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smallersocksx · 3 years

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My Problems with the Pokémon Journeys Anime

Pokémon Journeys as an anime has divided the Pokémon community in so many ways but in particular last week’s episode has sparked a lot of debate and personally, I had mixed feelings about the end result. So, I thought I would write down my opinions on the Pokémon anime in its current state and comparing it to some of the previous anime.

I feel the need to say this: these are my opinions I am just as entitled to my opinions as you are to yours, so you don’t have to read this if you don’t want to. Secondly, this will probably be a long post but I’m going to split it into sections so it’s hopefully not too overwhelming.

But these feelings have been building up and up and I think I’ll feel better writing them all down and getting them off my chest to some extent.

Introduction:

So, I’ve essentially been a fan of Pokémon for as long as I can remember particularly watching the anime when I was very young. The anime didn’t really begin to stick with me though until around AG and DP in particular. The first Pokémon game, I played was DP which is why I have a particular fondness for that series and that cast of characters and Pokémon.

I didn’t watch the series as intently around the time of BW because I found Iris’ character rather annoying and I understand she developed and grew as the series went on but that initial characterization of her kind of ruined the series for me. But I did dip in and out of the series mostly for Ash’s Snivy.

My friend recommended that I watch the XY series and I fell in love with the cast and the storytelling that the series provided as it reminded me of DP. Sun and Moon was a good series as well providing fans with some of the most heart-breaking and tear-jerking episodes to date. (And Rowlet).

When they announced that Journeys was Ash travelling around the world instead of staying and travelling in a specific region, I’ll admit I was sceptical. To be honest, I kind of preferred the old formula particularly as I’m a creature of habit myself but I decided to give this new series a chance as the premise did sound interesting and there was the potential for Ash to reunite with some of his old travelling companions.

With the benefit of hindsight, I realise this was one of the problems: the series kind of relies heavily on the nostalgia provided by older fans.

The Premise:

The whole premise of Journeys was Ash and his new friend, Goh travelling the world and there lies one of the series biggest problems. For a series that is meant to be about travelling around the world, a bulk of the series has been set in Kanto in particular Vermillion City where Sakuragi/Cerise Lab is situated. Now that shouldn’t be a problem as Ash and Go need a place to stay and go home to. The problem is we are nearly 60 episodes into the series, they hardly seem to leave Vermillion City or Kanto for that matter.

I went through all the episode synopses released so far to see how many episodes Ash and Go travelled to an alternative region. In this case a visit to a different region only counts if Ash and Goh (and Chloe) visit the region therefore episode 32 wouldn’t count:

Johto – 2 episodes

Hoenn – 4 episodes

Sinnoh – 2 episodes

Unova – 2 episodes

Kalos – 2 episodes

Alola – 1 episode

Galar – 11 episodes

Arguably, as this is meant to a Gen 8 anime, its not particularly shocking that they have visited Galar the most especially as Ash hopes to battle Leon someday. Nevertheless, the initial premise and selling point of the Journeys series is travelling the world and yet only 2/5 of the series so far has been set outside of Vermillion City. They promised the world (no pun intended) and are kind of falling flat…

Goh and his goal:

Now Goh is certainly a character that has divided the community some love him and some definitely hate him. Personally, I’m in the middle, I like Goh’s personality I thought his rational and logical personality made him a great counterbalance for Ash. The problem I have with him is: his goal, his rapid character development, and his status as a protagonist.

1) His Goal:

Goh’s goal is to catch every Pokémon in existence and considering there over 800 Pokémon that is a lofty goal to begin with. Initially, I thought it was an interesting goal as we never had a character wanting to catch every Pokémon as there are some trainers in the anime universe who only specialise in a specific type, some who catch only cute Pokémon, some who only catch evolutionary lines etc. Therefore, I thought this was an interesting goal and wondered how they would execute its portrayal and there lies the problem…

Goh was named after the game Pokémon Go and is essentially being used as a walking advertisement for Pokémon Go and the Let’s Go series as his gimmick is throwing a Poke Ball at a random Pokémon which can get pretty old very fast. I honestly didn’t understand the need to create a character to promote these games as it has been 4 years since the release of Pokémon Go. Arguably, they could be trying to re-ignite the hype around Pokémon Go as after the initial excitement a lot of people stopped playing or uninstalled it as it was taking up a lot of space on their phone.

One of the things, I particularly love about the anime series is not only the human cast gaining character development but their Pokémon as well. Around the AG series, the writers really begun improving on giving each Pokémon their own unique personality traits as well as traits of their species. It gave the Pokémon more depth and made them memorable for example there’s Dawn’s prideful Piplup, Brock’s weird and wonderful Sudowoodoo who would salute every time he came out of his Poke Ball, Clemont’s gluttonous Chespin and Serena’s shy Eevee to later a confident Sylveon. The list could go on and on but I think you get the point. Therefore, this gives me my second issue with Goh’s goal.

Goh’s goal is to catch every single Pokémon currently in existence, with so many Pokémon, there is difficulty feeling any attachment to them. Cinderace and Sobble (and now Grookey) are the Pokémon Goh is most seen with, needless to say, Cinderace underwent a lot of development and was interested in battling which to be honest I found a little strange as Goh’s goal doesn’t particularly align with Cinderace’s interests. Nevertheless, it is clear that Cinderace is Goh’s ace and utilises him when he does need to battle. Sobble didn’t receive any development until 26 episodes after his capture. However, aside from Cinderace and Sobble we don’t feel any particular attachment to his other Pokémon, one strength is that anime does give each of his Pokémon some spotlight like Goh using his Goldeen to teach Jinny’s Feebas how to swim elegantly but aside from that.

