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mocharobin · 4 years

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I Got An Apple For You

AO3

It had taken them a while to meet up in Galar, it was Luka’s idea to have Marinette visit Galar. He greeted her in Wyndon, he saw how tired Marinette was from her flight, the poor girl was tuckered out. Perhaps a late brunch would help. The last minute coffee probably wasn’t a good idea. Since they now had to run to catch their train. Grabbing Marinette’s hand to pull her along. Running through the city before they finally saw wyndon station.

“We’re almost there!” Luka huffed out. Turning a bit to see how Marinette was doing. She looked a little out of breath, but nonetheless a smile was on her face.

They somehow managed to make it on the train. Catching their breath for a bit before they started searching for their seats. Placing their bags on the empty seats across from them. Sitting next to each other. During the ride, they talked about what was happening in their lives. Marinette talked about her recent visit to Sinnoh. The pokemon she met there and the places she visited. While Luka talked more about his family and the music he was producing with his band. That little adventure he had about a week ago he couldn’t tell her, not yet. Though he was pretty sure he still had a bump from it.

During the ride, Luka would point out places and Pokemon and explain some to Marinette. she asked questions which Luka could answer. Almost each time their shoulders would brush against each other, neither of them minded it.

Soon they arrived in Wedgehurst, before taking another train towards a small flying taxi station that would take them to the Isle of Armor.

Why the Isle of Armor? Because it has the best spots for stargazing. Marinette admitted to him, she liked to stargaze, but because of light pollution in the lumiose city. She could barely see them.

The isle of Armor was faraway from the coast of Galar,since it had only a few buildings scattered across the island, the stars there always luminated the sky.

Taking a glance at Marinette, he saw her leaning her head on her arms, staring at the sea. He could see a group of lapras migrating. Wingulls were flying near the taxi. The wailord that was dormant near the island could also be seen.

Once they were near the Island Luka could see the old couple who owned the dojo. If he had to guess his mother had to do something with it.

Taking Marinette’s hand to help her out of the flying taxi. Before walking to the back of the taxi, to grab her bag and his guitar case. Marinette was thanking Corviknight with a pat on its beak. The owner of the Corviknight was looking perplexed at the sight before him.

“That girl certainly has a way with pokemon” The man trailed off before adding “I mean, Corviknight barely let me pet it, let alone a stranger”

“The same thing happened with my Noivern, he instantly bonded with her” Luka said, an adorning smile on his face.

“Does this happen often?” the man asked him.

“Yeah, it does,” Luka answered. “I’m almost jealous, my team loves her more than they love me” Admitting it to the man. His pokemon adored Marinette, demanding pets whenever they met up. He knew his team loved him in their own special way.

“Best of luck lad,” The man gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Before Luka called Marinette, handing over the Marinette’s bag. They both waved at the man, leaving the station. Luka could now see the couple before him. The old man who was currently stroking his goatee, while his wife had her arms crossed.

“Luka, it’s good to see you” greeted the old man.

“It’s good to see you too, old man”

“Well, hello? And who are you, love?” A middle aged woman asked Marinette.

“My name’s ma-ma-Marinette” A little stammer came from Marinette, realizing someone was talking to her.

“It’s nice to meet you Marinette. My name is Honey and this is my husband Mustard” Honey introduced them to Marinette. Mustard had a big grin on his face, striking a pose. “I’m pleased as cheese that you could join us”

Marinette blinked a little, leaning her head sideways before greeting Mustard back “Cheesed to meet you”.

“Heh heh, I like her already, have fun on the isle dearie”

“If you need anything will be at the dojo” standing a bit sideways, pointing out the building to Marinette.

Saying goodbye to the couple. Luka and Marinette started making their way towards the Forest of Focus. Once they were in the clearing of the forest, they started to take out their camping gear.

Marinette was setting up the campfire and cooking pot, while Luka was busy setting up their tent. Their pokemon were either frolicking around, while a few were on a big pile napping against each other.

“So what do you normally eat when camping?”

“Curry mostly,” Luka answered, hammering down a peg into the ground.

“I thought it would have been something like Magicarp and chips”

“While delicious, it’s not easy to make while camping plus the clean up”

“Fair enough”

“I could help you make the curry” Luka offered to Marinette, “I would like that”.

Once Luka was done setting up the tent, he moved over to help Marinette. Discussing the ingredients to use for the curry with Marinette, deciding to use a variety of food items and berries.

The aroma made certain forest pokemon come out of their hiding spot. While their pokemon surrounded the cooking pot, a hungry look in their eyes. Once in a while having to push away a pokemon that got to close for comfort near the flames.

Once the curry was finished cooking. They started to plate up the food for their pokemon and themselves. Putting a few bowls down for the forest pokemon.

Luka could certainly cook but not on the level as Marinette. Marinette managed to cook alone once she had some instructions and somehow also managed to make packaged food taste good. But he should have expected it since after all she was a baker’s daughter.

“This tastes delicious Mari” complimenting her, while munching away on his curry, savoring the dish.

“Thanks Luka.”

After they finished eating and cleaning up everything. Luka and Marinette sat next against each other leaning against her Arcanine. To keep themselves cozy and warm. Fēng didn’t seem to mind that they were using him as a heater.

Alongside Marinette, he looked up at the sky. there were more stars visible than Luka had ever seen, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, more and more appeared with each fraction of a second he looked.

Taking a look at Marinette, he could see she had a look of awe on her face. He knew she could barely see the stars in Kalos. Her grey eyes darting from one side of the sky to the other, amazed with the innumerable stars.

Marinette would once in a while point out a constellation in the endless sky for him. Talking about old Kalosian and Sinnohian myths about a few of them. While Luka himself would chime in once in a while to add about Galarian myths. Reciting old stories to each other about them.

Sitting here, letting Marinette indulge in her love for stargazing. He wished he could take her here more frequently to have her be able to stargaze to her heart's content. But with the distance between them, with her in Kalos and himself in Galar. It was difficult. Of course they face-timed and sent messages whenever they could. But he wanted to be next to her, traveling with her. If he didn’t say or do anything right now, he knew it would be difficult to see each other again.

“Mari, I’m going to grab something real quick”

“Hmm” a little hum left Marinette.

Walking over to their bags, grabbing the gift he got for Marinette. Crouching down in front of her. Hiding one of his arms behind his back. Marinette looked at him, her eyes filled with curiosity, wide-eyed like that of a Wooloo.

“Here you go, Marinette,” Holding out his hand that was holding a pokeball. Marinette’s eyes darting to his face back to his hand.

“Wha-what is this?”

“It’s-It’s a pokemon” Luka clarified for her, scratching his neck before he pointed towards Marinette. “….For you”

“For me?”

“Now hold out your hand, it’s pretty small...” Marinette put her hands together to make a little cup. Luka pressed the button to release the pokemon inside. In a bright light the pokemon appeared in her hands. A green apple appeared in her hands. A confused look across Marinette’s face.

“I didn’t know you could catch apples”

“Look a little closer Mari”

A pair of eyes and tail popped out of the apple. Its gaze focused on Marinette. A gasp left Marinette. Luka’s hands embraced marinette’s, a fond look on his face.

“Marinette, t-there’s something I want you to know” Luka’s hands embraced marinette’s, rubbing circles with his thumbs against hers. A little squeak from Marinette. A blush across her face, while by him his ears became red.

Was Luka nervous? Yes. but Arceus, he wasn’t going to miss this chance.

“I got this applin for you, for a very good reason. You know what it means when someone gives you an Applin?” Luka asked. The small nod she gave him. She knew oh she knew.

“Marinette, you are very special to me and dear to my heart. Your melody has been playing inside my head since the first day we met. I want to play it on repeat and sing it from the rooftops of Lumiose city. I want to have so many adventures with you, explore everything there is to this world with you by my side,” He knew his face was bright red. Taking a deep breath, “Marinette I love you” Scratching his neck a little, his heart beating so loud in his ears. he looked up at Marinette seeing her face scarlet red.

“C-co-could I yes you?” Marinette asked him.

“Yes you?” Luka questioned Marinette.

“I-- I my--I mmean Could I kiss you? It seems easier to say yes but I really really want to kiss you”

Feeling like a massive weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Luka smiled.

“Mari, You already said yes” Letting out a small laugh before palming one Marinette’s cheeks, Leaning forward to place a kiss on her forehead. Luka leaned his forehead against Marinette’s. A fond smile directed at each other. Marinette gave Luka a small peck on the lips, It was a short and sweet kiss. she tried to hide her face in his hoodie.

