Tumgik
#i did not order the giant snorlax
tobiasdrake · 10 months
Text
Orange League, Episode 28 - Tag Battle! The Final Gym!
Liucheng/Kumquat Island, home to the final Gym. It's time for Ash to face the North Star of the Southern Cross! I mean, first there's a giant Rocket mech to deal with.
Where are they getting the money for these mechs? It was an explicit plot point in the early season that the Rockets are having to operate low-budget because they're on thin ice with Giovanni. That's why they downgraded their Gyarados sub to a Magikarp sub. That they're penniless has been alluded to multiple times since.
But ever since Lugia, suddenly they can build mechs again. Did they ransack Dipshit's sky fortress after it crashed?
Whatever the case, Ash and North Star Ruriko/Luana put Team Rocket away in short order and officially begin Ash's Gym Challenge.
Luana's a bit ahead of her time. She introduces Ash to Tag Battle, a prototype for the Double Battles that will be introduced way off in Gen 3. The rules are the same as a Double Battle, except you lose as soon as either of your Pokemon gets KO'd.
Ash intends to lead with Pikachu and predicts Luana will use the Alakazam she demonstrated in the Rocket battle. He needs to come up with a counterpick.
Personally, I recommend Snorlax. Alakazam's a monster; Extremely fast and with intense Special. But they have to sacrifice physical stats and HP for that, and that's a vulnerability that can be easily exploited. Even Reflect only brings Alakazam's resistance to physical attacks up to decent.
Alakazam lacks access to Hypnosis and Thunder Wave means fuck-all to Snorlax. The reality is that Alakazam simply can't hang in the ring with Snorlax's brutal STAB Normal smashes, up to and including the Hyper Beam that they demonstrated last episode.
Ash goes with....
Tag Battle: Pikachu and Charizard vs. Alakazam and Marowak
Not a bad choice. Charizard's got some strong Normal attacks to exploit Alakazam's vulnerability, and their Flying subtype grants immunity to Marowak's STAB moves. Offensively, however, they're going to want to stick to those Normal attacks and ignore their own STAB moves; Marowak resists and Alakazam's Special, as previously mentioned, is through the roof - 135 to Charizard's 85 before EVs.
This isn't Ash's best option, but it's far from his worst (Bulbasaur). For Ash's first ever experience with Doubles-adjacent battling, this works.
Pikachu honestly seems like the weak link, especially since this format ends at the first KO. Luana could easily score a one-turn win by focus-firing Psychic and Bonemerang on Pikachu.
In any case, this definitely goes down as one of Ash's outside-the-box victories. He baits Marowak into throwing Bonemerang, then distracts them with a Thunderbolt that they resist entirely, but that pulls their attention away. This allows Charizard to lead Bonemerang into Alakazam, who is in the middle of prepping a Hyper Beam. The Bonemerang knocks out Alakazam, whose Hyper Beam misfires and takes out Marowak.
There is absolutely no mechanism for anything that just happened. But it was pretty cool.
Ash Wins!
One last destination remains before wrapping up Ash's journey in the Filler Archipelago. Onward to Kankitsu/Pummelo Island!
1 note · View note
h2bakugou · 3 years
Text
guys hypothetically if i had bought a 200cm giant snorlax plush what uh what would we name it?
Tumblr media
please leave your hypothetical answers in the comments or asks
19 notes · View notes
sasarahsunshine · 2 years
Text
I decided to answer these cause they're cute and I wanted to ;w;
°.✩┈┈┈┈∘*┈┈୨୧┈┈*∘┈┈┈┈✩.°
sweet cafe themed asks for your blog!
°.✩┈┈┈┈∘*┈┈୨୧┈┈*∘┈┈┈┈✩.°
cinnamon latte— would you ever want to dye your hair? if you have before, what color was it and why?
I love dying my hair! I haven't in a while, but the last color I did was pink! I had a lot of fun with that <3 I might put some purple or blue in it this spring!
peppermint cappuccino— what’s your favorite genre of movie, tv show, or video game and why?
My favorite movies are Disney (AKA feel good, happily ever after type stuff).
My favorite TV show genre's are def true crime.
Video game genre would be fantasy <3
warm mocha— would you rather be in a sunny field of flowers and grass, or would you rather be in an ambient cafe with rain outside?
Sunny field! I would love to be laying in the grass under the shade of a tree <3
caramel macchiato— do you sleep with stuffed animals? if so, do you have a favorite?
Yes, too many. My husband is always kicking them off the bed, lol! My current favorite is a stuffed koala I got for Christmas two years ago, but we also have a large snorlax and two GIANT teddy bears on the bed.
vanilla chai— do you have any hobbies that your followers don’t know about? or any hobbies that you once had, but stopped doing?
Um, I'm not sure? I'm pretty open about the stuff I like. Maybe video games? I enjoy playing a lot of different games, though my last hyperfixation was on Dragon Age (I even had a DA blog for a while).
strawberry milk— what’s your way of showing someone you love them, platonically or romantically?
I am a BIG gifter! I love giving things to people, whether I pick up some of their favorite candy at the store, or order them something online. I also love hugs and kisses <3
iced frappe— how quickly do you fall asleep? do you only go to bed when exhausted so you fall asleep quickly, or do you lay in bed with the world on your mind?
Ugh I wish I fell asleep as quickly as my husband. He's out like a light most nights, while it can take me up to an hour to finally fall asleep. I also tend to wake up every 2-3 hours and lay awake for a bit before I can fall back asleep. It's just how I am.
hibiscus tea— how often do you stay up all night instead of sleeping? what was the reason you stayed up all night?
Recently I've been doing it more and more, but that's because of depression. Like, I try to get up at 5am and go to bed by 8pm, but sometimes I sleep in too long and then end up being awake till 2am.
cold brew— what percent is your phone on right now?
82%!
steamed espresso— do you like roller coasters and other thrill rides at amusement parks? why or why not?
I used to! I used to be a HUGE adrenaline junkie, but I get motion sick now as an adult. I haven't been on a roller coaster since 2012. The most I go on is the Ferris Wheel at the fair in the summer.
almond milk— would you ever want to plan a road trip with friends? or would you rather visit one area and enjoy what’s there?
I love road trips with friends! I've done a few in the past, and I would go on a million more!
2 notes · View notes
frocio · 3 years
Text
i know everyone and their mother did this because the aa fandom is so fucking old but as a certified pokémon®️ fan™️ I'm posting this completely self indulgent post about everyone's most plausible pokémon teams in no particular order:
you might call me boring for giving bisharp to edgeworth, but I'm a sucker for good color pallets + idiotic associations between the aa canon and the pokémon canon. he also has a stoutland and something incredibly underrated and adorable, like tangela or aipom.
franziska ABSOLUTELY has a seviper. no I'm not elaborating (but edgeworth did get a zangoose a few days prior, as a complete coincidence of course). gliscor, houndoom, granbull and skarmory are also great picks for her character. she DOES have a smoochum, but it doesn't fight, because she loves it too much.
maya's oldest pokémon is a samurott. she obviously has a galarian rapidash, a crobat she absolutely adores, a munchlax/snorlax and a slowpoke. sixth one would be a maractus only because I'm a sucker for charley being a pokémon.
trucy's very first pokémon would be a ralts, or a mime jr. she also owns a cosplay pikachu, i don't care if it's not an actual pokémon! ducklett is another really good one i see for her
the idea of apollo justice paired with an exploud is so funny you can pry it away from my cold, dead hands. he owns a minior because I'm sentimental like that, but i feel he should just be surrounded by giant pokémon. examples include but are not limited to: alolan exeggutor, steelix, gyarados, dhelmise, mudsdale,
klavier's partner is toxtricity, because of course it is. the rest of his team would include obstagoon, braviary (since he's american in the japanese version of the game) and ninetails. the obligatory music-related-bird-pokémon would either be chatot (repeats everything you say), swablu (great singer) or hoothoot (the pokémon version of a metronome!). ALSO HOLY SHIT KRICKETUNE OF COURSE
athena's team is gardevoir, cubone, dragonite (totally not jumping on the whole "dragonite grows arms so he can help people" thing), sylveon, togekiss and hattarene. togekiss could also be replaced by teddiursa due to its connection to the moon tbh (or maybe for the same reason she'd have umbreon instead of sylveon)
legally i think I'm required to also add phoenix to this list, but ngl i have no clue. i really want to go for the most unloved pokémon because I'm sure he'd have it in his heart to give them the attention they deserve. examples of this include trubbish, pineco, stunfisk, feebas (he doesn't evolve it. it's already beautiful), or maybe really forgettable pokémon like huntail/gorebyss, lanturn, and stantler.
