27 KiB
[RST] Pokemon: The Origin of Species, Ch. 55 - Accountability
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Author: u/DaystarEld Pokémon Professor*
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URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/55/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species
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Score: 93
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Created: 2018-05-01T09:16:04
Post:
Comments:
u/Nic_Cage_DM [+56] (46 minutes later)
They're probably enjoying a fun, peaceful cruise
Somehow I don't think they are.
u/thrawnca [+31] Carbon-based biped (an hour later)
They could have been just fine, and then Blue went and said that...
u/akaltyn [+16] (2 hours later)
Tragically the concept of Jinxing never made it to the pokemon world
u/None [+14] (2 hours later)
You mean [Jynxing](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Jynx_(Pok%C3%A9mon))?
u/None [+29] (an hour later)
To quote a ff.net review:
Well maybe, just maybe, all they had to do was rub the captains back.
u/Trips-Over-Tail [+22] Death of Crabs (6 hours later)
NARRATOR: They weren't.
u/Electric999999 [+9] (17 hours later)
It'd be quite the twist for the cruise to be entirely safe now wouldn't it.
u/PDNeznor [+5] (2 days later)
At least
Asshat'sI mean Blue's Raticate won't go dying on us this time around.
u/ManyCookies [+44] (9 hours later)
I like how Brock is a beginner gym not because he's the easiest, but because he's one of the hardest. No one wants to screw with his OP level 100 Onix.
u/Gigapode [+27] (12 hours later)
Yeah thats a cool idea. The gym leaders set encounters based on your progression rather than having set "encounters" based on whether you having pokemon that know cut :p
So you can strategically takle the gyms in the order you want based on how difficult their theoretical best would be for you to beat. Whether that be to make it easier for your team or to get more renown as a trainer.
u/Jokey665 [+12] Worth the Candle (14 hours later)
The Pokemon Origins movie/ova/whatever it was did this. It was pretty cool.
u/PDNeznor [+8] (2 days later)
On a similar note, I wonder how the gym leaders would handle somebody like Gold/Ethan coming in with all of the Johto badges already. "Oh, you already have 11 badges? Let me check my gym leader guidebook for your handicap. Huh, says here to just give you the badge, 'for my pokemon's well-being' or something."
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+3] (6 days later)
That makes me wonder how strong the elite 4 are, since in the game the weakest could destroy any leader
u/Ulmaxes [+2] (3 months later)
Running purely off what we know from the games, the leaders just got harder and harder. As Blue mentions, even eight-badge isn't the Leader's Best, just them actually trying. I suspect that'd keep scaling at one point. I suspect skill plateaus quicker than a sixteen-badge run, so at that point it'd be just fighting everyone at their best and it being a solid challenge.
u/icesharkk [+1] (15 days later)
i really wish the game did this too..
u/Radix2309 [+1] (4 months later)
It would be cool if the games did that with a more free form story.
u/empocariam [+16] (12 hours later)
I wonder who the opposite of Brock is then. The leader everyone saves for last. Maybe Erika? The grass-type, even at its best, doesn't strike me as particularly strong, assuming a skilled trainer knows how to overcome a status-condition based strategy.
u/ManyCookies [+20] (13 hours later)
Erika is plausible, she's a younger leader with a counterable type focus. Blaine and Surge are more experienced, but they have similarly iffy monotypes (Amy's brother did pick Surge as his 8th). On the other hand, the gym leaders are holding back even on 8th badge/membership challenges; perhaps those three just play a bit more seriously, closer to their full potential, to compensate for their weaker monotypings/skills.
And of course Brock was the pushover Bubble the Onix gym on paper, and he ended up with rock snake godzilla. Lord knows what nonsense the other gym leaders get (Contrary Serperior for Erika?).
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+6] (6 days later)
This story makes the leader so freaking awesome, we are already hyped to meet the rest
u/Electric999999 [+13] (17 hours later)
What about Koga, I don't remember him having anything particularly impressive pokemon and poison is probably one of the weakest types in general, anyone who can handle getting poisoned can probably deal well with him. Of course poison might be a lot scarier than I'm thinking in this setting, since you have a much harder time judging it's effects on your pokemon.
u/DaystarEld [+10] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Of course poison might be a lot scarier than I'm thinking in this setting, since you have a much harder time judging it's effects on your pokemon.
