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alolanrain · 3 years

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how old is ash on yours au’s?

It really really depends and I’m finding out that I’m absolutely horrible at actually giving out somewhat concrete ages, barring a few Au’s.

Unspokenly Ash is usually around late 20 to very early 22, unless I did write down and post an age for him in what ever Au has it, but thats also more drabble and fillet based. That is… basically my standard and I really need to vocalize that more from the content that I do write him as younger.

Basically how it goes is that with each region he ages up a year. Spending his birthday at home with his mom and the Oak’s that are present at the time before going off on another adventure. This gets kind of tricky around Sinnoh because Ash stay’s there to take on The Brain. I have that written down that it takes 3 month’s to even half a year. Which then put’s off the ‘sharing the birthday with mom and oak’ thing. This lands his birthday in the middle of his current journey at the time or a bit later like right before the league or a month before, if that makes sense. So in the end he comes home obviously older. Though I have been messing around and making the time in Orange Isles shorter to around 9 months instead of a full year.

Like here’s a time table and I’ll keep both set’s of ages if I do mess around with Orange Isles time line and add it as concrete. It gets really complicated so if you want a little more explanation please don’t be afraid to ask. I am also keeping the Brain Arc to half a year.

Starting age to finishing age *0/12 means how many months he is instead of a full year.

Kanto: 10 to 11

Orange Isles: 11 to 12 or 11 to 11 + 9/12

Johto: 12 to 13 or 11 + 9/12 to 12 + 9/12

Hoenn: 13 to 14 or 12 + 9/12 to 13 + 9/12

Sinnoh: 14 to 15 or 13 + 9/12 to 14 + 9/12

+ battling the Brain: 15 to 15 + 6/12 or 14 + 9/12 to 15 + 3/12

Unova: 15 + 6/12 to 16 + 6/12 or 15 + 3/12 to 16 + 3/12

Kalos: 16 + 6/12 to 17 + 6/12 or 16 + 3/12 to 17 + 3/12

Alola: 17 + 6/12 to 18 + 6/12 or 17 + 3/12 to 18 + 3/12

Galar: 18 + 6/12 to 19 + 6/12 or 18 + 3/12 to 19 + 3/12

I just want to say that typing all this out looks like one hell of a long ass math equation, kinda hate it and might change it later. But this is my completely basic format of what I use. Of course there’s a lot of wiggle room as I write Ash starting around 20 to 21 in Alola and Galar. He’s obviously going to probably spend more the one complete year in a region and less then another. The end of the league doesn’t dictate when he stays and leaves. Theres also the months that build up between each “arc”, another word I use to refer to his journeys, and to account the HC that some leagues start off at wildly different times then others.

It’s literally just a pick-and-pull basket and just a large general target where Ash would be ages wise. As you see in the end the two different age lists end up being only 3 months part from each other. It really doesn’t matter and I’m mostly just playing around with it. Another note thats… vital isn’t the correct word but I’m use it is that I don’t take Cerise Laboratory and the research assistant job into account. This is based off if Ash travels Galar to his normal standard with every other arc but Alola but I did keep the characters.

You didn’t ask for this but I want to add in other traveling buddies and side rivals ages and how they are compared to Ash as well. Usually Ash is the youngest if not one of them up until Hoenn. With the exception of being exactly 24 hours older then Ritchie. And all of this have way to much detail but its making my ADHD brain go brrrr happily.

He’s older than May, surprisingly, by like a month and a half but he doesn’t realize that and mentally clocks that he’s younger than her because of how responsible and adult like she acts a good chunk of the time. Max is obviously the youngest while Brock is the oldest. The same thing kinda happens in Sinnoh. He’s older then Dawn by a good year and a half to maybe even two years. Though Ash is younger then Paul and Barry by a varying few months between each boy.

Unova is where it changes a lot. Going from one of the youngest to one of the oldest out of his group of friends. Iris is drastically 3 years younger then Ash, making her around 12 at the start of the arc and somewhere around 13 at the end, and around 3 and a half with Cilan. This causes her to constantly pick against Ash because to her he’s older. Ash should be acting more like a seasonal trainer with known responsibilities and shouldn’t be so excited about everything. That’s also an expectation that was subconsciously taught to her by Drayden when she was still in School in the Dragon Village. Virgil is actually the oldest being freshly turned 18 years old while Cameron is the youngest at 11 and 5 months. Stephan is like the closest to Ash’s actually age but also acts a lot more older and more adult like then he really is just by his laid back attitude. Bianca actually just turned 18 before starting her journey.

Age Note: the reason why Cilan is weird and awkward around Burgundy is not because of her short temper and brash attitude but because Burgundy just turned 13 years old. She is a legitimate child just like Iris, compared to Cilan’s 16 years and 6 months when the meet on the road for the first time and not at a connoisseur event. Her deep infatuation and how young she is really puts Cilan in a active land mine field. Unlike Iris who listens to him and actually talks, he has no clue how to interact with her. Burgundy isn’t a normal gym challenger coming to his and his brother gym for a badge or even a normal crazed simple fan. As a gentleman at heart as well he raised to talk between certain age limits close to his own and this ends up making Cilan see Burgundy actually younger then she really is. Kind of like how Iris clocked Ash as a ‘kid’ when he’s obviously older then her and more experienced.

Kalos then thrusts Ash or being the oldest out of the main group but not as a whole. Bonnies around 8 while Clemont is 2 months and a half younger then Ash. This is where I struggle a lot in placing peoples based age in Kalos is actually because of Serena. I don’t want to make her too young to which the point it’s weird and also I based the other contest girls age’s around hers. But I also don’t want to make her too old to the point that Miette, the oldest out of the contest girls no matter what, is older then Ash. The general consensus is that Miette is right in with Clemont and Ash age wise while Nini is the youngest out of the trio. So that places Serena around 13 to 14 while Nini is like 12 and 7 months. Sawyer is obviously just turned 10 while Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna are between 12 and a half to 13 and a half years old. Giving that easy bonding connection with Serena and Shauna while giving Miette a older more experienced vibe and the childlike wonder to Nini. You’d think with Alain and all Ash would be the second oldest but your wrong. Ash is exactly 1 whole week older then Alain but, much like May, he doesn’t know that and mentally clocks Alain older then he really is.

In comes Alola and this is again where I usually bump Ash up to 20 to 21 but for the sake of everything I’m going off the basic target. Ash is obviously the oldest of the class by a good year on them alone though the classes collective smarts pushed them up different grades in school so thats how their together. Kiawe was the oldest at 16 and 9 months while Sophocles is still the youngest at 12 and 3 months, again bringing in the fact that the class is super smart and its based off intelligence instead of age like with every other class. Mallow is the third oldest at 16 and 2 months with Lana following on by at 16 and 1 month. Lillie is specifically around 15 years to 13 years and 4 months based off if I want her to suffer more as a older teen or as a child, literally her age is based off if I want to traumatize her more or not. Hapu is around 12 to 13 years old despite her obvious size and squeaky-ish voice. Acerola despite being very very mature for her age is only 17 years and 4 months old. Horacio is about Ash’s age at an even 17 years old when he and his lackies first meet Ash, Sophocles, and Kiawe.

Age Note: Horacio absolutely used his age as a card against Sophocles as many times as he could to the point it was so overused. This made Ash especially angry because he hated it when people used their age against much younger kids. Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you’re right.

Then we reach Galar as our final stop. Ash is once more the oldest out of him, Chloe, and Goh but not everyone else. That would be Hodge at a straight 19 years old when he first meets Ash and Goh at the Battle Frontier Flute Cup. Chloe comes at 14 and a half years old with Goh just freshly turning 14. This makes Ash’s relationship more of a mentor type distant older brother thing. Those two actually don’t find out about Ash’s age up until he and Goh get their letter so of recommendation and have to fill out the normal personal stuff. If you think Hop is close by in age with Ash then you’re wrong again. He’s actually two days younger then Chloe making Hop around 14 and a half years old as well. Marine is 13 years and 9 months old. Bede is much more closer to Ash then the others at 16 years 8 months. For Leon, Raihan, and Sonia their still very much the same in a way. Leon is still the youngest at 20 years while Raihan is the oldest at 23, leaving Sonia in the middle at 21 and a half years old.

Age note… once more: this fits perfectly for the Kanto and Galar Trios as they basically get opposite of themselves in a way. Goh who’s very oriented, loud, and on the go gets paired with marine who’s very quite and shy for the most part and their going to subconsciously teach each other that its okay to come out of your shell or its okay to take a moment and relax. Hop is very much like Ash and Goh combined with the strategies and the none stop puppy own straight crack like energy and he declares himself as Chloe’s, who’s silent and very critical and almost broody like it’s not quite there but it’s close enough, rival and is trying to teach her that battling is fun and okay and a lot of Pokemon like battling for those reason. Ash and Bede are the obvious choice for each other because once again Ash is very bright, happy-go-lucky, just sweet in general to everyone while Bede is completely broody, extremely sour, and just utterly rolling in his own image and being way to cocky.

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wildbootsappeared · 3 years

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Continental Divides Chapter Discussion #0: Humble Origins/Editing and Rewriting

I recently enjoyed hearing Negrek talk about the behind-the-scenes of the most recent chapter of Salvage and was inspired: I figure some of you might be interested in hearing some of that type of thing for Divides, too. CD touches on some pretty complicated subjects (historical events and politics and glazed-over-science) that are worth teasing apart a little more. So I’m going to start slowly adding in some chapter reflection posts! Keep in mind that these will probably be full of spoilers, and you’ll want to get caught up before you read em.

If you want to hear me talk about something specific, feel free to shoot me a question.

(By the way, if you’re not reading Salvage yet—fam, get on my level. I’d describe it as a black humor odd-couple tale of … friendship??? Hm, that’s definitely not the right word, is it? Anyway! Featuring: an absolute goblin of a pokemorph, dismemberment, corruption, and Very Good Decisions. And lovely prose, by the way.)

With that, let’s get into it!

(CD spoilers below!)

Art by Giulia Bernardelli

From Humble Origins

I’ve mentioned before that Mark and Natalie were my first original characters. They were side characters in my first ever fic from … god, 2003 or 2004-ish? So in many ways, they’ve grown up with me.

I learned about fanfic shortly after Ruby and Sapphire came out in the US, so of course baby OSJ had to try her hand at a Hoenn journey fic. I’m really sad that I don’t have a copy of the original text anymore because it was hilariously bad. You see, Brendan and May had to run away from home (instead of just … journeying like every other trainer?) because they were IN LOVE (after, like, a day and a half at most) but their parents WOULDN’T LET THEM BE TOGETHER. The story featured dazzling moments of creative genius like … Brendan and May “sneaking” into Rustboro at the wee hour of 10 am, whereupon May ran into a lamp post somehow.

Later, Mark and Natalie appear to yell at our poor heroes and then at each other. Lots of yelling. In their first inception, Mark and Nat were basically discount Jesse and James but with less dress-up and queer subtext. Mark had a glorious moment of running while dragging his feet (?). Also, during a double battle against Brendan and May, I forgot about his zubat, so it fainted because “it was tired from flying,” despite having no feet and despite taking zero hits during the fight. Then Mark took shelter from the rain under a tree, where Natalie yelled at him some more and decided for both of them that they had to team up “temporarily” to get the red and blue orbs back from those meddling kids or something. I had grand plans for this whole plot where Natalie would kidnap May to get the orbs, but then May would end up in Magma’s hands (like a human hot potato), and Brendan would have to rescue her??? Something, something, Mark and Natalie see the error of their ways and team up to help Brendan and May … do stuff?

Anyway, I never finished it, and that’s definitely for the best.

I did revisit Mark and Natalie a few years later, though, this time for a story of their own called Out of Hand. I didn’t finish that one either, but I do have the original text this time (plus snarky comments and a “review” from me ten years after the fact). I can’t honestly tell you it was … good. Maybe good-for-a-highschooler. But! When I stumbled upon it again in 2018, there was enough in it that almost worked that I started to think about how I’d handle those themes and characters as an adult.

A lot has changed since then, but that 2010 draft of Out of Hand established some of the skeleton of Continental Divides. For example, that was when Archie became Natalie’s brother to help explain how she got involved in Aqua. I decided to keep that structure because it was a good way to let Natalie start as a neutral party/reader proxy and then quickly become embroiled in the conflict. It was also the first time Mark’s sister appeared, though I don’t think I’d decided what to do with her at the time except to use her as decorations in his angsty dreams, haha. His smoking habit also started in 2010. I, too, thought he’d quit “years ago,” in literal real time. Jokes on me—it turned out to be a useful way to signal the start of him losing control, the negative influence of Cora/Magma in his life, his hypocrisy, and his guilty feelings about things he’s burned. Scarlet appeared for the first time in this draft, too. I think I was equal parts trying to humanize Archie and to write my way through feelings about growing apart from/pining for someone. Her backstory took up a disproportionate number of pages in the old draft, but I liked the idea of keeping her around as a figure who could complicate Natalie’s relationship with Aqua and with Archie. The 2010 has a couple fights between Mark and Natalie that I respect for bringing real danger to the protagonists ... but also can’t help laughing at. They literally fight until they tumble over a waterfall, like a cartoon. Silly as those scenes are, you can also see how they laid a foundation for scenes like the fight in Chapter 9.

CD is basically me responding to Out of Hand with, “I see you and I raise you.”

2010-OSJ had some vague feelings about inequality and environmentalism, but none of it was very well thought-out. She mostly wanted to tell an enemies-to-lovers story, in part because she thought she was living in one IRL. Nowadays, I’ve got a lot of feelings about climate change, political divisions, activism and responsibility, corporations, policing, and whether or not violence is a good answer to certain kinds of questions. Hoenn is a safe space to explore those feelings. (It’s got pokemon, so it’s inherently more fun, right???)

Kyogre and Groudon are such obvious parallels to sea level rise/more intense storms and rising temperatures/wildfires respectively that I couldn’t resist. And in Magma/Aqua I see a lot of parallels to political conflicts happening in the US right now. The far left and the far right don’t share a vision of what a “better world” would look like, but they do share a mutual mistrust of “the swamp” and all the ways the government tag-teams with corporations to dunk on ordinary people. I’d love to believe that someday we could team up across the aisle to fight corruption together. It’s certainly hard to imagine how we could get to a better world with one half of the country pitted against each other … Something has got to give eventually, probably not peacefully.

