Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
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Post by Nero on Oct 26, 2023 1:39:28 GMT 9
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Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Oct 26, 2023 1:41:15 GMT 9
The vast number of tutorial prompts and pop-ups that had appeared in front of Nero's eyes once he'd been handed his starter Pokemon had been overwhelming for somebody not used to that sort of sensory input. He hadn't known how to turn them off or dismiss them either, so they had simply piled on top of each other as he'd somewhat stumbled out of the lab, knocking over something or other as he found his way to the door - hopefully just books since he didn't hear any shattering of glass as he left. He'd eventually gotten out onto a path and vaguely headed in a direction that didn't seem to have too many flashing signs pointing at it, and found himself a public bench to sit down on. It wasn't his body that welcomed the rest that it received from the little breather, but his mind, as he took a few seconds to just close his eyes and breath in... and out...
The pop-ups were still there when he opened his eyes again at last, but it felt easier to ignore them now. Especially since as he'd taken his moment of pause, thoughts of the new Pokeball in his pocket had come floating back to the forefront of his mind. He'd fished it out again, pulling the little white tape from the front, before releasing the Pokemon onto the ground in front of him. A Cyndaquil materialised in the spot, causing Nero to immediately grin down at it as a childish glee filled his chest. Wow... this game was awesome.
The Pokemon was bigger than he'd expected it to be actually, but then the old games had never been very good at showing off scale. Nero reached a hand out towards it, letting the long nose sniff him for a moment, before continuing forwards to pat its soft head. The Cyndaquil let out a happy trill at the contact, immediately moving closer for more, and Nero was happy to oblige. His fingers moved to scratch under its chin, chuckling to himself at how realistic this somehow managed to feel. He'd never had a pet back home - his parents had never allowed it - so he would have killed for something like this as an alternative. Better late than never though, right?
"I don't have a name for you," he said after a while, the fire type's head lifting to look up at him as he spoke even as Nero's hand moved to pet the fur between the currently inactive fire spots on the Pokemon's back. "I never really did that in the old games - nicknames I mean. It kind of feels weird not to give you one, but... maybe we'll figure one out as we go?" He'd have to see what other players did - peer pressure had always been effective on him after all. For now though, Cyndaquil didn't seem to mind, simply trilling again and snuggling up against his trainer's legs - a gesture that tugged at Nero's far too prominent heartstrings. This avatar was supposed to be stoic and cool... Cyndaquil was going to ruin that for him with his softness it seemed, and Nero couldn't even bring himself to be mad about it.
Cyndaquil went from Rare (+10) to Very Rare (+15) |
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Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Dec 10, 2023 20:29:42 GMT 9
The tutorial battle had gone... badly. Not only because they had lost too: any battle that ended with Nero punching the opposing trainer could hardly be considered a success. At the time, he'd raged about the whole thing being 'unfair', how it was an 'impossible' battle just put in the game to scare off new players, to intimidate them into giving up early while simultaneously embarrassing them too much to return the game. It was probably some clique-y thing to make sure that only a particular type of player persevered, and Nero had been on the fence as to whether he wanted to keep playing in a community like that.
After cooling off and thinking about it though, it became very clear that that wasn't the case at all. Tutorials taught you how to play the game, and while that often involved hand-holding you through simple problems, that wasn't always the case. Sometimes they taught you about systems by simply forcing you to engage with them when you might not have done so otherwise. Like the upgrade systems of UNOVR. Would Nero have actually bothered to look at them this early if he hadn't been pushed towards them by failing an 'easy' battle? Probably not, and by the time he faced a real challenge, he might have forgotten how they'd worked. It was actually a very clever solution, making the tutorial battle unwinnable without access that system first. Anyone who'd stumbled upon it naturally or knew about it in advance would fly through the battle with ease, while everyone else would be introduced to it organically.
It was still a lot of information to take in though, even if he was doing it at the 'right' moment. Nero had found himself somewhere quiet again, away from any other players who might judge him, or worse, offer to help him. Cyndaquil was sat beside him, healed and happy, since Nero wanted to see if each upgrade had any visual effect on the Pokemon in question. With everything prepared, he pulled up the upgrade screen and found himself murmuring to the fire type beside him as he clicked through various options. "Health definitely, you need more HP. That zebra had fucking loads, that was the only problem. And stronger attacks, yeah, that too. Maybe we don't use this so often though, yeah? Some of those... what were they, 'basic' attacks? Yeah we should have used those more." Cyndaquil nodded along as Nero spoke, tiny fragments of strategy starting to form without him being really conscious of them. That tutorial really did do it's job well, didn't it?
