#also the houndour could have been blue

[bumblingbunny]

You are challenged by Gym Leader Agatha!

A wealthy widow, Agatha spent the years after her husband’s (mysterious) death rising in the ranks of the Team and honing her Pokemon skills. Many avoid her gym for good reason. She’s a formidable foe and the rumors surrounding her work are... unsavory. Still if you want to get all 8 badges, you and your team will have to face her in battle!

for @samssims‘s Pokemon Picks monthly theme    

[rocketzealot]

PERFORMANCE REVIEW Pt 2

“It is as Executive Petrel says,” she said, voice deep and coarse, with much restraint. “We have long been considering your position in Team Rocket, as you well know. The truth is, we are always short on Agents, and once we promote grunts to fill those positions we become short on grunts. That is why people like you are so important. Do you understand?”

Fred replied with a clipped “yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Team Rocket has mercifully decided not to demote you. Giovanni does not believe in waste, and nor do I. But we also do not tolerate underperformance.” She spoke with a little more vigour, cold green eyes twisting the knife into Fred as he flicked his vision back in her direction.

“As such,” she continued, voice becoming calmer and quieter once again, “we have arranged somewhat of a reshuffle in your duties. Elite Agent Wyatt has informed me that despite your lacklustre numbers, you are a positive representative of the Rocket brand. You will continue to recruit in your own time, more specifically when you are given days without orders. You will be expected to convene with potential recruits as long as you are sleeping under Giovanni’s roof. However, we have agreed that you would be made more useful if you were given more focussed missions.”

Fred listened in carefully, finding himself looking more and more at the Elite Agent, his hands resting on the edge of the table as he leant forward. This seemed to be a life ring… perhaps the last one he would get. To think… almost nothing would change… he had gotten away with—

“In addition to this, we will be assigning you a partner, with a view that he will provide you with much needed focus and motivation during missions. Although he is newly promoted, he is one of our most efficient and obedient Agents, and comes with a plethora of skills that I think it would be generous to say that you could not hope to possess. Although I don’t expect the pair of you to be as friendly as some of our Agents, I expect you to become a unit quickly. No arguments.”

Oh. Well, that wasn’t really so bad. The best Agents came in twos! Butch and Cassidy, Atilla and Hun, Annie and Oakley… Perhaps Fred and his new partner would be just like them. The woman opposite him stared him down intensely. A biro had appeared in her hand whilst Fred had been daydreaming about being famous in the halls of the Rocket base. It was as if she was preparing to record his reaction, especially given her request for no arguments. Fred was in no position to argue. Agent Wyatt had moved behind him to the door. An eyebrow quirked on the face of the Agent whose name he could not remember as she saw the beginnings of an optimistic smile begin to creep onto Fred’s face.

“Very well, invite him in, Lee.” 

Like a school child turning to see who their new classmate would be, with that fizzy mix of apprehension and excitement, Fred shifted in his seat, feet moved around in readiness to get up and shake the hand of his new partner.

Yet his blood froze.

“I believe you are acquainted, but allow me to reintroduce you to Theodore Falsey, your new partner.”

The doorway was occupied by a slender young man, so thin it created the optical illusion of great height. Like Fred, he donned the white uniform given to Agents to differentiate themselves from the rabble. Unlike Fred, he held himself with such an air of respectability, it verged on parody. It was no doubt that the person who stood with his heels clicked together like a good little soldier was Ted. 

As if nothing had changed.

Ted bore the marks of years passed- a little more facial hair, a few more lines under his eyes, less colour in his cheeks- but he seemed the same as ever. That same haughty demeanour, a posture so upright it could have been mistaken for a spine problem. Although, something was different about him, about the way his eyes stared blankly ahead through the lenses of the goggles he seemed to be wearing now. And yet for all the differences in the world, Ted was still there. That was enough. 

Don’t cry.

The heat around Fred’s eyes told him that it was too late for that, though. He spun his head towards the Elite Agent. 

“Th-this… You can’t. I can’t—“

“No arguments, Ellsworth. I expect civility. Or did you really want that demotion that badly?”

Fred didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think, let alone speak. Suddenly, it became very clear why Petrel had wanted to clear out so quickly. He didn’t want to have to deal with the messy emotional fallout of this arrangement. Fred gripped the back of the chair to stop him throwing a punch at Ted, whose eyes he felt boring into him from behind. Yet as his fingers sunk into the padding, all he could think about was throwing the chair. The last time he had seen Ted, the only way they had managed to be in the same room together was by virtue of the extreme violence Fred had been able to exert on the once smug scientist. Fred knew about the demotion, but liked to pretend he knew nothing of Ted. He didn’t want anything to do with him, least of all… partnership.

As he stared into the space of the room, things briefly became very, very clear. Fred was underperforming because he was too comfortable in his position. He was so content to be mediocre, he never strove for improvement. Of course, there was the promise of the fabled glory of Team Rocket if he did well. But any manager knew that the one thing more effective than a carrot was a stick. 

And Ted was the stick.

Suddenly, Fred was very mad at Team Rocket… furious. This wasn’t a reshuffling of his responsibilities. This was a punishment. A punishment they wanted to convince him was a favour. He huffed through his nose.

“Your orders will be delivered to you the following morning. Is there going to be a problem? Should I call Executive Petrel all the way back here?”

The Elite Agent leant forward, her biro hovering over an ominous looking box in Fred’s paperwork. He frowned back at her, but his brows instinctively curved backwards into a frightened look. Her eyes met his with the same expressionless glare Ted had often given him when there was no choice… Besides… Fred never really knew how to fight back.

“No, ma’am.”

“Very good. Given your penchant for misplacing and destroying paperwork, I will have your orders given to your new partner. I expect the two of you to organise time to meet up and coordinate. From now on you will report to myself first, Petrel second, under your new code names as Agents Seraph and Nidhogg. Seraph,” she said, giving a pointed look at Fred as she began clearing the desk, “you are to report to Agent Wyatt when convenient, or should he request a report from yourself.”

Folding the file under her arms, she stood tall above Fred. 

“Dismissed.”

Like a clockwork toy, Ted set to, marching out the office at the sound of his command. Fred glared at him, narrowing his eyes as he watched. Something was definitely up with him, but Fred couldn’t put finger on it. Seeing his new superior (whose name he should definitely learn) waiting for him to leave, he reluctantly did as he was told… like a good little Houndour, tail between his legs. 

The Elite Agents followed their juniors out of the office calmly, saluting as they left. Ted returned the salute so fast it could have happened before they started. Ted hadn’t been doing that the last time Fred had been with him. Even so, Fred returned a salute their way, albeit with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. 

“Glory to Rocket,” Agent Wyatt croaked, barging his shoulder into Fred’s as he stalked away. Fred watched the pair leave, fists balling up beside him. Neither of them spoke as they trooped down the corridor, Wyatt pulling out his PokeGear, to flick through what was doubtlessly a barrage of texts from his recruiters, informants and associates, the woman walking straight forward, likely with the intention of offloading Fred’s grotty file. 

Once they had disappeared around a corner, Fred swung his attention to Agent Nidhogg. At the very corners of Ted’s mouth, he was sure he could see the beginnings of a smile, the tightening of cheeks, the pull of lips, the tiny little crevice beginning to form where they met.

Before either man could say a word, Fred had Ted pushed up against the wall. He was too short to lift him off his feet, but had no trouble making Ted scrabble for his balance. He shook and pulled him straight, forcing him to look him in the eye, the taller’s arms halfway up in defence. That was when Fred noticed them.

Ted’s eyes were all wrong. Where he had once had delicate, ice blue eyes, he now had artificial, electric blue eyes, the colour flooding the whole eye. Instead of perpetually full stop sized pupils, thin, pointed slits bisected his eyes. What had he done? This wouldn’t have been the first time Ted messed with his own eyes before… but this was entirely not his style… This was monstrous. 

His rage was dampened with enough fear to make him stop, but Fred didn’t let it make him pity Ted. Not that. Not again. He shook it off, shook Ted.

“We are not friends. We’re not. I don’t know what you did, don’t care— I never wanted to see your ugly mug again, Ted.”

Whilst Fred breathed hot breath, Ted only looked back with that befitting, cold stare. “This is an assignment.”

Ted even sounded different. The same… but different. There was something odd about how he said his consonants. Still, he stared back, so almost expressionless. 

“Bull. SHIT.”

“We have been assigned to work together. I am only doing as I am—”

“BULL. SHIT!”

“… I am only doing as I am asked, as should you. I did not choose this assignment any more than you did.”

Ted’s arms had dropped by his side, limp, unthreatening. But just like a doll dropped in the rain, just because he did not move, it didn’t make him any less frightening. There was every bit of purpose in the way he fell limp as there was in the precise choice of his words.

Fred let go of him with a shove. “Outside of work, I still don’t wanna see your face. Not even on lunch breaks. I don’t even want you to text me.”

Silence hung in the air as Fred swayed away from him, desperate to tear his gaze away from the puzzling form of Ted. The ex-scientist stood patiently, staring unblinkingly at him, lips parted a millimetre. He pulled himself up to his full height, and unstrapped something from his belt. A medium-sized tablet sat in his hand as he calmly entered some details. 

“Tomorrow morning I will relay our orders to you. I have arranged for one of the small office spaces to be ours so that we may convene to discuss how we will proceed at eleven-hundred hours.” 

Without protesting Fred’s assertion, or awaiting protestation of his own, Ted strode off in the opposite direction, Fred aghast.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Pokemon Johto Journeys, Episodes 32-36

In which we get some pretty sick fights, Ash reminds us he can be cool on occasion, and Wobuffet is an absolute peach.

Into Battle

I’ve often said that the weakest part of the Pokemon anime is its fights. Because of how limited the animation is and how simplistic the tactics are, most fights just boil down to still frames slamming into each other until one of the opponents decides they’ve had enough and keels over. But every once in a while, even the anime pulls off a halfway decent fight, and this chunk of episode is kind enough to give us two. First, it’s been far too long since Ash and Misty threw down, and their long awaited rematch did not disappoint. From Togepi crushing Pikachu through sheer force of cuteness (”Yeah, that attack would make me sweat too.”) to Poliwag evolving into a Poliwhirl in the middle of the match, this was a battle full of great moments from beginning to end. We even broke out the lure balls for Ash to catch himself an adorable Totodile to replace Squirtle! Also, this episode in general had just a great sense of energy and slapstick to it. Jessie’s delayed reaction as Totodile chomps on her arm, Misty’s ridiculous Mini Misty lure, Ash and Misty fighting each other’s dynamic speed lines... it’s a delight from beginning to end. Pokemon isn’t exactly the prettiest show, but the subtlest improvements to its production make for some of its most vibrant, energized episodes.

And the next episode keeps the energy going strong with the introduction of Mickey and her Skarmory. Skarmory’s one of Johto’s coolest additions; the first-ever Steel-type pokemon is a regular badass. And Mickey’s every bit as hardcore, training by her Skarmory’s side and pitting it against Fire-type pokemon- the pokemon it’s weakest against- to give it a real challenge to overcome. What can I say, I am eternally weak for women who could kick my ass. I hope we get to see her again as a rival in the Johto League as foreshadowed; seeing her in top form would be so damn cool.

Ketchum’s Catch-Up

Speaking of that Skarmory battle, can we just appreciate how much damn work Ash puts in these episodes? He’s so inspired by Mickey’s intense training regimen than he works alongside his Cyndaquill to finally pull the timid pokemon out of its slump. He’s finally able to produce flames at will, and Ash is right there to encourage him every step of the way. And even before that episode, he puts his own ass on the line to pacify an angry Houndour pack so he can take their injured companion to the Pokemon center. Despite how intimidating the hellhounds are, he protects them with his life and tries to run the injured Houndour to safety all by himself. He’s so much better at de-escalation than your average police officer it’s almost funny. And it goes back to his core character strength: Ash genuinely cares about Pokemon. He may be inexperienced and reckless, but he’s always motivated by an undying love and respect for all the fantastical creatures he meets along his way. And when the going gets tough, he pushes himself to do the right thing for the Pokemon around him, refusing to let his ego get in the way. He’s honestly a real-ass hero when the situation demands it of him, and it’s always nice to see those positive qualities shine through.

Best of Team Rocket

In other news, I’m happy to say that Wobuffet is exactly as fantastic an addition to the Team Rocket dynamic as I remembered. His job is essentially to show up out of nowhere at the perfect time to known the rest of the crew out of their flow. Interrupting their evil scheming, taking Meowth’s spot in the motto, spoiling their plans with a well-timed exclamation, this blue bobblehead is the personification of chaotic neutral. He doesn’t care what well-laid plans he messes up as long as he gets to say, “I’m here too!” And the rest of Rocket’s exasperated reactions to him are pure gold every time: ”If it had to steal something, why couldn’t it have taken this big ham?” Shine on, you funky little derp face. Shine on.

-”Oh, be a sport, you can even have my acorns!”

-”We’d be sighing with Psyduck.” I love how they take the time to make puns for every Pokemon they’re planning to steal. Because why not.

-”Either way, I’m still bushed.”

-”When Jessie digs a trap, she really hops to it.” That pogo stick shovel is so dumb and I love it so much.

-”I finally have a Pokemon to cuddle!”

-”I wonder if that’s where they got that old saying about de-light at the end of the tunnel.”

-”I always found fishing rods to be quite a-lure-ing!”

-”We shouldn’t have gone out on a limb!”

-”Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find all-new ways to mess up!”

-”Once Jessie’s finished with that spin cycle!” I am wheezing

-”We’re going to give those twerps every ounce of pounce we’ve got!”

-”The jig’s up!” “But that Totodile is still doing it!”

-”Those twerps made fools of us again!” “And we didn’t even need their help this time!”

-”I was afraid you’d say that.” Something about the way Jessie delivers this line cracks me up. She’s so done with Wobuffet already.

-”It’s a Steel-type!” “Yeah, just the kind we wanna Steal!”

-”Adios, los twerpos!”

-”He should learn the power of positive quitting!”

-”You make Psyduck look good!” JESUS CHRIST JAMES YOU CAN’T JUST MURDER A POKEMON LIKE THAT

Odds and Ends

-Lmaaaaaaao, Brock almost got eaten by tiny axolotils.

-That’s a creative way for Wooper to cover their ears.

-Yooooo that Wooper kicks ass!

-”We’re already having a blast.” I like Pineco.

-Wow, not every day that two running gags collide.

-”Haven’t we fallen for this trap before?” “Yeah, but at least we’ll get a meal out of it.” Ash speaks to me sometimes.

-JIGGLYPUFF/MEOWTH SOLIDARITY

-”It’s a whole buffet!” "Wobuffet!” Alright, translators, I’ll give you that one.

-We’re getting a lot of Team Rocket getting into shenanigans outside the twerp squad this session. I like it.

-Lol, Misty’s impressions are great.

-”This’ll be more like a stakeout!” “But where’s the steak?” Ash istg

-sskdjhdkfjhdkf poor Misty face-palming in the background of this otherwise badass scene

-”Could you throw it back and try for a coffee maker?” Lol, Brock’s a savage.

-”Well, technically I’m not yet, but I don’t like to get bogged down in technicalities.” I like her.

-Why is a crocodile flirting with Misty what is this episode

-Also, I just realized Totodile sounds like Donald Duck and I can never unhear that now.

-”I’m sure you can both work this out maturely.” Press x to doubt

-Beedril swarms are like this show’s all-purpose conflict generator, aren’t they?

Almost done with the first leg of Johto. See you next time!

[starcountesseevee]

A Rocket Coincidence (Part 29)

Part 28 / Part 30

     *Sorry about this morning.* Kali shot off a text to Cole as she plopped down on the couch. Cliff had left, he had to finish work for the day, but promised he could come back after and Kali had offered to cook dinner - something Cliff readily agreed with. While the food was in the oven she took the moment to relax and hopefully make amends, even if it was only through text. After a few minutes of scrolling through social media Kali began to worry, Cole usually texted back fairly quickly. Maybe he was still upset about earlier? When he did finally answer she was surprised to see how long it was and a sinking feeling began growing in the pit of her stomach as she read.

     *I appreciate the apology but the thing is...I don’t think we can hang out anymore. While I enjoyed training with you knowing that you are...aligned with Team Rocket...that just isn’t the kind of people I want to be around. So I think it’s best if we go our separate ways.* 

     *What? Where is this coming from? I’m not “aligned” with them, I’m not on their team, I just happen to be seeing someone on it.*

     *But isn’t that the same thing? I don’t see how you could...be that close to someone and not share their views. And it’s not just someone, is it? Blanche filled me in on who that was after you left and...don’t you realize they’re the bad guys?* 

     *Bad guys? That’s a bit juvenile, isn’t it? And anyway, how can you say that after the way Blanche treated me yesterday? Bad is subjective and nothing any of the other teams has shown me says that they’re the “good guys”. Not everything is black and white. I thought you were more open minded than that.*

     It was a few more minutes before her Pokegear buzzed again and she had begun to assume that was the end of it. 

     *Look, I really don’t want to fight about it. Especially not over text. And you’re entitled to your own opinions. But...it’s more than just that. I like you. A lot. More than friends. And...I thought we could be just that but I can’t. And knowing everything now...I just can’t keep hanging out with you. I’m sorry. Good luck out there.*

     Kali stared at the message in disbelief, torn between being dumbstruck by the admission and anger that he wanted to end their friendship. She was pulled from her thoughts by the oven timer going off and the front door opening simultaneously. Taking a deep breath Kali tossed her Pokegear on the couch, unsure of whether she even wanted to answer at right now, and got up to take the food out of the oven as Mara greeted her. It didn’t take long for Mara to notice the three place settings and question it so Kali filled her in on the events of the day from making up with Cliff all the way up to her most recent texts with Cole before Mara went to get cleaned up for dinner. 

     When the doorbell rang Kali was still rushing to get everything on the table. At the unexpected sound Nero, Mara’s Houndour, began yipping and circling in the hallway excitedly. 

     “Be right there!” Kali shouted as she set the last dish down on the table while Mara pulled an anxious Nero into her bedroom and shut the door. Wiping her hands on her apron Kali made her way to the door, opening it with a grin. She was glad to see the Team Rocket uniform had been swapped out for a pair of dark jeans with a blue button up made casual with rolled up sleeves and the top couple buttons undone. It was a very good look on him she had to admit as he leaned in to give her a kiss before handing her a wrapped bouquet of pink roses, lilies, and tulips. “Wow, these smell amazing.”

     “Glad you like them.” While they had made up earlier he figured this little extra gesture wouldn’t hurt. 

      “Dinner is ready.” Kali beamed as she led him inside for the second time today. “Why don’t you have a seat at the table while I find something to put these in?” 

     “Oh good, does this mean we can finally eat?” Mara sauntered in from the hallway and Cliff stood to greet her, extending his hand to shake. 

     “Nice to see you again, Mara.” He smiled warmly as she raised a brow, giving him an appraising look before shaking. 

     “Wow, such a gentleman.” 

     “Mar!” Kali called from the kitchen, meeting her best friend’s gaze with a hard look of her own. This was not how she wanted dinner to go.

     “What? It was a compliment.” 

     “Mhm.” She knew Mara well enough to not believe her. Tossing her apron on the counter Kali grabbed a bottle of wine and took a seat at the table as well while Mara began dishing out the main course. A few minutes later everyone had full plates and mouths and the tension that had begun to build was gone. “How was the rest of your day at work?”

     “Fine, nothing too exciting...unlike the morning.” Cliff winked at her and bit back a laugh as Kali’s face tinged red. 

     “So Kali tells me you’re on Team Rocket?” Mara questioned, blatantly ignoring the look Kali shot her. “What do you do there?” 

     “I’m one of three Leaders that report directly to the boss. It’s...like a supervisor.”

     “Wow, sounds like a big deal.” There was definitely more than a bit of snark in Mara’s voice and Kali was half-tempted to kick her friend under the table. 

     “It is.” 

     “Oh?” The look Mara gave Kali said volumes. “Modest as well I see.” 

     “That’s something I’ve never claimed to be.” Cliff joked back, saving Kali from having to scold her best friend for the moment. 

     “More wine? Isn’t this one great?” Kali stood up to refill everyone’s glasses, trying to provide a distraction and hopefully steer the conversation in a different direction but Mara was having none of it.

     “Thanks. So what exactly do you supervise?” 

     “My team of Grunts, day-today operations, makin’ sure what needs to get done gets done.” 

     “Sounds like a lot of responsibility.” 

     “You could say that.” 

     “So what are your intentions with Kali?” 

     “Mara!” This time Kali did kick her under the table. 

     “What!?” 

     While the two friends bickered Cliff couldn’t help but laugh. “Why do I feel like I’m meeting the parents?” 

     “Kali is like a sister to me and I’m basically the closest thing to family she’s got.” Mara responded before Kali could stop her, giving Cliff a firm look as she did so. “I’ve known her longer than anyone so pardon me if I’m a little protective.” 

     “Mara-” Kali began but Cliff’s hand across hers made her pause. 

     “I understand.” The corner of his mouth twitched up with a half smile. “I would probably be the same with anyone that tries to date my sister. But I can promise you, I care a lot for Kali and would never do anything to hurt her.” 

     “Satisfied now?” Kali practically hissed but Mara continued to hold Cliff’s gaze for a long moment. 

     “For now.” She finally replied nonchalantly before downing the rest of her glass and getting up with her empty plate. 

     As soon as she was back in the kitchen Kali mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ to Cliff but he just waved it away, instead opting to bring her hand to his lips making her giggle. 

     “Okay, okay you two love birds get a room.” Mara rolled her eyes as she approached the table, grabbing the bottle of wine off it before heading off to her bedroom. “You’ve got shift tomorrow, don’t forget!” 

     Between the two of them cleanup went quickly, Kali found herself stealing many a glance at him as they did. Not only was he good looking but he also helped out with cleaning up? How did she get so lucky? She found herself wondering as he leaned down to load the last plates into the dishwasher. “You know, it’s not that late. And I think that new superhero movie with Galar Gadot is streaming...if you wanted to stay? I know we both have work in the morning but that just means we would both be-” She was cut off by Cliff pressing his fingers across her lips with a smile. 

     “Sure, doll. I’d like that.” 

     Kali grinned against his hand, taking it with her own and pressing kisses into it before leading him back to her bedroom for the second time that day. Snuggling into bed next to him she started the movie but as exciting as it was Kali found it hard to keep her eyes open. With the warm blankets and Cliff gently stroking her hair she quickly drifted off, not even waking when Cliff shut the movie off and pulled her closer before falling asleep himself.

Part 28 / Part 30

[beyond-the-mirror]

DMC x Pokemon AU - Which pokemon they would choose

So an idea appeared out of nowhere in my head: If Pokemon somehow existed in the DMC universe and pokemon training and battles were officially a thing too, which pokemon would the crew choose as their companions?

For these headcanons, I will give each character two kinds of pokemon: the first one will be a pokemon they would totally choose as a friend and partner for adventure as well as competitive battles, and the other will be one they would keep at their side mostly as a cute or silly companion, whether it’s a baby pokemon or a fully evolved one, it’s one they are really fond of and always look after.

So let’s get started! More bellow the cut because it’s a really long post.

Dante

Ideal partner: Houndoom

He considers Houndoom’s general appearance as cool and badass, of course he would love having a literal hellhound in his team.

If you think about it, they share lots of similarities: The same color palette, the devil motif, the fact that Dante has horns too when in DT or SDT form… it’s as if this pokemon was made with him in mind.

Dante found him when he was a little puppy Houndour. The poor thing was all alone in an alley near his shop and seeing him crying out made his heart ache.

