#also i do remember someone asking my pokemon team?

[candyredappledragon]

Pelipper Mail incoming!

It’s a case for your rotom phone! It’s got an Applin pattern on it, and it came with a Furret phone charm!

It was left in your mailbox! :D

w..wowzers. i am so happy. [sniffles]...... i wish i can show you my gratitude in person.

[mi-spark]

GUH I just noticed someone already asked about 3 so I'll go with 4, 7 and 9 :3 (9's kind of a boring one but oh well)

YOU ARE SO GOOD MY DUDE and this works out bc a lot of these questions can be answered in multiple ways :3c

4. what did you name your hero and partner characters? and why? THIS TIME i'm gonna talk about my rescue team, specifically for rtdx

freaking baring my soul here these sketches are ROUGH

they are Team Lucky, Finn (feraligatr, partner) and Ryme (sylveon, hero). they are alternate versions of my blue rescue team of the same names, except finn stayed a croconaw and ryme became a jolteon. i created them when i was 14, so they are my second oldest pmd characters and are over 10 years old now (wild). i remember the night i was thinking of their names— i knew i wanted to call the totodile Finn cuz i just liked it for a totodile, and i wanted their names to have a ring together, so then Ryme just popped into my head and stuck lol. finn & ryme!

(a bit of a tangent here but i was pretty proud of coming up w the name Ryme bc i hadn’t ever seen it before, and then years later Pokemon proceeds to use that name TWICE in canon— with Ryme City in detective pikachu, and then the ghost gym leader from scarlet and violet ! and i was like bitch the fuck! i INVENTED that name! lol jokes aside in a way it is validating to see that name used in canon.)

ANYWAY for rtdx, i played as eevee and totodile again and decided to slightly tweak their personalities and evolution choices in order to think of it as an alternate timeline of sorts. also they r pining for each other in this timeline :3c my singular heroxpartner team... hmm i wonder why Ryme became a sylveon... (she does not know why.)

7. how do you interpret the future trio's relationship to each other? extracting my brain from the fanon as much as i can, i think they would all be very trusted allies, if not good friends. i wouldn't consider it a huge stretch at all for the three of them to stay a team– even if just temporarily– and travel the grass continent offering their wealth of knowledge and skills to assist the scattered surviving pokemon and restore the land to a thriving and beautiful place to be. the sableye would join their efforts too!

BUT. but but but. ☝️ i would love it if the trio formed a permanent team. and the polycule headcanons are very fun :)

9. what do you ship in the games? amaya you know well that i have a taste for toxic yaoi, and this series just so happens to have an excellent example of it ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

but might i also propose: dugtrio x the sea. thank you for your consideration

[au-wannabe-the-very-best]

Misplaced Super Train is absolutely AMAZING and is for some reason scratching a bit of my brain so if you don't mind I had some possible thoughts that could maybe be incorperated for like. AU World Building, if that's alright

what if the Super Train "Clan" end up building their camp around the ruins of the battle train, both for the easy shelter it offers but also to keep any other people from poking around and finding Future Stuff

bouncing back and forth between teaching Ingo about who they are and where they came from but also stuff about Hisui and trying to differentiate the two so his "past" and "future" knowledge won't get muddled

the STC's giving the other Clan's/Galaxy Team a HEART ATTACK with just how calm and relaxed they are with their pokemon becuase they've all seen how strong they are

they do bond with Laventon tho since he's very interested in all these new, seemingly domesticated pokemon as well as how powerful they are

I was actually going on the assumption that their camp is where their totaled train is! I still don't know where exactly I'd want them to crash at, I don't want them in either Pearl or Diamond territory, and I don't want them near Jubilife Village. So it just leaves the coastlands and the highlands, I think. And, if Ingo still becomes Lady Sneasler's warden, it makes more sense for the train to have crashed in the highlands.

So I suppose they're, like, the new official Highlands Clan. On account of the fact that they can't live anywhere else. They don't know how to build tents. Have to stick with the train cars.

(Okay I guess I now know where I want them to crash at.)

As for teaching Ingo, he may be able to understand what these people are saying, but despite knowing he has a brother and a family and works with trains etc, he doesn't remember any of it. It becomes clear to the depot agents that telling him these things aren't actually helping his memory at all, just forcing him to feel pressured into remembering, so they stop trying altogether. They'll tell Ingo things if he asks, but otherwise, they're not going to try and force remembrance of certain things anymore.

Akari's own amnesia and the fact that she has no expectations of Ingo or knew him previously is actually part of the reason why Ingo is so comfortable with her, and why he finds it so much easier to remember things around her.

Anyways, I don't think the clans are all too alarmed by being close to Pokémon so much as the Galaxy Team are, honestly speaking. I mean, they all seem to have Pokémon partners? I think it's more normal for the clans than the Galaxy Team, but understandably EVERYONE is very wary of the fact that their Pokémon are just. So insanely strong in comparison to everyone else. Because these crazy people battle for FUN. Nobody else does that! Battling is for survival, judging someone's character, asserting authority, or proving a point. It is NOT for enjoyment!

Every time a Clan or Galaxy Team member passes by them while they're battling, they sort of just skirt the edge and stare wide-eyed at them like they're absolutely insane. Because by native standards, they are.

As for Laventon, he's literally the kind of guy to just run up to a stranger and start a conversation, so I imagine he does actually get along with the depot agents and Ingo quite well. Even if he does ask enough questions to remind them all of reporters.

[callinskiiscalling88]

An Ace pokemon is their strongest

Includes All 7 dorms + Staff

This is your sign to totally ask my about my pokemon au I wrote a whole lore doc for it and even added some hisui stuff

Heartybul

Riddle: Shaymin

Shaymin is a hedgehog and since Riddle is the grass gym leader in my au it just worked the best. Imagine it's flower is a rose though. (He probably wouldn't use it for the gym that's too op)

Ace: Scorbunny

I needed a lil rascal for Ace and Scorbunny gives such Ace vibes.

Deuce: Buneary

After the bunny event (can't remember the name of it for the life of me) I had to give him a bunny pokemon. I also wanted it to be a duo with Ace's ace. (tehehe ace and ace) For all you Adeuce-ers I have a drawing vision I'll create one day.

Cater: Ditto

Identity issues. I picture Ditto approaching Cater as Cater and he assumed it was a clone for the longest time. Ofc until he tried making it disappear and it didn't work.

Trey: Chansey

He's like the big brother of the group so I thought Chansey was perfect.

Savanaclaw

I didn't wanna just base them off of their species since I was going to give them Pokemon Beastman types instead. (For example Leona is a Pyroar Beastman)

Leona: Lucario

I wanted a fighting type since he's the fighting gym leader. So when I was playing Legends Arceus and stumbled upon an alpha Lucario I knew it had to be. (Dunno how much it fits tho tbh)

Ruggie: Timburr

I needed a lil rascal for him. Someone who could snag something and run off. Also preferably a fighting type. Timburr fits the profile.

Jack: Lycanroc

He turns into a wolf...this one had to be a wolf. I wanted one that didn't give intimidating vibes and Lycanroc was my best bet. I feel like it's a very loyal pokemon and from what I know Jack is decently loyal. (I'm sorry I don't know much about Jackypoo)

Octavinelle

Azul: Grapploct

I know I said I didn't wanna go species based, but tbh it was either this or Vaporeon and I feel like I could find more similarities with these two. It's pre-evolution is a small little guy who works it's way up to it's strong version, similar to Azul working hard to become the successful man- teen he is today.

(this lil guy)

Jade: Lapras

I needed something to pair with Floyd and just going for the eels felt too easy. Lapras has this elegance that Jade has so I thought it'd work

Floyd: Gyrados

(did I spell that wrong?) He totally caught a Magikarp when he was younger because he thought it looked funny then kept it. Look at it now!!

Scarabia

Kalim: Donphan

I wanted an angry looking pokemon to contradict his friendly optimistic-ness. + elephant. He rides an elephant in Chapter/Book 4.

Jamil: Serviper

Jamil *Viper* Ser*Viper*

Ignyhyde

Idia: Luxray

Almost went with PorygonZ but he likes kitties and as the electric type gym leader I had to go with Luxray. Lions are cats!!