I'll probably think about more setups later but now I have a no pokeball fire red game to continue
17 notes · View notes
unfcreseen · 3 years
Text
OOC .
funni little thing, but not only did i ordered this giant snorlax mug from g.mestop and order it to be same day delivery... but it was sent via doord.sh
3 notes · View notes
pangtasias-atelier · 4 years
Text
This was a surprise fic gift from @0000w I absolutely fucking love N so I just died when I read this ♥️ thanks again so much😊
____________
N stepped into the Striaton City Cafe. Despite having been to the city numerous times, he’d never been to the cafe. He never really stayed in one area long, let alone dine. The green haired waiter seated N at the back of the cafe as requested. N felt nervous. He didn’t know what to get or how to say it. He wasn’t one for conversation.
“Would you like the special?”
N just nodded in embarrassment. While waiting, N looked at the food the other patrons were eating, none of which he’s had before. By the time Cilan came with the special, N’s shirt had a noticeable stain from his drool. N got his utensils and took his first bite. He felt so happy. The food caused him to drool when he wasn’t chewing, a stupid grin was slapped on his face. N stopped smiling when he saw he had eaten all of his dish. He looked so sad.
“Would you like to order something else?” Cilan asked. N’s face perked up with determination before Cilan handed him the menu. N pointed to a few different dishes and waited for Cilan to return. N dove into the food right before Cilan left. His cheeks puffed up with food as he chewed, the food disappearing from the plates. However, N stopped with food in his mouth. A new feeling he hadn’t experienced before appeared. N looked around in concern. It wasn’t in his mouth, but his stomach. N looked to see that he had developed a belly that was causing discomfort. Well, not “discomfort” exactly. N rather liked the sensation as it was new. Poking the soft skin was fun, almost as much as eating the food. That reminded N that he still had more to eat. As he finished of the rest, he rubbed his beginnings of a pot belly.
"Are you satisfied with the food?” Cilan asked. N was happy, but also sad. He wanted the experience again.
“May I have more? Please?” Cilan surprised as N haven’t spoken since when he asked to be in the back, though that was mumbling at best before.
“You already ate quite a bit of food. That already is going to be a lot to pay for.” N got worried. He forgot the food cost money. He got his wallet.
“Would this be enough for more?” Cilan was in shock. The amount he was offering would be thousands of dollars.
“Yeah... I guess if you have the money for it, it wouldn’t be a problem.” Cilan wasn't sure how to handle the situation.
“Then can I order everything I haven’t tried yet?” Cilan had a surprised look on his face. He just accepted the money. N got excited like a little kid as he waited for his food. He saw Cilan as well as two more waiters, one with red hair and the other blue, arriving and placing his food. It took up the entire table and N immediately dug in. He grabbed the food and shoved it into his mouth, not forgetting to saver the flavors. His cheeks were never empty being puffed up by the food. The food traveling from down his throat and into his stomach. The belly’s circumference practically grew with bite N took. From volleyball to bowling ball, then soccer ball and basketball. One could mistake him for a woman about to give birth. N was snapped from his trance as he ran out of food again. He got worried. Not because of the pain that his stomach was in, but because he wasn’t eating anymore.
“Thank you for your patronage, your total is...” Cilan was cut off by N putting a large amount of money on the table.
“Can you please get me more? I don’t care what it is as I tried the whole menu. I’m just hungry, please?” N gave a human version of “Baby-Doll Eyes”. Truth be told, he was hungry, he just interpreted his wanting to eat with hunger. Cilan went to his triplet brothers and asked for their opinions. The blue haired Cress came out.
“Would you mind waiting for our other customers to leave first? We were going to close at this time anyway, but we’ll let you stay and then be able to get you your food.” N’s face glee with determination and nodded. He rubbed his big belly in impatience as he waited for the customers to leave. Looking in the reflection of the silverware, he noticed his cheeks we’re puffier despite not having food in them. His shirts had ridden up his belly, but his sleeves also felt tight. N was experiencing something new and was enjoying it. He waited as he saw the people leave one by one until he was the only one left. The red headed Chili came up to him.
“Ok, we’ve closed. You still want more food?”
“Yes!” N stood up with his hands on the table looking like a puppy begging for food. Afterwards, N spent hours eating. His belly wasn’t the only thing that grew. His whole body did. Rolls of fat formed as he ate. His thighs widening enough to warrant getting a second chair for him. Though he eventually broke them and realized he’s been getting taller as he could still get the food off the table while sitting.
“He’s like a Snorlax.” Cilan said in amazement.
“He’s going to eat absolutely everything!” Cress said in worry.
“Hey, quit your worrying. He’s paying us enough to eat us out three times over or more. We’ll just close for a day to get more ingredients. Ok?” Chili reassured his triplet brothers. But as Cilan said, N really was a human Snorlax, much bigger actually. N was not a normal human due his quick growth. N spenda most of the night eating the rest of the available food and his head was touching the ceiling while sitting. He was quite round with his arms and legs thick as well. N would have no problems walking. Cress and Cilan asked N to spend the night in the gym portion of the building.
“Guess we got to close the gym too” Cilan said sheepishly.
“At least we made a profit to warrant all this” Cress sighed.
“I’ll say!” Cilan and Cress looked in surprise at their red headed sibling. Chili was twice his height and chubby like N was early on in his dinning experience. “I guess whatever caused him to get so big so fast rubbed off on me as I tasted all the food!” Chili boasted as he smacked his large belly. The buttons on his uniform straining. “I could get used to being this big, if not bigger!” Cress and Chili sighed in hope that Chili wouldn’t get any bigger, regardless of his body type. “I’d like to get to know this...” Chili looked at the signature of the check. “N, guy more”. Chili smiled as he saw the fat giant sleeping.
38 notes · View notes
pokesception · 5 years
Text
Pokemon Home is a Team Rocket scheme to steal your pokemon and lease them back to you.
Tumblr media
Up front I want to be clear, this is not to hate on Pokemon Sword and Shield in and of themselves. As stand alone pokemon games they look good, great even, and if you're looking forward to them with eager anticipation, that's great too. But for me, the feeling is more dread and dismay, and the reason why is Pokemon Home.
There are lots of ways to love and things to love about the Pokemon games. From solo adventures to trading with friends to competitive battles online, there's something for almost anyone, but from the very beginning one of the core appeals of pokemon has been collecting. It's right there in the theme song: "Gotta catch 'em all." While some pokemon fans just play each game in turn, many lovingly cultivate a menagerie of pocket monsters from game to game catching and naming and training them all.
Tumblr media
From that completionist's perspective, a key feature of Pokemon as a franchise, the thing that elevates it above all the other monster collecting games that have followed in its wake, is that you never need to leave that collection behind. For years you've been able to take your pokemon with you, watching your collection grow from game to game and generation to generation. You could feel free to spend hours naming and training and growing attached to each little packet of bits and bytes, confident they'd still be with you years and games down the line.
That continues with generation 8, but there's been a fundamental change. For the first time since generation 3, you can't bring all your pokemon into the new games. Instead they're supposed to live in "Pokemon Home," a cloud based paid subscription service, from which only a curated selection of pokemon will be available in any individual main series game going forward.
Tumblr media
Pokemon Home is a trap. Once you transfer your pokemon to Pokemon Home, on a fundamental level they simply aren't yours anymore. That's that’s the Pokemon Company's collection now, and they’ll get to decide which you get to play with, when and how you access them, and most importantly how much you'll have to pay them for the privilege.
If they only want to charge you only a small nominal price for the first year? That's great. But maybe next year they decide they want a few more bucks a month. Or a few dozen. What are you gonna do? They already have your pokemon. If you want access to them, you'll have to pony up. Worse still, if you miss too many payments you’ll be risking a one way trip to the pokeglue factory for all the pokepals you've gathered over the last decade or so.
