spend some time with Gengar today. Maybe we'll get more answers about Houndoom today to figure out how to help him... or she can introduce us to that electric pokemon... maybe both?

>>1056451
This, with the electric introduction being preferred.

>>1056451
yeah

B. Let's follow up on Jirachi.

>>1056451
That, and it's been a while since we spent time with her. Ask her what she thinks of your recent fights and if she has any advice.

B. Let's go into the fields and fight other pokemon to level up!

>>1056450
B. Let's find some random pokemon to battle. Hopefully we can level up a little more.

And bring the Revive with us this time!

>>1056496
>>1056502
Wild Pokemon didn't very much like being challenged to battles the last time we went out to fight. It would probably be better to go to the Friendlies base and find a sparring partner if we choose to do that.
We could combine it with getting introduced to an electric type.

tippler 2023/02/19(Sun)19:56 No. 1056525 ID: 9ea24b
File 167686538321.png - (73.81KB , 500x500 , p19.png )

>B, visit Gengar in the hopes of learning about Houndoom, meeting an Electric Pokemon, and battling for bonus experience
It’s been a while since you’ve had a good talk with Gengar about the tournament. After spending most of your time the past week with Salamence out of the Friendlies’ leadership, you’re curious what secrets you could learn from Gengar.

When you return to the den for the evening you retrieve your Revive from Espeon.

Smeargle drags you back into bed the first time you attempt to get up in the morning, not that you’re complaining. An hour later and you manage to escape for late breakfast and a refreshing flight north.

>Kid avoidance check (75% chance success): Success
It seems like all of your sand luck went into never seeing the kid ever again. From the air, you quickly spot Gengar chatting with an unfamiliar Dark type on the edge of the treehouses and the dirt, and swoop down to say hello.

Since you’re trying to get multiple tasks accomplished with this visit, it’ll be a roll for each one.
>Houndoom lore check: Success
>Electric Pokemon check: Failure
>Battle check: Failure

Why look who’s here on his day off. Excuse me Absol, I must see what Vibrava wants.

Hi Gengar! I wanted to chat, sometimes it gets really busy with the tournament and I feel like I don’t get a chance to get feedback.

Ho ho ho well I’m always happy to mentor. You’re doing well, a good mix of wins and losses. I think you can beat Breloom if you use your Revive and Fly.

Sounds good. I was also wondering if you could introduce me to one of the Electric type Pokemon in Team Friendlies.

Vibrava I know some mons are into electrical play but you’ve got to focus on your battling.

Huh???

I’ve seen too many good Pokemon succumb to the pleasures of electrostimulation! You have to stay strong and resist!

Gengar’s read of the situation is so insane that you’re temporarily stunned and decide to change the subject.

Battling, right, I was thinking I could get some extra practice in today.

Where’s the Vibrava I knew? The one who asked for a four day vacation from the tournament? Vibrava, a good battling-life balance is very important. I simply can’t bear to see you fight again so soon.

Okay? But you just said I should focus on it…Nevermind.

You’re running out of things to talk about. Surely Gengar won’t be forthcoming with juicy details about Houndoom.

I was chatting with Salamence a bit and he mentioned that Houndoom, er, had an accident with his former trainer and isn’t very happy with life in general.

Yes, after killing his trainer he went on the run and was demonized by human society. I think he strongly regrets killing his trainer but was also being chased by trainers trying to quell what they saw as an evil rogue Pokemon and so turned his negative emotions into a drive to get stronger. Once we all reached maximum strength he didn’t have a good outlet and started dwelling on the mistakes of the past.

That’s just my personal theory anyway.

Since Gengar isn’t letting you battle you can sneak a quick chat with one other Pokemon you recognize at the Friendlies Base (Breloom, Sealeo, Houndoom, Grumpig, or Absol).

Talk to Absol. About what? Iunno. Enough with the bad tidings, what's a happy accident you've had recently?

>>1056525
Try to see Houndoom. We could ask for help with Groudon, but that could feed into his bad habits.
Ask him if he's ever sang. Singing in front of people takes a lot of courage!

tippler 2023/02/20(Mon)19:21 No. 1056624 ID: 9ea24b
File 167694968107.png - (98.28KB , 500x500 , p20.png )

>Random choice between Absol and Houndoom: Houndoom
About time you saw the reclusive pooch again, it’s been ages since he stepped out of his tree when the crowd was screaming at you for the sand strats. Good times.

You awkwardly back away from Gengar until she gives you a funny look and drifts away. You spot the big pine Houndoom lives in and clamber up the dark wooden tunnel to the spacious inner room.

Houndoom is lying on the floor in the same position as when you first met him, spooky orange eyes half-lidded. You detect the faint smell of vanilla massage oil.

Hi Houndoom! Hey, have you ever tried singing in public? I bet you have a lovely voice.

You see the familiar terror of being confronted with unstable trickster ghost mons mirrored in Houndoom’s face at your non sequitur.

No, I’m not interested in singing. Please do not bother me, I wish to be left alone.

At least you made a strong impression. What would you like to do this afternoon?
A. Visit a human
B. Visit a Pokemon
C. Go searching for an Electric type pal in the wild

>>1056624
Gengar's mentoring at work. I wonder if there's any way to find out what his interests outside of fighting are. We can't even snoop with a Psychic since he's a Dark type.

C. We're outside Mauville, there must be some Electrike around here.

C. Everyone's heard of Team Friendlies, but not everyone's affiliated with them. Your typing ensures a safe introduction.

It'd be cool if we can find a minun or plusle... maybe both!

>>1056624
B
We haven’t visited Linoone for a while, let’s go see what he’s doing. And depending on how close we are to evolving, we could just trade things with him in exchange for a Rare Candy and/or battling him for a level up.

>everyone suggesting to find an electric type to charge laptop
Why? We can just go visit Tracy and charge our laptop at her house.

But if we do find an electric type, we can battle them so we can level up. It’d be nice to have a type advantage against someone for once.

>>1056695
Do this

C. With a charged up laptop you could search for information on Houndoom. There is no way a pokemon killing his trainer then running away from several others wasn't mentioned in the news, if only locally to warn people. You can use online articles on the event to find he place and time and then go there to learn more, or try and see if some local medias have online archives that could help you discover what happened. But you'll need a full charge at least, maybe several.
And I think a friendly electric type is better than asking Tracy, a pokemon carrying laptop could attract unwanted attention from Team Friendly and The Kid.

We are proving Gengar's mentoring works. We act like them more and more.

C:

tippler 2023/02/21(Tue)16:50 No. 1056731 ID: 9ea24b
File 167702703071.png - (108.40KB , 500x500 , p21.png )

>How close are you to evolving?
You’re currently Level 41 and you evolve at 45. Becoming a Flygon is within reach!

>Fighting wild Pokemon
Since you can travel anywhere, you can go to areas where Pokemon are stronger to train. The low Level Pokemon near where you live won’t give you much experience.

>C, take matters into your own hands
Speaking of Pokemon near Mauville, you have the bright idea to find an Electric type yourself. There are those cute rodent Pokemon, Plusle and Minun, that live around Route 110, and if you’re really desperate you can settle for an Electrike.

>Kid avoidance check (75% chance success): Failure
You Fly south, passing over the gleaming Bike Path that you always wanted to try but never did, just in time to spot a familiar white hat wearing tween exit the Trick House.

The kid’s Pokemon are at an unknown Level and will be evolved as appropriate. He has four Pokeballs on his belt. You have your notebook and pen with you, as well as your Revive.

A. Try to communicate with him (suggest what to say)
B. Wait for him to leave the area so you can search for a Plusle or Minun (50% chance he notices you and starts a battle)
C. Hide in the den for the rest of the day (uses up your activity slot but you avoid an encounter)

A: Hey you! Why are you running around poking all the legendaries, huh? Aren't you a bit early for that?

>>1056731
A. "ELITE FOUR DRAKE demands your presence at Meteor Falls in two days to discuss the problem you caused and how to resolve it quietly.

Failure to appear will put your trainer's license in jeapordy. Consider wisely."

Gives us time to gather the posse and get ready to confront him. Then, we drag his ass in front of Jirachi along with Gengar and Salamence and figure this out.

Let's face it, A was the only option.

First write "Hello there!", see if he gets the reference.

After that say "I have been sent to help grant your deepest wish.... and also to tell you to stop attacking random pokemon all the time, especially the legendary ones. It's causing a lot of damage.

>>1056731
A
Ask him to please stop upsetting Groudon.

>>1056772
>stop attacking random pokemon all the time,
I don't think we'll be able to convince him to stop doing that.

>especially the legendary ones.
We might have a better chance at convincing him to stop messing with legendary pokemon. Especially since Sootopolis gets messed up every time Groudon and/or Kyogre get upset. He might feel guilty for making things miserable for everyone that lives in Sootopolis.

>>1056731
B! Hide and wait for him to leave!

Trying to communicate with him is only going to demonstrate how rare and valuable we are! He's going to ignore whatever we write for an opportunity to catch a pokemon that can communicate with humans!

>>1056731
B. Hide!

I don't like the idea of putting a target on ourselves like >>1056776 said. But I also don't think we should run away and waste our day either. So hiding seems like a good idea for now.

>>1056772
I like this one. Let's make an honest attempt to communicate with him. He has been rather frightening so far, but so was Gengar at the start and everything turned out OK. Try to be friendly, wave and smile.
So far all people Jirachi choose to grant wishes to were ultimately nice, so I'm going to be optimistic and say there was some sort of selection made beforehand. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, but be ready to run away too just in case.

tippler 2023/02/22(Wed)18:27 No. 1056815 ID: 9ea24b
File 167711923913.png - (134.71KB , 500x500 , p22.png )

>A, be direct and tell the truth about your duty to grant his wish
>Also tell him to stop riling up the legendaries
Thanks to your time with Lanette, you have a pre-written greeting and explanation in your notebook. You flip to the correct page and descend to a readable but safe distance in front of the kid.

He immediately throws out a Pokeball to put a durable body between him and the scary wild Pokemon.

>Random Pokemon selection (four options): Sceptile, Level 46
Hi again! Please don’t attack me, I’m trying to talk to your trainer.

No way…It’s you, the Trapinch who likes Sand Attack! My trainer was so upset when he couldn’t catch you, Pokemon never get away like that.

That’s me, though I still would really prefer not to be caught.

You edge around Sceptile and hold your notebook up. Do they not teach children how to read anymore? At least he’s not ordering Sceptile to attack you.

>Kid reading comprehension check: Success

Hi…

Encouraged, you flip to the next page, the one with the summary of your whole deal.

You’re a human who got turned into a Pokemon sent by Jirachi to help me?

He scoots around Sceptile to crouch in front of you. It’s scary, but you stand your ground and scribble a quick ‘please don’t catch me’ to show you can write.

Yes! This is what I’ve been waiting for, something new!

The kid hits his knee with a closed fist. He seems very agitated. You ask him politely to not wake up Kyogre if he was thinking of doing that.

I don’t need to do that if I have you. We need to have the best adventure together, even better than my dad’s when he was my age!

I always liked listening to his stories, but when it was my turn to get my first Pokemon I just started doing the things he’d already done. I started wishing for something more exciting.

That’s why I woke up Groudon, but he’s not even doing anything…

Have you ever heard of Ash Ketchum? We'll agree to go on an adventure with you if you don't bother with the pokeball thing.

>>1056815
Eager for something new, huh?

Ever tried the Contest scene? Yeah, it sounds lame, but instead of boring old battles you get to invent the flashiest and coolest ways to use your team's moves.

If he still says it's lame tell him to prove he has the guts to get up on stage and then say so.

>>1056815
An adventure huh? Alright, tell him you'll ask around in the wild Pokemon community to find leads. That'll be faster than wandering around randomly.

"We know some pokemon that might be up for it. We'll ask around. I am **NOT**, myself, up for it. Meet here in 24h, with no tricks?"

Stare at him with disapproval, then fly away.

>>1056815
Dude, if you catch me I swear to pokemon gods you will not have a good time. As in, I will chew on something expensive. Also you do realize that pretty much most of all the pokemon hate you for beating them all up? Not cool dude. Also I kinda got family and a girlfriend so, I'd rather not get balled.

>>1056815
Ask for the kids name. We can't just keep calling him kid. Also, it'd be a good way to report him to the authorities if he starts shit, or at least get his dad to whip out the belt.

I know Sceptile is his partner and all, but doesn't mean he has to do literally everything the brat says. Sometimes you gotta say no to doing really dumb things, like waking up angry gods.

I can't possible be the thing you wished for. I'm an grow man with a boring job, I'm not even a trainer. Why would a kid like you want to hang out with an old guy?
As a pokemon the only thing making me unusual would be the ability te write. If we journey together for you it would basically be the equivalent of traveling with a mute trainer with a single pokemon.

If you want an adventure I heard about a group of poachers skinning Spheals. That is way more serious than the Slowpoke's tail incident. You could be heroic by bringing the criminals to the authorities and saving the lives of those pokemons.
I could go with you if you promise to not capture me. If you extend this promise to any pokemon willing to hang out temporally I have a few friends that could be interested in accompany us for this mission in particular.

Please consider that pokemons are individuals and the prospect of be forced to accompany a stranger for the rest of our lives is not very appealing. Being stuck in the PC is an even worst possibility.

>>1056834
So is the goal to leave our painter GF behind? Something tells me the kid wants more than one adventure.

>>1056844
What? Did I wrote something like that?

Helping him go on an adventure seems doable. Ask him what kind of adventure. We could ask around if someone know of something suitable. There was that Absol at the Friendly base who should know if something important is going to happen.
If we are going to travel with him we should also ask Gengar for mentoring tips.
Whatever you do, tell him you're not ready just yet.

>>1056815
>we should go on adventures!
“I’m literally just some boring old guy that has an office job. You don’t want me to travel with you.” (Also, we really don’t want to be put in a Poké Ball or be taken away from our Pokémon friends.)

>I want to do something different
Has he considered doing Pokémon Contests? Surely that would be better that waking up Groudon and Kyogre.

What Vibrava says: I am a boring old dude, I don't adventure.
What Vibrava means: You aren't old enoigh for the Pokemon adventures I go on.

>>1056815
I just realized something. We can communicate between the kid and his pokemon. Firstly I'd like to know: would the kid like to learn more about his pokemon, or does he see them nothing more than toys for him to throw around and play with? The kids seems careless and doesn't really give a damn about the consequences of his actions. Best case scenario the big angry pokemon he woke up does some property damage. Worse case scenario some people might die or a lot of people and pokemon get hospitalize, plus property damage. I'd like to get a feel for the kids morality.

Also for the memes offer to sell/give some of your porn mags to the kid to see what kind of reaction we can get out of him.

>>1056859

Don't sell porn mags to the kid. That's just gross.

>>1056861
Yes, please don't do that.

>>1056859
No porn for the kid!

tippler 2023/02/23(Thu)17:46 No. 1056867 ID: 9ea24b
File 167720320795.png - (92.91KB , 500x500 , p23.png )

>Give the job of entertaining the kid to someone else
No can do, other Pokemon can’t communicate with him and your friends would be reluctant to go near the kid.

>Ask for the kid’s name
I’m Stetson, I’m from Littleroot. My grandpa’s a gym leader and I got to take time off school for my Pokemon adventure.

>Stetson seems immature and careless
That’s children for you. You’re starting to question why they let anyone below 18 have Pokemon at all.

>Propose participating in Pokemon contests
Ugh, I guess I could. I never really considered it, I don’t know how to dress up my Pokemon and make Pokeblocks.

Contests sound like a good way to kill time while thinking of more activities.

>You’re boring, you were an office worker before this
Yeah and now Jirachi turned you into a Pokemon! You’re super interesting.

>You can travel with him but not in a Pokeball
Okay, but what if you run away or something? How do I find you again? I like doing things fast, can you do contest stuff with me in Lilycove tomorrow?

Stetson is demanding a third of your time, so you’d rotate between him, the tournament, and leisure every day. If you stick to the schedule, he’ll be satisfied. If you decide to spend your time differently he’ll have a 50% chance to try to catch you the next time he sees you.

The tournament folks will be upset if you delay things by changing the schedule. On your day off you’ll still have the option to have extra battles with Sealeo and Breloom to make up for it.

Do you plan to meet the kid at the Lilycove contest hall tomorrow morning? You’ll bring the PokeNav so you can exchange numbers and communicate long distance.

If so, which Pokemon do you want to recommend the kid enter in a contest first?
A. Sceptile (you’ll learn more about him)
B. Pelipper (you’ll learn more about her)
C. You (Pokeblocks yum yum)

If not, what’s your strategy against Sealeo and Breloom tomorrow?

>>1056867
It'll be a bit of a time crunch. Let's make sure to let Smeargle know when we get home that things are looking... promising for a non-violent solution to Stetson, but you'll probably be strapped for time for a while. Be sure to make it up to her.

Our moveset isn't very visually impressive, we're a dirty dirt bug. Let's stay in the position of coach for now and go with A. Sceptile seems like a Cool fellow.

>>1056868
Oh, and we should stop by the Friendlies and confide in Salamence that we're mentoring the Kid to keep him out of trouble and that's why we'll have to adjust the schedule a bit.

Enter Pelipper. Do green pokeblocks really make you smarter?
What do you call that hat you wear, Stetson? You should try wearing a stetson, or if not, give it to your Pokemon to wear.

A. Sceptile, I kinda want to ask him what it's like to be a starter pokemon.

>>1056869
We should also talk to Gengar about it. She'll find out soon enough anyway I think, it's better to tell her ourselves instead of waiting for her to become curious/worried about why we are starting to miss fights and investigates.
And this way someone who knows how to escape the PC has our back, just in case.

>>1056910
Good point. She'll probably wonder why we're doing this, so it might be time to rip off the bandaid and confide in Gengar, with Salamence there to provide a cooler head.

Should we tell Gengar now? I kinda want to wait until we evolve into Flygon so that if Gengar gets mad and kicks us out, we'll already be fully evolved and not have to worry about being unable to gain levels.

>>1056935
We are close to evolving anyway, even if she bans us from the tournament that's probably not going to make that big a difference.

tippler 2023/02/25(Sat)14:34 No. 1056960 ID: 9ea24b
File 167736448632.png - (137.21KB , 500x500 , p24.png )

>Do the contests and recommend Sceptile go first
>Sceptile’s moves and contest move attributes have been added to the wiki
There is no easily accessible online contest simulator, so in the continued interest of my sanity I’m basing the chance of winning a contest on the number of moves a Pokemon knows in the category (cool, smart, beauty, tough, cute) and the number of times they’ve been fed category specific Pokeblocks.

>You’re not in the mood to search for Electric Pokemon
Stetson’s insertion as a major presence in your life sours your appetite for more errands. You tell him you’ll see him tomorrow morning and go back to the den to discuss what you should do about Team Friendlies with Espeon and Smeargle.

Should I tell Gengar about being a human? I’m worried she’ll be mad but the longer I keep the secret from her the more upset she’ll be when she finds out.

That is true. Salamence was disturbed, but ultimately seemed accepting. I would advise you to tell her as soon as possible.

I agree. She cares about you so she shouldn’t react violently.

Okay. Smeargle, do you have any experience with Pokemon contests?

Thankfully I don’t think Tracy was ever very interested in them. They sound nerve-wracking in a different way from battling since everyone’s judging you on how you look, not just if you’re being effective in a fight.

The next morning you wait for Salamence to arrive to pick you up and tell him about the new schedule as well as your plan to confess to Gengar when you get the chance.

I can be there for moral support, but she’s not going to be happy. She really likes you though so I think you’ll be okay.

Yeah, it’s not like she’s going to find out I talked to Lanette the PC lady.

YOU WHAT???

Oops, gotta go to Lilycove, tell everyone sorry I can’t come today…

>Fly encounter check: Failure
You don’t run into anyone, person or Pokemon, on the journey east. You pass over a thick deciduous forest, a city built in the trees, a foggy island, and finally arrive in the big city where your parents live. Maybe you can visit them sometime in the future.

You hesitate outside of the red walled contest hall and decide to stand outside until the kid arrives. There’s a constant stream of Pokemon and trainers coming and going, and you don’t have to wait long before you spot Stetson’s white hat. Sceptile is walking freely at his side. It might be the light, but you think the lizard seems queasy.

I got a Pokeblock case and a bunch of berries yesterday after we talked. You hang out with Sceptile while I figure out how to make these things.

