Consistent Title EditionContinuing the 'I Woke up as a Pokemon, So What?' AUPrevious Thread: >>58580663
Ongoing Stories:>Transformed Into a Lucariohttps://pastebin.com/dNfCG4se>Herding Catshttps://rentry.org/HerdingCats>Copanon the PokeWhispererhttps://rentry.co/PolicemanPokemonStory>Super Macho Monhttps://rentry.co/MachampStory>Digigirlhttps://pastebin.com/rvUJh1Vd>Professor Decidueye by ProfDhttps://rentry.co/ProfD>VetPhoxhttps://rentry.co/DelphoxStory>Tinkanonhttps://rentry.co/TinkatonStory>Serpent and Wyrm by Snivyanonhttps://rentry.co/SerpentAndWyrm>A Loser and a Very Lost Snowpix by Drifteranonhttps://rentry.org/tcab223e>The New Police Animals by Snivyanonhttps://rentry.co/larsonkurt>Kartanimatorhttps://rentry.co/kartanimator>The Pokemon Pit by ProfDhttps://rentry.co/r7aa9bzy>Churchanonhttps://rentry.org/cb24k1ti>Drifteranon's one-shotshttps://pastebin.com/4K9M6uJ2>Other one-shotshttps://pastebin.com/UtXMsyyD>One-shots that were too spicy for pastebinhttps://rentry.co/wokeuponeshotsArchived stories:>0332https://pastebin.com/WMdqhP8H>Not a Pikachuhttps://rentry.co/notapikachu>Lopunanonhttps://pastebin.com/ecBem3sz
>>58617945not reading any of that
>>58617932>snipNo anon! Just because you’re a dog now doesn’t mean you have to get a vasectomy!
>>58617932>>58617945>FAQ>What is this?People are turning into Pokemon. Some are having the time of their lives, and some are struggling to survive. These are their stories.>How do I join?Just start posting.>What's the lore?People and animals (and at least one tree) are changing at random in their sleep, waking up still in the real world, but now as Pokemon, and nobody knows why (that includes you. Please don't try to explain it). Just enough transformations are occurring to notably change day-to-day life without collapsing civilization. This is not the apocalypse, even if it might feel like it to some characters in the moment. Some people are more in touch with their instincts than others, and some have lost more of their humanity than others. That's about it. Avoid legendaries if possible
>>58618175I always forget something...
Well, if Snivyanon can't post, then I will attempt to occupy his space by posting my own update!Lots o' dialogue here. A lot of it could be "show, don't tell," too, which sucks, but I'm trying to practice making dialogue feel more natural. It's about to end anyways, Val's going to ask one more question and then he's going to be stopped because they're at the "base camp" he's going to be staying at.
>>58618693When he said he knocked out a Primarina, thought he went seal clubbing for a second lmfao. Sleep powder in paintball shells is a pretty good idea. Good dialogue, flowed naturally and didn’t notice anything off. Pretty interested to see what they get up to at this guy’s base of operation. Will we get to see what the Absol’s connection is?
Weirdest fetish ever.
>People and animals are changing at random in their sleepHas anyone actually seen it happen though? Or is there an added stipulation where no one is looking at you while you're sleeping?
>>58618981You know what, I should probably play on this thought a lot more because it's a very similar one to what I thought when I was writing the section. Valentine not knowing that you can use less-invasive methods to examine the throat like ultrasound and just assuming this man killed a Primarina to shove a camera down its throat or something would be hilarious.The Absol I'm not sure how to explain just yet. My working idea right now is that the guy just bought a mule to try to lug around his equipment and it turned into an Absol, but I think I'm going to ditch it the moment I see a better idea. I am considering a cat too, because then the Absol could "hunt" the new companion and bring them back to camp.Rest assured though, I do plan to explain the Absol in the story at SOME point, within the next 3 chapters.
>>58619053People probably have in the world, but none of the stories cover it since it's mostly the aftermath of the transformation we focus on.Also, no one can agree on how to do the transformation scenes without it being body horror, outside of the idea that it looks like Pokemon evolution.
>>58619064I was gonna suggest that people just start sleeping in shifts in massive slumber parties to make sure nobody ever transforms in their sleep again. I feel like it would be a logical addition to the setting
>>58619070All fun and games until the night is moonless and the power goes out.
>>58619070I think some stories have off-handedly mentioned people trying to stay awake as long as possible to not transform. Imo delving into the conditions that trigger it such as ‘not being observed’ or the like starts entering the realm of explaining why it happens, which we’re trying to avoid.
>>58619083Suddenly whole room's full of Pokemon. It's like god punishing them all for trying to cheat the system>>58619093On a serious note, this is true
>>58618996It's called creative writing.You should try it.
>>58618996it's hotwouldn't you want to have a better body?
>>58619705Yeah sure dude, I bet my life would be perfect if I was>rollinga Carvanha.
>>58619743it would be
Okay, new part finished. https://rentry.org/cb24k1tiI've been pretty happy with how consistent I've been in terms of posting. I need to take a break for school work though. Have to make an argumentative video essay about something I'm interested in and that's gonna eat up most of my weekend. It's an excuse to learn how to edit with DaVinci Resolve which I've wanted to do for a while. Used Sony Vegas for years making oddball videos but I wanna try something new.Also I'm probably gonna give the narrator a name in the next part. I've been avoiding it for some reason and every time I've tried to introduce one, it just felt wrong so I cut it every time. Now it's getting to the point where conversations are being written around this arbitrary restriction and I'm getting sick of it. So, if anyone has a suggestion for a name, throw it out there. Would be greatly appreciated.>>58619070>>58619053This is such a stupid idea that I kind of like it. I could see this as some schizo theory popping. But as >>58619064said, describing an actual transformation would lean too much into body horror. I actually love body horror. Mentioned before I just finished playing FAITH, now I've moved on to Dead Space. I wouldn't write a transformation scene though because I am almost certain someone would jerk off to it, and that scares me more than anything else.>>58618693Like the idea of a sleep powder paintball gun. I wanna see more of normal people trying to develop ways to fend off Pokemon. I'm not familiar enough with the rest of the story to comment on it, but I have been reading some of these as they've been posted.
>>58620559>new part's endingfuck
>>58620559Ready or not His Mother will know the truth.And damn is he a magnet for ghosts.
And Now. For something different. Blame my therapist for this one.>There's a certain smell in the air sometimes.>Just a hint, a soft whiff, you walk by it and never even notice it until one day you do.>I'm standing in line, five people deep, apparently this place is popular.>My mouth is a mix of cotton and saliva, I can smell the meat being roasted.>Ironically, it's a damned Vulpix running the grill, apparently heat control is a big reason why this place is so popular. >That and well, Pokemon at work apparently.>I half expected something else, I dunno, charmeleon? Skeledirge? I'm mulling that thought over as I find myself second from the counter and then I smell it.>It's little things that trigger you sometimes.>I'm on a high enough dose my brain tingles when I pop a dose, and so far few things have gotten through. >You will never forget that smell.>It burrows into you, becomes all you can think about.>I feel the flames licking around me, fat and gristle sizzling...>The smell is everywhere, and on everything.>I step upto the counter and make my order, getting a half wave from the Vulpix working the grill.>Whats on the grill is what I'm seeing in my mind, and I manage a wave, and attempt a grin as my world wobbles.>Five minutes later I'm normal again, the world's not going to go upside down on me and I've managed to get myself under control.>It's fine. I'm fine. How are you? Yeah, Dave from stormtrooper engineering's working on a reactor down here....>My number comes up and I'm already almsot hyperventilating but I can keep it together as I grab my bag, drink, carkeys and scramble to the car.>All I can smell is meat burning and hear the crackle-sizzle of fire and fat.>My apartment door opens, shuts and I drop everything on the counter>and as I sit on the couch I think I've gotten myself under control enough to not look like a coke fiend, or twitchy methaddict.
>>58621159>Asshole cat is outside sunbathing on the balcony>I flip the lid of the carton and there it is. >The smell fills the air, I had tracked it for three blocks, on foot, like a crack head searching for a score.>And now I stared at the newspaper wrapped, greasy, dripping chunks of meat on a spike.>I'm trembling as I eat the first chunk of meat and exhale.>My therapist is going to give me a shit for this.>I no longer care.>Do you know how badly I've missed street side cooking? Used to be a cart out in the bazaar off base.>Some of the best Bolani and goat skewers I had ever, or will ever, have.>The smell of the seasoned meat, spiced properly, cooked at the right temperature...>|FEED ME|>I shriek in terror as purrboi lands on my lap with a thud, the carton lands on the table, and he sprints off with a chunk of goat skewere.>"YOU LITTLE SHIT! GET BACK HERE!"
>>58605833>By the time you got back home, you were waiting for a phone call or text from your FBI friend.>Your shift ended earlier today, so maybe she had some stuff to catch up on.>Wasting time between watching TV and doomscrolling.>You weren't really in the mood for any vidya today.>So you were in the process of doing nothing until an interesting interview with the cashier of the local grocery store.>You have met her a few times before when you were doing night shifts and forgot to get groceries at a different time.>Which was unfortunately all the time.>"So I was in the middle of doing my night shift up until this giant bat thing showed up," she said to the camera.>The combination of words, which was "giant bat thing" brought your attention to the TV.>You were praying that it wasn't what you thought it to be.>"Was it aggressive?" asked the reporter.>"No it wasn't; it just showed up with a reusable grocery bag in its mouth and started putting things into it," she replied.>"What were those things?" asked the reporter.>"Uhm. If I recall correctly, it was four bags of frozen shrimp, two bottles of wine, and a lot of fruit and meat. I don't remember which fruits those were," she replied.>Those products seemed very familiar to you.>You proceded to send a text to Derek.>"Derek have you gone to the grocery store at night?" you sent the text and returned to watching the interview.>"No it did pay with cash. Still a strange experience hearing its voice in my head," replied.>"Do you know where it flew away?" asked the reporter.>"No I just saw it take off with the grocery bag in its claws outside, and that is all I saw of it," replied the cashier.>You received a reply from Derek.>"How do you know?" he asked.>"They made a segment about this on the local news channel," you replied.>"Thank you for giving this interview. Now we are going to show you the raw, unedited footage from the CCTV cameras," said the reporter.
>>58620559I mean it in a good way when I say: I absolutely hate this
>>58621506>You started watching the footage of the Noivern putting its groceries into the grocery bag.>Derek is typing.>Carefully putting the wine bottles in the bag with its wing fingers.>Derek is typing.>Throwing out money onto the counter and counting it.>Derek is typing.>And the only voice you could hear was the voice of the cashier.>"Shit," Derek finally replied.>"What were you even doing there? And when did you learn to fly? I know you could hover in your backyard, but I didn't expect fully fledged flight from you at this point," you texted to him.>"Lisa (Salazzle's name) invited me to show up at her place at some point, and I wanted to give a good first impression," he replied.>"So... You got a date?" you replied.>"You could describe it that way," he replied.>"Congrats man. Just don't forget about the light," you replied.>"Thanks. I got a battery-powered lamp around my neck just in case. I just hope Lisa didn't see this broadcast. It could have ruined the surprise," he replied.>You finished the conversation and continued watching TV.>Update on the Snorlax recapture effort.>Something about yesterday's Emboar incident.>Experts suspect a Greninja was involved.>You chuckled to yourself, knowing the truth of the story.>To be fair, if the truth were revealed, it would probably start a mass panic.>To most normies, Pokemon are mostly friendly, if sometimes dangerous, creatures.>A Hisuian Zoroark isn't necessarily friendly, and by what you've seen, it can be very dangerous.>On the topic of Hisuian Zoroarks you were curious why she didn't give you any info about when or where she wanted to talk with you.>It was getting late, so you just sent her a text message.>"Do you still want to talk, or do you want to do it at a later time?" you sent her the message.>Hours passed and no reply.>You decided to go to sleep and left your phone on max volume in case she responded.
>>58621672>Copanon gets a break>Noivernbro is now in the metaphorical hot seatI lol'd. I hope the batman and lizard lady hit it off.
>>58621672>You were sitting at the bar drinking whiskey after a hard day of work at the station.>The black and white TV was showing the news of Explorer 1's takeoff.>"It's about damn time that the good old US of A showed those damned commies who's boss," said the barkeep while polishing a whiskey glass.>"Do you recognize the song?" you asked the barkeep.>"I don't have the faintest idea, to be honest. Probably some new one," he shrugged before returning to his duties.>"You did a great job taking down that Swine, officer," said a woman while taking a seat next to you.>"Just doing my job, Ma'am," you replied.>She had a long, flowing dress with the color purple befitting a Roman empress sparkling in the golden lights of the bar.>Yet there was something familiar about that woman.>"Do we know eachother?" you asked calmly before taking a swig of your whiskey.>"Not directly, but we share a few acquaintances," she replied while supporting her head with her arm.>"Well with whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" you asked while turning in her direction.>"You can call me Mag," she replied.>"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Mag. How may I help you?" you replied.>"Oh. I just want to give you a warning," she replied.>"A warning? A warning of what?" you asked, surprised yet at the same time cold.>"Is there anyone after me?" you asked sternly.>"Not necessarily. More like a premonition of the future," she replied calmly while stirring her drink with her finger.>"Are you some sort of Gypsy fortune teller?" you asked, confused.>"Please I'm better than those scammers," she replied, chuckling.>"So what does my future hold?" you asked, laughing.>"Death. A quite painful one," she said.>"And you are telling me about this because?" you inquired.>"It can be avoided," she said.>"Avoided? How?" you asked.>"By not fighting it," she replied while drinking her whiskey.
>>58621986>>58620559This is why I want to be a Dark type. You psychics and ghosts can get tae fuck.
>>58621986>Your phone ringing woke youup in the middle of the night.>"Who phones people at this hour," you said and rolled over to check the hour and who called.>Fedoark was calling you at two in the morning.>"This better be urgent," you said while you picked up the phone.>"It is, trust me. Can I come over to you?" she asked.>"If it is urgent enough for you not to wait till morning, I guess... Do you know where I..." you were cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing.>"Are you ALREADY at my door?" you asked, 101% tired.>"Yes..." she replied.>"Eugh... Fine. I'm going to open the door for you; just wait a moment," you said while attempting to crawl out of bed.>"No need..." she replied.>"What?!" you asked, dumbfounded.>"I'm already inside; I just walked through the door," she replied before hanging up.>You heard the sounds of claws tapping on your floorboards.>And they were getting closer.>After a while you saw the sickly yellow eyes on the other side of the doorway.>"Hello," you heard her say.>You were paralyzed at that moment.>She took her true form in front of you.>In your house.>"I wanted to have a talk with you after work, right?" she asked in a strange tone you haven't heard from her before.>"I expected you to call me earlier and not just show up at my house in the middle of the night," you replied with a bit of anger in your voice.>"Yes I know. But I was sidetracked, and I really need to talk with you," she said.>"Fine what do you want to talk about?" you asked.>She jumped and sat sideways on your bed, and you felt like you were in some fucked-up German fairy tale.>"I wanted to speak with you about what happened during my fight with the Emboar," she said while starting to shake.>"I didn't want to kill it. I wanted it to suffer. But when I met that Trevenant, I felt nothing. And I don't know what to do about it," she said while the shaking got worse.>"What do you mean you felt nothing?" you asked concerned.
>>58622264>"I-I felt relief. From this hell," she said while stuttering while turning her eyes towards you.>"All I can now feel is hate, HATE, HATE!" she said this while starting to shake and hyperventilate.>All of a sudden she jumped at you, digging her claws into your shoulders.>They were cold as ice.>At this point you were paralyzed by fear.>Your fight-or-flight instinct kicked in.>You were about to grab for your gun on the nightstand, but something dissuaded you from that idea.>"Avoiding death by not fighting it," popped up into your mind.>"I HATE YOU!!!" She screamed at you.>Her breath was an ice-cold wind of putrescence and malice that stung like hornets.>"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you," she kept on repeating it while digging her claws deeper into your shoulders.>"And do you know what is the worst thing about this?" she said, shaking.>"That I HATE myself because of it," she continued.>Her grip became weaker, yet not any less painful.>"You are my friend. How can I hate a friend?" she said, trying to break down crying but unable to.>"You helped me. You hid me. You kept your honor towards me," she said.>"I just want to cry, but I can't. It is just all anger and hatred," she continued.>"I can't even look at my past before I turned without feeling hatred towards my friends and family and myself," she continued.>Her grip on your shoulders became stronger, as if she was preparing to end it.>"WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING SOMETHING!?" she shouted in rage and confusion.>"WHY WON'T YOU PUT ME DOWN LIKE THE RABID ANIMAL I AM?YOUR GUN IS RIGHT THERE!" she continued raging while her grip on you became weaker again.>You had to make the best of the situation at hand.>You moved your arms behind her and dragged her in closer for a hug, putting her head on your chest.>The unexpected move made her go silent and her body go limp.>"I hate you..." she muttered as you felt something ice-cold dripping down onto your chest.
>>58622271Oh no :(
I spent my writing time today mostly revising this conversation to fit more in line with the seal-clubbing idea, because it was amusing. Maybe I'm overdoing it though.I'll be writing more tonight, to include the base camp.I'll be honest, I'm considering Valentine's romantic prospects right now, because I want him to feel good about himself and that includes finding non-platonic love in his life. (He needs platonic love too, that's still on the table.) Love's something he's struggled with due to his own personal issues and trauma, which will become increasingly obvious once I delve into how isolated he truly has become(we've already seen glimpses of that.) The problem is that I'm not coming up with any sincere ideas, which is jeopardizing that desire to let Valentine find healing in EVERY aspect of his life.It probably shouldn't matter, because that's a distant future problem anyways. I just got reminded of it because of Mr. Bats getting a chance himself.>>58622271Oh man. I feel so fucking bad for Fedorak. You're doing a damn great job making everything feel visceral and "real."I hope to handle the conflict and instincts of the former humans as well as you and everyone else can when the time comes for me to tackle it.
>>58622376>Oh man. I feel so fucking bad for Fedorak.Same. Hisuian Zoroark is my favorite Pokemon, so her being a creature of abject misery here is tugging at my heartstrings.
>>58622439Misery and sorrow follow ghosts. She was never meant to have a good life
>>58622779Call it fate, call it destiny, it can get stuffed.
>>58617932>”She’s pretty.”>”Isn’t she pretty?” Kat asked.>The zeraora put a rock on the loose corner of the newspaper.>The thin papers whipped and rattled in the wind, eager to fly with the breeze.>Her yellowed claw pointed the sprawled-out paper, tapping the big story’s subject.>Front page of the local newspaper, dead center.>It was impossible to miss.>And you agreed.>Congress arguing about pokémon relief funding was shoved to page two.>What hope did complicated stories have?>’This person transformed’ is far easier to understand than bureaucracy. >Right now, nothing competed against pokémon.>Pokémon quickly became local celebrities.>You included.>Local news around the world had to be running similar stories.>Unlike the torterra from yesterday’s issue, this one could be interviewed.>’Voice of an Angel’.>Apt title, given the subject.>A gardevoir.>Someone with a talent for singing.>Over a half-century of experience, if the sub-title was to be believed.“Yeah, she is.” You agreed.>No picnic blanket, but this setup would do.>The rooftop of the gas station was smooth, and well-worn from the elements.>Pleasantly warmed from hours of modest sun, and likely some mystery ductwork below.>You handed Kat her fish.>A humble catch from the banks of the nearby river.>Bigger fish in deeper water tempted you, but it would take ages to dry in this cloudy weather.>You’d nearly torn the head off your dinner when you saw steam rising from Kat’s paws.>She flipped the trout, sizzling the opposing side against her glowing, electrified pads. “Clever.” You remarked. >You slammed a wrist-spike on the still flopping head of your meal.>It stopped. >You tossed it to Kat, who fried it alongside the other cooked fish.“Best to kill it first.” You advised.>Kat shrugged.>”D’they even feel anything?” She wondered.>She adjusted her grip.>It boiled the eyeballs of the now dead, intact, fish you first handed her.
>>58617932Is "snip" really the name you guys ended up with? Insane
>>58623032“Given what’s happened to us…” You ruminated. >”To you, Doggy.” Kat corrected.>”Yer the oddball!” She added, rolling her hands.>She still didn’t remember.>Probably never would.“If it’s living, you have to respect it.”“No suffering. Make it quick.”>”Yeah… They’re cute in an icky sorta way.”>”I bet other fish think they’re cute.” Kat mused.>You didn’t share the dread, woeful aura emanating from the fish.>Mercifully gone now, but it was there.>On some basic level, it felt and understood doom.>You shuddered.>Reading the article between you was good distraction from the unsettling observation. >A bright, profile shot taken beside a gleaming stain-glass window. >The gardevoir’s beaming white smile was nearly the same white shade as her fair skin. >She wore a sun dress right out of fifties.>It probably was.>With a smile, Kat slid a warm fish into your cupped paws.>The larger one, you noted.>The one you handed her.“This one was for you.” You objected.>Kat would hear no more.>”Yer bigger, Doggy.” Was all the explanation you got before Kat dug in.>She said something with her mouth full of mushed scale and flesh, but you couldn’t make it out.>You ate.>Somehow, the experience made the taste all the sweeter.>The lack of salt and spices hardly compared to the uniqueness of a rooftop picnic.>Kat picked bones from her mouth, flicking them aside.>You were more careful to eat around them.>”Says ‘er name’s Melody.” Kat added, running a greasy finger through the article.“Oh?”“You can read?” You foolishly intoned without thinking.>Stunned by your crassness, you stopped chewing. >Kat stared back.>Unsure if you insulted her, and likewise unsure if you genuinely didn’t know.“Eh, sorry, that was-“>”Can you?” She asked, donning a wide, smug smile.>”Doggy need me to wead foh ‘im?” She asked again, smushing her cheeks together in further mockery.“Uh, yeah…”“Guess I deserved that.” You muttered.
>>58623038>It did little to stop another minute of teasing.>After which, Kat read the article aloud.>She slurred words together, and added her own storytelling flair, but shared the key information.>A regular churchgoer.>Senior choir member.>Piano lessons.>Music teacher.>Faith. >Thoughts on the world-changing event.>Waking up different, same as the rest.>Mid a back-and-forth about renewed career options, you had an unfortunate thought.“Kat, did you steal this?”>You nodded down at the paper.>Kat’s wider eyes and clamped-shut mouth, gave you the answer.>You shook your head as Kat defended herself.>”What? You wanted a stinky garbage paper?”>”All soaked and sticky?”>She wasn’t wrong.>But it was the principle.>Lucky for her, a rumble rolled over the land.>One Kat knew all too well.>Later than the newspaper predicted, but the thunderstorm came just the same.>Saved by the bell.>She earned herself a stern lecture on theft.>Didn’t matter of it was $2 or $200, it was against the law.>Some deep, old part of you warned against the pettiness of bringing it up.>But it didn’t matter.>Wrong was wrong.>You both had images to maintain.>Today’s goodbye was fast.>And noticeably less destructive than prior goodbyes.>Seemed she wanted to stay on your good side. >After a rough, static-charged pat on the head that made your hair stand, she was off.>Giggling and bounding over a hill.>You watched her trail of sparks until they disappeared behind the tree line. >Cleaning up was easy, if a bit gross.>The newspaper was ruffled and greasy, but put back where it belonged.>Dropped in the bin the second a trucker turned his head.>Sold out, no longer.>Given the strangeness of everything, you considered buying it yourself.>Might be a minor collector’s item someday.>At least a piece of history.>Hopefully someone grabbed it before the rain hit.>With Kat off to recharge, your evening was free.>Just as well.>You wanted to see the angel.
