#(Apparently the versions me and my sib wanted/got were mixed up so we did a trade. I have Scarlet now! I love Koraidon-)

[ruby-static]

Other Legendary Pokemon: Powerful beings and forces of nature. Their capture is an event of importance that is only achievable through challenge and the most advanced equipment technology has to offer.

Miraidon/Koraidon: Mmmm sandwich :)

[samsonet]

There daily I wander as noon rises high,

This is how Raihan becomes Bede’s brother.

Title from Robert Burns’ “Afton Water”

*

Raihan isn’t used to watching the finals from the sidelines.

He tries to relax in his league-assigned seat, still feeling like any moment now someone will come to ask why he’s not on the pitch.

With every word the commentator says, the sense of wrongness only grows stronger. It should be him out there. It should be him planting his feet into the grass, summoning sandstorms and roaring at his opponent. For the past eight seasons, it has been him in that position, him on the pitch, him and Leon —

“Let's give a round of applause for Galar’s beloved champion, Gloria!”

The earth orbits around a new sun now.

“And on the other side of the pitch, the elite gym leader, the champion’s rival himself—”

Raihan—

“— Bede!”

Raihan sighs, not entirely sure what he’s feeling.

“A bit of sadness,” a voice says, “mixed with some excitement at seeing what these young ones can do. And some pride, too, perhaps.”

Raihan blinks, but he’s had enough experience with Opal to not jump at her sudden appearances.

“Why are you here? I thought you retired.”

“I did!” Opal hums happily. “Now I’m getting to enjoy my retirement — and what grandparent wouldn’t want the chance to see their grandchild battling the champion?”

Bede’s been training under her for what, three months? She jumped into the fairy godmother role pretty quick, didn’t she.

Opal says, “Perhaps it was a bit reckless of me to declare him my successor so quickly… But sometimes you can look at a person and know that you were meant to help them.”

On the pitch, Bede’s Rapidash lands a critical hit. Bede grins. Gloria grins. Raihan is abruptly reminded of his sixth battle against Leon, the first time he’d tried using a weather team. Leon won, of course, but instead of the usual sportsmanlike handshake, he’d given Raihan a full-bodied hug. After all, being the champion’s rival meant he was the champion’s friend, too.

Opal says, “Still, I do worry about whether I can properly care for him. I’m willing to listen to any troubles he has, of course, but he is a young boy, after all. He may not feel comfortable sharing everything with an old woman like me. If he had an older brother, perhaps...”

She looks at him meaningfully.

Raihan knows better than to offer his help; if the fairy queen wants a favor from him, she has to be direct about it.

But Opal doesn’t ask. She seems to feel like she’s said everything that needs to be said, and she merely sits back and watches the match.

The battle ends.

Gloria does not hug Bede.

*

Raihan pays more attention to Bede after that.

He would watch Bede’s matches anyway, because it’s only a matter of time before they’d have to face each other in a ranking tournament, but now Raihan’s observing the kid himself instead of just his battle style.

Bede’s history is no secret. During his challenge, the league milked the scrappy-orphan angle for all it was worth. A kid who came from nothing, fighting to earn a place in the world… It tugs at the heartstrings. Theoretically, anyway. While the PR people tried to spin Bede’s proud demeanor as a defense mechanism, a lot of the fans found challenger Bede unbearably smug.

Raihan grew up in a loving upper-class family with both parents and two sisters, so he doesn’t have family issues as an excuse. As a challenger, he’d been smug because he really thought he was all that. Well. He still is kinda cocky, and he still sorta is all that. Because the fans like it, because there’s nothing quite so satisfying as seeing a cocky bastard get taken down a peg or two.

The fans won’t get to see Raihan taken down a peg anymore. Sure, he’ll still be losing, to Gloria and Melony and who knows, maybe Bede too -- but that mixture of pride and humiliation is reserved for Leon and Leon only.

But Leon isn't the champion anymore.

Gloria seems to like battling Bede. Bede seems to like battling her. Their inexperience is obvious, though. Their battles seem to be fun and challenging for both of them, which is the important thing, but they haven’t quite gotten the hang of the performance part yet.