Ortho: Rotom

Come on... Do I have to explain? Oh wait non-pokemon fans might be reading this, yes I do. Rotom can travel between devices and sometimes even the players Pokedex. (Encyclopedia of Pokemon) (Sun/Moon for example)

Diasomnia

Malleus: Meowstick♂️

Everyone keeps giving him a super op team full of legend/psuedo-legendary dragon types but instead I made him part Dialga (basically the god of time) so I could excuse it.

I can't see him getting many pokemon, most escaping their balls and leaving Mal down. But this Meowstick lives in his castle. He wanted to befriend it but it was really stubborn. Eventually they became comrades tho!!

Silver: Swablu

He needs an Altaria. It's a cloud bird (technically dragon but shhhh)‼️‼️Swablu doesn't evolve until level 50 though and he's still young so he needs to wait.

Sebek: Pom-Pom Oricorio

I LOVE HIS DYNAMIC WITH ORICORIO!! I picked it because it was an electric cheerleader and he's always idolizing Mal but there's lore origins

Sebek found Oricorio when he was younger and out playing with Silver. It was injured and about to faint (Pokemon's equivalent to dying) Silver insisted on rushing it home and having Lilia help save it. Sebek carried it all the way there and it grew attached to him.

I can see Baul having issues with him having a non-evolving Pokemon but give it time, it'll prove it can be strong

Lilia: Sneasler

Come on...Look at them.

Sneasler is a Hisui exclusive actually, and Hisui is Sinnoh in the 1700s-ish. It also looks like it could be a soldier, look at it. Amazing. Perfect. I love Sneasler.

Extra: (You'll have to look these up yourself)

Crowley: Haunchcrow, it's in the name, it's a crow.

Crewel: Furfrou, dog you get to stylize, perfect fit

Vargas: Machamp (please say I didn't mix it up, the fully evolved one) Human like muscle pokemon absolutely perfect.

Trein: Lucius, Lucius is a pokemon in my au. shush it's just a rare species

Sam: Dusknoir, skull ghost type. Perfect for Sammypoo.

So that concludes all their aces. Funsies!! I'm back in my Pokemon hyperfix so I'm brainrotting. This was one of many...

I have everything planned out but the lore doc only contains up to Scarabia's arc rn. (But still ask about anything I literally have most of it planned)

The Pokemon au focuses on Yuu, who gets sent to the TWST region (shush ik not creative) by Arceus (Pokemon God). Professor Crowley finds poor Yuu and offers to help them home, if they complete the Pokedex. (I had to type that out 4 times I kept accidentally deleting it)

Thanks for Reading

Octavinelle and Diasomnia are my favs rn because those (+ Pomfiore) I branch away from the main story the most. (Yuu gets into trouble with Azul let's just say~)

So ask about it, I wanna share the brainrot. (I'll probably make a massive lore post about it one day if no one does...I can't be contained)

Anyways have a wonderhoytastic day!!

Thanks for reading, Byebye!!

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

So, remember when I asked you about social media in the Pokemon universe?

I've sorta gotten wrapped up in a giant RP community here on tumblr based around that concept, where we all make in-univese tumblr posts from characters in the Pokemon world, whether that be canon characters, OCs, Fallers from non-Pokemon media, and so on.

It's called Pokemon IRL, and it runs on a multiverse system. Essentially, the in-universe website connects across the multiverse, allowing people to have different canons without it conflicting.

I run a bunch of blogs for it, including one for the Tropius that I mentioned to you back in that original ask. I also write blogs for Kay Faraday, an Arceus who prefers to be in the form of a shiny Sentret, someone who got sent to the PMD world and really didn't like it, a Herlock Sholmes-inspired detective from a steampunk PMD world, a gym inspector, a Mew who got tired of being a legendary and just wants to live among humans now, a Zorua who's going through the plot of every single mainline Pokemon game, and the Ninetales from PMD Rescue Team.

It's really fun! I wrote a guide to it here, if you're interested!

I had to do a triple take at just regular ol' Kay Faraday in that list. (And was also having some trouble just with my brain and parsing commas, so I was like "Kay Faraday is an Arceus???" and. no.) But that sounds like fun! I feel particularly bad for that poor Zorua - that's a lot of plot to live through.

"Multiverse social media" is such a funny concept. I mean, it obviously solves the ""canon"" problem. But imagine, like, you share a news bulletin about missing person Subway Master Ingo and then you find like thirteen different Ingos and you can't even be sure if any of them are actually the guy from your world because seven of them have amnesia and are blogging from the year 1800.

[yharnamcrow]

[A transcript of a video call between @the-fluffiest-trainer and Eileen.

E: Here is hoping this works… Cameras… newfangled things.

F: I can see you! Hello there, Eileen! F: Can you also see me?

E: Yes, I can. Wonderful. I freely admit that technology baffles me more often than not. E: Thank you again for offering to do this.

F: Oh, it's not a problem at all, I'm happy to help. What's a special talent good for anyway if you're not using it to help people?

E: That much we can agree on at the very least. Well then… Do you wish for me to summarize my questions again? Oh, come here, Maria. You may be needed very soon, don't loiter in front of the oven again.

F: I think I understand, but of course correct me if I'm missing anything. So your absol looks a lot like someone you knew in Yharnam, your version of Maria, who's not the Maria we both know in Kanto, and you need me to ask her if she actually is that Maria?

E: Just about, yes. That is the gist of it. And… since we are talking already, I suppose… it would not be amiss to ask if she is happy with how I have treated her.

F: Of course. I have a feeling she'll take any chance to let you know her feelings even if I don't directly ask.

E: That does seem about right. She is a wilful creature, for all that she eagerly follows commands in battle. Quite sure of her own mind, this one. E: Shall we, then? Do you need her to face the camera properly? Is she doing so, actually?

F: I can see her sitting back there, but it probably would help if she came closer and actually looked at the screen. It's hard for these devices to pick up the whole room sometimes, I know Twilight and I have had issues being heard occasionally while recording our adventures.

E: Very well. One moment. Maria! (she whistles shrilly.) Come here please, we require you for a spell. Eileen: Apologies for the volume.

F: She said 'just a second', and then-- ah, here she comes. Just had to lick that last dirty spot first and be presentable. F: Hello there, Maria. Can you hear me? Yes, in the holocaster, that's me.

E: Who am I to deny a lady her presentation, hm? Appearance matters. May we ask you some questions then, my dear?

F: That 'mrrp' was a yes.

E: A delightful little noise. Now, how shall I word this… No doubt you have heard me talk about my friend whose name you share, yes? I tend to talk as nights grow long. I… E: Hm. It feels almost frivolous to ask this, really. E: Tell us, please… Have you been human before?

F: It's okay, Maria, I can help her understand. F: She says no, she's an absol, as far as she can remember she's never been anything else F: For the first many years of her life she never even met a human, but then she did know many before you, though not as trainers

E: That... That does lighten my heart. To know I did not miss my friend being right next to me. Not that you are not a friend, Maria, but you are not... her.

F: She… doesn't really understand the concept of eebies, I think, but she's lost contact with other pokemon she was close with before, and she knows that much. F: And she just asked if you and the whole team, herself included, can go back and look for your lost friend. F: Maria… the human with your name isn't just in another region. We don't know where she is, and she might not be anywhere in this world.

E: I wish I knew where she was. It has been a great long time. More than half my life at this point. E: Thank you for trying to see if we can look for her nonetheless, Maria. I have… some hope she, too, fell here. We found so many of us already. But there is a chance she has found true rest.

F: I certainly hope you can find her again too… that's me by the way, but the Maria right here also wants to see her someday. She's asked for a description, in case she or the other pokemon see her while none of the humans are around.

E: Well, I suppose that is… relatively easy to provide. Maria is tall. A good head taller than I am. Back in the day she had skin almost the colour of alabaster, she never took to sunlight well. Her eyes were very pale green, and her hair a silver-white. She tied it with black ribbons, and it went just past her shoulders. You share a face with her, you know? It would be almost uncanny for most others, but I always saw it as a comfort. You saw a version of her, when Maria of Kanto mailed herself over that one time.

