Aphelli

Hey! Hope you're all doing well. I had a pretty down week to be honest, but it's looking better now. And I managed to write the second draft of the finale, but perhaps I'll do it again because it's not good enough... Also, I decided to give a certain type of news earlier than planned. Enjoy! (I hope) Chapter 43: Call of Duty Player's note: Character rates:

... You know you've just jinxed it, right?

Honestly, I'm very surprised that I didn't see it written by anyone else beforehand. I only thought of it when I wrote Taka sending it out in battle, and realizing that it was, indeed, a bit too tall. It's a finale. I'm almost obliged to raise the stakes and create some despair. I can't comment (yet^^) on how Gabriel will handle the events though. I meant twist, as in "it's not going to happen like in canon". Just for that (no offence taken of course), I feel an overpowering urge to show that "not doing anything stupid" is nowhere near a sufficient condition to survive, given who the good guys are up against... but now's not the time to kill everyone off. No promises about next week, though.

First, you can load up old saves. They're in the "Saved Games" folder on Windows (or however it's called in English). So back up your current save (the Game.rxdata file), and rename another save Game.rxdata, and the game should load that one instead. Second, I'm not too sure where your plan falls apart? But there are a few things I don't understand. 1) Why Autotomize with Klinklang instead of wrecking Minior turn one? 2) Can you actually force the Golisopod out with Klinklang's Discharge? If you let it get Autotomized, you could probably let out some decent damage on whichever mon coming in (probably Chandelure or Tyrantrum). 3) Sirius's Chandelure knows Psychic. It may not be a OHKO on Nidoqueen but it may be close (also, why "try to get an Earth Power off?") 4) Do your Pokemon have items? What items do you have? 5) What are your team's levels?

Thank you! I think he’ll get the memo... eventually. He really doesn’t like that. Did you really want to word it this way? But yes, that’s what’s coming now... but there’ll be a little twist.

That's a lot different from the usual fangames, almost a breeze of fresh (or freezing, I guess?) air. I like the atmosphere and especially the music (although I wish the "victory" theme didn't feel more epic than the battle tunes). Do you know if the "titles" of the cases mean something? Or what would have happened if you tried formulating another accusation or using the wrong evidence? And I wonder about the Chief saying that the stakes were higher... What could that possibly mean?

Oof, that finale chapter is actually tough to get right. And that's not taking into account the other reasons why I might be should be sort of am busy. But don't worry about that, the schedule hasn't actually changed: the end of Part 2 should be online by the end of the year (and probably a few days before). A little comment on the pictures: they sometimes don't reflect very well what I write because I'm not very good at graphics. I'm thinking of two recent examples: the top of Pyrous (this might become somewhat relevant in the next chapters, since... you know), and, in this chapter, the little house on the island. So if the pictures clash too much with the description, the description is right. Anyway... I hope you enjoy! Chapter 42: Muddy Meddling Character rates: Player's note (re Aster & Eclipse fight) Player's note: (Taka fight)

It feels a bit strange to call progress when the figure goes down by a lot (but its goal isn't for it to reach zero), but such a large AI rework definitely is. I wonder if the latest update means that the mosaic now shows an ocean and a blue sky...

Yes, it's sort of ridiculous. Part 2 ends on chapter 45, and that's about your chapter 22 or so? I think I have a lot of motivation to write when I'm feeling stuck at whatever else I'm doing, and I've been feeling rather stuck (at intervals) for a while, I guess. I rather worry about how big the fanfiction is eventually going to be. To be fair, your job is harder than mine. I have one OC whom I visualize rather well, and as far as I've shown he's a blank slate in his interactions with the cast; you have several OCs (or characters with an added depth) with previous interactions (and animosity) and you have to keep all that in mind when writing. (I also forget some of Gabriel's past actions -- usually not what I put because I plan to make something with it). Did you know that Newton once decided to stare at the sun for as long as he could (for science, of course -- he very nearly lost his eyesight for it)? That he'd swallow mercury in his alchemist's "research"? That Gödel, despite people feeling that calling him "the greatest logician since Aristotle" was underestimating him, saw conspiracies everywhere and starved himself to death? That Pythagoras hated beans so much that he literally wouldn't go through a field of beans to save his own life? In a word: math geniuses really are a bunch of utter lunatics. They're not role models. Gabriel isn't on that level though, he's good at math but not that good. He might be a little insane but nowhere near the renowned crazies. And he's not good at applying his own knowledge either -- except when the writer decides that it fits. (A certain advantage of being in Reborn with PULSEs -- Rejuv and uh... never mind would probably be even more insane -- is that "awesome but wouldn't actually work" ideas [the useless kind of ideas one can have irl] can actually be not discarded because something unlikelier is part of the universe) (I'd also like to point out than if you ended up -- clueless as to the why and unprepared -- in a region such as Reborn, you probably wouldn't be as reckless as your namesake). I didn't actually know. I suspected that it shouldn't be too bad, but I wasn't sure, so I did some cursory research. Wikipedia basically says: "no way". It's too diluted, and the pH is about 4.0 (vinegar is much below that). However, the chemical compounds can be detrimental to health (heart and lungs apparently). I also found an EPA webpage saying that there's almost no wildlife in a lake with pH lower than 4, so the Azurine lake might perhaps not be so bad as to actively threaten the life of people outside it (some nasty health hazards seem very likely though). Addendum: the above is valid for actual acid rains on our Earth following known physical/chemical patterns. If acid rains were to occur in the "Rebornverse", there's no telling how bad it could get, especially if someone were to use PULSE tech to its fullest potential horrifically wrong. Remember that in canon, two PULSEs were enough to make the lake deadly. And remember that there are (in the real world) very, very nasty chemicals.

That's brave of you, because there's a lot to read! I hope you'll enjoy! I'm not exactly sure what you mean here, which structure you're alluding to. Mostly I'm playing it out in my head too and wondering how Gabriel would react. I guess there's also a component of "starting to plant stuff that will help justify future plot developments". (I wrote that chapter a year ago, I'm not recalling it fully, to be also honest, but at least somewhat well.) I don't recall wanting to show that (but it's good it turned out this way). I think I decided Gabriel felt more like "yes but not really, is there an easy excuse out?" (Also, thinking back on it, I feel surprised at how fast the early progress was -- even against opponents that shouldn't be noobs, such as Fern or even most of the other Trainers. But the story isn't about the beginning, no matter how it may seem). I think my reasoning was along the lines of "he doesn't know if, or where, there is a shop where he can get something else than Potions and Pokeballs". But yes, he's careful about looking after himself and his Pokemon (and he may have read the wrong stories about being prepared too short a while ago). It's almost a shame that the plot rather forces him not to. He's facing a horrifically polluted lake in a place he doesn't recall wishing to go to (or whose existence he doesn't remember at all). He's not usually that cautious, but he believes that this situation definitely mandates a higher degree of caution than "going care-free singing in the rain". (Also, you'll notice that these examples of caution are taken when he's rather free to act, under little pressure. This isn't going to happen that much after the very beginning.) Thanks a lot!

That's a very good chapter, with an excellent cast. I really like how carefully you wrote the character interactions -- Vanilla's and Archer's reactions and emotions feel real, and Julia and Taka are true to themselves. Tourmaline Travels, Candy-style, really looks like it's going to be a great story arc! I also wonder what's the Zorua's role and motive in all this... I have a vague sort of idea but it's probably daydreaming (or so to speak... it's almost midnight for me).

To be honest, I didn’t think of adding a glimpse of the kids in the upcoming chapters (but I definitely should have, it’s a great idea). I’m a bit reluctant to do it now since they’re quite... remarkable lengthwise (the chapters, not the kids). So let’s just say for now that the kids aren’t much worse off than they canonically are. I apologize for the previous sentence not being very informative – if I have time I may write a “special chapter” about the kids (I think between chapters 43 and 44). I’ll do it sooner if as was “teased” on your profile, the Firehead story updates in less than a week. (PS: if you’re reading this Q-Jei, please take this as the bad joke that it is and nothing else).

Interesting question. I wonder what gave you this idea? But that's not what I had planned. This is Reborn, not another popular fangame from this forum (which I won't name because sort of spoilers?) Thank you (don't sell yourself short though, we all have huge margins for progress). Plot twist: she's actually the real antagonist this entire time. Proof: she barely ever does something useful and instead embarks you in this ridiculous utter mess where you somehow narrowly escape death many times! Thank you! You'll probably see a few personality clashes in the next chapters. Who was it that said it took crisis times to unveil people's personalities?

Yes, that's a bit what I had in mind with my "blue sky mosaic" metaphor. You can have something that looks like a blue sky despite having many misplaced tiles. Very true. I too understand that the devs wouldn't want to release a final version which isn't as clean as possible. I'm pretty sure most of us (I included) are with you on this.

Well, why would he enjoy that? Very few real people would, and an even tinier fraction of first-world math students. Don't blame Florinia for it, she's not exactly responsible for it, is she? If Gabriel can't just decide to remove himself entirely from this business, it's also his problem... (and don't start hating "ally" characters, you won't have enough left for the bad guys ) About how he got himself into this mess... Well, there's a bit of a plot point here, that's why it's not explained. I guess it's also related to the fact that no one we've seen so far would be inclined to give even a hint, even for those who may know something. Also to be honest I haven't managed to figure out the exact details, although I have the main idea. It's really sad indeed. And then you wonder why so many of these people are nutcases. A healthy family is important! I hope it won't be too predictable... despite this being a fanfiction of Reborn. But yes... winter drama is coming.

Making pictures is time-consuming, but the finale is almost over -- although you won't have it before a few weeks. If I'm staying in the "one per week" rhythm, that makes the last (Part 2) chapter on the day after Christmas. It may not be a read for Christmas anyway, so that's perfect. Anyway, here's a new chapter! Hope you'll enjoy it. Chapter 41: Fire Fighter Player's note: (re the Cal battle) Author's note: Character rates:

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.

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.

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.

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. 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).