#after this one i think i'm gonna try to tackle the rest of the pokemon polyhedral hack

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

update:

meant to do barebones summary

went into a fugue state and wrote several thousand words

got down most of what i have planned thus far, and it is super unpolished but all functional except one mechanic i'm still tweaking at. (extra bit for people who want a little more guidance from the mechanics re: modifiers and when to use them)

taking a break for now to rest and Crimmus, and am looking forward to coming back to get the rest drafted out and the writing edited. \o/

I am opening my mouth like a baby bird for the barebones offline version of the rpgsolo stuff .. excited to see :3

i hope you enjoy it when it goes up, anon!! my main issue so far is trying to figure out how tf to format the percentage tables over text on a tumblr post. i could just post screenshots of it, because as it is it formats terribly onto here, but it's critical for it to be screen-reader accessible. i might go ahead and put it in a pastebin to link along with the screenshots; i'd like to get it down in multiple formats and mirrors in case something happens to one version, i Do Not Trust hosting sites these days, but i think that's probably a good start.

[stupidlildumby]

The adventure begins

Of course the first thing weekly wants to do once we choose our pokemon is fight.

Well it may be my first pokemon battle, but I will not go off quietly into the night. Its time for war, and even with his intimidating turt im gonna take him on.

We hit him with a tail whip, and he responds by withdrawing afraid. Net no change. Hmm.

Weekly just keeps raising his defense, this is going nowhere, and Glaceons tackles arent doing much... this is going to be a long one.

Ten minutes later and we are all set, we won, his turtle is in the dust.

We quickly tell our mom what happened and are on our way to start our adventure now in earnest. She gives us some running shoes, which I have to admit are more comfortable to run in then just the socks I have been walking around in till now, especially with all the snow.

And here he is, the partner for our adventure

He is covered in a thick powder, I thought it was snow at first, but it looks like hes been rolling around in rock salt. I'm not great with names so I'm gonna call him rock for now.

Weekly ambushes me as I start my journey, wanting to catch a legendary pokemon from our hometown. I don't believe it exists, but even if it did we dont have any pokeballs. Weekly realizes this a little too late.

There was a weird looking science man there though, which is cool.

I get to sandedge town after a short walk and they want me to give Rock a name, well I already named him. Then he told me I had to record pokemon in a pokedex, I felt too awkward to say no, or tell him I can take pictures of them on my phone.

The professor's assistant took me around town explaining what every building was, as if I had never been to a town before. I know what a pokemon center is mate. He was trying to be nice though. He also explained to me that there is a new law in place that limits trainers to catching one pokemon per route, part of some new environmental management effort? We are going to have to be careful about what we catch! After going to the store and picking up some pokeballs, there are two routes to catch things at!

Our first new friend is an easy catch, Rock tackles them and I throw a poke ball. Welcome to the team Roll! (I know I'm clever naming Rocks first friend Roll)

Have you ever met a sheep with steel wool before though? I tried to give her a hug and now my arms are bleeding...

I take a quick visit home to bandage my arms and say goodbye to mom, and Weeklys mom asks me to deliver a package to him because apparently he just left without saying goodbye.

As I reach route 202 the professors assistant shows me to how to catch a pokemon. He must really think I am sheltered or something. I drop hints about Roll and how I caught her but he doesn't catch on.

Once he leaves we get the third member of our team,

I take a moment to rest at the pokemon center to make sure my team is nice and healthy. There is a big world of pokemon out there. I wonder if I should take some time to prepare myself before heading out or whether I should run ahead as quick as I can

[greentrickster]

I think the objectively funniest version of Ingo getting lost and returned through time is if the entire event takes place over, like, 30 minutes from Emmet's perspective. So Ingo just goes out to get milk one night and stumbles back in half an hour later, haggard, with a beard, pretty jacked by modern Unova standards, looking like a man who was dragged backwards though a hedge for five years.