>>58609681>...definitely need to invest in an induction stove top now...>Where was I...>Luckily for me, 3 out of 5 of those frames were caught by the emergency backup. Less to worry about...>I should get up to speed with that later...>But I really don't want to think about it for now...>huh?>Oh, text...>"Hello, we wanted to ask if you're holding up alright on your own? Your dad and I have been a bit worried since you first told us about your... situation, now. You've been keeping indoors, right? I wouldn't want you to get into any fights like that, you looked like just a pair of scissors could do you in, please be careful..." -Ma>"Had any issues with food? We could help you out if you need us to go over, we could take turns if you'd like. Knowing you I get the feeling you're still working despite being a Pokemono now, but really you should ask the Japanese if they can cut you a break for a week at least." -Pa>if only it where that easy...>"We know you can handle stuff on your own, but... please keep us updated, alright? We love you and want to make sure you're doing alright, we'll support you any way we can." -Ma>...>"Hey, sorry for being so quiet! Yep, I've just been figuring stuff out in the meantime.">...fuck should i tell them about amaro...?>"I've... mostly kept to myself, though I did need to go out for stuff the other day, nothing big.">"You made sure to keep a safe distance from everyone right? Can you even wear a mask? I know we don't know if it's a virus exactly but please be careful." -Ma>"Yep. Did my best. I... did actually end up meeting someone else who got hit with it, actually.">"Another Pokemon guy?" -Pa>"Yeah, his name's Amaro, he's nice! He's a Corviknight, uhhh big crow Pokemon with knight armor.">"I'd say 'the things those Japanese come up with' if it weren't real now..." -Pa>"Amaro? Do you know if he's Suzannine's husband?" -Ma>"I actually... don't know, we met kinda... suddenly."
>>58623055>"Well, if you keep in contact with him you should ask! I think your sister did say something about her friend's husband turning, but I don't remember if she mentioned which Pokemon he became..." -Ma>Well shit, maybe he is... Probably should've asked him the other day but I barely even know Suzannine herself...>"Will do! We're actually planning to meet up tonight for dinner, he invited me over to eat with him n his wife.">"Normally I'd be happy for you to go out more, but... Are you sure it's a good idea? I know he's already a Pokemon but Suzannine isn't as far as I know, so maybe you shouldn't risk it, and that's not mentioning people on the way there..." -Ma>"I say you should go, you're both Pokemon anyway, right? Your mom and I also tried looking into the Pokemon you are, and we read that apparently you can fly? So maybe just fly high enough that you don't make contact with people on the way there." -Pa>"But doesn't Suzannine live a bit far...? Is flying easier than driving or walking there...?" -Ma>"I... think I'll be fine. I could use some flying practice I think. I need to do it anyway, don't I?">"Alright... Just please be careful out there ok? Make sure you wash your hands when you get there and stay a bit away from Suzannine! Or well, his wife if it's not her. Is she a Pokemon too, actually?" -Ma>"He said she wasn't.">"Well, maybe she is Suzannine after all, Arle hasn't said anything about her turning..." -Ma>...>fuck if it is suzannine and she tells arle she's going to kill me for not telling her sooner>Agh, but she's still not back from her trip and I still don't want to freak her out...>I'll just ask Suzannine to not bring it up so I can tell her when she's back...>"Alright, yeah I'll be careful and tell you when I get back.">"You probably should ask her not to tell your sister about your situation if it is Suzannine. You know how she'd get." -Pa>Thanks for the indirect reassurance dad...>"Gotta head out, talk to you later!"
>>58623057>"Be careful! Jesus, Mary, and Joseph be with you! We love you." -Ma>"Love you." -Pa>Probably rude of me to not talk to them the last couple days...>Need to change that.>Alright...>Still a bit early so I can worry about those frames later...>But the responsible part of me is telling me to just get the ones that were deleted out of the way out of the way bare-minimum...>I'll just do the dishes later.>Alright, lets just...>https://youtu.be/vNZA0RQ54p4>Thaaaat's more like it.>Time to work.Just a smaller detour while I build up something more interesting for the rest of Kartanon's day, sometimes you just need these smaller moments...>>58620559God damn that's a goodass cliffhanger, still feel real bad for Kayden, but at least Churchanon has a good head on his shoulders and seems to be doing his best to help out the kid.>probably gonna give the narrator a name in the next part. I've been avoiding it for some reason and every time I've tried to introduce one, it just felt wrong so I cut it every time. Now it's getting to the point where conversations are being written around this arbitrary restriction and I'm getting sick of it.Egh, tell me about it, I was in a similar spot with Kartanon for a while. Him being "Cruz" is more of a formality, I still just call him "Kartanon" in my head for the most part, Cruz is there for ease of communication. Here's hoping you'll find one that feels "good" enough sooner than later!>>58622271God damn, you do a great job at making all this (internal) conflict feel real, I feel fucking terrible for Fedoark and wish I could help copanon out in giving her a hug. Some instincts are much harsher on the receiver than others... At least it seems Copanon lending a listening ear might help. Poor lass.oh hell yeah new lucarioanon as I'm in the middle of typing this, always good to see
>>58623043Updated aurabin: https://pastebin.com/dNfCG4seShare your thoughts, comments, ideas for more writing, etc. Always love reading what you have to say.>>58622271>"E'yup, the ol' ball n' chain's at that time in the month, if you catch muh drift." Keep it up! Fun reading. Like the bat-beast shopping too.>>58621177bad gato>>58619053>>58619064One of the reasons I didn't write a tf sequence is because they just blow. You start at point A. You know it's gonna get to point B. There's really not much a point describing new features popping up, the surprise, the weird feelings, bla bla bla... We all know what's gonna happen.Same goes for describing the initial shock after someone changes. >"Woah, man, omg I'm a pokerman now dis is weird!" It's cliche. We've all seen it before and it's not interesting.Better to leave the mechanics and mystery open-ended, and let people have fun thinking about what's going on if they want to.
>>58623071>One of the reasons I didn't write a tf sequence is because they just blow. You start at point A. You know it's gonna get to point B. There's really not much a point describing new features popping up, the surprise, the weird feelings, bla bla bla... We all know what's gonna happen.You're right: it doesn't need to be written about. Whenever it is written about, it's almost always because it's someone's fetish.
>>58623037I didn’t vote for it.
>>58623101Weren't a lot of folks putting up nominations. I just wish I realized /snap/ is also an option for So Now I'm A Pokemon.
>The air hummed in a sharp song of ringing steel>Clash after clash, a percussion of violence that shattered the field's peace>Spotlighted by the harsh noon sun, we executed our deadly dance>My opponent was a mountain of articulated black and gold plate, a living fortress tusked with crimson scythes >I was an impossible blur of sliver of iron and sapphire>The Haxorus snarled, its reptilian eyes swiveling, unable to track the phantom it was fighting>Its left arm hung uselessly limp. Its pristine armor was already riddled with my shallow, exploratory cuts >It bellowed, a sound of pure, artless fury, and the ground shook>A vibrant cascade of purple-black flames erupted, encircling the dragon in a defensive wall>I pulled back my strike, my blue sash searing as it kissed the edge of the draconic fire>The Haxorus burst from the inferno, its twin axes blazing with a torrent of draconic energy. It was desperate to finish this bout in one clumsy, overwhelming strike >Foolish. I expected nothing less. They were all so painfully predictable>My scabbard was already high above, soaring in a perfect arc above the thundering beast >I let reality bleed, darting into the shadow it cast upon the sun-baked grass>The Haxorus's tusk tore through nothing but inky fragments in a near-miss>I emerged from the shadow behind it as a silver streak dashing upwards>I caught my scabbard in a silent pirouette, the world gently spinning before the point of my blade took aim>The air screamed as I descended, a silver tear falling from the heavens>My edge met the thick plating of its back, the impact a dull, unsatisfying thud>The resulting shockwave flattened the wild flora for yards in every direction>I became a blur again, my blue sash streaming violently in my own wake>I struck again. And again. Faster and faster still in a whirlwind of cuts
>>58623401>Each whisper of my blade gouged deeper into plate and scale, searching for the life beneath, until finally, I tasted the coppery tang of its blood on my steel>The Haxorus roared, a sound of both pain and fury, and finally staggered >It offered a weak, desperate swipe of its heavy tail. I ducked gracefully below the clumsy arc>And there, I saw it. A sliver of exposed, trembling flesh beneath the armored hide>I sheathed myself, a single beat of absolute concentration>Then I snapped out like a bolt of lightning drawn across the dragon's side. A faint pink trail of focused energy traced the path of my cut>A single, perfect, straight-line slice>A moment of deafening stillness. Then the wound split open, a grotesque gash erupting in a sudden spray of scarlet>The Haxorus groaned a final, pitiful sound>It collapsed to the ground in a heap of broken armor and broken pride >I hovered, and with a sharp shing, flicked the red droplets from my blade >I turned to regard my defeated foe. And I waited>Nothing. No thrill from the dance. No joy from the victory. No terror from the imagined danger. I felt nothing>The townsfolk offered no challenge. Their power hesitant, spirits unsure of their own skin>The wilderness beasts offered no challenge. All brawn, no thought. Their strategies are basic, animalistic, and utterly boring>I wanted a true challenge. A partner in the dance >I sheathed myself, my blue eye dimming, and continued my journey>The wandering is mindless, save for one thing. An alluring call, a thrumming vibration of power in the background of reality>It emanated from the great mountain that tears the horizon>Whatever it is, it made my core resonate, my blood boil>Perhaps others of true strength would feel this call as well>Perhaps there I would finally feel alivehttps://rentry.co/larsonkurtSomething a bit different, felt a little stuck and wanted to at least get something posted. Wonder where that Honedge from earlier is going…
Lots to catch up on, everyone really came out swinging today!>>58620559Oh damn, leaving us on a cliffhanger like that! Even if the chandelier ghost didn’t appear, Churchanon would have had to tell his mom about what was going on real soon. Even the most well behaved kids get up to trouble, it would be a matter of time until she found out about Kayden. Wonder how he’s gonna deal with this. Will he have to somehow get in contact with Dusknoir to take care of things? >>58621177Damn, really shows how some of the most mundane things can cause these types of episodes, sucks Phox has to deal with that shit. Also bad cat, eat your own food!>>58622271Hell yeah Derek, good luck on the date. Also god damn I feel so bad for Fedorark, miserable experience she’s been having. Really hope someone’s gonna be able to get her the help she needs before something irreversible happens.>>58622376I like the extra stuff you added here, funny how they just immediately jump to ‘oh yeah I shot it’ as the explanation, really puts how forward this guy’s personality is. The explanation of how the primarina are able to sing like they do is interesting as well.>>58623043Cute as always. Funny seeing lucario trying to teach morals to someone who can basically do whatever they want. Really interested to see what happens in the next part with the gardevoir.
>>58623058 #Unfortunately their son is already a shonen protagonist, trouble is gonna find them whether they go out or not. Man really interesting that Amaro’s wife might be Kartanon’s sister’s friend, but explains why he thought Amaro’s name sounded familiar when they met. Probably for the best to ask her not to say anything, a pissed off sister is never fun.>>58623209 #Yeeaaahhh, this is why I voted for /sip/. /snap/ is pretty good too. Oh well, at least we can keep the tradition of the general name never being consistent. Unfortunate that this board has a total of 3 jokes they cycle through.
I don't know how long I can keep going like this. I think I'm going to have to tap out for a bit. My bad luck struck again on Wednesday in a pretty nasty double whammy and now I'm struggling to do anything over the unending anxiety.I'm sorry. I may not even get over my chapter 3 curse at this rate like I wanted, and it feels like I'm failing people I actually like, again...Uhm, related to the segment I've posted, I've opted for an unusual approach. I'm going to use 《》for internal thoughts and ≪≫ for monologuing that managed to escape, at least Valentine's perspective. It feels like it's subtle enough and doesn't run into the issue of Valentine being aware enough to put double quotes instead of single quotes.>>58623505 >>58623524 (Deleted and replaced with >>58623539)Thanks.Someone pointed out that in the anime Primarina's tongue never moves while it's using Sparkling Aria, which is why I went to the "dual syrinx" approach. Plus, it explains why it's such a priority to keep the throat in good condition as per the Pokedex, because that is an INCREDIBLY fragile system that could cause all sorts of problems if it receives even the slightest damage.Evolutionary theory is for someone who hasn't met a Pokemon world builder, the Pokemon world is absolutely a world of intelligent design by tired programmers :PI ended up deleting my post praising your one-shot, and I apologize because that was silly, but I felt that it wasn't up to snuff, especially after lamenting how I was barely able to respond to anyone else. Still, I'm glad you saw and know that I enjoyed your work.
I know you Lot Said no Legendaries but what if I give you a couple of one shot anthologies?
I have an idea for someone else Kartanon could meet, one I'm feeling rather confident in thematically, but definitely another thing I need to build up towards before introducing it... Just adding onto the delayed gratification pile, but dammit a good build up will make those scenes all the more satisfying when they do happen just like the Amaro fight was.>>58623071>Share your thoughts, comments, ideas for more writingThere's good reason Lucario's the Protag guy after all, great stuff as usual! Really love the dynamic you've got going on with him and Kat, feels very natural, and the teasing is great fun. Interesting learning that Kat can read, does make me wonder what her deal was pre-turning... Also really feel for the Lucario hero instincts welling up on the guy, it's probably a good thing in the long run though yeah he'll likely feel he doesn't need to be so uptight in the future...>>58623405I'll be blunt, damn I feel like you pulled off the writing style I go for for swordsman Kartanon waaaaay better than I ever have and am somewhat getting second thoughts, god damn this was good, great oneshot! Interesting seeing the thoughts of that Honedge, wonder how much of the mentality is the human and how much is just Honedge whims taking the reigns...>>58623539Sometimes the biggest worries in life are not you turning into a Pokemon, but rather telling your easily anxious sister about it...>thread nameDidn't really comment on it, I think /sip/ would've been the better call, mainly since /snap/ could probably get us mistaken for a Pokemon Snap thread...
>>58623613Oi, no second thoughts! I TAKE ALL OF THE SECOND THOUGHTS IN THIS THREAD! I AM THE DOUBT BLACK HOLE, GOD DAMN IT! >:LI really like your work kartanon, even if I'm not able to really comment on it often due to that all consuming dread. You do a great job with what you've been doing, even if it's not necessarily what you originally aimed for.>>58623586Well, I personally I feel the hesitation of the other anons, but I think that they wouldn't have too much of an issue with one-shots as long as it's EXCEEDINGLY clear that they're separate from anything else this thread is doing. I dunno, change the setting to make it distinct. Make it cyberpunk Detroit or feudal Japan.Maybe don't take my word though.
>>58623631My idea is that legendaries are mostly forces of nature.Why not have them spawn not from humans but Natural disasters.And have reactions around their appearances.That my premise of the Anthology anyways.I figure this way it doesn't step on toes or introduce humans with God forms, which is assume is the major faux pax you want to avoid.
>>58623551Better to take a break than burn yourself out and never want to continue. Maybe a compromise would be to find a good stopping point for the chapter before they start the experiment shenanigans and save it for the next one? That way you have a bit of a breather and are able to polish up and break that curse you got. Those marks seem like they could serve that purpose fine. Never really watched the show so never knew that tidbit about primarina, actually pretty interesting detail.>>58623586FAQ is more of a suggested guideline, so if you want to post some legendary one-shots you’re free to do so. It was just recommended to avoid them at the start because it gets a little stale if a story basically is just ‘lol I turned into Arceus I’m god and can do anything lmao’.>>58623613Ooh, see now you got me interested in all these mysterious characters you keep saying you have tucked up your sleeve.Glad you enjoyed the one-shot. Your fights were actually inspirations for this one lmao, I really like the way you describe them.
>>58623648>>58623646See here.
>>58621177Look, if you didn't want the cat to eat the food you shouldn't have brought it into the cat's house>>58622271Really liked this, some of your best work yet. Poor Fedoark.>>58623043Cute date, glad to have you back>>58623058This was nice>>58623405Very well described. Almost poetic.>Name discussionshttps://poal.me/ls6cjwShould have just done this last time, everybody vote. I'll check back in on this tomorrow, I really should be in bed.
>>58623646That's interesting. I like this anthology idea. The forces of nature are oft unfriendly towards human whims.I got the greenlight for Type: Null from an anon who knows way more than me, so I've been trying to think of how to introduce them. I actually came up with the idea of them being a sort of tsukumogami situation shortly before you came into the thread asking about legendaries. It's neat to see that we came to a similar conclusion that legendaries probably shouldn't be human directly.Not sure where to go with my own idea though. The idea that it reflects Valentine in more ways than one because it has connection to something Valentine used to love has caught my eye, especially because of the already pre-existing traits that the two share as is, but it's not the only option, and there's plenty more good options. A Novachord, for example!>>58623648I'll see. The next plot point I had written down is just him making a phone call to the town he was teleported out of to try to make sure his car isn't towed away(good time to also mention the missing police officer if THAT ends up being his companion.) Maybe I can just give him the oran berry juice, and have him relax in one of the sheds or something, rather than following that up with the experiment.That does throw a potential delay in my idea of him meeting his next companion though, since the experiment's probably not the best time-especially when I wanted to write the introduction in a different POV. Hrmm...Maybe I could just make the experiment a shorter chapter? That feels lame but it does effectively cover my bases.
>>58623646Yeah this could be interesting. I say go for it.>>58623668Thank you! I tried to make it flowery, the Aegislash line is strangely noble when they find someone worthy of serving, so I tried to pull from that.>>58623688I don’t see anything wrong with a short chapter. I also don’t see anything wrong with swapping POV after the experiment, just gotta make sure it’s clear it happens. Plus it’s a good spot to swap since the experiment would be a completed idea. Either way, I think it’s better to end on a natural conclusion to a lot of new information rather than force yourself to continue.
>>58618693Dude comes off so scatter-brained that it sort of obfuscates the level of threat he may or may not truly pose. I dig that. So far his inventiveness also seems commendably grounded, which I dig as well. Reminds me of when a friend made a 40K/Friendship is Magic crossover way back when - the bolters did essentially exactly that, firing sleepy-time paintballs. I don't really need do a lot of proof-reading anymore because you're doing really well in that regard these days.>>58620559I'm all in favour of naming the characters rather than leaving them as anons. Anyway, Stephen is such a bro. Churchanon fearing change and this flowing naturally into why he tries to hide Kayden rather than tell his mother the truth is really well-handled. Getting to know the mum a bit more before the fuckening happens was also a savvy choice, as is the Chandelure's incredibly poor timing. When this is all over, assuming she lives, she'll still be (rightly) mad he didn't tell her despite him having promised to tell her soon. The truth hurts, Churchanon, but it also sets you free.For now, though, focus on survival. Not sure exactly how you're gonna do that, mind, but rootin' for ya.>>58621177When you just GOTTA get that cheeky shawarma and not even a PTSD episode will stop you. Really shows that, for better or worse, VetPhox's pool of stubborn willpower is immense.>purrboiClassic>>58621672Interesting how a Noivern doing a simple late-night grocery run is still newsworthy probably weeks after Charlie made his debut. Man, I'm only ever given more reasons to finally get MachoMon updated, huh? Also, transformee romance!>>58621986I see Mismagius (or Mag, I guess? Do the name and gender in the dream cross over to IRL, do we think?) has found a far more subtle way to get her(?) messages across. Kudos for that.
>>58622271...and SORELY needed, it seems, good grief! The actual ass happened between you and Trevenant, lady!? The trauma and emotional devastation of near-unfettered H.Zoro instinct is great, as others have said - feels like it's been a long time coming, but I'm honestly more curious to hear the full story now that Copanon's managed to flip Fedorark to her dere side. Slick moves, Mag.>>58622376This is where Val's overactive imagination backfires. Love it. As for romance, it's usually better to heal and improve yourself in other ways first so that you can be functional as a partner. As such, I wouldn't worry too much about having to hammer out an idea for that right now, but definitely something to have in the back of your mind. A concept will likely come to you when you're showering or shopping or otherwise doing something that takes just enough mental focus to leave your thinking space clear but not bored. >>58622779Even "not meant to" doesn't mean "can't". If anybody can help Fedorark live well it's Copanon.>>58623043Glad to see a Lucarioanon post. Kat seems a lot calmer now - I'd like to think Lucarioanon being so firm and steadfast has something to do with that. He's a pillar of (relatively) serene strength in the raging, chaotic storm of her life - something she can count on. This both leans into the Lucario instincts and points to him starting to take on a father figure role, probably without meaning to. I slightly worry for his finances, since he mentioned he was low a while back and hasn't done anything about it, but it feels like he's pretty much fully integrated the two halves of himself at this point - the devoted heroism of a Lucario and the quirky awkwardness of an average human. Perhaps seeing the Gardevoir (possibly the same one Phoxanon referenced?) will underscore this for him. I know I keep bringing this game up, but I was listening to the Keep Driving soundtrack and imagining this scene in that game's art style and it was whole as fuq.
>>58623058>sometimes you just need these smaller moments...I completely agree. I love the "huh, small world" aspect of Amaro's life potentially already being known to the family. It points to his town likely having already been a pretty wholesome place even before he turned - makes sense then that he landed on his non-existent feet so well. Honestly, "Cruz" is a perfectly fine name and I think you should embrace it - maybe lean a bit into the latin cultural heritage it suggests.>>58623071I hope the initial shock stuff I did for Charlie wasn't too viscerally awful.>>58623037What can I say? It's the only time we've had anything remotely close to majority consensus regarding the name.>>58623209>>58623539I really don't care all that much as I've said - changing it to /snap/ or /sip/ works for me - unless changing the forward slash code thing (what do you even call that?) is just considered such incredibly bad 4chan etiquette that we can't now.>>58623405This is definitely giving "what if Kartanon went feral?" vibes, which fits with what Larson and Kurt saw of this guy. I can't say he's the MOST interesting owing to the utter single-mindedness, but if you intend to continue following him for a bit, I'm certainly interested to see what he finds up the mountain.>>58623505>everyone really came out swinging today!Don't I know it?>>58623551I saw your deleted post. The thing with this is that it still mostly lacks the typos and tense snarls, and I quite like science guy's ghetto setup - you just didn't finish writing this before posting it, is all. Nothing wrong with that, and it doesn't mean you're suddenly hopeless. Just take a deep breath, fix yourself something you enjoy, and come back to this passage later. You've made incredible progress in a short amount of time - be proud of that. And sure, the triangle brackets approach can work. Also, I'd keep your praise posts up because even if it's not much at first, the more you do the easier it'll become.
>>58623646This is a pretty good idea, actually. Heh, maybe we really will get to see an attack submarine play cat and mouse with Kyogre after all...>>58623688Given its chimera-like form, maybe the Null could be an amalgam of a discarded object AND the critters that were inhabiting it? I don't hate the idea of object transformation (we already toyed with the idea of normal rocks turning into evo. stones, after all, and, hey, if we're going to accept 3464's premise of weather events transforming...), but I do think it should be incredibly rare. You've been concerned about making the presence of the legendary feel earned, so I think giving it a deep connection to Valentine's past is a very solid idea.I think Snivyanon's right (is that dude ever NOT right about something? I haven't seen it happen) that cutting the chapter short may work well - maybe close it off with the anticipation and trepidation of the forthcoming experiment, rather than the experiment itself. The experiment itself being a shorter chapter is fine. Breaking up a daunting workload into smaller, more manageable pieces is one of the most useful things you can do for yourself. I was doing that very thing with a 110 page manual just today.I do kinda like the idea of the cop that helped him going missing and ending up as Val's next transformed companion. Might feel a LITTLE convenient, but him being able to "give back" in that way would probably be pretty good for his mental health. Like I said - we're already in full back the blue mode by this point, so I wouldn't worry about stepping on Snivyanon or Copanon's toes in that regard if you do decide to go with that.I also just wanna emphasize this again: You're doing alright, Drifteranon. You've made good progress, and we like your stuff. Pace yourself, and know that we're here to support you.
>>58623894>What do you even call thatI think the closest is either sub-board or general name.It's not generally considered GREAT ettiqutte to be changing that, but we're also finding our footing at the moment. Generally, you just want to avoid that when you're an established general. Besides, /g/uro became /g/ijitsu, and if that can happen, we can become a daily /sip/.Interesting fact: You can actually search by adding what you're looking for at the end of the url, IE: /vp/sipI think >>>/vp/sip will also work but I'm not positive. Let's test it, shall we?(So, revision since I'm doing the thing referenced two sections down in the old post: Test worked. Uh... unfortunately not to our favor.)>I saw your deleted postGood. I'm glad that you think that, even though it's really just rust being shaken off.That said, somehow, me AND the spell checker missed utteraly though, which is UTTERALY ridiculous! :P>nothing wrong with thatMost of my anxiety didn't come from my work here, but all of this is definitely feeding into the anxiety.>keep the praise posts upYeah, I would normally, but NOT that one. Literally just "woo, that's concerning. I liked it." Directly following my lamentations that I was struggling to comment on everyone else's.Not only did that feel like an insult to Snivyanon's work, which deserved WAY better praise, but also it felt like I was making an insult to everyone else. Even if I didn't feel that it was insulting, it's a waste of a post in an environment that's mostly text posts.I appreciate your work tremendously. It means a lot to me, and I'm sure it means a ton to the rest of the thread that you're willing to comment on everyone else.
