Aphelli

Some day my muse will come Some day we'll meet again... But in the meantime I have a buffer for that kind of situation. Except that of course, this chapter may be terrible -- all the chapters from that arc might. You tell me. I certainly need to apologize to Adrienn (and perhaps not them only) for every one of the injustices thrown at them. The most blatant one will be repaired in the following chapter. Chapter 65: Temple Knights

I know that, sorry if it was unclear. What I wrote in an earlier comment is “as of E18 there’s one plot-important non-binary NPC and that’s Adrienn”. Oscarus replied with “excluding potentially non-binary protagonist”. That’s the sentence I was reacting to: I had written NPC precisely not to count the player character. I appreciate the promise though.

Sure, it’s possible. But what I’m saying is that Ace looks more like a foil to Radomus than an alternate personality. Which is why I believe that it doesn’t fit the story (if you add El, Luna and Gossip Gardevoir in the equation, it doesn’t help). That’s what NPC stands for. I never said it was an overload. What I said was that if Ace was the alternate personality / actual identity of an already existing character, then either they’d be dissociating really hard with no one the wiser (difficult and unlikely), or they’d be Adrienn (I’d be surprised), or they’d spend a lot of time lying about their gender identity (which is something I don’t think the devs would do).

Actually, Ace is introduced as non-binary. I think Ace=Radomus doesn’t fit theme-wise. Radomus plays chess: a rational game, everything is transparent, all moves are foreseeable. Ace plays cards (a game with hidden information, bluff and tricks), and is repeatedly described as magical. I’ll admit I didn’t give a second glance to the Ringmaster, but I’m not sure it’s very likely either. As far as I’m aware Adrienn is the only plot-important canonical non-binary NPC as of E18, so if Ace had a meaningful hidden identity, they’d have to lie about this too. It might not be impossible (and undercover work makes one’s reflection on one’s identity harder), but it looks complicated to do, and from what I’ve seen I don’t think the devs would go this way. Still, I certainly am curious about how they appear in the plot.

This is a lot of excellent ideas. I’m so hyped… Will you be my patron saint?

Hi! I hope you're doing well. Last time, I didn't write, but certainly thought, that I wanted to release new chapters more often. Obviously, I didn't. There are many things I failed to do this month as well: my math progress is real but several times too slow by any reasonable estimate, I barely got any writing done (thank you Azzie by the way), and even my teaching is proving subpar. There are 24 hours in a day and it's a miracle I am able to waste so many of them. Sigh... Meanwhile, mathematicians are improving their craft, writers are polishing their works and delivering, and Reborn is getting readier by the day. Also, physical, boots-on-the-ground war is back in Europe and it looks bad overall, so why again am I complaining? Anyway, this chapter isn't among the bad things I did last month, mostly because the draft was done long before -- only the editing remained. I have no idea how it turned out -- this arc is highly frustrating to write and therefore my brain yells that anything I produce is rubbish. I can only hope that you'll be better judges. Let me state again that I am glad to see any comments or feedback (even negative ones, as long as they are articulate). Chapter 64: Sicilian Opening Character rates:

I’m not very convinced. Terra’s somehow warping reality as easily as she breathes, so “going into her computer world” (this world being, let’s face it, as crude as she is) is almost expected. * They already do, though. Julia and Florinia were at the Fiore Mansion (and Titania may have overheard), but Fern gloats at Hardy and us in Calcenon, and with maybe Charlotte and Saphira present too, I think. [also, hardcore for Fern. I’m feeling almost sorry for him.] What makes you say this? I can’t think of story elements justifying a claim this strong. The game doesn’t explain either what El gains from this charade (rather than the bother/cost of putting up with it, precisely). It’s a bit of a mystery that he’s not summarily fired after Subseven Sanctum. ** Shade appears exactly five times in the main story. I don’t think they all really count as “in the player’s favor”? 1) the train where they end up saving Ame’s and the MC’s life. They could well have done it for Ame rather than the MC (if it was the MC they wanted to save, they wouldn’t have appeared in our back). 2) in front of Shelly’s Gym to, uh… take Corey’s corpse? Pretty neutral. 3) his Gym***. There may be an excellent reason for doing whatever they’re showing us, but they don’t state it. Worse, they delay the opening of the tunnel gate – which lets Team Meteor be ready. 4) the WTC. Where we get this long and “that long one sentence with forsooth”. This is annoyingly (and pointlessly) cryptic. 5) the Void. The most clear-cut helpful act (though Socrates might disagree). But I don’t think that this is enough to attest that Shade is on the good side. After all, Lin herself (itself? themselves? I agree with you on the “very probably not human” side) has instructed several times that we weren’t to be harmed (even though she had no issue hurting others: Saphira, Ame, Titania, Taka [implied], Samson, Ciel…****). My (very untrustworthy) gut says they’re on the good side. But not so loudly that I would be shocked, should Shade end up supporting Lin. Some non-canon takes (for the sake of shameless self-promotion):

