Whimsley

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

If I ever get a Deerling, I'm naming it Waffles

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

1/8th of an inch, 2/15 of an inch. The computer is trying to get an exact reading essentially

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

Dewmeadow

Through your conversation, you'd note the lack of people around the lab. Sure, Dewmeadow was out of the way, but was it so in the country that nobody else came around? You didn't even see the traveling merchant that was usually strolling his wagon through the field houses. People in the town still went about their days as usual, though, and seemed to be in their normal day-to-day state of mind. An elderly gray-haired woman scuttled across the plain with a smoking basket full of fresh rolls. She'd smile and play keep away from a curious Butterfree that wrinkled its nose and leaned in from time to time to take her baked goods. A burly, bronzed man swaggered towards the outskirts of the town, accompanied by a spry Growlithe. Five younger children ran in circles around a large oak tree at the highest hill in Dewmeadow, running until they could not longer stay balanced.

The research laboratory was an intriguing marvel of technology. Not quite state-of-the-art, but still a well-oiled machine nonetheless. Steam came pouring forth as rings from a steel column that rose above the roof, adjacent to the building. A radio tower made of intertwining iron rods towered above the column even. Twisted coils sprouted from the tip of the tower to give it just that tad bit of extra range, and in all directions. A black cord connected to the base of the radio tower and burrowed through the copper, sheet metal roof into... somewhere. The window frames were a yellow, studded metal and rotated, for whatever reason. They looked out onto the green pastures with two big, blue eyes. And pistons, pistons all over this moving castle of a laboratory emitted steam upon each compression. And when they rose, the pistons took in a howling breath of fresh air as if alive.

The copper-colored door creaked open. There was one eye, and one above that, and another still. All you could see were three eyes stacked on top of each other. And then they all came tumbling down, three young kids in a pile. One of them had a wide-brim, tan hat and a butterfly net strapped to his back. Another wore a white and blue uniform with thick, square glasses and a black headband to hold her hair back. The last, the top of the totem pole, wore a bright pink dress and had blonde locks down to the back of her knees. The kids laughed in unison, rolling off of each other and dampening their clothes in the recent rain on the ground. The door swung open wider. A sound barrage of metal striking itself and twisting mechanisms came forth from the doorway. Just after, a bright-eyed individual in a brown vest followed.

"Say, what are you kids laughing at?" said Professor Dogwood.

Professor Dogwood

The kids only laughed harder, rolling away as a group and starting an improvised game of tag. There were two Poké Balls strapped to Dogwood's leather belt, and at least twenty pens stuffed into every pocket of his vest. The Professor bit down on a nail that he carried at the side of his mouth. His speech was a bit muffled because of it. His neck took a wide angle to survey the area, even leaning out the door to check around the corners of the building. Sighing, he momentarily let his neck hang. The golden bifocals that crowned his head slid down upon the bridge of his nose. His shoulders rose and you could hear the faintest chuckle before he inhaled deeply. Bringing his eyes to you, the Professor's gaze pierced your own. A wave of his hand beckoned you inside the lab.

"Come on in, the terminal's up and running."

Dogwood led you through the labyrinth that was his laboratory. Piping jutted through the middle of the room, fog and steam collecting around the sauntered joints of the cuts and corners. There were points in the path where ducking between two parallel pipes was necessary to get to the next area of the lab. The pipes led to various contraptions, all foreign to you and screaming as steam emitted from their chambers. Knobs, keys, and screens riddled the surface of these metal monstrosities.

"I guess nobody from out of town wanted to come in. That's a shame. Less wait time for you, then!" Dogwood turned to all of you and gave you a thumbs up, crooked smile still containing the nail. Though, you couldn't help to notice the awkward pause of his words. "My assistant hasn't made it in today, but I can help you run the terminal. I built it myself."

More pipes, more obstacles, more noise. The place sounded like a one-man factory. Finally, squeezed into a tiny side room, a mauve-colored tarp lay disheveled next to the terminal. Dogwood wiped some dust off the side of the contraption before pulling out a mechanical keyboard from the front slot. Blue letters flew across the screen and in lines as the Professor typed. Eventually, when the screen was full of code, cogs with large circumferences began to churn. One twisted another, twisted another, twisted another, until finally the walls appeared to move around you. A sound of static blasted from the ceiling, momentarily blacking out the screen before it returned to its normal state. Pillars of steam blasted out the side of the terminal before the code cleared itself and a lone word remained on screen.

"After you," Professor Dogwood said.

@Morose

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

Mara Scelus

AGE: 16
SEX: F
HEIGHT: 5' 4"...1/8!
WEIGHT: Calculating...

