Aphelli

I’m not sure, but it looks like your error is about parentheses. If I’m not mistaken, it should be “if @opponent && (!pbIsSnagBall?(ball))” or “if @opponent && !pbIsSnagBall?(ball)”.

Fellow Frenchman here. Welcome and good luck for this challenge of yours, because you're certainly getting into one! I'm not speaking about the game, of course (it is one, but I guess you already played through it), but about the writing. After all, it's plain as day in your chapter: "there's a lot to say". You know that the lockdown is "only" going to last a few more weeks, right? (I think I lost track, isn't it supposed to be three now?) I think I was going to complain about your choice of font, it was pretty hard to read on my phone (especially the parts in full caps) but surprisingly, it's completely fine on my computer. Funny how all OCs get very quickly a very different feeling first person. So yours is a born fighter who wants to be the very best. He comes there, not as a more or less official envoy to the region, not as a fugitive, not for the journey, the unmotivated challenge or the friends made along the way, but as a stepping stone to becoming the best. I wonder how he's going to react to, well, everything. Who knows? Perhaps he will find himself missing Hoenn and its beautifully quiet waters. He does sound a little bit arrogant -- flaunting what he thinks is his stellar, unrivaled skill -- and impolite -- dismissing his past opponents and the other would-be challengers. But maybe I am still judging him by his cover (though there's the question of his "path to redemption" - from what?). Speaking of cover, I think it would be a good idea to describe a little bit what your character looks like: age? height? skin? hair? You invited readers to point out mistakes, so here are those I noted:

That’s what I meant when I associated haircuts with Pikachu. I’m still surprised because I don’t remember Vanilla actually retaliating (while she punched Cal, didn’t she?). We may be willing to consider forgiveness for this inaccuracy if you upload this episode before two months^^

That's a big thing to apologize for... I'm not sure we as a community can forgive you for having spread such falsehoods. Especially since you first hinted that it was something far less consequential, like giving up on the nightclub. (Just in case it weren't clear -- these were antiphrases).

I feel I'm missing a few references... I already struggled recalling who the new characters were... Who's Sasha again? For me haircut screams Pikachu... It's interesting how Vanilla is part of the party and still isn't quite in it.

I don’t know. I find it pretty easy to look at it from an “inside” perspective – but maybe that’s just because I spent maybe hundreds of hours writing that fanfiction in the first person. I try to think about my decisions too, usually as the player, but I’m pretty bad at predicting what will give me the eventual outcome I like better. So my first playthrough is mostly as I feel like while the next ones are to get a certain outcome.

That's what I'm saying: you're choosing from an "outside" perspective, based on what makes a better story/player experience (because out-of-story you knows you don't need to resurrect anyone to win, because you know it's going to end well). But "in-story you" (a real person that would experience all the game's events like the protagonist does) would probably be (an utter shell-shocked nutcase) unconvinced that they're the ultimate savior, that all the stars are aligned for them (would you really believe that you wouldn't want some more help?), and would probably still like some outside aid to cut them some slack. Just like the US and UK might have eventually won against Nazi Germany without the huge counterattack led by the USSR, but it was a huge help and they wouldn't have it otherwise. So "in-story you" would probably appreciate Ame as a backup (or help managing the League or make a videogame to bolster everyone's fighting spirit against Team Meteor or whatever).

Plot wise (ie from an outside perspective), of course, you’re right. But this way two more people would get a (likely) happier ending. I just can’t see that happening if Ame or Eclipse is resurrected. They’d get killed again (whether by a malevolent storyteller or the internal logic of their exposed, not-plot-armor-protected situation). Of course, one might argue that Ame or Eclipse would be better assets (even temporary ones) to help finally take down Team Meteor, or that their survival would make a better story and I fully agree. As I wrote, it all adds up to what criterion you’re using to judge? What makes a better plot? Probably Eclipse, for reasons you outlined. What helps us best to defeat the Meteors? Ame, I think, since I’m uncertain Eclipse can be as helpful as Eve. What choice would raise most the “happiness” (for a certain not-all-encompassing definition thereof) levels of characters in-story? It may be Tara.

So that means no surprise barely-averted incinerations for Vanilla this year? That’s good news to her, right? I’ll admit I was quite thrilled to read that. But then I remembered which day we were and that a little dose of skepticism was necessary, however appealing it was to take it at face value. (no, I’m not trying to make you post the chapters sooner, of course!)