“Thank you Marinette,” Stroking her hair before sitting next to her. Marinette leaned against him. The applin now on her lap.

“I got an apple for you,” He joked. Marinette nose scrunched up a little at the joke. “So what are you naming it?”

“I’m thinking of naming it Strudel,” She answered.

“That’s an adorable name”

He knew they would have similar nights together, for now he was content being by her side.

--Deleted scene--

Marinette : I thought you would have confessed with your guitar. Luka : I would've but I forgot to grab it...

Mustard : I have noticed that the Couffaines have a thing small people Luka : Shut up old man....

#lukanette #miraculous ladybug #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #Pokemon AU #I Got An Apple For You #lukanette endgame #ml fic #lukanette fic

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crystalelemental · 4 years

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Oh cool, some Pokemon got new egg moves. That’s usually the best part of these kinds of updates.

Bulbasaur got Toxic. As an egg move. Okay.

Charmander got Wing Attack (???) and Dragon Tail.

Squirtle got Life Dew, which I actually love. Self recovery is really nice for a tanky Water-type, and Squirtle really needed this. I just wish that, if there were no ally, it healed just you for 50%.

Vulpix got Memento, which is neat. I can’t remember if it already had that. The rest I think are moves it naturally knows.

Oddish got Leech Seed. How did it not already have this?

I’m gonna stop covering everything because a lot of this seems like moves they already learned through other means. Onix got Head Smash. Which is hysterical, but probably impractical. It also got Dragon Tail, which it could already learn.

Krabby got Hammer Arm, Slash, and Night Slash. I’m again, surprised it didn’t have any of this, but that’s pretty nice.

Lapras got Sparkling Aria. Which is...okay? It’s not as good as just regular Surf since it heals the opponent’s Burn without increasing damage or anything. And it makes Primarina less distinct. But it makes sense, so okay.

Eevee can learn Double Kick. Do you know what that means?! FLAREON AND LEAFEON HAVE A FIGHTING MOVE! I mean, yeah, okay, it sucks shit. But still.

Marill got Sing. It’s inaccurate, but Sing Marill that can set up Belly Drum on the switch. Meta relevant? Probably not. Funny? Absolutely.

Delibird got Aurora Veil and Memento, which is really funny support for it. Nice.

Ralts got Knock Off. I don’t remember if it learned this through tutor or anything, but I love this. Gallade with Knock Off, and Knock Off as a tech option for Gardevoir. I actually like Trick for Gardevoir better, but you know.

Roselia got Extrasensory...which I thought it already had...and Life Dew. Nothing world-shattering, but nice.

TRAPINCH GOT FIRST IMPRESSION, I LOVE THIS. Oh my god, that’s so funny. Flygon just showing up, then First Impression-ing for shenanigans. I adore it. I don’t know that it will be helpful, but it is absolutely delightful.

Snorunt got Icicle Crash, so that’s kinda nice for Glalie. Probably less so for Froslass, though she does have decent physical attack.

Munchlax got Fissure. Okay.

Sandile got Aqua Tail. I don’t know that it’s super necessary for most of its matchups, but it’s a cool option.

Vanillite got Icicle Crash and...Explosion. Nice.

FRILLISH! GOT! STRENGTH SAP! HOLY FUCKING BALLS, 10/10! I adore the Frillish line, and giving them access to the best healing move in the game is spectacular. That move turned Vileplume’s life around, and now Jellicent gets it. Oh man, I’m super happy with that.

Elgyem got Destiny Bond. I’m sure that’s relevant for the 10 people worldwide who remember it exists.

Axew got First Impression. Man, the only thing funnier than Flygon getting First Impression is Haxorus getting it. What an entrance.

Spritzee got After You. It’s not really relevant to me, exclusively Singles player man, but for doubles that can have some implications, considering how good Spritzee’s support toolkit is.

Goomy got Life Dew. Really wishing it healed full 50% if you didn’t have a partner right now...

Klefki got Magnet Rise. I don’t know if it always had this. But okay.

Phantump got Sucker Punch, which is really funny to me. But nothing for Pumpkaboo, so laaaame.

Litten got Parting Shot. I had thought it already had this. But no, I guess now it gets it. So, to summarize, Intimidate Incineroar with Parting Shot, U-Turn, Volt Switch, and now that water-based U-Turn. And here I thought maybe Pokemon Company might discourage endless switching, but nope.

Popplio got Life Dew, wish it healed more etc etc.

Turtonator got Rapid Spin, which is pretty nice. Gives it something to do aside from fail with Shell Trap.

#pokemon sword and shield #there might be others I didn't realize were completely new #but there aren't really many relevant introductions

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sage-nebula · 5 years

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If Alan had to assemble a new Alolan team (he'd keep Lizardon of course!)who do you think he'd pick?

Hmm, do you mean like if he did what Ash does at the start of each new saga and only brings Pikachu with him to new regions, thus filling the rest of his team with ‘mon exclusive to that region? Okay, I can do that … but to make it interesting, let’s make him a team from every region, and then I’ll assemble a final team of six out of those. =) Putting this beneath a cut, because it’s going to get long:

I’ll put the species name first, and then the nickname he’d use for them second. And of course, the first ‘mon for every single region is always going to be the same. ♥

Kanto:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Lapras — Lace (Water/Ice)

Raichu — Rai (Electric)

Nidoking — King (Poison/Ground)

Gengar — Gar (Ghost/Poison)

Aerodactyl — Ptera (Rock/Flying)

Lizardon is self-explanatory. He goes with Alan to every single region and they’ll never, ever part.

Lace is a callback to my Immortality AU, where I think I ended up giving Alan a lapras (or maybe reunited Ash with his?) because I imagine that lapras are a species that live a very, very long time—that even they’re not technically dragons, the lifespan of the Loch Ness Monster in our own world lends to the idea that lapras would be long lasting. In any case, I could see a lapras on Alan’s team. Lapras are very strong and very durable, and we know that Alan does like pokémon that can be both tanks and very heavy hitters, which lapras are. In addition, though, lapras are known for having very gentle temperaments, and since Alan is so calm and gentle himself (when he isn’t given reason not to be), I feel that would fit well with a lapras. Lapras are very rare (they’re more easily captured in Johto on Fridays), but there could possibly be a situation where someone working in the Safari Zone gives him one to raise and take care of once they learn that he comes from the Kalosian Pokémon Lab, because they need someone to look after this particular lapras and raise her, and they know he’ll do a good job.

Rai, I figure, could have been inspired by Ash, in the sense that knowing Ash and his Pikachu made Alan take interest in the pikachu line and thus decide to raise one himself. Rai would be captured in Viridian Forest as a pikachu, raised up, and then eventually evolved with a Thunder Stone (not against his will, of course), because although Alan would be inspired by Pikachu, again, he does value reaching for one’s max potential in his team, and as we’ve seen in canon he does tend to evolve his pokémon all the way.

King, I feel, would be a little male nidoran who saw Alan in the Viridian area and decided, for some reason, that Alan was an Opponent and a Rival and an Enemy and that he would take him down. Unfortunately, nidoran are not very big or intimidating ‘mon, so this … did not go as planned for King … but Alan recognized and appreciated that fighting spirit and so offered King a place on his team. King originally accepted with the idea that once he gained enough strength he would defeat Alan once and for all, but ultimately he came to really love him as a trainer and became a very faithful member of the team. So, you know. Maybe he’ll eat someone else instead. (Spoiler: He’s not going to eat anyone, Alan won’t let that happen.)

Gar would be a temporary member of Alan’s team; he’d be released back to the Lavender Tower once Alan was ready to leave Kanto. I don’t really have a story behind this one, but gengar seems like the type of pokémon that Alan would find an interesting challenge to train, and the gengar that we meet in Lavender Tower in the anime is friendly enough so that he probably wouldn’t want to drain Alan of his life. (Probably.) So I think it’d probably be more of Alan offering to show Gar interesting things around Kanto, Gar agreeing, and then the two parting ways at the end of the journey.

Ptera is another callback to the Immortality AU, because I’m almost positive I gave Alan an aerodactyl there, because again, they’re basically immortal themselves, very long lasting. (And for Alan and Ash in the Immortality AU, that’s very important.) This wouldn’t necessarily be the same aerodactyl that tried to eat Ash—rather, maybe this one was revived from Old Amber, flipped out because it was fossilized and now it’s suddenly alive again, Alan helped calm it down, and so the scientists were like, “Please take this before it eats us.” Nonetheless, aerodactyl again seems like the type of pokémon Alan would train, so I could see him with one.

