[Meta thread] Iron's PokeRole Adventure: The Skull Ruins

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Well...I was thinking in keep my line of Pokemon with my three ghosts, Gustav for healing, Rose for power and choose one of my flying-types. Even more with the possibility of him to finally evolve.

I think I could leave Viktor behind to open space for Posei or Lapis to be in my party. Its not a bad thing, since we kinda already have strong anti-ghosts Pokemon with all of us, so I have no problem with leaving Viktor in my PC. So I can take one of your Pokemon Windos with no big deal. This is also a chance to Heart redeemed himself from Terra. And for us to finally have our long waited trade of the Delta Corsola.

Really?! Great! You can choose either of them to take with you along the way, as each has their own benefits associated with them! Thank you, mate!

Yeap, this will finally put a nail in the coffin that was the character conflict between my brute and your pun lover! It'll also be a great chance to Evolve D-Onix AND give you that Swampertnire I trade for earlier, so this makes it all even better!

Here's the Pros/Cons of Lapis/Posei, btw:

L.L. Pros: 
- Has his riduclous bulk, and access to Recover and Coil, so he will last and last.
-Will be equip with his Life Orb to deal even more insane amounts of Damage, and its downside will hardly matter for him since he's so gosh darn resilent it isn't funny.
- His Competitive Ability also allows you to send out a partner to debuff them in order to jack up his Strength even more, which with all the previous attack modifiers makes him as strong as a fully powered Shiranui (Assuming the debuff in question isn't a STR debuff).
- Has access to Twister and Disarming Voice, both Spread Moves that do decent Damage, with the former having a chance to Flinch and the later being Always Accurate (But using Allure as a part of its Dice Roll), so he can deal with mobs handily.
- Hidden Power Rock is a 2 Hit, STR+ 2 and - 1 Accuracy Multi-Hit Move that can produce Gems worth money, all of which are yours if you use it. Combined with all his buffs, and it can burn down a foe before it gets too many chances to act, if at all! Wrap is also decent to prevent escape and deal chip damage, though its low BP and Normal typing makes its use not great at times.
L.L. Cons:
- His size may make his use in certain areas restricted or impossible.
- All that HP means it'll be hard to heal him outside of his own Move and a Max Potion, so he can be worn down by mass attacks quite easily if you are not careful.
- Unless I can teach him Aqua Ring or you have Gustav out to keep him hydrated, he can't stay outside of his Net Ball for long duration, meaning you won't be able to interact with him much or use him in dehydrating areas.
- He doesn't really have High BP Moves, with his best being Water Gun due to the STAB he gets on it. Between Life Orb, Coil, and possibly Competitive, though....well, that won't matter much hopefully.

Posei's Pros:
- Has access to Swagger, which means you have the means to give your other Pokemon a STR buff at the cost of some Confusion/Items and his Action.
- For his own benefit, he has Belly Drum, which will make him a BEAST if you can keep him alive after he uses it!
- Debuff wise, he has Hypnosis, Body Slam and Bubble Beam on a Chance Roll, and dread Perish Song along side Swagger, so he has several ways to play support! He also has Mud Shot to lower a foe's DEX by 1, which could be all that it takes to put it behind Initiative or miss a Move!
- If its possible to use underground with enough moisture in the air, then you also have Rain Dance to play with, which would be a general boost to Gustav and help keep everyone fireproofed!
- He's rocking Hyper Voice , Double Slap, and Frost Breath, all pretty powerful Moves against most everything beyond Ghosts (Which Anubi can just Foresight, if need be), though you have to be careful with H.V. due to it being a AoE Move. 
- Water Absorb, which allows him to be easily healed by Gustav whenever, even in the heat of battle! Unlike Recover, it doesn't have an effective limit on it, so it can be used and abused to the hilt!
- Can find King's Rocks or other important Items potentially, and has that King aspect to him that could be significant!
- Fairs much better on dry land than Lapis, and he's small enough that his size won't be an issue! 
Posei's Cons:
- Beyond Frost Bream, Bubble Beam, and Mud Shot, the rest of his Moves are Normal type, which leaves him liable to be without options against Ghosts.
- A lot of his debuff Moves have penalties associated with them, like Hypnosis and Mud Shot's lower Accuracy, and Perish Song being AoE and indiscriminate with who it affects, while Swagger gives Foes a buff or Confuses you Pokemon, both of which can be deadly in the wrong situations.
- Not a lot of room for him to grow, due to him having a small Move Pool post Evolution. Learning past Evo Moves or Egg Moves is certainly possible, but it'll be at an increased cost.
- Obviously is less bulky than Lapis, and sometimes you can't trigger Water Absorb in the heat of battle, requiring either Potions to patch him up before he croaks. Even if you can use Water Moves on him, that means Gustav won't be attacking a foe with them, which could prove detrimental in its own right.

Both options is great...but I think I will carry Posei with me during the journey. I already have a gigantic Pokemon to carry in my party who gonna be Quetzel, so having another big pokemon could limit my options in case we get trap in little places. And with Gustav Water Moves, when we get outside of battles, we can heal him with simple Water moves instead of use a Potion or a Heal Pulse. And based in previous experience both in and out of Skull Ruins, this is something very much important.

So Posei will go with me friend if you dont mind.

Quetzal isn't currently super massive since he only has 8 base HP.  Unless D-Onix are just naturally a lot smaller than a standard one, Quetzal is likely far from fully grown.  Of course, we don't know how much bigger he might become after he evolves...I'd guess 10 base HP/feet long though since Steelix has 2 more base HPthan Onix does.

[Iron]

Spoiler

Well...I was thinking in keep my line of Pokemon with my three ghosts, Gustav for healing, Rose for power and choose one of my flying-types. Even more with the possibility of him to finally evolve.

I think I could leave Viktor behind to open space for Posei or Lapis to be in my party. Its not a bad thing, since we kinda already have strong anti-ghosts Pokemon with all of us, so I have no problem with leaving Viktor in my PC. So I can take one of your Pokemon Windos with no big deal. This is also a chance to Heart redeemed himself from Terra. And for us to finally have our long waited trade of the Delta Corsola.

Really?! Great! You can choose either of them to take with you along the way, as each has their own benefits associated with them! Thank you, mate!

Yeap, this will finally put a nail in the coffin that was the character conflict between my brute and your pun lover! It'll also be a great chance to Evolve D-Onix AND give you that Swampertnire I trade for earlier, so this makes it all even better!

Here's the Pros/Cons of Lapis/Posei, btw:

L.L. Pros: 
- Has his riduclous bulk, and access to Recover and Coil, so he will last and last.
-Will be equip with his Life Orb to deal even more insane amounts of Damage, and its downside will hardly matter for him since he's so gosh darn resilent it isn't funny.
- His Competitive Ability also allows you to send out a partner to debuff them in order to jack up his Strength even more, which with all the previous attack modifiers makes him as strong as a fully powered Shiranui (Assuming the debuff in question isn't a STR debuff).
- Has access to Twister and Disarming Voice, both Spread Moves that do decent Damage, with the former having a chance to Flinch and the later being Always Accurate (But using Allure as a part of its Dice Roll), so he can deal with mobs handily.
- Hidden Power Rock is a 2 Hit, STR+ 2 and - 1 Accuracy Multi-Hit Move that can produce Gems worth money, all of which are yours if you use it. Combined with all his buffs, and it can burn down a foe before it gets too many chances to act, if at all! Wrap is also decent to prevent escape and deal chip damage, though its low BP and Normal typing makes its use not great at times.
L.L. Cons:
- His size may make his use in certain areas restricted or impossible.
- All that HP means it'll be hard to heal him outside of his own Move and a Max Potion, so he can be worn down by mass attacks quite easily if you are not careful.
- Unless I can teach him Aqua Ring or you have Gustav out to keep him hydrated, he can't stay outside of his Net Ball for long duration, meaning you won't be able to interact with him much or use him in dehydrating areas.
- He doesn't really have High BP Moves, with his best being Water Gun due to the STAB he gets on it. Between Life Orb, Coil, and possibly Competitive, though....well, that won't matter much hopefully.

