Alright, now that I'm not Exhausted As Fuck, I can give a general sense of what my idea for the Inciting Incident™ could be.

So, a couple months back, one of the Legendaries that Victor needed DNA from for his experiment was Ho-oh, most easily in the form of a Sacred Wing. There's several characters who he could get it from, but I offered Kai since she's presently the most directly involved with both Ho-oh and Nix nowadays. She also takes her duty as Nix's chosen extremely seriously, so I don't think she'd let Victor get away easily.

From there, I got the idea of Victor seemingly succeeding, teleporting back to a School safehouse... and Kai jumping on for the ride with one of their mons' Pursuit, immediately followed by an "oh fuck" and a frantic escape from said safehouse and discovering its location, somewhere in Sinnoh.

This easily could work alongside the aforementioned "coaxing the team out of Galar" part of your suggestion, but as for involving Louise, maybe the two of them run into each other during the event, and Louise lets them go surprisingly easily, leading to a double-agent moment at some point deeper in the arc? Or, if you have other suggestions how to merge those ideas, I'm all ears.

If we're doing a Sinnoh story, this might be my chance to get back into the RP. I've been wanting to dry so for ages and just haven't found the time or opportunity. But my characters are based in Sinnoh so it wouldn't be hard to include them.

Good late morning everyone! After an indefinite hiatus, I have finally decided to rejoin the group, not only because I've missed you all, but also because I'm feeling motivated with some of the free time I've got. How motivated? Enough to start thinking up a new sub-arc more ambitious than the previous ones I've made. Right now I'm still thinking of the finer details, but it'll mainly revolve around the sudden rise of Team Lightning: A group of ravers, gamers and hackers starting to cause trouble at a currently undecided region.

While they were once just a loose collective of techno-nerds and partygoers, they've recently been taken under new leadership that's turning them into delinquents and causing trouble that will only get worse if someone doesn't put a stop to them. I can elaborate some details if anyone's interested, but I want to keep a lot of it a surprise for now.

I also plan to use both of my characters again, with some off-screen development having occurred since my absence (nothing too radical, just some minor leveling up, growth, and an evolution), and I already know at least 2 people interested in joining me for this sub-arc. Discussed some of the highlights with Umbra already, just posting this here per the rules, documentation, and feedback. It feels good to be back.

I'm fine with that, though other stuff I'm thinking of depends on how soon the base raid will happen within the arc.

Sinnoh-3(?)

Oooh, this actually plays into thoughts of how Ramona/my Molybdenum would go about "destroying the J-Team" like she's been assigned, and for what she's been doing this whole time—seeding discontent in and near important people until the movement spreads beyond even her ability to stop. (Beyond supernatural or individual ability to stop).

(Granted, going all-out on "everyone hates the J-Team now/again" seems somewhat exhausting/potentially interfering with the ability of people to do what they want, but if this is going to be happening anyways as part of the move from Galar I'm down to have her be part of that. It is kind of what she's built for o3o)

EDIT: ...actually, Megan being legally a "mind control risk watch vector" in Galar is something that's been turning in the back of my mind for awhile—if that had a role in the J-eviction given the Stormchaser being...kind of where she lives, and escape being better than an extremely suspicious indefinite quarantine notice, I'd be down.

Oh, that chain of events with the Rainbow Wing sounds fun.

Edited by Asterisk395 on Dec 4th 2021 at 8:36:45 AM

On Sinnoh

I have a few ideas on the whole Stormchaser thing as a build up to their eventual exit.

1.) The School begins a clandestine propaganda campaign against the J-Team to get them out of "public property."

2.) Failing that, Dr. Cassander buys out the land the Chaser is in or gets the local approval to inspect the site. He probably does this by surprise to attempt to catch any Schoolkids unawares. The papers he collected mean he can't be thrown out without causing a faux pas, though that might happen anyway.

3.) Prof. Yew offers his family's Galar estate for the purpose but gets into a verbal sparring match with his brother who understandably doesn't want to get involved. By the time Marcus Yew relents, holy shitballs its time for the J-Team to high tail.

