#I wonder where Hisui's pokeballs play into this

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 73 Review - Meeting Kleavor

You know what I’ve noticed? Horizons likes to make recurring tropes be a staple in their episodes. In the beginning, it was Friede and Captain Pikachu swooping in to save the kids or shoving things into off-screen land. Now, it’s having the group be separated for some important occasion. In the previous arc, Liko was forcibly separated from Roy and Dot back around Episode 64 and 65. Now, it seems to be a recurring thing for this arc where the group have been separated for the second time in a row now. I get it’s to have the kids battle Kleavor on their own, but they could have done it in a less contrived way.

Anyways, gripes aside, this was a good episode! It was nice showcasing the second Hisuian Pokemon in this anime and fifth of the Six Heroes that eventually became the fourth to join the group. I like that Kleavor had some sort of history with Lapras with it being the reason why it had the scars on its neck. I also liked the twist that they actually get along and not have bad blood. The way the other Hero Pokemon tend to pop out whenever another Hero Pokemon shows up is interesting in itself and it makes me want to see more interactions. I also like its personality a lot. 

Kleavor is actually a very formidable fighter. I think this is the first time a Hero Pokemon deliberately knocked all out the Pokemon before joining them. I actually liked how this battle was played out. Kleavor moved around a lot, which gives the kids a bigger desperation to follow and continue their battle. I liked how they strategized by using the bamboos. Roy clearly was the biggest help in the group because of that. I also like how Liko took the initiative and terastalized Floragato, which then caused Roy and Dot to do the same. Man, if Kleavor was this strong, I can’t wait to see what Entei and Rayquaza are capable of when they go all out.

I think this is also the first instance where a memory of Lucius and the past is so clear and not be shrouded with pink fog like before. Lucius looks like he could be an older male version of Liko, but with blue hair and a braid on the back. The memory makes it seem like Lucius has visited Hisui which was how he got Kleavor to become his Pokemon. The most important aspect is that the memory is actually in Terapagos’s perspective, but Lucius says a name we haven’t heard before: Rystal.

By process of elimination, it’s easy to deduce that she is the person dressed in green in the opening with Lucius and Gibeon. Now, I wonder about who she is. Is she Lucius’s wife? I mean, if Liko is a direct descendant of Lucius, they, at least, could’ve procreated before he left for Laqua. If not, then Lucius could be related to Liko by another relative of his. Remember that Lucius is never stated to be a direct ancestor of Liko’s. If he was, Diana would’ve said something in an earlier episode. If not, then she could be Roy’s ancestor which could be why the Ancient Pokeball was in his possession, as it’s never explained how it was there and only that he’s had it for a long time. If those two aren’t the case, then maybe Rystal was Lucius’s sister, who could be Liko’s direct ancestor. I’m as invested in this story as the Rising Volt Tacklers are.

It’s sad to see Perrin leave the group, but her words do make it sound like she’ll show up again—perhaps when they encounter Entei? However, in place of Perrin, Diana confirms her return in the ending of the this episode. This gets me stoked because Diana is a great character and I can’t wait to see her again!

What are your thoughts about Kleavor, the battle, and the episode as a whole?

[shadowonwater]

Adaman and Irida in Pokemon Masters!

I enjoyed the story it told! Now we finally got Hisui in Masters!

I'm just thinking about how much fanfic potential is in this update. I've already seen a fanfic from awhile ago that already had the premise of "What if Hisui characters wound up on Pasio" I imagine there will be more fanfics in the future playing with this idea

more under cut

I love that fact that Lucas just casually has the God of Time in his pocket. And of course Adamen and Irida are like "Holy Shit!" When they see it. They end up taking it pretty well though.

And it's interesting that while Dawn must not care that much about Sinnoh history, what with not having even heard of Hisui. Lucas has heard of it, and was shocked that Irida and Adaman are time travelers.

I also liked that Adaman was all like "We must have time traveled!" while Irida was like "No, we are in a distant country." I mean they could both be right. They time traveled for sure. But it's mystery as to Pasio's location. It could be close or far away from Sinnoh.

And they ended up trying to go to Cyrus for help because he had Palkia. And they needed the ledgendarys to work together to get rid of the distortion

And the fact that Dialga and Palkia talked in Adaman and Irida's heads again! Loved that! Poor Lucas was all "THEY CAN TALK" which is fair, honestly. I wonder if he's upset at all that Dialga has never talked to him.

