SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[indigo_events]

➞ Post with a character you wish to test drive in this game's setting.
➞ Tag other people's starters and thread out shenanigans!
➞ Invite your friends! Try out new characters! Come play with us!
➞ Have fun!

NOT SURE WHERE TO BEGIN YOUR TEST-DRIVE JOURNEY?
CHECK OUT ALL THE LOCATIONS WE HAVE AVAILABLE IN:

JOHTO | KANTO | SEVII ISLANDS

Feel free to make various prompts in multiple locations!

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OTHER USEFUL LINKS:
NAVIGATION | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS

Comments

[fearinahandfulof]

Mine is Blade. We've known each other for... five months now, I think?

[braveloyalhugs]

You look like great friends.

[Scorpia smiles, but she's got some concerns hanging around too.]

What do people do here? Have we been searching for a way out or...?

[fearinahandfulof]

I'm not sure if there are organized attempts to find a way out at this point. Most of the people I've met have seemed to just... adjust, even people who have been here for years.

[Even she's fallen into that, although in fairness there's nowhere for her to actually go even if there is a way out.]

[braveloyalhugs]

[Scorpia thinks about that for a while.]

It is really nice here. The people too! But I don't think I can stop looking for a way home. Hm. Looking means traveling! So I guess I can see the sights and look at the same time.

[fearinahandfulof]

Traveling is expected, at least. There are routes to follow, and towns and cities along them, and the pokemon that live on the routes or in the cities get stronger as you go. It's like there's an expected route that they want us to follow.

[braveloyalhugs]

I got a map, but it kind of got smudged. Little Perfuma kind of looks like a flower bulb, and I remember Perfuma Perfuma talking about how to care for them. But I guess little Perfuma wanted to stay with me more than have a nice nap in the ground and some water to drink, because she followed me, and then climbed all over the map when I stopped to look at it.

Maybe it's a tradition or something. Or maybe that's just the way to go from place to place easiest.

[fearinahandfulof]

It might be both, given the gyms.

[braveloyalhugs]

Gyms?

[There's a flash of uncertainty, there and gone.] I mean, it might be in some of the things I got, but I haven't gotten a chance to look through all of it.

[fearinahandfulof]

I'm not sure why they call them that. They're places where pokemon trainers go to have their pokemon challenge those of the person in charge of the gym. If they win, they get money, skills they can teach their pokemon, the right to use certain moves outside of battle, and sometimes items. It's useful to gain Fly and Surf and the ability to use them, at least, because it can decrease travel time if you have a pokemon who can use Fly, or allow you to travel in water without a boat. But the pokemon will need to rest like anyone else if they do use them. The pokemon seem to like fighting, or at least mine do; otherwise I would have just continued to walk everywhere.

Otherwise, there are things called warps in the cities that will take you to other towns, but only the ones nearest the city you're in and only if you've been to the other cities before. You're not allowed to warp to places you've never been.

[braveloyalhugs]

I like to fight too. Do you like to fight little Perfuma?

[The Oddish makes a probably happy noise.]

I think that was a yes. Do you think it was a yes?

So, if it's a challenge, are there rules?

[fearinahandfulof]

That... sounded like a yes, yes.

Pokemon usually fight one on one, although there are types of battles where there can be more. You can only have six pokemon ready for battle at any given time; you can have more pokemon than that in general, but the rest have to be... stored? I'm not sure how to explain that - it's something to do with computers, but my world doesn't have those so I don't understand the logic.

The pokemon do all the fighting. You can give them items to use during the battle, and maybe tell them what moves to use, but otherwise they do all the work. The battle ends when one side's pokemon are all unable to fight. They usually faint, and you can take them to PokeCenters afterwards to heal them so they can recuperate.

There are eight gyms to a region, and two main regions here: Johto and Kanto. Gym leaders have two kinds of teams: regular and elite. The elite teams are all as strong as they can be, and there are six pokemon you have to fight; otherwise, you'll be fighting three of their pokemon, one after the other. If you and your pokemon defeat all eight gyms, you get something called a Megastone, that lets one of your pokemon grow even stronger in battle, but you can only use those if you're fighting an elite team.

The gyms also aren't the only places where battles take place. There are a lot of trainers along the routes and in the cities, and they tend to consider eye contact a challenge. It's considered very rude to turn them down. That part gets very frustrating.

Sometimes wild pokemon will attack you. If you weaken them without killing them, it's possible to capture them and add them to your team; you catch them with the little balls like the one your Oddish came in. Some pokemon seem to want to test potential trainers first and that's why they attack; others either just want to fight or see you as a threat.

[braveloyalhugs]

[Scorpia listens raptly to everything.]

Wow! You know so much. This is all great; thanks!

So me and little Perfuma can recruit other friends and be a team. This is gonna be so much fun; we'll be the best!

[fearinahandfulof]

You're... welcome?

Oh - you can also give pokemon berries or other items to hang onto in battle. In a pinch, they'll eat the berries, which can cure things like burns or paralysis, or just heal them a little; the items have various effects depending on what they are. The department stores sell them, although sometimes you find something along the routes. Don't try to eat the berries yourself; they have strange effects on human bodies and might even make you sick.

Also, most pokemon evolve into stronger forms at some point. Most of the time, they do it when they get stronger, but some only do so if they really like you, or if you give them certain stones or other items, or if you let someone else hold them for a minute. It varies. A few of them have multiple evolution paths.