The URPG Times. [03/05/12 -- 31/05/12]

Credit to Buoy.​

Contents:
1. A word from your Editor(s).
2. Announcements and News.
3. Trading Section.
4. Comics.
5. URPG Quiz.
6. Story of the Week.
7. Roleplayer of the Week.
8. Pokémon of the Week (with article).
10. FFA Report.
11. Target of the Week.
12. Closing comment(s).

***

A word from your Editor:
by Buoy.
Hello! We're aware that it's been quite a long time since the last URPG Times was posted, but, unfortunately, Alaska and Gmandiddy were both unable to post the Times. Since they haven't got enough time on their hands, they've hired a new Editor -- although I believe they were looking for two (I have no idea who the other one is yet). That new Editor is me, Buoy! I'm sure it'll be a fun experience, editing the Times. This is my first try, though, so go easy on me.

I hope you all enjoy this issue of the URPG Times!

***

News and Announcements:
by Buoy.
I couldn't find any slave person to do this for me, so I did it myself.

TPW (but mainly Dojos).
We've been at The Pokémon World for almost a month now, and I can tell that URPG has been a massive success on the truly accommodating forum. We're proud to have the TPW community with us here in URPG, and we wish you all the success for the future in URPG -- try hard and you will succeed! Our Dojo system is gradually gaining momentum now, too. With those Dojo spots filling up as more newbies begin to collect more Pokémon, it'll only be a matter of time before all spots are gone. If you're interested in owning a Dojo, then come on over to this thread! If you want to participate but are unsure if you're allowed to, feel free to ask We Taste Pies or Monbrey. They can handle all your inquiries about the Dojos, as well as telling you if you can participate or not.

New referees!
Since our last issue, four people have became referees: Zolar, Brainiac and Morru Magnum! Who's the fourth, you ask? Why, that would be me! All of these wonderful people (excluding me) deserve a good pat on the back and a congratulations. Pester them to ref for you if you're battling -- it'll help both them and you. Well done to these four!

Vacant Gym spots!
Pewter City [Rock-type].
Ecruteak City [Ghost-type].
Sootopolis City [Water-type].
Striaton City [Fire-, Water- and Grass-type].
Nimbasa City [Electric-type].
Opelucid City [Dragon-type].

All of the above gyms are open! If you think you've got what it takes to be a Gym Leader and you have enough Pokémon for it, feel free to apply.

***

Trading Section:
by Buoy.
Since the last issue, we've had a few things put up for trade in the Trading Machine. If you want any of the Pokémon below, feel free to offer to the corresponding users.

Gmandiddy:
Drifblim.

Black Reaper:
Krookodile.
Scizor.
Gardevoir.

Buoy:
Breloom.

***

Comics:
Each week, besides the submissions from our employees for the Comics section of the URPG Times, we also welcome submissions from the community! We pay 1,500 Pokédollars for each submission usually. The amount paid might be adjusted accordingly based on your comic and permanent employees will be paid slightly higher. You don't have to be a professional as well; the only criteria is for it to be funny! PM comic submissions to Alaskapigeon, Buoy or Gmandiddy.

... looks like we have no submissions this time! Oh well! Make sure to send in some comics for the next issue!

***

URPG Quiz:
by WebMaster.
Monbrey - 50/50 ($12500)
Brainiac - 50/50 ($12500)
Nitro - 47/50 ($11750)
Xali - 47/50 ($11750)
FTEcho 4 - 47/50 ($11750)
CommBA - 47/50 ($11750)
Fawkes - 47/50 ($11750)
Siless - 46/50 ($11500)
Googly - 45/50 ($11250)
Mubz - 43/50 ($10750)
Kantomasta - 38/50 ($9500)
Zolar - 35/50 ($8750)

Wow, I give you guys a handicap and only two of you fully capitalize on it? I guess my failsafe question must have gotten you. Still a big congratulations to my first ever 100s. You guys have earned a spot in my hitlist Hall of Fame.

Battle Scenario: Use Psycho Shift (5 points)
Some of you put Toxic. That would work but you're Imprisoned. Psycho Shift would put the burn on Dusknoir and KO at the end of the turn.

Ref This: Gliscor @ 76.55%; Metagross @ 83.51% (4 points)
Why does everyone (even the non-refs) get this right? Seriously? Guess some of you should take the ref test. Based on how everyone got this right, you should do ok.

Flavour: Where hearts touch each other. (4 points)
Anything close to hearts communicating with each other was fine for me. It had to be in English though.

Picture Time: Nacrene City (3 points)
I need to find harder pictures -_-

Video Games: Surskit, Masquerain, Meditite, Medicham, Roselia, Zangoose, Lunatone (1/2 point each; 4 points if you got them all)
This was pretty easy. Just search around for it. I never played Emerald though so I didn't know before the quiz.

Video Games 2: Pokemon Revolution (3 points)
Had to throw in a couple gimmes.

Flavour 2: Just a souvenier shop. Nothing suspicious about it. No need to be alarmed (3 points)
Just because of that sign, I'm suddenly interested in checking it out.

Pokemon World: Goldenrod City (3 points)
Wow. I thought a lot of you would have trouble with this one. You guys sure know your trivia

Anime: Steel, Psychic, and Ghost (3 points)
Come on, Ash! Catch one of these already!

Game Mechanics: Trick Question. There is no way to reflect an OHKO move. (3 points)
My failsafe question. I was hoping nobody would get this right, but only a few of you were observant enough. I tip my hat to whoever got this right.

Anime 2: The Ancient puzzle of Pokemopolis. Alakazam, Gengar, and Jigglypuff (4 points)
A battle of epic proportions I should say.

Stories: Imagine that by Magikchicken (2 points)
tl;dr

Pokemon: Machoke (3 points)
Kung-foo would have been kinda cheesy for this Pokemon. Glad they changed it.

Video Games 3: Shigeki Morimoto (3 points)
This Game Freak person is in Castelia. Find him and battle him if you want.

Game Mechanics 2: Air Cutter (3 points)
The only damaging flying move that can't target non-adjacent opponents. Some of you put the non-damaging ones. I took it anyway.

TPW questions
Stories: 10000 characters. (3 points)
URPG History: April 15, 2010. (4 points)
National Park: Water. (3 points)
Video Games 3: GAMEFREAK. (3 points)
Game Mechanics: Infernape. (3 points)
Picture Time: Dragonite. (3 points)
Pokemon World 2: Unova. (3 points)
Animé: Ho-Oh.

Well, you guys have actually beaten my quiz. I'll be back, though, to see that this doesn't happen again...

***

Story of the Week:
by Buoy.
This issue's Story of the Week goes to Akinai! This lovable woman aimed for an Abra in her story, Reminders. This is a sort of backstory to a character that Akinai uses fairly often in her stories and her role-playing efforts in the National Park. The character is also named Akinai (she certainly loves that name) -- a mysterious woman who avoids talking about her past for some reason. The story explains why. For those who know Akinai and her famous character, Akinai, this is likely to prove interesting to them -- everyone loves some character development, right? I KNOW I DO. Go read the story. Right now. I didn't spend about two minutes of my life writing this so that no-one pays attention.

p.s. Akinai gets 1,000 moneys or something. She'll also probably be all affronted, too. "BUOYSEL, HOW DARE YOU?!" she shall cry. "YOU MADE A MOCKERY OF MY MASTERPIECE BY POSTING A COMMENTARY ABOUT IT FOR THE URPG TIMES." And then she'll drop a horde of Spiritomb or Aggron on me, although how she can lift all those Pokémon is anyone's guess.

*SKEDADDLES.*

***

Roleplayer of the Week:
by WinterVines.
This week's Role-Player of the Week is Airik! He's currently on a run in the Gardens with Nitro, aiming to catch more Grass-types for his collection. For a first-timer into the Park, he's doing pretty well. He's already managed to capture a Cacnea and a Ferroseed. Very nice work, so collect your bounty. You earned it.

Buoy edit: SAID BOUNTY IS 1,000 POKÉDOLLARS.

***

Pokémon of the Week:
by Dog of Hellsing.
Well, SLC was busy and I decided I might as well contribute something to this mass of madness , so here we go! I ended up rolling Blitzle, but to be nice we’re going to bump it up to its evolved form, Zebstrika. If you have one of these (I don’t think many of you do, tee-hee), then you get to claim $1,000.

​

*OVERVIEW OF ZEBSTRIKA

Spoiler

Zebstrika is a pure Electric-type Pokemon, obviously based off the zebras of real life. It has some pretty decent stats, as can be seen below:

HP: 354
Attack: 299
Defense: 225
Special Attack: 259
Special Defense: 225
Speed: 331​

Obviously, Zebstrika’s strength lies in its Speed and Attack stats. It has a nice bit of HP, but its Defense and Special Defense are a bit on the low side and don’t really back the HP. This is the kind of Pokemon you’d want to Baton Pass some stats to in order to get the most out of it; a Quiver Dance from Venomoth, for example, or a Bulk Up from Mienshao. Zebstrika is capable of raising its Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense, but it’s not quite bulky enough to try stating up on its own before attacking.

Besides Charge, Flame Charge, and Agility, there is another way for Zebstrika to raise its offensive stats, but only under the right circumstances. Zebstrika is a neat little Pokemon when considering all its Abilities are ones that somehow directly raise its stats. It has two normal Abilities as well as a Dream World Ability:

Spoiler

Lightningrod: When possible, single-target Electric moves are drawn to this Pokemon. Electric attacks do no damage and the Pokemon’s Special Attack is increased by one level.
Motor Drive: When targeted by an Electric move, including non-damaging ones, this Pokemon is unaffected by the move and its Speed is increased by one level.
Sap Sipper (Dream World): When targeted by a Grass move, including non-damaging ones, this Pokemon is unaffected by the move and its Attack is increased by one level.​

Depending on the circumstances, Lightningrod or Sap Sipper would both be good Abilities to use on Zebstrika, especially when going against an Electric or Grass Gym, respectively. In an FFA, Lightningrod would be the ideal Ability to use; many Pokemon get moves such as Thunderbolt, and if you team with Water or Flying type Pokemon, you can help protect your teammates from them while getting a boost to your Special Attack.

Also, in terms of using Sap Sipper in Grass Gyms, Zebstrika is a pretty solid choice. Most Grass Gyms run Sun weather for Chlorophyll, and Zebstrika can take advantage of this. While your foe tries to Sleep Powder or Leech Seed you, you’ll get an Attack boost from Sap Sipper, which can then boost the power of Flame Charge. The Speed Boost from Flame Charge will make you faster than most Grass Pokemon using Chlorophyll, and since Zebstrika’s strength lies in Attack, you can use other moves to help take out your weakened foes. Lightninrod or Motor Drive in Electric Gyms isn’t as useful, as Pokemon like Electivire can simply use Earthquake and avoid boosting Zebstrika’s stats while dealing a painful blow.

*GETTING ONE OF YOUR OWN

Spoiler

Zebstrika is a fairly simple Pokemon to obtain. Below are listed the various methods of getting a bad-tempered electric zebra of your very own!

BLITZLE-
PokeMart: Purchase for $7,000
National Park: Uncommon Rank = 9,000 characters
Story: Medium Rank = 10,000 – 20,000 characters

ZEBSTRIKA-
Evolve a Blitzle: 7 battles
National Park: Borderline Rank = 15,000 characters
Story: Complex Rank = 30,000-40,000 characters​

​

*MOVES

Spoiler

Zebstrika doesn’t get much in the way of variety for the Types of moves it learns, which is one of its most crippling flaws. However, what it does get, it can make pretty good use of if handled properly. Below is a list of the moves Zebstrika gets naturally:

Level-up Moves: Quick Attack, Tail Whip, Charge, Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Flame Charge, Pursuit, Spark, Stomp, Discharge, Agility, Wild Charge, Thrash​

As you can see, it gets a few moves it can play around with. Pursuit is useful if you think your foe is going to switch, and Flame Charge lets you boost Zebstrika’s already good speed. Quick Attack is a decent priority move, while Stomp can make the foe Flinch occasionally. However, Zebstrika does have a fairly limited number of useful level-up moves. This can be alleviated somewhat by EMs, but it still doesn’t get too awfully much of a selection. Following are some moves that one might consider if beefing up a Zebstrika:

Spoiler

BMs: Double Kick, Me First, Screech
TMs/HMs: Toxic, Hidden Power, Light Screen, Protect, Rain Dance, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Return, Façade, Rest, Attract, Overheat, Volt Switch, Substitute

​

*VERDICT

Spoiler

While it can certainly be a useful Pokemon in the right situation, Zebstrika is held back by its limited movepool and somewhat low defensive stats. It could be fun in an FFA or casual battle, but for serious battles it would probably be best to go with popular Electric Pokemon such as Jolteon or Electivire.

***

FFA Report:
by Fossil Fusion.
Hello, govner. It's Fossil Fusion speaking! There were not many Free For Alls this week. However, I did catch my eye on a Free For All in a certain refbottingmaster’s Reffing Log.

Yes! On Monday the 14th May, a FFA took place, reffed by WebMaster. (Why am not surprised in this? He’s like the Reffing King ever since Ataro stopped reffing.) Anyway, let’s take a look at the Free For All he conducted.

The rules used for this FFA were the normal stuff such as No Intimidate/Haze/Encore. The Special Rule this week was the "Mother’s Day" Rule. I must admit, I never knew it was Mother’s Day. I suppose that’s because I am British. The ruler among the members . Our Mother's Day is in March. This means every Pokemon had the ability Moody. It sounds pretty reasonable: most mothers tend to nag, or get stressed…

Personally, I think rolling for Moody every turn would be pretty cool; it would save turns extra statting up, thus speeding up the process of the Free For All. Not bad. Shame I missed it AGAIN! In total, the FFA had 9 contestants. That’s not too terrible; I’ve seen a lot of bigger FFAs before, though.

WebMaster earned himself a whopping $4,500 for reffing this Moody Monstrosity. Not bad, eh, Webbie? Here are the top three:
3rd Place: Captain Dude & Raichi, earning $3000!
2nd Place: TheEvilDookie & Nidoking, earning $3500!
1st Place: Dog of Hellsing & Beheeyem, earning $4000!

Congratulations, Jess. You seem to be in like every top 3 everytime I report. Dat Jess… all I can say is: YAY BEHEEYEM! <3

***

Target of the Week:
by Fossil Fusion.
Target Week: time a random active trainer is selected and the first 3 people to beat them earn a special prize! URPGers have to beat them before the time runs out (the time runs out once the next issue is up, usually). If somebody loses to the Target Week trainer, they cannot rechallenge.

For the third issue of Target Week, there will be only one Target and this could involve beating them in Battles with Special Rules or B/W Contests, etc. Activity is key. If the Target disappears for unknown reasons, a new Target will be selected.

Payments for reffing/judging are as $2000 for refs and $3000 for judges per Battle/Contest. They get paid in the next URPG Times. All logs should be posted in the current URPG Times thread!

Defeat the Target: $2000
Lose to the Target: $1000
Target Wins: $2000
Target Loses: $2000

Well done, everyone, for attempting Tag Force Target Week. Ebail did well with certain partners, but fell to a certain opponent: We Taste Pies…

WTP borrowed SLC for the duration of the match, whilst Ebail snatched up WinterVines. It seemed Blaziken played a big part in the battle.

WTP: Togekiss and Gengar. | SLC: Blaziken and Sceptile.
Ebail: Crobat and Alakazam. | Wintervines: Jolteon and Gastrodon.

Tough teams on both sides. However, setting up is not always advisable in Double Battles, as shown from the above teams. Nevermind. Congratulations, WTP! Your prize is a lovely Egg. It will hatch within five days of this Times. @We Taste Pies...;

Here are the Reffing Wages!
Me: - $3000
@WinterVines; - $3000
@Synthesis; - $3000

NOW FOR THIS TARGET WEEK.

This week’s Target is…

Spoiler

Mubz
Aim: Mubz96

Rule: Trovita Style.
This week, you must challenge the Target with 3 Pokemon. The best out of 3 wins! You still get full payment regardless if the 3rd Pokemon is needed.
3 on 3
BW Revolution
Helds Yes/No
Sleep | Freeze | OHKO | Evasion Clauses
No Weather

GO CHALLENGE DAT TARGET NOW!

First 3 people to defeat Target Week this week with these rules will receive a very special prize. No joke; get on it! Whoever loses to Mubz can't challenge until the next issue of URPG Times.

Remember to log here, refs! Enjoy and get dat target!

***

Closing comment(s):
by Buoy.
Well, that's it for this issue! I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I encourage you all to participate in whatever activities the Times offer you. The rewards usually are great! Thank you for the hard work put in for this issue on such short notice, and I hope you all submit again next time.

~ Buoy.

 

Claiming $12,500 and my perfect score ^.^

Thanks for doing this.

 

Claiming 11.5k for quiz stuffs. that frustrated me more than normal.

 

claiming 11.75k that'll get rid of the stray 250

 

claimin ma moneehhh

also Chris trolling me with target with some random ass rules

 

Claiming quiz cash.

 

Claiming my 3k in Target Ref wages woo.

 

Claiming my 1k for awesome

 

WHAT, HOW DARE YOU FEATURE A POKEMON I DON'T HAVE AND RUIN MY EXCELLENT STREAK

 

^ LOL ABOUT TIME YOU GOT OWNED BY POKEMON OF THE WEEK!

Claiming my reffing money.

 

Thought I did better than that on the quiz ;_;

Oh well off to the strip clubs~

 

Yay! Money! *claims 12.5k*

*runs*

 

I notice the Times is up and decide to take a quick read, only to be surprised to see my story on here.

Claiming 1k~

 

claimin my quiz money, thought i did better though :/ and lol'ng at FFA on June 14th

 

Claiming quiz cash. I'll do better next time Web

Also THAT'S MY BOY AIRIK YEEEEEAH

 

Who'd have thought it? Braniac really is a braniac...

 

*eagerly waits for his egg to hatch*

 

Target Battle #1

Trovita Style 1v1
3v3
BW Revo
Helds On
Sleep/Freeze/OHKO/Evasion Clauses On

Defender Mubz Vs. Challenger BlazeMaster

Mubz: Porygon-Z, Alakazam, [Dragonite]
Blaze: Dusknoir, Garchomp, [Infernape]

Mubz Won the first two.

Mubz Wins and gets 2,000 + Defends
Blaze Loses and gets 1,000
I should get 2,000

Target Week Wages: 2,000
​

 

Claiming my quiz money. Yay for 11.75k.

 

Trovita Style 1v1
3v3
BW Revo
Helds On
Sleep/Freeze/OHKO/Evasion Clauses On

Defender Mubz Vs. Challenger Akdude

Mubz: Dragonite, Alakazam, Porygon-Z
Blaze: Gengar, Blastoise, Jynx

Mubz Won the first two.

Mubz Wins and gets 2,000 + Defends
Akdude Loses and gets 1,000
I should get 2,000

Target Week Wages: 2,000

Hope you don't mind if I copy your template Winter ^^;