My versions of Magma and Aqua aren’t exact parallels to the US political left and right—both are pretty left-leaning, for one—but I still find a lot of hope in the idea of two enemies from rival factions learning to (eventually) care for one another and work together towards common goals. At the very least, it’s something I can manifest and control on the page, and that makes me feel better about all the things I can’t control.

Editing and Rewriting

My first attempt at Continental Divides was inarguably an improvement on earlier versions of Mark and Natalie … but it still took quite a bit of rewriting to get to the draft that’s available to read now. The first draft in 2018 opened with what’s now Chapter 3, the protest in Rustboro. I had the right idea with “starting at the beginning,” but starting with an action scene was the wrong move: we didn’t know enough about Natalie to care when she was in trouble or to understand why she was making any of those choices. Moreover, even though the political content is important, this is ultimately still an enemies-to-lovers story: the beginning needed to center Mark and Natalie’s relationship. You know, to establish some interest before it all implodes. The next attempt ran a little long, though, and the current version condenses their initial meeting and Nat’s backstory much better. Maybe the next time I start a new project I’ll have an easier time knowing what makes a good starting point, but this time there was a lot of swinging back and forth to find a balance.

If you’re interested in seeing how my first chapter changed over time, you can see that here.

I’m really happy to have a first chapter I know is a solid representation of the subject matter, tone, and writing level of the later chapters. Getting stuck in an editing loop is a real danger … but if you’re ever going to edit part of your fic, let it be the first chapter. A good first chapter is critical to keeping potential readers onboard. I can tell from feedback that I’ve stuck the landing now.

Hope you enjoyed this not-so-little reflection on the origins of this story!

Some music (Spotify links):

Night of the Long Knives - Everything Everything

MMMMHMMMMM - Four Fists

#continental divides #pokemon fic #pokefic #pokemon fanfic #team magma #team aqua #fanfic #writing about writing

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druddigoon · 4 years

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bederia week day 2 prompt that lost steam 3/4 of the way through and ended up never being posted. gonna post as a scrap here, i guess

klara is all of us shippers

When Bede thought about the duties of being a gym leader, he never expected so much of it to be just waiting.

After the scandal with Eternatus and Rose’s arrest, the league was able to pull some strings to quell public unrest and ensure there’d be a gym challenge the next year. Mostly due to the fact that the new champion was the one to save the day, and that two major league gyms were succeeded by people who had played roles in dismantling his regime (because hey, he’ll take credit where credit is due). Now they were on the last dregs of the circuit, when most of the challengers had either advanced to gyms higher in the circuit or were picked off by lower ones.

Bede swung his legs idly against the stage. He’d received an rotom-mail stating that there were three challengers headed his way, but either they were lost in Ballonlea or decided to drop out, because he’d been here since early morning and there was no sign of anyone.

“Might as well just take the rest of the day off,” he muttered to his mawile, currently occupied with nibbling the stage equipment.

Mawile didn’t seem to be paying attention, too busy looking far off into the distance. Suddenly her larger mouth stiffened, her eyes widened, and with a cry that hurt Bede’s eardrums she hopped off the stage and ran out of the room.

Bede found himself with no choice but to follow.

She must’ve heard Gloria arrive at the gym, he thinks. They had planned to meet to train in the Tangle earlier this afternoon, but she had yet to show her face.

He pushed up the heavy double doors leading to the lobby. “About time you came, Glori—”

Wait.

That wasn’t Gloria.

His mawile (traitor) was currently munching pecha berries from a certain trainer he’d hoped to never see outside of league meetings. Her dustox was hovering overhead, shedding a trail of poisonous dust as it investigated the ceiling lights.

“This your mawile?” Klara pets the jaw pokemon, still happily chomping down on her pecha, “Super sweet little gal.”

“Yes. Mawile, you know better than to eat from strangers. Get back here.”

“Let her enjoy her treat! She must be knackered out from alllll the battles you’ve been doing at your gym.”

Bede refused to humor her. “Why are you here?”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” she spoke in a sickenly sweet voice, “Can’t a girl visit her favorite little brother?”

“For the last time, no one is forcibly adopting me.”

“No one except Opal, of course.”

“Look,” Klara said when he didn’t respond, “Minor league doesn’t have half as many duties as you guys do. We don’t have a gym to manage, we don’t have challengers to take care of, all we do is twiddle our thumbs at meetings or train for a shot next year at major! And both are soooo booooring~”

“And that is my problem because…?”

“Consider this payback for ousting my toxtricity in the tournament. You’re stuck with me, fairy boy.”

Before he can retort with I’m not afraid to high horsepower you just like i did your giant lizard, there was a loud slam coming from the entrance, door rattling on its hinges.

Gloria hobbled in out of breath, leaning heavily on the wall. She looked like she’d been through hell: face red, hair askew, and that dumb green beret she always wore nowhere to be found. “Sorry,” she managed, “league...business...took...longer than I thought.”

Did she run all the way to Ballonlea?

Bede sighed and massaged his temples. “I can’t believe you—no, don’t talk back at me, conserve your breath. There’s an empty couch right next to you. I'll go get some water.”

Gloria accepted the water sheepishly. “Sorry about this. I had an interview with a film crew right before when we planned to meet, which was just part of a documentary they were making on the history of Stow-on-Side’s monument. They just wanted my eyewitness account of what happened. Don’t worry, I didn’t go into detail about your disqualification.”

With how often he embarrassed himself in the media (and on live television, during the championship tournament) Bede doubted it would matter.

“But you know I get nervous talking in front of people. When they say it takes ‘one hour tops’, it apparently doesn’t take into account the amount of retakes I needed to do just to get a clip where I don't mumble.” She leaned over to give Mawile a pat on the head. “I was really late by then so I ended just...running. Didn’t realise until I was halfway in Glimwood Tangle that I left my bag at the filming site.”

He settled in the seat next to Gloria’s. “You shouldn’t be having these problems. Take some time for yourself, our meetings aren’t really important and can be moved to a later date. Make sure to factor for commute time and things like this.”

“Ugh, I know. Hop says I’m ‘pants with schedules’. I just...can’t decline. I’m the champion, this is part of my duty.”

Klara cleared her throat, making Bede’s ears burn. He’d completely forgotten they weren��t alone. “You didn’t offer to get me water.”

“Get it yourself,” he snapped back.

“Oh.” Gloria blinked, finally noticing Klara. “I didn’t see you there. You are…?”

“Klara.” She strode closer, extending her hand for a fistbump. “Minor league gym leader, number 881. Poison-type specialist.

“Nice you meet you, I’m—” She paused to glance at the outstretched fist in confusion. Bede bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from snickering. “I’m Gloria. I’ve been meaning to meet with the minor league leaders, actually, so it’s really nice to see you here! Beautiful dustox, by the way. Haven't seen many of its line around Galar."

If Klara took offense to Gloria's (lack of a) fistbump, it was immediately forgotten when Dustox was mentioned. She brightened. "Thanks! Got him from a breeder in Hoenn, and with the laxer species protection laws I was finally able to bring him here."

“Can I see him? Frosmoth has trouble flying in humid weather, and I’ve been wondering how something so bulky like dustox adapted to its environment—d’oh! I should probably call a corvitaxi to get my bag before someone decides to steal it. ”

“No need.” Bede fished out a pokeball and pressed it into her hands. “It’s near the mural, right? My reuniclus remembers how to teleport there. I need to handle some challengers today, so it’s best that we cancel our training. Retrieve your stuff, then go home and rest. You can return my pokemon next time we meet.”

After Gloria left, he turned back to Klara. "You should leave too. I have things to do."

"What, 'handle some challengers'? I don't need a psychic type to know you don't have any."

"I still need to close up. Leave."

“The champion visits you in your gym. For 'training', you say.” Klara rested her chin delicately on her hand. “Ah, young love.”

Bede sputtered halfway into locking the stage doors, catching his thumb in the process. "There is nothing romantic between Gloria and I! We both needed more training, and I was the best gym leader to tutor her."

"Suuuuure you are. And the Battle Tower doesn't exist." She grinned, all predator. "Let's not beat around the bush here. Champ likes you enough to make you her training partner, you care about Champ enough to fuss over her like a mother corviknight. Now, be a good brother and tell Big Sis the details."

Hissing from the pain, he fumbled around before releasing his hatterene. "Fuck you. Hattie, teleport me back to my house."

"Wait! No! Stay with me and I'll make it worth your while! I know the best tricks to woo a girl—"

Bede was gone before she could finish her sentence.

Several days later, he was walking through the streets of Hammerlocke.

There it was, a couple blocks away from the gym: a looming fortress of ebony brick and wreathed ivy with the words Hammerlocke City Vault emblazoned above wooden double doors. He’d been notified that he was to attend a private league conference in one of its side office buildings just yesterday, which was a little unusual since they usually give it at least a week prior. Bureaucracy has done worse, he supposes.

In the lobby, underneath a vivid painting of Galar’s Darkest Day (recently revised to include Zacian and Zamazenta now), sat Gloria, dozing on his reuniclus.

“Bede?” she mumbled, sitting up with a jolt when the pokemon slid out from under her to greet his trainer. “Didn’t know you had business here too.”

“Ditto to you.” Reuniclus chirruped, headbutting his shoulder. He gave him a couple rubs on its head. “Maybe we’re in the same one? Mine’s at ten in room thirty-four.”

“Huh.” Gloria tossed him his pokeball, which he caught and withdrew Reuniclus with. “Same, but...I’m meeting with my PR team, and I’m pretty sure they specifically asked for me. Are you sure yours is today?”

“Give me some credit Gloria, I’m don’t just mix up dates. Let me pull up the email...” He took out his rotom-phone, scrolled down and...yep, there it was: same date, room, and time. The invitation was formal, the same mass-email format he’d received from them a thousand times, and to check he glanced at the sender’s address and—

Sent by Klara.

Arceus fucking help him now, he was going to send his rapidash after her.

“Anything now?” Gloria prompted as Bede shut his rotom-phone with more force than necessary. He noticed she was more subdued lately, didn’t fire quips at him or engage in the back and forth banter that became the norm in their relationship.

He wanted to ask her if she was well, if she actually went home to rest like he told her to. Wanted to see the smile she wore when she played with her pokemon, back when she didn’t look like she was running herself into the ground. Bede had never been the one to concern himself over other people, but there was something he couldn’t stand about watching this quiet candle of a girl get snuffed in the panache of publicity.

“...Guess I did get the date wrong,” he lied. “Do you mind if I join your meeting? Might as well, since I cleared my entire schedule out for this damn trip.”

“Well, I’m alright with it.” She got up, and he didn’t miss the steadying hand she placed on the wall. “I don’t know about the people I’m meeting with…”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re the champion, they should follow what you decide to do.” If his past taught him anything, it was to assert himself or risk getting trampled over. By the way Gloria averted her eyes, he assumed she had not.

They walked into the conference together. When the PR team arrived, Gloria dismissed their confusion with a wave. “I brought Bede along. He won’t be part of the meeting, so just pretend he isn’t here.”

He huffed, crossing his arms, but his indignation melted away when she shot him a weak smile.

#drudwrites #bederia week #bederia #bede x gloria #klara

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makomaragi · 4 years

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my sleep schedule is all messed up, I wanted to post this last night when I got home from work but instead I watched game grumps and fell asleep :))))

i wrote a dumb for valentine’s day!!

Title: Cliches

Pairing: Aurea Juniper/Fennel

Rating: PG, nothing nsfw minus a small mention of sex

“I was surprised you wanted to come to Castelia for dinner,” Fennel mused as she held the paper menu perhaps too tightly between her hands, and much too close to her eyes despite having glasses on.

“You said this was your favorite restaurant, so it seemed logical.”

“Yeah, but I’m still surprised you initiated coming to the city on a holiday. Especially for dinner.”

The professor shrugged. No, she didn’t like the travel to the city. No, she didn’t like being out on greeting card holidays that implied dinner. She mostly certainly didn’t like cliché romantic tactics. But Fennel liked all of those things, and for a few single evenings of the year, she would play along.

“It’s just one evening,” not sure if she was saying it to Fennel as a reason why she wanted to do so or convincing herself of the explanation.

“You were so prepared, you had reservations and everything,” Fennel had set the menu down, folding her hands together and resting her chin upon them.

Aurea smiled at this, having learned from her past mistakes. “I don’t know why you’re looking at the menu. You always get the same thing,” the professor chided her.

“Yeah, but they have all of these specials for Valentine’s Day. We could split one of these.”

“Or we could get two different things and share anyway.”

There was something Fennel truly loved about going out for dinner on special occasions. Perhaps because it was one of the few times a year she got to see her girlfriend in an evening dress. Even having seen her in similar sights before, she still managed to get flustered when their eyes met after the fact. Aurea had let her hair down, leaving it to fall over her shoulders in a way that seemed to emphasize the slight natural curls at the ends of it, or maybe it was simply caused by the tight bun she wore it in all day. The dream scientist was fairly certain that Aurea had changed her shoes before they met at the restaurant – she wasn’t one to wear heels for any length of time unless the situation demanded of it. But she had for the occasion, black heels to match the dress. Even looking at her in the attire left Fennel feeling red in the face, hating when she caught herself staring at her for too long.

The professor had been fairly quiet over dinner, Fennel deciding it was merely fatigue from the day. Not that Aurea was the most talkative person on the planet to begin with, or maybe Fennel herself talked enough that the other woman had grown so used to just listening. They had seen each other briefly that morning before departing to their respective labs with the knowledge that they would be meeting in Castelia for dinner that evening, truly the only thing that was out of routine. Fennel had gone as far as bringing the dress she would be wearing and changing after work to avoid taking the ferry back home again, giving herself some sort of suspense when Aurea would see her in it at dinner.

The roses Aurea had sent her at the lab didn’t hurt, either.

“Let’s take a walk,” Juniper suggested as they left the restaurant and made their way back in to the city.

“Okay, I just thought you were in a rush to get home.”

“What gave you that idea?”

“Just that you’re always in a rush to get home. And it’s cold and snowing and I don’t really want to be outside long.”

“Just a few minutes,” she promised, placing a hand on her lower back as she guided her down the street.

The city never quite stopped, though the corner of the park they found themselves in was as secluded as it would get given the circumstance of the holiday. Fennel silently decided they had probably looked a tad out of place from the others in the park – someone feeding the Pidoves, even so late in to the evening, a few people riding bicycles, all dressed appropriately for the weather. Then, there was her and her girlfriend, heels clicking loudly against the pavement, and overcoats not suited for how cold it was getting to be.

Aurea taking a seat on the bench seemed to surprise Fennel, who followed her lead.

“Thank you for dinner, it was nice,” was all Fennel blurted out in her confusion when the professor remained silent. “I know you must of hated all of this, but I really loved it.”

“I didn’t hate it at all,” she smiled. “I had a rather lovely evening with you.”

“It was so crowded everywhere, though. I know you hate that. But you did it for me, hm?”

The professor only nodded, her smile growing warmer somehow, taking Fennel’s hand and began reaching for her opposite pocket on her overcoat.

Her Xtransceiver beeped. She was tempted to ignore it given the circumstance, not that Fennel was aware. But she noticed first who was trying to contact her, and she wasn’t one that could go ignored.

Her wide eyes met the dream scientist’s for half of a second before she hit the appropriate button. “Hi, Bianca,” the young blonde’s face popped up on the small screen as she held the device up a bit higher.

“Professor! Are you still in Castelia?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, you’re in the park! I can see the fountain behind you! I’m right down the street at the Pokemon Center, I’ll be there in like, thirty seconds, I need to speak to you!” Bianca hung up before the professor could get a word in.

Fennel laughed, but Aurea was certain it was out of hindered annoyance.

It wasn’t more than a minute later that the pair saw Bianca turn the sharp corner in to the small park, nearly hitting a lamp post when she sighted them. “Professor Juniper!” she called, seemingly running in place to find her footing before appearing before them. The young blonde was breathing heavily, leaning forward with hands on her knees attempting to catch her breath. After a few seconds of this, she composed herself, straightening her hat and glasses.

“Professor Juniper,” she repeated in a much calmer tone. “I need to speak with you! This is very important!” Bianca must have realized she was speaking much louder than necessary, at the same time seemingly noticing that her mentor wasn’t alone.

“Oh, hello, Doctor Fennel,” Bianca gave a nervous wave which Fennel returned. “I didn’t expect to see you here as well!”

Surely, the young girl had put together the circumstances given their outfits and the holiday, but it didn’t appear that way.

“A trainer contacted the lab while you were gone. He wants to come the whole way from Hoenn and compete for badges here.” “His family moved here from, Hoenn, I should of said that first!” Bianca gripped at her hat and shook her head. “But so he wants his first Pokemon from you!”

“Tell him to make an appointment at the lab, it’s fine-”

“No, no, that’s the thing! I made one for him! Tomorrow! I just forgot to tell you before you left today! So I needed to tell you! I’m telling you now!” Bianca nodded confidently. “You said you were going to the city and I didn’t know for how long so I needed to make sure you were back tomorrow! I was already in the city, because originally said he wanted to meet me here from the docks, but THEN he said he wanted to see the Pokemon lab and have the whole experience and meet you and stuff.”

“Right.”

“So, I told him, I would tell you right away, because I didn’t know how long you’d be in the city, and he might have to come another day! But your calendar was still open for tomorrow, meaning you didn’t have anything going on in the morning, so I put it on the schedule. So, if you had planned on staying in the city, I knew you would of put that on the calendar!”

“Yes, thank you, Bianca.” Aurea wanted to address why this couldn’t have ended at the phone call, or why the conversation itself couldn’t have been had on a phone call. But either way, it was an interruption nonetheless.

If Fennel had been annoyed, she was doing a swell job of hiding it all.

“I’m going to go find the Pokemon Center for the night, so I’ll see you guys later,” Bianca waved, until Fennel intervened.

“You’re not going to go see Cheren?” the dark haired woman inquired with a sly smile, of which she was sure annoyed her girlfriend.

“Hm, no. I’m hoping to see him over the weekend, though. He’s pretty busy with the gym and all, and he’s so far away now.”

“If we’re handing out starters, I’m going to need you at the lab tomorrow, Bianca,” Juniper purposely interrupted. “I don’t mind if-”

“Okay, I’ll go back on the ferry with you then!” Bianca exclaimed, bringing her fists to her cheeks in excitement.

“Right, then,” the professor sighed more pronounced than she meant to. “Can you give us a moment, please?”

“Of course! I need to run back to the Pokemon Center and grab my things, anyway,” and just as quickly as she appeared, Bianca was gone again. Aurea had the fleeting thought that Bianca probably had not considered that she was out for the holiday with her girlfriend. It certainly wasn’t something she broadcast, but she was sure her assistant had some idea of their relationship.

“So, no late night for us then, hm?” Fennel’s eyes drifted down, fidgeting with a seam on her dress.

“I guess not.”

“Well...in that case...I think I’m just going to stay at Amanita’s tonight, then.”

“Why? I know this wasn’t what we planned, but-” Aurea’s face fell, grabbing Fennel’s hands in some attempt to keep her there.

“No, no, I’m not upset, Aurea,” the dream scientist rose from her seat, adjusting her dress some more. “It just doesn’t make sense for me to go the whole way home and then get up so early to come back to the city for work. Especially if you have to get up and be at the lab so early now. I mean, it’s already almost 10. By the time we get home it’ll be after 11, and you’re getting up at like 6...”

“You’re right...”

The walk to the old apartment seemed simultaneously dragged out yet not enough time. Neither of them spoke much, mostly concentrating on how to navigate crumbling city sidewalks in heels despite how well lit the streets were, Fennel clinging to her girlfriend’s arm for most of their journey until they found themselves at her apartment’s steps.

Fennel placed her hand on the door knob, turning to face the other woman. “I’ll see you tomorrow after work then, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, this feels like old times, doesn’t it? You dropping me off at my apartment before you left. Or sometimes you’d stay.”

“Mostly you’d come to Nuvema, though,” she smiled at the memory. “I wish you’d just come home with me.”

“I don’t think Bianca wants to watch us make out on the ferry,” Fennel laughed, leaning in and kissing her gently on the lips. “We can make out at home tomorrow. Maybe more than that, if you’re nice to me.”

Now it was Aurea’s turn to laugh softly, kissing her again and pulling her in to a tight embrace. In the few short seconds she held her, her emotions quelled up too quickly for her liking, trying to sooth herself by concentrating on the scent of her beloved’s hair. This was not where their evening was supposed to end.

Fennel had already changed in to her pajamas and was removing her makeup and jewelry in the bathroom when Amanita finally made her appearance. The older scientist had known she was at home, somewhere, having left the door unlocked and leaving amenities out for her after receiving her text.

“So, what are you doing here? Not that I mind, it’s just weird that you’re staying at your sister’s on Valentine’s Day when you could be with your girlfriend,” Amanita lingered in the door frame.

“It just didn’t make sense for me to go back to Nuvema this late. Aurea has to be up early now, she has a trainer coming last minute tomorrow morning,” Fennel answered as she removed her earrings. “It sucks. I was really looking forward to going home and spending time with her tonight.”

Amanita shook her head, she didn’t need to hear the details of what Fennel had intended for the evening any further than that. “What’s wrong? Did you guys get in a fight or something over it?”

“No, not at all.” Fennel paused in her routine, gingerly placing her hands down on the sink and facing her sister. “I just….I don’t know. Aurea wanted to take a walk by the fountains, and we sat down on the bench and she...I’m not sure. It seemed like she wanted to talk to me about something before we got interrupted. Bianca called, and then showed up, actually...she has a new trainer coming tomorrow morning.”

“Maybe she was going to propose.”

Fennel laughed, shaking her head. “No, I highly doubt that. She’d never say it outright but I know she hates gimmicky holidays.” Even so, she turned to face her sister. “Why, did she say something to you about it? Do you know something I don’t?”

“No, I swear, she’s never mentioned anything about that to me. It was just the first thing that popped in to my head given the circumstance.”

Fennel made some sort of confused face, rolling her eyes, ushering herself past her sister and in to what used to be her bedroom across the hall, Amanita following close at her heels.

“You mean you didn’t even consider that?”

“No, not at all. I honestly didn’t even think of that until you brought it up.” Fennel rearranged some pillows on the bed, pulling the covers back, still mulling over this new development. “Besides, she doesn’t want to get married. If we did, she’d just want to go to the court house and sign some papers or whatever. The whole proposal thing just isn’t her style. It’s something she’d bring up over coffee, very nonchalant.” She sat down on the bed, seemingly pondering over it all, making the realizations as she spoke. “Believe me, if I thought it was something she wanted and we had been talking about, I’d have asked her myself, a long time ago. For some reason, in my head, whenever I thought about it, I always imagined her asking me. So I’m just going to leave it up to her, if she decides she wants to. I’m fine with how things are now. I’d love to get married someday, but we don’t need to. We already live together.”

Amanita couldn’t help but chuckle. She always knew how boring Professor Juniper was, and truly could see her asking her sister to marry her in the same tone as asking her what they were going to do for lunch that day.

Yet, Fennel still was going on about it. “And she most definitely wouldn’t have proposed to me on Valentine’s Day. If, she was going to, it most certainly wouldn’t be on a holiday. She’d think it was overdone and too cliché.”

“Unless that’s what she’d want you to think.”

“Stop it! I’m going to bed!” Fennel giggled, practically shoving her sister out of the room and shutting the door. Even if her sister was teasing her, she was annoyed now that the thought was in her head at all.

But, she would go to sleep with the confidence of what she had already told Amanita, quickly talking herself out of it. Maybe Aurea would ask her to marry her someday, but it wasn’t any time soon. Let alone over the most predictable, silly holiday – that, she was very sure of.

Arriving home at nearly midnight, alone, certainly wasn’t how she had planned to spend the evening. She threw her overcoat over the couch haphazardly, collapsing on the couch herself. She didn’t much care if she ruined the dress she was wearing in doing so.

There was a passing thought that she should change in to something more suitable for sleeping and make her way up the stairs to the bedroom proper. But it meant seeing the candles she had put there earlier, wanting to surprise her newly betrothed, now making it at least two instances uncounted for.

The professor allowed herself to wallow in her sorrow for another moment on the couch. She was being over dramatic over the circumstances and she knew it. It wasn’t as though Fennel had any idea, which was the whole point. It was true that Aurea herself hated most cliches – but Fennel didn’t. If it meant something to Fennel, she would suffer through the embarrassment and lack of creativity of her decision that evening for the rest of their lives if it made her happy.

Picking herself up off of the sofa, she chose to hang her coat back on the hook as well, plucking it from where it lie until she heard a swift sound of something hitting the floor. Even in the dark she knew what it was, leaning down to pick up the small purple box that fell out of the pocket. She couldn’t even bring herself to open it again, having hoped the next time she saw it would be when Fennel did.

She wasn’t one to say that everything happens for a reason. She didn’t much believe in fate, let alone higher powers, or that anything was controlled by anything else. There were only coincidences.

Unless, maybe, this just wasn’t meant to be tonight. Another, better, opportunity would present itself. It was her own fault for not waiting, really – she had picked it up from the shop only fourty eight hours prior. What was she to do with a ring that was meant to be hidden until the intended purpose? Fennel was quite nosey and the only option was giving it to her sooner than later. All of this under the assumption that she would agree to it in the first place.

She decided then and there that it was best she take her father’s advice and speak with Fennel’s parents first. If only to make herself feel better about it not working out this evening. She dreaded the thought of it, though supposed it was the proper way to go about this, despite her trying to forgo bringing them in to this all together. There was a sense of relief washed over her in the epiphany, thinking of what Fennel’s parents would of said to the both of them had she not made them aware of her intentions. It truly was better that it didn’t happen that evening. Maybe she would thank Bianca tomorrow without context.

She knew there was a reason she hated cliches. They never worked out the way she wanted them to.

#my fics #scientificshipping #professor juniper #fennel #pokemon fic #femslash february #femslash #femslash february 2020

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teaveetamer · 4 years

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Alright just for fun Ima rank my personal preferences when it comes to Pokemon gens.

1) Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

Admittedly this might be a bit of nostalgia talking since these were the first games I really played as a kid, but idc I love them. Archie and Maxie are kind of ridiculous but Hoenn is such a wonderful region that’s interesting and intuitive to explore, the music is pretty kickass, and it’s full to the brim with Pokemon that I absolutely adore.

Main criticism: 7/10 Too Much Water (Also I was not the biggest fan of ORAS as remakes).

2) Black, White, Black 2, and White 2

I’ll admit I wasn’t too keen on these ones when they first came out, but now that they’ve had quite some time to sit I gotta say I love them. IMO this is the last Pokemon game that really took risks, what with having the largest cast of new ‘mons since Gen 1 (and Black and White actually forced you to use them). Admittedly some of the new ‘mons were a bit hit or miss, but with such a large cast there’s at least a lot of cool ones to choose from. I also really wish they’d revisit the sequel idea at some point, getting to explore Unova again from a different angle was truly something special.

Oh, and I’d say Team Plasma is probably, like, the least ridiculous of all the evil teams (barring maybe Rocket, since at least they’re just a gang without world ending aspirations). It honestly had some pretty interesting characters and character focus that I wish more Pokemon games would do.

Also I really liked PokeStar Studios. Sue me.

Main Criticism: A little too linear at points. I know they were trying to phase out HMs, but it did create a sort of annoying situation.

3) Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum

Also perhaps a bit of nostalgia but Sinnoh is an excellent region. Another roster of kickass new pokemon, including some new evolutions to give some of the older ‘mons a bit of an upgrade. Another thing I really wish they’d revisit at some point. There’s also lots of neat little nooks and crannies to explore, and the series’s best rendition of pokemon contests. The little areas with the AI partners and forced double battles were also really cool, IMO.

Main criticism: Not enough new Fire Type ‘mons.

4) Gold, Silver, Crystal (+Heart Gold and Soul Silver)

Crystal was technically my first Pokemon game, though I was too young to really play it properly. I know HGSS are technically remakes but I don’t think I’d like the originals so much if they didn’t get such fantastic remakes. Everything about HGSS is absolutely amazing. Pokeathalon was a fun diversion from the main game, two regions in one game was amazing, and the cute little ‘mons following you around were amazing. Buuut if we go just by the original games then they’re definitely lower on the list, just by virtue of being older games without a lot of the little modernizing touches and QoL fixes we got down the line.

Main Criticism: I find the game generally enjoyable, it just didn’t really grab me like some of the higher games on this list did.

5) FireRed and LeafGreen (with a special shoutout to Let’s Go! Eevee)

I actually didn’t play the original RBY until I was an adult, but I think by now we all know those games were being held together with scotch tape and hope. Kanto, as the OG region, has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts but I just… can’t really get that into it anymore. I mean I enjoy it, but given GameFreak’s incessant need to throw the OG 151 into everything I’m just kind of bored of the region and the ‘mons that came with it.

