Detailing Attacks/Combinations

[Ryano Ra]

I'm very, very bored at the moment, and so, I would like to start a great thread for the writers based upon the title; detailing Pokemon attacks and Pokemon combination attacks.

Seeing as some people seem to view attacks differently when it comes to stories, we can all gather here and explain how we describe attacks from our perspective, whether you describe a Gyarados's Dragonbreath are teal flames or torrid, blue breath of fire. This is meant for comparing and contrasting how writers describe Pokemon attacks and their features, colors, temperature, and so on and so forth.

For me, it is very universal. I feel as though different Pokemon perform the same attacks differently. For example, being as a Houndoom is Fire AND Dark, a Flamethrower would spew out red, burgundy, and black flames due to its other type kicking into the fire-type attack. Or, simply a Gyarados using a Flamethrower, would be like the divine water serpent sucking in air as a bolt of fire lights up and disappears, leading into the Flamethrower assault, though the attack isn't AS HOT as a Flamethrower coming from a Ninetales or Magcargo. 8D

So really, it depends on the type/types the Pokemon are, so I can evaluate different ways the attacks might look, sound, and feel. Another example is boosting moves, like Dragon Dance. Each dragon-type Pokemon performs it differently and is enveloped in various gleaming colors, like a Dragonite flying wildly in the winds while glowing green, or an Altaria constantly climbing and plummeting to ground, glowing fiery red. So, what are your views?

 

[Insincerus]

I would have to agree with you, Syra, as I believe, IMO, Pokemon are individual species of creatures that require different and unique ways of composing their attacks, as their body compositions are pretty much completely different from each others' in small or large ways, including their types. Their figure or shape can determine the projection of an attack. For example, if I was to have a Typhlosion and a Golduck perform Hyper Beam, their projection styles would vary based on their shape or form. Typhlosion would most likely conjure it in the pit of its mouth, and with a great force, fire the beam of powerful light orally, while Golduck, with other means of projection, could very well place its webbed hands on its forehead for restraint, and fire the bead of energy from the small jewel on its face.

 

[Ryano Ra]

I would have to agree with you, Syra, as I believe, IMO, Pokemon are individual species of creatures that require different and unique ways of composing their attacks, as their body compositions are pretty much completely different from each others' in small or large ways, including their types. Their figure or shape can determine the projection of an attack. For example, if I was to have a Typhlosion and a Golduck perform Hyper Beam, their projection styles would vary based on their shape or form. Typhlosion would most likely conjure it in the pit of its mouth, and with a great force, fire the beam of powerful light orally, while Golduck, with other means of projection, could very well place its webbed hands on its forehead for restraint, and fire the bead of energy from the small jewel on its face.

EXACTLY, Insincerus.

I think that it would actually be more creative if Pokemon performed the same attacks differently, since it wouldn't become repititive describing it the same way, and leaves a lot of room for imagination and creativity. I picture Golduck performing a Hyper Beam attack the exact same way. The same concept follows for Solarbeam. A Flygon would fold his ways to his back, spinning under the sunlight while spinning, opening his mouth and collecting the sunlight energy. And, the second turn would be simply stop spinning and flying towards its opponent, blasting the Solarbeam attack.

Grass-types, such as Roselia and Venusaur, tend to point their flowers/plants towards the sun, shaking and grumbling while collecting their power. Flygon does the same, though it a more unique way, since he isn't a grass-type, but a dragon/ground hybrid sand dragon.

 

[Insincerus]

Right-o...if every attack was the same, would it even be worth your time to describe it the same way over and over and over ageen? No ;-;

Pokemon battling is the strongest essence of the whole series, in my opinion. That ish why I love the games so much, is of the competitive spirit it raises, and all the sorts of techniques all these creatures can learn. Strategy, learning, and battling is the definition of a Pokemon's abilities being used to a Trainer's advantage and/or to any plot of a story, whether it is a battle between Trainers or a rebellion/uprising against a force a human wouldn't have thee strength to take on >.>; Without battling, Pokemon is kinda...er..."blah."

 

[Kamia_Jay]

I agree also, and I'm writing a fic right now that deals with a Zangoose in it and I am having problems to the extent of how to portray powers that it usually does not learn. For example it knows Solarbeam and I am trying to figure out a way how it would do it. I thought about it standing in a still position like a statue and gather the sun's rays in its mouth and then a green ball would form about three inches from its mouth and then the rays will stop growing and blasts the attack at his opponent.

But it seems a little stupid to me. XD

Can anyone help? I'm in a really big stump.

 

[Ryano Ra]

I agree also, and I'm writing a fic right now that deals with a Zangoose in it and I am having problems to the extent of how to portray powers that it usually does not learn. For example it knows Solarbeam and I am trying to figure out a way how it would do it. I thought about it standing in a still position like a statue and gather the sun's rays in its mouth and then a green ball would form about three inches from its mouth and then the rays will stop growing and blasts the attack at his opponent.

But it seems a little stupid to me. XD

Can anyone help? I'm in a really big stump.

Hmm...I love describing Solarbeam attacks from different Pokemon, so let me think of something.

I try to think of more unique ways of using a Solarbeam on non-grass-types, so perhaps the Zangoose could be on her left knee, pointing her sharp claws towards the sun as they gather energy, eyes blazing in a cold green fire. Then, once savoring the energy, she launches her right claw forward and spews out the hot, bright-gold sunlight energy towards her opponent, like a Kingdra, Donphan, or Wailmer. Or, simply describe the Zangoose as if she's preparing for a Swords Dance attack (basically doing hypnotic, teetering/dancing on the ground with straightforward eyes) while beams of sunlight splash into her eyes and light them in white fire, leading to the attack blasting out of her mouth, spiraling with green and white instead of the common 'gleaming' or 'glowing' of the attack. That'd be interesting.

 

[Kamia_Jay]

Wowzers....I probably could of never though of that....thanks a lot! ^^ I like the first idea. And I love your story Sky, its amazing. I hope my story could be like yours, doubt it though.

 

[Dragonfree]

whether you describe a Gyarados's Dragonfree are teal flames or torrid, blue breath of fire

I don't remember belonging to any Gyarados... XDDD I think you meant Dragon Rage.

Well, to start with Dragon Rage, I picture it as kinda sparkly flames. I also have a weird way of describing Earthquake, because in my fics it's not an actual earthquake at all; the Pokémon smashes into the ground and it ripples (like it were just all turned into liquid for a moment).

Let's see... I describe Fury Cutter as the Pokémon's claws glowing faintly green and then with each hit the glow brightens and subsequently the damage from being hit by them increases.

Leech Seed has the user firing one or two seeds which embed themselves into the opponent's skin, and then the seeds will immediately sprout and grow into vines that wrap around the user and move the health they absorb to the user.

 

[Kiyohime]

The irony is, I've never described a Pokemon attack in Sin. o.o;; But that'll change with Dust, since Pokemon actually battle in that one, WHOMG. XD

Though, one of the ONLY Pokemon battling scenes in Sin would be a upcoming Double Battle, with a Sandshrew and Cacturne versus Psycho and Shriek.

Since you all were talking about Solarbeam, I imagine that the Cacturne would turn his eyes to the sun and cross his stubby arms. Cacti's spikes are actually leaves, so the Cacturne's spikes would glow with collected energy, and as the Cacturne flung out its arms, the collected energy would blast out.

Sandstorm is interesing, when you think about it. It's a weather-based attack, as is Sunny Day and Rain Dance. Rain Dance would be easy...the Pokemon in question performs a dance unique to its species, and bam, RAIN MAN. XD But what about Sunny Day? I imagine that'd be more tricky.

With Sandstorm, I'd put it like this: As Cacturne collects the sun energy, he's vunerable, yes? Well, while he does that, I could see the Sandshrew furiously running around the Cacturne in a circle and whipping up sand in its path, creating a cyclone of flying sand that shielded the Cacturne.

Double Battle attacks can be really awesome if you write neat combos together, such as Charizard unleashing a Flamethrower as a Scyther leaps up whirling and slices the fire, sending out a literal firestorm.

It's scenes like that that can really test an author's inventiveness and creative description.

 

[Wondrous Sableye]

Here's an attack that people seem to have mixed ideas about: Faint Attack. How do you guys detail it for certain Pokés?

 

[Kamia_Jay]

Not really sure but an idea just came to me, I'll use Absol for an example

Maybe it would lean in for the attack, legs tensed and in ambush position. Her red orbs would glow an unearthly blue (or red take your pick) and it would dissappear in thin air like as if it teleport. Then appears again, this time in the back of its opponent and deals a heavy blow. I would think something like that, bad description but thats all I got.

 

[Kiyohime]

OH OH OHHHHHHHHH! <3 <3 I love describing that.

Here's how I see it: Sableye stands motionless for a few seconds, surveying and tracking its opponent's movements...THEN IT DISAPPEARS! But it doesn't. It just leaps forward so fast, it disappears in oily black smoke. Then it seems to appear and disappear everywhere. Think Nightcrawler's teleportation from the beginning of the second X-men movie. It'd be just like that.

While the foe's standing in one spot, baffled and terrified by all of the motion and laughter, it doesn't notice a dark oily, smoky streak shooting it it through the ground, and then the Sableye leaps up in front of it and deals the foe a blow. That's like the Shadow Creepers from Advent Children. Yeah. Secksay. 8D

 

[Ryano Ra]

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

MEEWWW OWWWWW MEOOOW.

You got me there, Dragonfree. XDD Actually, I was suppose to type Dragonbreath, but I guess your name somehow slipped into mind? ^^; Dragonfree, I like how you described your way of writing use a Leech Seed and Earthquake. I usually stay away from an Earthquake attack, though, because I quickly think of ripping the ground apart and sending the Pokemon plummeting down the cracked surface while the attacking Pokemon follows in pursuit and smacks it back up. 8D

Same here, Scrap; in the early chapters of Sky, there isn't any Pokemon battling with attacks, except for a Dodrio using a Tri-Attack to paralyze and 'freeze' a ring of combustion, as well as Chansey performing a Miltank Rollout. Though, that all changed once I got to the tenth chapter of Sky. 8D

Double Battles are beautiful. They really challenge the author with giving them opportunities of combination attacks. For example, let's say a Swampert and Dodrio are battling against an Exploud and Venomoth. Dodrio could prepare for an Aerial Ace, skipping through the wind as it suddenly disappears, abruptly soaring down towards the Venomoth. Swampert then uses a Hydro Pump, making the tornado-swirling water spin around Dodrio to produce a hydrolic aerial ace, blasting Venomoth with sheer strength and water force. 8D

Or, Exploud could use an Overheat, blasting white and red melting fire out that's heating up the wind's temperature. Venomoth follows behind, launching a Sludge Bomb as it 'dances' around the Overheat, being like a fiery, blossoming bullet of some sort. Imagine the beauty in that. ^^ Or, you could do such an amazing trick like Tucker's Arcanine and Swampert. That attack was beautiful, and it required grand attacks from both the raging dog and monstrous mudfish.

Sunny Day? Hmm, when I describe Sunny Day, I make the Pokemon sacrifice energy, like a Meganium giving up a portion of her energy to scream loudly, focusing her eyes on the Sun and providing it with more energy, therefore, making sun rays blast stronger. Or, for a fire type, like Ninetales, I would have her use a Flamethrower or Overheat towards the sun, somehow blasting it and making the light hotter and stronger. ^^

EDIT: A Faint Attack? Hmm, let's use an Umbreon.

Umbreon has incredible speed, so basically, let's do this under moonlight. I think that a Faint Attack and the nighttime hours blend so perfectly, because the Umbreon could disappear into the darkness, not actually reappearing until after it makes contact tackling and bashing her body into her prey, an Alakazam or Espeon. ^^ That'd be incredible. And she could use Faint Attack for a more deadly purpose, only showing eyes jump from tree to tree, branch to branch, like the Shadow of the Forest. ^^

 

[Kiyohime]

With Ho-Oh, I'd imagine the phoenix descending from the sun and flaring its wings, making the sun's rays blast out and scour the ground, evaporating all water and vaporizing ice.

 

[Ryano Ra]

That'd be one helluva Sunny Day. o.o Try Burning Day? or Dying Day? XDDD

*ahem*

Faint Attack with a Mightyena would be grand. I can see him scampering in the forest, zooming past packs of shrubbery and then passing by his opponent, Charmeleon. But, it suddenly disappears in the distance, bringing question to the Charmeleon until the werewolf reappears in front, fangs baring and burning black as his paws are lit up in white and black flames, galloping on the grass again and charging directly into the Charmeleon, disappearing again and slamming his body from the back. ^^

When I describe attacks, I sometimes like to use the environments/terrains to my advantage to make the attacks better to describe, more detailed, and original. ^^ I could see a Sneasel simply leaping into the night, disappearing while her claws descend from the atmosphere and constantly zoom around a Jynx, slashing and punching her body. And everytime the Jynx looks, the claws are gone, attacking from another position.

 

[Faerie]

I agree with Insincerus. Pokemon are individual species like animals, and they have different body structures. Thus they'd have to use different attacks different ways. I mostly describe Hyper Beam as a beam of brilliant white energy being shot from a Pokemon's mouth, but only about two thirds of the Pokemon that can use Hyper Beam have mouths. There are a lot of details you have to take into consideration when describing Pokemon's attacks. I think I'll compile a small list of attacks and how I describe them, just for the heck of it. Some of these are on the spur of the moment, so meh.

+++++

Seismic Toss: In the anime, the illustrators got off easy: the only Pokemon they ever showed using Seismic Toss were flying Pokemon, mostly Charizard. But how would other Pokemon use that attack? Well, most fighting Pokemon are humanoids, so I'd sort of envision them grappling onto their opponents neck/whatever they can get a hold of, leaping into the air and, instead of doing a nosedive towards the ground, they'd throw their opponent at the ground. Sorta crazy, but imagine it with a Pokemon like a Blaziken or Machoke and it makes sense.

+++++

Toxic: This one is really weird, since most of the Pokemon that can learn Toxic via TM are non-Poison types. Some Pokemon wouldn't be able to hold the poison inside their bodies like Poison types would, so they'd probably have special ways to do it. For instance, a Pelipper knowing Toxic would, considering the poison wasn't too acidic to burn it, store the poisonous liquid in it bill.

And the use of Toxic? Hmm, that's a really puzzling one. In the video games, Toxic is bubbles of poison rising from the ground underneath the opponent (see the Attackdex entry), but that's probably something that only Poison types could perform. Using a Pelipper as an example again, it would expel the poison from its mouth in a similar fashion to Hydro Pump. Other Water types would do this, too.

+++++

Ooh, ooh! I want to do Faint Attack too! 8D

Faint Attack: Faint Attack's image in the video games is vague: it shows a wavy background that's used in a million other attacks, the Pokemon that's using the attack disappears and suddenly you see the opponent getting hit, and then the user reappears (Attackdex entry). However, I have my own idea of how Faint Attack could be used. I'll use a Banette for this example, because they're just plain creepy.

The Banette becomes a sillhouette: its body changes to a pitch-black color except for its eyes. It sinks into the ground, giving the image that it's a shadow, and slides towards its opponent. It begins to circle them, faster and faster and faster until the enemy sees multiple shadows. No matter how much it attacks the shadows, it's attack just hits the ground. And then, so quickly that the enemy can't attack...IT RISES UP AND ATTACKS THEM! So cool. >D If you couldn't tell, I got the basic idea of the attack from Shadows, a kind of Heartless from Kingdom Hearts.

 

[Kamia_Jay]

Also I have a Mawile named Sa-Rai` and I taught it Hyper Beam and I would think it would go under the lines of this:

The Mawile stuggled to her feet, her large appendage that sprouted from her head clearly given her a heavy load. She growled at her opponent who was smirking wildly thinking in its mind that the little runt of a Mawile would give up. Mawile locked on to her opponent a large Fearow that flew through the skies, mocking her because of him brimming with energy and his opponent catching on last breaths. All in the same motion, it drop like a rock in the sky peck pointed hellwards at the Mawile ready to finish it off.

The Mawile just smiled sweetly before opening her mouth-the one on her face- and it seem she wanted a beam or power of some sort to come out of it. The Fearow cackled loudly, amused at the Mawile antics and tighented his broad wings to his chest to make him more streamlined, to make him drop faster. The Mawile mind clicked and she blinked...next moment she jump into the air , which wasn't really far, but when she was about to go back down her large mouth appendage flew up and an powerful white light illuminated from it. She opened it wider and the white energy poured from her jaws and blasted the surprised Fearow. It never had a chance.

I thought of this becasue since Mawile is the deciever pokemon, it would pretend that the Hyper Beam would come out of its mouth bu actuall it would come out of its mouth appendage, I think thats a good idea. ^^

That is a good question about Toxic Faerie, my Ninetales knows Toxic and I always though it would come out of its mouth like a flamethrower but the unimaginable heat that dwells in its bodies might cut off the poison to enter any vital organs in its body but once it bellows it out, it would hurt the opponent

 

[Kiyohime]

Stop....stop...my brain hurts now. >.o Too many cool images in my head. *dies*

 

[Ryano Ra]

Kamia, you have great description! ^^ Me's like your writing style! *whispers* tell me when you are releasing a fanfiction! *whispers*

OMG! I'm getting so hyper reading so much description!

*jumps into the universe and gibbers wild tongues*

Faerie, that Banette part with the Faint Attack was so wonderful! Hmm...a great combination would be a Scyther and Tropius. Tropius could use Magical Leaf, somehow combining forces of making a big, giant leaf floating still in the air instead of the 'hundreds of white-gleaming leaves'. Then, Scyther comes along and spins, holding his scythes out and slices the leaves, sending them bulleting like a sharp leafstorm. 8D And then, Tropius follows up with Aerial Ace, speeding through the leafstorm like a flying shadow essence, and the Scyther uses Swords Dance to spin, allowing leaves to dance around his body until he stops, somehow 'pushing' them away and sending them blasting at a Blastoise and Kingler. 8D

I love describing attacks. *_*

 

[Kamia_Jay]

*has a funeral for Scrap* Scrap was a wonderful person, in love with pokemon, make amazing stories and all around nice person. We will miss you. XD

What about a Furret using...Flamethrower? I'm just being random now ^^

Thank you Seprent Syra! I have one in my head, but not entirely sure about the name, it has a Mawile named Sa-Rai` in it but not the main charrie though, its between a Ninetales,, Furret, or a Umbreon its so hard to choose!