Myriad Excesses: A Slaanesh Themed Run of Rejuvination

[Orasha]

 

"Find pleasure in every moment, indulge in every whim. Let lesser races feel the burden of their crude lives. We are beyond such concerns or worries. Every power is ours to use, every sensation ours to experience. We are truly masters of the galaxy, and all others exist only to satisfy our curiosities. We have earned our position of power. Let us forever taste the fruits of such achievement. Time itself is ours to command. We are eternal."

 

Hello everyone! Break out the whips and chains, cause its time for a rather ~sensuous~ challenge run. 

 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Warhammer, Slaanesh is the Chaos God of hedonism, perfection, lust, pride, dubstep and self indulgence. What does this mean for a Pokemon run? Well, basically I'm going to restrict myself to mons that are female only and/or sexualized. I know what you're thinking, "But Orasha, the internet will pervert anything!" And you're right! So I'm trying to limit it to Pokemon that are notorious for how weirdly sexual they are, even among people who don't really play Pokemon or have paraphilias (I'm looking at you, Mega Lopunny). Some of these are debatable, and in those cases I'll leave it up to your input to determine whether something is sexy enough appropriate for the run. 

 

This run was also inspired by this piece of fanart (No nudity, but it is suggestive and probably NSFW)

Spoiler

 

Aside from my limited Pokemon usage, I'll also be playing through blind, so try to limit spoilers. The only exceptions to that are Pokemon locations (just to make sure I have as many applicable Pokemon as possible), and possibly puzzle solutions if I get super stuck. This also means you'll get to hear my initial thoughts on Rejuvination  I hope I don't rustle any jimmies. 

 

For reference, here are a list of Pokemon I'm considering using: 

Spoiler

Female-only Pokemon: 

Spoiler

-Meowstic F

-Nidoran F

-Illumise

-Froslass

-Wormadam

-Vespiqueen

-Salazzle: Salazzle literally uses drugs to enslave the male Sandalits. Once I get her, she will be a constant member of the team.

-Happiny

-Kangaskhan

-Smoochum

-Miltank

-Petilil

-Vullaby

-Flabebe

-Bounsweet

S-Rank (Highly sexualized design, recognized even by non-fans)

Spoiler

-Gardevoir: Both Gardevoir and Kirlia are arguably the most sexualized Pokemon of all time. Personally, I'm hoping for a male Ralts, and I'll never evolve him into Gallade. 

-Lopunny: Lopunny was already weirdly sexual enough, bringing to mind a literal "Playboy Bunny." But then Gamefreak made it even more explicit in its Mega form. This playthrough would not be complete without one. 

-Cloyster: Cloyster's rather close resemblance to a certain part of female anatomy makes it a shoe-in for this run. (Cloyster could arguably be A-rank, but oh well)

-Primarina: Primarina literally looks like a mermaid. That is all. 

-Gothitelle: Its line is at least partially based on Lolis. 

A-Rank (Suggestive design, but generally only known to Pokemon fans)

Spoiler

-Fomantis: Its evolution looks like its wearing pants. But Fomantis definitely gets in because pretty things with big ol' claws for hands are some of Slaanesh's favorite demons. 

-Ditto: Ditto is mostly relegated to breeding, and there's some really weird implications there. The implications get even weirder when you consider that Ditto can turn into people...

-Tangrowth: The epitome of "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going"

-Bellossom: Looks like a Hula dancer. 

-Mawile: Doesn't necessarily have a suggestive design, but is based on a female Yokai and that counts enough for this I think. 

-Gorebyss: It has a shell bra for Arceus' sake. 

B-Rank (Generally humanoid or pretty, but not necessarily sexualized, debatable whether or not they'll be used)

Spoiler

-Roselia and Roserade: I think Roserade's opera-mask-looking face seals the deal for me. 

-Milotic: Originally evolved when it became Beautiful enough. 

-Victreebell: Kinda sorta resembles female naughty bits if you squint hard enough. 

-Diggersby: The traditionally masculine equivalent to Lopunny, but not nearly as fabulous. 

-Delphox: Sorta resembles a furry. Debatable.

-Granbull: I just like the idea of a female Granbull, since a Pokemon not looking like its gender (like male Gardevoirs and Primarinas) are very appealing to Slaanesh. 