And Emmet tries to joke that they didn't need milk badly enough for Ingo to track down a Bouffalant and milk it-- and I think that's where Ingo just tackles Emmet and all of the emotions happen.

(Punchline: Ingo did, in fact, bring back milk. Milk fresh from Hisui, before they invented pasteurization. He won't say what pokemon he got it from. It's delicious)

It is a pretty funny version of events! Unfortunately for me, I tend to take crack ideas and think about them way too much, and sometimes it makes them less funny in the process. And this concept is one of them. Like... yeah, it's funny in the moment, but it would also lead to some real difficulties for the twins as they try and cope with what happened.

So I prefer the idea that about the same amount of time has passed for both twins, and that, while he did have a rather toxic spiral at first, by the time Ingo returns Emmet actually has himself and his life pretty well in hand. He's had the support of his friends and fellow Battle Station workers, he took some time off from the Battle Station to go somewhere he's never been before (I'm gonna say the Kanto region), so he could have some space where he wasn't constantly surrounded by memories and reminders, got some therapy, he's doing well.

He's never given up on finding Ingo, he's kept an eye on any new leads that pop up and followed them as best he can, but I think, early on, Elesa hit him with, "If it was you who went missing, and you came back, and Ingo was in the state you're currently in... how would that make you feel?" And it became a thing of, "I am Emmet, I will take care of myself so that Ingo will not have to worry about me." He gets some new pokemon, same as Ingo does in Hisui, though for Emmet he tends to mix and match the new ones he has with the old ones. He uses his desire to find Ingo to create positive patterns as well as negative ones, and the positive ones slowly begin to outweigh the negative ones as time goes on.

Naturally he is something of a mess when Ingo returns, because there's still plenty of fear and pain lurking around in there, but he's overall in a good space, meaning that having to help Ingo readjust to the modern day while also manning the Battle Subway doesn't run him ragged.

But also I really like the idea of the milk, so for the Melli in Unova AU, I'm gonna say that's absolutely part of it - Ingo happened to have just purchased milk when he and Melli got sent back. And, after Ingo and Emmet have sufficiently fussed, hugged, and cried on each other, Ingo looks Emment dead in the eye and goes, "Also, I got the milk." Then, a moment later, "However I do not believe I should let you drink it - it is unpasteurized and could make you very ill, as you are unaccustomed to it."

Emmet stares, then laughs, then proceeds to tell everyone who will listen this story for the rest of their lives.

Thanks for the ask!

[jacscorner]

Pokemon All-Stars: A Fan Region/Game/Alternate Universe Idea

I like watching and rewatching Original Pokemon Game/Region videos. Like Mr. Buddy's "What if X was a Pokemon Region" and stuff like that. I wanna make-or, I guess, write-my own. Since Regions are kind of a character all their own and I'm a Wannabe Character Artist, I wanted to try and make one my own.

I've got no skills in coding, pixel arts, or anything, so this will forever be just some kind of dumb fanfic that sometimes incorporates Game Mechanics to justify things if it were able, for some Godforsaken reason, 'stolen' for a game. Cause, in 2021, no idea feels too big or too dumb. And, uh, trust me, this'll be a dumb fanfic of an idea. So be aware for the subpar writing talents of some wannabe writer who doesn't know shit.

Small disclaimer though:

>This region is being made with the intention that every extra feature will be available in it. Z-Moves, Regional Variants, Gygantamax, Mega Evolutions, and maybe some things I've forgotten. This probably won't matter cause it's just a dumb fanfic plot bible with mechanics peppered in. Competitive balancing be damn! Pokemon Fans can create their own balance! That's what the Battle Simulator is for! In fact, if this was a real game, then it'd have a Battle Simulator like Showdown built into it.

>This is an open source Fanfic Bible. You can take this idea and run with it if you want. You can omit all my bad ideas even!

>I won't be making my own Fakemon. I don't like a lot of Fakemon that exists out there and, trust me when I say this: I am no better than them. In fact, I'm fucking worse.

