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tobiasdrake · 1 year

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Elite Four Challenge I - Rika

This is it. The cream of the crop. It is time to challenge the Elite Four with a randomly selected team of Pokemon.

Here's our team for the Elite Four challenge. Each member of this team has been trained to level 58.

Lucario (Steadfast) w/ Shell Bell - Drain Punch, Meteor Mash, Earthquake, Swords Dance. As discussed when we fought Lucario at the Fighting Gym, Lucario is a beast who functionally acts as pseudo-legend for anyone who can't overcome his Steel resistance. He's vicious as is, and I'm hoping the healing from Shell Bell and Drain Punch will give him an added edge.

Umbreon (Synchronize) w/ Rocky Helmet - Crunch, Foul Play, Moonlight, Thunder Wave. Umbreon's a defensive tank first and foremost. He can't learn Body Press to take more advantage of that, but he can heal with Moonlight and punish with Rocky Helmet. Foul Play can circumvent his weak offensive stats.

Lycanroc - Day Form (Sand Rush) w/ Smooth Rock - Stone Edge, Play Rough, Psychic Fangs, Sandstorm. I'm seriously thinking of changing the rules regarding Pokemon with multiple forms. We've seen the three Lycanrocs so many times throughout Scarlet. This is old hat by this point. She doesn't have Sandaconda's Sand Spit this time, though, so she'll have to fire off her own Sandstorm. That also means no Assault Vest.

Slowking (Own Tempo) w/ Leftovers - Surf, Psychic, Yawn, Slack Off. He is going to be really hard to put down, I think. This is an asshole build.

Rotom (Levitate) w/ Expert Belt - Thunderbolt, [Insert Form Special], Hex, Thunder Wave. I may or may not have hit the jackpot with this one. In theory, I can change their Form between matches to suit each opponent. That's only if I'm warned ahead of time of what their Types are going to be, though. I've got them set to Oven form right now. In case this doesn't work out as hoped, then at least I can shove Nemona's Meowscarada's head into the microwave.

Haxorus (Mold Breaker) w/ Dragon Fang - Outrage, Breaking Swipe, X-Scissor, Swords Dance. She's actually another returning Pokemon; She was just a wee Axew back at the Poison Team Star base! Now she's all grown up and ready to hit opponents really, really hard.

Okay. I'm ready. I'm super nervous, but I'm ready. Let's do this.

Rika Pokemon #1: Whiscash

So that's a no on advance warning. This room looks awfully Steely, but Whiscash doesn't suit that mold so I guess I can't take aesthetic hints. Not that it matters since the battle's already started.

Whiscash is a mediocre Water/Ground Pokemon. High HP, low Speed, and middling offense and defense stats with very small variation between them. He has either Oblivious or Anticipate, neither of which is relevant to this fight.

What is relevant is that he's going to swing in with a STAB Earthquake and oneshot Lucario. We need to switch. Optimally, we would switch to Mower Form Rotom who eats Whiscash alive. But we have Heat Rotom. That's not better.

I'm going for Umbreon. I think his defensive strat can soak up the damage.

Umbreon enters and takes Earthquake Earth Power, my mistake. That's even better because Umbreon's Special Defense is his best stat.

Umbreon trades Crunch for Earth Power, dropping to 40% and losing a point of Special Defense, but Crunch takes off about 40% of Whiscash.

Next turn, Umbreon uses Moonlight to recover. Whiscash hits him with Muddy Water, reducing his Accuracy and bringing him to 50%. Another Crunch/Earth Power trade brings Whiscash and Umbreon both down to about 20%/15% respectively.

Umbreon has Speed advantage, but he's taken an ACC debuff. He swings with Crunch. He hits! Whiscash goes down.

Rika Pokemon #2: Camerupt

Okay, so she's Ground-themed. Got it. Really wish I had Mower or Washing Rotom. As it is, Rotom's invulnerability to Ground moves is offset by the fact that they have no viable attacks.

Camerupt is Fire/Ground with slightly worse stats than Whiscash, but she's optimized for offense over defense. Her Speed is even worse and her HP is only okay, but she puts those points into her attack stats. She's a glass cannon.

For Abilities, she either has Magma Armor, making her immune to Frozen (irrelevant) or she has Solid Rock, reducing the effect of super-effective attacks (somewhat relevant).

Let's see if Umbreon can recover from this. He fires his second Moonlight. Camerupt responds with Fire Blast, putting Umbreon back down to -10 below where he was. Hmm.

I could switch to Slowking and tank the next Fire Blast. But if Rika's smart, she's built Camerupt with multiple offensive options and won't get trapped so easily. Instead, let's go down swinging.

Umbreon hits Camerupt with Foul Play, cutting off 60% HP! Camerupt uses Flash Cannon to finish off Umbreon. Called it.

