Pocket Monsters Online

[sean_hyer]

One last blow, and the fight was over. He'd probably have to play safer in the future, given how dangerous rats were (imagine a dragon). But man did it feel good to fight. A long-forgotten thrill, a rush that brought you to life again.

Deep breath. In. Out.

So now what? Normally, he'd go check on Alithor, but the game had left little doubt he was killed. Also, no body to check on. That left Come On Already.

To be honest, he wasn't even that fussed. Okay yeah, the little bat seemed about as alive as a dog. Even now, with so little contact between them, he'd be pretty broken up if the little guy bit it. (Memories of crouching to gather up a quaking bundle of torn flesh and blood-matted fur.) But a few moments at the Pokemon center and he'd be good as new. This was just a game; the injuries illusory. It was something of a surprise that the Zubat hadn't returned to his Pokeball when he was fainted. But he was obviously in no danger.

As he turned to head back to him, Greek girl was there, grinning infectiously. He couldn't help but smile back. They had kicked butt.

It felt kind of odd to do this after forming a party and doing a quest, but it would only get worse later. So. Turning fully towards her, he stuck out a hand. "Where are my manners? I'm Sean. Pleased to meet you."

[NineOfSpades]

"Man, I was hoping for some kind of victory Fanfare music." Scarlet grumbled as she dismissed the victory text-box. interweaving her fingers, she stretched her arms and shoulders out, not wanting her joints to tighten up later, which usually happened if she didn't give her muscles a chance to cool off after a scrap.

"Oh hay, should probably let Alithor know that we won." she commented, figuring the fire-starting guy would probably have respawned by now. Scarlet summoned up the control window and tried to locate the tab for sending a private message. Or Rather, she attempted to do so. "Open Private message?" she said, hopefully. If that didn't work, she'd try gesturing a few times, perhaps it'd be some sort of kinetic command system.

[CosmicOccurence]

CoCo brushed her hair out of her face after the battle was over. She'd have preffered it if Sparky hadn't gotten one of those injuries (note to self, figure out what they do asap), but there really wasn't much that she could do. She returned the pichu to its ball and stashed it in her pocket and glanced around. This was definitely not a functional group, and she was sure that it wouldn't stay together. The only question was ... who to end up travelling with. Or maybe just go solo? She needed to figure out how to get some starting cash asap and start her little entrepreneurial endeavors here. In any case, time to press their timeliness with the game and end the starting quest.

We should head back and finish the quest. Hopefully we're still ahead of the curve, but people aren't stupid. We have a chance to get ahead in this game, and we shouldn't waste it. She waits for a moment and then hurries up to see their lovely blacksmith quest giver. She wondered if anyone would follow her.

[GrayGriffin]

Artemis smiles and takes Sean's hand. "Artemis. Don't really feel comfortable giving you my real name right now," she adds with a chuckle. "And this is Acantha," she adds, gesturing to the grass snake held in her arms.

Glancing over at Coco, she nods. "Alright, I'm coming," she agrees. She looks over at Sean, then lowers her voice a bit. "Although...I don't really care about the others 'getting ahead of us.' I got this game to just have fun and explore, you know?"

[IrnBruAddict]

This game is freaking sweet! thought Rui. It simulates pain! And it's much harder and more violent than I thought it was gonna be. And the players seem like pretty easy targets for trolling. This will probably be better than we thought. And once the others get the game, I won't be stuck with these guys. Well, not like I need to stick with them much longer, the quest is done. I figure we can go 3, maybe 4 weeks before we get our accounts banned.'

Zero quietly gathers up the stuff and his broken Brobat while everyone else was either busy flirting, handing in the quest, or trying really hard not to look at him. With no one paying attention to him, he breaks out into an evil grin. If the first boss can rip a guy in half on a single turn, just imagine what the rest of this game is like! Storing away Brobat's ball, he looks at the other one.

'C'mon, Ratamon or whatever your name is, we get more faces to chew off. I wonder what would happen if I let you out next to that blacksmith. Think he'd be programmed to recognise you and run away? And we still need to find that Kirby.'

[Arcran]

So far Scarlet's attempts to summon up a command window are met with some difficultly, although when she says "Open Private Message" a box flies down from the upper left corner of her vision, taking up the center of her vision. A small keyboard appears below it a moment later, hovering in midair.

As Zero looks at the Pokeball he sees a small rectangle with various colors within, likely a status screen of some sort. Right now it's a bit too small to actually make anything out, but perhaps it could be enlarged?