Tumblr media
"Stop being an alarmist," you might be thinking. "Pokemon Home is just an updated version of Pokemon Bank, and Pokemon Bank never had exploitative pricing." And you’d be right.  Heck, I myself loved Pokemon Bank and have happily taken advantage of the convenience it offered, considering it well worth the price.  But this is where Sword & Shield (and, according to dev interviews, all main line Pokemon games going forward) not supporting all past Pokemon makes all the difference.
In the 3DS era, the new Pokemon games always supported all pokemon up to that point. If the Pokemon Company ever did hike the price of Pokemon Bank to something unreasonable, you could always just transfer your pokemon to the latest games & stop using the bank entirely. With Pokemon home, you can't do that. Once your collection is transferred to Pokemon Home, at least some portion of it will always be stuck in the cloud. You will never be able to take it all back. You'll have to keep paying those fees in perpetuity, however high they become, or say goodbye forever to at least some portion of your pokemon.
And while the price for Pokemon Home isn’t yet confirmed, you can already see the groundwork being laid for a significantly higher fee than Pokemon Bank. After all, it doesn’t just transfer pokemon between games, it also lets you trade pokemon online via GTS and Wonder Trade. With that increased functionality, of course we should expect an increased price.  It’s only fair, right? Never you mind that GTS and Wonder Trade used to be just part of the game in previous generations, no additional charges needed. And whatever the fee turns out to be, it will be on top of having to pay for Nintendo's internet service to even access Pokemon Home from your Switch to begin with.
Tumblr media
Just because Gamefreak *could* exploit the heck out of this new system doesn’t mean they definitely will, but if there's one thing we all should have learned in recent years, it's that corporations, even the ones that make the things we love, are not our friends. You give them an inch and 9 times out of 10 they will take the proverbial mile. Their shareholders will insist on it.  Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of AAA video games, where the industry has stumbled from pre-order bonuses to micro transactions to loot boxes, gorging at each table in turn like a ravenous snorlax.
In the past, the Pokemon franchise always seemed to be above stooping to such indignities.  After all, between cartoons and films and merchandise, they never needed to, and turning the games into exploitative cash grabs ran a risk of tainting the brand.  Why take that risk over a few petty portable games when the big bucks were in children’s card games anyway?  Then Pokemon Go proved that the pokemon fandom was more than willing to put up with a little “nickle and dime”ing if meant more pokemon in our lives.  With Pokemon Home I fear we’re about to pay the price for that Giratinian bargain. 
Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe Pokemon Home isn't just a cynical corporate ploy to turn Pokemon from a series of fun games into a (shudder) "live service".  But even if Pokemon Home wasn’t deliberately designed to take your pokemon hostage, that’s still in effect what it’s doing by letting you transfer some pokemon in but not back out.  And even if Pokemon Co. never charges more for Home than they did for Bank, that still doesn't mean your pokemon are safe there. Budgets are tight and there are more and more bills and subscriptions eating away at our wallets with each passing day. Who's to say that even an extra $5 a year might be too much for pokemon at some point? If that point ever comes for you, that’s still just too bad for whatever pokemon you have on Home that can't be transferred to whatever games are currently supported.
Tumblr media
Again, this is not to bag on Pokemon Sword and Shield. So far they look like fine stand alone Pokemon games. The wild area is a bold step forward, raid battles sound fun, I love all the new pokemon we've seen so far.  And after the recent Godzilla movie I'm super hyped for some kaiju sized dynamax pokemon battles. I mean, that's been a dream since the giant tentacruel in the first season opening of the anime! The development team for Pokemon Sword and Shield are clearly talented and committed people who care deeply about the pokemon franchise and its fans, and have worked very hard to bring us the very best games they could - or at least the best games that their corporate bosses would allow them to make.
No, the problem here isn't Pokemon Sword and Shield, it's Pokemon Home - the control it gives the Pokemon Company over our collections, the daggers it hangs over the heads of our pokemon, the syphons in sticks into our wallets.
So if you're still looking forward to Sword and Shield, by all means, buy them! Play them! Enjoy them!  But DO NOT BUY Pokemon Home. Do not transfer your collection to it. Not until Gamefreak changes their tune and recommits to supporting all pokemon in these and all future main line pokemon games, so that Pokemon Home can never be used to take your pokemon hostage.
Until then, Pokemon Home simply isn't a safe home for your pokemon.
Tumblr media
And for Arceus's sake, those who have been making a stink about this, keep it up. Don't actually harass the developers, don't threaten anyone, don't attack fellow fans who don't see the problem.  But keep the pressure up on Gamefreak and Nintendo and the Pokemon Company and, heck, maybe thrown some shade in Warner Bros. direction. As we've seen with online friend play in Mario Maker 2, sometimes the squeaky wheel really does get the grease.
It’s likely too late to fix this before relase, but Gamefreak can patch the needed functionality in at any point after launch.  We don't have forever, though, there is a ticking clock. Pokemon Bank still probably has a couple years of life left before it's put out to pasture, along with online support for the 3DS era Pokemon games in general. There’s plenty of time before that for Gamefreak to change their minds, but if this problem isn’t fixed by then Pokemon fans will be faced with a painful choice - either hand our pokemon collections over to the Pokemon Company as hostages, or else leave them to fossilize in our gen 7 games, never to join us on future pokemon adventures again.
Tumblr media
32 notes · View notes
macchiatomingi · 5 years
Text
not your average carnival
Request! Carnival Date with Yunho
In which you and Yunho go to a carnival together, and leave with 4 new family members. 
“I swear if we get on the Ferris Wheel one more time...” You hear your boyfriend mumble under his breath. You quiet his grumbling by taking his hand in yours, interlacing your fingers together.
“Yunho,” you start, tilting your head up to stare at your boyfriend with a pout, “the Ferris Wheel isn’t that bad, it’s fun! We can see the whole beach and everyone below us.” You conclude, a bright smile gracing your soft features.
Yunho’s shoulders slump at your words, he was a sucker for your smile and you knew how to use it against him. He acknowledged your preference for the Ferris Wheel but suggested you two play arcade games instead to at least try and get some memorabilia of the night you two spent together. You agreed and Yunho led the way, holding your hand tightly as he weaved his way through the crowd of people on the pier. 
The carnival was yearly, but it was rare that just you and Yunho got to go. Mingi or Jongho or even Wooyoung would always try and tag along, often making immature remarks or just awkwardly third-wheeling, causing you and Yunho to be awkward in an attempt to quell the awkwardness. So it was nice that the two of you could just go together, no need to worry about Wooyoung spraining his ankle in the hall of mirrors or Mingi nearly knocking over a 12-year-old in the haunted house, or Jongho being chastised for putting too much force in the Test Your Strength game and causing it to temporarily malfunction. It was just you, and your boyfriend. And you couldn’t ask for more.
“Babe,” Yunho starts, his soft voice cutting through your thoughts, “what do you wanna play first?” he asks, his signature smile on his face. He looked so young when he smiled, so much more...mischievous? There’s not a word in the dictionary that could describe how you felt when he smiled, you just felt warm and fuzzy and giddy and you didn’t mind it. 
You look around. The fun games were all taken, the easy games were all out of order, and the games that gave the most tickets were totally open, but also completely hit or miss. “Let’s play the spaceship game!” You suggest, pointing towards a dome-like structure with a screen showing bonuses and other numerical values. Yunho nodded and walked with you to the game, inserting tokens that he most likely got while you were stuck in your daydream, he hunched over the controls for the game and started firing rockets to get the bonus.
You stood at his side, nearly glued to him as he played. A small pout of concentration formed on his face as his eyes zeroed in on the end goal. 500 tickets. 
He kept shooting, narrowly missing death about four times before the alien ship finally succumbed to the electronic bullets of his rocket. He breathed a sigh of relief as a bright “VICTORY” flashed across the screen and you beamed up at him, “Let’s find something else that can empty out a whole roll of tickets!” and he laughed at your excitement.