>If this WERE a game, it probably WOULD still have to cut some Pokemon. I doubt that kinda, and I won't get into why I think dexit was dumb personally, cause it doesn't really matter. But, like, my fan game/fanfic will have a lot of shit going on in it. So, like, realistically, there would probably need to be a cut, if not for data, than just cause there's a lot of work to do as is. But, like, again, under the context of a fic, this wouldn't be an issue.

>With THAT said, I'd want this game to have a Gen 2 Sprite aesthetic. My fangame, don't care if ya'll don't like that.

>I'm probably gonna copy a LOT of stuff from other Fangames I've played. My shit memory probably won't allow me to remember what I'm biting from what, so be free to call me out whenever. Cause if I stole the mechanic, I probably liked it the game. And if not, well, I'd like the recommendation.

Fuck, this was long already. The rest is under the cut, so, like, if you're already turned off, you can stop reading. I understand. I'm kind of a windbag.

Okay, so how many of you guys have seen this picture on the internet? It's a picture of a ton of Pokemon regions all...basically stitched together, since not only could this never be canon, but this goes beyond the size of even most open world games today. But this was the inspiration for this project. The map probably wouldn't, and probably couldn't, look like this, but it perfectly sums up what I'd want out of this game. Thus, it'll be our placeholder.

Our hometown of Capricorn Town is home to Professor Chestnut, and you, her faithful assistant, are about to set off on a Pokemon adventure of your own! The Professor is encouraging you to see the region of Sidus for yourself and is even willing to give you a Starting Pokemon!

Starting Pokemon

Now, if I'm not making new Pokemon, which Starter will it be? Well, the game will have the data for all the starters and will randomly select a Grass, Fire, and Water Type for you to choose from. Those will be your starters, with the option of also choosing Pikachu, Eevee, and Riolu, the two mascot mons...and Riolu, who is kind of a mascot mon, but a lesser one.

Let's say for this example, your options are Torchic, Piplup, Rowlet, Pikachu, Eevee, and Riolu. And, uh, get used to the words 'random' and 'generator', those are our keywords.

Anyway, once you get your pick, there'll be some kind of tutorial mission the Professor will send you on. This will introduce you to two very important things;

1. One of your Rival.

2. An Evil Team Grunt.

Rivals?!

Now to start getting into why this game might still be pretty big still be big despite the sprites on modern consoles.

Each of your Rivals would be one kid from each region of the 8 Mainline Games from Kanto to Kalos. How this'll be decided is that each pair of kids will be plugging into a generator and will pick between either the boy or girl version.

Ex. Brendan and May both cannot be in the game. Instead, they'll be plugged into this generator. Let's say the generator fell onto May. She'll be one of your Rival. Repeat this process 7 more times until you have 8 Rivals sprinkled throughout the world, each one given a defined personality and better AI to make them harder trainers to fight.

May will have one of the Hoenn Starters, sans Torchic. Regardless of whether or not Protagonist-San picked Torchic, May will either have a Treecko or Mudkip, again, chosen at random per kid. Whichever Starter you picked, your first rival will have a starter that beats yours. So, let's say moving forward, May has a Mudkip and you a Torchic. The other kids will have random starters of the various regions they originally hail from.

Anyway, your rivals will wander the overworld. If they see you, they'll battle you on sight. If they lose, they'll be gone after the next time you turn the game off. They won't battle you again until they respawn, but you can hang out with them. In fact, you can even recruit them to be in your party for a few days and they'll follow you around and just generally be your friend. It'll make every battle a double battle, but they'll battle you again before their timer runs out, so be prepared!

BANG! BANG! ENTER! Team Wild!

The two of you will have to face off against Team Wild! They have a Cowboy theme to them, using a mix of Ground and Steel-Types, with a few Pokemon being added in for good measure like the Ponyta Lines, Cacnea Line, and Remoraid. Cause...it's a gun.

They're an outlaw gang, they're rough and tough (or, at least, a mild threat) and will always throw down when they spot ya. Something I'm just sniping from JelloApocalypse is that they'll appear sporadically and act as Timed Events across the map.

You and your new Rival beat them and send you packing. I'd imagine May and the other Rivals would mostly be friendly, but I'm sure there's one or two that'll just be jerks to you. Regardless of personality, they'll be pretty tough and programmed to skill with you. Your strongest mon you have on hand when you fight them will be the level their entire team.

With your tutorial done, the world is opened up! Your mom gives you your running shoes, some Pokeballs, and your...I don't know, PokeCelular or something, just the regional gadget that does a bunch of stuff. From holding your map to holding your VS Seeker.

The PokeCelular will also give you notifications on where Team Wild are! You can choose to ignore the events, but if you do, then they'll start to appear in the overworld know and will get progressively stronger.

A Balancing Act

This game will be an open world, 8-Bit Sprite Game for you to explore after you leave Capricorn!

So how do we balance that?

Well, we got our Rival out of the way already, so let's move on. Gym Leaders will have a pretty linear progression. However, regardless of which Gym you tackle first, they'll all be at the same level.

It doesn't matter if you decide to go across the map and battle the Bug Gym, he'll stay at Level 10, just like the Normal Gym. Whe you get the second badge, they'll all jump to Level 15. NPC Trainers will follow the same progression; the higher your badge number, the stronger the number of Pokemon they'll be.

Wild Pokemon will also get stronger. The more badges you get, it'll attract stronger wild Pokemon because they'll see you're stronger and will come out more.

The overworld will also have various dungeons in them that'll be Level Locked. Say, you go through a forest and you're just trying to reach the end of a maze. The Trainers and Pokemon will function the same as I've mentioned before. But, you can decide to go deeper into the dungeon. These Pokemon will be level locked, usually something of a high level, because this is a more dangerous part of the dungeon. But, there'll be some goodies down there, like rarer Pokemon and some kind of really rare and good item like a TM or something.

How will you traverse? Well, first of all, HMs? They're semi-back. BUT, instead of having to deal with teaching Cut to a Pokemon, you just need the move Cut and a Pokemon that can use the move and you'll be able to use Cut. A few other Pokemon that are reasonable candidates, but don't get cut, will be allowed to do this too. Like, Gallade can use Cut. It can't learn the move, but just holding the HM will get the job done.

Controversial opinion, but I think I've always liked the idea of HMs. On paper, they give you a reason to explore the world and go back to areas you couldn't before for goodies and make for a good way to get off dungeons until you get the needed item. Even something like Cut can be used to open up new areas for exploration for your squad of mons.

BUT, well, HMs suck. As moves, they suck save for, like, 2...MAYBE and they're only for, like, a handful of areas. You either hand them out as evenly as possible, forcing mons to take moves you don't wanna use, or you just get an HM Slave or two to use 'em all. But like they, they serve their function and all you need is the Pokemon in question and NOT teach them the move. If you need a Move Deleter just so people aren't stuck having to use Rock Smash for three towns, then there's a problem with your RPG. Imagine playing Final Fantasy and you had to give your Fighter the Bronze Axe to get through a forest and still had to fight with it, even though you got a +12 Silver Sword! It's no wonder people hated these things! But I don't think getting rid of them and introducing Rental Pokemon was a good solution either and adds a different, albeit less intrusive problem.

Gym Leaders

So, how do Gym Leaders work?

Much like your rivals, they'll be randomly generated. Let's say, hypothetically, there's a pool of 60 Gym Leaders and Elite Four members. The game will randomly generate 16 to be Gym Leaders. The generator will have some kind of complicated math (at least, too complicated for me) so that you don't have more than 2 gyms of the same type. (Example: Misty and Nessa might be Active Gyms, Siebold can't be selected for a Gym cause the Water Slots are taken).

As a trade off, some Gyms might have special conditions before you can challenge them. Like, if you got stuck with Koga as a Gym Leader, than he'll only let you in if you complete a nearby dungeon and help his daughter out cause he doesn't trust her to make it back on her own. Or, like, Claire's a Gym Leader, but she won't battle you unless you've collected 7 Gym Badges prior at least.

The Gym Leaders, as mentioned before, will get progressively stronger with each badge obtained. After the 8th badge, you can go and climb Victory Road, face the E4 and confront the Champion! You can keep hunting Gym Leaders, but just remember that the E4 will always be 10 Levels above the strongest gym you beat. And they'll just get stronger with every one you beat until all 16 are slain.

Another handful, let's say 8, Gym Leaders/E4 Members will be wondering around as NPC Trainers. The justification is that this big super region is in some Alternate Universe Pokemon Game that has all the Pokemon and other important trainers in it, hence why we can have a game where Roxanne and Lenora are hanging out at a coffee shop. They're not Rivals, more like stronger NPCs you can rematch and wonder the map. They're not here to be the very best like no one ever was.

I mean, I'd like, like, 10-20 instead of 8 extras, but let's not get TOO greedy...yet...

Elite Four

And now, it's time to flip the script. Cause if E4 members can be Gym Leaders, then who are the Elite Four?

Easy. The Rivals.

All the Rival characters will be put in a random generator as well. The four that are chosen. You can have an Elite Four made up of Wally, Marnie, Hau, and Barry and you gotta deal with it.

This is excluding Brendan and May, Blue, and Calem and Serena. Anyone else is fair game.

Champion

So, the Champion. Who would it be in this? There was a funny idea I had, but this is a Pokemon Game. So there would be two versions. We'll call them Pokemon Dawn & Dusk. The difference between these games is the game Champion!

Benga would be the Champion of Pokemon Dusk, the grandson of Alder! His final Team will include Volcarona, Garchomp, and Dragonite, Pokemon he used in Black and White. I'd also include Scrafty, Rampardos, and Golurk, Pokemon used against you in White Treehollow and Black Tower areas.

Meanwhile, the Champion of Pokemon Dusk will be Zinnia, the Lorekeeper! Her team would include the Goodra, Tyrantrum, Altaria, Noivern, and Salamence she used in her original team, with her plucky Whismur sidekick becoming an Exploud and her ace.

You would've met them in the beginning of the game and would've showed off a bit by helping you with Team Wild before. They'll pop in and out throughout the game, at first amused by your tenacity, but not wanting a rookie like you to get hurt. But if you keep bonking Team Wild, they'll be impressed with how strong you are.

The show up to chat again when you beat 8 Gym Leaders, and will pop in if you White Out to give you some advice. White Out three times and they'll feel bad for you and give you an egg. Benga will give you a Larvesta Egg and Zinnia a Bagon Egg.

EXTRAS

So I don't got a lot of ideas for the Post Game, but there is one idea I thought would be cool if, if after you defeat the champion, they give you a call. They'll tell you that there are strong trainers wondering the Overworld and to be careful.

Because dotting the overworld will be Champions passed and proper! Cynthia, Blue, Lance; all of them are rocking Lv 100 Teams and are out for blood. They won't challenge you, but if you talk to them, there will be no backing out of the battle! You come with your A-Game!

sI'm not exactly in love with the idea of Team Wild. Maybe the Evil Team should go full fanservice and just be Team Rainbow Rocket. Or maybe go half-and-half; having past Evil Team members and leaders walk around in cowboy gear and acting as Team Wild executives.

I'd also would love Tournaments. Like, maybe that could be a weekly event in some town, they'll how tournaments and the characters that aren't designated as Gym Leaders and such will attend. Maybe there's a cash prize, maybe you'll win Pokemon Eggs of rare, guaranteed shines, or maybe you'll get some kind of important quest items.

Yeah, I want quests! All sorts of side quests! And can't forget what I'd do with Legendairs;

If you know Bengal's team, you'll know he's got the Lati Twins. I don't like that personally and would prefer Legendaries to be Super Bosses. Like, you gotta do a lot to find them. And when you do, their stats are boosted and they become an Uber Boss! You catch them in a cutscene after you beat them!

There's also just a ton of characters I didn't get around to or really have a place for. Emma, Looker, N, and the Stat Trainers all come to mind. Overall, I'd want them to pepper the world as well, but don't have anything to say except this: Pokemon has made a lot of memorable characters. Both good and bad. And this is probably my dream Pokemon Game; one where you can hang out with your favorites

[lxngfxrgxtten]

hi!! i was wondering, i'm thinking about making a fan region because rareita has inspired me so much!! so i wanted to ask if you had any tips for making a fan region that really feels like it could be canon? i also wanted to know if you're open to interacting with other fan regions

(( hi anon! i just woke up so i’m gonna try not to fuck the answer to this up. it’s awesome that you want to make your own region! i’m glad i can be some sort of inspiration for people, it’s really neat. since you asked, here are my own personal tips for creating what i feel is a believable pokemon region based on reaction to rareita:

study pokemon regions that currently exist and find common factors between them! the most common one? there is always a champion. there is always a league. should your region have a league? most likely! however there are the rare cases where there could be no league! the reason needs to be believable as to why, however. some regions have means of transportation, some don’t, etc. study them carefully and pick out things you think would be good, then put your own spin on them (within reason)!

if you take inspiration from a fan region, DO NOT TAKE what it has already created. this should be a give in, but i’ll throw it here anyways. since you were inspired by rareita, it wouldn’t be cool if you stole ideas from me like The Isle Of Myst or the descendant factor, or taking the buddy call idea from atoma. connections between fan regions can totally exist though! talking to other creators and finding ways to properly connect your region to the rest of the world can be fun! (ex: the box dev of Atoma made by @tenebres-champ and the box dev of Rareita know each other and have connected the pcs!)

 be prepared for what you’re about to take on. making a region is no easy feat! it’s a lot of work! if you’re not ready to put in a ton of thought and research? don’t do it. there’s so many small and big things you have to be ready to think of, and there has to be reason behind all of it. you’re not creating an oc that you’ve slapped into the world, you’re creating an entire world. it’s not easy. you have to think about things like culture, region layout, etc.

don’t make too many things that are new, and don’t take too many major leaps. what i mean by this is that designing a region can be tricky, because if you add too many things that aren’t already in pokemon, it no longer becomes a fan region, but more of a fandomless world with pokemon thrown in. my best advice? don’t add new typings, especially. stick with what already exists. adding new typings makes things tricky for other people too, and it doesn’t always work. another thing would be adding huge changes to pokemon’s general story of other reigions. that’s a big no. keep it kinda simple! don’t go crazy with new things, but don’t be afraid not to add anything at all.

when designing pokemon, make sure they actually look like pokemon and make sense. what do i mean by this? pokemon have a very specific style and way of being introduced. you can look at anything just about and go “that’s a pokemon!” they’re really recognizable and make sense in design. study the pokedex (yeah i know, that’s a lot of pokemon) and come up with designs based off that, or rather, inspired and in the same style as that. also read pokedex entries!! they’re so important to creating pokemon, they provide information about the design that gives it depth.

in a similar vein, make your legendary pokemon believable. what i mean by this is making clear sense of it’s power. there are limits you cannot surpass. you cannot just outright try to make something that is more powerful than pokemon like mew, arceus, and mewtwo. everyone likes their pokemon to be horribly strong, and that makes sense! it’s cool as shit! but you have to make sure you’re not trying to make that power all about it.

be prepared to design a fuck ton of characters that all need to have unique personalities, backstories, and roles. as i mentioned before, region making is no small feat. you’ve gotta be prepared to make an entire league (if you have one) with characters that are interesting. you have to decide their teams, etc. make sure you’re ready to tackle that! you can’t use canon characters. don’t try, and don’t directly copy a canon character. 

figure out the small shit, because it adds up to the big picture. what language do they speak? are there myths about the place? what’s the lore? what happened there? is there a rich history? etc etc. don’t be afraid to look up some headcanon questions and sit down and give it a lot of good thought. 

overall, making a region is a shit ton of work. it’s got so many ins and outs sometimes it makes even MY head spin. as a reminder, i’ve been at this crazy little region for nearly 11 years now (anniversary coming up!!) and i’ve become extremely well versed in pokemon since then. i know a lot of ins and outs of it, and i pay close attention. i do my research, read articles on bulbapedia, etc. rareita is a constant task that i’ve worked on for most of my life, and anyone who wants to “make a region like rareita”, i implore you to make sure you’re actually ready. 

as far as the second question goes, i mean this as no harm or anything to anyone, but i will not interact with all fan regions. just like i’m allowed to be selective with muses themselves, i will also be selective with fan regions. after making my own for so long, i won’t deny i’ve become a bit picky. hopefully this all helps, good luck, mate. ))

[pokeshippingflashfic]

I have another one!!! Ash receives a text from Misty Ash....I'm pregnant This can go in three ways 1. Futuristic amml 2. April fools day 3. Or Misty's sisters kidnapped her phone and texted Ash

(Forgive me, I’m a bit sleep deprived due to real life responsibilities so this may come out sounding rough. Also I decided to go all three routes instead of just the one.)

“Where is it?!” Misty, seventeen year old gym trainer, shrieked aloud as she tore apart her room. Pillows ripped from their resting places, the duvet draped over the lower right corner of the mattress, her desk drawers askew and clothing littering the carpet with a splatter of multi-color.

She didn’t understand. She’d left her phone alone all of twenty minutes while she ran to shower and come back to… nothing. She was so very sure that the stupid device had been resting face-down on her bed! Not today, she groaned, ruffling a hand through her still damp fringe, this couldn’t happen today!

The first of the month and the fifteenth of the month were highlighted on her calendar and here she was without a method of communication. When she and Ash had opted for a long-term relationship so that they both could play mature, responsible ‘adults’ and focus simultaneously on their career paths, Misty had made Ash swear to be available on these two dates at a reasonable hour so that they could video-chat with each other.

She’d already had to babysit and nag him enough just to get him to remember that much! The last thing she could afford to do now was give him reason to prod at her for not following through on her own end of the compromise!

“Daisy, Lily, Violet! Have any of you three seen my phone?” Misty shouted as she frantically swung open her bedroom door and stared haphazardly down the hallway towards her sisters’ rooms in nothing more than a plush bath towel.

“I totally haven’t!” came her eldest sibling’s voice in reply. “Maybe you should, like, check downstairs? I think Lily said she saw it in the kitchen earlier!”

The redhead slammed her door hurriedly shut, throwing her towel aside and scurrying to pick up a myriad of clean clothes from the floor of her trashed room that she could get away with walking around in. She had only ten minutes to put herself together, find her phone, and be available for Ash’s call.

She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten it downstairs! Hopefully its charge would hold for their entire conversation…

However, eight minutes later, she was back where she started. There was no cellphone in the living room, nor the kitchen, nor the downstairs bathroom. She remembered grabbing a snack from the pantry but couldn’t find it there either.

Defeated, the redhead slowly ambled back upstairs to her room, despondently shutting the door and kicking the clothes on the floor around to create a path to her bed, stretching and grasping the duvet, pulling it back up just when…

Fwump!

Blinking in apprehensive wonder, the gym leader craned her neck around the foot of her bed once more and saw her phone laying there.

“Wait, how’d I miss that…?” she asked herself but shook her head, allowing the relief to settle over everything and snatching it up, flipping onto her back on the mattress and catching her breath after her minor panic attack as she unlocked it.