I'll need to play some catch-up plotwise, but no 1 is something I could possibly use to include Fuka, a member of the J-Team, but one whose father runs a business in Sinnoh (he's a caretaker for those Pokemon past the sixth that have to be stored/kept elsewhere). I could see her opting to leave/take action if a propaganda situation against her, by proxy if not directly, is hurting him.

Edit: Wait, I think I have it backwards you're talking "leave Galar", not "leave Sinnoh", aren't you?

*makes a note to work on a profile for Charlie Rubens*

Edited by sgamer82 on Dec 5th 2021 at 10:10:37 AM

On Sinnoh

All of this sounds really interesting. Kimberly Bond and Leonard Braker will certainly be involved, as will Ingrid Anderson (since it's her home region). Axis Hunter will still be in Hoenn doing their own thing, and as for my fifth character...?

He'll be in Sinnoh just for the sake of it.

Though, speaking of him...

—D (new character uncovered)

Introducing...

Name: Owen Edmundson

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Ace

Ethnicity: White, Kantonian

Region of Origin: Kanto, specifically Pewter City

Appearance: This.◊

Hasslemon handle: None as of yet, as he does not yet have access to Hasslemon due to not being a Pokemon, but when he does get it, it will be the same as his chat handle...

Regular chat handle: PaleoExploration1822 (minus the 1822)

Biography: Owen Edmundson never thought of being a Pokemon Trainer when he was growing up. In fact, for most of his life, he wanted to be only one thing: an archeologist/paleontologist. He wanted to discover fossilized Pokemon, revive them, and research them extensively— but not capture them in a PokeBall. Yet he was also extremely curious about the world around him, and wanted to know more about not just the extinct Pokemon species (though that was still his main priority), but also the living ones, in order to create an evolutionary tree and determine how the extinct mons evolved into the living ones. For the next 15 years of his life, Owen researched Pokemon extensively, and was very often seen digging holes in his parents' backyard to see if he would find fossils there. If he did find any fossils, he would usually take them to be revived, research them and take care of them extensively for about a week, and then immediately release them back into the wild in order to study them further. To him, Pokemon were not friends or pets— they were wild specimens and deserved to be treated as such.

That all changed one day, when he was 18 years old. He had just gotten an internship working as a Pokemon researcher for the Pewter museum, and had been given an assignment to dig up and research an Helix fossil for a week's time. After that week, it would be given to the museum, and they would proceed to take care of it until it was ready to be released back into the wild (or they would keep it). Excited to research Omanyte- a Pokemon he surprisingly hadn't ever found a fossil of- Owen immediately got to work outside— and was soon approached by a wild Galvantula. While Owen couldn't speak fluent Monese, he was able to understand a bit of it thanks to the time he had spent with the fossil Pokemon, so he was able to communicate a bit with the wild Galvantula. Most of what he couldn't understand in terms of Monese could still be understood by said Galvantula drawing words or pictures in the sand. From it, he was excited to learn that the Galvantula was just as curious about the world as he was— and had somehow taught himself how to dig holes. Initially, Owen was confused by this, since Galvantula couldn't learn Dig— until he remembered that Anorith and Armaldo, who share a common ancestor with all Bug-type Pokemon, could learn it, and assumed that Galvantula digging was something that they were able to do, but had no use for (hence why they couldn't use the move). Owen immediately decided to seize the opportunity, and asked the Galvantula if he could help him dig up Helix fossils. The Galvantula agreed, and the two of them got to work.

After about a day or so, the human and spider team hadn't just dug up a Helix fossil— they'd dug up a Root fossil, an Armor fossil, and a Plume fossil as well. Excited by his find, Owen took all of the fossils to the museum curator, who was extremely impressed by the fact that he had found so many fossils. Owen told him about the digging Galvantula who helped him, and the curator suggested that Owen capture the Galvantula in a PokeBall— not for research, but as a Trainer, since said Galvantula seemed to like him so much. Initially, Owen was confused, and told the curator he'd think about it. While all of the fossils were taken to be revived, Owen looked down at the Galvantula and realized that he'd gotten too attached to his new friend to let him go back into the wild. Right then and there, he decided to catch the Galvantula, naming him Stipax and by extension becoming a Pokemon Trainer. At the same time, the fossils were revived into an Omanyte, Lileep, Shieldon, and Archen. When the curator returned, he was delighted to discover that Owen had caught the Galvantula, and Owen, in turn, was delighted to learn more about the four fossils that had just been revived.