Those who know that Alan is my valiant dragon son are probably surprised that dragonite wasn’t included, but while I considered dragonite, in honesty I … have never been very fond of dragonite. Its design has never appealed to me, and while it is strong, I just kind of … eh. There are better dragons out there, in later gens.

(Also, I know you’re probably thinking, “Well, I’m still surprised you didn’t give him an arcanine!” but listen … the temptation was there … I do think Alan would be very good at training an arcanine and that he’d like it, but when thinking about his Future Permanent Team, I couldn’t bear to have him leave the arcanine behind, and I don’t want his team to be too similar to mine, so … a call had to be made. I had to restrain myself, despite how very real that temptation was.)

Johto:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Noctowl — Yoru (Normal/Flying)

Tyranitar — Bangiras (Rock/Dark)

Houndoom — Soot (Dark/Fire)

Donphan — Don (Ground)

Mantine — Tine (Water/Flying)

Lizardon is self-explanatory, as always.

Yoru comes from my Fix-It of the team we see him with in the League, because it kills me that they gave him unfezant, of all pokémon, when you can’t even catch that in Kalos (but you can catch noctowl), and noctowl is far more fitting thematically. I think that Yoru (short for “Yorunozuku”) would bond with Alan very quickly as a hoothoot, and would evolve into a beautiful noctowl in short order.

Bangiras is that very same tyranitar we see him with in the League. I didn’t have any real issues with him having a tyranitar in canon, so there’s no reason not to stick with that choice now. Bangiras would be captured as a larvitar and would start out feeling a rivalry toward Lizardon (that is not reciprocated) because he would want to be Alan’s strongest and favorite, but that attitude would settle down over time. Whenever he’s in Kalos and/or otherwise around Bonnie, Bonnie likes to sing “Getta Ban Ban” because of his name.

Soot is … okay, listen. For those of you who have read Genesis, you’ll know that technically the first pokémon Alan ever had was a houndour puppy that he, at the tender age of five, named “Soot.” Alan didn’t actually catch this houndour, nor was he able to raise it, but he tried and he gave it a name and it remains a very important part of his past, because if he’d never tried to keep that houndour puppy, he never would have met (and been unofficially adopted by) Sycamore. So I’ve always entertained the idea that one day, Alan and Soot would be reunited. How Soot would get all the way to Johto from Kalos is anyone’s guess, but maybe Soot was actually captured by another trainer at some point, who then traded him away to someone in Johto, who then released him. It’s possible! In any case, Soot and Alan meet by “chance” (read: destiny) at one point in Johto, Soot recognizes Alan instantly, Alan realizes that Soot is Soot, and so he’s captured and raised up (probably captured as a houndour, still, just a fully grown one at this point, close to evolving but not quite there yet). The naming convention is off from the rest, but Alan named him Soot so long ago … he’s not going to change that now. Soot is very playful and, even as a full grown adult, likes to act like a baby and get belly rubs with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Sometimes Alan still calls him “Sootie.” It’s hard not to.

Don doesn’t have a story behind her; I think a donphan just seems like the kind of pokémon that Alan would train, particularly since donphan can be tanks, can be fast (ROLLOUT), and are hard hitters (again, ROLLOUT). Also, I have a real soft spot for phanpy, so I like the idea of Alan raising one up to be a mighty donphan (albeit a mighty donphan that still thinks she’s the size of a phanpy).

Tine is partial bias to sea rays that I gained during my Japan vacation, and partial “I do think this would fit.” Again, no real story to this one; I just think it’d be interesting for Alan to raise a mantine and I think he’d enjoy and be good at it. Everyone was mantine surfing~

Again, the big surprise here might be that I left off kingdra, particularly since he has dragon clan heritage in Blackthron City (though if this is a canon compliant timeline, he might not know about that yet). But I didn’t want to give him two water-types, since water’s not really his thing so much, and I personally prefer mantine over kingdra. But don’t worry, there will be dragons to come in the future regions.

Hoenn:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Flygon — Lye (Ground/Dragon)

Milotic — Milo (Water)

Absol — Sol (Dark)

Salamence — Bohmander (Dragon/Flying)

Metagross — Meta (Steel/Psychic)

Lizardon remains self-explanatory.

Lye would be captured as a trapinch, and perhaps got its name both because of its future final evolution, and also because it was very hot to the touch (due to being out in the desert) when Alan first met it, thus it burned him and made him think of how lye burns when it comes in contact with skin. In any case, even as a trapinch Lye always wanted to be off the ground, which makes Alan wonder sometimes if he should have named it Fly instead.

Milo is another call to the immortality AU, though it’s Ash that has a milotic in that one, rather than Alan. Nonetheless, milotic is a big pokémon that looks like a sea dragon, is very strong, and very much a tank as well, so it’s the type that he’d have on his team. Plus, I like the idea of him catching a feebas, and knowing that no matter how weak it is at the time, he can help it become stronger. And with time, he does.

Sol would be a healing, reclamation type pokémon for him. For those of who you have read Genesis (linked above), you’ll remember that the mayor of Isolé Village compared Alan to an absol in a derogatory way:

The mayor looked back at [Augustine], and her furious scowl was instantly replaced by an apologetic smile. “Oh, Professor Sycamore! I’m so sorry about all of this. I should have warned you to watch out for this one, but I didn’t think even he would … well.” She chuckled, but Augustine could hear an undercurrent of anger in it as she placed her hand on the boy’s head and shook him a little, her fingers gripping his hair far more roughly than Augustine had ruffled it back in the houndour den. “I should have known better! Alan here is like our own little absol—brings disaster wherever he goes!” She laughed again, the sound loud and aggressive.

That was years and years ago, but Alan has an eidetic memory and so he remembers everything that happened to him in that village: every punishment, every name he was ever called, and so forth. And as a result, given that he was always compared to absol and that it was meant to be a bad thing, seeing absol has always filled him with a very uncomfortable, anxious feeling. It’s not something he ever takes out on them, obviously, but seeing absol (or hearing the word “absol”) reminds him of those days back in Isolé, and he doesn’t like it. (Buneary sort of do as well, come to that, since they were always allowed to run around the village at will, but it doesn’t have the same tie to him as absol does.)

So in that sense, if he came across an absol in Hoenn, he wouldn’t want to capture it at first, but perhaps the absol would keep following him around because she knew that something bad was going to happen to him and wanted to prevent it. And after she helped save him from whatever disaster, it’d help him come to terms with things. Sycamore himself taught Alan that absol never bring disaster, and Alan knew that … and he also knows that he never really brought disaster, that the things he was blamed for weren’t really his fault … but sometimes it takes a while for the heart to catch up. And so he’d capture the absol, and name her Sol (meaning “sun” as well as being a play on her name), as a sort of healing / reclamation thing.

Bohmander would either be captured as a bagon, inspired by Zinnia and her salamence, particularly in my preferred scenario where a version of the Delta Episode is carried out post-XY(&Z), and Alan and Zinnia become quite acquainted with one another as a result. Boh is a bit smaller than the average salamence and is quite gentle, but he’s no less fierce in battle and everyone would do well to remember it.

Meta is the same metagross that Alan has in the League in canon, inspired by Steven and his metagross. If I remember correctly, the personality that I gave to Meta is that they are very young but also very desperate to prove themselves and be strong to make Alan proud. They struggle with self-esteem, but Alan always reminds them that he’s proud of their progress, and that helps a lot.

See? I told you there’d be more dragons.

Sinnoh:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Mismagius — Mumargi (Ghost)

Lucario — Cario (Fighting/Steel)

Weavile — Manyula (Dark/Ice)

Mamoswine — Mammoo (Ice/Ground)

Gallade — Rei (Fighting/Psychic)

Lizardon is self-explanatory, as always.

I don’t really have a story for Mumargi, except that maybe Mumargi kept “accidentally” crossing paths with him as a misdreavous before he finally caught her. After he caught her she tried to wander off at every given opportunity, because she’s contrary like that.

Way back when the Flare Crisis was airing, and Alan did that amazing back handspring to avoid the spikes in the megalith, I came up with a headcanon that perhaps he studied martial arts under Maylene for a time while traveling through Sinnoh. Perhaps that headcanon could still come to light and that’s how he ends up with Cario, who was his sparring partner while studying with Maylene and who decided to travel with him when he left. (And now whenever he and Maylene encounter each other in public they have to spar immediately, as soon as they make eye contact, without explaining anything to anyone in the nearby vicinity. Those are the rules between martial arts sensei and student.)