My final issue with Goh’s goal is development, from a story-telling point of view his goal isn’t that engaging like with some of the other goals we’ve had in the series. Take Dawn for example her goal is to be Top Coordinator in order to do that she needs to win 5 Ribbons, participate in the Grand Festival and win the Ribbon Cup. On paper it sound simple but it’s not, we have Dawn’s arc where she lost twice in the Performance Stage fell into depression, lost confidence in her abilities and was uncertain as to whether or not she was a good coordinator. It wasn’t until she befriended May and competed against her that Dawn found a renewed sense of confidence in her abilities, even after that Dawn still lost a few contests before being able to compete in the Grand Festival where even then there were a few rough moments like her battle with Ursula.

My point is even though Dawn (and May’s) goal looks simple on paper they had a lot of struggle to get there. Whereas, with Goh’s goal and the current execution of it, I don’t get that same sense of story-telling especially when he’s already caught a Legendary Pokémon, there just isn’t that same level of struggle. The most I could see Goh struggling at this moment is not catching a Pokémon the first time round.

2) His rapid development

One of the biggest issues I have with Journeys is pacing and development, and this issue isn’t just exclusive to Goh. In the beginning, Goh is a rookie trainer after catching Scorbunny and as we saw in the Flute Cup his lack of battling experience caused him to be eliminated very quickly and yet 29 episodes later, he’s defeating a Flygon with a Fire-type and using a technique Ash had once used himself in his battle against Grant. I understand Ash and Goh are close friends and understandably their traits are going to rub off on one another for example Goh’s logic and caution has rubbed off on Ash to the extent Ash had his Dragonite use Dragon Dance in his battle with Korrina. Before this, we’d never seen Ash use these types of moves in his Pokémon battles. I have no issues with Goh developing as a character, everyone loves good character development, my issue is with how rapid it is.

I’ll use Dawn’s arc as an example again, I loved it because it was well-paced, in the first season of DP Dawn was overconfident in her abilities which led to some losses particularly towards the end of the first series and Dawn didn’t fully recover from this until nearly midway through the second series of DP. Arguably, Ash’s influence has caused Goh to develop an interest in battles but I feel like we haven’t seen him go through enough battles to justify the level he is at.

3) His status as a Protagonist

To be honest, I didn’t realise Goh has a protagonist status until someone pointed it out to me, I just saw him as another one of Ash’s travelling companions. This is one of the biggest issues Goh haters have with him and that’s feeling as though Goh is taking the spotlight away from Ash and there are a lot of episodes focusing on Goh. Arguably, Ash has taken on the role of mentor like Brock had done once for him. However, my issue with Goh’s protagonist status is that I don't feel like Goh's goal justifies him having it, even in episodes focusing on Ash and his participation in the World Coronation Series, Goh still manages to catch a Pokémon which as I mentioned before it got old pretty fast. I can understand some people would see this as a good thing they are both closer towards their goals but if an episode advertises its going to focus on one character, I want it to focus on that character.

In some of the previous series when May, Dawn and Serena were participating in Contests or Showcases, Ash would generally put his training the back burner and support his friends. Likewise, his travelling companions would support him during his gym battles. In some cases, Ash would even get ideas for his own battles from watching them compete like the Counter Shield from Ash watching Dawn and Ambipom.

Sometimes, I feel like Goh is there for the sake of being there like in Episode 56, I honestly felt like him and Scyther/Scizor didn’t need to be there. The episode did focus on Ash and Farfetch’d relationship improving but I felt like the only reason Goh was there was to have his Scyther evolve their presence at the training camp didn’t really contribute anything to the story.

Ash and his Pokémon:

Whenever Ash starts a new journey, he always starts with a clean slate leaving his most recent Pokemon with Professor Oak or Kukui. One of the things that excites fans the most is guessing which new Pokemon from the new generation Ash would catch. Arguably, since Sun and Moon, certain traditions have been turned on their head. Some of these traditions included:

Ash catching the regional bird e.g., Starly, Pidove, Fletchling etc.

Catching at least one of the region’s starters

Although, in Sun and Moon, Ash never caught the regional bird and it was one of the first series with Ash not having a water-type either. However, in this current series, Ash only has 2 Generation 8 Pokémon being Farfetch’d (which will evolve into Sirfetch’d) and Dracovish. This is kind of understandable as Ash isn’t based or travelling around Galar but to be honest it’s still disappointing.

As many of you know, in the most recent episode Goh caught Grookey completing the Galar starter trio (which I’ll cover later), however, a majority of the fandom wanted Ash to have Grookey as they felt personality-wise Ash would be compatible with the Chimp Pokémon and it would continue the long-held tradition of Ash catching one of the new region’s starter Pokémon which is why this latest capture has sparked a lot of controversy with some people calling Goh a thief.

Personally, I would have liked Ash to catch Grookey but in one of the earlier episodes like when they first visited Galar. The reason for this being the storyline development and I know many will argue Ash is a Champion he doesn’t need a starter at this point but Leon in the Sword and Shield games took on and trained the starter that was left over after the Protagonist and Hop had chosen theirs. However, as I mentioned earlier one of the things, I love about the anime is each Pokémon having their own personality and character but also their own traumas and trials to overcome alongside their trainer this can be particularly reflected in the case of Ash and Infernape.

I am not trying to suggest they re-create the Ash and Infernape storyline with Ash and a Grookey but one of the ways a Pokémon develops as a character is through evolution or in some cases like Pikachu and Bulbasaur choosing not to evolve and finding strength in staying the way that they are. Pokémon when they evolve can go through personality-changes whether that be good or bad but having a Pokemon at its first evolutionary stage allows us to go through that development and journey with them.