Inside the contest hall are numerous other free ranging Pokemon, all glistening with health and adorned with ribbons showing their previous achievement. You appreciate the texture of the thick carpet under your grabbers before finding a spot along the portrait adorned wall to wait with Sceptile.

I think I’m going to be sick.

Huh? Why?

All these people watching us when Stetson was the one who stole the Red and Blue Orbs from Mt. Pyre and bothered Groudon, ugh. I’ve also never done a contest before and I’m nervous.

Ah, it seems like Sceptile does have a guilty conscience about the actions of his trainer. Which category of contest do you recommend he enter and what do you say to him?

>>1056960
Smart contest, he could use Toxic to toss globes of poison and Pursuit to juggle them!

Tell Sceptile it'll be fine. Stetson is a minor, so even if he gets caught the worst he'll get is some counseling. Which mihht not be a bad thing...
Give him one of our patented vibe massages to ease his nerves.

Enter a smart contest. They should be the most impartial judges (and also you have two Smart moves, which is a plus.) Just a warning in advance, knowledge is a bitter pill to swallow.
Also, do pokemon actually get smarter/tougher/cuter from these things?

>>1056960
Ask our new green buddy whats it like being partnered up with the kid.

A smart contest seems to be the best option.

Tell him Stetson is still a kid, he should become less impulsive when he grows up. And Sceptile seems very reasonable and in the perfect position to be a good influence on him. And perfectly able to win a contest, too, especially a contest for smart pokemons. You believe in him, and whether he wins or loses what matters is that he tries his best, his trainer will know he did (probably).

>>1056999
This

tippler 2023/02/26(Sun)18:44 No. 1057024 ID: 9ea24b
File 167746586795.png - (149.75KB , 500x500 , p25.png )

>Reassure Sceptile
You’re not to blame for a minor’s impulsive actions. He probably doesn’t totally understand what he did was wrong. I’m sure he’ll grow out of it eventually, and if he gets busted then that’ll do a good job of teaching him a lesson.

What’s it like being Stetson’s starter, anyway?

Well I hatched from an egg as a Treecko and then was put in a Pokeball until it was time for him to choose a Pokemon.

I like battling and traveling with him! Uh, I haven’t really had a chance to do much else this past month.

You’re a month old?

Yes, I guess humans don’t work the same way huh? They take a lot longer to develop.

R-right. For the contest, what matters is that you try your best–

You’re interrupted when Stetson returns and offers Sceptile two muddy colored machine cut cubes.

>Random attribute buffs: smart and tough
Wow, do you feel any smarter?

How am I supposed to know if I’m smarter? Also Pokeblocks are just made from blended berries, I’m not sure how they could change my intelligence when I eat berries all the time.

It didn’t taste very good…

You consider Sceptile with a critical eye while Stetson walks him into one of the side auditoriums. He doesn’t look any different to you, contest judges must have some kind of sixth sense for how many berry blocks have been crammed into a mon.

>Normal rank smart contest chance of success: 2 smart moves x 0.25 x 1.2 (1 smart buff) x 2 (normal rank multiplier) = Guaranteed success

Sceptile might be nervous, but from your view as a spectator he shows off the moves Toxic and Pursuit very skillfully, enough that he wins a green ribbon that matches his scales beautifully. Stetson’s face is flushed pink with the thrill of victory.

That was awesome!

You write a supportive message and nod along with the kid’s enthusiasm.

I’m kind of worn out though, these contest things take a long time. I’m going to get food and then do some shopping, you can do whatever.

What would you like to do this afternoon?
A. Go talk to Gengar
B. Visit your parents
C. Have late lunch and go shopping with Stetson

>>1057024
I think it's good to do A sooner rather than later. We'll be back around here again if we keep hanging out with Stetson, so we can do B another day.

B. Haven't done that in a while, huh?

B.

You've been putting that off. B!

Check in with them. ALSO -- if there is anyone that you want research pokeballs, figure out all your weird questions, go do some research to answer them and mitigate them, and then to capture you in a pokeball (possibly under your own ID?) and let you go -- it's THEM.

A.

>>1057024
A

B, we can probably get their advice too about how we can approach Gengar, and maybe Houndoom. parents knows best.

>>1057027
This is a good point, changing my vote to this.

Are we sure our parents aren't crazy overprotective? I'm worried that when we reveal ourselves, they'll catch us in a ball and put us in the PC in order to protect us from some random trainer catching us.

>>1057024
A

Let's speak to Gengar and get this over with.

A. Let's talk to Gengar first, because once it's done we won't have to worry about it anymore and we have been warned it's time sensitive.
Seeing our parents is a good idea, but once we've seen them you can bet that's going to start a whole lot of things that will be just as urgent as everything else and our schedule is rather full already with Stetson and the tournament.

A: Gengar. It really needs to be done.

tippler 2023/02/27(Mon)16:35 No. 1057064 ID: 9ea24b
File 167754452757.png - (99.35KB , 500x500 , p26.png )

>What are your parents like?
Oh, the usual. Overbearing, loving, eager to ask if you’d found a nice girlfriend yet and critical of how much time you spent at the computer. Your mother always made sure you had more than enough food on your plate and your dad was a good influence. Nice, normal people who you couldn’t wait to get away from when you went to college. They might have wisdom to share about your situation but seeing them will probably lead to all sorts of other errands.