In the week he spent with them, Owen promptly realized a lot of things about his relationship with Pokemon. Besides learning more about the species as a whole, he also discovered a lot about the individual Pokemon he had been given. The Omanyte appeared exceedingly calm and logical, if a bit finicky; the Shieldon liked to help out the rest of the mons— and his own Trainer— and would usually take things slow; the Archen would run away from everything; and the Lileep... was a bit off, to say the least— she would often slam her head into the dirt and appeared to think that her eyes were her teeth. In addition, he learned more about Stipax— namely, he was a bit of an optimistic klutz, yet was indeed extremely curious to know more about the world around him. More importantly, though, after that week, Owen grew to care for the fossil mons that he had found, to the point that, after the week was over, he decided to catch them rather than release them back into the wild. The mons were ecstatic, and the curator was delighted to hear it. The four mons were caught in the order of their revival- the Omanyte was first, then the Lileep, then the Shieldon, and finally the Archen- and were respectively named Nautilu, Crina, Chasmo, and Teryx.

About a week after finding those four fossils, Owen completed his internship and was offered a part-time job at the Pewter museum. However, he declined, deciding instead to learn more about the world around him by becoming a Pokemon Trainer. The curator and staff wished Owen luck, and he promptly left to take on the Kanto League.

8 Gym badges later, everybody had evolved fully and Owen had defeated the Elite Four. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to hunt for more fossils— and soon found a Sail Fossil. He took it to the Pewter Museum, and soon afterwards, they had revived it into a female Amaura that Owen named Saura. The curator was absolutely delighted to learn that Owen had beaten the League and had fully-evolved all of his fossil mons, and wished him luck in all of his future endeavors; in return, Owen promised to return to the museum if he found any other fossil mons. From there, he learned of the perfect place to do that— the Underground in Sinnoh, and decided to go there in order to challenge the League and maybe catch a few more Pokemon.

He is currently in the Sinnoh region, en route to Oreburgh, to challenge the League.

His favorite musical artist is Five for Fighting.

Character theme: "World" by Five for Fighting

Owen's Pokemon

Species: Galvantula

• Nickname: Stipax

• Nickname origin: From Stipax triangulifer, an extinct species of spider

• Gender: Male

• Ability: Compound Eyes

• Nature: Naive

• Hasslemon handle: jovialPaleontology (JP)

• Personality: Stipax is, in a few words, eternally curious. He has a massive desire to learn as much as he can about the world around him, and enjoys reading books and exploring new places. Most of all, however, he likes to discover new things- especially fossils, and especially if it's with Owen. While he is optimistic- for the most part, anyways- he is also a bit of a klutz, especially in regards to his digging skills (Galvantula can't learn Dig, and Stipax taught himself) and even more so when it comes to holding things. Stipax, as his nature suggests, is also slightly naive, and his curiosity sometimes can get him into trouble without him expecting it. At the end of the day, though, he is nothing if not a reliable and sincere friend to Owen, and is loyal to him no matter the circumstances. Stipax doesn't battle much, but whenever he does, he is arguably the most powerful battler of the group next to Chasmo, utterly obliterating his opponents with Giga Drain, Lunge, and Electroweb.

• Moveset: Signal Beam, Electroweb, Electro Ball, Gastro Acid, Giga Drain, Lunge, Leech Life, Bug Buzz, Energy Ball, X-Scissor

• Character theme (English): "The Riddle" - Five for Fighting

Species: Omastar

• Nickname: Nautilu

• Nickname origin: From "nautilus"

• Gender: Male

• Ability: Shell Armor

• Nature: Calm

• Hasslemon handle: extinctLogistics (EL)

• Personality: Nautilu is calm, intelligent, and arguably the most logical and pragmatic of all of Owen's mons. He is usually the first one that Stipax goes to besides his Trainer- and the world itself- for questions about things that he may have, and while he can occasionally be blunt with him in regards to answering said questions, he is extremely patient with him (and anyone else). He is very much aware of the futility of life, like Owen and Stipax are, and believes that nothing was created for a reason— everything is as it is. He also believes very much in Owen's potential, and mainly serves as a guardian to him as he slowly becomes a Pokemon Trainer. In battle, Nautilu mainly relies on strengthening his defense before anything else— and after he's raised his defense to the highest it can be, he mainly relies on using Protect to shield himself from supereffective attacks and dealing out consecutive Rollouts to those that aren't.