So he brought the little one back home and nursed him. Now he’s a powerful Houndoom who loves nothing more than to fight alongside his trainer. There’s nothing that can stop those too when together.

Silly companion: Alcremie

Obviously.

One reason only: Infinite strawberry sundaes.

That’s it.

Would totally have an entire team made of Alcremies. He wouldn’t even battle or anything. He just wants to enjoy his lifetime supply of strawberry sundaes.

Vergil

Ideal partner: Aegislash

Vergil is a man of the sword, so it’s clear he would choose an Aegislash as his partner.

The first time he spotted this particular Honedge, he knew. He could see the great power dormant in them, so it was a matter of awakening said potential.

He trained them vigorously, making them evolve into a Doublade, and finally, into an Aegislash. To this day, not a single pokemon has managed to defeat them, the only exception being Dante and his Houndoom.

That won’t stop them though. They are both too prideful in their quest for strength and power.

Silly companion: Snom

Yeaaah, this is a weird one. Snom is such a cute baby, maybe this adorableness can melt Vergil’s heart?

It was Dante who gifted his twin a Snom. To quote him: “You’re too grumpy. Maybe this cute little guy can help you ease some of that grumpiness away.”

Wherever he goes, the little baby follows behind. Vergil will never admit this out loud but he does smile at the peaceful sensation his silly friend gives him.

Also imagine him trying to pronounce their name in that nasal voice of his. SHnom. 

V

Ideal partner: Corviknight, Umbreon and Dusknoir

It was a tie between these pokemon since they represent V’s three demon familiars: Griffon, Shadow and Nightmare respectively.

Corviknight may have a playful personality, but during battles he’s dead serious. He’s down right merciless and enjoys tearing apart his foes.

Umbreon is as calm as a housecat, but beware! She is a fierce one and won’t think twice to attack those who step out of line. Even more ruthless than Corviknight.

Dusknoir is as mysterious as the man himself, but V still trusts them and lets them do pretty much their own thing. Despite V never giving them orders, it almost looks as if Dusknoir can understand his thoughts telepathically. No one is sure how the hell he does it though. Quite a mystery indeed.

Silly companion: Mr Rime

Both wear a coat. Both carry a cane. Both love to tap dance. See what I’m getting at?

The first time V spotted a Mr Rime and witnessed their comical moves, he couldn’t help but laugh in endearment.

You will often find them enjoying a nice cup of tea together. They may speak different languages, but somehow they understand each other so perfectly.

When feeling in a dance mood, he and Mr Rime will dance together in perfect harmony and sync. Singin’ in the Rain is their favorite musical btw.

Nero

Ideal partner: Toxtricity

It only made sense to grant our punk boy Nero a punk pokemon like Toxtricity.

Both share an explosive and energetic personality, as well as an identical inclination towards rock and metal music. They especially love taunting their foes by doing an air guitar together.

The way these two fight is absolutely brutal. Do not anger them, you cannot defeat them.

However, despite their looks like they could kill you, they are actually sweet cinnamon rolls in front of the right ones. Pet them, they are good bois after all.

Silly companion: Mankey

Two grumpy bois grumpying around. Don’t talk to them, they are angy.

Kyrie often teases them with how identical they are. They literally share the exact same expression when angry.

Nero says it’s not funny. It is.

Little Mankey only calms down when given pets and cuddles. “Just like you Nero!” she teases again. 

Trish

Ideal partner: Luxray

Step aside everyone. Two bewitching and electrifying devils are coming through.

Trish was new to the world when one day she encountered a Shinx, except their fur was yellow? Wasn’t the fur supposed to be blue??

She took them to Dante and Lady for an explanation. Their eyes widened in complete awe. “Trish… it’s a shiny. You found a shiny!” “…Oh.”

Now the two are an inseparable and lethal duo. Many have made the mistake of challenging them, only to end up battered and humiliated.

Silly companion: Yamper

Just look at this good boi.

A cute pupper? AND with electrical powers?! Trish is so in!

You bet she spoils her Yamper rotten. She particularly adores baby-talking her lovely companion to no end.

“Have you seen my puppy? He’s not lost or anything, I just wanted to show you how awesome he is” Yep. She did this at one point or another. 

Lady

Ideal partner: Inteleon

A couple of ‘Walking Arsenals’ indeed. Ready to take on any challenge they may encounter.

Lady remembers how she met her partner when they were a tiny and shy Sobble. Now that they’ve become such a strong pokemon, Lady feels so proud of their growth.

Extremely resourceful, even in dire situations. Will use all the tools at their disposition to finish their job.

Their sniper skills are unparalleled so you’d better watch out. In a battle of wits, there’s no beating this duo.

Silly companion: Eevee

Lady is such an Eevee fan, her childhood dream was to befriend one and have numerous adventures together.

So when she finally got one many years later, she actually started crying happy tears. (It was a gift from Dante. He figured she deserved a companion after what happened in the Temen-ni-gru incident.)

She spends her free time playing with her adorable Eevee, there’s even a whole collection of toys for their playtime together.

If you happen to have an Evolution Stone with you, DO. NOT. COME. ANY. CLOSER. Lady adores her Eevee just how it is. You have been warned.

Kyrie

Ideal partner: Gardevoir

I personally consider Kyrie as a woman with a righteous heart and a strong sense of justice just like her brother Credo, so it’s no surprise her pokemon partner is actually a Gardevoir.

Mess with them and hoo boy. So you have chosen death.

She and Gardevoir are actually among the strongest teams in the region. In fact, to this day, Nero and his Toxtricity haven’t been able to defeat these two in a pokemon battle.

Do not underestimate these girls. They can and will drag you through the mud if you dare hurt them or their loved ones.

Silly companion: Wooloo

Kyrie melted at the sight of Wooloo. So soft, and adorable, and puffy!

She loves knitting, so they would be perfect to provide her with lots of top quality wool. 

Once during Christmas, she donated handmade sweaters to the children at the local orphanage. Wooloo and her were so happy to help the little ones, they made it a tradition for them to do every year.

The sweaters and scarfs she knits with the help of her friend are actually very fashionable and pretty. Everyone in the crew loves showing theirs off any chance they get.

Nico

Ideal partner: Arcanine

A fire pokemon with majestic fur, excellent speed and an extremely keen sense of smell. Nico knew Arcanine would be a perfect partner to have.

She can count on their powerful fire to melt the metals she needs to forge her weapons. Her works of art have been made possible thanks to them and she could not feel more thankful.

Using their olfactory sense, Arcanine can track and retrieve any demon parts or carcasses which can later be used to create Devil Arms.

Although they are not that interested in competitive battles, they’re still a very strong duo that should not be taken so lightly. 

Silly companion: Rotom

So one day a wild Rotom sneaked into Nico’s van, causing a ruckus everywhere. Despite the disaster, Nico was incredibly fascinated since Rotom sightings are extremely rare.

She befriended the poltergeist pokemon almost right away. She even built a device for them to inhabit (just like Ash’s Rotomdex in the anime).

Now they’re Nico’s very own pokemon assitant! Thanks to her device Rotom can communicate, take pictures and save files and notes, which is perfect for her work.

Also they’re really nice to have a chat with! Just beware the unflattering pics they may take during battles.

Lucia

Ideal partner: Absol

It’s easy to see the similarities between Lucia and her Absol.

With Absol being erroneously blamed for natural disasters and Lucia being an artificial demon her creator labelled as ‘defective’, you could say they both share similar backstories. They felt outcasted by everyone else.

These two are incredibly agile fighters, using graceful and precise moves that prove to be lethal to their foes.

Personality wise they both appear to be stoic and aloof, but they’re actually very kind. They do tend to worry a lot about their friends though.

Silly companion: Espurr

Espurrs are known to constantly try to control and contain their enormous psychic power with all their might. Lucia understands her cute little companion all too well.

Being with each other has helped them both a lot, their shared company feels therapeutic for them.

Also Lucia enjoys cuddling Espurr. They feel so soft like a plushie!

Often have staring contests with each other. They always end with a tie though.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Game Blondes Crystal Clear Nuzlocke Part 1!

“Hey I’m blonde!”

“…I’m also blonde.”

“AND WE’RE THE GAME BLONDES!!”

(Game Blondes Logo by @game-overture)

“…okay so what the heck is this?” Samus stared at the screen with a grumble.”

“Okay so remember when we played that Wonderlocke for Pokemon Y? We’ll be doing something similar here, well YOU’LL be doing something similar here, a Champion playing a pokemon game might be a bit overkill. But essentially this is a romhack of the original Johto games.”

“A romhack? Like AM2R? I love that game!”

“Loved, it’s gone now, but yeah, essentially. So the premise is you can freely roam both the Kanto and Johto regions without any roadblocks or plot to get in the way of getting your badges. Battles scale for your number of badges so you can do everything in any order you want. It’s designed to give the maximum freedom possible with playing the Generation 2 games, we’ll get into some of the specifics later.”

“Hmmm, well I’m already a Champion of the Kalos region from playing Y, so this should be easy now.” Samus cracked her knuckles.

“Yeah well keep in mind the later games are a bit easier, Generations 1 and 2 are where the big boys play. No Mega Evolutions, no Affection bonuses, most gym leaders have more than three pokemon, we’ll see how you do.”

“…way to fill me with confidence…” Samus sighed.

“As far as the rules, same Nuzlocke rules as the Wonderlocke, you can only catch the first pokemon per new area, and anything that faints is dead to you. Only difference between this and the Wonderlocke is there is no Wonder Trade so you get what you get. Might as well start the game though, there’s a tutorial I believe.”

“Alright so you can start with either Kanto or Johto regions, everyone starts with Kanto so I’ll go against the grain and pick Johto. Next is gender… huh, so you can pick whatever sprite regardless of gender, that’s nice. Think I’ll go with the girl and make her blue, sounds good for me.”

“Wow! Look at all these starters!”

(Mun Note: Shuckle is also an option, this pic may be outdated)

“How do I even start to pick?” Samus grumbled.

“Well since you said you want to go against the grain I’d suggest starting with a pokemon that’s not already a starter in any normal game, so that cuts out Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Eevee, Cyndaquil, Totodile and Chikarita.”

“Well Magmar and Electabuzz are pretty cool…”

“True, but they’re also babies. You can’t get their third stage in this game and they’re stuck as babies until they evolve at level 30, until then their stats are pretty trash which isn’t great for a nuzlocke…”

“Hmmm true, so I can probably cut out the babies too…”

“Magikarp, Ditto, Shuckle, Unown and Smeargle are mostly for challenge runs so I wouldn’t advise it…”

“So that leaves Psyduck, Slowpoke, Seel, Growlithe, Houndour, Ponyta, Voltorb and Porygon…”

“Narrowing it down to eight’s not bad.” Cynthia smirked and put her hand on Samus’s shoulder.

“Fuck it, Porygon needs more love after the whole seizure thing. It’s a good balanced pokemon to start off with and should be pretty solid.”

“It does have a good movepool, feel free. Plus it comes with the Amulet Coin to get you more money right off the bat.”

“Porygon it is! My god is this whole episode just going to be us picking our characters? What is this a Dark Souls stream?”

“Not yet anyway.”

“…please don’t scare me like that.” Samus shivered. “Anyway, picking blue for the pokegear and item pack, looks like we finally got to the tutorial… oh god who let this guy be a pokemon professor?”

“What, you’ve never heard of Professor Shockslayer? Shut up, he’s trying to explain the game.”

“So basically what you said about free roaming and stuff scaling with badges, and I can rechallenge gyms if I want too, that’s pretty neat. Some stuff about music settings and shiny rates, that’s all good but not something I need. There’s non-canon secrets tucked away so I’ll have to be on the lookout for those.”

“Some pokemon areas have been shuffled around too so you can obtain all 251 pokemon in some way.”

“Isn’t there like over 1000 pokemon though?”

“This is generation 2, simpler times.”

“Many regular encounters are resettable by beating the Elite Four, good to know but again not something I’ll probably need. And every TM is purchaseable in the TM mart once I get enough badges.”

“Oh yeah, unlike Y TMs aren’t reusable, so you can buy them but they’re one use, sounds like a fair compromise.”

“That doesn’t sound fair to my wallet!” Samus huffed. “Oh! I can have pokemon follow me too, that’s pretty cool! And now we can finally start the game!”

“It’s okay, we’ll make this episode a little longer since we’re just starting out.” Cynthia chuckled, watching Samus dive in.

“Okay so Porygon needs a nickname, I’m thinking… Polly.”

“Polly? You know Porygon are genderless right?”

“Well she identifies as a female okay?”

“Porygon said Trans Rights!”

Samus laughed as she put in the name, shaking her head. “Alright let’s get going~

“So if you have a Porygon named Polly that’s a pokemon, a pocket monster….”

“…don’t say it.”

“Does that make her Polly Pocket?”

“FUCK! Your bad puns are going to get us sued! Lemme just run into this tall grass and shit. Awww look, Polly’s following me, how cute!”

“Anyway the Professor says I need at least one badge before he’ll give me shit, so I’ll just go find some pokemon and start building. …great a Rattata.”

“Hey at least you start with some pokeballs to catch it with.”

“Why do I want a rat!?” Samus growled. “WHAT!? He broke out of the ball twice!? That motherfucking rat get in my balls you little shit!!I only have five pokeballs and I wasted three of them catching a fucking rat!”

“Two pokemon’s always better than one.” Cynthia shrugged.

“I guess… let’s just keep going, what should I name it. It’s purple, so I’ll name it Verde.”

“Verde means green…”

“I’M NAMING IT VERDE!!!” Samus huffed. “Fuck, the very next encounter was a Hoothoot, that would’ve been so much better…”

“Oh hey there’s a route up there, you can try again.”

“Hmmm shit there’s a battle, Polly got two levels from freezing that Ponyta solid, let’s try Verde versus this Pikachu of the same level.”

“…well Verde’s dead.”

RIP Verde:  Lv. 3 – Lv. 3, Route 29- Route 46

“Well that’s great, first battle and I already have a casualty… at least Polly finished it up handily.”

“And this is why we didn’t pick a Baby starter.”

“Oh hey, a Geodude though, that’s a much more useful Pokemon. Alright, a critical hit and a quick capture. It’s a female so what to name it… it’s a female Geodude so “Dudette”.”

“How creative…”

“Are you here to help or make snarky comments?”

“Snarky comments, to much help from a Champion would be cheating.” Cynthia chuckled.

“Well with one dead rat, one living N64 sprite and a boulder, I’ve made it to the next town. I can go anywhere from here huh? I could go back up to Route 46 and see what’s up there or continue from Cherrygrove here along the normal path… let’s keep it safe for now and take the north path, get some more pokemon. I already have one dead pokemon so no time to take risks…”

“Oh wow it’s a Poliwag! That’s really cool for this early on!”

“I love Poliwag! Let’s catch it!” Samus grinned. “Oh fuck thank god, I forgot to buy more balls and Poliwag got in my last one… but that just makes me even more mad that I wasted three balls on a rat that died five minutes later!!”

“Can’t win them all, especially in a Nuzlocke.” Cynthia shook her head.

“Well at least I have a couple good pokemon now, got a good water-type to cover some of my bases. I really need a Town Map though, where’s Gary’s hot-ass sister?”

“…in Kanto.”

“FUCK!”

“Well your map is built into your pokenav now so you’re fine.”

“Good, well anyway lemme name this Poliwag… it’s got a swirl on its tummy, like a spiral, spiral power… Shimon, yeah let’s go with that.”

“Who the hell do you think he is!?”

“Going back to the Mart and getting some more pokeballs and two antidotes, I’ve heard Nuzlocke horror stories about poisoned pokemon, not taking any chances. OH SHIT IT’S YOUNGSTER JOEY! He’s got the best Rattata in the world! I’ve seen the memes.”

“…he sure went down easy.”

“I guess the best Rattata in the world is no match for a lower-tier Geodude.” Samus chuckled nervously. “Alright, next route up, found a Gastly and caught it! Since it’s a Ghost I’ll call him Danny. And let’s see, going into the Dark Cave right now is possible, but going in there blind would be insane, so let’s not do that and just go to Violet City.”

“Well we’ve got a gym in Violet City, this is where Falkner and Sprout Tower are for you to explore.”

“Yeah, but you know what the fun part of this romhack is? FUCK IT! We’re going straight to Goldenrod! Let’s go! Road Trip! Let’s see, got the Rock Smash TM from this dude, onto Route 35, got a Drowzee, naming it Yume~”

“Yume huh? Doesn’t that mean Dream?”

“Yup! I know some of my languages and stuff!” The bounty hunter giggled. “Got a Spinarak on Route 36 and named it Peter. Man I am just burning through this routes, though feels like I’m running in circles. Oh hey, this dude gave me a Magnet cause it’s Sunday!”

“We’re recording this at like 11:45pm so you almost missed that by like 15 minutes…”

“Well got a Hoothoot on Route 37, named Hooters of course. I planned to go to Goldenrod but I’m in Ecruteak now, such is the nature of Road Trips.”

“You have no idea where you’re going and you have a fucking map, open world exploration was a terrible idea for someone like you…” Cynthia sighed.

“Well wherever I’m going I found the National park and caught a Psyduck named Headahce.”

“Watching you burn through this game with no regard to story and just catching things left and right is hurting my heart…”

“Hey who’s this guy feeding the ducks in the national park? DOOM? That doesn’t sound like a normal name… This must be one of those non-canon secrets the tutorial was talking about… does he have a super strong pokemon that’s gonna take my team out?”

“Only one way to find out…”

“Apparently if I lose I have to pay for his lunch. He says he only has Ponyta… HOLY SHIT HE HAS A SHINY PONYTA!!”

“I can’t catch that right?”

“That would be stealing.”

“FUCK! I want it! It’s a blue flaming horse! That shit’s so cool! It’s not very strong though… he says he’ll pay for my lunch instead now and there’s a place in Goldenrod he goes to for lunch… guess that’s where we’re going next! We’ll go to Goldenrod after all!”

“Better go stop off at Ecruteak again to heal up before you go, you’ve walked like halfway across Johto and you’ve only been playing an hour, this is fucking with my head.”

“Alright, gonna make a pit stop and then we’re heading to Goldenrod to check out this restaurant… NEXT TIME ON GAME BLONDES!”

Samus’s Journey So far:

Samus’s Current Team:

[naberiie]

Type Advantages

A  Pokémon x Campaignverse fic, 2.2k for @evaceratops ‘s birthday! Happy birthday Eva, I love you! 💌 Ft. appearances from Volya [ @leopoldjamesfitz ], Misi/Tip/literally every single trooper[ @mandowo ] and Brider [ @stxrduste ]! Special shoutout to @mandowo for helping me figure out everyone’s Pokémon 😄

It wasn’t her fault, really. How was she supposed to have known that Azlin’s Cacturne apparently had a deathly fear of Fairy type Pokémon? And how was she supposed to have known that her Eeevee, Cannoli, had been so close to evolving into a Sylveon, of all things?

Jedi Shadow Azlink Eko and civilian archivist Amaranth Elsheva stood on opposite ends of their room, staring and frowning at the scene before them. Ama was in the cabin, by the bunk she’d claimed as hers – Misi had said they were staying in what had been marked as the nat-born officers’ rooms, but he hadn’t explained why they weren’t already occupied – and Azlin was standing outside the door, arms crossed, behind the cowering dark green scarecrow Pokémon.

Ama’s Sylveon was sitting on the console table in the center of the room, his ribbons slowly twisting in midair and looking entirely too pleased with himself at the Cacturne who was refusing to even think about taking a single step over the threshold. Azlin’s beautiful Absol was lazily curled up on her bunk, watching the scene with lazy interest.

They’d been at this standoff for the better part of fifteen minutes.

“That’s just Cannoli, you big dummy,” Azlin said, poking Cacturne in between its gigantic thorns. “You already know him, remember? We’ve been sharing the room with them for a week now, he’s just evolved now, it’s the same old Cannoli in new colors, that’s all.”

Ama’s lekku twitched with tiredness. “I’m really sorry, Az – I could see if Brider or Volya wanted to switch rooms with me-”

The Keshian Jedi was already shaking her head. “Nah, don’t be ridiculous. We’re not in a battle scenario right now and Cacturne knows that,” she poked it again in between its spikes. “It knows Cannoli. We just need to, I don’t know. Remind it?” She jerked her chin towards her Absol, also a Dark type. “Absol isn’t reacting like this, and she’s also a Dark type. Cacturne’s just being a big baby.”

Cacturne rumbled in mild offense, but still refused to budge over the threshold to the cabin.

Ama nodded, and from Azlin’s bunk, Absol gave a huge, overdramatic yawn.

“Yeah, me too,” Ama said, and fished out a Poké Puff (matcha flavored, Cannoli ’s favorite) from her bag. She tore it into three pieces and gave one to Absol, who all but inhaled it and tried to lick her face as thanks. Ama laughed and wiped her cheek as she held out the other piece to the stubborn Cacturne in front of her, and to her smug Cannoli behind her. “Come on, you guys are friends, right?”

Something told her Cannoli was only all too pleased to finally have some power of his own for once, but he chirped an assent all the same and tried to sneak the Poké Puff piece from her hands.

She’d started the day with an Eevee, but had ended it with a Sylveon.

EARLIER THAT DAY

Ama lifted her legs so that Cannoli and Jedi Knight Volya Doneeta’s Eevee could wrestle each other without bumping into her as she and the other Twi’lek chatted over their dinner, featuring fusion Twi’lek and Mandalorian dishes and taste palettes. Ama, Popper, and Flimsi had spent the better part of the day experimenting in the Mercurial’s kitchens, and judging from the happy conversations of the troopers around them, they’d managed to pull it off well.

As per usual, the Mercurial was stuffed to the rafters with the 439th’s Pokémon. At first, the presence of so many Ghost-types had made Ama shiver, but as she tried to coax General Misi’s Mimikyu to take a tiny piece of Poké Puff, she realized they hadn’t spooked her (literally – Virus’ Rotom had leapt out of her holopad the first full day on the ship and almost made her throw it across the room) in quite some time.

Mimikyu took the Puff with a ghostly tendril and Ama beamed at it before it scurried back up onto Misi’s shoulder.

The ship was a delightfully chaotic mess of troopers, Jedi, the lone civilian, and all of their Pokémon. Most had two or three, and while they had presumably been caught in a Pokéball of some sort, neither Ama or Azlin – who shared quarters – had seen a Pokéball since they’d arrived on board. The troopers all let their Pokémon wander freely, and soon enough, the librarians and Shadow had followed suit. Azlin’s sleek, silent Absol wandered the halls alone, and Ama’s tiny Comfrey had taken to settling on people’s heads for a few minutes at a time, for no other reason than to say hello. Ama scanned the mess and found it on Zero’s mass of bright purple hair as they begged Null to take their picture, who was rolling her eyes fondly, even as she lifted the camera and leaned back to get a better angle.

Cannoli hopped onto Ama’s lap, and she gave him a fond little scratch behind his huge perky ears. He chirruped happily at her, jumped up on the table, licked her nose – and then Cannoli started to glow. Ama had just enough time to cock her head and frown before the entire mess hall was overtaken in a blinding flash of brilliant white and bright blue light.

Ama yelped in surprise and threw her arms over her eyes as the light drowned all conversations and people scrambled to do the same.

When she opened her eyes to peer through her fingers, a Pokémon with giant pink ears, huge baby blue eyes, and a delicate pink-and-white bow was staring at her where her Eevee had just been. It whistled happily at her, and then the hall exploded into chaos.

Azlin’s Cacturne, which had investigating a Poffin in Burn’s hand, gave a shrill cry and backed away quickly from the new Fairy type, and all of the Dark, Fighting, and Dragon Pokémon in the room did the same. They took to the air, cawing and shrieking in confusion and apprehension, while Ama just stared at her new Pokémon, stunned.

The only Pokémon that didn’t react was Trooper.

The Houndoom picked its head up from its paws from where it had been lying at Half-Arc’s feet and, as the various other doubly-vulnerable types in the mess kicked up a shrill cacophony of shrieks and calls, Trooper stood, stretched lazily, and ambled over to the table where Ama’s new Sylveon was busily preening himself. Trooper easily sidestepped the smaller Pokémon scampering around his feet, tiny potato-shaped Houndour M’ika included (tripping over its paws in its attempts to keep up with the older Pokémon), and put its nose on the table in front of Cannoli , deep red eyes focused intently on the new form sitting calm and unconcerned with the hurricane that he had started.

Cannoli ’s huge eyes were now entirely a light baby blue, almost the exact same color as Voy, who was trying to help Azlin with her spooked Cacturne.

The Sylveon stopped preening and its new ribbons flicked out gently over Trooper’s snout and horns, before Cannoli stepped closer to the edge of the table and both Pokémon sniffed each other curiously. After a moment, the old Houndoom sat back on its haunches and Cannoli leapt nimbly to the floor to rub fondly up against the Dark Pokémon. M’ika yipped happily and all but threw its dense little body against Cannoli, too, much to the delight of Houndoom-the-trooper, who had moved from the other table to sit next to Ama and watch the interaction between the two Dark types and the brand-new Fairy.

Houndoom dug out a treat from his belt pouch and gave on to both Trooper and M’ika. “Good job, you two,” he said happily, obviously very pleased with the more-or-less calm reactions his Pokémon were having to the sudden appearance of a super-effect Fairy type.

When he caught sight of Ama’s morose, guilt-ridden face, Houndoom-the-trooper laughed again, not unkindly. He patted her shoulder and said, “Congratulations on the evolution, neverd’ika. Isn’t there a Dark-type gym somewhere near your level on Coruscant? Bet you could absolutely kick the Gym Leader’s as- uh, butt, now,” Houndoom said, quickly covering the curse as Misi’s young Padawan, Tip, raced by, chasing after their Toxicroak and Tyrogue.

Ama winced and called after them, “Sorry, Tip…!”

The vibrant bright blue and red Nautolan waved as they raced down the next row of scattered benches, panting a little as they called back to her, “S’okay!”

Ama sank back to the bench and rubbed her cheek, watching Cannoli and M’ika as they started to play around the extremely calm Trooper, who had settled back down and seemed to be sleeping again.

Well, at least they’re getting along.

Ama was caught between furiously apologizing to the upended, chaotic mess and pride at this unexpected evolution. A Sylveon!

Misi was just laughing as the troopers of the 439th and Azlin struggled to get their spooked Pokémon under control, laughing so hard he almost fell out of his seat. “Excellent fuckin’ timing, ‘Sheva,” he crowed with delight, wiping his eyes but breaking out in fresh peals of laughter when he caught sight of Azlin trying to pull her Cacturne from the corner. The giant, dark green cactus scarecrow was staring distrustfully at the tiny pink-and-white Sylveon where there had only been a non-threatening Eevee just moments before.

Misi’s Mimikyu was sitting on his shoulder, its false stuffed head lolling against Misi’s as it stared down at Trooper and Cannoli, and then, with a graceful little leap, it floated down to the floor like a leaf on the wind to join the investigation party. M’ika cheerfully yipped again, but Mimikyu simply slipped over the little puppy Pokémon and came to a stop in front of Cannoli. The corners of the old Pikachu disguise waved slightly, and then one of Mimikyu’s ghostly tendrils reached out to touch Cannoli ’s pink-and-white-and-blue ribbons.

Brider – her tiny Joltik centered squarely on the top of her head, gently clicking its mandibles together – leaned down to look at Cannoli, giving him her hand to sniff. “I didn’t know you had taught Cannoli a Fairy-type move, Ama! He’s gorgeous.”

Cannoli purred at her, sitting up taller in pride – until M’ika bowled into him and knocked him askance. Numbly, Ama remembered that she’d taught Cannoli the move Charm not too long ago. It had gotten him out of trouble more times than she could count; he hadn’t been a particularly strong Eevee, because she’d never had the time to train him properly. “I didn’t even realize he was going to evolve…”

That just made Misi start laughing all over again, and even though Azlin now had a thoroughly spooked Cacturne on her hands, she smiled at Cannoli too.

Ama was immensely relieved that the intimidating Shadow wasn’t mad at her.

That might all change now, though, as they were nearly twenty-five minutes of Cacturne refusing to enter the room.

Cannoli’s smugness was obviously starting to wear down. He hopped nimbly off the console table – Absol didn’t even open her eyes from Azlin’s bed – and took a cautious step towards Cacturne, who immediately froze and gave Cannoli its most intimidating look.

Azlin sighed. “Normally I’d either suggest going into your Pokéball, but I think that’s last resort, or I’d suggest that you’re free to wander the ship – but I don’t want to accidentally terrify anyone who was coming around a corner. Hm…”

Cannoli gave a curious little whistle, and Ama got an idea. “Wait – I think I might have a brown lekku scarf somewhere…” She gave Absol the rest of the Puff, wiped her fingers, and pointed to the console table. Cannoli leapt up obediently.

As Azlin and her terrified Cacturne watched, Ama dug through her not-insignificant lekku scarf supply, until she held up a deep earthen scarf high up in triumph. Cannoli made a face at the color – and Ama couldn’t exactly blame him, now that he had such beautiful pink, blue, and white fur – but she wrapped it carefully around his little frame anyways. “I know it won’t hide his new type, but it might make Cacturne feel better if he didn’t look so obviously a Fairy type-”

No sooner had she stepped back did Cacturne bowl straight into the room. Azlin laughed in surprise as Cacturne made straight for Absol, trying to steal the last bites of Poké Puff from her. Cannoli sat heavily on his haunches, but when Ama produced a matcha Puff just for him, he seemed to forgive her the egregious error of such a bland-colored scarf.

“Unorthodox, but it works,” Azlin commented happily as she separated Absol and Cacturne. “We’ll work on it more, so Cannoli doesn’t have to always wear that. He shouldn’t have to, but apparently-” one last fond pat on Cacturne’s pointed head, “-this one’s a bit of a ‘fraidy cat.”

Ama laughed and gestured to Cannoli, who was happily working his way through the treat, “Well, who wouldn’t be terrified of this little guy?”

As if on cue, Cannoli gave a ferocious little growl to the Puff between his paws, and Azlin threw her head back and laughed, and Ama couldn’t help but laugh, too.

[jelanisaeed]

Round 3: VS Shadow Salazzle - Legends Part 3

Chapter 3! Probably the best change I've made lol. Not only will be seeing more of Paxton but Turquoise as well. And a little twist. I'll get into timelines later down the road but I'm taking some liberties with source material as you can tell. It's definitely set in the future from the Pokemon Adventures manga, but I'm implementing game-related topics that weren't touched upon. I hope they will be though! I'd love to see what the writers will do with it!

Now, this chapter was also inspired by the Calling All Lovers album by Tamar Braxton. Most notably, Never. That song is so beautiful and powerful.

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

…

Pokémon Adventures: Turquoise, Jasper, & Ammolite

Round 3: VS Shadow Salazzle – Legends Part 3

Location: Lake Verity Date: August 4th , 3000 Time: 8:00pm

Fire had never been Paxton's friend. Not just because his team comprised of bug and grass types. It went deeper than that. Flames destroyed everything in their path. What remained could never be salvaged. Much like his home. Destroyed in the blaze, many remembered. They forgot, however, that he sat inside his room when the flames ran rampant.

For as long as he remembered, Paxton loathed flames. And these flames were no different. Regardless of the beautiful pokémon it came from. Those purple flames killed all it touched. And left the air reeking of a foul aroma. Thank Arceus he stumbled away when he did.

He stood before the sultry beast and bit his lip. His pokémon weren't far. All they needed was one opening to tip the scales. Times like this made him wish for a battle notebook. Maybe he should start compiling one…

"A Shadow Pokémon."

Ah shit. That freak from Lake Verity stood behind him. Horrified with his mouth agape. No ugly bug in sight, though. Instead, a cute little penguin stood at his feet. A piplup if he remembered right. Lucky freak, Paxton snorted. Still, everything about him seemed different. Down to his outfit. Could have passed for a ranger if he had not traded the orange for blue. Or tied that dumb bandanna across his forehead. What a weirdo.

"Get outta here," Paxton grounded out. The lizard hissed as purple flames danced across its scales. "It's dangerous!"

The lizard spat a gout of purple flames. This time, though, Paxton was ready. He leaped aside and threw a few pebbles at it. Didn't do much but annoy it. An easy distraction for Kiri. She jumped out of the foliage and unleashed a spiraling barrage of leaves onto it.

"You're up, Mitsu!" His vespiquen flew down from above and raked her claws against it. It winced. Mitsu continued her onslaught. Only to fly back when it retaliated with a burst of purple flames. "Yeah, that's the way!"

Kiri went in to join the fight. Just when a fireball smashed into her back! She stumbled right into a tail slap from the lizard, leaving her sprawling against the grass.

"Kiri! The hell was—"

"—That pokémon is a salazzle." Weirdo interjected, walking over with a strange handheld in his grasp. "She called for help."

For help? The hell was this weirdo talking—

From the bushes, a pair of strange pokémon emerged. Like pre-evolved versions of that lizard—salazzle or whatever. Each with a pair devious grins as they spat more fireballs at Kiri's back. "Where did they come from?" Mitsu flew in for another strike when another lizard took the strike inside. And that salazzle headbutted Mitsu away. "How?"

"Salazzle attracts male salandits with her pheromones." Weirdo stated, glancing at his handheld. "They do anything for her."

That explains it. Still, there had to be a countermeasure for this. Maybe if he sent out another pokémon—Gama could divert their efforts!

"If we wanna defeat Salazzle, we'll hafta handle her cronies!" Snatching some cool luxury balls off his belt, Weirdo threw two pokémon into battle with a cry of "Shine on!" A shinx and starly appeared in a burst of light and smoke. The duo rushed the salandits, knocking them away from Kiri. "These pokémon aren't native to Sinnoh so they shouldn't be much more of them. Nor should they be that tough."

And he was right. They collapsed quickly and only three more came to replace them. Not like the houndour packs that loved ambushing trainers.

He's pretty smart, Paxton mused. Still a weirdo though.

"Now, we gotta keep it from dealin' damage! Reuno, Motha!" He summoned two more pokémon. This time, that ugly bug rushed into battle, Followed by…a floating head? Gross! What was with this guy and ugly pokémon? "Reuno, raise our defensives! Motha, knock her around!"

Pulses of light surged around their pokémon. And the fireballs looked smaller than before. Kiri withstood them long enough to knock out a salandit with a swing of her scythes. The starly and shinx followed suit and took out the last two without trouble. Even Mitsu managed to shrug off a gout of purple fire and slash the lizard!

Must be Light Screen. A wave of colorful energy slammed into the salazzle and it shrieked. An easy opening for Mitsu to score another Slash. And that had to be Psybeam.

They had a good momentum going. Hit and run tactics mainly. Even with the Light Screen, Salazzle proved dangerous. With vicious slashes with its tail, it kept them at bay. And breathed toxic flames when it felt necessary. Paxton knew the stat boost wouldn't matter for long. They needed to finish this fast.

"I'm outta ideas," Paxton confessed, stealing a glance at the weirdo. Even he looked concerned as sweat beaded his brow. "Got a plan?"

Weirdo bit his lip. "Kinda. We're outmatched so we can't muscle it down."

"You called it something. A Shadow Pokémon. What do you mean by that?"

Weirdo shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to tell. Shadow Pokémon have dark auras and closed hearts."

Paxton pursed his lips. He had heard about them before. Off in a distant region, there had a rise of them. Maybe a decade or two ago. Hard to believe someone would continue such monstrous practices.