If he had an older brother, perhaps…

Is it an insult, that Opal would be so transparent in what she wants from Raihan? Or is it a show of respect, a way of saying that she’s not going to try to manipulate him? But even transparent manipulation is manipulation all the same…

Raihan leans back, putting a hand over his mouth in thought. He’s not the champion’s rival anymore. That was his place in Galar, his place in the league. He may still be the strongest gym leader, but the role feels empty now that Leon and Piers are gone.

Would the role be just as fulfilling if he became the big brother to the younger gym leaders?

He can try.

*

The next time Raihan sees Bede, it’s at one of the champion’s invite-only tournaments.

The champion has invited all her rivals, and between the battles the four of them stick together in the same corner. Raihan’s curious what they’re talking about, of course, but he gives them space. None of them are his little siblings, after all.

When the tournament finishes (with the champion victorious, naturally), Raihan walks out with the other participants.

Leon and Piers are waiting in the lobby. Raihan gives them a wave and they wave back, but it’s obvious they’re not there for him.

“Lee!”

Hop gives a running jump into his brother’s arms. Marnie has a more dignified motion as she walks toward Piers, but Raihan sees the way her mouth curls up at the corners. The little champion gives a wave goodbye to her rivals; she probably has some business to attend to in another city.

That leaves Bede as the list of the four, looking vaguely upset but not saying anything about it.

So Raihan does. “Hey, Leon, Piers. Whaddya say we take our little sibs to get something to eat? They fought hard, they deserve it. My treat.”

Piers raised his visible eyebrow, but he nods.

It’s Leon, always perceptive, that asks: “Our siblings?”

“Yep!” Raihan looks to Bede, reaching out a hand in invitation. “Bede, can you do me a favor and be my little bro for the afternoon? Leon’s not in the league anymore, but I still have to beat him in something.”

Bede gives him a look of offended confusion. Then he looks toward Leon and Hop.

Raihan sees Hop’s face, how he wears the same expression Leon does when the sponsors force him to drink chia juice.

Raihan sees Bede’s expression change, how his frown slowly turns into a knife cat smile.

Bede nods, reaching out and holding Raihan by the wrist. “I would love to.”

*

They go to McDucklett’s, one of the few places where people don’t look twice at a bunch of regional celebrities sitting down to eat.

Raihan’s the only one who orders a full meal. Leon and Piers get salads, the tossers. Hop and Marnie both want kids meals, with the potential tiny plush toy of a gym leader’s signature Pokémon. And Bede…

Bede’s staring at the menu, seemingly overwhelmed by all the choices. Has he really never been in a McDucklett’s before?

Oh. No, he probably hasn’t. Between the orphanage and Rose, fast food is probably the last kind of food he’s ever had the chance to try.

“Why don’t I get you some nuggets?” Raihan suggests.

Bede nods vigorously.

Raihan orders him a kids meal as well, and quietly asks the employee for a set of utensils to go with it.

While the grownups are eating their meals, the kids start by opening their toys. Hop has a tiny version of Milo’s Appletun, while Marnie gets Melony’s Lapras. By some coincidence or luck or fairy magic, Bede’s toy is an Alcremie.

He picks it up with something like reverence, lightly tracing its frosting swirls with one finger. He looks around the table, probably trying to find someplace to set it down, then puts it in his lap.

With the toys out of the way, Bede pulls out his box of nuggets. He stares at them as though unsure how they’re supposed to be eaten.

Raihan is torn between laughing at the kid’s hesitation and feeling sorry for him. Eventually, the latter wins out.

He swallows the bite of his burger and says, “There should be a knife and fork in there if you need ‘em. I know they’ve got a weird texture, but they’re pretty good.”

Bede follows his directions, spearing a nugget and taking a delicate bite.

Hop snorts. Raihan glares at him and is gratified to see Leon is giving an identical look. Big brother instincts.

The rest of the meal passes with minimal drama. Bede seems satisfied with nuggets and apple slices. That’s good. Raihan doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if Opal found out he’d sent Bede home hungry.

After the other pairs say their goodbyes and head out, Bede turns to Raihan and asks, “Can you watch Alcremie while I wash my hands?”

“Sure.”

Bede sets the doll on a dry spot on the table. “I know your hands are greasy, so don’t touch her. Just make sure nobody else takes her.”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Bede heads to the restroom. Raihan examines the toy Alcremie, leaning in close to look in its sewn-on eyes.

