Ryik

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

_{Location: Ocean Pier}

Prompts: @Bartimaeus

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On the day the S.S. Avalon was to set sail, Kaison had slept right through his alarm, rushed to get ready, flew off at a blistering pace on the back of Elysium, his Togekiss, only to arrive over half an hour early. Checking over the invitation again, then double-checking the time on his phone and the clocks on the S.S. Avalon, he realized he had compensated for daylight savings time when he shouldn't have, having gotten used to doing so since Unova observed it but Alola did not. It all worked out in the end, he supposes, since he wanted to arrive early anyway to take pictures of the ship, doing a fly-around on Elysium. He had to decide which six pokémon to bring on-board, at least initially, and Téhōm's water-bound nature made it an unfortunate exclusion by necessity, at least until he decides to take a dip in the ship's pool, and unfortunately only then. Avici, ever the mature one, offered to step down next, and while Nihil said they should follow suit, the rest of his team agreed with him that having a nice vacation would do the Smeargle some good. Elysium was mandatory, since Kaison needed transportation to the ship itself, and it felt rude to just box her as soon as she got there. Given the potential he would have to participate in some battles on the ship itself, he wanted to bring his lazy monkey, Naraka, since Téhōm's exclusion made his team vulnerable to fire types, and his ace, Samsara. While the Lurantis might have been outwardly mirroring Avici's borderline ascetic lack of concern, Kaison knew better than to actually believe her. It wasn't that Samsara believed she would be okay with sitting things out, it's that she was deliberately playing coy. if he was less charitable, he'd call it outright lying. She'd insist otherwise, of course, but the subtle passive-aggression to follow was just easier to not deal with.

Tartarus, drama queen that he is, would take it as a personal slight to be left out, even if he didn't actually care to participate, and Nemesis seemed ready to throw a tantrum to get her way on the matter. Ultimately, it was all too easy for the team to accept Avalon's offer to step down, which didn't feel fair given how the number one reason he was going on this trip in the first place was because the cruise ship shared a name with the Escavalier. He was too self-sacrificing for his own good, and while he was technically in a similar boat to Nihil, he wasn't chronically depressed and didn't have the same kicked-puppy look Nihil did. Ultimately Kaison just promised he'd take pictures for Avalon to peruse, which meant it would be harder to bench Elysium later after all the extra work she put in helping him get said pictures.

Hopefully Tartarus will get bored, Avalon takes his place, Nemesis doesn't set the ship on fire by accident, and that will be the end of that. It might get awkward talking to and about Avalon when everyone associates the name with the ship, but that's a bridge they can cross when they get there.

As he finishes taking pictures, he flies back down to the pier, waiting for the ship's staff to let people on board. Of course, nothing happens for quite a while, even as the designated boarding time comes and goes. After tiring of the games on his phone, he figures he should go socialize. Most of these people are famous right? Maybe he'll recognize someone.

Well...

Not a single face in the small crowd rings a bell. If they weren't notable in the Sinnoh, Unovan or Alolan leagues, they probably didn't show up on his personal radar, and he's never been keen on social media. Even if one of these people had been on every channel, he prefers playing, modding or making games over television. Sure, he's met famous trainers from foreign regions before; anyone with the "special trainer" designation in the Battle Tree was worth taking note of, and sometimes he looks up relevant trainers when he wants to learn something specific about his pokémon, but yeah, he has no idea who these people are.

He overhears a rather flamboyant man wreathed in pink address one 'Syl Archer' as champion, and he can't help but wonder if he's an acting champion or someone who just earned the champion title, like himself. He wanders over, in any case, wondering just how many champions were invited, when he spots an Alolan Rattata and just can't keep his mouth shut.

"Cool Rattata. Not a lot of people like them. Are they a battler? F.E.A.R. Strat perhaps? It's an all-time classic."

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

I think a general agreement to just not power-game will help here regardless of what @Carlyle's ultimate decision is. End of the day we're writing a story, not competing in real Pokemon tournaments aye?

@BurningCold

To be clear, when I say I like the idea of Kaison being stronger in a 4-moveslot format, I mostly mean that I jive with the idea of some of his gimmicks being viable strategies in and of themselves (i.e. without alternative options) rather than a neat trick his pokémon can do that is expected to be played around for most of his opponents. I was struggling with a good way to word why I like Kaison's team in particular in a 4-moveslot format, though there's a good chance none of that matters as the RP may end up being chiefly pve.