>>58623953Fair enough. /sip/ it is from now on, I guess.If you need to talk about stuff, maybe the two of us could get in contact off the board? Congratulations about having been published, though (don't think I didn't see THAT before you deleted it). Ha, I hope their editor caught the tense snarls!I think you're being a bit TOO paranoid about "not blogposting", incidentally. There was nothing wrong with mentioning you got published or that you're trying not to gunk the thread up. Both of those were fineI've said this before too - don't be hard on yourself. Praise however many you can, in whatever way you can. That's far better than never commenting on anything at all despite wanting to. Like I said - doing this shit is HARD WORK. Rewarding, but hard. I should NOT be taken as the benchmark here. In fact, I seriously considered telling everybody that I couldn't do it anymore when I saw how much stuff there was today. But, ultimately I rolled up my sleeves, dove in (largely because of what's happening in Copanon's story right now, funnily enough) and a couple of hours later? Well, it wasn't easy, but it was rewarding. That Keep Driving bit while I was reading Lucarioanon's latest is one of the better moments of true escapism I've felt lately.
>>58623894It was mostly a one-shot thing as far as Larson and Kurt stuff, I feel pretty stuck at the moment with that story and just wanted to get something posted. The whole thing that it’s attracted to with the mountain is a direct tie in to Serpent and Wyrm, so it’ll pop up over there eventually.And yeah as Drifteranon said, I think everyone here appreciates your thoughts on their stories! Today definitely was an outlier with everyone posting and update at once, but don’t burn yourself out feeling like you have to take a large chunk of your day to do so.
>>58623937>an amalgamPossibly, though I'd then have to justify how Valentine never heard of it going missing. It'd have to be kind of big to incorporate the mammal and fish properties, and an IBM 1401 (hypothetical example based on something similar my dad actually has in his possession) would be a pretty massive ommission from whatever storage container you're keeping it boxed up in, especially if it broke out of said storage container with brute strength.>breaking the chapterEh, it's mostly just that I don't like writing chapters were exactly one thing happens and nothing else. That's why it feels "lame" to me.>the copI didn't intend to make them the same cop that helped him, buuut that might actually be a pretty good idea. It gives them more of a reason for him to help them outside of either coersion(hypnosis was on the table for the Vulpix option, another sign they're leaning far too into what they've become and yet another distinguishing factor between them and Matsui,) or him just going "I already deal with enough regrets in my life, I don't need anymore."Also, convenience isn't a terribly massive concern here. "May you live in interesting times" isn't an immediate "you will experience nothing but bad luck" deal, so it'd fall right in line with Shrodinger's curse. "Too unlucky and lucky to be 'normal,' but also not unlucky enough or lucky enough to be definitively cursed" is the line I'm trying to balance, at least for now. I might let loose later, since a Type: Null is kind of the ultimate simultaneously unlucky and lucky find, period.>>58623957>Don't think I didn't see THAT before you deleted itDamn it! >:LMaybe I'll give them another look and see for ya. It'd be funny if they didn't catch my tensing errors back then.>I couldn't do it anymoreI learned the hard way through attempting similar feats with /ef/ how hard it is with that workload. I would not have blamed you for calling it quits even if I can't earnestly say I don't depend on you.
>>58623974I'm sure I'll burn out eventually, but this is one instance where if you don't do it, the workload just keeps piling up, so it is what it is.>>58623993I was thinking maybe it got thrown out at some point (maybe even against Val's wishes) and was rusting away in a junkyard someone, hence nobody noticing it was missing.Worst case scenario you can always merge shorter chapters together later. I think that's another habit of yours that may be worth breaking. Far better that the chapter be exciting and manageable for you to write, rather than containing a pre-prescribed number of set pieces.If the idea is for Val to be both lucky and unlucky at the same time, the cop and the backwoods scientist both definitely fit with that, so good stuff there.If I ever do quit, it won't be abandoning the thread entirely - I'll just save the commentary for where it's TRULY needed, and you're definitely an example of it being truly needed. I'll also still do the archive updates.>>58623996No worries, just give me ahoy when you're ready.
Unless you've made a humongous error in your post, please stop compulsively deleting and reposting it; just post another reply. All these repeated edit-deletes messes up the record of the thread and makes it harder to follow.
>>58621177>>58621159Guys, my *Media Literacy* is failing me. I don’t think I understood what actually happened.>A) VetPhox is having a PTSD episode from war experiences with burning flesh that the cooked meat reminds her of>B) VetPhox is having a PTSD episode from war experiences that the smell of exotic cooked meats reminds her of>C) VetPhox is not actually having a PTSD episode, just indulging in some good food, at the risk that it might trigger an episode by reminding her of a war experience>D) the VetPhox is enjoying food they haven’t had since their war experience, and the author is being clever subverting our expectations that she’s having PTSD from a traumatic experience
>>58623646Why not have them spawn not from humans but Natural disastersGotta give you some push back. It's not like you can't make good stories around legendaries, but this doesn't sound like it fits the thread. Won't say no to more stories, but I think the idea misses the point.It's people/animals turning into pokemon. What you're suggesting is legendaries popping up from nothing. You're still introducing "gods" but they were just born yesterday and have no prior lived experience.
>>58624188I believe it's moreso that she's fighting through the PTSD trigger (with the help of the literal horse tranquillizers that she's on) to indulge in something she normally can't because of said PTSD trigger.
>>58624261The Anthology is about the human experience as these Kaiju spawn.Think something along the lines of Cloverfeild or the New Godzilla.But in one offs
>>58623505I've tried immersion therapy, it helped to a degree. I still get that initial 'oh fuck, conta- wait, no....' spike of adrenaline here and there. Also - when you have a cat, is it truly your food anymore? as >>58623668 states - i did bring it home afterall...>>58623755 (check batch response below as well but: Behold, Humanity!)>>58624188>>58624262Batch response: Yes AND No.You never forget the smell of *That* burning.However, for just a hair second - depending on prep, passing a shop that sells goat or pork skewers will fuck me up and leave me feeling two ways: One - best goat skewers I've evr fucking had was a corner stall at the bazaar in Afghanistan just off base. I bought that shit by the fucking box.On the flip side - went boar hunting once, and then we had a big boar road afterwards... they decided burning the hair off was fasted to just roast the boat on the spit that way. I was not a fan of eating much that day. so for Phox, it's a combinaton of triggers: Last place smelled? Afghanistan, also, source of a lot of trauma? Afghanistan/iraq/kuwait trifecta - and a love of middle eastern food combined to be a : Yes, a trigger, Also, insert spongebob:I NEEEEEEEED IT
>>58624762Also, I will not apologize for the typonese demons devouring my keyboard this morning.
>>58617932Never posted before, and don't really use 4chan at all, so please forgive and correct my mistakes.Slight preemptive note, while Mew does give some explanations, nothing is said that is not already common or assumed in other stories on here with two exceptions.The free magic bit is just a nod to how other stories that suddenly add magic to 'our world' generally don't fare well, and these stories are specifically supposed to avoid the apocalypse.Making Legendaries from the original pokemon world somehow responsible for the transformations without specifying anything seems like a fair enough assumption for the prompt.Feel free to disregard either way, though.
>>58625047“It is time for you to wake up, little kitten.”And with that I was conscious, but not aware of myself or my surroundings, a very strange feeling.“I will put you back together in just a minute. In the meantime, I have some explanations as a little bit of nepotism, mini-me.”I felt something soft nuzzle my head, but when I focused on the feeling, I lost sensation entirely again.“As it is, your world is gaining aura. Except without gods like Giratina to properly manage what you call the Distortion World, aura is not actually aura; it’s free magic. And free magic can be really dangerous when left unchecked, so we have been trying to add pokemon to stabilize things.“Transforming so many plants, animals, and humans into pokemon was quite a challenge from a universe away. With the rate of change… we did what we could. Tools were made. Shortcuts were made. Mistakes were made.“The worst mistake we made was that we needed to use existing templates and copies for the transformations, but the copies could not and cannot all be cleaned or applied properly. Not only are some people not gaining and understanding vital instincts, they are sometimes even losing themselves to a lobotomized copilot that steals volition away from the mind. We don’t even have a way to fix it from here, so the affected pokemon will just have to deal with botched instincts and foreign memories.”
>>58625053My mind was still quite fuzzy, but I did remember hearing something like that in the news. I guessed all the feral stuff really was as bad as people were making it out to be.“Enough of me complaining about work, my break is almost over, and you still need the rundown of what to do.“I put actual effort into transforming you, so you should be functioning properly, but you won't have any divinity, now or ever. Without divinity, you will be really fragile. If you find yourself in a fight and can’t dodge or block everything, then you should run or surrender.“Stick to practicing psychic type energy, the others are a waste of your natural capabilities. You also can't really multitask like other psychics too. Oh, and don’t bother with fair fights either, you really won’t have the raw power to contest anyone competent.“Its not all doom and gloom though. Our psychic finesse is second to none, and that leads to some very silly techniques we see the kittens come up with. I can’t wait to hear about what kind of nonsense a kitten from a mundane world can come up with.”I felt something sharp prick the tip of my tail, and sensation rolled up my long spine to the tips of my ears. I caught a faint, chiming laugh from somewhere, but lost it before my ears swiveled in the right direction.I was distinctly more lucid now, like I was on the verge of waking up from a dream.“Looks like you are all set to go. I will teleport you over a bit of a hotspot that you can help keep stable. Your world is watching, so try to put out what metaphorical and sometimes literal fires you can. Good Luck!”
>>58625056I awoke high above a suburb, probably only a few miles away from the town proper by the looks of it. I caught myself in a hover and blocked out the wind whipping my short fur around. I was in the wind for only a few seconds, and I was already shivering.Something black fell past me as I started floating, and before I could think of catching it with telekinesis, it was already long out of reach. That was probably my phone, wasn’t it? I was over some trees so there was some hope, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find it in a hundred little plastic pieces down there.As I floated down, I started feeling out my psychic energy, just to figure out how to do what. Basic application of force was easier than moving my now tiny limbs, and most of the control was as easy as moving a dominant hand. Or more accurately, the basics were effectively automatic.My very simple tests made me much more aware of how tailor made my new body was to psychic energy specifically. Although looking down, I was really disproportionate, even compared to artistic or game depictions.As far as I could tell, my head and tail were grossly oversized compared to everything else. Extremely thin arms and legs, not helped by how short my fuzzy pink fur was. Narrow hips that offered oddly limited movement to legs with seemingly no muscle mass or much of anything else for that matter. Ribs and shoulders which could nearly be described as warped from the sheer size discrepancy of the spine they were attached to. My tail was probably nearly at full length and thickness for an adult, and I could spiral over my head and around again five times without any parts touching. I couldn’t really get a decent estimate floating though the air like this with nothing to compare to though.
>>58625063The real highlight of the show was the psychic focus at the tip of my tail. It seemed like a big bundle of nerves and type energy, and I could sort of sense how all my energy channeled down my spine into that spot. What it meant to have a focus at the end of an extremely long tail, instead of like in your hands or on your forehead, I had no idea and my new intuition didn’t give any hints either.Continuing with my psychic experimentation, I was caught up in making psychic barriers. Instead of just casting a bunch of shields over and over, I could push energy into a psychic construct and adjust a bunch of things without needing to activate and solidify it. Barriers seemed to be recursively complex with every answer yielding multiple questions to keep the questioning going, but getting so far into the weeds would kind of be a waste of time without a specific application in mind.Most importantly, there seemed to be a tug of war going between casting time, complexity, energy use, and effectiveness. It made a lot of intuitive sense, but there was a certain elegant efficiency to a simple sphere. It was actually very complex and tricky to form the psychic construct for a spherical shield compared to basic squares and stuff, but it felt like the correct shape.It only took me twenty minutes of hovering in place above this tree to learn ‘keep it simple, stupid’ but with magic this time. I really needed to get my phone and figure out what to do.
>>58625071Luckily, the phone’s path was pretty obvious. It fell into the tree’s outer branches, then into a very convenient bush. Said bush was one of those fancy round bushes that now looked like someone blasted a hole into it, but the phone within was undamaged. And also quite big compared to me. How was I supposed to carry this thing around?Testing a few things gave me a cool new technique for linking various aspects of constructs (moves? spells? Spells for now, for the mystique) to each other and also feeding varying information into the spell after it was set. It was kind of obvious now that I thought about it, a static shield that couldn’t move with me would be pretty useless.I did notice something strange while I was monkeying around with tying outside information into my spells. I sensed some kind of strange psychic noise. My first guess based on pure instinct would be someone having a seizure, but listening in, it was consistent and quite close. As in, probably right inside the house I was messing around outside of.I stopped my valuable research and floated around inspecting some of the windows, closing in on the source. In a second story window with the blinds freshly opened, a Xatu stood perfectly still as if they were still in the middle of opening said blinds. Their condition looked pretty bad. It was a bit hard to tell from outside the window, but their eyes looked bloodshot and there was a worrying black substance pooling at their feet.I should probably call an ambulance. Despite how good my intuition with psychic type energy was, I did not have the skill as a freshly transformed baby to handle whatever psychic breakdown this former human was in the middle of having. I did, however, have the skill to try out getting some kind of clairvoyance working to see the street name and the number on the mailbox from here.
>>58625082After a very short 911 call, and the annoyance of realizing my phone’s touch screen required actual touch, not telekinetic force, I was left with a ten minute ETA.I should probably quit my job and give a quick call home while I wait.—“...I gotta go, the ambulance is pulling onto the street.” — “Love you too, and thanks again. Bye.”I was just staring at the black screen as the ambulance started pulling in, and I remembered I should probably hide my identity just a bit if I was going to be flying around like a vigilante trying to help people. I quickly launched it at the bushes and turned to face the parking vehicle. The clunk of my phone hitting the brick house instead of the bushes was not a great sign. At least I didn’t break a window.Easiest way to skirt suspicion, consequences, and responsibility would be to just follow the canon examples. Time to crank the childlike whimsy to eleven. Maybe a four or five instead, I wasn’t a particularly whimsical person before, so I gotta manage my expectations.
>>58625092I started by floating up to, then hanging upside down in front of an older, rather bulky and tanned man with a shaved head. He looked like he was the type of person to sling a two hundred pound man over their shoulders and run a mile for fun. Maybe because, as an EMT, he probably did.“Hewwo doctor man!” I waved, giggled, did a loop, the works. Now let's see if he bought it.“Oh, hello little one. Do you think you can show me where the hurting person is?” He spoke just that little bit slower, with perfect enunciation, like he was talking to a child. Perfect.“Mhmm! Mhmm!” I emphatically nod while pointing to the house.Our flawlessly choreographed routine was tragically interrupted by the other EMT who decided to not play along and to notice the obvious problem. She was much younger than the man, maybe mid 20’s, and probably a fresh hire or trainee. She could have been brought along because of pokemon knowledge considering a Xatu was the rescuee.
>>58625097“Th-thats a Mew! They’re a legendary pokemon! Like an actual god!” She was wide eyed with awe. And also wrong.“Nuh-uh!” I float over to her and waggle a finger at her. “I was told that I didn’t have any god-ness in me. So that means I’m not a Legendary and get to do whatever I want! I am mundane, or no, I am not of Heaven? Not divine, yeah… I am terrene! That's a good word for it!”I really hope she picked up what I was putting down because I botched that explanation and was scrambling to pull something out of my ass by trying to be childish about it. From the baffled expression on her face she could be drawing just about any conclusions right now.“Uh… Nice to meet you, Terrene.” I smack a paw to my face. How did she think that was me giving my name?It sounded enough like a name, and it could be useful to have people assuming my name incorrectly. We still had a bird to save so thoughts for later.
Oh boy, this is... Something to say the least>>58625047>Making Legendaries from the original pokemon world somehow responsible for the transformations without specifying anything seems like a fair enough assumption for the prompt.Missed the part of the prompt where "nobody knows why it's happening, including you. Don't try to explain it." If this is supposed to be in the same AU as the rest of the stories here, it's broken that part out the gate.>>58625053>>58625056I assume that this Mewtwo "assembling" the protagonist, Mew. It's a lot of exposition about this "free magic" that is basically uncontrolled aura. Because the Distortion World doesn't exist. Except I don't remember anything about the Distortion World being related to aura as much as antimatter which is based on a real concept in physics from what I understand. Antimatter isn't magic.>>58625082I don't know what's going on with Xatu but it seems kind of interesting. Not sure what emergency services is gonna do about it, but they're welcome to try>>58625092>>58625097Going from not being particularly whimsical to "Hewwo doctor man" isn't exactly a 4 or 5 on whatever scale we're measuring this on.>>58625110And a Mew, even under normal circumstances, isn't really a God. Or a legendary. It's a mythical pokemon, seemingly an ancestor to every pokemon, and is exceedingly rare. So yeah, this story is something to say the least. I wouldn't mind seeing a Mew character it seems like it could be fun. Powerful but playful can work for a light-hearted character. I just don't think this could really be considered canon, assuming that even was the intention of course. Maybe I'm just stupid and misunderstanding your intentions
>>58625047I'll start with a positive:You were brave posting this. You definitely seem younger and less experienced. Maybe English isn't your first language. Glad you decided to practice.But it's shit.>>58625053>>58625056>don't try to explain it>explains itThere is a very good reason the Lucario writer stressed "don't explain the mystery". Yesterday in >>58623071 he shared why its a bad idea to explain the change. It immediately sucks the fun right out of the setting. Let there be mysteries. Let things be unanswered. Let people fill in the blanks.Let people discuss those blanks.This opening doesn't add anything to your story, it detracts from it. If it were cut from the story and began with mew in the sky, it would be improve. It would still be bad, but it would improve. Writing legendaries is already a horrible idea. Telling the reader "erm, this oc legendary won't be overpowered" just makes me scratch my head. Why not use literally any other psychic pokemon at that point? Can "looks like a god but doesn't have god powers" work? Sure. But I'll be frank, you need to practice writing before tackling something like that.>>58625110>“Nuh-uh!” I float over to her and waggle a finger at her. “I was told that I didn’t have any god-ness in me. So that means I’m not a Legendary and get to do whatever I want! I am mundane, or no, I am not of Heaven? Not divine, yeah… I am terrene! That's a good word for it!”pic related
>>58625110While I agree with the general sentiment of "don't try to explain it", I do find the concept you've got going on very interesting, specially the "gimped Mew" angle (hell something similar was posited earlier with a Xerneas without godly powers), though it does lead to some overlap with other more regular psychic mons. I do actually like the characterizing you've given Terrene so far, just trying to adapt to the situation. In terms of the explanation thing, given the rest of canon so far, my interpretation is that, seeing as all Pokemon so far are only transformees, if it's a Mewtwo that's talking... It could very well just be some other lucky guy who himself got turned into a legendary while knowing the lore, so he feels "has" to play a sagely role and tries pulling the Arceus stunt on others, 'least that's my take on this. I do also feel for the poor Xatu coping with the change in mentality, the flow of the story's pretty nice too, and I do also like seeing how the guy grapples with Mew being very, very wimpy physically, needing to compensate with the psychic powers. I greatly disagree with it being "shit" or a "terrible" idea, I feel something promising with this, just probably better to keep away from the explanation aspect. I'd vouch against being discouraged by this early reception, just polish it up some more and maybe help upkeep the mystery of it all some more, I think it could become something pretty great.
>>58622271>Her long fur was cool to the touch.>Flowing between your fingers, or more accurately flowing through them, as the hairs never tangled around your digits.>You'd describe this as a pleasant experience compared to how the rest of her body felt to the touch.>It was an uncanny sort of cold that you couldn't exactly describe other than you didn't like the feeling of it.>Her body was still shaking but refusing to do anything.>You used your left hand to keep her close to your chest while removing your right hand to turn on the night lamp.>Just now you realized how much it hurt to move your arms after what she did to them.>She noticed it but didn't protest.>In fact, her body stopped shaking.>Did she think you were about to grab the pistol?>You turned on the night lamp, and she instinctively recoiled in response to the light.>With the light you could finally see.>There was no blood on you, which was a relief.>You grabbed her gently by the head to look at her.>She didn't protest, like she had given up.>Tearstreaks of ice ran down her face while her left eye was closed to protect itself from the light.>Singular teardrops kept falling down her face just to instantly freeze once they touched anything.>In fact, there was a layer of black ice on your chest from where you were holding her a moment ago.>Some of her tears flowed down onto your hands, instantly freezing and biting into them with their unnatural coldness.>It was a sad sight to see her usually sharp, predatory features being reduced to... this.>"But I hate you... Why are you doing this?" she continued muttering under her breath.>"Because this doesn't look like a sign of anger," you said to her while carefully breaking off one of the icicles that had formed out of her tears.>"See? You can cry after all," you said while holding out the tear icicle.>It was too cold to melt, so instead it just stuck to the palm of your hand.>"Wha?" she said, completely disoriented.
Don't have the time nor energy to comment on other people's stuff for the most part.>>58625739Y'know, a good way to snap me out of my anxiety is to say or do something so bizarre that it forces me to process what just happened over what was giving me grief. Good on Copanon for (accidentally?) employing that strategy.>>58625110Sorry for not making a comprehensive review of this. I think >>58625380 did an okay job of it.I like the story for what it could be, but not necessarily for what it is. Conceptually it's pretty good, and the metaphorical ingredients are all there for a good story. The main thing it's lacking is solid execution. There are some other problems, but everyone else covered them already. This story could not be "canon" in the sense of some of the other stories, but that's not really a detriment to the story, since it means you can experiment more.I think with some more practice in story writing, you could revisit this and make an absolutely solid one-shot.Thank you for posting.
>>58625739I hope she's more huggable when she's not overwhelmed by malice.
>>58625739>"These are your tears," you repeated to her while holding out some of her frozen tears.>"My... tears?" she said, trying to get a hold of herself.>You let go of her head and put those icy tears in her hands.>With one of her eyes still closed to protect it from the bright light of your lamp, shekept looking at them for a solid minute in silence.>Tears started flowing from her eyes once more.>Turning into small balls of ice the moment they touched her hands.>In a moment you noticed her distorted features starting to return, but not completely.>The expression of despair and rage fainted.>Being replaced by one of calmness yet still with a veil of sadness behind it.>She dropped her frozen tears on the ground.>You heard them cracking apart on your floor.>She turned her eyes towards you.>Her eyes, once full of rage, were now less aggressive, even if some aggression was still visible behind the curtain of icy tear trails.>In a moment she rushed to embrace you in a hug.>"T-Thank Y-You!" she said while crying.>You were trying to keep yourself from screaming as she touched the areas where her claws previously were lodged into your flesh.>Her cold tears started dropping onto your shoulder and your back.>They kept dropping and freezing faster than your body could unfreeze them.>It didn't take long for your back to be covered in a thin layer of ice.>But that was a concern for later, for as of now she seemed strangely... Happy?>Her body, still shaking and sobbing, became limp once more after a while.>The rain of tears stopped.>She seemed asleep.>You considered leaving her in the bed and going to sleep on the couch instead.>But then you became really sleepy all of a sudden.>Not being able to control your eyelids or body anymore, your head dropped onto your pillow.>The last thing you noticed before drifting off to sleep was a click and everything going dark.
>>58626642Aww. I'm glad she's gotten the relief she deserved.I am very worried about that click though. My mind can already imagine a ton of dangerous things with it. This is a feeling I'd long since lost, so thanks for making me feel it again.
>>58626642>clickUh oh. Is it the night lamp or the gun?
>>58626642
>>58623058>Gotta make sure the flames around the orb look better than that...>Just a bit more...>Aaaaand...>Alright, quota for the day met. Still working a bit slower than I'd like, but... Better than I expected to.>I think this'll give me a good idea in terms of how much leniency I should ask for from Toei.>I'll just grab some hand and cheese off the fridge for lunch, can't be bothered to do anything fancier...>What to do now...>Well, I've got a few hours before needing to leave for Amaro's, maybe I could get started on that sand garden, I've just kinda had that sand sitting around since it got here...>Lucky me, at least I can lug it around easy enough...>...man i knew kartanas were beefy in combat but i didn't expect to be this strong straight up...>...>You know, that cleaned out patch of dirt from my dash looks... awfully convenient.>Somehow I have the feeling you meant for that to be case, didn't you swordsman?>Well, you already got me to buy the sand in the first place so I guess I'll indulge you...>Admittedly I did always like playing around with the one my school's therapist had in her office, the mini rake was cute.>Tell me, once I've got this set up, do I use a rake for it, or is it better to do it... Literally by hand?>In the game I always figured it was probably the Kartenvoys who did the patterns, not the actual Kartanon.>...>Well I guess you can't answer me if I'm at the helm, can you?>...If I were to put myself in your perspective...>Although taxing, the process of carving out the ripples in the sand through one's own blades is deeply insightful when it comes to understanding your lines and mentality. Keeping consistent with between ripples is a challenge when your "guideline" is how level you can keep your own blades, however, a perfect ripple is proof of mastery. It is an activity to do frequently, as you should allow your lines to be washed away by the weather with time, so you may reexamine yourself and your abilities.