Hi Fawn! I've tried it and while I got some valuable insights out of it, I'm not sure how worthwhile it is. I misjudge the appropriate level of detail, I get tangled in the possible plots... I'm having a lot of trouble sorting the information too, between what's described in the chapters, the rest of the timeline, character motivations which aren't stated, and so on. I wrote it on discord, but I'll thank you again for your comment. I really didn't expect a response this positive (and it literally made my day), I was actually unsure about this chapter. The trouble is, of course, that this sets a very high bar for the next chapter (especially since we have another sequence of character interactions which always feel pretty difficult) and now I'll have to angst over the possibility that I don't meet it... Some comments on the quotes you highlighted: Fun fact: I don't think I made much reference to sound in my previous descriptions of places in Reborn City (they were a while ago, so perhaps I don't really remember them). I think it was your story (Coral, maybe? but I've just checked and I didn't see any mention of it) which made me realize (or remember? that feels so natural at the moment that it's hard to say) the significance of silence. The "three halves" is from experience -- that's sort of how I'm trying to sound when I make a self-deprecating remark (when I sort of mean it but not quite). Though this is probably (even fictional people are hard and I'm not sure I'm up to setting a definite interpretation to what they say most of the time) Gabriel misinterpreting, I think it's serious enough for Aya that she isn't joking about this. "Victory wasn't mine to decide. It never had been." Actually, what Gabriel had in mind was pretty clear to me when I wrote it, but your comment made me wonder whether it ended up conveying a different meaning. And of course I'm too scared of a positive answer to try and clarify.

Eclispe is Aster's Team Meteor partner, not Simon's, though. But I agree that Simon/Tara would be a footnote of the bigger picture (though it would matter to them, of course) and that Eclipse might make an interesting addition to our cast of opponents to Team Meteor. Actually, I don't think it's mentioned upon which criteria we're supposed to vote (the answer is different for me). Ame's death is certainly a drama-heavy moment, but from the point of view of someone inside the story? She's arguably the most useful to resurrect of all five (Eclipse or Corey could be useful too, but they wouldn't be as cooperative). I'd rather like to save Tara, because she's the one who has a good chance of surviving the ordeal, since Sirius/Lin would just kill again a resurrected Eclipse/Ame. You... you... meanie! How could you?

Good evening! We got 10,000 views! Can we take, just a moment, to appreciate how much that is? Thank you to all those of you who read part of the story, or glanced at it. And especially to all of you who read as much as you could and commented. In a less congratulatory (or self-congratulatory) fashion, yes, we're barely two chapters in and already I can't keep up with this rather mild schedule. I truly do not know if it is to be expected several times more. Mostly I'm lacking a little inspiration on these chapters -- I should probably take a good, long sheet of paper and really plan (or just manage it in my head, as it had worked for the two previous parts), and I'm a bit worried about not getting the characters right. But mostly it's that writing feels harder these days. Maybe I need a longer, or different sort of break, but I'm worried that it might become a permanent one and I don't want that. I'm not saying I want to be ready for E19 (way too many things need to be written first!) but I'd also like to finish less than something like two years afterwards. For the record, if that makes sense to anyone reading this apart from me -- group cohomology is ugh. Even though the number-theoretic applications are nothing short of spectacular. But enough about me, let's talk about... Erm, well... You know what? Let's just go. Chapter 48: Wastelands Character rates: Player's note:

Just for the record: the last part of my comment wasn’t intended at all as a burn, merely a constatation: even after your resurrections, you (or rather, the in-game Sean) seem to be extremely distressed when remembering a great many scenes of your tribulations in Aevium. So resurrection does not seem to heal psychological damage. It’s not that far of a stretch to assume that it does little for the brain damage that the sheer insanity of the situations you’ve been facing must have done to you (infinite nuggets, remember). In short, I basically meant that you’re not made anew, mentally speaking, after each resurrection. Hence the necessity to protect your head – and the helmet (because some sidequests have... needlessly violent ends). But the vacation is a great idea too (and you definitely needed one, although is Akuwa Town really the best spot?). Anyway, I’m delighted you updated so quickly after the previous episode. I think it’s more a time elevator than a time car. After all, can Melia or Venam (or her two pals from that time in the sewers) drive? But anyone can press the buttons. Technically, pretty much everything exists in this universe for the sole purpose of tormenting you. It’s not like it’s a good idea in any way, but, as you noted, the people are technologically brilliant yet very dumb in every other respect. Also, why did the useless and cowardly scientist that still somehow escapes danger against stupid odds (by tripping his colleagues) have to be called Gabriel of all names? (oh dear, here’s a new dreary headcanon...)

