Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 1, 2024 18:37:28 GMT 9
Before Hearteater Pt. 1...
It was a rather ordinary day; the clear skies and the strong sunlight did not bother Arthur all that much since as far as he knew, he couldn't get sunburnt in the game (or at least, the Kindler trait would have prevented that from happening, hopefully). If anything, he could hear his mom complaining at how pale he was for always being cooped up at home (and in other times, he would just be in buildings rather than enjoying the outdoors - he was not a very outdoorsy person unless forced) so he supposed the virtual sunlight was a nice trade off. If only the temperature in real life would always be this pleasant.
He supposed the relaxed atmosphere, besides the waves moving and crashing onto the shore, and the occasional Pokemon cry in the distance, was also thanks to the fact that he wasn't really in a rush. With the tower challenge behind him (thank God), he didn't really need any trade fodder at the moment, and so could just toss any Magikarp he found back into the vast ocean, to contend with whatever predators laid there, if the game did account for that.
The trainer only had his eye on one Pokemon and one only: the rumored Dratini, supposedly a very rare spawn at the end of the line. He didn't expect to be able to catch it today, but at least he would give it a try.
Many of his Pokemon were out and enjoying the peace and quiet: Gou was sitting beside him, feeling the breeze. Kanya was also napping somewhere nearby; the stones warm and smooth under the sunlight. Mugan was playing near the shoreline with Anta; the Mantyke doubled as a playmate and a watchful eye if in case the Druddigon wandered too far into the water.
He supposed his only complaint, really, was that he had two dogs on his lap, trying to compete for space. Buru would every so often wiggle and move, shoving Hie out of a good position, and the Poochyena would growl and bark in annoyance. He was sure that the moment something would tug on the line, both of them would fall onto the ground.
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 1, 2024 18:47:36 GMT 9
<Take your paw off my face!>
<Rrow rrow grr!>
Arthur clicked his tongue. ❝Can you watch it with the claws?❞ though that didn't seem to settle his Pokemon all that much. He swore that even if the Poochyena didn't know how (or maybe didn't want to) talk yet, he was perfectly fine taunting and mimicking the Snubbull's tone as he pushed her so that he could stretch his paws. Back fur would press against the nylon mesh fabric as well as his arm, but the pink bulldog would shove back with her shorter limbs (it was not as successful).
❝I can just get another chair, you know.❞
Buru glared at her trainer. <You're clearly not getting what we're doing.> the statement gave off the air that what they were contesting was very important. Maybe something only that lapdogs would understand? He supposed if he thought about it figuratively, he kind of got it. He had been sort of a lapdog for much of his life--
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 1, 2024 19:03:58 GMT 9
As expected, both Pokemon almost fell off the chair when Arthur had to pull the line, which contained something heavy. It also had something to do with the angle - he was sitting fairly close to the edge of an artificial rock pier, but even then the water was a few feet away from where he was. That meant that in order for his catch not to just slam onto the wall when he pulled it up, he needed to stand.
His dogs yelped when they tumbled over before picking themselves up and barking for the mistreatment (exaggerated). Arthur narrowed his eyes and glanced at them briefly before focusing on the line in front of him, which tugged and pulled - at this point, he was pretty used to the virtual fishing now, and so had a semi-instinct on when to let the line slack and when to start pulling to tire the fish out. Maybe the game was also on easy mode or something, since it didn't take long before he was able to pull what he caught above the water.
❝Hm, haven't seen this one before.❞ a singular white spot on mostly orange. Oh well, he was not in the market for a Magikarp at the moment, so after unhooking the fish with some difficulty (it wouldn't stop flailing), he was able to take a few steps closer to the very tip of the rock pier and release it back into the water. It fell with a splash, but he could see its silhouette upright itself quickly and swim into deeper waters.
He nodded to himself once. ❝That's catch number one.❞
<Only ninety-nine more to go?> Gou asked with a smirk; his eyes closed as he was in the middle of meditating.
❝Don't jinx it; otherwise we'll be here forever.❞ |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 1, 2024 19:18:25 GMT 9
<You haven't gone back to the guild yet, right?>
Arthur placed another colorful worm on the hook. ❝Nah, I think I would need bring a peace offering before I go back to the wolves' den.❞
The Monferno opened his eyes and looked at his trainer with concern. <They won't be that pissed off, would they?>
Arthur flicked the rod back in the water, barely making a ripple in the waves. ❝Not sure.❞ the version of C.L.A.W. he met when Josh was with him and the version he traded with were different somehow, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it since he only really had those two instances he was able to see her face to face. The other time he went to try to trade the Legendary DNA for another strand, he was only able to meet a clerk. Offscreen, the trade was finalized.
He shrugged. ❝I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. Worst they could do is kick us out.❞
Gou let out a soft noise of uncertainty, but decided to trust his trainer's words for now.
It did make Arthur think though: could he also influence the guild master and other NPCs to a certain degree? He wonder if it was something like...willpower. The game will bend to its players. he remember thinking...perhaps there were many more ways it could be applicable than he thought. |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 1, 2024 23:19:55 GMT 9
When he pulled the fish out of the water, he found it amusing that this was basically the opposite pattern of what he pulled earlier. Instead of orange and a little bit of white, this one was mostly white with an orange front. The game also helpfully told him that this was an uncommon Magikarp. Huh, the Magikarp had rarities? He supposed that not all patterns were created equal, but he was still pretty set on finding the Dratini and nothing else.
So back in the water it went. This one, like its kin, flailed around while Arthur tried to get the hook off its mouth. He had to put it sideways on the stone and hold it down with a foot so he could use both hands for the removal. It didn't look all that great, but this one was pretty big, and a slap of its tail could actually leave a mark on him if he wasn't careful.
Once that was done, he made sure to throw the fish with a bit of distance from the pier to the water so that it wouldn't hit the rocks. It landed better than the previous one, correcting its body in midair for a fairly smooth dive, swimming away quickly. |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 2, 2024 0:38:23 GMT 9
Arthur stifled a yawn, moving to sit back on the nylon chair, but found himself unable to do so with both of his dogs occupying it, looking rather chuffed with themselves. Hie's paws were dangling over the edge of the seat, while Buru was leaning on the backrest. If pictures were allowed, he thought that their pose would make for a cute post on Instagram or something, but he would just have to content himself with the memory of seeing them.
He supposed he should just buy another chair for trips like this, especially as the team got bigger. He didn't let out Banko because he wasn't all that psyched to be nearby water (which made sense because he was a ground type). He didn't let out Bari either because there was nothing for him to stuff his cheeks with, and he was pretty sure the stones here did not taste good. Tora, well, he wasn't too sure if the Scyther would run off on his own as he was traded from the Creed shop. He probably needed to spend more time with him, especially after the not so great first impression back in Briarbane.
Arthur decided that he would try to fish this next one standing, since it didn't take all that long for something to bite the bait anyway. He felt like it wasn't too hard to imagine what this place looked like before whatever ravaged it - it was a matter of just filling those holes with what should be there, like more water or sand. Was this kind of devastation possible anywhere else? Was this a consequence of a group's actions? |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 3, 2024 23:46:24 GMT 9
The same fish again?
No, it quickly made itself known that it was a different fish because it started yelling for absolutely no reason (okay, maybe it was in pain from the hook, but the other Magikarp he had caught never complained!). The yelling also definitely did not like a Magikarp's - it was as if it was given another soundbite to use, which sounded like...a man yelling?
Anyway, it was loud and obnoxious and Arthur couldn't figure out how to get it to shut up. He tried his best to quickly remove the hook as it continued to flail and yell, and then very quickly picked up the slimy fish and tossed it back into the water.
The even weirder thing was that the yelling didn't sound like it was getting farther. It lingered like a bad smell until it winked out of existence. The noise woke up all of his Pokemon, but did not necessarily motivate them to help. They just wanted to attack it if ever, but the trainer was trying to make sure he did the whole catch and release thing properly.
+1 Beta Tester req: Encounter game glitches (5) |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
|
Post by Kyukon on Oct 4, 2024 17:25:41 GMT 9
It had only been three fish so far and he was getting demotivated. The Dratini continued to remain elusive, and he wondered about spawn rates. Was it less than 5%? 1%? Worse than SSR pulls? He had tried a few of those, had a phase with online friends, but it never really stuck. He was at least familiar with the lingo, to a certain degree.
And here he was, hoping for a miracle. A legendary dragon in a pool full of common fish in the sea. Maybe he should just give this one check and then head on home after, as he actually had to shell out some more bytes for box space, never mind the pending rewards he had to accept from the Tower Challenge, good lord.
He cast the line, appreciating the quiet, and waited. |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 5, 2024 0:10:52 GMT 9
Huh...this one was...pink?
Well, pink and white, with yellow accents. It was actually quite pretty and would make for a good show fish in an aquarium, not that he ever experienced having one. He knew of peers that did whenever they had their house parties, usually in the form of a plain tank with an arowana or some other exotic-looking aquatic. He wondered what other colors were there? Because he had only been really catching variations of the classic orange and white so far.
It flopped around as all Magikarp did though. Even if it was pretty, it was still a Magikarp, and he didn't have any plans for another Water type on the team, not with Anta already filling that role quite nicely. Nonetheless, he turned to Gou, who looked confused at the sudden attention. ❝What do you think?❞
<What do I think about...what?>
The Magikarp glanced at the player and the fire type with blank eyes.
❝Having this guy on the team.❞
<Uh,> the Monferno furrowed his brows. <I don't know. Do you want to?>
❝Hmm.❞
With the fish no longer moving, only breathing, Arthur lowered it to the ground so that he could remove the hook without causing too much damage. After that, he carried the Magikarp (it had some heft, this one), before walking to the edge and tossing it back into the water. ❝I already have too many Pokemon to worry about.❞ |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
|
Post by Kyukon on Oct 5, 2024 0:20:10 GMT 9
That was catch number 4, and he was starting to feel a strain in his arms. Perhaps catch number 5 will be the end of it for today. How did other people manage these long catching sessions? Missing his chair that he bought specific for fishing, he shooed away Buru and Hie so that he could plop his weight on it, letting out a sigh of relief. The Snubbull immediately climbed back on top of his lap, but the Poochyena decided that he had enough of napping and went to see what Mugan and Anta were up to instead.
Speaking of which, what were they up to? Arthur hadn't looked at them in a while. When he glanced to his left, he was relieved to see that they were still in his line of vision, though further away than before. ❝Hey.❞ he raised his voice, ❝Don't stray too far.❞
Anta was probably saying something, but he couldn't hear it from where he was. He could only see her waving her flippers before trying to gently coax (smack?) the dragon towards where all of his other Pokemon were.
❝Gou, could you--❞
<Sure.> the Monferno moved down from the rock pier to the sand to join the other two Pokemon. In the mean time, Arthur hooked what he felt to be his final bait, for real this time, and cast the line. |
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Kyukon
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Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
|
Post by Kyukon on Oct 6, 2024 8:45:30 GMT 9
Surprisingly, wild Pokemon number 5 was not something that tugged on his line, but instead had made its presence known to the Pokemon near the shoreline. Arthur suddenly heard a splashing and, to his left, saw that there was a familiar Pokemon peeking out from the water. Anta basically caught on this almost immediately, letting out an excited cry before veering off from Mugan and flying above the water towards a potential new friend. The two looked like they communicated similarly, though with the distance it was hard to hear what they were saying (not like Arthur would be able to understand, if it was still in that bubbly language the Mantyke used).
And then both of them went underwater.
The trainer furrowed his brows. Thankfully, he did send Gou to watch over Mugan, especially since the Druddigon was about to follow his playmate into the water (the Monferno pulled him away with some effort, especially because the fire type definitely did not want to get his feet wet). How long were they going to play though? Were they going to have to wait for Anta before they could pack up? [tangent=The thought immediately made him think, "What am I, a parent?"]She didn't even ask permission??[/tangent]
Anyway, he didn't technically catch this one, so he supposed he could wait around for something to get on his line before looking for her. |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 6, 2024 8:58:53 GMT 9
<I'm bored.>
❝Mhm.❞ he meant to say, Same here, but was too lazy to do so.
But his laziness had a price, because Buru started to sing away her boredom, and that came out kind of terribly and growly and loud.
❝You're gonna scare away the fish.❞
The Snubbull looked offended. <No I'm not, I'm serenading them!>
❝What are you even singing?❞ Arthur didn't recognize the lyrics, and he was sure some of them were said wrong.
<I dunno.>
And then she continued singing, eliciting a groan from the trainer as he sunk into his nylon chair. Times like this, he did have a playlist when he was just not doing anything at home; a hodgepodge of random music from the Top 100 of many years, as he was not the type to really explore all that much, but there were also video games OSTs in there when he wanted something quieter, or classical, because again he didn't know where else to turn. He should've brought earphones.
He closed his eyes. Actually, maybe Buru was singing a pop song, if he mentally squinted. |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
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Post by Kyukon on Oct 6, 2024 9:49:22 GMT 9
Unfortunately, something else also heard the singing and decided they didn't like (or maybe they did?) It was the hardest tug that Arthur ever felt in the game before, and he didn't have the wisdom to let go of the rod when it yanked him off the chair, so Buru fell off his lap and he stumbled forward, almost completely falling face flat on the rocks, but managed to keep himself from completely losing his balance, but then--
His foot suddenly ran out of rock to step on.
❝****!❞
He fell without grace, belly first and losing the rod in the process. He remembered hearing a splash before his vision changed from above to below water. Thankfully, there was a slope before hitting the bed, and it went further down a couple more feet before becoming flat. However, the scene wasn't as pretty as he thought it would be, for the devastation of the battle above had also affected the seas below, and perhaps the developers didn't map out this area all that much.
Corals were present, but they were clearly repeated assets, spread across tiles upon tiles. They jutted out oddly, but that was nothing compared to the random bottomless pits scattered on the seafloor. He didn't feel any strong current that was pulling him into one of them, so he couldn't tell if they even led to anywhere. Otherwise, wouldn't they be creating some kind of whirlpools on their own, and wouldn't the sea have completely vanished a long time ago?
<Heeey!>
Arthur was startled to hear a semi-familiar voice. He then saw Anta swim up towards him with ease alongside her newly minted friend. Wait, ❝Did you just speak English?❞
The Mantyke giggled. <Yeah! Surprised?>
❝Yeah?? You always spoke in some kind of...❞
<It's how I speak out of the water!>
Gears were turning in the trainer's head. ❝So I can only speak to you properly underwater?❞
<I mean, I can still understand ya. You seem to understand me too!>
It was still easier if she were actually speaking like this though, Arthur thought. And then he remembered why he was here in the first place, but his rod (along with whatever yanked it hard enough) was long gone. He cursed, wondering how much it would be to get a replacement. Also, he damn hoped that wasn't a Dratini he just lost. |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
|
Post by Kyukon on Oct 6, 2024 10:50:37 GMT 9
Well, without a rod, there was not much point in sticking around. He let Anta say bye to the Mantyke that she befriended before they both swam up to the surface, as he didn't want his other Pokemon to get worried and chase after him. Once he broke his head out of the water, he spotted his Monferno and other Pokemon looking at him, relieved. He felt happy at that - having others care for him, even if they were just a part of the game (in some ways, it felt as genuine as it could be, or enough to feel that it came from someone that mattered).
Anta helped him to shore as the waves were picking up, and when her head was also peeking out of the water, she was starting to speak in that weird bubbly language. Arthur felt like she was teasing him, especially since she could speak English all this time.
Above them, the clouds were suddenly shifting and gathering. Was it about to rain? |
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Kyukon
•
Child of the Night
The Creed
Posts: 479
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Arthur Wright
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 10
|
Post by Kyukon on Oct 15, 2024 22:46:52 GMT 9
Weirdly enough, a Magikarp had followed them to shore. Perhaps they were curious about the trainer's presence underwater, but he was not sure what else would goad it to swim to a potential beating. Luckily for that Magikarp, Arthur was not in the mood to fight nor capture anything, as he was very much filled with box spaces and needed the bytes for something else. Thus, when he found his foothold on the sand and pushed himself upright, he gestured for the fish to head back into the glitch-infested waters.
It stayed, mouth open, fins barely moving, as if waiting for something.
The trainer rolled his eyes before fishing into his inventory and showing a poffin. This elicited no response from the fish, but when he did chuck it in its general direction, it followed, leaping flawlessly to catch the dessert before diving into the water. Well, that seemed to do the trick. Thankfully, with Swimmer, the water rolled right off, though he could taste the seawater on his tongue.
The sea and the Dratini would have to wait another day. |
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