"So, what do we do?"

"I could stun her…" Weirdo glanced at his piplup. It hadn't joined in the fight yet, but something told him it wanted to. Had to be the angered gleam in its eyes. "But I needa touch her."

…Forget that, this man lost his mind! How did he think that would happen? Their pokémon kept that lizard at bay, but that didn't save them from danger. Those purple flames scorched much of tall grass and drove off many of the wild pokémon. Powerful tail slashes severed trees and even stuck a few pokémon. Getting in close wouldn't be that simple.

"Let's say I agree with this dumbass plan of yours," he began slowly as his fingers danced at his belt. Push come to shove, he had Gama. "How would this work?"

"Same tactics," Weirdo stated and shared a nod with his piplup. "We just gotta douse her a bit."

Douse her—Salazzle hissed and pinned down that ugly bug. Would've taken her out had the floating head not blasted it with a strange pulse of heated energy. "Right, is that supposed to be easy?" Mitsu dove in but it knocked her down with another slash of its tail. "We're getting our asses handed to us."

His starly and shinx were the first knocked out. Burned by the purple flames at close range. Kiri fell soon after. Poor girl—the second battle she lost today.

"Not, but nothin' ever is." His piplup rushed into the battle with loud chirps. Salazzle swung its tail, but Piplup side-stepped and circled it. With each step, blue feathers fluttered through the air and Salazzle hissed. "Empola, keep the Feather Dance going!"

Paxton sighed. Well if that's the case. Bomie the budew jumped out of his heal ball and hopped in place.

"Bomie! Water Sport!"

A burst of water rained down and Salazzle's flames sizzled. Their pokémon took advantage and blasted it, but it still stood tall through it.

"Everyone, back up!" Weirdo barked and the pokémon back up. All except for his piplup with glowed in blue light. "Empola! Water Pledge!"

A wave of crystal blue cascaded onto Salazzle and it screamed! And Weirdo rushed into in. Just as the wave splashed off the lizard's skin, he went and pushed his hand on her forehead. It…don't look like much to him. But it made the lizard hack and hiss. Soon it stumbled away, gasping for air as the flames died around it.

"Run!" Gathering his piplup, Weirdo took off. And Paxton followed suit.

This is the weirdest day ever!

…

Finally, they made it a good distance away. Drenched in sticky sweat none the less. Still, Turquoise claimed this as a victory. Thank Master Doryu for the extensive training. Never thought it would pay off, but…

I needed it, he frowned and took a glance at his team. Only Empola stood battle-ready, but even she had her limits. The last attack draining her plenty. Gotta get to Sandgem Town soon.

"Hey, um…" Stranger spoke up for the first time since the night. Eyes low as he hugged his budew close. Until the soft night sky, Turquoise couldn't tell if tears accompanied the sadness the teen felt. "I gotta tell you something."

His vespiquen nodded, even shoved his shoulder. Stranger flinched but didn't make a retort. Turquoise expected as much. Rude or not, this trainer cared for his pokémon. And even valued their opinions. Not a sentiment many shared. Turquoise saw many trainers who berated their teammates and sent them into losing battles. All for poorly thought out dreams of grandeur. What a waste.

"I'm sorry…for calling you a weirdo and freak and stuff." Stranger started. Their eyes met and his emerald eyes shined through the darkness. "Thank you for helping me back there."

"Hehe, no problem." Turquoise grinned. "I'm sorry Motha attacked you like that."

"Yeah…well, I should introduce myself properly then. I'm Paxton Lotus of Floaroma Town."

Paxton Lotus…it suited him. From his short green coils to his emerald eyes. Even his outfit. A simple white t-shirt paired with dark green joggers and heavy brown gardening boots. Even his brown belt with its full array of heal balls and a green leaf buckle. A true trainer from the town of flowers.

And a cute guy.

"Nice to meetcha!" Turquoise blushed but hold out his hand. "I'm Turquoise Yukule of Twinleaf Town!" They shook hands, and the sensation flooded Turquoise with joy. A new friend! Finally! "Newest Pokédex Holder of Sinnoh."

"Wait, what?!"

Turquoise laughed and withdrew his pokédex. It started up, running through a burst of code he couldn't hope to understand. Before long, it faded into a smiling picture of him from his graduation. Back when he had his hair braided in cornrows.

"Porygon Pokédex Model 1," a computerized voice started up, "belonging to Turquoise Yukule of Twinleaf Town. If lost, please return to Professor Kapok of Ancient Island or Professor Rowan of Sandgem Town."

"Surprised, huh? All thanks to your package!"

Without it, Turquoise feared he would never leave. But now, he stood tall beyond the safety of home. Ready to take the world by storm.

…

Sooo, how'd y'all like it? I'm getting better with fight scenes, but not perfect yet. Still, I enjoyed writing this one.

In the previous version, it was a Shadow Absol, but then I was like...symbolism! Think of the symbolism! And thus came Shadow Salazzle and her pesky Salandits! Just wanna say Salazzle is one of my favorite pokemon introduced in Sun and Moon. I used her on my first Moon playthrough and chileeeee, perfect! I had to bring her back and it was so much fun to write!

I did my best to keep it very Pokemon Adventures. I recently reread the Gold, Silver and Crystal Chapter and was inspired by the scene where the Masked Man's Houndour called for a pack against Lt. Surge. I felt like I needed to keep my fights with that kind of veil rather than thinking about it in the style of the anime.

Initially, during the fight, I was gonna have Vespiquen and Salazzle have a rivalry, but think I realized I couldn't😢😭 If only Vespiquen knew Attack Order. Butttt, who's to say she won't be back?

And yup, Shadow Pokemon! They're gonna be very important to this series, don't you worry. And another one too! Once I finally get to it lol.

Oh! And I added a new pokemon to Turquoise's team! I feel like an Empath needs a psychic type, but I didn't wanna do ralts lol. Soooo, we got Solosis instead! Great because it fits him stats-wise and personality-wise.

Now, we're done with Turquoise and Paxton for now! Time to move onto the next Sinnoh Dex Holder! He's probably a new favorite of mine. I definitely didn't know what I was doing with him when I first made him, but now he's awesome.

As always, feel free to review or PM me with your opinions!

[the-story-of-six]

CHARACTER REF MASTERPOST

I’m rewriting this character sheet because there’s a lot of information that is incorrect and outdated

This newer version will be much more accurate and, “clean,” so here we go

(Note: All character ages are respective to their own biology and are not necessarily in “human” years, but rather their own)

Warning this is long as fuck:

Iris

Top image by @bloodsbane, bottom image by @s-s-sidje

Species: Lucario

Gender: Female

Height: 5′8

Age: 22

Backstory: It is estimated that around several thousand years ago, living within the dense mountains of the Sinnoh region, there lived a clan of highly intelligent and highly spiritual Lucarios. Several documents have been uncovered containing various ancient writings, scraps of intact objects pulled from the earth, and the wildly speculated theories crafted by the researchers who left their work behind. it’s believed that this group of Lucarios functioned much like Native Americans or forgotten Mayan civilizations, having perhaps hundreds of thousands of prayers, rituals, and ceremonies to honor their great god Arceus, who they begged to protect them from the horrors of the world that threatened to annihilate them.

There were murals all over the walls depicting Arceus, an immensely holy figure of light and salvation, coming down from the heavens to personally bestow upon the members of this dying civilization a gift. This blessing took the form of a trait that was passed down from generation to generation, but only ever revealed itself in an individual when the clan was under threat, when they burst from the shadows to vanquish the wicked. Ancient script characterizes the receiver of the gift by having a fully blue-colored retina in one eye that, when using aura powers of any kind, glows bigger and brighter while releasing large amounts of physical aura into the air. The reason for this is speculated to be because their powers had so much intensity, combined with a huge quantity of aura being sucked in all at once, that they actually needs a way to “vent” the excess aura from the veins in their body or else they may literally explode from the inside.

It’s believed that their ability to sense and manipulate aura has been heightened to the extent where they can peer into the subconscious mind of other living beings, being able to see and understand everything that they do, or plan on doing, allowing the user to predict an opponent’s every move before they even make it. It can also be used to see things from their perspective on a personal level, making it a great tool for resolving conflicts or even practicing therapy. This ability was given the name, “Ōraai” (translated to mean, “Aura Eye”).

After thousands of years since the last Lucario of this clan showed any trace of existing, an abandoned egg was discovered in a cave high atop the mountains, suspiciously close to the ruins of the collapsed civilization. The egg was taken back to a PokeCenter where it was identified as being a Riolu, so a fighting-type trainer volunteered to take it to Iron Island to attempt to train it, or find somebody that could.

Basically I picked her up after visiting the island and hatched her, and we formed an instantaneous bond. As a Riolu she was hyperactive, curious, playful, and eagerly determined to get strong.

In her later years, she became a tournament fighter. She took to it with a huge amount of enthusiasm and it became her passion. It was right after a tournament battle that she had won when she finally evolved… blue light shot from her in all directions across the stadium, and she said that her mind was instantaneously filled with knowledge beyond her comprehension, her body given unimaginable strength that allowed her to push her body further than she biologically should be able to, and she believes that she even heard the voice of Arceus himself, calling out to her, giving her advice from beyond the heavens above. What he said to her, though, she prefers not to tell anyone.

She was changed forever, in every sense of the word. Her personality had done a 180, and she’s now completely calm, collected, barely shows any sign of emotion at all and hardly speaks, she usually just hangs out around the house thinking to herself or meditating.

On the inside, though, she mostly still has those same emotions that she did when she was younger. She uses her outward appearance to disguise any weaknesses she may have, and give off a sense of professionalism to those around her. She strives to be a figure of authority to keep some form of control over the ragtag group of Pokemon she calls her team. However, as much as she anchors the team to the ground, she isn’t the “true” leader, because that title was already taken by another group member that had been there before her, but she tries to be a solid second in command.

Iris has never met her parents, or even heard of her clan, other than reading up on it’s history as well as hearing it from fellow Lucarios that notice her eye, but she desperately longs to understand more about where she came from and who she is. She’s determined to find her family out there, no matter how far she has to travel.

She’s like the mother of the group, using her knowledge and psychological skills to keep everyone working together. Though she isn’t the official leader, she still plays an important role.

Valentia

Image drawn by @emthimofnight

Species: Houndoom

Gender: Female

Height: 4′8

Age: 22

Backstory:  Valentia has had… quite a rough upbringing as far as growing up goes. She was born into an overcrowded pack of her species, and they began to run low on resources because of the population density. The food needed to be distributed evenly among the other members because everyone needed to survive, however due to a their naturally aggressive nature, coupled with the lack of any sort of leader or alpha, it caused total anarchy. Many fights broke out among the pack members as some tried to steal from others, others tried to steal it back, and it kept going in circles until one had been knocked out or worse.

Eventually, a large group of other Houndours and Houndooms, led by Valentia (then a Houndour) and her girlfriend, hatched a plan to get exactly what they wanted. They formed a rebellion and began to fight their way through the others to secure the only food supply and wrangle control of the whole pack, and actually succeeded in doing so. They would horde the food for themselves, attacking anyone who got near their stockpile, letting the small group have more to survive while leaving the rest of the pack weak and starving. They would even force the other pack members to act as servants in exchange for a scrap of food.

It was going good for Valentia, up until the point where she had let her guard down…  

Her girlfriend, the only person on the planet that she had ever put any trust in at all, was plotting a takeover. She was playing her the whole time and she didn’t even know it until it was too late. Valentia sat with her partner so they could both revel in the victory they had worked so hard for, but suddenly a blow caught her eye, sending her flying off the the side like a discarded piece of trash. She had quite a one-sided fight with the only one she had ever loved, and was beaten down harder than she had ever been in her life. She lost her place, and was then cast out from the pack, never to return.