The two of you did this for a while, going between one high-stakes game to another. Playing until you amassed nearly 2000 tickets, if not more. It took more than your small knapsack to hold them all, so Yunho sacrificed his corn dog to hold some tickets in his arms as the two of you made your way to the ticket-eating machine.
Inserting all the tickets took about 10 minutes and resulted in a lot of gawking kids, one of which outright asked, “Mister how long did it take you and your friend to get all those?” with a starry-eyed grin that just so happened to be missing a tooth here and there.
“Well,” Yunho started, looking down at you for an estimate, you shrugged, “we don’t know, but it took a while. Way too long for you to want to play games.” He finished, crouching down to the child’s level and ruffling his hair.
You adored this side of Yunho, the soft, older brother side of him. The boy had so many sides he may as well have been a dodecahedron in his previous life...you smiled and chuckled softly as you inserted the last batch of tickets, ending you two’s total at a whopping 4,755 tickets. You take the printout receipt and make your way to the token counter.
You had your eyes on four things. One giant Snorlax plush (worth 2,500 tickets; the thing was as tall as Yunho, if not taller ), a knockoff Pororo plush (worth 500 tickets), a giant snake plush (worth 1,000 tickets), and a relatively large turtle plush (worth 550 tickets). The cashier looked on in shock as you pointed out what you wanted, Yunho just standing to the side watching you rattle the names off. As the tickets were exchanged for the prizes, Yunho held the snake, turtle, and Pororo while you held on to the Snorlax as best as you could, seeing as it was larger than you.
The two of you left the arcade satisfied, you waddling trying to carry a Pokemon the size of your bed, and Yunho carrying three relatively large plushies. Walking across the pier, the two of you made simple conversation. Laughing about mishaps that happened during rehearsals, talking about life, and just overall admiring each other. 
Reaching the car and setting Snorlax in the backseat, buckling him in with a seatbelt with a quiet whisper of “safety first,” you and Yunho loaded up everything you two brought to the pier and proceeded to leave. At this point, the sun had set beyond the horizon, and daybreak was beginning elsewhere in the world. You looked out the window at the stars and pointed out some of them. Rattling off names and constellations and Yunho just humming in acknowledgment of your words.
The car ride back was quiet, Yunho eventually removed one hand from the steering wheel and used it to grab hold of yours, using his thumb to rub small circles into the back of your hand, the two of you sat in the comforting silence of the car. Not even the radio was playing; the only thing that could be heard was the sound of rubber on pavement and the occasional sound of a blinker, and, you honestly couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the night.
47 notes · View notes
seromreven · 5 years
Text
title: here comes the solrock | chapter three.
pairing: mclennon, (paul mccartney/john lennon) | starrison, (ringo starr/george harrison).
summary: it’s the Monday after, aspiring pokémon trainer, Paul McCartney’s eighteenth birthday. It was today where he would get his first pokémon and start his journey to the regional Pokémon League. A journey which would prove itself to be filled with adventure, friendship, danger and romance.
author’s note: finally bought ultra moon and super mystery dungeon & there’s also detective pikachu soon for which pokémon go also have an event... wowsa, so expect a hike in pokémon related stuff, (possibly... we’ll see) | also !! new pairing rears its head as ringo finally appears in the story.
also on ao3!
Tuesday, June 21st,
It was early in the morning. Very early. George had slept over at Paul’s house and when they woke at the crack at dawn, they were quick to get out of the house and out into the summer morning. To just get the day and adventure started.
They both had lied to their parents about their plans. That it was just a recreational trip to Blackpool to belatedly celebrate Paul’s birthday. Paul knew he should have felt bad about it. Lying with such ease to his father but, he just didn’t. It was to help someone and, honestly it was exciting. He could feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins as he crossed the road towards the docks.
Traffic was stalled as a wild Snorlax had gotten lost on its way through the city and was now blocking traffic as it had fallen asleep on the slowly warming asphalt in the middle of a four-way road crossing. Both George and Paul had difficulties in hiding their laughter as police tried in vain to move the giant Pokémon.
It wasn’t uncommon for wild Pokémon to get into the city but rarely was it ever something as big as a Snorlax.
It was nearing their time to meet John but luckily as they turned a corner; they were met with the sights of clear weather and blue skies. It was the docks and since it was still early morning, loads of workers were running around carrying things that varied from clipboards to crates. Beside them were typical Pokémon like Machops or others that could handle heavy duty lifting.
They finally reached the arcade, only minutes before their meeting time, and saw that John was leaning against the wall of the old building. His arms were crossed as he looked to be talking to the Charmander by his side. He was wearing a tight white t-shirt with a leather jacket hanging around his waist. Paul swallowed and had to admit to himself; it looked great on the older boy.
The Charmander looked to the oncoming boys and immediately waddled its way over to Walton with squeaks which in turn Walton hissed at. “Be nice,” Paul quickly whispered down to his Snivy. Walton huffed in response.
John turned his head, his eyesight following his Pokémon until it then looked up to Paul and George with a nod in greeting, “finally decided to show up, eh?” He said with a curtate laugh and stepped away from the wall.
“We’re not late, are we,” George stated and it was clear that it wasn’t a question. John just shrugged in response and went past them and towards the road. Paul and George looked at each other, no words were spoken, before they then followed with the Pokémon in tow.
Paul stepped up the side of John and silently studied his new acquaintance. His quiff looked intricately worked on. With success as it looked better than the one ruined by rain yesterday. His drainpipe jeans fitted well around his thighs and Paul’s heart jumped at the sight.
Oh, he had to get it together. Sure, John was attractive. And Paul had noticed stares John had sent his way. And he was not the first man to interest Paul in this way either. But this was hardly the time or place for it. Nor could he jeopardise the… mission.
Luckily, John spoke which helped Paul take his mind away from that, “the trip to Blackpool will take two hours. The inn won’t be far from the station.”
He didn’t appear to have finished with handing out the information but stopped either way as they looked both ways of the road before crossing. It was almost deserted, strange for this time of day, aside from a van or two.
“I know the way to the inn. I’ve been there before. Absolute shite and not a place where I’ll be surprised to find Pokémon snatchers,” he sneered and Paul wondered about the history between the place and John that made him talk of it with such venom.
They reached the station grounds in silence, aside from the various sounds from their Pokémon. Who seemed to be getting along well, luckily. For Paul; he had been unsure of what to talk about with this new person. And George was usually very talkative but not around people he had just meet which explained his position in all of it.
The station was busy. Locals and tourists alike rushing from one point to another. Official places like this had a height limit for Pokémon so there was nothing taller than a, for example, Purugly. And, boy, was the name fitting Paul thought as the cat Pokémon waddled by. Paul poked George harshly in his side and nodded towards the Pokémon with a snicker. But as if it knew; it suddenly snapped its head towards with a frown, scaring the boys and they started to walk faster towards the platform they needed to go too.
John who had seen the interaction gave a bark of laughter as the boys power walked past him with Walton close behind them.
They quickly found the platform where the train already had arrived and where only waiting for passengers and for the time to be right. They got on board and found their seats for the trip; marked with numbers and a small picture of the train company’s logo. It was the Pokémon Emolga, and if Paul remembered correctly; their motto was something along the lines of ‘Powering your way forward’.
George had hurried his way to the window seat which left Paul squished in between him and George. It was cheap seats with not a lot of room for… anything really. Especially not your legs. Walton was nestled in George’s lap and was looking out the window too at the hurrying people out on the platform. Paul looked around for John’s Charmander and realised it was nowhere to be seen and that John instead had a Weedle in his lap.
“Hey… Where’s your Charmander?” Paul realised he had never been told its name.
“Wesley? … I put him back in his ball. The open flame is… risky in places like this.”
Paul nodded at the new information while looking down at the new Pokémon and couldn’t resist cooing as it stared back up at him, “and who’s this little fella?”
There was a beat of silence and Paul glanced at John. His facial expression was unreadable as he just looked down at the Weedle and Paul. He blinked, as if shook out of his train of thoughts, and answered; “that’s Prudence.”
“Oooh,” Paul looked back to the Weedle. He had never been quite fond of bug types but this one was somehow more adorable than any of the other Weedles than he had ever seen. He wasn’t sure of why. Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with its owner though… Right?
