Je M'appelle Riona. Je Suis Loser.

[rionaleonhart]

I was going to play Pokémon Crystal, you guys. It was going to be the first time I had ever played a second-generation Pokémon game. I was really excited.

And then it turned out that the cartridge was corrupted and wouldn't register saves.

I am genuinely woeful. I WAS GOING TO HAVE A CYNDAQUIL AND I WAS GOING TO NAME IT MERLIN. (And my Red-version save also appears to be corrupted, so I have to start again. Fortunately, the cartridge still registers saves. Had my beloved Red cartridge been rendered entirely useless, I would probably have wept. I got it for Christmas when I was ten. It was my first ever videogame. My first Pokémon was a Bulbasaur named Bulby, and oh how I loved him. (Oh, how I completely failed to train any of the other Pokémon on my first team.))

In order to make up for this sad, sad lack of Pokémon-playing and soothe my ten-year-old soul, I would like to request that you either share your own Pokémon-related stories (what was your first Pokémon? Which is your favourite? What do you always have on your team? What do you name your Pokémon?) or write Pokémon-related ficsnippets (crossovery or otherwise) in the comments. Pokémon-related photomanips or doodles would also be very welcome. JUST POKÉMON UP MY COMMENTS, GUYS. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

To kick things off:



"Where's Merlin?"

"I'm afraid Merlin is busy, sire," Gaius replies, rummaging through his bookshelves.

"He's not busy. What's he doing? Where is he?"

"I believe he is running an errand for Morgana."

"He's not Morgana's manservant," Arthur points out, straddling the wooden bench by Gaius' worktable. There is a creature on the table, he notices: some sort of large, dark-furred rodent. It is staring at Arthur in a most disconcerting fashion. "Do you have a rat problem?"

"Just a pet," Gaius says, glancing over. "A whim, if you like."

The stare seems almost familiar. Arthur has the unpleasant feeling that Gaius' pet thinks he is an idiot. "What sort of creature is it?"

"A species of mouse," Gaius says. "They're very common in the western regions. I wouldn't go too near if I were you; he can be quite vicious."

He can't be sure in this light, but Arthur would almost be prepared to swear that its fur is blue. He reaches out to touch it.

There is a burst of light and heat, and Arthur immediately draws his hand back to shield his face.

A moment goes by.

"Gaius," Arthur says, "your mouse is on fire."

Comments

[make-a-move.livejournal.com]

I used to be able to name all 150 original Pokémon in order without looking. At the time, I was proud of this fact.

[rionaleonhart]

GUESS THE INCREDIBLY USEFUL PURPOSE TO WHICH I PUT DERREN BROWN'S AMAZING MEMORY TECHNIQUES AFTER READING HIS BOOK.

OH, YES.

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

[rionaleonhart]

I LOVE THEM. Oh, oh, the Cyndaquil even has Merlin's scarf!

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

I love you're drawing. I love all your drawings. I'm actually undecided on whether or not to friend your main journal, mostly for the pictures.

Would that be weird? You just have this adorable cartoon style that makes me smile a lot.

[cryforthemoon.livejournal.com]

How woeful, poor you!

"Um. Guv?"

"What, Bolly?"

"There's a pony outside. On fire."

[rionaleonhart]

AND THEN THEY GET DRAWN INTO AN INVESTIGATION ABOUT RIGGED POKÉMON BATTLES.

IT WOULD BE THE BEST EPISODE OF ASHES TO ASHES EVER.

[aggybird.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to do this, and all I can think of is Arthur exclaiming in scandalized tones, "You play poke-a-man?"

[rionaleonhart]

AUGH THAT ICON.

I would like to see Arthur saying that. His expression would be wonderful, because of course Arthur's expressions are always wonderful.

[saaski-moql.livejournal.com]

Hooray! You two have met!

[aestivalis]

Much like you, I am a child of the NPLU generation. If I started talking about my Pokémon, we'd be here for a long, long time. And it would be exceedingly ridiculous. (I was away from the internets when you made your post about that, but hahah, man, I am still a Monty fangirl. I love hiiim~)

[rionaleonhart]

The NPLU generation is the best generation. I would love to hear about your Pokémon! Perhaps you could make an entry?

I seem to recall Colt being my favourite, but I cannot quite remember why. Perhaps it is time to reread Howl of a Growlithe.

[proleptic-fancy.livejournal.com]

Hee, I remember playing Pokemon Red on an emulator like ten years ago for hours on end, even though I was incredibly terrible at it. I was so crushed when I had to spend a week in Alabama and couldn't play, but my parents surprised me with a Gameboy and Yellow for the drive down. I was so excited that even after it got dark, I stole my dad's flashlight and held it under my chin so I could keep playing. It was awesome.

And because that was deeply self-indulgent, here is a ridiculous manip, of which I have way too many:

(http://photobucket.com)

[rionaleonhart]

Awww, that's so lovely of your parents! I firmly believe that the original Pokémon games are the most perfect videogame formula ever devised. (Actually, an emulator could be the solution to my second-generation-gameless blues, couldn't it? Playing on an emulator isn't quite the same as playing on a real GameBoy, but Pokémon Crystal on an emulator is better than no Pokémon Crystal at all.)

GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR RIDICULOUS POKÉMON MANIPS. I WISH TO SEE THEM ALL.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

"What's going on?" Jeremy asked.

"Epic battle for the fate of the world," James replied.

Jeremy squinted down at the field. Then he poked one of the cameramen, and said "Oi, glasses!"

"Why don't you just get your own?" Richard grumbled.

"This is easier." Jeremy put the glasses on. Then he stared out at the field.

It still looked like a ginger bloke with a dodgy beard attempting to stare down a giant pink-and-white rat.

"That's not a proper battle! Where are the guns? Where are the explosions? Where are the vehicles?"

"It's a psychic battle," James expositioned. "They're throwing tremendous quantities of psychic energy around. The loser has to step aside while the winner takes control of the planet."

"That's stupid. Why don't I just get my AK ortyseven-fay?"

"I wouldn't advise that," the ginger man called out. "He can read your mind, and would anticipate things well before you managed to get a shot off. You'd be psychically paralyzed before you could move. If you were lucky." His eyes didn't flicker.

"Bugger." Jeremy looked around. "What are we doing here?"

"We're the backup plan," Richard hissed. "Us and...you-know-who." He made a driving gesture.

The Stig, said a voice in Jeremy's head. What exactly is he planning?

"No idea, mate. It's not like he'd tell us." Jeremy shook his head. He was slightly surprised to see James and Richard doing the same thing. This psychic bollocks was rubbish, he decided.

Darn! snapped the voice. The rat thing gave Jeremy a dirty look. Then it did a double-take. You distracted me! Darn!

An incredibly smug smile spread slowly across the ginger bloke's face.

[rionaleonhart]

DERREN VERSUS MEWTWO

THAT IS SO EPIC

I love that Jeremy just dismisses it with 'That's stupid'. (I also love Derren's incredibly smug smile. And James' 'expositioning'.)

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

he poked one of the cameramen, and said "Oi, glasses!"

This amuses me. Because I can actually see Jeremy doing this. In fact, if Kiff wore glasses, then I would be forced to use it in that 'Kiff used to have a crush on Jeremy' story, where Kiff follows Jeremy around everywhere in case he needs to use his glasses. (If I ever meet Kiff, and he is happily married to a woman and has seven happy kids, I am going to feel all kinds of guilty.)

Also, giant pink-and-white rat
Actually, Mewtwo is more lavender-and-sort-of-lighter-lavendar-that-isn't-quite-as-dark-as-the-other.

[ladybella.livejournal.com]

Do you want mine? I have yellow, crystal, and gold and I'll mail them to you

[rionaleonhart]

...it's incredibly kind of you to offer, but don't you want them?

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Derren knew something was wrong the moment the baby was hatched.

Well, many things were wrong. He was lost in...history, according to the dragon, although not any version of history Derren could recognize. He'd fallen into a strange and worryingly happy romantic relationship with a giant dragon. And he'd been impregnated and given birth to an egg. Which had been spectacularly painful. Honestly, the list of things that were as they should be would be quite small.

But nonetheless, the baby looked off.

It was red. The...other father was brown. True, Derren was ginger, but he was fairly sure that genetics didn't work like that. He had no idea how genetics did work when it came to human men being impregnated by dragons, but not like that.

The baby was also far rounder than the dragon. It lacked wings. and most disturbing of all, the tail was on fire.

"Relax," said the dragon. "The wings will come as it evolves."

Derren picked up the baby, carefully, so as to avoid the tail flames, and cuddled it awkwardly. "What should we name, er, him? Or should we?"

"Char!" the baby chirped. It was far too cute.

[rionaleonhart]

And he'd been impregnated and given birth to an egg. Which had been spectacularly painful.

Oh, dear, I imagine it would be. (I absolutely love your Derren-narration.)

And, er. Er.

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY. The Unhelpful Dragon impregnating Derren Brown with a Charmander is amazing in so many ways that it has reduced me to incoherency. You are a lunatic and I love you so much.

(What I can say is that 'He had no idea how genetics did work when it came to human men being impregnated by dragons, but not like that' is an utterly brilliant line.)

Are you still writing the Derren/Dragon fic? Is there a scene in which Derren and the dragon team up to be infuriating at Merlin together, by any chance?

[timydamonkey.livejournal.com]

Pokemon related stuff!

My first Pokemon game was Yellow - so, obviously, I had to have Pikachu. Who was amazing... apart from when you had to fight Brock. Yeah, fighting Onyx really didn't work out too well.

I used to love Raichu for some reason. Also, Growlithe.

I also used to collect pokemon cards practically religiously (I'm not into Pokemon these days but I still have my cards). I have a shiny Charizard! I traded it for a shiny Blastoise.

I also remember hanging around with a boy up the road purely so that we could trade Pokemon via gameboy! It was amazing.

I only know about 10 Pokemon after generation one though - it got too difficult for me to keep up with and then there were all these new characters I didn't care about... yeah. :P

[rionaleonhart]

Oh, dear, I imagine Brock wouldn't be much fun with a Pikachu for a starter. I'm trying to think of a good Brock-beater that can be caught before Pewter City, and none is coming to mind. (Of course, the real sufferers are the ones who pick Charmander in Red or Blue, then find themselves completely helpless against both Brock and Misty.)

My fairly limited post-first-generation knowledge largely comes from wandering around on Bulbapedia, which I probably should not find as endlessly fascinating as I do.

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

I started with Silver before those episodes were on television here, so half the time I had no idea what the Pokemon were, and I got a Cyndaquil because I liked the fire Pokemon. I got to the last person you had to defeat but then I had to train my Pokemon and level them up and I couldn't be bothered so I started to play Red instead.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

I feel bad for your perpetually weak Pokemon. I feel even worse for myself, because I was about to type, 'Oh, was Claire too much for you? Or were you talking about Lance, the champion?' *sigh* I'm so horrible with names that I should not remember this as opposed to my coworkers and relatives.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

*takes deep breath*

Okay, so the first Pokemon game I played *excepting when my cousins would loan me theirs for a few hours if they were in town and forbid me to save) was Silver, and that one belongs to another cousin. I started with a Cyndaquil, because I the time I was all "FIRE, YAY!" The first pokemon I caught was a Rattata, because I loved them, and I think I got it up to level, erm, 79 before I lost interest in the game.

Actually, I'm going to go get my game. It will make this easier.

Okay, according to my first HoF record, my party was: (*groans* The dangers of facing the E4 to train weak pokemon- a very big HoF to go through.)(Ahahaha, my Rattata was apparently named Ratsy.)(Rapi the Rapidash! I was not very good at coming up with names, apparently...)
Muscle the Machamp (aquired in a trade, thank goodness, I didn't come up with such a ridiculous name)
Fireball the Typhlosion (my first one, so I'm guilty there. I believe I changed his name back later.)
Pidgeot (No names. He was just Pidgeot. I don't know if he should feel insulted or relieved.)
Ratsy the Rattata (level 46 at the time. I remember I had taught her iron tail, and then got really frustrated because it worked only about half the time.)
Furret (again, no names, but I got very attached to this particular Furret, to the point that all Furret are now very dear to me.)
Seadra (I seem to vaguely recall putting him in my team because I focussed on my favorites so much I didn't have anything else sufficiently high leveled.)

Other notable Pokemon included:
Crobat. I actually worked so hard to raise my Golbat up to evolving that I can still remember the exact moment it happened. Now, in all my games I make a point to acquire a Crobat.

Bellossom. In Silver, I caught so many of these just because I liked them that I couldn't even have them all in one party. I called them my army of Bellossom, led by Belle (WOW WHAT A GENIUS I WAS WHEN IT CAME TO NAMING POKEMON). They all have flower names. (The only reason I stopped getting more was because I ran out of readily available flower names, actually.)

Nidorino. This is actually my favorite now, and there's an interesting (and slightly embarrassing) story behind it. See, I originally got this Nidorino (called Mr. Nido, ugh) in a trade, and paid little attention to it at first. Then I learned that Nidorino could use a wide variety of moves, so I started working with it so I could make it strong enough to use them well. (To this point, he knows Thunder, Blizzard, Water Pulse, and Dig, if that gives you the idea.) I became so attached to him that he became my favorite of all my pokemon.

When I get all my pokemon dumped into one game, my party will consist of Crobat, Gardevoir, Grumpig, Jeff the Umbreon, and Furret, all led by Nidorino. I have not yet decided what to do with them then.

And that's my Pokemon! (in case you're wondering about the Nidorino story, I left the embarrassing parts out.)

When I have finished peeling taters for Daddy, I am going to make some Pokemon/Jackie Chan Adventures manips. I'm thinking that Uncle would have a Drowzee. It would hate it, but secretly he would be very fond of it.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

http://pics.livejournal.com/bubbles_san/pic/000cafyx

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

Also, I don't know French, but I don't think you're subject line is correct. Unless 'suis' means 'not', that is.

[emmarrrrr.livejournal.com]

No, I think it's right.

It means "My name is Riona. I am a loser."

[hold-onhope.livejournal.com]

Je ne comprende pas, je suis anglais!

Although actually I'm American, but whatever.

I never properly trained my whole team either, and I NEVER changed the names of the Pokemon! That was blasphemy.

[rionaleonhart]

YOU HAVE TO RENAME YOUR POKÉMON. How else can you experience the joy of looking through Bill's PC and going 'What is Sophocles? What is Sophocles? ...oh, it's a Tentacool. Why did I name my Tentacool Sophocles?'

[emmarrrrr.livejournal.com]

I never named my Pokemon, originally.

Then, when playign through Yellow again in college, my friend convinced me to name them. My Pidgey got the unfortunate name "fucksticks". I don't remember what I named any of the others.

I love all the first-gen. In fact, the only post-first-gen pokemon who were cool in my eyes? Legendary dogs. Because Entei, omfg. ♥

Charmander has always been my favourite pokemon. Ever.

[rionaleonhart]

If there isn't a particular name I always give a Pokémon (Bulby the Bulbasaur, Skreeal the Zubat), I tend to name it whatever comes into my head at the time. It makes trying to find a specific Pokémon in the PC a nightmare ('Christoph? Kikuranio? Sophocles? LOOK, I JUST WANT A TENTACOOL'). If I need a Pokémon just to trade for something else, though, I will catch a Pidgey and name it 'David'. (Once, when I was trading some Pokémon back to my brother, he sent me two Davids and a Rattata named 'Ian'. I found this absolutely hilarious for no good reason.)

Legendary dogs! I think Suicune is awesome. I remember seeing the second-generation Pokémon in magazines before the games actually came out, and Suicune struck me as incredibly cool.

Today, I caught a Jigglypuff in Red and named it 'Lucy'.