Hi! Happy new year to all of you, and I hope that you keep healthy, safe, and find happiness and success for your endeavors of this year. (Am I sounding too formal? Did I weird everyone out?) Uh... help I'm trapped in a cohomology factory! (No, that won't help... Something else...) Anyone else feels really bothered by the original version of the meme currently on the dev blog? Let's be a little bit more serious. It's quite late here, and my metaphorical mental guards protecting everyone from my particular brand of stupidity are off duty. I guess I should know better than speak (let alone update) at this time, but I wanted to manage this tonight and end this unplanned long break. By the way, I guess by the view counter that you keep reading the story – for which I’m both glad and grateful. I changed computers and these are the first pictures I'm editing with the new computer. It turns out that character sizes have changed, and therefore the raw sprite sizes don't fit the pictures anymore. I had to crudely make them bigger, and I suppose this shows in the image quality, in the changes in proportions... I hope that I can eventually have pictures as neat as the ones before the change. Speaking of unexpected things: I was rather taken aback by some of the dev's decisions regarding E19 (specifically, the one in the cards), and I don't think I'll adapt the story to fit them. Not in the short run anyway. I also find myself, to my dismay, rather ambivalent as to the dev's progress -- both hyped by E19's release which draws ever closer, and very disappointed and annoyed at my own lack of productivity. I'm struggling specifically with the Seventh Street arc, but I'm not even sure Agate will get easier -- Eclipse, Ametrine, Terra, the WTC and its aftermath (aka Part 4 finale as per current plan) are as many difficulties I'm not sure how to deal with. I had thought I had managed a good start with my chapter 68 draft, but let's just say that it has to be entirely rewritten. That feeling reminds me of a remark I had read in a newspaper article about minimum wages perhaps a decade ago -- raise it too much, too fast, and then workers slightly above it becoming worried about getting caught in... You know what? Let's just forget I ever wrote anything before the chapter. Enjoy (hopefully)! Chapter 63: Out of the Woods Fern battle:

So according to a popular science cliché, the next post should be about the introduction of Gen 7? I tend to get very nervous at light speed because it does funny things to space and time... Here's to hoping that gamma doesn't dilate the game's testing time too ludicrously...

As far as I remember, El’s diary makes no mention of Lin at all, neither is El specific about Solaris’s methods. I don’t recall Taka or Sirius giving any sort of time frame for Lin’s arrival, nor that they say that Solaris was some sort of softie that wouldn’t go for ruthless action against the city before they showed him it worked. On the other hand, I think Cal’s dialogue when he mentions Terra suggests that Lin is a relatively new addition to the team.

They could also be story branches (or perhaps leaves?) depending on previous choices and relationship points, rather than “mechanical” puzzles. I also do not believe in anything like a Champion battle. Given… Lin, the entire League hierarchy has basically become meaningless pretense. Like, I don’t know, a formal duel for the seat of Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could be today. CrystalStar’s suggestion seems as likely a sequence of events as any (although I’d expect the E4 to be more spread out instead of being concentrated in one mountain – how to make a decent Flower Garden? What about Starlight Arena?). Other things I hope E19 can shed a light on – what the point of the whole Ametrine thing? What is the truth of Luna’s story? What is Lin (the various stunts in E16-18 seem to rule out “who”)? Do we have some evidence of that? I don’t think it’s consistent for Lin to let herself be “officially” subordinate when she’s the one actually calling the shots. Moreover, Team Meteor is a decade old at least and engineered the meltdown of its economy (with the earthquakes, Yureyu, etc). These weren’t peaceful methods and I doubt that Lin was in charge then.

That was a very interesting post. Thank you for that and for all the work you did, which is extremely impressive, Cass! I'm a bit confused by what is happening in the "more complicated checks" (of which you gave Storm an example): you're checking that you're trying to attack an actual opponent that can be confused, and then... what? If "something special attack" then you encourage the action if the opponent has a good or a raised attack, else if "something attack", you encourage the action when the opponent has higher special attack? Other dumb question: how do you fine-tune what the baseline scores and multipliers are (so that they actually serve their "high-level" purpose)? Third question: iirc someone (I think Marcello but maybe it was you) had alluded to a module that tried to predict the player's switches. Is it still a thing? Isn't it what happens anyway if when the AI beats us?

