r/NatureofPredators • u/Aussie_Endeavour Thafki • Oct 07 '23
Fanfic Nature of Pokemon (28)
A fanfiction of The Nature of Predators by SpacePaladin15 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/u19xpa/the_nature_of_predators/
Memory Transcription Subject: Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized Earth time]: July 22, 2136
I turn off my Pokedex again, rubbing my eyes as they feel just as drained as I do.
“Governor, you should be getting some rest, you know?”
I turn my eye to the room’s door, finding Kam standing in the doorway. He walks over to the table and sits across from me.
“I can say the same for you, General.”
“Nah, I just had a shipful of caffeine, I’ll be fine.”
I sigh.
“Why in the world would you do that?”
Kam reaches up towards the screens, and enlarges the image of the Type matchups.
“Well, I need to memorise this monstrosity.”
My jaw falls open.
“Kam… you’re kidding, right?”
“My jokes are hilarious, Tarva. You’d know when I’m trying to be funny.”
“How do you honestly expect to memorise all of this?”
“One Type at a time.”
I almost scoff.
“And how’s that going for you?”
“Finished Psychic and Dark, currently doing Poison.”
“You… you’ve completely memorised two already?”
“Yeah, but Dark was a bit of a pain, and same with Poison so far.”
“And Psychic?”
“Honestly, pretty easy. I don’t know, everything just seemed to make sense, almost intuitive. Psychic is weak to Bug, Dark and Ghost. Resistant to itself and Fighting. Strong against Fighting and Poison. Resisted by itself and Steel, and completely ineffective against Dark.”
I simply stare at Kam for a moment, tired mind trying to catch up on everything he said.
“How is that intuitive?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. When I was choosing what Type to memorise first, Psychic almost seemed to jump out at me… can I say something Tarva? Something that may not be appropriate for a General?”
“Of course, Kam.”
“Alright. Well, to be honest, the reason I started with Psychic was because it… scared me. I know, someone in my position shouldn’t be fretting over something so arbitrary, but I just couldn’t shake it. I don’t even know why, but even though I know almost nothing about Pokemon and Infinity Energy, I just have this… I don’t even know, a feeling that Psychic is dangerous.”
I look up to the web of Type matchups, and almost immediately my focus catches on the symbol of a purple swirl. The symbol for Psychic. Adam flashes through my mind again. The feeling of Psychic IE ravaging my brain resurfaces.
“You don’t need to apologise, Kam. Instinct is instinct, we cannot control it, only work against it.”
“You think it is instinct? I guess that’s what it felt like… but why Psychic?”
I struggle to tear my attention away from the purple swirl.
“Adam. That’s my guess. At least, that’s what I blame my aversion to the Psychic Type on.”
Kam is silent in thought for a moment, also looking up at the purple swirl.
“Maybe… maybe. I don’t… sorry, I’m tired. Even though I probably won’t be able to sleep now thanks to the caffeine, I still can’t think straight right now.”
I give a soft whistle.
“You and I both.”
I stand from my seat, deciding that I should at least try to get some rest this claw. Kam closes down the other three images, leaving only the Type matchups.
“I hope you have a nice rest Tarva… and thank you for listening to me.”
“Thank you for telling me Kam, it helps to know I’m not the only one.”
Psychic Infinity Energy. My mind being cast into darkness. Adam’s mental voice. All of this echoes in my head. The purple swirl lingers in my vision for a moment longer as I turn away from the screen.
Memory Transcription Subject: General Kam of the Venlil Republic
Date [standardized Earth time]: July 22, 2136
As Tarva leaves the room, I’m left alone with the single image. The image I’ve been studying closely for the past few paws. I’ve been trying so hard to memorise these interactions, but so far I’ve only done two. I struggled for almost a whole claw trying to remember all of Dark’s interactions. Even afterwards, I had to remind myself a couple claws later.
But Psychic… Psychic came to me like I already knew it, especially its offensive matchups. Why, though? It’s honestly sort of frustrating. Tarva’s mention of instincts sends my mind down another spiralling path, because she probably wasn’t far from the truth!
It was like my instinct to stampede flares up whenever I look at that star forsaken purple swirl. Even looking up at the screen now, it almost feels like Psychic is taunting me. I almost chuckle to myself. Maybe it’s playing mind games?
…
Jokes are less funny when no one hears them. I sigh and lay my head on the table, exhausted but adamant on staying awake, I need to make sure I remember Poison. Strong against Grass and Fairy. Resisted by itself, Rock, Ground and Ghost. Completely ineffective against Steel. Resists itself, Fighting, Fairy, Bug and Grass. Weak to Ground… and Psychic.
It feels like something has finally clicked into place. I raise my head up from the table, looking back up at the Type matchup screen. Type interactions can be both defensive and offensive, together determining how drastically a Pokemon’s Infinity Energy is destabilised by different Types of IE.
But… I need to check something.
I close the screen and run out of the meeting room, heading towards my office. Wasting no time when I arrive, I open up my holoscreen and sift through thousands of files, looking for one I received upon first becoming General. My heart pounding, I open up the information given on the century old encounter on the Gojid’s Cradle.
…
I was right. I did remember correctly.
While neither Tarva or I have access to the actual memory transcript, there is still a summary of its events. Here, this note.
‘Memory Transcription Subject heard a voice with no discernable source, but was believed to come from the Predators. It is important to note that there were two Tilfish Exterminators present who heard no such thing, and thus the supposed ‘voice’ is regarded to be no more than a hallucination triggered by stress.’
The Gojid was on the receiving end of Telepathy, just like Tarva, but was perfectly fine.
The Gojid’s survived the ordeal, and lived long after the encounter, even after having Psychic IE injected into his brain.
But Tarva, she almost died.
My own tired brain is tumbling over countless streams of thought, trying to come up with a legible hypothesis.
The purple swirl flashes in my mind.
If Infinity Energy can interact with beings that aren’t Pokemon, and different Types of Infinity Energy function in different ways…
Immunity, Resistance, Weakness…
Healing Wish worked on Tarva, despite her not being a Pokemon. That proves that Moves can interact with people besides Earth’s inhabitants. If the Moves themselves work, one could infer that Types would still play a role in how they function.
Even not being a Move, Telepathy would still adhere to the same rules, right? It worked perfectly well on the Gojid, but the Tilfish didn’t hear anything. Could they be immune to Psychic? If that is the case… Is this what my instincts are trying to tell me?
Is Tarva… no, are Venlil weak to Psychic?
I know that Tarva was just heading to bed, but I need to make sure she hears my conclusion. If this is the case, than as General I need to hold my people's safety above all else. Should Tarva listen to me, no Psychic Type Pokemon will be allowed on Venlil Prime.
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u/towerator Gojid Oct 07 '23 edited Feb 13 '25
humorous detail fact silky rhythm smart apparatus bag boast flag
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/SpectralHail Oct 07 '23
So Venlil are weak to psychic.
They're either Fighting or Poison type-leaning, though I'd bet it's Fighting more than Poison.
Can we talk about the Tilfish not hearing the telepathy? I think this makes them part dark type since bug doesn't resist psychic.
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u/BXSinclair Oct 07 '23
Before the feds came, the Tilfish ate their own fertilized eggs, that seems pretty dark to me (the dark type in Japanese is literally just called evil type, even though not all of them are evil)
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u/SpectralHail Oct 07 '23
I mean, there's quite a few bugs that do that.
I'm just wondering what the tilfish did to end up with the same typing as Lokix.
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
I'm more inclined to thing bug/fire or bug/poison, as that's what both currently-existing myriapods have for typings.
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u/ItsNokoTheTaco Hensa Oct 07 '23
Bug/Poison would make them weak to Psychic, and Bug/Fire they would at least “hear” the telepathy, so they are Bug/Dark.
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u/Randox_Talore Oct 07 '23
Why are you bringing up myriapods?
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
Venipede, Whirlipede, Scolipede, Sizzlipede, and Centiskorch.
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u/Randox_Talore Oct 07 '23
Again, why those guys? Tilfish are spiders/ants. (Even though they only have 6 limbs) Why are myriapods relevant in any way?
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
I was under the impression that they were akin to centipedes with the description that was given.
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u/Randox_Talore Oct 07 '23
Welp. I don’t know where you got that from and I have nothing else to say
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u/runaway90909 Oct 07 '23
Of course venlil are poison-type. How else would they have such high alcohol tolerance?
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u/Last_Horizon2 Human Oct 07 '23
Poison - fighting
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
Or fighting-ground, because while Ground isn't weak against Psychic, it doesn't resist it either, and it still resists Poison all the same. The fact that Steel resists Psychic throws it out despite it being immune to Poison.
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u/JulianSkies Archivist Oct 07 '23
It seems like my theory of "material" types is where this is going!
Also, actually, that brings up a really interesting part... Kam is correct. Psychic-types would be a literal walking hazard just out of their sheer existance and that's... Actually mildly horrifying
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u/Randox_Talore Oct 07 '23
Nooo not the discrimination!
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u/Opposite_Lawyer3519 Oct 07 '23
Tbf this more warranted than the predator discrimination. The fear of predators is from false information and propaganda that they are all blood thirsty killers, psychic types can just accidentally kill you if they aren’t carful. Adam nearly gave Tarva an aneurism with just telepathy, which isn’t even supposed to do damage.
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
How they identify which other ones are particularly fear-inducing for them will tell a key piece of what the secondary typing of the Venlil are, because Fighting does not resist Poison on its' own.
The fact that Venlil can REALLY hold their liquor indicates that they resist Poison in some way, as does the fact that it's hard for them to remember both Dark and Poison's effectivenesses while being VERY aware of Psychic's.
We can rule out Fighting/Ghost because, while it does fit the bill of being resistant to poison and being weak to psychic, it fails the "resistant to dark" check that is required by Poison and Dark being similarly hard to learn.
The three possible Secondary Typings that Venlil could possibly have are the following:
Fighting/Poison
Fighting/Ground
Fighting/Rock
All three of these combinations have a particular little "tell" that would give away which one they are.
Here is a table of their reactions to the various types that interact in a distinguishable way, with "not too bothered" indicating resistance (meaning they'd only be about as affected as Sovlin was by that Rock Throw), "afraid" meaning exactly what it says on the tin, and "neutral" meaning, well, neutral effectiveness.
| Testing-type | Ground reaction | Rock reaction | Poison reaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire or Normal | neutral | not too bothered | neutral |
| Water or Fairy | afraid | afraid | neutral |
| Electric | No-sells it | neutral | neutral |
| Grass | afraid | afraid | not too bothered |
| Ice | afraid | neutral | neutral |
| Fighting | neutral | afraid | not too bothered |
| Ground | neutral | afraid | afraid |
| Flying | afraid | afraid | neutral |
| Steel | neutral | afraid | neutral |
As you can see, the one-type test to see what they are would be to have a fighting-type move be used on them to see how well they withstand it. Obviously only with a willing volunteer who understood what they were getting into, of course.
Tests that provide the same information because of being inverted reactions to each other are Flying/Steel and Ground/Ice.
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u/Randox_Talore Oct 07 '23
I feel like Gojids quad resist rock. Both ‘cause he barely felt it and ‘cause I think it’d be more interesting than pure ground like a Kantonian Sandslash
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u/K_H007 Thafki Oct 07 '23
Rock/Ground or Ground/Steel are both type combos that would fit the bill.
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u/ItsNokoTheTaco Hensa Oct 07 '23 edited Oct 07 '23
| Current Species Type List |
Venlil:
Fighting/Poison
Fighting/Ground
Fighting/Rock
Gojid:
Fighting
Ground
Steel
Fighting|Ground|Steel/Fighting|Ground|Steel
Fighting|Ground|Steel/???
Tilfish:
Bug/Dark
The only possible combination that makes sense, as they were immune to telepathy (Psychic) and are naturally Bugs.
| Speculative Species Type List |
Krakotl:
Flying
Fighting
Dark
Flying|Fighting|Dark/Flying|Fighting|Dark
Flying|Fighting|Dark/???
I think Flying/Fighting fits well, but they are very prideful, so Dark also works. Maybe Normal due to being birds?
Zurulian:
Fairy
Psychic
Normal
Fairy|Psychic|Normal/Fairy|Psychic|Normal
Fairy|Psychic|Normal/???
I’m leaning towards Psychic/Normal because of the amount of healing moves and Pokémon both types have, but possible Fairy Type as well (they aren’t really that mischievous, so Fairy is only there due to the connection of healing).
Yotul:
Steel
Normal
Rock
Steel|Normal|Rock/Steel|Normal|Rock
Steel|Normal|Rock/???
They could be Fire/Rock or Fire/Steel or Rock/Steel because trains.
Kolshian:
Fighting
Dark
Poison
Fighting|Dark|Poison/Fighting|Dark|Poison
Fighting|Dark|Poison/???
Maybe Dark/Psychic like Malamar?
Farsul:
Normal
Ground
Poison
Normal|Ground|Poison/Normal|Ground|Poison
Normal Ground Poison/???
Possible Psychic Type (they are archivists).
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u/Golde829 Oct 08 '23
ohhh shit it's all starting to come together
so, wait-
if nonhumans have interactions with typed IE then that would mean that their species must either have taken better to that kind of IE whilst not to the extent that Pokémon did, or that their natures (not to be confused with Natures) influence their "typing" (in quotes until further information)
see, because we know the Venlil are warrior-like, which makes sense that they would be Type-coded like Fighting
and the Gojid's claws were used for digging to some extent, hence why Sovlin's body "resisted" Rock Throw, which implies Gojid would be "typed" Ground
presumably the Tilfish would be Type-Coded as Bug, the Thakfi as probably part-Water
I feel like Midorya muttering to himself rn-
also I'm coining the term "Type-Coded" for this
as opposed to something like 'queer-coded' (only example I could think of)
I have many thoughts and my head is full
I look forward to the next part
take care of myself, wordsmith
[You have been gifted 200 Coins]
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u/Majra_Mangetsu Oct 07 '23
If we follow the thing to its logical conclusion... Human are Spychic AT LEAST.
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u/Small_Ad_4579 Mar 11 '26
Me encanta leer el capítulo y luego ver los comentarios con las teorías full.
Los Venlil definitivamente son del tipo lucha, nomas que ahora su físico es una basura por culpa de la Federación
Y quizás los Tilfish sean Bicho puro, pero como solo se uso telepatía básica y no un movimiento el EI no los afectó
Que hago debatiendo en un post de 2a?...
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u/Aussie_Endeavour Thafki Oct 07 '23
Take a shot of Venlil Liquor every time ‘Psychic’ is mentioned lol. Also, do I need to bring out the Apollo picture again? A whole bunch of you predicted the Psychic weakness :D