Posei's Pros:
- Has access to Swagger, which means you have the means to give your other Pokemon a STR buff at the cost of some Confusion/Items and his Action.
- For his own benefit, he has Belly Drum, which will make him a BEAST if you can keep him alive after he uses it!
- Debuff wise, he has Hypnosis, Body Slam and Bubble Beam on a Chance Roll, and dread Perish Song along side Swagger, so he has several ways to play support! He also has Mud Shot to lower a foe's DEX by 1, which could be all that it takes to put it behind Initiative or miss a Move!
- If its possible to use underground with enough moisture in the air, then you also have Rain Dance to play with, which would be a general boost to Gustav and help keep everyone fireproofed!
- He's rocking Hyper Voice , Double Slap, and Frost Breath, all pretty powerful Moves against most everything beyond Ghosts (Which Anubi can just Foresight, if need be), though you have to be careful with H.V. due to it being a AoE Move. 
- Water Absorb, which allows him to be easily healed by Gustav whenever, even in the heat of battle! Unlike Recover, it doesn't have an effective limit on it, so it can be used and abused to the hilt!
- Can find King's Rocks or other important Items potentially, and has that King aspect to him that could be significant!
- Fairs much better on dry land than Lapis, and he's small enough that his size won't be an issue! 
Posei's Cons:
- Beyond Frost Bream, Bubble Beam, and Mud Shot, the rest of his Moves are Normal type, which leaves him liable to be without options against Ghosts.
- A lot of his debuff Moves have penalties associated with them, like Hypnosis and Mud Shot's lower Accuracy, and Perish Song being AoE and indiscriminate with who it affects, while Swagger gives Foes a buff or Confuses you Pokemon, both of which can be deadly in the wrong situations.
- Not a lot of room for him to grow, due to him having a small Move Pool post Evolution. Learning past Evo Moves or Egg Moves is certainly possible, but it'll be at an increased cost.
- Obviously is less bulky than Lapis, and sometimes you can't trigger Water Absorb in the heat of battle, requiring either Potions to patch him up before he croaks. Even if you can use Water Moves on him, that means Gustav won't be attacking a foe with them, which could prove detrimental in its own right.

Both options is great...but I think I will carry Posei with me during the journey. I already have a gigantic Pokemon to carry in my party who gonna be Quetzel, so having another big pokemon could limit my options in case we get trap in little places. And with Gustav Water Moves, when we get outside of battles, we can heal him with simple Water moves instead of use a Potion or a Heal Pulse. And based in previous experience both in and out of Skull Ruins, this is something very much important.

So Posei will go with me friend if you dont mind.

Quetzal isn't currently super massive since he only has 8 base HP.  Unless D-Onix are just naturally a lot smaller than a standard one, Quetzal is likely far from fully grown.  Of course, we don't know how much bigger he might become after he evolves...I'd guess 10 base HP/feet long though since Steelix has 2 more base HPthan Onix does.

Delta Onix are significantly smaller, but he could get bigger over time still.

[Lord Windos]

Okay. Since it's been asked so kindly and totally not because I'm so susceptible to encouragement, I'll update read myself properly and then carefully chip in to give my thoughts about the not-yet set teams. Which is mostly Nathan's if I saw that correctly?

I'll keep myself impartial as best as possible. What I obviously cannot know is which Pokemon of yours you're interested to train up more+bond with more, that's an inportant factor for me at least.

Terras Team

Angie aka Dunseraph
Michael aka Ventus' Breloom
Anubi aka Lucario
Oinari/Tomoe aka Zorua
Pixie aka Mawile
Edmundi aka Bastiodon

Suggestions:

• I feel a bit sorry for Shiranui as Terra's soft-Starter being left behind, maybe it's just me being sensitive though. Guts-boosted Fake Out and Belly Drum are such a strong combo also against anything that's not immune. Possibly replacing Pixie.
  
• Please don't bring or loan out Lovely/Lapis Lazuli, he's unfortunately way too bing to battle properly within an enclosed space, I fear he'll hinder our choices or be outright not allowed to join selected battles.
  

Nathans Team

Set:
Gallade, Dizzalam aka Absol, Charizard

Suggestions:

• Solomon aka Slowking due to their Hidden Power and affinity with lore, Brine can be suprisingly powerful.
  
• Grid aka Galvantula due to he's so good at putting your chara's Stats into good use, why forfeit that?, Electro Web, Fury Cutter to defeat Psychic Types fast when facing them alone.
  
• Ditto due to flexibility and versatility including another potential Heal Pulse.
  

Spiras Team

Noire aka Banette
Toya aka Dusknoir
Nubi aka Mismagius
Hida aka Magcargo
Luna aka Driftloon
Copus aka Beedrill

Suggestions:

• None. Sounds overall fine, Ghost Type is his speciality so it's natural to have several team members of that Type.
  
• Look at this cool and creepy artwork of a Mismagius I found (Link) :O
  

Hearts Team

Honedge/potential Duoblade
Viktor aka Trevenant
Atlas aka Golett
Gustav aka Clawitzer
Rose aka Infernape

Suggestions:

• Bring Questzal aka Delta Onix or Steelix instead of Honchcrow, as not bringing them would render the effort put into his obediance soft-pointless.
  