I will say that the Let’s Go games really spiced things up with the visible map pokemon, following/ride pokemon, different catching system, boxlink letting you switch up your party on the fly, and the adorable as fuck little partner you get to have riding around on your shoulder the whole time. Not to mention the fun little post-game challenges for the completionists out there.

Main criticism: Overuse. Also Let’s Go only included the original 151, even though many gen 1 ‘mons got evolutions or pre-evolutions in future titles. Would have liked to have seen those carried over. Was also not a fan of the lack of breeding or GTS to make certain Pokemon easier to obtain.

6) Sword and Shield

Might just be recency bias, but I did really have a lot of fun with this game. A lot of the locations were really beautiful and I really hope they bring back a big, explorable wild area type thing in the future. It’s one of those things that Pokemon always should have had, but you don’t realize how good it is until you’ve got it. The new ‘mons were probably my favorite new cast introduced in the most recent three gens. Also the clothes perfectly captured my bum aesthetic and I appreciate.

Unfortunately this game loses a lot of points with me because of just how unfinished it is. The towns were woefully small and the story was pretty non-existent. It just screams of a game execs wanted to push out to reach a deadline.

Main Criticism: Obviously unfinished. Probably my least favorite collection of starters ever.

7) X and Y

Honestly the last two slots are pretty interchangeable for me, but I will say I had a lot more fun with X and Y than I did with Sun and Moon. Even if it’s not my favorite I have replayed it at least once, which is not an honor I can give to Sun and Moon.

That said… I just hated a lot of the things X and Y did. I hated megas (and how they were forcibly shoved into ORAS), I was not a huge fan of Fairy type, the rollerskates were fucking stupid, the story was dumb, and just like Sword and Shield there were a lot of “this is clearly unfinished” moments. Granted there were less than Sword and Shield, but they were definitely still there. This was also the first gen to start the “less than 100 new pokemon per gen” tradition.

I’ll also say that this is the first gen where “exclusions” started to become really noticeable. Newer gens always removed features from older gens, but it was usually small stuff or side stuff like contests or the pokeathalon. This time around they put in a whole ass core gameplay feature (megas) only to completely remove them two gens later with very little explanation.

That said, Kalos was a really beautiful region on the whole. PokeParis is probably the best “massive city” that Pokemon has ever done.

A Random Compliment: They finally added sitting to a Pokemon game god bless.

8) Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon

Ridiculous amounts of handholding, small cast of new pokemon, very few Pokemon I was actually tempted to use, and a region I was very meh on. Island trials really didn’t interest me. IMO they didn’t do enough to mix up the formula, it was very much still a Pokemon Game going through the Pokemon Game motions, just with a slightly different coat of paint.

I also find the existence of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon insulting. X and Y were unfinished, but they didn’t then try to sell you the improved version one year after the release of the original at full price.

I know the existence of third versions is a bit controversial, but they didn’t bother me that much with Gens 1-4. Yellow was completely it’s own thing, and Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum were just improving on already extremely solid games. Sun and Moon made me feel like a beta tester. I was honestly so disgusted I’ve still never finished playing Ultra Sun to this day.

Biggest Fucking Criticism: They took away my ability to sit?! One gen after they introduced the magic of sitting?!

#Pokemon stuff

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cannabisexual · 5 years

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I guess this is a timely post now

So with the official announcement of Pokemon Sword and Shield earlier today, I finally have an opportunity to share some of my hopes and wishes for the games when they come out. Some of these might be controversial to you, but controversy sparks conversation so yeah. Also, I'm coming at this as a series vet who loves these games, so please don't @ me and accuse me of being a hater or someone ignorant of Pokemon in general. In no particular order, here are the biggest changes and ideas I hope to see in the Gen 8 games.

A truly open world to explore. We're well past the days when hardware limitations forced Game Freak to create a series of games set in worlds with linear design and only a few branching paths here and there to distract you. If they truly wanted to innovate the series and give it new life, I can't think of a better way to do this.

In a similar vein to the first one, I'd love to see dynamic gym encounters. What I mean is that you are allowed to tackle any gym you want in any order. As you collect badges, every gym that you haven't defeated yet will adjust its team accordingly so that it's appropriate for your party's general levels. This way, there is soooo much more replay value than in standard Pokemon fare. Plus, with the freedom to visit any part of the region at any point, you can build your dream team or even EXPERIMENT with different Pokemon much more easily.

MULTIPLE SAVE SLOTS. I needn't say more.

Remove random encounters entirely, along with tall grass and Pokemon tied to specific parts of the world. Again, we're no longer playing these games on a GameBoy/Advance. The Switch is much more powerful than even the 3DS. This is nothing more than an archaic design choice. They are literally no longer forced to stick with this system, but Game Freak (and many fans) cling to it because it's a series tradition. Instead, have Pokemon encounters be more like it is in the anime, where pretty much anything can be found at any time, so long as it makes some contextual sense. We can generally suspend our disbelief pretty well.

Have an incredibly solid main adventure, but offer players a chance to venture out into other fully-realized regions once that's done. Perhaps this wouldn't (and shouldn't) happen until later, maybe as DLC, but imagine getting to visit Kanto, Johto, whatever, recreated with the same level of scope and detail as Galar. Considering that the layout of Galar seems to be awfully reminiscent of the UK, maybe a short ferry ride to Kalos is possible? Who knows.

More fleshed out characters, like in Black & White. Like seriously? The story in those games was unreal compared to everything else seen up to that point, and since then. It was still your typical "fight 8 gyms, beat the evil organization, capture the legendary pokemon on the cover, then become Champion" stuff, but they did so much more with it that too few people actually took the time to appreciate. I was emotionally invested in what I was doing in the story for the first time.

A fully orchestrated soundtrack. A minor thing, I'll admit, but it would be a nice way to differentiate the games from its predecessors (and would just be easy on the ears).

More meaningful side content, like quests and actually fun and well-designed distractions. For example, I actually really enjoyed the Pokemon Contests in the Hoenn games, simple as they were. What came after that? Yikes, for the most part.

That's basically it. I'm sure I could come up with some more, but this post is already the length of a novella, so I'll end it here.

Tl;dr Game Freak claims to be taking risks and trying new things with these games, I hope that actually turns out to be true and at least some of what I talked about is addressed.

#personal #pokemon #nintendo direct #galar region #pokemon sword #pokemon shield #game freak #nintendo #new pokemon

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kaijuzilla · 5 years

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Zilla Talk: Pokemon Moments

(Theses events happen real life)

Hey it’s been awhile hasn’t it? Yeah college was busy and stuff but hey a new story that Zilla gonna talk about today instead of working on the new chapter ont he other blog. WHERE IS THE NEW CHAPTER!? I’m sorry I’m trying to be active but I promise it will come but hey enjoy this story!

If you saw the title of this post then you might know what I’m gonna talk about. People have theses moments in their life that made legends or rumors like YoungYongTale time with his Yvetal perfect nature that he caught with a quickball and funny one where the dude release all his pokemon and save the game file leaving only a Pidgey (sans laugh). But I have moments that just randomly happen. I won’t be talking about completing the pokedex since everyone does that NO I’m gonna talk about best and epic moments that happen to me in Pokemon!

So remember those videos that tell how to get a shiny pokemon by restarting the game over and over to get a shiny pokemon starter. I did that but I stop when I encounter a shiny Poochyena and I don’t have a pokeball. Which then I start over and just play the Hoenn region again. But later on I been encountering and hatching shinies which is cool but those I would say not much of an epic moment...

Now this one is my most epic moment that I never know for many years. When Black and White was a thing I didn’t have a DS because I broke mine and my sister friend gave me his which also have Pokemon White. He’s a cool dude. I start over the game and I pick Oshawott which is my favorite starter as a kid. Later time pass and now in high school. I transfer my Samurott to my Sun which this shock me for the longest time. Samurott is good with attack stats and this one happens to have the Adamant Nature and sh’es a girl which are very rare on low percentage. This mean this whole time I have a badass pokemon on my team since I start the game! I still have it and after grinding to get the same Oshawatt again after starting over White again I got it back again and name her Joan after Joan of Arc. And that’s the reason I haven’t been active much because I playing white again.

Finally the Joey story. This is when Silver and Gold comes to the 3DS and I got Silver. Playing it so much because I was having fun again till that event happen. Have you ever just play pokemon so much that you just randomly ran into a shiny? That happen to me! It’s a Shiny Ratata!!! This is where I freak out because this rat took so much pokeballs to get out and I was down my last one. I throw that last ball as it shake feeling like I’m diffusion a bomb! then that one last shake everything is silent... (click) I CAUGHT IT! That was the epic moment to me. When I told this to my friends and they freak out because shines in Gold and Silver which I never knew. So then I name this rat Joey.

I wanna say this is not me showing off I just want to tell theses stories that just happen to me when playing Pokemon. I was playing Pokemon White again and I just wanna tell the stories. All I can say is that theses just happen it’s not luck or anything it just happens. If there are stories you interested to hear from me let me know and I will try to make that chapter and post it soon I promise! Thanks for reading might make a YouTube channel and draw more soon or later and remember too drive safe.

#KaijuZilla #pokemon #mod #zilla talk

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pokemonpundit · 5 years

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Let’s Take a look at Pokemon Let’s Go

Pokemon Let’s Go is releasing this week so let’s take a look at some of the features we know about.

Catching

This is the feature that had most players losing their shit about, but it’s really not that big a deal. Sure you can’t battle wild pokemon, but who was bothering to do that anyway, beyond hurting them a bit to catch them. For the most part, there isn’t really a difference. This way might even end up being more convenient, because you don’t have to worry about accidentally fainting them.

Legendary battles

While Let’s Go does take away wild pokemon battles, you still battle all the legendary pokemon, and you must defeat them before given the chance to capture.

I like this, because legendary battles should be epic and awesome, but since you can often catch them right away, they are also very anticlimactic, especially for whatever chump you throw the master ball at. This way forces the battle against the legend to actually be somewhat interesting.

Ding Dong the HMs are dead

I wrote a whole other post about just this, but the partner pokemon gains special techniques to perform the function HM moves used to, which means you can make your team out of whatever pokemon you want to, and with whatever moves you want to, rather than having to have your team know all the HMs.

Pokemon

Arguably the most important part of a pokemon game is the pokemon available. Let’s Go will apparently contain just the original Kanto pokemon. This makes sense as the games are set in Kanto. They did choose to additionally allow Alolan forms and mega evolutions. If they didn’t, there would only be one line each of Ghost, Dragon, and Steel pokemon, and literally no Dark pokemon. Probably a good idea to include them.

A notable absence from the games are all the evolutions that were introduced in later generations. In Let’s Go, you will not be able to evolve your pokemon into Crobat, Bellossom, Politoed, Slowking, Magnezone, Steelix, Hitmontop, Lickilicky, Rhyperior, Blissey, Tangrowth, Kingdra, Scizor, Electivire, Magmortar, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon, Sylveon, Porygon2, or Porygon-Z.

Gamefreak did the same thing back in FireRed and LeafGreen, and everyone thought is was stupid that they couldn’t evolve their Golbats until they got the national pokedex.

We thought they learned their lesson from this, because in ORAS, they actually changed the numbering of pokemon so as to include the evolutions that were introduced in gen IV like Gallade, Probopass, Roserade, Dusknoir, and Froslass. It turns out that lesson was only temporary. This time Gamefreak has decided to pretend those pokemon don’t exist.

They’re following me...

A returning feature from yellow version that hasn’t been seen since HeartGold and SoulSilver. I don’t actually like this feature. It just adds more distracting stuff to the screen. It’s feels like the George Lucas special edition of a pokemon game. However, I’m definitely in the minority here; Most people seem to love this feature, so it makes sense to include it, I guess.

We have internet now?

Normally you could only visit the PC box at a pokemon centre, but you can do it from wherever. I’m not really sure how useful that is, but it’s convenient. It does allow you to heal your pokemon on long routes by dropping them in the PC, closing it, reopening it, and taking them back out again, so you don’t have to keep running back to the pokemon centre on long routes.

A little help here?

You can now grab a second controller and get a friend to join you. I wouldn’t recommend most people use this, as it makes the game incredibly easy. While both you and your partner will send out a pokemon, the opposing trainers only send out 1, so they’re trivial to defeat. This isn’t exactly a bad feature, because you can always just ignore it. It’s just a feature that most people probably shouldn’t use.

What they probably should have done here is just have the opposing trainers also send out another pokemon. If they did, and you felt like playing though the whole game this way, you could optimize your team for double battles, and actually use moves like Helping Hand, Follow Me, and Wide Guard. In the normal games it’s not worth doing because double battles are so rare, but in that case you could make every battle a double battle if you wanted to.

Why u no evolve?

So the starters are a bit different than usual. That’s fine; Eevee and Pikachu are alight pokemon anyway, but they’ve forgotten how to evolve. This is for a historical reasons and not because it’s actually a good idea.

One of the main elements of pokemon is that they evolve, that you get to watch the little pals you shared the journey with grow along side you, but not for your partner pokemon this time around. At the very least they had the good thinking to buff their stats a little and give them new moves. It’s just a little ironic that Eevee, the evolution pokemon, forgot how to evolve.

On a side note, since the partner has to be with always to use the HM move substitute, does that mean we always have to use our starter. I’m not sure, but I really hope that’s not the case. In previous games, you’ve had the option to not use your starter and instead grab a Ratata, or a Nidoran, or whatever’s nearby, but I’m worried Let’s Go is taking away more options. Not 100% on that one though.

The pokemon summary screen just got a bit simpler

Let’s Go will not have any abilities or items. This is a bit sad, we’re losing even more variety in our team choices. This is another thing that’s mostly true for historical reasons. Back in the original Kanto games, abilities didn’t exist yet.

Abilities were added in gen 3, because it was another way to make each pokemon feel unique. In time, they could even do crazy stuff like Slaking, Archeops, Aegislash, or Komala’s unique abilities, and they really feel different.

They might be able to mostly get away with not having abilities this time. The Kanto pokemon were originally designed without abilities, so you wouldn’t have to change them too much when removing the ability. If they ever made a Let’s Go game in Hoenn or beyond, they would definitely have to put them back.

Even with just the Kanto pokemon, there is the problem of Mega Pinsir. It gained the flying type and used it’s aerilate to turn it’s normal moves into powerful flying moves and that’s how it works. Without the ability, it doesn’t actually have any flying moves, so they will have to muck around with Pinsir’s moveset.

The removal of items are less important, but there are certain builds of pokemon that are no longer viable without them. Abilities are definitely the bigger loss.

So that’s everything I can think of right now. There are a couple clever innovations, but these games have also managed to unlearn a bunch of lesson the pokemon series has taught itself about what works. Overall, this game will be slightly worse, but not by much.

Either way come Friday, I’m getting my copy. I’ve already reopened my old pokemon go save and caught the version exclusives from the other game, so I’m pretty much ready to go.

6 more days...

#pokemonpundit #pokemon let's go

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smilingperformer · 6 years

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SM074 - Thoughts

Holy cow... that was some tough ride. First it makes you laugh, then it crushes you, then it rekindles your inner light. So to speak. If you ask me, I’d say this was an episode well executed. Ula’Ula Arc continues on strong!

Satoshi is finally on Ula’Ula island Territory, and we get some others news during the scene before opening song kicks in: Alola League is being set up and both Kaki and Satoshi are fired up! We don’t have to argue about Alola League possibility anymore! : D

(Warning, I went quite analysive on this post, specifically about Sakaki and Kuchinashi. Be prepared for a really long post. lol)

I won’t like, it kinda feels hard to figure out where to start. So, why don’t we start with Rocket Gang, because well, the classmates aren’t here, and our only shots of them was from the beginning where Alola League was confirmed by Kukui, who then asked everyone to help out with setting it up. I wonder when it’ll be up for attendance!

Anyway, Rocket Gang!

While their role in this episode was more of a sideplot and to foreshadow future events, their scenes were very enjoyable and each episode of Sun & Moon makes me love them more and more. Musashi is daydreaming about Mimikkyu-Z move, and Kojiro & Nyarth are just a bit farther looking at the overjoyed Musashi, a bit bummed? Apparently she’s not letting the Z-ring up lol. Typical Musashi. When they see Satoshi the Brat Boy come to Ula Ula via Ship (this kinda reminds me of how they always used to following him on the same ship, esp. at the start of both Hoenn and Sinnoh.), they notice no classmates and immediately realise they might have a chance at winning against him. While we all know they’re doomed to fail (because they really are, nothing is confirmed but I find it hard to believe they’d win, as much as I want them to), I wish them luck! :3

We then cut to Kuchinashi, who seems to be sleepy, and wants to go take a nap somewhere else than the Police Station. It seems like he’s actually an active policeman in Pokeani. Was he in the games? Local Junsa calls him out in slacking, tho he pretends he’s on patrol and then heads back to Police Station, claiming he forgot something.

Looks like he was just trying to avoid his over a dozen Alolan Nyarth who keep on asking for food. I’m not cat owner, but apparently this is very relatable. :D This was a cute scene and all, but the next scene is the most intriquing one.

Kuchinashi receives as call, and while he tries to avoid answering it at first, hoping whoever is phoning him would give up, he eventually picks it up and oh guess who’s there:

Had I not seen the preview, I’d have been more suprised! But I did gasp at the scene while seeing it live thou.

And Sakaki is addressing Kuchinashi as an old friend? What is their deal here? I mean, SM073 already explained that the two know each other, but it looks like their relationship is deeper (And I mean more mysterious by it). Sakaki doesn’t seem to be aware of Kuchinashi being both Island King and police officer thou so... did they know each other before Kuchinashi became Island King or before he even became a police officer? Is Kuchinashi in Pokeani actually an ex-con who turned to the right side of the law? There’s more to this dialogue that makes me really curious. After small talk, Sakaki says that “he now gets it”. Get’s what exactly? He then tries to pry info out of Kuchinashi about “Kagayaki-sama“, which we localisation fans know as The Blinding One (see what’s being foreshadowed?). I didn’t know what exactly this was until later during the episode when I watched it live, but I had a hunch he might be asking about it. And I was correct. This is the first hint of an incoming arc about Necrozma, and with Sakaki being involved, a possible Rainbow Rocket arc! I am beyond stoked and excited!

The way Kuchinashi reacts to the question is really interesting as well. I bet he does know, as we later know it is part of another legend told on Alola. But he seems certain on not letting Sakaki know, telling him he's never heard of it (the man keeps on lying to everyone, pffffft). So, I doubt he’s in league with Rocket Gang but, he might have had some past with them before. More specifically with Sakaki. What kind thou? Guess we’ll find out later this... summer? Autumn? Winter? This arc specifically? I’m finding it hard to predict future stuff for Sun & Moon, it always suprises me in different ways.

Sakaki expected a lousy answer from Kuchinashi, but like, this line has me so curious? Just what is Sakaki planning? I think he’s gonna have a big part in Necrozma arc, and Pokeani might try doing something original with merging ideas of Rainbow Rocket, Necrozma and the post-game stuff from Sun & Moon games (NOT Ultra ones, since Ultra replaced the Post Game from original games to Rainbow Rocket). Anyway, this quite intense Phone Call is finally hung up (Sakaki didn’t seem too pleased, calling his name just when Kuchinashi says he’s hanging up. He didn’t sound mad or anything, it was quite a calm and collective voice, but it was like he was trying to intimidate him? Idk) after Satoshi starts shouting outside, looking for the Island King himself. I guess our depressed Nyarth cop got off the hook, so to say? At least for now.

Maybe I should have put this part of this post as a seperate one, but... I’m not sure how to format it. If people want me to put it seperately, I can do so. But, moving on!

Well, before we move on with the plot of this episode, Satoshi gets piled up with Kuchinashi’s Nyarth, and Bevenom causes bit of chaos by shooting some... stuff, at them. Then Bevenom provokes the cats and a fight between Satoshi’s friends and Alolan Nyarth occurs. The cats won. lol Poor Satoshi. Rought start for this Island Pilgrimare.

And once again, when Kuchinashi gets asked himself as an Island King, he lies, saying Kuchinashi is his co-worker and currently on a patrol. Pfffft. He’s got some tough nerves to keep on lying to strangers. On top of it all, he tricks Satoshi into keeping company to the Alolan Nyarth “until Kuchinashi comes back“. Ruuuuude! He seems to be quite fed up with life. : D But this keeps his character interesting, he’s totally my fav Kahuna now. Sorry Lychee.

Kuchinashi does take note to Lugarugan and Bevenom specifically before tricking Satoshi into playing with the Nyarth thou. Doing a good job as Island King :)

So... Satoshi is dead from keeping company before the break time. Poor thing. These Alolan Nyarth sure are attention-hungry. (The Commercial Breaktime part is announced by Sakaki and somehow it gives me shivers lol)

After showing how exhausted Satoshi is, which is possibly because of playing with the cats for hours, Acerola shows up, searching for Uncle Kuchinashi. I have to say, the way she’s animated during this scene is so cute and gorgeus at the same time? She’s absolutely beautiful in Pokeani, they nailed here so well ♥

Well, after Satoshi explains Kuchinashi isn’t here and how he’s staying there until the “other officer“ comes back, Acerola blows the old man’s cover. Satoshi’s reaction is a lot calmer compared to Rocket Gan Trio’s, but you can see he’s a bit suprised. He’s also quite calm about Mimi-tan being a ghost. The pictures Rotom took were quite spooky... Acerola then offers Satoshi to take him to Kuchinashi, as if knowing she’ll know how to find him. This girl knows this man well, huh?

And just look at this animation, it’s perfection. The leg movement, the pose, the cuteness, the gorgeusness! That’s it, she’s my fav Pokeani character now. I’m gonna be sad when Ula Ula Arc is over I’m so sad she’s not a classmate ;_; She better appear more later on!

Back on topic, they head to the library Acerola works at, and after a small introduction to the place, Acerola brings up a book about a local legend, to which Bevenom seems to show being curious on. And so am I!

To explain it shortly, legend is about The Blinding One (Ultra Necrozma), Lunala and Solgaleo bringing light to a newly founded Alola Region, which was without a light at the time. If you want a full recap, I’ll point you to this post.

So, we now know some lore about Alola in Pokeaniverse! I love lore, and I was stoked to learn about Pokeani’s version of the Necrozma legend. It’s a bit different to the game one, where the Blinding One is a legend told in Ultra Megaopolis instead of Alola, and it’s actually about Necrozma itself instead of Ultra Necrozma. I wonder how they’ll showcase the hostile, incomplete Necrozma, who’s supposed to be in constant pain unless it fuses with Lunala/Solgaleo... hmmmmm. I’m worrying over Hoshigumo/Nebby now. Because of the Pokedex entries.

Acerola then informs Satoshi that Uncle Kuchinashi believes The Blinding One to be an Ultra beast. This bit also confirms Kuchinashi knows about the legend, and lied to Sakaki about. XD Ofc, the mafia boss didn’t believe him.

Well, what we didn’t see until the last second of the scene is that Rocket Gang is back to tailing Satoshi, and they have now learned about the tale of The Blinding One. They don’t know that Sakaki knows about it already, because they want to go and inform him right away. Weeell, they get scolded by Matori later in the episode for not bringing in new info anyway. Poor buffoons.

Small bits I like about this episode: How Mokuroh is absolutely adorable throughout it (I want to see the part where Satoshi feeds Mokuroh giffed it’s so CUTE) and Mimi-tan actually fancying Pikachu, unlike some other Mimikyu we know :))

I gotta say, the dynamic between Satoshi and Acerola is quite enjoyable. Satoshi is shown a bit restless here, wanting to go search for Kuchinashi at the Police Station, while Acerola just with proudness claims that there’s no need. Because she’s got the ultimate weapon for getting him to her: the hostage! Of his Kendama toy.

She’s adorable. How did Kuchinashi end up becoming her carer. That’s it this is my new Discord avatar. Welp. Her hostage works, because Kuchinashi comes right to her house.

I think this line confirmes Satoshi is gonna do another trial before SM077, and I think it’ll be the Ghost Trial. Maybe it’s a bit different to the games, since SM076 is gonna be Musashi’s Mimikyu VS Satoshi’s Pikachu. And they’re hyping it with different summaries, a lot. We’ll see, I’m not really having any ideas how they could portray Totem Mimikyu in the same episode. But I can see him getting the Ghost-Z Crystal. Anyway, let’s move on.

Kuchinashi denies Satoshi’s challenge, stating he can already see that he’s not strong enough to challenge them. He even tells him to go back to Melemele. Kinda harsh. Acerola convinces him to give the boy a try thou (by giving him glares and claming Kuchinashi is just finding his job a pain), so they’re gonna do a Pre-Trial for Trials. : D Which btw, is the highlight of this episode. I love how Kuchinashi seems to be unable to say no to Acerola. What a duo they are.

So, Kuchinashi uses Waruvial with the Intimidate Ability, while Satoshi uses Lugarugan, who showed interest in fighing earlier. However, we can see Lugarugan getting intimidated by this ability, and as we know, he’s got anger issues.

Btw, Kuchinashi doesn’t show a single interest in this fight. He looks bored. He knows he’s gonna win.

Well, each time Lugarugan gets intimidated by Waruvial, it gets angrier, and Satoshi notices this. He tries to calm Lugarugan, and well, so far it’s still listening, but...

None of Lugarugan’s move have an effect on Waruvial, and Kuchinashi manages to get Lugarugan trapped in a Sand Tomb. And well, this is where things get really serious.

Red-Eyed Lugarugan is back, and it’s not because of dirt, but because of not being able to control his own anger. I feel bad for thinking it was due to dirt. SM069 already kinda showed that it wasn’t related to dirt, because Lugarugan was dirty there. But let’s continue. Because this is where I start feeling ache in my heart.

Honestly, Satoshi looks terrified here. He knows what’s gonna happen. He knows already he won’t be able to control him! And he’s right!

The fight turns into Lugarugan not listening to any words Satoshi says, and it just keeps on biting Waruvial like a wild raging dog. It’s scary. It’s terrifying. And Satoshi has every right to be scared. But Kuchinashi?

He’s just being rude ass here, like he’s enjoying this scenario here. He seems so savage during this whole scene. Like he’s toying with the boy. And I sort of want to slap Kuchinashi for this, but then again, I love what Pokeani is doing with him here! We haven’t had Gym Leaders like him before, and to top it all, this is the first Dark-Type specialist Satoshi has to beat. Acerola is scared at Lugarugan here.

Kuchinashi does creepy smiles here while waiting for the right moment to counter enraged Lugarugan. You can see he’s a dark-type specialist. It sort of flows around him. Once the following scenes happens thou...

Cue the screenshot that starts breaking me. Seriously. We haven’t seen him look like this in whole Alola! He’s breaking!

And when Kuchinashi orders Waruvial to use Crunch, and it lands on Lugarugan perfectly...

Cue the most heartbreaking scene I have ever seen of Satoshi. I mean it. This is what breaks my heart! XYZ’s loss against Wurfic wasn’t enough, thou it was close! And I just had to see this similar shot of someone else in another show, so to see it this soon in Pokeani, with Satoshi, hurts so god damn much!

Lugarugan falls down, and the fight is over.

With Satoshi in disbelief. Seriously. I started crying few moments ago already. He looks so devastated. He’s lost before. But somehow this loss hurt so much more than other losses.

When he goes to Lugarugan and asks him if it’s alright, seriously, he looks like he’s about to cry. He’s at the line of the breaking point.

And he’s certainly keeping it in! He’s about to cry! ;_; And so am I hold on. I have to point out that Rica Matsumoto’s performance in this scene, and the next, is absolutely beautiful and I applaud her for a job well done.

Kuchinashi just straight up tells Satoshi that he should go back to Melemele Island. But the way Satoshi says the following line?

He’s saying it with the kind of voice that implicates that he’s so ready to cry and he’s determined on not giving up! I love this boy, and due to how impactful this scene is, I love the whole sequence of the scene, from start of the fight to the finish of this scene, whole lot!

This is the Satoshi we’ve learned to love. Determined to never give up. Determined to stay on the Island and train to become stronger, to be able to beat Kuchinashi. It’s admirable, inspiring, and I was once again reminded why this boy is such a golden one. I can’t believe I used to think lousy stuff about him years ago. I feel awful.

Anyway, Kuchinashi then tells him to do as he pleases. We then have another foreshadowing from Rocket Gang for the SM076, and I kinda explained the scene before, so, moving on! (Sorry Rocket Gang you know I love them D:)

The final scene is a good one as well. Lugarugan is sulking alone about the loss, and Satoshi goes to him, talking about how he’s frustrated, and how they weren’t able to do anything during the battle. It was very one-sided after all. He’s clearly disappointed. But then he apologizes to Lugarugan, like he seems to believe it’s his fault he can’t control Lugarugan’s anger issues. And well. He’d never blame his Pokemon. His friends. He then asks Acerola about where he could train on Ula’Ula Island, and Acerola suggests on meeting with Kapu-Bulul. Which is next week’s episode!