Which is one of the issues, I have with the series, Ash caught two fully evolved Pokémon being Dragonite and Gengar. Before anyone gives me any grief, I love Dragonite and Gengar’s personalities but as they are fully evolved, we don’t get that same sense of development as we’ve had with some of Ash’s other Pokémon. The only development I could see for these two is potentially learning a new move or overcoming a stronger Pokémon alongside Ash. But having two fully evolved Pokémon makes it difficult to go on a journey of development alongside them. There is also the fact, Dragonite and Gengar are meant to be incredibly strong Pokémon and yet Ash hardly uses them.

Another one of the biggest issues in Journeys as previously mentioned is Ash not fully utilising his team. Whenever, a battle occurs Ash either uses Pikachu or Lucario, the others are kind of pushed to the side and that annoys me so much particularly with Farfetch’d and Gengar. I’ll start with Gengar, Gengar was abandoned by its previous trainer and told to wait in an abandoned building that would later become Cerise Laboratory and in the earlier half of the series (before Riolu) Ash utilised Gengar a lot like in his battle with Visquez and Team Rocket but after Riolu came along Ash used Gengar less and less. In Episode 57, Gengar was taking its anger out on Renji, Chloe and Chrysa and Chloe pointed out that it may have been angry Ash left it behind. This is what I found frustrating; Ash is kind of repeating the behaviour of Gengar’s previous trainer.

Next is Farfetch’d, personality-wise Farfetch’d reminds me of Ash’s Buizel and Hawlucha, with how prideful and aloof it is. I feel like the writers thought they couldn’t flesh out Lucario any further so they decided to focus on Farfetch’d and after two Farfetch’d-focused episodes I can’t help but feel that Farfetch’d is going to evolve in the next episode and that’s what annoys me, that is lazy writing, they haven’t given time to develop Ash and Farfetch’d relationship although it has definitely improved since Episode 56, I feel like it’s too soon. Farfetch’d has so much potential to grow as a character before evolving as I previously mentioned evolution in the Pokémon universe can contribute towards development and I feel like for Farfetch’d they’ll use it in a positive light as Sirfetch’d are noted for their fighting spirit and noble personality. But, as I mentioned before, I would have liked to have seen more development before an evolution.

Then there is Dracovish, this was a completely unexpected capture, however, many fans were surprised by how strong Dracovish was in the games. However, Dracovish was captured in Episode 50 and nearly 10 episodes later, we haven’t seen it… On the other hand, many of Dracovish’s Pokédex entries state that it can’t breathe unless its underwater, therefore, applying that logic to the anime world, may make battling with it difficult...

Team Rocket:

One of the biggest complaints’ viewers have is the series use of Team Rocket. Particularly, using their use of the Gacha machine and using them to create easy conflict. I love Team Rocket; they are basically lovable idiots to me. They’re meant to be “bad guys” but we’ve seen on many occasions they’re kindness and compassion such as rescuing a bunch of wild Ekans and Koffing from a Pokémon hunter and releasing their Arbok and Weezing to protect them whilst they distract the hunter, Meowth sympathising and trying to cheer up Litten following Stoutland’s death are just two examples of their kindness.

Nevertheless, the Journeys series has been utilising them poorly using them as convenient plot device and in my opinion Team Rocket deserve so much better than this. Initially, a lot of viewers may have found the Gacha device interesting but much like Goh throwing a Poké ball at a random Pokémon it got old fast. Similar to one of my issues with Goh, we don’t feel any attachment to the Gacha Pokémon they use unlike other series where they had their own Pokémon which I’ll get on to in a minute.

I feel like the writers missed a huge opportunity, as one of the initial selling points of the series, particularly to the older fans was nostalgia. Team Rocket keep some of their old Pokémon in Team Rocket Headquarters and as the series seems to like staying in Vermillion City, Team Rocket could have collected their old Pokémon and use them similar to when they brought some of their Hoennian Pokémon to Sinnoh. I loved some of Team Rocket’s Pokémon like James’ Mime Jr. and Inkay and Jessie’s Gourgeist and her Yanmega was noted to be strong.

Moreover, in series such as AG, DP and XY they expanded on Team Rocket’s role outside of trying to steal. Jessie showed a promising career in Pokémon Coordinating (particularly in DP) and Pokémon Performing, I loved how she became a rival for Dawn and Serena and particularly in XY, Jessie showed maturity in her loss in the Semi-Finals much to Meowth and Gourgeist’s surprise compared to when she begrudgingly congratulated Dawn on her victory. I just loved the fact in these series they expanded on Team Rocket, showed their friendship and support for one another whether it was cheering each other on from the side-lines or willingly helping Jessie in her pursuits of fame and glory. I realize in Journeys, it’s a bit difficult to expand on Team Rocket’s role in this way but they way they are currently using Team Rocket is to be honest kind of insulting to them as characters who we’ve watched grow over the years.

Chloe, Yamper and Eevee

I’ll get this out the way, I honestly love Chloe, and I’ve loved her development so far, I think they’ve gotten the pacing right for her when they’ve given her focus. I think many people like Chloe because she is similar to Serena, in the sense, she doesn’t have a goal and is discovering what she wants to do in life which is something a lot of people find relatable. I think what would be interesting for Chloe’s character if she does decide to be a Pokémon Professor after initially feeling as though the idea was being forced on her by her peers. Anyways, one of the biggest issues with Journeys is pacing, it takes ages before they actually decide to give a character development and ever since Chloe got Eevee, I feel as though Yamper has been pushed to the side (which is kind of ironic as Chloe calls Ash out on this) and I know Yamper is Professor Cerise’s Pokémon but Yamper acknowledges Chloe more than his own trainer. I feel like a great way to use Yamper was for Professor Cerise to actually give Yamper to Chloe when she was old enough to have a Pokémon, as a lot of Chloe’s earlier development was a result of her bond with Yamper.

Next is Eevee, I love Eevee it is one of my favourite Pokemon, but I also feel similar to Goh, she’s a walking advertisement for the Let’s Go Eevee game as she is unable to evolve. However, the fact that Eevee is unable to evolve makes her a good match for Chloe who is uncertain of her own dreams. Nevertheless, what I don’t understand is why they are trying to promote one of their older games in a new generation (especially when Lana’s Eevee (which don’t get me started) should have filled that role). Also, with Chloe catching Eevee, arguably, she should be joining Ash and Goh frequently, this could allow for Chloe and Eevee to develop and find their own path but aside from joining them twice in Galar, they’ve hardly left Kanto. Which is frustrating because I love Chloe and Eevee and I don’t want it to be another 20 episodes before we get any development from either of them.

Structure

I’ve realized that above I’ve kind of been focusing on the characters and some of the issues surrounding them. Arguably, one of Journeys biggest issues is structure or lack of it for that matter and pacing. Everything is all over the place but I’ll cover each section.

Pacing:

One of my biggest gripes with the series is pacing, lately we have been having back-to-back filler episodes and I don’t mind having filler every now and then to give us a break as you don’t want a show to be too content-heavy. And I don’t mind when the filler is at least entertaining but that Gulpin episode from two weeks ago was absolutely pointless, I’m sorry. So much stuff has taken place off-screen and Ash went up by 500 ranks to Rank 415 they could have taken out some of the filler episodes and used it to show Ash training at least or put it towards actual development for characters like Chloe and Eevee or Farfetch’d.

Another issue, I have with the pacing and I think a lot of you will hopefully agree is the pace of Goh catching a legendary Pokemon (which I’m in the middle about). Normally, around the end of the series, all of the respective characters have found or are closer to their goal like Dawn and Serena coming Runner-Up in their respective competitions or having confidence to keep pursuing their goal. This is normally, in the last series of that generation’s anime adaptation but Goh’s already achieved such a huge milestone towards his goal in the second series. I can’t help but feel as though this has been completely rushed.

Continuity:

Continuity in Journeys is strange, I can see it as a strength and a weakness. I’ll start off with the positives, continuity-wise I like the fact that Journeys at least references to past episodes and characters for example episode 57 Chloe’s younger brother says he’s going to a sleepover at his friend, Jinny’s house, the girl with the Feebas from episode 31. Or episode 47, Goh uses his prize from winning the Pokémon Eating Contest to have a dessert tour around Unova’s Castelia City. These small examples of continuity are something I can appreciate. But I can’t help but feel some of the past characters returning are merely fan-service for the older fans, so far, some of the character returns haven’t really contributed to the series’ narrative aside from the Alola episode contributing to Goh’s development.

A good example of utilising a past character is the Wallace Cup arc, with May and Dawn helping each other out of a losing streak and allowing Dawn to renew her confidence. I think no matter the outcome, both Coordinators gained something from the tournament even if Dawn lost to May, I think she would have had a regained her confidence but winning the Aqua Ribbon allowed her to re-affirm her self-belief and skills.

Episodic vs Linear:

Now I’ve watched a few videos on this to have a better understanding, the reason why Journeys feels so unstructured is that for some reason the writers chose to go down an episodic route instead of linear. The best example I know of episodic storytelling is Phineas and Ferb where characters and elements are introduced and can come back. But utilising episodic storytelling in a series like Pokémon feels like an unnatural choice we’re meant to be following these characters and their journeys towards achieving their goals whereas in a linear narrative this would be a lot clearer.

The Setting:

A lot of people have an issue with the fact that a series, that promises travelling the world, it really fell flat. As I have previously mentioned, so far only 2/5 of the episodes have taken place in other regions, most of the time Ash and Goh end up staying in Vermillion City. With the way things are currently being executed, I honestly would have preferred a Sword and Shield anime, with Ash at least travelling around Galar, it would allow for the Galar story to be more fleshed out instead of shoe-horned into a four-episode arc and with the announcement of the Sinnoh re-makes, I feel as though they are going to promote that in some way in the anime later on. (Perhaps with a Dawn cameo).

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve kind of realised one gripe I have with the anime that has become rather blatant as of late. That is the commercialism in the anime, I understand the anime is utilised to promote the game and re-makes of games but with this latest series the commercialism is blatant and honestly annoying. An early example of using the anime to promote a game was the Johto arc in DP to promote HeartGold and SoulSilver. Whereas, currently we have Goh, the human advertisement for Pokémon Go and Chloe’s Eevee promoting Let’s Go Eevee (which I honestly don’t see the need to advertise older games).

The controversary with Grookey…

Needless to say, the latest episode of Pokemon Journeys has sparked a lot of debate and anger particularly from Goh haters who have declared him a thief and are dropping the anime. There are some people who don’t mind Goh catching Grookey, they may have disliked the storyline they used for Goh to catch Grookey. I’ve made my feelings clear, that I would have preferred for Grookey to have been introduced much earlier and for Ash to have caught it.

However, I do have an issue with the way Goh caught Grookey as I can kind of understand why people are calling Goh a thief, I wouldn’t go that far maybe immoral at the most. The initial concept of Grookey belonging to Team Rocket was interesting but the whole story falls flat when they don’t give us any backstory like how did Team Rocket catch Grookey? why was Grookey so desparate to stay with Goh? was Grookey being mistreated by Team Rocket?

Honestly, if Grookey was being mistreated by Team Rocket, I’d understand why it’d want to leave them but this is Jessie, James and Meowth, the trio that released Mimikyu and Mareanie since they didn’t want them to be left in Team Rock Headquarters because they’d thought Mimikyu and Mareanie would be unhappy. So, I honestly can’t see the mistreatment storyline.

Also, the fact that Grookey smashed its own Poké Ball to gain its freedom kind of undermines other storylines that have seen Pokémon being abused by their trainers as they could have arguably smashed their Poké Balls to gain their freedom. Although, you could argue there is an element of fear in these cases.

I feel like if they built up the story more, I may have been more accepting but I kind of find it hypocritical in the sense Goh wants this Pokémon that belongs to someone else and it smashes its own Poké Ball to be with him. Whereas, its bad when Team Rocket try to steal someone else’s Pokémon but its okay for Goh because he’s the protagonist. Considering this is a kids anime that kind of sends the wrong message. I honestly would have found it more interesting if Grookey decided to stay with Team Rocket that would have been an interesting twist with Team Rocket having a starter Pokémon on their side. Plus, we know, James loves his Grass-types.

Conclusion:

Basically, I needed to get this off my chest and honestly, I feel much better for it. No Pokémon anime series is perfect by any means but lately I feel as though the writing has taken a huge dip and it has taken the enjoyment out of the series. I’m still trying to give the series a chance and hopefully I can warm to Grookey under Goh’s ownership, I think if the episodic formula has taken away the storytelling element that I love about the Pokémon series.

I have honestly never seen a Pokémon anime divide the community so much but I’m hoping that things begin to improve particularly if Ash’s Farfetch’d evolves in the next episode.

#pokemon journeys #pokemon #pokeani

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txtniipped · 3 years

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time, ever moving

pokemon (gameverse) -- green oak/reader

(1892 words)

ao3 version

What snapped Green out of his funk was some cocky brat from Johto. His name was Gold, you learned, when Green complained to you at some banquet. He spoke about Gold bugging him at Cinnabar, about how the kid wanted to fight him right there, on top of all the ash and cinders. You had smiled wryly at him, and had told him, “I bet you would have if you were still twelve.”

Green snorted in response, lifting his glass of champagne to his lips as he spoke. “Good thing I’m not twelve anymore then.”

You’re not sure when your relationship with Green Oak changed.

When you were kids, he was a menace. You were no better, but it was always Green getting the two of you in trouble. Between rushing through the tall grass Pokemon-less, exploring nearby caves with “borrowed” equipment from Professor Oak’s lab, or dumb dares down at the coast south of Pallet, the blame would befall both of you, despite all of the instigating being Green’s doing.

Even during your journey, most of your trouble—when not dealing with an interregional crime syndicate—came from the one and only Green Oak.

Roadblock of the century, Green Oak was always waiting for you. Town after town, route after route, you found him flaunting his progress, forcing you to pause in your own as he challenged you. Given, you’d always win, and Green always gave you some piece of advice or a tip you genuinely didn’t know after, but it was still a momentum breaker; another bullet point on your list of annoying habits of one Green Oak.

Squaring up against him at the final point in your journey, however, was much more fitting than fighting Champion Lance.

Green was devastated when he lost, despite the front he put on for you. There was no name for the way he left after his grandfather came into the room other than retreating, and if Professor Oak hadn’t corralled you towards the Hall of Fame, you would have run after your rival.

Champion duties took over from there, and though you were a kid, you were swamped with work. Between interviews and tv appearances, photoshoots and League meetings (the last one, you’re sure, was the only true duty you had. The other stuff was most likely Lance fishing for funds for the League—two child prodigies claiming the title of Champion within a few months of beginning their journeys was honestly quite the cash cow), you rarely saw Green.

You found out later—sometime after most of the euphoria had died down—that Lance had hired Green as the new Viridian Gym Leader.

As Champion, you had the final signature on the paperwork to make it official. When Lance presented it to you, you almost thought it was a joke. Green Oak, willingly working with the League? With you?

He’d gone radio silent the moment he left the Plateau after you won the Champion battle. You only learned from Daisy after you nearly knocked a hole in the Oak residence’s door that Green left for Sevii Islands— that he’d been gone for weeks now, I thought he let you know?—and when he got back, he had ignored you. You! Rivals, best friends, whatever, he hadn’t said a word, and now—now?!

You signed off on it, of course. Your beef with Green was yours, not the League’s, and with how desperate you knew Lance was on filling the empty hole where Giovanni once stood, you weren’t going to be petty about this.

It turned out that Green was actually an excellent pick for a gym leader. You knew he would be—duh, he was Green Oak—, but you were proud of him anyway.

Viridian perked up nicely with a new gym leader at the helm—the influx of new trainers in Kanto the season Green stepped into his position nearly rivaled the season following the Champion battle between the two of you the year before. It was a testimony to Green’s fame, as well as another boost in profits for the League, which always made for a happy Lance.

Your rival had a way of elegantly beating aspiring trainers into the ground. Sometimes, it was the breaking point for journeys, and others, it drove home just how determined they really had to be to continue. The average rate of Earth Badges actually being given out per season dropped with Green as the Viridian Gym Leader when compared to Giovanni, but Lance had agreed with you—Green was every bit the better gym leader.

Until, at least, he seemed to get bored.

Viridian Gym fell to the wayside some time during Green’s second year of running it. Your rival had openly complained about paperwork, about guest lectures and special appearances, about the banquets and meetings and get-togethers whenever someone would spare him a second on the topic. It wasn’t a surprise to see Lance pulling Green away at all those gatherings to scold him, and you weren’t surprised by the way Green would always let it roll off his back either.

Green Oak operates by no one’s rules but his own when he can get away with it, and if the worst repercussion Green was going to face was Lance being disappointed with him, you knew nothing would change.

Green snorted in response, lifting his glass of champagne to his lips as he spoke. “Good thing I’m not twelve anymore then.”

Gold tore through Green’s gym when he finally arrived, about a month later.

You heard about it from your mother first, who apparently had been keeping up with Gold’s journey after the boy came through Pallet and charmed the little town with his familiar and nostalgic ambition. Your immediate thought upon hearing the news was how Green would want a rematch without the League rules he was required to follow as a gym leader weighing him down. When you saw Green the following morning, he voiced that exact sentiment to you. You laughed at his predictability.

