We Are All Pokemon Trainers Discussion

I could probably get some chars involved in this. Tie this into some other ;personal plans as well. Not exactly sure who or what yet or how insular or involving other people it'd be, though< that'd require more thought on the matter on my part.

One thing I wanna mention though is I'm tired of the School being insurmountable at this point, and while I don't mind them being more of a diiirect threat I want those "wins and losses" to include meaningful damage to them as well as the J-Team.

Like IDK as someone with chars involved in School stuff I'm feeling School arc fatigue and IIRC it'll still be a while until we reach the joint Pokesona-School thing that serves as the endgame so I'd like those "wins and losses" to be two-way - consequences for the J-Team yes but also meaningful damage to the School.

Edited by Umbramatic on Jan 4th 2023 at 10:56:58 AM

Am broadly in support since I'm one of the people who was asking around :o

Imo the School feels like it's lost its edge a little recently so I think this could do to alleviate that? It also plays into my own plans. Really the only thing I'm specifically requesting is that it coincide with something in my personal plot and that's being worked out rn

I agree that the J-Team could definitely use a real, tangible success against the School. I dunno if this attack itself would offer the J-Team any such advantage since the idea is that the School is taking offensive action rather than defensive, but I could see it inspiring an active effort to seek out an avenue to severely cripple the School e.g. ending access to a major source of funding.

I do agree, though, that this should actually tangibly advance the plot rather than just perpetuate it.

Bitty: Yeah, that makes sense. Those seem like good guidelines to folow for this.

I am supportive of this idea of having a major School attack, I'm just apprehensive of my own participation whenever I come up with ideas. I do have a Templar who can be part of the attack and I am sorely tempted to volunteer to be part of the Angelica fight.

I could spare Akira or Gabriel depending on whether or not we want the attack to be stealthy or open warfare.

I would be willing to have Mr. Tenor and his Pokemon team join in some part of the School's attack, if there's any place within them calling for deception and/or theft more than brute force. For example, they could be part of an operation to retrieve fugitive Schoolchildren, which they'd try to accomplish with a less-magical Pied Piper of Hamelin stratagem.

I would also like to involve Whitt in any action that might be taken against the J-Team.

Also, this seems like as good a time as any to bring up something I've been thinking about the School, especially with regards to Chiyo's speech. That speech was largely about free will, and I think one way that it could be interpreted is that the way the School currently functions is actually the biggest issue.

Like, I'm not explaining this well so let me use Whitt as an example. In his mind, a lot of what the School says is okay - the desire for power, the superiority of those made by the School, etc. However, what he doesn't agree with is the liquidations and the lack of loyalty that is prevalent throughout the School, and the lack of choice for its members.

In other words, there is potential for the School to exist in another form - perhaps one with a different structure of operation for its members, while keeping the same end goals. I realise that some people have an issue with the School arc dragging on, but I feel that something like this Neo-School forming would be a way to keep it in play for those who still want to do things with it, while not making it the main plot that you kind of have to engage with.

I hope this is comprehendible.

Re: Neo School

So this depends on the buy in and what people want to do, there definitely has been "I wanna use more of my villains post villain arc and have them in a new environment to properly conclude their arc" and I don't think there's anything necessarily stopping that with enough interest, though it ultimately depends on how it ends up getting ended and that might not be for a while yet.

That Said... while I do agree that that's a reasonable take for someone who likes the School's philosophy, heck, my Templar who got kidnapped by Zee still believes something like that after everything, I'm really thinking of the School as like, well, an Idea. If it seems like the idea falls but there are still people who try and adapt the idea to fit why it didn't work previously. It seems logical... but, well, as someone Writing someone who still thinks like that, my goal with him isn't to end on "The School was just doing eugenics The Wrong Way, it's definitely possible to do it a better way", a much better one is learning that the idea is kinda rotten to its core over time.

I don't think that'll necessarily be a problem but I will say if someone tries to do a Neo School I would be more interested in it if while it tries to be a "better" version of the School, it shows that that kind of ideology is still gonna lead to problems Because Of the base ideology at the core, whether that's ending up doing similar things they criticized the School for doing or it leading to Other New Bad Things.