• Moveset: Withdraw, Rollout, Brine, Ancient Power, Protect, Rock Blast, Bubble Beam, Aurora Beam

• Character theme (English): "Once in a Lifetime"- Talking Heads

Species: Cradily

• Nickname: Crina

• Nickname origin: From Crinodea

• Gender: Female

• Ability: Suction Cups

• Nature: Quirky

• Hasslemon handle: dentalOptics (DO)

• Personality: Crina is, in a word, odd. In another word, she's ditzy. Very ditzy. The jokester of the so-called "Jura6", Crina is very much prone to lighthearted mocking, pranks, and witty puns- but never at the expense of any of the rest of the Jura6 save for Stipax (who takes it all in stride) and Saura (who doesn't really care). She is a bit ditzy and forgetful, prone to constant distraction, and is, for the most part, a bit odd. When she was a Lileep, she would constantly put her head into the ground in an attempt to look for food, go off on slight nonsensical tangents, and the like, and when she evolved into a Cradily, she was somehow utterly convinced that her fake eyes were her real eyes and that her actual real eyes were her teeth (hence her Hasslemon handle, dentalOptics). She somehow still believes it, along with a slew of other odd things. In battle, Crina is surprisingly brutal, often using moves such as Wrap, Leech Seed, and Giga Drain to drain the opponent of their HP and (sometimes playfully, sometimes cruelly, depending on the opponent) mocking them for it all the while.

• Moveset: Leech Seed, Ingrain, Wrap, Ancient Power, Giga Drain, Brine, Spit Up, Stockpile, Swallow, Energy Ball, Tickle, Sludge Bomb

• Character theme (English): "Upside Down"- A*Teens

Species: Bastiodon

• Nickname: Chasmo

• Nickname origin: From Chasmosaurus

• Gender: Male

• Ability: Sturdy

• Nature: Hardy

• Hasslemon handle: reliableBastille (RB)

• Personality: While Chasmo appears intimidating at first glance, he is anything but. He is a gentle giant, who is extremely reliable and hardworking. Besides Stipax and Nautilu, Chasmo is the most patient of the Jura6, and the most likely to wax philosophical about the futility of life. He will often times have flashbacks of life before he became a fossil, which serve to further Owen's research into prehistoric Pokemon life. Despite his kindhearted and zen-like outward appearance, though, it is far from a good idea to make Chasmo angry— because he is the most powerful (besides Stipax) and most physically defensive member of the team, and he will absolutely obliterate you. While he does enjoy battling, he doesn't particularly enjoy using his one-hit knockout Egg move Fissure unless he feels it to be absolutely necessary. Despite that, though, his main strategy in battle involves his massive defenses— and somehow hitting like a truck.

• Moveset: Metal Sound, Iron Defense, Ancient Power, Endure, Metal Burst, Iron Head, Heavy Slam, Fissure

• Character theme (English): "100 Years"- Five for Fighting

Species: Archeops

• Nickname: Teryx

• Nickname origin: From Archeopteryx

• Gender: Male

• Ability: Defeatist

• Nature: Bashful

• Hasslemon handle: diffidentDefeatist (DD)

• Personality: While everybody else on the team is accepting of the concept of death and is determined to make the most of their lives while they still can, Teryx... is not. In fact, Teryx is desperate to stay alive at all costs— and to keep his friends alive at all costs. Extremely timid and very much a scaredy cat, Teryx doesn't fly very often, and instead will run away from pretty much any kind of danger that presents itself. You will often see him either A) hiding in a corner or B) if he is ever out, either panicking harder than Freddie does or talking with the rest of the Jura6— the only mons that he feels completely comfortable around. While Teryx desperately wants to be braver- and is willing to protect his friends if anyone hurts them- the last thing he wants is to see anybody dead. Again. He doesn't enjoy battling, and is usually pessimistic about outcomes, but will fight as best he can. Even if he does participate in battle, though, he usually ends up feeling like a burden at the end of it all. Poor Teryx. :(

