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Post by shameless on Jul 10, 2014 13:37:38 GMT
Northern Ireland is ... pretty ghetto, if ghetto had a countryside cousin. There are small towns and villages sprawling over the entire country, and while things are generally peaceful, we do still get the odd bombscare. Still, since the introduction of our very own Pokémon League, things are heating up in all the right ways - the competition is actually doing the community a huge favour. Actually becoming a trainer was a pretty big step for me, too. We've all heard the stories, the horrors, the dreaded Curse of Nuzlocke, but I decided, fuck it, I'm not doing anything else these days, may as well give the professional circuit a go!
And that, my friends, is how I stumbled across this lil beauty.
Now, I say stumble across, but I actually went through the official channels to get my lil Banshee. It was a choice between her, a Geodude and an Emolga, and honestly? It was a close call. But something about Banshee called to me, it was a sort of primal encounter, so I picked her, and I haven't regretted it for even a second.
Y'know, no matter how many times I consider this, it still feels strange to me - the first leg of my Pokémon Journey ... wasn't actually in Northern Ireland. Merc showed up on my doorstep and the next thing I know, we're in Standswandel Park in Eindhoven, North Brabant, in the fucking Netherlands! It got better, too - it took all of five minutes before I was in my first Pokémon Battle, and moreover, we caught our first team-mate.
Atlas is, without a doubt, everything you want in a Pokémon - he's fiercely strong, brimming over with potential, just that little bit needy that makes you feel wanted, and just curious enough to occasionally get back to me with a random item or two. I hadn't caught Atlas for more than 30 seconds before Merc suggested both he and Banshee learn Dig, and while he was at it he transferred two of his very own Pokémon into my ownership. He's a strange boy, but if it weren't for him I wouldn't have these beautiful lil creatures.
Ali is a funny one, come to think of it. She and Banshee quickly hit it off, which is obscenely adorable. They seem to like ... well, making me uncomfortable. But the best part of it is that when Banshee tries to badger me by sneezing over me (yeah, not even joking), Ali will laugh. And I'm tellin' you, owl laughter, man. Owl laughter makes the world go round. As for Luma Coil, she's not exactly interested in me. She follows her orders and all, and she's certainly not aggressive, but she seems a little passive. The fact that she doesn't know Thundershock has been a real pain in our asses. Still, she's so close to evolving that soon it won't matter!
Well, once we finished with Eindhoven, Merc sent me home and I somehow ended up on the roof, which was an interesting experience. Atlas got separated from me and ended up by the front door, y'know, where I was supposed to be, and nearly shat himself. Bless him, it's all Europe, so he isn't too far from his old home!
The next morning I set off for Belfast, Northern Ireland's Capital City, and the trip there was obscenely eventful. I entered and won so many competitions along the way that my team literally doubled in size, and my inventory swelled. I managed to catch myself a Taillow using a little trick I'd picked up from Merc, which involved nothing more than tricking the thing into being my friend with food. It was sweet. I felt like I'd cheated, but with none of the guilt.
I'm about to pass through Giants Ring, an ancient burial site for the Sun Worshippers of Ireland pre-Saint Patrick era, and I'm hoping I meet a few Ghost-types while I'm there.
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Post by shameless on Jul 28, 2014 18:39:11 GMT
Another day, another dollar. Well, in America, maybe. We don't use dollars here. We use Pounds Sterling ... and I feel like I've immediately veered off-point for the sake of a passing phrase.
That said and done, it was a fantastic day in virtually every regard - no less than four new Pokémon have joined the team! And I didn't have to deal with a single trainer, either. No awkward small talk for me, no sir. The day began in Giant's Ring, an ancient burial site and cultural heritage site of the sun worshippers, a common pagan practice from over 1,600 years ago. I hadn't expected the place to be up to much, maybe have a few Ghost-types or Psychic-types, and in a lot of ways I wasn't far off the mark. I decided Banshee and Ali would get the best experience out of the site, considering Phantumps are part-Ghost and Hoothoot are always wrapped up in paranormal happenings. And that was when we happened across a particularly old Duskull that captured my attention.
I had Ali attack him immediately, and he countered with an ineffective Shadow Sneak. He actually seemed quite offended that his attack couldn't inflict damage on Ali, and basically demanded answers from me. He was a little hard to read. Ghost types are, all too literally, a little hard to grasp. The next thing I know he's chatting to Banshee, we're petting rocks and, while I was reading a sign, the little shit reached into my chest, touched my heart and ... I dunno, accessed my memories? I felt my life flash before my eyes. I'd like to say it was boring or something atypically angsty, but it wasn't. A little sad, maybe, but good. And the Duskull liked what he saw, because the next thing I know he's crying about our lives and he joined the team. Meet Eugene!
He was pretty cool. He managed to one-shot a couple Lunatone and Solrock, so I'm guessing he sort of ruled the Giants Ring roost. Ghost-types are really strange to have around ... and I really like it. That said, my next location was the River Lagan, and there wasn't a ghost to be seen.
Just so. Many. Fishies. This is where things got interesting again, 'cause stuff happened. I caught me a Feebas and trained the living shit out of Luma Coil and Hamtaro, and the next thing I know they both evolve! Check me out, one river and I had two evolutions within 5 minutes. And guess what else? ... I caught me a shiny, too. Say hey to the new guys - they're gonna be fucking dreadnoughts soon enough.
Along the way we also picked up an abandoned Torkoal, and though I have yet to meet her, I can't wait for Claudia and I to become good friends. She's a lava tortoise - what's not to love?!
Things got ... different, we'll say, once we headed for Cavehill. I got a Pokédex notification about an event in Columbia, so I sent Salt a cheeky text and the next thing she's Teleporting me to Columbia for a presentation on ... the Nuzlockes.
Now, I don't know about you guys, but in my country we have a huge ghost story culture - we were raised with many superstitious mantras, tales and metaphors, and the Nuzlocke terrors were among the darkest of them all. And that is why I cannot fathom why anybody could willingly try to emulate those fictional rules and mindsets in this, reality. It's difficult to accept that this is a real movement, that people are genuinely getting behind this ideology. The world is difficult enough. To be honest, I'm finding it difficult to differentiate between what is 'real' and what is 'fiction' thanks to these asswipes. They claim that they have no leaders, no figure heads, no authorities - and that claim, while a blatant lie, is impossibly dangerous. They are trying to hide behind a cloak of anonymity, and I will not fall for it. We have Foresight, after all.
If they try to take my Pokémon from me, I will not hesitate to answer with force. I have multiple Confuse Rays and Thunder Waves at my disposal. I can keep my team safe without resorting to true violence.
I can only hope that I will be enough.
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Post by shameless on Sept 1, 2014 12:39:32 GMT
(( HEY GUYS N GALS. So here's the low-down on my recent lack of activity. First and foremost, I am not abandoning this site or my skype - I love this game and I love the half of you fuckers in it. Between my laptop being a little bitch lately and freezing all the fucking time, alongside preparing for my sister's wedding, my OTHER sister coming home from Australia next week, getting used to my new job and finding time to actually see other human beings that I'm not related to, I'm just unusually busy and creatively drained. It's gonna take a couple weeks for everything to really calm down so I'm just temporarily absent. I'll be back to my old near-constant activity within the next 6 weeks. I know that sounds like a real long time but I'm kinda stuck right now. Miss y'all <3 ))
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