And then when fixing the problem, it turns out that Cynthia was also helping with Giratina, far away and Barry was with her. This implies that Barry when to her for help when he saw what was happening.

And then at the end, there are still small distortions happening just no more big one. And Adaman and Irida don't know how to go back in time so they decided to hang around Pasio until then.

They also decided to get with the times and use Pokeballs! And said that it's likely that more people from Hisui will end up in Pasio. This is confirmation we'll be getting more Hisui sync pairs!

Oh! Oh! And also there was a mention early on that of course Dawn and Lucas look like Akari and Rei, Dawn and Lucas don't seem to know who they are. This either means that neither of them have time traveled yet or that Akari/Rei were never Dawn/Lucas OR that Akari/Rei are from a different universe where they did time travel.

The idea if multiple universes coming into a play is not a weird idea in Pokemon. Maybe Adaman and Irida are the ones from a different universe.

Adaman and Irida also mentioned a couple of people falling out of the skies from the rifts. This clearly refers to both the protag but also Ingo. I hope we get Warden Ingo, in the future!

Anyway, like I said earlier, there is so much fanfic potential in all this!

[huh-1260]

:)

Another part of my Au to many almost or finished art from my phone of this AU I made. Zoroark mist is purple cuz shiny. I am writing part 2 of my ramble because yes. Satoshi is in Aloha like so confused like " I was in the Abalaster ice lands how did this happen? At least my friends are alive." He puts on his human illusion (he kinda sometimes forget that it's him when he didnt get Zoroark, some days he thinks someone he cared about.) Gary, Goh, Rei, and Ingo are in Aloha for finding out about Ultra wormholes as that's probably how they appeared in the lab. ( it was a time space rift stupid kids) Ingo has one of Lady Sneasler's babies because how else do you think they fell into the random rift baby sneasel wanted to play in snow but tripped on her foot. Satoshi wanders until he's at a familiar building the Pokemon school, he wanders in walking around until he is at the doorway of Professer Kukui's class, part of him wondered "why am I here its just a classroom what ever that is" and leaves going outside where the class was, with Kiawe challenged Gary to a pokemon battle because Gary is Ash's first rival. Gary wins and Ingo ends up yelling " Super Bravo!" Catching the Sun and moon gang off guard. Which Satoshi realize, Rei and Warden Ingo didn't die falling off a cliff in the Highlands but ended up in the future and stepped forward a bit slowly only to step on a stick which everyone turns their head towards him. Why are they just standing their looking at him do they see through the illusion, oh wait he's panicking just act natural. " Hello there, Warden Ingo, Rei." Rei's eyes light up and says " Warden Satoshi!" In which Gary's head is lining up images of Ash and Warden Satoshi, and the faces match if Ash had insomnia and longer hair. Warden Ingo is giving Satoshi the stink eye because a lot of Hisuian Zoroark tried to prey on him with the form of Emmet and didnt Satoshi die all the way in Hisui? Ingo then ask " If you are Warden Satoshi, then." Warden Ingo glared. " How did you get back from Hisui?" Satoshi grinded. " I didn't." The illusion faltered a little showing a bit of mist and his real colors. " I waited a few hundred years after, then I le-"

"Pokeball, Goooooo!"

[warden-melli]

Hello pokemas anon again! I'm delighted by those details I missed when I played pla, thank you for sharing them :D Came back to share a vitally important yet distressed comment Adaman just told me. He told me how he's learned there are pokeballs that work better the longer the battle goes - why would anyone invent that?! Adaman confirmed Quick Ball Spammer - oh!! I forgot a super important detail in my write up previously. Irida and Adaman announced they were going to stay and learn about Pokémon bonds by showing they had put their pokemon in pokeballs - they explained their misgivings about them but are trying to view it as a symbol of trust. (For the lodge minigame, if you get a character's friendship level to 100, you get a special bonus Sync Pair where the character has an alt pokemon - I just got the Adaman one where he has a Vaporeon! Some people are arguing Irida is gonna get a Flareon but that is very dumb! Doesn't fit at all. Which eeveelution do you think Irida would get? Im hoping for Espeon since thats the only Eeveelution that hasnt veen in the game yet)

Oh totally! Adaman wouldn’t want to waste time. Quick ball enthusiast for sure (same tbh)

I was wondering how they would handle the issues of pokeballs considering neither used them in PLA. I personally think Adaman would be the most likely to come around to the concept first, with Irida being a harder sell as she was quite critical of them during PLA, where as Adaman seemed curious at times.