Also, in the games Poison is one of the status effects without a secondary effect, the way Paralyze cuts Speed or Burn cuts Attack. I always thought Poison should reduce Evasion or increase PP use or something to reflect that the pokemon is not just losing generic "hit points" that don't mean anything until they're at 0, but actually feeling the effects of the poison as they fight.
u/PDNeznor [+6] (2 days later)
Janine's Arbok was pretty frickin scary when it was just slithering around. I'd hate to put any of my pokemon in front of that thing's fangs. I can only imagine Koga's pokemon would ramp that up another notch or two for the 8th badge. He'll also probably become an E4 member as well, attributing to his battling skill (probably second to Giovanni in Kanto).
My money would be on Blaine, Misty, or Erika. Blaine as I see him spending more of his energies doing research rather than improving as a trainer, Misty is quite young and possibly quite green in relation to the rest of the leaders, and Erika for what ManyCookies already stated. (Although a Vileplume with full access to Effect Spore AoE's, Chlorophyll's quickness, Strength Sap's longevity and debilitation, and Solar Beams bright enough to blind people as well as burn them up Kamehameha style would be frickin terrifying too.)
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+3] (6 days later)
I'm saving this thread, I love how it shows what this story has done to us, guessing which leader/pokémon is more terrifying
u/Golden_Magician [+7] (15 hours later)
Perhaps Brock and Sabrina aren't the only gym leaders with a famous ace pokemon..I imagine that Misty's Starmie, Surge's Raichu and Blaine's Ninetales or Charizard might also be up there.
u/ManyCookies [+13] (16 hours later)
I'm sure the gym leaders have their own preferred pokemon*, just not as flashy and overpowered as the 200 foot long rock snake or the Zam that solo'd a leadership challenge.
^(*Complete WMG: Blaine has a very rare Drought Ninetales as an ace, which is obviously terrifying and shores up the big water weakness.)
u/LucidityWaver [+21] (2 hours later)
Ugh. That was an amazing chapter. I was right alongside Aiko on that emotional rollercoaster.
u/akaltyn [+15] (2 hours later)
[spoilers](#s " The deaths were brutal to read but works well to enforce the impression of "there are serious consequences to these things"")
u/LucidityWaver [+8] (2 hours later)
I totally agree with both points 100%.
Edit: Some minor edits to spoilered content.
u/LazarusRises [+16] (5 hours later)
Riveting chapter.
Pressure is rough. I could feel Aiko's paralyzing fear, and even though I know she's been hit with it before, I agree that she made a lot of mistakes. Reverse tolerance sucks.
/u/DaystarEld, did you invent this "critical group debugging" tactic? It seems very useful, if only to be attempted with a group you really trust.
u/DaystarEld [+11] Pokémon Professor (20 hours later)
Sort of: it's kind of a rough amalgamation of what I've seen and facilitated within the rationality community (CFAR workshops and ESPR camp), specifically things like pair debugging and circling, filtered through a Heroic Responsibility lens. I think it's definitely a valuable mentality to cultivate and establish among friends and in communities that you trust to help hold each other accountable and build each other up.
Glad you liked the chapter!
u/LazarusRises [+10] (a day later)
It seems extremely useful for groups who regularly experience highly dangerous/stressful events. That doesn't describe me now, but I'll keep it in mind for my future band of post-apocalyptic survivors.
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Hope it's helpful if you try it, particularly in non-apocalyptic situations!
u/TheGreatTactician [+15] (an hour later)
Great chapter as usual! Always sad to see the characters go through trauma, but I guess it helps them grow. I highly doubt Blue, for example, would have been able to survive the encounter if he hadn't already dealt with similar situations before. Shame about him losing such an ace though. Did you perhaps allow him to lose Kermui because it was so powerful and Blue was still relatively early in his journey, forcing him to adapt? Maybe I'm just overanalyzing things.
Oh, and this has nothing to do with this chapter in particular, but I was wondering something about the world of your story. Do Mega Evolution and Z Moves exist in this world and if so, how do they function? I imagine they would work much differently in your rational story as opposed to running on the power of friendship and dancing like in the games.
u/Mr_Catfish [+14] (11 hours later)
Hey, the power of friendship and dancing let Daisy control metronome, so who knows?
u/akaltyn [+6] (2 hours later)
Always sad to see the characters go through trauma, but I guess it helps them grow. I highly doubt Blue, for example, would have been able to survive the encounter if he hadn't already dealt with similar situations before.
reminded me a bit of #hpmor spoiler in the sense that in reinforced the idea that there are Serious Consequences to things in this world, and the encounters aren't levelled to match
u/None [+6] (5 hours later)
[deleted]
u/NastyNate0801 [+13] (9 hours later)
See I’ve got a theory that the classification of fairy types is what ends up making Red the youngest professor in history.
u/leniadolbap [+5] (16 hours later)
But types aren't really used by scientists, they are more like a guideline that competitive trainers use, I think?
u/The_Magus_199 [+10] Ankh-Morpork City Watch (a day later)
I mean, considering that we have the introduction of a “flying particle” and “psychic particle”, I think we’re going to see those sorts of things for every type being what settles type classification as an actual scientific thing.
u/AKAAkira [+16] (17 hours later)
Considering how many thrown pokeballs were missed in this chapter, there might be some value yet for Bill to apply his pokeball-throwing physics knowledge into inventing some kind of an automatic launcher. (Unless Pressure actually affects machines enough to make them glitch or jam up too, I guess.)
u/DaystarEld [+12] Pokémon Professor (a day later)
Funny you should mention that...
u/AKAAkira [+5] (2 days later)
I can't tell which part of my speculation you're hinting is on track. Now I'm just sitting here starting to wonder if the pokeball containing Absol's going to glitch and spontaneously release it at the worst possible moment.
This is just my imagination, right? An Absol can't actually do anything once it's digitized into a pokeball...right?
u/Electric999999 [+3] (6 days later)
I don't think it can do anything while in a pokeball, they all felt the pressure lift as soon as it was caught and I don't think things inside pokeballs can really do anything at all, they don't seem to even really experience the flow of time.
u/PDNeznor [+3] (2 days later)
That unluckiness is probably more attributed to Absol's super luck ability (which is very likely not realized to be a thing in this pokeverse). Thinking about it, the shenanigans that pressure puts the trainers through probably amplifies the effectiveness of super luck, making this particular Absol a terrible guest at poker nights.
u/icesharkk [+1] (15 days later)
do the pokemon in this world get access to more than one passive ability? Rules as Written Absol can only have Super Luck or Pressure not both but much of these chapters seemed to indicate the Absol benefiting from both superluck and pressure
u/PDNeznor [+2] (15 days later)
Daystar has said in a few reddit posts that in his story abilities manifest in varying degrees for each individual. So a pokemon can have no abilities, one, both, or both but very weakly, etc.
u/JulianWyvern [+12] Wayward Wanderer (5 hours later)
Rather off-topic but I like how they talk about Giovanni's 8-badge team. No weakness, nothing you can exploit. To win, you "simlpy" need to be straight up better than what he brings
u/Cariyaga [+8] Kyubey did nothing wrong (an hour later)
Ah man, this is always a real treat every month. Great chapter as always!
u/None [+16] (3 hours later)
[deleted]
u/thrawnca [+4] Carbon-based biped (12 hours later)
But what will I read the whole month?
With This Ring? The Wandering Inn? Have you read Luminosity (and Radiance)?
u/None [+5] (12 hours later)
Hm, I dropped With this RIng, and have read Alicorn stuff, but The Wandering Inn sounds intriguing, thanks
u/thrawnca [+5] Carbon-based biped (13 hours later)
I dropped With this RIng
How long ago?
If you find the SI frustrating, there are entire Renegade episodes these days. Just recently,
u/DaystarEld [+5] Pokémon Professor (8 seconds later)
Typo thread!
u/DerSaidin [+4] (48 minutes later)
listen to the ranges
missing r
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Fixed, thanks :)
u/DerSaidin [+5] (55 minutes later)
scream trapped in her throat as she trashes in bed a moment
thrashes?
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Fixed!
u/thrawnca [+5] Carbon-based biped (an hour later)
stops trashing/stops thrashing
with a dozen more on that side are cracked/with a dozen more on that side that are cracked
as the something crashes/as something crashes
stops it could/stops it cold
the chain of ideas start/the chain of ideas starts
Aiko she turns/Aiko turns
then fall in a spread/then falling in a spread
The rock snakes begins/The rock snake begins
the worse besides/the worst besides
Aiko gratefully her face/Aiko gratefully (turns? lowers? puts?) her face
The combines smell/The combined smell
Maybe should have stayed/Maybe she should have stayed
sees light appears/sees light appear
next time,"Aiko - Missing space
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
All fixed, except for chain of ideas: I think it's correct to refer to it singularly?
Thanks a lot!
u/thrawnca [+3] Carbon-based biped (10 hours later)
"Chain" is indeed singular; that's why I suggested "appears". You also refer to "it" not "them" later in the sentence, confirming its singularity.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (18 hours later)
Woops, misread the order of that somehow, fixed now :)
u/CarVac [+2] (19 hours later)
There's still another "stops trashing". Unless I need to refresh...
She feels a sudden, piercing pain in her chest as the onix stops trashing
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (20 hours later)
Huh you're right, it's still not updating for me either. Give in a bit, sometime FF is slow.
u/DerSaidin [+3] (an hour later)
It took about an hour and a half to diagnose and treat her
I think this should be
It had taken about an hour and a half to diagnose and treat her
Would be easier to know this was before she went to sleep. The sequence of events confused me the first time I read that paragraph.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Actually that one is okay: since the story is set in present tense, the past tense implies it happened earlier :) I'll think about rewriting it.
u/Aretii [+3] Cultist of Cthugha (3 hours later)
The onix taxes advantage -> the onix takes advantage
u/thrawnca [+5] Carbon-based biped (16 hours later)
I dunno, I think owning an onix could be a pretty decent advantage when dealing with tax collectors Asterix-style...
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Fixed, thanks!
u/kevshea [+3] (5 hours later)
At the last second she throws her body weight to the side at the last second (double last second)
"The two rangers and the other Golden Hills trainers, Abdu" (should be trainer?)
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Fixed, thank you!
u/Areign [+3] (5 hours later)
...As tall as Aeosis
...take Aeosus on
Aeosus is one pokemon...
inconsistent spelling
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (8 hours later)
Fixed!
u/None [+3] (9 hours later)
[removed]
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (16 hours later)
"It" is ambiguous here.
Not really; Dune is male, and referred to as such in this sentence.
this could be interpreted as fear that her pokemon will suffocate and kill her.
No, that would be worded as "fear of her pokemon", not "fear for her pokemon".
u/None [+2] (17 hours later)
[removed]
u/thrawnca [+2] Carbon-based biped (17 hours later)
So why's dune gendered and an Onix is not? Then that in and of itself is stylistically weird.
Probably because Dune matters to Aiko as a person, whereas the onix - while technically having a gender - matters as a threat, an obstacle.
Both pokemon have genders, so could use "s/he", and both, as non-humans, could validly be referred to as "it" - in general. In this case, though, using a personal pronoun for one and non-personal for the other makes sense in context and removes the ambiguity.
Maybe "her fear for her pokemon" would sound better?
I don't see any advantage in adding the word. It's unambiguous as it stands.
u/nipplelightpride [+2] (2 days later)
Does Aiko know what gender the Onix is?
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (18 hours later)
Mostly all fixed, except for a couple of the things Thrawnca pointed out :) Thanks!
u/AKAAkira [+2] (16 hours later)
A tense moment passes as he finishes injecting the potion, then nods as he tosses the syringe aside and grabs another
This was said in reference to Ranger Miko, who I'm pretty sure was a woman. All the other pronouns referencing her indicated she was female, anyway.
the rocky whip sweeps out and hits Dune and Elaine's hariyama
I'm pretty sure Sumi was the one with the hariyama.
Also, while I'm here, last chapter once spelled Sumi's name Sumie.
u/DaystarEld [+3] Pokémon Professor (18 hours later)
Fixed, thanks!
u/AKAAkira [+2] (2 days later)
Ah, on the first typo, there were actually two "he"s that were supposed to be "she"s, and I think you only got one of them.
u/DaystarEld [+2] Pokémon Professor (2 days later)
Got it, thanks!
u/MaddoScientisto [+6] (12 hours later)
That ending is just cruel, that's the highest level of paying with expectations and almost worse than a cliffhanger
u/PDNeznor [+5] (2 days later)
Nah, it's not as bad as the inevitable interlude chapter that is going to be coming up next month. We're about due, and this seems like the perfect place to put an update on what's going on with Delia's murder mysteries (especially if they end up affecting the events on the boat). Personally, I'd like to see what Mewtwo's been up to; he must be getting lonely going on 15 chapters without our company.
u/I_Probably_Think [+6] (13 hours later)
So... I guess Aiko has [spoiler](#s “met Moltres or possibly Ho-Oh”)? I’m curious to see how this plays into her characterization (and also whether it’s come up before and I just didn’t remember)!
u/None [+11] (13 hours later)
[deleted]
u/I_Probably_Think [+6] (16 hours later)
D'oh.
u/None [+5] (13 hours later)
[deleted]
u/ManyCookies [+8] (13 hours later)
There was a point in the fight when Aiko was concerned only with escaping safely. Why don't they all have have a "safety abra" with teleport for this kind of situation?
Unlike in the games, Pokemon can only use teleport in the open outdoors.Also, in a world with literal monsters out to kill you, people getting slashed and your friends killed, why don't more people have PTSD?
Oh I'm sure they do, but they're probably offscreen not going anywhere near the shenanigans the protagonists are throwing themselves into.
u/Electric999999 [+9] (17 hours later)
Actually in the games teleport only works outdoors, using the same restrictions as fly. I'd be very interested to see this limitation explained.
u/PDNeznor [+4] (2 days later)
There was a lengthy explanation about how teleport works in one of the earlier chapters saying something like it's just a perception problem or something. Basically the reason why teleportation spots are marked squares on top of buildings.
u/Electric999999 [+3] (17 hours later)
Maybe people in this world are just more resistant to psychological trauma, perhaps it's similar to how people clearly grow up faster (mentally at least).
u/GaBeRockKing [+6] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857 (12 minutes later)
Seeing chapter updates on /r/rational before they make their way into my email inbox is probably a reflection that I spend WAY too much time on this subreddit :P. Time to screw up my sleep schedule even further!
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+3] (9 days later)
Hello there! As always, the story is awesome. I'm still working in a table rpg adaptation, and I have stumbled upom the aura topic. I don't know how you will deal with it, so I thought I would both ask you your ideas and share mines too (probably not compatible with yours as I take the types as connected to actual elemental powers)
My idea is to take the mind-soul/aura-heart dynamic, based on the eastern concepts. Well, mind actually is your version, the thoughts linked to some physical phenomenom. The types related to it are psychic (duh), dark (I guess) and ghost (you have yet to explain that one)
Then we have the aura, the eastern concept of spirit (very different to plato's) which is heavilly conected to "physicall vitaliy", hence fighting as its main type. Every living being has an aura, but I consider types able to "pulse" as able to harness their aura in a lesser way. Those are water, dragon, phychic (heal pulse, that might be hard to explain) and dark (that will make cool stories. Mind blocked, but able to burst their auras)
Lastly, "heart". IIRC, in eastern cultures the organ hosts the feelings and life of the individual. With the modern science, it had been dismised... like the fairy type. I will leave it that way for now ;)
Also, I pretend to use those concepts to explain legendary pokémon, with their legendary hearts and auras (need a cooler name tho)
Well, what do you think? Sounds cool? Potential? And how are you going to do it? I'm specially interested in your version of ghost types
Have a nice day!
u/DaystarEld [+1] Pokémon Professor (13 days later)
Heya, sorry for the lack of answer, but it gets into spoiler talk pretty fast :) All I can say is it sounds neat!
u/Ceres_Golden_Cross [+1] (13 days later)
DAMMIT. NOT MORE HYPE FUEL
I guess I'll have to wait then. At least I can be glad, one thing I didn't originaly like from this story was the "oh, pokémon here are just animals in steroids" but it has gained a fair amount of cool supernatural elements
u/tokol [+1] The Greater Good (13 days later)