>A, better sooner than later
You’d like to tie up your loose threads now. It’s not like you wanted to lie to Gengar about your identity, it started as a misunderstanding and kind of turned into a continued omission of truth.

Gengar is your friend and it’s important to be honest with your friends. You agree to meet Stetson in three days and Fly back towards Mauville.

You arrive at the Friendlies Base to see Sealeo rolling over Breloom, as round with ice as a snowman’s bottom section. Good to see they’re still battling since you couldn’t make it. Sealeo gains two levels from her victory.

You skirt around the edges of the crowd until you find Salamence, who in turn leads you to Gengar. At your request, the three of you go into the forest to talk.

Vibrava, I can tell you really took my advice to focus on battling to heart.

Sorry I couldn’t make it today Gengar, I actually have a big confession to make. I know I said I was a Pokemon abandoned by my trainer, but I’m really…

You give her the same spiel you gave Salamence a couple days ago.

>Gengar anger avoidance: Success
Huh. You know, I really couldn’t tell. It’s a funny way to grant a wish, but I guess Jirachi got me what I wanted.

Ooooohhh Vibrava how could you have betrayed me? This changes everyythingggg!

Now hold on Gengar, Vibrava is still our friend and a Pokemon, even if he was human once.

I was just having a little fun Salamence, I get it.

Oh…

Wow, Houndoom would freak if he found out though, and then he’d be mad at us for keeping it from him.

We can still keep it a secret.

Up to you, it’d certainly give him something to care about. Anything else you’d like to talk about Vibrava?

You’re very relieved that Gengar isn’t upset. Since she’s in a good mood still, you can bring up delicate topics.
A. Bring up Lanette and ask how Gengar escaped from the PC
B. Recruit her to fight Groudon
C. Offer your sick human skills to help her with any sidequests

Not A. I'm fine with either B or C. Maybe C to show we want to help her, and maybe in return, she'll be more into being recruited to help us with Groudon

>>1057064
A. and C. at the same time.
After meeting Lanette and seeing how heartless and sketchy she is, you have been filled with a righteous anger to help free Pokemon wrongly imprisoned in the PC! Ask if there's anything you can do to help Gengar's Rescue Team work on that front.

C, we are a master of the human invention called a PC.

>>1057088
Uh, we might want to phrase this as "laptop", as PC is a loaded term, here.

Overall, #C seems like the easiest topic to jump to from here. We can offer to read things, warn humans off, maybe trade with humans for stuff, aka "shop".

#A is the riskiest, but also perhaps the most valuable. If we do go with A, IMO we should initiate the discussion with e.g. "the stuff you've said about the PC didn't mesh with what I'd heard as a human, and I'm interested in getting to the bottom of it and helping improve stuff for pokemon if I can - I talked with Lanette the other day and she seems to believe blah blah blah, would you be willing to tell me what the system is like on the inside" and other such data-gathering questions.

>>1057068
This seems like it'd work.

>>1057083
>Lanette is heartless and sketchy
No she's not, she's just unaware of what's going on with the PC. Not knowing about something doesn’t make her heartless, it just makes her clueless.

A. There will never be a great time to bring that up, but now seems like a good enough time and we may not have a better opportunity any time soon. Also tell her that you intend to use your ability to communicate with humans to help improve the treatment of pokemons. Maybe you could teach her to write too, that way she could also communicate on her own.

>>1057110
I disagree. She runs it, she knows full well how it works, but what she told us doesn't match up with Gengar eacaping. Not to mention the implications of her ominous warning.
That lady ain't right.

>>1057113
There could still be a middle ground - my money's on some willful ignorance, telling herself the theory is sound and contrary anecdotes are exaggerated or imagined or outliers, because the alternative is an incredible amount of work, and it's hard to get clear reports from pokemon in the first place.

>>1057115
She sounded perfectly fine with them being locked in stasis for years and then released when their families are probably old or dead. And that assumes she was being honest about the perfect stasis, which is unlikely.
I can't really see any interpretation of what she told us where she's not deplorable.

>>1057115
That, and maybe she didn't want to talk about it and gave us the generic "of course everything is safe and fine" answer to try and end the discussion. It's her job to take care of the PC and it's probably important to her, she is likely very defensive about it.
We are just some random vibrava she just met, she has no reasons to tell us anything that could make people doubt the reliability of her PC system to someone she doesn't know.

>>1057118
Of course she's defensive, she was talking to a Pokemon who used to be a human and has all the knowledge and context of how fucked up her system is. So she spouts excuses about how human-Pokemon society couldn't exist without her service, even as Tracey and Kirlia's families stand as contrary evidence by not keeping their Pokemon in the PC.
Justifications and excuses do not make her actions less heartless and sketchy. I'm sure if we captured and interrogated the Spheal poachers they would whine about how it's putting food on their families' tables and making warm jackets for arctic explorers.

>>1057120
She could've just sold off or given the rights to the PC storage system to some corporation or the government if she didn't actually care about the "human-pokemon society" angle, right? That's not to say she couldn't still have selfish reasons for inventing and deploying the system, but on the whole it seems to be an altruistic project. I guess it's hard to really assess what's going on there without more information. Maybe we should've asked her why she's stuck to running a project of such scale as an apparently solo operation, and how she's affording the time and money to keep it going.