Congratulations on unlocking the alt pokemon! As for your Irida question, I actually think Flareon would make perfect sense. Despite being a fan of cold weather and liking Ice type pokemon, Irida canon has a Flareon in PLA, so I don’t really understand why Flareon wouldn’t be a good fit?

Adaman and Irida are supposed to represent Dialga and Palkia respectively, and are therefore often portrayed as complete opposites. This goes for their personalities, values, leadership styles and even pokemon teams with their teams featuring eeveelutions often accepted to be the opposites to one another. It’s why their personalities clash so badly, and is a big factor in the reason for their feud. It was the only thing they do have in common, their love for the Hisui region and the people and pokemon who dwell within it, that was able to help them put their differences aside to help save the region and close the rift. Taking this into consideration, and with Adaman already using Vaporeon, it would make the most sense for her to use Flareon in my opinion. Espeon could make sense too as she also canon has one in PLA. I suppose it depends on what the devs value more, as while I appreciate it would make more sense in the context of the game to add a pokemon that hasn’t been in the game yet, it would make more sense lore wise for her to use Flareon.

[draftingteacups]

How would the NRC boys would react if Soni took them back in time to the Husui region?

Note: I haven't been able to play Legends: Arceus yet, but I do know a decent amount of the story now.

I think their collective reaction to this whole thing is "Who made a time machine?" because all of a sudden, they were thousands of years with little understanding of how they got there. They are very lucky to have avoided their memories being erased oof

Soni, being someone who's not familiar with Hisui but is knowledgeable about old Johto practices (i.e. Apricorns can be made into Pokeballs and making Potions using herbs and Berries), would rely on what she knows.

Because if you get thrown to Hisui as in "stranded there with no idea as to escape" and everyone around you is trying to survive, then it's best to find shelter and provide for yourself. Pokemon in this time period weren't as domesticated as they are in the modern-day, so they were pretty dangerous entities that many people often avoided and outright feared. NRC boys would be looked at strangely if they asked any of the locals if they liked Pokemon. Although if the people they came across had grown accustomed to seeing Pokemon around the town, then there's a higher chance of a positive reaction. For the most part, it's very 50-50.

Lilia would reminisce on his memories of the Far East as he looks around Hisui, although Soni would have to tell the others (Malleus, Sebek, Leona, etc.) to hide their animalistic features via magic. It's not easy to blend them in, especially when someone from the village wonders who the heck they are and where they came from.

Soni worked overtime to convince the people living in the nearby village that they were just looking around for a place to stay for a brief point of time.

Those who were used to handling Pokemon (catching them, battling them, etc.) were given temporary positions in the Team Galactic Survey Corps in different areas.

Depending on the people who get sent into the past, who gets what wildly differs.

Rook and Soni were prime catching experts as well as great on the field, given their skillsets. Silver and Sebek are likely candidates for survival as they've been trained by Lilia in the past, although they have to rely on their physical strength as opposed to their magic in Hisui.

Floyd and Jade leave as they please and do as they please on their missions. No one bothers to correct them as they are too intimidating lol

Ruggie, Deuce, Trey, Jamil, and Kalim were a part of the group that stayed in the village, assisting in part-time jobs like cooking for the Corps, dealing with the Pokemon that were in the field (the PC area), and even learning how to make medicines like Potions from what the field group brought back from their work. Their clubs and understanding of Pokemon Care/club activities, and skillsets (Jamil with his own antidote kit from Episode 5) are what give them that opportunity.

Vil looked at the little Bidoof running around the village and his own Bidoof just greeting the other Bidoof cheerfully. Vil is getting all sorts of inspiration from the clothing but also does his damnedest to look good with local products. It goes surprisingly well, especially with the local hairdressers.

Epel and Jack would do heavy-lifting duty, despite many of the Hisuian people there thinking otherwise with Epel.