(Of course yeah, on the topic of not power-gaming)

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

4 moves from their level up list, 1 egg move and 1 TM

@Yankee

Honestly more limiting than just sticking to the 4-moveslot limit imo. For trainers more or less at the end of their journey, where those moves come from shouldn't matter that much.

The problem with free-move is that I just don't want people to go "aha, my pokemon does x super effective move" all the time because they have access to other moves. It defeats the purpose of type matchups if everyone just writes the equivalent of an "I win" button.

@Carlyle

I've actually read some fanfics that write battles without the 4 moveslot limit, and while super-effective coverage moves are a common enough occurrence at higher levels of battle, they usually aren't the main focus of a battle's matchup. There's much more of the alternate ways of writing that you mentioned earlier available when pokémon have wider toolkits. Using moves to dodge or cover distance (2-turn moves, priority moves, vaguely mobility-based moves such as Acrobatics or Zing Zap) is an obvious one, though there's also a lot of emphasis on the state of the field (e.g. with liberal use of Stone Edge tearing it up or Surf turning it muddy) or even combination attacks which, with no moveslot limit, no longer comprise at minimum, half of everything your pokémon can do. One of the fics I've read resolved the issue of back and forth switching becoming an issue (besides league limitations or metaphorical sucker-punching being commonplace despite the additional issue that it may not make much sense given field sizes and trainer aim) by making it common for trainers to use setup moves during a switch, which might otherwise be hard to pull off safely in the middle of battle due to the time it takes to execute, and whereas readying an attack can just end in the opponent dodging. Even beyond the obvious stat-boosting setup moves, it also sometimes allows more niche moves like Magnet Rise to shine.

One way I've seen the move limit addressed is that it is thought of as a limitation mainly for novice trainers, with more experienced pokémon (or more experienced trainers) able to (and expected to) train their ability to remember more moves, with talented pokémon able to (effectively) use up to 10 or so at the champion level. There's variance, with different pokémon being better at different things.

In general I prefer larger movepool limits because I think it allows for a lot more creative freedom, (it also stops pokémon from being relatively one-note and usually gives them multiple "modes" of battle) and think that forum RPs are the best place to try out the wacky things we can't get from the pokémon company or even fangames, but I'm also down with the 4-moveslot limit in this instance mainly because I think Kaison's team is significantly stronger when people have less options to work with. That's probably true for most gimmick strategies, though the downside is that the pokémon lack the flexibility to do anything but that gimmick.

In any case, to reiterate what Yankee said:

Let us know if you do end up wanting people to choose specific moves and add them to the CS.

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

@BurningCold Valid. I guess you could say I've had some bad experiences with RPs in that vein. Happens more with Yu-Gi-Oh RPs, where, if you're not basically running it as a tabletop RP, (which very few people seem keen on doing) it usually ends up with everyone not only expected to ass-pull as much as humanly possible, but also heavily incentivized to deckbuild around doing so, making sure you have as many contrived solutions and impractical combos as you can fit into a deck. Combine that with players who do not want to collaborate in a doc nor decide on an outcome ahead of time and... yeah.

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

@Carlyle

...Pikachu cuts the Earth Power/Stone Edge rocks created by Cynthia's Gastrodon and throws it at them twice. (it caught them, and resists it if it can be called a rock move) It then quick attacks the rocks Gastrodon was holding without actually making contact with Gastrodon. And that's apparently enough to knock it out.

God I hate Ash Ketchum. It's not just that he has plot armor, but that it always feels so lazy and unearned.

Anyway...

I prefer the four moveslot limit

@Carlyle

I wouldn't mind holding you to that, though I do have a few concerns if pvp ever arises. (Which seems likely because Pokémon trainers are involved) There's a lot of room for tactical abuse when everyone can canonically change their team's moves between battles and noncanonically change their team's moves mid-battle by retroactively deciding what four moves they have. This might not sound like a big deal, but for a lot of matchups it's a huge unfair advantage, having a greater negative impact on pokémon that rely on specific strategies. (e.g. because moves that can get around their strategy can be swapped in, while the moveslots tied up with the pieces of that strategy cannot logically be swapped out)

This could be alleviated by adding moves to everyone's app (albeit it also spoils what moves they have) or by PMing all moves each pokémon has to you.

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

Some Statistics :D

Pokémon Type Totals

0: Poison
1: Ice (Syl's Arctibax)
2: Ground, Bug
3: Rock, Grass, Electric
4: None
5: Normal, Fire, Flying, Dark, Steel
6: Ghost, Dragon
7: Fighting, Psychic
8: Water
9: Fairy

Pokémon Mono vs Dual Type

Single: 20
Dual: 31

Pokémon Evolution Stages Total

Mono: 14
Two-Stage: 15
Three-Stage: 18
Branching: 4

Type Representation by Trainer

André: 5 (Fairy, Flying, Psychic, Steel, Water)

Sophia: 6 (Fairy, Normal, Ghost, Grass, Rock, Water)

Bat: 7 (Dark, Normal, Fighting, Dragon, Water, Steel, Grass)

Tess: 7 (Rock, Ground, Electric, Dragon, Water, Flying, Fire)

Syl: 8 (Psychic, Rock, Dark, Water, Fire, Ice, Dragon, Flying)

Auggie: 6 (+3 from Rotom forms) = 9 (Fire, Ghost, Water, Psychic, Ghost, Electric) + (Ice, Flying, Grass)

Edward: 9 (Fire, Fighting, Psychic, Steel, Water, Flying, Bug, Fairy, Dragon)

Kaison: 12 (Grass, Dark, Ghost, Fire, Fighting, Fairy, Flying, Normal, Bug, Steel, Psychic, Water)

Analysis

-All types are represented at least once, with the exception of Poison, sitting at a lonely 0.

-40% of the Flying types are represented by flightless sea creatures

-André represents roughly 66% of the Fairy types, with Edward, Kaison, and Sophia each representing roughly 11%

-Each trainer has 1 water type

-Tess has the only monotype electric Pokémon

-If we find a refrigerator, Syl's Arctibax does not have to be the only ice type

-Auggie has the most shiny Pokémon at 2, while André and Syl both have 1.

-While Togekiss, Spiritomb, and Rapidash occur multiple times across trainers, only Bat has two of the same Pokémon on his team.

-There are no legendary Pokémon across all trainers

-Edward has 2 pseudo-legendaries on his team, while Tess and Syl each have 1.

-Bat has 2 potential pseudo-legendaries, while Syl has 1.

-Mono evolutions have disproportionate representation with 3 trainers representing about 64% of all mono evolutions; Auggie, Kaison and Sophia with 3 each.

@BurningCold

More Stats...

If you average the base stats of all pokémon each character owns, you get:
André:


Auggie:

(Assumes Rotom is using any appliance form)

Bat:


Edward:


Kaison:

(Assumes Wishiwashi is in School Form)

Sophia:


Syl:


Tess:


From highest to lowest:

HP

1. Auggie 85.66
2. André 83.33
3. Syl 82.5
4. Edward 76.33
4. Tess 76.33
6. Sophia 70.66
7. Kaison 64.77
8. Bat 60

Attack

1. Syl 111.5
2. Edward 100.83
3. Bat 90.16
4. Kaison 90.11
5. Auggie 80
6. Tess 74.16
7. Sophia 65.66
8. André 63.33

Defense

1. Kaison 92.66
2. Syl 82.66
3. Auggie 81.33
4. André 78.16
5. Bat 76.66
6. Edward 76.5
7. Sophia 70.83
8. Tess 70

Special Attack

1. Edward 99.16
2. André 98.33
3. Syl 97.5
4. Kaison 83.22
5. Auggie 82.16
6. Sophia 71.83
7. Tess 71.66
8. Bat 66.66

Special Defense

1. André 102.83
2. Kaison 97.88
3. Auggie 87.66
4. Edward 83.33
4. Sophia 83.33
6. Tess 82.5
7. Syl 81.66
8. Bat 65.83

Speed

1. Edward 102.83
2. Tess 82
3. Syl 79.66
4. Sophia 75.16
5. Bat 72
6. André 67.5
7. Auggie 59
7. Kaison 59

Base Stat Totals

1. Edward 539
2. Syl 535.5
3. André 493.5
4. Kaison 487.66
5. Auggie 475.83
6. Tess 456.66
7. Sophia 437.5
8. Bat 431.33

Offensive Stats

(Attack + Special Attack + Speed)
1. Edward 302.82
2. Syl 288.66
3. Kaison 232.33
4. André 229.16
5. Bat 228.82
6. Tess 227.82
7. Auggie 221.16
8. Sophia 212.65

Defensive Stats

(HP + Defense + Special Defense)
1. André 264.32
2. Kaison 255.31
3. Auggie 254.65
4. Syl 246.82
5. Edward 246.16
6. Tess 228.83
7. Sophia 224.82
8. Bat 202.49

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

Are we abiding by the 4-moveslot limit of the games? I would assume not, but I have plans for either case.

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

Added Tess, removed Felix.

All Pokémon

André:
Auggie:
Bat:
Edward:
Kaison:
Sophia:
Syl:
Tess:

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

Kaison

Theme

_{[ ✧ ] N A M E}

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Kaison Locke

_{[ ✧ ] O C C U P A T I O N}

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Former Champion of Unova. Winner of League Conferences in Sinnoh, Unova and Alola.

_{[ ✧ ] B A C K S T O R Y}

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Kaison was born to a highly successful business magnate and his beautiful high school sweetheart. When Kaison was only two years old, his mother died giving birth to his younger brother. Consequently, his father developed depression and a drinking problem. Due to his young age, he was never familiar with his mother, and his relationship with his father has always been impersonal. His father threw himself upon his work, only to drink whenever he came home. Even so, his father was a drunkard; not neglectful, and he and his brother were generally raised by a series of babysitters and nannies. They accordingly had a lot of time to themselves, growing up, and often invented different games to play with each other. Although they had their fair share of video games from their father, they were drawn to the creative freedom of roleplaying games, and eventually branched out into making their own games. Kaison learned programming, while his brother learned digital art, and soon they had a pokémon-based video game of their own design. In trying to keep it true to life, Kaison did extensive research on pokémon, and so, when they were on vacation in Alola, and a cute little flower mantis came up to him, he took to pokémon training with surprising ease.

Although a native of Unova, his father's need to travel made it practical, at the time, to start his journey in Sinnoh. Although typical in Unova to start a pokémon journey later in one's mid-teen years, his brother, copying the native Sinnoh trainers, made him feel pressured to get started immediately, and while they both did amazingly for their first circuit, Kaison managed to defeat his brother in the Pokémon League Conference before going on to win the whole thing. Unfortunately, their father was more concerned with meeting his own deadlines, and while staying on their own was technically an option, Kaison's brother was not yet ready to leave their father, and Kaison was not yet ready to say goodbye to his brother. They barely had time to celebrate his victory in Sinnoh before they were flying back to Unova.

Trying to cheer him up, his brother suggested he take on the Unova League instead, and while he dismissed it at first, the seed of the idea had been planted. Beating the league circuit in his home region certainly held a certain allure, and he eventually decided to go on another journey, the one he felt he had missed out on by starting early, this time leaving his brother behind. While he enjoyed the company of his brother, his desire to stay in touch with their father meant he knew he would have to part ways with him sooner or later, and the journey he envisioned going on alone was a prime opportunity to get used to it.

As the years went by, and he managed to win not only the Unova League conference, but the Unova Champion Circuit, he was left feeling a bit directionless. He certainly didn't care for politics, and declined to take up the Champion position, though it didn't stop people from attaching the title to his name. Deciding to take a break, he went on vacation to Alola once more, where he had met his starter in the first place. There, now a much bigger name in the Pokémon battling scene, he was invited by professor Kukui to take up a position in the Battle Tree, and, perhaps on a whim, he accepted, taking up residency on Alola until he felt that he was ready to continue reaching for yet grander heights. He found the Alolan League and their island challenges to be a breath of fresh air, though before taking on Alola's Champion League, he wanted to go back to take on the Sinnoh Champion League he had left behind years ago. Before even that, however, he received an invitation letter for an all-expenses-paid trip to Poketopia Foundation's new battle resort, on a ship sharing a name with his Escavalier, no less. That latter fact made him feel that he had to entertain the offer, so he said his goodbyes to Kukui and the other friends he had made on Alola before setting off.

_{[ ✧ ] P E R S O N A L I T Y}

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Adventurous, light-hearted, and overall nonchalant, Kaison tends to not take things too seriously, and may come off as distant or insensitive in serious situations. He has a flawless poker face in the form of an unfaltering smile and a stoic disposition that hides any troubles he may or may not have. Although he leans towards idealistic, he has a strong sense of responsibility, and does his best to give things their due diligence even if told to leave well enough alone. He loves various forms of escapism and likes to employ outside-the-box strategies in battle.

_{[ ✧ ] P O K È M O N}

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• 
  Samsara the Lurantis
• 
  Tartarus the Spiritomb
• 
  Naraka the Infernape
• 
  Elysium the Togekiss
• 
  Nemesis the Lopunny
• 
  Nihil the Smeargle

_{[ ✧ ] P O K È M O N I N S T O R A G E}

---

• 
  Avalon the Escavalier
• 
  Avici the Bronzong
• 
  Téhōm the Wishiwashi

Pokétopian Dreams: Uncharted Waters

Just wanted to visualize this:

All Pokémon

André:
Auggie:
Bat:
Edward:
Felix:

Kaison:

Sophia:
Syl: