• An addendum to Rule 3 regarding fan-translated works of things such as Web Novels has been made. Please see here for details.
  • We've issued a clarification on our policy on AI-generated work.
  • Our mod selection process has completed. Please welcome our new moderators.
  • Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
  • For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
  • Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
  • Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
  • The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.

Like No One Ever Was (Pokemon SI)

GameFAQs Guide to beating Nemona Glitterati 2: Double Battle Boogaloo New
Just when I think I'm out… she pulls me back in. Yes, that's right, we've got our new DLC, exploring Blueberry Academy. We get to meet a bunch of quirky new students, try out the synchro machine for funky Pokemon walking animations, get a bunch of new Pokemon to collect including all the regional starters in the expansive Terarium… and we get another battle against Nemona.
This one is optional after you invite her to the Blueberry Academy three times, and we actually get a bunch of fun interactions with her, talking about her past, how she used to go to BB before graduating and attending Uva/Naranja. But that's all stuff you can find out in game, let's talk about how to beat her.

As this is battle is within BB and she was a student there, she's facing you here in a double battle. Nemona will lead with either a Wash Rotom and Gliscor or Dudunsparce and a freaking Diancie (She even mentions having a mega stone to mega evolve them but says she won't use it because you don't have one which on the one hand is nice, but on the other I really want to see megas again!). And you won't know who she's sending in before the match as it randomizes it every time the battle is initiated so you can't save scum to line up your team right.
Both of the initial teams have different area Moves to spam. Gliscor has Earthquake, taking advantage of Rotom's Immunity to avoid hitting her partner. She also has Taunt, Protect, and Dual Wingbeat. Her Ability Poison Heal and a Toxic Orb to constantly heal over the course of the battle while locking her out of other status conditions after the first turn. The Rotom is in Wash Form giving them only one weakness (and one usually checked by the dual wingbeat of her partner). It has Electroweb for speed control, with Hydro Pump to give them high single target damage. Will O Wisp Burn will cut most Pokemon's Attack, while Pain Split gives them a recovery option, alongside Leftovers.

On the flip side, Dudunsparce has Hyper Drill to make use of his surprisingly high attack and punish anyone that thought they could Protect/Detect to avoid the onslaught of his partner. If that doesn't work he has Glare to cut down an opponent's speed with Paralysis, Helping Hand to boost his partner (despite not having hands...), and Roost to keep him in the battle longer. And what a partner he's paired with Diancie uses the insanely broken signature Diamond Storm to hit both foes with a 50% of a Defense boost by two stages. This fuels their Body Press, making it hit even harder. Moonblast rounds out her offense and makes use of her Fairy STAB. Trick Room turns the abysmal speed those two share into a boon. Dudunsparce has a Lum Berry for a one time status block, while Diancie has a Babiri Berry to cover taking quadruple effective Steel attacks at least once.

So this might not seem great, but you might think of just preparing for one team. Like hey, maybe Gholdengo would be good against the Dudunsparce and Diancie team? Wrong, or at least wrong half of the time. See, there's a 50% chance that either of the leads you see on a given team are actually her Hisuian Zoroark in disguise. This greatly changes things, as you can think that you're going to be clearing out Dudunsparce with a Fighting move only to watch it whiff. Or letting him boost a Move of hers that would have been resisted if they replaced Diancie. H-Zoroark has Hyper Voice for spread STAB damage and Bitter Malice for single target STAB with a nasty attack debuff on top (also, when did we start getting base 75 power Moves with guaranteed stat drops?!) Burning Jealousy is there to give her more coverage, is another spread Move, and will punish you if you want to/have already set up. She's built for speed and power, with her EVs maxed out in speed and special attack, and she's got Protect too, to help keep the disguise going and to stall out things like Sucker Punch for a turn. Her Focus Sash helps with that, so even though she's frail, you'll need two hits to take her out.

The final Pokemon on Nemona's original team is Lucario. She's got a lot of offense with Close Combat, Meteor Mash, and Extremespeed, boosted by her Life Orb. Her last Move is Swords Dance, letting her setup to sweep you, if given a chance. Nemona will send Lucario out a bit later, usually to plug any holes you've poked in the offense going on so far.
Like your previous fight against her Nemona will feel free to switch her team around and Tera whenever she feels necessary. And on that note, here's what she has going for her team.
Tera List:

  • Dudunsparce Tera Ghost (Stops Fake Out and gets rid of Fighting weakness)
  • Diancie Tera Grass (feels weird, but it covers most of her weaknesses as well as giving Nemona something against powder Moves)
  • W-Rotom Tera Electric (Boosts Discharge damage and takes away weaknesses)
  • Gliscor Tera Ground (Boost Earthquake damage, not quite as badly affected by Ice after)
  • H-Zoroark Tera Normal (Pretty rare to see this one, opens her up to Fighting and Normal attacks but gets rid of Dark weakness and boosts Hyper Voice)
  • Lucario Tera Fighting (loses a lot of resistances but also all of her weaknesses while gaining new ones to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy. Also powers up Close Combat)
For this battle, you'll probably want to just pick a starter set and prepare for that, just reloading until you get the right starter set. It's very possible to have answers for one set, and even for either of the two starting Pokemon possibly being her Zoroark in disguise to start. It's a lot more difficult to try and deal with 5 potential different Pokemon to start. If you absolutely feel the need to do so, make sure to have Protect and other stall Moves to get a clearer picture on what she's throwing at you first, then respond. Priority Moves like Sucker Punch can do a lot of damage as she doesn't have many counters to those either.

She lacks most methods to remove your buffs, terrain, entry hazards, or weather (thankfully), but given how hard she'll hit, often nailing both Pokemon on your team twice, Nemona will quickly tear through your team if given the chance. There's no competing weather or terrain setters so any Pokemon with Abilities that can set up those up for you without giving up a turn are quite handy.

Your Pokemon for this battle are going to vary wildly, it really depends on what combos you have ready. While her Pokemon are decently fast, Gen 9 metagame is insane so a lot of Paradox and Legendary Pokemon beat her for speed, which is good… unless she sets Trick Room up. Room Service may be an item you can consider using for those Pokemon. Here are a few others that we've found generally handy:

Scrappy Flamigo is a solid counter to H-Zoroark and Dudunsparce even if they Terastalize. Storm Drain Gastrodon can block Rotom, and can threaten Diancie and Lucario, and even Gliscor with Ice attacks. Maushold can be either an offensive threat with Technician Beat Up/Population Bomb and Wide Lens to threaten all but Diancie and Lucario, or as a support with Friend Guard and Moves like Helping Hand, Follow Me, Encore and the like. Rillaboom sets up Grassy Terrain to limit the effectiveness of Gliscor's Earthquake, while also threatening Diancie. Palafin outspeeds all but the H-Zoroark, so you can Flip Turn easily, or just switch out if you're scared of that with a bunch of support options in Haze, Encore, and Taunt, as well as just insane stats once Zero to Hero is triggered.

Incineroar or any Intimidate Pokemon are generally traps here. Nemona has three physical attackers, but only one (Gliscor) can be affected by Intimidate. Lucario has Inner Focus which stops flinches and Intimidates as of this gen, and Diancie has Clear Body making them immune to all stat drops from enemies. You can aim for a Trick Room team of your own, but that can be difficult to set up given how much offense Nemona has, and you need your team's speed to be really low so that Dudunsparce and Diancie can't take advantage of it themselves.

It'll be a tough fight, but try it a few times, get a feel for how she tends to respond and do your best to predict her Moves and switches because she will be prepared for you. If you show up with two Pokemon that know Steel Type attacks, don't be surprised if she swaps her Diancie for Rotom as you try to double tap them, etc. With enough perseverance you'll emerge victorious.

After all of that? She'll do the trade like every other mentor you can call into the club does, with Nemona offering a Shiny Dunsparce. Which might not seem like much until you learn it's guaranteed to evolve into a three segment Dudunsparce, saving a bunch of time for collectors… or not depending on how long it took you to beat her, haha.


The second one of these! This time we get to see her original team in double battles (those are going to be fun/complicated to write). I originally planned to have Nightwing use her Fling → Acrobatics strategy I have in the story, but with how long it would take to set up Toxic Orb self poison, Fling to get rid of it, then Acrobatics, it just seemed too easy to see through in a video game and made Nightwing way too open to counter play. Miles' Moveset got changed around dramatically as well, as I realized I was hewing too closely to what their Moves are now, in the story. Which works there, but wouldn't in a double battle, especially in a game with move limits and the like.
 
Lex Sedet in Vertice Crossover Omake: Part 1 New
I have some exciting news. King crimson over on Sufficient Velocity has just posted a lovely omake over on their quest Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest, and with their permission, I'm crossposting it here. This is the first part, and even without specific knowledge of their fic, I think you'll enjoy it too (but definitely do check the quest out if you have the time, it's great).

Like No One Ever Was Crossover omake Part 1
Cassandra Luthor (several years in the past)
Cassandra Luthor was born to be better. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about it, Cassandra was a Luthor which meant that she was better than virtually everyone else. Of course as Father's chosen heir, Cassandra had to prove she was the best. LexCorp was an industrial titan, easily cornering the power generation market in Unova, as well as the far less public facing weapons industry. They'd attempted to enter into the phone market but were beaten out by the Glitteratis. LexCorp had better hardware but raw machines couldn't compete with the Rotom-Phone's versatility.

She hadn't thought much of the Glitteratis at first. They were competent enough but there was nothing especially exceptional about them. They were too soft where it counted and whilst others might underestimate them, Cassandra could easily see through their facade. They'd be beaten and conquered before long. Cassandra had risen up to each and every challenge her father had placed before her, a bunch of tacky, would-be business rivals would fall just the same as everything else.

The eldest daughter, Cyan Glitterati, wasn't a real peer in any way that mattered. A weak soft-hearted little sheep coddled by over-indulgent parents. She wasn't nearly as imbecilic as other children her age, but that by no means put her on Cassandra's level. Cassandra would easily run roughshod over her if need be, especially in any relevant field that required drive and competitiveness.

The younger daughter, closer in age to Cassandra appeared to be the same at first. A foolish little girl strutting around with her parent's toys and playing the video darling for tapioca brained masses to coo over. The girl's musical ambitions were equally insipid, a bunch of mealy-mouthed sentimental mush. Cassandra paid it no mind, she had tutors upon tutors and countless academic and practical subjects to master in order to prove herself a worthy heir. And Cassandra would prove better but her perception of Nemona did change with time.

Somehow the Glitterati girl proved to be a remarkably competent battler. Cassandra could acknowledge that much. In a real fight Cassandra was confident she would win, real fights didn't have judges or rules and Cassandra excelled at interpersonal violence, but in an official match it was far less clear.

And official matches were important. Being able to succeed in the various leagues against gym leaders was a sign of competence and was internationally lauded. Being able to defeat Elite Four members and even champions would open up countless doors. Cassandra liked battling and alongside her starter Nibbler, Cassandra was confident that she could dominate the actual league, but so far it appeared Nemona might have a leg up on her.

The last straw was when Nemona took on the gym leader Clay and won. Cassandra had plans. She was going to attend Blueberry Academy eventually, it would be useful for connections at the very least, and she wanted a debut wherein her battling prowess wasn't in doubt. The plan was to take on several gym leaders in a row, and then come to the Academy before going on to clear the league as the youngest to ever do so. Of course Nemona had to go and beat a gym leader first. Now when Cassandra did take on Clay, her debut would be marred as Nemona had already done it first at a younger age.

It was infuriating, that all of Cassandra's plans would be thrown off by an outside factor but that was fine, Cassandra could pivot. She would prove she was the best one way or another. Now it just meant that she had to crush Nemona first.

Cassandra promptly accelerated Nibbler's training. She'd evolved her starter into a Gabite on her own following the instructions experts on LexCorp's had provided, but it was clear that it wasn't fast enough. He was bred to be the ideal battling Garchomp eventually, and Cassandra greatly enjoyed spending time with him, but she also had to learn to take over the company. As such there was only so much time she could spend training him. From now on Nibbler would be regularly trained by the best money could acquire. She was confident that Father could get some of the Dragon Tamer Clan in Opelucid to contribute. Nibbler would have a whole team of professionals dedicated to ensuring that he was the best. Cassandra would still train with him when possible but this would make sure that Cassandra came out on top.

Of course Nibbler on his own wouldn't be enough. Cassandra had an entire team to fill out. She had some ideas on what to do and sooner or later she'd be able to get the best breeders to provider her with the best eggs and she'd have the best team possible. Those new members would need to be trained up as well, but Cassandra could deal with it. There would be some struggle in finding time to ensure that Cassandra herself did not become the weak link, but Cassandra was confident she could manage.

Cassandra smiled as she prepared her arguments for Father to set things in motion. She was going to crush Nemona and prove to everyone that she was the best.

Nemona Glitterati (a few months later)
It wasn't often I took the time to think about how far I'd come. There was always something to do or somewhere to go, and that naturally meant there wasn't a lot of time to spend navel-gazing. Still as I was hiking in the wilds I couldn't help but think that I'd come fairly far.

I was going to take on the Elite Gauntlet and the Champion soon and I'd proven immensely successful in the Paldean League. True the Paldean League wasn't considered as intense as some other regions, but it was still a solid accomplishment. I had an excellent team, and while there were rough patches, like with Radiance, we were coming together as a unit remarkably well.

Raifort was still on the loose and Turo was still a problem but I'd made friends and come out on top. The future wasn't certain but I was confident we could take it on regardless.

I was getting ready to keep heading further when I spotted someone approaching me. I wasn't used to being famous still, and it was a little weird to be approached in the middle of nowhere, but it couldn't hurt to be friendly to a fellow trainer.

As she got closer I got a better look at the person in question. A dark haired girl, about my age approached us. The boots and the fingerless gloves she wore seemed practical at least but while I still didn't get fashion, my sister had chatted about it enough that I could vaguely recognize that the other girl's collared shirt and slacks were expensive and likely some kind of designer brand. The luxury balls tied to her belt only further solidified the impression that whoever she was, she wasn't shy about throwing around money.

It might be a little hypocritical but it felt a little weird to encounter some rich girl out in the middle of nowhere. That wasn't a thing people normally did. I couldn't recognize who she was off of my time on the internet looking into previous trainers, and my general metaknowledge of the games was also drawing a complete and total blank. It was certainly a surprise.

"You're Nemona Glitterati, right?" The girl asked, her voice flat and level. She seemed to kind of have a resting scowly-face. It was kind of cute on a kid, but I could see her coming off as intimidating or scary to other people my age. She wasn't nearly as bad or as aggressive as some other kids I'd encountered on my journey so I just assumed she was kind of bad with people.

"Yeah?" I asked somewhat confused but hoping to get to the bottom of things quickly. The other girl remained placid but I could see a bit of a competitive spark light up in her eyes.

"My name is Cassandra Luthor" the girl semi-dramatically introduced herself. She seemed to expect me to recognize her name but I was drawing blank. Maybe she was the daughter of someone who worked with my parents? I could figure it out some other time though as the other girl continued her declaration.

"I've come to challenge you to a pokemon battle" Cassandra stated. I was certainly interested. A weird rich girl tracking me down to battle me wasn't something that I was expecting but it wasn't overly unpleasant. I hadn't planned on a battle but I wasn't opposed to it one way or another.

"Alright, sure" I responded. "How many badges do you have?"

Cassandra seemed to get visibly irked by this question.

"None but don't think that means you can afford to hold back, I want to beat you at your best!" Cassandra declared. Badges weren't a surefire way to tell how capable a trainer was but it was still a decent shorthand. The fact that Cassandra had none made me pretty sure she was new on her journey. I figured I could afford to take it a little easier. I wasn't going to underestimate her, but I'd be putting Bahamut out first. This was a friendly match against a rookie, I could afford to take things a little easier.

"Got it" I answered "Ground rules for the match?"

"Six on six standard Unovan League rules" Cassandra responded before handing me a blocky device. I couldn't make heads or tails of it as the design was well past the level of tech I knew how to work. Apparently Cassandra picked up on my lack of knowledge because she quickly came over to assist.

"It's basic battleshield tech" Cassandra grumbled "You plant it on the ground in front of you, activate it and then we can go all out without needing to worry about hitting each other"

Huh, neat. I revised my assessment of Cassandra a bit, she was definitely some wealthy tech guy's daughter. Once the battle was done I'd have to ask her for one of these, it'd be nice to be able to recreate gym conditions out in the wild.

We each took up a spot a fair bit away from each other and readied ourselves for the battle.

"Go, Bahamut!" I shouted as I tossed the relevant pokeball. Bahamut let out a roar as he loomed over the battlefield. If Cassandra was at all unnerved by facing down a large pitch black Haxorus, she didn't show any signs of it. She merely ran a hand through her hair and smirked before tossing out her own ball.

"Snowy, you know what you have to do"

With a name like Snowy I was expecting some kind of ice type, an Alolan Ninetales or an Abomasnow would've made sense to me. Instead Cassandra apparently named an Annihilape of all things Snowy. I was kind of curious as to the story behind that.

The Annihilape let out a ferocious howl as it seemed to size up Bahamut. It was time for the match to begin.

"Bahamut, Aerial Ace!" I cried out, deciding to take the initiative. Cassandra did say she wanted me to try my best so I figured I might as well set the tempo. Bahamut leapt into the air and gathered flying type energy around himself before then diving down.

The blow easily connected with the Annihilape which made no move to dodge. The fact that Cassandra was entirely unreactive, just smirking a bit lead me to believe that either she had no idea what to do and was relying on strong pokemon someone else had given her, or she was setting some kind of trap.

"Leg breaker low sweep!" Cassandra called out, confirming that it was a trap.

The Annihilape lashed out and swung its foot outwards, breaking Bahamut's balance and sending him tumbling to the ground. I didn't quite know what Cassandra's game plan was but I know that I needed Bahamut to get up and get distance.

"Dragon pulse!" I commanded.

"Dragon breaker" Cassandra calmly responded.

Bahamut heard my command and did manage to fire off a purple pulse of power but the Annihilape danced around it and closed the distance, promptly landing an ice punch hard enough to turn Bahamut's head.

The Annihilape promptly then grabbed one of Bahamut's tusks and roughly pinned his head to the floor. At the same time the Annihilape began to repeatedly strike the back of Bahamut's head with ice punches.

Cassandra's strategy made sense in hindsight but I needed to come up with a counter to it. As is, she'd used Annihilape's strength and Bahamut's body type to pin the Haxorus to the ground in such a way where Snowy could hit him, but he couldn't hit the Annihilape back.

"Bahamut use breaking swipe, try to weaken its hold!" I cried. I wasn't sure it would work but Cassandra had completely thrown off my intended strategy by using a strategy that would only work against pokemon with the same body type as Haxorus. Still I needed to try something.

Bahamut unfortunately wasn't listening to me. Getting pinned to the floor and repeatedly punched was frightening and he was openly panicking, firing off moves and desperately trying to get free. They were connecting but there wasn't any sort of strategy and the Annihilape seemed to be content taking the blows.

Bahamut was a big fully evolved dragon but at the same time he was still pretty young. Something like this was a little too intense for him.

I made my decision promptly.

"You did good Bahamut" I reassured him as I recalled my Haxorus and thoguht of what my next move was going to be.

"This is not a switch" I informed Cassandra "I'm retiring Bahamut from the rest of the match"

Cassandra seemed taken aback by this before her smirk once more reasserted itself.

"I thought you were better than that" The other girl taunted "One thing goes wrong and you immediately fold? You might as well give up now"

"Thanks but no thanks" I responded to the other girl, doing my best to ignore her attempted taunt. "You caught me off guard but it won't happen again"

"I'm sure you'll find some other excuse for your loss" Cassandra fired back. I did my best to ignore her taunts as a game plan settled in my mind.

I grabbed Phantasm's ball and readied myself. I hadn't gotten to see much of the Annihilape but I knew it was fast and strong. However I know that a Hisuian Zoroark would be immune to both its fighting type and ghost type attacks, and Phantasm's illusions could be used to bait both Cassandra and the Annihilape into using fighting type moves by making them think they were fighting Dun, against whom such moves would be super-effective.

"Alright Dun, you're up to bat" I loudly called out. Phantasm quickly set up an illusion of Dun calling out.

Cassandra kept grinning, confident she was going to win but I wasn't intimidated. This match was far from over.

"Snowy, cloud cover!" Cassandra yelled as soon as the battle began. The Annihilape promptly slammed its fist directly into the ground, kicking up a massive amount of dirt and dust, obscuring it from view. Phantasm meanwhile had kept the false Dudunsparce in place while invisibly moving to the right.

When the Annihilape burst out of the cloud of smoke at frightening speeds, we were ready for it.

"Blizzard!" I yelled as Phantasm moved her illusion to make it seem as though Dun had dodged the attack. When Phantasm and the illusion were aligned, Phantasm let out an icy wind attack, faking that Dun had launched a blizzard attack.

The Annihilape wasn't quick enough to dodge and instead it rushed after what it thought was Dun, constantly trying to connect with a fighting type move as Phantasm peppered it with icy winds. The Annihilape slowed down and I decided to switch tacks.

I signaled to Phantasm to use shadow sneak to close the gap and get in close. The Annihilape swung its fist but the move completely missed.

"Night slash, full swing!" Cassandra commanded, causing the Annihilape to charge its fist with dark energy as it swung its arm in a full 360 degree motion.

"Abort and shadow ball" I fired back. Phantasm promptly stepped out of range of the Annihilape's attack and launched a sphere of dark ghostly energy directly into the Annihilape. The ghostly pokemon stumbled back before it regained its balance. It then lout out a massive earsplitting rage filled shriek.

I was ready to exploit the Annihilapes anger when a red beam struck the pokemon. Cassandra had recalled her pokemon.

"I'll be making a switch now" Cassandra said as she placed the luxury ball back on her belt before picking up a different one. "Hunter will be dealing with your Zoroark now"

From the luxury ball, a male Pyroar with a resplendent fiery mane burst forth. It did not roar and instead seemed to stare at "Dun" with snooty disdain.

If she'd figured it out that quickly it was probably better to change things. Most of Phantasm's ranged options were something a Pyroar would either be resistant or immune to. Yes I did still technically have Hyper Voice to fall back on, but I figured I'd be better off saving her for later, especially since Phantasm was my best answer for Annihilape.

"I'll also make a switch then" I replied, causing Cassandra to frown "Notch, come on out!"

Notch swiftly appeared in a flash of white light. As a Carbink, Notch wasn't the most expressive but I could tell they were ready for a fight. Cassandra meanwhile seemed utterly unmoved by what was going on. Where she'd been frowning before she now seemed to be grinning again. The battle swiftly began once again.

"Noble Roar!" Cassandra ordered and the Pyroar let out a bellowing roar in response. This seemed like an amateur mistake. Notch was resistant to both fire and normal type moves. In theory boosting up her Pyroar's offensive moves was the right play, but Notch could easily hold out against it for quite a while. If Cassandra wanted to try breaking through Notch, I was happy to set the field and punish her for it.

"Light Screen!" I called out in response. Cassandra meanwhile merely ordered another noble roar. It felt like I was missing something but I wasn't sure what. I'd underestimated her once and Bahamut had got taken out fast. Still I couldn't spend too much time dwelling on hypotheticals and what-ifs, I had a battle to win.

I gave the order for stealth rocks and then for three layers of spikes, all the while Cassandra continued to order more and more noble roars, boosting up Pyroar's offensive capabilities. The ground was littered with hazards and I was fairly confident that I had managed to get things to work out. Maybe Cassandra had made a mistake. She was still entirely focused on buffing Pyroar.

As such I made the call to try and go for an iron defense, raising Notch's defensive capabilities. Yes Pyroar were typically special attackers and iron defense boosted physical defense, but the increased damage of body press, which should be Notch's most powerful move as it was super effective against normal type pokemon like Pyroar, did offset that.

"Hunter, no more nobility" Cassandra commanded. I took a second to ponder what that meant, as it wasn't a straightforward command. That one second was all it took for Pyroar to let out a massive full bodied roar which promptly forced Notch back into their ball. I couldn't help but grimace again as once more I was put on the back foot. I had to come up with some way to throw Cassandra off her rhythm or else I'd end up losing the match.

Cassandra Luthor
Cassandra was ecstatic as she saw the grimace on Nemona Glitterati's face. She delighted in seeing the other girl lose her composure. It was satisfying seeing that the time spent practicing and studying how the other girl might choose to battle and having it pay off. She'd finally be able to prove that without a doubt she was the best.

Then the other girl let out a smile.

"Don't count me out just yet!" Nemona said "I'm not giving up!"

Fine. It was all fine. Cassandra would just need to knock her down again. She'd knock her down again, and again, and again, and again until she utterly, totally and completely crushed Nemona. She'd make Nemona regret continuing to battle. Cassandra had set the stage and now she was going to beat the other girl effortlessly, and utterly one-sidedly.

When the other girl sent out a Lucario, Cassandra was still confident she'd end up winning. Yes Lucarios were impressive and their fighting type capabilities did match up well against Pyroars but Pyroar's fire type attacks were super effective against steel types like Lucario. Cassandra was going to melt Nemona's pokemon if a single attack so much as grazed it.

Cassandra focused on the battle as Nemona promptly mega-evolved her Lucario. The blue jackal-like pokemon was enveloped in a cocoon of energy before bursting out in a new more powerful form. Cassandra scowled. She'd looked into mega-evolution and found it lacking. She'd purchased a mega ring and the appropriate stones and attempted to do so with Nibbler. It should work with a Garachomp and Cassandra was certainly bonded with her starter. And yet no matter what she did, Cassandra couldn't get the mega-evolution to work.

She ultimately came to the conclusion that all those people talking about bonds being the key to mega-evolution were lying in order to protect their secrets. By saying that the key to the technique was friendship, they'd waste everyone else's time and keep the real secret to it hidden. When it didn't work, they could just claim that whoever attempted and failed just didn't love their pokemon enough. Well Cassandra wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. She didn't need mega-evolution, it was a dumb gimmick hidden by protectionist liars. She'd win on her own terms in her own way. She wasn't going to open herself up to some ridiculous notions that she didn't love her own pokemon enough. She'd just demonstrate that mega-evolution was nothing more than a crutch for people who couldn't get strong with their pokemon as they were.

Cassandra refocused her attention back to the fight proper.

"Flamethrower" Cassandra commanded, and Hunter promptly responded letting out a billowing stream of fire. The Lucario still managed to dance around the fire, bounding off of the rocks put into play by the Carbink earlier. Annoying. Still no matter, Cassandra would win in the end eventually.

"Hyper voice" Cassnadra commanded as Hunter let out a mighty bellow in response. Unlike flamethrower this move was significantly harder to see and as it traveled in a cone rather than a stream like flamethrower it was significantly harder to dodge.

The Lucario ended up getting clipped and Cassandra heard a cry of concern from Nemona. Cassandra wasn't done yet.

"Fire Blast to finish it!" Cassandra ordered as her Pyroar promptly shot out a searing hot cavalcade of fire, directly at the Lucario which hadn't quite recovered its footing. This match was over.

"Endure it Athena!" Nemona cried out right as the move connected. Cassandra readied another fire blast. She'd end it one way or another. Then she heard Nemona command the Lucario to use detect, enabling it to avoid the follow-up.

Cassandra wasn't worried. She just had to get more accurate with her attacks and wait till the Lucario got burned. She had her Pyroar fire off another torrent of fire and this time the Lucario endured it again. Once more and once more further the same pattern emerged. Cassandra kept up the pressure but Nemona's Lucario just would not go down. Fine if that was the game she wanted to play Cassandra would flip the table and win anyways.

"Will o' Wisp" Cassandra commanded, hoping to end this. Hunter let out a small collection of dancing blue ethereal flames which flickered towards the Lucario. Unfortunately the Lucario managed to avoid them once more.

Nemona made a move to try and use Dancing Sword and Cassandra moved to cut her off at the pass.

"Taunt" She ordered, with Hunter promptly letting out a mocking purr towards the Lucario, staring down at his inferior. It appeared to work as the Lucario was properly enraged.

No more power-ups, no more enduring, no more dodges, Cassandra was finishing things now, this was checkmate.

"Earthquake!" Nemona suddenly cried out. Cassandra outwardly kept cool as Pyroar leapt into the air to avoid the shockwave. Apparently they'd both forgotten the Lucario had that move. Hunter let out a pained yowl as he landed atop some of the spikes scattered earlier.

An aura sphere promptly shot out towards Pyroar. Cassandra immediately ordered Hunter to intercept the move with his own flamethrower. She was not going to lose this! She was still in control.

"Extreme speed!" Nemona followed up and the Lucario blitzed right into Hunter's space. The blow itself wasn't all that damaging but the problem was that now Hunter had to turn to get at Lucario. As a Pyroar all of Hunter's most powerful moves were launched from his mouth. With the Lucario standing to the side, Hunter wasn't able to leverage his most powerful attacks.

Cassandra wasn't going to be caught out like that by any fighting type moves, she wasn't going to give Nemona the chance to ruin everything again.

"Dig and get out of there!" Cassandra ordered. Hunter quickly disappeared under the ground, having learned to rapidly dig in order to escape close ranged pursuers. Cassandra knew that Nemona wouldn't be able to hit Hunter with any fighting type attacks.

"Alright then, earthquake" Nemona ordered, seemingly pivoting plans. Cassandra felt rage. How could she have forgotten about earthquake? Now that Hunter was underground, he could no longer dodge it and he'd take extra damage. Somehow some way Nemona had managed to get Cassandra to make a mistake.

Her poor Pyroar was promptly pushed out of the earth and sent flying through the air, his fur matted with dirt. Once more he was hurt by the spikes and stealth rocks the stupid little pebble Cassandra had outmaneuvered had set up. Cassandra wasn't going to let this go. Nemona wanted to play the game of undodgeable attacks? Cassandra would give her an undodgeable attack.

"Burn it all down!" Cassandra cried out. "Full power!"

Hunter knew the command and promptly launched a ball of fire up into the air. Nemona seemed confused as to the move. This was the advantage of using more obtuse commands instead of conventional attack names, trainers who were used to familiar cues would get thrown off. Cassandra had hidden that she'd ordered a sunny day to be used first.

Unfortunately for Cassandra, Nemona was also good enough that the momentary confusion didn't slow her down much as the Lucario continued to race in. There was no commitment to extreme speed but Cassandra knew she and Hunter were running out of time.

Hunter managed to leap into the air just in time to avoid a drain punch from the oncoming Lucario. This was it. Cassandra figured, now the Lucario was finished. Cassandra couldn't help but giggle a little bit, giddy from how she'd still managed to overcome Nemona after everything that the other girl had pulled out. Mega-evolution, a Lucario that wouldn't go down, and Cassandra making mistakes like forgetting about earthquake and it still wasn't enough. Cassandra was going to win!

Hunter launched a blisteringly hot overheat attack at full power right down into the arena they were fighting in. It had taken Hunter months of specialized training but these full powered wide range overheats should be completely unavoidable from the angle he'd jumped at. Lucario was as good as gone.

Cassandra smirked as the massive attack hit the ground and the barrier flickered to life as flames washed against it. Everything burned and Cassandra had come out victorious.

The fire slowly cleared and Cassandra was ready to let Nemona know of the futility of continuing to fight when she saw that the Lucario was some how still standing. Hunter was winded the massive overheat had a side effect of completely exhausting him. He was a sitting duck. Cassandra did her best to hide her horror as Nemona ordered a drain punch and the Lucario promptly knocked out her Pyroar.

Cassandra bitterly returned Hunter to his luxury ball.

"You should have won, you did everything right" Cassandra whispered, unwilling to let the other girl hear her moment of weakness "I messed up and I'm sorry you ended up losing because of my mistakes"

Cassandra didn't dwell on her frustration for long. She considered how the Lucario could have survived that last attack. She wracked her brains for a few seconds before coming up with an answer. The Lucario must have shaken off the taunt from earlier and been able to endure. It was irritating but at least it meant Cassandra could bring it down if she just blitzed the Lucario. She was still going to come out on top, she just had to not make any more mistakes.

"You doing okay over there?" Nemona asked, seemingly out of kindness considering Cassandra had taken a while to pick her next pokemon.

"I'm perfectly fine" Cassandra said as she imagined landing a fist right in the middle of Nemona's stupid face. She wasn't going to let the girl with the green fringe ruin this for her or get into her head. "I just was contemplating my next move"

Cassandra knew what had to be done.

"Ravager, come on out!" Cassandra called as she tossed out her next pokeball. The luxury ball activated and her red Scizor emerged, almost completely ignoring the various rocks and spikes she landd on. As Ravager's wings beat and she rose above the ground, her carapace gleamed in the mid-day sun like bright red battle armor. She looked more than ready to fight while the Lucario looked tired and worn down. Cassandra was still in control.

"I'll make use of my last switch then." Nemona stated as she returned the Lucario back to its ball. "You're up Nightwing!"

Nemona's Gliscor popped out of the ball and soon happily flitted about. Fine then, this was still within what Cassandra had expected of the match. She was going to win this. She'd planned on using Drakul to crush the ground type but she was confident that Ravager could wreak some havoc first. All of the research she'd done showed that the Gliscor didn't have a fire type move beside fire fang and if she played things carefully that would never be a threat. This was still Cassandra's battle to win.

Cassandra prepared herself as the battle began in earnest once more.

"Vacuum Wave!" Cassandra commanded. She would've preferred opening with a harder hitting move but at least now she could see if Nemona had a way to retaliate at range. Ravager promptly snapped her claws shut at a massive speed, leading to a blast of pressurized air flying towards the bat-like pokemon

"Tailwind!" Nemona fired back. That was enough to seal in Cassandra's mind that Nemona's Gliscor didn't have a ranged option to deal with long ranged attacks, save perhaps for earthquake, whose viability as a response had been nullified through Ravager's flight. That meant that she didn't need to bother with using struggle bug to weaken that option into nonexistence. She could begin the beatdown now.

Of course the tailwind likely was an attempt to increase the Gliscor's speed to enable it to close the distance, but Cassandra already had an answer prepped for that.

"Tailwind in return" Cassandra answered. A turbulent wind picked up and Cassandra saw the spikes and stones the Carbink had set up earlier rescatter across the field. Ravager seemed unaffected so she paid them no further mind, she had a fight to win and time spent second guessing herself would cost her in the long run. Now though the speed was equalized which meant that Nemona's Gliscor wouldn't be able to rely on raw speed to close the distance.

"Air cutter barrage!" Cassandra continued. Arguably swift might've been the more optimal attack, due to its homing properties, but Cassandra preferred the increased likelihood of hitting a weakpoint for extra damage that air cutter brought to the table.

Ravager seemed to enjoy using her wings to shape crescents of violent wind to fling into the Gliscor. The large scorpion-bat was getting hit every so often but the damage wasn't all that impressive. Cassandra was relying on a lucky strike and sooner or later Cassandra would get it if things stayed the same.

"Quick attack!" Nemona called out, clearly hoping to use the speed of the attack to catch Cassandra off-guard and allow for the fight to be shifted into close quarters. Cassandra was well aware that Nemona had at least three pokemon with moves that involved incredible amounts of speed in a short burst, the Lucario, the Gliscor, and her strange Zoroark. Three was a large enough number that Nemona was going to use one of those techniques eventually. As such Ravager had been trained to use quick guard, an attack designed to specifically block those techniques, automatically without any input from Cassandra.

Cassandra smiled as the Gliscor bounced off the brief energy shield Ravager had formed.

"Bullet repositioning into head grip" Cassandra promptly announced as Ravager moved to executed the command.

Her Scizor promptly used bullet punch, not to strike the Gliscor, but instead to reposition behind it. From there Ravager could promptly used her claws to grip the Gliscor's head, keeping it so that it couldn't turn and land any bite based attacks.

"Bring it down" Cassandra commanded as Ravager moved to pin the Gliscor against the earth to limit the space it could use to struggle.. She would've preferred having Ravager fire flash cannons at the back of the Gliscor's head, but she couldn't afford to have Ravager's grip weaken and give the Gliscor the chance to break loose as the other pokemon was wrestled to the ground slowly but surely. For now the ball was in her court so Cassandra figured she could afford to engage in some taunting, to try and distract Nemona and prevent her from calling out useful command.

"Seem familiar?" Cassandra mocked as Ravager seemed to solidly get the upper hand "The last time you had a pokemon in this position you had to recall it, give up now and save us both some time and suffering"

Nemona seemed unphased by the trash talk and merely quipped back.

"I think you're going to regret making comparison's too quickly" the other girl singsonged as Ravager finally pinned the Gliscor to the ground. What was different? What had Cassandra missed? She couldn't afford to make mistakes, so what had Cassandra not seen that Nemona seemed to have observed. Cassandra's eyes quickly swept back to the fight.

"Let loose an earthquake!" Nemona commanded right as she realized what was happening. The Gliscor hadn't been panicking the entire time. It hadn't had a fun time getting pinned as it was, but now that Ravager was touching the ground to pin it in place, Ravager could no longer dodge the Gliscor's earthquake attacks. In a way Nemona had turned Cassandra's pin into a double edged sword, as if Cassandra sought to maintain it, the fight would turn into a battle or endurance. While Ravager was strong, she couldn't heal over time like the Gliscor could and Ravager's best attacks were physical attacks that couldn't be pulled off easily while pining the Gliscor in place. Cassandra grimaced.

She ordered Ravager to enter into the air, weakening the pin but once more allowing Ravager to avoid the opposing Gliscor's earthquake attacks. Cassandra hoped this would be enough

"Breaking swipe, from the tail!" Nemona promptly cried out, finding a clear cut weakness in the current pin. Ravager didn't have the room to fully lock down the Gliscor and it showed as the move promptly connected, once, twice and then thrice. Ravager's grip slackened and the Gliscor resumed thrashing, slowly breaking loose of Ravager's grip. The fight would be over for Cassandra. She didn't want to deal with any potential fire fangs from this close up and Ravager's weakened attack meant she likely wouldn't deal much meaningful damage if this did turn in to a slugfest. She could try and gain range again but that was unlikely to work when the distance had already been closed. Cassandra needed to retreat.

"U-turn, you've done your job" Cassandra ordered. Ravager appeared displeased by the order but did as Cassandra bid, unleashing the bug type attack and promptly returning to her ball. U-turn was a fairly unique move in that it more or less allowed a pokemon to switch out of the field and back into its ball without counting as an official switch in these sorts of regulation matches. This meant that Cassandra still had one switch left while Nemona had none. It also meant that Cassandra could afford to have Ravager soften up her opponent and then retreat as Cassandra sent out her intended counter.

The Gliscor annoyingly enough seemed to have not taken too much damage but that was fine. Now Cassandra had the fight she wanted. Drakul would utterly and entirely crush the other pokemon and Cassandra would finally be able to offset her mistakes and make it so that Nemona needed to keep up with her rhythm. Not wanting to give the Gliscor any more time to heal, Cassandra promptly tossed out her next ball and in a burst of white light, Drakul emerged out from her Luxury ball.

Drakul was a Gyarados but she wasn't just any Gyarados. She was the biggest, meanest most aggressive Gyarados money could buy. Cassandra was fairly certain if she'd been bought as a Gyarados, and not as a Magikarp, Drakul would've never followed Cassandra's orders. As it was it had still taken Drakul longer than Cassandra had liked to realize that Cassandra was still in charge. Still the obedience issues had been worked out and now Cassandra's big danger noodle knew who the boss was.

Drakul also knew that as the boss following Cassandra's orders was the key to victory. There was a plan in place for this Gliscor and they were going to execute it perfectly. Drakul let out a massive roar as Cassandra contemplated the sheer size disparity between the two of them. Drakul could fairly easily swallow Nemona's Gliscor whole.

If the other girl was intimidated by this at all she showed no signs of it. The black and green haired girl seemed to still be grinning at some mistake that Cassandra hadn't noticed yet. That pissed Cassandra off.

Just what did she notice that made her think she could win such a lopsided match-up? Cassandra let the glower on her face fester. She'd wipe that stupid smirk off the Glitterati's face. Cassandra Luthor didn't lose! Especially not to two-bit, plan ruining, mega-evolution hiding, spoiled little princesses who looked at her like a Mandibuzz eyeing its next meal.

"Crush them into paste!" Cassandra screamed, forgetting entirely about decorum for a short while and just giving into instinct. The earth rumbled as Drakul roared in response and yet Nemona stood unflinching.

Cassandra Luthor didn't lose!
 
Interlude XIII - PTO New
Thank you to my 45 Beginner Tier Patreons and an extra special thanks to RageLord and Nodal_Gravity, my Ace Tier Patreons!

■​

Welcome to the Pokemon Trainres Online message boards.
You are currently logged in, Nemona_Glitterati
You are viewing:
• Threads you have replied to
• AND Threads that have new replies
• OR private message conversations with new replies
• Thread OP is displayed.
• Ten posts per page
• Last ten messages in private message history.
• Threads and private messages are ordered chronologically.

■​

♦ Topic: Nemona Glitterati
In: Boards ► Up and Coming Trainers in Paldea
Dragonmyfeet
(Original Poster)
Posted On Feb 7th 2016:
So, everyone knows that the Treasure Hunt is the start of the new Gym Circuit season, but not everyone gets the memo. Mostly it's just old folks, random off-season tourists and the like who bother trying their hands at the Gyms before then. Never tend to get that far or make much of a splash, often ending before the season really begins.

Still, this new girl might be looking to change that. We aren't too far off from the Treasure Hunt and she just wiped the floor with Katy. Nemona is also posting musical videos accompanied by her best battle moments, so we get a chance to see what she's like before the official full match videos come out.

So, what do people think? She's young, but personally, I think she's got some talent.

EDIT: By popular demand, here's a list of her full team with a bit of a write-up on what each one is like:

'Dun' Dudunsparce with three segments, her Ace and crazy hard to put down

'Nightwing' Gligar. She's got Poison Heal and almost always carries a Toxic Orb to Poison herself

'Athena' Lucario capable of Mega Evolving. Really strong and skilled with some unusual techniques

'Phantasm' a Hisuian(?) Zoroark. Can make illusions like a regular Zoro, but has a different typing, probably Normal/Ghost

'Miles' Rotom with a variety of forms, some of which haven't been released on the market yet

'Notch' Carbink with a slight notch on one ear… Yeah

'Bahamut' Shiny(!) Haxorus, the newest Pokemon on her team



(Showing page 1 of 151)


►BadBisharp
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
She's actually Cyan's little sister, and we all know how well that girl tore up the challenge last year.

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Wait, you can challenge the Gym Leaders at any point in the year? Yet Paldea still has the lowest number of Ace Trainers out of any region, lol.

►GoodraFan
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Oh, shut up! Look at how many Champions we have, the most out of any region. You haven't had anyone clear the Elite Four since Cynthia.

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
If you need to compare our Aces to your Champions, it's pretty clear who the real winner is :smugShuckleemoji:

►LightItUp20
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Wow, thread derail three posts in, great job. Why don't you two cool it if you don't have something to say on topic?

As for the girl herself, I want to reserve judgement. Yeah, Cyan did good last year, but that doesn't mean we can expect her little sister to do the same. Plus, she's only like 8, right?

►ZingZapZow
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
If you call losing to Tyme almost three times 'good.'

EDIT: Look, i'm sorry, I just get tired of hearing her fans online shill her. She's not bad, just alright. I'll stick with reserving judgement on Nemona though

►Dynamix (Temp Banned)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Have any of ya'll seen teh videos she's dropped? forget about the battles those tracks are dope

►Waylon (Old Timer)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I've seen the clips and they look good but... well she's posting them herself and they don't show the full battle. Are we sure she isn't editing them to make her look better than she is?

►Sh3ppard
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Can't believe how overhyped she is. A dunsparce, really? I turned off the vid as soon as I saw that.

►Bigleafenergy
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Then why are you commenting here? That Dunsparce did great. And her Carbink looked so cute!

►NoManIsAnOrangeIsland
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
@Bigleafenergy Not just cute, that thing was killer! Did you see the way it snapped her Ursaring's arm like a twig?! How is this the first time I'm seeing that Pokemon?

►MurderOfChivalry
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
That's a Dudunsparce, and she has another on her team. I've fought her starter twice, and there's no way that guy would have been as weak as the videos shown. Not sure why she's playing mind games by naming them the same thing.

Edit: Plus, it's a ghost Tera Type. The real Dun is Normal Tera Type.

►Atticus_Roads (Verified Blueberry Academy Student)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I agree, Dun did better against me in the Junior Tournament a few years ago, though this Dudunsparce does seem unusually adept at dodging... There's something fishy going on there, but her skills aren't something I'd call to account.

@NoManIsAnOrangeIsland A couple of reasons why you haven't seen it before. For one, they are quite rare. Maybe not on the level of a Larvesta or Kommo-o, but still, quite rare. Secondly, they aren't super great battling Pokemon

No, seriously. They're super tanky, sure, but they can barely deal damage. Better than say a Shuckle, but lacking ways to boost their offense or enough tricks to make them good set up. The reason why you don't hear about them more often is that most tanky Pokemon just aren't appreciated by new Trainers who are more focused on big offense.

The Typing is the final nail in the coffin. Rock/Fairy isn't bad, but a defensive Pokemon with a double weakness to any type is one that won't last long above mid-level battle

►Lost_Girlz
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Wait, you two both fought her- no. way. MurderOfChivalry are you that cheater, Freddrick von Grough? She beat you twice?! When was the second time? You can't even battle Haha lol.

►MurderOfChivalry
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Whatever. I just can't battle in official League sanctioned matches for a few years. Doesn't mean Corvi and I have quit our training. We'll be back then and beat everyone, even her.

►GoodraFan
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
@Atticus_Roads Wait, then how did Notch hurt that Ursaring so badly then if they aren't strong?

►Atticus_Roads (Verified Blueberry Academy Student)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
@GooFan I believe that must have been Body Press. It's an unusual Move that uses how physically tough you are to hurt the foe, not your offense. It's a fun trick, but anyone worth their salt will just see it coming and weaken your defense (leaving you both more open and less powerful) or use a Type that resists Fighting Type attacks. I don't expect we'll see much more of that Pokemon. She'll probably toss them and put something better on her team once it loses.

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I've actually been a long time fan of Nemona's. She hasn't done much since that Junior Tournament a few years back, but there's a vid that circulated of her fighting Clay in Unova, let me see if I can find it.

Edit: Here it is link

►MrMilotic
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
My word, that's quite the fearsome battle. And this was two years ago?

►Jasminetea43
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I've been looking at what her family (not Nemona herself, the girl isn't too active here aside from impassioned speeches on Pokemon Rights) posted, and even if it was cut to make her look better, that must have been tough. Katy used at least five Pokemon

►Farmsted54 (Olive Rolling Champion)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I was there for her Gym Trial, then followed some of the other Cortonadians to watch Katy wallop this cocky girl. Didn't think I'd need to film it, and boy am I kicking myself now. The pastries she made might only be alright, but she's a crazy battler!

She was doing so many tricks I could barely even keep up! And by the end, she just swept right through the second half of Katy's team. I know she's a new leader, but Katy's been good. Honestly, a lot of us thought she was too tough on new Trainers, but well think twice now

►adriontompkins
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Let's not go singing her praises too early. She did well in the junior tourney but that was years ago, and there was some controversy over her Tera Orb. We'll see how far she makes it this time

►CountryGal27
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Let's sing a little more! I want to hear her voice beat it out.

Edit: Holy Karp, she's got a whole album already?! I gotta get that

►ProletariatPatriot (Banned)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Ah, another rich person using their money to make more money. Can't you Wooloos see what she's pulling here? She just bought that team with her parents money, she's nothing special. And this is all just some publicity stunt for her album (and I saw that list; half the songs have other artists doing the work for her. Just shows how unfair things are for us poor folk

►IceShredder
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Seriously? Did you read nothing from befre? Of course not, expect you didn't listen to the album either. She's clearly been a Trainer for a while and working on it

►ProletariatPatriot (Banned)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Still doesn't excuse her getting those rare Pokemon. You wouldn't see the rest of us walking around Paldea with the crystal rock thing or a Gliscor

►Dynamix (Temp Banned)
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
I listened to it, and the album has some good songs on it. Even with others helping, her voice is heard throughout all of it

►NEOPower
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
You talking about her Carbink? Yeah, it's rare, but not that uncommon. Not tat strong usually either, just really tough. And Gligars are a dime a dozen, Razor Fang not that expensive.

►Hater4Lyfe
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Maybe they're common where you're from, but I've never seen a Gligar irl in Paldea. That being said, well, even I have trouble believing that she's just 'buying' a strong team. I mean, her starter is a Dunsparce.

EDIT: No shade, he was pretty strong back three years ago nad is strong now, but it's not what you expect when you think of someone buying a tough team.

►Havin'AKarablast
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
That's true. A Dudunsparce, Rotom (from her match against Clay), a Carbink, and a Gliscor (plus maybe another Dudunsparce?) Those are all decently tough Pokemon, but it's not like a team of fairys led by a Galarian Rapidash like you think of rich little girls getting… or the team full of Dragons you'd expect a battle maniac kid to get

►BrawnyBookworm
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
@Farmsted54 I think you'e forgetting just how vicious Nimona was. Like, she's tough but also scary! Katy was begging her to let her Heracross leave the sand tomb, someone coulda got seriously hurt.

►shiftgear
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
Ok, lot to deal with, little to go off of. Lat's see how well she does next time around - and hopefully someone will record the whole thing this time

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On Feb 7th 2016:
If there's a next time*

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 ... 149, 150, 151


(Showing page 17 of 151)


►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@SinnohSurvivor Wow, only a week to be proven wrong, we didn't even have time for the thread to give us the warning box about posting. That's gotta be some kind of record, to win two badges so fast

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
It was at least ten days! And besides, the match ain't over yet, we're still streaming.

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
10 days? Is that really the hill you want to die on? If so, feel free to join Oberon there

►FairyFury6
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
As if! Oberon will never lose! Just wait and see, he always turns it around

►CrossHera
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Annnnd it's over. Nemona's breaking all sorts of records in how fast she prove people wrong, haha.

►MrMilotic
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Even Kingambit couldn't beat that Dudunsparce, damn. I can definitely believe it when people say that other Dudunsparce wasn't her starter after seeing that thing fight. Like, holy miltank, that's insane. Did anyone know that the Dunsparce liine could be this tough?

►IceShredder
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@MrMilotic Nemona, apparently

►MrMilotic
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Touche

►Superpower8 (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Sorry, I know the Dunsparce is great and all, but did you SEE THAT FREAKING RIOLU?!? I never knew you could get a Riolu that strong without them evolving

►ProletariatPatriot (Banned)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Yet another sign of the Glitterati family corruption. If she had properly raised that Riolu it should have been a Lucario by now. Clearly she bought it off some rich breeder and had someone else train it up for her, all because she wanted a 'cool' Pokemon. Well, sucks to be her

►DakraiestNight (Moderator)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Those insinuations are getting close to a personal attack, have a warning and a temp thread ban.

puts mod voice away I do have to say that this looked fun, though I'm not as big a fan of her taunts. Did she really have to needle Oberon so?*

►JuliaFiere
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
It's probably just kayfabe, putting on a show. Oberon does the same thing. Honestly, I'm all for having a popular Heel in Paldea

►Galile (Banned)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Wow, poor showing from Oberon, I expected better from him. Thought he was the last of the real Gym Leaders left after all these women (and Brassius) showed up and snapped up the new spots. I don't expect much from the new girls, except maybe Grusha, and the rest are just old washed up has beens… and Larry :/

►HelenaJ
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Hate to agree with the asshole above but Oberon has kinda fallen off, hasn't he? Not too many challenges last year, and he got smoked here. His ace couldn't even win after her ace had been tired out fighting 3 of his other Pokemon!

►Gurumin
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
I think that's more a sign of how strong Nemona is, rather than a weakness on the Gym Leader's behalf

►KarmaKecleon
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@JuliaFiere A nine year old heel? Wow, scraping the bottom of the barrel. Guess that's what you get in Paldea, though.

►IceShredder
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@Galile You- you know Grusha's a guy, right?

►Galile (Banned)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
What? No way. Ugh I feel uncomfortable. What is that sick-

Rest of rant cut off. Banned: Off topic and general signs of offensive attitude here and on other threads

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
I think this means we now have a full lineup of her team? Dun (Dudunsparce), Miles (Rotom), Riolu (obvious), Notch (Carbink), Nightwing (Gliscor), and… second Dun? (Dudunsparce? Assuming she doesn't have some way to change Dun's tera Type and didn't have him throw the match against Katy).

All in all, that looks like a pretty solid team. There's not really any good answers or Types that shut down the majority of her team, and any weakness by one or two of them is usually covered by one or two others. Miles seems like the lynchpin, despite how little we've seen of them. Assuming they have all the different Forms available (a fair assumption I think given everything else), Miles has good coverage to fill in against any gym.

►OrdeliaVonFerrem
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
*Inserts meme image:

Man asking 'show me Dun!'

Picture of Dun, met by man going 'No, the REAL Dun'

Identical picture of Dun. Man going 'Perfection'*

►JuliaFiere
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@KarmaKecleon: Seriously? Why are you even on this board? And do you want a ban too?

►KarmaKecleon
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
I was born in Paldea, so I do like to check int here. And like, on a global scale, Paldean Trainers do tend to underperform (that's just the statistics don't @ me!) But fine, I guess I was being too harsh. I still think it's weird, but Nemona is pretty strong, so maybe she'll prove to be the exception? I could see her going places in a few years.

►NEOPower
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Eh, maaaaaybe. Still feels too early to count for me; it's easy to have a strong initial showing but not be that good overall. These were the Gyms that had the least time to prepare for her.

►Sh3ppard
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Yeah, just like having a more skilled family member doesn't make her as strong

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
@Sh3ppard 'As strong' as me? Hahaha

Edit: Oh, you're serious. Allow me to laugh harder hahahahahahah-

►Sh3ppard
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
What, don't believe in your little sister? How many badges do you think she'll get?

►HohmaScoop
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
I talked to her during her sister's first Gym match, and she seemed pretty sharp. Knew tons about the Pokemon battling

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
To clarify (and stop people spamming my DMs) - My sister refuses to go easy on me. Has some stupid philosophy about it, stating how 'by never holding back, it means that every step closer you get is clear and obvious proof of your growth' or whatever.

Anyways, that's just to help you know why I have never beaten my sister in a fight. Not even right after I beat Tyme, my eight Gym Leader, and right before she started her journey. She's the one who got me into training and helped me learn how to be a trainer. Her training regiment was… tough, but it made me a lot stronger, strong enough to win eight badges. But as tough as she was on me, she's twice as tough on herself.

►Jangmore-o
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Damn.

►Laylalala (Verified Uva Academy Student)
Replied On Feb 17th 2016:
Ugh, I wish everyone would stop fawning over her. You're only talking about her because it's not treasure hunt time yet. Soon there'll be tones of flashy new trainers on the scene

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 ... 149, 150, 151


(Showing page 54 of 151)


►PewterPowerPack
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Looking at these vids, again and she seems crazy strong. Most of her victories are against large teams (except that tie in a one vs. one against Iono), and she appears to only use like half her team (and a third here). Are Gym Leaders there just so weak, or is that she's some crazy prodigy I need to bet all my life's savings on at Gambling.com?

►Dragyourpult
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@PewterPowerPack I assume you're joking, but don't endorse gambling like that or you'll get the mods down on your head (especially since we're talking about a Paldean Trainer and they have strict rules on that sorta stuff).

As for how strong she is, well I might have an explanation for that. And I hate to bring up the tired point of 'buying her way to victory.' but… did you see the items her Pokemon had? Toxic Orbs, Clear Amulet, Expert Belt? Think her Rotom had a Life Orb too. Those are expensive items to be using and could be giving her a serious leg up in these fights.

►MrMilotic
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Besides, you don't want to gamble on the matches; if you're looking to make it big, buy in stocks from her parent's corporations before a big match

►Jangmore-o
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Huh? I get she's their daughter but how does her winning a Pokemon battle affect the stocks of a realty and phone company? Even if she counts as like, endorsing them, you don't see huge market fluctuations from anyone Leon endorses when he wins, right?

►MimiGimmieGhoul
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@Dragyourpult: So? Gym Leaders can use items too.

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Battle Items which, to be clear, can only be used at 6 Badge Challenges or higher. So we're all agreed now that she is in fact facing on tougher challenges?

►BenjaminBurton
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@GurdurrMyLoins Yeah mate, think we all agreed on that when we saw her whoop Oberon's Ace Kingambit. No one's even brought that up since her Brassius fight anymore.

►FairyFury6
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
She didn't whoop him! Oberon just took it easy on her or something! She barely won!

►MrMilotic
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
The difference there is in who Nemona is. She's not just a sponsored trainer, she's their daughter. She has huge personal connections to her parents and their companies (which will be hers some day). Each win is people measuring up how likely it is she'll be a Champion Ranked trainer in the future. It's important because that's the kind of power that lets her influence things to get more tax breaks, government contracts, etc. for her companies when she grows up.

Mod Interrupt: This is getting close to crossing a few lines, the least of which is being off topic of Nemona's role as a Trainer. Drop it.

►WinGulliver's Travels (Pokemarket Clerk)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@MimiGimmieGhoul It's not that simple. Gym Leaders have huge teams to meet all sorts of challengers. There's tons of land, buildings, training, stabling, and feeding costs already involved in the Gym program. Getting them spend a bunch every year on Battle Items, including some of the top end ones? For dozens of Pokemon per Gym? No way, not gonna happen.

►Dragyourpult
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Wait, Battle Items don't go bad (excpet Berries). Why can't they just give it as a one time thing?

►WinGulliver's Travels (Pokemarket Clerk)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@Dragyourpult That's a common misconception. While there are several Battle Items that are durable, few can withstand the rigors of continued battling - training is harsh in a way that really only Pokemon can endure.

Have you ever tried to fit a Steelix with an Assault Vest? I have. It was a huge hassle, took the better part of the month to get that Ace Trainer hooked up. And at the end of the season? She came right back with the tattered remains and asked for a new one (as well as demanding it be covered by her insurance, which it wasn't, and that was a very unpleasant conversation to have while her Steelix loomed over us).

►MimiGimmieGhoul
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Couldn't you just give them all berries? Iono did that and she managed to tie with Nemona when no one else did!

►WinGulliver's Travels (Pokemarket Clerk)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Some are, in some regions, sure. Honestly, slapping a Sitrus Berry on all 6h Badge and above Gym Pokemon could work but… well, as I heard one Elite say 'Sitrus Berries are what you give a Pokemon when you have no idea what else to do with them.' The advantage would still be with the challenger, who (if they have enough money) can tailor their items to perfectly match their team

And that's why I hope no one says she's a bad Trainer for using items. I've seen dirt poor Trainers that could barely scrape together enough Pokedollars for a Pokeball plan out team compositions brilliantly, and billionaires that wouldn't know the right end of an Antidote without having it explicitly shown to them (seriously). And vice versa.

►Slacking & Weezing G-A-S-S-I-N-G (Double Battle Ace)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
And from what we've seen, I'd say she uses her items well. Expert Belt to help Riolu punch up against the Fairys, Clear Amulet on Dun shut down tons of Oberon's strategies… And if you watch the Iono clip, you'll see her Gliscor getting poisoned and healing from it as the fight goes one (plus using the Toxic Orb afterwards to Poison her foes is a nice touch).

You might not like that she has a bunch of money to spend on her team, but that doesn't make her a bad trainer just because she does so.

►ProletariatPatriot (Banned)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Pshaw. Stop trying to justify her Tauroshit. She has all the money to get the rarest Pokemon and best items. How is this fair to other trainers? How's the little guy supposed to compete against that huh?

User has been banned from thread and given a temp ban from the site. Keep the discussion on topic, if you have a complaint about the regulations, post them in a different category

►JadenVocalizer
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Wait, Gliscors can heal from being Poisoned? I'd never heard that befre

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
I think my sis called it their 'hidden ability'. And before any other jerkwad accuses her of 'buying' the best Ability, they had to train hard for it! Nightwing for a year with Toxic Orbs and a mountain of Antidotes before she could master it.

►MrMilotic
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@Cyan_Glitterati: That's a nice try, but the fact that she has access to all those resource for training does kinda show she has a leg up on other Trainers. Not saying that she didn't work hard; she clearly has! But she gets some stuff that the rest of us don't.

Though hey, while I have you here, mind telling us how she got that Zoroark variant? My daughter has been begging me to get one just like it, and I haven't been able to find anything.

►Laylalala (Verified Uva Academy Student)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
She'll get shown up soon enough, just you wait. Iono only gave her that badge out of pity probably.

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Beats me. That's the one Pokemon I don't know how she got. She met Dun on the beach one day, Miles was her Rotom Phone for a while, Nightwing and Notch she met on our trip to Kitikami, and Athena was Dun's sparring partner in the wild for a few years before joining the team. But Phantasm? No clue. She just disappears after having a bit of a meltdown (on her birthday), then comes back with a weird looking Zorua. I've asked her a dozen times, but she won't say anything

►NoManIsAnOrangeIsland
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
@Cyan_Glitterati: Do you think that means there are some of those Hisuian Zoruas nearby where you live then?

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
No, she had a friend's Pokemon teleport her somewhere first. And I asked him, and she said she ran miles away from wherever they teleported too and she never told him either. Its so weird

►GulperConscience (sock puppet) (Banned)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Of course you won't say anything - this is how the top 1% oppress us! By hoarding secrets and power. I bet within a few years the Glitteratis open up their 'exclusive' Hisuian Zorua ranch-

Following rant cut off by mod. Not the place for political discourse, have a permanent ban, for this sock puppet account and your original account ProletariatPatriot

►Superpower8 (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Athena? Is that a new Pokemon?

►Cyan_Glitterati (Verified Uva Academy Student) (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
No, that's not her new Pokemon, it's just the name her Lucario took for herself.

EDIT: Whoops. Also, I don't know. Nemona has her own plans but she can alter and shift them on the fly. Last I heard was that she's going to battle Grusha 'soon.'

►Superpower8 (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Her Riolu evolved?!? And such a cool name too!

►HohmaScoop
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
Is she going to be fighting another Gym in the near future or are we looking at another month long wait? Like, no offense, but she blitz through 3 Gyms, then takes a month long break, fights Iono and has been gone for another couple of weeks

►HohmaScoop
Replied On Mar 24th 2016:
New video dropped right after I posted that! And it's against Grusha!!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 ... 149, 150, 151


(Showing page 102 of 151)


►HailOverSnow
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
So, anyone else find Nemona to be… kinda weird?

►ZingZapZow
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Ohmyarceus YES!

Edit: Look, I'm not 'disrespecting' her or whatever, but she's weird

►IceShredder
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
This disrespect is getting really old. She's one of Paldea's top trainers and I'm sick of the slander against her.

►BenjaminBurton
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Okay, maybe we could be more constructive here everyone? On both sides. With that being said, I think we can all admit, it's unusual how well she's done, how she strategizes. I've seen plenty of kids nearly twice her age still spamming out attacks with barely a thought for how effective they are

Edit: Yeah, I call eighteen year olds 'kids'. Your all whippersnappers to me!

►Windinmyhair
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Yeah, gotta agree with all of this. And I've met her in person and honestly, when you get past that 'arrogant/cocky challenger' vibe you see from her gym performances she's even weirder

►IceShredder
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Seriously? Tell us more. What is she like outside of Gym Battles? She doesn't post here or do much in cities, always off training in the wilderness for weeks or even montsh with no word

►Windinmyhair
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Alright, so I'm doing my standard deliveries, winding down for the day, when I see her out nearby Alfornada. She doesn't seem to busy training her weird Zoroark so I approach. The Zoroark growls a bit, but nemona calms them down and I introduce myself

Anyways, I challenged her to a battle (sue me, I wanted to see how I stacked up against a famous trainer). She looks me over for a moment, and I swer it was like she was peering into my soul for a moment. But then it's over and she's all smiling and says 'sure'.

So we battle, and yeah, I'm pretty proud of my Cyclizar, but she thrashes me good. Afterwards I make a comment wondering about how I could improve. She responds, going on a long list of what I could do to make Cyclizar both stronger and work better with the rest of my team (didn't even know they had a Hidden Ability or how I could use that with Shed Tail before). It's a bit blunt, buit she's not rude or anything, so I thank her for it and decide to talk with her some more.

It was weird. It felt like talking to an adult in a kid's body most of the time. She chatted about Sinnoh's new inland fishing regulations and if that would affect trade here, I barely heard about that on the news! Let alone question how that might affect old clans Sinnoh had and ancestral rights to those waters or the like. I mostly 'hmm'd' and nod along politely if I brought up kids shows or games. Like, she knew enough about them, could mention some by name, but she didn't get… excited. Not like kids do. She was guarded in a way that kids don't really get, and it got worse the more I picked up on it, like she was reading my uncomfortableness (and I was trying not to show it at all; i've got a good customer service face for tips!).

Before we parted ways I asked about how lonely it was to travel on her own and Nemona looked confused. I asked further if she had anyone she traveled with anyone else and she just laughed and said she 'had eight friends with her at all times'. When I clarified if she traveled with humans and pointed out how it was different she just… stared at me before mumbling something about chatting with some friends online before leaving.

I dunno. Shes great at battles for sure, but she doesn't feel right you know?

►Beafangurl
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Now that you mention it, gotta agree. Like, she doesn't show up in public a lot, but you remember that interview she had with Iono? Gril was painfully rigid, and aggressive sure, but also just a little too bright. And what was her deal with anti poacher stuff? All kinda old timey. Are we sure she's not a psychic that took over a little girl's body?

►Jangmore-o
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
@Windinmyhair: I'm sorry eight Pokemon?! Can we go back to that??

►SirSchmoopy
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Eh, par for the course with Glitterati's, honestly. I met her parents at a dinner party, and while they weren't overly serious or anything like that they were over the top to say the least. But as ridiculous as their antics could be, somehow in that time as half the party was dissing them behind their backs, O'Nare scored three new development deals and Billy poached a top engineer to his company. So yeah, they're kinda weird, but they're also really good at what they do.

►RitchieRich
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Oh yeah, I think I remember that party. Hey now that I think about it, Nemona doesn't really go to those kinds of events, does she? Wonder why

►SirSchmoopy
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
I've seen her once or twice at a gala or fundraiser. Didn't really pay a bunch of attention (before she became famous ya know) but she didn't seem to

►Fairy_King (Verified Gym Leader)
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
I think this thread is getting close to a derail. Yes, the purpose of it is to talk about Nemona as a Trainer, not to pick apart her personality for being too 'weird' for you or if she's making enough friends her age.

@Windinmyhair As to why she's so against poachers, I would hazard a guess that it's because she fought and captured poachers on the outskirts of Alfornada in the past.

►Beafangurl
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Oh damn, didn't realize. Kinda thought there weren't any poachers about, you don't hear about them a tone these days

►ZingZapZow
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
poachers came after her? Ouch. But I mean, kinda get it. She's got a bunch of rare Pokemon can't say I wouldn't be tempted

Mod warning: Do not post comments that sound encouraging of criminal behavior, especially that kind here. You haven't broken any rules yet but don't push it

►Jasminetea43
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Okay, let's change topics. To this! Here's a link to a phot I snapped of Nemona out in Medali. I think she's going for her eighth badge guys!

►Laylalala (Verified Uva Academy Student)
Replied On May 2nd 2016:
Oh shit, I gotta get over there

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 ... 149, 150, 151


(Showing page 148 of 151)


►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On May 9th 2016:
And the news just dropped. Right on the heels of her epic battle against Larry, it's announced she'll be fighting the Elite Four!! They're calling it an 'elite gauntlet'? Sounds cool in any case

►IceShredder
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I'm just happy we have a really promising young Trainer here. Hopefully she could be the next La Primera!

►LightItUp20
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I've always thought she was going places.

►Jangmore-o
Replied On May 9th 2016:
That would be awesome!

►Laylalala (Verified Uva Academy Student)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I can't wait, this is gonna be so cool! I was the one who filmed her match against Larry, you know?

►Sh3ppard
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Ugh, stop being such a fangirl. Doing alright in the Gyms doesn't mean she's going to be great in the long run. She's been doing worse against the later Gyms, and we've all seen hopefuls wipe out agains the Elite Four. And taking on the Gauntlet? That's just crazy.

►WinGulliver's Travels (Pokemarket Clerk)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@Sh3ppard: I mean, harder gyms are supposed to be tougher, and even against Larry and Kofu, it's not like she was ever down to her last Pokemon

Also, anyone think that she might be willing to sponsor my Pokemart?

►JuliaFiere
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Woohoo! Kick their butts!

EDIT: Uh, considering she's a bajillionare and a music sensation? No, I don't think she'll sponsor your Pokemart

►ZingZapZow
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Always great to see your favorite Trainer make it so far. I'll keep on rooting for ya, Nemona!

►HohmaScoop
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Do you think she'll give me an interview once she becomes a champion? That would give my blog so much numbers

►PewterPowerPack
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I'm so hyped! The gauntlet challenge will be great

►KarmaKecleon
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Everyone is, I'm planning a big watch party with all my mates

►Laylalala (Verified Uva Academy Student)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Ikr? Classes are pretty much cancelled here (okay, we technically still have to go, but the teachers are pushing us to get our homework all done for then and most of them are planning on having us 'study' the matches for the classes).

►Waylon (Old Timer)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Let's hold our Ponyta's okay? We all want her to do great (having kicked out or converted most of the haters), but I've been burned a few too many times to just trust that she's going to be the best trainer ever

►BadBisharp
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Why you gotta harsh the mood? We're just trying to have a good time!

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I think she's going to do great, but in any case we'll gt some cool battles either way. Can't we all just focus on that?

►NoManIsAnOrangeIsland
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@GurdurrMyLoins: No

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On May 9th 2016:
🙁

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Ok, can someone tell me what the big deal about the 'Gauntlet' is? Is it some Paldea only thing? Not meaning to harsh on anyone's vibes or anything, I'm just curious

►Dragyourpult
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@SinnohSurvivor: Hardly, but I can see why you'd think that. The 'Gauntlet' come back from the early days of the League, I mean real early, Samuel Oak early.

See, back then, they were establishing the rules for finding a replacement if a Champion didn't want to step down. Generally it was agreed that any challenger would have to defeat the Elite Four first, then the Champion, which fits with regular challenge rules. But then Sammy had the 'bright idea' to run at as one consecutive event: Back-to-back battles against the Elite Four, and then the Champion, all in a single day.

Yeah… as you can probably already see, there were some holes in this plan. The idea of a Trainer that could beat all the Elites and Champion at once either implied a really weak bunch of Elites or a crazy strong Trainer. And even then, as soon as that Trainer became Champion no one would be able to topple them. The bar was just too high

Because of that they changed it to the Conference System, with Elite Challenges that are usually space a few months apart, to give the Ace Trainers time to prepare and rest up inbetween matches. Except, when I say 'replaced' I mean 'added on,' - Gauntlets were never removed from official challenge methods. And now a nine-year old is aiming to take on the best Paldea has to offer.

►SinnohSurvive
Replied On May 9th 2016:
That's wild. Has anyone ever done a Gauntlet challenge then? Does she stand any chance?

►Dynamix (Temp Banned)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Galar does things a bit differently, so we don't quite have a Gauntlet, but the tournament at the end of the Gym Circuit does a pretty good job of tiring out any challengers to the Champion, even with a full day to rest before that match. Also, I think Alder managed a Gauntlet back in the early days.

►Superpower8 (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
1000% Athena sweeps, just like against Tyme

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@Superpower8 (Verified Eight Badge Trainer): I can't tell if you're trolling or you legitimately believe that… like yeah, her Lucario is strong especially with Mega Evolution, but that's hardly a guarantee for success. Can she even Mega Evolve for those battles? I heard she had to ask for permission against Tyme which is why she had to Terastalize against larry

►Havin'AKarablast
Replied On May 9th 2016:
C'mon, don't make it sound like she 'had' to Tera as if it's so much worse than Mega Evolving

►ZingZapZow
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@Dragyourpult: Wait, seriously? Why's she doing it then if it's so hard?

►Gurumin
Replied On May 9th 2016:
The current top champion of Paldea, Miguel Worthington, uses Mega Evolution for his ace Salamance, so I think she'll be allowed to use it. She's also made good use of both Mega Evolution and Terastalization in her past battles, so we'll probably see that here.

►Atticus_Roads (Verified Blueberry Academy Student)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@ZingZapZow: I can't answer why exactly she did it, but I can explain the challenge a bit better and many reasons why it isn't as terrible an idea as it looks.

- The rules for Gauntlets have been adjusted over the years. Instead of having to face on the full team of every Elite, you only need to battle four of their Pokemon each. In addition, you only need to win three of the Elite battles to take on the Champion

- On that note, Nemona has at least seven Pokemon. Special exceptions from Hassel apparently. Not sure why, but in any case it gives her a bit of an advantage in enduring the Gauntlet; each extra Pokemon on her team gives the others more rest time

- Medicine has improved alot from the early days of the League. Better Potions and Elixirs will let her recover more in between each match. The Gauntlet is set to start in the morning and conclude late in the evening, so even with the fights happening 'in a row' there will still be some breaks between the matches

And here's a few more for why it's still a bad idea:

- She only has to take on four of the Elite's Pokemon at a time, but she only gets to use four herself. Some of them (like a certain Legendary wielding turtle fanatic) have single Pokemon that are a lot stronger than others, which gives them an edge here.

- Having more Pokemon on her team divides her training time. Against the Elites and especially the Champion, she'll need all the power she can get in individual matches. And in Paldea's Gauntlets, you need to beat a Champion Ranked Trainer to earn the rank yourself, while in a regular run, you would just need to defeat all the Elites to earn the rank. All the advertisements of the event show that she's going to be facing on Miguel Worthington, the Top Champion, too.

- Finally, it's still just way harder to take on all of them at once. As many mitigating factors she might have, the Gauntlet is just a harder challenge, for no real gain (except maybe time, but I just don't get why she'd be rushing this).

►Sh3ppard
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Welp, it's been a good run, but it looks like she's gotten too big for her britches. Time for her to get smacked down and maybe try again next year

►Dynamix (Temp Banned)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Oh just shut up already asshole

Receive a temp ban. They might be down on the Trainer here, but Sh3ppard's comments aren't out of line; insults are

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 ... 149, 150, 151


(Showing page 151 of 151)


►GoodraFan
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Okay, it's gonna be tough and all, but speculating on the overall outcome feels like way too much. I wanna hear what people think about specific standouts: That's right, tell me which Pokemon you think is going to do the best! Or be surprising, etc. Personally, I think Bahamut is gonna be a stand out. We haven't really gotten a chance to see what he could do ever since he evolved against Kofu

►Hater4Lyfe
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Gotta be Dun, that not-so-little guy has been the strongest. I don't think he's been knocked out in any of her battles even

►Havin'AKarablast
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Phantasm, though maybe not in the way youd think about it. Two of Nemona's Pokemon (three sometimes if what we suspect about Boombox Form is true) are weak to Fighting Type attacks, while Phantasm is immune. Just having Phantasm on her team constantly puts her opponent in a guessing game - do you try for a super-effective attack but risk it failing entirely or test out the waters with something that's probably weaker? And she's so good at maintaining the illusion that it's hard to tell.