F: "She came from Kanto? When did she leave Kalos, then?" F: Maria, what do you mean by that? Have you seen Maria here before? F: She… says she remembers saving the human you talked about. She was in… from the description, I think this was Coumarine City, but she didn't know the name… and sensed that someone was in danger. She tried so hard to get any human to listen to her and they just wouldn't, they tried to get her to leave, and so she had to jump onto one's boat right as it was leaving the shore. The human there didn't like her either, but then he saw someone out in the water, struggling, unable to swim. Neither Maria nor this human knew how another human could have gotten out that far, it's like she just appeared there, but the boat picked her up and took her to shore.

E: She… Of course she would land in the ocean… She used to be able to swim, long before. Never too well, however, and Hunter's leathers are not ideal for swimming. I am heartened to know she… she is alright. (She buries one hand in Maria's fur to scratch her a bit.)

F: Oh, a little higher up, please! Yes, there, just behind the ears. F: She also says she likes scritches around the side of the jaw area, and this one little spot on the lower back just above the tail, you'll know when you've got it right F: Also the human in the ocean was not swimming at all, she almost looked paralyzed, just floating, and she just stared straight ahead even for most of the boat ride back to shore

E: Same scratching spots as the cats back in Yharnam, hm? I will make note of that. E: Just floating… From what I have learned of Maria of Kanto, there is… good reason for that. The ocean, moreso the legends associated with it, hurt her.]

The transcript ended there, because calem's device ended up... running out of battery. We talked a little further after this. Maria has met Maria. A confusing sentence, admittedly. Afterwards, we touched upon my second question, if she enjoyed being with me. And it heartens me to hear that Maria enjoys my training. That she is happy here. And I... Oh, my heart hurts at the fact that I missed my Maria. It has been so long... To know she, too, walks the earth again...

Thank you again, Fluttershy, for allowing this opportunity.

[love-is-a-pearl]

Alright, I will be honest:

I don't like Black&White saga cause it feels like flopoed retcon/reboot of pokeanime. Like, in the beginning it cut ties to previous sagas and regions. Like, after whole THE BUILD UP in Sinnoh, it felt like Ash got robbed. Also doesn't help that in beginning they isolated Unova pokemon from previous generations. And the thing is, is that 5 gen pokemon design already stylistically different from previous ones: more round, simplified.

Also, it didn't help that relationship with rivals are less close and tense than in Diamond&Pearl. Like, all other characters beside main trio feels shallow and caricatures. In Sinnoh, both Ash and Dawn learned something from their rivals, Paul and Zoe were REALLY IMPACTFUL to them. But when we compare Iris and Dragon huntress (yes, I don't even remember her name)... That's basic. Like, Iris's rival surved as plot tool few times at best.

But second part of saga is better (*cough - cough * cause Cynthia and Dawn came back *cough- cough*) : old pokemon are back, we see mythical pokemon in action. Also, I enjoyed Decolora arc!

Good points of BW:

I like Cylan and Iris. For Iris in particular... She feels like Misty's other version, but in a good way. I also like her story arcs with her team, like damn, homegirl got her own Suicide squad in pokeworld 😂.

Also, there's Team R... One one hand, it's was hard for me to see them drop comedy tone. On another hand, they demonstrated us how much dangerous they can be! Like, they got their business! Our trio was more menacing than whole Team Plazma, honestly 😅.

All in all, my main issue is that Black and White drop most of connections with Diamond and Pearl. Like, transition was too DRASTIC. But I do understand, that there ate people who adores 5 gen. I mean, I heard that 5 gen games was top tier. It's just, unfortunately, I stsrted to dwell into pokemon games since 6 gen, so I was unable to even play Black and White. Maybe in that case I watched anime in different context.

Also, I really like movies in that saga! Like Keldeo and Mewtwo (or Newtwo ( if you know you know)) put everything in their movies, and Victini's one with TWO DIFFERENT VERSIONS was low-key something in cinematic universe level.

... That was looong ask, but I really need that out of my chest 😅

Nah, dont worry, go and vent its the first step to overcoming trauma lol I joke but seriously, if everyone sat down to understand what they dislike and like about a season like that, things would be so much simpler :v

BW is totally an attempt to a soft reboot! But there's one thing I feel folks often forget: The games themselves were that too!!

The lack of pokemon pre gen 5 was something that came from the games, as unova was the first region outside of Japan. Pokemon company was trying to start anew from all sides and that ended up affecting the anime the most because for some reason, it was decided that they would star anew, but keep a familiar face in Ash.

And then we have the fact that the BW games got a sequel immediately after, Black and White 2, and the story on those was directly connected to the first games, showcasing an Unova 2 years after BW1 (highly reccomend them btw, some of the best overarching story in pokemon games ever)

And like, the anime started with the narrator just saying Ash was still 10!! Someone surely made that a rule in the background, so how could they tell the story of a Unova 2 years later with a main character that just couldn't age?

So the writers just had to do their own thing. And probably made up so much of it halfway and also explain why they just scrapped so many characters of the day post league. They just wanted some time for people to forget the first half of BW to try and implement things from BW2.

And that's the thing, this issue is not from BW only. We know for a fact that there were plans for Ash to leave the anime during Johto, but they couldn't just say goodbye to him, so he stayed. Black and White was just the culmination of that decision. And I feel like hating on it alone is just… not aknowledging that pokeani is flawed from the get-go yknow?

What made BW that weird is what made Ash and Serena and the Kalos loss weird, what made journeys weird and what made 2beamaster miniseries that FUCKING WEIRD.

BUT GOSH TRIO!! Now the way those 3 were handled in the season is one thing I can't excuse lmao

People love to talk how out of character Ash acts this season, even though is not even that OOC when compared to pre DP, but TR were the ones that felt like complete different characters! And while I enjoy the whiplash of Ash gang doing silly things overlapped with very serious evil dutiestm, I feel like that that was a bad decision throught and throught. I get that at first they wanted a Team Rocket vs Team Plasma situation, but doing that with the TRio is just so weird.

HELL YEAH, I LOVE THE NEWTWO MOVIE! It makes no sense but gosh Mewtwo2 and genesect's relationship is just so ADORABLE i love them so much. Is those kind of stuff that makes me sad about BW, folks see a mewtwo that is not the main one and they dont give it a shot, but is such a heartwarming story in the end.

[hamofjustice]

I don't want to just painstakingly copypaste my triple-layered self-QRT thread about it on Twitter and any other ones floating around but

I am very emotionally invested in seeing Penny, Arven, and (personally) especially Nemona again in the Scarlet/Violet DLC, after GF followed up the best 3 hours of Pokemon game story ever by having to abruptly cut it off the second these lonely kids finish opening up to you and say you can hang out with them anytime. Which you never do. It was some pretty painful whiplash, and I was sure the main point of the DLC was to relieve that, especially when their arcs don't seem quite complete yet. Very clever, evil marketing! But uh... well... about that...

It is very worrying that aside from a little "the story so far" montage, they have not been seen or mentioned in promotional material/footage whatsoever. Y'know, DLC for the game that's about how the real treasure was the friends you found along the way (literally, in Nemona's case), and even if your family and support systems fail you, you still have each other? Written from the heart by someone who said Arven's story is inspired by their own life? With the sappy Ed Sheeran song about reaching out for connection with others, that also seems to be named after Team Star? The game where one of the features the devs seemed most proud of was going on adventures and into boss fights with 3 of your friends? The game that ended with a fully functional and quite immersive bonding adventure with these characters you'd gotten to know and care about, that basically everyone thought was the best part of the game by a mile, and were left wishing the whole game was like that?

Yeah, I (and everyone else) have been driving around alone in that game for 8 months ever since finishing that story. 8 months of minor updates with a ton of the beloved characters functionally or literally gone, while we go around doing online stuff with nothing else to do in the world, with a single player postgame more barren than we had on Game Boy Color (thank god for mints and bottle caps though). I'm left just... wanting to go back to the way things were before I beat the game. Not to be overly dramatic, but this world I supposedly saved feels like one I failed to save. And I'm getting really frustrated. (The framerate hasn't gotten any better, either, but this isn't about that.)