“Is this what you wanted, Opal?” he asks. “Am I doing well?”

The Alcremie only stares back. It has a knowing smile on its face.

*

When Bede comes back, he insists that Raihan wash his hands, too. Raihan thought it was a euphemism, but no, apparently the kid really doesn’t like the idea of greasy fingers.

After that, he’s ready to go home. Raihan offers to at least walk him back to the station. Bede accepts without protest.

It’s when they’re halfway there that he says, with forced aloofness, “I know you’re only doing all of this because Opal told you to.”

“What?”

“Don’t lie to me. She told you I needed a big brother, right? She told me the same thing. Well, I don’t need anybody. I’m a gym leader now. I’ll be fine even when Opal… even when she d…”

And, oh shit, that is not something Raihan even thought of when wondering why Opal would ask him for this. He’s stunned speechless for a moment, mouth opening and closing as he tries to say something reassuring but not patronizing.

At last he says, “I mean… even if she did ask me, I asked you along ‘cause I wanted to. You’re going to be around for a while, right? It’s just smart to try to get on your good side.”

Bede doesn’t say anything to that.

Raihan continues: “And if I may — I gotta say, I see a lot of myself in you. The elite gym leader who rivals the champion? That’s been my life since I was sixteen. If there’s anyone who’ll beat Gloria, it’ll be you.”

He knows the counter the moment he says it, already imagining Bede saying the way you beat Leon? with a sneer on his face.

But to his surprise, Bede does not say that. He only tilts his head, his expression somewhere between flattered and confused.

Then he says, “If you want to stay on my ‘good side,’ you should take me to McDucklett’s again sometime.”

*

When they reach Ballonlea, Opal is waiting. She greets them with a smile, one long-nailed finger beckoning them in.

[artlessictoan]

How I’d do Naruto Next Gen

okok I’ve been wanting to do something more in depth and organised than my usual ranting about how everything is terrible now, so here we go! (though lbr this is just my usual ranting but 10x longer)

for the sake of brevity ha and my own piece of mind I’m not gonna go into how unnecessarily hetro the ending was and how everyone should’ve been gay and hey not every couple absolutely had to get married and/or have kids and also nart should’ve gotten the opportunity to realise that becoming hokage wasn’t necessary to achieve his real goal of becoming someone loved and accepted by others and he deserved so much better tbh and why isn’t sak just running the whole show and why isn’t there more sand sibs, bc let’s face it none of that was ever gonna happen, so these ideas are mostly built with the premise that all the canon couples stay canon and all the kids are still around and the product of those ships and the big plot things that happened (like nart becoming hokage and the like) stay roughly the same

forewarning bc else someone’s bound to say something; if you enjoy the next gen stuff? not a problem! that’s great, people enjoying stuff is a good thing! I wish I could enjoy more stuff, bc enjoying things is far more fun than not enjoying things! everyone has a different taste though and for me – and a lot of other people – the way that the next gen has turned out has been a disappointment, this post is for those people, so we can talk about why we think it’s failed and what we would’ve like to see instead, if you don’t feel that way about it.. well just scroll on past this post and keep enjoying the things you enjoy! have an absolute blast, you’ve earned it!

under the cut bc I am apparently incapable of keeping my rambling concise, there’s 2000 words of only vaguely coherent thoughts and tangents, so maybe get yourself a cuppa and a snack before trudging through it (some of this I’ve said in other posts before but w/e)

---

first off lets change some of the kids’ personalities, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with any of them, but like….. 90% are carbon copies of one of their parents (and mostly their dads but I won’t get into that issue rn) which is ridiculous, bc personality traits aren’t genetic?? like my mum is super chill and sensible and my dad is short-tempered, but I’m an anxious mess and my bro is an anti-social control freak.. we didn’t get any of that from either of our parents

while it’s certainly true that you might be influenced by them (me and mum share a lot of interests and tastes), it’s not a hard and fast rule and I don’t find it realistic that EVERY kid takes after their parents, though I probably wouldn’t have such a problem with it if they were more a mix of both parents than just their dads, so here’s some potential alterations:

Boruto. good fucking lord, no, we did not need a clone of Naruto heading another series, if we wanted to see a rambunctious scamp who gets into trouble but loves his friends a whole lot and has a knack for giving inspirational speeches, then there’s already a whole 700 chap manga for that! one with a far more likable and interesting rambunctious scamp tbqh. so how about we make a few alterations, maybe instead of taking after Nart, Bolt takes a bit more after Hinata? a little quiet and a bit of a pushover, but someone who’ll quickly stick up for a friend and has an ease of communication that’s a bit more Nart? not shy so much as laidback and composed, maybe he isn’t all that interested in being a ninja too, like he’s quite skilled but is a pacifist and would much rather get a civilian job as idk a baker or gardener or something

Shikadai. only a few minor changes here bc I really do like the kid as he is, I’d just like to see him using Tema’s abilities too (and maybe also being just a bit more snarky and unyielding like his mum)

Inojin. I’m kinda torn on this one, bc I do like that he’s a lot like Sai (at least in the anime, he seems to have a pretty different personality from what little we’ve seen of him in the manga???), but I think it’d be pretty interesting if he was just not like either of his parents, maybe if he was very quiet and subdued, but also the mastermind behind all the kid’s pranks, has a mischievous streak that often shocks people, but his friends always love hanging out with him bc of it. also why doesn’t he have Ino’s powers? let’s give him Ino’s powers too

Sand Kids 2.0. ok so at this point we haven’t seen nearly enough of them to say much either way but I have negative faith in kishi and ike so I’ll just say that I want them all to be Gaara’s adopted kids (since it’s still unclear if it’s just Shinki or all of ‘em atm) and I want them to be exactly like this shameless plug for me and @spellfire01‘s versions of them which are the best fucking versions and I will protect my children with my life

now some changes to the original cast (this is where I’m gonna get proper bitter, prepare yourselves):

OH NARUTO MY POOR CHILD WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU I’ve already talked about this but let me just reiterate in as eloquent a way as I can; Naruto would never become a neglectful father. N e v e r. not after the childhood he went through, no matter how much work he had to do as kage, don’t dare fucking try and tell me that Naruto – "It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being all alone. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them… They rescued me from my loneliness" – Uzumaki would EVER neglect his kids. just fucking don’t. in this version Nart is a doting and involved dad (perhaps a little too much, to the point that his kids find him kinda exhausting and have to ask him to leave them alone sometimes) who sends his clones to work at the office while he hangs out with his family.. I honestly don’t know why he doesn’t already do that

let all the girls out of their houses to do some ninja work for the love of god

poor put-upon Shino-sensei is alright.. but we’ve already had that with Iruka, I’d honestly much rather see the Cool Sensei who keeps all the kids in line without even doing much of anything and has a knack for inspiring them and always has a line of students trailing after him asking to hear more of his awesome ninja stories and everyone always trying to show off when he’s around, bc Shino is literally The Best

have Sauce and Saku be divorcees. seriously, are even the people who ship them happy with how their relationship has turned out? they barely see each other and apparently it’s been that way since chap 699, so why not just have them split up? it really wouldn’t change much, just say that, at some point after Sarada was born, they realised that they were both gay incompatible personality-wise and they were both so busy with their individual work that there wasn’t much of a relationship to lose. not only would this be good for both their characters (there’s no reason they couldn’t still be good friends) and just more sensible all-round, but it would also be a nice way to show that not every childhood romance/first love works out and that’s perfectly fine and normal and they can still live happy, full lives afterwards!

speaking of Sauce, let him spend at least a little bit of time interacting with his friends and family in Konoha, even if he’s still mostly travelling around on important missions he should at least be taking every opportunity to visit his daughter when he’s in the area, seriously, c’mon

Temari got done so dirty in that one episode.. here’re some much better words than I could ever muster but generally I’d want her to be less the ‘scary, overbearing, harsh’ mother and more the ‘strict but cool and sneaky’ mother, like she’d honestly be the type to use reverse psychology and gentle manipulation, she’d make her boy do some seemingly meaningless task that somehow makes him have an epiphany and come back to her when he’s done like “I know what I did wrong now and I’m sorry” than just shout at him and refuse to make dinner (also I just really like to hc that she’s a terrible cook so it’s Shikamaru who does all the cooking anyway)

it’d be really great to see Hina either being the new clan head or at least otherwise involved in Hyuuga clan politics, so we could actually see how she’s working to destroy that whole slavery thing they’ve got going, rather than that plotline just being dropped somewhere around the end of the chunin exam arc and never picked up again (I mean I assume that it’s all supposed to be fixed by now, but that’s not the kinda thing that should happen entirely off-screen) and so we can see her life revolving around something other than Nart and her kids, she’s remarkably capable and had so much potential but she’s been denied every opportunity to really exist as her own character by the writers

Kiba…… what the hell is going on with Kiba? where is he? what is he doing? how’s he feeling these days? is he supposed to be married to that nameless cat lady we saw for a single panel? these are things we shall never know I guess. tbh what I’d really LOVE to see would be Kiba-sensei, just imagine him and Shino both being teachers who work in completely opposite ways, Shino is the quiet, inspiring, lowkey scary one and Kiba is the gigantic fucking dork one who cheers his students on way too loud and makes the classes super fun and joins in the kids games, him and Shino have a class rivalry and Kiba is constantly roping students into joining his attempts to prank Shino (they’ve never once succeeded but oNE DAY)

Ino should be the next head of Konoha’s intelligence division, I will fight kishi on this one

why the actual fuck is oroch still happily living it up in his penthouse lab?? kill the fucker. or at the very least imprison the fucker. just say that Mitsuki was an old project of his that somehow kept developing in his absence, or was a product of research carried out by some lackeys’ years after he’s gone, anything that means I don’t have to accept that everyone has apparently forgiven him for everything and knows that he’s still experimenting on kids but just don’t care

and on that last note: Justice for Yamato 2k17

right now let’s get onto the actual plot/story for this very self-pandering au

make Sarada the main char. while I can see why they would choose to go with Boruto, honestly Salad’s more interesting a character and! A Girl!! Main Character!!!! I NEED IT!!!!!! focus on her goal to be hokage and her struggles with her parents and follow up on that ‘restoring the Uchiha’ plot thread that just.. dropped right off the map somewhere between 699 and 700, her reconciling what her clan was with what she wants to make it

get rid of that weird demon-sensing eye thing that’s going on. and the demon thing in general. and also that jarring post-apocalypse future thing they’re building up. I didn’t slog through over a decade of kishi’s bullshit just so my kids didn’t get to live long, happy lives. make the plot just slice-of-life fluff, nothing more dangerous than a bully, just some kids trying to be awesome ninja in a world that doesn’t really need ninja anymore bc peace and all that

waaay more of Chocho, Himawari and Inojin (at least enough so they all get equal billing)

show how the ninja world has grown and developed since the end of the original series (not just technologically), what do ninja do now that there aren’t any wars and international relationships are at an all-time high? have missions completely gone from being combat and intel based to more about construction and assistance? are ninja numbers actually dropping, favouring civilian jobs in these more peaceful times? how well are people – ninja or not – adjusting to these changes? is learning ninja techniques still encouraged but in a way that’s more about culture and traditions than actual use in combat (in the same way that swordplay today is mostly practiced for performance, fun and sport, rather than out of any real-life practicality)? there are so many interesting things to explore that you don’t even need to be adding in new threats to keep the series entertaining

I’ve said this before, but I think it’d be really cool and cute if after the end of the war and with some drastic changes to the ninja world’s politics, this next gen is less about becoming ninja, than realising that they’ll never be ninja (at least not in the way that their parents were) and how they react to that. maybe they’re frustrated because they hear so many cool stories about the grand battles of the previous generation and they want to be able to do those things too damnit! so the kids are just going around trying to be super-awesome ninja in a world that doesn’t really need ninja anymore, picking fights and trying to make their boring d-rank missions seem more important and dangerous than they really are, maybe at some point they learn a bit more about how hard and traumatising that life was for their parents and why the world had to change, until they eventually decide that if the role of a ninja has to change, then together they’re gonna discover what that new role will be, what will being a ninja really mean in this new, peaceful world?

and, a final ending note: fuck ike’s sickening treatment of Sarada with regards to her sexualised presentation and the disgusting reveal that someone taught Boruto (a young child!) the sexy jutsu. Let The Kids Be Kids 2k17