38 KiB
[RST] Pokemon: The Origin of Species, Chapter 51: Link
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Author: u/DaystarEld Pokémon Professor*
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/51/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species
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Score: 85
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Created: 2018-01-01T12:44:19
Post:
Comments:
u/CarVac [+33] (2 hours later)
Fun fact about electrical attacks: electric eels have to be impedance matched to their surroundings. In the ocean, with salt water having high conductivity, all their electrical cells are "wired" in parallel to deliver high current. In fresh water which has higher resistivity, they put them in series to increase the voltage; the increased internal resistance is matched to the increased external resistance.
Obviously this is a species by species thing though, not something they can reconfigure.
u/DaystarEld [+17] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
That is a fun fact, thanks for sharing it :)
u/CarVac [+7] (9 hours later)
Hopefully it can inform future battle strategies or something.
u/DaystarEld [+12] Pokémon Professor (10 hours later)
Yeah, I looked into real animals that generate electric energy or have electroreceptors, but didn't pick up on that difference between salt water and fresh water eels. Might bring it up for chinchou/lanturn :)
u/CarVac [+4] (10 hours later)
Ohh, my favorites.
u/elevul [+22] Cyoria Observer (27 minutes later)
Thank you, between MoL and this it's the best way to start the new year!
u/DaystarEld [+9] Pokémon Professor (10 hours later)
\o/!
u/Salivanth [+3] (17 hours later)
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but since I know you read MoL, I figure this is a good place to ask. Do we have an idea for how much longer MoL is likely to last? I want to wait until it ends to read it - I binge-read 60 or so chapters back when MoL was only that long.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
From the author's bio:
Q: Curious, how far would you say the story is?
The story basically has 3 arcs, and I finished two as of chapter 54. So I'm about 2/3 of the way done.
My guess is that this last arc will end up being by far the largest one though. My guess is that we have 15-40 more chapters left in it.
The large variance is due to taking into account time skips (or months that are heavily summarized) and being unsure of how detailed the out of loop iteration will be. Any type of afterword could be quite long.
u/Akiryx [+2] (12 hours later)
MoL?
u/MacDancer [+3] (13 hours later)
Mother of Learning, another fic popular with this community.
u/Akiryx [+2] (13 hours later)
Ohhh makes sense. Yeah I read that one in binges. Read around 50 chapters, then waited a year, reread all 50+~20 new ones. Waiting for the end now, or at least another 20 chapters
u/None [+20] (2 hours later)
This development with the psybond is nice.
You can see how he's pondering and attuning with pichu to to gauge attack expectancy. Then using that info to attack more judiciously and tip the battle odds.
Then he links with charmander and its new revelations because charmanders different and aggressive, little bloodlusty; but thats kind of his nature.
Let charmander "drive" while battling? Is it cool to override their instinct? Safety of all? Long term trainable/ untrainable: types? Specific pokemon? Specifics within specifics? Through evolutionary lines?
Red is a rennasaince man: virtuous, always striving to get better, reflective. Then modest and wants to propel world forward in information, understanding, safety.
Red is awesome.
u/Ibbot [+12] (9 hours later)
Definitely he needs to override the instincts, can’t have Charmeleon cooking and eating other trainers’ Pokemon during friendly battles.
u/LazarusRises [+18] (5 hours later)
I agree! I loved the last portion of this chapter. Of course Pokemon Professors should teach! I felt the same as Red--it's his natural path.
u/Cariyaga [+17] Kyubey did nothing wrong (5 hours later)
It wasn't entirely clear; was Red linked with Charmander when he evolved? Did he have any insights related to the process of doing so?
u/DaystarEld [+13] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
Very briefly, not long or deep enough to get any insights :)
u/RynnisOne [+7] (15 hours later)
Is he going to consider it?
Seems like a natural line for his curiosity to follow. In both cases he was surprised by their evolution, but at some point surely he's going to wonder what goes on in their heads or if being linked to them would provide some greater insight?