The end of SM074! I don’t know why I went such detail on this one. I’m blaming it on plot elements, creating my new favourite scene in Pokeani, making me love Acerola and Kuchinashi more, etc etc etc. If you guys managed to read this all, I applaud you. And sorry for sucha long post. :’D

Pokeproblem of the episode is stunning. Kuchinashi loves teasing his Nyarth.

While the preview talks about Island Kings resembling the Island Deityes by their personalities (bless the preview dialogues), we’ll be heading to the Ruins of Abudance, where Kapu-Bulul resides. And they’ll be crossing the desert to get there! Time for some slacker training!

Kapu-Bulul! Intense Slacker Training! Cya all next week!

#aleira watches sumo #i've been writing this for hours #oh my god #i keep getting distarcted because i have so much to write #i'm so sorry #pokemon #pokeani #pokemon sumo #ula ula arc #sm074 #ub arc #long post

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dentos-wife · 6 years

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Alright I finished Ultra Moon! Game play was fun, the new totems were interesting I love the new outfits you can get (should have given us more darnit what are there two?!). And Ultra Space is fun probably the best thing about this game honestly.

But...anyone who knows me know I LOVED Moon, it actually has my favorite story in any Pokemon game as of late, a great cast and a wonderful plot. When USM was announced I had some concerns about how the plot would be handled. The only reason they had two games instead of one for their third game was because Nebby was two Pokemon they needed one for each. I was concerned due to Necrozma being the focus they’d kill the plot that made SM so good. Especially as when looking it prerelease material it seemed to be the same game with little touches here and there.

If you enjoyed the original and want to play more go for it there are some differences you might enjoy but if you never played an Alola version and want to jump in I would call the original better in terms of the world of Alola but Ultra better for gameplay so it depends on what matters to you. I generally prefer character and plot, so my recommendation goes to the original most would say the opposite.

My full review with spoilers for USM under the cut

Sun and Moon was not really your story, it was Lillie’s and the bond she had with Nebby. Ultra Moon is treated just like Moon until the very last half of the game, and then the new plot starts and it’s a total train wreck. See, if they were going to do a new plot you’d think they’d start it earlier and not have all the dialogue be the exact same because it doesn’t work with the new plot.

Here’s what I mean by the dialouge is the same at one point it’s hilarious because Hau beat Hala in USUM, but Gladion still states that Hau can't beat Hala when you first meet him. It’s just wrong and lazy. That a minor thing but then it cuts into story.

Lillie is still treated the exact same until everything starts and she’s roughly shoved aside. The touching moment between you and her on Executor Island? Gone. You go alone. She still does her Z form and all that but because Lusamine is so different (more on that later) it just feels pointless and all the power behind that scene is sucked away. She doesn’t even go to Ultra Space with you and obviously because her plot is chopped up she doesn’t go to Kanto either. She’s just there. And it would be okay because I get it different game but then why set her up to be the exact same as she was in the original games and then violently shove everything aside to make up for the new plot. It. doesn’t. work.

Lusamine....oh Lusamine, one of the most interesting villains we’ve ever had was reduced to wanting to go to Ultra Space to fight Necrozma because she has a hero complex and is selfish, same basic stuff we always had but it’s very hard to tell what they were trying to do with her. Because most of her dialogue is exactly the same and she still has the frozen Pokemon room and again it just doesn’t work. People are upset she’s now redeemable but she was in the first game too and at the very least it made sense in that one.

She lost her husband and due to it became an ultra beast obsessed Nilhelgo poisoned drug addict who continued to get more and more batshit insane the more she came in contact with said UB eventually becoming Mother Beast and needing a good old fashioned beat down and giving us one of the greatest confrontations and lines from her daughter.

In Ultra Moon she goes to ultra space to fight Necrozma and comes out. Lillie and her apparently talk while you’re fighting Necrozma and...that’s it.

Which again would have been fine if they didn’t set her up exactly like the original. Nilhelgo still shows up in Aether Foundation and you still battle the thing her lines are exactly the same. They don’t change until Lillie gets kidnapped.

Minimal changes usually do work, Platinum is the best example of that. But it doesn’t work with the plot SM had, USM should have gotten rid of the family drama then because that only works with Lusamine being the antagonist she was it doesn’t play as well with her sidelined role. Granted because she’s not toxined and Kanto’d you can unlock this but...that was also very underwhelming.

Hau on the other hand they tried to make this game more about him, and honestly they should have thrown Lillie’s plot out then because what they do do with him works. It was nice to see him beat his grandfather and being the “champion” you had to face instead of Kukui. That was all nice, but then they should have had him be involved in the main plot more. Then in post game it’s back to Lillie as Lusamine is kidnaped by Rainbow Rocket. And we see what we always wanted to see Lillie as a trainer! But it’s...meh not that powerful she’s only a double battle partner and then gives up and heals you along the way.

So what is the main plot? Necrozma fuzes with Nebby once it becomes Lunala (or Solgaleo if you’re playing Ultra Sun) retreats to Ultra Space and you with help of the Ultra Recon Squad’s Pokemon to get you there (otherwise they still do nothing) beat it and come back. In that Ultra Megalopolis thing right? Except man you’d think something with that name would be massive right? Even the prerelease material hyped it up. The distortion world was really cool! This though was a tower. That’s it. You can even do anything in the place it felt really bland. I half wonder if they planned to do something with it and then ran out of time.

Anyway Necromza retreats and you can catch it right before the league on the mountain. Little underwhelming really. The URS was more of a walking plot device then actual characters too which is a shame as I wanted to like them but they would appear talk plot and then leave. And Necrozma isn’t even evil like advertised (Surprise! Who’s surprised? No one.)

So yes game play and all that is fixed but the plot is damn terrible. Seriously, yes URS is new but for the first four islands: "Hello. Cryptic stuff about our world. Bye!" and then straight back to the Sun/Moon plot. Which shouldn’t be how it was, they should have done more with them everything hits too late and EVERYONE suffers because of it. Except Hau, Hau did pretty well.

As someone who likes to get invested in the characters and plot I’m very disappointed. The Looker and Anabel quest is gone which...is a damn shame. That also gave us some more world building about Alola. Instead you get this Rainbow Rocket which is alright I guess. Ghetsis and Corless having a showdown was neat and you see a little into the past villains with some text. Guzma gets something which is cool too but why replace something that expanded on Alola for this? Could you have had both somehow then? I know Pokemon doesn’t have DLC and thank goodness but eh RR plot should have without a doubt been DLC. Delta Emerald was a great post game plot, it expanded on the world gave our new people some character and we learned more about Hoenn. Compared to that Rainbow Rocket was....fanservice.

Since most people are into Pokemon for gameplay this will be fine I’m sure but as for me this game was basically my worst fears. I didn’t need to exist the same way BW2 didn’t need to exist (and as much as I rag on BW2 AT LEAST it was a sequel so there was nothing to ruin) I don’t agree with their choices and it was a total let down from BW but compared to this...which was a third game for a already pretty complete game. The one that NEEDED the fix was XY and it got nothing. I would have rather had Z over this honestly.

But the gameplay is solid at least, I’m just more of a involved with the world kind of person.

#usm critique #unpopular opinion #maybe anyway I don't truly know #tldr #if you want a feel for the region play the original #if you're 99% of the pokemon fanbase and only care about gameplay this will be fine for you

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sage-nebula · 7 years

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honestly i love hearing ur headcanons and tidbits about champion alan and how he goes about his duties with the other champs n stuff. since he's such a reserved guy how do you reckon he bonds with the other champions when they're all together doing work n stuff? like he already is on good terms with steven and ash, yes, but what about the others. i like trying to imagine these dynamics dont mind me

I, too, love imagining these dynamics, so I will absolutely mind you in the sense that I will happily engage in this discussion, thank you for asking. :D

Anyway, as you said, Alan is already on good terms with Ash and Steven from the get-go, even before he becomes Champion. Honestly, Ash is probably his best human friend; I know some people might want to protest about Manon, but Manon is his little sister, not his best friend—there’s a difference in the type of relationship dynamic there. The bond between Alan and Ash was pretty much immediate from the time they met, and Ash is the only human whose company we’ve seen Alan seek out just because he knew that spending time (and battling) with Ash would make him happy (and it did, to the point where Manon herself thinks “I’ve never seen Alan smile like that” when she sees how he smiles at Ash during their battle, and to the point where Alan thanks Ash three separate times during that battle for letting him feel such happiness). With that being the case, I feel confident in saying that Ash is his best human friend.

With that said, yeah, Alan is closest to Ash out of all the other Champions, and probably closest to Steven after that. As such, whenever it comes to fun (but important!) partnerships and things that happen between the regions, Alan usually partners with one of them first. For instance, in that Champion Messenger post, Alan brings up a tournament agreement to Steven. That tournament is a tournament that is going to be held between Kalos and Hoenn, League-style. It’s not an official League—the winners don’t get Champion challenges—but anyone can participate so long as they qualify for at least one of the regional Leagues, and the tournament ends in a double battle against Steven and Alan both. (RIP to whoever faces them, tbh.) The idea is to foster more unity between Kalos and Hoenn, and the other Champions are carrying it out between their regions as well. Ash and Iris are doing one for Kanto and Unova, Hau and Casey are doing one for Alola and Johto, and so on and so forth. (The next ones will be Steven and Cynthia for Hoenn and Sinnoh, Ash and Alan for Kanto and Kalos, Casey and Iris for Johto and Unova, and on like that until all the regions team up at some point.)

But even though that’s the case, he’s still on good terms with all the others! Part of it might be due to the fact that Ash already knew everyone else and thus could introduce Alan if necessary, and part of it might also be due to any big international meetings between the Champions (and one of their most trusted Elite) that take place. However, I think those meetings are probably rarer; they typically only need all of them to come together in the event of an international crisis, which I would hope wouldn’t happen too frequently. (Though I have a story idea for one that does, but that’s another story for another time. ;D) So what really helps, I think, is that Champion Messenger that Steven develops so that they all have a fast and (most importantly) secure way to communicate in case they need to. It is supposed to be for work; the idea is that it’s a private messenger that only they (not even their Elite!) know about and have access to, which means that it’s a much, much more secure method than e-mail or phone calls to pass information between them. Additionally, it’s instant and accessible via whatever mobile device they have, which means that they don’t have to worry about massive time delays, either. So it honestly was developed for responsible, serious reasons, and it was supposed to be for work … but, as that post shows, a lot of shenanigans happen as well. And the thing is, when you’re in a messenger room with six other people, it’s rather easy to get to know and bond with them in a way that doesn’t infringe on your own personal comfort or boundaries or anything like that. Provided it’s just shenanigans, Alan can always just sign out of the messenger for a while and go do something else if he wants. It’s perfect for an introvert like him. So with that in mind, even setting aside official business, the messenger has really helped foster his relationships with the rest of the Champions as well. I like to imagine that they really are a #squad.

So with that said, a bit more in-depth?

Ash:

As I said, Ash is Alan’s best human friend. He’s someone that we’ve seen in canon that Alan feels comfortable confiding in, someone he feels comfortable relying on, someone who has helped Alan in the darkest times in his life. And you can trust me when I say that this bond does not diminish as they grow older. Rather, it grows stronger. Not only are Alan and Ash always more than ready to help each other out, team up, and rely on each other in times of crisis, but they enjoy spending time with and talking to each other as well. I like to think that they began exchanging letters pretty regularly after Ash left Kalos to return to Kanto (and then went on to Unova), and once Ash finally upgrades his life and gets a mobile device, they exchange numbers to keep in touch through calls and text messages as well (and of course the Champion Messenger, but that has everyone in it). They do eventually cash in on their promise to battle again someday years later at the Charicific Valley, but Ash immediately makes Alan promise to battle him again at a later date. (Alan’s doing much better by that point, and Ash can tell, and that’s why he allowed the battle to happen—but still. Better safe than sorry.)

There’s not too much more to say here that isn’t immediately obvious, but the last thing I’ll add is that while it’s obvious that Ash is Alan’s best human friend, rest assured that Alan is one of Ash’s best human friends as well. I mean, to be honest, Ash has about six thousand people he’d call his best friend (well, not that many, but it’s a lot considering all the traveling companions and now classmates he has had in his life), but the special bond they have is definitely felt on Ash’s side as well. (I imagine that Alan meets Gary at some point and the two hit it off, and this makes Ash feel some kind of way, because even though his relationship with Gary improves drastically over the course of the OS, as we see in DP he can still get rather fired up over Gary sometimes, because old rivalries die hard. He starts feeling jealous over Alan because of a bit of insecurity he has over the fact that Alan and Gary can talk about scientific research things / bond over growing up homes that are half house, half lab, and that’s not a thing he can really share with Alan, and … well. Just trust me when I say that this best friendship goes both ways. They’re both immensely important to each other.)

Casey:

Casey is probably the fellow Champion that … well, one of the fellow Champions that Alan has the weakest bond with (there are two), simply because they don’t have very much in common. He likes Casey all right; their personalities aren’t incompatible or anything, particularly since there are times when Casey reminds him of both Ash and Manon are equal measure. But their interests are at very opposite ends of the scale, generally. Casey’s primary interest outside of battling is baseball (and specifically the Electabuzz team), and Alan just … doesn’t care about baseball, honestly, haha. He has pretty much no interest in that whatsoever. Casey doesn’t see how this is possible—how could someone not realize how amazing baseball (and especially the Electabuzz, despite how Ash’s horrible (in Casey’s opinion) taste in teams makes him blaspheme and say otherwise) is?! But Alan’s just not very interested, and likewise Casey doesn’t tend to be very interested in the books or research that captures Alan’s interest. As such, they don’t often have too many shared interests to talk about, even though they still get along well enough in the Messenger / when they’re working on official business.

(“This is what happens when a jock meets a nerd,” says Iris.)

All of that said, for her birthday one year Alan gives her Beedrillite so that she can mega evolve her beedrill. To say that she’s thrilled is an understatement.