With the first two upgrades purchased, he paused as he felt something move, and looked down to see Cyndaquil crawling into his lap to try and see what Nero was looking at. With a snort of amusement, his left hand dropped to pet the Pokemon in an effort to keep him entertained while his right continued to scroll. "What else... Oh, we can give you new moves? Does that do anything?" He looked down at the fire type expectantly but got nothing useful in return, so after glancing at his current wallet and seeing that he had more than enough for the upgrade he clicked it anyway with a shrug.
Another box showed up then though, directly over Cyndaquil in the sidebar, a single floating word that was very familiar in this context: EVOLVE?
Looking down at the Pokemon in his lap, a tinge of excitement reignited in him as he asked, "You wanna evolve, Cyndaquil?" Damn, he still needed a name for him - it actually felt strange using his full species name when talking to him like this. Cyndaquil was nodding though, so pushing that thought aside for now, he clicked the button and watched the familiar words from all the old games flash up brightly over the rest of the overlay.
What's this? Cyndaquil is evolving!
Congratulations! Your Cyndaquil has evolved into Quilava!
The Pokemon now in his lap was much larger than before, stretched out so that his back legs hung off of Nero entirely, and when it barked a noise at him in greeting, the sound was much deeper than before. "Awesome," he replied, a laugh working its way into his voice as he spoke. "That should do us, right Q-..." He paused, the idea of speaking a newly evolved species as a name feeling even weirder than the last option. "How about just Quill for now?" It was consistent between the two species technically, so it wasn't like a wholly new name, and it was simple enough that if he did decide to come up with some proper nicknames in the future, it wouldn't feel weird to change it. Probably. Whatever, it was an easy adaptation for Nero to get used to, and Quilava seemed to like it too judging by the happy chirp from the fire type. He rubbed the Pokemon's head once more as he closed up the upgrade screens and stood up once again. "Alright, let's go find someone to try these upgrades out again then, hey?"
Quilava went from Rare (+10) to Very Rare (+15) |
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Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Jan 20, 2024 21:59:06 GMT 9
The girl from the tutorial, Torino or something, had said that the Pokemon that Nero had gained from his first capture attempt had a lot in common with him. At least in terms of aesthetic anyway, and while he'd agreed at the time, the thought had lingered with him long after walking away. In fact, as soon as he was alone again, he'd released the newly caught Purrloin into the grass beside him so that he could take a better look at it.
He did recognise it - he'd definitely played the game it had first appeared in then, but it must have been a later one because he had very little actual memory of it. It was the DS games he'd mostly played: Soul Silver, Alpha Sapphire, Platinum, Black, and... wait, it was those ones, wasn't it? Black and White, and they'd had sequels too. He'd only had that briefly in comparison to the others, before he'd lost access to the games completely. But yeah, the more he looked at it, the more he could place it in Black specifically.
And duh, this game was named after the region from that game, wasn't it? It shouldn't have been that hard to figure out.
While he'd been musing, the little cat Pokemon had stretched its legs and yawned, before perusing the local area and its new trainer. As Nero shifted and the trailing belt of his long coat twitched though, the Purrloin stopped in its tracks and turned towards him more fully. A paw reached out to bat at the loose fabric, and Nero instinctively stepped away, making it jump even more. The dark type let out a playful growl and pounced towards the belt, with Nero stepping aside again just in time. With a chuckle, he took the ribbon of fabric in his hand an intentionally shook it around, watching as the cat jumped and bat at it with little meows of concentration as it did. That was adorable. Nero had never had a cat himself, but he'd seen them play with toys and lasers in much the same way before. It was cute to learn that cat-like Pokemon did the same thing.
He found himself wasting some time away just making up games with the Purrloin and its new found fascination with his belt. In fact, he'd planned to go off and seek out more adventure and trouble, but this was far too engaging. By the time he'd finished and Purrloin had stretched out for a nap, it was pretty much time to log out for responsibilities in the real world too.
Huh. He'd not expected that side of this game to be so entertaining.
Purrloin went from Uncommon (+5) to Rare (+10) |
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Nero
•
Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Aug 15, 2024 23:56:55 GMT 9
Electrike seemed... better? Marginally? Than before Nero had taken him back into Mistra... but honestly Nero had no idea how to judge that anymore. He was moving much more fluently now, his image not seeming to stick in certain postures for fair too long, and when Nero walked, the dog Pokemon followed him again. That was progress, right? That was improvement... so then why did the electric feel so... sinister now?
Perhaps he was imagining it, but Nero could have sworn every time he let the Electrike out of it's Pokeball, the brightness of the game dropped a level. The colour gradient of his surroundings seemed to shift as well, an odd purple tint taking over everything around him that no-one else but him seemed to be able to see. And there was something about the way Electrike seemed to act now that felt just the slightest bit... eerie? He didn't want to say frightening. But he moved a little too fast, showed a little too much claw, and the static from his fur seemed to hurt now when it never had before.
But... he was moving better? He had more personality again, even if it felt like a slightly different one, so... progress?
With a sigh, Nero came to a halt in some quiet village in an early part of UNOVR's map, sitting himself down on an old crate and watching Electrike growl at a nearby NPC. "Hey," he called, mostly as a distraction, which worked as the puppy came quickly back to his side. "Look, I... I'm sorry, I guess? I know this is my fault, but like, that quest should have come with warnings or something." Electrike just stared at him, either not understanding or simply not caring about what was being said. "But I'm gonna make it right, okay? Don't know how yet, but... I'll figure it out." Again. no reaction, the dark eyes staring back at him with an intensity that made Nero uncomfortable...
Perhaps he needed to try a different tactic. "... And I was thinking, people in this game give nicknames to their Pokemon, right? I never used to do that, but I guess it feels weird calling you 'Electrike' out loud." It hadn't until they'd gone to Mistra, but being so alone and cut off from the rest of the world and the game itself, it had felt so impersonal that Nero had found himself feeling guilty about the omission. He'd told himself he'd rectify it later, and now seemed a good a time as any. "And look, I suck at names alright, I tend to just shorten stuff... But that can work for a name, right? Like how about you, how about we call you Tyke? Because you're little and it sounds like your name..." God that sounded SO dumb out loud but he'd spoken it into the world now, and before he could take it back, Electrike was barking in... agreement? Sounded like it. "Alright, so Tyke then. Let's... just have a bit of fun, yeah? We never really stop and do that, do we?" Mostly because this was a game and he was a piece of data, but Nero was sure he'd get some enjoyment out of this too and that was what mattered.
Glancing around, it didn't take him long to find an apple that seemed to have fallen out of one of the crates around him. Picking it up, he held it out to Tyke to show him. "How about fetch? Okay, so, go fetch!" The apple was thrown, and Tyke seemed to get the memo, darting after it and snatching it out of the air before returning back to Nero. "Nice work," he replied, reaching to take the apple back but flinching away as Tyke crunched his jaws shut aggressively, crushing the apple in the process... No problem, he could just get another one. Standing up and peering into the crate he suspected the first fruit had fallen from, he came across a few more and fished out another to throw. The same thing happened - a perfect catch and return, only to destroy the apple in front of him... and yet Tyke's tail was wagging all the same so he was clearly enjoying this game. Fine then, they'd just go through the stock of apples together if that was what he wanted.
The game continued, until a few apples later, Nero decided to up the difficulty, throwing the apple much further and sending Tyke racing off to get it. The Pokemon was gone for a while this time, and Nero began to worry, thinking perhaps the previous glitchy state had taken over him again.... only for the electric type to eventually repapear, with something distinctly not apple-shaped in his jaw.
He tried to destroy it just like last time, but thankfully his teeth couldn't crush through, and Nero was able to pull the object from his Pokemon's mouth. It was... a pocket watch? And a fancy one at that, gold with jewels embedded into the outer casing of it. "Where did you find this?" he asked in surprise, looking around for an angry NPC running towards them but one was yet to materialise. "Come on, quick," he mumbled, shoving the watch in his bag and turning to walk away from the direction Tyke had come back from. He should probably look for the person this had been taken from but.... eh, maybe later, he just needed to save his own skin from any unpleasant consequences first.
Electrike went from Common (+0) to Uncommon (+5) |
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Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Sept 5, 2024 3:56:35 GMT 9
In all the chaos with Tyke, the excitement of accessing the Beta Island, and the general busy nature of handling so many quests recently, Nero had barely even acknowledged some of the new Pokemon on his team. His Numel and Zubat had at least had a brief interaction with him, enough for him to know a little about them and to assign them to a useful spot on his team. But since then he'd also got his hands on a Growlithe and a Poochyena too, and he hadn't even seen them in person yet, just seen their sprite had been added to his inventory. And Poochyena had been one of his favourite Pokemon when he'd played the early games on his hand-me-down consoles in his younger years too.
Aggressive, dark dog - what a surprise that it had resonated with Nero, huh?
He did eventually find himself between quests though, taking a moment to himself to just rest out on Beta Island atop a sheer cliff along the coastline. From all the way up here, he could sit and look out over the entirety of the beach, giving himself an eagle-eyed view of all the Pokemon playing at the water's edge below. It was peaceful, the weather was clear, and he hadn't been plagued by glitches recently, so there was no harm in sending out the dark pup to get to see it in action.
The golden Pokeball released the familiar shape, and Nero smiled as he watched the Poochyena explore the clifftop around him, sniffing at plants and pouncing at anything that moved in the air around him. He let the little creature tire itself out first of all, enjoying simply watching it frolick around, and when the pup had finally lost a little energy, it came padding over to see Nero up close. "Hey," he greeted, offering a hand out to be sniffed like he would to a real dog. His offer was accepted, and he was soon petting the Pokemon between the ears, the puppy moving closer with each stroke until it had finally clambered onto Nero's lap entirely. With a small chuckle, he ran his fingers back through the grey fur - coarser than he'd expected but still comfortable to comb through - grooming the little dog slowly with his own long fingers.
Poochyena settled down into a curled up position resting her chin on Nero's lap and almost closing her eyes completely as the soft movements lulled her to sleep. An amused exhale left Nero's lips, careful not to wake her with the noise as he let his fingers continue to pull through her fur. See, this was what UNOVR was really for, wasn't it? Not all the exciting stuff but this, this little peaceful moment... Although it did occur to him that he could be productive right now as well. Pulling the more detailed UI up in front of him, he spent some time doing basic inventory management, going over what he needed to purchase next, and what sort of quests he might like to d- oh? What was this? Oh the DNA, right, he'd forgotten about that. He could multiply it again it seemed, and while he still wasn't sure what it was actually for, the item description said something about the dark type - or he assumed that was what it meant anyway. With a shrug, he tapped it again as he glanced down at the sleeping Poochyena. More stuff for hisdark types could only be a good thing, right?
Poochyena went from Common (+0) to Uncommon (+5) |
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Nero
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Child of the Night
Player Character
Posts: 263
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Jack Montague
OOC Username: Vay
Arena Points: 88
|
Post by Nero on Sept 23, 2024 2:44:06 GMT 9
"Alright, how do I look?"
It still felt a little bit odd talking to Pokemon. Sure, Nero had muttered at his screen as a kid playing the DS games, but that wasn't the same as speaking directly to a packet of data. He had to give UNOVR credit for their AI though - the Pokemon in this game really did feel like they had proper personalities and everything. You really did feel like you were talking to another sentient creature yet, even with PokeSpeech turned off. Despite the slight strangeness of the feeling, Nero was adapting to it, and he didn't shun away from talking to the Pokemon in his party because they were 'not real' or whatever. And hey, on the off chance his aunt did question who he was talking to when he logged out of the game, at least he had enough player acquaintances now to be able to list off some random names.
Friends? Maybe that was too far, acquaintances was fine.
It was Kabutops he was talking to today, a Pokemon he had bonded with far fast than most because of her help with his Swimmer class. It had taken him a while to get to grips with that, and without her he'd have been lost entirely, and that was partly what today was about. He'd gone into a boutique shop in Briarbane (a hole in the wall that just popped up a menu) and added a new accessory to his avatar - a piercing in his left ear which now held an earring in the shape of a long silver scythe. As soon as he'd seen they had a Kabutops themed item, he'd had to get one immediately.
The water type tilted her head at the sight of the glittering item, leaning in closer to peer at the dangling piece of metal to work out what it was. It took her a moment to realise the connection, the little homage to herself built into her trainer's style, but she let out a whoop and clapped her scythes together when it clicked. "Glad you like it," Nero replied with a smile as he found somewhere to perch for a moment. "Figured I should honour you after all your help. And I'm about to ask some more of it I think."
Those sign ups had just gone up after all. Those sign ups that he'd said he wasn't interested at all in but that that party might have changed his mind about... "Do you... wanna have a go at the big event thing?" He knew Quill would be down for it after the party, but this Kabutops was his next closest ally so he'd want to bring her too. In fact, even as she nodded her agreement to the mission, another thought occurred to him.
"Look I'm shit at naming Pokemon, I never did as a kid, right, so I don't know what to call you guys." Quill for Cyndaquil, Tyke for Electrike, it wasn't going well so far... But at the same time, if it wasn't broken, why fix it? "But like, if you want a nickname, you know, because I use you a lot..." He paused while the strange rock type tilted her head once more. "How about just like... Tops? Is that weird? Can I just call you Tops?" He liked the sound of it, and it was something simple to match his others, but would she?
The same noise she'd given at the sight of the earring came from her throat as he scythes clanged together once more. Apparently she did like it, and Nero was thrilled to know he could now easily recognise her happy reaction too. "Awesome. Alright, cool. Tops. Let's err, let's go do this mission thing then, yeah?" Another whoop, and Tops skittered closer to Nero as he stood straight again, headbutting him in the side in affection, though with enough force to nearly knock him off balance. With a chuckle, he patted her head and nodded towards the nearest notice board. Time to dive into the fray...
Kabutops went from Rare (+10) to Very Rare (+15) |
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