She was forced to wander alone, and as the days grew by her anger grew more and more in intensity, consuming almost her entire being as each hour rolled past that she had to think about her fall from power… her wound permanently embedding the memory into her mind. Every time it pulsed with pain she would think of what had happened, and it would eat at her very soul. She lusted for the power she once had, and she felt the pain and agony of betrayal, and it drove her nearly mad because she wanted to get it back as soon as she could. She began to plot her revenge, her attempt to burst back into the territory and slaughter the one who did this to her, to slaughter the one she once called a friend.

Unfortunately for her, she got caught, and it pretty much completely ruined her plans.

Every day she wants to mutiny and go back for her revenge, each adventure to each gym and each region making her stray further and further from where she once called home, from her mortal enemy, but Iris knows that she cannot do this and tries to urge her to think differently. Valentia just blocks out anything she doesn’t want to hear and continues to let her rage boil up inside of her like a volcano, ready to explode.

She’s a menace in combat and she has a bloodlust that cannot be quenched until she defeats the one who did this to her, so every battle she enters is her way of getting stronger to prepare for that encounter that she one day will have, and she longs for it greatly…

Jay

Top mage drawn by @thegirlwiththememes, bottom image by @bloodsbane

Species: Luxray

Gender: Male

Height: 4′2

Age: 19

Backstory: Jay grew up in a pride that was almost entirely hostile towards him, as he turned out to be the runt of the litter and was deemed weak by the other Shinxes who bullied and battered him daily. He was picked on, kicked around, and insulted for reason he could not control, and it made him heavily depressed.

The only person that could bring him back up again as his caring mother, who he looked up to and admired for being so kind to him despite what other people said. She would tell him that he was just as strong as the others and that one day he’d be the strongest of them all, and she would always lift him up high even when he felt so low most days. His mother was the only one who loved him and respected him, and the only way for him to deal with his problems in life.

Until one day, she died.

And it nearly made him lose his mind.

He had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, no one to bring him happiness or to motivate him to do anything, and his suffering only grew worse with the others’ continued teasing.

He learned that to survive this, he had to completely close himself up, lock away his feelings where nobody would ever get to them. He trapped himself inside a bubble of his own anger and sadness and would lash out at anyone who tried to penetrate it. His true self was kept hidden by a wall of hatred built to keep out those who sought only to do him harm.

And for the most part it kept the bullies at bay, until one day somebody said something very… unkind about his mother…

Needless to say, the actions he took that day gave him the boot from his pride, leaving him even more alone than before. He wandered helplessly through the region, with nobody by his side telling him where to go, what to do, or to even continue living. He had abandoned almost all hope until one day a Pokeball rolled up beside him while he was sleeping…

He still has wounds from his time spent as a punching bag, and each time he feels them he has horrible, traumatizing memories of his past. He still acts like he hates the world and everything in it, and sleeps most of the time not wanting to be bothered. He gets annoyed by most things and generally tries to isolate himself as much as possible. Valentia especially makes it difficult for him due to her constant harassment. He tries to hide the fact that her wounds cut deep, but Valentia can sense she’s damaging him in some way.

Iris can see what’s happening, what he went through, how he truly feels, and she wants to help.

She wants to open him back up to the world little by little, and she’s extremely determined to do so. She has talks with him in times of need, she fends off Valentia when she jumps on him, and bit by bit Iris is starting to chip away at the outer shell Jay made for himself to keep himself safe. She wants to show him that he doesn’t have to suffer anymore, and to enjoy life again.

Jay is starting to see her as the mother he once lost, and that’s why little by little he lets her in…

Scythe

Image drawn by @bittergreys

Species: Staraptor

Gender: Female

Height: 6′6

Age: Somewhere in her teens but nobody knows for sure, not even Iris knows

Backstory: It was wintertime in Sinnoh, and a family of Staraptors and newly-hatched Starlys were ready to take flight. However, one single egg had refused to hatch, right on the brink of hibernation. The family waited, and waited, and waited to leave just to see if they young one would hatch, but it never did, so to save themselves and their other children, the family took off.

However, moments later, the egg just happened to crack open, and out popped a young Starly.

She only got a brief glimpse of her family in the distance before they disappeared from her life forever, never to be seen again.

She waited, and waited, and waited for her family to remember her and come back for her, but they never showed up. She was unable to fly at the time (since nobody taught her how) so she survived by feeding on other bug Pokemon that were unfortunate enough to climb up the tree.

Each day she sat in the nest, alone, she grew more and more angry. She knew no other feelings besides that, and she didn’t even know what she was feeling, but she was born with the knowledge that family is supposed to stick close together and care for eachother.

So why didn’t they care for her? Why did they just up and leave without even saying goodbye? Why did they leave her here all by herself? Did she do something wrong? Did they not love her?

All these questions and more flooded into her mind, and as the years passed by she grew into a sociopath who hated absolutely everyone and everything.

She knew nothing about the world, how to speak, how to fight, she just knew hatred, and that’s all there is in her mind. She spends most of her time sitting absolutely still like a statue, frozen with a look of anger permanently plastered on her face, attacking anyone who comes near with furious pecks (the only attack she knows).

Of course, like all of those on this list, she was caught, and everyone is literally fucking terrified of her.

(Except Baldwin of course)

The only one who truly understands her is Iris, but as much as she tries to get through to her there’s a huge language barrier keeping her from communicating correctly. She knows what the problem is, she wants to help as much as she can, but Scythe is literally dumb as bricks and doesn’t understand speech because nobody taught her, so it’s gonna be a long road to recovery for her it seems…

Baldwin

Species: Empoleon

Gender: Male

Height: 5′3

Age: 34

Backstory: Okay so you know that guy from Dexter’s Lab? Major Glory?

Look up a video of him talking and that’s basically him, like no joke that’s who he is. He’s an egotistical knucklehead who, since he was my first Pokemon, claims himself to be leader.

He’s horrible at it.

Like, awful.

His head is so thick that literal actual strategies do not enter his tiny penguin mind, only compliments about his strength and appearance. He is a dingus.

Iris wants him to feel good about himself though so she gives him a little nudge in the right direction sometimes, although when the plan actually works he congratulates himself for coming up with the idea.

Iris just rolls her eyes and claps along with him but she smiles a bit because she’s glad to see him happy but there are times where she needs to let him do things on his own because she can’t take up for him every single time.

He’s also in love with Scythe and there is no physical way on planet Earth that it will ever happen. If he brings her flowers, she eats them, then attacks him, end of story.

Kricketune

Image drawn by @thegirlwiththememes

Species: Gee I wonder

Gender: Male

Height: 1′6

Age: Who even cares

Backstory: He is the literal most annoying bug on this planet dear god someone shoot me.

He’s essentially an HM dump because he has all the necessary moves to progress and we can’t survive without him good god help.

He cannot speak, he can only communicate through music. Really, really annoying music. It’s all he can do and it drive’s everyone crazy.

He plays sad violin music on the sidelines while his teammates are getting KOd and they get so pissed.

Baldwin sees him as his “yes man” who goes along with everything he says and compliments him in exchange for attention, which Kricketune loves and cherishes because he wants nothing more than to be accepted by someone.

Iris is nice to him, of course, but everyone else is so done with his crap gfdi.

Scythe tries to eat him daily and it messes up the whole entire house.

[makeup-wonder-woman]

Gotta catch ‘em all chapter 2

A/N: Welcome to my 200 follower celebration! I’ll be posting 2 chapters in my series, and opening up Headcanons for 24 hours!!! You defiantly have to send them in through my ask box for me to def. answer/see it.

Chapter 1,

Prompt: Batboys w/ Pokemon!Au, and the winner of the vote is….

Pairing: Tim X Reader

Word count: 1,227

TW: None

Record in Gotham: 1-0

Jason lead you faithfully through the streets of Gotham City streets. Lucario held Eevee until she grew tired of the bigger blue Pokemon and wanted to be by your side again. She leapt down and ran to catch up with you. You held out your arms and she leapt into them with a happy, “ ‘Vee!!”

Jason turned around the corner saying, “Aright, and if you come this way, the Pokemon Center and the Gym are right here!”

You turned the corner and your mouth fell open. The Pokemon Center was big, grand and beautiful. It was unlike ay other center you had ever seen. It was made of this white marble with a classic gothic design on the outside, but looked up to date with it’s technology. It was attached to another building, the gym lead by Jason’s father, was different, it was also made from a black marble but had a more sinister look to it. A haven and a hazard. Jason walked you into the Pokemon Center and you approached Nurse Joy, “Hello,” she greeted, her faithful Blissey right next to her, “What can I do for you?”

You pulled out Altaria’s pokeball and handed it to her, “My Altaria was just in a battle and took some damage, could you heal her for me?”

Nurse Joy took the pokeball without hesitation with a nod, “Alright, I can fix her up right now. She’ll be all healed by tomorrow.”

You thanked her before walking back over to Jason, finally really looking at him, he had black hair and green eyes. He looked up at you and you noticed the streak of white in his hair. “So, your dad owns the gym next door?”

Jason nodded, “You wanna train some?”

You scuffed your shoe across the ground, “I don’t know. I’m actually pretty new to the whole Trainer thing right now. My Pokemon are probably aren't half as strong as yours.”

Jason gave you a pretty smile, “Well you should at least let you Pokemon out to stretch their legs.”

You nodded, “Okay.”

Jason lead you though the hallways, interesting and going in-between black and white. You finally approached a large metal door. Jason input his code before walking into the gym, “Hey, Dad! I brought a friend!”

You walked into the brightly lit gym, an older man greeted you, far too old to be Jason’s dad. The man was also dressed as a butler. He nodded, “Ah, Master Jason,” he then peered over at you, ‘And you are?”

“Y-Y/N” You stamared, “Y/N L/N.”

“Pleased to meet you Miss. Y/n, my name is Alfred” Alfred informed you as he shook your hand and pointed the two down the stairs, “ Master Grayson and Master Drake are both having a battle if the two of you would like to watch.”

“Thank you Alfred,” Jason said and pulled you by your arm to the edge of the arena. You both peered down, there were two other boys, both again, around your age. One was quite taller and more muscularly build. He had sparkling blue eyes, black hair and seems to be of Romani decent. The other boy had the same strikingly blue eyes, but was much paler and lankier in his build. There were two pokemon out on the field, on the taller boy’s side was a fiercely beautiful Milotic, and on the other side with the younger boy was an intimidating Metagross.

You watched as the two trainers and Pokemon squared each other up. Both Pokemon had already taken damage, and when you looked up at the board that could tell you how the Pokemon were doing. The Milotic had more HP left in it, but you also knew that this battle still could wither way. The board also gave the two young men names, the taller one was Dick, while the lankier one was Tim. It was Dick’s turn and he pointed at Tim’s Metagross, “Hit him with Scald!”

The Metagross took took damage before it used it’s own move, quietly muttered by his Trainer, “Hang in there Metagross, used Zen Headbutt!”

The Milotic let out a cry as it was hit, despite it’s attempts to dodge. The two went down in a scuffle, but when the dust settled, the Milotic was still standing and Dick was announced the winner by the screen. Dick and Tim both recalled their Pokemon to their Pokeballs before going out to the center. Jason smirked and started going down the steps, you quickly followed him, Eevee still in your arms.

The two young me turned to face you as you both reached the ground. Dick and Tim smiled at their brother before looking at you, “Jason, who’d you bring back to the gym this time?”

Jason stuck his tongue out at his brothers, “Dick, Tim, this is Y/N. Y/N this is Dick and Tim.” He jerked his thumb at you, “Y/N battled Pamela’s Gogoat with her Altaria and won. I told her our gym was a safer place to let her Pokemon stretch their legs.”

Dick raised an eyebrow at you, “Really? Poison Ivy’s Gogoat’s pretty tough for beginners.”

“Poison Ivy,” You asked and both younger boys sent the oldest a look.

Tim stepped forward, as Dick flinched, “Yeah, that’s her nickname. Her and a few other trainers can be pretty tough on incoming Trainers. She also really likes to win.”