Steven:

Like with Ash, we already know a lot about Alan’s relationship with Steven. To be honest, the two bicker-banter back and forth at least half the time, given how snarky and sassy they can both be—but it’s all in good humor, never serious. It’s just how they communicate / have fun with each other. Their relationship, as we know, was forged in the midst of TSME, when Steven witnessed firsthand what Lysandre was doing to Alan and then almost immediately tattled on Lysandre to Alan’s father. We see throughout TSME just how much Steven cares about him (and how gleeful he is to enact vengeance for him once the Flare arc hits—Steven went to the Fleur-De-Lis labs to attack people and he had such a good time), and that is part of what motivates Steven to encourage Alan to take the Champion challenge in the first place (despite how Steven truly likes Diantha a whole lot as well—they become good friends in my headcanon, #fashion buddies). I say “part” because Steven does earnestly believe everything he says. He genuinely believes that Alan would be an excellent Champion. But he also cares about Alan and wants him to do well and be okay, and in the Champion Messenger post I made, his little press of “just fine?” was actually his way of checking on Alan, versus continuing to rib him as he had before (“Not now, we’re discussing the merits of malasada cannibalism”). There’s a lot of care under all the teasing, just as Alan truly does care about and appreciate Steven under all the snark he tosses right back.

(That said, they do sometimes have escalating prank wars, which are usually instigated by Steven, and most often by Alan being teased about the big ol’ crush Steven has on Sycamore. Like, Steven is in a happy monogamous relationship with Wallace, and he knows that Sycamore is with Meyer, and so obviously it’s not going anywhere, but I felt some chemistry between them in the anime, and in my brain that translated into Steven thinking Sycamore is damn fine. So Steven will see fit to troll Alan about this sometimes, by asking him if Sycamore is single yet or mentioning about how Sycamore is a DILF (and how he wouldn’t mind being Alan’s stepdad, it’s not like they can’t both still work together as Champions et cetera), and of course Alan isn’t going to just take that lying down, so he finds some other way to strike back at him. Like, for instance, playing a game of telephone with Manon and her friends, which ends in Manon presenting Steven with a nice stone as a going-away present, at which point she announces to the entire airport that it’s because she heard about how much pleasure his rock fetish brings him and though that he’d be even more pleased than usual if he had a new rock for his fetish. This happens when Manon is still ten, and so honestly she has no idea what a fetish is, particularly since she heard about this from Bonnie, who heard about it from Serena, who heard about it from Shauna, who heard about it from Tierno and Trevor, who heard about it from Ash, who came up with the interpretation that “fetish” is just “cool thing I like a lot” because although he heard about this from Alan, Alan didn’t explain to him what that word meant. So then Steven has to stand there, kind of mortified, with Diantha, Sycamore, Bonnie, Manon, and a smirking Alan all watching him, and all he knows is that even though Manon says that she and Bonnie came up with the idea (and that Bonnie says it was Serena and Shauna that helped them), Alan has to be behind this somehow and Steven will get him back.

So sometimes they have escalating prank wars like that. It’s all in good fun, though. ;) )

Cynthia:

Once Alan and Cynthia hit it off, they end up getting along very well. To begin with, Cynthia kind of has a Cool Big Sis thing going on; she’s a very, sincerely nice person who cares about those around her, and likes to guide and offer advice to those around her when the situation arises. This is particularly true with those she can see a bit of herself in, and I think she would with Alan. In the anime, Cynthia mentions at one point that she always aimed to be the strongest when she was younger, and in the games, Cynthia’s entire team has perfect IVs and significant EV training. Cynthia takes training quite seriously and loves battling, and these are two things that she absolutely has in common with Alan. So I think that Cynthia would pick up on that, and would be interested and talking more with him, particularly when she learns that he was raised by Professor Sycamore and is a scholar like her …

… and that’s when they’d hit it off, because they’re both massive nerds.

While Alan’s research into mega evolution tends to seem more scientific, it’s important to remember that his search for Key Stones and Mega Stones took him to a ton of ruins, and that he and Sycamore also spend a lot of time poring over ancient tablets and examining ancient scripts, et cetera. Meanwhile, Cynthia’s secondary job is as a researcher / archaeologist / myth/legend hunter. She, too, spends so much time spelunking in ruins, going over ancient texts, writing books about the various myths and legends about the world. There’s no way their research wouldn’t overlap at times, to the point where I’m sure there have been multiple times in the Champion Messenger where one of them brings up a new discovery and the two of them end up dominating the messenger nerding out about it until someone complains. So really, they have a ton in common and have a good relationship. They’re both Cool Older Sibling types to those around them (Cool Big Bro, Cool Big Sis), they’re both nerds with similar nerdy interests, and they both love battling and take training very seriously. The only additional thing to note about their dynamic is that Cynthia is decently older than Alan (I’d say she’s in her mid-to-late 20s), so she ends up being like a Cool Big Sis to him, at least from time to time. It’s a good relationship.

Iris:

Iris and Alan also get along pretty well! While Iris can be pretty energetic sometimes, she can also be pretty savvy and knows when to tone it down a notch (I mean, remember, she was the one always teasing Cilan about being a pain because of how Extra™ he is), so I don’t think that would cause many problems. Aside from that, once again, I think that Iris and Alan would find some pretty good common ground between them. They both love and have an affinity for dragons (Iris’ face when Alan tells her that charizard, in addition to being a dragon by species, can be a dragon-type when it mega evolves into its X form, after the brief Discourse™ she had with Ash about that very typing in BW); they were both orphaned at a young age and originally come from a far out village in the woods (though Iris’ time in the Dragon Village was far better than Alan’s time in Isolé); they’re both happily adopted, even if unofficially for a time (or at least Iris is in the games—I think Drayden also looks after her to an extent in the anime?); they both have a tendency to be rather blunt and honest (even if Iris actually voices her thoughts more than Alan does); they’ve both had difficulties socializing in the past (though they’re getting better!), and so on and so forth. (They’re also both unjustly despised by the vast majority of the fandom, but hEY …)

I actually like to imagine that these two meet prior to either of them becoming Champions of their respective regions, and I really want to write this fic at some point. My thought is, well, the PokéAni writers denied Iris her cameo in Kalos, so what if I write one for her post-series? I’m still deciding on things, but my basic idea is that she ends up traveling to Kalos after her time in Hoenn, and runs into Alan in Lumiose City. They get to talking for some reason or another—it’s possible that Iris sees Lizardon and gets super excited over how cute he is (and let’s be honest, he’s adorable), or maybe Alan is out with both Lizardon and Gabrielle and, well, Iris can’t resist saying hi to even one dragon, much less two. So they get to talking, Alan tells Iris about how charizard can be dragon-types whey they mega evolve with Charizardite X (and Iris is all, “ooh, that kid! I should have known he didn’t have all the facts!!” though she means it all in good fun—she’s still going to write Ash a letter in short order to give him a teasing what-for, though), and it’s a good time.

But then some conflict happens (as it always does in these specials), and these two have to solve it together. At some point Alan offers to give her a ride on Lizardon, but Iris is just like, “Nah, I’ve got this” and calls out her dragonite, which Alan is quite impressed by, and they go and kick ass together, and that’s a good time, too.

By the end of it, Alan has seen that Iris has a bagon, because she caught a shelgon while in Hoenn (because remember, she went there chasing Rayquaza—and when Iris goes on about how she chased Rayquaza there, but yet lost track of it and thus missed the huge event that happened off Rustboro Bay and she’s super disappointed about it, Alan gets real quiet and his eyes go distant and she wonders at what’s wrong, but he won’t tell her … only for her to remember later that waIT, HE WAS THAT GUY ON TV, WASN’T HE?? and that’s a whole thing). Back at the lab he has used the machine Sycamore has to deduce that one of the Mega Stones he has is Salamencite, and so he gives that to her, and their bond is forged #forever.

(And honestly, I really waffled over this, because Mega Salamence is Zinnia’s signature ‘mon, and I really do not like to double-up on signatures like that. However, Iris has to have a dragon to mega evolve, she has a salamence as Champion in the games, and while she does have a gible in the anime, Mega Garchomp is already shared between Sycamore and Cynthia. Garchomp needs a rest, we don’t need another Mega Garchomp. That said, I did debate on giving Iris Mega Altaria, but aside from that also doubling up in my mind (with an OC, but still), I feel that salamence fits her better, especially since she has one in the games. So Mega Salamence will be shared between Iris and Zinnia, and no one else, just as Sycamore and Cynthia are the only two with Mega Garchomp. It is Law™.)

But while that’s their first meeting, of course they get along really well as Champions, too. There’s also the possibility that Iris could end up dating Manon at some point, so hey—maybe Iris eventually becomes Alan’s sister-in-law. It could happen.

Hau:

Hau is the other Champion (along with Casey as mentioned before) that Alan has the weakest relationship with, although they do still get along all right. Just like with Casey, Alan doesn’t have very much in common with Hau. Their attitudes toward training are markedly different (Hau is skilled enough to be Champion, but even then, a lot of the muscle work is left to Elite Four member Gladion, to be entirely honest, due to how lackadasical Hau can be about training), and they don’t have a lot of shared interests in common. So while they can get along well enough in conversation, if it’s just the two of them the conversation is going to die off into silence pretty quickly. And that’s fine by Alan, he doesn’t mind silence, but it tends to make Hau feel a bit awkward, particularly since Alan is really hard to read for him. (A problem that neither Ash nor Iris experience, since Ash has been able to see straight through to Alan’s heart from day one, and, well … Iris is the girl who knows the hearts of dragons, so. ;D) That said, again, their relationship is far from bad, especially when Hau wants to make sure that Alan doesn’t dislike him and so he makes him sweet malasadas as a “peace offering” (Gladion thinks that Hau should not waste his time baking anything for Alan, because even if To Devour the Sun isn’t canon in the prime universe I still cannot fucking help but imagining Alan’s and Gladion’s relationship as it is in that fic, which means that Gladion is always tsuntsun toward Alan in the extreme), and Alan, given his massive sweet tooth, appreciates this immensely even though it really wasn’t necessary to begin with. So there is that, at least, even if the two still aren’t very close.

(I do imagine that a conversation like this happens in the messenger at one point, though:

HAU: “btw alan gladion told me to tell u to tell manon to stop hitting on lillie”

CASEY: “don’t U want manon to stop hitting on lillie? aren’t u 2 dating or engaged or smth?”

HAU: “ya but i dont mind, lillie-bean would never cheat on me lol”

IRIS: “‘Lillie-bean’???”

ALAN: “Tell Gladion he can tell Manon himself. I’m not involved.”

CASEY: “omfg”

ALAN: “She doesn’t listen when I tell her not to do things anyway, so it isn’t like it’d do any good.”

HAU: “ok will do lol”

IRIS: “u gave up easily”

HAU: “like i said, i dont care either way”

HAU: “besides, alan is going to be the one getting all the angry messages from gladion lol so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”

CASEY: “srsly????”

ALAN: “Yeah. I’m used to it by now. I have a filter on his messages anyway, so I don’t even see them until I specifically go check, whenever I remember to.”

HAU: “LOL”

Note: Gladion does not know about the messenger, but he finds out that Hau is contact with Alan in some way (he figures e-mail) and that’s when / why he tells Hau to pass the message along.)

General:

As a few more notes about dynamics and interactions and such:

Alan, Ash, and Iris all end up going to that tournament in Oblivia that Ash mentioned in the Champion Messenger post together. Originally Hau was going to go with them, but something came up and he couldn’t. Regardless, Alan, Ash, and Iris all travel there together and have a fantastic time. In general, whenever the three travel / do something together, it’s generally a really good time. The fact that they’re all such good friends and get along so well certainly helps.

Alan has invited Cynthia to the lab in order to go over research things. Despite the fact that Alan is an older teenager, Cynthia is an adult, and they were going over ancient stone tablets and other research, this still (from an outsider’s perspective) does end up looking very much like a playdate. Sycamore joins them, and really it’s just a nice day / night of nerdy fun.

They also go spelunking in ancient ruins together sometimes.

Steven, on Diantha’s request, was the one who picked out what Alan wore to his Champion inauguration / induction ceremony. There is going to be a short fic about this.

I just realized that Hau and Alan do have something sort of in common, which is baking. Alan picks up baking as a hobby after the Flare arc, and at the very least Hau likes to bake malasadas. So on top of Hau baking Alan sweet malasadas, Hau ends up giving Alan the recipe and they can bond a little over that.

Alan does end up giving Ash a Key Stone and Charizardite Y (oh, and he obviously gave Key Stones to Casey and Iris as well). He’s just hooking everyone up with mega evolution, what a good mega evolutionist he is.

Alan likes to share pictures of Lizardon in the messenger. Iris loves this (CUTE DRAGON♥), and sometimes she’ll share pictures of her haxorus. So then Alan will show a picture of Lizardon and Gabrielle together, and Iris will share a picture of some of her other dragons, and they end up embarking on a Dragon Spam™ that only meets a combo breaker when Ash inserts a picture of Pikachu in the middle of it all.

Sometimes Alan asks Casey about the various ruins and such around Johto, but she honestly doesn’t know because history doesn’t interest her, and while he is disappointed at that, she’s disappointed that he doesn’t see what’s so great about the brand new baseball stadium that the Electabuzz got after they finally won a World Series—ALAN: “Why is it called the World Series if teams from Kanto and Johto are the only ones participating?”ASH: “ya ive always wondered that 2 lol”CASEY: “bc baseball is tHE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD”ASH: “not more important than catching pkmn :/”CASEY: “WAT IS WRONG W/ U 2?!?!?!”

Sometimes they all get together to have friendly battles (something Cynthia actually references in one of the games). They usually also turn these informal little tournaments into potlucks and it’s a good time (and yeah, their Elite—or at least certain members of their Elite—are of course invited).

You see my icon? So at one point that was Alan’s pic in the Champion Messenger, and Ash had a matching one where he, too, was wearing sunglasses. (The pictures might have even been taken on the same day, tbh—like maybe they were together when that happened.) Hau and Casey saw these pics, though they looked awesome, and took sunglasses selfies themselves to join in. Iris (good-naturedly!) teased a bit about this at first, but then joined in herself after some cajoling from Ash and Hau. Cynthia thought it all looked like good fun and so she joined in as well, and that just left Steven, who was convinced to join so he wouldn’t be the only one left out. And that was how they all ended up wearing sunglasses in their pics in the Champion Messenger for a time. Shenanigans.

After Ash finally gets his growth spurt, he and Alan end up pretty close in height. This does lead to them swapping clothes (or at least Ash borrowing Alan’s clothes) as a battle strategy in the midst of a crisis at least once. (Because if Ash is wearing Alan’s clothes, and he’s flying on his charizard, then with his dark hair, who could tell the difference between them from way down on the ground? No one, that’s who. The enemy would be completely bamboozled.)

