[Meta Thread] Pokerole Mystery Dungeon: Primal Shadows

[Lord Windos]

Off-topic, but as I was strolling through memory lane on the Skull Ruins campaign, I realized something: Ventus gave everyone at least one Pokemon that saw frequent usage throughout the campaign, in some cases all the way until the very climax, and/or was heavily involved their development in some way. To name them off the top of my head....

- Heart: Delta Onix/Steelix. I believe Ven ended up trading them away for another Pokemon, partially out of a sense of thinking the rare hunter who expressed great interest in Deltas would appreciate them FAR more than he ever could. Fast forward to the end, and we got Mega Delta Steelix soaring around a war-torn battlefield, filling it with shock and awe! What I especially like is that Terra also managed to heavily chip in with Delta Steelix's existence, between providing the means of Evolution and getting Heart a Keystone to Mega Evolve them with! Cross character building is some neat stuff, eh?

- Shiva: Raphael the Togekiss, 'nough said. He gave away what he considered his first child to the love of his life, wanting to give them the very best possible experience and spare them the worst of their disfunction, highly morally ambigiuous father. While I don't really recall them doing A LOT under his gf's stewardship the seraph certainly was a welcome continued presence that at least kept a little bit of the best of Ven with the group.

- Terra: Michael. The kick-boxing shroom reached his full potential under the wandering monk, and finally achieved his dream of being able to punch all the way to the heavens themselves! Shame their new Master ended up taking that away from them in order to revive Arete, and he didn't end up playing a big role at all in the Deoxys fights, but he WAS instrumental throughout the Skull Ruins by simply being the indominable shroom that he was!

- Nathan: I can count four Pokemon at minimum Ven had either given to them or had significant impact on - Princess, Solomon, Porygon Z, and Charizard. The first was Ven's originally, but they gave it to Nathan for reasons that elude. She turned out to be arguably the most impactful Pokemon in the final few moments of the campaign, as without her involvement I have no doubt Deoxys Prime would have done FAR worse to the group and Cosh definately would've gotten away much easier. Easily a MVP at least! Solomon was a gift/wealth trade between our PCs, and I can't begin to fathom how much influence they had on your character and all the many doors they ended up making. He ended up being a valuable source of healing and wisdom down in the Skull Ruins, and now remains a perpetual rival to Sari the Ultra Shiny Slowking to drive them forward towards being an ideal king. Porygon straight up wouldn't have evolved without Ventus doing all the legwork, and they were plenty helpful in all things technological and just being an extremely capable Normal type. Lastly, Charizard got broken in by Ven as a Charmeleon in order to humble them, paving the way for Nathan to forge the punk lizard into a true king of dragons that went scorched earth on all that opposed their master. Technicaly I could ALSO include Delta Houdoom into the mix, but considering that Ven had a mostly HUGELY negative impact on them I REALLY don't want to count the good doggo for their own good.

Gallade: Had significant impact on the growth and development, and helped enable their De-Evolution so that they could free Mesprit and achieve the Evolution they/Nathan most desired more easily as a consequence. Not sure if Ven or Shiva provided the Dawn Stone necessary for that part too. Technically EVERYONE had a big impact on this most special warrior, but considering how often Ven and Nathan ended up at odds and evens with each other I have very little doubts Gallade hold them in high (if not entirely good) esteem.

The only characters he didn't end up majorly contributing to their team were Joey, Vincent, and Mika's, with the former two ending up splitting off fairly early (some to our dismay, others to our relief), while Mika end up getting Time-napped by the group well after Ven left and could do anything for them. Now, what was the point of all this fluff? It made me re-discover, just a little bit, of why Ven had such an enduring impact with everyone, and that I have stiffed him of some credit due to being done with the ball of neurosis and crippling moral complexes that he became. Makes me regret being too stubborn not to properly TRY and make him a better fit (and a better person) for the group and the way Iron's campaign was going, but hindsight is 20/20, and I still think pushing him off to the side was the best move for myself and everyone at the time.

If I missed anything, do let me know! And why not share your stories of how your characters ended up contributing Pokemon and growth towards other character's Pokemon, if you don't mind!