Shortly after Gold had bested you a few weeks later, Green stepped down from Viridian Gym. He had an internship in Kalos under Professor Sycamore, as well as a scholarship to some college there for evolution sciences. Apparently, he spoke enough Kalosian to get by, and hearing him speak it to some lab assistant over the phone while dining at a cafe with him rattled your brain.

Green kicked your shin under the table, and, belatedly, you realized you had been staring. Cheeks rosy, you settled on staring at your drink instead.

League meetings were insanely boring without Green there to take your mind off them after he left. Gold had won the title of Kanto Champion, yes, but he had already besieged the Johto title, and held the responsibilities that came with it. He had stepped down from any sort of toe-in-the-water as far as Kanto went, and thus, Lance had kept you around. Besides, after a rematch a month later, you had beaten Gold anyway. The two of you were on pretty even footing.

These meetings though—they were boring. Green somehow never paid attention and yet always could summarize them for you afterwards. Now, with him halfway across the world, you had to struggle to keep your eyes open alone under Lance’s droning voice. At least you could find comfort in Erika, who always fell asleep at some point in these meetings without fail.

Unova was where you saw Green next. The Champions Tournament was an event entirely too flashy for your tastes, but you could see the way Green shined under the attention. His battles were magnificent and dramatic while still being calculating and precise. You ate up the way he directed his hand towards the camera with a blinding grin on the tiny television in your hotel room at the start of one battle, and from the tinny shrieking blasting through the shotty speakers, so did everyone in the arena.

Your battle against one another was apparently referred to as the highlight of the tournament, and while you understood why everyone screamed in delight as Green’s Aerodactyl took down your Charizard, you couldn’t quite place why they practically deafened you upon your victory. You had nowhere near the showmanship Green did, but when Green shook your hand post-match, the way he looked at you… His smile was soft, proud in a way that could only be directed at someone else, and with his eyes locked with yours, you realized his pride was placed in you. That was a rush of emotions not even ten thousand people chanting your name could ever hope to give you.

He was on break, Green told you later in your hotel room. He was doing fine in school, which you knew meant he was acing every one of his classes, the bastard, but the highlight for him was the data collecting he was doing for Sycamore. It took him all over Kalos, from rocky shores to snowy mountains, from quaint little towns so similar in feel to Pallet, to eternally autumn forests. Green had stated somewhere between his descriptions of the aquarium in Ambrette Town and the sundial in Anistar City that he would love to show you the region one day. When the two of you turned in that night, with Green passed out in his day clothes on the other side of your bed, you dreamt of summer days exploring a new region with your oldest friend. Maybe, after Green had finished his research under Sycamore, the two of you would make up for your childhood journey.

Your chance came nearly two years later in the shape of a man named Kukui.

He was a professor from the Alola region, a region famous for its beautiful shores and stunning flora. Your mom had vacationed there once upon a time, you knew, back when your dad was around. The way Kukui described it was from the view of a man in love with his home. When he asked for your notoriety to draw in more than just vacationers to their region, you almost gave in due to his passion alone.

Convince Green Oak first, you managed to tell him. If he had your rival on board, you’d go too.

Alola was humid, you found out. Humid and hot, forcing your clothes to stick to your skin as you trudged through the wilds of the routes. The benefit, you discovered quickly enough, was that Green would unbutton his polo down as far as the shirt would let him when the sun was at its peak.

He was a view, under the glow of the Alolan sun, no matter the hour of the day. Even the moonlight felt like it knew how to accentuate his features for you to admire as the two of you camped along routes. His hair lightened with the weeks, and his skin took on a sunkissed complexion that suited him so nicely. He had teased you for staring multiple times at first, but between weeks of Mantine surfing, battles with locals who only had passing knowledge of yours and Green’s fame, and evenings spent talking softly between the two of you, you had noticed his eyes on you just as much.

You’re not sure when your relationship with Green Oak changed, but, as you kiss him in the evening light, cool ocean waves lapping at your waists, you don’t think you particularly care.

#pokemon #green oak #blue oak #reader insert #fanfic #writing #txt.cat #txt.fic #i did write this ambiguously so if u wanna read this as green/red u totally can #IM A FOOL PART OF THE TEXT GOT CUT OFF JDFHKJHFD #should be fixed #pkmn #green oak/reader #blue oak/reader

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rnainframe · 5 years

Note

hi tri city sounds awesome id love to know more!!

it’s a big gijinka rp! here’s a long summary from a google doc written mainly by my loooove @deathofamemer

apologies in advance for those of you on mobile

The original version of the RP was started by @mellicuelis and @undeaddarude, though this version is separate from that!

Welcome to Tri City, a very special place populated by Gjinkas, not quite human and not quite Pokemon! It's a vast place, full of life and color and people from all walks of life, each trying to live their lives to the fullest!

...but something's odd about the city these days. People are disappearing and aren't acting as they should, and it seems like trouble's brewing; especially in Eclipse District, the seediest part of the city and home to a massive underground fighting ring. Crime is on the rise, and darkness lurks in every corner.

But surely it's nothing serious, right?

---

Tri City has been around for roughly 230 years, and is split up into nine districts, eight of which are themed after main series Pokemon games. The districts are as follows: (descriptions mostly written by @tekhal)

The Yellow District, modeled after the Kanto Region! The original district of Tri City, they had recent renovations 10 years ago- and renovations 150 years ago as well. And, it was founded along with the city 230 years ago! Being the oldest part of the city and the origin of it, it’s said that the council takes more pride in it! This seems to hold some truth at least.

The Crystal District, modeled after the Johto Region! Founded 200 years ago (and renovated 100 years ago), this District is very serene and is known to have a famous cafe.This area has the lowest crime rate.