The NRC Boys with Pokemon are seen as different, given how they easily bond with Pokemon. Ruggie and Morpeko are given funny looks when Morpeko goes on a Hunger Mode spree. Deuce babying Happiny makes some wonder what's the point of such a thing.

Ace, Cater, Leona, and Malleus would get the simple tasks of delivering things to and from places. Ace is the best at rolling and dodging Pokemon attacks due to his exposure to them.

Azul would be a great secretary, but I'm not entirely sure if they'd trust him enough to give him that sort of job. Maybe as a greeter by the door?

Like I said, NRC boys are given funny looks and are treated as such. Soni isn't immune from this either, especially when she goes through the tasks like it's nothing. Very efficient and does her work well enough that people can't deny her contribution to the village.

The potato mochi is delicious, but people are relieved when they get back to the present in Twisted Wonderland. No one said that trips to the past were fun-

[hisuian-history-makers]

Pokemon Journeys; Represents Us + Future

Gou/Goh has sparked a lot of controversy over the three years Pokemon Journey has been going on. He managed to catch just about every Pokémon in a standard pokeball. Caught a weakened Suicune saving it from Pokemon poachers. Only really used the stronger Pokemon he caught rather than training his main hitters up. But—doesn’t this sound a lot like us when we first play Pokemon? Most of us tend to go in fresh to our first game so we run around catching every encounter available. Until Pokemon Go, there was no missing a throw aspect besides the Pokemon Anime.

Let’s Go kinda overdid it making only trainers be able to battle us... Anyway, encountering even one Legendary isn’t a given in that world. The old man with his Hoothoot spent many years trying to get a good look at Ho-Oh again. He would be considered lucky when there are probably people who live their whole lives without even glimpsing one. Goh represents when we first got into the games, on a side note Suicune was guaranteed encounter in HGSS. Though just as a repeatable one.

Ash represents those of us who have played several games yet still love the series. We stick to training our favorites now since we know most other Pokemon. Spoilers for the latest episode, but I love how he doesn’t know every ability. It would be impossible to memorize them all so his being surprised by Libero was realistic. My battling style used to never have status moves including overpowered Protect. I barely knew some Pokemon had a higher physical attack than a special attack. One thing Ash has always done was open us to future possibilities that the games just can’t do.

He uses moves in different ways than the games portray them. Electroweb to bounce on, climbing up rock attacks, taking the force of an attack to boost Dragon Dance. Battling has different styles which the anime clearly shows. Where Ash will go next depends on the outcome of this battle and if Goh manages to catch Mew. These two events might have us see Ash step down as the main character. At least that is what most people think considering Paldea has a schooling system.

It would be interesting to see Ash occasionally show up to mentor a new main character. Or Goh studying other legendaries to unlock Mew’s genetic mysteries. I mean, if it has been around since ancient times can it transform into a previously unknown Pokemon? There’s so much we can look forward to in the future of the anime. The traveling around aspect was fun after everything Ash has been through. I wonder if we will get anything else set in Hisui.

[kyndaris]

Pokemon Legends: Enter the Omegaverse!

The latest Pokemon game by developer GameFreak is a re-imagining of the franchise that defined several key moments of my childhood. Gone are the days of walking around in circles, hoping to enter a random battle with an elusive creature that has a 0.2% of appearing. There are no bicycles to be had. Nor are there any big towns or cities with gyms that are awaiting to be challenged. With Pokemon Legends: Arceus, many of the old formulas are thrown out the window - and the game is better for it. If I had to go back to how Pokemon used to be played, I’d almost definitely find the process exceedingly tiresome and grindy. 

Arceus begins with the player character being zapped from their home, given the outfit I was wearing, it felt a bit like Alola, and travelling through a space-time rift into the past. Before I knew it, the God of the Pokemon world had vanished my phone and I was left on a beach without any idea of where I was or when I was. Until a Professor Laventon, dressed in 19th century attire, bumped into me and vouched for my good character into becoming part of Jubilife Village.

Many people have described the aesthetic of Arceus as Feudal Japan. But after spending time in the game world, and taking in the actual technology on display, it felt more like the closing years of the Edo period and perhaps the start of the Meiji. Of course, I’m no actual student of Japanese history and my knowledge is limited to the anime shows I’ve watched.