Rika Pokemon #2: Camerupt, Round 2

Lycanroc's basically screwed at any point in this battle, but this might actually be a good place for her. We just need someone to tip Camerupt over the edge, and she is very fast.

Lycanroc hits the ground running and blitzes Camerupt with Stone Edge. Camerupt goes down without ever getting a turn in.

Rika Pokemon #3: Donphan

Now we're getting into the more powerhouse options. Donphan is slow and vulnerable in the Special department. But she makes up for it with good HP and stellar offensive stats. Her Sturdy ability renders her immune to oneshots, but that's not going to happen anyway.

Slowking's perfectly specialized to take advantage of Donphan's weaknesses, but he's not very fast. I don't want to expose him to two hits before he can even land one. Meanwhile, Lycanroc's not likely to find another opportunity to be useful against the Ground Elite.

Second verse, same as the first. Let's go down swinging. Play Rough has a chance for a PHY ATK debuff.

Lycanroc Plays Rough, dealing 30% damage and (Yes!) cutting Donphan's PHY ATK by 33%. This debuff allows Lycanroc to survive Earthquake with 7 HP, letting her get in a second Play Rough. Donphan wins the fight, but at 40%.

Rika Pokemon #3: Donphan, Round 2

Slowking enters the field. The debuffed Donphan hits Slowking with Earthquake, cutting off 35%. Slowking responds with Surf for the KO, then heals 11 HP from Leftovers.

Rika Pokemon #4: Dugtrio

Dugtrio is a physical blitzer. High Speed and PHY ATK, but low defenses and HP. He's rocking either Sand Veil or Arena Trap. So I might not be allowed to switch even if I wanted to.

With Slowking's abysmal Speed and the previous damage, he's not going to get two turns to Yawn/Slack Off. But if he can tank Dugtrio's attack, he might be able to bury Dugtrio with Surf.

Dugtrio uses Sandstorm, causing Slowking's Surf to miss. Right. That makes sense that he'd do that. Sand Veil it is.

On the second exchange, Dugtrio and Slowking trade Earthquake for Surf. Slowking survives with 30% HP. Dugtrio is not so fortunate, and gets wrecked.

Rika Pokemon #5: Clodsire

Final opponent. Clodsire is Poison/Ground, but will likely Terastilize to pure Ground. He has high Special Defense and incredible HP. He's a Physical Attacker, but his Achilles Heel is low PHY DEF and horrifically low Speed, even worse than Slowking's.

Slowking isn't equipped to win this fight. He'll go down in the first exchange, but Clodsire's terrible Speed may allow Slowking to fling a light to the next fighter.

Slowking uses Yawn. Clodsire Protects to block it.

Uh. Okay. Anyways, Slowking uses Yawn, and Clodsire puts Slowking down with Earthquake. Too bad, jerk. You're still going to pass out next turn.

Rika Pokemon #5: Clodsire, Round 2

Three options left and none are fantastic. But we want to hit him with Physical attacks, so that means Haxorus or Lucario. Let's see what Haxorus can do.

Haxorus uses Breaking Swipe to cut the incoming Earthquake. Clodsire Protects. A weird choice for your last move before Yawn triggers, but whatever.

Clodsire's completely helpless now. Two turns of Outrage brings an end to this Elite challenge.

It's Over!

Well, that went well. A lot better than I expected, given the unexpected Type. Onwards to the next.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #rika

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anyway-i-love-vanderwood · 7 years

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Well since you insist: What are the general monster types in this MMO AU? Are they unique for the game, or are they just regular goblins and trolls? I'm good with either one, I'm just wondering.

✿ They’re definitely not just regular goblins and trolls, though traditional fantasy fair does crop up. In this AU, Jumin, Rika, and V are a trio of fantasy nerds, which is what caused them to want to create a video game and develop a setting for it, but V was responsible for a lot of the aesthetic design, so most of the monsters and locations have his influence...

And, more than anything, V likes things that are hauntingly, often tragically beautiful.

V’s monsters are very unique, and that’s part of the draw of Mystic Message Online, quite honestly. His creations draw influence from classical art-pieces, folklore, and general commentary on the human condition, and aesthetically, they deviate drastically from ‘typical’ video game enemies. Every creature has an indepth, detailed lore biography, which can be discovered by reading books and researching things within the game. Jumin knows basically all of it by heart, which makes going into a dungeon with him the equivalent of listening to a museum audiotape. This is either an interesting or a frustrating experience, depending on who you are.

In a general sense, monsters have a number of different ‘racial’ types - which factor into skills, abilities, and items that cause players to deal/take more damage from them. A rough list of them goes as follows -

Angel - originating from the celestial domain, ‘angels’ are sometimes friends and sometimes foes. V, being Christian, derives a lot of his influence for angel designs from Christian architecture and archetypes. Ally angels are friendly looking and traditionally beautiful, with shining gold wings and inlays of rococo-esque golden flourishes on their marble. Enemy angels are more baroque and gothic, with writhing forms cut deeply with twisted shadows. Some creature types attack with shards of stained glass, and some have glass windows inset into their bodies. Peering into them is sure to show you something terrible.

Aquatic - the designs of aquatic creatures run the gamut from ethereal, seductive sirens and terrifying deep-sea creatures. Rika had a big mermaid thing, and so demanded that there be at least one mermaid-themed area or dungeon, where seemingly beautiful people turned into horrible, jagged creatures of monstrous teeth when provoked. ...sort of like someone we know...?

Artificial - covers anything mechanical or manmade, such as constructs and artifically created life. Seven’s creations are all labeled as ‘artifical’, as are the homunculi that alchemists create. There are a number of quests - many of them suggested or written by Rika - about the ramifications of artificial life and the idea of a sentient creature made by mankind. These are pretty popular, and there’s a chunk of the playerbase who really wants to play as mechanical beings.

Beast - this is a pretty expansive classification, including things like wolves, bears, and many other traditional animal entities. V still tried to include some interesting beastial types though, like chimeras, griffins, manticores, etc.

Demon - these are where V dropped a lot of his ideas about human nature and tragic beauty. Demons represent the corruption of something that was good - such as rotted flowers, shattered vases, and the downfall of mankind. In every demon lingers some remnant of what they once were, but twisted beyond all belief and comparison. For example, some demons love animals, but the animals they touch become vicious, hateful, and monstrous. Some demons have within their wretched forms some object or soul that they’re trying to protect, and some demons mimic the appearance of the players that they’re fighting, showing them what they could become if they should fall...

Dragonkin - Jumin actually had lots of ideas about dragons, and during one creation session, he kept pitching things like, “Well, what about having more than dragons that just hoard gold? What about dragons who like gems, and who have the appearance of gems? What about dragons who hoard flowers, or bones, or other precious things?” V took a lot of these ideas, and every dragon enemy in some way embodies the thing it collects. Jumin keeps asking for a dragon that collects cat merchandise and V keeps saying no.

Korean-esque dragons exist within the setting as well, but they’re almost always allies. You go to them to ask for aid, protection, and they’re often tied to elementals.

Eldritch - everything strange, spooky, and beyond the realm of mortal ken goes here. Eldritch type enemies aren’t encountered often, but Seven has a habit of making areas where everything seems normal and then you look in a corner and WHOOP HERE’S SOMETHING WEIRD. Weirdly enough, Unknown seems to employ monsters of the eldritch class...?

Elemental - this class covers things like dryads and nature spirits, along with the beings that serve the river and mountain dragons. Some are simply manifestations of nature’s wrath, and some have sentience, being either trickster forest spirits or guardians of specific locations. Sometimes, elementals can become ‘corrupted’, and they reflect the destruction of nature’s beauty. Elementals that look like oil-slicks and rotten trees exist, and are often terrifying.

Humanoid - bandits, cultists, and other human enemies go here! Also, this class contains things that are... sort of human, like the Kumiho. NPCs in Mystic Message Online have pretty interesting societies, and the players who really like lore have a lot to explore in the various towns in the game. Goblins, tolls, ogres, and dokkaebi exist within this class as well.

Insect - so there’s a dungeon in the game where a giant spider stalks you throughout the entire thing, and it is ABSOLUTELY SEVEN’S FAULT and players HATE IT. It’s not just spiders though - giant praying mantis’s and other types of interesting bug show up in the game. There’s an area where giant moths swarm you and eat you. Who thought of that? Who thought it was a good idea? (Jumin did. he really hates moths.)

Yoosung refuses to fight the centipede boss.

Plant - Similar in some ways to elementals, plant-type enemies in Mystic Message Online are often not capable of thought. In some areas, you want to beware even the flowers, because giant versions will sometimes emerge and eat you. Seven absolutely has created troll areas where if you interact with the flowers, you die.

Undead - Gwisin, Jiangshi, and the western idea of zombies go here. Many of these creatures are tragic, and often when simply observed have movement patterns that suggest things they did in life. Some bosses of this enemy type need to be beaten in a very specific way, like reuniting a pair of tragic lovers, or taking revenge on someone who wronged the ghost. There’s one boss that V created that’s an old sailor covered in barnacles, sea-cucumbers, and coral, and another that’s a dead woman who died in the woods and whose half-rotted flesh is obscured mostly by roses.

#long post #mystic messenger headcanon #mm headcanon #mmo au #worldbuilding #mystic messenger #mystic-messenger-is-life

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