The Emerald District, modeled after the Hoenn Region! The pride of this District are its beaches and waterfront of the lake! Founded 170 years ago and renovated 50 years ago, colourful folk live here! It’s a homey, cozy sort of area.

The Platinum District, modeled after the Sinnoh Region! Founded 130 years ago, it’s overdue for renovations. Platinum is known for its shopping district and marketplace.Recently, in the Eastern part of the District, a building collapsed and crushed several apartment complexes around it.

The Gray District, modeled after the Unova Region! Founded 80 years ago, it was in constant development for a few years afterward. It’s split in half in terms of an urban city environment with the upper half of the district being more rustic! These halves are often nicknamed the Black and White districts, respectively, by those who live there. Part of the White half is in ruins due to a recent incident involving a Golurk.

The Z District, modeled after the Kalos Region! Founded 60 years ago, this District is bustling with city life and is home to the famous casino - The Casino Lustre! Things are rather expensive here- it’s an upscale area and the entertainment district.

The Eclipse District, modeled after the Alola Region! Founded 30 years ago, this District is very homey and takes after island life with its peaceful cities. However, 2 years after being founded, UBs started to take an interest in it. Crime has slowly been on the rise since then, particularly in regards to Eclipse’s Underground, an illegal fighting ring where drug use is rampant.

Currently under construction, the Crown District is being modeled after the Galar Region! Some Galarian Pokémon are already moving to Tri City in anticipation, and more are expected to come!

The Central District is the hub for government and police operations in Tri City, as opposed to being a civilian area. The mayor’s office, central police department, and the city council are all here.

At the moment, the notable forces in the city are:

The Police Department. Unlike in reality, Tri City’s PD is mostly made of genuine people who want to do their jobs well, but they’re spread a bit thin at the moment. Up until recently (roughly a week ago at the time of writing), the chief of police was Sirius Danger, a Shiny Poipole with a serious god complex and a tendency to treat his subordinates like shit. However, Chief Danger got murdered, and has since been replaced by the former head of Eclipse District’s PD, Detective Daniel Powers, a Stakataka. Each district has their own chief officer, but all of them answer to the chief of police, and the chief of police has a place on the City Council.

The City Council, the governing body of Tri City. Each district has a representative, along with the mayor Arceus, assistant mayor, and the chief of police. However, the mayor and assistant mayor have been away from Tri for a long while now, and the official answer from the council as to why is that they’re on vacation. The Council has well-meaning members and more corrupt ones, but they’re accomplishing little as a whole at the moment.

The Underground. An illegal fighting ring, founded three years after the city itself. It exists as a place for Pokemon to fight without the rules and regulations that go with public battle. However, since the advent of R, an illegal drug similar to adrenaline, five years ago, the Underground has become bloodier and bloodier. At current, fighters are split into three factions: sober, R fighters, and shadow R fighters. Each has their own recruiters and managers.

Team Undertaker. A shadowy, villainous organization with very little publicly known about it, aside from rumors that it’s under new management. However, it seems to be linked to people springing up with an odd approach to Listening, who seem to be manipulated into doing what unknown persons say in response to specific phrases and commands. At the moment, Undertaker is mostly an unknown, but a clear threat. They call themselves “the Undertakers” rather than Team Undertaker, these days.

Dual Eeveelutions, also known as Dualvees. These are new Eeveelutions which are a combination of two or more types as opposed to one. It seems like Undertaker had a hand in making them! There are two factions of Dualvees, with few exceptions: free Dualvees, who don’t remember their lives prior to freedom, and Undertaker-affiliated Dualvees.

Ultra Beasts. Alien beings hailing from various parts of Ultra Space, they first began arriving in Tri City approximately 28 years ago, not long after Eclipse was first founded. They’re powerful and often mysterious, but some blend with mortals better than others. Many of them, with the exception of the Cosmog line and Necrozma (or Nekrozma, if you’re Lars), have a special ability called Beast Boost, which enhances either their offensive or defensive abilities based on how many victories or kills they’ve amassed. (In RP terms, this manifests as a bonus on either offensive or defensive rolls! The scale maxes out at 100 for simplicity purposes.)

Delta Species. Hailing from a distant land fabled to be the “Delta Isles”, these are Pokemon that had their type changed long ago. A pulse from the island resulted in various Pokemon earning new types, and now it’s all quite natural. This island is more of a legend than anything. Even so, the residents have taken an interest in the attractions Tri City. They tend to have things as simple as colour changes to full body parts forming to fit their new type.

Shadow Pokemon. An old myth about Pokemon with ‘closed hearts’, dangerous and emotionless, aside from when in Reverse Mode, a special state of mind in which the Pokemon in question is overwhelmed by emotion and goes into a state of frenzy. Up until recently, Shadow Pokemon were seemingly nothing more than a folktale, but recent events have created doubt. Perhaps they’re real after all?

Fusions. Pokemon that are either scientifically made or magically made out of two or more Pokemon. No one knows why these exist, they’re urban legends practically. Tales told to scare children of the hubris of pursuing such power and knowledge. Either the Gijinka has the Pokemon added to them later on, or they’re created to be that. They have two types from either Pokemon, and any moves from their selected movepools. No one would really create something like this, right?

#infodump #tri city #pokemon #gijinkas #magickittyboy

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isthemedia · 7 years

Note

Prompt: Ghetsis at a job interview?

.>…….Just going to leave this here, cause guess who’s work schedule is done being F’d up? *NO TEAMS AU*Also there is a legit thing call Zoonotic-look it up, it’s what I used to base off what’s wrong with NoTeams!Ghetsis!

It was the rapid knocking on the door that roused Giovanni from his impromptu nap. Since he and Cyrus were the ones home the most a lot of the menial household chores fell onto them. And their task today was vacuuming and carpet cleaning. It took a big chunk of their morning and well into the afternoon; but it was done. Cyrus went to play one of the new games he just bought, while Giovanni found himself dozing off on the couch.