>>58627542>...A rather insightful perspective, I'd say.>...I suppose that makes sense.>I hope I'll make it look nice in due time.>Well then, might as well get this filled up nice n proper...>I'd consider adding some stones but I definitely doubt I'd be able to move those around without help.>...Amaro's tall and strong, maybe he could help me out...>Already bothered Edwin too much with the boxes to ask him for help moving a damn stone...>And where the hell would I get one, anyway?>...>Maybe later.>...dang, even the sound it makes as it falls on the ground is relaxing...>There y'go.>Well, just pouring them out left them pretty uneven, maybe I should rake them now as a first-time thing.>Set my phone alarm so I'm not too late to head for Amaro's...>...>Might as well make the ambience even more fitting, right?>https://youtu.be/WZlMiY01XcA>...Huh...>Somehow makes my home feel even more... homely than before...>Quantum homeliness, for both halves of the soul.>I'm guessing you'll be in there while I meditate, swordsman...>...>It's... Interesting. As I do this, the more lines I start raking with my hands, the more I can see them as... almost crop lines.>I feel as each grain of sand brushes against my blade, but not as I cut them, but as they part way for me.>It's a different feeling from cutting, like the sand itself is inviting me to be within it...>As I keep moving, I can see the lines I draw give shape to valleys among the sand.>It feels like... a refreshing shower just for my arms, somehow.>I could do this for hours...>To be a bit more philosophical...>As I do this, I'm reminded of the lines I trace in my strikes.>'tis a hidden sight, yet through the wind and through nature, there are surfaces woven together, making contact or breaking it between items.>With these blades, I can sever those contacts, at a scale most cannot perceive. Such precision is required, for a cut to be a true work of art.
>>58627546>As I weave patterns in the sand, I think back to these last few days.>I am aware that, despite my best efforts, life is rather fleeting in its stability.>One can never predict the swerves it'll take, not entirely. You may plan ahead, and attempt to account for it, yet... Change may happen regardless of your own intent.>Ephemeral, a world that can easily float away from reach without one being aware.>As all instants are.>To perceive an instant in its beauty is to understand its temporary nature, thus, enjoying it while its there, allows us to better hold its memory, so it may endure.>While wisdom does lie in caution...>Being at peace with change, too, is crucial.>While this art may not be here tomorrow...>What truly matters is that it was here at all, at some point in time, as an expression of my being, and reflection, of what I have become...>Isn't it?>...Damn...>Zoned out there, though... I guess that's the point, isn't it...?>Part of me is tempted to take a picture, but... Maybe it's more in the spirit to let it be, and see if it's there come tomorrow.>!!!>shit why did i have to make memento of greedy beast my alarm, christ, would've probably given me a heart attack if i had one...>Oh, right, right!>Just in time to head out to Amaro's.>He's not as far North as I thought he'd be so that's nice...>Hope I won't seem too informal with my silly DQ bag around my non-existent neck but it's not like I have anything better to carry stuff...>Pack up here, desktop to sleep mode, lock up, and...>Alright, yeah that should be good.>Hope I make it there in time...Sometimes raking some sand is all you need for ease of mind... Well, maybe not ALL you need, but it helps!>>58626642Good ass stuff as usual, congratz on making me feel even worse for poor Fedoark, but she's incredibly lucky Copanon is so... tolerant, to Pokemon shenanigans. Kudos to Mag for the heads up there too, Copanon got (relatively) lucky there honestly.
>>58626642Seemingly happy ending for now at the very least, hopefully Fedorark’s gonna get the help she needs to get through this. Good shit man.>>58627550I love all the bladework philosophy Kartanon gets into in posts like these, it’s always fun to read. I do expect him to start writing haikus in the sand garden in the future, however.
Not much to say about this story segment. It just kind of /is./I think I'm going to take the advice and leave it on a cliff hanger for me to do the experiment later. This is getting harder and harder to write by the hour.>>58624034Okay, listen, the reason I'm deleting my posts for corrections is because posting the correction would otherwise occupy a potential bump that could be done by a story, or by discussion actually relevant to the thread. That is the literal /last thing/ I want, and that's why if I'm unable to delete a post, I don't even post a correction in another post.I will not stop deleting posts, but I promise to not do it as much, hopefully only once or twice per thread.>>58627550This was a little hard for me to read, but that's probably because I was being an idiot and speed reading.I REALLY liked the meditation aspect of this chapter. I was struggling to think of how to describe the zen of just letting things go and observing your thoughts, and you just did it perfectly. Good job kartanon.
Wrote this on a complete whim. Definitely doesn't fit into canon but I thought it was a funny concept.>be me>was human>now rapidash>been like this for a few months>sort of settled into new life>wake up extra early>migraineandthirst.mp4>walk to the kitchen to get a drink>stumbling everywhere>feels like im rapidash again>stub my foot on the table>myassisheavy.ogg>step on pressure plate>basin fills with water>too tired to care>dunk head in and drink>waterboarding.wav>quietly thank stupid landlord>upgraded my damn appartment for pokemon>before i even transformed>very annoying back then>very useful now>deepbreath.webp>>>my head is still underwater>>dafuq.jpg>lift head>find world distorted>not a lot>just a little>wtf.jxl>at least i can see>>i need a better look>make way to bedroom>full wall mirror on door>need to get a good look>find door extra tight squeeze>barely manage to finally fit>damaged a wall in the process>hellhathnofurylikealandlord.fug>ignore the damage for now>maybe itll go away if i pretend>get the door closed>my hooves look weirdly tiny>finally get a look in the mirror>>ohcmon.gif>how am i supposed to tow cars now>i dont have horsepower anymore>mfw i transformed a second time
I really don't wanna be mean to him, but I think it's better to be honest - my eyes kept glazing over when I tried to read the new guy's stuff. I'll try to get to it another time.>>58626642Welp, this probably isn't the MOST unorthodox way I've ever seen of getting into your bed, but it's definitely up there. Seems showing her a little kindness allowed her humanity to break back through, but I still want the full story on how all this actually happened in the first place. Maybe tomorrow. Given what Mag told Copanon in his dream and the fact that it takes more than a bullet or two to put down a Pokemon (especially a ghost type), I really doubt that click was the gun.>The expression of despair and rage fainted.Hoho, I see what you did there (possibly unintentionally, but still).>>58627550>Quantum homeliness, for both halves of the soul.I love it. This is peak integration. Zen and the art of sand art. Although if you want to add a more human touch, perhaps wet some of the sand and make some of it into a sandcastle? I 'unno, I just think that would look neat. Either way, it's nice when human and Pokemon alike can appreciate the simple things.Come to think of it, Lisa should probably try sandbathing some time. We see Salazzle do it in New Snap.>>58628101>I think I'm going to take the advice and leave it on a cliff hanger for me to do the experiment laterFor the best, I think.Interpreting every little moment of perfectly normal human awkwardness as judgement and failing to measure up... an existence so painful that a dodgy experiment no normal person would want to participate in might in a fucked-up way almost be a refreshing change of pace... If nothing else, losing your good day streak is quite understandable after almost being yeeted by a Farigiraf.
Ah man, I'm already looking at the green and noticing that I managed to skip details I originally wanted to add. Oops. Maybe I'll post a revised version that adds the very crucial detail about keyboard usage, feeling it very difficult to breathe, and of course, working for a wrecker service(that was already hinted at) :P>>58628325You kinda lost me on the commentary, and I'm not sure why. I think I got it though. You're basically saying that Qianli would be a good change of pace for Valentine's mental state in a weird and counterintuitive way, right?
Fedoark is my current favorite human turned Pokemon
I wonder, would transforming be a "reset button" of sorts?Say you're old as fuck, and/or you've got piss-poor health, busted (or british) teeth, missing limb(s), or some other highly-expensive-to-treat injury or illness going on.Could transforming be interpreted as some kind of "you get one (1) free pass out of that nonsense (don't waste it)," putting you (back?) in (at least the Pokemon-equivalent of) your prime?Or would you still be just as old and/or fucked, except now you're a weirdass cat or whatever
There's also the possibility it'd make your body worse. All the sudden stress and shock of having to adapt to a new body could lead to a stroke or heart attack or some shit. This shit could kill someone.
>>58629829>Bad News! I turned into an Electric type and fried my dialysis machine!>Good News! I’m a Magnemite and don’t need kidneys anymore!
>>58626642>"Hey!" you hear a voice calling out to you.>"Hey! Are you there?" the voice asked.>You raised your head off the table.>"Eugh..." you muttered out.>"Knocked out cold, huh? Too much to drink or just being tired?" you heard the voice of the barkeep.>"How much did I drink?" you asked while trying to get your bearings.>"The usual. A lot," he replied.>"Fuck... I guess it is time to go home," you said.>"Wait. Before you leave, that lady from before wanted me to give you this," he halted you.>"What is it?" you asked.>"A note she left for you," he replied.>"Thanks," you said while grabbing the note and then leaving the bar.>Once you left the bar, you felt the cold fall wind on your skin.>The red brick buildings and cobbled streets were illuminated by the golden light of the streetlamps.>You decided to take a look at the note.>"Meet me at my store, Mag's Emporium, preferably today," was written on it with an address.>You knew the store and knew the general area of where it was located but not the precise location.>The issue was that, for whatever reason, you could not read the address.>Maybe it was the alcohol coursing through your veins, the light being insufficient, or bad handwriting making it impossible.>Either way, it was on your way home, and you could just ask some people.>"You need to go right and right once again. The store should be on your right side," said the first person you asked.>Once you arrived, there was no store, so you asked another person for directions.>"Go directly right, and it should be on the right side," said the second person.>But once again there was nothing there.>"Yeah the store is there behind the corner if you go to the right," said the third person.>Yet again, nothing.>You were getting angry as you went around the block and found yourself where you originally started.>"Hey do you know where Mag's Emporium is?" you asked the 4th person.>"Uhh... Sir, it is behind you," answered the 4th person.
>>58630002Man's feeling a bit out of it with that level of Drank isn't he. It wasn't all a dream, was it?
>>58630002Ignore this one because I wrote myself into a corner. Going to revisit Mismagius at a later point in time.
>Pokemon Smash or Pass, but it’s pokemon you would be willing to live as if you were turned into one.
>>58626642>You woke up.>And you were shivering and in pain.>The pain of what happened at night was slowly returning while you felt a distinct difficulty breathing.>Your friend from the FBI was still sleeping with her head on your chest.>Maybe you could slide her off and get your freedom.>So you gently slid yourself under the blanket in one direction and her in the opposite.>Your master plan was seemingly working as you managed to free your leg.>Just one more and you could walk to the bathroom.>And you obviously got too greedy.>Getting your foot caught on hers and falling onto the floor with a thud.>The impact felt like you'd shattered every bone in your body, and you barely managed to contain the scream of pain.>Hopefully she didn't notice.>"What was that?! A-Are you okay down there?" she said with shock in her voice.>"No. I'm cold and in pain," you groaned while trying to stand back up.>"Oh my God, you are as pale as a corpse!" she said.>"One mistake and I would probably have been one, to be honest," you said.>"Let me help you up," she jumped off the bed and attempted to help you with standing up.>The night's wounds were still fresh, so you had to clench your teeth whenever she accidentally touched them and release a hiss of pain.>But somehow you managed to sit back on the bed with her help.>She took a look at you in silence, looking at how you looked after the night.>You had the feeling that she would have another mental breakdown because of it.>But instead you heard a timid "I'm sorry," from her.>"Don't beat yourself up over this. I should have gone and slept on the couch instead," you replied while clenching your teeth.>She gently moved your shirt to take a look at where her claws had previously been.>"Looks like frostbite and hypothermia. You need medical attention stat," she stated.>"I'm fine. Just a bit cold," you replied.
So, this realization is kind of consuming me right now, but Matsui, as she's written right now, has no reason to stick around. My original plan with Matsui was that she was going to try to voluntarily deport herself, only to be interrupted by the City of Angels going up in a blaze and having Valentine bail her out of there.As a double edged sword, I don't think this is a good idea anymore, which is good because it is gratituous and the aftermath effects would be MASSIVE on everyone else's story if they tried to make it canon, but it also means I have literally no plot device to keep Matsui here. She's not really the type to just stick around in a land she has no connection to for no reason, even if she's dealing with a home dispute of some sort.I'm open for suggestions here, including the option of just... not letting Matsui come back and assembling a team without the Very Lost Snowpix instead.>>58630804Hah, I feel that. I'm currently experiencing that myself.I liked the piece anyways, despite the deadend it became for you. Getting lost like that is pretty relatable, especially for me who doesn't have a sense of direction.>>58631659There are many Pokemon I'd give a "maybe" to. I don't think there'd be many I'd intentionally want to be though.>>58631667She's not even an ice type, how'd that even happen!? (I wanted to bring that up with the tears too, to be honest. Ultimately, this discrepancy doesn't matter much.)I'm glad she's able to care again, after the whole shtick of "JUST KILL ME AND PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY."
>>58631713>She's not even an ice type, how'd that even happen!?Copanon got accidentally bitter maliced or maybe fedoark bitter maliced herself.
>>58631729I forgot about bitter malice. Show's how well I know Hisuian Zoroark. Probably for the best that I didn't try to copy them.
>>58631667>>58631713>She's not even an ice type, how'd that even happen!? (I wanted to bring that up with the tears too, to be honest. Ultimately, this discrepancy doesn't matter much.)Hisuian Zoroark's signature move is Bitter Malice, a ghost type special move. It has a chance of causing frostbite, and does double damage whenever the target has a status condition.
>>58632087Yeah okay, you can stop informing me that I never played PLA. Jesus.
>>58632100It was a non-judgemental fact dump, Anon. If I wanted to upset you, you'd know.
>>58632104You're miffing me by wasting post slots by repeating information that was already said and not even commenting on the story.Since I'm doing that too, might as well explain what I meant by "copy them."I didn't mean literally, I actually had an idea of a double agent Arcanine who'd try to fuck over Valentine under orders, only to realize that they literally were incapable of betraying their loyalties to either side. Also, I had the idea of a Hisuian Zoroark that would've actually been someone who almost died thanks to a direct hit from a Sheer Cold or something out of self defense. They'd be pissed and try to enact single-minded revenge on whoever caused it.I have so many ideas but I've too attached to Valentine to start a second story. It's hurting me a lot.
>>58632129>Wasting slotsIt's a fucking General dude, as long as it's not spam, it doesn't hurt anything because it literally just carries into the next one. A fast general burns through multiple threads a day, for crying out loud. Let people comment, nobody is supposed to care about conserving on-topic posts before hitting the bump limit.
>>58632134>it's a fucking general dudeY'know what, you're right. I'm still in the mode of trying to treat this as a one off gimmick thread when it's not anymore. Apologies.
>>58632140It's alright. Also, if you're feeling multiple stories pecking at your psyche, just write 'em out. Let your efforts go where your muse takes you and let the audience guide and direct you where people are most receptive.
>>58632146As said before, I'm struggling with that. I can't even complete a chapter of Valentine's experience in my current state, and I'm actually dedicated to completing that. Those two ideas are... two-shots, MINIMUM, and definitely deserve extended stories that I just can't deliver right now.Besides, the Hisuian Zoroark idea is a bridge too far, even if it would be very poetic to have one who basically did end up dying the same way the Pokemon did canonically. The audience already guided me here. The Arcanine's double loyalty and resulting trauma is only tempting because a man who is significantly better at doing this has already done it, which is feeding into a little voice telling me I'm a fucking fraud who does nothing but copies. That voice is wrong, but charismatic as fuck.And I STILL don't know what to do about Matsui!
>>58631659Sure, here's my picks for Gen 1. I may do future gens if I'm bored. https://files.catbox.moe/j66fyq.webmWill elaborate on any choices if asked
>>58632438Gamer! Three questions, since you offered.>I want the public’s opinion on this as well: Do you consider evolutions when making a decision? Like if you were okay being a Ninetails, would you also be okay being a Vulpix knowing you would get there? How much does that affect your decision>What made you change your mind on Arcanine?>Of the mystical birds, why only Moltres?
>>586325411. I treated every pokemon like I would be unable to evolve because if I didn't, I'd pick every prevo I didn't like just because I'd eventually evolve into one that I did. More interesting the other way2. Looks kind of cool. In general quadruplebs are not my ideal choices but I'll offer an exception for a cool factor. 3. I don't like the appearance of Zapdos. Articuno would struggle a little more in hotter climates whereas Moltres could handle heat and cold pretty well. Also J like the design
>>58632438>Charmander and Charizard but not Charmeleon>Kadabra and Alakazam but not AbraFascinating
>>58632611Abra sleeps for two thirds of the day. That cuts a huge chunk of time out of my life and, again, went in assuming I wouldn't evolve. I do love Abra but I would never be one.And I don't like Charmeleon.
>>58632616>And I don't like Charmeleon.If you ever wanted to be a 'Zard you either have to go the hard way of evolving a Charmander or get one step closer by starting as a Charmeleon.
>>58632619Not in this scenario. In the one I worked under, I assumed that I would start as and stay as that pokemon
>>58630002>>58630804>ignore this oneErr, sure. I just figured the directions in the dream would lead to IRL directions for Copanon to follow, but whatever you say I suppose.>>58631667On one hand, this presents somewhat of a conundrum. The doctors are going to want to know what the sam-Hell happened to cause such injuries, but if Copanon just says it was "a Pokemon", continuing to try and maintain Fedorark's cover, that may draw far too much unwanted attention to his home. On the other hand, seeing what's happening at the local hospital would be incredibly interesting. One fun thing you could do is have a Garganacl repairing injuries by sprinkling salt on them, surrounded on all sides by flummoxed medicos collectively scratching their heads.>>58631713Oh hey, a tense snarl. "I would sit" should be "I sat". >Absol is greasyGross, dude. Clearly disaster doggo needs a bath.>The replaceShould be "To replace"Yeaaah, I don't think that good 7th day is gonna happen , mate. Poor fucker.>>58628382Yeah, pretty much. If my commentary ever feels random and pointless, it was probably because I was struggling to come up with something other than, "yep, it's good".As far as Matsui goes, if having her stay gone and leaning into the road trip feel where Val experiences many different shenanigans rather than one consistent one, and we focus more on the progression of his mental state, proves to be the natural progression for your story, then do that and we'll just rename the story. I did mention before that the two didn't feel as if they had particularly great chemistry.
>>58632727>tense snarl and a typoDamn it!At least it's a familiar issue and not a new one. Lord knows I don't need new issues cropping up.>Greasy AbsolThat's just how my dog feels. Greasy and soft.No, washing him doesn't help, he feels greasy permanently. I'm half betting it's the sardines we keep feeding him, honestly.>random and pointlessThat's just how my commentary feels.Honestly, I don't mind. I was just struggling really hard to decipher it. I think it's because of the way>an existence so painful that a dodgy experiment no normal person would want to participate in might in a fucked-up way almost be a refreshing change of pacewas structured, plus the apparent transposition of "in might in".>MatsuiRan out of space, sorry.https://files.catbox.moe/8agg5x.txt
>>58632886>apparent transposition.Allow me to re-phrase, then:>an existence so painful that a dodgy experiment no normal person would want to subject themselves to could, in a fucked-up way, almost be a refreshing change of paceMore sense making?For Matsui, I guess another possibility is that she just gets stuck in the bureaucratic cogs due to the lack of identification you mentioned, plus the government dithering on whether it's even a good idea to move foreign nationals that they still think might be contagious and, on top of that, have unfathomable powers that might potentially bring down planes even by complete accident (maybe exactly this happens in the vicinity of LAX and the NTSB is having a conniption fit over it, thus stalling out any Pokemon deportation plans that might've been in place). She could still choose escaping from the CDC rather than accept being held by them indefinitely (maybe via something as simple as huddling by an outside fence until her cold renders the mental brittle enough to smash through, whereupon her tiny ass easily disappears into the bushes. We did already see her experimenting with her powers when she froze only one half of Val's car over), just without the gratuitous terrorist attack angle.
Well, I didn't quite have it in me to write today, but for the time being, here's a teaser for a certain something I have planned for the story that I'm feeling very, very confident in...>>58630002Shame this was retconned but I understand, I dig the character writing here!>>58631667And this is just... Relieving to read. I'm glad Fedoark snapped out of it after some sleep. Hope they'll figure out how best to approach it the whole frostbite situation sooner than later.
>>58632990>More sense makingI mean, I already deciphered it, I was just pointing out which section I was struggling with earlier.>MatsuiDoesn't solve the issue of getting Matsui back to Valentine, but does give her plenty of reason to stick around at least.That said, realistically, I doubt they'd use planes to try to get the Pokemon anywhere. Planes are fast, sure, but unbelievably risky and can't even fit a non-insignificant percentage of Pokemon, either due to weight concerns or due to size restrictions. The C-5 can only carry so much, y'know. We have a pretty extensive rail network for cargo, and it's not like the US Navy hasn't been used to respond to humanitarian crises before. Using naval ships, which are much sturdier and designed to survive multiple catastrophic failures, as well as being more defendable from both internal and external threats, seems like a more obvious choice. For larger Pokemon, the aircraft carriers can be temporarily gutted of most of their aircraft to make room.>>58632992Woo, that's interesting. Part of me is going Ultra Necrozma!!!!! but that's absurd lolI can't wait!
>>58632992General Grievous? Is that you?
If non-sentient stuff's getting transformed too (like the tree or the stones), do you think Megas would show up eventually? Would transformees even be willing to use them given how painful they're implied to be? Could they maybe be used rogue like in Legends Z-A without a "trainer" to go along? Or could a transformee be his own trainer by using both the keystone and mega stone?
Deleted? Or, perhaps...
>>58634028I don't think "being your own trainer" would really work. Kind of defeats the purpose of wild mega evolutions being separate from trained ones
>>58634111Mainly trying to think in terms of how it could happen given the specific conditions we have. In ZA they happen due to the surge in mega energy around Lumiose and are strictly uncontrolled and undesirable for the mons themselves, but given we're dealing with former humans here (and presumably something like a mega surge hasn't also appeared in the world yet), I do wonder if it's something that could be done more voluntarily. How does Super PMD handle megas, actually? Haven't gotten around to it yet but I know it has 'em
>>58634121In PMD there are items called Awakening Seeds. Any Pokemon can use them and get a boost but if they have a mega form, they'll change into it
>>58634028>do you think Megas would show up eventuallyThat was the direction that Valentine's story was slowly heading towards(same with Z-moves.) I am not sure if Valentine ever get to use them, probably not, but I did expect to have them show up as a cameo at minimum.Dynamax and teralization were the only two gimmicks I have not planned to not show up, because they are directly dependent on legendaries.(I also considered throwing in a mystery dungeon as a gag since they too are not dependent on a legendary. Be glad I can talk myself out of bad ideas :P)>would a transformee even want to use themPokemon instincts might get some of them to ignore the painful attributes in favor of more raw firepower.>could a transformee be their own trainerIt might, and I stress MIGHT, work with one of the multi-mind Pokemon, like Metagross. I don't see it working with yourself otherwise. It requires a strong bond, which implies a tango for two.It would be incredibly funny albeit ill-advised if a narcissist got the benefits of using mega evolution by themselves though.As for the rogues, I don't know. Maybe it's under the same circumstances as the transformations themselves: Completely arbitrary and up to an individual author's whims.
Time for a second "exorcism"https://rentry.org/cb24k1tiI spent most of my weekend getting footage (playing video games) for my project and a bit of script writing. I actually want to kill myself because I fucking hate video essays and the people who make them, and now I gotta talk like one by citing random professors and other faggots I don't care about. Need to ask for an extension too because I haven't even recorded any audio, let alone edited the video But enough blog posting. Writing this is much more fun than any class assignments. Also I've been replying to stuff here but I did miss a few things>>58622271>>58625739>>58626642>>58626642>>58631667I fuckin' love ghost types. They are the best>>58621177I'd never considered that something as simple as food could be a possible trigger for PTSD. That cat is fun though. I've got plenty of experience with those bastards to know how realistic this isAnd I'm not touching that mew situation. It seems to have already settled. I just hope the author wasn't too discouraged by all the criticism
>>58634402Good chapter overall, just two things I found odd. The scene change from putting Chandelure to sleep to immediately being at the funeral was quite the whiplash. You could have lingered a bit longer on the aftermath, I think. The other was the sudden outburst of Isaac. It felt a bit out of character for a man of God to just lash out like that. Unless I missed some obvious traits of him in earlier chapters, ofc. In which case, ignore what I said. Also got a question to all of our writers here. How do you select which Pokémon to include in your stories? I try to come up with something but I blank at the selection.
>>58627550>...Now for your, dear spectator's, convenience, I believe I should change up my narration style for what's next. There'll be some amount of talking up ahead...>...>god i'm cheesy.>Well, it should be around the corner now...>Glad I can fly that fast.>Part of me wishes my... what would be the equivalent of "a walk" for flying, "a flight" doesn't feel right... Anyway, whatever it is, part of me wishes it would've been a bit more interesting.>Probably for the better that it wasn't.>I think some people thought I was just a piece of paper getting swept up in the wind.>I guess that wouldn't be entirely off-base...>The sights around here nowadays are interesting, though.>Not the only one trying to keep a sense of normalcy despite the change at least.>That guy who got Machoke seems to have lucked out, was wearing some pretty average office clothes.>Saw 2 Prinplups making their way home too with small backpacks, probably middleschoolers. Looked like brother and sister.>There was a Throh selling street food in one of the corners earlier, smelled good...>I think I did also see a Swellow, but that could've just been a regular bird admittedly...>...>'s funny how easily the human mind can normalize this kind of stuff, isn't it?>Given how things have been around here since before this all started, maybe it's not entirely for the best, but... It does help in this situation.>Gov't's still pretty stupid at times, but what can you do.>...Huh, an Accelgor. Didn't expect to see one of those.>Alright, if the direction he sent me is right, it should be right around...>Here.>Huh. Looks nice.>Just gotta ring the doorbell...>And now we wait.>...>Not for long, sounds like he's tripping over himself to get here...>And damn his wing flapping is loud, didn't notice them while we were fighting, but goodness it does sound like he's about to set off a tornado...>Hope this'll work out.Brief interlude before the "main dish" for today...
>>58634402Good chapter, god damn Isaac's lucky Kayden was there, at least stuff worked out... Also feel really bad for his mom, him, and the doctor, stuff's just... Hard for everyone at the moment, and it's not like there really is anyone you can point a finger to in that regard.>>58634673>Also got a question to all of our writers here. How do you select which Pokémon to include in your stories? I try to come up with something but I blank at the selection.Being blunt my thought process is just "oh hey that'd be neat to see". I try giving myself some guidelines I could work on before I settle on one, sometimes it depends on the demeanor of the character. For example, I knew I wanted a Snorlax to show up for the Pokeflute bit, so making it a formerly very lazy dog felt like an "easy" in for Kartanon to get into a fight without directly dwelling too much on the moral implications of actively picking a fight with a former human. Meanwhile for Amaro, I hadn't settled on him being a Corviknight until the day of, "crow" was just an idea I had so he could've been a Honchkrow or Corvisquire, but a Corviknight felt more "cinematic" for the scene, on top of tying with a theme I'm building up in the background (teaser guy is related to that). A boss Watchog just felt funny, and Kartanon's friend getting Smeargle kinda does play as a bit of cosmic irony towards him bringing it up as an example of a mon he would've rather been. It's just... whatever's convenient for the plot, or whatever'd make for an amusing mental image.
>>58634673>questionFor potential partner Pokemon for Valentine, I'm just picking fluffy or cute Pokemon. That covers like 70% of my favorites anyways so it works out.For any other Pokemon, it comes down to two tactics. Role fulfillment, or archetype fulfillment. They sound the same but they're not.For role fulfillment, I have a planned plot point in mind that requires a very specific ability, like Teleport. Then I go through a list of Pokemon who can use that ability. Finally, given the situation in mind, I just select what's the most "applicable." Claydol, for example, is an intimidating Pokemon whose emotions are hard to read, and knows Teleport. It's a good excuse for Valentine to freak out and shoot it, thereby drawing its ire and teleporting then.Archetype fulfillment is different in that its not about the raw physical capability, but rather what the Pokemon can replace. In my most recent chapter, I needed to replace a mama bear. I went onto randompokemon.org, and generated some until I found one that would be both defensive of the cub, and would be just as terrifying if not more so than an angry mother. That's how I ended up with Farigiraf.>>58634689Goin' for a fly, I see!I liked it. My only issue would be the sheer luck involved in two siblings ending up as the same Pokemon.(I wonder, are you guys treating evolution as an age thing when it comes to transformations? I'm not, which is why two grown ass adults are currently Vulpix...es.)
>>58634673Appreciate that feedback. I thought I had written more between that scene transition but... Apparently not? Sometimes shit just disappears in my documents, I don't know if I just hallucinate writing or what.And regarding his outburst, it's the result of several days of extreme stress and being in this tense situation with his mother. It is supposed to be really sudden and out of character but perhaps I'll alter it.And regarding your question at the end. If there's not a specific one that I want for a scene (Mismagius and Hoppip for example) I go to random pokemon picker and I keep going until I find one that makes sense. Same goes with any background things I write
>>58634831Different anon, but for me it was “out of character” the way he described the job of a doctor as ‘fixing’ people. If he said “heal” that would be fine, but fix feels very cold and mechanical for someone even somewhat spiritual.
>>58634894That is something I wouldn't have thought of. I don't know if I would've thought of that by myself. Thank you
>>58634689> brief interludeNow you got me excited!>>58634750>>58634769>>58634831Thanks for your insights, anons! Guess its time for me to try that randomiser Nuzlock to get some accidental inspiration. My free time is still as sparse as it can get, but having something to shut my mind off should be fun.
>>58634831> I thought I had written more between that scene transition but... Apparently not?Happens to the best of us.T. fellow scatter-brain> outburstsNah, don't alter it. I forgot, that it took days and not just hours. Makes it more realistic to burst like that. I just figured he'd be more the self doubting kinda guy, asking himself, why the big G upstairs would give him the hardest battles. >>58634894Good catch, anon.
I'm alive (unfortunately). Time to catch up as best I can.>>58631713I kinda agree that you should focus more on the road trip angle. I feel like it was somewhat unfortunate planning to get rid of Matsui so early if you wanted to keep her around, because like you've already realized, you need to figure out a way to get her back that makes sense. At this point it seems silly for Val to go all the way back to Cali in order for them to group back up. Would probably just focus on other's joining Val instead. >>58632992Oh cool! Big Bad Evil Guy themselves? >>58634028I doubt I'll ever get to this point in the story so I don't care about 'spoilers', but Serpent and Wyrm's main conflict was going to surround Mega Stones, Rogue Evolution, and Awakening Seeds. This was all sort of hinted at with the strange 'energy' from the mountain that seems to be attracting 'mons, and then the whole dream sequence Miirym had.>>58634402I'll give this a read later tonight.>>58634673>How I choose monsI just press a randomizer until I find something cool or cute. Bonus points if they are fantasy coded (knights, rogues, wizards/witches, dragons, etc) for S&W.>>58634689Fun little interlude, excited for the main part!
>>58631667>"I'm fine," she repeated in a mocking tone.>"But I am. Just a warm bath and I will be as good as new," you replied.>"I'm not taking chances with you potentially getting gangrene. I'm calling some paramedics. Maybe you won't need to go to the hospital," she replied.>She grabbed your phone and went into a different room.>You'd follow her, but you weren't even able to get out of bed.>After a while she returned.>"Ok so instead of calling the paramedics, I called the CDC through your boss using your voice," she returned.>"You did WHAT with the WHAT?" you raised your voice.>"Oh relax, you are getting a day off work, and the paramedics would have called the CDC anyway," she said in the most nonchalant way possible.>"What did you say to him?" you asked in a peeve in your voice.>"That your refrigerator got possessed," she replied.>"And the captain just bought it?" you inquired further.>"For him, whatever you say is basically gospel on the subject. Just stick to the story and you should be fine, " she said.>"You gave no additional details of how I supposedly got rid of it?" you asked.>"No. I just told him what I told you. You have complete creative liberty on the rest of the story," she said.>"Ehh... Fine. Let it be your way," you said with resignation.>She jumped back on the bed next to you.>"It will be some time before someone arrives..." she said timidly looking at the floor.>"Do you want to talk about what happened?" you asked her.>"Yes..." she replied timidly.>"Good God, where to even start with all of this?" you said before gathering your thoughts.>"When you said that you felt nothing when you met the Trevenant, what did you mean by that?" you asked her after a while.>"You know that thing about the Pokemon I turned into hating all living beings?" she said.>"Yes, what about that?" you asked.
Oran berries aren't pain killers, but curing the source of a pain is better than curing the pain. I wonder how much HP a human would have...>>58635558>focus on the road trip angleSo, does anyone want to tell me why the fuck are you guys so insistent on focusing on this? You guys act like the main priority wasn't going to remain "aimlessly wandering on the roads." It's actually getting on my nerves that this assumption seems to be the default, because clearly I'm failing to communicate something, and in a criticial fashion too.Going back to the car? A whole trip on foot from Utah to New Mexico, because he doesn't have access to a car and hitchhiking is dangerous. Ending up in LA? A focus on the trip to LA, and subsequently trying to escape, whether by car or by helicopter. He can't fit everyone in his car anymore because there's too many or Type: Null joined and that fucker's the size of a horse? He's getting an RV and maybe a horse trailer. He's not settling down. I do not get why everyone believes that returning to LA is the end of his adventure or something. I'd say I'm being silly, but no I am actually getting pretty confident that you guys found Matsui TOO unlikeable to even want her back. Whoops, I guess.Anyways, sounds like Matsui's dead narratively, end of story. I fucking DESPISE myself for doing that but y'know, I can't blame myself. I DID actually have a plan to return her at one point.At least it left the door open for the teleport plot.>I doubt I'll ever get to this point in the storyI hope you do, frankly. Your story is too good to end up wasted like my stories tend to end up.>>58635634>"That your refrigerator got possessed," she replied.So... his refridgerator was running? :PGood segment. Liked the baner a bit. Probably would be my solution too, if I had to cover my ass like that.(I need to do something with the CDC in my story.)
>>58635634>"Meeting that thing was like a cold shower. Seeing it made me realize how much I just hated everything for the sin of just being alive. And why? Because it was dead, just like me. No anger and no hatred, just indifference. Feeling nothing for a moment felt like a massive weight I didn't even know I was bearing was simply... gone," she said while her eyes started to become teary again.>"There there everything will be fine," you said while pulling her closer to yourself, trying to ignore the pain.>"When the Trevenant did something to that pig and it started squealing in agony when it was burning alive, I felt no joy but a dark sense of vindication. I wouldn't be satisfied until that thing was turned to ash!" she raised her voice with something resembling anger.>"Shhh... everything is ok," you said while pulling her even closer.>She was silent for a moment, but her breathing slowed down again.>"Then... I took a look at the Trevenant again, and I was able to think without anger. The rational part of my mind started screaming, "This isn't you; don't do this. You aren't a murderer," over and over again," she said, sobbing.>Her tears this time didn't turn to ice yet still felt as cold as ice to your skin.>"In that moment of clarity, I decided to run home. No second thoughts, no room for doubt. I ran and I ran, fighting the urge to disembowel whatever creature I encountered the entire way. When I finally reached it, I started going through photos and memories in the hope of finding something that didn't bring me anger, but I found nothing. Family, friends, enemies, coworkers, random people on the street? The same effect of an indistinguishable anger towards them," she continued sobbing.>"I slowly started to hate myself. I became a monster that felt nothing but a desire to see my own loved ones dead," she said with her voice shaking like she was trying to keep herself from breaking down.
>>58635761>Matsui TOO unlikeableI liked Matsui, I think she and Val had POTENTIAL to have good chemistry. Unfortunately you wrote her off in the second chapter and are now struggling to figure out how to get her back without some plot contrivance. I don't have any ideas for you, I haven't had story ideas for anything this entire fucking week. I'll just shut my mouth and let Macho help you out.
>>58635824I want to apologize. It was not okay for me to voice my frustration in that manner. That was far too aggressive for what it was, especially towards you.I'm also going to extend my sympathies. I fear my own creativity drying up again with every single word I write, and would never want anyone else to experience that. It is tragic to see someone I look up to have to deal with something that sometimes keeps me up at night. I hope your creativity return soon.>>58635822Fuck man. Right to disemboweling my feelings...
>>58635822>"I started thinking that maybe if I just killed them, they would become like me, and I wouldn't feel hatred towards them anymore. I still cared for them and wanted to see them alive, but something was twisting my mind into hating them. Whatever was left of my mind tried to keep me sane, reminding me of my humanity," she said while grabbing tighter of your arm.>"By the time it was time to go to work, my mind had won a Pyrrhic victory against those instincts, and I went to the only person I could trust with it. You. The moment you left the station, I ran back home, afraid the instincts might take hold once more. I sat there numb from anger for hours before finally regaining enough of my mind to rush to your house for help... And you know the rest of the story,">"Do you still feel hatred towards me?" you asked calmly.>"Not as intense as before, but yes. I still hate you. But I also don't, however strange it might seem to you," she replied while pressing her face into your arm.>"Progress. However small or insignificant it might seem, it is still progress at the end of the day," you replied.>"I also want to thank you for making me feel something other than hate, anger, or numbness," she said.>"And what did I make you feel?" you asked.>"Sadness... and hope. Hope that I'm not as hopeless of a case as I thought to myself," she said, shaking.>She was silent for a while.>Allowing herself to calm down.>"Could you do me a favor?" she asked.>"If you need help, I'll try to help you," you offered her.>"Could I live with you for some time? I don't want to be alone if I get another episode like that," she asked you timidly.>You didn't know what to do about her request.>As you were thinking about it, you felt something cold flowing down your arm.>Another tear?>It felt strangely soothing this time.>"I don't have a choice in this, do I..." you replied in a tired voice.
>>58636006>my mind had won a Pyrrhic victory against those instinctsLook at the big brain on Fed! Fancy words and fighting off instincts
>>58636006>Meanwhile with the non-Hisuan Zoroark, Hal is playing a prank by designing an office building with a hallway with a dead end (that still follows the structural plan and fire safety code of course)
>>58634402Actually not a bad fight scene. Between Churchanon using what amounts to Bubble and Water Gun, it definitely fits with my headcanon that every transformed Pokemon begins at level 5 - those attacks certainly would not have bothered a more experienced Chandelure.But of course, sleep cheese trumps everything.Wow, that other anon wasn't kidding - the transition to the funeral is one of the most abrupt I've ever seen. SO abrupt it almost works, funny enough, but sadly not quite. In particular it leaves a big unanswered question as to what happened to the Chandelure after Kayden put it to sleep. The service itself is also quite abrupt. Would've liked more character insights and Churchanon restraining himself from mentioning the Dusknoir.>Isaac KennedyIsaac and his Isaac lived alone in a small Isaac on an Isaac. Isaac was simple, and they were both Isaac.Sorry, I had to...Satan is everywhere - including in Isaac's underpants! In seriousness, though, he's right that ghost type instincts aren't an excuse, Fedorark being the most triumphant example. Be like Fedorark.It might’ve been better if the doctor had described the mother's state as a coma they can't find an explicit cause for, but I'm no medical expert myself. Bro being completely overwhelmed by all this Pokemon shit feels valid, though. I don't think Isaac's crashout is invalid either, man of the cloth or not, but it too comes off just a tad abrupt.Can't deny the transformations being truly random would be a pretty existentially terrifying prospect to those yet to transform.>this city has a lot of themWe thinking same town as Lucarioanon, or would this be a different hotspot entirely?Overall, lots of good ideas in this chapter, but a bit creaky in places I'd say.
>>58634689That is a lotta Pokemon just milling around, dang. Does Kartanon's town have even more transformees than Lucarioanon's, do we think?>>58634769Lucarioanon already set the precident with Hal and his son, so I think we can accept such cases of extraordinary luck. Speaking of Hal and son, I feel like age and evolution state are only correlated when it's convenient to the plot.>>58635558>I'm alive (unfortunately)What's got you down, Snivyanon? Anything you need to talk about? We're here for ya.>>58636006The transition from slightly comedic with the refrigerator lie (now the powers that be have a fake Greninja AND a fake Rotom to keep an eye out for. Sucks to be them) back to the serious stuff was quite well-handled.So a fellow ghost is both a muse and a trigger at the same time - very interesting. It took great strength of character for Fedorark not to be crushed under the sheer weight of bitter, seething hated she suddenly realised she was carrying. Having gotten to know her slightly nerdy ass all this time, the build-up and pay-off is definitely earned. Someone pointed to her being their favourite character in the thread and I think they might be onto something...>Progress is progres however smallBased. There's another true calling bro missed.The new situation for Copanon may not exactly be ideal, but it's great he was able to give her something to hold onto. Now that she'll know the sudden cessation of hated is coming, I'm wondering if a Mimikyu cuddle buddy or sassy Polteageist to make witty dinner banter with could be good for her.>>58636013Heh. Yeah, she's pretty great.
>>58635761>who knew if the bacteria was transformingPokerus spreads through a town, residents inexplicably get healthier.>but as badShould be "but not as bad">It would goShould be "it went">I wonder how much HP a human would have...There was a guy on YouTube who speculated that humans would have a base HP stat of around 40.And no, it's not that we don't want Matsui back - it's just that getting her back in a believable way isn't easy, as Snivyanon said, and also that having her not return wouldn't feel out of place given what you've written. It's not us being glad that she's gone - just us noting that having her stay gone wouldn't feel unnatural given the story you've written so far, that's all. As for his car, nobody said the car needed to be a permanent element in his story, although foot travel and RV travel ARE both road trippy kinda things too, so I'd say it's quite natural for people to interpret your story as having a road trip-like feel to it - it's the whole "finding yourself" thing.Now, it's pretty obvious at this point that getting Matsui back is very important to you, so let's keep workshopping it. Going back to what you said about the navy, that's a fair point, but they could be PRETTY damn busy under the circumstances, methinks. China's still a threat, water types may disrupt shipping lanes, etc. Matsui might still have a long wait and might not've even been told that they're eventually planning to send her back on a warship. Them tossing her in the "too hard basket" has the same psychological effect on her as intentionally holding her indefinitely, leading to the same outcome. Val managing to find Matsui in LA is probably going to be a BIT contrived, but maybe the local news puts out images of some escaped Pokemon with the usual "call this number if you have information" thing, so he at least knows he needs to be looking for her. For Val himself, I'm sure there's any number of valid reasons for his happy ass to get dragged back to Cali.
>>58634689https://youtu.be/aTx2DSQLcBA>"Ah, hey Cruz! Glad you could make it, didn't get gaslit by Maps, right? Friends always tell me my address always messes with the pathfinding by the app..." says one of the surprisingly jolliest people I've met despite first impressions....steerts ytsiwt ,neeb ev'dluow gnivird naht reisae si 'toof no' ereh gnitteg ekil leef I .hguone ylikcul ,epoN<>"Tell me about it, if there's one good thing about being a bird it's not needing to worry about traffic to get to work in time." He says, with a surprisingly legible smile despite his lack of lips. "D'you think they'll start putting some flight limits or stuff like that in place if there's enough cases of flying Pokemon out there? It'd affect you too y'know."...eromyna evird nac I ekil ton s'ti ecnis gniyonna erom neve efil ym ekam tsuj dluow ,yltsenoh t'nod yeht epoh I ,haey ,haeY<>"Either way, don't let me keep you at the front door, Suzi just got done prepping the salad and pasta, you're right on cue!" He gestures that he'd pull me inside before realizing I am, indeed, a knife from basically all angles.>...better not make coming here a reoccurring thing, i don't think i could afford my meal standards being raised...?uoy od ,eninnazuS naem t'nod uoY ?izuS<>"Dang, how'd you know? I thought her name was rare!" He lets out a friendly yet odd blend of a chuckle and a caw. Crow physiology things I guess.?ecnahc yb elrA deman dneirf a sah ehs fi wonk uoy oD<Brace yourselves, I'm about to carpet bomb this place with writing and picrels, teased the dinner too much to not get carried away
>>58636463>"...You haven't been stalking us, have you? She came by just before she 'n her husband went on their holiday, how do you know her anyway?" I see mild concern and curiosity. Probably being too blunt. Too late to regret it though.>...but... fuck..yllautca ,retsis ym ...s'ehS<>"..." You'd be surprised at how shocked a Corviknight can look despite the helmet thing covering up half their eyes>"you haven't told her right.".oN<>"Ok good, she'd have a heart attack if she found out in the middle of her trip, knowing her..." Sigh of relief that almost sounds like a soda can fizzling after you open it.>"But... Dang man, sorry for not recognizing you sooner! Y'know, I did figure your name sounded familiar but didn't want to assume anything... You've got a nice house kid!" you're a cool guy but don't patronize me please.ottiD<>"But really though, come in! I'm sure Suzi'll be happy to see you again! It's been a while since you 2 have seen each other, right? What was the last time she told me she saw you, I think when you played Smash at Arle's? God, it's been like 2 years since, right? I think Arle said you went to study in Japan and landed some gigs with companies there, you gotta tell us all about that!" As he says, I'm ushered in to the living room.>It's a cozy place, although, rather millennial. Fancy bookshelf with a totally necessary sliding ladder, some board games, plants, couple simple pots. If it's Suzi in charge of decor, she's... definitely Arle's friend that's for sure.?on ,gnitseretni erom eb d'won nomekoP a gnieb tuoba gniklat erugif d'I<>"Hey, we've been planning a trip there for a while, we could use some pointers from someone who actually lived in the dang place! I'm sure you'd know some good spots that are kinda not big with the usual kinds of tourists, right? We wouldn't mind something more unique..." don't ramble about book off he's not nearly as much of a nerd as you are don't do it-cin ytterp s'eboK kniht I ,lleW<
>>58636465>"Oh, hello! Your friend's here already? I think I'm cutting it a bit close here but the salad should be coming right up!" I hear a somewhat-familiar-but-only-directly voice chime in.>"Yep, and you won't believe who it is actually! Wish I'd realized sooner, it's Arle's brother!" He says, giving me away before I even have a say in introducing the cutting-edge new me.!elihw a neeb ...s'tI !izuS yeH<>...she... seems perplexed...>"Oh. Oh! Right, right! The backwards thing, you've got that uhhh phone app, right Cruz?">i almost forgot...>For your convenience and mine, I'll just leave my thoughts as they'd be, the reversal app is more accurate than the actual sounds coming out of my face hole...>Just gotta boot up the app and...>'Hey Suzi! Been a minute.'>"Oh god it's actually him. Why did Arle not tell me?? Are you ok Cruz?" She's... as concerned as I feared she'd be. Crap.>'Well, maybe it's because I... haven't actually... told her yet.'>...>In my peripheral view I can see Amaro's eyes widen.>what is...?>oh god she's pulling out her phone>"WAIT NO DON'T TELL HER!">'WAIT NO DON'T TELL HER!'>huh?>Well, at least our unceremonious harmony got her to stop...>"But why? Shouldn't she know you turned? You're her brother!">'Well yes but she's still in the middle of her vacation and I really don't want to worry her during it...'>"Do you remember how she got that time you reminded her they changed the due date for one of your essay assignments?" Chimes in my support.>...>Phone pocketed. Good.>"Well, you better tell her as soon as she gets back, alright? I feel like she'd react worse knowing you kept it from her." She tells me with a slight glare.>'I just don't wanna ruin her time off man...'>"I guess that's fair... Um... Well, I'd offer you a hug but... would that crumple you up, or...?" She approaches slightly, and I gotta back up.>I... didn't really dwell on this much until now, but...>...
>>58636469>I guess I can't do physical contact anymore even with people I know, can I?>'It's... better if you don't. I'm almost entirely blade now, and... Well you're the last person I think deserves to get paper cuts.'>"I... See... Well, it's... Still nice to see you again! Sorry to get carried away, please, take a seat! Actually, I think I've got a few pillows I could stack on your chair so you're level with the table if that'd be more comfortable for you? A certain someone really should've told me you'd be the height of a ruler beforehand..." Well, you can tell who her hint is directed towards.>Seeing a crow throw up his hands in the air is a bit more amusing than I expected, honestly.>'I'd appreciate it, thank you! Sorry for the additional trouble...'>"Well, guess those extra cushions I have for other seasons could be useful for this..." She says, heading off to a small closet near the dining room while Amaro and I headed to the table.>I think I can see a short rack on one of the sides...>'Hey, Amaro, is that yours?'>"Yep! You'd be surprised how much more comfortable perching is than trying to sit down on a normal chair. Given my size now, my legs just kinda hang off to the sides and it's not... the most comfortable. We're lucky we had an old clothes rack lying around, friend helped us cut it to size." He says as he climbs on top, claws wrapped around the stick. A very sturdy stick.>'Huh, smart. Wish it'd be that easy to make knife hand accessories, I feel like Edward Scissorhands at times...'>"Y'know, at first I thought your size'd be the bigger problem but given the beating you gave me, I'm guessing you're pretty dang strong despite it." He says, while preening where... I'd... cut him the other day. Damn, feel like an asshole now...>He notices what he's doing and quickly stops.
>>58636472>"S-sorry about that, sometimes it's... too easy to just let my mind wander and do its thing without me realizing. Probably looked weird there..." There's... still a feather in his- oh he spat it out.>'No shame in it, it's just... kinda how it goes being like this now, isn't it?'>"Guess so..." As he says, I hear some shuffling behind me. Suzi's piling up some pillows in the (I assume) guest chair. She's sneaky.>'O-oh, thank you! Really though, sorry for the trouble.'>"Your sister's a vegetarian, I've dealt with more bothersome accommodations before." She says with a slight smile.>'Touché.'>"Speaking of veggies, here's the salad bowl and- Oh, there's the pasta, I'll be just a second!" You know, I'm somewhat regretting not getting to know her better before.>"So uhhh, Cruz, anything interesting today?" He's rather efficiently using his beak to operate the tongs. Get the feeling he's used to this by now.>'Well... Not particularly. Got caught up on my animation work after my software crashed last night...'>"Oogh, I feel that.">'And I set up a small zen garden in my backyard, a certain part of me really wanted to do that...'>"Your instincts, right? I really wish mine got me into Japanese philosophy rather than just making me want to dive for shiny things on the way to work every now and again..." He eats a small tomato whole.>'Do your instincts... Talk, to you?'>"Mmm, not particularly, it's more of a force that just... sneakily inserts itself into my train of thought without me realizing. It's like dream logic, it feels like it makes sense in the moment, but when you look back it's like... 'why did I even do that, that makes no sense', y'know?" ...On closer inspection, I think there's a bowl of just small tomatoes. Huh.>'I think I get it. Funnily enough, mine are somehow... very coherent, while I dream. Feels like I've got a small Master Shifu running around in my head that only manifests in the dreamscape.'
>>58636477>"Tropey much?">'Hey, 's not like I can control it directly.'>"Point taken.">Suzi's back with a damn good looking bowl of fusilli.>"There we go! Tried real hard to make sure it turned out good today given we have a guest and all. Oh and here's the Parmesan cheese!">'Thank you!'>...serve a couple spoons to not be too greedy with maybe a refill later...>"Would you like anything to drink? Some water, beer?">'O-oh, just some diet cola would be good!'>"Sure thing!">She comes back with a small glass of the soda, not before directing a very overt 'why didn't YOU offer him a drink?' glare at her husband.>Grab a piece of past with my face and then swallow it...>"Does that... feel weird at all?" I hear her ask.>"Suzannine!" Reprimands her husband.>"Sorry, sorry, it's... probably out of place, it just looks... So weird from the outside, you know? I thought that was like your eye, right?" She inquires despite it.>'It... doesn't feel like anything in the moment, really.'>"Huh, interesting... How long have you been a uh... What's the name of the Pokemon again?" She's definitely serving herself the most balanced plate out of the 3 of us.>'Kartana, Kamitsurugi if I wanna be a bit of a weeb.'>wait why did i expose myself>oh wait they already know i do animation for japan stuff, this changes nothing>"Hey, we know you went to Japan, no need to flex! But yeah, how long?" An artist proud of her culinary work, she is.>'3 days or so...'>"Dang, you've got a better grasp on yourself than mr. Nightwing here given how new this is for you. He's been like this for 2 weeks now.">You ever see a crow rub the back of his neck? Kinda goofy looking.>"Cut me some slack, he says he got lucky with the instincts compared to me..." He replies.>"Oh? Do they just make you want to cut bonsais and draw lines in the sand or something?" She says slightly snarkily.>'Yes, actually.'
>>58636481>She... seems caught offguard, before shrugging.>"Fair enough. Pokemon are weird enough that I believe it." And thus she perpetuates the food chain once more. So do I.>'How'd you 2 go about... this, whole situation when Amaro turned at first?'>Suzi whistles, while Amaro gulps down a meatball.>"Well, it... was a bit hard, at first." He says.>"I think I noticed it before he did himself honestly, I woke up next to a big black bird sleeping like a baby next to me? Ever see pics of birds uh... Sunbathing? Yeah he looked like that." She gestures a bit as she explains.>"In my defense that's just kinda close to how I normally slept." He retorts.>"And even then you took up half the dang bed.">"Hey you sure didn't complain whenever you used my arm as a pillow.">She nudges him. Looks a bit flustered.>"A-anyway. I... did kinda freak out, yeah. But... then he spoke with his same ol' voice, just poorly filtered like he was playing a robot in a mid-budget 90s TV series. But... it was still him. Spooky red eyes though.">"Hey, if nothing else they look cool!" He adds.>"You don't get to see them just glaring at you in the middle of the night...">I nod along, letting the couple continue their retelling as I enjoy my meal.>"It... took us a bit to get used to it at first. He was stumbling everywhere, said 'my knees are on backwards'.">"Still are.">"And it was... hard, explaining to our workplaces what had happened, they were confused at first but they put together that it was a Pokemon thing soon enough. He got the week off, I sure didn't. Gotta be the breadwinner for the hungry little duck of the house...">"I'm a corvid, thank you very much!" He pouts.
>>58636484>"Luckily, he works at a fancy private school that's been trying to be more 'welcoming' of the situation, so they accommodated him quickly enough.">"They said they ordered a buncha big bird perches preemptively after someone from IT brought up that bird Pokemon are some of the 'statistically most common ones because all the damn games give you one at the start of the game', and I got to be one of the first ones to try 'em out. Good quality perches. Giving lessons on livestock as a giant bird definitely amused my class..." His feathers puff out a bit. He seems cozy talking about this. Admittedly, I am too.>"Actually, speaking of Pokemon oddities..." She turns to me as she says. "Do you have any idea why Maro here can understand you but I can't...?">I provide the extent of my knowledge in a shrug.>'Frankly, my best guess is just that... it's because we're both Pokemon?'>He gulps down a meatball, tired of pecking. "Well, I guess they did understand each other in the show even when they were different species, right?">'Guess so, yeah. But why couldn't you understand me over the phone then?'>"Hm..." He carefully places a napkin on his wing and cleans his beak. "My best bet is that... since we're in person next to each other, I can understand you because you're talking to me directly and some kind of... translation, happens in the process.">Another meatball down the hatch, guess it makes sense he'd be this hungry given his size.
>>58636491>"So when you just send me voice messages, what I'm listening to is the raw 'sound' you're making without that kinda 'local understanding', because the phone's recording how it understands you, which is... well, backwards.">'That... simultaneously sounds kinda dumb but also believable.'>"It's been a long time since I took my music production c" She chimes in, "but like, isn't audio technically recording just the sound waves themselves to recreate them? I think that's why flutes can sound a bit blown out in recordings compared to hearing them in real life, or why the better quality a recording of a bass is, the 'quieter' it gets I think.">"You were always so smart..." He says with a slight coo to his words.>"Oh come on don't tell me you're gonna get cheesy like that when we've got a guest home..." She laughs slightly.>"Well, at least that audio reversal app of yours is convenient.">'Wouldn't have expected it to be, honestly...'
>>58636496>...We spent a good few hours just talking about life after the change. Early gawking, adapting their home after the fact, getting the paperwork sorted out, all that stuff.>We got so carried away that I couldn't even tell them about Japan, so we agreed I gotta come back this next weekend.>It's... nice, going out every now and again.>It's also dark out already.>Well, at least the way back is simple enough according to maps.>Can just fly higher if I really need to compare the map with my surroundings...>Well, this certainly was a productive day.>Maybe I should do this more often, even if my dear gyudon stops tasting as good compared to Suzannine's cooking...>Even if this was a "lighter" day compared to the last few... I'm glad it was that way.>Not everything needs to be so action-packed, I got my shonens for that...>...>Huh...>Who's... there...?This was a nigh-5 hour long writing and art marathon (had to cut a few corners due to the sheer amount of posts here, whoops) but I think it was worth it, please feel free to comment! I hope my incoherent rambling paragraphs are entertaining so far...
>>58636499Excellent. Very well done. I didn’t catch anything on my first read through. It’s cute to see the couple making it work despite the change. I was a little afraid it would turn into façade but it worked out. The voice thing is kind of bullshit but it works because even the characters realize that but they don’t have a better explanation.At first I thought the figure was a Hisuian Decidueye, but that might be my own conscious telling me to get back to writing.
Hah, the internal criticisms don't stop rolling in with the heavy personal punches. That's all they can really do though, they don't seem to catch typos or other mistakes. Funny that.I feel so bad for not reading Kartanon's story, but I cannot deal with such awesomeness at the moment. I'll respond tomorrow after class.Also, I probably should've said this earlier but yeah, I noticed the "unfortunately" tacked onto "I'm alive." Really hoping it's just something passing. Snivyanon, if you want to or even just need to without wanting to talk about it, we're here. >>58636447>mistakesThanks.>pokerusHeheh. If you think Dr. Abet isn't trying to mess with Pokerus, you're very, very silly.>My outburstWas kind of hoping you wouldn't respond to me lashing outI considered deleting my post to remove it because it was COMPLETELY out of line, but I already made a promise to minimize that>US NavyYup, that was actually going to be my excuse. That and also it's not like the US Navy can just... deliver Pokemon back into their countries of origin if said origin coubntries really don't want to deal with them.(I would say that China's navy is a bit busy with the Pokemon. Every single Chinese-owned vessel is considered a part of its navy, so a lot of them are now dealing with the very angry fishmons they're catching)>Matsui, properI think if Matsui is to return, she has to do it herself. It can't be Valentine returning to her.One idea that popped into my head is a botched natural wild fire evacuation, though. Valentine's in the area to assist his family in getting the hell out of dodge, and she ends up in an accident due to something or another totalling the transport she's on. Valentine sees the accident, tries to help those on board before the damaged transport goes up in flames, and they reunite there. It's a rough option, and definitely one that needs some polishing if I try to take it, but it's a surprisingly grounded option, with the lack of my usual grandure.
Now that I got some rest after that whole spiel, time for me to catch up on others' stories and comments I neglected...>>58623894>lean a bit into the latin cultural heritage it suggests.Forgot to comment on this before, but the fact you made this specific comment tells me I'm achieving something I intended to with the story.>>58634769>My only issue would be the sheer luck involved in two siblings ending up as the same Pokemon.I know it's a bit of a copout, but sometimes, luck's just... like that irl, y'know? Which is kinda what I want to go for. Well, that and elaborating on the example churchanon brought up of whole families turning the same species as a false positive for the phenomenon being genetic, the Prinplups were just one such case. Or were they? I did use "looked like" very intentionally.>treating evolution as an age thing when it comes to transformations?Not strictly, any mons that Kartanon doesn't directly interact with I pick moreso for their scene setting potential personally.>>58635558>I'm alive (unfortunately).Hey, no bein' down around here! If not for your own sake, for ours! Also, interesting concept with the Megas, hope the story goes far enough to see it through! Your writing's always a great time.>>58635824>I haven't had story ideas for anything this entire fucking week.Ah, my condolences, creative ruts are a bitch and a half, hope you can get over the slum sooner than later...>>58635890And you too, 'course! Again, wish I'd comment more on Val but I'm somewhat waiting fo the rentry update to read it all be bulk and not be lost reading stray updates.>>58636006I cannot stress enough how amazing of a job you do at building up these characters and their struggles, even though this all just... hurts, a lot, it's incredibly comforting seeing Copanon help Fedoark out, grappling with the extremes of Pokemon nature is hellish when they so starkly oppose human morality. She's very lucky to have an anchor like him
When I'm done with this arc I swear I'll give the whole thing (all currently 30K words of it) a proper editorial pass, for the time being I mainly don't want to risk losing my inertia even if it means tense snarls up the wazoo so long as it's still legible...>>58636433>Does Kartanon's town have even more transformees than Lucarioanon's, do we think?First person I've seen point out it's a different town, didn't state it directly but I wondered if anyone'd picked up on that detail, kudos to you!>>58636556>The voice thing is kind of bullshit but it works because even the characters realize that but they don’t have a better explanation.Sometimes that's just how some things in life are. Admittedly I think I could've given a better answer, but... Given the whole situation, I figured it'd be more fitting if none of them had a solid grasp on "why" and were just guessing, it's the best they can really do since none of them have any expertise in relevant areas.>spoilerProfD's secret evil brother... You'll have to wait and see if that's the case. I've got something bigger planned for the story beat coming up I can tell you that much.>>58636637>I feel so bad for not reading Kartanon's story, but I cannot deal with such awesomeness at the moment. I'll respond tomorrow after class.Hey I did kinda just toss out an omega text block out of nowhere, and it's not going anywhere, there's no rush! Just glad people're interested in it either way. Interesting concepts with Pokerus too I will say... Pokemon items and concepts being brought along for the ride beyond just transformees is a very fascinating aspect of the concept to me, feels like it's indirectly asking "will our itself world change to fit pokemon, or will pokemon adapt to our world as it is?" Just a lotta really fun thought experiments with all this.Also, copanon, a treat for you based on >>58635634 because all your picrels manage to get a chuckle outta me and your story deserves some more art of it.
>>58636496Where does one even begin? The art is amazing, the entire scene is like if Spongebob's "Normal" form was wholesome as Hell rather than utterly horrifying and I am here for it, I like how Amaro's instincts are kind of a sneaky birb being sneaky and birb, looking less to dominate and more undermine, I like how Kartanon shows what some of Val's anxieties could look like given better psychological health and a strong support network, I like how we're continuing with that idea that education institutions are some of the first to embrace Pokemon... I could gush all day, but since it's not particularly funny or insightful to do that, I'll content myself with leaving off with this instead...Damn, that Corviknight is TINY.Which is probably lucky for Amaro, in all honesty. While he wouldn't need perches, being a 2.2m tall bird would be hugely inconvenient in SO MANY ways. Now, if you're from the city in my Mystery Dungeon Moderne project, on the other talon...>Alpha Corviknight: "Birdhouse control? 823 Superheavy entering airspace.">ATC Cinccino: "823 Superheavy from Birdhouse, good evening. You're looking for the usual - rooftop?">Corvi: "Correct. Requesting rooftop landing to Birdhouse.">ATC: "Okay, turn left heading 220 and descend to maintain 17 hundred.">Corvi: "220, maintain 17 hundred, 823 Superheavy...">>58636499>>58636556That was definitely the first thing I thought of, too, but while the head shape and general body structure fit with that, some of the other details don't quite so much. And yeah, the characters have no more idea about the voice thing than we do, so they're just spitballing - that seemed fair enough to me.>>58636786I love how you even kept the bottom text being partially cut off. This shit is gold.
>>58636637>Do either of us actually know how to hold a conversation?That awkward moment when your anxiety-riddled ass suddenly realizes that your conversation partner is just as bad at this shit as you yourself are.>my brain decided to stop listeningThat other awkward moment when you invite someone to speak about something, only to realize halfway through that you actually don't give a shit.They be just stewin' in a big ol' sauna of awkward right now.>hoping you wouldn't respondEh, we all have bad days. Sometimes you need you concerns assuaged. It's not like Snivyanon's having a good time lately either. It's valid to be suffering and need help, and I'm happy to do so.Regarding the PLAN, while I'm sure Chain's just as busy, neither side would find it acceptable to allow the other to see them be the first one to blink under such circumstances, so the posturing would almost certainly still continue to some extent.Huh... this wildfire concept? Not a terrible idea at all... It's grounded as you say, it feels topical with all the problems Cali's been having with that lately (maybe Val even has some past trauma with such things. Could be interesting. Also, the object that becomes Type: Null getting caught up in the blaze could be an excellent excuse for it to disappear with no one noticing), and it has them brought to the same place for completely unrelated reasons, but then ultimately reunited for the exact same reason.It's... actually pretty elegant... I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it a stroke of genius, but it's honestly pretty damn solid. Good thinking. Only thing I'd suggest is that we definitely need some stuff from Matsui's perspective that naturally places her into that situation prior to them being re-united, as her just happening to wind up there at same time as Val might still feel like an ass-pull otherwise.But other than that? I think you're onto a winner with this one.
>>58634402Good ass chapter, I like the thinking Isaac had to pull off to worm his way out of the situation, even if ultimately to KO went to Kayden. I don't feel like his outburst was necessarily out of character, even the nicest people can become incredibly nasty under circumstances where family are in critical condition and they don't get good news, and all the stress of dealing with everything and keeping secrets definitely affected him.>>58636006Sometimes you don't realize how heavy a burden you're carrying until it gets lifted, however briefly. This entire sequence has been fantastic. Looking forward to seeing how things shake up once she moves in, I feel like just emulating his voice is the tip of the iceberg in terms of shenanigans. >>58636499Well worth the wait, super cute and fantastic art as always. Really love the explanation that Amaro's instincts are 'sneaky', really lends to the impulsiveness crows and ravens have irl. The general hosting awkwardness between Amaro and Suzi is funny as hell and exactly the kind of thing you'd notice being a guest but just kinda try to ignore out of politeness. My guess at the mysterious stranger is a Cacturne, which would be cool.>>58636433>>58636637>>58636731Just overworked and stressed out (doesn't help that I hit a deer with my car yesterday as a capstone to this shitty week), all compounding on my lack of ability to write anything I feel satisfied with. Kinda realized that modern setting slice of life stuff is just out of my ballpark, and that I churned through all my ideas on it already.I dunno, I thought finally having a day off would have been a good mental reset, but I just ended up stewing on this.
>>58637237I really hope things get better for you on the job front. Work stress is a real bitch.As for writing, if fantasy is more your bag, then perhaps you could write something from the perspective of a group of HEMA and medieval reenactment practitioners. They're meeting up for the first time in a while, since everybody kind of had more important things to worry about during the initial emergence of the phenomenon, and a couple of their members have transformed. This leads them inevitably to speculating what Pokemon would be like in their chosen historical period of choice. Some rightly point out that it could only realistically end in butchery, so the conversation shifts to what if the phenomenon had already been around for centuries prior to the medieval period and people had grown accustomed to living alongside and utilizing these creatures, taking things in a more overtly fantasy direction.We then enter into the fictional setting these guys are crafting and see what it looks like from the inside, everyone in the reenactment group naturally having an expy in their newly constructed fiction, thusly allowing us to continue to gain insight into the modern-day characters while exploring the fantasy setting, but still doing something a bit different from the usual in-story DnD game.Of course that's just the first thing I thought of off the top of my head. It's probably terrible, but might give some food for thought at least?
>>58637237>I churned through all of my ideas on it alreadyThat doesn't surprise me. No only have you just admitted to not being terribly familiar with the genre, but you did not pace yourself AT ALL. I thought it was a little suspicious that you seemed to be able to deliver gold non-stop, and now I know why.>I thought a day off would have been a good mental resetYou don't fix a dry wellspring by waiting a singular day. Stress does not disappear in a single day. I dunno if you got that idea from the Sims 3 but yeah, no, fuck that. You will remain stressed for much longer than a day if you've had a bad week. Creativity also takes a bit to get refilled, and you need inspirations for good story writing. Find the minutae in mundanity, and just write down every last of your story ideas without even giving them critical thought. You can go through your piles of ideas later and pick out the good ones.If you have other ideas and there's simply nothing left for the modern ones at the moment, then go for it. Machoanon(?) offered HEMA and medieval reenactments, but personally I would've just gone full throttle on the medieval and turned the past fantastical, one Pokemon at a time. Which states would fall due to the chaos of introducing the mythology to reality? What about the states that would rise? How would the native tribes of North and South America cope with having something actually tameable? I wonder what a Shinto Japan would do with their "true and honest" yokai.Or honestly? Better yet, just... take like two weeks off and do something else. Occasionally pop into the thread to say hi or something, but there's no shame to be had in focusing on anything else in your life, whether that be cleaning or videogames.Whatever the case, I hope you can get back on your feet soon.This PS didn't fit, so if you wanna read about my week, https://files.catbox.moe/wdgaaz.txt
>>58637513You think you're terrible at everything, then you turn around and give excellent sage advice like this, complete with the "just take a break, five-head" advice you yourself refuse to heed.Yep, we really are all our own worst enemies, aren't we?
>>58637534
>>58636006Copanon can't catch a break, can he? Certainly can catch a cold, though! With this arc it's official: Fedoark is my favourite character in your stories so far! Love the way she and Copanon interact with each other.>>58636499Just got around to reading your story. That was a cosy read and some highly appreciated illustrations to go along with it. I'd say five hours well spent!Btw, would you mind adding a table of contents to your Rentry page? Scrolling through on my phone took ages!I'm with Snivyanon on the mystery stranger being a Cacturne. The little knob on its triangular head gives it away, I think. Has a cool cape too! Or is that an out of shape Starmie around its neck?
>>58638441My money is on it being a Bisharp wearing a lone wanderer style cloak.
>>58636433>>58636731>>58637237>>58638441I'm glad you all seem to enjoy Fedoark. There will be more of her and her shenenigans in the future.>>58636786Thanks for the art. It is always appreciated.
> be me> turned into a Driftloon> icanfly.jpg> enjoy just drifting along the neighbourhood> see child below> instincts kick in> mfw I abducted a child> mfw my name is Jeffrey
I apologize for not posting any Valentine tonight. I only got 3 hours of sleep and my attempt at a nap failed miserably due to an upset stomach.Never underestimate the power of luck to gut punch me, I guess. Feels like I actually did get gut punched, ow.>>58640394I was wondering when this image would show up to this thread.I almost want to do something with this sort of a dynamic in foxes, but I already have these two Pokemon planned in some capacity for Valentine. It feels incredibly dirty to double dip on my favorites like that.
Heads up, next Kartanon will likely take longer than the usual... Daily before it's posted. Pulling out all the creative stops for this next part since I really, really want it to be impactful in more ways than one. I'll be taking my sweet, sweet time with this one to make sure it pays off. For the time being, here's another preview...>>58636941Thanks for the support still! Glad ya enjoyed it.>Damn, that Corviknight is TINY.He's smaller than the average Corviknight but... don't pay too much mind to proportions in the doodles, I play VERY fast n loose with 'em, mainly care about the idea getting across. He was tall before, so his house still generally accommodates for a 2m tall bird.>H. Decidueye.Hm.>VoiceSometimes things just... are as they are, y'know?>>58637237Thanks for the compliments again! It's always very interesting reading the different, well, reads on characters people get from my story, some is spot on and some I didn't even think of but is also a perfect fit... I wanted the whole dinner scene to be very "earnest", people being polite with each other with some digs here n there as well as stumbles, but still genuine.>CacturneHmm.Also, my condolences for that. Reason I nearly spam Kartanon is that I'm desperate to not let this trail of inspiration peter out like previous stories of mine have, gotta keep up the streak else a bad rut could take it all down... I feel like at least the Police trio has some shenanigans they could get up to, specially with Porygon as a rogue factor. And like you said, S&W has some stuff being set up, I'd love seeing it through!>>58638441>Btw, would you mind adding a table of contents to your Rentry page?Will do as soon as the next part is done for sure!>>58638472>BisharpHm.>>58639769You managed to make everyone's character dynamics real enjoyable, it's always a great time when you update! Glad you liked the shitpost drawing, like I said your picrels always get a chuckle outta me.
>>58639769>I'm glad you all seem to enjoy Fedoark. There will be more of her and her shenenigans in the future.
I couldn't fall to sleep.Hope Snivyanon's doing well.>>58640422His name Jeff :PThis was a funny short little green, thanks.>>58640657Take your time! I want it to be as golden as every last part.>>58639769>I'm glad you all seem to enjoy FedoarkDude, you are one of like 4 people I REALLY want to be at the same skill level of when it comes to interactions. I am struggling SO HARD to make the interactions between Qianli and Valentine feel "natural"(naturally awkward, anyhow,) and you make it look so unbelievably easy.I look forward to beating myself over the head with your fantastic work again when she comes back.
>>58635822I'll be the critic here since everyone up to now (including me) has been cheer-leading this update: The lack of Anon's internal thought processes to break up or help him (and in turn, the reader) digest Fedoark's emotional dumping makes this part feel a bit less empathic than I'd like. "Help girl feel better" resonates, but he doesn't really seem to process anything she's told him, and that's been a bit of a weight on this particular story arc. If you do give this an editing pass, that's the big thing I'd be sure to add to the update to make it feel a little bit more real to my autistic ass.
Imagine... Kat.Yes I know the mega Stones don't exist... yet. Though I have an idea how they can start.
>>58642343https://youtu.be/H1QKyB_0P0E
>>58642343Less cuddly, more stabby.>>58641720Mm, I honestly gave it a pass largely because it's a green. Unlike a normal story, you're strapped for space, so you make omissions you otherwise wouldn't. That said, I agree that copanon's internal thoughts, or even just "emotional cues" would add immensely to it.
>>58642343>that color schemeThat’s what their kids are gonna look like
Well, current theoretical 4chan-posts-needed count for the next part is at 5 posts.I haven't even gotten halfway through the scene proper and I'm gunning for each post to have a unique image some of them being mini-manga sequences themselves, others having animation. I have a feeling I'll be working away at this one for a while.anyway kat with access to zeraoraite would probably be enough of a force of nature that she could take out the power grids of a solid 3 cities at once just because she was hungry for electricity one night
Pokémon Pit continued.>Your first week went off without a hitch>No more training wheels and no more dealing to your co-workers>Time to show 'em what you're made of>Granted, that also meant you would have to start getting scheduled for shifts now>The “PokerMonster” pit was not 24/7 like the rest of the casino>It came down to who was trained for which games and worked which shifts>10am to 6pm was the “midday”, 6pm to 2am was “swing”, and 2am to 10am, normally the “graveyard” shift, was closed completely>During orientation, it was explained that this was a “keep your own tokes” position.>If you gave excellent service and someone on your table who tipped handsomely, you got to keep all of what you earned>Alternatively, if you were a sourpuss or got some real cheapskates, you might not make much more than minimum.>This led to an interesting strategic decision: do you go for the midday crowd when regulars come in with a smaller budget but are looking to build relationships ? Or do you go for the swing shift when the high rollers play and the crowd gets a bit looser?>You decided it was necessary to try both and get a feel for the clientele>Knowing how to deal all the major games meant you always had a spot at any table>The unusual hours didn’t bother you as much as you expected it would>Whether that was some cat-napping feline instinct or the result of having a messed up sleep schedule while going to school would have to just be left as a mystery of life>You swear you didn’t used to knead and fluff your pillow this much either, but that’s probably nothing to worry about >Joining a morning “coffee and craps” table during your a trial shift meant you got to meet more of your coworkers more closely>You were always drawn to craps because of the camaraderie and excitement of the table>Plus, a fully staffed game had four dealers working so the time went fast when you could riff off each other to entertain the players
>>58645116>You were third base with a couple guys standing on the hook>The boxman was a dapper Meowth named Joey, overseeing the game from a tall barstool setup for him to stand on>He seemed to be a crowd favorite with the dice players.>Working the other side of the table was a tall, surprisingly lanky Urshifu wearing a vest, Rodriguez dealing a couple on the straight out>”Six, Point of Six. Five-one to get it done. Odds for you ma’am?”>His accent was thick but ambiguously latino>Apparently, he was the new hire just before you, and had been recruited from a rough part of town>His stature and demeanor gave him the sense of a resolute brick wall>No one but a fellow dealer would notice his hands shaking as he cut out change>and finally, a Lopunny, Sarah, was working the stick and trying her best to sell the table on prop bets>Was she really wearing a playbunny outfit, or was that just how a sleeveless dress looked on her?>”Hardways? Horns? Hops?”>>”Yeah I bet you know all about the hops! Give me a three-way red.” one of your players offered as he tossed three chips to the center>For a second, you thought of saying something, about respecting the dealers and making comments like that>She answered first, glaring with surprisingly hard eyes, but pulling a cutesy pose>”If you really, want to see me hop, I’ll need some kind of carrot on a stick”>>”Fine. Dollar each on the hardways for the crew.”>Her voice was naturally mellifluous, but you swore you almost heard a sigh or grunt before she started talking>Whatever it was, the customers didn’t notice>You got the rest of your players taken care of and their bets all set up>”Dice out. Hands up!” the rabbit girl annunciated as she pushed the cherry candy cubes across the luxurious black felt of the table over to your side of the table>A woosh, a clack and a cheer immediately followed>>”Hard six winner. Three and a Three”
>>58645200>”Two Threes?” Rodriguez said expectantly, as he looked over to Joey>”That’s a small forest!” Joey answered back with a laugh>Dice humor never gets old does it?>”Thank you sir.” Sarah says flatly as she locks up the $10 in the dropbox for the dealer team>Not bad, she got lucky and timed it just right for all of us>”C’mon Joey, give us a payday! We’re hot this morning!” cried out the husband>Joey gave the player a convincing look like he was in thought before smiling like a parent giving a kid a cookie>”Oh all right. Here you go!”>In the blink of an eye, metallic gold coins were slung in front of every player at the tableUh, what do I…?>Joey leaned over and started to explain>”This is my schtick. They’re $5 free play chips. They have to match it with real money and they only get the payout if the bets win. What do you think? We can talk later during a break.”>Well, as long as it was cleared with the floor>The game continued as usual, point of nine, about eight rolls of box numbers, including a hard ten paying out for us again, until it came to an end>”Seven out. Line away, Don’ts to Pay” came the call from Sarah“Five-Two says you’re through”>”Clever. I say Cinco-Dos and Adios” Rodriguez answers your call>And so the game would go on with players buying in, sometimes coloring up, and sometimes going broke>Eventually, your meal break time came around during an extended lull and David said you could take it all together>Off to the Employee Dining Room
Is the sheriff being professional? No. Would anyone be professional after having to team up with the fire department to take out a Claydol threatening the sheriff's office? Well, maybe, but not him. I kind of noticed something funny. I did sort of intend for him to have some low level of CPTSD, but I hadn't actually begun the process of hinting towards it intentionally. However, chapter 2 and the 3 days of no sleep are actually pretty in-line from my brief checks on PTSD and CPTSD.Oh, also I forgot to be announcing my word counts. We're up to 10,104, but I haven't begun rewriting that one Claydol section yet, and I kind of skipped over half of the Pokeball dialogue for now because I wasn't sure how to make it interesting.So uh, Machomon, when you come back, what time zone are you in? Are you the European who announced himself earlier or something?>>58645254I don't know enough about gambling to make comment on this, but none the less, I enjoyed the detail regardless.I really need to learn how to play blackjack. If I play my wasp card, he's going to need a distraction to pull him out of an anxiety attack.>>58644657You might just want to skip posting it as a green at that point. I'm not in control of your story though and I await the results eagerly regardless of what you do with it.
>>58645254>Nothing better than to bond over free but mid food>If you were paired with the all-star dealers last week, these were definitely your average dealers>Joey started by explaining how he worked with leadership to use his talent as a promotion“How did you learn to throw coins around like that?”>”I didn’t really. One day while I was sitting at home I just got a splitting headache and next thing I knew, there were coins everywhere. Shame they’re not real gold. Otherwise, I’d be on easy street!”“So where does it actually come from? How does that work?”>>”We’re all magical animals from a Japanese children’s video game. How is any of this supposed to work?” Sarah interrupted while scrolling on her phone“Fair enough, I guess. What’s it like being a…?”>>”A Lopunny? Terrible honestly. You know exactly what the internet and every freak that comes in thinks of me. But I’m making it work. At least I have this charity job at the combination animal sanctuary and gambling parlor and I don’t have to become a streamer or onlyfans model or something.”>>>”What are you calling a charity job? I had to work for weeks to be able to do this. I had a real job, I had a dream to take over my dad’s auto business. You try working on a car in this body! It took me twice as long to learn this job as it did to master assembling a MacPhearson strut. >>”Alright geez. I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated alright”>>>”I'm sorry too. I HATE being emotional like this. These damn instincts. One minute I’m fine and just flowing. The next, I feel like I need to deck someone in a boxing ring if they insult me. It’s this dumb bear body. Hey Alex, how do you deal with this kind of thing?”“I don’t have much advice to give, I was training to be a dealer before I changed and I don’t feel different now.”>”I like sardines now. Used to hate them. Go figure.”>>>”Thanks for that. I guess it’s time to head back to work?”
>>58645332I thought Macho was an Aussie?>You might just want to skip posting it as a green at that point.Hell no, it's a crucial element of it for me at this rate! I just now wrapped up the writing part of it and god damn I really hope people here will enjoy going through it as much as I did working on it! Now I've got 4 picrels to work on for it, started work on one of them already... I really do hope it'll have been worth the time investment and effort I put into it even if now I feel like I probably overextended by staying up until 3am to finish writing it even though I need to be up at 8.>>58645389Really enjoying this crew a lot! Very much glad you did decide to go ahead with the idea for the casino mons in the end, you sell their personalities really well! Funny seeing the Payday dilema tackled in the context of a casino too, very fitting. Definitely feel for Rodriguez and Sarah, at least they seem to be making an effort to make it work... I need to ask, do you picture Joey as having the anime's Meowth voice? Because reading those lines with that voice in my mind feels oddly fitting for both the LatAm AND English voices.
>>58645580>I thought Macho was an AussieHe might've been. I'm notorious for completely missing obvious details.Anyways, again, looking forward to it! Love the loud snores.gnp.
>>58645580Honestly, is it possible for a Meowth to have any other voice than from the anime? It’s so good and so iconic.
>>58646403I usually read Meowth voices as his anime voice but with less of his accent and more of whatever I think suits the character. That, or Toad from the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.
>>58645116>>58645200>>58645254>>58645389Some good shit
I'm just curious. Do any of you think you could assign a theme song to your stories/characters? Just a fun question
>>58647121I can only do like two characters I've actually written and one story, as it turns out.Valentine: Dancing on the Edge (War Thunder, Jimmie Asche) and The Concept of Love (Jet Set Radio, Hideki Naganuma) depending on mental stateDr. Abet: Radio (Command and Conquer, Frank Klepacki)On Laying Yourself To Rest: Wise Words (Deltarune, Toby Fox)I actually wrote the drifter's wisdom while listening to Wise Words on repeat.Type: Null, at the very least, I have an idea for. However, I haven't written Type: Null yet so...Null: We'll Meet Again (Vera Lynn, instrumental played on a Novachord)
>>58647121https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtnUVaRwXM
>>58647176I don't know why I was surprised to see Snivy drawn as that, but I was
>>58640958Miniature laptops!? That's un-possible!The fact that Abet is perfectly happy to let Val call the police on his phone will serve to demystify him a lot for the audience. He's (probably) not evil, he's just a weirdo.>>58645332>currently out on recovery I was going to question the Claydol having managed to down the entire department, but apparently Fort Sumner's copshop only has three officers, so I guess it makes sense.Honestly, local schlubs having to begrudgingly tolerate that this is their new reality gives me life. This man is neither paid 'nor trained 'nor mentally prepared for this shit. Whatever went down between the sheriff and the Claydol sounds like ripe fodder for a one-shot green if you ever wanted to do that.And yes, Kartanon is correct - Macho is proudly upside down.>>58645580It is absolutely worth it. I can tell you that for nothing.>>58647121The Village People's 'Macho Man' feels like a total cop-out, but I mean... you can't really say it's not fitting...
>>58645389>knead and fluffGotta make them biscuits. I do like these funny little cat instinct moments, especially given Meowscarada is this big fabulous magician anthro - always a fun contrast. In before somebody tosses a cucumber onto the table.We do have a tendency to get a bit lost in the casino jargon I'm noticing, which may prove perplexing to readers unfamiliar with it, but on the other hand I like how observant Alex is. If we're gonna be trying to capture all the little details of this large ensemble cast through his eyes, that's a handy trait to have.>That’s a small forestWhile I have no idea what that means, I've a feeling Joey's been taking pointers from David. Also, love seeing my Pay Day idea get implemented. You're a gem, sir.>these were definitely your average dealersSo we have the A-team and the B-team. Definitely no gods of gambling here. Alex will of course be bumped around to wherever the plot requires his keen (even by cat standards) eyes to go.All the possible flavours and Sarah chose salty. Granted it's hard to blame her.Does handling a deck of cards to a professional level really require LESS manual dexterity than working on a car? I 'unno, maybe it does. Either way, Rodriguez needs to embrace the discipline and zen of fighting types. The fact that neither cat bro feels much pull from their instincts is amusing, but while I'm pretty sure Rodriguez's final line was meant to be sarcastic, given that Alex and Joey are about as useful as tits on a fish in the Pokemon instincts arena, that could've been made a little clearer.And yes, Joey has anime Meowth's voice. That's basically mandatory.
>>58647489>While I have no idea what that meansNTA but I read that as a pun on Three and Tree sounding alike, "Two trees? Well that's a small forest!"
>>58645580>>58646674Thank you! More to come soon. Rentry should be updated soon.>>58647578Bingo.>>58647489I’m only leaning into the jargon to try to make the world “feel alive” and show that this is very much Alex’s career. I’ll ease off a bit as we shift more to character moments instead of gaming moments.As for the hands, I was imagining the tight spaces being the bigger issue than the dexterity. Something like the “Not now kitten, daddy lost the fucking 10mm” meme. Of course, its never just one reason you’re forced to give up on a dream, is it?
>>58647601>its never just one reasonUnless you really pulled the short stick and got something quadruped.>"Do you understand how difficult it is to use an impact wrench without having any actual arms!? And that's not even getting into the part of not having dexterous fingers or wrists!"I'd use that, but it feels like oneupsmanship so I won't.
>>58636006>She jumped at you similarly as before, except this time she didn't dig her claws into your flesh.>Instead, one arm went over your arm and the other under your arm in a hug.>"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated while hugging you.>The pain of it spread through your frostbitten body.>"No problem. Please, could you hug me with less force? It's painful," you replied while holding in the pain.>A cruel yet somehow not entirely malicious smile appeared on her face when she heard it.>"I know. That's why I'm hugging you," she replied, with that same smile on her face asa fine icy mist escaped her mouth.>Was it her, her instincts, or both making her act this way?>You knew that there would be people who would kill to be in your position.>And you'd rather not be in your position, but unfortunately you were too good or stupid of a person for this situation.>"Please. It really hurts," you muttered out.>"Just a moment longer," she said calmly, almost hopeful in a sadistic kind of way.>You just sat silent for a while, enduring the pain.>"Did she fall asleep?" you asked yourself as the hug got gentler but didn't stop.>You kind of felt bad at the prospect of ending the hug, but the pain you were experiencing was a good counterargument.>As you tried to remove yourself from her embrace, it really seemed that she had fallen asleep.>No wonder, considering she probably didn't sleep much because of all that was happening.>You were almost there in terms of removing yourself from her hug until you heard your doorbell ringing.>"Hey man, are you there? The captain told me to check on you. Brought that CDC bloodsucker, you know," you heard the muffled voice of your colleague.>The sound made the Pokemon wake up in a jolt, hitting all of your nerves at once.>"YYYEeeah, I'm here," you said, turning a scream of agony into a coherent sentence interrupted by pained hissing.
>>58648144>You had locked the front door.>Your FBI friend just walked through it, so it was still locked.>Sending her to open it, even in human disguise, would be suspicious at best.>Fortunately, your house had a back door that could be opened.>"Go open the back door and hide from view until they leave," you ordered the Zoroark.>She didn't object, just quickly running to the door, opening it, and hiding somewhere outside.>"Can you open the door?" asked your colleague.>"I'm not exactly in shape to do it right now. I've left the back door open so you'd have to jump over the fence," you said loudly.>An indistinguishable muttering could be heard from the outside.>In a few moments your colleague entered your house the gay way through the back door.>"That's the second time I've entered your house by jumping over your fence," he said, going over to the front door to let John in.>He didn't even bother to check up on you on his way, not to waste time.>"Where is the patient?" you heard John's voice.>The both of them entered your room.>"I've seen shits looking better than you," said your colleague.>John didn't waste any time and brought out the medical equipment and started going through all the tests.>"Your body temperature is within the boundaries of hypothermia, and those markings on your shoulders are certainly showing signs of frostbite," John said to you.>"Do I need to go to the hospital?" you asked.>"I don't think there is a need for that. Just first-stage frostbite andbruises. I'm curious as to what caused those," he replied.>So this was where the creative liberty part came from.>"My freezer got possessed by a Pokemon, and I had to wrangle it back in. Got peppered by high velocity ice cubes," you said, lying through your teeth.>"Did you keep any of those ice cubes somewhere? They might be useful," the CDC agent asked.
>>58648222>"Where would I keep them? In the recently possessed freezer? I just threw them into the sink," you replied.>"That's a shame," John replied.>"How did you even manage to get rid of that Pokemon? The freezer looked normal to me," asked your colleague.>"Honestly I don't know. I'd assume it got bored because it couldn't free itself from between the furniture and went to bother someone else, as no other household appliance was affected. At least I hope not," you replied.>"From the looks of it, it seems to be a Rotom," said John.>"You know what it is?" you asked.>"This isn't the first or most likely last case of one showing up," he replied.>"What was the first one?" you asked.>"One of them commandeered a car and was driving around New York. Strangely enough, following traffic rules and causing no accidents. That's kind of the reason it didn't make major news. Not enough spectacle," he replied.>"I'm going to double-check if it really isn't here anymore. What does it look like?" asked your colleague.>"Orange appliance with a face," you replied.>"Well good to know. Thankfully every piece of hardware is either white, black, grey, or silver," he said while leaving the room.>"What now?" you asked John.>"Now you are going to rest for a few days," he replied while helping you to get back into bed.>"A few days? I got to go to work!" you replied with some shock.>"Considering that you were sick a few days ago, I'd rather not see you relapse again or make your situation worse," he replied.>"Hey! Are you in the kitchen?" John shouted over.>"What about it?" replied your colleague.>"Turn on the kettle! I need some hot water!" John followed up.>"Do you have any hot water bottles somewhere? he asked you.>"Yeah they should be somewhere in the bathroom," you replied.
>>58648324>John left the room in search of the hot water bottles.>In the meantime, your colleague returned to your room.>"So. How do you feel?" he asked.>"Like shit," you replied.>"Well you certainly look the part," he replied, smiling.>You just stretched out your middle finger towards him with as much of a smile on your face as you could muster.>Your colleague just started laughing.>"So is the kitchen Rotom-free?" you asked.>"Found nothing in the kitchen or bathroom or living room," he replied, shrugging his arms.>"Found it!" said John, holding three hot water bottles in his hands and going to the kitchen with them.>The sounds of boiling water having stopped and faint sounds of bowls being put on the countertop.>Not soon after, the kettle was boiling water again.>Your colleague crouched to your level all of a sudden.>"I know you too well. There was never any Rotom. I don't know what is going on, but we'll talk about it later when Mr. Bloodsucker isn't present," he whispered to you.>You just nodded to him.>You were in too much shit together at this point to keep things secret from him.>John seemed like a chill guy, but you didn't fully trust him with him being CDC and all and their official stance on the matter of Pokemon being "Gotta catch them all transformees".>"Anyway I've got some good news for a change," your colleague said with a happier than usual tone.>"That being?" you inquired.>"We might be getting a raise," he said, chuckling to himself.>"You're kidding," you replied with some shock in your voice.>"Yup," he replied before bursting into laughter.>"Oh fuck you," you replied, laughing yourself.>"But on a more honest note, apparently some legislation is being made in regard to first responders who deal with Pokemon," he replied in a more serious tone.>"Anything concrete yet?" you asked.>"Not yet. Something IS in the works, but we don't know the details," he said.>"Two more weeks?" you asked.>"Two more weeks," he replied.
>>58648392Oh no, now John is going to be stuck in bed with Fedoark for a few days, whatever shall they do~
>John entered the room with 3 hot water bottles and started putting them strategically to help you warm up.>"Now this should keep you all nice and warm," he said.>"Thanks," you said to him while feeling the warmth radiating through your pained body.>"Hopefully by the end of the day you will have the strength to walk again," he replied.>"Anything to watch out for?" you asked.>"Infections mostly. Your skin in the frostbitten areas might start to peel off. Just don't overexert yourself, and you should be fine," he replied.>"Thanks again," you said once again.>"No need. By the way, I took the liberty of taking some fresh ice cubes from the freezer. Maybe we'll find some residual material in it," he said.>"No problem, take as much as you want," you replied.>"Well I have to go, so get well," John said.>"Get well. See ya at work," said your colleague.>"Thanks," you said while melting into the warm heat reservoirs.>And just like that, they left.>But not before the CDC agent rushed back to you.>"Ah I almost forgot. Here are some painkillers to help you with the pain," said John before waving you goodbye and leaving.>You heard the door close and the key being turned.>"The key is being turned?" you thought to yourself.>But all you saw was your colleague exiting the house from the back door.>You honestly started to think that he likes to jump over your fence.>Now all you wanted from life was to drift off into the world of dreams and forget about the pain.>>58648416John is the CDC guy not CopanonCopanon, his Colleague and Fedoark don't have names.I'm really bad at names turns out.
>>58648459CopAnon's canon name is John CopAnon, stupid...
>>58648459>>John is the CDC guy not Copanon>Copanon, his Colleague and Fedoark don't have names.>I'm really bad at names turns out.Whoops. Well, pulling some names out of my butt:Copanon: Anon Y. MousColleague: David Arlen MurrayAnd one effort name:Fedoark: Naomi Mara Jones
>>58648527I kind of like when characters stay unnamed sometimes.
>>58648745Same here. Giving my characters names makes me cringe for reasons I don’t understand. At a certain point though it just gets cumbersome to keep track without them.
I'm not too familiar with it outside of the first season of the anime, but Goblin Slayer somehow dodged the problem of not naming its characters
Nearly done with The Big One, just 1 more page left to go, already have all the writing ready. Post total'll be 10 (sorry to hog the bump and image limits with this but it'll be worth it I swear), each one will have a pic to go with, and 3 of them are animated. Didn't expect this to become a project in and of itself, but like I said, if I have the slightest foothold on inspiration, I really want to try my best to stop it from fleeing. Warning ahead of time, 2 of the animations'll be a bit fast paced, so I'll probably spoiler them just in case. Gotta wake up early tomorrow so I likely won't finish the last page I'm missing tonight, but I'll 100% post it in full tomorrow. One last snippet of the thing under progress for the road...>>58648459I sure do hope the instincts getting a stronger hold on on Fedoark won't have (further) negative repercussions... The fact she's so "playful" about hurting poor Copanon does slightly concern me I'll admit. Great stuff as always, wish they could trust John more but eh, CDC and all. >I'm really bad at names turns out.Understandable, if anything I tend to overthink them in terms of significance. Sometimes leaving characters unnamed can add to the world, I only really named Kartanon out of necessity, as far as I'm concerned he's still just Kartanon to me.
>>58647121Well if I were to submit a character here, this would be his theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKwRPyBZ1jE
>>58648851They did that by giving every single one of them a title in lieu of a name that's shared by no other character. >>58649085Don't worry about it, fresh Green is always, always worth pushing the bump limit for.
Fed-fox bump
>>58636499>Whoever it is, sure seems to be staring me down hard...>If I squint a bit...>What is it even...?>I thought maybe a Decidueye but not quite...>Cacturne...?>...>Bisharp...?>Why is he glaring at me like that, anyway?>Well, he... probably isn't, there's probably someone else behind m...>...shoot, a Gallade?>Well, it probably means he'll at least be poli->Huh?>What is he...?>!!!