I actually think Sirius might feel this awkward, but Sigmund wouldn't. He's a psychiatrist, they're trained to put their emotions aside and be as neutral as they can. However, I don't think Sirius has experience with awkwardness -- blood, death, pain, blackmail, betrayal, sure, but not that. I also think our favorite psychiatrist would get an inner kick out of seeing Sirius either weirded out or ranting furiously. The Pokemon "are" on the black market indeed (quotation marks will get hopefully explained someday), but Gabriel has no reason to know this. I wouldn't call Reborn City's inhabitants' position "apathy", because I find the term not charitable enough. Perhaps a better wording (which is owed to Winslow) could be "moral exhaustion". They've been through so much, they've internalized that something horrific can happen to them or the people around them at any moment, that the situation will eventually get worse, that they're utterly doomed and there's nothing they can do about it. Perhaps an apt metaphor could be moths -- you can keep caring about the moths you're breeding (for whatever reason) after you've seen them die night after night, but it's usually not the same. But that state of slow decay is (unfortunately) an easy state to settle in, but that doesn't mean that a more immediate pressure wouldn't make them move. (I didn't expect to end up hypothesizing this, but that "one family a day" thing might have worked a lot better and with fewer deaths than what actually happened -- might, of course) On a more cheerful note: the children's Pokemon should be freed before the end of this part, so in ten chapters at most, as I never intended to deprive Anna nor Heather of their E4 teams. I just need to figure out a way for it to happen.

That's a good point, I can easily see the Rotom giving a little boost when the power is unreliable (which has to happen). I'm not sure who you're talking about actually. Maybe instead he'll book a session with Sigmund like a regular customer. It shouldn't be too awkward, Sigmund is a psychiatrist with some experience, he must have seen weirder at some point. So, I'm back with another chapter. These chapter breaks get longer and longer, and I have less and less to show for it. This one might be okay (maybe even not), but I'm concerned about the ones currently in the works: the drafts for 63-66 are complete but certainly need editing -- although I'm still afraid they're just not good -- 67 is in progress with similar concerns, and I'm dreading the chapters 68-70 for the Part 3 finale because I still can only make limited sense of what is going to happen. But let tomorrow worry about tomorrow. I hope you enjoy (and if not, let me know why, I guess)! Chapter 62: The Interview Player's note (1): Player's note (2); Character rates Death count:

It was difficult to decide was Lin would be like because we have so little information on her overall. She's just an overworld sprite who's supposed to be unbeatable and speaks in an edgy way. But she would appear very differently to an onlooker if she were an actual person, a robot, some sort of Arceus-powered astral projection, or whatever the devs actually have in mind. Plus there's something about her being ungodly powerful and effortlessly shutting down everyone else. So I decided that she had power, but I thought that, given Saphira's background, it would take more than that to make her yield. Hence the creepiness. I'm glad I did it alright. (although it feels wrong to put that sort of thing in the fic. It's not really the kind of fear I like as a story component.) As for Sirius? I agree that he got his punishment coming for all his past misdeeds. I'll admit I expected a reaction a bit less enthusiastic, but this just means I'll have to be harsher next time... Oh wait. I didn't really think of the aesthetic. I thought it would be fitting that she had a Rotom (because it's a cool mon, and it can be a grass type), and then I decided to make it a Rotom-Wash because the quip amused me. I wasn't sure what I would do for the Meteor raid. I was thinking of ditching it altogether, since Gabriel had no reason to carry it out. And then it occurred to me that the attack could still happen without him, and forth came the ideas for this small arc. While I didn't have to switch viewpoints so much, it simply felt right to give some of the secondary characters some screen time. After all, they're part of this story too.

Evil smirk. Just wait and see. I'll try to keep having these scenes, even though they tend to require some serious thinking about the mechanics of battling (where the more precise the picture, the harder it is to maintain a semblance of consistency). Let's say that Gabriel is not done building up his team. And now it's time for Chapter 61! I sort of hoped we could make it to the 20k views before that, but I suppose the new chapter is overdue. I suppose I should give advance warning: this chapter might contain dubious taste and possible plot holes, but I need to take chances at some point if I want to keep the story interesting and running before E19's release. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Chapter 61: Overruling Dragons Player's note (1): Player's note (2): Death count:

Oof. It's a shame you have to work with such tools. I wish I could help with this issue, but redesigning existing software isn't in my skillset (the program itself is proprietary, isn't it? so it would be pretty hard to tune the finished product, like making a "plug-in" of sorts?). (and if my ignorance on this matter is too painful to read, just tell me and I'll stop) That, or he gets a postgame role? Or maybe he's Ivory (detached, immaculate) like we're Gold? I think I'm mixing up symbols somewhere though.

From its description, the blue part looks like something that might be automated though. Could we maybe help?

Not quite. The statistic means that if you randomly choose the team of any enemy you have to fight at some point in the game, and then you play like the AI the Lin fight on Lin’s terms, you have a ~0.3% chance to win (although this looks like it could be sensitive to RNG). But apparently players are expected to do better than the AI and they can bring their own teams. So that statistic does not really apply. Speaking of analysis, here’s a question I was wondering about: are the trainers that beat the “best Leaders/E4 on their fields” the same each time or do they change significantly (or are there too little of them to actually change)?