But yeah, really, I just imagine them as a real #squad. They’re all good friends with each other (even if some bonds aren’t as strong as others), they’ve got each other’s backs, et cetera. They’re a real solid squad and even if the messenger is often filled with shenanigans, it does come in handy for serious business stuff as well.

Anyway, this might have been ten books longer than what you were hoping for, but! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I liked writing it! ♥

#em-exceeds-change-zearu #the champion squad #i think that's a good name to use for the collective :)#meta #pokemon #champion alan #ash ketchum #qpp: let's battle again someday #(i talked about their bond a lot so that tag is deserved)#trainer casey #steven stone #champion cynthia #champion iris #trainer hau

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tumblunni · 7 years

Text

The big post about how i love my sneasel who is great

Welcome to that post. It might get long.

Reaper the level 100 Naughty nature Sneasel with Keen Eye who experienced pokerus once and has contest ribbons from too many regions oh my gosh Leeeeeeets get going on how much I adore my little guy!

Okay, the story behind him. He is kinda unofficially my starter pokemon?

Cos of course there was no way to keep your mons from RBY and GSC back then, but I’d kinda only had one pokemon anyway. I was a dumb kid who just solo’d both games with my raichu Chuppy. And sadly I ended up losing them even before the whole transfer issue, someone stole my Gold cartridge during school and when I found it half smashed in the playground all the data had been corrupted. It did actually play though, just with some colour issues I think? I never really restarted cos it felt cruel to Chuppy to do it. So I’m happy that the virtual console rerelease let me reincarnate Chuppy and even make them a cool new alola form! (though they had a different gender this time, but meh i get to headcanon my chu is trans like me, haha) So yeah thats the story of my official first pokemon, but Chuppy didnt really have any personality or headcanons back then cos I was so new to the franchise. And Reaper ended up lasting way longer and sharing every single other region with me, so he kinda took the spot of ‘starter’ even if he wasnt ‘first’. (I still was really happy to welcome reincarnation Chuppy home tho!)

Reaper actually came from Pokemon Colosseum, of all places! His OT name is the completely-wrong ‘Tom’ cos he was from when I restarted my game after getting stuck and just buttonmashed one of the default names out of frustration. I actually caught him in a master ball just cos I was that excited to hug the lil guy! Sneasel was my fave gen 2 mon but i never managed to catch one actually in GSC, i didnt know it was limited to a rare encounter in the very last area. And even before I caught him I knew sneasel was in this game via guides, so i was waiting with baited breath and establishing headcanons even before i found him. Then I just COULD NOT WAIT, hence the master ball! XD I kinda preemptivel based him on the iron mask marauder’s sneasel from the celebi movie, cos shadow pokemon are similar to his brainwashing stuff. And I always liked his sneasel, scizor and tyranitar, for such minor roles they are. It was a nice nuance for the bad guy’s pokemon to be shown as VERY MUCH not evil, just enslaved by magic brainwashing and mistreated. It warmed my heart seeing them freeing each other and escaping in the end once the control was broken! But also it established sneasel as a really cool badass fighter that I wanted to have someday, yknow?

So yeah I got this guy from colosseum before I even played RSE, and he ended up being my ‘starter’ in that game so much that i cant even remember which one i picked. I boxed it right away and never thought about it again, I was a callous kid! It was actually really interesting playing ORAS and finally getting to see what the hoenn starters are actually like, lol And Reaper remained my best friend across like ELEVEN OR MORE REPLAYS of every single gen 3 game except emerald. Cos at that time in my childhood i literally did not have any other games. i spent around three or four years with just sapphire, leafgreen and final fantasy tactics advance. (Oh boy that game’s script is stuck in my brain for all time) And getting attatched to the characters and making new ones all the time was how i kept from getting bored this way ^_^ Buuuuut... it kinda meant that I just discarded most of them super fast to make more. the only other pokemon that migrated to sinnoh with Reaper was Nether the sableye, who was kinda his rival/best friend. (Tho I mispelled it as Neava so he’s stuck that way, lol. And both of them are in all caps forever...) Nether is kinda the basis for my recent oc Malachi, so he’s like an entirely different story for another time. But he was my Sapphire buddy and Reaper was one region older via the power of spinoffs.

And oh man yeah i totally loved the shadow pokemon plot lol! I just headcanoned his plot with regards to that was the same as the marauder’s mons. Perfectly nice tiny sneasel boy is kidnapped and experimented upon by evils, but my love saved him and now he is soft once more. He didnt really have much angst from it, but it helped such a wild spirit grow to trust my hero and trust humans in general after such a rocky introduction to them. I imagined it was like training a dangerous dog to be a police canine, with that arm guard thing that they bite! Shadow pokemon training must be WAY more tough than it seems on the surface! So like ash’s charizard plot, where it ends up with really fire forged family love after all the hardship. I think that before he met my trainer he was just like a loner robin hood type character who valued his freedom and thought that tamed pokemon were all wusses. But alas, he was forced to experience human hugs, and now he’s addicted! but he’d still be quite rebellious and wild and have a lot of goofy cute interactions as he tries to learn all this complicated stuff about being a pet. Why cant I pee on the carpet?? Why do I have to eat pellet food? Why are you mad when i bring you dead mice and pidgey eggs?? bad bad influence on the other mons, but also a softhearted big bro who WANTS to be a good influence. He pretends to be all aloof and stoic cliche angsty antihero, but always messes up and looks cute instead! And he gets crushingly sad if any of his lil siblings actually does get afraid of him. Noooo the grumpyness is for the humans! Not for you!! No-one is allowed to pet the sneas except the other pokemon. It my duty to protect my new pack of strangely shaped sneasels! Oh and he likes booze. In human terms he’d be around 25-30, but still its not good for animals to drink human liquor. Never stopped him though! He’d always find ways to sniff it out and swipe half-finished cans from the trash and stuff. Bad angstman! I know thats part of your archetype but stop it!

So... basically he was like.. cloud? original version from ff7 where he was sassy and goofy sometimes, except reaper is like that all the time with less angst and pretty much zero ego. He’s just like a kind yet not completely competant fun uncle who tries his best to put up a cool guy front to impress the kids (and push away scary humans) but his innate sweetness means he always messes up. And he’s super tsundere about the fact he considers his trainer part of his infinate pack of children, even if every other human is DANGER MODE. Must protect this human from the other ones! Must teach them the ways of the sneas! Oh, and I imagined his appearance as a gijinka would be kinda like Squall from ff8. cos he actually started off as a parody of that unlikeable angstman archetype, and i didnt even know Cloud existed until yeaaaars later. (Played the ffs completely out of order...) So i figured he’d be like squall but with dark skin and a kinda sirus black hairstyle. (Cos that guy contributed the kind uncle part of his inspiration!) Oh and of course a sneasely colourscheme for the fur coat. And I ended up making him hold Blackglasses so often that it was an in-joke that he actually wore shades 24/7 even in normal pokemon form XD

When I first got him in Collosseum he was really useful for his Brick Break move, and im actually really happy that the brick break image on bulbapedia is the collosseum sneasel using it! It was very very good as one of the few mons available with that move in the very limited choices you had for that game. But his signature move kinda ended up being Surf, even though his stats would have been awful for it even if I’d ev trained him properly XD I just found it so bizarre that sneasel of all things could learn that HM! I imagined he formed a surfboard out of ice to carry the trainer, cos there’s no way you could stand on the back of a 30cm tall weasel...

And man lets just have some random sneasel headcanons now!

* Their feathers exist to sense wind fluctuations, which are useful in their natural environment to anticipate snowstorms and track prey in low visibility.

* The ear feather is just for this, its the more sensitive one. The tail feathers are more for manipulating objects and other day to day life. They’re more matted and dont really have the same hearing ability, but the joints are way more flexible so they can be moved independantly like three actual tails. Sneasels can pick up small delicate objects by brushing them up between the tails, then rolling them down their back to reach their mouth. they also use the tails to brush away dirt, hide their tracks in the snow, form surprisingly intricate igloo-like nests and groom their fur with the utmost precision.

* Sneasels will outright resent any attempts to groom them by anyone but their closest human friend, since inevitably humans cant do as good of a job. But humans can scratch behind your ears and give cuddles, so it all works out!

* In the wild, sneasels eat primarily eggs, some nuts and berries, scavenged semi-rotten meat and not so much live prey. Even though they’re very skilled, they’re also very fragile and cautious because of it. They’ll only hunt in extreme situations, instead preferring to confuse and mislead their way to dinner. Sneasels are very social and loyal to each other even if they’re not to anyone else. Their most common strategy is the whole pack wards off a dangerous foe while one lone unit sneaks past and robs that pokemon’s food stores, to share with the family. Even if they’re forced to hunt their own prey, they still follow these strategies and try to just outrun the enemy until it dies of exhaustion or freezes in the blizzard. They’re experts of making cuts that disable but don’t kill- going in close enough to deliver that final blow means risking a valuable pack member’s life!

Not really a headcanon now but back to reaper himself, I always kinda imagine him looking more like a real weasel. I like sneasel’s design but the bipedal humanoid proportions arent exactly the best thing, yknow? i feel like it should have had shorter more pawlike back legs and just been top-heavy with the super claws. Like.. I imagine kinda a furret? just the appeal of actual weasels and stoats plz. I love sneasel but when i looked up weasels as a kid i was like MY HEART!!! they’re sock puppet babies with lint fuzz faces Also I think sneasel’s claws are kinda comically short and boring considering theyre like its Big Feature. I liked when they were drawn a bit longer in older artworks, and i always imagined reaper had longer ones like scyther-y level. Thats why I named him that! Crescent moon claws of awesomeness, striking in the night~! ...he would be really cool if he wasnt such a cuddly dork. I love him so much, he’s my baby. And my dad. And my uncle?? he’s just a very good friend and im happy videogames can touch my heart like nothing else let me love my nonexistant magic weasel from cyberspace forevermore~!

#bunni original vintage post

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beowulfs-booty-call · 7 years

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Hardy, adamant and lax for the pokemon ask!

@barachestnaught Hey pal!!! Thank you so much for stopping by! I mean it! I also saw your stuff about the video game asks (You wrote some truth on that post, I swear!)

Before I answer, I just really wanna thank you for sticking with me so far! I mean it ever so much!

Hardy- What was your first pokemon game and when?

Gosh, I remember I was about 4 years old, the first season of Pokemon came up, where Ash met Pikachu and saved him from the sparrow flocks and I was instantly mesmerized in that 2003 era. Of course, Cartoon Network was chuck full of tv episodes, so it was pretty easy to slip in the old episodes for newer folks to claim its popularity (We can all remember Cartoon Network Fridays) and I fell in with it too! So, there I was, 4 year old me with Odin Arrow styled hair,

(Because, of course, that was the only haircut my father knew to give me. He hated barbershops because it was just too much for simple cuts like mine. But that’s a 2000′s aesthetic for another day!)

purchasing Pokemon Fire Red from Toys R Us and trying to decide which to get, Leaf Green, with Venusaur? Or Fire Red? With Charizard? I chose Fire Red because I just couldn’t decide! (Later, I pulled Leaf Green because my parents needed a birthday present and I did pull consistent 90′s in my 2/3rd grade classes because, get this,

I claimed I’d get the pink butterfree from the show if I play leaf green and a whole bunch of different colored pokemon. That was my logic. It never fails to make me laugh!

Adamant- What role would you have if you lived in the pokemon world?

Gosh, sometimes I wonder about this a lot, when I was a younger, I’d wish that the Pokemon world was real, so that I could be on my own journey and make my own friends (My younger self felt my parents were already the parents in the games, not really “there” but present regardless, so, as a result, I felt I was already a trainer just waiting to start)

At times, I wondered if I’d be a breeder, though, I couldn’t just stick with one singular pokemon to breed say for! I thought I would become a researcher, similar to how May and Brendan wishes to do after the story mode, but, while I love the idea of researching Pokemon and their human interactions, I’d be more like Prof. Birch! …I’m more “handsy” than just sitting around researching! Believe it or not, Prof. Sycamore got me “back” into the pokemon researching gig, if only for a bit with the way he was so… Refreshing to the other professors (Sans Juniper!) because he seemed more… Involved than the other professors as well. It felt… Right, the way he was researching Mega Evolution, working to save Lysandre, you know?

And yet, I also like to think I’d become a coordinator like in the games! I love love LOVED the sinnoh contests and I still do to this day! But, I can only get so far without battling…

Honestly saying? I feel like if I would definitely be a trainer who just… Goes out, doesn’t know what he’s after. He wants to take up so much, but he wants to discover himself too. Most likely? That pins me as a protagonist, most likely, Black and White era Protags. I feel like BW really personified the characters than we were so used to, especially when it seemed like a “darker” themed world. I feel like because of the unique colored glasses I see the world in, it just might change the world, if I really want to.

I can’t talk for other people on how they feel if they were a trainer or a protagonist, but, it’s already there for me. I feel like that’s how I’d fit in, in the world. I don’t know exactly where I’m going, but I’m going. You don’t think about what you can pin yourself as, because, you’re always changing.

I find that… Beautiful, because in every region, in every game, there’s always change in both you, and the world as you grow. So… I’d say I’d be a traveling trainer,

“Jack of all trades, master of none is oftentimes better than master of one.”

You’ll see me with so many interests, but you’ll never quite see me in just one place!

The other thing, along with the protagonist line, is, I think I’d maybe… Be the person to awaken a legendary pokemon? Like how in Hoenn, you awaken Rayquaza? (God, I still have a fear about Rayquaza…)

I think maybe I’d have the role to awaken a legendary pokemon to prevent a catastrophe, or at the very least, foretell one like an absol!

Lax- How would you spend your freetime in the pokemon world?

Hmm… I think that’s a really great question! Though, I think this is also something I really gotta think about, you know?

If I lived in the Pokemon world, knowing my family, my grandparents would be running Mt. Pyre, or somewhere very… Spiritual, so, I’d definitely spend time training there, if not, paying respects. But I’d also be about trying to do photography in the world, the ruins of Ecruteak City, Sinjoh Ruins, even Sky Pillar!

I’d also definitely try to work in a library somewhere, or even try to do art, even in the pokemon world! I think it’d be great to try! Or, at the very least, maybe try the Dragon trials! If not, I’d love to give out fortunes and try to read and write as many books as I could! Or, if the Pokemon world would allow, I’d totally try being a postman with a Dragonite or a Clefable! It’d be cool for me, really!

But mostly, I think you’d most likely find me exploring the world, I’ve a wander lust so strong, it sometimes overtakes me!

#barachestnaught #Thanks so much for asking!#Really!

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