A jolt shot through the train and it started moving slowly out of the station. The journey would take three and a half hours, stuck tightly between his best friend and this (attractive) almost stranger. He knew from previous trips with this company that a cart of refreshment with roll by thirty minutes into the trip and he had to get something to drink, and something for Walton too.
The half an hour passed by quickly in silence as John stared into a book, George had been looking out the window at the landscape while Paul had fallen asleep fairly quickly into the ride.
He was awoken to a light stirring and the sound of wheels. It was the cart. But more importantly; he realised he had fallen asleep with his head on John’s shoulder and muttered his apologies as he looked over him towards the cart.
John didn’t comment on it and ordered a coffee as an old man arrived with a Chansey close behind. Paul ordered a water bottle and a small bag of mixed berries that he meant to share. George ordered something to drink too and a bag of crisps. Paul quickly tore open the bag and separated the berries into neat equal sizes and placed them on the small tables on the chairs in front of the Pokémon.
Walton grabbed a single berry with his tiny hands and gently nibbled on it. The Weedle stretched out and swallowed each berry in a single bite.
“So,” Paul started and looked to John who glanced up from his book somehow knowing it was meant for him and looked over to Paul. “You’ve been to Blackpool and this… club?”
He pulled a face as he gave an affirmative answer. He didn’t seem proud of having been there.
“Blackpool is… fine. Even fun. But this club has little going for it anymore since they changed management,” he sighed. “Don’t know who they are but they’re too willing to indulge in illegal activities when comes to Pokémon.”
Oh, that didn’t promise good.
“What… what kind of activities?” Paul couldn’t help but ask.
John looked down at him with furrowed brows. Not an angry look but more… pitying?
“You don’t want to know,” he then looked down back into his book as his Weedle had finished eating and was now cuddled up in his lap.
Paul blinked. Okay, so he supposed he would have to wait and see. He looked over to George, craving conversation, and saw that he had finished his crisps and was petting Walton while looking out the window. The morning sun shined through the window, highlighting the brow colours of George’s hair and making his cheekbones out to look much sharper.
“You seem to be getting along well with Walton,” Paul commented as he looked at the young Snivy curled up in George’s lap. He was glad for it. Paul had always imagined (and hoped) that once he got a Pokémon; it would care for George as much as he did.
George nodded and covered up a yawn with his free hand.
“D’you think he’ll know not to get on our laps once he’s fully evolved?” And before Paul could answer, Walton gave out a huff and looked up at George with a frown, seemingly offended at the question.
“...yeah,” he kept back a giggle, “he’s a smart boy, y’know.” Paul jested and patted the Pokémon on the head. And handed him one of the berries still left on the table. It eagerly grabbed it and turned to nibble on it while staring out the window. George and Paul shared a look, hiding their laughter.
“I’m gonna nap before we get to Blackpool,” George muttered before giving out yet another yawn.
Paul nodded when he suddenly felt a poking on his elbow from the other side and turned to find the Weedle, Prudence, trying to get his attention. He looked down at it; confused as to what she wanted. She nudged him again and he glanced at John, unsure of what to do because when Paul moved to pet her, she leaned away.
“John,” he called out.
“Yeah?”
“Uh, what does she… want?” He asked as she yet again leaned away from him when he tried to pet her.
John glanced down at him and down at the small Pokémon, “she likes to hide in and under jackets. You’re wearing one and I’m not so that’s probably what she wants.”
Paul ooh’d and looked back at Prudence. How was he supposed to go about this though? Deeming it worth trying, he lifted up his jacket by its ends and the Weedle gave out a small yelp and quickly slithered over on his lap and up under the soft material. It’s small feet tickled against his skin as his shirt rode with it up and he couldn’t help but emit a fit of giggling.
Time passed by quickly as John returned to his book and Paul cuddled up with the Weedle sharing its body heat underneath his shirt. It was careful in not accidentally stinging him with its barbed and pointed ends on its head and tail. Paul didn’t notice all the soft glances John cast his way as he whispered sweet nothings to Prudence as he looked down his jacket at her sleeping form.
It was nearing noon as their train settled into the station. The train ride hadn’t felt long but, boy, did Paul’s legs still feel tired from having to sit down for so long.
They hurried off the train. Paul was still carrying Prudence underneath his jacket while George had managed to get Walton to balance on his shoulder. It was impressive, though the Pokémon seemed to have a strong grip on the young boy’s hair; who didn’t seem to be bothered by it.
Stepping out of the station and into the summer sun was jarring for a second. It was warm, very much so, and Paul sighed as he realised he had the need to take his jacket off. He zipped it slightly down, still holding the small Weedle and looked down at it. “I’m gonna have you move you now,” he said as it looked up at him with its big eyes.
“Let me help you,” John stopped out in front of him and zipped down the jacket completely. Paul’s heart suddenly beat much faster and he prayed that it wouldn’t be obvious to the older man. Why was he feeling this way whenever John was close to him?
Prudence stuck to Paul the best she could before she was picked off by John who muttered something inaudible under his breath. He looked at Paul as he held the squirming bug, “she likes you,” he smirked.
Paul blushed, counting his lucky stars as John had turned his back to him again and was incapable of seeing the pink warmth across his cheeks. He wasn’t so lucky with George who looked at him with a snicker.
Blackpool was a seaside resort town and as they walked further away; it was incredibly obvious. Filled were the streets with shops catering to tourists and swimmers alike. Sunhats, sunscreens, sunglasses, Put the word sun in front of it and it was there. On the streets following the humans were a large variety of Pokémon; Paul saw Furfrous to Swoobats to Drampas. And the air was filled with screeching Wingulls as they reached closer to their destination at the south pier.
John suddenly stopped as they reached a corner. There was a clear view of the beach and Paul took in a deep breath and let the smell of salt water and sea air overtake him. John turned and looked at the young boys, though his eyes rested on Paul for a beat longer.
“We need to get our Pokémon back in their balls before we go into the inn,” he sighed, “they’re allowed inside but I wouldn’t trust anyone there as far as I can throw ‘em.”
George nodded and was handed Walton’s ball by Paul as John sorted away the one with Prudence in it. Soon they stood Pokémonless and looked at each other before Paul asked, “anything we should know beforehand?”
John’s eyes narrowed in thought, “just keep close to me and don’t talk to anyone.”
Paul nodded and followed John as he started walking again. It was really only a few steps before they stopped again outside a large building. Escavalier Inn stood in large letters over an old wooden door deep in a stone facade. It didn’t look near as seedy as Paul had expected it would from what he had been told and warned about from John. It looked… reputable, like the old inns typical of London. A wooden sign with a carving of the Escavalier mascot swang along with the slight breezes that came from the sea.
John glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed for some reason, at Paul before stepping inside.
There was a small humming of music as they entered. It came from an old-timey jukebox that was light up in various neon colours as it played.
A banner hanged above the stage and said in a thick font; Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. And underneath it where a group of people, a band, who were positioned on the stage further in the room but they weren’t playing. It looked as if they were setting up their instruments to possibly play later that night, Paul assumed. It was five young looking men. Maybe around John’s age. Four of them wore matching outfits, suits in all black, and one who stood tall was separated by the rest in his all-white outfit paired with a bright gold jacket. At his feet rested a Dragonair. It was large and… stunning. Breathtaking. Paul had never seen such a Pokémon in person before and was especially fascinated by its beautiful vibrant blue colour. It looked towards Paul and his group as they entered the inn.
The Dragonair wasn’t the only Pokémon in the room. A rather intimidating looking man at the drums had an Octillery hanging off his arm as he tried to work on the set as it hanged tightly there. Paul could see the man’s mouth moving, talking and laughing, but he couldn’t hear what was said over the music.
The bartender was glaring at them and called out to John who stomped his way over to him. George poked Paul, who had been pretty distracted by the movements on the stage.
“John! Didn’t I tell you to never show your ugly mug here again?” the large man barked at John as they came closer to the bar. John laughed, much to Paul’s confusion. A Machoke stepped out into the room from an open door next to the barkeep and Paul suddenly felt nervous at the sight of the large Pokémon. Its arms were crossed as it glared down at the group.
