#also i really like xerneas

[ace-fandom-dumbass]

(Pointing) KALOSIAN??????

[life-of-kalos]

What's a Pokémon you would like to see more of on the askblogs? Specifically, let's say legendaries/mythicals since that's what both our blogs are about. Staying on theme here ig lol

I don’t really see many of them and they are my favorite. I love deer in general plus x and y is one of my favorite games!

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

one thing i'm really really fascinated by is the fact that everyone in the modern pokemon world seems to consider the deities a power source, nothing more. the games generally imply that knowledge of the legendaries has been lost to time and legend and only preserved by a select few who keep to the Ancient Ways but i don't really think that sounds likely. i think they might be common knowledge people just don't seem to. conceptualize them as greater than in the way that we generally think of them. "this is a divine force that underpins reality and has been worshipped since antiquity" is not a thing that seems to have any problem coexisting with "i'm going to put this thing in an engine and make it my tool." and it's very frequently the baddies doing this which maybe weakens the point a little but very rarely is the point of contention with the bad guys "hey you shouldn't do that to god" that's kind of like, never the part of their thing that people object to. it's always their motives, never their methods. when the Good Guy (local ten year old) catches god and makes it their new partner, nobody has a problem with it! and people joke about this but i'm saying it might imply a way deeper facet of society than people give it credit for.

and is this maybe trying to force the round peg of pokemon legendaries into the square hole of actual religion. very possibly! the games aside from pla certainly seem only very occasionally interested in treating these creatures as gods or godlike or worshipped in any way, and far more often just want to treat them as regular pokemon But Stronger. so it's maybe not reasonable to try and say these entities are deities. but the problem is they are! it's not like this isn't supported textually, it's just... not a part of canon that canon is actually interested in. dialga, palkia, the lake trio, kyogre, groudon—these things are gods. canon can mince words and call them legendaries and "worshipped as deities maybe sometimes" but when you get to the point where you're discussing something that represents a fundamental force governing reality and/or can end the world on a whim then idc what you call it. that's a god.

but the problem is that they are gods and also pokemon, they're both simultaneously. and people in the pokemon world seem to have worked this out, and have had the collective realization that the gods are truly not exempt from their own rules. they can be captured, they can be subjugated, they can be used. this also ties back in with the whole anarchism discussion obviously but it's just the fact that like. it goes way deeper than everyone being fine with the ten year old putting the lord of time in a ball. the entire world operates on the premise of "eat your gods."

does that like... contradict worship? can you be faithful to something knowing it's been used as a tool?

[zoekrystall]

Did that fav pkmn thing on a whim and I'm sorry for all my babies I didn't choose bc I really like too many by some.

Love how it's mostly pretty ones and then there's clodsire. Even tho I got it in my team since the beginning of violet do I continuously forget its name bc I just call it by the nickname blobby (one of the rare times I didn't spend hours googling the perfect nickname but it nonetheless is a perfect one)

And for fun without any legendaries as fav

Reg nicknames I even write all down so I only spend decades once for each pkmn (unless I don't like the prev one anymore). Need to update that someday since it's mostly old revolution ones but hey. Blaze do I use for arcanine nowadays more and ninetails got others. Gardevoir got soteria nowadays which I prefer more. Etc.

[shima-draws]

Tell us about the AU! I know you want to!!

WAUGHHH. AGHHH. OKAY. OKAY SO. I've been watching one of my favorite content creators play through the DLC. Early on in the playthrough he was tossing around theories and said "Maybe KIERAN is Ogerpon??" and that gave me a BRILLIANT THOUGHT.

Ogerpon Kieran AU.......

I've already thought of a very long and complex backstory for this LOL but to simplify it. Before the ogre and its human companion came to Kitakami, said companion was actually living a very happy life with his child. However, they were caught up in the midst of a great war that ended up taking the child's life. The man was so overcome with grief that it summoned a great being (I'm thinking Xerneas), who blessed his dead child with new life. And that child was reborn as Ogerpon!! So kinda like how children who get lost in the woods and die are reborn as Phantump.

Fast forward to many many years later. A long chain of events leads to Carmine's grandfather's...father (so, her great-grandpa?) meeting Ogerpon and vowing to make it a new mask, a mystical and powerful mask that could grant wishes. Sadly, Carmine's great-grandpa wasn't able to complete the mask before he died. This project was eventually picked up by Carmine's father (and I have a whole other thing about him but I'm not gonna get into it right now lol). Carmine's father forms a very close bond with Ogerpon as he continues to gather materials to finish the wish mask. He expresses his desire for Ogerpon to finally be able to walk among the villagers with its name cleared, and for Ogerpon to meet his only daughter. He leaves for a journey to find the last material for the mask...and never returns 😔

Carmine's grandfather has a whole complex about the wish mask, but after seeing both his father and his son dedicate so much time and care into completing it, he takes the last material, imbued with the hopes and dreams of his family, and finally finishes the mask. When he presents it to Ogerpon, Ogerpon dons the mask and its wish is granted...it becomes human :") So it becomes Kieran, basically!! Kieran's wish was to be able to say thank you to all of the generations of mask makers that had helped him, and. To be part of their family 🥺 What he doesn't know is that his wish to be human stems from the fact that he already was human, once. But he doesn't remember his life before he was reborn as a Pokemon.

So, Carmine's grandfather happily accepts Kieran and his desire, and takes him home to live with him and Carmine. Note that Kieran is probably around 5-6 at the time, so he's BABY. And Carmine is only about a year or two older. She isn't sure what to think about suddenly getting a new brother, but she's happy to have someone to boss around lmao.

And once a year, during the festival of masks, Kieran lets his facade fall and wanders around as Ogerpon again. Just to keep in touch with his roots haha

So obviously with Kieran being Ogerpon the events of the DLC will play out differently than canon. Kieran slyly compliments the ogre in front of the player and mentions that maybe it's just misunderstood. He's been trying for a while to change the villagers' minds about what happened to him and the Loyal Three all those years ago, but it hasn't been going...too well lol. So when the player shows up, and things start to shift, Kieran gets really excited bc he realizes he finally might be able to clear his name :")

Is this AU silly and dumb as hell? Yes. Does it not really make sense with canon and is full of plot holes? Yes. Am I brainrotting over it anyway? Also yes.

Take a little edit I did of Kieran's official art to fit what I had in mind for the AU ;) I wanted to draw it but I'm at work rn lmao RIP

ALSO LITTLE DOODLE OF THE BOY

ALSO bc of Ogerpon's original gender Kieran probably goes by he/they pronouns in the AU

[adobe-outdesign]

Shiny Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde review, please.

Xerneas: Swapping out black for white is a classic move that makes a lot of sense, but after that the neutral mode kind of falls apart. For some reason it swaps the usual dark blue for turquoise, which A) isn't that noticeable and B) is painfully low-contrast when combined with the dark blue antlers. It could've been swapped to red or black to play off of Yvetal's palette, or used a purple rather than a similar hue of a pre-existing color. Alternatively, the ice blue and dark blue of the original could've just been swapped, which would've kept the contrast.

The active mode shiny is much better because, like normal Xerneas, it changes the tertiary accents to gold, thus restoring the contrast. This looks pretty good—but you'll still have to deal with the very mid neutral mode.

Yveltal: Yveltal looks like a slab of raw meat, which on any other Pokemon I'd find funny but here it kind of works. Once again, swapping white for black is always going to result in a distinct shiny, and it's a nice neutral color that still works well with the red.

My only issue with it is the dark grey areas; on the original, the dark gray was a play on the black accents, but here they changed the accents but still kept the dark gray. Basically, what I'm saying is that the dark gray should've been changed to a light grey to match the white and keep the same balance as the original design.

Zygarde: I appreciate the consistency with the black on all of these guys flipping to white. Zygarde is probably the best looking of the bunch, not only doing the white swap but also exchanging its lime green for a more minty fresh shade. Similarly, all of its forms keep the other colors the same and just slightly change the hues at most. The 50% form looks the best, but it also looks the best to begin with so that's not surprising.

My only nitpick here is that they swapped the white on the 100% form for a really light yellow which is barely noticeable—it could've just stayed white and nothing would've been lost. Otherwise, this one's the best of the three taking all forms into account.

[aphidclan-clangen]

hey!! same anon that sent the novellas thing, and i’m here with dark forest concepts for all of them!! (and i will do this for the babs once they grow up!)

Pearlstar : 

mostly just shadows, BUT, his tail has a giant clam (not real) on the end!!! inside lies a delicate, shining pearl. he lures you in with it, you just wanna grab it. but by the time you get close you’re already under his spell. he and paradise are the king and queen of hell!!!

Firebeetle : 

a being made of flames and screams. he is a light far away. he draws you in, comforts you even, makes you feel welcome, at home, and than he burns you.

Blisswhistle :

she is pure light, like an angel, the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. she plays an act. but his true form is an amalgamation of just... everything... you could never make out what she is, and rainbow would drive you insane just by presenting her true form.

Goldshine : 

sort of a bat-like creature, he stays away in the shadows most times. he can’t really fly, but star glides with his huge wings, they are wyvern-like. he looks ragged, and scrappy, but in order to draw cats in, he uses his voice, instead of showing himself.

Stormwhisper : 

he is literally a storm. his form is constantly shifting and whirling, you can see bits of teeth, bones, limbs, stars, and scraps of metal floating around. he quite literally sucks you into his trap, you can’t stop looking, and he makes sure of it.

Sparkspeckle : 

again, a storm, but she is more of a lightning storm. she is made of swirling clouds, lighting, thundering sounds, and glowing lights. she would look like a blessing  in the dark of night, but she truly is chaos in cat shape.

Icesheep :

made of ice and water, you can only see him when looking into a body of water. he appears as a sort of ice deer (ever seen xerneas?), and whispers things to you, pretending to be a Starclan cat, and it usually works due to his elegance and beauty.

Shadebreak : 

similar to bliss, shadebreak would be a light, surrounded by shadows to make themself look more... holy????? they usually work with goldshine to trap victims together. they have this sort of halo, which really sells the deception point.

Lilacpaw/flame : 

flowers on fire. she is flowers on fire. she is completely wilted, but the fire never goes out. her tail is a giant lilac bush/tree, and it attracts victims with is sweet scent, and vibrant colors. when they least expect it, but lilacs will set ablaze, trapping them.

Gravel : 

a hollow entity made of quick sand. she let cats slip into her trap without even revealing themself. her true form is a huge desert personified (catified??) multiple cacti grow on her, and since most cat don’t know what it is, they’ll prick their paws on it, sealing their fate.

thats all :3

I love all of this! I love how you guys have caught on to my whole idea of dark forest cats being more,,,analog Eldritch horror-y, like monsters from a different realm entirely, twisted and terrible versions of who they were in life, and I love how that’s sparked so much creativity! I’m always happy to inspire other people, I think that’s really beautiful

(this is also really helpful because if I’m being honest I had ZERO clue on how I’d possibly give anyone else a dark forest form LOL)

Blisswhistle, Goldshine, and Icesheep are especially my favorites <3

[princess-of-the-corner]

ML Pokémon

Ok, thought.

Marinette still wants to be fashion designer, but most fashion in Pokémon is centred on Coordinating. However, Marinette has performance anxiety, so she performs in Contests under the Alias “Ladybug”, wearing a mask to conceal her identity. While she doesn’t really want anyone to know she’s Ladybug - it’s stress she doesn’t need right now - it’s a bit lower stakes on the identity reveal so far. (Pokémon: Ledyba, Sewaddle, Scatterbug/Spewpa)

Adrien performs in Contests under his father’s label and management, but feels very stifled, as he’s basically representing his dad’s brand, and therefore has a certain image he has to maintain. He does actually enjoy Contests though, so sometimes sneaks out to perform under the Alias “Chat Noir”, where he can do more what he wants. Is considering doing the badge challenge as Chat Noir too. (Pokémon: [Adrien Agreste] Snivy, Shiny Furfrou/ [Chat Noir] Alolan Meowth, Purrloin, Absol)

Gabriel is looking for a specific Legendary Pokémon (?Terapogos, Celebi, Xerneas, Mew, Mewtwo, Darkrai, Cresselia?) because Emilie is in an unnatural coma for currently unexplained reasons. Fu is the current Guardian of that Pokémon, or the way to that Pokémon, but is getting very old. Through either circumstance, or a comedy of errors, “Ladybug” & “Chat Noir” end up guarding the Legendary Pokémon from “Hawk Moth” & “Mayura” (Phantom!Thief Gabriel & Nathalie, basically). By Team Rocket Rules, nobody notices each other’s identities. Fu decides to charge them with being the future guardians (either they were really competent, or maybe the Legendary sends a sign, like “I want these two”).

other thoughts:

- Juleka has a Kecleon and Vaporeon. Also Low Amp Toxtricity.

- Luka NEEDS to have Meloetta. Don’t know why or how, or for how long, but he does. Also want him to have a Lapras that knows Psychic, which can use on itself to “fly” (not particularly high or anything, but it can travel short distances over land fairly quickly). Also Amped Toxtricity, and a Ralts.

- I realize Fu should probably have a Torterra, but he also needs a Drampa

- Not sure whether identity shenanigans should play a major role beyond Adrien not recognizing his dad and pseudo-mom via Team Rocket Rules. Like, do Adrien and Marinette still keep their identities secret from each other, or because this is now probably more dangerous than “I’m uncomfortable on stage”/“If my dad finds out’ he’ll be upset”, would they spill?

- Alix managed to befriend a Celebi as a child. It shows up to “play” still, which sometimes results in time travel.

- Chloé needs a Vespiquen. Also a Beedrill. Also a Teddiursa. Also a Cutiefly. Also Shiny Lucario.

- Not Sure if Max should have a Porygon or a Rotom, or both, and which should be called Markov

- Kim has mostly monkey Pokémon, but also a Golduck (apparently the best swimmers in the Pokémon world)

- Should Mylene have a Mimikyu?

- Nathaniel has a Smeargle, and a Grafaiai (graffiti monkey)

- Kagami gets a Pawniard, a Galarian Farfetch’d, maybe Gallade, then I don’t know which dragon she gets, but something pseudo, probably. Also have her meet the Swords of Justice, cause, come on

- I want to give Rose, like, a Togepi, a Roselia, then ALL Ghost-types

- Someone needs a Chansey

- no idea what Nathalie has.

-Gabe just has … all the Butterfly/Moth Pokémon. All of them. That’s it.

-

I can go back and forth on the identity stuff because honestly there’s- there’s no Magic to keep their Identities secret plus they probably have to register for contests under their Real Names

Yeah I mentioned Gabe looking for whatever could help wake Emilie

While the Order is protecting Terapagos, and maybe knows about a few other Legendaries, Fu’s kinda separate. Like he’s connected, but he plays the role of Pokemon Professor since he hands out the Miraculous and in this AU the Kwami are Starters

As for the other character’s Teams: I mentioned that I’m limiting them to 1-2 Types or a theme for the majority of their Pokemon. THey can have some exceptions, often their Starter as the Starters have to keep to their Kwami. SO

- Juleka’s team I need to hammer but I could either lean into the pirate rocker or go with ‘pokemon people don’t always like because she finds them Neat™’

- Luka having a music-based team is on the list!

- Fu has some great choices there lol

- I think similar to Canon, Hawkmoth (and later Mayura) are kept more in the shadow letting Akuma Grunts do their dirty work, so there’s less risk of anyone finding them out.

- Chloé will get a Vespiquen because it’s Iconic™ and I do think the Teddiursa line is gonna be her other ‘exception’ but the rest are all Fairy Types

- Markov is a Porygon!

- Kim’s team is absolutely Monkey. There’s a lot of monkey pokemon tbh.

- Not sure Mimikyu fits Mylene but she does have plenty of Mouse options!

- Smeargle and Grafaiai are perfect for Nathaniel

- Ya know when this au was first made I leaned more into just dragons but yeah all the swordfighter Pokemon are Kagami’s now.

- Did you know there’s six different lines of Grass/Ghost types? Because Rose knows! I think I do have to give her a Roserade though because ya know. Rose.

- Nathalie is actually kinda open because while she does use the Peacock, that’s more associated with Emilie so she’d be like. Borrowing Emilie’s Pokemon? Not unheard of but Nathalie’s own team can be different.

- There are also so many butterfly/moth pokemon lmao.

[suguri-shark]

Hi! I uh, didn't upload this after art class last night whoops LOL I'm doing it now though!! All of these images are pen only exercises! It's one of my favorites cause it helps like, you know where to put lines so you don't have to erase with a pencil as often and you're more confident or w/e

First is silly doodles then is from a prompt book I got lol

The first image was a doodle in art class lol, the second two I was trying to draw in the car while on a road trip and got frustrated because the road was like *really* bumpy haha

Now for the prompt book stuff!

The first two! Reflection, finished 5.17.24, and Asteroids, finished 5.18.24

The next is The Milky Way, also finished 5.18.24! It's slightly jank but I still like it

The next two are Comic Book Cover, finished 5.19.24, and Lotus Flower, finished 6.19.24! I enjoy Lotus Flower a lot it was fun to compose.

Looking Through a Keyhole is next, finished 8.14.24!

And finally, (for now) Tree of Life, finished 8.21.24! My first time drawing Xerneas, I think it came out alright enough lol

I wanna redo all of these digitally eventually, see how far I've come and stuff but I wanna fill out the entire book first! there's a total of 200 prompts and I plan on making the whole book Kiki so there'll be plenty more drawings in the future ehehehe.

I'm looking forward to learning and growing more with this! It's small but I'm still proud of my progress in the past months, gone are the days of undefined muzzle mouths lol ((not that any of these pictures show improvement on that ehehe :p ))

and finally, bonus doggo Florian sketch lol

Lighting was bad and you can see my phone's shadow it's fine don't @ me lol

[aeroblossom]

i know we're one archon off just enough to make the eight gym leaders in a pokemon au, but consider another approach: the archons as champions ft. some story ideas, i put a concerning amount of thought into this --

mondstadt champion venti (flying • fairy) is fought in secret, since no one can guess he's the champion. the mondstadt elite four are eula (ice • dark), klee (fire • fairy), jean (flying • grass) and finally diluc (fire • flying). venti is friends with celebi - as is nahida - and istaroth manifests as dialga. albedo is kind of like the professor for mondstadt, sucrose gives you your pokedex :] durin is yveltal. dvalin is rayquaza. no one knows about it, but kaeya is friends with articuno.

rhinedottir explores the abyss which is basically the genshin equivalent of the distortion world headed by giratina, aided by her signature hydreigon. dragonspine is our mt silver lol. alice has a delphox (klee has a fennekin) and mismagius. barbeloth, of the hexenzirkel, has a xatu. albedo has a garchomp. for some reason, i picture nicole with hatterene. mona has a cosmog!

zhongli is similar (rock • dragon). the order is hu tao (fire • ghost), yelan (water • dark), ganyu (ice • fairy) and finally xiao (flying • dark). childe boss, but he has like three typings - (water • dark)/(electric • dark)/(electric • water). he has a wailord and probably attempts to fight kyogre with his bare hands in fontaine. oh and his foul legacy is from palkia. the adepti are like pokemon rangers btw! and guizhong, after her death, appears also as a cosmog maybe? xiao has an absol, ganyu has suicune, hu tao has trevenant and spiritomb. azhdaha is groudon guys i'm sorry. ningguang is our professor archetype for liyue, and the pokedex is delivered by keqing on the orders of ningguang.

inazuma has two champions - one as the raiden shogun puppet (electric • steel), and one as ei herself (electric • fighting). ayaka (ice • steel), then kazuha (flying • steel) - but he gets exiled, and is replaced by ayato (water • steel). followed by kokomi (water • dragon), and finally yae miko (electric • fairy). yae miko has ninetales and zoroark, kokomi has milotic and nihilego! yes i know that's an ultra beast shhh. professor trope is yae miko, and you have to smuggle your confiscated pokedex with yoimiya and sayu's help.

sumeru champion nahida (grass • psychic), who is heeded by wanderer (flying • dark) as her deputy. wanderer is like n from pkmnbw, you fight him instead of the champion, the pseudo-champion. btw his signature would be a mega evolving banette. the first elite four member is dehya (fighting • fire), followed by cyno (electric • dark), then nilou (water • grass) who was recently appointed! and finally alhaitham (grass • flying). nilou's position used to be tighnari's (grass • poison) but since he left the akademiya, nilou took it. dehya has a female pyroar, nilou has lilligant. nahida and venti are familiars to celebi and the two formes of shaymin! rukkhadevata manifests as xerneas. apep is zygarde lol. token professor looks to be tighnari, but is really just nahida, and collei gives it to you.

for fontaine, i imagine furina (water • fairy) as the champion who sacrifices her position - and her life - so there's no seat of champion left. she later adopts the (water • dark) typing. the fontaine elite four is fought in this order: navia (rock • dark), wriothesley (ice • fighting), clorinde (electric • steel), and finally neuvillette himself (water • dragon OBVIOUSLY). alternatively, neuvillette assumes champion position and his seat as last member of elite four is supplanted by arlecchino (fire • dark)! neuvillette has a dragonair and is a familiar to kyogre, furina has lapras and manaphy/phione, arlecchino has a houndoom. additionally, lyney (fire • dark), lynette (flying • dark) and freminet (ice • steel) fight for arlecchino. ooh but imagine if they get ahold of latios and latias somehow, and use those to fight you! their signatures are gardevoir (lyney) and gallade (lynette) other than a pair of meowstic, and freminet has an empoleon as well as an espurr. sigewinne has a signature azumarill, and she's the professor! the pokedex you were meant to receive falls in the water, so freminet fishes it out for you.

[yveltalreal]

the link between views of siblinghood and views of various legends is quite fascinating, honestly.

zacian and zamazenta are often viewed as siblings, with zacian being the older sister and zamazenta being a younger brother, although, of course these are merely human views in myths. their relationship, who is older than who, brothers or sisters, rivals or friends or enemies, always changes depending on the myth, of course. pre-darkest day views and post-darkest day views, even modern views after the second darkest day, as well as which group within galar.

thunderous, tornadus, and landorus are viewed as brothers and certain parts of unova. the celestica people also held this belief while also worshipping their sister enamorus, whose worship has fallen out of favor significantly modern day. a shame. shes an interesting diety. the diamond and pearl clans also worshipped the genies, although how much varies depending on the time period. they also don't seem to have any records of enamorus worship. leaving her a diety primarily worshipped by the long, long, dead celestica people.

outside of alola it is often presumed that lunala and solgaleo may be siblings due to many other religions dedicated to more human gods having similar ideas but this actually isn't the case! alolan myths actually have very little connection between solgaleo and lunala outside of them meeting on occasion and what not and mentions of them coming from the same home (of course what we now know as ultra space). while lunala and solgaleo are a related species, both evolving from cosmog, they're hardly all siblings, and traditional alolan beliefs didn't think so either, and they didnt even know basically anything about cosmog!

the most fascinating belief is the one held by many sects of aurean worship. that yveltal, xerneas. and xygarde are siblings. the first siblings, to be exact. how fitting that life, death. and balance would be the start of it all? having an anount of children that was divisible by 3 was all the rage in kalos for much of history, with triplets often being given special treatment. if you could be paired with two siblings, you wwre all that much closer to the gods. first comes xerneas, sprouting life and creating the creatures of the world, then comes yveltal, taking that life and destroying the bodies, and finally comes zygarde, balancing them all and ensuring that from life comes death and from death comes life. the first born was said to be like xerneas, the second born like yveltal, and the third born like zygarde, but what exactly that means depends on the time period and sect.

most interesting i find is how gender plays into the aura trio's myths about siblinghood. very, very early aurean worship seemed to link all three to both men and women and sometimes neither. for most of history, xerneas was assigned a gender by worshippers most often, although which one wasn't actually consistent until about 2500 years ago, where xerneas seemed to be firmly decided as a woman. to be expected of a life god, i suppose. shortly after this, yveltal and zygarde began also being assigned genders as well. the perception of yveltal often switches from male to female back to neither or both depending on the era. nowadays, it depends on the sect. zygarde is almost universally depicted as their brother, although more vague genderless sibling interpretations do occasionally seep through. personally, i think all three are genderless, or at least far removed from a human idea of gender, but that doesn't really matter.

how fascinating that while her siblings get to take turns being brother, xerneas will always be a sister? how sad that every idea of womenhood will always be forced onto a god that may not even know it? how sad that a brother becomes a sister when its convenient to worshippers? the first siblings will have their relationships defined by all the siblings that came after. the first siblings will be torn apart by people who dont know what that kind of love means.

my personal feelings are leeching in, and this post is getting too long. i hope you all found this as interesting as i do :>

[csolarstorm]

The Eternal Flower Files: Sacred Geometry

Eternal Flower Floette is the mysterious, special Floette that AZ inherited from his late mother. It wields a strange, ancient red flower that holds terrifying power:

"Terrifying energy is concealed within its ominous flower, but Floette still swings it about innocently." (UltraMoon)

So. What is the Eternal Flower?

We associate flowers with the cycle of life in general - they bloom, they wilt, and then the plant grows again. When it comes to the symbolism around Eternal Flower, we see this theme of "life, death, and rebirth" over and over, likely referring to Floette's resurrection.

Flowers are a prominent symbol in Sacred Geometry. In some New Age beliefs, the ancient Flower of Life pattern symbolizes life, death, and rebirth, as well as the interconnected universe. The pattern maps onto the Eternal Flower pretty well.

Eternal Flower model from The Models Resource.

Certainly Eternal Flower Floette is powerful and significant in the lore, but this connection might suggest that the Eternal Flower itself has broader powers than just destroying things.

Many flower symbols are drawn with overlapping circles, which represent a continuous, eternal cycle. When writing about the Flower of Life, people often compare the progression of each phase of the pattern to cell division. What Pokemon do we know that represents cells?

Source: Flower of Life Construction, image by Tomruen

Another major flower symbol is the triquetra, an ancient trinity symbol that comes from three overlapping circles. (Shown in the third phase of the Flower of Life diagram.) The Eternal Flower is made up of three triquetrae, really emphasizing the number three:

In many Christian denominations, the triquetra symbolizes the Holy Trinity. In Celtic tradition, the triquetra, or the trinity knot, can, again symbolize the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. There is also a stylized triquetra on either side of AZ's Ultimate Weapon:

My approximation of the Ultimate Weapon symbol.

This is yet another connection between the Eternal Flower and the Ultimate Weapon - besides the fact that it blooms into a giant version of the Eternal Flower. Did AZ use the power of the Eternal Flower to build the Ultimate Weapon?

The Flower of Life pattern also seems to point to a strong relationship between Eternal Flower Floette and Zygarde. It's actually an effective symbol for Zygarde, considering how people compare the phases of the Flower of Life to cell division. Also, each individual bloom in the of the Flower of Life pattern is hexagonal.

Zygarde pic from Bulbapedia.

Every inch of Zygarde is a hexagon. Imagine, each of them as a continuing Flower of Life pattern the same way a palace wall is covered with it.

If Xerneas and Yveltal symbolize life and death, then Zygarde fittingly represents rebirth, as a collection of cells that can take a number of forms. This also fits the title "Z-A" which many fans have taken to mean "the end, and a new beginning". That begs the question: what is beginning? What is being reborn?

...

Check out my theory that Zygarde used to be the Tree of Life, as well as my other posts about Pokemon Legends: Z-A here:

Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

[anistarrose]

my silly crack theory for Legends Z-A is that Xerneas and Yveltal will get Primal forms. my silly reasoning is this: Primal Reversion is associated with the beginning and the end of life on earth. the origin of life is associated with Kyogre because it occurred in the ocean — the "Primordial Sea". for Groudon, "Desolate Land" is actually an outlier among localizations, which mostly translate more literally as "Land of the End" (this includes the original Japanese).

Primal Reversion is a way that Legendary Pokemon become (or return to) manifestations of nature at the chaotic beginnings or apocalyptic ends of life — so it only makes sense that Xerneas and Yveltal could've had more powerful forms under those conditions, too. also: the title of the game is Legends Z-A, not just Legends Zygarde. they chose to use the last and first letter of the Latin alphabet — just like Greek has Omega and Alpha.

also x2: Dialga and Palkia got new forms in Legends Arceus, borrowing from Giratina's Origin Forme gimmick. Zygarde's Complete Forme gimmick isn't really appropriate for Xerneas and Yveltal, with the XY duo not being made of cells or anything, so if they get new forms, it should be either a totally new gimmick, OR a gimmick from their debut generation. this could absolutely mean Megas, but just personally I think Primals would be cooler for these legendaries in particular.

also x3: last but not least, Xerneas and Yveltal kind of have this "sleep in a tree/cocoon for 1000 years" thing going on that wouldn't line up with the timeline of PLZA, because those games are going to be set way less than 1000 years before Xerneas and Yveltal awaken in modern times. I don't fully know where I'm going here, but basically, it makes sense why GameFreak might want to drop in some new additions to the lore to help explain the discrepancy — idk, maybe either Zygarde or some happening in Lumiose awakened Xerneas and Yveltal off-schedule by allowing them to Primal Revert.

[fallershipping]

I think Arceus, Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina are analogous to the dragons of Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon. I never seen either LMAO but I understand the dragons to be: intense, deified monsters that are almost like how we deify and fear the unfathomable atomic bombs.

Or basically, Reshiram and Zekrom or the Original Dragon. They are godlike and have important duties, but can be "tamed" or partnered with humans very often.

Leak talk in regards to a scrapped previous game cutscene:

It's probably a throwaway, but it's fun to think that somehow ancient Kalos or Europe acquired a Giratina 3000 years into the past and used it for war.

Arceus also partnered with an ancient human well before PLA and longs human connection. Arceus, end of the day, IS a Pokemon. It is not above other Pokemon because it can be defeated in a spar match, but it is a very strong Pokemon. And we have seen that Palkia and Dialga can be summoned, subjugated, and controlled under the whims of a madman. Xerneas and Yveltal can be used as batteries, Kyurem as an ACTUAL terrorist weapon's energy source. Cosmog itself a being that can be forced to open portals, Necrozma being used as the last source of light.

God-like Pokemon are Pokemon... And they can be friends... or weapons. It's a bit more complex than just being the animals of an unnatural world.

And I think... How could Volo change the world by meeting Arceus?

And I get it now.

Volo would change the course of history forever. It's "Pokemon are tools to an end" vs "We must live side by side with Pokemon" when you confront him.

And even still to this day, despite Arceus doing everything it desperately can to ensure the endgame of Friendship, humans still use Pokemon as tools in the modern world. Perhaps it really could only do so much and it knows this... After all, you do befriend and study pokemon by capture.

It is the flaw of even Arceus and Co. and the flaw of human beings: We seek friendships, and some friendships are beautiful while others are wicked and abusive. We gamble on others and hope for the best, and other people can either bring out the best of us, or make us monsters.

[draftingteacups]

I understand that Special Events are non-canon in The Eternal Blooming Flower. But say how would you let Glorious Masquerade play out in your What if?

I love the Glorious Masquerade event, but the way that the event would play out in my What-If goes like this:

The first thing that would happen in this universe is the fact that Soni would definitely look around the City of Flowers and go, "This feels very similar to old Kalosian architecture." Makes sense since the movie was based in Notre Dame, which takes place in France

Obviously, she does a little bit of research into the city before she goes there, mostly because she doesn't want to do a social faux pas in a place that really reminds her too much of Kalos. Either way, Soni looked at the city itself for half a second before she gets dressed in an ensemble that would definitely remind her of her more formal attire as the Grand Duchess of Kalos.

I like the idea of a mixture of dark blue and gold accents with black-purple being the main color of the outfit itself. I feel like Soni wouldn't get a mask (mostly because I can see her just taking it off and not putting it back one because she's not a huge fan of masks in general) and get something like a circlet instead (looks like Xerneas' horns with clear crystals on top of it).

Happiny gets taken along because Deuce can't bear to leave her alone for a few days, which means she gets her own little outfit! A small pink mask with little beads that look like Oval Stones and a small hat that allows her little ponytail to stick up. As much as I would love for Happiny to have a little scarf, it'll definitely drag behind her like a little cape.

I could have Sobble here as well as Morpeko, and they would be wearing something similar to what Azul and Ruggie wear respectively. Obviously, the first half of the day plays out similar to the event itself: invitation, gets shown around the city, and then meeting Rollo makes Soni just feel a little uncomfortable, especially when Rollo himself looked into the students themselves to the point of getting Azul's eye prescription because I'm sure that's looking into someone medical history and I'd be wondering why anyone would do that much and even lightly comments on Soni's lack of information in a roundabout way that set off alarm bells.

Rollo: "When making accommodations for all of you to enjoy yourselves to the fullest, I noticed that Miss Monet has made no additional requests beyond what was stated in the itinerary, despite being the sole magicless person of your group. Do you truly not have anything else to add that you may have forgotten to write down beforehand?"

And even when Soni says that she doesn't, Rollo says, "If anything comes to mind, I do not mind making time to discuss any details with you on anything you wish to say."

Soni finds it weird that he points out that she was magicless when most people outside of NRC didn't know that, but that itself could be chalked up to her shared student status with Grim as a two-in-one student. Also Grim might just say that Soni doesn't have magic from the get-go because "the Great Grim ain't a familiar!"

However, that last bit poked at her the most because it implied that Soni withheld information that she didn't want written down.

Which is exactly what she did, but for the reason of her privacy and safety because people looking into Soni would potentially use it against her. Not to mention, she listed any needed information (i.e. medical, emergency contact, etc.) and the like on the papers themselves, so it's not like she needed more than that for Rollo to see. To imply that she still had more to say when she didn't and that Rollo was subtly pushing for more information about Soni while disguising it as a gesture of goodwill makes Soni think of all the verbal maneuvering that she had to do as Grand Duchess with many businessmen doing the same.

When the dance in the city happens, I like to imagine that Soni is made to come along with the others, awkwardly following along to the steps with Grim just spinning around like he does in the rhythm game. Happiny is being danced with by Riddle and Deuce, bouncing around cheerfully in the process.

That's when Rollo appears with a specific look in his eye when he sees NRC using magic alongside the other magicians:

"When you first came here, magic was truly a baffling mysterious force as a magicless person, was it not?"

Soni looks at the guy, her tone neutral as it could be, "It was, but who am I to tell people on how to live their lives?"

"Does it not trouble you? With how dangerous it is?"

Soni shrugs, "I've dealt with worse."

Then comes the night where all the Crimson Flowers are basically everywhere. Students are falling over because their magic is being drained out of them.

Cue Rollo's big reveal, and suddenly Soni understands why he mentioned that. She very much dislikes the fact that everything looks like it is on fire.

When they all fall downwards, Soni releases Dior and Charlie, the former teleporting everyone within reaching distance to the ground and Charlie snatching as many people as possible.

If we want to do the non-Championship Team, Nimbus, being a large puffy cloud bird, basically released a whole lot of fluff from using Cotton Guard as a cushion. Honestly, the idea that everyone just falling from a huge height, only to flop onto a cloudy-like fluff without having to use any magic was very nice.

When the others have to deal with the Crimson Flowers and pull weeds, Happiny is very enthusiastic about it because Happiny picks wild flowers all the time, so this isn't very different from what she normally does.

Ruggie, yanking Crimson Flowers with dirt flying everywhere: "Put your backs into it!"

Epel veins popping out of his head: "I can pull these weeds faster than you can breathe!"

Happiny, literally pulls off an entire cluster of Crimson Flowers with her bare hands: "Hap Hap!" This is fun!

I imagine that Happiny's given chores in Heartslabyul, and one of them is weeding the garden. It certainly comes in handy now that there's a magic flower that's trying to take people's magic away.

Then comes the plan to storm the tower and ring the Bell of Salvation.

Obviously, everyone's got an entire plan, but Soni goes, "You're all forgetting that I've got no magic. Those flowers can't do anything to me. And from what I've observed, they don't effect Pokemon either."

And what they settled on was for Soni basically leading the charge with her Pokemon taking down as many of the Crimson Flowers as possible. Dior using Psychic to physically pull as many Crimson Flowers away as well as assisting any passerby in the process. Charlie obviously uses his Flamethrower to burn away the Crimson Flowers in larger areas and even provides aerial assistance with Epel when the Crimson Flowers try to capture them both.

And Happiny doing her best to weed as many of the flowers as possible. Obviously, she stays behind with Deuce when he gets hurt and basically starts ripping apart the flowers even more when they start trying to hurt him.

And while it would be more heroic for Soni and the others to try climb the tower like they did in the original game, they could just teleport up to the top with the help of Dior or fly up there with Nimbus and/or with Charlie.

And in the process of catching their breath from the few fights that they engaged with on the way to the top, they stumble into the private area where they find the diary of Rollo.

And of course, they still go up against Rollo in the process, covered in flames and all. Hearing Idia's speech is certainly one that Soni understands the core meaning, but it could've definitely been handled better.

Soni looks at Deuce when seeing Azul use Deuce's UM to punch Rollo: "You did what? When did you do that?"

Deuce: "Back in the main area..."

Soni: "I looked away for five minutes-"

Deuce gestures to his leg: "I wanted to hit him, and Azul offered!"

Soni: "And I would've done it for free. We are talking about this later when we aren't at risk of falling off a tower and being roasted alive."

Malleus dealing the final blow with his lightning magic left the thickest smell of ozone in the air with Soni's arm hairs standing up on end.

And skipping to the song that happens during the party, Soni has her time to dance with the others again, although she's not all that good with it. In the background, Happiny and the other Pokemon are equally enjoying their time together at the party.

Side Notes That I Couldn't Put In:

A comical Pokemon for Soni to bring along in this particular event is her Skiddo because one, it's a little goat and they would see such creatures around. Two, it can eat the Crimson Flowers as a free snack. I cannot confirm whether that the Crimson Flower is fit for Pokemon consumption.

Soni using Kalosian and basically finding little to no difference between French and Kalosian; funnily enough, I like to imagine that Soni manages to get better deals this way from people at stalls because she's getting souvenirs for the others (Ace would complain if he didn't get something; Soni bought him a mug that Milcery uses to sleep in).

And that's the general gist of the Glorious Masquerade event!

[zorubark]

I think what many Pokemon Legends game ideas get wrong, i think at least, is using a legendary for the name of the game, like "Legends kyurem" or "Legends Zygarde". Many times people use the third legendary of the main three for the title, but Giratina wasn't the one to get a Legends game, in fact it would have made more sense to have a Legends Giratina as a parallel to platinum, since it released with the Sinnoh remakes.

The one who got the spotlight was another important, but not heavily featured pokemon, Arceus, a mythical pokemon. So I think there's a higher chance for the next Legends game to feature a mythical with predominance. In Legends Arceus there was also many mythicals that we could catch without needing special events, making them more acessible, so maybe the Legends series will in general make mythicals more acessible?

I was thinking of a Kalos Legends game and I think Pokemon Legends Hoopa would be the best choice, it can teleport you back in time with it's rings, without the need for Arceus intervention. In ORAS because of Hoopa's rings we can catch legendaries from other regions and their themes aren't updated because they're supposed to be from the older games' timelines, this happens in USUM too, so I believe Hoopa is too interesting to not use.

Diancie and Volcanion should also appear, Volcanion has so little lore, the most interesting thing it has is the fact that in the southern part of the Kalos region, Volcanion is revered, people believe that a steam explosion caused by Volcanion created the plain where they live. This probably references the region of Occitania, the mountainous region that covers most of southern France and whose regional flag Volcanion takes its design from, which is really cool.

Diancie could also be integrated in the plot, maybe instead of her needing to make a new Diamond Heart for the Diamond Domain, the very first Diamond Heart could be made, or Diancie can be born, either works. Diancie is said to have been born from a Carbink that had undergone a mysterious mutation, the mutation could be related to the main story somehow.

In fact, I thought about a villain that wants to make everyone immortal, thinking it will create a Utopia, their plan will fail but create consequences in the region. Since Xerneas/Yveltal wake up every thousand years, I imagined the story would take place one thousand years before the events of X and Y, and the region would be medieval themed.

For Unova, it has no mythical with reality bending abilities and I sadly can't imagine anything except a Legends Kyurem, how is Victini, Meloetta or Keldeo going to hold an entire game like Arceus did? Genesect wasn't even created until recent events in the Pokemon world.

Because each mythical of Unova has a piece of history, it's hard to choose just one, they complete each other in a way

Some people speculutate on Johto remakes because of the many hints towards johto relevancy, and I think the Mythical main pokemon theory fits for Johto! Legends Celebi could work

I hope someone sees this theory and uses it for imagining new pokemon stuff or coming up with a Unova Legends game since I couldn't. I think a medieval, victorian, or early to middle 20th century Unova game would be really good, specially because if it were to be medieval, it could make kinda what Arceus made with Team Galactic and make Team Plasma into real knights, the Unova region has lots of medieval stuff and I think it's even better than Kalos for a medieval game