• Or replace one of your partial Ghost Types with the crow to have something against opposing Ghost and Psychic Types, maybe instead of Viktor? Atlas has all the elemental punches and you seem to enjoy battling and interacting with him.

Aw....I love the input, dear! It's always a pleasure to see your thoughts and hear your opinoins, especially when they can have such a positive impact! Hopefully we'll have several more good ideas together on our trip going forward!

Now, time for my critique on yours!

Terra's: I mainly composed my team not on RP/XP Gains, but for a well rounded offensive/defensive unit that could counter most of the obvious threats in the Skull Ruins while also providing ample support to the whole group. As such, leaving behind Shiranui and most of his other Hoen Pokemon is fine by me and him, as both of us understand the necessity of building the right team for the situation on hand/in the future, and my chara. is very serious about his duty on top of that. Regarding Lapis...well, I don't minding him behind, especially since Spirit wants Posei over him. He already had trouble dealing with the Ghosts beforehand even if he did well against them, so my chara. has good IC reasons to not let him be loaned out beyond the underground being too crampt for them.

Nathan: I am personally happy to take all of your suggestions as replacements for Anubi, though I'd prefer either the wise king or the mimic, as they more easily fill his niche of being good offense with healing support avaliable. Ditto could actually replace any of Terra's Pokemon but Oinari, as they could just literally become them and any of Terra's others, with the only downside being their low HP and chaotic Transformations getting in the way of their ulti versitility. Personally I think Charizard could stand to be left behind too to make way for Emolga and/or Princess, and that Dedenne should seriously be considered on his team, due to them futzing Electronics/boosting their power (Might be possible for comms to still work with them around, especially if we carry transceivers), but that's besides the point.

Spira: I honestly don't know enough about all of their Pokemon to make an accurate judgement on their team, but what I see looks fine enough to me too. Dusknior in particular could cow those dastardly Duskulls/Dusklops so they don't be pests, and who knows how Ghost Travel could work in the S.Rs?

Heart: Nothing to say about their team, other than its fine as it is with or without Posei's addition, and that D-Onix should be brought along over the crow.

Spoiler

Thanks for the additional input Phantom.  My turn to respond, then!

More type variety isn't usually a bad thing imo, so swapping Vaporeon for P-Glaceon could definitely be a strong choice.  P-Glaceon can also be just as bulky as Vaporeon thanks to Barrier (and a Leftovers could mimic Aqua Ring), and the more diverse movepool is a big plus over Vaporeon.  Having an Ice type could be very beneficial if we're coming up against Grass (Vines/Tangrowth), Ground (Claydol), and Dragon (possibly deeper down) types.  P-Glaceon could also borrow Nathan's Never Melt Ice for more power.  Definitely more of an offensive than defensive 'mon, though.  Vaporeon is a lot better at defensive support due to Helping Hand access.

Oh, and if you want to get a P-Espeon, you obviously have to bond quite significantly with P-Glaceon, so interacting with them frequently is obviously a must for that goal.

TLDR; Ice type offensive pressure versus Water type defensive support.  I'd probably personally go with the former since it's more generally well suited for a variety of situations, but both are decent options.



----------------------------------

Another pokemon I could add to that list is Shiva's Ditto.  Can serve the same purpose as Nathan's, but with much less randomness and a free transformation into Umbreon, so that allows for much more flexibility (including what's essentially immediate access to any of Shiva's pokemon and possibly other group members' as well)

------------------------------------

As for your comments on my mons...well, there are a lot of pokemon I'd like to train with, but there are two that I'd like to squeeze in if possible.

- Emolga: we're looking for Marco now, so that's the main justification for bringing him since that's the big reason he joined Nathan's party in the first place.  Encore and Nuzzle are great moves, so are Acrobatics and Electro Ball if he learns them.  Not worried about Rock types when at least half of Nathan's team has moves SE against them.

- Snivy: the other pokemon who joined to help with Ruins business.  Not as high priority as Emolga since we might not be dealing with the source of the Vines during this trip, though.  Might still be helpful to have in case we encounter the Vines/Tangrowth/Claydol, though.

- And then I'm also considering Solosis since she's basically the only dual screens user in the party atm, and I do want to use her a little more as well.

Windos has offered to take one of Nathan's pokemon on loan, so that means 4 of the filler options can be picked atm.

-----------------------

Any additional thoughts on any of this?

To Nathan's suggestions....well, I don't see much problem with them, actually. Primal Glaceon's Ice type Offense isn't something that can easily be replicated in anyone else in the group, and can potentially become any other Eeveelution the group needs if we bring along the right Evo Stones. Your team is plenty stacked with support Pokemon, so having one or two high offensive threats among her number doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.

Bringing along Umbreditto also sounds like a swell idea, if only because you'll pretty much have access to EVERYONE's Pokemon if we make the effort of showing off all our Pokemon to the Ditto before we leave on the dungeon dive (If they are brought along). I can understand if you rather leave them behind for more RP interactions with your chosen team, but you could still loan them out to anyone else that would be willing to house them. 

Finally, I'll reinterate my opinion on those three choices of yours, Dragonstrike: Disregarding IC reasons entirely, you should leave Emolga behind for Grid (If you're taking an Electric type) or Charizard (If you are not), as they don't have enough going for them to choose them over those two or for you to exclude other Pokemon while also building more weakness. Snivy would be excellent to have if there's space, as their control over vines and reliable healing + robust Move would ensure that they would last and more than carry their weight on the journey - especially if we run into those royal pain in the arses that are the Claydol and their vines. My opinion of Solosis has already been recently be said, but to be brief I'd like them on Nathan's or someone's team, as you can't say no to Screen Support + Snatch + Possibly After You support, and Skill Swap shenanigans is always ripe for experimentation and abuse.

That's all from me for now! I'll get back to you if I have anything more to say about the teams!

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

*cuddles Primal Glaceon and suffers frostbites* There's still interest to trade for that Never-Melt Ice, but since you said you wish to keep it I didn't pry. If something about changes, please let me know, okay? ^_^

(...) Another pokemon I could add to that list is Shiva's Ditto.  Can serve the same purpose as Nathan's, but with much less randomness and a free transformation into Umbreon, so that allows for much more flexibility (including what's essentially immediate access to any of Shiva's pokemon and possibly other group members' as well) (...)

That Ditto will always go to sleep when having transformed into a female Umbreon, and my intuition tells me that she/them wouldn't really enjoy to be seperated from her/their mate and Eevee-son or being asked to transform into anythingelse. They're still pretty wild and untamed (but just obedient with 1 Loyalty vs 1 Custom-Disobediance) and I wish to keep them small familiy together, so while the thoughts are good, it's unfortunately not a real option.

As for your comments on my mons...well, there are a lot of pokemon I'd like to train with, but there are two that I'd like to squeeze in if possible.

- Emolga: we're looking for Marco now, so that's the main justification for bringing him since that's the big reason he joined Nathan's party in the first place.  Encore and Nuzzle are great moves, so are Acrobatics and Electro Ball if he learns them.  Not worried about Rock types when at least half of Nathan's team has moves SE against them.

- Snivy: the other pokemon who joined to help with Ruins business.  Not as high priority as Emolga since we might not be dealing with the source of the Vines during this trip, though.  Might still be helpful to have in case we encounter the Vines/Tangrowth/Claydol, though.

- And then I'm also considering Solosis since she's basically the only dual screens user in the party atm, and I do want to use her a little more as well.

In that case I'd replace Grid with Emolga and put effort into them learning Electro Ball fast to put your huge Dext into good use in combo with Nuzzle. Encore is a nice trick that Raphael can use as well. Hehehe....

If Snivy wishes to be added, then I'd take them instead of Ditto, but me fears the advantage of doing so is relatively small compared to the disadvantage, not looking at in-chara reasons. I remember that this Sniva has lots of good moves including Coil, but your other 'Mon are already offensive enough that it feels like a good choice to add a versatile supporter like Ditto instead of the grassy snake.

Access to both screens sounds pretty good and useful, but if I struggle to find a 'Mon to replace with them in your team apart from maybe Ditto. I'd definitely advice to keep them with Nathan = not loan them to any other chara for various reasons though, you probably understand why.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Here's the artwork of Shiva and Whimsi I mentioned somewhere, enjoy. My scanner appearantly likes to mess up colors, digital editing is fun but can only do that much. (￣ω￣; ) I can totally imagine her having such a soppy pink cup.

[Spiritmon]

Here's the artwork of Shiva and Whimsi I mentioned somewhere, enjoy. My scanner appearantly likes to mess up colors, digital editing is fun but can only do that much. (￣ω￣; ) I can totally imagine her having such a soppy pink cup.

Aww, it is really beautiful this drawing. The happiness of Shiva Cottonee, I mean, Whiscott can be see in that picture. Great job Phantom!