>>58650193https://youtu.be/UzPimwqZIgE>Before I can even process it, I see him dash at me.>I'd never seen so much malice in someone's eyes before, not in real life.>I stumble.>Why did I stumble?>Agh, stupid phone bag, I gotta get outta here!>It feels like time froze.>It's like when I prepare to cut, but this time...>I can't move.>Am I paralyzed?>He comes closer.>Every step sounds like a raging fist slamming against the floor.>If I weren't hovering, I swear I'd feel the ground rumbling.>But why?>Why me dammit?!>I just wanted to have a nice dinner with my new friend, is that such a sin?!>And aren't Gallades supposed to protect others?! Why is he bolting towards me?!>I stand still, frozen in place.>Swordsman, why have you abandoned me?>I can only try to brace myself...>But...
>>58650195>I don't have time to even do that.>His fist, no, whole arm is flying directly towards me.>I need to shield my->AGH>My back bends in half. IT HURTS. SO MUCH.>He struck my core.>I can feel it. Feel myself being flung across the street.>It burns.>I can feel it so excruciatingly clearly.>I had never gotten myself in any kind of accident.>But I imagine this is what having your bones broken feel->GAH!>FUCK was that one of the railings on the sidewalk?!>MY BODY ISN'T MEANT TO BEND LIKE THIS.>My back burns.>I can't move.>It's like I just got hit with a wrecking ball.>Agh...>...i'm on the ground now...>i can't... see anything...>I hear steps...>Is he coming to finish me off?>I have to... push myself up...>He's there, ready to elbow drop me.>I hear him mutter to himself.>"Beast.">I close my eye.
>>58650198>My body moves on its own, like it has before.>The pain doesn't matter.>It's as though dozens upon dozens of pieces of sizzling coal are placed upon my back as I move.>But it does not matter.>I can't just die here.>As I glare at him, I detect a fatal flaw in his form.>He didn't angle his elbow quite right.>I can parry it.>With my body yelling in pain at any ounce of movement, I force myself to bring up my blades.>Survive.>I can see a glimmer in my eye reflected in his.>As his elbow would've made contact with mine...>A bright hexagonal wall appears before me, stopping him in his tracks.>My shield sparks to life upon impact, as he's pushed back.>I need... to get back on my feet...>I can't... run away. Not from this.>I feel his stare.>I think I understand now.>I don't know what this... bastard's deal is.>But Gallade's got bladed arms too, doesn't he?>...>If there's any time to learn on the fly...>Now is when.
>>58650203>Despite my whole body reeling in pain...>I stand confidently.>The adversary is still glaring at me.>The cloth around his neck sways in the wind.>There doesn't seem to be anyone around here. Good.>I can tell he's examining me. He seems to be sizing me up.>Annoyed. Didn't expect me to fight back.>I didn't expect you to attack me in the first place, man...>Despite my arms shaking so much...>I put them together.>My message is clear.>Even more annoyed at my resilience.>"I won't risk letting you stay around.", he spits out, with venom to his words.>He dusts off his arm.>On closer inspection, it seems to have a lot of scars...>What the hell has this guy been doing...?>'You're the one jumping people on their way home and I'M the risk?!'!?ksir eht M'I dna emoh yaw rieht no elpoep gnipmuj eno eht er'uoY<>He scoffs.>"Too much of a risk for this world.">...He's ready to dash towards me again.>But now I know it's coming.>If you want a fight, then...>Let's dance.
[Flashing Image warning!]>>58650207>It all happens so fast.>I can see his face much more clearly now.>He's fuming with rage.>I can't hesitate.>Putting my faith in you better not have been a mistake swordsman.>I strike at him with the wind by my blade.>Gallades are strong due to typing, but Flying can burn through their defenses.>I wield Aerial Ace upon my blades.>As I strike, I see him reeling.>He's infuriated now.>It takes an instant.>His foot is on my back.>All the pain comes back in full force.>I reel, but I can't relent.>Using the inertia he provided me, I spin around and slam my blades downward in an overhead strike.>He reacts, raising his arm to steady the blow.>We glare at each other for a second.>Before long he twists his arm downwards as he pushes my blade off his.>He's trying to strike me with the full brunt of his arm.>I refuse.>I draw my arms against it, clashing again.>The next moments are blur.>Blow after blow after blow after blow.>Neither of us can yield.>Neither of us is relenting.>I lose myself in the fight.>I should be frightened.>I should be terrified.>But in this clash... I feel so alive, I cannot describe it.>Strike after strike after strike after strike.>If I let myself tire out, he won't have mercy.>He aimed for my core already.>I'm not here to die.>I cannot allow myself to die here.>So I fight.>Like I have never fought before.>My whole body is burning, screaming at me for rest.>But a will within me refuses to give up the fight. Any rest could be the last.>I can feel as the bends on my back scream out at me in pain, threatening to split apart should I keep going.>I can feel every single kick of his at once.>I can feel as my blade sharpens each time we clash.>I can see his rage at my determination, my refusal to give him his victory.>We're both desperate.>I'm desperate to live.>...>He's desperate for that to not be the case.>It's pure, mutual desperation.
>>58650212>I struggle to use my knowledge of my moves to the best of my ability.>Aerial Ace is my only super effective resource.>Air Slash is out of the question, he's too close to even attempt.>Even through all my best efforts, it feels like I can barely do anything to keep him back.>He's ceaseless.>He hasn't tried a single special move.>He hasn't allowed himself to.>We both attempt different moves, in hopes it'll strike the other down.>Leaf Blade, Sacred Sword, Fury Swipes from my sheath...>Night Slash, Aqua Cutter, Psycho Cut from his...>I know 2 weapons in his arsenal that could be my demise.>He hasn't used them, yet.>I pray he doesn't know he can.>...Eventually, one of our contacts repels each of us back far enough to leave a notable gap between us.)>I have a chance now.>But what for?!>I can't... keep fighting like this...>I'm not fit for this.>And he doesn't show signs of slowing down either...>...>I need... strength...>I feel a burning in my blades.>I thought it was exhaustion at first...>But I feel something seeking release from within.>I see as he turns to me.>...he seems to be contemplating his own options.>My arms are rearing for a fight.>I cross them before me.>I feel the burning in my core.>It's not painful.>It's... revitalizing.>But not something I should contain within me.>As it builds, I can't take it any longer, and let it loose, slashing before me.>I can feel the energy burning in my blades.>My second wind.>I see a bright glow surrounding me.>I'm ready.>I focus solely on my target.>For a moment, I swear I see iron sights as I do so.>His chest.>Despite the cape, I see his spike ever so clearly.>...>I cannot miss.>He's dashing at me, a glowing orange aura surrounding him.>...I fear for the worst, but I can't back down now.>I sprint.
>>58650217>Impact.>Even with him shielding himself with his arms, I break my way through to his chest.>Without thinking, I slash away at it.>I slice the tip of his spike off as if it were nothing.>First, I hear him gasp, then, I hear him scream out in pained rage.>I hold steadfast, and meet his glance.>We're frozen in time.>We exchange a glare for what feels like eternity.>I cannot describe the emotions I saw in those eyes.>Rage, resentment, regret, shame, pride, pain.>For a second I could swear I felt them in my mind, too...>I could not tell if they were my own, or his.>Time resumes its flow.>...He's bringing down a haymaker.>The formalities of sword fighting are well and truly done.>His emotions have clearly settled now: pure rage.>I can see every painful instant as he brings down his arm towards me.>In a sense, it's not the worst I expected...>But still something I dreaded.>Close Combat.>I'm frozen in place.>I overplayed my cards with a strike that wasn't good enough.>I dread what's to come.>All I can do is brace myself.>I close my eye.>I try to prepare myself, mentally.>But this instant isn't nearly long enough for that.>I feel my body burn in anticipation.>And soon enough...>He makes contact.
[Flashing Image warning, again!]>>58650222>Hit.>A burning sensation.>Hit.>A chilling sensation.>Hit.>A paralyzing sensation.>Hit.>A toxic sensation.>Hit.>A confusing sensation.>Hit.>After hit.>After hit.>After hit.>It's the worst nightmare I could've asked for.>It's excruciating.>Any adrenaline, beast boost, whatever the hell I had powering me on was completely gone.>Hit after hit after hit.>It feels like eternity.>My vision fades.>I can't even tell as I'm flung to the wall.>I cannot feel as I slam against it.>My body reels in response, but I can't process it anymore.>I can't make out what's happening anymore.>All I see is an orange glow leaving me behind.>As I lie on the floor...>I wonder how I got here.>Why?>Was my life too boring?>Is the sin of trying to keep some sense of normality despite what happened a deadly one?>I've never been anywhere near death before.>My mind rushes through thousands of things in an instant.>Did I make a mistake in living as I did? Does Amaro deserve to lose his new friend right after dinner? Do my parents deserve to lose their son? Why? Why? WHY?>...>I force myself to look up, and face my fate.
>>58650227>I can't see anything clearly.>I see an azure blur before me.>An orange one takes shape beside it.>...>So he figured it out, huh.>...>I resign myself, and let out a pained whimper.>I don't even know what sound actually comes out of me.>I just feel like if I had the biology I used to right now, I'd be in tears.>I can't even plead for mercy.>I can't speak.>I see the orange shape raise, seemingly preparing itself to lunge at me.>Why?>I await it.>This isn't fair.>What did I do wrong?>Why is this happening?>Who is this?>Why?>...>I expect to be seared...>But...>I'm not.>I see... the orange blur vanish.>It... vanished?>The blue one stumbles.>I can see... something, atop it.>I swear it looks up to the sky.>It says something.>I can't understand.>The blue figure gets smaller.>And smaller.>Until I can't see it anymore.>In its place, I see a darker one grow against the Moon.>It grows, and grows.>It's approaching me.>...>I can't handle this anymore.>I fall to the ground.>I hear something.>Do I hear something?>I can't understand anymore.>But...>I can?>...>I hear... my name.>"Cruz?! CRUZ!">...>I faint.Aaand cut. Solid 3 days of work, investing nearly all my spare time into this, hope the effort was worth it in the end, I'm incredibly happy with the results, hope it's fun to read and go through too! Please do feel free to comment, this is very much outta left field compared to the rest of Kartanon's story so far so I would love hearing your thoughts on it!
>>58650231And he sticks the landing! What a performance! And it droppen right on time for an after-work read too.Was it your intention to draw your sneak peeks that way, so we would suspect a Cacturne? That head shape really messed with my perception.What your writing style lacks in descriptive language, you made up with the drawings. Can't say anything but props with that! What tools do you use anyway?Amaro ex machina. However he found out about the battle, but Kartanon certainly is glad he did. I wonder if that Gallade was ever hit in the face by a truck before. Get Amaro'd, idiot!
>>58650468Most phones have a warning when the user is in a car crash right? Maybe it sensed the fight.
Pardon for the break from Valentine's story. I don't know why I didn't write anything yesterday but now that Kartanon has delivered, I'll get back to work on mine.>>58650600>most phones have a warning when the user is in a car crashNo, that's not common. Typically that's facilitated by an insurance app. Very few phones do it as a feature.
>>58650600>>58650796Also never heard of something like that before. That honestly would be a privacy nightmare. I know that new cars in the EU, or at least in Germany, need to have equipment for automatic emergency calls, though. I guess Amaro will tell us in a later green.It could also just be some Pokémon instinct shenanigans of a Corviknight. I'm really not well versed in dex entries past like gen 5.>Pardon for the break from Valentine's story.No need to worry. A day of rest never hurt anybody.
>>58650796>>58650829Don’t you gaslight mehttps://support.apple.com/en-us/104959https://store.google.com/intl/en/ideas/articles/car-crash-detection/
>>58650829>new cars in the EUAlso very much a privacy concern.Can we stop putting shit in cars that can be hacked? Or if we do, let the customer access all of that data too.>>58650915>don't you gaslight me>apple phonesI've literally only ever owned Android and Windows phones. Apple's the exception here.
>Privacy nightmare They're tracking your voice, face, location, search history, purchase history regardless. Might as well add one feature that could save your life in a bad situation
(I meant in the last 14 years. Before that, I had Symbian phones.)>>58650942I don't want any of those either. Just because they already do everything else doesn't mean I don't have room to complain about another privacy violating feature.
>>58650952It's not another feature that's tracking you, it's just using existing features that track you. And yes, those features are here to stay chud
How would Porygon interact with all this tracking stuff? Is Porygon a god in this kind of society?
>>58648459Definitely going to be an interesting conversation with the partner whenever that happens. The "playful hurting" Kartanon mentioned is an interesting point, because when it comes to trying to find healthy, constructive ways of expressing one's urges, sadistic ones are especially difficult. The Pokefucker in me wants to suggest she try BDSM, but that's definitely too magical realmy considering the relatively stringent standards we've maintained regarding making this stuff fetishy up to this point. Maybe regular sparring with a dark type, who resists ghost, could work?>>58651127As Kurt how well that's going for him.>>58650231Well. That sure was something. I think the BW2 soundfont version of Black Knife is better though.Hokay, so this Gallade (yeah, I figured it wasn't actually a Hisuian Decidueye) is, at least at first blush (more on that later), basically the Pichuguard Scyther, but better. Well, potentially better, at least. I guess it's possible his backstory will turn out to make just as little sense as the Scyther's did since we haven't learned it yet, but putting that aside, the fact that Kartanon manages to damage his body horn (whether permanently or not) immediately lends a level of personal investment to their (likely to be ongoing) conflict that wasn't present with Pichuguard and the Scyther. His cold determination also lends itself to the notion of this remorseless killer who very well may have killed before better than the Scyther's naked, blithering crazy did, while still allowing his abilities to be somewhat undeveloped and undisciplined as basically every transformee's still are at this point (which also serves to slightly humanize an otherwise hitherto rather inhuman figure).
>>58651210>regret, shame, prideThese are some very interesting and potentially very telling emotions. An immediate concern with something like this is always going to be the large tonal clash it presents against the rest of Kartanon's story, but with this line we see a possible hint of one way that issue could be resolved, namely that there may, in fact, be more to this man than the uncomplicated blood knight villain that the Pichuguard Scyther was. Whilst not wanting to fall into the trap of reading too much into things, it's certainly true that the instincts of a Gallade would not lend themselves well to wanton slaughter. It would be hard to justify beheading someone like Pichuguard as being an act that was genuinely protective of the Earth, but what if his earlier utterances of "beast" and "this world" can be taken to suggest that he's targeting Ultra Beasts specifically? Now things would make a lot more sense, including the complex mixture of emotions. If at least part of him doesn't actually want to do this, and perhaps even feels kinship with a fellow bladed 'mon, but for some reason feels obligated, that's somebody with the potential to be turned to the light, very much unlike the Scyther.Another possibility is actually the very one presented by Amaro swooping in to make the save. We've so far established that Cruz has a whole supportive community surrounding him, including at least one other very powerful Pokemon. It is entirely envisionable that the community could band together to end the Gallade's reign of madness in a heartwarming display of solidarity, with bonus points if Gallade's defeat is also completely hilarious and humiliating, ala the ending of Three Amigos.
>>58651216Overall, while it's a bit silly that it prompted an argument about phones and while there most definitely are definitely pitfalls you'll need to avoid falling into with this, so far it's as exceptional as everything else you've done, with superb potential for where the story can go next. As >>58650468 pointed out, your drawings compliment your writing style really well. Some might argue it represents a flaw with your writing, and I'll grant there could even be merit in that, but one must always remember the art from adversity principle. If not for how you write, we might not have this fascinating combination of extreme introspection and illustrated external action, and that would be a real shame. Looking forward to seeing you continue and hoping you'll be able to square this killer's intrusion into the circle of Kartanon's cozy realm as adroitly as I know you're capable of.
>>58651240I misspoke with calling Kartanons style "lacking in describing". It's not a flaw, but rather a limitation. The uniqueness of this "stream of conciousness" balances the limitation out in my opinion. Plus, we get some wicked sick art in the process!That argument about phones was rather silly... >>58651210You just made me realise how similar the Galades motives could align with that disney villian Scyther. I have full confidence, that Kartanon will not pull a "comically evil" on us, however. If you're still lurking, Pichuguard, your story was enjoyable up until that infamous scene. I hope you give it a shot again someday.>>58651127Not a god per se. Rather the embodyment of brainrot and online ads/scams. It would probably speak like those clickbait youtubers too. Either that or it would be the worlds most effective glowie.
>>58651621When I said "some might", I was only speaking hypothetically. No allusion to anyone here intended.
>>58648459>You woke up seeing the cold orange of the sunset on your walls.>You gathered all your strength to stand up.>For good or bad, the CDC agent was right about being able to walk.>Unfortunately, you were still sore from the ordeal.>Nothing some painkillers wouldn't fix.>You went to the kitchen to get some food.>As you needed something to fill your stomach after all of that.>The moment you stepped inside, you noticed a lot of stuff you didn't remember and a lot of stuff that shouldn't be located in the kitchen.>A laptop, haircare products, some backpacks, and random shit you didn't know the purpose of.>You were dumbstruck on why all of that was here until you remembered you got a new housemate.>A housemate that almost killed you once.>"Gotta love a woman that is going to straight up kill you," you said to yourself in a sarcastic tone.>From the looks of it, she wasn't anywhere in the house, as she probably would have noticed you waking up by now.>Her whereabouts were a mystery for you to solve later as the hunger kept creeping in on your mind.>Your motor skills were still hampered by both the pain and not having fully recovered from hypothermia, so you'd rather avoid cooking anything too complex in fear of accidentally cutting off >one of your fingers.>Microwave slop it was then.>And some tea to wash it down.>When you were finally getting ready to eat, your new housemate phased through the back door.>"Oh you are awake!" she said it like she was glad you were on your legs again.>"In fact, I am," you said while readjusting the way you were sitting.>"From what it looks like, you started moving over almost immediately," you said.>"Uhm... I waited till after sunset to get my stuff," she said to you.>"Sunset?" you asked, somewhat confused.>"You were asleep for the whole day. I didn't want to bother you while you were resting," she replied.
>>58651851>"That would explain why I'm so hungry. By the way, why did you leave all of your stuff in the kitchen?" you asked.>"I didn't know where I would sleep, so I decided to ask you once you woke up," she replied.>"Oh you can take the guest room. I'd help you with carrying your stuff there, but I'm not exactly capable of doing that in this moment," you said to her.>"Thank you," she replied while immediately taking some of her things there.>Once she returned for the second set of things, she stopped, and an eerie silence followed.>"I... I wanted to apologize," she said while not making eye contact.>"Didn't you already do it?" you asked.>"No not about that. I wanted to apologize for me hurting you again. I didn't want to..." she said before cutting off.>"I wanted to hurt you, and I'm sorry for that. I won't do it again," she rephrased it.>"Apology accepted. Now make yourself at home," you replied to her.>She didn't say a word afterward, just returning to moving things into the guest room.>Something about that apology felt like a lie.>But strangely enough, not directed towards you.>Considering she was an FBI agent, you thought this might have been a case of doublespeak, doublethink, newspeak, or whatever it was called, but it didn't match either.>You were convinced that she was being honest before and after cutting herself off.>Was she lying to herself?>In your mind you returned to that night she almost killed you.>"I hate you, and I hate myself because I hate you" reverberated through your brain.>"Hey! Are you alright?" she asked you.>You turned your head towards her.>"You haven't touched your... food and are staring into nothing," she followed up.>"Don't worry about me. I was just thinking about things and waiting for my tea to cool off a bit. Do you like your room?" you replied just to immediately derail the conversation.
Gonna catch up on everything tonight but,>>58650231God damn this was awesome. I really like this set up of who I assume at the moment to be an ultra beast hunter considering his ‘beast’ comment at the start (if he was just a regular Pokémon killer then I would assume there would have been news about ‘mons going missing or something of that nature. Given how rare ultra beasts are, people probably wouldn’t notice one or two vanishing). He’s rugged and scarred from previous fights and clearly hasn’t mastered his abilities, showing how inexperienced this guy actually is once you get past the imposing presence he tries to present. Again, also leads credence to the fact he’s hunting ultra beasts specifically, because they’re highly dangerous comparatively which would explain why this guy is covered with marks from previous bouts, and because they’re rare he hasn’t had enough practice using his new body to kill em. Other than those little tidbits, we don’t really know what else is up with the guy or why he’s so fixated. Lots of anime-isms in how the guy acts and talks, which I personally think is perfect considering Kartanon is living his shonen dreams, and you can’t have a shonen without a basic bad guy with some sort of twisted ideal. I’m looking forward to seeing how this is all going to tie in with how easy going Kartanon’s life has been relatively after his transformation.And then the art, hooooly shit. You really out did yourself, especially the animations, short but very effective for what you were going for. I’m a huge sucker for clashes like those. Absolutely peak, and really elevated everything to another level. Fuckin awesome stuff dude.
>>58651621PichuGuard here. I never left>I hope you give it a shot again someday.Not happening. Sorry. I prefer lurking right now and I have zero motivation to return to that concept
>Fedorark trying to care for CopanonImagine pic related crossed with this: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SFzxuEm9MyM
>>58650231Sick as hell, flurry.gif is mesmerizing. Great job, man
>My brain made the false connection between parallels and the national forest. More specifically, the fact we were in a national forest, and Mr. Scientist cut some trees down. "You... You cut down trees in a national forest? What the fuck!?"So I don't like pointing to myself, but to ensure that Machomon updates the pastebin, I also wrote >>58628309.Glad to see Snivyanon again. Hope you're doing well Snivy.I would respond to the other stories but I just don't have the energy to force myself to read it. I've enjoyed what little I've read but admittedly that is a grand total of 8 sentences split between Fedorark and Kartanon. Apologies, I hope to soon read the rest of your stories when I can bear to feel disappointed in my own work.
>>58651858>Berserk mentionedAnd it's all over my screen. Thanks man
>>58637402>>58637513Interesting ideas. I don’t think I’d be able to do them justice. On the fictional LARPing angle, I was kinda going to do something similar with S&W but everyone is stuck in their own delusions (or artificially placed in that mindset). It’s funny, as I’m writing this I finally got a decent idea of what the BBEG’s deal is, which is helping all of these little ideas finally come together, so thanks for the brainstorming.And yeah, the break has been good. I was pumping stuff out because I knew my motivation on this mold of stuff is spontaneous and I didn’t want to miss out. Maybe I went a little overboard.>>58645389Don’t really have any insights that other people haven’t already mentioned, but I really love this concept and these characters you’re making. I will admit, I was also getting kinda lost with the gambling jargon but it does help sell the setting. And yeah, being a Lopunny (or any Pokémon popular in that way) probably fucking sucks.>>58647121Miirym: The Ghost I Used To Be - PallbearerSimon: The Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson(Invisible - Duran Duran for the culture)>>58648459Working out your instinctual murder urges with some casual sadism. Interesting method, I suppose. Don’t think Copanon is going to enjoy that. >>58651858Spike Spiegel.jpg>>58653105Well, he didn’t out right confirm that the phone is gone, so bright side to that I suppose. Interested what Val meant by that realization the sheriff called it Sumter, not really familiar with that.I’m doing a little better, down a lot of cash on a rental car but not really in doom mode like before. Hope you and everyone else have been alright while I was gone.
>>58651858What's Fedoark's end-game for moving in with CopAnon, I wonder? Here's hoping they become an item
Before someone else catches the mistake: I accidentally wrote "scientist" instead of "sheriff". I already corrected that.>>58653127>ideas and justiceI feel like you easily could give them justice. I don't know your full limits though, so I trust you.I'm glad the brainstorming seemed to have jogged something, at least.>spontaneous motivationI feel that. I've been worried this entire time that any minute now, my motivation would just fucking die. I'm pretty sure I even stressed out about it in an earlier thread. Technically, my motivation has already dried out and that's why my greens have become so sparse and I'm not writing entire chapters in days anymore, but I'm still able to write a story a few paragraphs at a time, which is a surprise because that's not how this song and dance usually goes.>Interested what Val meant by that realization the sheriff called it Sumter, not really familiar with thatIt's not anything interesting, unfortunately. So, the police department he called is Fort Sumner's. Valentine either misheard or the sheriff, who is very much not in a great headspace right now after meeting a very afraid Claydol and frankly should be on recovery leave just like the majority of the police department, made a mistake. Potentially both.The only reason Valentine's taking note of it is because Dr. Abet misheard him before the phone call saying Fort Sumter instead of Fort Sumner. See 58640958.>Hope you and everyone else have been alright while I was goneI've been okay. Worried for you, but otherwise, good. Glad to hear that you've pulled yourself out of doom mode.>carSucks that your car got totaled, but at least you have transportation again. I got off lucky on the 12th, I guess.