It's like Game Freak (or whoever forced this thing out a year early, or both) never expected you to boot the game up again once you got bored of the Ace Academy Tournament, which the game acts like is the entire total of what you could want from being friends and "rivals for life" with your squad (I mean I'm the sicko that loves Tera Raids, so I'm not that bored, but still). It makes a bunch of implications that your adventure is just beginning, and then it totally just... isn't. Why is the E4 building closed? Why do you only rematch the gyms once? And most of all, for me personally: Why did we get access to our friends' rooms if there's nothing to do or talk about there? (Besides look for character study clues, which they have lots of)

All they could come up with when asked to write a newsletter email about what you can still do in S/V and why you should still be playing it was Raids. That was it. Remember when you had an endless challenge in the Tower/Maison that you could optionally take on with a bunch of story characters as your partners instead of alone, that motivated you to keep getting stronger bit by bit? Remember rematching gym leaders multiple times and watching their teams grow and evolve each time? Yeah, there's none of that here, because that would take more than a week to implement. If you want friends and you want battles, you'll have to do it yourself online now. They're not allocating any budget for that.

Your rival for life, who's so excited you're on her level now, who seems to have the passion and skill to be the your Battle Tower gameplay loop by herself if she wanted to, who battles you for hours offscreen with multiple teams, whose whole character arc is that she finally has someone she can do this with... is fully static, with one kinda mediocre team that never grows or changes. She can't keep up with you and doesn't know what items or EVs are. You have to get lucky to even see her at all. She is no more your rival than your Home Ec teacher is (no offense Saguaro, you're cool too). I think it's really, really sad.

I'm left nostalgic and pining to go back, having to cope through fanfic because my character can't spend the day with - or even so much as take a new trainer card photo with - the girl who said they might be her greatest treasure, without resetting my save, because she and the others are standing somewhere that the camera and internet features are both disabled.

Like, legitimately, I want to keep being friends with these kids the way we were before, and have the ability to do post-game stuff with them, like being able to go out and adventure together whenever in some basic, non-story capacity, or just, I don't know, maybe give them more than one line of dialogue in their rooms? I don't want a new region or new characters. Not yet, anyway.

I thought I was preordering the continuation of their story and rewarding the company for making me care about Pokemon so much again.

But, uh... I'm really worried that the people who own these characters do not care. And as I said on the trailer's comments before they turned them off (lol), I'll be pissed enough to not buy any more games if I'm right, and we're forced to abandon these poor kids. At the very least, it's some pretty garbage marketing to leave the possibility of that up in the air. If nothing else, that is a frustration that I'm going to keep talking about for a while, even if it ends up being fine.

I thought it was impossible, and I was being silly. Why not have our friends in cute new outfits as promo art when the DLC was first announced, and all they had was promo art? Seems like an easy slam dunk. Oh, they didn't yet? Well, I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

And then they weren't in the trailer either, months later. Are they trying to sell us on it or not?

The whole reason I want the DLCs. Still not a single word acknowledging them, just that little opening montage. Still no hints of how the DLCs have anything to do with Area Zero's ongoing story, either. How is a sea turtle linked with a landlocked crater?

So like... At this point I have to assume both DLCs start with you making your friends cry as they're left alone again, arbitrarily excluded from events they're more than qualified to be invited to, to make room for some new dweebs we don't need, who won't be given nearly enough time to be as compelling as Nemona, Arven, and Penny were, because that makes the trailer look more like a new game, and that's the only way they know how to advertise. More. New. Buy. Consume. Throw away. Buy. Consume. Throw away. I should assume this so that whatever we get can't be worse.

But they're probably not (self-aware enough / allowed / both) to write that. Your lonely / orphaned / anime-binging friends might just cheer you on for getting to go do something cool like being forced to train a new legendary because the story said so, then go back to being statues with as much relevance to your life as an NPC in a third story apartment that tells you what a hold item is.

Can't I just live in Paldea with my friends, in the version of the game we would have gotten if it was finished, instead of being pulled into these adventures for the sake of looking good in a trailer? (which it doesn't btw lol) It's not an unrealistic thing to want when that's what it briefly was, and I was so excited that it would keep being that I've been thinking about it this entire time.

...

I hope I'm wrong about all this, and next year I can look back on this post, happy that the DLC did actually allow us to continue to take care of these characters, conclude Area Zero's mysteries in a satisfying way, fix up some technical issues, let us relive some things that are currently once-only (including letting us see that photo album our character made but we had to screenshot ourselves), and make it fun to keep playing for years afterward, and let that be the model for games going forward, but uh...

They really are not showing me anything I care about in the game I desperately want to care about, that I saw - and wanted to defend - the heart in, despite the circumstances it was produced under, and that really worries and frustrates me. The surprisingly many great things about this game got my hopes up for an awesome postgame full of warm fuzzy feelings and cool things to do 8 months ago that just didn't deliver, and now, I'm not sure if they'll even let me pay for one, at this rate, because they're not advertising one.

Just throw us a scrap. If whoever's in charge here stops caring about this story, I won't care about the next one.

Anyone else feeling this?

[purgemarchlockdown]

Not sure if anyone's asked you before, but could you assign all the Milgram characters to Pokemon?

(I want to add some parameters to make it harder, but maybe another day.)

I've ran a poll before for Amane (Skitty Won, best PMD starter in Rescue Team-Explorers lets go-) for the rest Im not super sure. I'll try my best for the ones I can think of though.

(I'd also like to mention that in my head, Amane has a hidden Evolite that she feels Really Guilty about Having but it's also like- the reason why she doesn't get knocked out easily by her parents so she keeps it.)

-It feels Obvious to make Muu a Combee but I don't think it fits, I think in terms of Aesthetics, Cutifly/Ribombee fit more with what Muu tries to Portray Herself as. Maybe also mons like Floette which feel sort of delicate and easily harmed. I think it's important for Muu to have that sort of Image. (Maybe also Mawile then for the deception thing?)

I'd like to mention when going on buldapedia, it turns out that for the Blue Flower Florgess specifically, the Scarlet entry states that:

Though usually compassionate, Florges will hunt down anyone who vandalizes its flower garden, showing no mercy even if they beg for their lives.

Which is terrifying, I'm glad their leaning into the cute but dangerous fairy type image.

-I feel like Mahiru just makes Sense as a Bewear, like, it just fits, the sword entry for Bewear is:

Once it accepts you as a friend, it tries to show its affection with a hug. Letting it do that is dangerous—it could easily shatter your bones.

Like- yeah, that just feels Very Mahiru of it.

-I saw someone make Kazui a Zoura/Zoroark. I don't remember Who but their right so um- yeah that's a Kazui.

-I was going to say Lucario as a Joke for Kotoko, cause its like- the easy fighting wolf answer but NO that actually makes sense. Lucario has a whole thing about being able to sense the "inherent" justice and righteousness of a person. Kotoko Lucario just fits well with that whole thing. Like a Lucario that searches for people that are "righteousness" and then beats people up who doesn't meet it's standard- very Kotoko I think.

Hm I'm not sure who else....Idk that's my picks, I think if you PMD-ified Milgram it would be "You all are Horrible People go to therapy" *punts them into PMD*

[mk-wizard]

Pokemon the Anime: I love Ash Ketchum but...

Hi, friends. Fun fact about me: I love Pokemon! And I loved the anime! To me, Pokemon is a part of my childhood that I will always cherish dearly and it was one of the first animes I got into. Looking back on it, it still holds up, but there is one thing that I have come to realize about it. We need to talk about Ash Ketchum...

Now, let me make it clear that I love Ash Ketchum. I think he’s adorable, funny and his passionate energy rubs off on you in all of the right ways. Plus, he is passionate without being obsessed and still cares enough about people and doing things right that he has a heroic streak. However... he is not a good fit as a main character because while we root for him and love him, his story is too linear, his character development is minimal, we all knew he was going to win in the end and honestly, seeing his story unfold all the time got very dull. Plus, we never really got to know Ash as a character. Just to give you an example, in ALL of the anime’s run, we never find out who his dad is/was or what his mom does for a living. In other words, he is an MC who never really develops beyond his professional skills and never really get to know. We know more about Team Rocket (Jessie, James and Meowth) than we do about Ash. To me, he would have worked better as a secondary character not an main one. In fact, this lack of details and repetitive formula is why I eventually stopped watching the anime. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy Ash won in the end, but... his story took way too long and got dull. The character who would have main a great MC for the anime is someone who did undergo a lot of development, maturing and more.

Gary Oak. Now hear me out...

The Pokemon anime is essentially a tournament anime series where the standard formula is that the MC goes in and comes out the winner. However, Gary would have been unique, compelling and memorable for many reasons if HE was the MC.

First off, unlike most MC’s of this genre of anime, Gary is initially not likeable. He is egotistical, unkind, rude and a big bully. I remember than as a girl, I hated Gary and used to wish his grandpa, Prof. Oak, would ground him. However, as the series progressed, so did he. He softened his behaviour, learned humility and let his rivalry with Ash go which freed him emotionally and allowed him to grow up. While he still has a mischievous and competitive streak, he doesn’t get mean about it nor is he a showboat. And he dropped the personal cheerleading squad. He now seeks to better himself rather than constantly having his ego stroked which is something really refreshing and enjoyable to experience. I can’t really say his journey was a redemption story. It was a growing up story and a tale that reminds us that we all had our phases as kids, but we grow out of them.

Secondly, as I stated before, Gary let his rivalry with Ash go and became better for it. When he did, he realized, his calling wasn’t to be a trainer, but a researcher and he was actually really good at it. Honestly, it was this turning point that made me realize that Gary’s story was more interesting than Ash’s and I really wanted to see more of his story. In fact, I also found myself wishing we saw more of his story before that turning point kind of like Ashoka Tano’s from Star Wars, but unlike her, we were deprived of that. I would even argue that this was a reoccurring flaw in the Pokemon anime series: they never answered the questions everyone kept asking and never let us get to know the true MCs. The point is, I don’t know of any other tournament anime where the rival decided to graciously step down and turn their attention towards their true passion. Now... imagine if the MC did this. I know Pokemon is a tournament anime, but it is also an anime about Pokemon first. Gary should have gotten his own spin-off anime simply because he is the most unique rival there is in this kind of setting: he quit and was better for it.

Thirdly, having the show concentrate on him would have given us a chance to get to know the other MCs more and FINALLY answer a lot of the questions that to this day are still left unanswered. It’s very clear that the Oaks and Ketchums are very close the way the Burns and Greene family are close on Rescue Bots. I really enjoyed seeing how close the two families were and how Prof. Oak was like a father figure to Ash and a sweet grandpa to Gary. Also, Prof. Oak himself is an interesting and entertaining character. To this day, we still don’t know who Mrs. Oak was or who Gary’s parents are. Or who Mr. Ketchum was. It is a shame to me that these blanks were never filled because it is implied that they were great people and these missing pieces would explain why these characters are the way they are.

Anyway, this all just my opinion and as a rare treat, here is my fan theory about Prof. Oak’s wife, Mr. Ketchum and Gary’s missing parents... And I really want to say this first because this fan theory always made me mad, but I will try to say it nicely, but firmly.

Prof. Oak is NOT Ash’s father nor is it possible for him to be because Nintendo would never allow such a disturbing thing. And because of the Professor and Mrs. Ketchum’s age difference, it would imply that Gary is Ash’s uncle while being the same age as him. That is sick and wrong on so many levels and not something they would ever want on Pokemon and we already SHOULD know from the start that Prof. Oak can’t be Ash’s dad because has black hair.

Professor Oak is a redhead and so is his mom. And their relationship is not romantic now either. It is that between two good friends. If it is anything beyond that, I think Prof. Oak may see Delia as the daughter he never had. Same goes with Giovanni. He cannot be Ash’s dad because he looks nothing like him.

Plus, Ash has two distinguishing marks on his face that his mom doesn’t have which means he got that, his hair and olive skin tone from his dad who had all of these features. My fan theory is that Mrs. Delia Ketchum is a widow and her husband is no longer with us. Plain and simple. He was obviously a good man and a good husband who left a good impression on Ash, but I think he died most likely of disease while he was very young.

As for Mrs. Oak... Agatha is NOT Prof. Oak’s ex-wife because if she was, we would have always known it and be treated like a relative. Once a family member is revealed, there’s no point in hiding it so the anime always came clean when it came to that at least, but the most we got out of Agatha is that she was an old rival of Prof Oak which means that is all she is. Period.

I think the good Professor is divorced on bad terms considering he never speaks of his wife and has no ring which from experience, I can tell you is often a tell tale sign that you were once married, but it ended badly. As for Gary’s parents, I think that knowing Nintendo, their state is simple: they’re alive, but career driven people where they aren’t home very often so they left caring for the kids to Prof. Oak and Mrs. Oak (if she was alive then). Nothing dramatic or over the top. Just simple and short like that. Also, I think it is safe to say that the Oak family is well off (including the ex-Mrs. Oak) considering they all live so well.

Finally, how does Giovanni have ties to the Ketchum and Oak family? Well, Giovanni is in fact old and close to Prof. Oak’s age. His mom had him young, and while he is rich enough to afford facials that make him appear young, if you take a really good look at his face, he has wrinkles, a receding hairline and his face has lost some of its fullness which implies some sagging. My fan theory is that he was once rivals with Prof. Oak in their youth and Mr. Ketchum is one of the few people who managed to beat Giovanni in a Pokemon Battle.

Like I said, this series is made for kids. It wouldn’t include adult theme dramatic elements like that. I admit some of the characters have exaggerated and weird backstories with some drama, but it never becomes dirty, adult or something you would find in a trashy soap opera.

[samueldays]

Brainstorming a few more short scenarios for Princess: the Hopeful Crystal Edition.

You see a "Super Help Wanted!" ad in the paper asking for someone to put a restless ghost down. The ghost is real, a former owner of the house who keeps rearranging things to the way they were. Plea Charm can convince him to pass on on the same night, otherwise Social Maneuvering may take several nights. Twist: Crandy Cooper, the current owner, has teamed up with a paparazzo and/or detective to get pictures of Spider-Man you! Photo flashes are one clue that something funny is going on, the freshly installed cameras in the house are another, and Crandy is going to insist on sending you money and ask where to write the check to.

There's a sudden trend of people fainting out of nowhere at the local mall/supermarket, every day, same time of day. Princess Sensitivity reveals there's a Darkness power being used, but does not detect any Darkspawn. The fainted people have also been robbed of their money, but no robber was seen on camera. What's going on? Tessa Calder has received what the anonymous note claimed is a "Robin Hood Purse" that will magically fill itself with money taken from the richest person in the vicinity, but it takes more than that. Every day Tessa goes shopping with other people's money and happiness, feeling no guilt as she does the work of a Horror, and every night the Horror feeds from Tessa and the curse purse again. Mechanics are based on the Miracle (CofD), Siphon Energy (PtH), Poisonous Gift and Energy Crystal dread powers.

Mara Bailee, the new transfer student, is getting a reputation for hosting wild parties, but none of her guests seem to remember any specifics of those parties other than them coming away very very tired! This is an obvious trap for the PCs to walk into and spring once their turn at an invitation comes, the problem is that whatever is preying on Mara's guests (an Envious pretending to be her big sister or other relative?), it's staying inside her house with several other humans nearby. The Princesses will have to get clever about where to transform without getting attention or giving the Darkspawn an opportunity to slip away. Or maybe punch it in mundane form.

Feedback is welcome, of course. But I have a few more things to say.

Brazen, you mention monsters of the week, but I am having trouble doing something with them that is simple enough that I'd expect to get through it in one session, without being "wild pokemon attacks you in tall grass" meaningless encounter.

What does for example a Calamitous do that isn't 1) provoking mundane response in force and major questions by the time Princesses hear about it as more than a natural accident, or 2) being part of some plot by a bigger villain or outside force directing it?

To some extent this is also me failing to understand what the "ecology" of Horrors in the base game is supposed to be, which might be implicitly assumed knowledge.

I've played Vampire and other splats, but I've never played the base game that's supposedly playable with only the CofD corebook (it looks vaguely like Hunter: the Nerfed) and many of its Horrors look like they'd be hard to use in the implied game setting without several plot devices and GM contortion. There's even a sidebar on this in the entry for House That Hates that notices the problem but gives really unhelpful advice:

I feel that if I have to bend my chronicle's premise and character-generation rules this way in order to use a monster, that is a badly designed monster, it shouldn't be in the corebook, it should be redesigned or relegated to a specialized adventure module with pregenerated characters.

Darkspawn work better because they, well, spawn, and then they go towards the nearest Light, which may be the Princesses.

But if they spawn somewhere that isn't near the Princesses, what do they do until then? What keeps a Calamitous from escalating to call-in-the-army levels ASAP?

[marzipanparty]

hewwwooo i posted all these on twitter first but yea i made this bc robo sweats rly hard when they get pokemon related asks about their characters and i’m a mf who loves pokemon way too much not to have pokemon headcanons about said characters 👍👍 i’ll put my headcanons in the read more!

Quest & Lucario- there really wasn’t a better pick in my mind for our emotionally intelligent, tough, blue-coded, dog-loving love interest than a blue dog that can shatter boulders with its fists of steel and read the auras of living beings. And bc lucario can read its trainer’s emotions i think it’d be a good therapy dog for quest! I personally like think that quest would’ve found lucario as a little rilou like how he finds the puppy in the game’s good end extra for him.

NakedToaster & Totodile- so i picked shiny totodile bc it’s green little reptile just like a certain cryptid green lizard mascot in bloomic LOL… but i also oddly i think they’d have a cute dynamic together?? Chill toaster would take great care of their excitable little chompy gremlin 🥺 and let them play games on their phone like in this pkemon movie screenshot 😭

BUT! I also want to mention another headcanon that before Toaster had totodile, he had a Porygon-Z that disappeared and learned how to talk. This talking porygon-z being Bloombot 👍

xyx & Alolan Meowth- obviously i had to pick a cat pokemon as a stand in for xyx’s actual cat. I chose alolan meowth specifically bc the pokedex mentions these meowths being especially cunning and intelligent, and i’d like to think these two would affectionately try to pull pranks and one-up each other constantly. But they love each first and foremost!! And if those two smarmy assholes ever decide to team up pull a prank on someone else, god save that poor soul LMAO

Nightowl & Sylveon- i’d like to think nightowl had an eevee since childhood! Eevee also evolves into sylveon with high friendship/affection and i think nightowl would certainly be able to do that LOL although having such a girly looking pokemon would probably rly piss his mom off and would probably threaten to take it away from him 😢 but i think he would manage to keep it safe and bring it to college with him. The pokedex also mentions that sylveon’s ribbon feelers emit a calming aura and so it would be a rly great emotional support pokemon for poor nightowl 💖🥺

June & Politoed- cute frog girl gets cute frog pokemon EASY. but yea there are a few frog-like pokemon to choose from but i ultimately choose politoed bc the simple water typing and cute design felt the best for June 👍 i did briefly consider Bellibolt but i felt the electric sub-typing didn’t suit her 🤔 i’d definitely pick it if i was choosing full teams than one partner tho

Two2 & Yamper- i vaguely remember it being mentioned that Two has a little dog like in their pfp! And pokemon has a lot of dog pokemon to choose from 😅 but i ultimately picked yamper bc i like the idea of anxious and skittish Two with a very friendly and zippy little dog! Yamper never fails to cheer up Two 🥹 also i personally think the electric typing suits Two as well

BigLady & Tsareena- two boss queens being boss queens together 👏👑 i think Lady would have gotten tsareena as a little bounsweet not thinking too much about it and be pleasantly surprised as it evolved! Tsareena has a grass/fighting typing and stomps the shit out of things with its powerful legs, so i think it suits our beautiful and strong Lady 💖💪

Salocin & Nidoking- i personally think Salo and his late wife would be one of those double battle couples with their matching Nidoking and Nidoqueen respectively! After his wife passes tho he’d keep nidoqueen since it’s also his nidoking’s partner 🥺 i also think nidoking’s ground typing fits salo pretty nicely. Another headcanon i have is that his new partner Mara would have a cute normal type pokemon like a minccino!

Onionthief & Venusaur- i originally was going to have a just a bulbasaur as onion’s partner bc it’s more onion-shaped, but i ultimately decided that onion would be the type to fully evolve his pokemon. He’d definitely have his venusaur since it was a wee little bulbasaur tho, they are lifelong partners! Venusaur would definitely help take care of onion’s siblings, and play with them by letting them climb all over it and picking them up with its vine whip 😭

[crystalelemental]

"books-are-my-life-stuff: Hell yeah! All of these are such fun choices."

Oh good, I'm glad. There was a lot of response, so under the cut for Dash space.

"I can imagine Stoutland is probably not the only dog Pokemon that Laios has, it's just the one he had in his team more frequently. Bet he would have Boltund too, and when it was still a Yamper Marcille would nag on him not to evolve it because Yamper is cute. Love the choice of Type-Null too, him liking Ultra Beasts and fascinated by them but is also aware of how potentially dangerous they are, like in the series."

There were so many dog Pokemon, but something about Stoutland felt right. I can't remember all the lore, but as I recall they're from a colder area, so I went with Stoutland because it's huge and fluffy, which felt like it would do well there. Laios would love the UBs.

"Tinkatuff for Falin is perfect, I love it. Hydreigon is a perfect choice too, add Fire Blast into the moveset as well to hint Red Dragon. Marcille being a Trick Room specialist is so cool as well. Love the utility Pokemon that Chilchuck has, and Senshi having Pokemon to help him survive, not really for fighting (they still can). I imagine Izutsumi would have cat Pokemon like Liepard, but she'll get some moments later that might help you build her character more later."

So, Izutsumi got me hung up because I also thought about going with the general cat approach, but then I thought...she doesn't seem the kind to appreciate company of other cats. Which then got me stuck on...I don't feel like I know enough about her to make a good decision on her team. Needs more data.

"Love how you assigned Gallade and Mawile for Kabru, love it so much. And Zoroark too, it's so cool. This is my bias speaking but Musharna is my go-to psychic-type whenever I replay Gen 5 games so I like that it's in his team as well. His One-Hit KO-centric technique is perfect too, as it is devastating but is very tricky and situational, which shows how his human-centric skill is mostly useful outside of dungeons."

I'm glad you like the Kabru set. I was pretty pleased with that team.

"Thistle having Yveltal is the coolest thing ever too, and Porygon-Z is adorable for him. Whenever you pick up the manga (or season 2, whichever comes first) I'm looking forward to how you might change the team to correspond to the events and what we know more about these characters later on, especially because there'll be someone new in the "main character" category as well and I'm excited of what Pokemon team you might assign to them."

I'll definitely announce when we get to the rest of it. I'm hoping for manga, but that depends a lot on getting through the summer and being in a good financial situation. We'll see how it all plays out, but once we're caught up, feel free to ask again. I'm sure I can come up with something.

[doubleddenden]

Pt 5 of DD rewriting the Pokemon anime- or mainly just sprucing up Ash's teams and giving ideas of my own for certain story beats.

Pt1 was Kanto, 2 was Orange Islands, 3 was Johto, 4 was Hoenn and the *Sevii Island* Battle Frontier, and 5 today will be a completely custom adventure set between Battle Frontier and Sinnoh, this one is an adventure in Orre that the anime never touched.

This may be a bit texty and definitely fan fictiony, but unlike some mortals, I am cringe and I am free.

So here's a sneak preview of Ash's team by the end of Orre, taking into account he has an Aggron and Quilava in this AU so far.

So to continue off, Shadow Lugia takes a boat- the SS Libra- from 4 Island in Sevii Islands. Sceptile and Aggron were still on the ship, as well as a bunch of captured and stolen pokemon, so Ash jumped after with Pikachu, but all were knocked out. Ash's grandpa, Silver (read the last post, the Silver from Chronicles) gives chase on Salamence, leaving Brock, May, Max, and the knocked out Slowking, Swellow, and Donphan behind with them.

Ash is out for a few hours, and his remaining Pokemon caged and stolen. Silver manages to break aboard the flying ship and fights his way through to get to Ash, and his Chikorita manages to save Pikachu as well. However, Sceptile and Aggron are too heavily guarded, and Shadow Lugia is getting testy. Silver makes a difficult decision to take Ash and Pikachu to safety on Salamence before someone gets really hurt.

They'd wake up at Crane's lab. Ash would initially yell at his grandfather for leaving Sceptile and Aggron behind, but after some tears and talking, he finally understands the situation. Professor Crane would fill them in on who Cypher is and what they'd want, noting that they probably went to the Sevii islands because its fairly out of the way and a rumored location for powerful legendary Pokemon like Lugia, noting that Cypher was initially defeated by a man with an Espeon and Umbreon a couple of years ago. Ash asks if the guy's name is Wes, remembering the man who defeated him in the Hoenn League, and the others seem surprised to hear Ash came close to beating him.

Crane and his lab decide to bring Ash in on their snagging project, telling him that they already have another kid about his age (I head canon Ash is 13 now) out doing something similar.

Ash is told about Orre and its harsh environments, and how everyone fights in double battles, so he'll need more Pokemon. He tries to call Oak, who in turn has been in contact with the others. There's currently a lot of interference on his end, so it wouldn't be safe to send more than one Pokemon over through PC, and Silver recommends a weaker Pokemon that won't immediately get recognized. Quilava volunteers and is sent over promptly, and Brock and the others tell Ash they're on their way to help him save his Pokemon.

Crane takes some pitty and offers an Eevee from their research lab as well. Ash notes he has an Espeon, but appreciates any help he can get. Silver would go his own way to try and track down Cypher and the SS Libra for Ash, vowing to help find his Pokemon.

It wouldn't take long for Eevee to evolve into Vaporeon after choosing to evolve via Water Stome after Ash was knocked off of Gateon Port during a storm. Vaporeon is calm and brave, not scared by much and always ready to defend his friends, and quickly bonds to Ash and the others. I chose Vaporeon because the Orre games have you start with an Eeveelution and XD gives you a choice in what to evolve it into, so I thought it'd be neat to justify that.

As far as bringing back Quilava, Orre has a strange bond with Johto, I'd argue giving Johto Pokemon a better chance to shine than Johto, and in both games you can receive a Johto starter- in Colo in particular, you can catch the middle evolutions for all three, so I thought it would fit.

Also you bet your God damn ass Miror B is here as a recurring antagonist, and Jesse, James, and Meowth would definitely be working with him for a bit.

Eventually Brock, May, and Max would rejoin Ash at Gateon, and the gang would start a new journey through Orre.

Eventually, Ash would run into Cypher grunts utilizing his Sceptile and Aggron- now Shadow Pokemon- on their teams. It's at this point, Ash Snags his own Pokemon back after an intense fight where Quilava even evolves to Typhlosion to help fend them off. Not without help from Wes, who reappears again very briefly to help save them both by teaching Ash how to Snag Pokemon. Afterwards, he leaves as quickly as he came.

It takes time and love to open their heard again. After a trip to Agate Village, Ash and Co would meet Eagon and HIS Pikachu, and they'd learn how to heal Shadow Pokemon. Because Ash and the others already had such a close bond with Sceptile and Aggron, and through gentle patience, they finally open their hearts again and are purified in Relic Forest, which brings tears to everyone's eyes.

Along the way, Ash would meet and befriend a kid named Michael- the protagonist to XD, who would help him get his bearings in Orre and help teach the others how to use the Tempo System from Crane Labs to help purify Pokemon faster, and even has helped the lab promise to rehome the purified Shadow Pokemon.

One of these Pokemon that is purified like this is a Sneasel, who is so grateful to Ash that- he steals his hat and tries to make a run for it, but ends up in deep shit when the meet Team Snagem and Gonzap for the first time. It's a tough fight, and Ash almost loses, but with Sneasel's last minute addition to his team, they pull through. Gonzap even mentions that Ash's Snag Machine reminds him of Wes- this is when the gang find out Wes is a former outlaw who turned traitor after gaining a conscious last minute. It would confuse the gang, but Ash would decide that Wes turned traitor for good reasons, so he's no longer a bad guy.

With a full team, Michael decides he wants to test Ash and they have full 6 on 6 battle.

This would be Michael's team, although Magmortar would be a Magmar for the majority of the story until about the last leg.

After following most of XD's story and snagging the Shadow Pokemon, Ash, Michael, and Wes would end up teaming up to fight Greevil and his two goons.

Wes's team would see some serious upgrades, including the rest of the legendary beasts after snagging and purifying them, and Mismagius, who he'd evolve after a brief trip to Sinnoh.

Together the three would defeat the last legs of Cypher, and Ash, Michael, and Wes would combine the strengths of their Snag machines to capture Shadow Lugia and the rest of the legendary Pokemon Greevil employs, astounding Silver and the others.

However, they make use of the Tempo System to purify them, then immediately release them back to the wild. The birds and Orre are all grateful and celebrate their victory.

To end the Colosseum saga, the Grand Colosseum opens- a grand tournament between some of the strongest trainers of the region, but it is open to everyone. In the semi finals, Ash and Michael fight in an amazing fight together, and Ash eventually beats him. No hard feelings, though, because it was a fun battle, and they're friends now.

The finals would be a rematch between Ash and Wes.

Wes actually released Entei and Suicune to live their lives how they wish, but Raikou has bonded so much with Wes that it refuses to leave him. It's a rare moment where Wes shows overwhelming joy from his team- and thus the rematch from Hoenn can begin in full.

To begin with, Wes tries to start off his Rain Dance and Thunder combo again, but Ash comes prepared with Sunny Day on Typhlosion and Solar Beam on Sceptile. Because of this, Raikou and Mantine go down much quicker. Wes's Typhlosion hits the field and wounds Sceptile, so Ash sends out Vaporeon with ITS Rain Dance to reduce the power of Wes's Typhlosion's Eruption. Mismagius hits the field and hits Vaporeon with THUNDERBOLT, but not before it gets a last minute minute on the enemy Typhlosion before swapping out for Sneasel. Utilizing strategy, Wes uses Perish Song and Pain Split between his Umbreon and Mismagius while swapping out to Espeon to survive Perish Song and take out Typhlosion, Sneasel, Aggron, and Sceptile before Mismagius finally falls down to Sneasel's Beat Up attack.

The final match up- Pikachu and Vaporeon vs Umbreon and Espeon- is intense. Wes shows off a new move called Dark Pulse, and the team work between Wes's Eons is tighter than even before. But, Ash utilizes the same Rain Dance and Thunder combo- this would then grant Pikachu the new move Volt Tackle, and with a Helping Hand from Vaporeon and Surf, Ash just narrowly beats Wes and wins the Orre Grand Colosseum cup.

Everyone is shocked, but in a rare moment, Wes smiles from the fun he had. Ash is offered a position as the Colosseum champion, but upon learning they aren't League Certified, he decides he wants to continue his journey. Wes, Rui, and Michael assure Ash that if he comes at the next league with the same guts as this challenge, he'll go even further than the Hoenn League.

With a handshake and goodbyes, the gang leave Orre, hoping to see each other again.

The Gen 3 Saga would pretty much end about as planned. Upon getting back to Kanto, Ash and May have a final contest battle and split the ribbon. Max is more than upset about parting from Ash and Brock, but they promise to see him again and always be able to talk if he wants.

Gary would show up as one of Rowan's research assistants as usual. Upon meeting Electivire, Ash would have a battle with it but this time come to a draw instead of losing (I hated that he lost originally). Ash and Gary have some time to kindle an actual friendship without antagonizing each other, and Ash tells him all about his journey through Hoenn, Sinnih, and Orre. Gary is more than impressed, and tells Ash a bit about Sinnoh, saying that THAT would be the place to really his mettle.

With that, Ash and Pikachu say goodbye to their Gen 3 teams again, although Sneasel refuses to be left behind. Ash decides to let Sneasel accompany him.

And yes, Sneasel replaces Aipom this time. Aipom was a neat Pokemon, but I don't like that it was traded only to be released after evolving, and honestly Ambipom... is ugly, lol.

And now, pt 6 will be in Sinnoh. That will probably (hopefully) be shorter.

Thank you for reading so far. Tune in next time

[asideofkimchi]

Gush about Yoosung for the ask game 💚

So I’ve put this off for days because…while this is FINALLY my chance! to gush! About the husband!! …i don’t know where to start. I’m definitely overthinking it, I know I am lol. And yet…!

Well, I’m on my way to the airport for my honeymoon rn. What better time than now to indulge in thoughts of the husband lol.

Hm… Yoosung and his route, I can confidently say that he altered my brain chemistry. I have several favorite characters, sure, we all have our little guys. But only two characters have ever fundamentally integrated themselves into my psyche, and goddam did Yoosung hit me hard. Without getting into too much detail (to try to keep this positive), my life was at an ideal spot to see myself reflected in Yoosung’s character arc. He charmed me with his silly but earnest personality and then the game hooked me with the realistic portrayal of his depression and loss. My emotional investment in this character was growing exponentially, and by the time he goes to Mint Eye, I started calculating the average times to expect chatrooms, I was so nervous for him! Legitimately anxious! Every chatroom moved me more and more, every sweet, genuine word he said went straight to my heart. I’m pretty sure I was tearing up, if not straight up crying, throughout this route, especially during his speech in the Good Ending.

Hm I mostly talked about the game and how it affected me. Let’s do some quick Yoosung bits that I love:

He dyed and styled his hair after Rika, after losing her. Characters who do that to remember their loved ones and keep them close, I eat that thematic shit UP.

Even when it’s not his route he has a mad crush on you, but he puts his feelings aside and wishes for you and the other person’s happiness.

I have SO many screenshots saved on my phone of messages with him. I don’t care if they’re the same thing over and over, every time I play I have to screenshot whatever sweet or hilarious thing is said.

I have so many screenshots because I play the game like about twice a year. It’s such a comfort game to me, and even when I should be trying to complete the bad endings (fuck you, Ray route bad ending 3), I just gravitate to Yoosungie.

So YOOSUNG is actually the reason behind Cutiefly being my favorite pokemon. When I first played moon I named my cutiefly Yoosungie, because of cutie-pie Yoosung. And that pokemon stayed on my team the entire time, all the way through becoming Champion. So me gushing about cutieflies is really me gushing about Yoosung.

He’s just so GENUINE about his emotions!! He’s not afraid to express any of it! He loves, he cries, he laughs, he rages, he doesn’t hide how he feels.

He’s so goddam cute and he KNOWS IT. He knows he’s fucking adorable!! And he isn’t ashamed of it! Others try to tear him down like no one wants a cute man but he owns it!

Man’s also bit of a freak and I want to devour him.

Speaking of devouring. His whole omelet thing. In the april fool’s dlc. Oh my fucking god. Oh my jesus christ. Picture this shitty meme I would make: me wearing a shirt that says “no vore kink” -> omelet!sung saying “i dream of someone tearing me apart in their hands and devouring me” -> my shirt “one vore kink”

SPEAKING OF april fools. I will never get over Punk!Sung. It was so fucking funny. Devastating that it never came back. I can’t remember anyone else’s deal but Punk!Sung is ingrained into my brain. I can never get rid of my icon. I’m stuck with it and I love it ..know what i’m sayin’?

Wait I’m going back to the omelet thing because he loves to COOK! He dreams of cooking his beloved delicious meals! He just wants a sweet and domestic life like that’s his big fantasy: Making a loving home environment through cooking and cleaning and doing laundry with and for his SO.

He feels bad that he doesn’t compare to like Zen or Jumin or Seven which is. Frankly ridiculous. Like he feels they’re more handsome and talented and rich and smart so there’s no way anyone would like him in comparison. But he is the sweetest, the bravest, willing to fight for his friends and put himself in danger and he’s happy to do so to protect his friends!! Wht the fucj!! He sees himself as some regular dude and still does this!! TRUE SUPERMAN YOOSUNG. BIGGEST HEART.

ALSO. THE MAN GETS INJURED FOR YOU. RECOVERS. GETS HIS MOTIVATION BACK. GRADUATES EARLY. BECOMES A DOCTOR. OWNS HIS OWN VET CLINIC. MARRIES YOU SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN ALL THAT. ALL WITHIN FOUR YEARS.

JUST WHAT THE FUCK. I LOVE YOOSUNG KIM.

I am so sure I could come up with more but honestly. I started typing this at like 4am today and now it’s after 7pm, I’m heading to ANOTHER airport now after spending a day out with my husband, our honeymoon just getting started.

…also I brought Yoosung to the honeymoon with us. I suggested it as a joke but well. He was represented at our wedding last year, he’s joining us now for the honeymoon. I’ll try to take pictures of him later.

Anyway. I love Yoosung Kim, thanks for coming to my tedtalk. I’ll try to be more coherent next time.

[tiffanylilalayorlestron]

Mmm. So I've been watching a silent playthrough of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Sky while I work recently and it churned up an AU idea that I can't get out of my head. I'm sure it's been done before but the potential for a story will not leave me alone.

So, the human from PMD Sky, the one from the future, who jumps back in time w/ their partner Grovyle, gets batted around in that time storm and separated, right? Same old, same old.

HOWEVER.

Instead of getting transformed into a Pokemon and going on their adventure in the Mystery Dungeon world, Arceus (the old goof) senses an opportunity and plucks the human from their current place outside time and space claw machine style, and throws them head first into Hisui, right smack dab into the events of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Why pick a random qualified human from the real world when a different one has basically offered themselves up to the task?

Hero, who is still somewhat memory-less (and also, Arc Phone-less since I'm sure phones are rather hard to come by in Primal Dialgas apocalyptic time period), is now forced to play the confused and unknowing savior of Hisui at the behest of some mysterious unknown force, battling it out with crazed nobles and weaving their way through the ranks of Team Galaxy.

I like the idea that Hero IS qualified for it. They more than have the survival skills necessary to brave the Hisuian wilds, learned from a lifetime of navigating the harsh world of a post apocalypse, constantly on the run. Do you think they find it weird that Pokemon can't talk? What do they think of other people, other humans? They can't remember anything, but I'm sure they get feelings.

Imagine the uses the Dimensional Scream would give them. What does it feel like when the peak of Mt. Cornet opens and shrouds the entire sky in an undending red? Imagine their witnessing of a crazed Origin Form Dialga, the primal, unexplained fear that would well up within them upon witnessing the extreme power of the entity who threw their entire world into paralysis. Do you think being a part of Team Galaxy, of helping people in Hisui, of working towards a greater goal to help people would feel familiar? They may not remember working with the Planetary Exploration Team, but do you think when they talk to Adaman and Irida or Rei or Akari they get this warm, familiar feeling? That they're reminded of someone, but they can't quite remember who?

Do you think saving a different world, when so much of their life has been about saving their own, has any effect on them?

Who knows? But, finally, when it's all over, when all of Arceus' herculean tasks have been completed. and Origin Dialga has been calmed. The plates collected, Volo defeated and Giratina soothed at last. When the Pokedex is finally done, everything is back to relative peace and normalcy, and Hero ascends above the peak of Mt. Coronet, Arceus returns their memories and grants Hero's wish. It sends Hero back.

(Do you think, upon encountering Arceus and regaining their memories, they would beg the deity to save their own world?)

It sends Hero back to exactly the same moment it took them from. Amidst a roiling time storm, spiraling between fractals of whens and wheres with no idea where they'll come back.

For the second time in their life Hero, who is now a Pokemon, awakens on a beach confused and alarmed by an overwhelming sense of familiarity that they just. can't. place. Alongside this terrible sense that something is deeply, deeply wrong, that something incredibly important is missing. Like this exact thing has happened before. But they can't remember when. In fact, they can't remember anything!

Because wouldn't you know it!? Their memories are gone. Again.

Cue Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky!

There are so many similarities between PMD:S and Legends Arceus. Waking up with no memories on a beach outside an unfamiliar town by a stranger who recognizes your skills and asks you to join their team? Joining a community, tasked with exploring, learning and helping others who need it? Meeting different interesting folks and Pokemon across the world and befriending them? Time travel shenanigans? Meeting a helpful stranger who ends up betraying you and you find out they were, in fact, just the pawn of a much more powerful entity who was the true cause of the current state of the world? Like, besides Darkrai and Arceus in Sky and Legends respectively, even the legendary Pokemon that are focused on are the same too. < and I'm aware that's because PMD:S was a gen 4 game and Legends Arceus takes place in ancient Sinnoh, but like, still.

Do you think the Hero sees themselves in Grovyle at all? Someone in an unfortunate situation being accused of and punished for something they didn't do, and despite all that still striving to help? Do you think they're surprised by Dusknoir's betrayal? When the truth comes out on those stockades, do you think Hero takes it in stride? Do you think that Hero sees Rei and Akari in their partner? That nervousness slowly diminishing over time as the two work together? That need to be dependable?

Lots to think about.

Anyway, all this is because I like the idea that a Hero who put up with Kamado's shit would absolutely NOT put up with Chatots.