>>1057125
Enabling someone to imprison people in stasis without their consent is altruistic in what context?

>>1057126
>imprison Pokémon in stasis without their consent
Fixed that for you.

Also, if we give Lanette a better solution to this problem, then she'd be in the best position to be able to implement it. So instead of calling her heartless and bringing her morals into question, we should be thinking of different options.

>>1057127
>Better solution
Maybe she could charge money to store Pokémon in the PC and if someone doesn't pay, their Pokémon is set free?

I don't know, this probably isn't a great idea.

>>1057127
Pokemon are very clearly people, as Vibrava knows now more than ever.

>>1057129
People are humans. Pokémon are Pokémon. There's a very obvious difference.

And I'm sure the Pokémon that don't like humans wouldn't appreciate being called "people", since they don't want to be associated with the humans.

>>1057130

The criteria for personhood is sapience; the term is species agnostic. It would be more correct to say, 'There are Pokemon People' and 'There are Human People', and possibly also 'There are AI People'.

>>1057130
I, however, disagree. And from my point of view, Lanette is evil.

Could you guys please take this to the discussion thread? https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/135483.html

>>1057132
Not everything is easily defined as good or evil. This feels like a grey area.

tippler 2023/02/28(Tue)19:26 No. 1057135 ID: 9ea24b
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>Is the PC storage system ethical?
You’re solidly a no at this point, since you have evidence that the Pokemon aren’t in perfect stasis.

>Are Lanette’s actions ethical?
Eh, that's a bit more complicated. Like Lanette said, Pokemon storage does greatly benefit a competitive trainer based society, so you can see how she’d be willing to overlook the downsides for the utilitarian benefit. She didn’t invent the system, that was Bill’s doing, but she has a tight grip on the Hoenn version and seems reluctant to let go.

You think you’ll want to talk more with Lanette before you make a final judgment.

>C, after much pondering
Gengar, now that you know I was a human, I can help you with all kinds of things! I can use a computer to surf the web, buy food, whatever you want.

Now that you think about it, there’s no longer a reason not to use your credit card since you and the kid are seeing each other regularly and 2/3 of the Friendlies are on board. You have 2,000,000 P in your bank account, and automatic payments for your card turned on because you are a responsible young lad.

Superpowers are great and all, but I want to learn how to read and write! I can learn fast when there’s someone to teach me.

Okay!

You can now use one of your two Friendlies fight slots to teach Gengar. Breloom and Sealeo will fight in the meantime if you do this. Gengar will need to be taught four times before she gets the hang of nonverbal human language. Seems like Pokemon are quick studies.

Speaking of, tomorrow you’re due to come back to the base. Would you like to bring Blaziken or Espeon? Would you like to teach Gengar? Who would you like to battle if you’re only doing one fight?

Oh, she wants to LEARN to read and write? Fascinating! And only four sessions to get the hang of it?? Wow, haha. Yeah, let's teach Gengar. Surely no hinjinks will come of this.

Re: who bring and fight, I default to "whoever you least recently X"

>>1057135
Teach Gengar. The mentor becomes the mentee.
Breloom's fights got skipped the most, so fight Breloom. Go in solo, Fly strats if not banned or Sand strats if it is.
Invite Linoone. Not to fight, but he could do some business networking with fellow hoarders who travel to the Friendlies base from elsewhere.

We're rich! Give Breloom a fight since we missed it last time. Teach Gengar in the other. bring Espeon.

Fight Breloom using the strat that she doesn't ban, then teach Gengar. And ask Smeargle if she wants to come with you, it's been a while since she visited the friendly base.

Make sure you bring your Revive this time!

Is there anyone we can ask about potential adventures for the kid?

>>1057144
not...quite.

Pokemon currency is a lot like Yen, so rather than $2,000,000, it is more like ¥2,000,000, which is (very) roughly equal to $20,000. So yeah, we have money, but no, we don't have that much money. Remember that a bottle of water costs ₽200.

tippler 2023/03/01(Wed)18:50 No. 1057178 ID: 9ea24b
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>You’re rich!
In terms of common material items, yes you are, however your expenses will be meticulously tracked and you don’t have a good way to make money if you use it all.

>Random mon to bring selection (3 choices): Linoone
It’s been ages since you’ve caught up with your best bro and talked guy stuff. You’ve been so busy with managing all of your relationships that you’ve been neglecting him and Kirlia a bit. He won’t fight but he’ll be very happy to spend time with you.

>Fight Breloom in the morning with the no ban Fly strat, bring your Revive
With your Revive, you’re sure to win. After you hit one Fly you can switch to Dragon Breath to secure the knockout since setting up another Fly will take too long. You’re faster than Breloom.

>Turn 1
>Vibrava: Fly set up
>Breloom: Sky Uppercut (90% accurate, hit, 80% damage)
It’s a fear like no other to soar in the sky only to be swiftly chased by a raging mushroom on legs. Breloom hits you with her clawed fist hard, but you stay aloft and gravity thankfully takes your foe back to the ground.

>Turn 2
>Vibrava: Fly hit (86% damage)
>Breloom: Sky Uppercut (90% accurate, hit, knockout)
You dive bomb Breloom, slicing across her with your momentum, to which she responds by punching you in the face. Damn that mon is strong. You have the Revive ready in your mouth and quickly recover from fainting, body sore.