• Moveset: Dragon Breath, Ancient Power, Pluck, U-Turn, Rock Slide, Tailwind, Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse

• Character theme (English): "Superman (It's Not Easy)"- Five for Fighting

Species: Amaura

• Nickname: Saura

• Nickname origin: From -saurus, the common dinosaur name-ending suffix

• Gender: Female

• Ability: Refrigerate

• Nature: Docile

• Hasslemon handle: drowsyBorealis (DB)

• Personality: The newest member of the Jura6, Saura's favorite thing to do is sleep. Her second favorite thing to do, of course, is daydream. Based on this, you might think that Saura doesn't care a bit about the rest of the Jura6, or about her Trainer, but you couldn't be more wrong. Saura's dreams are usually absolutely nuts beyond all recognition, but whenever she's awake, she is among the most sane and kindhearted members of the Jura6. She always has a kind word of advice to give her fellow members, and is relatively relaxed about a lot of things— including the futility of life. In one word, she's... well, chill. Given that she's the newest team member, she's not that powerful in regards to battle yet, but will more than make up for it by using Rest to heal herself— followed by using Snore (which becomes an Ice-type move thanks to her ability) to strike her opponents when they least expect it.

• Moveset: Powder Snow, Icy Wind, Ancient Power, Round, Mist, Aurora Beam, Rest, Snore

• Character theme (English): "Fireflies"- Owl City

You Were The Chosen One, Anakin!

So, a while back, I got to thinking about how one kinda Early-Installment Weirdness thing that was established in the early days was, how exactly Legendaries and Mythicals were tied to the Attributes. In particular, it tended to be determined along the lines of "one Box Legend is Hearts, the other is Souls, the third-version one is Minds", which worked okay in some cases, but there's a few oddities with the system — all three Beasts being Hearts despite Mind of Crystal being named after Suicune's game, some weird thematic elements, so on and so forth. So I got to thinking about how it might be able to be adjusted, so that it's not quite as weird, but still works without needing to uproot any important aspects of WAAPT canon.

Mostly, it amounts to Legendaries' ties to the Attributes being less rigid.

For example, let's take Dialga. Thus far, Dialga is a Soul of Silver, to go with Palkia's Heart and Giratina's Mind. RP!Tagg being a Soul and a chosen of Dialga can't really be changed, nor should its impact be lessened. However, there's other things that might suggest other attributes — for example, one might associate them with Minds of Crystal, since their thematic basis is around diamonds and a key part of the AU arc was the ability of Minds to be conscious of the Mandela effect created by the AU rewriting everyone's memories. For situations like this — especially with the more metaphysically-tied Legendaries — it's possible that they may not necessarily be the Attribute themselves, but could potentially choose representative champions of any Attribute for different reasons.

It might not work with all cases, though; Ho-oh and Lugia are more localized guardians that serve as the central figures of the concept of a Heart of Gold and a Soul of Silver; and just as well, it's significant that their children are very specifically the attribute of their counterparts, with Nix being a young Soul of Silver Ho-oh, and Pleo being a young Heart of Gold Lugia. But that doesn't mean they can't find chosen-ones of different attributes, with Nix partnering with Kai as she has.

On a related note to the above, Aster and I spitballed the idea that the current Reshiram and Zekrom were actually a Nix/Pleo situation, with the original White Dragon Of Truth being a Soul of Silver whereas the Black Dragon of Ideals was a Heart of Gold.

Finally, there's the detail of us having not assigned any of Alola or Galar's Legendaries any Attribute ties in the first place, though there might be something to be said of Eternatus's return to existence being a phenomenon only Minds of Crystal really recognize the gravity of. But at this point I'm mostly just spitballing and hoping my thoughts don't step on any toes lmao.

So I guess, thoughts? Suggestions?

Related to the above, I also pitched the idea that — since Souls were originally said to be more frequently Auric-Spectrum-sensitive, but statistically speaking there's no real correlation — we could potentially adjust the thing Souls of Silver are about to be more along the lines of "feats of determination" — being able to pick oneself up and keep fighting far beyond the point that they should be conscious, being able to achieve unprecedented abilities, all those sorts of fate-defying anime tropes, which are of course especially visible in Souls with notable Auric abilities.

Edited by BittersweetNSour on Dec 27th 2021 at 4:35:05 AM

...Man. It's really been 10 years huh.

As cliche as it is it doesn't feel like ten years. But also there's been so MUCH. So many plots. So many characters. Some of those have been MINE. That's incredible that I've been writing for and contributing to this thing so damn much for so damn long.

I remember when I was in the little PEFE XMPP:chat and they started talking about the coolest shit and I was like "the fuck's this for" and they're like "an RP" and I'm like "I've never been in one of those before, can I join?" and they were like "sure."

And I remember my nineteen year-old ass stumbling upon the WAAPT chat and trying desperately to keep up even though I wasn't used to chatrooms (if you think I make a lot of typos NOW hoo boy you have seen nothing) but eventually people got me a character workshopped and I started posting (with Straw specifically) and it. Was. Really super fun? And I loved it. At first I was like "I'll probably move on to something else just like any other hyperfixation" and it's true I've needed more than a few breaks from being burnt out or just being plain burnt by something but... I kept coming back? Because I have fun with the world, and had fun with my characters, and had fun with my friends in the community, and I even realized my plan to retire and move on to bigger things was a mistake because this IS one of the biggest and special-est things I've ever been involved in.

It hasn't all been happy Sunflora and Pikachu faces. There's been drama before. I've been hurt very badly. I've had nagging doubts and fears about my place in this community even in the process of writing this. But you know what? Even despite that I feel like joining WAAPT has been a net good for me. I've come up with so many new ideas, learned many things, met a bunch of amazing people, directly or indirectly.

...This RP helped me re-realize I was bi. It helped me realize I was at least trans-adjacent. One of my main ways of expressing my gender and sexuality, my main sona Umbra, originated in half from this RP.

So yeah, happy 10th WAAP Tversary to me. There's been rough patches, including the last few months, but I am ultimately very happy I've been here.

WAAPT is old enough to become a Pokemon Trainer!

In the anime anyway, it'll be this coming February that they'll become old enough to be one in the games.

As for me, well, of everyone currently active I've been around second longest, from Sinnoh-1 to Galar and probably whatever we're calling this next Sinnoh-based arc. There's been ups and downs over the past decade, but overall I consider WAAPT perhaps one of our greatest creations.

I certainly never imagined that at 19 going on 20 going to post in a TVT Forum Game on a lark I'd still be doing this at 30 going on 31, but when you're doing something you love, there's no real reason for it to end, and I certainly feel I've got more stories left to tell. It's like life, the story's not quite over until you're dead.

(And for our characters, not even death necessarily ends the stories or the changes they might make as people)

Besides, I've been doing this for so long I don't know what else I'd do fandomwise anyway, nothing else has sustained my interest as much as WAAPT besides the PEFE.

And even apart from what it's done for me creative-wise, it's given me a community that's stayed together even when its members aren't RPing anymore, one of the few places I feel completely accepted, basically every close friend I have these days is either a current or former WAAPTer, or in some way adjacent to the community, and I'm sure there's many who could say the same.

I also feel like I've become a better person through my involvement in the RP.

We'll see if we'll make it to 2031 or not, but in the meantime let's keep on chugging.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Dec 31st 2021 at 6:21:41 AM

Legendaries and Attributes

I don't know about detaching the Attributes from the Legendaries that have them, but I don't have an issue with even Attributed legendaries being flexible as to which folks with Attributes they have working as their chosen.

That's fair! Easier not to backtrack that way, then.

(I would still like to suggest modifying at least the Johto Beasts' attributes (not necessarily even any other region's local Beast Trio), because of the aforementioned "minds of crystal are literally named after suicune's game" thing that's always felt weird since I learned it so many years ago, and maybe a similar change with the Kanto Birds just to match, though if it's too big of a change to canon I will relent lmao)

Edited by BittersweetNSour on Jan 5th 2022 at 12:33:32 PM

Attribiutes

Same as Tagg - I do like making things more fl3exible, but there's already been a lot of "power balancing" with Attributes and they've been kind of sidelined as a result, so mabye baby steps trying to do it again.

I'm fine with Suicune being retconned though lmao Suicune not being Crystal WAS always weird.

While it's not relevant now, I'm curious to know what the policy is on introducing pokemon characters whom were prior Hall of Famers. I'm asking because for this sub-arc and beyond, I'm planning to have Mark accompanied not just with his trusty starter Machoke, but also 4 pokemon from his previous teams (2 from Kanto and 2 from Hoenn to be precise). Was planning for these concept pokemon characters to be a Charizard, a Hitmonchan, A Blaziken, and a Graveler/Golem (haven't decided yet), and the tradeoff I was going to use was that while they were tough enough to beat the Elite Four in the past, they haven't battled in a while and thus aren't as proficient as they used to be (one of the reasons Mark's bringing them along besides assembling a squad to help deal with Team Lightning without starting from scratch).

I still need time to flesh them out, but I just want to know if the idea is sound and if there's anything I need to consider ahead of time. Also for those who might be wondering why Mark's team would only have 5 mons instead of 6, he's saving the last spot for a new mon from the Sinnoh Region he might find worth being part of his team.

• Your Trainer's name: Vaughn
• Age: 28
• Gender: Male
• Ethnicity: Nordic Caucasian
• Brief description of their appearance: Slim build, brown hair with a gold stripe, green eyes with faint hints of gold, a rounded chin, a worried look on face◊, prefers to wear dressier clothing and a beat leather jacket.
• Region of origin: 'Unovan'
• Backstory:
  • A traveler, a runner, from a future he refuses to talk about. He just appeared and refused to elaborate, proclaiming where he landed "Safe harbor". Despite this he tries to remain open and work with people, he's just a bit of a worry wart and seemingly on the run with a major distrust of authority. Not a fighter, just someone looking to survive, his information on the future seems shaky as he'd put it. "The future is uncertain, anything I tell you could mean that the world I come from ceases to exist." All he wants is to be left alone, and to not run, he's not even certain of how the mechanics of time travel work and how he got back.

• Name: Albert
• Species: Baltoy
• Pronouns: They/them
• Biography Albert has always been by Vaughn's side and is the most knowledgeable of his pokemon about the mechanics of time travel, from the methods used, machinery, alternate timelines, and so on. Albert is always helpful and trustworthy on getting Vaughn and his allies out.

• Name: Hawking
• Species: Gengar
• Pronouns: They/them
• Biography Hawking is a bit of a spaced out oddball, more focused on the mechanics of the universe than anything actually useful. They seek knowledge and can get in and out of any space necessary, helpful for escaping numerous locations and avoiding whatever the group has been running from.

• Name: Colt
• Species: Shiny Lucario
• Pronouns: He/Him
• Biography Picked up on his travels, Colt is a smart mouthed short tempered Lucario who out of all of the team hates time travel and time travel shenanigans the most. Forceful in personality, Colt can be relied upon to take action when needed, and is rather protective of Vaughn's well being.

Time opens the path for a mysterious girl to step forth...

Name: Lala Promeneau-Salberg

Age: 14

Gender: ♀

Ethnicity: Part-[Irish], Part-[Italian], quarter-Kantonian, quarter-Galarian, part-Unovan

Appearance: She stands at 5'00" tall, has dirty blonde hair with a pink Thunderbolt-shaped streak down the middle, has hazel-brown eyes, and likes to wear dresses, robes, the occasional kimono, and sometimes likes to dress in boyish clothes. Sometimes, she dons a purple heart-shaped domino mask, black gloves and an awesome cloak and becomes Mirai Lala, a Phantom Thief-style superheroine.