►Superpower8 (Verified Eight Gym Badges)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
… Do I really need to spell it out? Oh well, best make it clear: ATHENA!

►GurdurrMyLoins
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Gonna pick Miles for 'best overall'. While not quite as flashy or tanky as some, they're very good at most aspects of battling. The fact that they can be different Types without forcing Nemona to use her Terastalization is huge too

►WinGulliver's Travels (Pokemarket Clerk)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Bit of a Spectrier pick here, but I've got sources (my second cousin who works for the League) that Nemona does indeed have a secret eighth Pokemon! That's the secret weapon she's been saving up for this battle, I'm sure of it

►Jasminetea43
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Nightwing. She's pretty tough and can constantly heal, that's gotta be help for a long series of battles, right? She's quite fast too, constantly swooping around the arena

►Bigleafenergy
Replied On May 9th 2016:
I hope it'll be Notch. They look cute and they were really strong too against Katy and Grusha

►Atticus_Roads (Verified Blueberry Academy Student)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
@Bigleafenergy: Hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think we'll be seeing much of them. Nemona has been using Notch less and less as time goes on; we didn't see them at all against Larry, and they would have had Type advantage defensively (and offensively with Body Press). She might not have dropped them entirely, but I think Nemona's moved past using her weakest team member, at least in serious battles.

►UmbreonEnthusiast
Replied On May 9th 2016:
Wow, this thread has been blowing up recently. I don't have time to go through all of it, but from what I can see a Paldean Trainer is making an unusual challenge? Why is this so crazy?

►Farmsted54 (Olive Rolling Champion)
Replied On May 9th 2016:
It's crazy because she might actually do it. Paldea hasn't seen someone like her since before the League was even a thing, really. So there's a lot of people out there that are hoping that this will be the moment, the chance for us to have our own household name like Cynthia, Leon, or even Ash.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 ... 149, 150, 151



■​

♦ Topic: A New Thread
In: Boards ► Music & Movies
ViridianRoadie
(Original Poster)
Posted On Feb 14th 2016:
Fresh Start', the name of one of the most pushed albums in recent history, sung (and composed), by Nemona Glitterati, at age 9. There are eleven songs on this album:

'The Pretender'

'Live and Learn'

'Let Her Go'

'Unova'

'Take me to the Kaptin'

'Bones'

'Oh, the Places You'll Go'

'Eat Your Young'

'I Beg to Differ [It will get Better]'

'Celestial'

'Megalovania'

There are a lot of mixed feelings about this album (especially how often it shows up on the Rotunes home page), but despite her connections and age, this looks to be a promising first album for the young musician.

It has an eclectic range of genres, giving something for everyone. There's also a lot of up-and-coming groups and musicians featured in many of the songs that help give it an extra kick to bring it to the next level. That's not to say that Nemona doesn't shine in every song; her voice is there front and center in every number.

But those same strengths can lead to some of the weaknesses I feel it has. It has something for everyone… so the album as a whole is for no one. If you enjoy the upbeat pace of 'Live and Learn', then you probably won't be as big a fan of the haunting 'Eat Your Young.' Same goes for the rock out mix that is 'The Pretender' alongside the lullaby-esque tune of 'Oh the Places You'll Go.' There's also cases (in my opinion) where despite some genuine talent, the young girl's voice strains to hit certain beats right, like the song was written for someone else.

All in all though, I highly recommend that you check out this album, no matter what you have to say, it's an incredible first album and I'm looking forward to hearing more from Nemona in the future. But that's just the opinion of one amateur music critic, what do you think?

And for the love of Arceus, please don't post that dumb rumor that she had someone else write the music for her - it has been debunked several times. Hassel was only her tutor and said she wrote all of the lyrics herself (with some help from her Rotom, 'Miles'). The other artists participating in the project said much the same (with a member of E.X. letting slip in a hot mic on an Iono stream that she can 'be quite [the] little tyrant when it comes to preserving the image of [her] songs).

Addendum: This does not mean that any of the artists that collaborated on the project are unhappy with the results. All of them have publicly thanked her for their inclusion and she's done the same for them. Having a minor complaint about a co-worker doesn't mean you hate every part of what you've worked on together (sweet Palkia above, can't believe I have to spell that out for some people)



(Showing page 1 of 13)


►Toxitricks89
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
She wrote all of these? Wow, that's some talent. Even if she never makes it big as singer, she'd be set as a songwriter if this is what she can do at nine

►AlolaWow
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
I am captivated by Let Her Go. I've never had a song that so perfectly captured the feeling of when my starter Vulpix went off with a mate. I'm so happy for her, but the hurt has remained in a way I couldn't really ever articulate… until I heard this song.

►Muskter!
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Seriously? Why are people shilling this so hard? Some rich girl buys the talents of a bunch of other artists and we're expected to make her even richer?

►WeavilConundrum
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Well, looks like someone did no research whatsoever before jumping to conclusions. The artists all accepted payment before the album was released for their work and get exposure from their involvement, with many of them thankful for the opportunity. And the album itself gives the Glitterati no money - all profits go to charity and non-profit organizations like the Aether Foundation.

►HaxorDeezNuts
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Seriously? Wow, that's pretty noble of them

►Muskter!
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Just shows the length rich people will go to buy fame

Mod Warning: (User has been warned, this is a discussion about the music, not your personal assumptions about the artist/production team)

►Angelica37
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
I gotta be honest, Eat Your Young gives me the creeps. Why would a little girl even sing about that? Just harkens back to the bad old days, of evil teams and poachers, and even the wars.

►Avery_Rottingham
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
@Angelica37 I think a lot more people should be aware of those things! They weren't so long ago, and it's not like Teams are over and gone with; the criminals just don't call themselves that anymore, so it's only edgy counter-culture punks that make people think all those problems are gone

►MorpekoHUNGRY
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Take me to the Kaptin felt a bit unusual, but I'm really jamming on it

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 11, 12, 13


(Showing page 2 of 13)


►CowgirlRockstar
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
SHE SIGNED MY ALBUM!!! Ahh, this is sooo awesome!

►NimbasaLady
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Might be slightly biased, but 'Unova' has to be my favorite by a long shot.

►Harriet90
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
@Avery_Rottingham I guess people could stand to be more aware but… do we have to learn about ti from a little girl singing about 'war drums' and eating children? Honestly, a lot of the album, even the nicer parts are a lot more mature than I'd expect from a girl her age

►RadialAttack
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
'What if I say I'm not like the others?

What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?

YOU'RE THE PRETENDER!'

►CuteHat3nna
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
I can see what you mean about it not being for everyone. I enjoyed listening to it all though. There were songs like I Beg to Differ that I don't think I would have checked out without being beside songs like Celestial and oh the Places you'll Go, but I still ended up enjoying

►Galr-ade4Eva (Official Spokesperson for Gala-rade)
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
These beats are rocking! Any word when she's going to make music videos for them?

►Hargreavance
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
So you can fill them with ads for your shitty energy drink? Sorry (not sorry) but you're out of luck, Nemona is off doing the Gym Circuit, so she won't be making any videos made any time soon

►SuperSmithy123
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Darn. I was hoping we might get some sort of lyrical version or the like for Megalovania. It's really cool but… why doesn't it have any lyrics? And why is it called that?

►Hargreavance
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
Someone will probably come up with a cover version of it with lyrics soon enough. She's super chill about people using her music. Just make sure to give her credit and you can make and even sell your own cover on RoTunes

►HaxorDeezNuts
Replied On Feb 14th 2016:
On the bright side, while we wait, she posts clips of her battles with parts of her songs accompanying them! They're pretty awesome and a Nice stand in for a music video. Heck, by the end of her run, they might have enough clips to make a whole music video out of those.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 11, 12, 13



■​


This was quite an update! I've been working on it for a while; originally it was supposed to go where Billy's Interlude was, but I realized that a big forum post worked better at the end of her journey than near the beginning (which meant expanding it a good deal).

Sorry about the update being a bit late. Formatting it was a bit of a pain, and it's definitely going to look better on some sites rather than others, but I hope it'll be clean and easy to read on all of them. At least I didn't have to do any grammar or spell checking here, because I could just assume that any mistakes made were a part of people being bad at that in the hypothetical online space.

And now I guess I'll ask all of my real online readers: As we begin the Elite Gauntlet, what part are you looking forward to the most?
 
Last edited:
Chapter 76 New
Thank you so much to my fifty Beginner Tier Patreons and an extra special thanks to RageLord, Nodal_Gravity, and Exalted Requiem, my Ace Tier Patreons! I really appreciate the support.

After talking it over with Mr. Wailani, I agreed to hold off on immediately publishing my method, at least until the League could place some protections over Carbink colonies. Carbinks are already rare enough that they're usually limited in how many can be caught by Trainers, but they're hardly the most sought after in the world. But when people find out they can become Diancies, Legendary? Poachers will be crawling out of the woodwork to get at them.

That was no reason to put off getting the paperwork ready, something Friede helped a ton with on the ride back, giving me pointers, showing me sites to help in citing all the relevant articles I had reviewed in our many attempts before and including this, and commiserating with my frustration at how arduous a process it all was.

Perhaps it just feels that way in comparison to enjoying the fruits of our labors, I mused, watching Notch float around excitedly, spinning around in the air. While not really any more or less maneuverable than they had been as a Carbink, the change was still something to get used to, and something we had spent the rest of our time on the trip practicing with.

Stretching, I got up from the desk I'd been hunched over in my cabin. Think this is about as much as I'll get done today; I'm too excited about getting back home to sit still either. "Want to get ready for our landing?" I asked Notch.

['Yes! I'm quite eager for our upcoming challenge,'] they declared, pounding their fists together with a delighted gleam in their eyes.

"Haha, me too, but we've gotta stop by home first." Both for a few last-minute preparations as well as to let Miguel and the others finish up their end of things. I didn't know any specifics, but the League had said they'd be ready within a few days, and I hoped that meant nothing tragic had occurred on their end in the time we'd been away.

Stepping out onto the deck, I took in the fresh air, distantly smelling the salty breeze from the sea down below. Glancing around, I saw that all of the Rising Volt Tacklers were gathered on the deck, along with my sister.

"Sorry I haven't been able to go over the Brave Olivine with you any more," I said to Orla, approaching her first. "We've just been so busy-" she waved me off.

"Don't worry about it; I get it, it's exciting! That's why I joined Friede in this madness after all, to get to experience all this crazy stuff he's researching."

Suddenly, a thought came to me. "Wait, if you're up here, who's looking after the engines?" Every time I've seen her before except for mealtimes, she's been down there.

"While I love looking after her, the Brave Olivine doesn't need constant attention. Plus, if anything goes wrong, I can trust Metang to keep an eye on things, not that anything's likely to go awry while we're docked."

"You're docking here?"

"Yup," Friede brightly cut into the conversation, Captain Pikachu perched proudly on his shoulder. "We've got some repairs to handle, so we thought we'd stop here for a bit."

"Ah, ok. Do you want to stay at our house while you wait then?" I offered. Sure, they live on their airship, but it would be impolite not to offer. My sister gave me an odd smile but quickly nodded.

"Yeah, you should stay here before you have to go."

***

Even just being back for a few days has been so relaxing. As many adventures as we've had and await us on the road, nothing beats being home. I stretched, getting out of my comfortable bed. I couldn't lay there forever after all, and even if it was rather early in the morning.

The message had come in a few days prior that all of the Elite Four and the Top Champion would be ready on this day. This will be the day we've been waiting for. Clapping my hands together, I woke up my team, the majority of whom were out, sleeping on my bed or around my room. "You guys ready?"

A chorus of happy cries greeted me from, like, half the team. The other half gave groggy growls, but I (with a good deal of help from Dun and Miles) got them fully awake and ready for breakfast. Usually I'd be fine with just ambling down to the dining room however we looked, but we had planned to head out straight after the meal, and since this was a big event.

Bigger than I had anticipated, at least. Going from what little had filtered back to me from online discussions and even commercials advertising it as the 'challenge of the century,' it felt like all of Paldea would have their eyes on us. Which is good. If I can prove we're strong to everyone, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that will give me more leverage to pressure Turo to stop… or for the League to stop him, if need be.

With such expectations riding on us, we needed to look good. "Come on, the brush won't kill you; can't you tank blows from Bahamut's axe blades?" I teased Nightwing as I applied the polish to her exoskeleton. "If I suffered through my sister forcing me into a fashion trip the day before last, you'll survive this too." My prickly Gligar bristled but calmed down, allowing me to finish making her look presentable.

Luckily we don't actually have to do too much for her; no fur to brush or the like, just washing the mud off and then the polish. Each of my team had different reactions to being pampered; Dun would sit stoically during the scale shiner and appreciate the end result, admiring himself in the mirror. Haxorus enjoyed the idea, but had trouble holding still and started fidgeting halfway through. Athena liked it if her tail was any indication but tried to act aloof while getting brushed, as opposed to Phantasm, who would eagerly lean into each brushstroke, obviously enjoying the (lengthy) effort of untangling her wild mane.

Notch was just kind of unsure what to do with their new body, wildly trying out a number of accessories before deciding to go for something simple for their debut, just using some gem polish. "You'll be fine; this is going to be flashy enough," I said, pointing at the one article they were wearing.

['That is true. It was providence that we were able to get it fitted in such a quick time,'] my lovable little religious fanatic declared.

"That, or a bunch of my parent's money," I said. Still feel a little guilty about using it, but I am wearing logos for both of my parents' businesses, and this is supposed to be a well-watched event, so maybe that helps make up for it? I hope so; Cyan is better at figuring out the probability of how much of an impact advertising makes for a business.

"Thank you for helping make that for me," I said, gesturing at the last, extravagant piece of my outfit, draped casually over the back of my desk chair for the moment. Notch smiled and nodded, adjusting their vest, and I turned to the last members of my team.

For Miles, their appearance was covered by the appliances they could possess, and as part of our preparations, we'd fixed up and ordered upgrades from the R&D team. They were set and instead helped me in corralling the others. Radiance… did not come out for this, still sulking after last night. And it had been going so well.

***

"How are you doing?" I asked my Paradox Pokemon. We sat out on the beach, with Notch hovering beside me.

['Fine. This world is… odd.'] Iron Moth's words as transmitted to me by Notch were slightly distorted, like a radio out of tune. Not sure if that is a result of Notch's translation or just how they telepathically 'sound.'

The dramatic transformation Notch had gone through had given them more gifts than just hands - they could now speak perfectly clearly into anyone's mind nearby. Reading or interpreting thoughts back was harder, but even that hurdle was solved with a few days of trial and error, letting them link me and Radiance so we could communicate more clearly.

It wasn't something the future Pokemon was too happy with, but however it worked, they were more willing to trust it than a Psychic attempting to do the same. Even if we only use it a little bit, that will still be huge for us communicating better, I thought, taking in every motion and gesture that accompanied Radiance's words. Learning how to understand a Pokemon is a process that takes time, keying their body language to the words and emotional state they want to convey, so a conversation like this is practically a Rosetta Stone for understanding them.

"Odd how?" I inquired, and Radiance didn't speak for a few seconds, shifting back and forth, the six wings on their back slowly spinning around.

['I can't say, exactly. Memories of before I was brought here are… hard. But the impressions left to me are all wrong. These buildings, too short, too noisy, too… full of life. The Pokeballs are weird as well. Cramped yet comfortable, I'm aware inside, but everything is muted.'] There were things Radiance wasn't saying here, I realized. Those 'hard memories' could be a sign of them truly being conjured by that machine, something I know they detest the idea of. Though if they are true, does that mean that everyone will be gone by the time Radiance would be born?

It was a sobering thought, but one I wasn't going to get bogged down in right now. "Do you not want to stay in a Pokeball all the time? We can totally do that-"

['No, I won't let it beat me.']

"It's not really a case of the Pokeball 'beating' you…" I began, but their wings 'buzzed' with electricity, likely indicating irritation.

['I said it's fine. I'm not weak; I'm the strongest.'] They deliberately averted their gaze away from me and the rest of my team as they said that. The last word also felt off in my mind, as if I wasn't getting quite the right translation of it.

"Why do you think you need to be the strongest? You have potential, a ton of it, but you don't have to be the very strongest - heck, you don't need to fight at all if you don't want to."

They gave an affronted ticking sound, like gears moving quickly. ['I thought you said you wanted me on your team.']

"Of course, but that doesn't mean you have to fight. So far everyone who's joined me has - I'll admit, we do spend a lot of our day training, but that doesn't mean you have to. You can hang out, practice art, anything really." Having a hobby even if they do want to battle wouldn't be a bad idea - even I can't train every second of every day.

['Anything?']

"Anything that doesn't involve hurting other people," I clarified. Can't really backtrack the fact that I have set out certain restrictions for them, but they all basically revolve around that point.

To Radiance's credit, they didn't immediately respond, thinking it over. ['My first clear memories are of violence. Escape from that 'lab' you've spoken of was a blur. The place was filled with 'Pokemon' but none of them were like me. They were aggressive and attacked. I fought back, instincts taking over as I burned them.']

['The land was beautiful there, but wrong. On occasion, location and duration felt twisted. Not right. I flew higher and higher to escape and found myself still attacked. Some tried to stop me, but they could not overcome my determination to leave, and I made it out of {that large pit}. Above, I found the world to be so much different than the pit. Still wrong, but in a way I understood.']

['The strange Pokemon of the land outside would assault me too, but less aggressively. After demonstrating my might-'] Yikes, really don't want to touch that issue. ['They gave up attacking me. Many bowed, calling me a {god}. The desert was the home of my ancient ancestors, or so I heard; I made a home there. There were some who would challenge me, but I easily bested them… until you came along.']

"And you lost," I finished for them, mulling over everything Radiance had said. And all the things they didn't, too. Wild Pokemon look up to Alphas and Natural Tera Pokemon, something they'd perceive as a Legendary? Yeah, that would get a lot of god worship. And in a whole heaping of confusion and a sprinkle of despair as they found themself lost in a land that was nothing like what they knew, you have all the ingredients to explain Radiance's mood swings and lashing out.

There wasn't a lot I could do to fix that now, however, or at least, not more than I was already doing. Amelia's words urging patience came back to me, and I knew they were right. Radiance just needs time to adjust. We've set boundaries and otherwise been helpful and kind, and hopefully they'll learn to relax. In any case, I should be happy at how far we've come, not upset at how far we have to go.

['I want to battle, like you do,'] they said suddenly, drifting over to the battle arena installed nearby. ['You do not fight like they did- like I do. Yet you are strong. Stronger than I am.'] Not as much dissatisfaction from them there as I thought they would have, though I guess they've had a few weeks to get over being beaten. Or maybe, that's the crux of it all. The reason why they don't want to go back.

Were they seen as weak from what little they can remember pre-Time Machine? Or maybe just average in that world. It would explain some of how they'd been feeling - the brutal environment of Area Zero taught them to use violence easily, and then Radiance was worshipped by those outside the Crater… until I beat them and proved that even in this time, there were those stronger than them
. It certainly answered a number of questions about their odd behavior, but I decided not to press on their past. It was clearly something they wanted to avoid talking about right now.

"Sounds like you've got a goal in mind, awesome. I think with a bit of polish you'll be an incredible battler."

['Truly?'] Notch carried across a faint hint of hope in the translated voice, matching what little I could read off of how their body raised a few centimeters in the air.

"Oh yeah. Radiance, you're probably the strongest Pokemon I've caught at the time of catching. With the right focus, you'll grow a ton and be able to take down anyone! Honestly, most of it will just be giving you the right orders in battle; you're strong and have a good mix of Moves you've honed; it's just a question of using them right."

Technical Machines will help for sure, but much like Phantasm, I'm going in blind as to what Radiance can learn. Worse than that, honestly - Phantasm is a regional variant and not one that strays too far Move-wise, so I was still able to use Unovan Zoroarks as a base. With Iron Moth, while I know they're similar to Volcarona in many ways, they're also very different.

['If I was the strongest to begin with, then I could be the strongest overall?'] It was clear how important this question was to them, and Radinance's eyes narrowed on me as I hesitated. I don't want my team's goals to come into conflict.

"I'll do everything in my power to take you there, but the rest is up to you." A slight grinding sound had me frowning. "It's true. Becoming the very, very strongest is a tough road to climb, no matter how hard you work at it. Dun seeks that goal as well, and even within this team, you'll face impressive challengers to those heights, let alone everyone else in the world. If you work with me, I will make you strong though, I promise tha-"

['Good, direct me to defeat {them},'] Radiance declared, all six wings floating out and turning to point at Notch. The Diancie blinked for a moment, pointing at themself, getting distracted by their own finger for a second, and then back to Radiance. The surprise caused a slight 'disconnect' in our telepathic link, and I missed the next few words Radiance had to say, but they looked aggressive towards Notch. At least they only have an aggressive posture and aren't actually attacking outright.

"Okay, we can give it a shot. Remember that this is just training, though; neither side is looking to hurt each other seriously - especially not the night before the big day! I'll give you orders." I told Radiance. "Notch, you know what to do." Here goes nothing, I thought as I put up the barrier around the arena and took my place just outside it.

Radiance fought hard, and listened to me well. Despite everything we tried however, they were soon defeated, the Paradox Pokemon lying on the diamond-sprinkled ground of the arena, defeated. Notch isn't just a Legendary, but also a terrible match-up for Radiance. Too tough to easily hurt, no good ways to take advantage of Notch's weaknesses yet, an Ability that stops things like Acid Spray from hurting them, and Radiance is weak to their Rock attacks on top of it.

As I saw Radiance struggling to rise, amidst the field of spiky rocks and fae mists, I waved for them to stand down. "Enough, this was a fine first showing. Besides, I don't want to tire Notch out too much before the big day, this was just to get a baseline."

My words had the opposite effect I intended, the Iron Moth shot up, narrowing their eyes at me. Sighing, I added, "Radiance, I was never going to be sending you into this Gauntlet, it's not an indictment of how well you did against Notch." Especially since if it was I'd only be fighting with one Pokemon.

That triggered a wild wave of fire and heat, poison seeping out their body and helping melt the ground further as they raged. Used to these sorts of outburst, I quickly called on my Aura to float above the toxic ground and shield myself with cold air. Even that was only enough to deal with the spillover, a Psychic reinforced diamond shield conjured in front of me by Notch in an instant.

"Enough of that!" I shouted and slowly, they stopped their tantrum, in favor of giving me a confused and slightly hurt beep. Radiance is wondering if they're strong enough, but that was never the question.

"I'll use you plenty in later matches, I promise! But we need to get you integrated into the team and used to my battling style. Plus, more importantly," I quickly added before they could raise a complaint about that. "We need to deal with Turo first. Hopefully, if all goes well, we can convince him to stop what he's doing. But if I can't then we'll need to stop him, and I don't want anyone getting the bright idea to go down into the Great Crater because they saw you in this match."

It's on the League's record, and the Violet Book is common enough that someone will spill the info online, even if I lied. There's still a risk that it might happen when using Radiance afterwards, but hopefully we can control it, maybe put some more rangers on guarding its boundaries. At the very least, once Turo's equipment is removed there's no chance anyone will find out about his time/paradox machine.

They knew this - we had talked about this - but clearly my Paradox Pokemon wasn't happy. Slumping, Radiance nodded their head in defeat. I tried to give them a comforting pat on their head afterwards, but they ducked under it and delicately pressed the button of their Pokeball, recalling themself. You don't need to be so grumpy about it if you agree with me.

***

Shaking aside that one dour spot on an otherwise exciting day, I gave everyone a once over. Seeing everyone was presentable, I latched on the last article of clothing I'd be wearing for the day: a cape.

At my sister's insistence, I'd added it when we'd gone out. We did some little things, like manicures and getting my haircut to make me look a bit less like a feral child (back to rocking the classic Nemona ponytail), as well as changing my hoodie into a shirt. The shirt followed the same design scheme of the hoodie with a Pokeball pattern on it, but instead of being red and white, it was gold and white, matching the dress pants I was wearing too. Each of them had logos of the Rotom Phone Company and Paldean Realty Incorporated on that, but the cape made my parents even happier.

They claimed that was due to me 'showing off my dazzling Glitterati potential,' and it did indeed dazzle. The cape was a glittery, diamond-encrusted piece that felt insanely over-the-top… but it had made Mom and Dad happy. Even Cyan told me to 'own it' when I felt like it was trying too hard. If it works for Lance, then it can work for me too, right? Though he didn't have a Diancie to make something this sparkly. At least it will look dramatic when I conjure a dramatic gust of wind.

Projecting a boldness I didn't quite feel, I led my team down to the dining room. Leah greeted me at the entrance. "Young Miss, your meal is ready." She waved an arm out at my place at the raucous table. It says something about how insanely large our dining room is that it can fit mine and Cyan's whole teams, our parents plus the Rising Volt Tacklers, and some of their Pokemon, even if just barely.

"Thank you, majordomo," I said, still feeling out the word in my mouth, trying to get used to it when addressing her. Then I paused and added, "Really, for everything, thank you, Leah."

She blushed and responded, "It's no- It's been a pleasure, watching you grow every step of the way. And now to see you on the cusp of becoming a Champion…" She shook her head, half fondly, half in wonder. "But why do you speak like this will be the last time we'll talk?"

"Ah, just feels like it'll be the start of a new era, or maybe a new chapter of my life after this challenge, win or lose." She chuckled at my response.

"You sound so grown-up already." Someone who didn't know me as well might ask me to 'stop trying so hard,' but she just smiled. "Whatever happens, I'll see you tomorrow, and if I'm not overstepping, I'll say that I'll be proud of you. I might have to look after the house, but," she paused, leaning in to whisper to me. "All of the staff will be watching and cheering you on from here."

I gave her a quick hug before joining the others at the table. Orla and my father were eagerly chatting about various engineering, Mother fussing over Cyan, and Arven with Murdoch complimenting the chef and carefully tasting each dish. Friede was the first to catch sight of me, followed quickly by Captain Pikachu, who was small enough to sit at the table instead of having a dish off to the side like some of the larger Pokemon, waved at me, causing the others to notice my arrival.

""Nemona!/Dear!"" Billy and O'Nare called out, rushing around the table before I sat down, glomping me in a hug.

"Mom, Dad, I'm glad to see you too." Despite me having been home for a while, they had been busy with work, so we hadn't really had the chance to catch up before now. Part of me does feel a bit, I don't know, irked? By how much time they spend on their jobs (more for Cyan's sake than my own). But I know they worked extra hard to clear everything in their schedules for today, my big day. And honestly, I'm not much better; so much to do, so many plans to advance, so little time.

"Sorry about the damage outside; Notch's new strength was a bit more than expected, and with Radiance going on a wee rampage… well, the arena is going to need some repairs." More than what it could fix on its own at least.

"Don't worry about it," Billy waved my concerns away. "We're just happy to see how much you've grown." They let me go to get a better look at me, looking on in awe as if it had been years instead of a few days since I'd talked with them (on video chat admittedly).

"Indeed! You must have sprouted up a foot, just like a Glitterati to rise up to their full potential." O'Nare said, and I laughed. They're so silly… but they really do care.

"Can't have been more than six inches since I started, and less since I saw you last." I have been growing, though, getting cramps in my legs at night. Doubt it'll stop any time soon, given Nemona was one of the taller characters in the game. I didn't want to talk just about myself, however, and quickly asked, "Did Cyan tell you she was thinking about getting another team member? Alola had a bunch of Water Types she was interested - which shouldn't be a surprise, what with Primarina as her starter."

Cyan scoffed. "You're the Alola-obsessed one." Barely a second passed before she added, "The islands and all the Pokemon there do sound pretty cool, though. But I still want a trip to Kalos first!"

I shrugged, clearing my throat from the food I had wolfed down. "Sure," I had controlled the last family vacation with our trip to Kitakami. My sister simply gave me a look and I added, "It's fine! Really, just, you know, don't see the great appeal."

"Don't see the- Kalos is one of the most beautiful regions in the world! Lumiose, the city of light, the city of love! Did you know they did a huge urban redevelopment not too long ago? It made the city even better…" She rambled on about it until the topics shifted, all of us talking about all sorts of things until the meal was finished. Miles discreetly floated by and displayed the time. Almost 9 AM; we'd best get a move on.

Standing up from the table, I announced, "Thank you, Friede, Orla, Ludlow, and Murdoch. I appreciate all the help you've given me. I hope whatever you're planning next goes well, but for now we have to head off for my Gauntlet."

Arven had finished the meal and was already standing by my side. As if we'll leave without him. He's been pretty clingy since I got back, but I can't blame him. The young boy had been staying with us ever since I returned, and Leah had mentioned he'd been by a few times even when I'd been on my journey.

"We can come along with you; we actually have plans to watch something amazing near Mesagoza." Friede said, and something about his words had me pause, glancing up from my food around the table. While perfectly innocent, there was just a hint of mirth shared by Friede, Orla, and Murdoch that keyed me to what was going on (not Ludlow, though that might have just been due to his facial hair obscuring much of his expressions).

"... You guys are sticking around to watch my Elite Challenge," I said, less a question and more a confirmation. My traitorous sister laughed anyway.

"Yeah, no duh." Okay, yeah, I probably should have seen this coming. The doorbell rang, interrupting any further mocking, and she sprung up. "Oh, I'll get it." She never gets the door; she always lets one of the staff do it, so why- no way. Did they really…?

My suspicions were confirmed as I focused my hearing and heard a familiar scuffing of shoes. Despite Cyan's lead, I raced ahead of her, opening the door. "You guys came all the way here?" I asked Carmine and Kieran.

The Kitakami kids looked much as I remembered them, just a bit taller than before. Kieran scuffed his foot nervously at the entrance. "Well, yeah, we wanted to see your big battle; you've been working hard for this. You're gonna kick their butts!"

Before I could say anything to that, Carmine added, "It was a long trip, so you best not let us down!"

"Aww, love you too," I said, my words earning a blush from the tall girl. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this. Any other guests we're about to be receiving?" I asked my sister, but she shook her head.

"Unfortunately not. I tried to get Lacey onboard, but she had a party or something she'd already agreed to go to, and Amethio said he was busy with Explorer stuff. It's a shame," she said with a wistful sigh. Does she… have a crush on him?! I mean, he's a bit older than me, so I guess it isn't crazy, but still, so weird to think of.