Spoiler: Wrap Up!

Show

Alright everybody, when you're ready to head out just post that you leave and we can get things all wrapped up!

As CoCo leaves the dungeon she sees a large number of players all making their way towards the center of the city. Of course, Alvor the Blacksmith proves to a be a little distracting, with the giant man instantly running over towards CoCo as she exits his shop, a massive grin on his face.

"Ah, ye killed tha rats!" he says triumphantly, obviously excited. "Good work! Now let's see if I kin find ya that weapon..."

You have helped Alvor return his smithy to a usable state! Please select your reward:

Nicked Short Sword - Crude Small Melee Weapon
or
Clumsy Throwing Knives - Crude Short Range Weapon
or
Almost Magic Stick - Crude Arcane Short Range Weapon

[NineOfSpades]

"Ah, Finally" Scarlet smiled after the window finally appeared. She'd have to see if she could find a help box, or some kind of command list. It'd save time in the future, as well as a lot of unneeded flailing. Typing on the virtual keys, she quickly drafted up a message.

To: Alithor

Hey, Its Scarlet. We didn't talk much before the battle started, but I wanted to at least let you know how it turned out. I guess this game is tougher than we expected, my Bulbasaur took quite a beating, and Arnold got taken out shortly after you did. But we still ended up winning! Couldn't have done it without your help, even if you weren't there to see it. I'm probably going to head over to the pokemon center to get Clover patched up. Shoot me a message if you want to meet up to hang sometime.

Just as Scarlet was about to hit send, she noticed the pile of gear that had been left behind after Alithor exploded.

PS: a bunch of gear got left behind. I'm assuming its yours. I'll hold onto it, till you can come by and grab it.

With that done, Scarlet hit the send button, and then walked over to the pile of gear, and began to gather it up, along with the Pokeballs she'd thrown that had missed their target.

[sean_hyer]

"I've never really understood that whole name thing. But fair enough."

At the mention of Artemis' Pokemon, he seems to remember something. Heading over to his fallen Pokemon, he crouches and pulls its Pokeball from his belt. "Come on, Come On Already. Let's go get you fixed up." Half-turning, he looks back at the captured Rattata, taking out its ball as well. "Hey you. I guess you'd better come along as well." In a half-joking tone, he continues. "But I expect a better performance next time."

Pokemon in hand, he hurries to catch Artemis as she follows CoCo to the exit, matching her hushed speech. "I got this game because... well, it doesn't matter. But yeah, way I figure it's just a game. No sense taking it too seriously, y'know?"

[GrayGriffin]

As they're leaving, Artemis remembers Alithor's stuff, but looks over to see Scarlet already picking it up. Hopefully to give it back to him, she thinks. She hangs back for a moment, waiting for the other girl to catch up, while waving Sean ahead.

"Hey," she says when Scarlet gets closer. "What were you planning on doing with that stuff?" Her voice is more curious than anything. After all, for all she knows, the general etiquette in this kind of game is to just collect your defeated allies' items for yourself.

[NineOfSpades]

"Hmm?" Scarlet turned to face Atalanta "Oh hey. Yeah, just holding it for now. Sent Alithor a message so we could coordinate somewhere to meet so he could pick it up" Scarlet smiled. "Hey, do know if there a way I can just put this into an inventory menu? Probably easier than carrying it around in hand, right? Oh, forgot introductions. I'm Ru...er...Scarlet. Sorry. Not much of a gamer I'm afraid"

[IrnBruAddict]

'I bet if I picked it up, you'd accuse me of stealing. But we all need to trust you.' Zero once again teases Scarlet. 'The dude died, he lost his stuff fair and square doing something stupid. Later on, players won't be so nice to you. You should keep it. Besides,' his lip curls up in an evil grin, 'it'll make a nice consolation prize for you, since you missed out on old Chompers here.'

He passes by the happy couple flirting and the ball of pink rage, and heads on up to Alvor. Zero tries to put his index finger and thumb in the box, then widen it out, like you would do on a touch screen or something.

[Arcran]

Scarlet

As Scarlet hits the "send" button the message window flashes red and an error message appears.

Error: User not found. Please check that you properly input the username as well as the spelling of said username.

Zero

As you drag the display larger it expands rapidly, filling most of your vision with text and a large, animated model of the Raticate.

Spoiler: ???'s Stats

Show

Nickname: ??? This Pokemon does not yet have a nickname. Click here to give it a nickname.
Title: Slash Eye
Species: Raticate
Gender: Male
Attitude: Hostile

Level: 15
Experience: 220/250
Tutor Points: 2/4

Nature: Naughty
Abilities: Guts
Moves: Focus Energy, Hyper Fang, Sucker Punch, Bite, Pursuit, Counter
Modifications: Move Tutor - Counter (2 Tutor Points)

Hit Points: ???
HP: 6
Attack: 10
Defense: 6
Special Attack: 5
Special Defense: 5
Speed: 10
Note, this Pokemon has Level Up stat points that have not been distributed. Click here to distribute Level Up points.

Some of the lines, such as title, have a small arrow pointing down next to them, likely indicating a drop-down box of some sort.

sean_hyer

The Rattata shoots a glare at you before it disappears back into the Pokeball, returning apparently without complaint. The Zubat returns without issue as well, although as it is unconscious that isn't much of a surprise.

All (sans CoCo)

As you all leave the dungeon, you see a large number of players all making their way towards the center of the city. Of course, Alvor the Blacksmith proves to a be a little distracting, with the giant man instantly running over towards the remainder of the group as they exit his shop, a massive grin on his face.

"Ah, ye killed tha rats!" he says triumphantly, obviously excited. "Good work! Now let's see if I kin find ya that weapon..."

You have helped Alvor return his smithy to a usable state! Please select your reward:

Nicked Short Sword - Crude Small Melee Weapon
or
Clumsy Throwing Knives - Crude Short Range Weapon
or
Almost Magic Stick - Crude Arcane Short Range Weapon

[NineOfSpades]

Scarlet

As Scarlet hits the "send" button the message window flashes red and an error message appears.

Scarlet blinked in suprise. She was pretty sure she'd done everything correctly...what had gone wrong?

Spoiler: Knowledge (tech)

Show

No way I'll succeed, but what the heck, might as well
Know. Tech: (1d6)[5]

But before she could try again, Zero's taunting distracted her. "Bite me" She growled in response. In a few minutes, the'd be out of this celler and she could be on her way, and never have to see that bastards face again. And that happy thought kept her from flying off the handle at Zero.

Heading back up outside, Scarlet saw the blacksmith, and she gave him a nod "Yeah, there gone. Glad to be of service. Probably want to patch up the hole down their with something more sturdy, though, or the'll be back before you know it. Anyhow, I-" She was interrupted by the prompt for her reward item "Oh, look at the, another pop up." She quickly glanced down at the options. The magic stick looked neat, so she just chose that one. Maybe it'd be fun to be a spellcaster?

Noticing the crowd, Scarlet cocked an eyebrow "Wonder whats going on..." glancing over her shoulder, she asked the rest of the group (Minus Zero) "Anyone want to check it out with me?"

[GrayGriffin]

Artemis frowns. "Sorry, I'm new to this kind of game. Although...maybe you just need to say 'inventory' or something like that? It seems that voice commands are the main control method here." When Zero speaks up, she frowns at him, then at Scarlet's snappy response.

"So far, you're the only one who hasn't been nice," she responds to him, before heading towards the blacksmith. She winces at seeing the "throwing" option, remembering her disastrous attempts at Pokeball hurling down in the basement. Then again...she'll only get better with practice, right? She picks the "throwing knives" option before glancing over at the crowd.

"Sure," she says. Safety in numbers, right?

[sean_hyer]

Ahhh. A reward. To the victor go the spoils, and all that. The sword grabbed his attention at once, but he checked the other options just in case. A magic wand? Didn't really fit in with the knight-in-shining-armor theme he was going for. Throwing knives were a bit better, but still 'a coward's weapon'. Plus, he hadn't the faintest idea how to throw a knife. At least with a sword he had studied fencing for a few years.

Curious, he poked the sword description, wondering what it would show. Damage values or critical ranges, he guessed? But instead, it simply stated that it would 'improve the damage base of your struggle attack by 1'. Well, that was no information. What was 'struggle'?

A moment later, and he sat stunned. Struggle had a damage base of 4, and had helpfully noted that his 'default attack' had a damage base of 8. So, if he took the sword, he'd do less damage with it than he would with just his fists and feet. What was WITH this game? It wasn't like he was a trained martial artist or anything...

Anyway. The point was, he didn't want any of the rewards offered. He probably ought to just pick the most valuable one and sell it as soon as he could, but this WAS meant to be a roleplaying game. Scrabbling for coin didn't seem particularly knightly. Ah-HAH!