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... ESPURR

[WILL YOU GIVE ESPURR A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

@PlatinumSkink

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

Rowan Branchers

AGE: 13
SEX: M
HEIGHT: 4' 3"...1/8...2/15... recalibrating
WEIGHT: Calculating...

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... PURRLOIN

[WILL YOU GIVE PURRLOIN A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

@Hatakekuro

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

Suzuki Yasha

AGE: 16
SEX: M
HEIGHT: 5' 6"
WEIGHT: Calculating...

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... YANMA

[WILL YOU GIVE YANMA A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

@Morose @Hatakekuro @Platinumskink

I have your response ready, so I'll go ahead and post it. Feel free to reply to each other and have one more round of conversation before responding to the post. Or, integrate your conversation into the post, that works too.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

I think we're all busy at this space in the year. Give everyone some time. So long as everyone's following the posting requirement, we're good to go.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

I'm still more of a fan of each player messaging me and holding to that choice. I think it removes all bias and doesn't take up that much time. It also doesn't have to rely on an honor system, as I'm the only one that knows the answers.

On the matter of battle switching, it will always need a penalty in my opinion. You're gaining an advantage by switching out and need to take a disadvantage elsewhere. I'm sticking to the rule that a Pokémon will get a free action against you if you attempt to switch out on a Pokémon that has not fainted. Or, they also get a free switch. That's how it works in the games and I think it works here as well. Just so long as people don't infinitely switch for type advantage. In trainer battles against me, I will have a set Pokémon to go out first or next and players will state who they're using before I reveal my choice. This removes all possible player bias.

OR we could just say no penalties for switching, and everyone agrees not to lolspam switch. That being said, opposing trainers would have as much free reign as you do to switch.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

I do like that suggestion for surprise situations, let's go with that. But for battles that gives away who you're choosing first, and a player can still change their line up accordingly once you post first.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

Every strategy I go down seems to arrive at a dead end. Predetermined is inflexible, best of x doesn't feel like traditional Pokémon. The not knowing what the other person will choose seems ideal, but that wouldn't work in thread. It might work if I were to choose a Pokémon before you posted and go with it no matter what, but it doesn't work for PC battles. One person will always post after the other, and the only way to keep them from choosing another Pokémon is the honor system. The only way I can see that working is if both players message me their starting Pokémon before a battle.

Maybe this will work, at least for players vs. me: You choose the Pokémon you're battling with first to avoid selective bias, and I'll throw out what I wrote down on a word document, as described before. I don't think there's an organized system for this, but maybe switch outs are only possible in SAFE situations. No mid-move type change to surprise maneuver. More like if both Pokémon aren't attacking and are a decent distance away, and/or if terrain is separating them. Thing is, though, with this knowledge the strategy to just blitzkrieg the opponent becomes infinitely better, in my opinion. They can't switch out in that instance.

Another direction to take it in is that switch outs can be performed whenever, but the Pokémon switching in is vulnerable to attack. So if you're switching out on a live opponent, prepare to take a hit. Thoughts?

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

Redorchard

The hustle of the crowd was slow, to say the least. Eons dragged by as your foot tapped, your fingers twiddled, and perhaps the occasional word flew by in odd conversation. Late arrivals marched in behind you, more and more people kept stacking like a horizontal tower. There weren't nearly this many kids and young adults around Redorchard, they must've been coming from all around Huji to begin their Pokémon adventure. You wondered how many trainers came, how many had went, how many would fail, and how many would succeed. Which of them were you?

The oceanic mass of people around you was more than you were used to, unless you had grown up in an urban environment. Every child's voice and every person's laugh all combined into a sound that really didn't make any sense to you. It was like a foreign language made up of words you knew. People of all races, color, ages, and background had gathered for the annual Pokémon training debut. They slowly dredged on near the back of the line, but became fidgety once they rounded the corner. When the line moved forward one space, most of the trainers would come running out, Poké Ball held to the trees surrounding Redorchard and screaming about becoming the Pokémon master. One roused trainer came screaming out of the lab with his Pidgey raised into the air. The pidgey's expression was less than amused. He clearly didn't enjoy being Simba. You noted most of the crowd was much younger than you. They had bagged sandwiches popping out of the zippers of their neon backpacks. Plastic bottles and thermos' lined the side pockets, covered in stickers. Many were already reading handwritten notes from their parents, who were likely two blocks down. They grow up so fast!

You reached the corner. Wait, had you fallen unconscious? This line was actually moving at a visible rate? You were past the large, rotund child now. He sat behind the white picket fence surrounding the laboratory. The sun caused his circular frames to have a white glare to them. He wrote furiously in a purple notebook, what it was you didn't know. Why was he here again? Your distracted thoughts kept you occupied until the glass, sliding doors were before you. They opened. A short, scrawny fellow with unkempt brown hair and spiral glasses stood in the doorway. His pronounced cheeks rose as his face scrunched. The research assistant's finger danced, waving erratically as he counted the line as if it were a complex math problem.

"Ummmm, eugh.... hmmm.."

His throat and nose seemed clogged at the same time with his guttural, distorted voice. The pauses he took were monumental in proportion, and likely the source for all of the hold-up you endured.

"Let's, uh... see here..."

How could he breathe?

"UMMMMMM..."

...

"Oh yes! You three! Come in come in eughguhguhuh!"

He laughed through the thick coating of mucus surely resting in his throat. He fanned the clipboard at each of you, before wagging his finger in the air and waving his hips. The scrawny scientist almost did a dance back into the lab. But it was more like the jig of a baby Girafarig. Each of you followed him into a building that seemed smaller on the inside than it was on the outside. Massive, peculiar machines sat on the moss green tile floor. Dots of all colors cooed and shone as the technology vibrated. You swore some of them might explode at any moment. Files, records, discarded Poké Balls and prototype Pokédex plastered the tops of tables on the outer edge of the room. Crammed into the space between all of this were scientists in white lab coats. They scurried to and fro about the place, not so much as a single wave. Their heads were low and eyes focused on clipboards with paper. Busy day, busy day, busy day.

Except for this guy.

"Yeaugh, huhuh, sorry about the-wait! Th-th-th terminals will get ya' yourrrrr Pokémon! Um, uh, hmm..."

A trainer bumped into his shoulder, and the man nearly leapt across the room with a yelp. He landed and brushed off his white coat, plagued with coffee stains. He turned to where the trainer had come from.

"Oh yeah! Hyuh, they're over there!" He pointed to the corner of the room, where at least ten terminals lined the wall. One was in use.

"MILES. MILES FOR THE FIFTIETH TIME, SPEED IT UP!" A disembodied voice said.

Miles left the three of you with a wavering cry, scattering away with his hands waving to and fro above him. As you walked away, you heard the familiar voice of Miles struggling to count once again.

"MILES. IT'S SIX. LET SIX OF THEM IN."

A man of dark skin and buzzed hair smiled after his shouting match across the room. He waved to you, revealing the top row of his shining white teeth. "If you need any help operating the terminals, I'm right here. Professor Ficus is out right now, but I'm her main assistant researcher! Name's Bruce." The man said. His voice was calmer now, not containing the boiling rage of animosity. "If you ever have questions on your journey, I'm a ring away. My work number's built into each Pokédex." He imitated a phone with a closed fist and two fingers on each side being next to his face.

You stepped forward.

@Rune_Alchemist

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

LYNN HAYWOOD

AGE: 18
SEX: F
HEIGHT: 5' 8"...1/4!
WEIGHT: 157 lbs

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... SNEASEL

[WILL YOU GIVE SNEASEL A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

@Lasrever

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

ABIGAIL LOWE

AGE: 15
SEX: F
HEIGHT: 5'... 4' 11" 7/8... 4' 11" 3/4... recalibrating...
WEIGHT: Calculating...

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... DEERLING

[WILL YOU GIVE DEERLING A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

@tex

[REGISTER] Read on the screen, just above a thumb print. There was no turning back from here. Did you accept?

Assuming you accept...

Blue lines traversed the screen. In patterns, sporadically, dashing in their inconsistency. The cogs in the terminal whirred as the lasers performed their show, before they came to form words on the screen.

TESH YAMA

AGE: 18
SEX: M
HEIGHT: 6'... 6' 1/8"!
WEIGHT: 175 lbs

[IS THIS CORRECT?]

Assuming you pressed the button, after making any changes you wished...

CALCULATING...

First, a hex grid of wireframe. Black in the inside, green as the structure, a Poké Ball formed in a pocket below the screen, held by a sort of basic upholder apparatus. A green laser, in the fashion of a 3D printer, began to bring the Pokéball to life. Layer by layer, the second dimension gained another perspective. First green, then a white bottom, a black, middle rim, a white button on the front, and finally the cherry ted top. The button glowed a dark pink and hummed a synthetic tune before fading.

YOUR POKÉMON IS... MEOWTH

[WILL YOU GIVE MEOWTH A NAME?]

The screen asked you.

Pokémon: One (~Looking for one player and a Co-GM!~)

Question for y'all, in a battle with multiple Pokémon, let's say your Pokémon is defeated or vice versa. Should the trainer who's Pokémon was not defeated be able to switch out in response to the defeated trainer's new pick? I'm leaning towards no, as this might lead to constant type advantage and a snowball victory depending on who wins the first round, but I'd like everyone's input as this is your campaign.