“Thought I’d brighten up the place with my presence,” John smirked, aloof to the Machoke’s presence as he continued staring down the bartender. The large man suddenly bellowed out a laugh as he slapped his washcloth down on the bartop. “Of course! This place sure needs it,” and then looked at Paul and George who stood close next to each other, almost hiding behind John. “Who’s ye buddies?”
John stepped aside, not willing to hide the boys. It was silly anyway. Paul wasn’t scared!
“Paul,” he nodded towards him, “and George.” He repeated the previous action. The bartender looked over them, possibly studying them, and nodded. “Nice to meet ye, lads. I’m Alvin. John’s uncle.”
Paul glanced to John, his question was obvious. Who was this man exactly? Of all the talks of the place being seedy, criminal, disgusting… he had family here. Was he in on the scheme? To steal Pokémon, or was he here to help John?
John nodded with a sigh, “he knows why we here.”
“Yes, and you came at a good time. Brauer is along in the basement with the Pokémon. They’ve grown confident… cocky in their success and have relaxed their security. Thinking that no-one knows about them or if they did; would even dare to do anything about it.”
He pointed to the stage, “Ringo there will help you. They took his Mudkip so he’s more than willing to help.” It was the man with the Octillary that he was pointing towards, “he’s here with the band. Luckily, Epoch doesn’t know it’s his Mudkip.”
Paul stepped forward, “Epoch?” It sounded familiar. Had the police officer back when they first got to the Pokécenter yesterday mentioned them?
Alvin glanced to John with a raised brow, who shrugged and said; “it’s the gang Brauer and Hallard are part of. They fancy themselves on the same level of Team Rocket or Flare,” he rolled his eyes. “They really just a bunch of idiots.
Alvin chuckled, “now I wouldn’t underestimate them. They’ve grown since you last bumped into them, John. Change of leaders too.” John narrowed his eyes as he stared down Alvin, “really?” He sounded amused at the thought. He clearly sounded very unimpressed with the group.
“Yes,” his uncle nodded, “they practically worship some lady now. Named Kailli or something.” He glanced to Paul, “not someone to be messed with from what I’ve heard. Supposedly she got one mean Salazzle. Shiny too” John whistled at the thought but shrugged, “She’s not here though?”
“No,” Alvin responded and looked to the stage. Ringo was waving them over. Alvin looked back to the small group and smiled, “it’s time. Good luck.”
John quickly marched over the stage as Ringo hopped down from the lifted platform. He was leaning against the wood with his Octillery finally off his arm and sitting next to him on the stage. He didn’t look any less intimidating as they neared the stage. Sure, he had a soft look in his eyes but it was largely overshadowed by his curling quiff, a grey streak down its side, that was paired with a matching beard and moustache. Paul noticed as he stood in silence listening to John introduce themselves, that the eyebrow on the same side as grey streak was a visibly lighter colour too. Paul realised this; he was definitely staring too hard and long at the man.
But he soon found out he wasn’t the only one as he glanced to George, the younger man was too staring at the new addition to the group. And opposed to Paul; it looked like he was blushing. Paul smiled and bit back a snicker as he zoned back into the conversation.
“Nice to meet ye all,” Ringo said and reached out to shake Paul’s hand. The same was done with George who had know returned from whatever he had been thinking about. Paul nudged him gently in his side and wiggled his brows as soon as the younger boy looked at him. “Sod off,” he muttered but not without a small smile of his own.
In the meanwhile, John and Ringo had gone ahead and the young men quickly hurried to follow along with the pair. They entered a small backroom and down a rickety flight of stairs that made Paul’s inside turn as he looked down the occasionally broken steps. They reached a steel door that stood out from the otherwise prominent brick wall that surrounded him.
“This is it,” Ringo whispered and looked back and forth between them. John nodded and looked at the door over. “The idiot,” he muttered and opened the heavy door. It was unlocked! It was hiding stolen Pokémon and it was… unlocked.
They heard music as soon as they entered. Not something Paul thought was any good. And a small voice hummed along to it. John moved his finger to his mouth and indicated for them to be quiet. Easy.
Ringo placed the Octillery carefully on the floor and whispered, “you know what to do, Zak.” It looked to Ringo with a determined nod and crawled towards the figure of a sitting man further in the room. It was then Paul noticed what was in front of said man. Cages! There were two, not as many as he had admittedly expected. One was filled with the Professor’s stolen Pokémon. The Bulbasaur, the Squirtle, and the Charmander were huddled up in the corners, visibly frightened. The other cage right next to it was sparse. A single Mudkip, Ringo’s, lied around something that appeared to be an… egg? It was a stark white with blue and red triangles pattern all over it. The Mudkip appeared to be protecting it and glared silently at its captor.
Finally; the Octillery had reached the man and had its tentacles moved around the legs of the chair the stranger was sitting on. Suddenly, the Pokémon pulled it out from under him. He yelped and from the floor staring at the Pokémon with large widened eyes.
John darted into the room as Ringo yelled, “Now!”
Paul and George looked at each other in confusion. Clearly, they had missed out on some important information while they had been otherwise distracted earlier. Anyhow, they quickly followed after John.
The Octillery had squirted out a dark black liquid across the eyes of the captor. Ink, Paul realised. Of course. It had blinded the stranger who now laid writhing on the floor with his hands over his eyes. Effective, but (fortunately) the blinded effect wouldn’t be permanent.
Ringo hurried to the cage with the Mudkip inside while George and Paul ran to the other cage. The Pokémon was understandably frightened but quickly seemed to pick up the situation when the cage was unlocked. John was left by the moaning grunt. He had emptied the guy’s pockets and now held four Pokéballs. He didn’t move before he suddenly gave a large kick to the man’s stomach and the groaning ceased. John huffed and moved over the join Paul and George in letting out the Pokémon.
Ringo stepped over to them. He was carrying a large egg with his Octillery now again hanging off his arm. The Mudkip stood by his feet, looking pointedly up at the egg. Paul could see that the Mudkip must have mentally adopted the baby Pokémon and felt a possible paternal bond from their shared capture.
As John, Paul, and George each held a freed Pokémon; they were ready to leave again when a large slam erupted and their heads immediately snapped to the door from which they had entered. “Shit,” John muttered and called the starter Pokémons into their balls. “We’re not alone,” he whispered. But before any more could be said a robust, balding, man entered the room with a Stunky at his side.
“Cease your foolishness!” He yelled out and Paul choked back a snicker. What a thing to say.
“I am Clang and these are not your Pokémon to take!” It was continued in the same dramatic fashion as before. “They so are!” John yelled back and the stranger huffed at him as his Stunky stared furiously at them.
“Ahme!” He yelled and looked over his shoulder. “Get back the egg! Now!”
A rather pretty young woman entered the room. A Musharna floated by her head.
Paul felt an unease overtaking him and the world around him started to act… strange. It was as if he was drunk. Or on a boat. It floated and he felt lightheaded. John muttered a long line of profanities as he covered his mouth with his hand, but it was useless as he soon after passed out. “...What?” Paul blinked and looked to George and Ringo who were now laying on the ground too.
The last thing Paul saw before he went down too was a heavy feeling overtaking him. And the sight of a large overbearing pink mist that slowly swallowed him up as he watched the strangers. Their Pokémon were gone and their mouths covered with dark purple masks. And the Pokéballs rolling out of John’s open palms, towards Ahme and Clang.