That aside, I was keen to change out of my t-shirt, shorts and horrendous sandals (I may not have a feet fetish like Quentin Tarantino but my goodness, have you seen the feet of my player character? It’s terrifying!) and into something more appropriate for a grand adventure in the Hisui wilderness.

And what a breath of fresh air was the gameplay! The fact that experience points could be gained just from lobbing a Pokeball and catching these wonderful creatures at full health! The stalking around in tall grass or distracting them with berries or flavoured cakes!

Yes, Pokemon battles still existed but I wasn’t stopped every few metres by some youngster or bug catcher after accidentally making eye contact with them. 

For the first time, playing a Pokemon game evoked the feeling of actually living in a world with these creatures and trying to understand how they all fit into the ecosystem. For too long, the games were only satisfied with providing creepy Pokedex entries but limited the way the players could see how these monsters interacted with the environment. And getting to see their individual personalities was also interesting. Not all Pokemon are docile. And just like the inspirations that they derive from, some are aggressive while others scarper at the first sign of trouble. 

Night and day also had different Pokemon roaming the wilderness. And, as before, zubats and drifloon proved to be the most irritating to encounter.

From a narrative standpoint, Arceus falters. There’s a basic plotline of the main character helping out the Galaxy team as they explore a new region and helping the clans that already call it home by quelling their frenzied noble Pokemon. Yes, there’s a whole grand reveal of Volo being some sort of cultist of one that is devoted to remaking the whole world in his image by capturing Arceus (which is only revealed in the end-game), but for most of the plot, it was an excuse to bind together the different locations together in order to continue the addictive gameplay loops with a variety of different Pokemon types.

I must say, though, that water types lurking out in the water are the HARDEST to capture. Some of the flying ones are as well, but their pre-evolution forms populate the rest of the world and oft times, it was just a simple affair of levelling them up to evolve.

As for graphic fidelity...while the game is a vast improvement from the models used in previous entries, when compared to the state of video games on other platforms, such as PlayStation and Xbox, it is clear that Pokemon lags behind. The fact that the franchise is about twenty-five years old and STILL doesn’t have voice acting for cutscenes is also a shame. Although, as with my playthrough of the Great Ace Attorney, I also supplied a few of the voices of the characters for my own amusement. That Commander Kamado slipped into some weird interpretation of Scottish when he was angry was just a highlight to voice in the silence of my own gaming area.

Honestly, at this point, my mother probably thinks I’m crazy. But hey, if a game doesn’t have voice acting, I need to supply my own.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a great step forward for the franchise that has felt like it’s been stagnating for several years. As a player, I’m keen to see how GameFreak might implement the lessons they’ve learned in the development of his game to the mainline games. A modern setting can still work and there’s certainly still a form of wondrous magic that comes with throwing a Pokeball at something and watching it snap and pop with a successful catch. 

But on a real note, the introduction of frenzied Pokemon and Alpha Pokemon being much more aggressive does make me wonder about something. As someone that is not unfamiliar with the fanfiction world, it definitely seems like there’s something lurking in the distance. The random lightning wasn’t just imbuing the Noble Pokemon with more power. It was basically putting them into their first heat. All these aggressive stand-offs? They’re all in need of a good ru-

Hey! Why are you dragging me away? This is what the internet is all about! How can you say that there aren’t pheromones in play? 

I won’t be silenced! You won’t hear the last from me!

THE OMEGAVERSE IS REAL! AND IT’S HERE!

[brainyxbat]

Hisui edit! I tried not to directly copy the ghost maiden’s hair for Venus, but it still looks really similar. 😂 She’s in her dress for a disguise that I decided on her wearing in the episode: a pink sleeveless cheongsam dress with black tabs on the right shoulder.

AU where Butch spots Venus, in disguise like him, in Sable City during the tournament scam, and is smitten. But when he tries to have Cassidy see her, she’s gone without a trace, making Cass wonder if he’s going crazy, or playing a joke. Before long, they both finally see her, and they’re surprised to learn that not only is she real, she’s one of them! She’s in full uniform just like them when they find her, and was in on the mission, assisting in the pokeballs heist.

Screencaps used:

Butch/Venus’ background: The Ole’ Berate and Switch

Venus: The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak