Mindlack
-
Content Count
233 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Pokemon Reborn Development Blog
Pokemon Rejuvenation Development Blog
Posts posted by Mindlack
-
-
Yay, good news!
I didn't know you could downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 7 -- you may have been the luckiest of us all. ^^
Just a word of caution on pictures. Especially if you're not using exactly the game's own screenshots, it's surprisingly time-consuming. But you wrote that you would take your time until V13 (a decision that is completely understandable -- what the Rejuv dev team is planning in route 4 looks absolutely huge, and it'd be a right shame to force yourself not to use it because you'd have reached it too soon), so perhaps it won't be a concern.
-
1
-
-
Okay, so it wasn't a bug in the end.
I found out from CosminCosman on Discord that Kiki's mons were EV invested, with level*1.5 EV in every stat. That makes it just possible (with unfavorable rounding or perhaps a display thing that keeps enemy mons green if they're less than 1 HP under 50%) that Meowstic took 59-60/119 HP from Medicham; similarly, the Swoobat had probability 7/8 to OHKO. I just got unlucky damage rolls.
-
Don’t worry, it’s been like that for a while and no one complained.^^
Remember? “The AI is so broken I’m surprised it ever functioned.”
I don’t know how it’s exactly like – but here’s an analogy which I hope isn’t too far off the mark.
Imagine a 20,000-tile mosaic (so that any two tiles have the same shape) representing a blue sky (so that two tiles have similar colors). Or, maybe, one of the Reborn tile puzzles, except much, much bigger and without recognizable shapes or colors.
You know approximately how it’s supposed to look like in the end, but not really exactly. If you work really hard to notice, you can spot the mistakes. And try to correct them... thus usually making other problems apparent.
Coding is hard, and coding stuff right is even harder. -
How do you manage Terra? With Ciel, she’s one of the Gym Leaders where I just can’t seem to make anything work, so I end up spamming healing items, especially for Quagsire which doesn’t care about set-up mons. Ciel I always eventually cheesed after setting up a mon right under the Togekiss’s nose and making it sweep. I also struggled with Hardy.
Shade was an issue in my two completed playthroughs but I swept it in the third one.I remember beating Charlotte first try in my first playthrough (with a Magneton’s Sturdy being the deciding factor in the end, while the Prankster Damp Rock Rain Dance at the beginning was a huge help), but I didn’t manage to do it again. Luna and Titania (with Swampert, Excadrill and Intimidate Scrafty in the same team, it helped) were the only other ones.
I realized in my second playthrough that Amaria doesn’t have anything for the bulkiest grass types. That made hers probably the least stressful Gym battle ever, to be honest.
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, keyblade336 said:
Im gonna make a guess that Wikia is outdated now
It’s quite possible indeed. However, so far it gave me the right info on Pokemon levels, movesets, and the right ballpark for damage... so did the devs specifically change the ev spreads since the wikia’s last update?
(or is it just the first modification I catch)That’s why I would really be interested in a non-conjecture answer.
-
9 hours ago, sayar said:
Nice chapter.
I suppose Gabriel will take time to learn that exams amd study's are not demonstrations of mental health.
He's aware of it, but climbing Mount Pyrous to challenge Cal (whose strength he doesn't know) doesn't exactly sound like a test of mental health either, so he doesn't understand the point.
9 hours ago, sayar said:I'm waiting for the part in neo reborn where he couldn't go back to kalos becuz the tickets are sold out.
That would be so mean of me to do this to him.
But I can't let him escape the resolution of the plot, can I?
(By the way, I think I wrote it in an earlier chapter, but it's really not a straight trip to Kalos).
-
1
-
-
But HP/Sp.Def aren't specific stats of Lucario or Medicham, are they? And the wikia disagrees -- apparently the first EV trained ace is Serra's.
(Though it could of course be incorrect or outdated)
-
I know I should EV train, but I don't want to do it right now. I'll probably do some later, before some harder battles than these. But that's not my question here.
-
Hey!
Thank you for all your answers in the poll! I'm closing it now, but feel free to comment.
You won't have any battle this chapter... But don't worry, you'll have plenty in the following chapters... After all, it's called a finale for a reason.
So I'm writing the finale of Part 2, making the pictures (which takes a lot of time because battles, among others), so Part 2 should be completely online by the end of the year.
Chapter 40: Novel Nihilism
SpoilerWalking with Amaria back to the Pokemon Center had been fine. Nice, even. There, she remembered -- which had completely been out of my mind -- that I still needed a boat to go to Apophyll. And she found an insane solution, which I wasn't ready to categorically refuse. Against my best judgement, she forced me to take the keys to her boat, telling me that sailing a motorboat was easy.
It was when I exited the Pokemon Center that it took me. When I realized the implications of the day's events. That Solaris could have killed me at any moment, and there wasn't anything I could have done. Perhaps even now, annoyed at his PULSE's destruction, he was watching the Pokemon Center, and... Suddenly, getting out of the building, walking in the open air, felt like treading on a mine field.
But then again, it'd be exactly the same if you stayed inside, I thought, a colder chill running down my spine.
There isn't anything you can do. He's faster, stronger, smarter, tougher -- he has a better organization and far better technology -- you just don't have anything he can't outmatch.
You'll die the second it pleases him.
Stop it! I thought desperately, trying to not get my own thoughts to drive me insane.
Nothing you can do.
Stop it. Think of something else, like...
What can you do to prepare? It's useless. Nothing you can do.
No, there's not nothing, there's... oh yes, you'll be sailing a motorboat. Perhaps you should think of what you'd need?
After that little thought session -- I daren't imagine how my nervous pacing must have looked to whoever was in the Pokemon Center at this point -- I felt relaxed enough to not panic even in open air, a sitting duck to be mowed down by...
Stop it!
It wasn't easy, but I managed to overcome my panic with a flood of wearily cynical resignation. In more common terms, I rode my bike from the Peridot Ward to the Obsidia Department Store, and made some purchases. After all, helplessness wasn't entirely a reason to not try and be at least not to unprepared for emergencies.
*******
The motorboat was surprisingly easy to drive, as Amaria had insisted, and from its safety, in the chill mid-automn air, the lake wasn't too bad a place to be. It didn't smell as foul as within Reborn City. But even a glance at the surface of the lake dispelled this pretend charm. Only when looking at the cloudy sky away from Reborn City could I maintain the illusion of a nice trip.
But nothing would let me forget that only an old, outdated, motorboat was my protection against the unrelenting, toxic, acidic elements polluting the lake. The boat was doomed ultimately -- it could not be a match for the artificially enhanced pollution, a horrifically optimized by-product of a technology two generations smarter.
And to compound it all, I was alone, in open air, with little to no freedom of movement. If Team Meteor came...
Even Amaria hadn't been able to protect herself. She had had to use a Mega-Evolution to save the day -- which told volumes about her skill and how dire the situation had actually been, even though I had again escaped (physically) unharmed.
Indeed, Mega-Evolution wasn't a taboo topic in the Trainer classes the curriculum had imposed on me (something I did not regret now). Considering how nearly all my classmates were interested, that would have been idiotically counter-productive, even dangerous. But the emphasis was made on the extreme difficulty of keeping control of the thus enhanced Pokemon.
With such a massive power differential and metabolism change, the Pokemon was growing temporary new instincts, enabling it to survive -- but they also included a huge increase in aggression. Only a flawless bond between Trainer and Pokemon, allied with a lot of focus on the part of the Trainer (to make up for the loss of clarity on the part of the Pokemon), could prevent such a deal with the devil to end peacefully enough.
For this reason, and many others, such as how rare safe Mega Rings were, the Kalos rule was simple: Mega-Evolution was illegal except to Trainers with a permit. Even so, a battle involving Mega-Evolution was illegal as long as both Trainers hadn't formally (and freely) agreed beforehand that they allowed it to happen.
This was the kind of power Amaria had had no choice but to unleash because she had to win -- and she somehow had managed to not let the entire situation go to hell. And by reflection, this was what Solaris was worth in battle. This was the threat a direct engagement with Team Meteor meant.
Then again, of course, not engaging them would have been bearing witness to the city's complete demise.
The map of the lake that I had found on the boat showed a large, wild, island in the middle of it, so I sailed around it at a reasonable distance to avoid reefs that I guessed had to be there, and when I saw the Apophyll beach (perhaps after an hour or so of sailing), I dismissed all my thoughts and focused to find a place to moor the boat, slowly decelerating to avoid again hypothetical reefs.
After a rather stressful time, I managed to set foot on the beach. The sand was brownish, as if the lake had stained it too. Or it could be more volcanic in nature, as I had read there was a volcano on that side of the lake -- and there it was, a not-that-big rocky mountain a few miles southwest, who, in the declining sunlight, was probably darkening with its ominous shadow some land. I pitied whoever had to be robbed of the last of their sunlight by a looming volcano. If people really lived in these parts, I thought, because it was very quiet and the landscape looked rather wild.
It was past 5 pm already, and it was likely that I didn't have much time if I wanted to try and get the HM today. Amaria had specified to me that I had to go to the Apophyll Academy, not very far from the beach, and ask it to Kiki... that was Victoria's teacher, right? I almost was in known territory there.
But I didn't know where the Academy was -- but I was on the southeastern side of the beach, so I could perhaps try and see what was straight behind it: indeed, on this shore at least, getting away from the lake was an uphill walk, so I didn't have a good line of sight. Or I could try and get closer to the center of the beach before leaving it.
I chose the first option. Although I liked the feel of the small breeze cooling my face, which felt (although it probably wasn't) more wholesome than the Reborn City air, I didn't like the idea of that sand sneaking into my shoes, which were anyway inadapted to a walk on so soft a surface. So I regretfully treaded off the beach and started to walk along it, searching for a building, or, at least, something or someone who could point me to Apophyll Academy.
The landscape was barren, rocky for perhaps two or three kilometers, at which point a building came into my line of sight. It was shaped like a large wooden rectangle (although its exact size was hard to judge in the distance) and looked very sober, without unnecessary sophistication, the wood color too clear to be natural, but somehow still looking so. From whichever little anime and works inspired by that culture I had watched and read -- really, very little -- I was able to recognize that as a martial arts dojo aesthetic. Or perhaps it wasn't. But that was Far Eastern side definitely, maybe Kantonian. Or just a cliché. I just didn't know.
Well, I thought when getting nearer, actually, perhaps the crossbar, even wooden, wasn't necessary. Nor was the fact that the entire house was standing on some sort of wooden platform. I decided it was my own downcast self trying to crack aesthetic canons like it would dismiss anything else.
Regardless, I entered the building and found a wide entrance hall, not a very long one, all in wood with a few seats, most of them occupied by people young and less young, and a couple of bookshelves. There were stairs on both sides, and before me was a large sandy courtyard, where I could see a few young students practise what looked like martial arts moves. They were barefoot -- the sand may be harmless after all. In a corner of the room was a Pokemon healing station.
"Hello," I went there, not too much at ease. "Is this Apophyll Academy?"
"Yes, it is." the nurse answered. "Do you want me to heal your Pokemon?"
"It's not necessary now, thank you." I replied. "I'm looking for Kiki."
"Why?"
"Er, it's a complicated story. But it's rather urgent."
"I am afraid the Sensei is quite strict with protocol. She's only taking visitors at specific hours, and it's too late now."
https://i.imgur.com/eoBmD2q.png
Crap. But doubtlessly she wasn't the one in charge.
"I'll have to try anyway. It's really important and I don't have much time."
"Suit yourself." she answered. "Her... quarters, I guess, are on the other side of the courtyard."
I thanked her, and, following her advice, crossed the courtyard. In the hall on its other side, which had a disposition not unlike the other one (without a healing station, however), there was a large wooden panel, which should, if I had understood correctly, be the entrance to the Sensei's quarters.
I raised my hand to knock, looking nervously around, because I was perhaps unwelcome, and realized that about five people, all of them young, were staring at me.
"Is... something the matter?" I heard myself asking in a tiny voice.
"You shouldn't do that." one of them answered.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not from here, I guess?" another one asked.
"Yes, I'm not." Were they students of the Academy?
"The Sensei doesn't accept visitors in the evening." the first student answered.
I sighed. "What I have to ask is important. Very important, and time-critical."
"She won't listen to you, much less grant you a favor, if you violate her rules." another student, a girl, observed.
I noticed that she looked far more assured than I was.
"Fine." I gave in. "When can I see her?"
"She's teaching lessons in the morning, usually not too far south of the school. Just ask her afterwards."
Well, there went the hope for a quick rescue. At least, I had time to employ. What to do, I thought?
Pondering the recent events, the answer was obvious. It was training time. There were at least a few Pokemon that I wanted to fight alongside with, but which I hadn't had the time to train.
******************************
"Now, the final words of today's lecture," the Sensei spoke.
It was in the morning of the new day, at perhaps 9am. I had managed to get somewhere to sleep inside the Academy -- an unoccupied guest room, small but sufficient for one nightmarish night, with a bloodstained hunter trying to slice my throat, and children begging for help. Now, Kiki's students, and, I assumed, some independents, were assembled, perhaps thirty people in the sand, some sitting, but most standing, in a large circle around the Sensei, who was standing. I had just arrived, so I had no idea what she had said earlier.
Kiki was a woman of a certain age, and the first word that came to mind to describe her was calm. She was radiating serenity, a steadfast, almost set in stone, certainty of strength, will, and purpose. She was talking slowly, turning at times to see each member of the group individually, trying to lock eyes with us.
"We will be introducing the final principle for this curriculum, the art of void. Void is the acknowledgement of that which cannot be known."
Er, what?
Most could be known. That was a central tenet of... what, science? Sense? Life? Or my own vision of things? And sure some was hard to know. And some (well, more 'a lot of') people would claim that what's important cannot be known. "The eye cannot see what is essential" and all that.
"It is the understanding that all ideas are in themselves fallible. For that reason, this principle cannot be taught, only considered."
What?? It sounded plausible, and wise, and my own refutations seemed very weak in front of the unworldly wisdom thus displayed in front of me. But something inside me kept being disturbed at this very idea.
"Many people believe that some things are 'right', and 'correct', and others are not. But these are not the laws of the world." Sure. "When examining these ideas objectively, one finds that they are in themselves a deviance from the broader sense of existence." Er... "Concepts such as "virtues" or "evil" must not be given way to exist, for this is not the true void."
Oh. Nihilism? Please. Virtues, evil did exist. In diluted form, perhaps, but they existed.
"By perceiving that which exists, learn to perceive that which does not. All things, even this instruction, must be questioned. That will be all for today. Thank you."
Well, at least she had got the conclusion right. Now I could move on to serious matters.
But I had to wait for a flurry of questions by some students, while most of the attendees were leaving to do Arceus knew what.
"Gabriel, is that you?"
I saw Victoria walking towards me. She was dishevelled and her voice didn't sound as dynamic as usual. More telling, she had taken out the martial arts staff she always kept with her and was leaning on it like on a cane.
"Victoria! Are you all right?" a student called her. "I thought you had left to train!"
"Yes," Victoria answered. "But some things happened, and I have to be here now."
"What happened? You look exhausted. Did you... Did you walk all the way here from Reborn City?"
"As a matter of fact," she replied, a weary smile on her lips, her eyes shutting on their own, "I did."
Whoa. I hadn't know she was that robust. Whatever had happened in Reborn City, that sure had seriously upset her, to think that the solution might be here with...
With her teacher, of course, dummy, I chided myself.
"I don't have time to chat, I must speak to Kiki at once." Victoria added.
Fortunately, the last questioners were leaving the Sensei, and she was readying herself to leave when her eyes spotted Victoria. I realized a bit too late that I had missed my luck and now Victoria's problem would accaparate her.
"Er," I started moving towards her, desperate and still shy to get some attention from her while it was still time, "Excuse me..."
Kiki didn't pay attention and went straight to Victoria.
"Sensei," Victoria started, her voice more controlled than usual, more obviously respectful too. "I have an urgent matter to discuss with you."
She looked somewhat taken aback, but Kiki nodded and told her to meet her in her room. Victoria didn't object, but followed closely behind her.
"Victoria." I called her, following the Sensei and her student from a certain distance (as there was only one way out of the place where the lecture had taken place anyway).
She turned around. I hurried to be at her side.
"Did you really walk all the way here from Reborn City?"
"Yes," she answered, a bit stiffly. "Not the first time I'm doing it, too. But it's clearly the first time I'm doing it without sleep."
"Wow." I still couldn't believe it. "Why such a hurry?"
"We need the Hidden Machine for Strength. And we need it as fast as we can."
"We?"
"I don't think you know the other guy. He's like, sixteen, all in purple, named Cain."
"Wait a second... I know him. Purple hair, lots of make-up, always singing and, um, Nidoking as an ace?"
"Oh, so you know him." she smiled wearily. "Great."
"The three of us met at the Grand Hall, I think." I added idly.
"Ah yes, I remember. Anyway, Cain told me that Team Meteor had kidnapped five children! Cain managed to save himself, but his Nidoking panickedly collapsed the tunnel, and the kidnappers are on the other side. So we..."
"I know that story." I cut her off. "I'm the one who got the tunnel door that blocked them open. But..." my voice trailed off. "There was Team Meteor on the other side."
"Cain didn't mention that."
"He knows I really don't want to be too involved in that story. But I have no other choice."
"So you mean that you're here for..."
"Yes, I'm not here for the Badge, but for the Strength Machine too. I didn't think that Cain would have the same idea. I didn't hear from him since."
"He chose an easier path -- he crossed the lake on his Muk."
"That's brave of him. I wouldn't have had the nerve to do that."
"So how did you arrive here?"
"I...was lent a boat." I answered allusively, not wanting to get into the details. "Here's the Sensei's room." I observed. "Since we're asking for the same thing, perhaps we can go in together."
****************************
It took a while to explain the Sensei the whole business. She was sitting at her table, Victoria and I in front of her, and our tale wasn't as orderly as we could have managed had we prepared it beforehand. However, it was complete, understandable, and Kiki grasped the issue very well.
When we finally concluded, she shut her eyes and her breathing slowed down. I glanced quizzically at Victoria, who muttered the words 'She's meditating'. We stayed waiting for her, listening to her perfectly regular breath, for an untold length of time, although it probably felt much longer than it actually was.
"Truly," Kiki finally uttered, "I am moved by your plight. But, as you well know, I can only award that Machine to a graduating student of our Academy. One must attain inner strength before acquiring worldly strength. And to disregard this procedure is to disrespect every student who has followed it before."
"Sensei," I protested. Calling her Kiki felt rude, and I didn't know the proper honorific to someone's Sensei which I didn't accept as my own. "They're children abducted by Team Meteor. Gym Leaders, also. They don't have time to wait for either of us to graduate. With due respect, I don't think any of your students would feel disrespected should they learn that you lent the Machine for this kind of reason."
"No." was the Sensei's one-word reply. "This is not recevable. I can consider an... accelerated test, but I will not renounce this principle altogether. Do you think that my other students had less compelling reasons to acquire worldly strength? "
Obviously, yes, duh.
"It's okay." Victoria whispered at me, while I was going to argue back. "Then, Sensei, I wish to apply for graduation."
Kiki closed her eyes again, and this time there was this very slight hint of weariness.
"So you will." she answered at last, the words conveying some sense of an inevitable march of fate. "I suspected you might finally ask. Were you successful in your challenge of the Reborn League, as I had asked of you?"
"I admit, Sensei, that I was not." Victoria answered plainly. "So much was going on that
I had other priorities."
No kidding. Such an understatement. The PULSEs, the aftermath, saving me, Shelly's sorrow... Why didn't she explain that? Surely no reasonable person could hold these against Victoria.
"I see." the martial arts teacher replied. "That is unfortunate, being that the Machine requires a certain Badge. How about you?" she asked me.
"I can manage that. I hope." I answered.
"Of course you can do it!" Victoria added. "Gabriel has lots of Badges already, one more won't be a problem!"
"So, I understand that you intended to pass the Machine off to an outsider regardless." Kiki answered after another endless pause, her eyes shutting again. "I suppose it cannot be helped, but knowing that is your intention, I must test you as well." she opened her eyes and looked at me in the eyes.
"Victoria, you will stay here and test for graduation." She turned to me. "Your challenge will be more suited to you. As you should know, Apophyll is in the shadow of one Pyrous Mountain -- a volcanic mountain. After all, it is the ash therefrom that grants the beach its grey hues."
I stopped listening when she said Pyrous Mountain -- because the words somehow resonated with me. Pyrous seemed so familiar a name that I couldn't remember where I had heard it.
"Atop Pyrous Mountain" -- where had I heard that name again? -- "usually meditates one of my youngest, though finest, students. Climb the mountain. Find my student. Challenge him. If you are successful, you may have the Machine."
"But that's --" Victoria gasped.
"Have faith in your companion, Victoria."
Faith? I repeated myself, baffled. I was speaking of kidnapped children, lives that could be forever tainted, as there was no telling what Team Meteor might do with them -- and she gave me a Trainer's challenge, with faith as the sole thing in my favor?
Faith, Training skill... This counted for nothing! If that guy was stronger than me, I was stuck for good here, with Shelly, and Noel, and Anna, and Heather, and Charlotte, enduring nameless torments, perhaps being murdered by a monster such as Solaris, at the hands of Team Meteor!
What kind of inner strength hadn't I already demonstrated? I had taken Kalos-wide competitive exams tougher, more abstract than most, and got great rankings! I had gone on to fight, and somehow saved the day, in Reborn City, when everything seemed hopeless and no one was making any headway! I had faced and survived Corey's, Shade's and Solaris's murder attempts!
What more did she want from me?
But what I answered, in a shy, soft voice, was simply:
"I don't understand. How is that a test? You don't know how strong I am, and I don't know how strong your student is. What would my hiking and beating him, provided he's not a lot stronger than me, prove?"
"Your dedication to your goals," she answered. "Your self-discipline. Your willpower. Your strength, wits, and Training skills. All of which you will doubtlessly need for your rescue attempt. So think of this as training."
The worst thing was that it sort of made enough sense for me to stop arguing, unwilling to go against Victoria's obvious deference to her teacher.
I conceded defeat and got ready to climb a mountain.
Character rates:
SpoilerKiki: 5/10. I don't really understand the reason why she makes me do this. What does it have to do with the kidnapped children? Can't she understand it's urgent??
Victoria: 9.5/10 (-0.5) Why didn't she object to her teacher? Why didn't she point out it was unreasonable? But then again, why didn't I?
-
Hello,
I'm not sure this is actually a bug, but I've just been fighting Kiki and I have had a couple of Psychic attacks that damaged their enemies a bit too little. The thing is, I'm using the wikia to get the EVs/IVs of my opponents, so perhaps it's incorrect or I'm doing the wrong calculations.
Everything uses Smogon's S/M damage calculator.
Here are the two situations:
1) Swoobat using Psychic against the Lucario (lv 40, 30 IVs HP/SpDef, no EVs and neutral nature according to the wikia).
Swoobat is Simple and used one Calm Mind (so +4 SpAtk on Ashen Beach)
Lucario used one Calm Mind too (so +2 SpDef).
Swoobat is level 44 (or perhaps 45), Mild, with 23 IV and 51 EV in SpAtk, and holds a TwistedSpoon.
Damage output: slightly less than OHKO.
Smogon low estimate: 87.2% (so with the *1.2 it should be an automatic OHKO)
2) Meowstic using Psychic against Charmina (lv 41, 31 IVs everywhere, no EVs and neutral nature according to the wikia).
Meowstic is level 41, Mild, with 42 EVs and 25 IVs in SpAtk, and holds a Light Clay.
Damage output: less than half.
Smogon low estimate: 45.5 % -- so with the *1.2 it should be noticeably over half.
What is happening here? Are Kiki's Charmina and Lucario invested in HP or SpDef or is there a bug (say, Psychic isn't actually boosted on Ashen Beach)?
Thank you.
-
IIRC they did a lot of work so it's really not the Essentials AI anymore, so much that it's a massive chunk of code, with at least thousands of lines. This kind of length and complexity makes it very easy for tiny mistakes to have dispoportionately large impacts, completely straying from the intended behavior (or worse, weird combinations of correct and subtly wrong code to produce something that looks like a mostly correct output). That's really hard to debug.
And it's not even in the "oh, what a nice puzzle" way, more in the "omg, how do I untangle this 1000-string knot?" way. Another analogy would perhaps be: imagine a 20,000-tile mosaic (so any two tiles have the same shape) showing a blue sky. You know how it's supposed to look like in the end, but how do you know that you put every tile at the right spot?
-
1
-
-
Okay... It's been about a day, so I hope you have managed to calm down.
First, regarding an easy mode: do you realize that's a lot of work, given the sheer number of battles? You very probably won't get it from the devs, especially when you so rudely demanded.
X-Items are indeed available after 7 Department Store stickers (in Obsidia), but they're easy to miss or to give up on (*cough forest puzzle cough*). Here are the locations: https://www.rebornevo.com/forums/topic/9720-sticker-guide-episode-18/
There is also a variety of options if you still want X-items but aren't this far. If you really need some things that appear later in the game, you can use the Sandbox: https://www.rebornevo.com/forums/topic/27076-pokemon-reborn-sandbox-mode/
If you want the level cap gone, there is also (apparently) a mod for that: https://www.rebornevo.com/forums/topic/53754-mod-remove-disobedience-mod/
If you still want to play and beat the game "the way it was intended to", you can still ask the forum. Someone will probably come up with a clever suggestion to help you beat whichever battle you currently don't manage to win. If the difficulty is too much for you to enjoy, perhaps you can watch playthroughs of the game instead (tbh that's what I'm doing with Rejuv and Deso since I'm scared of their gigantic maps and boss battles -- Rejuv has a more casual difficulty setting though iirc).
On a more hopeful note: I've been playing Pokemon for well over a decade and I'm still hopelessly bad. But I managed to beat E18, with grinding and training and breeding and looking the battles up and way too many healing items. You can do it too.
-
Ugh... Every time I'm seeing one of these jerk-allies, I can't help but wonder how exactly they were educated. Are manners so rare a sight in the Pokemon world? (or perhaps parents are).
Also, it's very suspicious that the natives believe that Felicia is lying before even meeting her. Could there somehow be something unnatural at play here?
Good chapter. I'm looking forward to the next ones.
-
1
-
-
I'm not very good at the game (and often abuse shift mode+items, especially for this fight) so don't hold my suggestions in too high an esteem. But perhaps you could detonate Electrode? It's a roll, but IIRC Explosion is pretty broken in early gens. You should check it, but it's possible that Electrode outspeeds and oneshots Garchomp with it.
About the Quagsire and Palossand, I'd advise that you teach Arcanine Roar (I think it can relearn it). The seed effects are forgotten (and the seed is consumed) once Terra's mons switch out, so they get their regular weaknesses back.
I'm not sure about Blissey's movepool at your point, but if you can get a good set it's probably worthwhile. If anything, it definitely can do some PP-stall on Quagsire or Palossand.
A final possibility for you is to change the field (Prankster Psychic/Misty Terrain to get the seeds to not activate?).
-
Trubbish is also good for Acid Spray if I recall correctly.
But if we’re speaking Bug types, I should also suggest Kricketune, who is (the) one Pokemon that’s absolutely great for all the early game.
-
5 hours ago, Evi Crystal said:
Well I can feel your pain Amaria. Because later on, you'll suffer something bigger than broken ribs and depending on what choice, your fate will change forever. Had to make this foreshadowing moment, sorry for that buddy
Choice? What choice? I can’t see any choice anywhere. There always are obvious deci –(author: whisper whisper mumble)
Oh. Er... Hi Evi! Nice new profile! Funny you mentioned a choice. Actually, the funny thing is, what you’re thinking of, well, it’s not the ma –
(author: mumble mumble growl)
What do you mean, you know where I live?
Wait, where did you find that picture?
....
....
Okay. (sigh). Got it.
So Evi, that nutcase who wants to be called the writer insists that he’s going to kill Gabriel off unless I stop foreshadowing on that particular plot point. Sorry that I was unable to give you a proper answer!
And let’s feel sorry for Amaria by anticipation – there’s no way she’s getting a happy ending, is there?
Regarding the lectures, it might be a good idea... But come on, this is Reborn here, Arceus forbid anything might do Gabriel some good.
-
2
-
-
I think it is authorized...
SpoilerConsidering where these people end up and what purpose they were intended to serve.
She’s weird, but not that kind of weird imo. Isn’t she supposed to be the smart one?
SpoilerOr perhaps her loyalty was always ambiguous...
-
Wow, that was a worthy last ditch effort. Anthony sure didn't waste his time preparing for Unova champion. Perhaps it might have worked out if someone hadn't just reset his Pokemon.
Am I the only one here that feels that Nastasia is way out of character in this scene though? I mean, in the plot of the game itself. After 11 new versions I still can't understand what on earth she's thinking she gains by sinking the ship and taking everyone on board. Especially if her sole purpose is to get Nancy.
-
Thank you for your comment @sayar!
Regarding the pictures: well, my first step is to take quite a few pictures of the game itself. It can help for dialog, or to find room elements I'd like to use, or even because I like the background, tiling... anything I don't want (don't know how) to recreate from scratch.
Then I use an image editing program (paint is a bit crude, but paint.net is nice, although it has its limitations) to add some more sprites to the overworld, or to remove characters which don't gain to be on screen. I also sometimes alter the buildings, and that's just adding some tiles in the continuity of what's in the picture, so it's not that hard. I take the sprites usually from the Graphics folder of the game (for characters, tilings, "furniture" and sometimes Pokemon); sometimes, I use Pokemon Ranger sprites for overworld attacks; for overworld Pokemon, I'm mostly using the Graphics folder of the follower mod.
For dialog, I usually copy-paste a dialog box from one of my screenshots, copy-paste to make it empty, and then copy-paste my own text, which I used the game's font to write (it's not that straightforward actually because due to some "shading", I have to write the text three times in some light grey color and one in some darker grey color to make it acceptably look like in-game text). For the reduced dialog boxes you just saw, I just cut the middle of the dialog boxes and made the two ends closer.
So in a nutshell it's a large copy-paste.
-
1
-
-
Thank you all for your answers on the poll (and also for reading and commenting in general, of course)! I'll keep the poll open till chapter 40, just in case some more people have thoughts to express.
Now, I was feeling really bad for submitting you to this cliffhanger last time... where there shouldn't even have been one. So I'll post the final part of the Blacksteam chapter a bit faster than usual (nothing to do with procrastinating the other stuff I have to do, nothing whatsoever).
Chapter 39: Blacksteam's Battles
Spoiler"Wait." I pleaded. Something in Solaris's determination wavered. He made a gesture and the Garchomp froze again. "You speak of holiness and purity, correct? But you are instead using opposite weapons, such as this rot... that isn't a way to restore a holy rite."
"Had the Lord believed rot and corruption unproper to the end of misbelievers, why would He have bothered creating them? Isn't it, instead, proper, that the city of ignorance, the city of insolence, be drowned in the ultimate conclusion of their worthlessness?"
"But," I argued, trying to get to the same mental terrain as him, but knowing I was going on a slippery slope, "these cities the Lord itself destroyed -- he would have saved them, had there been ten righteous men. And surely Reborn City has more innocent people than wicked ones."
"Yet the Lord did not hesitate to level cities and slaughter people for such sins. Why should I not act as such?"
Amaria, please hurry.
"Because the Lord is omniscient, while you -- if I may -- aren't? Is it not pride to try and act like the Lord?"
"What sin, on the other hand, would be acting unlike the Lord if you knew His command?"
Ugh. How typical. I couldn't argue to literally save my life. But I had to go on, hope that I could manage to find a way out of this, that Amaria could come and help me when I couldn't save myself...
"How can you know with enough certainty that... all this is the Lord's command?"
"I know it. You may as well accept it as a fact. If it weren't the Lord's command, why would it happen?" That logic was demented. Damn these religious nuts. "And if not for the Lord's mercy, what stays my Garchomp's claw?" Uh...
I started hearing rushed footsteps. Could it be... I had to keep his attention just a little more.
"But by this logic," I objected, "it is the Lord's will that helped me destroy the PULSE-Tangrowths against all odds."
"The Lord works in mysterious ways. My actions have been successful for too long for..."
"Miss, you can't..." a Meteor grunt tried to stop someone, only to visibly recoil.
I didn't dare hope that...
"Yes," Amaria said, her breath short but her voice firm, "they have gone on unopposed for too long. This ends now."
Amaria! I physically felt the wave of relief that flooded my entire body. Thank goodness she was there.
"Deliverance," she commanded, "Ice Shard."
A few massive icy spears were blinkingly fast expelled towards the dragon Pokemon, which wasn't careful enough to avoid them. He turned to Amaria, his anger almost visibly flaring, and took off. He shouldn't have -- a second salvo of Ice Shards caught it in the air and the Garchomp crashed without dignity to the ground.
Thank you, Amaria, thank you so much.
"Ms. Fiore." Solaris turned to her, his interest in me temporarily vanished. In the wave of relief that flooded my very being, I dimly wondered if I had to use that time to try and do something to the PULSE.
"How do you know my name?" she inquired accusingly.
"Please. You have already been at odds with my organization, and you are a high-ranking Gym Leader. Of course I would know about you."
"So you're the ones poisoning the lake. Such a beautiful lake... why?"
"They want the city deserted." I chimed in without thinking, an automatic good-student reaction, born out of dozens of times thinking in classrooms, yes, it's because such reason, now can we get a move on? "They're using the PULSE Muk here to pollute the water."
But even as I uttered the answer, I realized the explanation wasn't satisfactory. After all, they had said the Beryl PULSE was pretty old, and it had just been running for a week. And the lake pollution certainly had started longer ago than that, all the more so since this one PULSE aimed at killing in the most polluting fashion a Muk. So what?
"But why?" Amaria asked on. "That's just pointless evil."
How many Muks had they murdered?
"Do not judge that which you do not understand. We have our motives. If you don't share them, you're an enemy."
Wrong, I thought, wrong, wrong, wrong. I had been Julia, Florinia, Amaria's ally (or pawn), not because I specifically cared for their ends, but because it had been the least useless, and the most consistent, of my options. But how would I exploit that? Of what use could this misconception be?
"It doesn't matter," Amaria said in a determined tone. "I'll never allow you to get away with this!"
"Interesting..." Solaris mused, looking at something I didn't see. "These bracelets of yours..."
"What, these?" Amaria's resolve was replaced by puzzledness, and she mechanically glanced at her left wrist. "Oh, they were a gift from Tania." Her tone became fiercer. "You're certainly not taking them. Anything Tania gave me is precious. I'd defend it with my life!"
"Suit yourself." Solaris stated flatly, making a couple of steps backwards. I saw him search for something in the same light brown long overcoat, and draw a Pokeball. "Both are forfeit."
He threw the Pokeball in the air, revealing an agitated, roaring Gyarados. Uh oh.
"Gabriel!" Amaria shouted. "I'll take care of him, destroy that machine!"
Destroy it? But... but...
"This isn't going to happen," a hateful voice coming from ZEL asserted. "Umbreon, go get him!"
The dark fox Pokemon got out of his Pokeball near Solaris and slipped onto the footbridge I was standing on. ZEL was following it, albeit more cautiously, and I called Leaf to defend myself.
"Double Kick!"
"Umbreon, come back; Espeon, your turn!" ZEL shouted, brandishing another Pokeball and slipping beside Solaris on the walkway.
The Eevelution meowed its mild discomfort at Leaf's kicks, but I recalled her immediately for fear of psychic retaliation. Now, whom could I call? I glanced at the other battle happening, and noticed, not without a spark of dread, that Amaria had changed Pokemon to a Rotom. Rotom...
"Watt, Charge and then Thunder Punch! " I ordered, wishing I had taken the time to train her to use electricity better.
Watt was greeted by a powerful psychic attack, but she managed to shake it off, and she focused, calling to her all the loose electricity in the room, all the residual power waste from the machines. I felt a subtle change of the way the PULSE I was still leaning on was vibrating.
"Tyranitar, go!" I heard Solaris order, his deadly voice calm, yet powerful.
The massive Rock-type Pokemon projected sand into all the room, including towards Watt and me, and I felt it especially in my eyes that I was forced to narrow. But I had miscounted how fast, and how strong the Espeon was. A second Psychic attack brought Watt down, before she had even the time to fight. This was bad...
"Mouse, please use Crunch." I pleaded.
Despite still another mental attack from the Espeon, Mouse managed to get that accursed Pokemon and knock it out.
"Grr. What are you doing, Lumi?" Zero (I think) asked angrily. "I'm so sorry, Espeon..." Lumi said sadly. "Umbreon, now's the time to break that guy."
Break that guy, I thought, shuddering. Break me. What had I done to deserve that?
"Mouse, come back. Leaf, Double KIck!" I decided to switch Pokemon.
Something ominous went on around the Umbreon, a sort of subtle wrongness that somehow managed to propagate in the air, reached Leaf, and, out of the blue, she aborted her move and crashed onto the ground.
"Leaf, are you okay?"
As Leaf was struggling to get up, I watched anxiously the Umbreon cautiously tiptoe to her, and deliberately headbut her in the sternum.
"Come on, Leaf!"
"Go on, Umbreon!"
"Tyranitar, use Superpower on the girl!"
No! I watched, horrified, forgetting all about Leaf's struggle for herself and myself, the Tyranitar nastily headbut Amaria's Rotom out of the way, and punch her in the stomach, throwing her backwards against some unused piece of machinery. But there was a Swampert now beside her (had she thrown the Pokeball before the punch?), fully alert and watching with hatred Solaris's new pet monster.
I saw. I saw the fore limbs of the four-legged Water Pokemon swell and grow more muscular. I saw its frame grow taller and bulkier, his gill get bright orange instead of a milder yellowish hue, its hind legs support a growing fraction of its weight. I heard its angry growl grow in power and threat. I felt an immense aura of power released. It was a Mega-Evolution, without the shadow of a doubt. I had never seen a real one before -- and TV battles typically "forgot" to air the process. I had no clue that it looked so... unnatural.
Leaf's whimper of pain, after another nasty deliberate attack by the Umbreon, brought me back to my own issues.
"Come on, Leaf." I encouraged her. "You can do it. You've beaten it before."
The Umbreon got closer to Leaf another time again, but this time Leaf had taken back control of herself. She rose in a blink and kicked the fox away.
But before she had time to avenge herself, the entire footbridge shook and the Swampert let out a resounding, and horrible, sound of triumph, while the Tyranitar was floored, crashed against another piece of machinery.
"Mandibuzz, Toxic!" Solaris yelled.
Without even a direction from Amaria, who, I noted with some alarm, hadn't really risen, the Mega Pokemon threw a punch at its opponent. The complaint of the Umbreon, whom Leaf was mercilessly kicking, as retaliation for its nastiest plays, turned me back to my own battles. Leaf was relentless, so much that, despite all that Zero had done to me, I felt bad for that poor Umbreon. And at the same time, I couldn't tell her to stop, because I didn't know if it could still be a nuisance to her... and I had no reason whatsoever to privilege the Umbreon's health over Leaf's well-being.
"Come back, Umbreon." Zero snarled. "Eve, you better freeze this guy over."
Leaf's new opponent was, as last time, a Glaceon. But last time, the Glaceon had been much stronger comparately to Leaf who was still a Combusken -- now, it wasn't anywhere near bulky or fast enough to survive the fight. It certainly did its hardest, trying to hide in icy winds, attempting to use the weakening sand storm to its advantage, but history repeated itself. Once again, technical mastery, on-the-fly thought, just weren't enough to stand up
to raw power.
Funny enough, I thought, that I be the one using so much of brute force. And then: fight now, think later.
"Fine." A booming voice resounding, dominating the chaos of two battles. Even the Swampert stopped hammering a weary-looking Scizor. "There isn't a point in going on. We will retreat, but you did not win. The lake is too far gone. And as for you, Ms. Fiore," he lowered his head towards Amaria, who still hadn't managed to get back up, and his voice was distinctly satisfied, "it may well be the same. Do onto the machine whatever you wish, Gabriel. Nothing shall save you eventually."
And with that, Team Meteor retreated altogether, leaving only Amaria, her Mega Swampert visibly exhausted and already shrinking, Leaf, and I.
"Amaria!" I ran at her.
She was breathing, but very pale. She was pushing on the same piece of machinery so as to get back up, but it clearly was too demanding an effort for her. That Tyranitar really had done a number on her.
"The... mission..." she managed to whisper, struggling to breathe correctly. "Shatter... the... machine. Break it... to... pieces."
It wasn't a hard task. The machine wasn't designed to wield any amount of power. It was made as a parasite, feeding its unending emptiness with the life force of its host. It took a few fiery kicks from Leaf to break it down, without any resistance from anything. Certainly the Muk wasn't able to do much else than go on vomiting its cancerous guts, as it already did. It was heart-breaking to see it thusly agonize, but there wasn't anything left for it except a painful death. It was too far gone.
"Thank... you... Gabriel." Amaria said. "You've... been... great..."
"You've done most of the work, really. How are you?" I asked, dismissing the undeserved compliment, very concerned about her, now that I didn't anything more immediate to worry about.
"I'm... okay... just a little... winded." she shut her eyes, gripped the machinery harder, and pushed herself up. The effort made her panting.
Holy crap. Just how tough was she? That punch looked like it could have broken every one of her ribs.
"Do you think you can walk out of here?" I asked her. "Or shall I call for help?"
"No... I'm fine." she contradicted me.
She pushed herself off her support, slightly staggered, recovered her balance, started walking a few steps and -- I was following her closely because of how worried I was about her state -- she wavered again, I saw her balance fail, and I... didn't manage to bring myself to catch her. And it was my fault she got this way.
"You can lean on me, if you want." I offered. "This way I'll at least be of some use to you." I added, on the tone of a joke.
Amaria first refused the help, but she realized very quickly that she really couldn't walk completely unaided. So she help stabilize herself by holding my arm tightly. Her physical closeness to me did awakened... impulses, perceptions, that one could certainly not call thoughts.
Normal, some conscious enabler whispered. You know about how adrenalin can act as an... emotion booster.
Just shut up already, my ego snapped to my id.
Amaria asked me to drop her at the Peridot Pokemon Center. The walk there was slow, but uneventful. We weren't that much in a hurry anyway. It was somewhat our way to quietly celebrate our -- Amaria's -- prowess. She was wounded, and I was exhausted, by the adrenalin, the fear, the nervous tension of the battle, but she was slowly recovering some of her strength, and gripping my arm less and less hard -- something which I was, surprisingly, somewhat regretting, even though it was less tiring.
She had recovered enough, at the Pokemon Center, to quip a bitterly amused line, concealing the pain she had to be feeling:
"Why is it that I'm always the one ending up injured? I'm the high-ranking Leader, not you!"
Of course it was a joke. And yet the question remained.
How come that, against all odds, and probably then some, I hadn't been really wounded?
Player's note
SpoilerI actually lost the ZEL fight the first time. I thought I could handle it and went ahead without bothering to seriously plan. It didn't help either that I had Swoobat as a lead when Glaceon was ZEL's first Pokemon. Regardless, I came pretty far, but I underestimated the Muk PULSE (which, as you noticed, isn't a pain in the story, because it's literally built to die in the ost gruesome way possible). They say it's not very strong, but it's very bulky and it easily downed my remaining Pokemon. It was also at this occasion that I realized how absurdly frail Swoobat was.
Trouble is, I hate losing, so I reseted when I did -- and found out I hadn't even saved before, so I had to redo everything after the cage puzzle. I planned better for the second fight, and here is how it went:
Double Kick leaves Glaceon in the red, but she used Icy Wind so I'm not sure to outspeed. Hence the weak priority.
Mouse to Crunch the Espeon. She takes a lot of damage from Psychic, but she does her job and gives me a safe switch in...
See you later.
Umbreon almost literally cannot hurt me. But the same isn't true for the very bulky incoming PULSE Muk, which leaves one obvious action to take.
Come on. It's annoying but not that terrible.
Let's just keep to the plan.
This time, it doesn't work, but never mind. Leaf has plenty of HP left and can certainly keep setting up.
No point in taking risks.
Let's just keep setting up as long as Leaf is confused. There's no point in setting up if she can just hit herself instead of one-shotting the PULSE Muk.
Finally.
Die.
Oh, come on! That's ridiculous!
Discharge hurts a lot. What's plan B now?
Protean is a great ability, right until it isn't any more.
Now for the fully-fledged stall because that thing is ridiculously strong.
Good.
That was a 'Bzzt' Discharge. With Batley at +2 SpDef. I don't know if that PULSE is broken or Batley is just that weak.
At least Batley can hit back... But how weakly!
Just look how much damage it did! But never mind that, never mind Batley's incoming demise...
Character ratings:
SpoilerAmaria: (+1) 10/10. She saved me, she did most of the job. Even if I dealt the final blows, she was the MVP here. And did I mention she saved my life?
Solaris: (-2) -1/10. He tried to literally backstab me. And he's so strong... if he comes after me, I'm dead, plain and simple.
ZEL: (+0.5) 1.5/10. They might have saved my life... somehow. I don't think I know anymore, at that point.
Death count:
SpoilerStart-Shade: 6
Blacksteam!ZEL: 1
Shade-Current: 1
Total: 7
Now, perhaps I'll add a small comment about my progress in the story -- I'm about three chapters ahead, with all but one needing pictures, and the last one needing perhaps some rewriting. And afterwards... there's something I'm quite nervous to write about because it's been one of the first scenes I envisioned... It's the finale of Part 2. I really hope I'll manage to get it right.
-
2
-
-
Anyone cares to mention that Neville must have gone into orbit, seeing how long he was up? And fell on Saki unscathed? When you just about died to a mere four-story fall?
What do you mean he was just stuck in the roof?It's great that you're back! I loved the new chapter and am eagerly awaiting the next one.
-
6 hours ago, Evi Crystal said:
Welp, it was nice knowing you... unless Amaria is coming to the rescue. Also your version of Solaris is pretty cold, but it has to be as a villainous leader.
Well, he is the main antagonist (and leader of the bad side) for a good chunk of the game. I actually think he's made himself cold, rather than be naturally cold. I think I'll hint a bit about the timeline at some point, but let's just say that PULSE projects have been in the works for a while. It'd be surprising for Solaris to not be so.
6 hours ago, Evi Crystal said:I still feel bad for Lumi and Eve, considering how their origins are and it makes me feel bad for them (mostly Lumi). Forced to be stuck in a strangers body and becoming an unwilling pawn
Yes, I was really moved when I learnt their story. It's indeed a terrible one.
6 hours ago, Evi Crystal said:Yes... I wish the lawful side would understand their intentions, but given the current situation and crisis, not so much
Fun fact: individually, the "lawful guys" could probably understand and sympathize with Cain's motivations, if they were explained to them. But because, at a larger scale, he's attacking without any justification a city institution, they can't let it slide. Isn't the power of collectives amazing?
6 hours ago, Evi Crystal said:Mostly when it comes to drama and tension, I used to be pretty sadistic with my characters. And it's hard to make it interesting for the readers, if you not want to make it poorly
That's just my two cents here, but being sadistic with your characters isn't a bad choice -- in many cases, you have to make them suffer to make them move forward and grow. In one of the series I'm currently reading (and enjoying a lot), the writer almost boasts that he tries to find the most sadistic thing to be done to his protagonist. But it's definitely not easy to do well, as I can see a lot of mistakes that can be made (and who knows? perhaps I'll make some, too.)
It is not easy either to make a lore which is both consistent and compelling to read about, and that's where "light" (as in, mostly canon-compliant) fanfiction is much easier than deeply modifying the lore (which is what you're trying to do, I guess) or start from scratch.
-
For a while I didn't understand why "Father vs daughter" was in the chapter. I thought it was an odd way for the parents to say goodbye... until I saw the rather unexpected battle. That's a nice touch.
But Felicia does lose points in my opinion for failing to inform her parents of the day she's leaving, when she's known months in advance.
Now that the prologue is over, we'll be able to get to the main story. I'm excited to see how you'll write it!
-
1
-
-
Quote
Welp that's our flamboyant rival for you, buddy. Also taking responsibility and makings things emright after mistakes sounds better and honest, but by adding a few bad things also kinda balanced this, I guess...
The thing is, we all know Cain's supposedly doing the right thing, but I wanted to show that there are very often consequences to doing the right thing over the lawful thing... usually unintended ones. I suppose it's a very first-world-lawful point of view, but I don't think that makes it wrong.
QuoteHonestly I wouldn't put such things in my story, as I completely changed the canon events, but after reading it, I spotted so many spots, that made no sense at all and deleted it as a result. I never though that writing a good and interesting story would be that hard *makes angry Crystal noises*
Yes, it's hard, isn't it? The thing is, it never stops being hard. I was thinking that writing the buildup to the climactic end of Part 2 (which is very close) would be easy, but... no! There are battles to write, actions to justify, and it all has to make sense! It's still difficult. And let alone said end for which I'm very motivated and nervous to mess it up...
About a "good" story: it helps a lot to have appeciative readers, such as you, but I'm starting to (very slowly) realize that I don't have to worry about whether it's good or not.
QuoteLast thing to say is, that your story is slowly, but steady capturing both political and economic crisis of Reborn. Very impressive buddy
Thank you. To be honest, they were supposed to remain in the background, because it's mostly about Gabriel, but he needs special circumstances to take decisive action.^^
Anyway, after a tedious grinding session (and stressful Cal battle write-down, I hope it's decent but if it isn't I still have some time to fine-tune it), I'm presenting you he next chapter:
Chapter 38: Threat Thresholds
SpoilerI went down the stairs as fast as I dared, slowly half-opened the exit at the bottom to be sure that nobody was passing through, and, gathering whichever scrubs of courage and self-consistency I had left, I went from the stairwell to the corridor on the bottom floor. For some reason, there weren't as many doors there as in the other corridors. The very high ceiling offered an explanation -- there were actual production rooms around, which needed, of course, space. If so, then any nefarious activity was certainly there.
But either the soundproofing was excellent, or little was occurring, because there didn't seem to be any activity. I walked on, scared to death of being found out. The first few paces were fine, until I came to a crossroads, and peeking at the perpendicular corridor, I spotted a Meteor agent. I withdrew instantly, wondering panickedly what to do. Going forward, or turning, would be idiotic, I had nothing to gain in being found out... Perhaps the best way would to be to lay low and wait for the guy to pass. So I went back a few steps and stood against the wall, in such a way as to prevent as much as possible them from seeing me.
I waited, feeling every beat of my heart from my chest to my head, not daring to look at the crossroads, hearing the steps of the Meteor member coming closer, sweating bullets at the idea of being found out. And then the steps receded, the Meteor was already getting farther away. Whew. I pushed away from the wall to regain a normal balance, glanced at the crossroads, saw it free, and, as quickly as I dared, trying my damnedest to not make any noise, I started crossing it.
"Who the hell..." I heard on my side, a male voice.
I mechanically turned to the Meteor guy, failed to come up with an instant excuse, and, shaking in nervosity, started running.
"Stop right now!" I heard him yelling.
I didn't bother shouting to him that this wasn't going to happen. I needed all of my breath for the dash. Already my throat was dry, my knees aching, and my bag was banging against my back and my shoulders. Why had I even brought it? I thought in a split second. But it didn't matter. There wasn't any other solution than going on.
"There's an intruder on the ground floor!"
Crap. Just... go on. I had to go on running as hard as I could, even with the knowledge that I couldn't hold on for long. It had to be long enough. I turned right at a corner because that seemed to be what was leading me to the exit... if I wasn't wrong already. Just stop the doubt, now's not the time! I ordered myself.
Going on, and on, even though my breath was coming shorter and shorter, and I didn't dare look back and lose momentum... I went straight at the first crossroads without thinking about it, only to hear another voice yelling me to stop. As though that was going to happen if I could help it... But in the brightly lit corridor, I could see a shape far ahead, a shape that was running towards me, another Meteor... But all wasn't lost, there was still a crossroads between us.
Perhaps if I forced the speed just a little more. I was gulping the air in large breaths now, too tired to go on much longer and too panicked to stop. I made it to the crossroads just in time, and abruptly turned right, and took off, pushing my weary body to accelerate as I felt the Meteor's fingers barely fail to grab my bagpack. I realized very soon that it probably was a wrong turn -- the corridor was very long, without any intersection except maybe at its end. I held on to that hope against the exhortations of the Meteors to stop "because I was trapped."
Alas, at the end of the alley, the only available direction was to the right, which was furthering me from any exit. Worse, it clearly led to a dead end. I ran into the corridor nonetheless, hoping to find any doors, but there was only one (on my right again), and I checked it was locked.
"It's over, kid." one of the Meteors who had been running after me panted. "Don't make things hard for yourself."
There were five meters of corridor between me and them -- and there was nothing but empty space between me and the wall. I didn't have a choice any more.
"Mouse, Batley, I need you!" I said softly, drawing Pokeballs.
"Come on," the other Meteor said. "It's pointless. You can't beat all of us."
"I'll give it a try." I replied darkly, hoping to sound confident enough, while knowing, in my heart of hearts, I was wrong.
"You asked for it, then." the first one said. "Machop, punch him out."
"Finneon, go." the other added.
Machop and Finneon? Something wasn't right. Or perhaps I was lucky. I had no choice but to pretend that I still had a chance. Batley's Air Slashes were powerful enough to knock the Machamp out, while the Finneon just didn't have the build or the training to go toe to toe with a heavy Pokemon such as Mouse.
"Don't get cocky, kid." the second Meteor snapped. "You're done, you just don't know it yet. You can't leave now."
He was wrong, I knew, only in that I knew I was doomed. I trusted him that they had been careful to seal the exits. But I had no choice other than keep the pretense up. It was the only way I might get out of this nightmare.
"Get out of the way." I said, my breathing stabilized, trying to radiate more than the self-confidence I could muster.
"You asked for it." the first one answered ominously, but they let me backtrack.
Again, with my heart pounding fast and on edge, I started walking briskly in the corridor, trying to devise a way out of my predicament. As the crossroads where I had decided to turn right were getting nearer again, I decided to go right again, so that I was indeed heading towards the exit...
Unless, of course, there was a squad of three threatening-looking Meteors waiting for me on that side. I hastily changed courses and started going left, once again deeper in the facility. Warned by my own nerves, I realized that one of them was following me on the same rhythm, not trying to catch me, just to be close. I forced my pace even faster, but they adjusted without any difficulty.
At the second crossroads (the one where I had previously gone straight, but I had been walking in the other direction), there were again Meteor squads making every path, but the one on my left, a danger. It surely wasn't coincidental that they led me deeper and deeper in the facility... I couldn't let them dictate my path. But one on four or five...
I broke into a sprint at the crossroads, going on the left, hoping to shake off my followers at the next crossroads by the suddenness of the move, but I stopped after only a few steps for two reasons. First, there were two Meteors with a different outfit -- with wings -- waiting deep in the corridor, wielding angry-looking Toxicroak and Mudsdale. Second, there was a strong and sickening smell in the corridor, worse than anything from Reborn City. If anything polluting the lake was in the facility, certainly something there would be useful.
"Now," one of the Meteors in front of me said, loud and clear, in a woman's voice, "I suggest that you stop here and surrender peacefully."
"We're a cut above the rest," one Meteor behind me added, and I could see his outfit had some sort of extended sleeve, allowing him to have his Pokeballs right before his right hand.
I took a deep breath.
"I can't do that. Even if you're good, I'm ready to fight." I grabbed Pokeballs, Sicy's and Batley's, for the Toxicroak and Mudsdale.
"So be it." the other Meteor behind me said.
I turned around and saw two Gravelers, one of them looking distinctly electrified. No time to plot, I thought. Not good conditions.
"Leaf, Mouse, go!"
"Batley, Confusion, Sicy, Ice Beam. Leaf..."
I hadn't even finished my sentence that the Toxicroak had rushed Batley and slammed its fist into her mouth in a powerful underhanded uppercut.
"Leaf, Double Kick, Mouse, Crunch, Batley, please hold on and Confusion."
The punch had thrown Swoobat against the ceiling, and Batley managed to regain her spirits while falling down. As the Mudsdale was already charging Sicy, she had used the Ice Beam to slow it down enough so that she (and I) could avoid the Heavy Slam, and finish it off. Furious at the loss of its partner-in-arms, the Toxicroak rushed once again onto Sicy and threw punch after enraged punch at her.
Come on, Batley!
"Toxicroak, stop!" the Meteor woman shouted. "Punch him instead!"
Crap. Again.
The Pokemon obeyed instantly, only to be hit by the psychic attack that Batley had struggled so much to prepare. Meanwhile, Leaf had used Double Kick on one of the Gravelers, which Mouse had finished off with a Crunch, even though her other foe had sent her a nasty electrical shock.
"You're not getting off this easy." one woman muttered darkly. She sent out a Gloom while her partner sent a Trevenant.
"Gothorita, your turn." the Meteor on the other side called.
I called Hex forth to help with the two Grass-types, even though Batley, now steady and focused, could hold her own. Leaf and Mouse's routine was all ready: Leaf took care of the second Graveler while Mouse Crunched the Psychic-type Pokemon, all without leaving them a chance to fight back.
I realized that it was a pretty bad plan long-term, because now the Meteors would train and get tougher, sneakier, smarter... but what choice did I have?
"Damn." the woman finally said, when my team finished dealing with their opponents. "I think there's no point in fighting on. You won."
"We can't let him go, Diana!" one of the men behind me protested. Fortunately he was facing Mouse and Leaf who had had a nice warm-up.
"Kenan," the other man said, "what's the issue? You know he won't make it." Er...
"How about we vote on it?" Diana asked. What? "Who's in favor of not obstructing any further?"
Three hands raised. "Fine", Kenan grudgingly conceded, "but you're taking responsibility for it."
"Agreed." the so-called Diana replied calmly. "Go on," she told me. "If you dare."
I didn't have any choice, didn't I? I walked on past them, my Pokemon around me, hoping they'd spot any foul play before me. At the end of the corridor, on my right, there was an open door, the only exit to the corridor.
*
The smell there was so pungent that it made me shudder. I was walking on a small footbridge above a large pond filled with a red-brown liquid. Given how it moved, it looked like water... but what kind of water could have this kind of color? This sounded as bad as...
Could this be the source of all the pollution?
"I didn't expect to see you again." a deep voice, very controlled, which sent me shivers (and another shudder when I tasted again the sickening smell of the room), resounded, forcing my attention to the room itself. It was like a network of metal footbridges above the red pond, connected to a main transparent floor in the middle of the room, with a few people working on some machines, and, in the far side of the room, on a footbridge lower and somewhat wider than the others, a contraption I didn't want to recognize...
"Gabriel is the main contributor to the destruction of the PULSE-Tangrowth project, sir. It is highly likely that his presence here is detrimental." another tall man I recognized as the insane ZEL spoke to Solaris. The former was tall, but did not radiate any kind of animosity, unlike the usual.
"I am aware." Solaris replied curtly, his voice sounding as severe as his slightly thin face looked before turning back to me. "You're an annoyance. Nonetheless, perhaps I should congratulate you for going through my underlings -- or discipline them. Here is your reward," he added, gesturing so as to indicate the entire room. But everything in his facial expression -- not least of which his dark, direct, cold eyes -- showed that that wasn't what he was thinking of. "Come, observe. Be at ease."
I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what... and if I didn't know what was happening to the lake, what was the point of everything? Tense, I walked forward slowly onto the floor, and Solaris motioned me towards the platform at the end of the room. I could see that the PULSE machine was encrusted in the floor.
But the rest... was horrific.
"Have you seen this PULSE? Observe this Muk." Solaris commented dispassionately. "The machine drains its life force, suffocates its spirit. Even his body gives way as it collapses into a puddle of its own drool."
It was monstrous. Apart from the horrific smell, as expressive as a Muk could be, well... the process looked agonizing. What had happened to the lake -- a terrible, corrupting, insidious, infinitely nasty force withered Azurine from the inside -- had already happened to countless Muks, whose sole sin was existence, melting their insides, killing them slowly... even more gruesome than Spelltropy...
That begged only one question, but as I turned back to ask Solaris a question, my gaze met ZEL's, and I read sheer terror there, terror so potent it gave me a jolt of adrenalin.
"Watch out, Gabriel!" they yelled, in a voice so emotional it could only be Lumi.
I turned completely to see that Solaris had a Garchomp nearby, muscular, utterly confident, and obviously deadly, coldly staring at me. It threw itself at me just as I was taking this in, and the adrenalin somehow gave me the reflexes to escape its lethal claw, at the cost of forcing myself to lean for balance on the PULSE, which I felt was vibrating with purpose, a purpose evil beyond belief, evil for evil's sake.
"Lumi, considering that he is doomed regardless, you shouldn't have acted thusly." I heard ZEL say detachedly, doubtlessly Eve.
My heart racing, I was facing the Garchomp's jaw, the predator impassively awaiting orders. It would kill me without a hesitation if told so, I knew.
"You've just... You..." I stuttered, painfully aware these were likely to be my last words. "Why?"
"Lumi, you forgot your place here." Solaris enunciated loud and clear, his voice reproving. He then turned to me and his cold, uncaring voice made me shiver. "A pity. I would have had you out of the way. You wouldn't have felt a thing. But you decided to make matters complicated."
He paused, leaving me to wonder if I had just heard my last words. Or perhaps there was a way? If I stalled enough for Amaria to come... Just keep him talking... Maybe?
"Why... why all this?" I asked uncertainly in a very small voice, wondering if that sentence was going to get me killed. I wasn't even able to make eye contact, as I was fascinated in spite of every single cell of my body by the hunter which was about to cut my throat.
"I told you in the sanctuary. Reborn City is the city of insolence. A wretched, corrupt, faithless place, which must disappear. The city must be evacuated, and we will do whatever it takes to achieve that. If their homes are destroyed by raging plants, or they can't even drink water... The inhabitants will all leave. And since Grandview Station is destroyed, no more will arrive. This will become," he concluded, his voice growing harsher, more powerful, one might even say exalted, "a vacant, ruined city again. As it should have stayed in the first place!"
"But," I argued shily, my own experience supplying the flaw in the argument, "how would they leave if Grandview Station is destroyed? I would have left if there had been any such means."
"Patrats," he replied categorically, "always manage to desert sinking ships. You should have done the same. Had you actually tried, you would have managed. Goodbye."
I felt a minute change in the Garchomp's posture, and I knew it was going to kill me and that I couldn't do a thing.
Bow before death, Gabriel...
He's right, you know, a very pessimistic inner voice pointed out. You sort of had it coming.
Just a small comment about this chapter.
SpoilerOriginally, it was supposed to be called Blacksteam Battle and be one with what is now chapter 39. But it would have been a monster of a chapter, pages longer than the infamous chapter 14. So I had to split it. This is why there's a cliffhanger, instead of a ZEL battle, a Tyranitar, and some character rates.
-
1
-
How can I get 3rd gen starters mega stones?
in On the Hunt
Posted
From the item guide ( https://www.rebornevo.com/forums/topic/41661-item-guide-v18-void-kissed/ )
IIRC Blazikenite and Swampertite can't be obtained yet.