A long time had passed. Ice-cold Claws and noobiess put up a fairly intense battle at first, but they had worn out much more quickly than Sprite Poll 3 had. Sprite Poll 3 was now taunting. "What? Is that all you've got? I told you, when I said I intended for the vote to continue for all eternity, I meant it. It's over for you, though. Your reliance on decisions has been your downfall, as I can now decide to end your existence."
"It's no use," noobiess lamented. "We just can't win."
"I won't let this happen!" Ice-cold Claws replied, determined to see this through. He then summoned HUGE icy claws from his hands and rushed toward Sprite Poll 3 for a final strike. However, his attack had no effect.
"If you want to go first, that's fine with me." Sprite Poll 3 gathered the power of all the votes that he had absorbed and fired it at Ice-cold Claws. The blast sent him flying lifelessly over the landscape to land next to noobiess.
"I'm... sorry... noobiess..." Ice-cold Claws struggled. "I was not strong enough. There is something you need to know, though. When we gained our sprite powers, I knew. I knew you'd be the one to stop this menace once and for all. You just don't know it yet. Your sprite has the power to beat this guy. I saw it!
"You can't let this guy win. We need to be able to make decisions. We need to be able to move on with our lives, instead of being trapped in an endless state of paralysis. No one will agree on everything, but that is worth the freedom of living out our ambitions. You just have to... realize your power... and unleash..." Ice-cold Claws then dissolved into a bunch of numbers in a hill shape on the ground.
"So, how do you like my Central Limit Attack? Soon, everything will become a Gaussian distribution. It's only a matter of time, noobiess. Just embrace your destiny!" Sprite Poll 3 then turned his terrible powers on everyone else. Theorymon, bugmaniacbob, tennisace, Wyverii, Texas Cloverleaf, Birkal, Mos-Quitoxe, the other sprite submitters... all of them became numbers. All were absorbed into Sprite Poll 3's being, making him ever stronger. However, noobiess's fury rose to match Sprite Poll 3's strength.
"I... won't... let you... GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
Everything was shaking. Glitchy graphical effects surrounded noobiess. Sprite Poll 3 was in shock at what was happening. He tried to use his Central Limit Attack on noobiess, but the latter brushed it aside. Where the attack ended up, more hills of numbers exploded into existence.
"This... can't be! I might need backup."
Sprite Poll 3 then summoned the remaining numbers that hadn't been absorbed, as well as some of the power he had already absorbed, and combined them into more polls. These polls seemed to be replicas from the past. "
CAP 9 - Topic Leader Poll." "
CAP1 - Part 12b - (Complete Movepool Poll 1)." "
CAP 7 - Part 1 - Concept Poll 2." "
CAP 6 - Part 12 - Art Poll 1." "
CAP 4 - Part 11 (Attacking Moves Poll)." "
CAP 5 - Part 4 (Style Bias Poll 2)." "
CAP 8 - Part 7 - Stat Rating Poll."
The phantom polls attacked noobiess all at once. However, for all of their combined efforts, noobiess was completely unfazed. noobiess followed with a brutal assault of his own. Sprite Poll 3 barely had time to gasp in amazement when the last phantom poll was felled.
Sprite Poll 3 laughed nervously. "So, you think the amount of votes you've gotten makes you strong enough to defeat me? Well, try these on for size!" He launched every manner of attack at noobiess, including Chebyshev's Ray and the Rising Sun, but none of them dealt any visible damage. Sprite Poll 3 decided to come at noobiess head-on with a Sigma-Algebra, but noobiess's counterattack was too powerful, going clean through Sprite Poll 3.
Sprite Poll 3 staggered back. "Grr... Why, you... I'll destroy you and everything on this world! Then I can remold it in my image!" He flew up into the sky and began charging up his attack. "Let's see how you like my Monte Carlo Attack! It can even destroy beings that can't be destroyed with analytical techniques! If you dodge, the whole world will feel its wrath! Any last words?"
noobiess calmly replied, "Actually, one phrase does come to mind." He began his counterattack...
---
"Necturine! Sketch that one! Hurry! YEAH! Our friends are going to be so shocked when they see our daughter using this move. It's gonna be awesome."
Smeargle and Necturna are preparing for a party. Necturine has grown a lot since that fateful Valentine's Day when
it was conceived, and especially since March 4, when
she was born and her parents had seriously considered calling her Facegrabber. This is a good day.
The party guests are beginning to arrive. All of the users are invited. Ice-cold Claws is sure to brag about his performance and line delivery in the TV show that must not be named, while tennisace's and bugmaniacbob's lines may become the source of much amusement as well. As for the ATL, well, I'm relieved that this is finally over, and grateful for the experience. I wasn't sure of what was going to happen because of the many varied opinions on how many pre-evos Necturna should have, and I even said that Necturna's flavour was a bit of a trainwreck. I think that we have done some good work on this pre-evo project, though. Maybe we'll even see it in action if CAP LC ever comes into existence.
This project comes and goes at a time when I'm not really sure on what my own future will bring, both inside and outside of Smogon. It was largely for this reason I was so hesitant to take the mantle when Rising_Dusk offered it to me. Maybe my spontaneous story OPs were a way to escape from the turmoil I was experiencing irl. There were many times when I wished I was more involved in the threads themselves than I ended up being able to be. At any rate, I hope I have done a good enough job as the guy who made all these threads and tried to guide the discussion, and I hope that the project has been a source of much entertainment, whether it be from my OPs or from the ins and outs of the discussions, or from the actual polls. The ones at the end got really close, especially the sprite polls!
The height and weight are some of the last things that need to be decided (icons would be great, too, since Necturna has them). I would like to base the height on Mos-Quitoxe's
comic, where Necturine's "body" is roughly as large as Ursaring's head. Ursaring is 1.8 m tall, so 0.1-0.5 m would be a good range for Necturine. 0.2 m is 1/9 of Ursaring's height, which is too small, while 0.3 m is 1/6 of Ursaring's height, which is too large. However, I note that the stem contributes significantly to Necturine's height. Thus, Necturine's (tentative) height is 0.3 m (1' 00"). Weight I'm not as certain about, but I think 1.8 kg (4 lbs, same as Sunkern) is a good value. If there is significant disagreement with these figures, then they could be reconsidered.
And since my previous outburst has made this post terribly long already, here is the final product for Necturna's pre-evo!
...
Name: Joltik
Typing: Bug / Electric
Abilities: Compoundeyes / Unnerve / Swarm
Base stats: 50 HP / 47 Atk / 50 Def / 57 SpA / 50 SpD / 65 Spe
Gender ratio: 50% male, 50% female
Height: 0.1 m (0' 04")
Weight: 0.6 kg (1.3 lbs)
Pokédex color: Yellow
Movepool
Level-up
01 String Shot
01 Leech Life
01 Spider Web
04 Thunder Wave
07 Screech
12 Fury Cutter
15 Electroweb
18 Bug Bite
23 Gastro Acid
26 Slash
29 Electro Ball
34 Signal Beam
37 Agility
40 Sucker Punch
45 Discharge
48 Bug Buzz
Machines
06 Toxic
10 Hidden Power
16 Light Screen
17 Protect
18 Rain Dance
21 Frustration
24 Thunderbolt
27 Return
32 Double Team
42 Facade
44 Rest
45 Attract
46 Thief
48 Round
53 Energy Ball
57 Charge Beam
70 Flash
72 Volt Switch
73 Thunder Wave
76 Struggle Bug
81 X-Scissor
84 Poison Jab
87 Swagger
90 Substitute
93 Wild Charge
H1 Cut
Breeding
Cross Poison
Disable
Faint Attack
Pin Missile
Poison Sting
Pursuit
Rock Climb
Pokédex entries
Attaching Pokémon
Black: Joltik that live in cities have learned a technique for sucking electricity from the outlets in houses.
White: They attach themselves to large-bodied Pokémon and absorb static electricity, which they store in an electric pouch.
...lol just kidding
(Note: The animation does NOT quite match the still sprites. I'm putting it here in case it proves useful somehow.)
(Icons maybe?)
Name: Necturine (credit: Vader~~)
Typing: Grass / Ghost
Abilities: Anticipation / (Telepathy)
Base stats: 49 HP / 55 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SpA / 75 SpD / 51 Spe (credit: Elevator Music)
Gender ratio: 100% female
Height: 0.3 m (1' 00")
Weight: 1.8 kg (4 lbs)
Pokédex color: White
Movepool (credit: Deck Knight)
Level-up
0 Leer
0 Vine Whip
7 Ominous Wind
13 Shadow Sneak
19 Toxic Spikes
19 Will-O-Wisp
25 Hex
31 Natural Gift
37 Pain Split
44 Shadow Ball
50 Power Whip
Machines
TM04 Calm Mind
TM06 Toxic
TM10 Hidden Power
TM11 Sunny Day
TM17 Protect
TM19 Telekinesis
TM21 Frustration
TM22 SolarBeam
TM27 Return
TM29 Psychic
TM30 Shadow Ball
TM32 Double Team
TM41 Torment
TM42 Façade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM53 Energy Ball
TM61 Will-O-Wisp
TM66 Payback
TM70 Flash
TM77 Psych Up
TM85 Dream Eater
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM90 Substitute
HM01 Cut
Breeding
(Grass / Field)
Curse
Giga Drain
Gravity
Future Sight
Ingrain
Leaf Blade
Leaf Storm
Natural Gift
Nightmare
Sketch
Pokédex entries (credit: Kaprikorn)
Thorn Seed Pokémon
Black: Necturine use trees as conduits to access the spirit world. When they attach, they are often mistaken for berries.
White: Graveyards are often built around trees covered with Necturine. Some believe that they guided spirits to the afterlife.
let's dance