I feel like it's not black or white. For instance, Bladestar and Team Xen are both evil in absolute terms, but they're opposed. I'm not sure if Jan's stated something on it, but there's no reason why Team Xen wouldn't wants something nefarious and the world not being destroyed (sorry for the too many negations). Say that they want to rule the world (cliché, I know!) -- that implies a world to live in. Crescent is obviously extremely shifty, but even if Team Xen fights to protect the world (among others), her opposing Team Xen may not make her a bad guy, any more than we are. Her attempts for us to not get involved might be justified thusly: the MC is a judge who can lean both ways. Melia would bring them TroubleTM, which would make the MC bitter, thus increasing the odds that they decide to destroy the world. Instead, the odds that this happened would be much slimmer if the MC "smiled". Even the group that has been watching the MC (good thought that Crescent might somehow be with them) apparently wants "control", which also implies that the world be not destroyed. Or perhaps they're actually the destroyers for some unexplained reason, since "Celine's plan" was about avoiding that "everything stop", according to Karen's diary. Since Robot!Amanda said they wanted to reverse it, the implications are worrying...

I didn't get the joke on my own, I confess. But it's not very hard to do some research and understand part of it at least... it's nicely thought. I know you're immortal, but I really thought you would have known better than smash an unknown thing that was obviously sealing something because there was a random Mew leading you there and you felt bored. After all, instead of letting you watch fondly while it destroyed the world (and, say, Melia in particular because she'd get in its way at some point), it might attack you instead! Also, you may want to buy a helmet and perhaps some aspirin, you need to protect yourself from what this quest will do to you... Brain damage does not look to be healed between your resurrections...

First, thank you for your comment! Second, well, I don't know really much. I think the simplest answer is "one chapter at a time". It certainly helps that Reborn's story is a guideline. And also, there are events I want to show, goals I want to reach (the few last chapters of Part Two, for instance). And breaks, of course. I'll be honest: this is the very first fanfiction I'm leading this far, and I wasn't even sure I was motivated enough to carry on for Part Three. I try to set myself a fixed schedule, and I start with a little buffer, which usually lets me write a bit slower than the schedule. Of course, I have higher-productivity/higher-motivation times too, so it evens out and there are weeks where I can ignore my lack of drive to write. Not sure I follow everything here. What's the Magic Square to do with anything? (Apart maybe as a self-esteem therapy for Shelly? it's a shame I have other plans.) Anger is a natural reaction. He would know better than suppress it. He's a learned Doctor, after all; the others are foolish well-meaning incompetents at best, corrupt hindrances, if not monsters, otherwise. Part of his anger is directed at himself -- but most of it is directed to all those who don't know, who act in a manner contrary to what he believes is the kids' best interest. No problem, that's what comments are for, after all. Yeah... That's why "Strength" is just an idea Victoria and Amaria came up with simultaneously and not an official program. And it's not in Meteor's best interests to rebuild the tunnel, they're not philanthropists! And of course No. She didn't deserve that. No, indeed. He snaps at everyone because he (feels that he) knows best and they don't. And because he's furious at having let himself into this horrible situation where he's actually powerless. As usual, Connal is unreliable, but not too much of a liar. Some of his griefs are legitimate. He sincerely believes that some of the kids are so badly screwed up by living on the street (and we're not speaking a "friendly" street) that some electric shocks, professionally applied (as he tries to), may help in their treatment. And after all, he's the legal guardian, so (he thinks) consent is his to give. It really is a legitimate therapy method, if ancient. (we'll come back to this later in the fic -- after all, the MC meets them twice over the runaway children, both soon) I don't know enough psychiatry to know if his assessment is correct, but many kids in the Orphanage are badly screwed up, and his interpretation of (say) Anna's behavior isn't unrealistic. Some epic anger issues for Charlotte or Saphira certainly wouldn't be out of character either, and they wouldn't see it themselves as an issue. No problem, again. :) Funnily enough, I react better to fiction than reality too. I can get worked up (and I did) over characters in Reborn, Rejuv, Deso, Insurgence, a few other video games I watched (Adventures – Red Chapter, anyone?), and many, many other written stories. But most of reality (even the most objectively revolting parts) barely registers as much, emotionally speaking, and I’m not sure why.