>Turn 3:
>Vibrava: Dragon Breath (26%, knockout)
It took everything you had, but you won! You gain two Levels and don’t learn anything new, though you’re very close to evolving and getting a much needed stat boost. Linoone still has a Rare Candy you can trade for as well using purchased food.

What do you talk about with Linoone before Gengar’s literacy lessons? He’s happy to offer advice on any subject. Linoone is also going to absorb some of your language teachings through osmosis.

How are we going to keep that kid entertained? Normal Pokemon battling ain't doing it for him.
Are there other wild pokemon interested in human goods?

>>1057186
Good questions.
Preempt Linoone's obvious go-to with no porn though, the kid's too young.
Also ask how things are going with Espeon, and how Smeargle has been doing with us gone busy so often. We've barely been home lately.

Ask Linoone if he knows of any adventures the kid can go on.

tippler 2023/03/02(Thu)18:41 No. 1057257 ID: 9ea24b
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>How has Smeargle been doing?
You’re still seeing and usually boning the painter every day, there’s simply nothing new happening between the two of you and therefore nothing that needs mention.

>The OTP
How are things with Espeon?

Great! Still playing it safe to avoid an egg. She’s loving all this sunlight, though I’ve noticed things have been pretty dry since Groudon woke up.

Yikes, I should do something about that.

Don’t put yourself in danger! I’m sure the area will be fine with this weather for a while so you have plenty of time.

>Ask Linoone how to keep the kid entertained
You fill in your pal about how you’ve been roped into high stakes babysitting and how you’re looking for age appropriate activities to entertain Stetson before he gets bored and commits crimes again.

If he’s not interested in the weather trio, maybe take him to see a different Legendary. You’re looking for Jirachi already right? There’s also Deoxys and Latios and Latias, those three move enough that trainers rarely see them.

So rad…

Kind of a lot of Legendary Psychic types in Hoenn huh? What about the Regis?

I’m not saying a big hunk of walking steel, ice, or rock isn’t cool, I’m just saying those other three are way cooler.

You are absolutely correct.

You plan to teach Gengar the alphabet today and a handful of common words. What do you do after the session? You don’t think now’s a good time to bring up Lanette.
A. Ask her to introduce you to an Electric type for your computer
B. Recruit her to fight Groudon
C. Ask if she knows anything about Deoxys, Latios, or Latias

>>1057257
C. Consentacles are hot

A, and make sure to actually look up the correct electrical engineering terms for what's needed to be done to charge the power supply (and suggested moves/training techniques/accessories for charging!) when you have a chance!

The rocks taught people Braille, so that's pretty cool.
B.

C. We'll need something to keep Stetson busy sooner rather than later and it should be interesting. And they probably have useful information on Groudon and Jirachi too.

>>1057257
C

C We'll need tips on how to defeat them if we wanna please Stetson. And training. Lots of training.

Also ask her what pokemon she was before she became a ghost.

>>1057308
Good idea. Ask her where the ghosts come from too. I've always wondered. Do they come from dead people or from eggs? Either one? Or both at the same time, like, you need an egg AND some dead person that's eligible for undeath nearby?

tippler 2023/03/03(Fri)20:20 No. 1057353 ID: 9ea24b
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You sit down with Gengar in her well-decorated room, a few will-o-wisps lighting the space. Linoone flops down on a cushion and starts snoring. You flip to a new page of your rapidly depleting notepad and carefully write out all the letters of the alphabet, sounding each out as you go. You hand Gengar your pen and she practices writing. Her penmanship is decent.

After a couple hours, you take a break, which you use as your chance to ask Gengar your questions.

>Where do Ghost types come from? You’ve heard stories that they’re, y’know, literal ghosts of dead people and Pokemon, but that makes it confusing since you’re pretty sure all Pokemon hatch from eggs
The first of a Ghost species usually comes from an inciting incident like that, but then they and their offspring can have eggs normally. I’m from Lavender Town in Kanto, there’s a big graveyard tower there that Ghosts spawn around.

Which are you then? Did you come from an egg or were you death energy based?

Ohohoho, a lady has to keep some secrets.

>C, ask about the other Legendaries
>Gengar knowledge check Latios and Latias: Failure
I’m afraid I’ve never seen or heard anything about them. I assume Salamence has at least met them in passing with all the Flying he does.

>Gengar knowledge check Deoxys: Success
Deoxys came through Meteor Falls a year or so ago, quite a handsome Pokemon. Houndoom, Salamence, and I sat down with him and had a very civil battle until he gave up and flew away to one of the islands near Pacifidlog.

He was hostile?

I prefer the term free-spirited.

Tomorrow’s your free day! Finally, a chance to catch up on your tasks, it seems your list of duties is getting longer and longer. What would you like to do in the morning?
A. Talk to a human or Pokemon
B. Address a specific task (see wiki section 3 for list)
C. Shopping! Suggest items to buy, all reasonable suggestions that have overall votes in favor will be taken

Let's go help Kirlia evolve.

>>1057353
B. Network Espeon and Kirlia so that they can train together. This will help Kirlia evolve, and help Espeon learn Psywave, while killing two tasks with one action.