-Liepard: Maybe resembles a furry. Super debatable. 

-Lickitung: Not humanoid or pretty, but does have a super long tongue which I'm sure is popular in awful parts of the internet. 

-Banette: The zipper reminds me of a gimp mask just a tad. 

C-Rank (Not really sexualized at all, and while I could sort of see them included, they don't really scream Slaanesh to me)

Spoiler

-Alolan Ninetails: Super pretty, but is it sexy enough for this theme? 

-Sylveon: Again, fabulous, but I'm not really sure if it fits?

-Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff uses Sound moves, and sound is the trademark of Slaanesh's faithful Space Marines: the Noise Marines.

-Exploud: Again, here due to Sound moves, though its more of a shoe-in thanks to the artwork I posted above. Also mildly resembles a Fiend of Slaanesh (mostly cause it's purple). 

-Maractus: Sort of feminine but also kinda not that great so I dunno if I'll be using it

-Clefairy: Mostly female, but that's basically it. 

-Delcatty and Purugly: The other cat Pokemon are just kinda meh, though I could see how some would want them included. 

These tiers are speculative at best, but oh well. 

As you can see, there's a fairly large amount of Pokemon to choose from. Feel free to suggest any that I may have overlooked! 

 

I'm not sure how much roleplaying I'll be doing during this run, as I don't have as much time as I did during the summer (and even then, I never really RP'd my two Reborn runs). At best, you can expect some weird prose about sensory pleasures. At worst, it'll just be a lot of sex jokes. I'll try to be more like Cain and less like T3RR4, but we'll see (both are probably Heralds of Slaanesh anyway). Prepare yourself. 

 

Anyways, that's all for now! I'll be seeing you soon~

[J-Awesome_One]

Kinda surprised I didn't see Onix or Steelix in this but anyways, yay! More stuff for me to follow and read! Can't wait for you to start this.

[Orasha]

I can add them if you want  I was also thinking about Muk, due to what its name is backwards, but other then the name it doesn't really fit. I forgot to put it on the list though  And thanks! Next update will hopefully be tomorrow, but idk

[J-Awesome_One]

Lol. Well you can add them if you want. They just always reminded me of a ummm... A part of a male's body. Haha. And that's awesome. Take your time. Just curious. Is your sprite gonna be like normal in game sprites or did you get custom made ones?

[Mechathulhu]

Oh man, it's finally here

 

I'm pleased to see there are quite a few additional Pokemon that are candidates to the challenge. It ought to make both of our challenges unique and you'll most likely have a greater type differential in which to keep you from potential insanity. You also made an interesting observation in the 100% female only side of things and marked Meowstic's female form. I think it's a fair argument, yet I am somehow torn on whether or not I would accept it when my time comes. A most pressing matter to ponder over.

If I could suggest another Pokemon for the list, I was wondering what you might think of Mienshao as a Pokemon befitting the theme. Ultimately you know the theme better than I, so if Mienshao doesn't make the cut, it's cool, I wouldn't want the theme to go too off base. It is one of my favorite Pokemon personally and I'd hope it could be included among those already confirmed. I'll be awaiting the first update, and it will be my pleasure to bare witness to the revealing of your themed run. Show it all off!
 

Edited September 6, 2017 by Mechathulhu

[Alistair]

Good to see the Slaanesh run was chosen =p

 

 You do have an interesting array of sensuous creatures at your disposal! I'm just a bit doubtful of some B and C rank pokémons, as it's a bit of a stretch to consider them sexualized or even female-leaning, namely Victreebell, Granbull, Liepard, Exploud and Purugly.

 

It's entirely up to you to decide whether they're worth a spot or not, though. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting run in any case  

 

 

[St0mpa]

13 hours ago, Orasha said:

-Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff uses Sound moves, and sound is the trademark of Slaanesh's faithful Space Marines: the Noise Marines.

-Exploud: Again, here due to Sound moves, though its more of a shoe-in thanks to the artwork I posted above. Also mildly resembles a Fiend of Slaanesh (mostly cause it's purple). 

For those 2 they don't fit the sexualised part of the run but they do fit with Slaanesh so I suggest if you use them use them only for specific circumstances where they are perticularly usefull. (e.g. if it was reborn Exploud's boom burst could be used to wreck the mirror field, or Jigglypuff for perish song BS).