No missed calls. No missed texts. The battery was at seventy or so percent, which was enough for her video-chat with Ash. And, speaking of, it would be starting any second now…

She stared avidly at her mobile device, willing it to ring, even as she combed the fingers on her free hand through her hair, hoping it didn’t look too atrocious.

Still nothing.

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Ash Ketchum was late to call her and he always made up for it in the end. Part of her considered calling him but she immediately shrugged the thought away. She had decided it was a good opportunity to teach him some initiative in their relationship to have him be the one dialing the number about almost six months ago. If she gave up on him this easily just because he was two or three minutes late…

But time and silence continued to pass as Misty felt a familiar flush of fire welling up within her. Five minutes late, she knew she could excuse but… but fifteen? Twenty? What could be holding Ash up? Was it a battle? Had Team Rocket attacked again? (And she couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the very real possibility that Team Dunce would of course pop up just as Ash Ketchum was getting ready to call his girlfriend…)

Or maybe it was something serious… Maybe one of his Pokemon had been hurt? She could easily accept taking a backseat in a situation like that.

A half-an-hour ticked by while she contemplated her reaction to potentially being blown off. She was five seconds from caving and sending an angry text when, finally, her phone began to ring and she hurriedly unlocked it, automatically accepting the video-call.

“Ash, where have you been? I’ve been waiting forever!” the redhead seethed, hoping her tone sounded equally frustrated and understanding to the possibility of a consequential interruption.

“I, uh… Sorry, Mist… I was caught up with… um, things? I dunno,” was his initial response, and she stared suspiciously into her camera as she watched him flutter in and out of focus.

“Ash, is something wrong with the phone?”

The jittery video stilled almost too quickly, and her boyfriend’s strained, concerned, flushed face appeared more stable and centered. Nevertheless, the young man was obviously troubled over something.

“No, sorry, that was probably me. I just… Sorry I’m late calling. I didn’t… really know what to say earlier so I thought I might have to skip out tonight. But then I thought leaving you empty-handed would be worse so…” he finished with a noncommittal shrug, still refusing to look her in the eye.

“Wait, you were gonna just… not call? What happened? What do you mean by leaving me empty-handed?” she replied in a somewhat furious exclamation.

“W - well, y’know, earlier today… that text… I mean, I didn’t know what to say to that. I - we’re not… we haven’t… So I just never woulda expected to hear something like that from you… and I guess… we need to talk about it, considering it’s obviously not mine?”

“What’s not yours?! What text?!” she shrieked in stupefaction, both hands on her phone and grip brittle enough to almost crack it in two. And, before he could respond, she exited back to her main screen, watching the video box itself into the upper right-hand corner, and opened up her messaging app to try and figure out where Ash was coming from.

There was a timestamp from something sent to him roughly ninety minutes ago, which aligned with when she was showering… She clicked the thread repeatedly with abandon to open it quick as possible, eyes widening at the message within.

Ash, this may be unexpected but I needed to tell you that I’m pregnant.

That was all there was.

“What the he–?!”

“–Happy April Fools Day!” three simpering, giggling voices chimed in unison as her bedroom door burst open, the redhead scrambling to a sitting position against the wall her bed sat against as her mind raced at the intrusion.

“Wha… You three…” Misty muttered venomously, eyes squinting as they went black in fury. She immediately dropped her phone on the bed as she lunged forward out of it to tackle her sisters, though they dodged her attack and ran down the hall in screeching laughter.

Ash, left abandoned on the other end of the call, inhaled a relieved breath. He had next-to-no idea what was going on either but he’d at least figured out that her sisters were playing some kinda prank and Misty was thankfully not pregnant.

It was probably best to hang up and let her sort her siblings out and, should the redhead not end up arrested, he could only assume that it would be her turn to make it up to him later. ;-)

(Misty’s sisters were under the impression that Ash and Misty were sexually active, which was why they felt their joke was appropriate, btw.)