If nothing else, since their mentality evolves as well, he might think about trying to copy that effect with his "psychic mental states" on himself or another 'mon.
u/DaystarEld [+4] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
He will for the before/after, but for the moment of evolution itself, it's hard to predict when that will happen to keep a mental connection in place in case it does, particularly since there aren't on-use evolution items.
u/Cariyaga [+3] Kyubey did nothing wrong (2 days later)
If he made a point of retaining psybond with pokemon he was battling with and paying attention for it, he could probably manage it.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Yep!
u/None [+3] (3 days later)
[deleted]
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (3 days later)
I don't think I made it explicit in the story yet, but they won't work the same way as in the games: they help accelerate growth and evolution, but not in visible and instant increments, and too much exposure to them can be toxic.
u/Cariyaga [+3] Kyubey did nothing wrong (12 hours later)
Neat! Has there been any psychic-human focused research on evolution as yet?
u/DaystarEld [+7] Pokémon Professor (20 hours later)
Not really, and even for those that try, it's rather hard to time your mental connection with a pokemon to when it'll evolve since on-use evolving items won't work as reliably as in the games/anime.
u/KnickersInAKnit [+14] (3 hours later)
Chapters focusing on Red's psychic development are my favorite. Combined with a long-awaited evolution, what a great way to start the new year!
I have to wonder if letting Charmander/Charmeleon go wild during battles is a callback to Ash's Charizard never listening to him?
u/DaystarEld [+13] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
Glad you enjoyed it! And yes, my idea was that the charmander family line is one of the species whose more viscious instincts are always bubbling under the surface of their conditioning, making them prone to being unruly if not trained properly.
u/DaystarEld [+12] Pokémon Professor (42 seconds later)
Happy new year everyone! For those of you still waiting on the next Guardian chapter or Rationally Writing episode, CFAR and holidays kept me busy this month, but I'm hoping to get back on top of my other projects in the coming weeks. If you have an RSS feed, my site will inform you as soon as they're up.
Lots of fun facts about electricity in this chapter, which probably means a lot of errors, large and small. If you spot one, please let me know. All other feedback also welcome, as always, and thanks to all my readers and patrons for still being here, year by year.
May the new you that woke up this morning be the best culmination of every you that came before, and the start of an even greater future self.
u/RynnisOne [+7] (15 hours later)
Love this update.
Just a minor tidbit--voltage hurts, current kills. People always think about the big voltage numbers as being super lethal, but it takes a remarkably small amount of current (half an amp) to reliably stop your heart, and even less to have a chance to do it, so long as the electricity passes through that part of your body.
As dangerous as the idea of giant rock monsters or bloodthirsty flying fire-breathing dragons might be, I'd be far far more afraid to live in a world where a random rat chewing on wires in the walls could accidentally kill me.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (22 hours later)
Right, my understanding though was voltage is also important to the amount of power/damage electricity would do to you? Like half an amp won't actually hurt you if the voltage is too low to "overcome" the resistance of your (preferably dry) skin or clothing, right? Too much current would be lost?
u/CarVac [+3] (a day later)
The important thing is how much current goes through your heart. It takes very little, only 90 milliamps.
Normally your skin is highly resistive, so it takes a lot of voltage across, say, your arms, to create a current inside your body.
If your skin on, say, just your hands is wet, you get a larger area of the same skin resistivity, and less voltage will cause the same internal current. Apparently this can be deadly with even small batteries.
If your entire body is wet or better, submerged, then the current is short circuited around your innards: now you need a large supply of current with a low source resistance to get that critical 90mA through your less-conductive body, even with a large amount bypassed. Think lightning strike on a pool, massive current.
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+6] Death of Crabs (2 days later)
The water move Soak grants the target the Water type, which is weak to electricity.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Got it, thanks!
u/u__v [+6] (22 hours later)
I don't think electric attacks would reliably work the kind of way you're describing here, but I'm not confident about the exact results.
However, if you're giving electric pokemon a kind of ability to remotely influence the charges of things, a better mechanism for electrical attacks would be to use this ability to briefly ionize channels of air between themselves and the target, reducing the breakdown voltage so they could generate much more prominent arcs, over longer distances and with greater control over the shape than would ordinarily be possible. This would give them the ability to quickly create plasma 'wires' between themselves and their target, making it much easier to run a current.
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Yeah, I'm trying to make something that really shouldn't work make sense, with the main bit of handwavyness being the mysterious way that pokemon choose where the electric discharge is "aimed." I did consider your idea that they ionize the air itself, and I may have that be a specific kind of attack or something certain pokemon can do, but overall I felt it would make the Type itself too strong, since it would provide so much control. If it makes more sense, though, maybe I should find some other way to nerf it and go with that instead.
u/TheTrickFantasic [+3] (2 days later)
It's been a while since I last read up on electricity (for the fun of it), but couldn't an ionized air-channel be disrupted by the wind? And or a sufficiently dense cloud of particulates?
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Unfortunately, while the second of those can make for a useful Ground type counter (kicking up lots of sand, not that it's specific to them but they'd be best at it) the first would mean that Flying types are effective counters to electric pokemon, which is the opposite of how it is in canon :)
u/TheTrickFantasic [+3] (3 days later)
Agreed.
Then again... we know from the Delta Stream ability that during "mysterious air currents", Flying-type Pokemon lose their weaknesses! :O
(Sure, Mega Rayquaza is old news by now, but still. How!? Hax!).
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (3 days later)
I just figured he had such mastery over the sky that it would prevent any cold, knock aside rocks that were thrown, and prevent electric conductivity among clouds (kind of an anti-Thunder specific justification), but this works too!
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (a day later)
Maybe I'm way off here, but I wasn't under the impression that you can freely decide current output. When you're wiring up a circuit, you can decide what voltage you'll apply, and the current is then simply determined by the resistance in the circuit. Current is more a result than an input.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
I think mechanically of electric pokemon like batteries that can change their voltage and slowly recharge over time: they have a certain amount of current available that can be measured based on certain specified conditions (like how much voltage they're using and what medium they're channeling it through) which does usually looks more like a result of a process of discharge, but reflects an internal available amount of current. Does that make sense, or am I missing something?
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
Well, "available amount of current" is misleading since current isn't something you can store; current is the flow of charge. You can store a charge differential, but that is pretty much the definition of voltage.
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
To put it another way: Ohm's Law is quite clear, voltage = current x resistance.
If electric pokemon have the ability to shift electric charges around with effort (basically, by expending chemical energy), then it's easy to see how they could produce different voltages by shifting different amounts of charge. However, that would also alter current in proportion. The only way to vary one without changing the other would be to change the resistance of the circuit. Something like the earlier suggestion of ionising the path to the target, perhaps.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
I thought the current was the amount of electrons being transferred and the voltage was the speed at which the electrons are traveling? I know that's still using a metric relating to time, but isn't it normal to refer to that by some standard interval, like discharge amount of the whole battery in an hour (leading to the ampere-hour)? Or is there a better word for the amount of electrons available to be transferred, like just "charge," measured in coulombs?
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
current was the amount of electrons being transferred
More or less.
voltage was the speed at which the electrons are traveling
No. Voltage is the difference in potential between the start and end of the flow. It's basically pressure, but it doesn't translate to velocity in the way that water pressure would.
If you increase the charge differential (voltage), then you get proportionally more electrons (current) being pushed through the same resistance.
The only way to vary one, while keeping the other constant, is to adjust the resistance.
Edit: Also, according to Wikipedia, a 1-amp current represents 1 coulomb of charge being transferred per second. So, an ampere-hour represents a charge transfer of 3600 coulombs.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Ahh, okay. So it might make more sense to have the pokemon able to somehow adjust the resistance of the air between them and the target, as /u/u___v says.
Also, according to Wikipedia, a 1-amp current represents 1 coulomb of charge being transferred per second. So, an ampere-hour represents a charge transfer of 3600 coulombs.
So it would be better to just say that pokemon run low on "electric charge" or "capacitance," and measure it in coulombs?
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
I think that their abilities would need to include some level of spontaneous charge generation, not just lowering resistance. Even a superconductor doesn't have any current flow on its own.
However, the combination of the two would indeed allow for tuning of voltage and current separately.
No, pokemon can't store their entire electrical capability as a static charge in their bodies. If one did, it would be immediately struck by a lightning bolt equivalent to its entire potential output for the day. They need to store it in some other form; most batteries use chemical potential energy.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
However, the combination of the two would indeed allow for tuning of voltage and current separately.
Could you explain this more?
No, pokemon can't store their entire electrical capability as a static charge in their bodies.
I meant as a shorthand for what amount of charge they're capable of producing through whatever chemical or quasimagical biological methods they use to "store" it.
Like if you wanted to say that a pokemon was running low on charge, you wouldn't say they're "running low on their ability to use chemical potential energy to generate more charge," it would be implied by just saying "charge" that this was what you referred to. Or did I miss your meaning?
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
Could you explain this more?
Well, if pokemon are able to expend effort in order to create charge buildups, and are also able to expend effort in order to reduce the target's resistance (eg creating ionised channels in the air), then they can indeed "tune" their attacks in the ways the chapter suggested, aiming for high voltage (focused on building charge) or high current (focused on lowering resistance).
Though ultimately, the resistance of the target, rather than the air, is what really matters. If that resistance is constant, then voltage applied to the target and current flow through the target will remain strictly proportional.
I meant as a shorthand
Fair enough. Yeah, just calling it "charge" works. We talk about charging batteries all the time; doesn't have to mean an actual static charge.
u/TheTrickFantasic [+2] (3 days later)
Just to clarify, it was /u/u__v who originally suggested the alteration of air resistance. I merely responded with how an ionized channel in the air could be disrupted.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (3 days later)
Woops, quite right!
u/AnonymousAvatar [+12] (20 hours later)
Pokemon get stronger and even gain large boosts in strength (evolution) when they fight. It seems like stronger and more evolved Pokemon would face less predation and less resource and reproductive competition. If Pokemon have to be their highest evolution to be sexually mature and reproduce, that puts an even stronger pressure on Pokemon to get stronger.
It means that Pokemon relationships with humans are more symbiotic than the rights activists might think, because trainers boost their Pokemons' growth and fulfill their Pokemons' natural drives. It certainly shapes human society to have a very strong paradigm centered on self-improvement through work and competition. It also could have some implications if the 'humans are Pokemon' theory turns out to be true.
I think that if Red keeps spending time in his Pokemons' heads, he could be affected by this mindset. What you were doing with Charmander in this chapter seemed more about natural carnivorous instincts and expanding the concept of the conditioning Pokemon go through to not be wild, but I'm also interested to see if this factors into the mysteries of the Storm Birds and Mewtwo.
u/None [+5] (a day later)
This is perhaps one of the more beautiful Pokemon theories I've heard of in a long time. I've seen many 'Humans are Pokemon' theories on Reddit, but they're almost all about how the humans in Pokemon differ from us physically (e.g being able to take repeated electric shocks and be fine, being able to spontaneously resuscitate after drowning, etc..).
But this is the first theory that may explain how Humans Being Pokemon might influence them psychologically, and therefore influence their culture on a large scale, and I think I like it so much that I'm accepting as part of my own personal canon. In fact I love it so much that I'm going to basically graft into every anime universe I know of - it would explain why so many anime characters (from basketball players to chefs to ninjas) are all so dedicated to their crafts; they're all Pokemon and Pokemon want to compete.
Also is the whole Humans are Pokemon theory part of this rat!fic? Because I've always wondered where a rational fic would go with that premise. Would the psychic and ghost people just be evolutions on the Human Tree? Perhaps humans don't evolve because the conditions required for it are just so subtle/rare/mysterious that only a few exactly fulfill them and gain abilities? Endless possibilities!
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+2] Death of Crabs (a day later)
The most human-like Pokemon, Oranguru, does not evolve as of Gen VII, in which it was introduced.
u/FireHawkDelta [+3] ** (a day later)
It would make some depressing sense if legendaries needed excercise in the form of wanton destruction just to maintain their longevity.
u/JulianWyvern [+5] Wayward Wanderer (a day later)
I'm not sure they need to destroy anything. They're forces of nature, wanton destruction is just a side effect of their mere existence. And a lot of that damage is probably also caused by Pressure
u/TheTrickFantasic [+2] (2 days later)
I'd just like to add: A force of nature does not become a natural disaster until somebody decides to build a settlement in its migration path.
u/AweKartik777 [+2] (3 days later)
True, but in this fic the Storm birds (not sure about other Legendaries) appear randomly at random places throughout Kanto - maybe they can predict it somewhat like we can do with earthquakes in real life, but it isn't as simple as what you're thinking.
u/TheTrickFantasic [+4] (3 days later)
According to Chp 8, the timing is not completely random.
"Yeah, each one is seasonal .... The exact days vary, but Articuno usually becomes active in the winter, Zapdos in the summer, and Moltres in the fall .... They've been spotted flying around at other times, but they don't bring the storms. Or maybe it's better to say the storms aren't around to attract them".
So there's a seasonality to their movements. Red doesn't seem to know about any sort of spatial pattern, so sure, they're probably not migrating equivalent to birds IRL.
But if they're attracted to pre-existing storm systems which they then enhance somehow, then the regional climate likely has some measure of control over where their rampages occur. Then if the regional climate is somehow disturbed by anthropogenic activities, then the behaviour of the local storms would begin changing, and... uh oh. /u/daystareld, have any climate/Earth scientists in your Pokemon world identified evidence of anthropogenic climate change?
Alternatively, if the birds generate their storm systems from scratch (which means they're a lot more powerful), then their paths may still be influenced by biological needs, like food, or fleeing predation... and mating, maybe...? (They don't breed in the games except in Pokemon Snap, but a one-individual species should not exist unless there's some parthenogenesis, or something even stranger, happening).
u/DaystarEld [+4] Pokémon Professor (3 days later)
There's a lot of effort being put into trying to understand and predict Tier 3 threats, including those by Legendaries like the Storm Trio or Forces of Nature* in Unova, and that's all I can say for now :)
u/TheTrickFantasic [+3] (5 days later)
So no Word of God on the existence of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change equivalent? Also....
Weather Trio in Unova
At the risk of being really pedantic, "weather" is a sub-optimal adjective for the trio of Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. Landorus is distinctly associated with seismic activity, mass wasting, and soil fertility, which are distinct phenomena from weather.
...or did you mean Hoenn? I would have thought Kyogre and Groudon would still be hibernating.
u/RynnisOne [+3] (10 days later)
Why would there be?
The Mon world is far less industrial than ours and less populated than ours, thanks mostly due to the existence of the Mon themselves and an occasional "great war" that lowers the population drastically (the one back in AZ's day, and possibly the fan-theorized one Surge served in).
That's without even consideration that such a thing isn't even agreed upon in the real world.
What gets me is that a group of powerful trainers doesn't get together to stop one of them. The Elite Four, perhaps. There would be a sort of "snowball effect" once a really powerful or Legendary Mon is captured, as it makes it easier to acquire another, and then another, etc.
That means either nobody has tried (unlikely), that any sufficiently powerful group can't agree and trust each other to decide which person gets to keep it should they succeed, that at some point a powerful group of people did so and failed in such a fashion that it became well known and laws were put in place to stop unsanctioned attempts, or that such a process is currently underway but the one who is doing it hasn't achieved that stage in their plan yet (ie: Giovanni with Mewtwo. I'm not spoilering that, it's a thing since Gen 1). Actually, the last two can both be true at the same time.
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (21 days later)
Woops, you're right, I did mean the Forces of Nature :)
u/AweKartik777 [+2] (3 days later)
I agree with everything except the last paragraph. The legendaries are pretty "magical" in the show and the games, and even if you make them rational and a biological force (albeit a superpowered one - even when compared to other mons), they are still the "ultimate" threat - the Bird Trio has nothing to fear from nature except Lugia I guess, so the fleeing predation point doesn't matter. Maybe they somehow absorb nutrients and stuff from their respective elements ? Or from the Earth itself when they are resting (aka in their off-seasons) or hibernating.
And maybe they genetically can't breed, and however they were designed or came to be (be it Arceus or whatever) made them in such a manner for a particular reason which hasn't been unveiled yet.
u/None [+3] (5 days later)
but I'm also interested to see if this factors into the mysteries of the Storm Birds and Mewtwo.
u/RynnisOne [+2] (10 days later)
I kinda like to think it's a nod to Pokémon Go as well, as the birds are raid bosses, but I may be reading too much into it.
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (21 days later)
Well considering I started writing this years before Pokemon Go was announced I'd like to think it's the other way around and the creators are just fans ;)
u/MaddoScientisto [+11] (10 hours later)
I caught myself smiling every time Red discovered how to do something new with his psychic powers, as if it were actually me. Guess I really was too caught into the story I forgot I was actually reading one
u/DaystarEld [+6] Pokémon Professor (11 hours later)
Awesome! I'm glad you're that engaged, that's a level of immersion I appreciate a lot, particularly when I remember stories that made me feel that way :)
u/empocariam [+9] (17 hours later)
I hope Red isn't disappointed when he finds out the only way he can get his hands on an Electric/Psychic Pokemon is a trip to Alola for him and Pichu, and then a lot of fluffy pancakes.
Of course he could always go looking for one in fan-made regions, but those sources can be a bit dubious.
Evolution still strikes as one of the most "magical" things in this rational pokeverse. Definitely tells me that the answer to Red's question of where they all came from cannot simply be descent with modification through natural selection.
Red is showing a bit of a knack for battling, and maybe even the inkling of a passion for it. Maybe we will see him a lonely former champion silently leering over the peaks of Mt. Silver yet.
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+5] Death of Crabs (2 days later)
I was getting a horribly sick feeling that Charmander was going to seriously injure Sheevee. That seemed like a very dangerous thing that Red was doing.
Still, though, Charmeleon's one of my favourites. It's not a baby and its not a huge fucking monster, its much more like a mate.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Yeah I like Ivysaur for the same reason :) Not too big yet, but still fierce.
u/empocariam [+3] (2 days later)
That's exactly what I was thinking! "Oh no Red is gonna get a bullshit crit on Aiko's eevee and just totally ruin her nuzlocke run right now" because that is exactly what happened to me re: my shiny onix and the devil's own double-slapping clefairy.
RIP Shynix ;_;
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+2] Death of Crabs (2 days later)
Damn, a shiny? You should have exported him to another game instead of grinding him into a hard drive.
u/NightmareWarden [+5] Church of the Broken God (2 days later)
This whole chapter was basically Pokemon theme song lyrics earning their place in the setting. I’m talking about “You teach me, and I’ll teach you,” from the show. Red is learning from his partners’ instincts and experience. I’m onto your scheme!
This diabolical plan to write great chapters...you’ll never get away with it!
u/DaystarEld [+7] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Foolish NightmareWarden...
I already have >:{D>
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (7 minutes later)
Typo/mistakes thread!
u/reaper7876 [+8] (an hour later)
One of them, X, has been teaching him
I think this sentence got cut off.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
Woops, fixed, thanks!
u/u__v [+6] (43 minutes later)
I think you got a bit confused with the chapter title: this is a pokemon fanfic, not Legend of Zelda.
u/DaystarEld [+7] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
I mean, pokemon is officially a multiverse world, so gotta keep you all on your toes :)
u/Ibbot [+4] (9 hours later)
So when do we get the risk/reward analysis of vandalizing people’s stuff for hidden money?
u/DaystarEld [+10] Pokémon Professor (10 hours later)
Playing Witcher 3, it always made me feel weird to help some family with a monster problem, not accept a reward (for the occasions when they were really poor and clearly needed the money more than I did), and then be able to rob their house of its valuables... which often amounted to more than the reward, the cheapskates. If they'd coded in even a couple of lines like "Hey! We need that!" or "How could you?" I probably would have stopped, but there are so many valuables tucked away in all the crates and drawers and barrels around the world that it's hard not to grab them when the game treats it like it's expected.
Though, fun story on that, recently was accosted by a taxman in a city who asks if you've been engaging in certain activities that are exploitative to account for "unreported income." One of them is stealing people's stuff, which I copped to. Geralt even brings up that "no one's objected," which the taxman astutely observes is hardly an excuse.
/shrugs Trying to save the world, yadda yadda. #justvideogameprotagonistthings
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+3] Death of Crabs (2 days later)
In Skyrim you can befriend a homeowner by selling them a single leek or potato or piece of firewood, after which they will allow you to take all of their food, loose change, and crockery.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Truly the Nords have strange laws of hospitality.
u/Aretii [+6] Cultist of Cthugha (4 hours later)
Hyaaaaa?!?
u/None [+2] (13 hours later)
[deleted]
u/Sailor_Vulcan [+2] Champion of Justice and Reason (17 hours later)
u/CarVac [+8] (2 hours later)
He Pichu rest on his arm rather than flinging him up again,
He let Pichu
"Assuming it doesn't horribly back."
Backfire?
Sigeki
Shigeki
its hard chitin is not match for the sudden
Usually I see this as "no match"
u/DaystarEld [+4] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
All fixed, thanks!
u/None [+3] (5 hours later)
[deleted]
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
Both fixed, thanks!
u/None [+2] (59 minutes later)
Or maybe because they didn't do what I did,
another part responds.
extra line break
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (7 hours later)
Fixed, thank you!
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (a day later)
electrons making up the negative charge wants/electrons making up the negative charge want
as their ignorant trainers/than their ignorant trainers
the one in yours/the ones in yours
for Pichu is back/before Pichu is back
a couple occasions/a couple of occasions
calls out of them/calls out to them
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
All fixed, thanks!
u/u__v [+1] (43 minutes later)
I think you got a bit confused with the chapter title: this is a pokemon fanfic, not Legend of Zelda.
u/FireHawkDelta [+4] ** (a day later)
One way Red could abuse his powers in double battles is to use commands with one bit toggling between variants. First + yes is quick attack, first + no is thunderwave, for example. Even the crudest way of sending hidden information to his Pokemon would be a large advantage.
u/DCarrier [+2] (a day later)
I don't like the idea that pokemon have good instincts for fighting. I mean, it makes sense that they would, but given that you'd think they'd be told "attack" instead of being given specific attacks. My headcanon is that they don't have a full understanding of types, especially with pokemon they don't interact with in the wild, so being told what to do is actually helpful.
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Their instincts definitely aren't optimized for every battle encounter: the point is more that their response time and decision making is more fluid and adaptive than waiting for a command and then following a somewhat rote attack order. I may not have made that as clear as I could have, but it's definitely not the case that a wild pokemon will always be more effective at combat, and trainer intelligence and strategy is still way more important in the long run.
u/DCarrier [+3] (a day later)
It still seems like they'd be able to condition them to rely on their instincts a bit more. Especially when dealing with wild pokemon and killing and eating them isn't a bad thing.
u/DaystarEld [+6] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
This is what certain attacks are for, as mentioned when the Renegade commanded his Sandslash to use Slash, a lethal attack, instead of Scratch, which is considered the "safer" one :)
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+1] (21 days later)
First time commentig, I should write my in depth opinion about the whole, but right now I should go to sleep Still, I would like to point out some things:
- The mind merging has a shatoshi-gekkouga vibe that is opening some (maybe rule of cool) posibilities
- Frist I thought that your would recon the "legendary trainer red" and give that to blue, but this new interest he is developing may chance it... who knows, maybe he even ends up in mount silver, even if it is to make an investigation
- On the other hand, "teacher red" would be an interesting take too
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (21 days later)
The mind merging has a shatoshi-gekkouga vibe that is opening some (maybe rule of cool) possibilities
I've always thought that things like that should be possible between psychic trainers and their pokemon :) I never watched the anime past like the second season, but heard about this of course and saw a few clips on youtube. It seemed a bit too shonen for me, lots of just "be stronger through more willpower," and I'm hoping to make this more cerebral and strategic.
Thanks for commenting, looking forward to any more in depth reviews :)