The knocking kept up.

“I’m coming. I’m coming,” the filmmaker grumbled and flung the door open ready to snap at whoever was on the other side–only to have it die on his lips. “Oh Alder, hey–Ghetsis! You’re…actually up and standing!”

Alder chuckled slightly. “Been able to be for a while now.”

Giovanni stepped aside to let them both in. Alder pulling out a chair for the frail man. Man…even though it was great to see the other standing he still had to note that Ghetsis still look too sickly. Pale skin. Paler than Cyrus’, deep purple rings around his eyes, and his frail body shaking as he sat down.

“Giovanni, who was at the–oh….hey.”

“Cyrus, hey!” Alder grinned. “Cynthia’s been asking about you.” Cyrus blushed slightly. Cynthia was just here a few weeks ago…she should know he’s alright. “So um…”

“What brings you two here?” Giovanni asked.

“Well…I’m going to be off for some kind of Pokemon contest, I actually should be on my way but–”

“You know Ghetsis is welcomed here…hell even Colress too, he and Augustine have enough late night study sessions,” the filmmaker stated.

“It’s not that…Ghetsis has a job interview. And well…I can’t get him to it and make it to the event.”

Cyrus sat by Ghetsis. “You can work?”

“I-it’s just a desk job.”

Giovanni and Cyrus both tried not to flinch at the rattly voice. It was better than the near wheeze he had when in the hospital, but still…

“I told him he didn’t need ta, I mean I can manage, and Colress helps out too with bills and such–”

“I’m going to climb the walls if I don’t get out,” Ghetsis snapped, only to cough a little after.

How is it that Pokerus, a virus that is actually GOOD for Pokemon to get, could hurt a human so badly? Though they were at least grateful to finally figure out what was wrong with the Unova native. Pokerus, an infected Viaplume hit Ghetsis while he and Alder were out. THe two-toned redhead wanting to catch some new Pokemon to diversify his team when he got the invite to a challenge to become champion.

It seemed impossible. Pokerus was something that occurred in Pokemon. Not humans….

Pokenotic; the transmission of a disease that normally exists in Pokemon but that can infect humans. Colress was the one who pushed his studies aside to find out what was wrong. Ghetsis went through so much. In and out of hospitals. He needed to be airlifted to Kalos just so specialists could look after him.

Colress transferred schools as soon as possible. And Alder…cut his path to becoming a Unova Champion.

So many surgeries. Hell, he loss the use of his right eye where the Viaplume’s pollen hit him. It was a merciless virus.

“So um…you need us to give him a ride?”Giovanni asked.

“If you could? Please, I know I already asked you guys for a lot of favors–”

“Nonsense,” the filmmaker cut Alder off. “You get going. We’ll get Ghetsis to his

interview.”

“Thanks guys,” Alder let out a sigh of relief. “I owe you.”

“When is your interview at?” Cyrus asked.

“At three….though I want to get there a bit early,” Ghetsis started, Taking a shaky breath before continuing. “They’ll want to look over my resume.”

Cyrus nodded and watch as Giovanni ushered Alder out of the flat.

“We’ll be sure to get you there.”

–

Ghetsis found himself shaking, a bit more than usual as the stoic woman flipped through the pages of his application.

“It says here you cannot stand for more than an hour?” She asked coldly and cocked a well-plucked eyebrow.

“N-no ma’am,” Ghetsis admitted ashamed.

“I see….and unable to do extraneous lifting?”

He flinched. He knew it looked bad…it didn’t help she kept eyeing him like he was about to just keel over and die.

“I..I…c-cannot,” his hands shook as he looked down to his lap.

The woman sighed through her nose, and picked up his resume. There was complete silence as she flipped through the pages. The light hitting her glasses causing Ghetsis to wince at the sudden brightness.

He was about to just get up and leave–when he heard her gasps. Looking back to her, he saw her fingers tremble a bit. She set the paper down quickly and looked to him with wide eyes.

“Y-you overcame…Pokerus?”

“I…ah…I’m still in recovery, but–” Ghetsis coughed a little. “But I’m cleared from it.”

“I see…” she mumbled as she brushed back some of her pink hair the spilled over her

shoulders. She wrote something down, before standing up. “We will be in touch Mr. Harmonia. Thank you for…coming here.”

Ghetsis was taken aback a little, as the change in her voice went for cold, to a more comforting tone. He nodded and got up ready to head out. His knees shaking from sitting too long. When he took his first step, he had to catch himself, legs feeling almost weightless.

“May I help you Mr. Harmonia?” The woman asked and offered him one of her hands.

“Ah…t-thank you, Miss Pachira.”

–

“Looks like he’s done,” Cyrus nodded to to entrance of the building.

They watched as Ghetsis was helped to the door by a rather lovely looking woman; curvy body, pink hair, and bright red sunglasses. Ghetsis bowed his head to her, as she held her hands up in a gesture that spoke how it was no trouble to her.

Ghetsis exited the building, and saw Giovanni with Cyrus, waiting outside by what was the designated smoking area for the building.

“How’d it go?” Giovanni asked as he and the gamer made their way over.

“I’m not sure,” Ghetsis began. “A-at first I thought it was bad…b-but–” he coughed again. A bit harsher than the previous few. Giovanni reached and rubbed his back. “S-sorry.”

“It’s alright. You thought it went bad?”

“O-only at first. But…she asked about the Pokerus, and her tone shifted,” he sighed.

“You don’t sound happy about that,” Cyrus pointed out.

“I…don’t want to be hired out of pity.”

Giovanni nodded with a small chuckle. Leave it to Ghetsis to go through so much, and still have that damned pride of his.

#noteamsau #pokemon giovanni #pokemon cyrus #pokemon ghetsis #pokemon alder

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