Hi again! I hope you're doing well. So far, I'm managing the rhythm of one chapter per week. Hopefully it'll last, but I'm not quite sure -- we're supposedly now under lockdown again, but I'm not actually sure that gives me more time (and it probably doesn't do wonders to my shaking overall motivation). At least I've now got something about the Aya battle (and I do not look forward to playing it). Relatedly, that should be when pictures re-start. I don't feel like there is much point right now. Concerning the chapter I'm posting: you're getting a "light" version of it (roughly two thirds). There's something that I've decided not to directly show, because I felt uncomfortable about it -- I still am not sure if it was plain bad, too little, or over the top, while it was intended to be dead earnest. You'll see the consequences, but not the "act" itself. There are other parts that could have been removed for similar reasons, but I didn't feel it would be as terrible if I got them wrong,so I left them. Don't hesitate to comment on what you found was good, or bad. Anyway. Chapter 47: Reckonings Author's note:

Hey, calm down with the posts. It’s not because you post several times that you’ll get a faster answer. Anyway: I wholeheartedly recommend that you get Ampharos. It’s a ludicrously good mon (power-wise and bulk-wise) compared to the kind of enemies you’re facing. There should be Grand Hall Trainers that you can beat over and over to get the xp and some money faster (maybe save-scum in case you lose, though, they can be tricky if you’re not prepared enough). For the rest of the battle, I suggest that you focus on destroying one enemy side first and make the other mostly powerless to harm you. This way you’re always two-on-one. So you could T-Wave the Exeggcute and kill the Eeveelutions, and only then let Taka unleash Chatot. And if Taka switches to Chatot early, Ampharos can likely deal with it. But you should avoid to be against two aggressive mons such as Chatot/Pulse and Espeon.

I agree that it certainly made better sense in my head. When I think that way after modifying some code (that is, “the code is cleaner and clearer now”), there are usually a few bugs to correct afterwards. And your rework of the AI involves over a hundred times as many lines of code. So I’m worried about how much debugging and testing you’ll have to do. Or perhaps it’ll be perfectly fine. After all, you already had a “playable” AI with over 40k lines of code in the first place.

What has to be feared is not so much MissingNo as its evolution, MissingLineNo. And there will be dozens of thousands of them, lurking in the computer’s limbo (with M3G4T3RR4, of course), eagerly awaiting the slightest misstep... At this point I’m not sure whether I should hope that this is a deliberate, cathartical attempt at masochism trust the dev team’s many times proven skill and drive.

I’m not very good at Pokemon in general, and this game in particular, and I haven’t fought this Gym in a long while, so I’m not sure how much it’ll help or even if it’s sound advice. But I’ll give it a go anyway. First, I think it’s important that you mention the movesets of your mons – also the held items, I’d guess. Second, I notice that four (!) of your Pokemons are weak to Rock, a type which is rather common as coverage in Radomus’s team (Strength and iirc Psychic)! So you should definitely switch part of your team – I don’t know what mons you have in your rotation, it would be a good idea to mention them too. This is all the more important since I think that your Pokemon aren’t very solid defensively speaking, and they’re not (at least I don’t think so) very powerful offensively speaking either. I think that, with minor modifications (a screen setter seems necessary) you can set Ribombee up during the first Trick Room, kill Reuniclus on the last turn, and dent the other one’s team from there. Not sure how far you can be carried though. Otherwise, perhaps you can copy the Reuniclus and cancel the incoming Trick Room by using TR as well (do you have Quick Powder?), while literally any other mon can try and kill Gallade (Yanmega and Ribombee can deal with many of the other mons that can be sent afterwards). Then it gets harder to predict and I’m worried that any Pokemon of your team is countered by Malamar or Metagross. Ditto probably will be an asset to be switched regularly in and out (copied Malamar might be pretty good...)