Facing the blacksmith, he bowed slightly. "It was merely my civic duty, sir. I require no reward for doing what is right."

[IrnBruAddict]

'Oh, I'll gladly nibble on you later.' Zero blows a kiss to Scarlet. She was so easy to rile up. She might soon become Rui's favourite victim.

'Well boo-hoo. I don't play nice darlin', I play smart. And what went on down there was pretty stupid. I could explain to you what went wrong down there, but frankly that's a waste of oxygen since I doubt you guys would listen.' Zero snorts at Sean's attempt to act like some sorta hero, but doesn't comment. He was more funny just watching him than riling him up.

He taps the numbers on the stats and quickly stats up his new Raticate. Then he clicks on the title, to see what that was about.

[CosmicOccurence]

I suppose I'll take the throwing knives CoCo said. She clicked the option with a sigh. She didn't anticipate using them, but why the heck not?

[Arcran]

Spoiler: Scarlet

Show

As far as you can tell you put the name in correctly. Of course, "Alithor" isn't a particularly conventional name, but you're almost certain that it was correct. Maybe it's just a glitch? It is launch day after all.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

2 Potions and 5 Pokeballs are what you looted from Alithor.

Spoiler: Zero

Show

Clicking on the "Title" menu for Slash Eye opens up a drop down menu that, unfortunately, seems to be rather blank right now; below "Slash Eye" there is only an option that says "None."

As the group clicks on their respective weapons a small box appears in the bottom right corner of their vision, stating that they've acquired the item but, before it can be looked at with too much more detail, flies to the upper left of your vision and disappears.

At sean's answer the blacksmith looks momentarily confused before shrugging, "If yer sure son. Thank ye for tha help either way," he says with a curt nod, looking almost grateful towards the Athlete.

You have gained 1 Trainer Experience for helping Alvor the Smith stop the Rattata in his basement!

[IrnBruAddict]

So a pokemon could have multiple titles? Well that must mean there are other ways to gain titles other than just being a mini-boss, right? Interesting. Might as well keep it's current one rather than go title-less. Well, time to give this thing a nickname. Poe, after good old Poe's law.

Shoving the ball back in his pocket, Zero picks a sword as his reward. Realising that Sean can give voice commands to the AI like turning down the reward, Zero wonders just how advanced their programming was.

'Say, Alvor, can you provide me with information you have? Do you know the nearest place to heal up my wounds?' Damn, that felt sooo fricken cheesy, like something Sean would say.

[sean_hyer]

Whadya know? It worked. Even better, now Zero was treating NPCs how they were meant to be treated. 'Click', indeed. What kind of immersion could you have like that?

The blonde guy had a point as well. Sean was in better shape than him, but not by that much, and Come On Already was dead to the world. The Rattata could stand to be looked at as well. Presumably, there were Pokemon centers in this game, for free, near instantaneous recharge of the pets. Trainer medical care was a less certain issue.

Abruptly remembering that he had a fractured kneecap, he adopted an exaggerated limp and moved to stand beside Zero. "A place we could find healing would be most appreciated. For Pokemon as well as for people."

[Arcran]

"There's an inn over tha way," Alvor states, pointing in the direction where everybody else seems to be walking. "Past tha city center, on tha right. Mean Hoothoot, think it be called," Alvor says, seemingly unsure. "Ye could rest up thar, but ye probably want tha town doctor normally, save for the fact tha he's missin' now..." Alvor says with a frown.

"There's a clergy the next town over too that say they can heal body 'n soul, but dun ye be believin' them. Buncha liars n' crooks," he states, accentuating the point with a spit before watching everybody wander by. "Say, thar's a lot of ye here all the sudden. Where ya all headed?" he asks the group of you, looking at the horde of Trainers marching towards the city center.

[GrayGriffin]

"How long has the doctor been gone?" asks Artemis. She's mostly sure that the inn will do as a healing spot for now, since the game wouldn't want to weaken its new players too unfairly, right? She glances over at the others as well.

"I think the inn sounds best," she says. "It's closer, after all."

[IrnBruAddict]

'So that's why the first fight was so hard. By making sure the player is wounded, they increase the likelihood that you pick up on the missing doctor quest, kinda neat game design there.' Zero nods approvingly. 'Well I think I shall head to that inn first, then I shall visit your upon mother tonight, thank you Alvor.' Rui wondered if the game had an intoxication system in it, and if it did, how real it would feel. Not that she had ever had a drink. Both because she was too young and also because she would have to actually go outside her room to find something to drink if she was old enough.

