#pokemon competitive guide

[wildflowercryptid]

i'll have a smeargle on my indigo disk team and attempt to make it viable, even if it kills me.

#i freaking love smeargle so much but still haven't put the energy into actually training one up in-game #i know jack shit about competitive or meta but maybe i should find some guides on how to train one #does like.... smogon have guides like that? #i usually just use the pokemon i think are neat and go off of vibes from there idk where to start 😭 #mj.txt

[daisynik7]

Eren gets soooo competitive when it comes to video games. With his friends, it's expected. He loves to brag about his kill/death ratio on COD compared to Jean's, kicking Connie's ass in NBA 2K, even beating Armin in a Pokemon battle without using any Legendaries. He prides himself in being better than them, at least in that moment. And if he does lose, he won't waste a second. He'll be off to train his team or practice for hours straight until the next rematch, determined to be on top again. It's just in his nature.

When it comes to you, however, it's a tad bit different. If you're making progress on a game you're both playing, he'll beg you to stop, whining about how "I'm not at that part yet!" or "How did you get there so fast?!" One night, as you play handheld in bed while he sits in front of the TV in the living room, he yells out your name, begging you to help him on a particularly difficult puzzle. You walk over to him, patiently explaining each step while he huffs about how annoying it is and how he's sick of having to look up a guide each time whenever you're not around.

At the end, with your help, he manages to succeed. He looks at you with puppy dog eyes, pouting his lips at you, beckoning you for a kiss. "Thank you, baby. You're so much better at this than I am."

#eren headcanons #eren x you #eren x y/n #eren x reader #eren imagines #eren jaeger #eren jaeger imagines #eren aot #eren yeager #eren fluff #aot headcanons #partially inspired by my irl boyfriend hehe

[id0what1want]

Wisteria Lake

I have thoughts. So, I am finally throwing my whole hat into the Dipplinshipping ring.

(This occurs during the Teal Mask)

Kieran awoke to a knocking on his window. He groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes as he stifled a yawn. He blearily caught sight of Cereza's face through the glass. The slight shock managed to drag him out of sleep as he drew closer to the window, opening it. "What are you doin', it's like- I dunno, late. Plus-" Kieran started, picking at his bangs a bit to get them to lay right. "I know I know, just-" Cereza was out of breath and it looked like stars sparkled deep in the burgundy pools of her irises, her eyes wide and practically rippling with excitement. It seemed wherever she was, she ran to get Kieran as fast as she could. She grasped onto his windowpane but didn't enter save for her face leaning close to his. "You've gotta see this." "What is it?" A touch of pink dusted Kieran's face as Cereza's excitement was infectious and spurred on his curiosity, making him completely forget the hour. Cereza only grinned, one corner of her lip quirking up more than the other to make her smile endearingly lopsided. "It's a surprise. I'll meet you out front, get shoes on." And with that she hopped down from his window, disappearing into the night. Kieran took a second to process the situation before rushing to get socks and shoes on, grabbing his bag and trying his best to keep the rustling to a minimum. His steps were nimble as they dodged the floorboards he knew were loud. He muffled the sound of the sliding door as much as he could as not to alert anyone.

Cereza was waiting out front as promised. She held out an arm and her Corvisquire, Charon, descended seemingly from the night itself to perch on her arm. "Are they still there?" She asked the ruby eyed corvid. It let out a chirp and a nod, earning a smile and a scratching on the neck from Cereza. Kieran stepped forward and Cereza turned to him. It might have just been a trick of the low light, but Kieran swore her eyes must have brightened. Charon left Cereza's arm as she rushed to meet Kieran. "Kieran! I found something in the Wistful Fields, you HAVE to come see!" She took hold of his wrist, tugging him in the direction. "How are you even up at this hour?" His eyes widened slightly as her hand gripped his wrist. They were surprisingly weathered for a girl their age, likely from adventures like the one Kieran was being dragged into currently. Not that he minded. "Me and sleep have a strained relationship, you could say. It's not my fault that the world wakes up at night." Cereza shrugs as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Kieran's brows raise. "'The world wakes up at night'?" He echoes. Cereza turns, walking backwards so she can face him and talk at the same time. She cups her hands behind her ears. "Mhm, hear all the Pokemon? Lots of species are strictly nocturnal or just more active at night. I guess I've always been more of a night owl myself, nighttime is just... better." Cereza smiled. Kieran considered her words. "Wowzers... I've always been kinda curious about the Pokemon I can hear at night but..." Kieran's words trailed off as he listened closer. "It's a lot easier to hear 'em now that the Yanma have stopped flyin' around." Cereza guided him through the apple fields, cutting through them and trailing off the path. "C'mon, this way is faster!" She started to run without warning, startling Kieran. "Come on Kiki, keep up!" Cereza's laugh joined the chords of the night, mixing with the various Pokemon cries as Kieran rushed to catch her, a smile etched onto his own face. "I wouldn't have to keep up if you slowed down!" He called after her as she disappeared into the trees. He could still hear her laugh slipping through the branches, giving away her location. "I bet you can't catch me!" She challenged, igniting a fire of competition in Kieran's chest. The chase had begun, and Cereza burst from the thicket of trees first, now faced by hills of path, grass, and small cliffs of gravel. Kieran was hot on her heels. Cereza heard him exit the trees behind her and took the chance to slide down the steep incline, her shoes scraping against rock as she expertly used a hand to steady her descent. Kieran screeched to a halt at the edge of the incline, hesitant. Cereza turned around to check on him after realizing he hadn't followed her yet. Before she could open her mouth, Kieran slid down the hill in pursuit of her, albeit with less practiced experience than Cereza.

When he approached the bottom, his balance got a little squirreling and his landing was more of a stumble than stable. Cereza ran towards him in an attempt to catch him but was surprised to find Kieran pushing ahead of her and stealing the lead while she was distracted. She scoffed, amusement thick in her tone. "You jerk! You don't even know where we're headed!" She called after him, running across the grass as fast as her legs could carry her. The two felt the wind across their faces, a midnight breeze as they passed various Pokemon minding their own business, alarmed by the sudden disturbance of two kid trainers sprinting through the tall grass. Cereza vaulted over stumps, stones, and hills, though she wasn't raised in Kitakami, she adapted to the land well. But Kieran knew these fields, he had a hometown advantage, he knew every rough patch to guide her through, every pitfall to dodge to trip her up. The thrill of the chase caused an adrenaline rush almost like a Pokemon battle. A smile of elation tugged at Kieran's lips as he felt like he was almost flying through the fields. He didn't expect another stab of adrenaline to his heart however when a Hoothoot took flight right in front of Kieran's path of choice, bringing him to a startled, screeching stop. Cereza unfortunately didn't register Kieran stopping in time and couldn't slow her momentum down enough to avoid crashing into him. She reflexively threw her arms around his waist, holding on tight as they both collapsed into the grass. Her arms loosened as he wriggled from her grip, turning into a slight playful tussling match as the 'chase' continued. Cereza pounced with the likeness to a Skitty, Kieran returning the same mannerisms as the rolled in the grass, fits of giggles and yelps escaping the two. Cereza managed to pin him down for a moment, panting. "Caught you-!" She yelped as Kieran lunged forward, knocking her off him and him onto her, a triumphant smile on his face. His face was flushed from all the running. "No... I caught you." He panted. Cereza wriggled out of his grip as they both took a breather. Charon, with perfect timing, flew down and perched on Cereza's head. He voiced his annoyance with an irritated squawk.

"We're coming, you impatient bird!" She teasingly shooed him off of her head, returning him to his ball. At the sound of Charon's squawk, something rustled in Cereza's bag. Alerted to the movement, she started to unzip it. Before she even finished unzipping the bag, a little lizard-like Pokemon wriggled free from her bag from the smallest possible crevice Cereza had opened. A Dreepy chirped with delight at being free, nuzzling into Cereza's hair as a greeting. Cereza laughed at its antics. "Hello, Deadeye." Cereza greeted. Kieran watched the little Pokemon curiously, he hadn't met this one yet. Deadeye noticed Kieran and approached, getting close to his face and sniffing him as if judging his character. Kieran leaned away reflexively at first before staying still and letting Deadeye assess him. Deadeye let out a trill of approval before gently bonking his head against Kieran's and returning to Cereza's side. "This is Deadeye, I caught him back in Paldea." She introduced. Kieran looked at Cereza as she ran her fingers down Deadeye's spine. She makes a similar clicking trill, almost like a cooing noise as Deadeye does a satisfied full body shimmy. "He's a Dreepy, right? We don't have any of 'em in Kitakami, I've never met one before." Kieran thinks out loud. Cereza gets up and stretches. She helps Kieran up, the grass rustling around them. Though the two trainers halted their chase, it seemed that the wind was still in pursuit of its own target. The breeze blew around them, tousling their hair. "Well, this surprise is partially for him too. Come on, I can see Wisteria Lake from here."

As they approached the lake, Cereza grabbed onto Kieran's hand. Before he could register what was happening, Cereza tugged him down into a crouch with her. He opened his mouth to speak but Cereza placed her free hand over it to muffle him. She made sure the wisteria trees concealed their position next to the lake. "Look." She whispered, pointing to the section of the lake bathed in moonlight. There, a pod of Dragonair and Dratini swam in the water, no doubt roosting. Their scales glistened, bathed by the rays of the moon and sparkling with the freshwater of the lake. Their movements were graceful and mesmerizing, unlike anything the two had ever seen in real life. It was captivating. Kieran's eyes widened and Cereza dropped her hand from his mouth. His eyes practically sparkled as his jaw dropped, his mouth forming an ovoid 'o'. He could see why Cereza was so excited. Cereza pulled herself up into the branches of the wisteria tree next to them, helping Kieran up into the spot next to her. This wisteria tree was old and sturdy, barely creaking under their combined weight. "I've never... I thought... Dratini don't live in this lake." Kieran managed to finally find the words to reply quietly. He hoisted himself up to be fully next to Cereza. She watched the dragons intently, unable to tear her eyes away. "They're migrating and roosting in this lake before the next rain, which is due tomorrow." Cereza explained in a hushed tone. "Because Dragonair control the weather." Kieran finished her thought for her. "Bingo." Cereza grinned. She gazed at the creatures, taking in every minute flick of their tails, every sound to escape their voice boxes. "Aren't they beautiful?" Kieran turned to look at Cereza. He had never heard her voice sound like that, enchanted by awe. Enamored, even. Her expression was captivated by a similar awe, her burgundy eyes focused on the dragons with a glimmer of wonder. While Cereza took in the sight of the Dratini and Dragonair, Kieran similarly gazed at her. The wisteria blooms framed her, bathing her in an almost lavender glow from the moonlight filtering through the petals. The light illuminated the upturned corners of her lips, highlighting every feature of her face. "Yeah. They are." He smiled; his eyes locked on her in the same way she couldn't tear her eyes away from the Dragonair. The moment was interrupted by Deadeye emerging from under Cereza's bag once again, his ghostlike tail wagging as he watched the Dratini play in the water. He nipped Cereza's cheek playfully to get her attention. She winced and held her cheek, narrowing her eyes at Deadeye with a lighthearted smile. "Little squirt." She teased. Deadeye made the Dreepy equivalent of a giggle before starting to float towards the Dratini. Cereza tugged on his tail gently, concern flitting in her chest for a moment. "Slow, don't spook them." She advised gently. She tentatively let go of his tail. She held her breath as she watched Deadeye approach the nearest Dratini. Her grip on the branches tightened. Kieran noticed Cereza tense and shakily put a hand over hers. She meets his eyes, and they share a look. Cereza turns her attention back to Deadeye, exhaling slowly.

Deadeye chirps at the Dratini, catching its attention. The Dratini tilts its head and Deadeye tilts his in turn. They circle one another, assessing each other carefully. The Dratini sniffs Deadeye and Deadeye wiggles as if it tickles him, trilling in amusement. The Dratini seems satisfied, diving into the water. Deadeye tilts his head in confusion. The Dratini surfaces with similar confusion, making a noise that seems like the equivalent to 'are you coming?'. Deadeye realizes what it meant and makes a happy cry, diving into the water after the Dratini and letting it give way to underwater chase. Cereza sighs in relief, chuckling at Deadeye's mannerisms. Kieran laughs with her. The Dratini gets caught by Deadeye and Deadeye does a little victory lap. The Dratini chitters and gestures for Deadeye to come meet the Dragonair presumably watching over the flock. Deadeye approaches the Dragonair and catches its attention, but Deadeye gets an idea and rushes off before they can properly meet each other. Deadeye darts over to Cereza who picks up on this and descends from the tree, her feet landing on the grass with a thump. She makes sure to crouch as a sign of respect and submission in case the Dragonair is watching. "What are you doing?" Kieran hisses, alarm filling his senses as he looks between the group of (undoubtedly powerful) dragon pokemon and his friend that just entered its line of sight. "Just watch." She replies quietly. Deadeye bites her sleeve and tries to tug her along but struggles because of his small size. Cereza stands a little taller, gazing up at the Dragonair that was now swimming over. The Dragonair lowers itself to Cereza's level, narrowing its eyes at her. The Dratini that were playing moments ago have gathered behind the Dragonair, curious about the newcomer. A sound forms in the back of its throat, sounding melodious like birdsong yet clicks like the call of a Lapras. Deadeye makes a similar clicking trill in response, shimmying with its little body. He smiled as if introducing Cereza. The Dragonair stared down Cereza, as if it dared for her to break eye contact. Kieran's worry compounded and he dropped down from the tree soundlessly, frozen as he witnessed Cereza interact with the dragon. Cereza stood her ground, approaching closer to the Dragonair and leaning down more. She made a similar noise to the trill she soothed Deadeye with, again like a mix between the purr of a Purrloin and the coo of a Pidove making something that sounded like the reptilian clicks of the dragon types she was familiar with. She held out a flat hand with her palm facing up, so the Dragonair knew it was okay to approach and assess her. She kept herself loose and relaxed as not to spook it. Cereza remained still as the Dragonair sniffed her hand, only turning her hand over so the creature could smell both sides thoroughly. The Dragonair snorted and turned away, diving in the water without haste or concern.

The Dratini came closer and took their turn to sniff and assess her, though the little ones were much more invasive than their elder. Little mouths nipped at skin and clothing, eliciting giggles from Cereza. She turns back to Kieran, eyes brightened and rushes over to him. A few Dratini trail behind her as she takes his hands, a wide grin on her face. "Come on, come meet them!" Kieran's eyes widened. "Woah, wait-" He started as Cereza dragged him toward the edge of the water where Deadeye and the rest of the Dratini were playing, even some of the Dragonair were humoring the little ones. She let go of his hand and took off her socks and shoes, setting them safely by the water before stepping in. She smiled, turning to Kieran. "It's not cold!" She took something out of her pocket, they were what looked to be Leppa berries she had picked with Kieran the day before in the orchard. She knelt into the water, holding her cupped hands out for the Dratini to eat from. The Dratini were delighted and flocked to Cereza, making her laugh even more with delight. Kieran took his shoes off, rushing after her without really thinking. He tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. "Uh, Cereza?" Before she could turn around and address his question, a curious Dratini noticed Kieran and got close to his face, looking him over. "Oh! Hello!" His eyebrows rose as the Dratini chirped at him, the other Dratini starting to become curious about him as well. Cereza took notice and stood up to be next to him. She took his hands and handed him a few Leppa berries to feed them. "What just happened between you an' that Dragonair?" Kieran asked while Cereza filled his hands with berries. "That Dragonair is the head of the pack, it was just checking to make sure I was safe to interact with." Cereza hummed. She stepped back so the Dratini had room to approach him. The curious little serpents were delighted to find berries in his hands too and pecked and nibbled at the berries. Kieran giggled, the giggles bubbling up into laughter. "Haha, stop! That tickles!" A few Dratini nipped at his clothes like they did to Cereza and Cereza laughed with Kieran as they feed the dragonlings.

Cereza tossed a berry to Deadeye and he caught it without trouble, swallowing it whole. The Dratini witnessed this and immediately darted over to Cereza, wanting in on the game. "Woah, woah, one at a time!" She laughed. She faked throwing a berry to the far side of the lake and all the Dratini fell for it, diving under the water to reach the other side faster. Kieran and Cereza chuckled as they watched Deadeye catch up to his new friends, racing after them and starting another, larger game of chase. One of the younger Dragonair approached Kieran and Cereza and Kieran stiffened at the presence of the serpent. Cereza made the dragon call she did before as a greeting, waving with a smile. "Hello, feeling left out on the berry train?" Cereza giggled as the Dragonair sniffed all of her clothes in search of the berries, nudging at her pocket in pursuit of them. The Dragonair sung a short, high note as if in affirmation. Cereza made her dragon call back, adding a whistle arpeggio at the end (one that sounds like she learned it from Charon). Kieran actually approached this time, walking through the water to stand close to Cereza, amazed as she holds up the berry for the Dragonair to eat from her hands. The Dragonair gently picked up the berry with its jaws, taking care not to make contact with Cereza. The Dragonair sung another note of thanks and Cereza cooed a note of her own back.

"How do you do that?" Kieran looked at Cereza in amazement. Cereza shrugged. "Lots of trial and error with Deadeye. I can try and teach you if you want. Can you roll your Rs and whistle?" Cereza started. Kieran nodded. "It's just a combo of those two, like a happy medium between them." Cereza demonstrated how to do it and Kieran listened and watched intently. After a moment, he nods. "I think I've got it." Kieran took a deep breath and gave it his best shot... and the sound that came out is somewhat strangled and definitely incorrect. Cereza snorted and there's a moment of suspense before the two burst into fits of laughter. It's the kind of laughter that they try to stifle but starts up again the moment they make eye contact. Kieran attempted the noise again, worse this time because of how hard he was laughing. The Dragonair gave the two weird looks as Cereza clutched her stomach doubled over in a fit of giggles. She mimicked the sound Kieran made and Kieran splashed some water on her in playful mock offense. "Shut up!" He managed to get out between laughs. Cereza stuck her tongue out at him. "Come over here and make me, Kiki." She challenged. She's immediately met with another splash to the face, soaking her clothes. There was a moment of pause while Kieran waited for a reaction, Cereza pushing her wet bangs from her face. She grins deviously before splashing him back, revenge-soaking his clothes and forcing him to push his own bangs back from his face. It didn't take long for it to turn into a full-scale water fight, Deadeye and one of the initial Dratini even join in, the two dragonlings giggling at the silliness. Kieran waded into deeper water to escape, the point where he couldn't touch the bottom. He treaded water as he looked back at Cereza, only to find her gone. His head whipped around, looking for her. Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt arms wrap around his waist, dragging him down underwater. His yelp was cut off by the mouthful of water he soon ingested, dragged under by his assailant. Kieran struggled free with a push to where he assumed the mischievous attacker's face was. The two surfaced with a gasp and Cereza barely caught her breath before laughing as Kieran coughed out the water he swallowed. "Point, Cereza!" She announced triumphantly, shivering slightly from being soaked to the bone. "Nuh uh, that's gotta be cheating!" Kieran protested, but he couldn't fight the smile on his face as he snorted at the whole situation. "You're just a sore loser, Kieran!" Cereza splashed water at him. She started to tread back to the shallower end but didn't expect Kieran to chase after her and drag her back. She yelped in alarm as held her in a vice grip. "Hey, what gives?" "Well since the move is fair..." He dropped Cereza then dunked her under, already laughing when she came up for air with a gasp, coughing up the water she swallowed. "Are you okay?" He asked with a smile as his laughter died down. Cereza huffed in mock offense. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She mocked Carmine's sharp tone with a partial falsetto, earning another snort from Kieran. "Seriously, we should go dry off though." "Aw man, you're right, how are we gonna dry off?" Kieran realized, going back to the shallow end with Cereza. Cereza grinned. "I've got an idea." When the two got back to shore, they wrung out their clothes to the best of their ability before trying out Cereza's 'idea'.

Cereza brought out Charon from his pokeball and Kieran immediately caught on. "This is a terrible idea." He stated. Cereza lightly punches his shoulder. "It'll be fine. Charon, kick up a gust for us, would ya?" She calls out to her avian friend. Charon caws in affirmation before blowing a strong wind at Kieran and Cereza, each powerful wingbeat aimed to dry away the water that clung to their clothes. After a minute, Cereza called over the rushing whistle of the wind. "Alright Charon, that's good!" The wind died down and Charon rested on a wisteria branch as Cereza and Kieran checked their clothes. Cereza looked at Kieran and snorted, holding back a snicker. He looked at her, eyes wide. "W-what's so funny?" His hair was thoroughly tousled and messy, Cereza's was no doubt the same. Wisteria petals were caught and tangled in his half-dried hair, matching the purple underlayer. "Hold on, you've got-" Cereza laughed lightly, leaning closer. "You've got something in your hair." She picked the petals out of the black and mauve locks, scattering them on the ground where they belonged when she was done. Kieran froze, not moving a muscle as Cereza meticulously raked her hands through his hair for a final check. "Yep, all good now." She leaned back then picked a petal from her own hair, going to where she set down her bag and shoes and bringing them to a spot under the wisteria tree to rest. Kieran followed close behind her after putting his own socks and shoes back on. She whistled for Deadeye's attention, and it was immediately caught. Deadeye chirped his goodbyes to his friends to which a chorus of little Dratini voices and richer Dragonair tones rang out in farewell. He darted back to shore where Cereza sat, trying to wrestle its way into her bag again. "Oh no you don't, you're sopping!" She grabbed the wriggling little Dreepy with one hand, holding him away from the bag as she pulled out a towel from her bag. Kieran's jaw dropped. "You had a towel this whole time?!" He asked in shock, his mouth forming another 'o' shape. Cereza realized her mistake. "Whoops." She shrugged, laughing as Kieran sighs, his shoulders slumped as he shook his head. She dried off Deadeye, wrapping the little dragon into a toweled burrito and setting him down. He was thoroughly bound so he couldn't move while he dried. She then pulled out two towels, one for her and one for Kieran. She tossed the towel at Kieran's head, laughing when it landed on his face in such a way that it covered it entirely, making him look like a ghost. "How many towels can you fit in that tiny bag?" He asked, baffled by the infinite inventory of the backpack. "Don't worry about it." Cereza waved it off. She leaned against the tree, relaxing as she watched the Dragonair once again. She took out a brush and untied her low twin tail braids, brushing out her hair with her fingers first before going in with the brush. Her hair was even paler blonde than the color of a Mimikyu's rag, the muted, pale color light enough to be mistaken for white in certain lighting and brown/gray in others. Her hair was normally twisted and a touch wild, probably the reason why she tied them back in low twin tails all the time. Now that it was down, Kieran could see that her hair was thick and wavy, like a hex maniac's. Deadeye managed to break free of his towel prison and he settled himself in Cereza's lap. Cereza focused on brushing her hair while it was still slightly wet, not wasting the chance.

Kieran heard a shift in the grass and his head snapped in the direction of the sound. He caught a glimpse of a blue tail fleeing behind a tree. Kieran tilted his head, trying to get a better look. A Dratini cowered by the tree, likely curious about Cereza and Kieran but too shy to get close. Kieran knelt down, thinking of how Cereza would approach the small dragonling. The small serpent hid its face behind its tail, trembling. He cleared his throat, taking another stab at the cooing dragon call. He was surprised to hear it half decent. Definitely not as polished as Cereza's, but recognizable. "I won't hurt you, we're friendly, I promise." He offered his hand gently to the Dratini, his voice gentle. The Dratini lifted its tail slightly to peek up at Kieran with one eye. Its stomach rumbled and it cowered again. Kieran took note of this and stood up, startling the Dratini. "Hold on, I'll be right back!" He rushed over to Cereza. "Cereza, do you have any more berries?" His voice was determined, earnest. Cereza raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, a few oran berries. Need some?" Kieran nodded and Cereza got out the berries, handing them to him. "What are they for-" "Thanks, bye!" He quickly went back to the Dratini and Cereza sat there slightly confused before going back to what she was doing. Kieran slowly held out an oran berry with a cupped hand. "C'mon little guy, I know you're hungry..." The Dratini tentatively approached, picking up the berry from his hand carefully and setting it down on the ground. As soon as the oran berry hit the grass, the Dratini started scarfing it down. Kieran raised his eyebrows then smiled. He got up to go sit by Cereza again, leaving the Dratini to eat its food in peace. The Dratini gulped down the last of its food then looked at Kieran walking away. It stayed where it was for a moment, as if considering. The Dratini cautiously slithered behind Kieran, trying its best to be sneaky. Kieran sat back down beside Cereza who at this point had moved on from brushing her hair to braiding it back to the twin tails they were used to. "What was that about?" She turned to greet him, scooting over a little so they sat a little closer together. Before Kieran could open his mouth, Cereza noticed a little white snout peeking out from behind the trunk of the wisteria tree they were sitting under. "I see you made a friend." "Huh?" Kieran blinked, confused. He turned to where Cereza was looking and spotted the Dratini that shied away at his gaze. "Oh! Come back for more berries?" He offered an empty hand like how Cereza did to the Dragonair. After a few seconds of suspense, the Dratini sniffed Kieran's hand flinching away a bit when Kieran turned it over so the Dratini could examine it fully. The Dratini licked his hand Kieran smiling at the gentle gesture. "Wow, he either really likes you or is licking the oran berry residue off your hand." Cereza stated. "Oh." Kieran replied awkwardly. He stifled a yawn, not wanting Cereza to think he was getting sleepy, or worse, bored. Cereza caught the way he started to yawn then conspicuously cleared his throat, however. "Alright then, I'll start packing up. We have a busy day tomorrow and I can imagine that Carmine is hell to deal with in the morning." Cereza had already folded all the towels, placing them in her weirdly infinite bag and zipping it up. Deadeye was nodding off, his head drooping then perking up, drooping then perking up. "I'm not tired-" Kieran started to protest only to be met with a hand over his mouth. "S h u t." Cereza said simply. She turned to her dozing dragonling, taking out his ball. "Alright Deadeye. Home time." Deadeye made a half-awake sound of protest. He attempted to nudge away the ball but in his sleepy daze he accidentally nudged the button in the process, returning him to his ball regardless. Cereza chuckled and shook her head.

"Are you gonna say goodbye to your little friend there?" Cereza put Deadeye's ball in the pokeball section of her bag. Kieran turned to the little Dratini. It had now become comfortable, resting its head on his wrist. He gently removed the small serpent from his arm, patting its head. "Travel safe 'lil guy." The Dratini chirped and bumped its head against Kieran's hand like a skitty. Kieran chuckled before standing and waving goodbye. Cereza turned, having already started on the way home. "You coming?" She called back. Kieran nodded, glancing one last time at the lake before running after Cereza.

Epilogue: (after the Ogerpon fight) Kieran finished tying up his hair. He looked in the mirror. It was strange to see his face in so much detail. Well, he was going to have to get used to it from now on. "Kiki? Our bus is leaving soon. I'm gonna head over, don't be a Slowpoke like last time, alright?" Carmine knocked on the door before calling through it. Pretty courteous by her standards. Her footsteps and the creaking of the floorboards suggested her exit. Kieran slung his bag over his shoulder. He had already packed. He had a lot of time since he was holed up in his room since the evening of the night before. He kept the goodbyes with his grandparents brief. His grandfather noticed Kieran's change in demeanor but decided to let him be. There was no use trying to convince a Rhyhorn to budge after all.

Kieran opened the door and took one step out the door before being interrupted by a Pokemon's call at his feet. The door slid shut behind him as he looked around for the source, eventually looked down. A blue tail, a rounded white snout, and a pair of fin-like ears that were perked up and alert. It was a Dratini- no, the Dratini from that night at Wisteria Lake. "If you came lookin' for more berries, you're barking up a Sudowoodo." Kieran dismissed, trying to step around the serpent. The Dratini became annoyed and blocked his path, making a noise of protest. "I don't have food for you, shoo!" Kieran stepped over the Pokemon, continuing on his way to the bus stop and trying to ignore the Dratini. The Dratini and the tightness in his chest. He shoved down the memories of wisteria petals and moonlit lakes. His train of thought was interrupted by a bump he felt on his ankle. He looked down to find the Dratini pushing a pokeball against his ankle with its snout. He had to give the creature points for its tenacity. Kieran's eyebrows raised. He leaned down on one knee, picking up the Pokeball. "How did you...?" His thoughts escaped his lips. The Dratini puffed up its chest, though a slight tremble gave away its nervousness. Kieran considered it. Dragonite are strong, he needed strength if he was going to surpass her. "Hm. Well, only cuz you're stubborn. I better see this enthusiasm in training, got it?" He held the pokeball down to the Dratini's level, allowing it to press the button with its snout. The ball shook once then made a nodding motion, a satisfying click signifying Kieran's successful catch. Kieran stood, pocketing the ball. "We're flying to the top, Dratini." He mused under his breath as he continued on to the bus stop, the sky gray and tense with the threat of a storm. ... THIS TOOK ME THREE DAYS TO WRITE HOLY BINGLE Me, clueless: I'll just write this cute little thing lol, it should take me like 20 minutes 5,663 words and three whole days later: Anyway, first formal blurb, I'm totally not nervous what are you talking about. Special thanks to my beta reader, I love you forever pookie :} I always want to hear your thoughts and questions, my askbox is but a humble Munchlax starved of berries!! (I'm in a Pokemon metaphor mood rn lmao)

✨Do whatever you want forever✨

~ Cytoplasm

#dipplinshipping #kieran x mc #kieran x oc #oc x canon #pokemon sv #rival kieran #the indigo disk #cereza pokemon #juliana x kieran #juliana x kieran pokemon #the teal mask #dratini #dragonair #dreepy #corvisquire #wisteria lake #canon x oc

[fallershipping]

The Absolute Atrocious Audacity... of Anipoke's version of the Hoenn Battle Frontier

The Battle Frontier was arguably the first time in a mainline game where we got introduced to Battle Facility Characters. For a while, we had the titular Battle Tower, but for the first time, we had a unique boss to get to.

Much alike to Gym Leaders, they give out "badges" to commemorate your victory; Hoenn's being Silver and Gold Symbols.

However, for the time, many casual players that didn't focus on Competitive Training missed out on these special characters almost entirely. At the very least, they'd see them in Player's Guides along with their Silver and Gold Pokemon Teams.

But especially during that time, most, if not all, knowledge of these characters came from the botched version of them in the Ash Ketchum Anime.

I say botched because it's an honest to goodness fact that man the writers of the anime made some wild decisions.

This will be focusing mostly on Anabel of course, but I've been doing some snooping around the original Battle Frontier and Emerald's in-game text.

I'll go over why Brandon was never supposed to be the "leader" of the Hoenn Frontier, why Anabel was wrongly mistaken as psychic, why the Battle Tower was the real head of the battle frontier, and etc.

1.Who is the leader of the Frontier Brains?

Short answer, no one as far as we know. Long answer is that there are a lot of NPCs that, while making note of all the unique facilities, the Battle Tower is ALWAYS a stand out amongst them all.

When asking a guide about the Battle Tower, you get this dialogue:

"... It is the gigantic tower considered to be the BATTLE FRONTIER's symbol."

A child right outside the Battle Tower itself claims:

"Wow! It's huge! The Battle Tower feels special. It's different from the others."

Also to note that when looking for the Exchange Service and Rankings Building, they will be pointed over as "Near the Battle Tower" .... Which also points to how important the Battle Tower is to the Frontier as a whole.

It's good to note that no other battle facility gets this kind of fanfare. The Tower is uniquely special in its iconography.

... Seeing how both the Adventures Manga and Ihara's Manga puts Anabel as the symbolic 'final boss' of the frontier... It's safe to say that she's at least part of the very foundation and centralized symbol of the Hoenn Battle Frontier.

2.Why was Brandon the leader in the anime?

Chauvinism Brandon is often referred to as Chief... By only his Pyramid employees, and mostly in the vein of his whole gimmick of the Pyramid being an Indiana Jones type of adventure. So Brandon is the Chief of the expedition team that you meet inside the facility itself.

Brandon is never pointed out as anything particularly special or more important than the other facility heads.

He's probably a dev favorite, or for some reason, Anabel wasn't "leader" material for the anime. You know, the brain of the Frontier's central icon and one who became a head Chief/Boss within Interpol many years later.

3.Why was Anabel written to have Psychic Powers?

Oh you're not going to believe this. But I found that there IS an NPC at the Battle Frontier that is Psychic and can read a Pokemon's mind.

AND IT WAS NEVER ANABEL.

There is a little girl that is often cited to appear a lot at Spencer's Battle Palace. Here's her dialogue:

"Ehehe! I can tell what POKÈMON are thinking! Please! Can I see your POKÈMON?" + "That's silly! An EGG is asleep! I can't talk to it!"

Supplementary NPC dialogue:

"How charming! That little lady claims she can understand POKÈMON!" Beyond this, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald has an unfortunate Psychic Trainer generic NPC that looks like this:

So the anime writers might have put two and two together that someone who is mysterious and has purple hair MUST be a Psychic type specialist.

Otherwise, the only dialogue in relation to Anabel has absolutely zero implications that she is or was ever psychic to begin with. Which takes me to...

4.Did they change Anabel's personality?

YES.

AND IT'S BAD.

First of all, Lucy got it so much worse. NPCs describe her as a "Scary trainer," with a particular incident causing an NPC to retell their bad encounter with her:

"A while back, I met this older girl at the BATTLE PIKE. She had these eyes that were scary in a real ornery way. She got all furious: "Will you quit eating!" Then she whaled on me. It was a hair-raising kind of scary experience, sure enough."

Another NPC, one who deals in rumors, also titles her as the "Scary Trainer of the Battle Pike."

And she is scary! She doesn't hold back! She tells you firmly that she fought her way to her title, and she IS SUPER PISSED that some kid like you just beat her, telling you to just leave her sight already.

Ahem. IN THE ANIME, Lucy's anime counterpart is kinder and friendlier, probably because kids are watching. But all of her sharp edge is just kinda gone. What's worse, she is so commonly known for a gag in which she was the first woman to "reciprocate" Brock's affections.

For a gag. Because she just liked his close eyes look, as her anime counterpart collects squinty eyed Pokemon like Cyndaquil and Skitty.

Also, Brock is 15. Lucy is stated to be an adult woman in Masters, plus she's pretty tall. The anime is known to de-age characters sometimes but... Echk.

Onto Anabel... Oh sweet Anabel-- Just like Lucy, Anabel's edge was dulled into just being some generic sweet girl for her counterpart. As we know in the games, Anabel is not shy to telling you just how she feels about you; she is not impressed by the rumors she has heard of you, and even when you lose to her in the first battle, she will straight up call it 'disappointing.' She expected nothing and was still disappointed.

Here's some NPC dialogue involving Anabel:

Ace Trainer: "Man! Oh man! I've never lost once before! But I got wiped out with no saving grace at all! And then I'm told I don't have any talent?! Man!" NPC next to Ace Trainer: "This guy ran into a horribly tough TRAINER while he was on the BATTLE TOWER challenge. Now look at him... You need to be cautious if you ever decide to go to the BATTLE TOWER."

Also, Anabel apparently is said that when she's using a fucking Snorlax, Alakazam, and Entei on you, she's trying to "measure up her opponent." When she's serious, she uses Raikou, Snorlax, and Latios.

SHE'S USING AN ENTEI TO MEASURE YOU UP BEFORE BRINGING OUT BIGGER GUNS???

... Anabel in the anime was a joke. Her counterpart was made a glorified psychic type gym leader with none of the very sharp personality she had before. Perhaps kids would have hated a girl who shot down Ash the moment he stepped into her tower. Honestly she could have given him the same treatment Nanu did MAAAAANY seasons later.

But no. Had to be sweet and kind. And had to have a Metagross that dies to a Tauros using Take Down and she also was given an Espeon to replace Snorlax? An Espeon which was just "girly version of Ash's Pikachu" because it had Zap Cannon, Iron Tail, and Quick Attack WHICH IS SUCH A BAD MOVEPOOL FOR ESPEON GOOD LORD.

And of course, the elephant in the room that this version of Anabel's only fucking thing that people remember is that she had a crush on Ash. Why? Because May was being rewritten to have a thing with Drew so Ash needed a "romance"(?) for some reason. Not like it even went anywhere or was ever needed? They had no romantic interactions and it was basically a last minute reveal that she gained feelings for him just out of nowhere. Ultimately, Anabel never came back, and this entire point was practically retconned or erased from existence as OTHER girls later down the line would fill the "romantic undertones" role for the season/series, each one making the former fucking meaningless.

Plus, Anabel and Lucy in Emerald are both referred to as "Older Girls", possibly a localization of "Oneesan", with Anabel being a bit taller than May and Brendan in Emerald, so her original appearance was most likely at the very least a teenager older than the protags? Not that it's TOO bad echk but... CHRIST. WHAT WAS THE POINT? WHY???

The only point for Lucy and Anabel to have pointless crushes and character changes to be appealing and sweet and kind is because "Boys only like girls who are cute and like them and aren't combative."

let's be fucking REAL HERE THIS IS ALSO WHY ANABEL WASN'T THE LEADER OF THE BRAINS and she never kept her original pokemon and ARGH. THAT ISN'T ANABEL THAT'S JUST A SKIN WALKER.

salt over im so angry good lord. People thought this was Anabel for YEARS. Can you believe it??

Whew this was a long one.

5.Why was the Hoenn Battle Frontier in Kanto?

Firered and Leafgreen promotion :'y Had to be made a Kanto thing to "mix the elements" of FRGL and Emerald. This was hilariously walked back on when Ash revisited the Frontier in Journeys... Now exactly in Hoenn and appearing exactly as it did in the games with none of the frontier brains actually appearing.

You can tell they totally have no regrets about doing it the other way. :))))

6.Why did Anipoke do so many changes?

Not out of malicious intent.

The pokemon anime was always primarily made for kids. It's going to have cheerful adventures, and I can see why perhaps Lucy shouldn't be a scary woman on screen or why an adult like Brandon would be easier to see as the "big leader" of the brains due to being an older man.

Lots of decisions were made with kids in mind... Anabel's competitive and strategic nature would never have been as showy as "heehoo Brandon has THREE LEGENDARIES that means he's the strongest!"

Due to mostly boys watching Pokemon.... Girls got a really bad hand. Girls were apparently written to be changed with each new game series and are probably most remembered by being love interests. This is why no one talks about Greta-- She didn't have a romance. She wasn't tugging at the growing mind's "maybe girls aren't so icky" brain cells, idk.

And frankly, the Battle Frontier would just be boring otherwise, I guess. It's very much an older kid/adult set of facilities for advanced players, and Ash Ketchum is not an advanced player.

He is the representation of the little casual kid who believes in the power of friendship. He's not going to use competitively viable Pokemon he's going to use his iconic starters that sometimes don't evolve because they're cute and have a lot of character as their smaller forms. He's not going to climb a tower of high level trainers nor understand what EVs and IVs are. Hell he usually loses championships because he needs to be moved to the next region to start anew all over again.

So... They wrote the Battle Frontier as just. A glorified Kanto Gym Challenge, as they have done. They looked at the characters and their Pokemon and wrote alternate versions of them all to fit a series that is very kid oriented.

Things needed to make sense for kids. Older adult guys are the leaders, girls get crushes on boys, and Pokemon isn't about competitive play but the power of friendship to overcome all odds.

And unfortunately, because so many players were young and didn't get competitive battling, that was the only thing Anabel and the Frontier Brains were known for. Not their original games; but the heavily revised versions made because they needed to fit a children's TV show.

#/VERGO'S LONG ASS RANT #/it's such a travesty that i genuinely don't think these versions even apply anymore since they're so long ago and so retconned #/they never really were brought up all that much ever again really #/And whenever someone says 'Masters Anabel should have an Espeon' this is why I fucking seeth lmao

[vampire6bux]

you wanna know how to show UP and show DOWN?!? pkmn MASTER style?!?

eeyuup :P im here to help you get started; this guide is meant for thosewho have little to no experience w conpetitive style pokemon battling & team building and the like and dunno wher to start! i have been doing competitive battles since like, 2018, with some off and on time. i don't got anythingBetter on me than them supertryhard tournament guys yk, but, i play for fun, and i have fun, and so, if you wanna have fun, and play games, then this is for youuuu !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this guide will go over things such as what the numbers & words you see commonly around competitive mean, set building, team archetypes, and other tips and tricks to improve!!! while this will mostly refer to showdown and how pokemon appear on the simulator, a lot of this can also be applied to the official games, if you prefer todo your battling there like the sun/moon battlespot.

the beginning; in ordeer to understand everything else that goes on, you have to understand stats, natures, and evs, and how they affect everything else. because this pertains to showdown, i wont talk about IVs, sincethey're automatically set to be perfect when you make your team...

hp ispretty straightforward, your hit points, your health. attack (atk) is what determines how much damage you do with physical attacks only defense (def) is what reduces the damage you take from physical attacks only (and psyshock, psystrike, and secret sword, which are special moves that use def instead of sp def.) special attack (sp atk) is what determines how much damage you deal with special attacks only special defense (sp def) is what reduces the damage you take from special attacks only speed (spe) is what determines who is able to move first in a match, in the case that your opponent is not using a priority move like sucker punch

natures add 10% to one stat and -10% to another stat, save for hp, after evs are calculated... here is a guide to How each nature affects your pokemon below ↓ (source) :D

the natures highlighted in gray (bashful, docile, hardy, quirky, serious) are neutral natures that have no effect on stats.

evs increase your pokemons stats depending on where you invest them; they can have 510 total when fully maxed, with 252 being the max allowed in one stat. 4 evs is equal to +1 in a stat, so if you had a base spe value of 92, investing 8 evs would make it 94. in the games you can train evs by using items (ex. power weights, carbos, clever feather, any sort of mints)

let us put this in perspective... teambuilding; lets say you want to build a team around arcanine becuz, Buppy, here are its base stats:

hp: 90 atk: 110 def: 80 sp atk: 100 sp def: 80 spe: 95

first thing to notice is the two attack stats; arcanine has a slightly higher physical attack than special attack, making it better to use as a physical attacker. it also has a decent base speed, allowing it to outpace a lot of popular tanks and walls like bastiodon or tyranitar, and so, you can categorize it as a wallbreaker.

next, lets see the movepool: a wallbreaker needs to be capable of restoring health while it decimates the walls in front of it. arcanine can learn morning sun, which covers that category. for offense, it has a really good STAB (same type attack bonus) in flare blitz. normally you could worry about the 1/3 recoil, but morning sun makes up for that. extreme speed is good to use in an arcanine wallbreaker because it usually goes first and allows you do deal damage as fast as possible. the fourth slot could be a status move like will-o-wisp to keep chipping away at your opponent.

for the nature; an adamant (+atk -sp atk) or jolly (+spe -sp atk) nature would work well with this, as adamant allows arcanine to increase its atk even further, or raise its speed more and allow it a better chance of moving first. (using natures that decrease special attack is alright, because all of the moves highlighted in the previous section are physical moves, we wont be using special attack at all in this set)

an item can change everything; you should always give your pokemon an item, and for this set, life orb does the trick (1.3x the damage, for 1/10 of the user's hp). taking extra damage is okay, because morning sun will make up the damage, and because arcanine forces a lot of switches, you can predict the turns your opponent will switch out to heal.

evs finally; arcanine has decent stats all around, it's not anything to brag about, but to be a wallbreaker, we should invest in hp, physical attack, and speed. we can distribute the 510 points like this: 120 to hp (+30) 152 to atk (+38) 236 to spe (+59) deciding evs can be difficult for newer players, so you can simply look for the smogon page for arcanine (which i took the set from for this example) and see how they distribute it based on what niche arcanine is going to cover.

we have the set now, lets see how it looks in the showdown teambuilder !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Small Pie (Arcanine) (F) @ Life Orb Ability: Intimidate Tera Type: Fire EVs: 120 HP / 152 Atk / 236 Spe Jolly Nature

Morning Sun

Flare Blitz

Extreme Speed

Will-O-Wisp

this is how exportable sets look on showdown, its best to familiariz yourself with it :)c

after this, you need 5 more pokemon that can cover arcanine's weaknesses (this arcanine could be deeply troubled by entry hazards due to flare blitz and life orb, plus switching in and out often) and are helped by its strengths (a pokemon that can ohko water types maybe, like venusaur)

teambuilding is hard and time consuming if you don't know what you're doing, so here are some resources with premade teams you can practice with; here is the OU bazaar for gen 9 and here's the OU sample teams thread as well :) of course, always feel free to experiment! don't let the current meta prevent you from doing what you wanna do, underused pokemon can really throw off your opponent :P

AWESOME!! so now youve got your team, and hopefully you understand what they do and how they work, now you get to battle; its important to find your playstyle, and you can switch through them and see which one fits you the best or you have the most fun with :D there are a few main styles that can be recognized in the showdown scene:

hyper offense: this is what it sounds like, its about hitting hard and fast and forcing your opponent to stay on their toes. usually there is a dedicated lead that sets up hazards and every pokemon that follows is meant to deal as much damage as possible, aiming for ohkos or 2hkos. it requires a lot of switching in and out though, which makes it dangerous if your opponent has also set up hazards because you'll just keep taking damage, so a pokemon with acess to rapid spin, magic bounce, or a maushold with tidy up. being able to predict your opponent is EVERYTHING, one miscalculation can mean an unavoidable loss (hyper offense = wall breakers + sweepers + cleaners + hazard lead)

bulky offense: this is a sort of safer bet than hyper offense; they rely on having defensive pokemon to tank damage before pivotingthe setup sweepers and wallbreakers out to wreak havoc. moves like U turn and flip turn that return the user and switch to another are integral to this style, as well as priority moves and choice items. (bulky offense = pivots + wallbreakers + sweepers)

balance: this is what id consider the healthy middle ground between hyper offense and stall styles..balance teams have a strong defense but also strong wallbreakers that can deal massive damage; whittling down the opposing team with status conditions or multi-hit attacks until they can safely bring in their sweepers and wallbreakers. moves like rapid spin and defog are often on these teams to allow their walls to switch in + maintain the health of their offensive pokemon. (balance = wallbreakers + sweepers + hazards + pivots)

semi-stall: this is the nicer younger cousin to the full stall style, basically it uses multiple walls to compliment one bulky sweeper. it takes a loooottt of planning to carry this one out and patience too, because you can really only wear down the opponent and clean up, so moves like curse and calm mind are common to see. its just mostly defensive pokemon, passive damage is everything, and your sweeper can help you get out of sticky situations, your offense is there to support your defense, opposite than most of the other archetypes. and it sucks so bad to battle against drives me nuts. (semi stall = 5 defensive + 1 sweeper)

stall: this is the last archetype! all pokemon on this team are gonna be bulky walls, and it doesn't have a sweeper to support them. it's 100% defense, you're gonna win by waiting for the other team to completely faint with slow residual damage from entry hazards, burns, poisoning, etc. i've seen people even wait for the opponent to run out of PP while healing themselves, it takes forever. that's why it's called stalling. LOL. (stall = all walls)

when you find a archetype that fits you, you can stick with it, play to your strengths and cover your weaknesses!

i'm not going into cores and synergy and all of that jazz now so that's about all i have for you, but i'll leave some tips!

don't be afraid to switch out your pokemon! if you feel like its safe to do so, but you aren't, just do it! either way, you learn more about how to predict what moves are safe to take and not

figure out which pokemon you feel most comfortable with throwing out first/who your lead is. also look at your opponent's team and decide based on that, too! if they have an iron valiant, maybe don't send out that baxcalibur. you'll learn how best to pick your lead with practice

never risk losing the pokemon that helps you win; if you have one mon you would consider your "ace", one that always saves you by ohkoing like three mons on the other team, save them until necessary!!!

in showdown, you can type "/calc" in chat to see the damage calculator- play with it :P it helps a lot

save your replays! do random battles! do ubers! see what your opponent is doing! learn how to counter it! get a feel for how other people tend to play and how you can keep up against it

and of course have fun :P

i hope this will help someone :D yaayyy i did it

#pokemon #pokemon showdown #pkmn #pokemon battling #idk what sort of tags to use for this? idk what tags ppl use becuz the pkmn tags r mostly fandom stuff .. well.. those who wan to find this #will find it i believe

[casteliacityramen]

Munday Lore Post: Threat Assessment - Humanity

Preface:

I have made it my goal to live amongst them, so my perception is understandably biased. That being said, like my last assessment and the ones before this one, I still wholeheartedly believe that humanity should be inducted into the Order of Arceus.

Description:

Humans are bipedal mammals that exhibit anomalous behaviors, bodily functions, and capabilities. Their genetics are a scrambled mess. The average human holds little to no Aura, Psychic Abilities, or Physical Strengths that would put them on par with even the mildest of pokemon.

Their offspring are even born in extremely vulnerable conditions, as opposed to pokemon who have proper time to incubate into functional sapient beings.

Humanity, as a whole, is fragile and anomalous. It's almost as if their existence was a mistake.

If you asked me last assessment, classifying them as pokemon would be erroneous. However, their bodies have been slowly adapting over the past century. More can access latent aura abilities. More psychics are born. Their tolerances to pain and stress are increasing, as well as their inherent physical strength.

Their lower lifespans and fragile nature is nothing but an obstacle to overcome. Their ability to innovate is unmatched, even in comparison to our artificers. If they have a problem, they will brute force their way to a solution, even if some of the results end in certain death. They've built complex tools and machines; flown, swam, and lived through environments they were never meant to be in; and have bested the odds time and time again. It's as fascinating as it is inspiring.

Assessment:

Humanity's ability to cooperate with each other and other pokemon are unparalleled amongst any other pokemon. Arguably, if life was a competition as to see who can build the most complex societies, humanity would come first "by a country mile," as the Unovans call it. I'd argue that it even puts the Order to shame.

Humanity is coming into another renaissance, this time, surrounding culture and cooperation after their previous industrial renaissance. International cooperation is at an all time high, and continuing to rise. This time, I believe that they intend to bring the rest of existence with them on this journey.

Pokemon life, as we know it, is about to become fundamentally different than ever before. Soon, there may even be a time where pokemon can innovate as well as humanity, given that they have the societal structure to no longer worry about basic needs.

It's always been our responsibility, as relfected in The Order's Creed, to guide existence towards enlightenment, but the relationship has been mutual. The Order uses their technology, re-organized multiple times to match their societal structures, and took inspiration from their innovations to create our own.

I believe that Humanity is the overt counterpart to our covert role in history. It's as if they have taken our role as Shepherds, Stewards, Scribes, Artificers, and even Councilors, to guide the world towards peace and enlightenment, and I still stand by this claim after their tumultuous times during and after the Kanto-Johto War. If anything, it's a testament to humanity's inherent cooperative nature that they have only had a full scale conflict every one thousand years.

This will undoubtedly be another contentious decision, but I motion that humanity be inducted into the Order. I believe that humanity will be able to do astronomically more things with Arceus's blessing than we ever can. I ask you all to reconsider your past decisions.

Scribe and Artificer J.

MOTION: DENIED

#pokenoa #pokeask #pokemon headcanon #pokemon worldbuilding #writers on tumblr #munday lore post

[weaselandfriends]

So you are going to make a fanfic about Pokemon, huh.

Are you a pokemon fan? Or you known about the franchise enough? or is a case of you, waking up one day and thinking:" I'm going to make a Pokemon Fan-Fic!" And started to consume media from it in order to make a story?

I was a child in 1998.

During that initial invasion of Pokemon into the West, when Pokemon was far more than simply the "most profitable media property in the world" that it is today, when it was a tidal wave phenomenon that swept away an entire continent, I was something of a Pokemaniac. I had Blue Version, Red Version, Yellow Version, Pokemon Pinball, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Puzzle League, Hey You Pikachu. I had (and still have) every single card from the first three TGC sets, included the oh-so-vaunted holographic Charizard card. I had Pokemon figurines, I had toy Poke Balls, I had Pokemon stickers, I had Pokemon stamps, I had Pokemon clothes, I had Pokemon strategy guides, I had Pokemon choose your own adventure novels. I had the then-complete runs of both Pokemon Adventures and Electric Tale of Pikachu (I vastly preferred the latter). I would wake up early every day to watch the Pokemon anime on TV. I went to Pokemon The First Movie opening day and remember walking into a theater packed to the brim only to hear a man scream—to my delight and assuredly my mother's horror—"SEATS IN THE FRONT ROW!"

Of course, it's been 25 years since 1998. I've played most of the mainline games since then (GSC, RSE, DPP, SuMo, and recently SV). I've seen a few of the endless array of movies. For some reason I watched the entire SuMo anime. So yeah, I still like Pokemon.

Is it my favorite thing ever? No. The unfortunate reality is the games are pretty formulaic and often have questionable design choices. It's not like Mario or Zelda, other nostalgic Nintendo series, where the devs put their heart and soul into each new mainline installment.

But the fundamentally fascinating elements of its world continue to interest me. I've always seen the Pokemon world as a near-future nigh-utopia, clean and neat and orderly, with large swaths of the population free to pursue their hobbies rather than slave away at some useless job. I've always wanted to delve into such a world narratively, as opposed to the endless dystopias that seem to clog contemporary fiction.

Chicago was written as a kind of critical response to To the Stars, which is a utopian story that glosses over the steps taken to reach utopia. I wanted to peer more deeply at how a world akin to that in To the Stars might actually be created, the kind of political turmoil and upheaval required to eventually integrate the panacea to mankind's ill—magic—into functional society. A Pokemon story would instead be about the utopia itself. What does it mean for society that children are not simply allowed but encouraged to leave home at 10 to pursue a vague, unstructured path to become what is basically a competitive sports athlete? What has had to happen to society for such a thing to be not simply okay, but preferred? And what does it mean for that society's future development, especially considering a world where rapid evolution of generally symbiotic non-human creatures is possible? And why, in this peaceful and low-scarcity world, are there so many insane doomsday death cults essentially seeking to usher in the apocalypse?

There are two works of literature that particularly influenced the direction of my idea for a Pokemon fanfic. The first is Eyeless in Gaza (unfortunately topical title) by Aldous Huxley of Brave New World fame. Gaza is a mostly autobiographical story touching on a variety of topics, and one chapter near its end involves the main character traveling to Central America, where he meets a strange, idealistic man named Dr. Miller. Dr. Miller espouses many ideas about anthropology, especially ones critical of or antithetical to British imperialist pseudo-scientific anthropology: "An anthropologist is a person who studies men," he says, "but you prefer to deal with bugs. I'd call you an entomologist [...] the only remedy is for the bug-hunter to throw his bayonets away and treat the bugs as though they were human beings." But the most interesting thing he talks about, the thing that has stuck with me more than anything else in the otherwise mediocre novel, is soccer.

"But [football is] the greatest English contribution to civilization," said the doctor. "Much more important than parliamentary government, or steam engines, or Newton's Principia. More important even than English poetry. Poetry can never be a substitute for war and murder. Whereas games can be. A complete and genuine substitute."

Dr. Miller envisions a world where competitive sports replace the destructive and combative elements of humanity; he teaches soccer to small Mexican tribes as a way to settle their differences instead of war. What does a utopian society look like that has replaced conflict with competitive sport at a grand, worldwide scale? In our world, the Olympics are often spoken of in similar terms, but Pokemon appears to have actually accomplished this lofty goal, to the point that becoming a trainer at 10 is more important than standard education. By setting my fanfic at a prestigious, global tournament, I become perfectly posed to explore this question...

The other point of inspiration comes from Underground, Haruki Murakami's nonfiction account of the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attacks committed by the cult Aum Shinrikyo. The book contains numerous interviews with both survivors of the attacks themselves and former members of the cult, and ends with Murakami's essay on how the Japanese social psyche allowed this event to occur. Describing the cult members he interviewed, he says:

To all of them I posed the same question, that is, whether they regretted having joined Aum. Almost everyone answered: "No, I have no regrets. I don't think those years were wasted." Why is that? The answer is simple—because in Aum they found a purity of purpose they could not find in ordinary society.

This idea of "purity of purpose unfound in ordinary society," what does that mean in a society like Pokemon's? In a utopian society, where nearly all needs are met? Where sports replaces conflict?

Anyway, I've started to veer off topic, so I'll cut it short there. I'm incredibly excited for this project, so I hope all of you decide to give it a read when I finish!

#writing #bavitz #pokemon #eyeless in gaza #underground

[alexanders-pokemon-adventure]

Endless mountains, adoption drive

Endless mountain adoption Drive(sponsored and run by AL.co) we have three pokemon looking for their forever homes $10 USD per pokemon ,PayPal only. First come first serve.(Message me for PayPal email if interested)

Torchic(silky)////////////////////////////available

Horsea(sindonis[painted])///////available

meditite/Volbeat (hybrid)/////////available

(additional evolutions can be designed for additional cost at request ,message for more information)

Introduction

In the heart of the Endless Mountains ,in Sheldon city you find yourself approaching a dark blue open tent, outside the regions, head professor ,Prof Apricot’s lab. Summer is raging in the endless mountains and a large wind gusting fan blowing under the blue tent Drew you away from the bustling city life to escape the humidity, and heat. As you approach a man wearing a shirt, the same blue as the tent smiles at you ,waving you over and introduce them self

. “ hello stranger. I’m Alexander” they shake your hand in greeting. “ and I am this year the volunteer running the endless mountain adoption drive.” . Guiding you more under the shade of the tent and the relieving breeze of the fan Alexander introduces you to three Pokémon available for adoption at the moment. “ we’ve got three looking for their forever home and if you’re interested?”Three small forms, all drew closer to the two of you

The first to reach you was a mass of soft, yellow orange feathers, smoking from its beak. It’s sang in victory in reaching you first. “This competitive young lady” Alexander informed you is a “ Silky “ Variant Torchic. Bread for their wonderfully soft and long feathers , this particular breed is very popular in competition with the added benefit that as they grow they learn a variety flying type moves.” This little lady who surrendered to Professor apricot as an egg and hatched full of zeal.”

The second to reach you hopping and stumbling and laughing was … some thing you didn’t quite recognized. it looked like a little blue person wearing a costume, like someone small child escaped from the sight of their parents. “This mischievous little fella was surrender to Professor Apricot a month ago when a screeners Medicham fell pregnant by accident” Alexander said, explaining that the trainer didn’t know what they were but prof apricot was certain their father was a Volbeat and that alex agreed. The hybrids luminescent cheeks blushed when you made eye contact with them. They waved sheepishly at you. “ the professor, and I are pretty sure that they’re a bug/fighting type, but with hybrids things like typing may change with time”The final form moved in a hopping motion, a blur of color. Multi-chromatic eyes met yours, while they couldn’t really smile, you thought you could see one in their eyes. It’s a elongated body rested next to the other two. Bright, red and brown Bronzie Hughes covered his body.

“This fella is a “Sindonis”variant Horsea” Alex said “ though colloquially they’re called Painted Horsea” . Alex explained that He was a surrendered to Professor Apricot a few months ago by a family who purchased him for their young child , but after realizing that neither of a them, nor the child, had any intention of actually taking care of them, drop them off. While this variant of Horsea generally live in coral reefs. They’re actually pure fairy type. “ better to fight dragons.” Alex said smiling

Alex, smiled down at the three of them “each of them is ready to start a new chapters of their life . Looking for an adventure, and home of their own.”

#pokemon adoptables #pokemon #pkmn #art commisions #commisionwork #commission #pokemon art #alexander’s pokémon adventure #pkmnart #pkmn fanart #pokeart #pokemon oc #pokemonartist #pokemonart #torchic #horsea #volbeat #meditite #art

[moonshotpods]

Moonshot Network is opening for YOUR podcast pitches this Friday! But who even ARE we? What does that mean? How do you even send a pitch????

Good news: we’ve made this handy slideshow in order to answer all those questions, and also questions you didn’t even know you had! It’s a condensed version of our official pitch guide, to save you the trouble of clicking through to the GDoc link! You can also find the full plain text below the cut here.

What is Moonshot and why should I pitch you my podcast, anyway?

WHO WE ARE

Moonshot is a podcast network built on creative collaborations and far-out ideas. Some of our work includes: podcast seasons recorded in 24 hours, a dunk tank fundraiser stream, amateur Pokemon competitions, fanfiction actual plays, and deep media analysis of things like Saw, Christmas music, Harlequin romance novels, and the Halo 3 alternate reality game.

Our primary goal  is to be a home for out-there ideas, shorter and seasonal projects, and experiments in the podcast medium that might not fit in anywhere else. We aim to provide the enthusiasm, the structure, and support for our members to work on their dream projects.

Our second goal is giving first-time and early-career creators the tools they need for a successful start. We feel strongly that podcasting should not be a gatekept medium, and aim to support new creators with the funding and guidance to make their show a success.

WHAT WE HOST

Here are some examples of shows currently on our network:

ARGonauts Podcast: Andrew and Marn do deep dives into the niche world of alternate reality games and the people who create them.

Riley Hopkins and Their Amazing Friends: Short-form actual play series and one-offs that focus on transformative fanwork and crossovers of established shows/franchises/characters.

I’ll Be Pod For Castmas: A seasonal podcast released in July and December where Juliet and Katherine pick a piece of holiday pop culture and discuss it through the lens of a piece of topical classic literature.

After School Anime Club: Max, Max, and Stevie take a nostalgia trip back to the anime of their youth, and play game shows about it along the way.

The Podcast Mines: There But For The Grace Of Pod Go We: Riley and Andrew pitch each other podcasts, talk about the medium of podcasting, and sometimes do neither of those things.

WHAT WE OFFER

We offer network members a lot of perks, including:

Coverage of hosting costs, plus access to Pinecast's advanced analytics

A pre-existing community of fans and listeners to introduce your show to

Collaborative network shows with monthly spots for guest hosts

Other podcasters to talk shop and collaborate with in our creators-only Discord

Assets for streaming, a Twitch channel, and (time permitting) a stream producer

Subscriptions to Soundstripe (royalty-free music ) and Otter.ai (transcription services)

Optional participation in large group charity livestreams

OKAY...HOW DO I PITCH?

If you’re a creator looking to pitch us on a not-yet-published show, send us:

A strong pitch of your idea - what the base premise of the show is, an introduction to the regular hosts, what topics you hope to cover, and anything else that feels relevant. For audio dramas, feel free to send us an outline of the plot alongside the basic pitch!

A recorded and edited pilot episode.

OPTIONAL: More sample episodes, if you’ve already recorded them.

OPTIONAL: More scripted episodes, if you’re making an audio drama.

Examples of your past audio work. If you don’t have any, don’t worry! As long as your pitch is solid, you don’t need to have prior experience.

If you’re a creator looking to pitch an ongoing/established show, you’ll need:

A link to your feed.

Links to 3-5 episodes that exemplify what your show is about, and what it sounds like at its best.

If you’re a creator that has a pitch that is outside of these two options:

3-5 episodes in some format.

A solid pitch for why we should take on your show!

Please send these things to [email protected] with the subject line PITCH: [Your Podcast Name Here]. The body of your email should include a brief introduction of yourself, your podcast, and any cohosts; followed by links to the above requested content.

If you’re a new creator and have any sort of roadmap for your show, including an outline (for fiction shows) or a list of content you’re going to cover in future episodes (for nonfiction), we’d love to see those too! Please also include links to your and your cohosts’ social media.

Our inbox opens for pitches on November 25th! We hope to see you there!

#podcasts #podcast network #open submission #call for submission

[nanjokei]

i think the spread of character ai usage (and ai art generation usage also) is definitely an issue with people wanting instant gratification which actual rp usually is just not sustainably built for unless you're doing chat rp, even then your friends aren't awake 24/7 waiting at beck and call to entertain you. it's not literally entitlement, but it 100% stems from entitlement to be entertained constantly and passively instead of actually going out and finding something to do.

god this sounds like such boomer shit but the creation of endless scrolling like on tiktok with specifically tailored algorithms has made people so PASSIVE. ai can never come close to human creators but if people, especially the younger generation, are getting too cozy with choosing it over seeking out other human beings (whether it be indirectly via consuming fanmade work or directly via actual collaborative stuff like online roleplay), then how different is it from the ai "winning"? i don't think any of the excuses are valid. it's a subpar product in every way. it's almost never im character, it breaks if you propose anything too left field, and it's ultimately empty wish fulfilment and i have no idea how anyone past the age of 16 AT BEST gets any gratification from it. is it just the spread of a lack of reading comprehension? OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!

i do think it's an issue of people not being comfortable with boredom, always needing instant gratification, not wanting to sit down and hone a craft, or give the people who hone a craft themselves the time of day because they can't crank out """content""" for you 24/7. in a way, i'm thinking right now, when i'm bored i just channel surf on tv even if i don't do it as much anymore. but most people don't have tv anymore (personally we pirate iptv so LOL). i don't blame it on that necessarily, but i think with the rise of streaming, you just sit there on a media library staring at a bunch of thumbnails and posters, having to make a decision on how to invest your time. in this case, i get why people are so passive. tiktok is easier, character ai is easier. because i never ended up watching anything whenever i opened netflix (when we had it years ago). one could argue that watching tv is passive, but there's still a choice. you check the tv guide or google it and you know a certain show is on tv a certain channel at a certain time so you keep that in mind. what do you do in the meanwhile? i remember when that was an actual routine for me. i'd be slacking and not doing my homework, so maybe i'd draw a bit, maybe i play on my ds for a while, maybe i go make myself a snack or bake some pastries if i have all day, maybe i continue a book or even surf the web a bit.

the instinct of "aight, im gonna do something else on my own while i wait" is kind of dying. yes i'm on my phone! the difference is my use case. these days i'm not on social media aside from here so i don't use it as much aside from talking to friends on messaging clients and playing games (rarely tho). i say this as someone who stares at the ceiling not doing anything for a good bit each day, but at least i feel like i still have retained some ability to sometimes go, ok time to learn about a new hobby! i don't have to even pick it up. just entertaining it is gratifying on its own. i'm not a writer, but sometimes i'll write a little bit for fun then go "yeah i get why i don't jive with this". lately, i've been interested in competitive pokemon (with not much interest before) because i've been replaying platinum. i research a bit, watch videos, i even got a little brave and tested some sample teams on showdown. it was a fun time killer! i might keep doing it. i might even do it later today. i started reading pokespe too to scratch the pokemon itch too. and it's not like i don't suffer from crazy hard executive dysfunction but hey, this is a product of my effort. lately i've been thinking i wanna pick a character in guilty gear and learn at least one combo! trying new things is fun!!!

i'm sure this post sounds self important, self impressed, self absorbed (c-c-c-combo breaker) and boomer ish as fuck but honestly i don't care anymore. if someone who struggles with simple tasks on the daily like me can find shit to do that isn't just instantly caving to endless scrolling and resorting to chatting up an AI then i'm sure most people can too. it is so much more gratifying actively seeking out fun than to be passive about it.

#rambles #long post

[antihibikase2]

Pokemon Blur - Chapter 1 : The Magician

At the lookout of Aspertia, dreams are shared.

Divine dragons of Truth and Ideals, heed the prayers of a foolish heart.

As we leave the sanctity of your temple, guide us through the darkest night with your brightest of stars.

...

The afternoon chatter of Aspertia City is lively- small shops and stalls open to welcome locals and tourists alike, as children run down the streets with toys in hand, accompanied by their Pokemon.

In the corner of the newly renovated trainer school, a dark-haired boy gazes at the presence of a man in a spiffy white suit and a pair of sunglasses standing in front of the entrance, head held high.

But, the most striking part of his outfit had to be the brooch he wore on the collar of his blazer, gleaming gold.

"Which means-"

He lifts up his goggles, resting them on his head of spiky hair.

By his side, a smaller girl with a similiar, albeit fluffier hairstyle looks up at him eagerly.

"-this is going to be the new gym, and that guy is the new gym guide."

"No way! In our neighborhood?"

"Right on," He grins. "It's perfect. That means a lot of trainers here in Aspertia City will finally be able to properly train for themselves- and not just any kind of training,"

Taking his Lure Ball from his belt, he fiddles with it in his gloved hands, eager to send out his partner and test out his skills.

"All regional leagues are competitive, but Unova is something else entirely- it's such a massive competitive scene that they have to keep honing their skills, or they'll get replaced by up and coming trainers."

He spins the ball in one finger.

"Did you know that the gym leader who's held the position the longest is Drayden of Opelucid City?"

"He's the,"

The little girl tilts her head.

"Umm, the grandpa with the big beard?"

"Yeah! He's been around since before you were born!"

"He's that old?"

She tilts her head to the other side, finger placed on her bottom lip.

"Hey, big brother, how old is Mr. Drayden?"

"He's-"

"Didn't you know, Aya? He's like reaaaaaaally old."

Hugh turns around.

What greets him are blue eyes barely concealed by the rim of a pink and white visor, a catty smile, and a pair of buns atop someone's head, perfectly circular- like the lumps of a Seismitoad.

Atop her shoulder is a thoughtless, preening Ducklett, blankly staring at Hugh and Aya- before flapping its wings and gently landing in Aya's arms with a pleased quack.

"Rosa!"

"Hey, Hughy!" She grins. "I had some time to kill, so I thought I'd drop by!"

"But big sister," Aya looks up, her hand gently stroking Ducklett's head. "You're always free."

"Yeah," Hugh snorts. "It's not like you actually do anything."

"Hey, I'm getting there! Honestly," She puffs her cheeks. "I trek all the way here from Virbank, and this is the thanks I get?"

"It's not that difficult for you, isn't it? You have a party already."

"Three Pokemon barely counts as a party, Hughy! Lively company shortens the miles-"

She snaps her fingers.

Ducklett squawks, squirming out of Aya's arms and flapping its wings back to settle onto Rosa's head.

"-and I'm dying to see what Pokemon is out there!"

Hugh nods, hand gripping onto his Lure Ball.

He understood that sentiment far too well.

Despite him and Rosa already having Pokemon of their own, fully capable of venturing into the world, they stay in the southwest part of Unova, separated from the rest of the mainland.

They could have left earlier on, but-

"Now that it's all three of us with Pokemon," Hugh tucks the Pokeball back into his belt. "Unova won't be so scary."

"Definitely. Two years ago was such a mess, big sis and I had a bad fight about going on a journey in the first place!"

"Who won?"

"Definitely not pops," She twirls a strand of her hair. "But, with big sis being a new gym leader and all, she has a little more insight on the stuff ongoing at the league- hopefully, that eases her nerves."

Hugh hoped so too.

It would be a shame if they missed out on adventuring like the rest of the kids their age had experienced, all because of some crooks terrorizing the streets of the region.

That didn't sit right with him at all- to remain sheltered, terrified, all because of petty Pokemon thieves.

"And speaking of journey,"

Rosa tilts her head playfully, arms behind her back.

"Where on earth is Natey?"

...

Bianca rushed headfirst into the city as soon as she glanced down at the time on her Xtransceiver- and realized she'd been talking Alder's ear off for more than just an hour.

"Ohhh, Bianca, why now of all days?!"

She curses herself, nearly tripping to her face as she tried to navigate around the streets. She swings around the briefcase in her hands, apologizing repeatedly to the poor Pokemon inside, as she tries to look for a sign, a person- anything, to guide her.

Then she spots a familiar head of white hair- right in front of the local trainer school no less.

"Oh, oh! Clyde!"

"Miss Bianca?"

She takes a few steps in front of him, sighing in relief. "You are here! I thought you weren't assigned to come here until next week!"

The man grins, adjusting his pair of sunglasses- he hasn't aged a bit.

"Well, I couldn't sleep a wink- not when I'm being stationed somewhere new. The sights at Castelia have been getting boring these past few years, so I thought there was no harm in coming early-"

He glances proudly up at the sign.

"And I must admit, this seems like a fresh start for all of you kids. Especially the new gym leader. I just had to come and assist him as soon as I could."

Gym leader- it was still amazing for Bianca to hear about how far her friend has come.

"But, ah, I think he's busied himself in the ranch?"

"Oh, yeah! We all went to Alder's place together, he left not long after he had some tea with us, and-"

She remembers why she approached him.

"Oh, oh! Right! The lookout- do you know where it is?"

"Lookout?"

"Yes! The professor asked me to deliver a Pokemon and Pokedex for a little boy-"

"A little boy!" Clyde doesn't take long to tap into his memory. "Hm, how little are we talking about?"

"Wuh-? Um, the professor said her friend said her kid is quite small-"

"Then he just passed by me,"

He points to a street on his left.

"You must have missed it, but just before the gate, there will be steps leading you to the lookout. It's not too far from the school."

He flashes her a charming grin.

"I saw quite a little boy earlier, cheering about how he was going to get his first Pokemon today! The locals seemed to know him very well."

Not a single one passed by without greeting him after all.

"So he's already there- shoot, I must have kept him waiting," She adjusts her grip on the suitcase with one hand, fixing her glasses with the other. "Oh, we've got to chat over tea sometimes, Clyde!"

"No worries, Miss Bianca!"

He waves as she begins to run to her destination; though others may see her as flighty and airheaded, she was just as hardworking as ever.

Perhaps even more so than he last saw her- all of these kids were.

"Ah, to see them grow into such responsible teenagers,"

Suddenly, he felt like he had two years ago, seeing a peculiar trio standing in front of his boss Burgh's gym- a girl with a green hat, a boy with red glasses, and-

"Hero of Truth, are you seeing this now, I wonder?"

The boy with the red cap- he looked an awful lot like that little boy that passed by him.

...

Something about the spring breeze was different this year.

Granted, it wasn't the same last year either- the chaos at the mainland due to Team Plasma was an event that rocked Unova to its core, shattering a truth that had guided the region and its citizens for many years.

Of course Nate knew they were scum- it wasn't as if Aspertia City was left forgotten in the wake of their terror.

Though they've disbanded with the disappearance of their king, their message lives on in the mouths of many- and there were few who chose to live by their ideals, releasing their Pokemon into the wild.

Nate lets out a deep breath- one he hadn't been aware he was holding.

"Doesn't matter where they are now, I guess- because worrying isn't my style!"

He pumps his fist into the air.

Atop Aspertia's lookout, he felt on top of the world- and nothing was going to bring him down, even with the thought of what had transpired two years ago weighing in his mind.

"I'll be picking daisies! I'll have a trusty Pokemon partner with me, a cool new Pokedex, Hugh and Rosa-"

"Heyyyyyyy!"

His monologue is interrupted by the presence of a stranger.

Blonde hair, a white ribbon in front of her cardigan- and a striking, big green hat.

Big green hat!

"I am so so so sorry for running late, little one,"

Bianca isn't even looking at him as she pants, stumbling from the stairs and onto the ground.

"But I was in the middle of a very important discussion with Mr. Alder about Dream Mist, and then I got sidetracked by Clyde, and-"

She stops her talking, straightening her back- and takes a deep breath.

All Nate could do was watch her in awe, eyes fixated on the briefcase she had in her hands.

"Let's um, do it from the top. My name is-"

She raises her head, meeting the gaze of the newbie trainer-

And she pauses, finding his brown eyes all too familiar.

#bw/bw2 rewrite #bw2 arc

[koraichalcum]

your friendly trainer's guide to: APEX KORAIDON

Something to bear in mind: dont catch him. Actually don't look at him. Don't be within 1000 feet of him. It's probably best you're not even around the crater base at all should he be prowling on the outside walls. He absolutely knew you were coming and in fact is probably hunting you as we speak-

But let's say you miraculously survived and even managed to catch Apex Koraidon.

He hates you.

Oh he absolutely hates you.

The worst thing you can do is mistake him for an animal. Apex is something akin to an ancient misplaced being; he has complex thoughts and needs ( though very angry and very proud ) and basically throwing him in a pokeball is calling him less then that. He's both a predator and a dragon with an incredibly intricate culture, rules and even language and he won't tolerate disrespect or being mistaken as Pokemon in the regular sense of needing domestication or friendship.

And he's still going to actively hunt you out of revenge as soon as your guard is down. Apex is a prehistoric predator, the apex of his time and dominant of his species. He was made in a world without humans and that everyday was one to survive. He's not made for domestication, he does not WANT domestication, an easy or kind living, or companionship. He's evolutions perfect killing machine made to take down mega fauna in solitude. He thrives on territorial clashes, fights with mesozoic giants like Tyrantrum and Roaring Moon over kills, and driving out rivals from his hoards, mates, clutches and territory.

In fact giving him offerings, kind words or otherwise is an insult to a proud ancient dragon and will make him two times as hostile. You're calling him weak, a hatchling, prey or otherwise and any proud dragon and predator would sooner die with their dignity then get help like prey.

And whatever you do DONT pet him, or ride him, or any of that sort unless you want to be trampled, thrown off violently or your limbs going missing. Not unless he says so. A dragon's scales and plume are a mark of power. In his time the brighter more battle worn hides and feathers are to be admired and respected. Touching them without permission or needlessly is a backhand and especially if you attempt to touch the softer underbelly or fringe. Same thing with trying to climb him. As said before, he's not an animal or a tool and doing so is saying different. You're going to be mauled.

A relationship with Apex is near impossible and any exceptions are in the extreme cases or by force like a masterball. In hypotheticals the closest one can get for him to consider you an equal rather then prey or an enemy is being his rival where he considers you as worthy in battle. Things like challenges, bets, and competition in ancient dragon culture is venerable, pitching ones own raw power against another. There is no respect for competitors who cheat or use anything else but their actual strength. Yes even the loser in the bet has at least the dignity that they committed with their power only.

Before being driven away from their kill or den of course.

Apex does not owe any one person his attention, his strength, or his nonexistent friendship. Any working together is usually done by force of circumstance and only for that time. His literal ideal life is hunt, rest, breed offspring, protect his den and hoard and then die if not from injury let it be in battle by a bigger opponent. Nothing else and he's happy with that.

#ooc┇╳ #headcanon tag #hes still actively hunting the remaining professor out of revenge #why the fuck do you want this homicidal bicycle #just paint a cyclizar red and get it angry. youd have a better chance with that then apex koraidon

[lunartonehana]

Pokemon Sun and Moon Series Episode Guide

In honor of the Sun and Moon series finishing 4 years ago, I have made a complete watch guide for the series. Have you never seen the show and want to? Trying to rewatch an episode but can’t remember the number? This guide has it all! This guide also has episodes noted as “filler” in case the episode count is a large commitment (I would recommend watching all the episodes but I get it). There is a notes section at the end where I detail some of the choices I made regarding the guide as well. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Bold = “Plot” episodes. What I consider as “plot” episodes are new captures and evolutions for Ash’s team, story episodes, AND character focuses. Character focuses include pokemon evolving, new captures, Z crystals, and episodes FULLY centered around any of the Alola companions(Lillie, Kiawe, Lana, Mallow, and Sophocles) as well as Team Rocket

Italicized = Episodes that don’t fall under as “plot”. Generally, these episodes establish something new to the series that is frequently referenced back to, so watch them. If you are curious about what it establishes, feel free to ask.

Not bolded = “Filler” episodes, generally skippable episodes that exist on their own.

SM1 - Start of PEAK

SM2 - Ash goes to school and Tapu Koko is here too

SM3 - Rotom debut and Team Rocket arrives

SM4 - Ash meets Rowlet

SM5 - Lana is in charge of a class

SM6 - Ash and Sophocles get stuck in a mall

SM7 - Ash encounters Litten again

SM8 - Lillie is in charge of a Pokemon Egg

SM9 - Mele Mele Trial

SM10 - Mele Mele Grand Trial

SM11 - Ash visits Kiawe’s home

SM12 - Ash and friends go to the beach, so does Team Rocket

SM13 - Pancake race competition

SM14 - Lillie’s Egg hatches

SM15 - Ash and Kukui find out Rockruff’s secret

SM16 - Rowlet and Popplio get separated from their Trainers

SM17 - Ash’s Z Crystal goes missing

SM18 - Ash and Mallow look for a rare ingredient

SM19 - Tapu Koko rematch

SM20 - Ash and Pikachu’s Promise

SM21 - The stray Stoutland gets sick

SM22 - Ash and Litten get stuck in a Palossand

SM23 - Ash and friends go to a Dugtrio concert

SM24 - Delia visits for the Open House

SM25 - Team Rocket vs Team Skull

SM26 - Sophocles moves away

SM27 - Gladion debuts

SM28 - Ash and friends try baseball

SM29 - Camping that turns weird

SM30 - Pokemon partner swap

SM31 - The class heads to Akala Island (Start of Akala Arc)

SM32 - Stoutland searching competition

SM33 - Lana’s Trial

SM34 - An Alolan Marowak causes chaos

SM35 - Ash’s Akala Trial

SM36 - Akala Grand Trial

SM37 - Rockruff goes missing (End of Akala Arc)

SM38 - Mimikyu’s mask rips

SM39 - Mallow runs away from home

SM40 - Lana becomes an apprentice

SM41 - Sophocles enters a Charjabug race

SM42 - Kanto Field Trip (Part 1)

SM43 - Kanto Field Trip (Part 2)

SM44 - Ash finds Cosmog (Start of Nebby Arc)

SM45 - Nebby teleporting shenanigans

SM46 - Ash and friends go to Aether Paradise

SM47 - Ash encounters Gladion again

SM48 - Ash and friends have a sleepover

SM49 - Lillie tries to get her memories back

SM50 - Faba strikes back

SM51 - Lillie and Gladion run away

SM52 - Nebby Arc Climax Part 1

SM53 - Nebby Arc Climax Part 2

SM54 - Nebby Arc Climax Part 3

SM55 - Alolan wedding (End of Nebby Arc)

SM56 - Jigglypuff Shenanigans

SM57 - Rotom jumps between different forms, would recommend to watch

SM58 - Mareanie sees her ex

SM59 - Lana and Mallow reminisce how they met

SM60 - Lillie joins a sledding competition

SM61 - Ultra Guardians Introduction ft. Buzzwole

SM62 - Team Rocket meets an Alolan Meowth

SM63 - Ash meets Royal Mask

SM64 - Ash joins a Passimian team (This episode is not available in the dub, if watching the dub subtract 1 from future episode numbers)

SM65 - Ilima is back at the Pokemon school

SM66 - The better pokemon ping pong episode

SM67 - Ash meets Poipole (Start of Poipole Arc)

SM68 - Ash and friends become nurses; would recommend to watch

SM69 - Sophocles finds a buried Celesteela

SM70 - Kiawe fights against the tourism industry

SM71 - A Dewpider falls in love with Lana (Lana centric, NOT a focus)

SM72 - Mallow’s brother returns home

SM73 - Team Rocket head to Ula Ula to find the Island Kahuna

SM74 - Ash arrives at Ula Ula (Start of Ula Ula Arc)

SM75 - Ash and his team train with Tapu Bulu

SM76 - Ula Ula Trial

SM77 - Ula Ula Grand Trial (End of Ula Ula Arc)

SM78 - Xurkitree and Blacephalon boom boom crackle showdown

SM79 - The class visits Molayne’s Observatory

SM80 - Ash and friends get separated in a cave

SM81 - Ash and Torracat team up with Royal Mask

SM82 - Mallow and the students do a dance assignment

SM83 - Faba’s device shrinks Ash, Lillie, and Sophocles

SM84 - Ash and Poipole meet Mina

SM85 - Stakataka causes chaos

SM86 - Poipole Arc Climax Part 1

SM87 - Poipole Arc Climax Part 2

SM88 - Poipole Arc Climax Part 3

SM89 - Poipole Arc Climax Part 4

SM90 - Poipole Arc Climax Part 5 (End of Poipole Arc)

SM91 - Ash and friends go to a Pikachu valley

SM92 - Royal Mask holds an handshake event and Burnet wants to go

SM93 - The students put on a play; this episode starts the Eevee segments that need to be watched for a future “plot” episode

SM94 - Acerola helps the students make a haunted house for Lana’s sisters

SM95 - Ultra Guardian mission without the Ultra Beast

SM96 - Team Rocket attempts to steal Pokemon at Aether Paradise, a Stufful interferes

SM97 - Ash meets Hau

SM98 - Ash and Rotom argue and are extremely OOC, but please skim and watch the Lillie and Ash convo only it’s very cute and will be referenced in a future plot episode, as well as watching the Eevee segment

SM99 - Eevee gets into trouble (End of Eevee segments)

SM100 - Ash gets stuck in an another world (Part 1)

SM101 - Ash gets stuck in an another world (Part 2)

SM102 - Misty and Brock arrive at Alola

SM103 - The duality of Brock’s character

SM104 - The class heads to Poni Island to do their research projects (Start of Poni Arc)

SM105 - Ash V Gladion Poni Edition

SM106 - Lana and Sophocles do their research projects

SM107 - Kiawe and Mallow do their research projects

SM108 - A mist appears allowing some classmates to see deceased loved ones

SM109 - Poni Grand Trial (End of Poni Arc)

SM110 - Golfing shenanigans with Kahili

SM111 - Ash and friends discover Meltan

SM112 - Rowlet helps Meltan

SM113 - Ash and friends go to a TV Studio, would recommend to watch

SM114 - Pheromosa steals Z crystals, would recommend to watch

SM115 - The Alola League is announced, much to Guzma’s dismay

SM116 - Lillie and Gladion learn more about Mohn

SM117 - Shaymin, Meltan, and Sandy go missing

SM118 - Ash and the students go to Malie Gym

SM119 - Sophocles enters a Vikavolt race

SM120 - Lana finds a Kyogre

SM121 - Mallow helps Oranguru’s cafe

SM122 - Matori visits Team Rocket

SM123 - The students train for the Alola League

SM124 - Kartana cuts everything

SM125 - Ash meets a young Kukui

SM126 - Ash’s Team Shenanigans during previous episode

SM127 - The students train more and Gladion searches for Mohn’s Pokemon

SM128 - Start of Alola League Arc

SM129 - League Battle Royal

SM130 - Alola League First Round

SM131 - Quarter Finals Part 1

SM132 - Quarter Finals Part 2

SM133 - Quarter Finals Part 3

SM134 - Quarter Finals Part 4+Semi Finals Part 1

SM135 - Semi Finals Part 2

SM136 - Semi Finals Part 3

SM137 - Semi Finals Part 4

SM138 - Finals Part 1

SM139 - Finals Part 2

SM140 - League Crisis

SM141 - Exhibition Match Part 1

SM142 - Exhibition Match Part 2

SM143 - Exhibition Match Part 3

SM144 - Exhibition Match Part 4

SM145 - Series Wrap Up

SM146 - Finale

Bonus:

…and if you want more Alola content, the following series, Pokemon Journeys, features 5 episodes based around the Sun and Moon series. Lillie’s final arc gets completed in this series as well, so after finishing Sun and Moon I would recommend watching JN111 in particular to wrap her arc up as well as JN112 because it’s basically just a love letter to the Sun and Moon series.

JN37 - Ash comes back to Alola for the first time in Journeys

JN76 - Ash heads to Alola again, Team Rocket goes to Alola for the first time in Journeys

JN96 - Ash and Goh meet Sophocles in Hoenn

JN111 - Lillie, Gladion, and Lusamine find Mohn

JN112 - Continuation of JN111, everyone reunites with each other at Alola

Notes:

“Filler” and “plot” are noted as such because in my opinion there is no such thing as a filler episode in the Pokemon anime. The term is not applicable to something like the Pokemon anime as there is no true source material. I just use the term to describe episodes that you can skip as they aren’t referenced again.

I opted to be vague about the climaxes in the Nebby Arc, Poipole Arc, and the entirety of the League Arc because explaining anything gives a major spoiler.

I count a single arc as a narrative thread with a clear start and end that lasts for multiple episodes. In the cases of the 3 islands, the end of the arc is the Grand Trial. For what I call the Nebby and Poipole Arc, there is a clear first episode and last episode of the arc.

While the Ultra Guardian missions can come across as not “plot”, I consider them necessary watches because they are tied to the Poipole Arc and to a lesser extent worldbuilding. However any Ultra Guardian mission after the Poipole arc is completed aren’t considered as “plot” in my opinion

Any “filler” episode with the note “would recommend to watch”, are just fun episodes in my opinion. Notably, SM57 has some amazing animation work and SM114 has an amazing battle in it.

This was inspired by @/gifmourningu precure episode guides

#rewatched a bunch of eps but if u think an ep is incorrectly categorized tell me #pokemon #pokemon sun and moon #pokeani #anipoke #sm pokeani #sm anipoke #long post #serious about that long post tag #lunartone.post

[savebatsfromscratch]

Of course he rolled a one - Palletshipping Week 5 (Sickness)

Summary:

Ash and Gary are both sick. For some reason, they decide this is the best time to play a RPG game.

Notes:

Prompt: Sickness Note: My dad is currently sick with a cold, and as a result we had the time to play Talisman (a board game from the 90s) I won and was sufficiently inspired. The game might not make sense if you’ve never played the game (sidenote: if you can find the game, and like RPG games, I HIGHLY recommend it), but it IS a real game. Words: 1,128

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54915760

Gary sneezed.

“Blesshoo,” Ash slurred, his voice much quieter than normal due to his sore throat. He gestured to the dice that sat on the table beside Gary. It was green, and missing some of its spots, which made it perfect for the tower than both of their player pieces currently sat in, “dice?”

Gary groaned and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He had been hoping that Ash would have forgotten the fact that he and his Sorceress card had lost one of their turns, but it seemed that Ash had a better memory than Gary was giving him credit for. 

Begrudgingly, he passed Ash the dice, hoping (as if to beam bad luck into it), that the spot Ash landed on would have him draw a turn wasting card as well. Or at the very least only go one spot closer to the Dragon King. He’d only been in the tower for two turns, and he had rolled a two and a three, almost the highest amounts of moves he could make in there. (Gary, on the other hand, had been paralyzed every other turn and only moving ones. …for the past five turns.)

With only two people playing, the game had been going rather slowly, (even with the modification to level up every four XP instead of every seven), and Gary didn’t think he could emotionally take it if he lost now. Maybe that was a side effect of his status as a “rival,” he was too competitive for his own good.

Ash rolled another three.

Gary bashed his head into the table, feeling his nose re-clog up at the change in pressure. Ash laughed out loud, and then hissed in pain when the laughing hurt his throat further. There was a small pause as Ash recovered, and then they both began giggling quietly. (Even though Ash sounded like a kicked puppy every time he laughed.)

This was the most ridiculous thing ever.

They were both sick, and instead of resting nice in bed, they had both spontaneously decided to pull out the two hour long RPG board game. Sitting calmly with their Pokemon? Never. Why not fight some silly dragon king as characters drawn in a mildly grotesque art style? PERFECT.

Ash read over the space he had landed on, and then made a face that Gary knew meant it was a draw two spot. Gary smirked to the best of his ability, though he could tell he was going to need a new supply of tissues for his running nose in about three seconds. Maybe he still had a shot at this! (He was only one spot away from the dragon’s lair after all.)

Ash scrambled to pull his cards, just as worried as Gary had been only moments before. Gary’s grin grew wider. Even if his eyes hurt from the bright light from the windows and his illness, he was going to keep them open when he watched Ash pull a card that, he wasn’t sure, took away all his followers or something. (If Gary had been the one playing the Vampire, he would have long since eaten the guide in a place like this. Ash was down on hearts anyway.)

But he didn’t feel like voicing any strategy to someone who was already winning on luck.

Gary studied Ash’s face as he continued to struggle with the cards. (They had both stubbornly refused to un-rubber-band the Tower deck, thinking that whoever got in first would be done with it quickly. That had not been the case.) He looked scared, which only made Gary feel more giddy.

But Ash’s immediate grin when he finally managed to pull the cards immediately crushed Gary’s momentary feeling of joy.

“Craft!” Ash whispered, holding up a card which Gary recognized as one that would give him extra stats if he decided to use it. Worse, the other card didn't seem to apply either. Without any items, there wasn't any risk of Ash losing them. Gary groaned and Ash stuck his tongue out at him.

Ash fumbled for the craft counter, piling it atop his already mountainous pile of blue papers. When he went to put the paper in its proper place, however, the entire pile slid apart, running flat into his equally monstrous collection of strength tokens.

Ash grinned, but made a face at his hurting throat. Gary was not in the mood to laugh at the accident. This was just like Pokemon battling. You could be so sure you were about to win, and then loose to a Pokemon you had the advantage over.

Ash began fixing his piles of stat counters, and Gary reached for the dice. Freed of his paralysis, he knew he only had to roll a two, and he would be in the dragon's den.

He just had to roll a two. Just a two. Anything but a one.

He shook the dice between his hands, eyes closed in focus or as if praying. (He wasn't quite sure himself.)

He tossed the dice, grinned as it spun around its corners, about to land on a three, and then watched in something similar to horror as it hit the lower half of the tower piece of the board and flipped over. Over and over.

Of course he rolled a one.

“ONE?!” He cried out, jumping to his feet, ”WHY!?“

Ash snickered, even though it must have hurt.

With twenty craft under his belt, there wasn't even a purpose in attempting to beat him as the dragon king.

Dejectedly, Gary moved his piece to the spot right outside of the dragon king's hall. Ash, who had already been there, triumphantly moved his piece to the top of the tower. Gary checked through his spells one more time, but no, there wasn't much he could do with two healings.

“You won,” Gary muttered, feeling quite like he had just lost a large profile league.

But his anger at being beaten began to fade as Ash jumped to his feet in celebration. Despite being annoying, the guy could be pretty cute when he was happy.

Maybe it made sense for Pokemon trainers to do something like this, after all. Even though they were both too sick to have much fun actually Pokemon battling, they could still have a lot of fun making up battles of their own.

“Still can’t beat me in Pokemon battling though,” Gary muttered, though he was grinning.

Unable to respond properly, Ash smacked him lightly on the shoulder. Despite his best efforts, he was soon giggling mutedly, and hissing in pain when it hurt his throat. (This only seemed to make him laugh more.)

Gary began laughing too. 

He wondered if they both had fevers.

Gary sneezed again.

Notes:

Man I love Palletshipping. (This also serves as a love letter to Talisman lol. I hope someone else out there knows what I’m talking about. Btw my favorite character to play is the Sorceress!! I won with a combo of the Lightning spell and the Psionic Blast spell. I didn’t even have any weapons or followers lol, and it was the first time I’ve ever won! Very proud of myself lol.)

#pokeani #talisman #trainer ash #trainer gary #palletshipping #palletshipping week #palletshipping week 2024 #my writing #actual post

[vampire6bux]

thinking deeeply about writing a guide to new pokemon battlers or an intro to competitive & how to get better or start out …. i loveeriting and talking a lot . sorry mutuals in advanc

#pokemon

[jadeazora]

Elite Trainer boxes for Scarlet and Violet, as well as some other products, have been posted to the Pokemon Center site.

There will also be a Lechonk promo free with any of the eligible purchases (the linked products):

The ETBs contain:

11 Scarlet & Violet booster packs (Each pack contains 10 cards and 1 Basic Energy.)

1 full-art foil promo card featuring Koraidon/Miraidon with a Pokémon Center logo

1 full-art foil promo card featuring Koraidon/Miraidon

65 card sleeves featuring Koraidon/Miraidon

45 Pokémon TCG Energy cards

A player’s guide to the Scarlet & Violet expansion

6 damage-counter dice

1 competition-legal coin-flip die

2 plastic condition markers

A collector’s box to hold everything, with 4 dividers to keep it organized

A code card for Pokémon Trading Card Game Live

#pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #koraidon #miraidon #pokemon center #pokemon tcg #pokemon cards #pokemon trading card game #lechonk