Impromptu Oran Sleepover

[quirkynote]

Who: Oran newbies
What: Having fun with communal dens
When: Sometime after Mightyena gathered them up
Where: The Spire, low tier dens
Warnings: Will add if anything comes up, but not anticipating anything

[As everyone knows by now, the Oran Berries depend heavily on communal living, sharing a bed is simply to be expected. For some, this experience was temporary. Mightyena was kind enough to lend the mysterious misplaced Pokémon a place to rest, but now some of them have moved on.

For others, this is now a part of life, and it's time to get used to it. The Oran Berries value treating everyone like friends and family, after all, so you're expected to do the same! Why not have some fun with it?

Whether you've noticed your fellow newcomers are all gathering in one den, or you suddenly find yourself dragged into the the party against your will, everyone is invited! Everyone's going through the same thing, belong to the same guild, you gotta stick together.....right?]

[[ooc: Feel free to use this as a mingle log! We have nine Oran Berries (I think???) and although the dens are said to hold up to eight, I think some members are small enough that we should be able to include everyone!]]

Comments

[offtracks]

You ought to come! We were brainstorming it together, after all!

[Ingo would have just as readily gone alone, but if he didn't want Emmet's company, he would have simply not brought it up at all. Their time together has been...awkward, at points. It tends to leave him feeling uncertain. But Ingo imagines that the only way out of that is through it.]

[outbounds]

Right, right! Just checking. I don't know if I can help help but maybe a jumpstart might also make it easier.

[ same way as he currently uses Shadow Claw to start his attempts at Shadow Ball, or Shadow Sneak to start general playing around with that sort of thing. ]

And maybe I can also practice things that aren't just shadows.

[ though no one look at what normally comes next in Zoroark's learnset after Shadow Sneak. ]

[offtracks]

You ought to know a few normal-type attacks. Swift. Slash.

[The scars on his arm, now foreleg, seem to ache for a moment. He does not break his stride.]

[outbounds]

I mean, I can probably just do regular Scratch or Slash if I can Shadow Claw...

[ it's the same idea, right? just he doesn't have the backing power of the ghost claws on top, so he'd have to put more physical force into it? ]

Swift, though? I know of the move and how it works. But I do not know where I would start with that one.

[ huh. how do you just... manifest star rays to fly around in undodgeable patterns anyway. ]

[offtracks]

Oh, goodness, I'm not sure! My fire is nowhere near so...abstract.

[He has spots of fire on him right there, they just light up! There's no summoning energy beams out of nowhere - the nearest he has are probably the ghost attacks he can't quite figure out how to create.]

[outbounds]

Abstract. Hm. If normal and ghost can't normally touch each other...

Think the opposite of ghost thoughts? Maybe.

[ so that's... what, be present, be grounded, be there? but make it abstract and starry.

... this isn't going to be easy, is it. would probably be something worth working on, though. ]

[offtracks]

Solid and yet abstract...

[Slash would probably be easier.]

I haven't even used any normal-type moves myself! Other than Tackle or Growl, maybe, but I am never sure how to tell if I am doing that or simply...tackling and growling.

[outbounds]

Well. I can tell you Growl worked, that first time. [ on the beach, that is. ] And we know Snarl does too ...

[ but why don't they move on from that. ]

Taunt and Torment have also worked how I expect them to. Though I am not completely sure if it was the moves or if the little Detective Rookidee and his friend were just rising to the bait.

[offtracks]

Is there any real difference?

[That's just Taunt!]

Hm. You ought to try it on me sometime. I will try and remember to use Growl! [Hardly the greatest setup move, but it's what he has. He ought to learn some more, though...]

[outbounds]

Taunt makes them have to attack, Torment makes it so they can't keep doing the same thing over and over. No spam allowed. But mostly I just wanted to make them have to get creative.

[ learn by doing... ]

But sure. We can see how it goes.

[offtracks]

Between being Taunted and simply being taunted, I mean.

[Are the capitals audible?]

I have never thought about how that must be for the other Pokemon. I've seen it happen to some who are normally quite even-tempered!

[outbounds]

[ Well, they are now. ]

Good question! Not sure. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. That is why I am not sure if it was the actual moves or not.

[ Maybe teenage boys are just easy to provoke, you know. Though, Ren had apparently been under some kind of influence at the time... ]

Maybe dark is just really good at getting to people, one way or another. So you can talk someone out of being taunted but not out of being Taunted, maybe? Makes sense to me. It does feelings too, sort of? At least for certain moves.

[ Dark Pulse being the most directly weaponized application of it, but status moves like Flatter, Fake Tears— those are considered dark too, aren't they?

Well, all of this is speculation and theory anyway, they're not going to have any idea until they try it out. ]

[offtracks]

That Stufful is very good at Baby-Doll Eyes!

[Granted, Ingo likes cute Pokemon anyway! But he's not that concerned about cuteness; none of his own team are probably traditionally "cute".]

I do not learn anything like that. Not even by tutor, at least so far as I have seen! Though I suppose I cannot claim to be a full expert on everything a Typhlosion might learn...I would consider myself more reliable on the matter if I were a Gliscor!

[outbounds]

Somehow, I get the feeling that I don't learn anything like Baby-Doll Eyes or Alluring Voice either.

[ Just a guess, maybe. ]

I know what Unovan Zoroark can do. Sort of. Decent idea of it but not first hand, in depth knowledge. Not like I trained one. Half the things I've kind of, sort of figured out are either instinct, things that apparently transfer over, or things I've tried to copy because I've seen other Pokemon use them a lot.

[ The rest is improvising, like converting the momentum of Akechi's dive bombing him into a Fling. ]

[offtracks]

Does that count as using Mimic? Or Copycat?

[outbounds]

Nope. Because then me trying to use Shadow Ball and Will-o-Wisp would work.

[offtracks]

Ah, I really must pick up Will-o-Wisp properly...who were you battling that could use Shadow Ball already?

[outbounds]

Oh. No. It wasn't anyone here. Just trying to make things work from what I remember from before here.

[ In other words: Chandelure. ]

[offtracks]

Ah.

[That's too bad. He wouldn't have minded seeing a demonstration - he's seen Pokemon use Shadow Ball plenty before, of course, but not like this.]

I have tried a bit of that, but it has not gone terribly well. It is probably different, seeing it as a human!

[outbounds]

Probably, but it's still a pain ... [ a put upon sigh, theatric and overexaggerated. ] I can get halfway there on Shadow Ball. Maybe. If we're generous. Will-o-Wisp I don't even get that much.

[ and then the rest of their Pokemon, well. he doesn't think he's likely to be pulling off any Iron Heads or Discharges anytime soon. Chandelure really is the only option when it comes to attempted mimicry. ]

[offtracks]

Hm, yes...

[Ingo really can't mimic any members of his team. There's a tiny bit of overlap if one includes all possibilities - Alakazam can learn a few ghost-type attacks - but nothing naturally-learned. He's mostly just drawing on his memories of fighting Akari's Typhlosion.

He stops himself before he can say any of this. He apparently did have a fire/ghost partners once upon a time, after all. No need to point out again that he doesn't remember.]

I'd like to try and learn Will-o-Wisp! Well, both of those, of course - but I can already make fire, so it seems as though Will-o-Wisp is the next step! It's something like a halfway point between regular fire and ghost fire...at least, it seems that way to me.

[outbounds]

Seems like it. For a fire-type move, a lot of ghosts sure do learn it naturally. Even if they have nothing to do with fire.

[ Even if they should, in fact, rightfully want nothing to do with fire. Looking at you Phantump, Froslass. ]

... It's weird. [ For a moment he doesn't elaborate, seeming to get lost in thought for a moment before coming back to himself; ] Normal type usually is fairly physical. Or flexible. Like Linoone getting Blizzard and Persian getting water moves. But when I think of things from that direction— for what I can do, I mean— I get the feeling that's not right either.

[ It kind of feels like he's barely a normal type at all, considering the things he's figured out so far are overwhelmingly ghost with a splash of dark for flavor. Sure, he can work on Swift and Slash. That's two things. Meanwhile, on the ghost side of things... ]

[offtracks]

[Ingo hums in acknowledgement, thinking for a moment.]

You are right. I have never seen Captain Zisu's Zoroark use anything but normal, ghost, or dark moves. She is well-practiced at teaching Pokemon new moves, so she certainly could do that if she cared to...

[Does it mean that Zoroark cannot learn any other moves, or just that she had not wanted to use them? He cannot say. They never discussed that in particular.]

[outbounds]

... Wonder if they have anything like TMs or TRs here. [ Technical Slates? ] Maybe I can just go through all of them until something clicks.

[ But that's a project for another time. Emmet hums his way through a long, thoughtful note of his own before speaking up again. ]

Have you tried either of those yet? Will-o-Wisp and Shadow Ball I mean.

[offtracks]

...if they have what?

[Those are just letters!]

Oh, ah - only Will-o-Wisp. But it has not been coming out particularly...wispy. Mostly it is just a smaller Ember. [Most of his moves seem to just be Ember. It's a little frustrating - he's fully evolved!]