Organization Ties: None

Region of origin: Unova, Nuvema Town

Backstory: The daughter of Ian and Evelyn from a parallel future, Lala is a rather fun-loving individual, and is as every bit as much of a prankster as Ian is. She likes to learn and wants to know everything there is about the world and herself. She feels that with a Pokémon, she can do that. She was given her first Pokémon by her parents and they grew to like her almost immediately. When she turned 10, she decided to combine learning in the field with learning in the classroom and alternated between going on her Pokémon Journey and going to school. She is a reporter for her middle school's newspaper, always determined to get the latest scoop. One time when she was out and about, looking for a story for her newspaper, she stumbled upon a robbery of a jewelry store. Knowing it would make a great story, she cobbled together a disguise for herself and Little Polly Ponpon, snuck in, took several photos, and ended up getting spotted by some of the robbers, and they fought. When the dust settled, the disguised Lala and Polly Ponpon were victorious, and decided to take a picture commemorating the victory before leaving a makeshift Calling Card and alerting the police to the robbers before leaving. Needless to say, Lala's documentation of the scene was enough to make it into the paper. Since then, Lala decided to take up the Phantom Thief-esque mantle of "Mirai Lala" and fight crime, simply because it was the right thing to do then and it still would be now.

At around age 12, she heard her Pokémon talking to her, and responded without having to speak. She felt like she could use this power to communicate with her Pokémon from great distances, and could be implemented as Mirai Lala. She also displayed a weak telekinesis at some point during her journey.

Lala's 'Mons:

1) Species: Kirlia (Starter)

Nickname: Little Polly Ponpon / Little Red

Gender: ♀

Ability: Trace

Personality/Bio: Polly Ponpon, or as Lala likes to call her, Little Polly Ponpon, is a highly optimistic and fun-loving Pokémon who is always good with a camera. By day, she helps Lala with her middle school’s newspaper, while by night, she dons a black domino mask and red hood and becomes Little Red, assistant of Phantom Thief Mirai Lala.

Moves: Misty Terrain (Egg), Hypnosis, Shadow Ball (TM), Magical Leaf, Psychic (TM)

2) Species: Pichu (Starter)

Nickname: Ayla (pronounced: Eyy-la)/ Thumbelina

Gender: ♀

Ability: Lightning Rod

Personality/Bio: As mischievous as Ayla is, she is also very caring and likes to see her trainer do well in her studies and her journey. Ayla is always there when Lala needs a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. When night falls, she dons a purple domino mask and a small silvery scarf tied into fairy wings and becomes Thumbelina, assistant of Phantom Thief Mirai Lala.

Moves: Charm, Nasty Plot, Thunder Shock, Volt Tackle (Egg), Mega Punch (TM)

Edited by AnimeboyIanpower on Jun 21st 2022 at 2:40:11 PM

Asking here because I figure it'll be easier to keep track of the answer, is there anything keeping two different people from using the same burst heart? Obviously not like, at the same time but. Taking turns or w/e

Nothing I found said that's a thing that can't happen but I also haven't read Re Burst all the way through so if there's some caveat about it I wouldn't know

IMO nothing does! (I also have not read Re: Burst all the way through)

But by the same principle that lets multiple people use a Key Stone or Z-Ring—it certainly doesn't seem like whoever designed Burst Hearts made them with the necessity of an emotional or soul bond in mind

guess who's back

back again

(it's me sorry for leaving for three years)

@Burst Hearts: I figure any issues with a Burst Heart would be more in line with getting traded a new Pokémon if anything.

Neo-Sinnoh

Since we said we were going to start Neo-Sinnoh in January I'm gonna suggest that we start moving over to Sinnoh by Thursday EST or sooner because Legends is coming out this Friday and a lot of us will probably be playing it so there probably won't be any big events for at least a week.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jan 25th 2022 at 5:49:07 AM

What Tagg said re: both Burst Hearts and Sinnoh

Parastrat: That sounds fine

Edited by Umbramatic on Jan 25th 2022 at 7:20:43 AM

Having read Re:Burst, IIRC they canonically can be used by anyone who's learned how not to kill themselves with them, although one person maintaining the same bond with one Burst Heart is gonna make it a lot stabler and more capable as time goes on

And I'm absolutely in favor of moving on to Sinnoh Thursday :P

I'm doing far far better now. I've got all the docs ready, I'm good to go, so very soon I'm gonna try and run WAAPT Mesa.

Setup will be on Sunday and hopefully it'll be open enough for people to hop in. 4 available slots as the last time, 4 mons each. Hopefully this is a lot of fun!