So I decided not to do that and instead quickly sent out a message to my distant friends telling them I was about to battle the Elite Four and asking for them to wish me luck before chatting with everyone else.

"So, anything new with you guys?" We chatted regularly on my journey, but I'd dropped off a bit since the Alolan trip had happened. Plus, there's always things you miss when you aren't talking in person.

Carmine puffed up at that. "I'll have you know that I managed to evolve Poltchageist into Sinistcha! It took a lot of work to find the right Teacup for them, but worth it. I bet I could even give you a run for your money now." She declared boldly, arms crossed in front of her.

"I thought you were busy spending your time studying. Aren't you worried about getting into Blueberry?" I asked as I led them inside.

"Blueberry Academy is a top-tier educational institution, but it's also one of the best places to hone your battle skills; the untamed Terrarium, regular student tournaments, and the Elite Club all serve to hone your skills as a Trainer. I can't let either brains or brawn falter if I'm to surpass you!" There was a dangerous gleam to her yellow eyes.

"Mhm," I said noncommittally to get a rise out of the fiery girl. "Not really sure that the Terrarium counts as 'untamed' though, considering the whole school is man-made." Kieran snickered at his sister's sputtering in response.

"We've been studying hard too, though it'd be fun to battle again sometime." He wasn't as bold as his sister, but the twinkle in his own eyes told me he was just as excited as her.

"Looking forward to it, let's have some matches when we get into Blueberry." Kieran beamed brightly, and even Carmine gave a soft smile at my easy confidence in them. There's no doubt in my mind that they'll make it to Blueberry. They might not have the memories of a past life, but they're both quite bright too. Honestly, it's far more impressive what they've managed with so much less than I've had.

"What's this about a blueberry?" Murdoch asked, and my sister answered.

"Just my sister being stubborn and going to school all the way in Unova rather than the far superior Uva Academy." Any maturity to her response was slightly undercut by the raspberry she blew my way.

Which is better than Arven's grumbling. I still have several months until I go over there… assuming everything goes well with talking down Turo. That thought loomed over my head and made me feel bad every time I saw Arven and knew I was keeping it from him. I still did my best not to let it show, though - no reason to taint these happy memories with my worries for the future.

It's fine; if all goes well, he won't ever have to know. His father's name doesn't need to be dragged through the mud. Still, if the worst does come to pass, I'm glad he's talking to his mother again, which seems to be going well? Baby steps there, but still, if they're patching things up, I'm happy for him.

"Both of them are good schools, and like I told Arven, I'll study at Uva after I'm done at Blueberry. But that's all far in the future; for now, I've got to focus on becoming a Champion." Hardly the most subtle of topic deflections, but if it doesn't end up with Arven in tears again, I'll take it.

We needed two Flying Taxis, even of the larger variants, to carry our entire group (I had suggested taking the Brave Olivine over, but Friede muttered something about 'Geeta' and 'scary,' so I let that idea drop). My sister, having planned this all out, had already arranged for two of them ahead of time.

Our family was in one of the taxis while Kieran, Carmine, and the Rising Volt Tacklers were in the other. With a farewell wave to the staff below, we were off, soaring through the skies towards Mesagoza and the League Building.

I'd have felt a bit apologetic about leaving the Kitakami siblings with a bunch of people they didn't know, but almost immediately I heard Carmine 'challenge' Friede to a test of his knowledge, declaring the man to be 'too young' to be a Pokemon Professor. Kieran was shyly talking with Murdoch, bonding over their 'food-based' Pokemon and discussing some of the cultural dishes they had there. Sounds like they're getting along fine.

"You doing okay?" Cyan quietly inquired. Mother and father were quickly sending off last-minute messages to work to ensure that any sudden details would be covered while Arven was entranced by some Flamigos he saw flying by, leaning out the edge of the taxi to get a better look at them.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. Really, just thinking. But I feel… ready. This is it; this is our time." I truly felt that way. As much as a million different thoughts and strategies swirled within my head, I was confident in the strength we had. After everything they've been through, I know my Pokemon are strong enough to win, so all I have to do is see them across the finish line. Easy, right?

…Well, easier said than done. Honestly, the real thing that takes the burden off of my mind is knowing that this isn't the
real battle; it just helps. Convincing Turo to shut down the Paradox machine is the biggest challenge. This is just where I prove I have the chops to force it shut down, if need be.

***

The first difficulty came in landing down. The Flying Taxis weren't that large, but the grassy hill was swarming with reporters and fans. At least I think they're fans, given the signs they're holding up with my name on them- oh, that one has a cute drawing of Dun! A few League Officials cordoned off a landing spot for us, holding back the people that tried to swarm us the moment we touched ground.

Geeta walked up to us as we disembarked. "Sorry about that. We knew this event would garner much attention, but we hadn't realized how many people would be here to get 'close to the action.'"

I gave her a small smile, somewhat distracted by all the noise around us. People were loudly cheering my name, but also reporters were desperately shouting, hoping I'd turn to answer their questions. Said questions ranged from reasonable ("Who do you think will be your greatest challenge among the Elite Four?" "What are your strategies to take on Martha's Spiritomb?") to the intriguing ("Will you be competing in the next junior karate tournament after this?" "What was the greatest challenge you faced thus far?") to the pretty obvious but understandable, ("Will we be seeing any Mega Evolutions from you?" "Do you think you can win?") and the truly ridiculous ("Is it true you're secretly Hassel's child?!" "Did you fly to Alola to elope before the Gauntlet?").

"Thanks," I said, shaking away the distractions and purposely reigning in my Aura so my senses weren't as sensitive. I'll have to get used to that later. Not just people peppering me with questions, but also having to answer them, rapid-fire. Maybe if I thought of it like a battle?

If I was a little overwhelmed, Carmine and Kieran were utterly gobsmacked. There's hundreds, possibly thousands here; probably more people on this small hill than in their entire village. And these are just the people who came in person, probably mostly Mesagozans unless I have some really die-hard fans here; most will just watch it on the TV or online later.

"Pretty cool building, right? No Oni Mountain, but Paldea has some cool places too," I said, giving Carmine a low ball, which she instinctively responded to, snapping back.

"That's right; Kitakami is the greatest! But, uh, your home is pretty nice too, I guess. We could visit someday, so you don't get lonely." Kieran nodded along, mutely. Wow, that's practically Carmine-speak for 'I love it here!' Still the words did the job of getting them moving, and they followed the others into the building.

"Your friends and family can stay in a lounge we've prepared," Geeta informed us, leading us to said room. It was fairly plain, but there were plenty of chairs and a couch for them to sit in, facing a large screen TV. It was also already occupied by three familiar figures.

"Tulip? Dendra? Gothorita?!" I was flabbergasted for a second before shaking my head and rushing forward and giving Dendra a fist bump (which she returned so hard I was pretty sure I'd end up with a light bruise). To Tulip I dipped my head slightly in respect. "I didn't expect to see you two here. Admittedly, because someone was hiding everything from me and I thought we were done with surprises after breakfast," I turned to give a mild glare at Cyan.

Like, on the one hand, I really appreciate it, but on the other, she knows I don't like big surprises like that! Dendra cleared her throat, speaking up. "We thought about joining you but someone likes her beauty sleep, so we just teleported here." Tulip gave her girlfriend a playful swat as the vice chairwoman strode forward.

"Yes, it might have cleared some issues up had you arrived with Nemona's party," Geeta stated calmly.

Tulip's response was sweet, but the smile she gave didn't reach her eyes. "I'm a Gym Trainer, there should have been no issues with my entrance."

"It was quite irregular, especially with your girlfriend and an uncaught Pokemon in tow." Wow, I didn't realize you could glare daggers at someone while smiling like that, but they've both mastered that skill. For some reason Arven looked quite awkward, taking in the scene. I could hardly blame him; however, the tension between them was palpable even without being a Psychic. Speaking of Psychics…

"And how are you doing?" I inquired, crouching a bit to be on eye-level with Gothorita. She gave me a blank look, betraying no emotions, but extended her ribbons around my hand. Feeling what she was trying to tell me was difficult, but the empathetic communication Athena practiced made it a little easier to decipher her feelings. "You're still unsure?"

"But super excited to watch your matches, osu! She's got quite the spirit, so we just had to bring her along for this."

"Thank you," I told my sensei before turning back to the Pokemon. "I'll do my best. Not sure if you'll be able to feel me from here, but I'll be close by, and you'll be able to watch me from the screen."

"That's correct, the matches are set to stream directly here," Geeta explained while I tried to extricate myself from a clingy Psychic. "Relax and get ready for a great show," she said, gesturing to the television before. "In between matches, Nemona, you can join them here to rest and recuperate. We'll also have small breaks planned for lunch and dinner in the cafeteria. Does that sound good?"

They all nodded (and I had managed to gently get my hand loose and wrench my shadow away from Gothorita), so Geeta continued. "With that settled, let's go to your first match."

"Against Daisy, right?" I confirmed, walking to the doorway with the vice chairwoman. She nodded, and I paused at the door to wave goodbye to the others, my eyes watering a little. "Uhh, thank you so much for the support. It means… more than I can say and-" My voice cracked, and they responded enthusiastically.

"You got this!"

"We're rooting for you!"

"Show them true Glitterati spirit out there!"

"We love you, dear!"

"Give them the taste of defeat!"

"You'll do great, osu!"

"Have faith in your strength; your true power cannot be denied."

"Go kick their butts!"

"D-don't hold back!"

"Hah, yeah, will do." With that, I was off, heading towards my first Elite Challenge. Well, I guess it counts as my third if we count my battles against Hassel and Miguel, but… the first real one.

Geeta was silent as we walked through the corridors, only speaking up when we entered the elevator. "It's impressive how far you've come in a short time. I've known you had talent since we first met, but even I didn't anticipate how far you'd rise since."

"We've known each other about three years now," I pointed out. "It's not that crazy to be taking on the Elite Four after that much time spent training. Or is it just doing so at my age that's impressive?"

She inclined her head. "That's impressive too, but even without that, there are only so many Trainers that can make the jump to challenging the Elite Four and Champion in such a time."

"Hey, save that kind of talk for when I win," I said back with a smirk, glancing over at the tall woman. Not a hint of what she's really feeling, even here. Geeta's never been unfair to me, but it's hard to tell what she's thinking.

"I'll make sure to mention it then too, but I felt I should recognize your growth up to this point. Saving the recognition for after you succeed feels somewhat hollow." There was a pause, and the only sound was of the elevator descending until we reached our floor.

"Well, I appreciate the support," I began, then stopped as the woman shook her head. "Ah right, that isn't what you were doing, was it?"

"Correct. You have plenty of people supporting you already." I smiled as I followed her down the corridor, thinking of everyone who cared for and believed in me. It's strange; I was so closed off when I first awakened to my memories in this world, and it never felt like I was desperately seeking out friends, but now I have so many.

Rather than take me to the big double doors at the end of the hall, Geeta motioned for us to go down a side door. At my questioning glance, she explained, "There's just a small check to go through before you begin your first match." I was slightly wary, looking inside the doorway to see a small room with a computer and desk off to the side but mainly dominated by a large machine at the center and back of it. The thing was bulky and vaguely hexagonal, coming up to my shoulders, with six indent slots at the top of its points. Wires led out the back through the wall, and there was a small inactive display screen in the center.

"Please place your Pokeballs in the machine," Geeta said, gesturing to the strange device. "It will scan them and make sure all the Pokemon within are indeed registered to you. It also saves us some time in registering them as Champion-tier Pokemon when someone wins." Hard to believe anyone would show up to a match like this with Pokemon that weren't registered to them, but people can be crazy. That, and/or the League just made it policy to do so preemptively.

There were only six slots, so I had to wait for all of them to be scanned before taking them out before putting Bahamut's ball in. Each Pokemon scanned quickly displayed their ID and my Trainer ID on the screen.

The vice chairwoman tilted her head slightly to the side. "Are you not going to register the last member of your team?" She asked, staring at Radiance's Pokeball.

"Nah. This one isn't quite ready for battles of this level yet." A decent enough excuse for the time being. Even partially true, though more for fear of them lashing out and getting someone hurt in a match than their own power, however. If they listened to me well, I don't think a single Pokemon in the Elite Four could stand up to Radiance.

With the scans done, I took the time to switch Miles out from their phone (noting the 'Go Nemona! I'll be watching your matches online!' and 'Good luck,' texts from Lacey and Amethio) to a combat-ready Form. Drone and Boombox Forms are good, and I do want to show them off here, but for Daisy, there's only one reasonable option. I'll use the other one in future matches.

Geeta nodded. "Very well, let us continue." Leading me back out and down the hallway, she asked, "Do you have any rivals among your friends and family? Someone who pushes you further than ever before?"

"Hmm, Kieran might get there some day, and Amethio certainly tries, oh! Rika was pretty good when I fought her last." Shame I won't be fighting her here today, though, but she was finishing up her Gym run only two years ago and is still a teenager; I guess it's a bit much to expect that she'd be an Elite Four already. Those thoughts caused a slight realization to click into place. "Huh, yeah, I guess I can't say there's anyone who fits that role." At least not yet; we're still a bit more than a half decade off of canon, unfortunately, assuming the protagonist even is there.

"That's a shame; finding a proper rival could help you rise even farther and give you new goals to reach for."

"Eh, might give me more motivation, but I'm not really lacking on that front." The fate of Paldea is pressure enough, thank you. At the slight frown on her face, I continued.

"There's always something higher to reach for, some new goal to attain," I said, stretching my hand up in the air, as if trying to grasp something ephemeral. "Once I've become a Champion, I'll just set my sights even higher."

"And when you reach the top?"

"A trick question, that; there is no 'top.' Not really. It's like 'utopia' or 'infinity,' a goal you can constantly strive for but never truly reach. That isn't to say that progress isn't important or worthwhile, however," I quickly added.

She surprised me by chuckling. "Sorry, it's just always a fresh perspective and something unexpected with you. It's good; it forces me to think in new ways."

"I see," I replied, nodding my head, coming to a stop before the main doors. Well, I don't truly see; there's still a lot I don't get about Geeta, but… "If you're looking for a match, I'd be happy to give you one some time after this."

"I hardly think I'd make a good rival for you, but I'll keep that in mind. Now, let's not keep them waiting." With that, she opened the doors, revealing the rather bland room with big light blue tiles making up the walls and floors. The room was a large, square shape with a slightly smaller gray rectangle within, the lines and Pokeball pattern on it marking it as the arena proper. Rotom Drones, far smaller than the version Miles had, hovered around the outside, recording everything taking place here. There was a man I didn't recognize with a mic standing off to the side. And across from me on the other end of the arena stood Daisy. Go time.


Sorry to leave it on this cliffhanger here, but this chapter was getting super long. Don't worry though, next time for real, her battle against the Elite Four begins!

... Don't have much else to say, mostly just been playing a ton of Silksong. I even added a channel to discuss it on the Discord to talk about it. And if you like the chapter and want to toss me a bit of money, I have a Kofi and a Patreon, subscribers to the later get early access to the next ten chapters. Thank you, and I hope you have a great day.
 
Back
Top