[Lord Windos]

Here's the artwork of Shiva and Whimsi I mentioned somewhere, enjoy. My scanner appearantly likes to mess up colors, digital editing is fun but can only do that much. (￣ω￣; ) I can totally imagine her having such a soppy pink cup.

Yet again, you've done a simply marvelous job, my dear! Honestly, I should get you to make a character portrait for Ven and Terra sometime, as I know you'd do as good of a job with them as you do with Shiva!

[Iron]

Here's the artwork of Shiva and Whimsi I mentioned somewhere, enjoy. My scanner appearantly likes to mess up colors, digital editing is fun but can only do that much. (￣ω￣; ) I can totally imagine her having such a soppy pink cup.

Definitely worth +2 XP!! Twitch is spriting your evo design right now, btw! Speaking of art!

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

*cuddles Primal Glaceon and suffers frostbites* There's still interest to trade for that Never-Melt Ice, but since you said you wish to keep it I didn't pry. If something about changes, please let me know, okay? ^_^

(...) Another pokemon I could add to that list is Shiva's Ditto.  Can serve the same purpose as Nathan's, but with much less randomness and a free transformation into Umbreon, so that allows for much more flexibility (including what's essentially immediate access to any of Shiva's pokemon and possibly other group members' as well) (...)

That Ditto will always go to sleep when having transformed into a female Umbreon, and my intuition tells me that she/them wouldn't really enjoy to be seperated from her/their mate and Eevee-son or being asked to transform into anythingelse. They're still pretty wild and untamed (but just obedient with 1 Loyalty vs 1 Custom-Disobediance) and I wish to keep them small familiy together, so while the thoughts are good, it's unfortunately not a real option.

As for your comments on my mons...well, there are a lot of pokemon I'd like to train with, but there are two that I'd like to squeeze in if possible.

- Emolga: we're looking for Marco now, so that's the main justification for bringing him since that's the big reason he joined Nathan's party in the first place.  Encore and Nuzzle are great moves, so are Acrobatics and Electro Ball if he learns them.  Not worried about Rock types when at least half of Nathan's team has moves SE against them.

- Snivy: the other pokemon who joined to help with Ruins business.  Not as high priority as Emolga since we might not be dealing with the source of the Vines during this trip, though.  Might still be helpful to have in case we encounter the Vines/Tangrowth/Claydol, though.

- And then I'm also considering Solosis since she's basically the only dual screens user in the party atm, and I do want to use her a little more as well.

In that case I'd replace Grid with Emolga and put effort into them learning Electro Ball fast to put your huge Dext into good use in combo with Nuzzle. Encore is a nice trick that Raphael can use as well. Hehehe....

If Snivy wishes to be added, then I'd take them instead of Ditto, but me fears the advantage of doing so is relatively small compared to the disadvantage, not looking at in-chara reasons. I remember that this Sniva has lots of good moves including Coil, but your other 'Mon are already offensive enough that it feels like a good choice to add a versatile supporter like Ditto instead of the grassy snake.

Access to both screens sounds pretty good and useful, but if I struggle to find a 'Mon to replace with them in your team apart from maybe Ditto. I'd definitely advice to keep them with Nathan = not loan them to any other chara for various reasons though, you probably understand why.

No shame in asking to borrow stuff, particularly when we're about to go on a major group mission and are trying to optimize things for it.  If I do decide to trade it after all, I'll definitely let you know.

I think more specifically it's that Ditto always ends the day Transforming into an Umbreon, not that they're getting ready to sleep when they turn into one.  Ditto can always turn back into forms they took prior in the day without using an additional Transform slot.  Another thing to consider is that Umbreon and Ditto probably don't want to put Eevee in any danger, and one of them would prefer to stay with the young one (probably Umbreon most of the time) while the other fights off the danger (typically Ditto I imagine due to how powerful Transform is, like when we visited Ancestor Cave).  It's just a little hypothesizing about their behavior based on what little we've seen of them so far, but it's a place to start.  If Ditto knows it's helping to fight for the safety of its family, maybe it wouldn't mind being away from them for a short time so much.

[Dragonstrike]

Here's the artwork of Shiva and Whimsi I mentioned somewhere, enjoy. My scanner appearantly likes to mess up colors, digital editing is fun but can only do that much. (￣ω￣; ) I can totally imagine her having such a soppy pink cup.

Artwork's as good as usual.  Much like Windos, I am also kinda curious about how you'd depict the rest of the Skull Ruins cast...though I understand that might not necessarily happen.  Making art definitely isn't a short process if you want it to be good, after all.