#Soul the Crobat

[olivias-antics]

[starleavess]

sigh . i got fixated

[trinrose3]

I've been replaying soul silver and this is my team (and a quick sona concept) so far :3

My Crobat, named Echo, is my bestie and I love her <3

[puppyluver256]

[Image Description: Koga, part of the Elite Four in Gold and Silver (and its remakes Heart Gold and Soul Silver), with his Crobat. Koga is standing in the middle of a room meant to resemble a shadowy forest, with cobblestone pathing around the top half of a green Pokeball-shaped mat. He has his hands in front of his chest crossed over a red and white Pokeball. The Crobat, a large purple bat with two sets of wings, is flying by his side. End ID.]

-----

“Fwahahahaha! I am Koga of the Elite Four. I live in shadows—a ninja! My intricate style will confound and destroy you! Confusion, sleep, poison... Prepare to be the victim of my sinister techniques! Fwahahahaha! Pokémon are not merely about brute force—you shall see soon enough!”

More Johto with a familiar face! Koga's back, babey! And yeah, I'm just gonna use this opportunity to confirm that I will be drawing all the Kanto gym leaders again--I kinda have to, given my love of the drastic redesigns and the fact that there's a new one and also there's one Kanto original that I never drew during the initial Kanto set--so this series is gonna go quite a bit longer than some might've initially expected hehe. Though I will be skipping redraws of Bruno and Lance as Bruno's design isn't different enough for me to justify it and Lance would've not only been in the same situation if I had gone with my original plan to draw his FRLG design over his LGPE design (curse you low quality image reference!!), he'd end up getting drawn with the same Pokemon again anyway due to Johto literally only adding one (1) dragon and giving it to his cousin XD Yeah, I could draw Dragonite again too, but part of the purpose of this series is to also expand my repertoire in drawing various Pokemon so I want to avoid repeats for as long as I can unless they are Pokemon that are inherently significant to the trainer's story and personality beyond just being a fun 'mon on their team.

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~Likes are appreciated, but reblogs are greatly preferred as they let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Koga, Crobat, and other Pokemon concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

[jadeazora]

It got leaked years ago via Pokebeach that Sycamore's name was originally intended to be Patrice, and this was the only thing listed that ended up being incorrect.

Also, since we found the XY demo last night, and with the betas for everything being leaked, people are bringing up old that alien rumor where Sycamore would be a villain (he is allegedly the same person as Lysandre, it was a possession-like scenario, so it wasn't really of his own volition), and I always found it pretty funny how they gave him some villainous Pokemon in the demo. Except for Dragonite, but Crobat is owned by several evil team leaders, and while Chandelure hasn't been given to a major villain yet, it still steals and burns souls as fuel:

[alt-wannabe]

MCSR Pokémon Teams

some explanations included but largely based on vibes alone

i got a bunch of suggestions from mutuals so if that’s you hiiiii thank you :3

(disclaimer i don’t know shit about competitive so these teams are nawt viable for that at all)

- i knew i wanted him to have an electric type and i landed on rotom for its various forms and versatility

- pangoro because i wanted him to have a fighting type and also bc of pandas in AA

- blastoise is a full soul read idk

- hatterene bc of the colors

- porygon z also for the colors and also bc it seemed fitting (this was a gigabrain lompleg suggestion everyone say thank you lompleg)

-deoxys speed form i feel is self explanatory

-ngl a good half of this team is straight vibe picks with no like REAL reasoning

- durant is silver in color everyone say wow

- gogoat as a callback to his skin w the horns

- the hair on the zoroark reminds me of how people draw his hair

- when i asked in chat he said his favorite pokémon was dragonair so he gets one

- flygon’s little eye things make me think of glasses

- shuckle

- a lot of people were of the consensus he should have a water type, i picked tentacruel largely bc the things on its head match flygon’s eyes ngl

- banette reminds me of phantom house of nightmares fulham for some reason

- british football playing pokémon from the british region

- similar to fulham and dragonair, fruit likes goomy so he gets a goomy

- iirc he had an event skin where he was a vile plume

- tinkaton gives me huge fruit energy that thing is a little deranged (in the best way possible)

- he’s associated with bats fairly often so he gets a crobat

- bellibolt’s goofy lil face reminded me of :]

- weavile is agile i don’t have that much more reasoning

- mr rime is here because i despise the pokémon mr mime

- and also gold suggested it would be funny as an alternative

- inteleon and metagross are both pure soul reads

- moots thought hisuian arcanine would be good to a.) give him a dog pokémon and b.) represent captain mime and i agree

- i’m gonna be so real the entirety of my reasoning behind sceptile is sometimes when mime gets snarky i basically imagine that’s his facial expression

- look at linoone’s color scheme and tell me i’m wrong

- couri likes milotic so he gets a milotic

- espeon and starmie are both purple and give off couriway energy to me

- shiny pidgeot can fly and is in couri colors!

- delphox is a reference to my mcsr d&d stuff where i made couri a wizard

- idk why sandslash i just like him

- shot-in-the-dark pick city, population: reignex

- i basically only have reasoning for 3 of these

- ursaluna is a bear

- emboar reminds me of piglins and hoglins in the nether

- low key toxtricity was a suggestion i was a fan of

- other than that i made choices based off gut feeling alone

- purple cat liepard yay

- mismagius makes me think of that super cool vio art of raddles as a necromancer

- gardevoir is pretty enough said

- hydreigon and toxapex were both purple and had fitting energy imo

- noibat reminds me of her blockwars purple phantoms skin

uhh that’s all i’ve got for now! maybe more later or if you have teams for people i didn’t come up with you should totally add them onto this post :3

[haveyouusedthispokemon]

Crobat can be used on your team in:

Gen 2: Gold, Silver, Crystal Gen 3: Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red, Leaf Green Gen 4: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold, Soul Silver Gen 5: Black, White, Black 2, White 2 Gen 6: X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire Gen 7: Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon Gen 8: Sword, Shield (DLC), Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, Legends: Arceus

[teshadraws]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Seekers of Soul

[Chapter 47]

<< First | < Previous | Next >

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After discovering Asra the crobat's fate, Tobias and Nia head east to seek out Edme. Along the way, memories are shared.

-

Tobias is vaguely aware of Nia leading them back to the road. She coaxes him into sitting against a rock on the side of the dirt path, and while she keeps an eye out for a ride he stares blankly out at the desert as night falls. His emotions and thoughts ebb away along with the desert’s heat.

Eventually, she manages to stop a cart pulled by a pair of tauros, and tugs Tobias up into the back of the cart with her. Her paws on his arm are freezing, and that’s the thing that reels Tobias back, just a bit. He sits against the side of the cart and doesn’t say anything when Nia presses her cold fur against his side.

The ride is silent, for a while. Nothing but the steady clomping of the tauros’ hooves and the gentle creaking of the cart. The occasional howl of wind. Nia’s chattering teeth slowly fall quiet as she warms up.

Tobias stares at the goods in front of him. They’re stacked in bags and crates in dark, ambiguous lumps, lit faintly by the moon and his own small tail flame. He’s holding their satchel in his lap, absently kneading it with his claws.

Distantly, he notes Nia sending him worried, probing glances. He doesn’t meet her eyes. He doesn’t want to talk right now. He doesn’t want to think, either. He doesn’t feel the raging fury or the devastating grief from earlier, but all that’s left in their wake is a sort of numbness. He feels tired. Empty.

The night rolls by, calm and quiet. Tobias should probably be grateful that they don’t have to fight off any bandits. That would give him something to do, but right now he can’t guarantee that he wouldn’t space out mid-battle and make a stupid mistake.

Nia clears her throat. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Tobias stares at her without really seeing. He feels irritation spike in him before snuffing out just as fast. He shrugs and plants his chin down in his arms.

Nia takes her time responding. Hours worth of time, if the slow lift of the moon into the sky is anything to gauge by.  Tobias thinks he dozes off a few times, since the stars seem to tick by in leaps rather than at a crawl. Or maybe he’s just spacing out.

Throughout the night, Nia shifts restlessly. She opens her mouth countless times before closing it again. Tobias ignores her, lost in a tired haze. Maybe he should just go back to sleep for now. He still feels exhausted from his earlier blow-up.

It’s near midnight when Nia finally speaks, voice soft. “Would it help if I talked about something?”

Tobias shrugs again. He doesn’t particularly care either way.

Nia eyes him, deep in thought. “I…if you don’t want to hear about this, then tell me and I’ll stop. But I know you were wondering before and, well—“

Tobias grunts an impatient sound.

A pause. “I know it’s not—not anywhere near the same, but when I miss my family, it helps for me to think about them. I-I mean, it hurts too, but…I didn’t ever tell you about them, did I?”

Tobias finally looks at Nia, curious despite himself. He’s kind of surprised she brought this up now, instead of avoiding the topic like a pitfall, but it’s the first thing drudging up a sense of anything from the numbness that has settled over him. Even if that something feels sharp and painful.

“Would…you like me to? Tell you about what I remembered about my family? I-I don’t have to. I know after, uh, everything, you probably don’t want to have to think about—“

Tobias tunes Nia’s nervous rambling out. The thought of hearing about Nia’s family makes the terrible ache in his chest threaten to return, and he isn’t sure it won’t spiral from there. But…he does want to know. And maybe she can distract him from the bad thoughts he logically knows he’s keeping at bay across a moat of static and empty thoughts. No telling when those will break through.

“Whatever,” he mumbles, moving his gaze back across the cart and past it, to the moonlit expanse of the desert.

Nia still hesitates. Then, she takes a deep breath and says, “I had…dreams about them. When I was sick. More like memories, but…it was like I was there with them. My mom and my brother. Toni.”

Tobias blinks. “Toni?”

Nia smiles wistfully, relaxing a bit. “Yeah. I guess she’s not my family by blood, but she’s my best friend.” After a beat she hastily adds, “In the human world.”

Tobias doesn’t respond.

“She’s always been the brave one between us. But she made me feel braver too. Pushed me out of my comfort zone, helped me try new things. Although she does get us into trouble sometimes. Her mouth moves quicker than her head when she’s upset.”

Tobias snorts, though it’s weak. “Sounds like an annoying rookidee I know.”

“Oh. Oh wow, yeah, her and Junie would get along like a house on fire.”

“They’re never allowed to meet.”

That startles a laugh out of Nia. Tobias’ mouth twitches. “My mom loves her. Toni’s basically her second daughter.”

Tobias’ throat closes up as he thinks of his own mom. Of soft humming and a toothy grin and bright blue eyes, a mirror image to his own.

“Your mom?” Tobias rasps, a desperate sort of prompt.

Nia casts him a worried look, hesitating, but something about his expression must urge her on. “My mom is…really sweet. She’s a lot like Maggie, actually! Funny too, but she had to be stricter with us than she would’ve liked since she had to raise us on her own.”

Tobias’ brow furrows. What about her father? He doesn’t want to ask in case he’s gone but—

Nia must see the question on his face. She shrugs with a wry little smile. “He died when I was an infant, so I never really got to meet him. I could tell Mom and Clay missed him, but I never really knew him to miss him.”

Tobias isn’t sure if he should apologize or…what the proper response would be for that.

Luckily, Nia keeps talking, tipping her head back to look up at the stars. “I guess I always missed the chance to have a dad? And the person I was told he was. But that’s about it. Although Clay was definitely more protective of me because our dad was gone.”

“Clay?”

“Oh.” Nia glances at him, almost nervously, before focusing again on the sky. “Yeah, he’s…he’s my brother.”

Tobias’ breath catches, surprise warring with a sudden pang in his chest. “You had—you have a brother?”

“…Yeah. I think you two would get along really well, actually. Once I remembered Clay, it made a lot more sense why I latched onto Xander so quickly—“

Tobias makes a weak attempt at a scoff. “If he’s like Xander then we would not get along.”

Nia laughs, shaking her head. “No, they’re really different. I think it was just the protective big brother instincts that felt familiar to me. Clay is more chill. A bit of a jokester, actually. Like Ezra or Junie.”

Tobias gives her a dry look, hoping to convey that he’s even less convinced they would get along.

Nia laughs again. “Okay, he’s not exactly like either of them. You remind me a lot of him too! I just…see bits and pieces of him in different people, y’know?”

Tobias thinks of the shinx kids and orange scales and big eyes full of childish joy, gold then green, and his heart twinges. “…Yeah.”

“Other than Toni, Clay is my best friend,” Nia whispers. “I miss him. He always makes stupid jokes and distracts me if I’m sad.”

Tobias doesn’t answer, swallowing against a lump in his throat. He’d distract Vivi when she was upset, too. They’d paint the cave walls with homemade berry paint, or go out on mountain trails to explore. He couldn’t resist her teary eyes and she knew it.

Nia chuckles. Tobias sends her a questioning look.

“Sorry, I just remembered when Clay hid wasabi in my toast. He liked to mess with me, too. One second he’d be a protective brother bear and the next he’d make me spit out my breakfast.”

Tobias doesn’t know what wasabi is, but he gets the gist. He snorts. “It’s part of the big brother code. Occasionally you just have to lie about stupid stuff to mess with your younger sibling.”

“You would take his side! I bet your sister was—oh. Um."

Nia snaps her mouth shut with a click. Her ears pin back as she looks to Tobias with wide eyes. As if knowing that she’s crossing a line by mentioning his sister out loud.

For a moment, Tobias isn’t sure how he feels. He feels like he should be angry, territorial of Nia even mentioning Vivi. That’s forbidden ground, not meant to be thought of and certainly not meant to be mentioned.

But…Tobias is thinking of Vivi now as he did when she was alive, instead of the usual haunting image of her lifeless body. He’s thinking of her not with the usual crushing guilt, but instead with the fond annoyance he held for her when they were kids and he was just her older brother. Protective, sure, but not the literal barrier between life and death.

Strangely, it feels…nice.

Tobias swallows. “Vivi was…I would get so annoyed by her sometimes. When she wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Saying it feels like a confession of some horrible sin. Like he doesn’t deserve to say anything bad about her, when he let her die. But some part of him feels lighter, too, and Nia doesn’t look disgusted with him. If anything, she looks a little awed, eagerly drinking in his words.

Tobias looks down at his fists, consciously relaxing them. He takes a shuddering breath. “But she was my best friend, too. Not much to do on an isolated mountain aside from get into trouble together.”

“You lived on a mountain?” Nia whispers, spellbound.

Tobias nods. “Way up, where the air was thin and the clouds were below us sometimes. One day Vivi wouldn’t shut up so I convinced her that they were actually really big Pokemon who would attack us if she didn’t quiet down.”

Nia barks a laugh. “Clay did the same thing with me! Well, he told me clouds were made of cotton candy. I was so upset when I found out he lied that I cried for an hour. Mom went out and bought actual cotton candy from the nearest gas station just to calm me down. To be fair, I was two.”

Tobias smiles. He doesn’t really know what Nia looked like as a human—let alone a little human—so he pictures a tiny riolu pup instead, pouting with big ruby eyes.

“Told you, it’s the rule. Older siblings have to mess with their younger siblings at least a little.”

“I bet Xander never does,” Nia counters.

“Xander is literally the least fun Pokemon I’ve ever met.”

Nia pushes him with a scolding, “Tobias! Be nice!” The rebuke is ruined by her laughter, though.

Tobias grins at her, not the slightest bit remorseful. “He’s a good brother, but as company? A rock could do better. Not a geodude, but an actual, lifeless rock.”

Nia laughs harder. “Be nice! He has three little hellions to watch over!”

Tobias scoffs. “Please. Vivi got into three times the trouble with a third of the body weight.”

“Oh?” Nia asks, trying to catch her breath.

Tobias nods, trying to remember the worst offenses. He’s purposefully avoided thinking about this kind of stuff, about Vivi and his parents, for years. But it’s surprisingly easy to filter through his memories, and his chest only hurts a little as he thinks.

“Okay, so listen to this one. Every week or so our parents flew us down to one of the towns at the foot of the mountain range, right?” Tobias says. “To pick up food and supplies and let us play with other kids.”

Nia nods, leaning in closer to listen.

“Mom was a mail ‘mon,” Tobias says, clearing his throat when his voice catches. “So she knew everyone. But we had to stop by someone’s house to drop off an instrument my dad had made for them. Some kind of flute or something.”

Tobias shifts in place, feeling as if he’s dusting off his own brain. A strange mixture of mirth and heartache mixes in his chest. He doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry, so he makes a sound somewhere in the middle.

“Our dad was kind of a quiet guy, and he never complained. But this customer? He complained about him. About how much of a jerk he was and how he always had something to critique just because he didn’t like Dad. But he was rich and always paid up, so Dad must’ve figured he’d deal with the bad attitude.”

Nia nods.

“So Dad makes the guy his flute. What I didn’t know—what no one but Vivi knew—was that earlier that day Vivi had tried playing the shiny new instrument herself when Dad and I took a nap after lunch.”

“Oh no,” Nia whispers.

“Yup. And she also tried playing it when she had hiccups,” Tobias continues, giving Nia a dry look. “You can imagine what happens when a fire type gets the hiccups.”

Nia’s mouth drops. “No!”

Tobias bites back a laugh. “Yeah, she hiccupped and caught the thing on fire. Put it out, panicked, and stashed the piece of kindling back in its box like it was still good as new.”

Nia’s giggling now, and Tobias can’t help grinning with her. “No! Wait, so your dad—?”

“As far as he knew, it was in perfect condition when he put it in its box that morning! I thought Vivi seemed quiet on the trip down, but it wasn’t until the client pulled out the flute that we realized something was wrong.”

“What happened?!”

Tobias leans forward, grinning. “Okay, so this snooty gumshoos pulls out the flute, right? And the thing is charred. It is crumbling to pieces in his paws.”

Nia snorts, paws moving up over her snout.

“And this gumshoos, he looks at my dad and says—” Here Tobias straightens up and adopts a snooty expression. “‘How do you expect me to play this?! I knew you were far from an expert but this is nothing more than garbage, blah blah blah.’ And Vivi, Vivi takes one look at me and Dad and realizes that she’s definitely getting in trouble for this, and after he’s badmouthing Dad we all kind of hate him, so she might as well make this disaster funny.”

“No!” Nia shrieks, delighted.

“So Vivi steps forward, half this guy’s height, grabs the flute, and chipper as can be says, ‘You play it like this, mister!’ And she tweets the loudest, most ear-screeching note I’ve ever heard, and the flute just. Disintegrates. Just falls apart right there on this guy’s fancy rug.”

Nia cackles, loud in the night air.

Tobias laughs along with her. “A-And at this point it is dead silent in the house. And Vivi, this little brat, she turns around with the most serious expression I’ve ever seen and says, ‘I think it might need a tune-up.’”

Nia’s almost crying she’s laughing so hard, wiping at her eyes. “She didn’t.”

“She did!” Tobias stresses, laughing too. Laughing harder than he can remember doing so in…a while. “She got us kicked out of there so fast. If you think I’m bold, Vivi was a whole other story! I could tell even Dad thought it was hilarious despite losing a customer—and Mom even more so, she lost it, she always said how it wasn’t worth working for that guy—but they still had to punish Vivi somehow, so she was grounded. No flying for a whole week.”

Nia howls with laughter. “Literally grounded!”

Tobias snorts, wiping at his eyes. “Well, duh. What else would ‘grounded’ mean?”

Nia only laughs harder, trying to catch her breath in little bursts of giggles.

“C-Clay would’ve loved that,” Nia says. “He was always getting into trouble. Usually he’d drag me along and then we’d both have to face the music. I started forming a natural defense of, ‘I don’t know what’s happening here and I don’t want to know,’ but he’d just drag me along anyways and promised that I’d love it.”

Tobias raises an eyebrow. “Did you?”

“Literally not a single time. And half the time he’d try to pin it on me! One weekend him and his friends made this terrible ramp out of metal and plywood and cardboard so he could launch himself and his bike into the lake. Insisted I be there for it, like, ‘C’mon, you’ve gotta see it!’ No, that just means I’m complicit when Mom interrogates you about your missing bike!”

Tobias snorts. “Did he get in trouble for it?”

“Oh, big time. He had to use my pink tricycle with rainbow streamers when he wanted to go riding with his friends, since Mom refused to buy him a new bike. His knees hit the handlebars.”

Tobias looks up, thoughtful. “I guess I pinned a few things on Vivi, especially when she was little and I didn’t really like her yet. One time I swore she was the one who climbed on top of the storage cabinets and ate all the coal cookies.”

“Oh?”

“Would’ve been a better defense if she was old enough to crawl.”

Nia grins. “That sounds like one of my plans. Okay, so this one time, we wanted to look like a couple of cartoon characters for a game we were playing, right? So we decided we’d use markers to make these giant rainbow stripes on our faces and arms and legs. I suggested we use permanent markers so they’d stay on longer, and I mean, I wasn’t wrong. But Mom didn’t appreciate that when she was trying to scrub ink off our arms and we looked like we had a disease.”

“We did the same thing with berry paint!” Tobias laughs. “We wanted to make ourselves into ‘shinies’ and stained our scales purple for days. Do you know how hard it is to stain your skin so much even a fire bath won’t burn the color away?”

The last of their laughter dies down. Nia’s smile slowly fades into something a bit more downcast. Bittersweet. She lifts her chin to look up at the moon.

“I miss him,” Nia murmurs.

Tobias hums, the familiar pain in his chest resurfacing. He tips his head back to follow her gaze, looking up at the stars. He thinks of Vivi’s berry-stained face, framing bright green eyes and a toothy little grin. “Yeah.”

It’s quiet again.

This is the first time Tobias can remember really talking about his family since the incident, and a part of his heart feels like it’s being lanced through with sharp claws. But somehow, despite the pain, he also feels leagues better than when they’d boarded the cart. After talking, it feels like he can breathe again. At least a little.

He hasn’t thought of Vivi or his parents like that in years. Happy and smiling. Alive.

“Thanks,” Tobias murmurs.

“‘Course. Thanks for telling me. And letting me talk.”

The two of them fall silent again, and Tobias closes his eyes. He listens to the sounds around them, the creak of the wheels and the heavy steps of the tauros.

“Sooo…”

Tobias knows that tone. He rolls his head to raise a brow at Nia. “What.”

“I was just thinking. It sounds like you’ve got music in your blood, if your dad made instruments. And you can’t let Vivi show you up, so…am I going to get to hear you play that guitar you got from Granite, or..?”

The words are lighthearted, but gentle. As if Nia can sense that music is a touchy subject for him so she’s giving him an out. Tobias appreciates it.

“It wouldn’t be good. I haven’t played anything in…years. And it isn’t even the same instrument I was learning.”

Nia hums. “It’s not like I’d be any better. Pretty sure I was tone-deaf in the human world. I just…I’d like to hear it, if you ever want to try.”

Tobias doesn’t answer, stopping himself for all of ten seconds before hesitantly opening the satchel in his lap. He stares down at the sleek neck of the little guitar, its strings shining in the moonlight. His fingers twitch, itching to hold it.

Nia studiously keeps her head tipped back and her eyes closed, but Tobias can tell she’s listening. Waiting to see what he’ll do. In the end, it’s her easy acceptance of whatever decision he makes that pushes him to act.

Tobias pulls out the little guitar, setting it across his lap. Something about the sensation of sleek wood against his skin, of the shape settling against him, immediately brings to mind a flash of the past. Being held by his father, feeling the low rumble of his voice as he guided Tobias’ claws and showed him which strings to pluck. The memory hurts, but it’s warm too. Like a too-hot sip of delicious soup.

Tobias gently strums his claws across the strings, and Nia winces. The instrument, predictably, is horribly out of tune. He hesitantly gets to work putting the guitar back in order, hoping he’s remembering the basics of the process right. He needs to see if the guild has a guide he can reference when they eventually head back.

Still, even with his halfhearted attempts, Tobias gets the instrument into semi-working order. He takes another experimental strum and is satisfied when Nia doesn’t flinch away from the sound this time. Tobias tries plucking a few cords, long-buried memories rising to mind of learning scales and nursery rhymes. After a few clunky starts and stops, he starts to recall the right order and rhythm of the basic movements.

His fingers almost seem to move of their own accord, slowly building up a different tune, something gentle and sweet. It takes him a few minutes to realize what melody it is: a lullaby, once so familiar but now dancing at the edge of his mind like whispers in the wind. He blinks back a sudden rush of hot tears, trying to follow the notes of his patchy memory. There are too many moments where he has to pause, entire chunks of the song forgotten, and jump ahead to a different line. But it’s there, in bits and pieces.

When his fingers still, stinging from pulling at the wire without any callouses built up, Nia finally looks at him. She’s beaming. “I loved that!”

Tobias snorts. “It was terrible.”

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t love it.”

He flicks her leg with his tail and gets back to work adjusting the strings and testing out the cords again. “I was trying to play an old lullaby my mom would sing. Can’t remember all the notes, though.”

“Oh. Well…you can fill in the gaps, right?”

Tobias hesitates. He…supposes he can. Some part of him feels like that’s wrong, like it’s desecrating his mom’s memory. But…what else can he do? Leave gaping blank spaces throughout the melody? He doesn’t know where he would find the original song, so wouldn’t it be better to fill it up with something new until it’s whole again?

Tobias stretches out his hand before going back to his music.

It’s not until later, when Nia has started humming along to the melody he’s trying to solidify, that he remembers something he wanted to bring up.

“Hey. Before, back in Asra. After the mission.”

Nia sits up and tilts her head at him, expression curious and open.

“You…wanted to invite Samir to join our team. Right?”

Nia cringes. “Yeah. I’m sorry for springing that on you so suddenly. I realized right after I suggested it that it was probably a pretty big decision we’d need to decide together. Was what I said okay? About Samir coming to the Lexym Guild?”

Tobias nods. “Yeah. Arceus knows Samir deserves a better situation than whatever they’ve got going on out here. And August would make sure they got that.”

There’s a moment of hesitation as Nia looks at him. “So…how would you feel? About Samir possibly joining our team in the future?”

Tobias’ immediate impulse is a no. But the guitar under his fingers gives him something do while he thinks. He strums idly at it, trying to slow down his thought process and question why his immediate reaction is so vehement.

“Samir worked well with us,” Tobias agrees, slowly. Grudgingly. “I think they round out our team well.”

“Me too!” Nia agrees, eyes sparkling. “But..?”

Tobias takes a moment longer to stall. Because he knows why he’s hesitating and it’s, quite frankly, embarrassing. Sure, he’d be hesitating anyways just because it’s a big deal basically signing on to be life partners with someone. But he knows the main reason.

His gaze drifts up to meet Nia’s. She’s watching him patiently with ruby red eyes. He flushes and looks away. How can he say that he doesn’t want it to be anyone else but the two of them without it sounding horribly desperate?

“I’d just be worried,” Tobias eventually says, awkward and stilted. “About the team dynamic changing.”

Nia’s expression softens. “That’s understandable. I thought maybe you just didn’t like them or something.”

Tobias snorts. “Oh, they’re annoying all right. But most Pokemon are.”

Nia laughs, sitting back to look out at the passing scenery. Everything is bathed in silver moonlight. “You know, I don’t think you’d have to worry too much about what we’ve got here changing.”

Tobias gives Nia a prompting look.

“I mean…we’re around a lot of different people every day, right?” Nia says. She looks back to him with a warm smile. “But that’s never stopped us from getting along. It’s still always me and you at the end of the day, right? We’re partners. That wouldn’t change.”

Tobias’ fingers stumble over the cords as he stares back, feeling his face heat even as something anxious in his chest settles.

What does he say to something like that?

Luckily, Nia seems equally embarrassed after her words register. She hurriedly looks away. “I’m just saying, you know? It’d still be us. Just…with more friends along for the ride. More people watching our backs.”

Tobias swallows and rips his gaze away, back to the guitar as he tries to find his place. He still feels jittery and embarrassed, but in a pleased sort of way.

“Right. I…guess I wouldn’t be against it. If Samir wants to.”

Nia is clearly thrilled at that, tail thudding happily against the wood of the cart. She smiles and looks back out at the desert.

Tobias could see it, actually. Vaguely. Him and Nia and Samir, maybe a fourth ‘mon. Catching the pangoro and arcanine and continuing on to become top-tier Seekers. The world will need them more than ever, with the slow increase in mystery dungeons and other phenomena cropping up. And Nia—

Nia…isn’t planning on staying, once she finds a way home.

Tobias’ hand falters. Nia’s ears twitch at the jarring sound, and she glances at him. Something on his face makes her sit up.

“You’re going back to the human world, once you find a way home,” Tobias whispers. He doesn’t like how his voice shakes.

There’s a loaded silence left in the wake of his words. Nia’s mouth opens and closes as she blinks at him with wide, off-guard eyes. Tobias regrets bringing it up. Wishes he’d just kept his mouth shut and not ruined the peace that had fallen over them.

“Hey,” Nia finally says, voice tentative. She puts a paw on his arm until he looks up at her, then continues with a strained smile. “You never know. Maybe we’ll find a way to go back and forth or something! So that way I can come back here and visit, but still live with my family in the human world.”

Something in Tobias’ chest clenches. Because even Nia, ever the optimist, doesn’t sound very hopeful about such an easy answer. And because the selfish part of Tobias doesn’t want Nia to leave, at all. Even temporarily. He wants his partner here, with him.

Is that why she’s pushing to bring Samir on? So he isn’t left a pathetic, lonely mess all on his own when she leaves? Hah. Like he’d stay on a team with just him and Samir. Tobias doesn’t want to be a Seeker at all if Nia isn’t his teammate.

Tobias shoves the ugly thoughts and the grief already boiling under his skin further down. Bottle it up, Tobias. You’ve had enough meltdowns for today.

In the end, all he says is a quiet, much less convincing, “Maybe.”

He dives back into his music, but can’t help thinking that the notes sound colder now, somehow. Sharper. Nia must be able to tell he doesn’t want to talk anymore—or maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it, either—because she sighs but falls silent.

One moment. Two.

Nia scoots closer. Then, she leans heavily against him and plops her head onto his shoulder.

Tobias tenses. “What—“

“Could you just…play some more?” Nia asks, quiet. “Music calms me down.”

Tobias pauses. He has a feeling she actually wants him to play to make himself feel better, but it would probably work. So Tobias grumbles quietly, comforted despite himself by the warm, soft weight leaning against him. He goes back to playing, and readjusts the instrument to accommodate Nia on his shoulder and in his elbow space. She taps her fingers along to the melody, likely as lost in thought as he is.

The moon sinks overhead as the hours pass.

Tobias must fall asleep eventually, because he finds himself back in his family’s cave, beneath the warm tent of his Papa’s wing with Vivi asleep at his side. A melody is still being hummed somewhere nearby, near the front entrance of their home, the voice a bit off-key but familiar enough to be soothing.

This time around, Toby recognizes the old lullaby for what it is, even when the song skips over the parts he doesn’t recall.

Toby shifts, trying to get comfortable. Vivi snuffles in her sleep, pushing her head into the crook of his neck. Normally, Toby would push her away. This time, for some reason, he lets her be. Her soft breaths puff warm and soothing against his skin.

Papa shifts, getting more comfortable in his own nest, and Toby can tell by the quiet way he moves that he’s still awake.

“Papa?” Toby whispers.

Papa stills, then rumbles a quiet, questioning noise that Tobias can feel in his chest.

“Did the clouds go away? Are the stars out yet?” Maybe if they are, Toby can go and sit with Mama until he gets sleepy again.

Papa doesn’t answer, but he does turn to duck his head under his own wing. In the warm, dim light cast by Toby and Vivi’s tails, Papa’s face comes into view. Somehow, it feels like Toby hasn’t seen him in forever, and he’s transfixed by the crystal-clear clarity of his features. Bright green eyes that he passed on to Vivi. Sleek but powerful edges to his jaw and horns. His mouth is curled into a warm, sleepy smile, his lower fangs peeking out.

For some reason, the sight makes Toby’s chest ache. His breath hitches.

“You’re all right,” Papa says, nuzzling him.

“I don’t know why I’m sad,” Toby murmurs, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

“That’s all right. Sometimes we don’t know. It will pass.”

Tobias wakes with a start, throat tight and eyes wet. He blinks rapidly against a cloudy pre-dawn sky and sits up, trying to figure out where he is. The warm weight that was on his shoulder whines as it’s displaced, and Tobias looks down to see a sleepy Nia curl up against the side of the cart with a disgruntled expression.

“Oi! You awake back there? We’re taking you north with us if you don’t get up. Storm’s rolling in.”

Tobias jumps, realizing now that the loud voice must have been what woke him. It takes a moment for him to place where he is and who the voice must belong to, coming from the front of the cart. They’ve stopped moving.

“We’re up,” Tobias calls back, clearing his throat. “Where are we?”

“Near the Lilycap River. The riolu said you needed to get to the swamps around Eastern Metreja. The river is the best way to do that.”

Tobias had completely forgotten that they didn’t even have their specific destination figured out. Great. Well, hopefully someone can help them find Edme, or at least the Hollowberry Inn Nia had connected to the mysterious Pokemon.

Tobias takes a moment to scrub at his face and shake off the dregs of sleep. Then he looks at his partner and sighs. Nia is hard to wake on the best of mornings, let alone after an emotionally draining day and a long night spent awake. But they need to get going now if the tauros’ impatient tone is anything to gauge by.

Tobias shakes the riolu, ignoring her sleepy whines of protest. “C’mon, Nia. We gotta go.”

Nia growls and buries her face against a sack of rice. Tobias rolls his eyes and shakes her harder, until she cracks open her eyes, clearly irritated.

“What?”

“We gotta go. We’re here and the tauros wanna keep moving.”

Nia groans but must know that Tobias will only wake her again if she tries to go back to sleep. Slowly, she drags herself into a sitting position, rubbing at her eyes and yawning big enough to show off sharp teeth. Tobias nudges her until she groans and stumbles to her feet.

Tobias gathers their satchel and the guitar. Then, he drags himself over the side of the cart and to the ground. Nia stumbles down after him, following him to the front of the cart where the two tauros are waiting impatiently, tails lashing.

“Thank you for the ride,” Nia yawns. The normal types look a bit soothed by the thanks.

“D’you know which way to go from here to get to the river?” Tobias asks, squinting into the pre-dawn darkness. He thinks he can see a smaller footpath and hear a low, constant noise in the distance.

The nearest tauros tosses his head over his shoulder. “Quickest way is a mile or so down that path. If you’re lucky, the ferry will be there. They’ve had issues with flooding the past few months—weather going out of whack and all. But if the boat’s running it should be able to take you where you need to go.”

Tobias slumps. He knew traveling on the river likely meant they’d have to board a boat, but as a fire type that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. Plus, big bodies of water means reflections, which means Giratina. Even with what Nia said about Giratina helping down in the mines, Tobias would rather not test that tentative trust until they get some answers from Edme.

After Nia thanks them again, the tauros pull away, taking their cart down the dirt road. The ground here is tacky and cool, as if it rained recently, and tire tracks are left in their wake. Tobias and Nia watch them go. A quiet roll of thunder sounds in the distance.

Nia takes a deep breath, sniffing at the rain on the breeze and eyeing the sky. Her ears twitch, angled down the path. “I guess we just follow the path and…hope for the best?”

“I can’t believe we have to take a boat of all things,” Tobias grumbles, leading the riolu off the well-worn road and onto a much smaller footpath through the weeds. They’re heading for a forest, though the foliage looks different from the Haven’s even at a distance. Slightly more tropical. It’s still lush and green despite it being fall, and the air is a bit warmer, too, which is nice at least.

Nia gives Tobias an amused look as she starts to wake up. “I guess it makes sense you wouldn’t be a fan of boats. I mean, we can walk if you really want, but…”

“How sure are you that Giratina isn’t going to immediately yank us into the Distortion World when we board the ferry?”

“I’m like…80% sure he won’t. Probably.”

Tobias glares at her. “Only 80%?”

“85%?” Nia offers, grimacing.

Tobias groans. “We’re dead.“

“Hey, look on the bright side! I’ve thought that many, many times since coming to the Pokemon world, and I’m still alive!”

“I am not awake enough for this,” Tobias mutters. Nia snickers, apparently awake enough to tease him.

The path gets even less defined as they travel into the forest, tangled with lush foliage and weeds growing in from either side. A wooden sign sits crookedly in the soft ground, pointing ahead and saying nothing more than “FERRY.” Tobias crinkles his nose as water drips from the leaves above to sting his skin.

“They really have been getting a lot of rain here,” Nia says, stepping around a muddy puddle taking up most of the road.

Tobias pulls his poncho out from their satchel and yanks it over his head. “It must be pretty bad if the river is flooding. Usually there are systems put into place to avoid that in major waterways.”

Nia makes a troubled noise in her throat. Tobias, not eager to misstep, keeps his eyes on his feet. In the puddles they pass, he can see the gray light of dawn against the stark black outline of the treetops overhead, and he nervously eyes the flickering shapes cast by his tail flame for a hint of Giratina. He doesn’t know if it makes him more or less nervous to not see any sign of the titan.

They follow the distant, muffled sound of what Tobias now recognizes as the river. Dawn struggles to lighten the land under a heavy cover of clouds. The ground gets even sloppier and rife with water the closer they get. By time they see the trees clearing out and hear the loud rush of water right ahead, Tobias’ legs are muddied and cold.

Nia stops in her tracks. Her voice is almost drowned out by the dull roar of the river when she says a quiet, simple, “Oh.”

Tobias looks up from his careful steps to see what caused that reaction.

When the tauros mentioned the river flooding, Tobias didn’t realize how much the normal types were underselling it. The river is not just flooded but swollen to a dangerously high level, the muddied brown water stretching wide in a swift, frothy current. It swallows up the bottom halves of trees and Tobias can’t even see the dock and other structures he would expect to find, everything apparently long since swallowed by the current.

Still, a ferry is indeed present, nudged up close to the steep, muddy area serving as the river’s bank and tied to two sturdier-looking trees since there is no longer a dock in sight. The boat is fairly large, with at least two levels to it and a railed-in upper deck open to the air. A large wheel-like structure sits at the back of the boat, dipping deeper into the water every time it sways in the current. The ferry’s chipped white and orange paint is dull and muddied near its hull, but a deep blue AQUA JET is painted on its side in bold letters.

There’s a laid-back flurry of activity surrounding the ship. A croconaw wearing a coral-colored scarf is standing at the edge of the riverbank, pointing downstream and calling out directions. She’s speaking to a Pokemon who is bobbing in the river, somehow managing to stay in one place despite the powerful current. After a moment, Tobias recognizes the Pokemon’s bright orange coloring and sharp facial markings—a floatzel. A moment later, another Pokemon surfaces at his side, her sleek blue feathers bright against the muddy water. A golduck, her eyes sharp as she quietly takes in the croconaw’s words.

A call comes from the upper deck of the boat itself, and Tobias is surprised to look up and find a torkoal peering out from the railing. Tobias follows his gaze towards the trees, where a small quaxly is struggling to untie the ropes keeping the ferry ashore, pulling at the knots with his beak and flapping his little wings wildly.

The crew seems busy but at ease, calmly dealing with the conditions even as thunder rumbles in the distance. The floatzel calls out a cheery affirmative before diving under the river’s rough surface, the golduck following. The croconaw turns and heads to the quaxly’s side to help. It’s the torkoal who spots Tobias and Nia, yelling something to his crewmates.

The croconaw glances over at Tobias and Nia, clearly surprised. She finishes untying the first knot and heads over to them. “Hey! You folks wanting a ride?”

Nia tears her eyes away from where the golduck and floatzel are doing…something near the base of the boat. Clearing away debris? “Oh! Yes, please. You’re the ferry, right?”

The croconaw laughs. “One of ‘em! We’re the only one still running in this mess. Name’s Cordelia. Welcome to the Aqua Jet.”

Tobias eyes the ferry nervously. “You’re the only boat still operating?”

Cordelia grins, showing off her maw of sharp teeth, but the gesture feels more aggressive than friendly. “Someone has to. Even if it’s rare to see anyone wanting a ride nowadays, Pokemon don’t stop needing supplies just because the weather’s throwing a hissy fit.”

“Oh.” Nia looks back at the boat, clearly nervous herself now. “I-Is it, um…safe?”

Cordelia laughs again. “Any captain worth her salt would tell you that boating in a flood is never safe. But with my crew, it’s as safe as you’re going to get on the water right now. So it’s either take the long way and walk, or get on board.”

Tobias glares at Cordelia, already not a fan of the water type. He knows that walking isn’t an option—not only would it take ten times as long, but they’d likely get lost and run out of energy and provisions long before then. Not to mention having to navigate the swampy terrain and find a way to cross the treacherous river.

Nia answers for them. “We’d like a ride, if possible. S-Sorry, we’re just nervous. Not, uh, used to boating. Even in normal conditions.”

Cordelia nods. “Gotcha. Well, we’ve stayed on the water the past few months despite all this mess. We’ve got a pretty good system going. While I can’t guarantee anything 100%, we’ll try our best to get you where you need to go. Where y’all wanting to head anyways?”

Nia glances at Tobias, looking unsure.

Tobias sighs. “We’re looking for a Pokemon named Edme. All we’ve got is that they probably live in close proximity to someplace called the Hollowberry Inn and they’re somewhere in the swamps.”

“Hollowberry?” A new voice pipes up. It’s surprisingly young, and Tobias and Nia look over to see the quaxly waddling up to Cordelia’s side. He can’t be older than 10 or 11. “We go right by Hollowberry!”

Cordelia gives the little water type a proud grin, ruffling the feathers atop his head. “Hey now, little navigator, don’t go taking my job just yet!”

The quaxly preens and puffs up his little chest, flicking back the feathers atop his head.

“Cas is right,” Cordelia says, looking back to Nia and Tobias and planting her hands on her hips. “Don’t know this Edme character, but Hollowberry Inn is in a town just off the riverfront, in Shivergleam. We were heading south towards the sea anyways for our next shipment. Can’t guarantee this Edme ‘mon hasn’t left the area with all the floods, but we can get you there by tomorrow, if Suicune blesses our currents.”

“Fine,” Tobias sighs. “What’s your price?”

Surprisingly, Cordelia doesn’t charge them an arm and a leg, though it’s still a decent chunk of their remaining cash. As Tobias digs out the coins to pay, the floatzel and golduck pull themselves out of the muddy river, the former shaking his pelt free of water. The golduck rolls her eyes, but wordlessly heads over to the trees to continue untying the ropes.

The floatzel comes to their side, smiling amiably. His voice is deeper than Tobias expects as he says, “Do we actually have some customers today, Delia?”

Cordelia snorts and hands their payment to Cas. The quaxly barely manages to hold all the coins in his little wings before scurrying off and boarding the ferry. The torkoal picks himself up from the upper deck and moves out of view, presumably inside the boat to meet the little water type.

“It’s nice to see some fresh faces,” the floatzel continues, voice light. He’s older than Tobias thought at first glance, too—he’d expected the water type to be on the younger side with how easily he moved through the powerful current, but the floatzel’s fur is graying and sagging a bit with age. “I’ve missed talking to folks other than our little crew. I’m Beck.”

The water type holds out a paw, and before Tobias can try to figure out what to do with it, Nia perks up and gives it a shake. She’s clearly thrilled to meet another conversationalist. “Nia! Nice to meet you.”

From there, the little crew finishes unmooring the boat and prepping it for travel downstream. Cordelia goes to help the golduck, so Beck leads Tobias and Nia up the ramp and onto the ferry. It rocks and sways underfoot, making Tobias feel like he got hit by a confuse ray. He immediately hates it. He grabs onto the railing with a white-knuckled grip.

Beck shifts naturally with the motions of the boat, clearly used to it. He gives Tobias a sympathetic smile and says that as long as they’re careful, they’re welcome to stay outside on the upper deck as long as it doesn’t start raining or the ferry doesn’t run into any unexpected trouble.

Tobias doesn’t respond. He’s too busy trying to keep his nauseous stomach from throwing up his last meal.

“And if anything does happen,” Beck says, catching Tobias’ eye. “Nori and I will be keeping an eye out while we clear debris. We’re pretty experienced rescue ‘mon in the water.”

Tobias isn’t sure whether to feel reassured or offended that he was singled out for that statement. He should probably go inside, but he hasn’t worked up the strength in his jelly-like legs to make the five steps to the door.

Beck dives off the side of the boat and disappears into the frothy, muddy current, streaming through the water effortlessly. The golduck, Nori, glides past to the other side of the boat. Cordelia passes by Tobias and Nia to head to the front of the boat, while Cas runs around making sure everything is tied down before departure. The torkoal is nowhere to be seen. Maybe the ‘mon in charge of the steam system?

Finally, the boat starts to move. Tobias clings to the railing and stares down at the river, heart pounding. He isn’t sure if he would even notice Giratina appearing in the broken reflections right now, tense as he is.

Nia comes to his side, lightly holding the railing and looking out excitedly at the forest and water as they start to move. She glances at him, happiness faltering into something sympathetic.

“You wanna head inside?” She asks.

Tobias glares at her. She doesn’t have to use that tone of voice. He isn’t a lost child in a dungeon. He wants to snap at her but he doesn’t think he can without stuttering.

Nia, pathetically, must see right through him. Her mouth twitches with a smile. She wordlessly pries his fingers off the railing, thankfully ignoring the way he grabs her paws in a vice grip, and tugs his stumbling feet after her to the door. He isn’t too proud once inside the cabin to collapse against the first seat he sees, claws digging into the tough material. The rocking is still making Tobias’ stomach turn uncomfortably, but at least in here he can pretend they aren’t floating downstream on a death-trap of a river.

Nia bites back another smile but doesn’t say a word, turning to the open window to watch the trees go by.

[oceandiagonale]

Aether Foundation is a totally not shady corporation and Lusamine is a very good person that people can absolutely trust 👍

While I love Vi's team, the fact that he has a full team doesn't really fit with story I created for him anymore 😔 Now his Pokémon are only Moss the Crobat and Queen the Milotic.

Vi can create portals but because she's kinda bad at using this power she can't really create large ones. The portals are only big enough to put her arm through them.

She also doesn't really hide her ability so there are some pictures of her and the portals around the internet. 

Lusamine somehow finds those pictures, sees a teen with portal powers and is like "I can use them". So she sends someone to seek Vi out so that she can speak to them. When this person finds Vi Lusamine talks about this special program Aether Foundation is doing where they find people with special abilities to help them learn control and stuff. The fact that they can travel through Alola is just a nice little bonus. And while Vi is kinda suspicious she does want to learn to control her portal powers better, so she accepts. 

When she arrives Lusamine does what she can do best - manipulate children. She wants to see if Vi's portals can be used to access ultra beasts. 

Anyways have a totally not related to what I just worte meme ☺️☺️☺️

[image: the meme of

"Step 1: Establish Character with joyous whimsy" with Vi smiling and sparkling, with long hair and a pink and green outfit and

"Step 2: Inflict soul-crushing trauma" with Vi looking at the camera, traumatized, wearing all black and with cropped hair, while Luamine and an Ultra Wormhole hover ominously behind them at like 10% opacity ]

KJFHSDKJ OH MY GOD NOOO VIIIIIIII GET OUT OF THERE oh my god he can't hear me she has the aether foundation AirPods in 😨😨😨😨😨😭😭😭😭😭

STEP 3 PLEASE,,,,, LET IT BE SO,,,,,,

[thunder-threnodies]

Today I bring to you my Poke!Fallensona!

Not a Gym Leader but an old Trainer travelling the world with their trusty team!

Explanations below the pic!

Mightyena: obvious pic, I love my Dream Hound dearly; he's such a good boy!!!

Bisharp: commander of Pawniards, fitting for a Captain. Also, Great Game wink;

Sharpedo: not just a Captain but a PIRATE Captain! A savage and ruthless Pokemon for a savage, ruthless Captain;

Dragalge: a trusty companion, excellent swimmer and poisonous just like a peculiar honey yours truly Silverer here can brew...

Dhelmise: a companion met whilst visiting the Court of the Fathomking. Drownies often have a Dhelmise but this one found me during a shipwreck and brought me back to London;

Crobat: my beloved Violant-Winged Bat. It has been across the Unterzee and to strangers lands still. My own soul's companion. I will never get rid of it;

[pokepollsters]

Best Pokémon Rival Tournament- Contestant Bio: Silver

Name: Silver

Generation: 2, 4

Games: Gold, Silver, Crystal, Heart Gold, Soul Silver

Starter/Signature Pokémon: Meganium/Typhlosion/Feraligatr

Silver is the rival in the Johto games, and he's perhaps unique in being not just a rival to the player, but also something of a villain- at least at first.

After stealing the starter super effective on yours, Silver fights you multiple times throughout the story, insisting that his more forceful training methods are superior. As you kick his butt many times though, he starts to realise this may not truly be the case. Eventually he learns to love his team, as shown by his Golbat finally evolving through friendship into a Crobat.

Silver also sets a first, by being the first rival to have a team that doesn't change based on the starter he raises. All his other team members remain the same.

Despite not reaching the championship like his predecessor, he's still a well loved rival- and the implication (later stated outright in the Japanese version of Generation 4's Celebi event) of Silver being Giovanni's son only deepens his character. Perhaps he will finally see the recognition he's been looking for?

[olivias-antics]

Pokemon teams (this symbol ✨️ means a pokemon is shiny)

Paldea team (a champion rank trainer with eight gym badges)

Petunia: Skeledirge with a Sassy Nature and held item of an expert belt

Lumiose: Amphaoros with a Mild Nature and held item of wise glasses

Emi: Tyranitar✨️ with a Quiet Nature and held item of soft sand

Melody: Sawsbuck with a Modest Nature

Tarō: Ogerpon with a Lonely Nature and held item of either the Teal Mask, Cornerstone Mask, Hearthflame Mask, or Wellspring Mask

Hero: Lucario with a Brave Nature and held item of quick claw

Sinnoh team (eight gym badges and beat the champion of the region)

Rebellious or Rebel for short: Azuramarill with a Hardy Nature and held item of a wide lens

Bravery: Torterra with a Timid Nature

Defiant: Rampardos with a Rash Nature and held item of quick claw

Soul: Crobat with a Quiet Nature and held item of poison barb

Heart: Luxio with a Relaxed Nature and held item of magnet

Galar team (eight gym badges and beat the champion of the region)

Azura: Obstagoon with a Careful Nature and held item of a miracle seed

Cheese Tax: Galarian Slowpoke with a Careful Nature and held item of a damp rock

Captain: Blastoise with a Docile Nature and held item of Sea Incense

Mocha: Crustle with a Naive Nature and held item of a hard stone

Citrus: Manectric with an Impish Nature and held item of an amulet coin

Milk: Alcremie with a Lax Nature and held item of a pixie plate

[applesjuice]

What's Kieran's team in Hisui ?

The Question Bombarder

The only ones I know for sure are their Typhlosion, Spiritomb, there's a hisuuian zorua that's not on the main team, she's more a pet/friend to Kieran. I really needed to think about this so the main team is:

H. Typhlosion

Alpha H. Goodra

Lucario

These are the three I know for sure. I'm not great at competative battling so i'm really struggling coming up with the rest in order to cover weaknesses, but would also fit Kieran's vibe and battle style. I keep going between Floatzel, Crogunk, Togekiss, Crobat etc. And I can't make up my mind.

There are a few pokemon that they bring back with them that are not part of their main team. For example a h. zorua that was more a companian than battler, an h. Arcanine that functioned as a guide/necessity for staying long periods outside where it was cold and damp, especially in the icelands. If only furret was there 😢 and Spiritomb, you got 100 wandering souls of the damned with the mind of a little girl , it would be so mean to leave it behind.

[erisluna35ocblog]

POKEMON AU: HOW TEAMS CAN TELL A STORY

When it comes to Pokemon, I love it when teams are tailored to tell a trainer's story. Like how Silver has a Crobat that he had since it was a Zubat to show how he's grown to care for his pokemon as Crobats only evolve through friendship. Or how Cynthia has hard to catch Pokemon like Spiritomb and Milotic to show her patience and how knowledgeable she is with the local myths to be able to find them, and having a friendship evolution like Lucario hints at her kindness. Some of my OC teams are built like this. Some are just there for the reference. Here are my notes:

All starter Pokemon are super rare. Having them is a status symbol. Characters who have them are either high nobility (Keagan, Fiona) or are associated with them (Shizuke, Blair and Blake).

Keagan, Fiona and Shizuke having a starter from the same set (Sinnoh: Infernape, Empoleon and Torterra) is also my way of connecting them as close childhood friends. Definitely got those three as a joint gift from Keagan's parents.

Keagan's team has a lot of references to his royal upbringing. Volcarona being the Sun Pokemon ties into Keagan being the prince of Helios City. Pidgeot also references the sun with its looks and golden crest. Liligant and Tsareena both reference noblewomen.

Keagan's team centering on Sunny Day tactics is a direct reference to one of his og monikers, The Sun Prince. His focus on special atk is meant to reference his magic-focused strength. The tactic also best showcases the way Keagan fights in the OG story, he overwhelms the enemy with his magic, his presence shines like the sun.

In contrast to Keagan using Sunny Day to buff his Pokemon's speed and fire attacks, Fiona's Snow is used more defensively, buffing her ice types' defenses and enabling Aurora Veil. Fitting for a sworn protector... Or someone keeping their guards up and hates their vulnerability.

With both Keagan and Fiona having weather based tactics, its a fight for dominance to which of them would take the lead... And with Fiona having less pokemon relying on Snow than Keagan's pokemon relying on Sunny Day, it shows Fiona doesn't really mind prioritizing Keagan and letting him take the lead. But her and her Snow Warning is always there, ready to put a hault to his tactics and anyone else looking to use weather to their advantage.

In a similar vein to Keagan's Volcarona, Blair's Espeon also being called the Sun Pokemon hints at her being more deeply tied to a certain Helios royalty than her brother... In the OG, Blair did sell her soul to a witch, who is actually the sun empire's lost princess. It's the same with her having Incineroar, a fire-type starter Pokemon. Blake having the fire type Ninetales also references his connection to a certain lost sun empire royal but with it not being a starter is meant to hint his connection is weaker than Blair's. It's not his soul that's being held captive. Also, Espeon and Incineroar both being cat pokemon... In myths, cats, more than any other animal, are casted as a witch's familiar.

On another note, all these references to the witch can also act as foreshadowing their eventual team up with Keagan. Blake's Drought Ninetales and Blair's sabotages with Fake Out... They're both highly suited to helping Keagan with his Sunny Day set up team.

Blake and Blair, much like Silver, having their signature mon be friendship evolutions are meant to hint at their kinder side despite their typically antagonistic roles.

Blake and Blair both starting off with an Eevee but branching off with an Umbreon and an Espeon... They show how the twins started off similarly, but much like their Eevees, they grew very distinct from each other, almost polar opposites.

Dark types hint at pragmatism and/or cynicism in the trainer's character. Keagan has hints of this and his Houndoom represents it, being his ace makes this trait more prominent. It's easy to miss when most of his team are fire types and Keagan fits the passionate fiery stereotype on the surface. Damien having a Tyranitar and Natalia having an Alolan Muk also reflects this, but they're more cynical than pragmatic and neither of those pokemon are the pokemon they're most associated with. Blake and Blair has dark types as one of their specialties with Blake having significantly more dark types than Blair hinting at him being the more ruthless twin. Also, being the one with the most Dark types, Blake really is the most pragmatic and cynical of the cast but that doesn't necessarily mean he's evil...

Shizuke's dark type is a fun case. He has this Pancham that evolved into a Pangoro with the influence of Blair's pokemon. It reflects how Shizuke adapts some of Blair's pragmatic tactics to overcome his many weaknesses, evolve in a way.

Natalia also has her arc told through Mareanie as she evolves into Toxapex. Starting out with the ability Merciless and being used offensively, then changing it to Regenerator and being used defensively... It reflects how the trainer herself healed. She matured, gained a new understanding of her feelings and found a healthier outlet than lashing out so she is no longer left hurting as much as she used to.

Zephyr has a Heliolisk with the ability Solar Power. It reflects how through Keagan's influence and empowerment, Zephyr has stepped forward into the battlefield and is proven to be a powerful glass canon. But that doesn't change how his curse is still hurting him and Keagan is putting him in danger, which is reflected with the HP loss that came with Solar Power.

Another ability his Heliolisk can have is Dry Skin, which lets him heal when hit by water attacks, fitting considering the water specialist Natalia is his doctor. The drawback is fire attacks hit him harder, which kinda reflects how Keagan did hurt his feelings in story, making the poor kid feel used.

The ability his Heliolisk eventually settled for is Sand Veil, which increases his evasion in a Sandstorm. Damien, his protector and older brother figure, happens to make a lot of use of Sandstorm.

Zephyr's Staraptor having Reckless as his ability can speak for itself.

Zephyr's Galvantula having Compound Eyes and his Yanmega having Tinted Lens is a reference to how he has the sharpest eyes in the OG story. They also come in pretty handy for a petty thief looking for something to steal. Sticky Web and Psychic can come in pretty handy too.

Fiona and Damien's team composition have a lot of elements in common. And I mean, A LOT. At least half of their teams are highly defensive or bulky pokemon, having a weather setter (Alolan Ninetales with Snow Warning and Tyranitar with Sand Stream), a team mate that gets a speed boost from the weather setter (Alolan Sandshrew for Fiona, Stoutland and Excadrill for Damien), a non-dragon Pseudo Legendary (Metagross and Tyranitar) and having that one pokemon that redirects attacks to itself (Rhyperior with Lightning Rod, Gastrodon with Storm Drain) for the sake of protecting someone's team that's vulnerable to that type (Natalia specializes in water and Zephyr with flying are both weak to electric attacks while Keagan uses a lot of fire that are weak to water attacks)... It makes sense given Damien used to have this one sided rivalry with Fiona and he envies her.

Fiona also parallels Blake with their similarly defensive strategies and both having some form of a Ninetales. Despite their seemingly opposite demeanors, they're both the protective introverts of their respective groups and they do end up getting along.

Imitating tactics is the sincerest form of flattery. It's especially evident with most of the couples. Fiona copies Keagan's weather tactics that boost his speed and offensive power with her Alolan Sandslash and Ninetales. Blake may not specialize in poison like Natalia, but he has more than half of his pokemon learn Toxic and later, getting a water type Greninja on his team. While I've mentioned earlier how Shizuke adapted some of Blair's tactics, as in, he added some stat manipulation and sabotage into his team strategies, Blair also got more straightforward with her offense. It wasn't a coincidence she picked the ghost-fighting type Annihilape once her Gothitelle left. On a less romantic note, there's also Damien who has a section above regarding Fiona, Blake taking a page out of Keagan's book and changing his Ninetales' ability to Drought to buff his sister's Incineroar or the witch's Chandellure,

Shizuke having a lot of grass and fighting types on his team leaves him open to a lot of type disadvantages. His canon event is being underestimated for his more visible weaknesses while he finds ways to overcome them.

Psychic types hint at foresight and mind reading. Nobody in the cast emulates this more than Blair, so she specializes mostly in Psychic types. It's a reference to how in the OG story, she's the one with the blessing of foresight and not Blake, who technically doesn't have a Psychic type (Gothitelle is loaned to him by the witch).

Psychic type's biggest weakness is Dark type, which is Blake's specialty. Fitting for the guy who's supposed to be her blind spot.

Blair having plenty of countermeasures for set ups is her way of levelling the playing field. She's used to dealing with people vying for an advantage. It's people who can take a disadvantage, make the best of it and fight her head on that she respects enough to drop her tactics for.

Blair having a Gardevoir references how she's self sacrificing for her loved ones... It's how she ended up giving her soul to a witch in exchange for saving Blake in the OG story. Her having the ghost Pokemon Gengar that evolves via trade is also a reference to this deal.

Blair having Espeon and Incineroar is a fun little reference to being Chat Noire in the MLB au. Just like Blake having Umbreon and Ninetales but no cats is a reference to being Renard Rouge. Both having at least one fox pokemon references them being half-fox in the OG story.

Fiona's personal gripes about her feminine side can be represented by her Alolan Ninetales. She's more fragile than her bulkier and more masculine pokemon like Corviknight or Metagross... But she fills a unique spot on her team with her Snow Warning to set up Snow and Aurora Veil to buff her team's defense in one move. She also sets up her Alolan Sandslash by activating Slush Rush. Being a Fairy Type adds some much needed coverage against Fighting Types as well as a good damage dealer in her team where more than half are defensive. By accepting Alolan Ninetales like she accepts her femininity, Fiona can get stronger and finds more balance.

In contrast, Natalia's most elegant and feminine pokemon, her Swanna, represents the kind of girl she wishes to be perceived as. She sees herself as an ugly duckling and dreams of growing into a swan. In the OG story however...

Natalia having a lot of water and poison types on her team in a reference to her being a sea witch in the OG story, it gives her a complex about her looks. She likes cute pokemon but poison types are of more use to her and her profession. Her Ribombee is a reference to being Princess Honey in the MLB au.

Fiona having Empoleon and Corviknight is a reference to how in the OG story, she is both high nobility and a knight. Also her monster form whenever she's possessed is avian themed. In the MLB au, she's the next holder of the peacock miraculous after Pavonis.

Keagan having a Volcarona is a reference to his ties to Hawkmoth and becoming the next holder of the butterfly miraculous in the MLB au.

Same with Damien having a Carracosta, a reference to him eventually becoming the holder of the Turtle Miraculous.

Only Shizuke doesn't reference the MLB au but to be fair, even in the MLB au, he had trouble accepting he's Ladybug... And none of the ladybug based pokemon suits his fighting style.

Some of their main types can reflect with how they interact with others' main types. Mentioned above is how Blake, the Dark type specialist, is the blind spot of Blair, the Psychic type specialist. There's also Shizuke who mainly uses Fighting types is weak to Blair's Psychic types, but Blake the Dark type main is intimidated by him. Fiona who uses Steel and Ice types is extra weak to Keagan who uses Fire types. The unruly Zephyr who uses Bug and Flying types doesn't bother the sturdy Damien who uses Rock types.

[moonyx231]

@thevividai this is the Team memory oc just posting here anyways

base is not mine everyone that see's this

this is Nyx Nyx's team: a (shiny) Umbreon, Mightyena, Zoroark, Dragapult, Zweilous, and a Houndour

Personality: Nyx is an oddly calm individual and although it can sometimes take a little bit she is capable of coming up with good plans, she is smart but also easily distracted and can be a bit hyperactive(diagnosed ADHD), she is a compassionate soul (at least to Pokémon and the rest of Team memory XD, not so much for people that hurt Pokémon and destroy nature for no reason, Nyx is ready to burn them in a fire when she see's people like that XD)

Skills: Nyx specializes with Speed, Agility, Strategy, and a decent bit of physical strength despite not looking like they are strong, Nyx has sensitive hearing so often wears ear pods and such to prevent headaches from loud noises

Lore: Nyx was born in a city in Achalon but managed to get out of the city and the adoption system when they were 10 by managing to run away and moved to the forest where they met a shiny Eevee, that Eevee eventually evolved into an Umbreon, after that Eevee showed up and evolved a bunch of other Pokémon would come and go, but only a Mightyena, Zoroark, Dragapult, Zweilous, and a Houndoor actually stayed around, one day around 9 years later while the city was cutting down the forest to expand a tree fell and almost hurt(or possibly even almost killed) Nyx's Umbreon, Nyx moved much deeper into the forest after that, and eventually came across Vivid and Team Memory, and like Vivid and Team Memory, they wanted to preserve Achalon, hearing Vivds plan about destroying the cities and towns and find and let Xerneas Suicune and Shaymin replaced the rubble with life, Leaving Pokémon free and safe. like the rest of Team Memory Nyx has never caught a Pokémon, Team Memory have a Pokémon rehabilitation center and sanctuary in their base deep in the mountains, All their team members come from those Pokémon who bonded with their trainer and WANTED to stay. there are a lot of friendship evolved Pokémon like Crobat in Team Memory and are an amazing listener

[jadeazora]

Occasional reminder that it does seem like we were originally intended to get some sort of followup to XY, either dual third versions like Ultra or perhaps a sequel like B2W2.

While I feel XY would have done better with a third version since it had so much potential with its initial release that remains unutilized (especially, ESPECIALLY with Team Flare and characters centric to it), a sequel would have been cool too.

I feel like maybe Malva, Sycamore, or both could have been our main antagonist, probably seeking out Lysandre. (It always felt like Sycamore should have had more of an idea what was going on with Lysandre, that he should have been much more actively involved with the overall story than he was. Back when I first played thru XY in 2013, I did think Sycamore would be our true villain, given how we first meet Lysandre at his lab and their friendship despite Lys being super suspicious, and with Sycamore downplaying his creepy speech as just passion. But nah, he's just in severe denial.)

I don't feel like Sycamore would actually be evil tho, but given the danger Lysandre poses, it would be dangerous to pave the way for him to emerge again. I think he'd probably be more seeking Lysandre out to apologize for not being there to help steer Lysandre in the right direction when he had the chance, before he became so desperate to resort to such extremes. (By the way, he actually does have a few "villain" Pokemon, at least in the XY demo. He has a Crobat, a Pokemon owned by several villain team leaders, and a Chandelure, which burns souls.)

Malva would definitely be the more actively villainous between them, since she clearly has a lot of resentment towards the player for putting a stop to their whole plot, and I don't think she'd be against trying to kickstart it again.