 

7 hours ago, Alistair said:

Good to see the Slaanesh run was chosen =p

 

 You do have an interesting array of sensuous creatures at your disposal! I'm just a bit doubtful of some B and C rank pokémons, as it's a bit of a stretch to consider them sexualized or even female-leaning, namely Victreebell, Granbull, Liepard, Exploud and Purugly.

 

It's entirely up to you to decide whether they're worth a spot or not, though. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting run in any case

I agree with the pokemon said other than Exploud (for the reasons above being it is kinda like a Noise Marine)

 

Edited September 6, 2017 by St0mpa

[Orasha]

20 hours ago, Awesome_One said:

Lol. Well you can add them if you want. They just always reminded me of a ummm... A part of a male's body. Haha. And that's awesome. Take your time. Just curious. Is your sprite gonna be like normal in game sprites or did you get custom made ones?

Haha I might add them, it depends on when Onix is available and what my selection is like at that point. No custom sprites for this one (tbh I wouldn't even know who to talk to and I'd feel kinda bad if I couldn't compensate them for it). I agonized a bit over which sprite to pick, but that'll show up in Chapter 1. 

18 hours ago, Mechathulhu said:

Oh man, it's finally here

 

I'm pleased to see there are quite a few additional Pokemon that are candidates to the challenge. It ought to make both of our challenges unique and you'll most likely have a greater type differential in which to keep you from potential insanity. You also made an interesting observation in the 100% female only side of things and marked Meowstic's female form. I think it's a fair argument, yet I am somehow torn on whether or not I would accept it when my time comes. A most pressing matter to ponder over.

If I could suggest another Pokemon for the list, I was wondering what you might think of Mienshao as a Pokemon befitting the theme. Ultimately you know the theme better than I, so if Mienshao doesn't make the cut, it's cool, I wouldn't want the theme to go too off base. It is one of my favorite Pokemon personally and I'd hope it could be included among those already confirmed. I'll be awaiting the first update, and it will be my pleasure to bare witness to the revealing of your themed run. Show it all off!
 

Personally I think Meowstic's female form counts. She learns different moves from the male form, have different possible abilities, and play very differently (Smogon lists them as separate, for instance). Ultimately it's up to you, but I feel like these differentiate Meowstic-F from its male counterpart enough to be included (contrast to a Pokemon like Pyroar, where the differences are only sprite deep). 

 

I knew I forgot something! Mienshao was in my list of Pokemon in my text file (I generally write down battles and impressions there before uploading), and I didn't put it here. Oops. I'd say they definitely count  

14 hours ago, Alistair said:

Good to see the Slaanesh run was chosen =p

 

 You do have an interesting array of sensuous creatures at your disposal! I'm just a bit doubtful of some B and C rank pokémons, as it's a bit of a stretch to consider them sexualized or even female-leaning, namely Victreebell, Granbull, Liepard, Exploud and Purugly.

 

It's entirely up to you to decide whether they're worth a spot or not, though. I'm sure it's going to be an interesting run in any case  

 

 

I agree with Victreebell, Granbull, and Purugly. Liepard I'm more on the fence about, but I have better Pokemon to choose from in the beginning as well. Exploud is here largely due to the fanart, and also because Slaanesh's marines are the Noise Marines and they're hilarious. Basically they murder people with the power of Rock and Roll. At one point they literally had weaponized guitars. Exploud is basically the only Pokemon that fits the Noise Marine's catchphrases: THIS QUIET OFFENDS SLAANESH and THINGS WILL GET LOUD NOW. This is a pretty good intro to them (please don't turn your volume up you might die lol): 

Spoiler

 

7 hours ago, St0mpa said:

For those 2 they don't fit the sexualised part of the run but they do fit with Slaanesh so I suggest if you use them use them only for specific circumstances where they are perticularly usefull. (e.g. if it was reborn Exploud's boom burst could be used to wreck the mirror field, or Jigglypuff for perish song BS).

 

I agree with the pokemon said other than Exploud (for the reasons above being it is kinda like a Noise Marine)

 

Exploud may stay around just to make sure things stay loud. It really depends on what Pokemon are available when (and Whismur is available before the first gym). I'll likely prioritize other Pokemon over Exploud unless its a situation where I really need to SCREAM TO BE HEARD. 

[Orasha]

Chapter 1: A Sensuous Start

(well, not really)

 

Before we even get to character creation, there's a rather revealing intro, which sets up things that will be important later, I'm sure. Just for a quick recap: 

Spoiler

I picked Adventure just because, I'm not sure if it'll effect anything later. 

 

I'm sure this odd character that may or may not have elf ears will be important later. This implies that what's happening to Maria has happened before, which is odd. 

 

Creepy.

 

Ah good, more Arceus cultists. I look forward to teaching them what a real god looks like  

And just as young Maria is to be sacrificed, we wake up to character creation! Don't tease me like that! 

 

I flip-flopped on what sprite I wanted to use a couple of times. See, Slaanesh is referred to as "he" in Warhammer lore, even though applying gender to extra-dimensional beings is sort of incoherent. Slaanesh also possesses male and female parts, and is said to be the perfection of gender and sexuality, so an agender character would work well. Unfortunately, the agender sprites don't really yell "Slaanesh" to me, which makes sense since they're androgynous (which is good in general, but not good for this particular theme). 

 

Instead, I decide to use the pink-haired girl in the dress and hat. I think she fits the theme best out of the available sprites. It's here that I have my first main complaint about the game: I couldn't find any way to back out of character creation once a sprite was selected, apart from resetting the game. This meant that in order to check out all 6 sprites, I had to play through the tail end of Maria's intro 6 times, and that was rather annoying. Really, the intro wasn't too bad, but having to pick the difficulty setting each and every time and not being able to save after that was fairly grating (I decided to play on Normal, btw). Maybe I'm just dumb, but I tried every button I could think of and nothing worked. Also, I named my character Slaanesh since I'm lazy unimaginative trying to get into the mood for it. 

 

At this point, I was sort of fed up with going through non-gameplay stuff, so I skipped the extra intro on the boat. I had gotten that far with my initial playthrough so I didn't miss anything, but I didn't take any screens. I don't mind the boat scene, as it sets up character relationships and sets the villains up as a credible threat (also they use a ton of Deoxyses... Deoxysi? and I'm excited about that). I just kinda didn't want to go through it again ^^' Sorry. 

 

Instead, we pick up after just being rescued by Telsa and their Talonflame. I'm hoping he's a bird specialist, since the real life Tesla had a weird Slaanesh-approved thing for pigeons. 

Spoiler

If something happens for a reason, its usually cause of Tzeentch, but okay.

 

After running around to get some items and going through customs, we're finally in Gearen city, and trainers block our path, forcing us to the Laboratory. That's not before we have this charming~ interaction:

Spoiler

Oh, I'm sure you could show me around or something... wait, you're not interested since I have no Pokemon?! How rude!

 

After that, we finally get to the lab, where we can choose our Pokemon! On our way into the lab, we run into this girl:

Spoiler

That hair reminds me of Maria, so I'm sure you'll be a plot critical NPC.

And get some not-so-subtle cues that the Professor is up to no good:

Spoiler

Not suspicious at all!

 

With all that out of the way, we can finally descend and pick out starter! We could just go ahead and pick Popplio, or we could try our luck at getting Ralts as a Jackpot starter. I decide to use the Jackpot machine, and go with whichever one of those two it spits out first. 

 

It feels like hours, but after Reborn's psychiatrist this amount of soft-resetting means nothing to me. This even requires less effort then the therapist did. After a while, we get a Ralts! It's female, which is sort of a bummer since having a male Gardevoir would be very emblematic of this run, but oh well. I decide to name her Heartslayer, since its one of the least silly/edgy names for one of the Keepers of Secrets, Slaanesh's greater daemons. And then I get a look at it more closely:

Spoiler

AAAAAAAAAA she's shiny! Holy shit! This run has truly been blessed by the Chaos gods! The IVs are doable, and on normal mode I'm not sure if they'll be that important anyway. Impish also isn't a horrible nature for Gardevoir, though I synchronize isn't my favorite ability. If Ability Capsules exist, I'll probably change her to Trace. 

 

As is tradition, we get to face some trainers, likely the ones who will be recurring characters or rivals. The first is Amanda: 

 

Spoiler

You don't know the half of it  

What can I really say about this? It's an intro battle. Luckily, Litten got confused and that allowed Heartslayer to take him out... barely. 

 

Aw, I'm sure you say that to everyone~

 

Next up!

Spoiler

I'd like to think I'm pretty experienced. 

He has Protean Froakie because of course he does, and unfortunately scores a critical in the first round, meaning Heartslayer loses. Unfortunate, but not worth replaying to be honest. 

 

If you say so...

After getting gifted some useful items in exchange for finding and helping Melia, it's time to truly begin the adventure. It's time to grab some Pokemon! 

 

After some running around, this is our team: 

Spoiler

We "rescued" Gimpy (who I'll rename later) from one of the colored buildings at night, a worthy addition to the team. 

 

Fomantis reminds me a bit of a Daemonette, so I name her after one of the more famous ones, the Luminary of Slaanesh. She has Leaf Guard instead of Contrary, but I can't really abuse it until I can breed Pokemon so I'm not too worried. 

 

N'Kari is named after another Keeper of Secrets, though I don't end up using him (I eventually decided that Liepard didn't fit the run and boxed him. He won't really be missed, since he didn't have Prankster and Liepard isn't that great without it). 

 

Bun is from a trade for a Cherubi, and we can't rename her so if I really want a thematic name I'll have to breed another Buneary. I'll probably do that eventually, but until then we're stuck with Bun. 

After running around the city, I discover the Help Center and do all the sidequests I can handle. While they're all interesting, one in particular struck my eye...

 

So a girl's Starly gets stolen and we have to track it down. After defeating a biker, and at risk of having to face his two buddies, this happens: 

Spoiler

Huh. Apparently magic is real in this universe, and can be controlled by humans thanks to the ancient civilization having taken the energy from Pokemon and put it into a book. That's... pretty terrifying actually.

Spoiler

Oh do tell me more~ 

I didn't write down her name (oops!), but having some form of magic that isn't the result of a Legendary Pokemon in the setting is pretty cool, if a little jarring initially. It helps add some gravitas to the Garufa, and is likely setting up some even stranger uses of magic further down the line. I'm certainly intrigued. 

 

And with that, I think that's gonna be all for today! It's been a pleasure~ 

[J-Awesome_One]

Nicely done! Love the team so far! And yea. I usually do the somewhat easier Help Center sidequests now and then right before I go to the gym, I take care of the harder ones. Although, one of them I usually do after the gym. But if you tried doing them all already, I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about. Haha. Can't wait to read more.

[St0mpa]

12 hours ago, Orasha said:

If something happens for a reason, its usually cause of Tzeentch, but okay

I love that line.

[Mechathulhu]

Funny how the early game is actually quite giving with Pokemon that suit the theme, a very fortunate turn of events, cause if it's one thing that can soil a themed run is the availability of Pokemon pertaining to a challenge. A happy coincidence!

[Orasha]

On 9/6/2017 at 7:54 PM, Awesome_One said:

Nicely done! Love the team so far! And yea. I usually do the somewhat easier Help Center sidequests now and then right before I go to the gym, I take care of the harder ones. Although, one of them I usually do after the gym. But if you tried doing them all already, I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about. Haha. Can't wait to read more.

One of them was WAY more difficult than it needed to be since I have no way to deal super-effective damage to Fire types yet. But yeah, I noped out of those quests after I got wrecked once and came back to them later. 

15 hours ago, Mechathulhu said:

Funny how the early game is actually quite giving with Pokemon that suit the theme, a very fortunate turn of events, cause if it's one thing that can soil a themed run is the availability of Pokemon pertaining to a challenge. A happy coincidence!

Yeah!  There's thankfully enough to have a good rotation at the start (though I do have some gaping holes in my type coverage currently). I'm pretty happy so far  

[Orasha]

Chapter 2: Ravenous Rifts

 

As I slowly explore East Gearen, I witness a girl get punted out of her house... Quite literally. She doesn't seem to be doing well.

Spoiler

 

We have to get her an Oran berry as a last wish, though something seems a little fishy. It turns out she was playing us (gasp), and that she just wanted a free berry! Drat! All the same, she seems pretty interesting, and introduces herself as Venam. With that name and that hair, she's just gotta be the Poison-type leader. She invites us to hang out with her in the sewers.... Romantic? 

 

 Outside of the sewer level, we run into Ren again, though there's no battle this time. It seems that Melia couldn't go where she wanted since the Railnet was down, so she came to the sewers to fix it. Well, this'll be fun! In the sewers, we eventually find Melia and Venam, who are trying an experiment. It seems Melia left some garbage down there to see if it would spontaneously turn into Trubbish. There's also talk that Melia attracts Shiny Pokemon at a supernatural rate, though she's quick to downplay this

Spoiler

Don't be shy, I have a few "hidden abilities" too  

After some more dialgoue, the foreshadowing becomes reality as Trubbishes attack, backed up by a Shiny Garbodor!

 

Spoiler

We're teamed up with Ren for this one, and I have a confession to make.... I didn't really take any screens. My excuse is that I was super tired when I battled them, and my other excuse is that like... this battle isn't that long or difficult or important, it just have its own battle screen.

 

But basically, the garbage couldn't stand up to Heartslayer's psychic assault. 

 

After that mini-boss, the power is restored and we also find a Coin Case, which will allow us to waste time grind up some coins in Chrisola Hotel's casino. There's also a nice little easteregg here:

Spoiler

Awww

With that, we're able to spend hours playing Voltorb Flip in order to get a Meowstic (soft resetting to ensure its female). Depending on how things go, I might grind up coins for Hidden Power since that's a super useful TM. With a little outside help, I calculate that both Espurr (now named Kyriss) and Heartslayer's Hidden Powers are Fire. Interesting. 

 

It's at this point that I also decide to just run around in Gearen forever to get a female Nidoran. It takes... a while. (Later, when I finally messed with my computer clock to catch a Budew, it seemed like Nidorans were more prevalent in the morning, though it might not be a real pattern). I name her Zarakynel. Hustle is kinda a meh ability, but it means that Nidoqueen will have Sheer Force, which is super good, so that's an okay trade-off. 

 

With that out of the way, it's time to hop on the plot train literally. We run into Tesla again, who is adamant that our mother is still alive, and buys our ticket to Goldenwood forest. We also talk to this Old Man, who hurt himself trying to rescue his granddaughter, so of course we'll find her. 

Spoiler

 

Before fully progressing with the plot, we run into a Whismur on Route 1 that we immediately pick up. THINGS WILL GET slightly louder in the future. 

 

Once there, we run into Melia again, and get to spend the day with her! After teaming up to handle some ne'er-do-wells, we run into an odd inscription on the wall, that breaks somehow! 

Spoiler

 

And we get to picnic with her, which is amazing  

Spoiler

People usually say that about me in regards to other things~ Also jeez I think Venam is right about you attracting shinies.

 

Is that really all I am to you?  

 

*Channels Terra* Just wait until tonight, bb

 

Awww

 

And because this is a Pokemon game, she wants us to battle her, since she'll be a gym leader soon. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

It's a Buneary vs Buneary smack down. Despite Bun being faster, hers is stronger (and I'm pretty sure has TMs or Egg Moves -__-' ) and my Bun is KOed. 

 

Abyssa finishes her off with Knock Off. 

 

Eevee's Mud Slaps lower Abyssa's accuracy, so I switch out for Kyriss.

 

Confusion KOes. 

 

Confusion OHKOes thanks to Stufful's typing and due to a critical. 

 

It'll take a lot more than that to dominate me  

I decide to switch to Zarakynel, who gets Yawned on the switch and hits with Poison Sting before getting Charmed and falling asleep. I switch her out for Heartslayer, who gets brought to critical by Rock Wrecker from Metronome, but two confusions are able to KO. 

 

 

Melia's a little bit sad, but it's okay! And then an odd, green light washes over the screen...

Spoiler

Ominous.

Running back through the cave, we get an even worse omen:

Spoiler

Uh-oh.

 

So we run into Team Xen again, and this time they're after Melia!  One of the grunts brings out a Meowth, but it looks... odd. 

Spoiler

According to Melia, this is a Shadow Pokemon. That's pretty cool, since Shadow Pokemon were used in the Gamecube Pokemon games and don't show up anywhere else. I'm pretty sure they work the same mechanically as well, which is cool. I'm definitely a fan of this idea, hopefully the implementation is good  

 

Melia instructs us to open the briefcase, since her father put something in there for emergencies. Before entering the correct number, I enter the number the lock was at in the forest when we had the picnic, and I'm rewarded with an ability capsule! Sweet! After entering the correct combination, we find something strange...

Spoiler

Interesting... reminds me of something esle

 

 

This glove allows us to swipe Shadow Pokemon from their owners in battle, which is pretty sweet. So we steal the Meowth and fight some more grunts. Also it's called a Snag Machine. Pretty cool name. Most of the other Shadow Pokemon don't interest me, until... 

Spoiler

You are mine.

Also at some point, this happens:

Spoiler

Excellent.

 

Eventually we get to have a double battle against what I assume is this game's version of Aster and Eclipse, Eli and Sharon.

Spoiler

So this is another one where I didn't really screenshot cause I was tired and it was a pretty quick, straightforward battle. Oooooops. 

Sharon even reminds me of Eclipse's personality. 

 

Then the shiny Garbodor from earlier shows up and distracts the pair, allowing me to talk to the odd guy who seems like the leader. His hair is... kinda silly, to be honest. He's called Zetta, and talks some shit about our name. You have no realm to talk here. He also introduces us to something else ominous: the Rift.

Spoiler

It kinda reminds me of the X-men logo. 

Zetta gives us an ultimatum: Either he beats us and takes Melia, or we beat him and he unleashes the Rift. Not really fair, but he is a villain after all. And since this is a Pokemon game, we're not going down without a fight!

 

Spoiler

Abyssa gets confused and takes some damage from Rollout, but fights through it and manages to KO Minior with Night Shade. 

 

Abyssa stays in to suicide with Shadow Sneak, and gets KOed by Bite.

 

I bring out Heartslayer, who hits with Disarming Voice and takes a Shadow move, and Hyper Mode takes Grimer to critical. I figure I might as well Snag it, even though I probably won't use it. 

 

I switch Heartslayer out for Luminary, since Heartslayer can't do much to Meowth.

 

Luminary eventually finishes it off with Fury Cutters, but is brought to critical. She suicides against Zetta's Type: Null. I bring out Zarakynel. 

 

Double Kicks eventually take it down. 

 

Oh boy...

 

True to his word, Zetta calls on the Rift.

Spoiler

We're gonna need a bigger boat....

We get sucked into Gyarados's mouth or the dimensional rift, and the rift world is... a little weird. After throwing all the Magikarp back in, and finding some data about the boss we're about to fight, we take it on. But we're not completely alone...

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

So uh... this is another one I don't have screens for, and that's cause it was super annoying. Rift Gyarados has much better stats and could outspeed basically anything, and as long as it spammed the dimensional rift attack I was basically toast. The only reason I won was cause I got lucky with it using its other moves. A little more annoying than PULSE Tangrowth, mostly due to speed tiers. 

 

And with that, everything goes dark...

 

See you next time! 

[Mechathulhu]

Wow, I wasn't really expecting Shadow Pokemon, much less an inter-dimensional Gyarados. A quite unsuspected occurrence as well as an odd write in. Despite the struggle from that however, it seems this game has escalated rather quickly and I'm beginning to wonder if it could be anymore off the wall than what I just witnessed. Guess I'll just have to stay tuned.

[Orasha]

Chapter 3: A Whole Lot of Talking

 

After defeating the Rift monstrosity, everything fades to black... and not in a fun way. It seems as though we might be dead, until a voice pierces the darkness. 

It's Melia, who has rescued us thanks to plot convenience. She decides to try something risky: having her Togepi use Metronome and hoping that it teleports us outta here. 

Spoiler

Maybe one day you'll say that to me  

 

Togepi manages to teleport us into Gearen Laboratory, where we get to eavesdrop on Dr. Jenner and the woman he was talking to him on the monitor, Madelis. A lot of plot happens, so I'll just sum it up below:

Spoiler

It turns out we were right and they were up to no good. Who coulda thought. Who is Madame X though? Maybe I'll be able to turn her into Madame XXX I blame T3RR4 for that one

Oh snap! 

 

Melia bursts in and things go... about as well as you'd expect.

 

Melia spills the beans that we defeated Team Xen in the forest

I mean he did pretty good and that Gyarados made me squirm but yes. Madelis decides to fight, but Melia teleports both herself and the Team Xen woman away, leaving me with Jenner. Apparently the Snag Machine was made specifically for Melia as a way to protect herself against Team Xen's shenanigans. Sorry I kinda took it. Oops. 

 

And then that super ominous Gothitelle shows up... and it talks! I want one...

Okay apparently its her owner speaking through her or something. Psychic Pokemon are weird. She offers us some foreshadowing:

Spoiler

And then goes on her way. I'm not gonna let some mildly attractive Pokemon's psychic telephone powers tell me what to do! 

 

With all that out of the way, we can finally take on Venam, our first gym leader! The first time I face her it... doesn't go well. I decide to do some side content (like finding out her secret gym graveyard, though the only thing there is a Seviper egg and that's not really useful to me). Since she gave me so much trouble, I decide to grind Euphoria and Heartslayer up to level 20 so they evolve, and then common candy them back down to 18. Hopefully the increased stats will be good enough against her. 

 

And so, this ended up being my team for our rematch:

Spoiler

Everyone holds a Pecha berry except Zarakynel, who has an Oran Berry. That will hopefully mean less poison for us. 

 

Ah yessss, Slaanesh vs Poison, the favored type of one of my enemies, Nurgle. This should be interesting. 

Spoiler

Psybeam is a OHKO. Take that, you Nurglite scum! 

 

There's nothing Kyriss can do against Alolan Grimer, so I switch her out for Zarakynel, who takes a Fire Punch on the switch. 

 

Zarakynel takes plenty of Fire Punches and retaliates with Double Kicks until Grimer is defeated, and Venam used a potion on it as well. She brings out Stunky. 

 

I leave Zara in, and Stunky is a bit annoying to take down since it uses Taunt. Zara gets Venam to use another Potion, and ends up taking Stunky out as well, eventually. 

 

If only you had Toxapex... Anyways, I switch back to Kyriss since Zarakynel can't really do anything vs Mareanie. She takes a Scald on the switch. 

 

Psybeam is a OHKO. 

 

Whirlipede is hit hard by Psybeam, and brings Kyriss to low yellow with Bug Bite. Luckily, Kyriss outspeeds and KOs with another Psybeam. 

 

Oh I'll do more then just push~

Psybeam does pretty good damage, but thanks to Seviper's Berry its back up to about half health. Venam's kiss ends Kyriss's sweep. 

 

The goal here was to KO with Confusion, but Seviper is faster and OHKOs Heartslayer.  

 

I bring out Bun, who eventually defeats the snake with Quick Attacks

Shouldn't I be saying that to you...? 

 

After getting the badge, Venam wants to go look for Melia, but that requires Rock Smash... which she doesn't have. Apparently one of the gang leaders has it. Wonderful. Venam is also a little distrustful of our... intentions concerning Melia. 

Spoiler

...both? 

 

After leaving the gym, we encounter the mad Dr Jenkel, who can return us to our dreams. It looks like we can replay the lead up to any further Rift sections through this mechanic, presumably to grind EXP off the meteor grunts or to catch Shadow Pokemon we didn't get the first time? I'm honestly not sure what the point of this is, though it'll probably be important later. 

Spoiler

I focus on bedroom intricacies that happen before you sleep, old man.

 

We also get roped into collecting Zygarde cells for a sidequest, though I'm not sure how diligent I'll be about finding them. Are there any rewards other than Zygarde? Because that's not a Pokemon I can use. 

 

I also stop by Venam's house and hang out with her mom. 

Spoiler

This gets us a Poison Barb and a Rejuvination-exclusive TM: Poison Sweep! It immediately goes on Zarakynel. 

 

So we defeat the gang leader, Karrina, and get inducted into their super-secret hideout (where they spy on people and beat up those who break the rules? They feel more like an underground police force then anything else). They tell us they're doing an operation at Amethyst cave, which is pretty convenient since that's where Melia probably is. It's time to hop on the train and head to Route 2...

[Mechathulhu]

Seeing some of these Alolan forms as well as any Gen VII Pokemon in this game are really getting me hype for Reborn to have them available. Reborn aside, good work on Venam, I don't rightly know how difficult the leaders can be in this game, but it seems that so far it hasn't been all too challenging. When it's later in the game and they have reason to step up the difficulty it will be nice to experience the journey and the full fledged battles with victories that are exciting to earn and earn well!