[CosmicOccurence]

CoCo glanced at Sparky's ball. The pokemon could use some healing, but she wasn't terribly worried. She'd just have to slip away from any fights from here on out. She was curious about the crowd of people though, so she made a quick goodbye to the group (she supposed she would see them again at some point) and tried to tried into the stream of people and follow where they were going. She remembered her route however, so she could trace her way back here. She also kept an eye out for the Mean Hoothoot. If it was this way anyways, well why not find its location if she could.

[Arcran]

"Ah week?" Alvor says, not quite sure. "Sometimes he goes tah other villages, helps out ah bit, but he's usually back by now. We'd search, but thah guards are probably too busy now," the smith states, looking at the literally thousands of people tramping through the town.

When Zero mentions visiting Alvor's mother the smith looks confused, and momentarily saddened. "Me mother's dead," the smith mutters, turning to go back to his work. "All ye might wanna see what's going on though. If ye need anything, come by; I might be able te swing ya a discount," the smith adds, a small grin on his face.

CoCo

The giant mob of people is somewhat difficult to initially get into but, once that hurdle is passed, traveling with the mob towards the town center is as simple as riding a raft down a stream. Soon enough you find yourself in a massive town square that is far too large for the modest village it is housed in. Massive statues dominate the landscape, with a huge tribute to what you recognize as Girantina standing as the most dominant among them, other legendaries all around the area in statue form. Of course, the crowd of thousands is none too quite, with Pokemon cries and questions filling the area.

"It is where the message said to go, right?"
"Think it's a day one event?"
"Wish they'd hurry up; I wanna go find a Charmander!"

[NineOfSpades]

Much as she didn't want to admit it, this game was actually pretty fun. She could see why her brother liked them so much. After figuring out whatever event or gathering was happening, she might even log out and go talk with him for a bit. Partially for some well meaning sibling rubbing-his-nose-in-it. And maybe to ask for a few tips.

"Hey, I'm cool for hitting up a place to Recover, but I think something big is going on. We should probably hurry, or we'll get stuck in the back row for...whatever it is. Maybe some kind of giveaway? Don't games do that? A big giveaway or bonus for logging on during opening day?" She wanted to get moving, but also didn't want to just ditch out on her teammates either.

[GrayGriffin]

Artemis shrugs. "Like I said, I'm new to this," she admits. "But it shouldn't hurt to check it out." She looks around at the others to see how they feel about this, trying to ignore Zero's added crude comments about the NPC's mother.

[sean_hyer]

Well. On the plus side, Zero is still treating the NPC like he is a person. This is good.
On the minus side, Zero is treating the NPC like he would treat a person. This is less good.
Fortunately, the casual insult passed straight over the NPC's head, but how the dude has gone this long without having his teeth kicked in is a complete mystery. As is why he's being so strangely - not polite, exactly - but not insulting - to Sean. I would call it sexism, but the blacksmith is a guy. More or less. A mystery for the ages.

Healing would be nice, but it isn't an immediate concern. Just so long as they can get it done before the next quest (or venturing out of the city), they should be golden. A one-time event (if that's what the crowd was for) was much more important.

Bowing in thanks to the blacksmith, he smiled a goodbye. "We'll be sure to do that. 'Til then, fare well." Turning to the rest of the group (shy girl, pink girl, and... Zero), he nodded and headed off, following the crowd. "Come on, then."

[IrnBruAddict]

Zero was tempted to just head off to the pub, and get a lead on the other players who were busy. But then again, if this was a give-away and they did give out an amazing item, he'd be at a massive disadvantage. Better to play it safe for now.

'Let's head out then!' says Zero, giving Sean a slap on the butt the way Rui thought footballers did. It would also give Zero a chance to check out the other players logged on at this time, see how many people were sporting more than one pokeball.

[sean_hyer]

Sean stiffened in surprise. So it WAS equal opportunity harassment. On the other hand (once he was past the brief moment of surprise), if Zero thought that was going to be enough to freak him out, he had another think coming. This was well-trodden turf for him. With one obvious response. Relax, treat it as a complement, and...

"Rawr," he growled under his breath, stepping closer to big-and-blonde to settle an arm companionably around his shoulders. Let's see who blushes first.