5 notes · View notes
bigklingy · 6 years
Text
Pokemon Generation Thoughts
Since a blog I follow did this, I thought I’d do mine. Gen 1:
Pros: -The one that started it all. -How crazily into it kids at school were. -Gym Leaders were pretty memorable. -For the time, a good twist for the final battle. -Glitches are fun to mess with. -The crit formula based on base speed was actually kind of interesting. Cons: -Incredibly glitchy, to the point where speedrunners keep finding more and more insane ways to break the game. Spawning item balls that are also trainers that are actually wild Pokemon?! Making a sign give you an Eevee?! Beating the game in 0:00?!?! I know these are glitches you’re unlikely to find without intentionally trying, but there are MANY game-breaking ones you’re very likely to encounter by accident. -Very unbalanced battle system. Psychic types are broken, some moves were coded badly and worse than useless (Focus Energy QUARTERED your crit rate), X Accuracy + OHKOs destroys the game, Wrap/Fire Spin etc were extremely annoying. -Most of the Pokemon haven’t aged well stat-wise. Gen 2: Pros: -I liked the Johto region. -Greatly fixed a lot of Gen 1′s gameplay, far less glitches. -Split Special into Special Attack and Special Defense. -Introduced breeding. -Had another entire region for the postgame, with 8 more badges. -Normal trainers have names now! Phone numbers gave them a bit of personality. -You can actually delete HMs now! -You can catch both mascot legendaries regardless of your game. Cons: -Most of the new Pokemon are extremely mediocre or outright terrible, with very few good ones (stat-wise). -IMO, second worst starters in the series. Typhlosion’s stats are directly copied from Charizard, why?? -The “split path” after the 4th badge, where you could get the 5th, 6th and 7th badges in any order, was a good idea in theory but not well implemented. Whichever path you take last ends up horribly underleveled. -Low levels overall, leading to a fairly easy main story. -Kanto is horribly balanced, almost everything is a joke for the point you have access to it. -Until Crystal, phone calls were generic and boring. In all versions though, phone calls get very annoying. -Cross-gen trading is clunky and awkward, you had to manually delete any move that didn’t exist in Gen 1. -Introduced roaming legendaries. Gen 3: Pros: -Nice graphical upgrade. -Abilities, Natures and the revamped EV system add more strategy to battling. -Introduced a new way to play in Double Battles. -The Hoenn region is pretty nice if you ignore the water areas. Some cool new area concepts we haven’t seen before, like deserts and volcanoes. -Significant plot differences between versions now. -Emerald’s Battle Frontier is very fun. Cons: -Loss of compatibility with older versions, meaning that a huge number of old Pokemon weren’t available until Kanto remakes. -Hoenn in general went really crazy with required HM usage. WHY DID THEY MAKE ROCK SMASH AN HM! -Vanilla Ruby/Sapphire have the worst postgame in the entire series by far. (Just a Battle Tower and one roaming legend) Fixed in Emerald and slightly fixed in the remakes. -Team Magma and Aqua were lame and unmemorable. Fixed in the remakes. -Introduction of version-exclusive legendaries. -Champions excluded, Hoenn probably has the worst Elite Four in the series, with incredibly boring, repetitive teams. -Completing the national dex was insanely convoluted, as Pokemon were split up across multiple games and spinoffs. You needed at bare minimum 4 games, a Gamecube and a Gamecube to GBA cable to do it. Gen 4: Pros: -Physical/Special split, increasing the viability of a lot of Pokemon. -Introduced WiFi, making trading MUCH easier. -Expanded the TM list, allowing for more options. -Most of the new Pokemon introduced had good stats and movepools. My favourite new batch of Pokemon. -Gave much-needed evolutions to many mediocre old Pokemon. -The “route split” where you can choose whether to fight Maylene or Wake 3rd, was kind of well-done. -Best starters in the series imo. Cons: -Diamond and Pearl are PAINFULLY SLOW. Both on the field and in battle. Saving takes forever. Surfing is horrendous. Platinum fixed some of this though. -Diamond and Pearl’s regional dex is horrible. Only one Fire type besides the starters, some of the newly-introduced Pokemon aren’t even in the dex! -And they made some very questionable choices to go with it. Protip: if your regional dex only has two Fire type lines, you PROBABLY shouldn’t have a Fire type Elite Four member. -Team Galactic and Cyrus are my least favourite villains by far. Their plot is a giant mess and it’s not paced well. I could go into more detail, of all their encounters before the halfway point, only one has any bearing on their main goal. The rest are just random acts of villainy for no reason. The Grunts don’t even know what the bosses are planning. -Main story is badly paced, HUGE drought between badges 2 and 3 (fixed in Platinum), and the massive level jump between Gym 8 and the Elite 4 forces a ton of grinding right at the very end (also fixed in Platinum) -No random online battling. -GTS is a mess, only trade via online forums or chatrooms. -Worst Safari Zone in the series by far. -The snow routes are awful. Good music though. Gen 5: Pros: -The fresh start the series desperately needed. -A regional dex of all new Pokemon. -Most new Pokemon have VERY good stats. -Main adventure is very balanced overall. Pokemon are available at just the right times, for the most part (Larvesta and Deino are exceptions) -Introduction of exp scaling, making it hard to get too overleveled during the main story and letting you more easily train low-level Pokemon to Lv 50 in the postgame. -HMs, besides one forced use of Cut, are entirely optional. Thank Arceus. -Gym Leaders are decently challenging, and actually do things in the story. -Some of the best storylines and characters in a Pokemon game. -Awesome twist on the formula at the end. -BW2 are full sequels instead of 3rd versions. Add new areas.. -BW2 has the best balance of old vs new in a regional dex, with an almost exactly 50/50 split. Some old Pokemon are given fresh new spins, like Riolu and Eevee being catchable early in the game. -BW2 has probably the best postgame in the series. -PWT is an awesome callback and a pretty fun battle facility. -Battle Facilities in general stopped cheating as much as they used to. -Added Shiny Charm, giving a non-cosmetic reward for completing the Dex. Cons: -Competitive metagame was kind of a mess, Smogon had to make several complex bans to try and keep everything under control. Mostly only applies to Singles though. -Introduced random online battles, but Ragequitting was rampant. -Introduced Triple and Rotation Battles, but were very under-used and barely anyone plays them competitively. -Worst starters in the series imo. -The Unova region is very linear and, at least in BW1, a quarter of it is postgame-only. -BW2′s plot was far more standard for a Pokemon game. -Some of the new Pokemon evolve at painfully high levels, which got bad when they showed up earlier in later games. Gen 6:
Pros: -First full 3D main series game. -I kind of like Kalos as a region. -Added Fairy type, helping nerf Dragons. (Though they might have gone overboard, Fairy is now kind of overpowered) -The starters are pretty good. -Ruby/Sapphire remakes were nice. -Added tons of nice Quality-Of-Life features, especially making breeding and EV training WAY easier and more accessible. -WiFi is amazing, especially the PSS. -A lot of Pokemon available in the dex. -Sycamore is a cool professor. Shame he wasn’t the Champion. -You won’t know it if you use the Exp Share, but basic trainers are actually very challenging, often having smart movesets and strategies, even egg moves. Try a no-exp share run sometime. These are actually among the hardest Pokemon games if you do. -The postgame Looker quest actually has a better story than the main game.