Edited by CorvusAtrox on Jan 5th 2023 at 10:20:09 AM

Yeah like people doing things with their remaining School characters after the thing is torn down is fine here - that was honestly my plan if Pavo stuff took to long and my plan was for Victor to survive and be a threat even after the School crumbles. It's just the School as an organization/evil team being this omnipresent, plot-dominating threat we also can't really do jack shit about that's eating at me.As Tagg said it feels like the Endless Now from Xenoblade 3 and reducing that feeling will go a long way.

Edited by Umbramatic on Jan 5th 2023 at 12:23:51 PM

That makes sense: to clarify, if the School survived I imagined it would be in a completely different form to the one that it is now. Obviously this would be up to discussion, but I imagined something like a single cell trying to make their way without any of the original School's resources, since in this scenario those would be all gone.

Picture something like Team Skull in SM, where they have one hideout and very limited power outside of that location.

That kind of thing makes sense for them yeah. I approve of that.

Edited by Umbramatic on Jan 5th 2023 at 12:27:48 PM

RE: The School

I trust that by the time it's around my turn to have a character Pavo'd, the plot has moved forward but not toward the grand finale. Indeed, if it takes place later in the year it makes sense for it (or whatever contemporaneous Sentimon activities) to be part of the grand distraction or something like that.

Barring that, I had another idea concerning the threads I ended up creating when Dr. Cassander was separated from his 'mons. I'm thinking that since 3 of his pokémon are in the Stormchaser, one of them might want to return to him and end up abetting any move against the J-Team close to their home turf from the inside.

As for the School once it does fizzle out, I agree with Oncoming's suggestion. I would also like to cite that occasional troublemaker remnants are indeed a common type of villain in WAAPT, and those that I have controlled often retain the delusions of their former pomp despite having very little to their name. They can very well retain the old branding out of raw stubbornness, and may even have plans to restore themselves to their former glory. Such villains can be quite formidable as raid opponents, and a major arc could even come from them getting dangerously close to succeeding.

Edited by MasterJayAM on Jan 5th 2023 at 5:05:23 PM

I tried to bring it up in the Discord Chat, but it kinda got buried under the discussion of multiple other things. At some point during the current part of the side-arc I'm doing with Team Lightning and the Noize Destroyz Concert, I plan to have the Foreign Building in Hearthome City get attacked by a mob of rowdy hooligans and vandals with the intent of bringing/burning it down at some point. Even though this plot will obviously fail, I intend for there to be some leftover damage that I assume will get fixed over time for the most part. Is there any sort of approval I need to go forward with this, or was the lack of response implicit approval? I know I tend to get a bit of creative leeway doing my own thing because I tend to abide by the rules, and I enjoy a bit of Serial Escalation when it comes to the stakes of conflict, but I want to make sure I'm not unintentionally going beyond what I should be able to do.

Truth be told I'm not even sure what sort of extra purpose, if any, The Foreign Building serves in the WAAPT Universe version of the location beyond what's already canon in the games.

Edited by ParadoxialStratagem on Jan 6th 2023 at 6:27:57 AM

The Foreign Building getting damaged but not burnt to the ground is fine with me.

Anyway:

School Field Trip

(I'm kinda rambling here so bear with me)

I'm not against it on the face of it but:

On the one hand, it's a good opportunity to have Chiyo finally meet Freshman!Iridium, and an opportunity to show exactly why the Truancy Gang deemed it too dangerous to have them all together at once. (Because by themselves they're already individually dangerous, but together they just become an engine of destruction)

On the other, well, honestly from where I'm standing the School wins plenty of times, chronologically the recent base raid was in part a strike back for the aftermath of the Meat Palace plus RP!Tagg deciding to make a really big distraction so that they wouldn't see his and Chiyo's two person raid of the tissue bank coming, so I have to wonder if major losses on the J-Team side is really something that's actually desirable writing-wise at this point.

(Even then with the raid, people still got seriously injured and we've got an enthrallment agent Chekhov's Gun waiting to be fired)

I also feel like part of the insurmountability issues was people having their School-associated characters go "Nice work but it didn't really mean anything" without showing more to the contrary, which considering time and spoons can't really be helped but it is what it is.

Then there's the part of me that feels that a full scale attack would make more sense once the School finally realizes what RP!Tagg and Chiyo have been really doing this whole time.

Because sure, Chiyo said some pretty words, but those who aren't so swayed by idealistic pretty words alone may be more easily swayed by the concept of a working cure to the Curse, and that's something a School already buckling under the weight of increased insubordination and defection (On top of the J-Team and Team Iron chipping at them) simply cannot abide, so maybe the NitMo raid (However big it gets) serves as effectively the dress rehearsal for that.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jan 6th 2023 at 11:18:20 AM

School Raid (Kills Psychics Dead)

Hm... Tagg actually gives me an idea.

So, you all remember the Big Three, right? Magnus, Delphi, and Cassidy? Well, I think maybe pruning one of those three from the equation would 1) lessen the bloat of a future plot point I intend to use, and 2) equally act as a foreshadowing to that exact plot point, as well as 3) help demonstrate the capabilities of the Faculty of Battle Academy. I'm aware that effectively makes it a fanfic mode thing, but I enjoy the opportunity to try.

Dune: Taking out a major School member would help with what I'm concerned about yeah

Edited by Umbramatic on Jan 9th 2023 at 8:02:35 AM

• Designation: Subject 115 - Moscovium
• Name: Maxis
• Age: Physically 11
• Gender: Female
• Appearance: A young looking girl of [Germanic] descent with pale features, almost sickly. She wears a standard School Uniform but is often not seen out.
• Organizational Ties: The School
• Personality: Playful, Maxis delights in seeing people run in the mazes and maps she makes. She outright detests the researchers around her and has a desire for freedom and hatred for the Templars specifically. If one can get onto her good side they'll find a imaginative individual who just wants to make fun scenarios and friends. To the Templars she can seem a little sadistic, though she plays it up as she dislikes them.
• Backstory: Recently made, she was made for research into the flux of reality that exists in the OU, from Temporal Mechanics to multiversal travel from the skybreak. Her creation was such that specialized methods were used resulting in a few problems such as an compromised immune system. Maxis has been brought to the outposts in Paldea operated by Gabriel hoping to get access to Area Zero and make use of the energies within.
• Known Powers
  • Command - Maxis was made off of a psychic commander template first and foremost, research into new methods of the clones the Gabriel related sects of the School make use of, as such she has an intense situational awareness and the ability to command many brains at once.

Edited by EchoingSilence on Jan 15th 2023 at 11:36:01 AM

I would be willing to volunteer one of my characters into the next chapter of this ongoing plot.

Posting this here just to be safe

OK, so!

With the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, I have plans for some of my characters to catch some new Paldean Pokemon. Owen Edmundson is one of them, and I specifically plan for him to catch 3: a Baxcalibur named Venator, a Cyclizar named Hadros, and a Crocalor named Diplo.

It's that last one which I feel the need to discuss in here.

See, the plans I have for Diplo are... rather unusual. I've mentioned them before in the #j-team-hq but got no response, so I decided to put it in the discussion thread just to be safe.

The main idea I have is this:

- Owen Edmundson gets a Fuecoco

- That Fuecoco, Diplo, evolves into a Crocalor

- The resulting Crocalor ends up meeting a group of Ghost-type Pokemon, who end up following him and transferring a soul over to the fireball on his head (it was going to be a Flame Body mon until I learned how it actually works)

- End result: The bird on Diplo's head ends up "hatching" extremely early.

- Diplo, in search of another egg, ends up mistaking an Everstone for one.

According to the Pokedex, the bird is said to "hatch" when the fireball gains a soul, not necessarily when Crocalor evolves. As a result, I'm not too worried about the overall concept of Diplo getting a bird on his head in his Crocalor stage, since as far as I can tell it matches up with the Pokemon's lore (although that doesn't mean I'm not still somewhat worried). The problematic aspects for the RP, I feel, are the implications that arise from him getting an early bird on his head, hence why I am putting it here.

The first, and biggest, is that he could theoretically gain early Torch Song access from this, since Torch Song is performed by Skeledirge singing at the bird as though it's a microphone. Diplo not only loves to sing, but has an incredibly good singing voice for a Crocalor, meaning that if he were to sing near the bird it would be very easy for the activation to kick in. The only problem? As far as I know, you can't give a pre-evolved form of a mon that knows a signature move said signature move in WAAPT (you can't give a Brionne Sparkling Aria, for instance).

I don't exactly know how to solve this problem so far, but the two ideas I have thus far are either A) it's not Torch Song specifically, but a slightly less powerful facsimile of it (i.e. an improvised move, like how Piku-chan had a less powerful version of Double Iron Bash), or B) the bird won't activate when Diplo sings because it doesn't have its full power yet.

The second big implication is that the bird, just by existing, would give a Crocalor Ghost-type powers he can't have. Crocalor can learn only 2 Ghost-type moves: Lick and Curse. Going on the FAQ of WAAPT and the rules of the games, Crocalor can't learn any moves that aren't in its moveset already (unless there's been some mon out there that's an exception to the rule, which I am not aware of). Skeledirge gained its Ghost-typing, and ability to use Ghost moves, from the soul inhabiting its fireball. If Diplo gets a soul to inhabit his fireball early, and then gets an Everstone to prevent him from evolving into a Skeledirge... what does that mean for the bird? Does it have Ghost-type powers now? Would Diplo be able to use Ghost-type moves he otherwise wouldn't, such as Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball?

It's that second issue which I'm really having trouble solving. My best bet, thus far, is to just go with Occam's Razor— the bird is on a Crocalor, not a Skeledirge, so its Ghost-type powers aren't as powerful and thus can only manifest as Crocalor licking the opponent to the point of paralysis.

TL;DR: I basically want to know if the main concept is even allowed in WAAPT in the first place, followed by any possible suggestions to solve the implications that would arise from it. To me, I feel as though if it is allowed, it should be the result of not just the Ghost-type mons following him, but also some Big Character Moment (TM) or something inherent to Diplo's personality that differentiates him from other Crocalor (i.e. "what made the Ghost-type mons follow him in the first place?").

And here's the bio for a certain new Templar I introduced recently!

this is all rl!jared's fault

Name: Justinian The Awesome

Age: Physically about the same age as Jared (30-ish), Chronologically a newborn

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White

Appearance: Almost identical to Jared, save for purple eyes and a distinctive mullet

Organization Ties: The School

Region of origin: ???

Backstory: Justinian was created with School resources as a clone of Jared by Victor, who wanted to harness Jared's "chaotic energy" into making a Templar of great power. Justinian resembles Jared in personality except far cockier and less kind or moral. What discord will he sow?

Mons:

Species: Blaze Breed Paldean Tauros

Nickname: Johnny

Gender: Male

Ability: Intimidate

Personality/Bio: Basically an edgy biker dude as a Pokemon. Highly dramatic

Edited by Umbramatic on Feb 20th 2023 at 3:20:08 AM

Treasure Hunt

So

It's March

What should our schedule for going to Paldea be? Not saying we should go NOW, people still are wrapping up Sinnoh plans probably, I'm just saying we should have a more coherent idea of when we do since OTHER plans are waiting for us to get there. Also, should it be timed with or be in relation to the School Counterattack? Discuss! (Preferably here in the D!Thread)

I am pretty much down for whenever, but also my schedule's a loooot more flexible than most peoples'. So I will defer.

So, the question I have is, what reason does the J-Team have to go to Paldea? I don't mean that in a dismissive way, but more from the perspective of why do they choose to (presumably) move their big airship there as opposed to anywhere else in the world? Are there maybe legendary plotlines that people want to do, or anything else?

So, the School Counterattack is waiting on specific plans to happen before it can get in motion. Unfortunately, that's subject to spoon limits, motivation, inspiration, and other things for the people involved. I'd really prefer not to have the counterattack broadly happen when I'm not able to start the inciting incident that was the basis of the whole idea, so it's best not to bank too heavily on that being the driving motivation for the team going to Paldea.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that "the J-Team goes to Paldea" and "the School counterattacks" can't be connected, when it does happen. It could simply be the team's general interest in going to Paldea is seen by the School as a threat, and that's the reason they end up lashing out at the team as a result.