Manyula is the same weavile we see him with in the League. Again, he chose a weavile there, I had no real issues with it, so why not keep it up? (Also, the Sinnoh ‘dex is hard enough to choose from without eliminating canon choices orz.) If I remember the characterization I gave her, she’s very mischievous and prideful and somewhat tsun in that she doesn’t like to play well with others … or at least, that’s what she pretends.

There’s no real story behind Mammoo other than I thought it’s the type of pokémon that would fit Alan’s battling style, and same for Rei.

Honestly, this one was really hard because I don’t like the majority of the Sinnoh ‘dex, and those I do like are already taken by members of Alan’s family (Sycamore has garchomp, Clemont has luxray), or just wouldn’t really fit his battling style (glaceon, leafeon, floatzel). So I struggled a lot with this one, I won’t lie.

Unova:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Krookodile — Rook (Ground/Dark)

Zebstrika — Strike (Electric)

Beartic — Bear (Ice)

Chandelure — Lure (Ghost/Fire)

Bisharp — Sharp (Dark/Steel)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

Rook seems like the type of pokémon Alan would train (fast, strong, tanky), and so there’s no real story behind this choice. That said, I like to imagine that if Rook met some of Alan’s more mischievous ‘mon from the past (such as, oh, Manyula or Mumaragi), he’s the type they’d try to scapegoat for their own wrongdoings even though he’s super honest and sincere and would never do anything wrong ever in his life if he could help it. Don’t worry, Alan never falls for the lies.

Strike might seem like kind of an odd choice, but I think that zebstrika can be pretty strong and fast and Alan would appreciate that, especially in an electric type. Strike is proud and hates losing, and is prone to tantrums and sulking fits when things don’t go his way. This is something he and Alan work on together.

Bear would have been captured as a cubchoo and not intentionally named Bear, but when Alan first encountered the curious little cubchoo trying to raid his bag for snacks, he said, “Hey there, little bear,” and from there on out the cubchoo would not respond to anything else. So now he’s a bear(tic) … named Bear. So it goes.

Lure tried to, well, lure Alan off a cliff at some point, back when she was still a litwick. That didn’t work, and when it didn’t, Lure tried again and again until finally Alan got exasperated and captured her. She still likes to try to lead him off places, this time in earnest, but she has a bad sense of direction and so she can’t be trusted as navigator even when she’s doing her best. She is a solid member of the team, though.

Sharp is the same bisharp that we see in canon. I had no problems with this one, so why change it? I can’t remember the personality I gave him, except maybe he was another that hated to lose? God, I wish I could find that post. Anyway, Sharp is bisharp, you know how it is.

I hated that canon gave Alan a random unfezant, as mentioned above, so that one got axed. I was also really strongly tempted to give him a haxorus, but I feel that’s Iris’ territory since she has that iconic axew, so I left that be.

Kalos:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Pangoro — Pandar (Fighting/Dark)

Aegislash — Exagide (Steel/Ghost)

Tyrantrum — Rexillus (Rock/Dragon)

Noivern — Bruyverne (Flying/Dragon)

Meowstic — Mistigrix (Psychic)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

For some reason I imagine Pandar as a little pancham at Sycamore’s lab that becomes utterly fixated on Alan because he (Pandar) wants to grow up to become very strong and knows that Alan could train him to do so. Thus, Alan ends up taking him along on a journey. Lo and behold, Pandar ends up achieving his dreams, so it’s a happy ending for everyone.

I don’t have much of a story for Exagide, but I think that Alan would be very interested in training an aegislash because of how much strategy goes into battling with one. I think he’d find the challenge exciting, and that Exagide would be happy to have someone who appreciated their talents.

Rexillus just seems like the type of pokémon Alan would like, as with so many others on this list. I’d like to flip the script a little and imagine Rexillus as a very lazy pokémon that Alan really has to work with to get motivated, and that even though Rexillus will at least battle reliably now, his favorite activities are still eating, sleeping, and watching cartoons. (He knows what’s up.)

Bruyverne is, I will admit, a personal bias of mine because I really like noivern, so even though Ash had one, well … it’s not an iconic pokémon of Ash’s, so it’s fine. Hell, maybe Alan was even inspired by Ash’s, I don’t know. Either way, I do think noivern would suit Alan’s battling style, and thus Bruyverne would be a good fit.

Mistigrix might seem weird, but I decided to give one to Alan as a call to the game character Emma, who I feel at least partially inspired Alan’s inclusion in the anime. Emma has an espurr named Mimi, and so I feel that giving Alan an espurr (and then meowstic) works. This works even better if we go with an idea I had once where Emma was Alan’s childhood friend in Lumiose, and she still has Mimi; she has her girl, Mimi, and Alan has his boy, Mistigrix, inspired by Emma and her Mimi. They make a pretty good team.

Alola:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Mimikyu — Kyu (Ghost/Fairy)

Mudsdale — Dale (Ground)

(Midday) Lycanroc — Lycan (Rock)

Kommo-o — Kommo (Dragon/Fighting)

Toxapex — Tox (Poison/Water)

Lizardon is self-explanatory.

Kyu is a carry over from my fic To Devour the Sun, although I guess saying that is spoilers a little bit. Regardless, one of the ideas I have for near the end of the fic is for Alan to go off to the abandoned Thrifty Megamart to get some space and time alone (with Lizardon, of course), and while he’s there enjoying the quiet, a very lonely but curious mimikyu ends up coming up to him. The mimikyu means no harm, and she seems to be hurting in some way that he can’t quite identify, but that he empathizes with … so he takes her with him. He names her “Kyu” both because it’s a play on her name, and because she’s curious; “Kyu” sounds like “Q,” like question. (Also, I’ll fully admit that I love mimikyu with all my heart, so. This is a bit of personal bias, too, but I still think it’d be interesting to see Alan with a mimikyu that rides around on his shoulder because she, like Ash’s Pikachu, doesn’t like pokéballs.)

Dale doesn’t have a story behind him, but he seems to fit Alan’s battling style. Also, tbh, Alan is a hero, so we might as well give him a gallant steed to ride on in at least one region.

Lycan is a result of my third eye opening and finally allowing me to see sense. For the longest time I planned on giving Midday Lycanroc to Sycamore in To Devour the Sun, as a play on the whole “papa wolf” theme. As a result I was going to give Alan a drampa here, particularly because I feel that a drampa would gravitate to this boy. However, I have that so backwards. Sycamore should get the drama, as the caretaker of children who can get fiercely protective over them (were it not for the laws of Kalosian land Sycamore may well have burned Isolé Village down for how they treated Alan), and a regal wolf suits Alan far more. Plus, this also works in the sense that Ash has dusk lycanroc, while two of his rivals have the other two forms (Gladion with Midnight, and Alan with Midday). It works out.

Anyway, Lycan still has a very protective personally when it comes to his pack, which is Alan and the rest of the team. So he still acts like a papa wolf, at least.

(Also, don’t tell Sycamore’s drampa about Isolé or it very well might still get burned down after all.)

Kommo is another that I imagine would try to challenge Alan to fights, ultimately see that he can’t win, and then want to come along to train and get stronger. So not a very original story, I guess, but Alan attracts these types because he has that type of warrior spirit.

Tox is kind of a random choice to most, I imagine, but of the remaining pokémon in Alola I figure that toxapex is a good fit. It’s a bit outside of Alan’s normal training style, perhaps, but I think he’d like that challenge.

Final Team:

Charizard — Lizardon (Fire/Flying; Fire/Dragon)

Absol — Sol (Dark)

Mimikyu — Kyu (Ghost/Fairy)

Salamence — Bohmander (Dragon/Flying)

Tyranitar — Bangiras (Rock/Dark)

Aerodactyl — Ptera (Rock/Flying)

a.k.a. The team one would be likely to face if battling him when he’s the Champion.

I spent about three hours putting this all together, and this final team was probably the hardest one. I honestly have a notepad open that I’ve been using to do a base rundown of weaknesses and type coverage and, honestly, I feel like I should be going even deeper by selecting natures and movesets and all that, but … it’s 3am. I’m tired. So I’m not going to do that right now, even though Alan deserves it.

Anyway, my reasoning:

As an overview, I was torn between two different themes. Part of me wanted to give Alan’s final team the theme of mega evolution, in that every single pokémon on it would be capable of mega evolution. The other part of me felt that it was more important to give him pokémon that had more emotional value to him and his story, particularly since the only ‘mon on his team that would be mega evolving during battle would be Lizardon. In the end I did a bit of both; five out of six pokémon on the team above are capable of mega evolution, but I also did my best to choose at least most of them due to emotional weight with regards to him and his story.

So with that said:

Lizardon, as I’ve said a billion times by now, is self-explanatory. He’s Alan’s partner, his platonic soulmate—these two are never going to be separated. Their partnership is so iconic, so legendary, that anyone who even knows of Alan in a passing fashion (“oh yeah, he’s the Kalos Champion”) knows that Lizardon will show up if one challenges Alan to a battle. They’re like Ash and Pikachu. There’s no separation here. And of course, Lizardon is the one who mega evolves as well, meaning that it’s not even that easy to plan against him since his type could change to Fire/Dragon mid-battle. (So, you brought a water-type to deal with him? Too bad for you, he’s not weak to water anymore, suckaaa.)

Sol is included because of everything said above about Alan’s reclamation / healing with absol. Absol don’t cause disasters, and neither did Alan himself. He and Sol would grow really close throughout this process and I feel that Sol would be a very strong member of the team, even though she only has that one singular typing. Sol is also capable of mega evolution, though she would not mega evolve since, no matter how close they are, she and Alan don’t have that level of bond. That’s reserved for Lizardon.

Kyu is also a healing pokémon in Alan’s story, in the sense that when Alan first finds her, her actual Jolly nature has been pretty worn down and smothered by her isolation and other past traumas, the nature of which Alan is never able to learn (but figures it’s not his business anyway). But as they travel and train together, she’s able to heal and her true nature is able to come through. I think that, when looking at the rest of Alan’s team, a mimikyu seems rather unexpected—but that actually works in their favor, particularly given how wicked strong mimikyu can be (and how strong Alan’s in particular would be, given that he would absolutely utilize that Swords Dance + Play Rough / Shadow Claw combo). Kyu would be a smart choice to trip people up.

Bohmander, more often called Boh and inspired by Zinnia, is an important emotional choice for Alan because of that association. I don’t want to spoil too many of my ideas for this adaptation of the Delta Episode (though whether I’ll ever get it written and posted is another matter altogether), but Alan and Zinnia have a platonic, spiritual kinship of sorts that that they feel on a level they can’t entirely explain. They go through a lot together, and come out better because of it. Boh would, in a way, be a reminder of all that, on top of Alan caring for him as a pokémon. Plus, he’s a dragon and he can mega evolve (though he wouldn’t), so that also earns him a place on the team.

Bangiras doesn’t really have emotional significance, but despite being weak to practically everything, type-wise, tyranitar is still an extremely strong pokémon, and is capable of mega evolution (though again, he wouldn’t) to boot. I feel like Bangiras wouldn’t exactly be comfortable hanging out at the lab, and if Alan raised him up from a larvitar, releasing him into the wild would also be a pretty painful choice since it takes so long for larvitar to reach the tyranitar stage. So I feel like keeping Bangiras on the Champion team is worthwhile, even if Bonnie starts singing “Getta Ban Ban” every time she sees him.

Lastly, Ptera is a choice I’m still waffling about, but ultimately decided upon because, while Ptera is technically not a dragon, aerodactyl is dragon-like enough to the point where Lance had one back in Gens I and II. Additionally, aerodactyl is capable of mega evolution (though she wouldn’t), so thematically she also fits in that sense as well. I think in the real world competitive scene aerodactyl isn’t valued so much (unlike tyranitar), but the anime operates by different rules and aerodactyl are shown to be pretty fierce there, so I think that Ptera would still be a smart choice. (Plus, aerodactyl can learn Aqua Tail via move tutor … that would come in handy for any pesky ground-types.)

All that said, I’m still waffling about Ptera because part of me feels like Meta would also be a very good choice. Meta tries very hard and wants to be strong to make Alan happy, so it makes me feel bad to leave them off the type, and Steel/Psychic adds a bit more variety to the above type set. However, the reason why I’m waffling is because even though Meta was inspired by Steven’s metagross, metagross just doesn’t feel like a very Alan pokémon in the same way that an aerodactyl does. Aerodactyl are dragon-esque, and metagross are … robot-esque, I guess? I think I read once they were inspired by UFOs? Metagross stands out in a way that doesn’t feel very true to him, and while it could be argued the same for mimikyu, I think the backstory that I created for Kyu (which honest to god did develop naturally as I was outlining To Devour the Sun) feels like it makes up for it, versus “Steven had a metagross and that seemed inspiring so I caught a beldum to raise up myself.” I love Meta, but ultimately this is why they didn’t make the cut. Though that said, this could easily be a situation where Alan’s sixth pokémon is up for debate, and you see either Ptera or Meta and you’re never sure which one it will be before the battle … that could be the case, too. (Although honestly, that could go for any of his pokémon, because in a universe where he honest to god did catch all these, he could call upon any of them at any time. I imagine the same is true for Ash when Ash is Champion, even if Ash has a more “regular” team that he has on him when traveling and such.)

Anyway, a few more notes:

I really debated adding Soot to the team, since Soot has a VERY strong emotional tie to Alan, second only to Lizardon. However, I think that Soot would prefer belly rubs over battles, so while he can battle, he prefers to spend his time at home being a house dog instead. Alan respects that, and thus doesn’t have him on the active roster. (There’s also the fact that Soot is the only pokémon that Lizardon … it’s nothing personal. Soot hasn’t done anything wrong. But on some level that Lizardon doesn’t like to talk about, he’s jealous of the fact that Soot knew Alan before he did and has a kind of special bond with him because of what happened in Isolé. Lizardon knows that what he has with Alan could never be replaced, but … that sort of unreasonable jealousy is still there. So honestly, Lizardon wouldn’t want Soot on the permanent roster, so it’s good that Soot doesn’t like battling much anyway.)

I did briefly consider Rexillus, particularly since that’s another dragon, but then I remembered that Rex is a lazybones that doesn’t like battling either, so it’d make more sense for Alan to use someone like Bangiras who does enjoy battling instead.

I really, really, really wanted Yoru on the team because, thematically, noctowl suits Alan so well—but ultimately there are stronger choices, so as much as I love Yoru, he’s not a regular battler. (Except for in canon when he was totally in the League instead of that ridiculous fanon unfezant, am I right?)

Anyway, it’s about 3:30am now and I really need to get some sleep, so I’m going to leave this here for now. (I’ll also probably schedule it for a daytime reblog since I’m posting this at an ungodly hour.) Sorry I decided to be so extra about this instead of just answering the question more simply, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Thanks for asking!

#decadeoldtiger #trainer alan #trainer alain #my valiant dragon son #meta #champion alan

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aidyjamespokemon · 6 years

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Mr. Self-Destruct: Card of the Day #3

Like many of you, I’m still on a high from this past prerelease weekend. It’s one thing to read new cards in spoilers, but it’s another thing entirely to play with them! I enjoyed playing with many cards in my prerelease kit, but no card surprised me more than this guy. Some cards generate hype straight away. Others are terribly underrated. I still remember how people disparaged Buzzwole-GX on first glance; we know how that went! This card almost certainly fits in the latter camp. When this card was spoiled, it attracted the ire of many. However, those detractors seem to be changing their tune after playing with it, singing its praises loud and proud. Personally, I thought this card would be good from the moment I first saw it. However, I didn’t expect it to be the absolute powerhouse it’s turned out to be. In fact, I’m more than willing to bet that no card from Celestial Storm will surprise people more than today’s Card of the Day: Electrode-GX. (Once again, I had to take a pic of the card myself, so I apologize for the quality of the image!)

Stats

Off the bat, things don’t look so good for Mr. Self-Destruct here - 190 HP is terribly low for a Stage 1 GX. Although, 190 and 180 are worlds apart from one another, as we have already seen in dominant Basic GX Pokémon such as Ultra Necrozma-GX, Buzzwole-GX, and Lapras-GX. Being able to tank a 2 Psychic Energy Photon Geyser is very useful indeed. Of course, a Choice Band could easily ruin its day, but it would be equally bad news for it if it had 210 HP like most benchmark Stage 1 GX Pokémon. It is, however, worth remembering that a baseline Prismatic Burst hits for 190 damage - a OHKO on Electrode-GX. I could recommend Bodybuilding Dumbbells in this situation, but Electrode-GX doesn’t exactly have any long-term plans, as you’ll see later.

While being Lighting type affords Electrode-GX a lot of support (especially in the next set, Lost Thunder), the weakness to Fighting types that usually comes with it (including in the case of Electrode-GX) is problematic. Its resistance to Metal and its single energy retreat cost are certainly no reprieve from a weakness to an extremely common type, but they’re perfectly fine. That resistance in particular prevents a Choice Banded baby Celesteela (yesterday’s Card of the Day!) from scoring a OHKO, which is nice.

Ability

Extra Energy Bomb: Once during your turn (before your attack), you may attach 5 Energy cards from your discard pile to your Pokémon, except Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX, in any way you like. If you do, this Pokémon is Knocked Out.

There’s nothing Electrode loves more than blowing itself up to energize its teammates since the very beginning with its Buzzap ability in Base Set! Of course, the caveat here is that Electrode-GX (just like its forebearer, Electrode ex) gives your opponent two prizes when it knocks itself out. It’s a high risk, high reward ability: you get to attach 5 energy from your discard pile onto any of your non-EX/GX Pokémon in any way you like.

Sometimes, it’s the words that aren’t there that tell you everything: note the lack of a “basic” qualifier in that ability. Indeed, with Special Charge and Puzzle of Time leaving Standard shortly, this will be the most efficient means of retrieving special energy cards from the discard pile. As Zorua isn’t a GX yet and Multi Switch is a thing, there are ways and means of getting these special energy cards onto your GX Pokémon that need them.

The main abuser of this ability that immediately comes to mind is Rayquaza-GX, as it doesn’t care where the energy cards are - it just cares about them being somewhere on your bench. It’s also a good idea to have a Vikavolt ready to attack, if you’re running that particular Rayquaza variant. Tapu Koko-GX can also make rude use of some of these energies, pilfering them with its ability.

Also, I love cards with internal synergy. The way this ability works with Electrode-GX’s Crush & Burn GX attack is as elegant as it is powerful.

Attacks

[L][C] Electro Ball: 50

It’s better to have 50 damage for 2 energies than nothing, I guess. It won’t be scoring a OHKO on anything but the smallest basics, but it’s there if you need it.

[L][C] Crush and Burn GX: 30+ damage. You may discard as many Energy as you like attached to your Pokemon in play. If you do, this attack does 50 more damage for each Energy card you discarded in this way. (You can’t use more than 1 GX attack in a game.)

I love cards that have internal synergy - a one card combo, if you will. Electrode-GX’s game plan is fairly straightforward to work out: you use Crush and Burn to discard energies, then you use Extra Energy Bomb or other means to redistribute them however you wish.

It’s a great attack in its own right, too. Discarding 3 energies yields 180 damage - a magic number in the current metagame that scores a OHKO on many basic GX Pokémon. 4 energies are all that’s required to OHKO almost anything. On a conventional discard-fueled attack, this sacrifice would be rather steep. Being able to discard energy from any Pokémon on your side of the field feels a lot less hefty.

Unlike Electrode-GX’s Extra Energy Bomber ability, Crush & Burn GX doesn’t discriminate; even GX Pokémon can give their energy to the cause. Even if they can’t benefit from it in the end, it’s nice to see GX Pokémon giving their part to wealth redistribution!

Synergy

As I mentioned earlier, Rayquaza-GX instantly springs to mind as a partner for Electrode-GX, even if it can’t make the most of Extra Energy Bomber itself. Post-rotation, Rayquaza-GX won’t have Max Elixir as a means of energy acceleration, so it will require a little help from Vikavolt, Magnezone FLI, or Latias Prism Star. Vikavolt and Magnezone can make use of the energies from Extra Energy Bomber, but Latias can hold it, if needs be - whatever gets the numbers up for Rayquaza-GX.

Of course, Extra Energy Bomber doesn’t care how the energy cards got into the discard pile, so any means of discarding them - Ultra Ball, Mysterious Treasure, TV Reporter, Sophocles, Acro Bike, etc - will work. In a “Magical Christmas Land” scenario (let’s be realistic here), you can fire off a 180 damage (or greater) Dragon Break on turn 2. Indeed, if you manage to knock out an opposing GX after this maneuver, you’ll be at prize parity with a great board position.

Another “high risk, high payoff” interaction is a little less obvious. Reducing your opponent’s prize total seems counter-intuitive, but energizing your Ultra Beasts and turning your Beast Rings and your Ultra Beasts’ prize total requirements on can enable some truly degenerate turns. I’m intrigued and excited to try an Electrode-GX Beast Box deck, to say the least.

Counters

Electrode-GX’s frailty and weakness to Fighting type Pokémon is quite a problem for it. Any deck looking to utilize it should have a means of dealing with key fighting types like Lycanroc-GX, Zygarde-GX, and - of course - either Buzzwole variant. For this reason, I would recommend using Electrode-GX as an enabler in a deck where the main attacker is not vulnerable to Fighting types.

Ability lock can also be an issue. While Garbotoxin will be leaving with rotation, Glaceon-GX’s Freezing Gaze can prevent Extra Energy Bomber from being used. Of course, a quick Guzma or Crush & Burn GX to the face can sort that problem out, provided that there isn’t another Glaceon-GX ready to take up the mantle. Even without its ability, Crush & Burn GX makes Electrode-GX a powerful one-off nuke.

In Conclusion

Sometimes, a card can look great on paper, then end up impotent in practice. For Electrode-GX’s, the opposite has been the case. When it was first spoiled, almost every reaction I saw was negative or indifferent. At prerelease, I heard many groans when an Electrode-GX was pulled - and I was one of those people who pulled one. When people used it, they quickly put 2 and 2 together and realized its potential for constructed formats. I’ve never seen such a near unanimous change of heart in such a short period of time. Some players will be put off by the high risk involved with running Electrode-GX. Those who dare to experiment with it will be rewarded handsomely, however they end up utilizing this versatile card. I can’t wait to build some decks with Electrode-GX. Dare I say - it’s going to be a blast! ...I’ll get my coat.

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radramblog · 3 years

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Pokemon Singles Meme Draft

Among certain parts of my friend group, plans get made and end up falling through more often than you’d expect. I’m sure it happens to a lot of people, but it always kinda sucks when it does, and you come up with all these ideas and they just don’t get to come to fruition. Especially when people are getting hammered with university and work and the grim reality of living in 2021.

An example of this is a friendly Pokemon Draft League conducted by myself and some friends, with the express purpose of memes and dreams only. What that meant was only using the bottom few tiers of mons, and encouraging extremely silly sets with them all the time.

We got through the actual draft, and I built some sets, so that’s what I’m going to discuss today. I have no fear of my secrets being spilled, because at this point I don’t really think it matters.

While I could probably go back and get all the pick orders from several months ago, I frankly cannot be arsed whatsoever. Instead I’m going to go by tiers, where we got 3 tier 3s, 4 tier 4s, and 4 tier 5s. Tiers 1 and 2 were banned entirely, to make sure we weren’t going to see any actually good Pokemon. Memes only, after all.

Tier 3:

Lapras: I’m 90% certain this was my first pick anyway, as Lapras being available at all felt like a steal- it’s Gigantamax form wasn’t banned because we aren’t cowards, and Lapras can take absurd advantage of such. It’s got a great typing and dummy thick defenses, along with solid enough offenses, not to mention the nonsense movepool it has access to.

I ended up building 3 different Lapras sets as tests.

The first was the Perish-Trap set, taking advantage of all those juicy support moves along with Perish Song to actually secure the KO. I…don’t know what I was thinking not putting Leftovers on this set, especially since I already had Protect and didn’t have access to a good recovery move (Rest or Life Dew aren’t going to cut it). But this set would likely just be incredibly rude. It has also just occurred to me that this is a Lapras-Gmax that can’t actually use G-Max Resonance, and that’s a bit of an oopsie.

Set 2 was a pretty vanilla Dragon Dance set, because people apparently forget two things- Lapras gets Dragon Dance, and Lapras’s Physical and Special Attack are the same, at 85 base apiece. As beefy as Lapras is, 85 often not enough to secure KOs, so DDance is a good way to mitigate this. The coverage it gets is also surprisingly decent, and I could adapt this depending on what my opponent’s options are looking like.

The final Lapras set I made is what I called “Blindpras”, or, the Lapras with a bunch of very inaccurate moves. I’ll get into it later, but I did have the ability to use Baton Pass to give some Accuracy boosts to it, but unsupported, this set would be a meme at best. Hella status though, between Sing and Zap Cannon. If it hit them. Frustratingly, Wide Lens is a 1.1x accuracy boost rather than the flat 10% I thought it was, so it’s actually only adding 5% to, say, Zap Cannon.

Mienshao: I don’t know that much about Singles, but I do know two things are good: Regnerator and U-Turn effects. And this bad boy gets both, so I took it. It also added a Fighting type to my list, which I felt was needed.

I only made two Mienshao sets, but one of them was just Life Orb, so who cares.

This one is the real sauce. It’s not clear there, but this Mienshao has 0IVs in HP, Defense, and Special Defense- the intent being to get near-OHKO’d to pop the sash, and then shred things with Acrobatics. Alternatively, it can Baton Pass off a 2x Attack or 2x Speed, or both if they assume it’s an offensive threat and switch out. This is probably one of the sillier sets, but I would have loved to see it go off- Acrobatics hasn’t been as good ever since Flying Gem went away.

Guzzlord: I wish I had a copy of the rant I went off on for the Guzzlord pick, because it is truly the edgiest, vilest shit I’ve ever written. I was thinking about it at work, so. Guzzlord was the Dragon for the Dragon/Steel/Fairy core I was working on, and it’s also a giant idiot who I really like, so.

Much like Mienshao, I made two sets, but one’s just boring Assault Vest, so.

Spice only. The thing with Guzzlord is that it’s HP is huge, but it’s actual defenses are a meagre 53, so if you want to do builk you put them all in those stats. But it’s still an Attack boosting nature, because that still gives the most raw stats. This set is basically here to take a hit and crack back, with a monstrous Gyro Ball due to the rather sad Speed on this thing, a disruptive Knock Off or Dragon Tail, or just a 130 base power Fling. It could also Dynamax for even more bulk off of Max Steelspike. It’s just a beefy boi.

Tier 4:

Unfezant: After enjoying it in a Nuzlocke, the Love Dove was back in action. It has access to Super Luck, which is probably all it needs, right? Well, not quite, because it doesn’t get any STAB high crit rate moves save the mediocre Air Cutter and Razor Wind, and those both also come off it’s rather shite Special Attack. But we make do around here.

Crit Bird still gets Night Slash as useful coverage, and Dual Wingbeat doesn’t have a high crit ratio, but it does hit twice, and that’s still twice the chance to crit. Feather Dance is also here because everyone underrates it, and U-Turn is just nutty as always. Velocity is good, and that’s what the Love Dove has in spades. At least in this mediocre environment.

Magneton: A former powerhouse, Magneton was the Steel in the Steel/Dragon/Fairy core and either a tank with Eviolite or a hard-hitter with something else

Or both, as it happens, because Analytic is a cool and good ability. This was definitely an unfinished set, I think, because it feels kind of confused. Like, why Rain Dance? I’m not really abusing that anywhere? Very confused. Anyway.

Shiinotic: One of the fairies for that core, and the Grass for the Fire/Water/Grass core. Shiinotic was the only thing in Gen VIII that got Spore until the DLCs came out, but that didn’t necessarily make it great. It’s still slow as fuck and not super bulky. And it doesn’t hit super hard.

But, it can be the ULTRASUCC. Big Root works for Shiinotic either on an offensive set via Giga Drain and Draining Kiss, or defensively via Leech Seed or Strength Sap. And Spore is still here because, you know, it’s bonkers nutso if you can take a hit to set it up. And then Big Root helps you get that HP back afterwards. It’s decent enough, I think. If you don’t invest in HP, you can can get relatively more back!

Mr. Mime: Here as an alternate Fairy and also because I wanted a Psychic type. I didn’t realise how awkward this creepy fuck was until after I actually drafted it. It gets Technician but barely anything to use it with, it gets much less useful support options than I had assumed, and it’s best defensive ability, Soundproof, makes it also immune to my own Lapras’s Heal Bell.

This was some of the best I could come up with. Trick in case Mime needs to neuter a support thing, otherwise just spam Psychic or Charge Beam. Or Magical Leaf, I guess. If you’re into that. I dunno, we were kind of getting to the dregs at this point. Shoulda taken Claydol.

Tier 5:

Oricorio: I have a penchant for Versatility in my drafts, and since I couldn’t get Silvally, Oricorio had to do. Except…it kind of sucks ass, as it turns out. This was a National Dex league, meaning that we could use Pokemon that didn’t make the Dexit cut into Galar, which unfortunately means they don’t get the expanded movesets that came with the addition of TRs and the Isle of Armor tutor moves. And Oricorio is no exception, having been mercilessly slashed, leaving it very lacking for moves. At least it can be 4 types…?

I actually came up with 4 sets for Oricorio, because it has 4 types, and it is once again a thing that gets Baton Pass, so it has some decent enough options. This one is the Hateful set- the type basically doesn’t matter, but I put it as Pa’u and it would probably actually be best as Sensu for the immunities. Either way, this one is the troll fucker that passes Double Teams, in case I want someone to dislike me. Or it’ll just die, like this things stats are Not Good.

Aerodactyl: On the other hand, my 3rd flying type has actually very fucking good stats. Aerodactyl was OU for a few generations, and I don’t actually know why it wasn’t a higher tier. No complaints, though!

This set is literally one I lifted from Gen 4 Overused, updated with Unnerve because it’s less useless than Pressure here. Apparently OU back then was fucking wild, like, Power Herb Sky Attack on a support lead? I guess it’s fast enough that Sash isn’t something you really need, and if they pick wrong you do just nuke something. It’s a dedicated lead, from an era when that was still a relevant concept.

Camerupt: Another dex-cut species, which is a shame, because I love this idiot. It also lost its Mega, and as a result, is just kind of mediocre. But it was what I thought was the best option left for a Fire type, so.

An alternative lead for Stealth Rock, or just to Burn’n’Boom, Camerupt is here and ready to party. The camel that burns twice as bright burns half as long, except we don’t have a damaging Fire move, so………

Huntail: I considered this one kind of my masterstroke. I was so chuffed when I realised what this fucker could do, and that no-one could stop me- if they picked Huntail, I could just take Gorebyss! Easy money baby!

Huntail’s main purpose was as an opener for Baton Pass. Even though it didn’t make Gen VIII, it’s moveset was just good enough to make this work, with the ability to pass Shell Smash, Coil, or just Iron Defense and Double Team. And with Sucker Punch, it can surprise things or just sweep instead off Shell Smash. No one was going to look at this mans, nobody was going to see it coming.

Which is what set 2 was for. After I’d played my slippery, snakelike hand, I needed an alternative to catch people expecting the pass off-guard. Thus, the rudest set I could think of. Bulky, Toxic in more ways than one, Sticky and impolite.

At the end of the day, I think I came up with more troll sets than I did actual meme sets. But that’s how it be sometimes, baby, can’t help what I’m made of.

I don’t know how to make actually good sets anyway.

#ramble #pokemon #draft league

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queen-of-the-crows · 6 years

Text

11 Questions Tag

Okay so I was tagged by like 5 different people and I'm just gonna answer all in one post cause that's the easiest way to do it. Huge thank you to all my loves who tagged me in this @annorarutherford @heraldofwho @sassylavellen @enchantment1385 (twice :P) @elevanetheirin :)

Buckle up cause this is gonna be a long ride!

@annorarutherford questions

1. Biggest fear? Feeling like I've done nothing with my life and that I've been a failure

2. Favorite flower/plant? I'm not a nature person, that's just not my thing but a black rose

3. Are you close to your family? Sorta, some of them anyway, depends on alot honestly

4. Your deepest wish? Not to be rich but to be able to pay all my bills and still have a good amount of money left over to save and buy fun stuff

5. What's something that always calms you? No one thing always works, it depends on why I'm not calm. Video games work often, some times reading, sometimes writing, sometimes drinking

6. Some movies you love? Love this question! Jaws, Jurassic Park series, Alien series, Beauty and the Beast, Dracula, The Crow, and many others

7. Guilty pleasure song? I'm not really ashamed of anything I listen to but alot of people judge me for loving Fall Out Boy so I'll say anything by them, I have an entire playlist

8. Favorite weird smell? Professional hair color, I fucking love it. Also the green soap they use in tattoo shops

9. Game that has changed your life and how? Dragon Age. It introduced me to my love of gaming and are me fall in love with Thedas and the characters

10. Someone(s) on Tumblr you really admire/like? All my usual lovelies of course @annorarutherford @a-shakespearean-in-paris @sassylavellen @enchantment1385 @aban-asaara @heraldofwho also love seeing posts from @jawsandbones @andrastini @fyeahfenrisxfhawke @laraslandlockedblues @nevertrustamage and others

11. Worst personality traits someone can have? Always down on themselves, put down everyone around them, bad hygiene! (Not a personality trait but seriously bathe), being insanely cocky and thinking they can get whoever they want

@heraldofwho questions

1. When you get butterflies in your stomach what color are they? Blues and purples

2. If spiders could talk what would their voices sound like? I think they'd sound alot like Flemeth

3. How do you like your coffee or tea? In the trash lol I hate them both

4. If you could learn any language instantly, which one would you choose? Oh man, there's so many cool ones. Probably Russian, I love the sound of it

5. If they made a DA/ME film or series about YOUR protagonist- which OC would you choose and who should play them? Oh shit, I love them all so much!!! Probably Clea cause I think her and Zevran's story would be the most interesting. I would cast Megan Fox as Clea, she's my face claim for her and she plays a pretty good badass.

6. What change the nature of a person? Anything really depending on the person, death seems to be a big one, break ups, being broken

7. What musical instrument do you play? What instrument would you like to learn? I play piano and I sing. I'd like to have a piano so I can practice more but I wanna learn guitar also

8. Pick any aspect of your life or personality and choose a theme song for it. You Call Me A Bitch Like Its A Bad Thing by Halestorm because I'm very much fuck you and your opinions of me, i don't find being called a bitch insulting

9. Can you cook or bake? What's your speciality? I love baking and I can cook too. Cakes are my favorite thing to make

10. Got any dead crushes? Heath Ledger, Brandon Lee, Paul Walker, and Gary Oldman (I mean him in Dracula is to die for)

11. What is your quirkiest hobby or interest? I don't have many so probably writing fanfic

@sassylavellen questions

1. Do you have a favorite soundtrack from a movie or video game? Oh yes, Queen of the Damned. Best soundtrack ever created

2. What was the first video game you remember playing? Either Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart way back on Game Cube

3. If you could have any kind of food right now what would it be? Chocolate cake or Panda Express, maybe both

4. Are you a good cook? Oh yes

5. Do you have or want any exotic pets? I would love to have an iguana. Snakes are cool too

6. What fictional character would you love to be friends with? Oh so many, strictly friends with no somatic interest: Dorian, Varric, Cassandra, Shale, Charlie from Supernatural, The Doctor, Lisbeth Salandar, and Scout Harding

7. If you could have any superpower what would it be? Telekinesis and mind control

8. What movie could you watch and enjoy every single time? So many. Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Big Hero 6 are probably my tops though

9. Favorite color combinations? Black crimson and white, black grey and blue, black and deep purple, basically dark combinations

10. When you play games do you use armor sets that have good stats but looks bad or armor that looks good with bad stats? Definitely looks good with bad stats but I keep the ugly with good stats to change into for particularly challenging encounters. I love the story aspect of games and put so much time into my characters I like them to look good

11. Favorite genre of music? Rock and metal. KoRn and Rob Zombie are my absolute favorites if that helps explain it

@enchantment1385 first set of questions

1. Favorite fandom and why? Dragon Age. Best game series ever, the characters, the play through, the environment, the choices, the romance. And the people I interact with here are amazing

2. What's your Pokemon team? I played Black 2 so my favorite team was Zoroark, Arcanine, Banette, Lapras, Hydreigon, and Virizion

3. Favorite team in Dragon Age or Mass Effect? Depends on my class honestly but my favorite is dual weapon rogue so I'll answer for that. Origins- Alistair, Morrigan, either Shale or Zevran. DA2- Fenris, Aveline, either Varric or Anders or Merrill. Inquisition- Cassandra, Dorian, either Cole or Iron Bull

4. Favorite nonBioware game? Dishonored

5. OTP? Alistair and Cousland, Zevran and Mahariel, Fenris and Hawke, Cullen and Lavellan. None DA OTPs Mulder and Scully, Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, Emma Swan and Captain Hook, Rose Tyler and the 10th Doctor

6. What is your guilty pleasure? I really don't have one that I know. Reading smutty fan fic maybe?

7. A food you can't get enough of? Cheese pizza, mac and cheese, spaghetti

8. What can you see right now? I'm in class so classroom stuff

9. Something I don't know about you? Alot. I'm coloring my hair white, I have a huge Fenris and femhawke in progress back piece, I'm in cosmetology school, I have a tattoo appointment with Sarah Miller

10. Most loved OC and why? As hard as it to choose between all my loves, I choose Clea. She's the most like me or rather I see the most of myself in her and that was an accident. I love her attitude, her sarcasm, her badassness, her relationship with Zevran, her goals, how she carries herself and how she just is.

11. What song is stuck in your head right now? Hold Me Tight Or Don't by Fall Out Boy

@enchantment1385 second set of questions

1. What does your name mean? Do you think the meaning is anything like you? Like our usernames? Queen of the Crows is a reference to Clea who takes over the Antivan Crows with Zevran and they do some reforming of the guild. She's one of the leaders so she's the queen of the Antivan Crows, hence queen of the Crows. Is that anything like me? Well I mean she's my OC and I'm alot like her so I would hope to be that badass if I was in Thedas.

2. First celebrity crush? Max Thieriot, he's still good looking too

3. If you could live in one fictional world, which one would you choose and why? Come on love, guess :P lol definitely Thedas. Learn archery and dual wield, find one of my favorite romances and fall in love. Oh yes! Second choice would be Westoros provided I could be with Jon Snow of course

4. Why did the chicken cross the road? His life bored him and he needed change

5. You can have one superpower, what do you choose? Answered this already but since this says only 1 I choose telekinesis

6. Biggest pet peeve? When people can't do simple things

7. 1 fictional character you would meet for a day if you could? Hmmmm I wanna meet alot. If I only have a day I think I'd choose Iron Bull, I'd be in for an adventure all day

8. First game you ever completed? Dishonored

9. Which class in game do you enjoy playing the most? Definitely rogue. Idk what it is but I love rogues especially dual weapon although I've recently gotten into playing archery as well

10. Favorite fictional villain and why? I love Maleficient. She turns into a fucking Dragon and is bitter for not being invited to a party. And the movie really goes into depth about how she became how she was and it shows that good people can be broken so badly they become bitter heartless and evil

11. Creepiest experience? I'm not really sure, I try to avoid that sort of thing. I've been hit on by creepy weirdos though

@elevanetheirin questions

1. Coffee or tea? I hate them both. I'm a soda junkie though and love energy drinks

2. What is your favorite book or book series? I have a few. Dracula (this is my all time favorite), A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin (aka GoT series), Millennium series by Stieg Larsson (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and The Meg series by Steve Alten

3. Do you have a hidden talent? Most people don't know I can play piano

4. Who is your favorite author? George R R Martin, Steve Alten, Michael Crichton, Ellen Hopkins, Stieg Larsson

5. Favorite type of cookie? Chocolate chip, I know I'm boring

6. Brotp? Varric and Hawke, Sara Lance and Mick Rory, Meredith Grey and Alex Kerev, Sherlock and Watson, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner

7. Did you have a nickname in school? I've never really had a nickname ever. My love in high school called me his muse cause he's an artist. Lots of classmates called me that weird goth girl cause I was always quiet, very smart, read for fun, and was goth.

8. Do you have resting bitch face? Oh fuck yes I do haha I love it though

9. What makes you smile? Alot. My stupid cats, my boyfriend, my favorite shows and movies, funny gaming videos, video games, reading, SLEEP, FOOD

10. What one thing do you like most about yourself? The fact that I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks about me. Looks wise probably my eyes

11. The best part of your day yesterday? Getting paid so I had money for chicken nuggets

Finished them all!!!! My 11 questions

1. If you could switch places with one fictional character who would it be and why? (Besides your OCs)

2. If you could choose one fictional character to be your love interest forever who would it be and why?

3. Least favorite video game you've ever played?

4. How did you get introduced into the Dragon Age fandom?

5. Which of your OCs is the most like you and how?

6. If you could only watch one genre of movie for the rest of your life which one would you choose?

7. One tattoo you plan on getting someday?

8. Xbox, PlayStation, or PC?

9. Do you have any exes you would take back if they ever asked?

10. Favorite quest in the Dragon Age series?

11. Favorite ship or OTP?

I'm not tagging anyone cause most you already tagged me but if you wanna answer my questions then go for it!

#get to know queen of the crows #queen of the crows writes #tag meme

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