Cons: -Game Freak did a total 180 on their stance with Gen 5, and decided Pokemon would now be all about the old rather than the new. The games began a trend of GF extensively pandering to Genwunners at the expense of actual new stuff. Very few new Pokemon, all of them almost intentionally made rare. It almost felt like GF was ASHAMED of them, and had to hide them from the wrath of the Genwunners. Other pandering included a direct rehash of Viridian Forest, Snorlax, and a forced first encounter with a Pidgey. Not a new Pokemon, a Pidgey. -Worst tutorials in the series. It’s possible to catch a full team of 6... AND THEN BE GIVEN THE CAPTURE TUTORIAL. -Way too many rivals. Tierno and Trevor are barely there, and Calem/Serena feels undeveloped. -Team Flare are my second least-favourite evil team. They shouldn’t have bothered trying to hide Lysandre as the villain, it was so obvious. -Early pacing issues. Big gap between Gyms 1 and 2 (could’ve easily been solved by making Clemont Leader 2), Team Flare plot doesn’t start until pretty late in. -Worst Champion in the entire series. -Most Gym Leaders and all the E4 not named Seibold are jokes. (XY are weird in that on a challenge run, you’ll be steamrolling the bosses but getting destroyed by basic trainers) -THE EXP SHARE IS HORRIFICALLY BROKEN. Have it on all game, and you’ll be overleveling everyone by 20-30. It ruins what would otherwise be a pretty challenging game. -Kalos Route 13 is the worst route in Pokemon history. -THEY BROUGHT BACK SINNOH’S STICKING MUD, WHY?! -Sky Battles and Inverse Battles are really underused for something they spent a lot of effort marketing. Neither can be done in multiplayer. Sky Battles limited to a bunch of one-time trainers, Inverse Battles limited to only one. Neither can be done in multiplayer. -Controversial opinion, but I actually really hate Super Training. The EVs/Time ratio is way too small to be worth it, horde battles are far better. I only use it to finish off the last couple of EVs on a spread. -Mega Evolution is a mixed bag. It makes some weaker Pokemon useful (Beedrill, Kangaskhan, Charizard), but also makes some already good Pokemon even better (Scizor, Metagross, Gengar, Lucario, SALAMENCE). This means a lot of the more interesting Mega options go unused because you can only have one Mega slot. Evidence of not just popularity power, but more Genwunner pandering is on display. I like Charizard and Mewtwo, but I don’t think they needed two Megas. And NO Gen 5 Megas at all, and even after ORAS only one? (And it’s terrible?) -No new non-Uber legendaries, instead re-using, you guessed it, the Gen 1 legendaries. Gen 7:
Pros: -NO MORE HMs, FINALLY! -More new Pokemon than Gen 6. Each new Pokemon is given at least one unique gameplay trait, which is cool. -Alola is a pretty nice region. -Story and characters are great. Not as good as BW but a big step up from XY. -Team Skull are hilarious, playing all the unintentionally funny things about past evil teams for intentional comedy, almost acting as a bit of self-aware parody. -Genwunner pandering is less evident. Yeah only Gen 1 Pokes got Alolan Forms, but most of them needed upgrades anyway. NPCs from all gens get cameos, not just Gen 1 NPCs. -The Big Bad of vanilla Sun/Moon is a great villain. -The Exp Share is actually kind of balanced now, oddly enough. -Some of the trials are great boss fights, even better than most Gyms. -Poke Pelago’s “EV Bake Oven” allows for easy EV training. Cons: -Went back on a lot of Gen 6′s good multiplayer features. Festival Plaza is confusing and terrible. -Removed horde battles, replacing them with the extremely annoying SOS Battles. This also means EV training is a lot harder. Poke Pelago is good, but it’s non-interactive. -The first island is very hand-holdy and takes a while. -Island 3 feels oddly small for how big it’s supposed to be. -Still not THAT many new Pokemon. -Crabrawler and Charjabug’s evolution methods are DUMB, making them useless for the main story despite being catchable early. -USUM ruined Sun/Moon’s Big Bad’s characterization. Overall favourite to least-favourite: Gen 5 Gen 2 Gen 7 Gen 3 Gen 1 Gen 6 Gen 4 (But my favourite for competitive battling)
10 notes · View notes
Text
Finished my Pokemon Sun run!  My Champion Team was:
Cinder the Incineroar, Male, Level 63 My starter, of course.  Less used towards the end of my run, but still useful when I need dark or fire type attacks.  I admit I wasn’t fond of the character design of the final evolution, the change from cute kitty to a big cat-themed wrestler dude is kind of jarring.  Petting him in Pokemon Refresh just feels wierd.  On the other hand, his Z-move Malicious Moonsault is hilarious, even if I didn't use it much it always brought a smile to my face when I did.
Mind Spike the Alolan Raichu, Male, Level 62 This little guy was one I had picked out as a must-have for my team even before I started playing.  I'm not normally a fan of Raichu, and even less of Pikachu, but the overall look and the strong type combination was one I wanted on my team.  I do tend to pick Psychic and Electric types as my favorites, so of course I'm going to grab the first and only Psychic/Electric Pokemon in the game.  I looked up where Pichu spawns, ground for encounters in the right patch of grass till I caught one, then went through the required steps - max happiness, finding the right Evolution Stone - to get my Raichu.  He's got some really strong attacks, especially if I use a Nasty Plot first to boost them.  Sadly, he's a bit frail for the later stages of the game, not really strong enough to take a few good hits while powering himself up.  I had to Revive him repeatedly going through the Elite Four.
Bouncee the Tsareena, Female, Level 69 This thing is a monster.  I'm usually not one to focus much attention on grass-types, but she's one of the strongest Pokemon I've ever used.  Got her through an in-game trade from a NPC, and even when not in her final evolution stage she solo'd the entire water trial.  I actually had to stop using her for a while in the mid-game as she leveled up to the point where she stopped obeying my orders.  Got control of her back for the end-game, and it really helped. There's not much of the usual fancy plant moves here, no sleep or drain moves, just Trop Kick and Magical Leaf one-shotting anything susceptible to grass moves.
Molasses the Mudsdale, Female, Level 64 This giant muddy horse is a freaking tank.  Huge pile of hit points with great defenses.  Some really strong moves too, Earthquake that can hit every enemy in a multi-Pokemon battle, steel and fighting moves too, and with the Z-move All-Out Pummeling it can one-shot a freaking Snorlax.  Most reliable and durable Pokemon on my team, she was my go-to when I was fighting something that I didn't know how to beat, or when I needed someone to wall the opponent while I threw healing potions at the rest of the team for a few turns.
Matriarch the Salazzle, Female, level 44. A late addition to my team.  I was lucky enough to catch a female Salandit early on, but threw her in the box and didn't use her for much of the game.  Late in the game I decided I needed a dedicated Poisoner, so I puller her out and set about leveling her up.  Didn't have the patience to get her to the level of everyone else, but even 20 levels below the rest of the team she's strong enough to last a few turns, poison the opponent and then let me swap out for someone stronger, granting me that extra advantage from severe poison effects.  If I had actually leveled her up all the way, she's be one of the strongest on my team.
Nebby the Solgaleo, level 60 On my team mostly for plot reasons.  I promised Lilly I'd bring it along on my quest to become the champion.  I didn't use it much, mostly pulling it out as an emergency mon in tough fights.  It does have legendary stats, of course, but atually using it in a fight felt a little bit like cheating.  It also didn't bring much unique in terms of type coverage, since I have Steel and Psychic moves elsewhere in the team.
Honorable mentions - Pokemon I didn't have on my final team, but that I did spend some time with during the game:
Sundog the Midday-form Lycanroc, Female, Level 57 My poor little puppy.  I caught him early on, gave him treats and pets, leveled him up to his Lycanroc form, and then mostly forgot he was on my team.  It's not that Lycanroc is a bad Pokemon, but I just found too few situations where his specific moveset would contribute.  Eventually decided to swap him out for someone more useful.
Pointy Bird the Toucannon, Male, Level 58 One of the first pokemon I caught, this thing was incredibly strong for most of the game.  Amazing flying-type attacks.  Unfortunately, it signature move Beak Blast is one of those moves that requires it to charge for a turn, giving the enemy a free hit, and it just doesn't have the bulk too take many hits.
Magnificent the Kommo-o, Female, Level 46 Caught very late in the game, one of the last areas where you can catch Pokemon before the Victory Road equivalent in this game.  I dropped everything to level her up and get her to her final evolution.  Then, just before heading to the Final Four, I took a hard look at my team composition and realized that a Dragon-type just wasn't adding anything to my team in terms of type coverage.  Wondeful Pokemon, just didn't have a place on my team for her.
Overall, I really enjoyed this.  Pokemon Sun was the first non-free main line Pokemon game I'd played legitimately.  I had previouly played games from the first three Pokemon generations on emulators, and I still play Pokemon Go occasionally but that hardly counts.  The jump from the early 8-bit 2D sprite games to the fully 3D graphics of the latest generation is huge, of course, but it's the same basic gameplay underneath.
I really liked all the little things they did to improve quality of life and just make things more convienent for the player.  Getting rid of move slaves with the Ride Pokemon feature, the ability to send captured pokemon either to my party or the computer as I wish, making all items available in all marts with the better items being globally unlocked as you level up, instead of having the better items available only in the later shops.  Lots of little things.  The only thing I really have to complain about are the excessive number of tutorials and cutscenes, especially at the start of the game.  Kind of makes me wish there was an option where I could tell it "I've already played a Pokemon game, no need to show me all this, thanks", but the story cutscenes were ok.
Still lots left to do - there's a ton of post-game content to do, lots of side quests still waiting and Zygarde cores to hunt down.  I don't think I'll bother getting into the online battling scene however - that's a level of committment and time investment I just don't have these days.
1 note · View note