You scuffed your foot against the ground, “I didn't wanna make it faint, really.”

“So,” Dick said. making small talk, “What brings a cute girl like you all the way out here to Gotham City?”

You shrugged, “I heard you had a good Gym.”

“Who’s on your team,” Tim asked, as Lucario trotted down the steps and Jason patted it’s head in greeting.

You pulled out your Pokeballs, and released your team. First was Eevee, who you let jump out of your arms, “This is Eevee, she was my starter.” Then you raised a Pokeball and you released your Houndour, who let out a yawn before sitting down on the ground. Then came Bayleef, who immediately took in the new people and one Pokemon in front of him. You moved onto the next one, who was Jangamo-o, she clinked her scales together as she started to explore her new surroundings. Dick looked your pokemon up and down as you reached for your last Pokemon, “Not a fan of the big Pokemon?”

You sighed, “They usually kinda intimidate me.” You then released your Rhydon, “But… I’ve been working on it.”

All three boys took an unconscious step backwards and Rhydon stretched his limbs before looking down at you. You waved up to him and explained the situation, “These are the Wayne boys. They help run this gym that we’re in. You should stretch your legs!”

Your Rhydon nodded, and went to see what Jangamo-o was doing. “Well, this is a surprise.” You turned around to see the new voice, belonging to an older man with black hair and blue eyes. Despite the usual relaxed air of the gym, he was wearing a black suit and tie. He nodded at the boys before he took an interest in your Pokemon, “You must be Y/N. Alfred told me you were visiting, and I must say, your Pokemon have a lot of potential.”

“Thank you sir!”

“Please,” he smiled, “Call me Bruce.”

[mackinmacki]

Trading Partners

Rating: K

Word Count: 2892

Summary: Dia, Mari, and Kanan play Pokemon together.

Pairing: KanaMari (background)

Link: (FFN)

"Diaaa!" That loud, shrill voice was soon accompanied by a full-body tackle, and Dia yelped as she was taken to the ground by her enthusiastic friend. Grunting upon contact with the ground, she squirmed around to look up at the big smile on Mari's face.

"Wh-What do you want, Mari?" As much as she tried to sound stern, her voice never failed to drop to a more meek level when talking to Mari. It was the same with Kanan, if she was honest with herself. In their little group, she was the quiet one, the one who was in the background while her more boisterous and confident friends took center stage.

"Guess what I got last night?" Mari jumped off of Dia and stood in front of her, smiling even brighter if that was possible. At first, Dia didn't understand what she was talking about, but then it hit her. Eyes widening, she jumped back onto her feet and clasped her hands together.

"Y-You got a Houndour?!" At first, Dia hadn't been interested in getting involved in the Pokemon phenomenon. Though both Kanan and Mari had begun playing it, she had resisted, not wanting to get hooked. That all changed on her birthday, however. For a present, Mari had definitely surprised her with a DS and a copy of Pokemon Diamond. Though it was kind of cute that Mari had chosen the version that basically had her name as a title, she'd been hesitant to spend too much of her time playing. Then she actually started to play, and it didn't take long to get her hooked.

"Yup! You wanna trade?" For several weeks, Dia had been trying to get Mari to breed her a Houndour. The first time she'd seen its evolved form, Houndoom, it had been the most recent Pokemon that Mari had caught. She loved the design and really wanted one for herself, but of course it just so happened that Houndoom were only catchable in Pearl, the version that Mari had.

Originally, Mari had tried to trade Dia the evolved version, but she wouldn't take it. She couldn't just have the final form: she needed its previous form too. Plus, she wanted to add a Pokemon to her team that came from Mari. That seemed to make Mari happy, and she promised to deliver a Houndour, though apparently laziness had gotten the better of her. Well, better late than never.

"Y-Yes!" The two of them hurried back into the school to grab their backpacks, where their handhelds were stashed. Since their free time had just started, they had time to make the trade before they were ushered back to class. Fishing in her backpack, Dia grabbed her DS and flipped it open, turning it on and impatiently starting the game. She was really eager to get that Houndour.

Soon enough, the two of them had entered a nearby Pokemon Center and gone into the trading area, where a frustrated Dia had to catch Mari before they could start trading, since Mari was running around the small area. "C-Come on, Mari!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Mari laughed and finally stopped, allowing the two of them to begin the trade. In exchange for the Houndour, Dia had caught an Aron, which had been Mari's choice for a return Pokemon. According to her, Aron looked like 'a good friend', though Dia didn't know what that meant. She put up Aron first, only to be met with a pout from Mari. "Diaaa, why don't you ever name your Pokemon?"

"They already have names. The creators worked hard on them." That was one of the things that Dia remained stubborn about. She didn't want to name her Pokemon, since they already had names the creators thought were appropriate for the designs. Mari pouted some more, but if Dia went to rename it, they wouldn't have time to trade, so she just went along with it, putting up her Houndour in exchange.

Wait... That didn't look right. When she'd originally seen the evolved form in Mari's game, it had clearly been black. This one was blue, though. She stared at it in confusion, then inhaled sharply. When she'd been looking up information on the games, she remembered seeing something called a shiny. They were the same as regular Pokemon, but their color palettes were different, and they were incredibly rare. She'd never seen one before, even through breeding, but here one was, staring her right in the face.

"M-Mari, y-you got a shiny Houndour?"

"It's really shiny, isn't it?" Mari smiled proudly, pointing on Dia's screen where its name was: SHINY!!!

"Mari, this is really rare. It's almost impossible to get one of these." Dia's eyes were still wide in disbelief, unable to believe that Mari would just trade her such a rare Pokemon for some common Aron. Her morals wouldn't let her take it like that. "I-I can't take this. You should keep it. You're the one who obtained it."

"I got it for you, though." Rather than listening to what Dia was saying, Mari pushed A on the 'accept trade' option, looking at Dia and waiting for her to accept as well. "Dia deserves the coolest Pokemon!" The statement made Dia blush, but Mari wasn't backing down, so she had little choice but to hit accept as well. Was she really getting a shiny Houndour for her team?

When the trade was finally completed, and the congratulatory music declared her the proud new owner of a shiny Houndour, she couldn't stop herself from smiling. It was so cute, and it was even better because it came from a friend. "Th-Thank you, Mari!" She really wanted to show Kanan, since she knew that her other friend hadn't obtained any shinies either. As luck would have it, Kanan entered the room at that point, apparently having been looking around for them.

Excitedly, Dia rushed over to Kanan to show her what she'd gotten, while Mari followed with that prideful smile still on her face. Just as predicted, Kanan was shocked and ecstatic, and the three of them celebrated their first shiny together. They could only celebrate for a short time though, since class was going to start again soon. The two of them quickly saved and shut off their handhelds, stashing them back in their backpacks before heading outside with Kanan. Dia couldn't wait to get home and train her new Houndour.

From that birthday back in elementary school until their first year of high school, Dia kept playing Pokemon with her friends. She'd moved on from Diamond to Black and then to Y, but throughout each generation, she'd transfer a select few Pokemon to each new game. Even when she became forced to pay an annual fee to use the Pokemon Bank in order to keep transferring, she did it because she wanted her favorite Pokemon with her in each new generation.

By the time Pokemon X and Y came out, Kanan was no longer playing, leaving just Dia and Mari to keep playing. However, Dia's younger sister Ruby also began to play, so they still had a third person to trade and battle with. It still felt weird without Kanan, though. The only thing she had left as proof of Kanan's previous gaming was a level eighty-five Salamence with the OT name of Kanan.

Most of the Pokemon she had received from Kanan and Mari were transferred from game to game, but her absolute favorites were that Salamence and her trusty shiny Houndoom. He may have started out as a cute level one puppy, but by the time he was transferred to Y, he was a ferocious level one hundred beast of a canine. Though he was way too high-leveled to use in regular battling, Dia refused to leave him behind.

Even better, the new generation of Pokemon had introduced Mega Evolution, and both Houndoom and Salamence had mega evolutionary forms to go with it. Her, Mari, and Ruby all worked hard to collect every mega stone, and she very nearly squealed with joy the first time she mega evolved her Houndoom in battle.

However, there wasn't as much time for gaming as there was before. Her, Kana, and Mari had decided to finally start their own idol group, which meant more time was spent practicing. On top of that, Kanan didn't play anymore, so neither her nor Mari wanted to make her feel unwelcome by continuing to play while they were all hanging out. She still enjoyed playing when she found the time, however.

Things didn't truly change until after their first real performance, however. They'd been slated to compete in an event in Tokyo, but Mari had sustained an injury that made performing extremely difficult for her. She'd been prepared to gut it out, but Kanan wouldn't have it, and when it was their turn to perform, she just... didn't. Stage fright is what she had claimed, that the bright lights of Tokyo had paralyzed her vocal chords. She told Dia the truth, though: that she'd done it on purpose so as not to aggravate Mari's injury.

Dia hated lying to Mari, but she agreed with Kanan that it wouldn't do them - or Mari - any good by performing and having her worsen her injury. Besides, Kanan was her friend too, which only made it more confusing what to do. In the end, she chose to keep what Kanan had done a secret, a decision she came to regret on the day that Mari left.

Kanan had come to believe that Mari was wasting her time in their quaint little seaside town, when she could be out somewhere grander, becoming someone truly incredible. That was the reason why she pushed Mari to study abroad, and despite her great reluctance, she eventually agreed.

Watching Mari leaving in her helicopter was the worst moment of Dia's young life. She stood next to Kanan as the helicopter took off, barely able to make herself wave as they both watched their friend eventually disappear into the sky, perhaps forever. Neither she nor Kanan knew what to say, so they both silently went home, a gulf already starting to open up between them.

That night, Dia cried harder than she'd ever cried before, sobbing inconsolably into her pillow. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours and she already missed Mari enormously. It didn't take long for that sadness to turn into anger, though. She was mad at Kanan for making Mari leave, even if her intentions had been good. They had both considered Mari to be a best friend, and now she was gone. Dia blamed Kanan.

Before school one day, the two of them got into a heated argument over it. Kanan reiterated that she had done what she'd done because she wanted what was best for Mari, but Dia refused to forgive her for making their friend leave. Wasn't it Mari's choice whether or not she went? Things already felt lonely without Mari.

Of course, things became even lonelier without Kanan. Their friendship was, for all intents and purposes, done at that point, even if neither of them had said that they didn't want to be friends anymore. Friends usually talked though, and neither of them would break the wall of ice that had formed between them. It even strained Dia's relationship with Ruby. Nothing bad had happened between them, but one of the things that had been a bonding point between them was idols. Before the idol group, it was Ruby whom Dia had shared her love of idols with. The disintegration of their group had left a bad taste in her mouth though, and even the mention of idols made her internally recoil.

In a moment of angry petulance, she turned on her 3DS again. Without all the idol practicing, there was time now to play Pokemon, but seeing those creatures she'd gotten through trading made her feel ill. She felt intense sorrow looking at her strongest team because Mari's Houndoom was there, while also feeling a blood-boiling anger due to Kanan's Salamence being there as well. At that point, she nearly released all of Kanan's Pokemon in a fit of rage.

She couldn't do it, though. They were just creatures in a video game: they hadn't done anything wrong. Besides, even in her worst moments, she couldn't get herself to throw away the only remaining things that connected her to her friends. Well, former friends, it would seem. Instead of releasing all of them, she instead hid the Pokemon she'd gotten from Kanan away in the final box of her PC. Then she closed her 3DS and cried again.

Dia's third year in high school was a lot more eventful than her second. Out of the blue, Mari showed up again, claiming to be the director of the whole school. This was a claim that ended up being true, leaving Dia in stunned silence. If she'd ever believed Mari was going to return, this was not the way she expected it to happen.

Since her second year, Dia had taken over the student council roles at the school. They weren't getting many applicants - none, really - and the students didn't really want to deal with the work that came with being part of the student council. Dia took to it with aplomb, enjoying the fact that all the work helped distract her from the negative feelings she'd been having concerning Kanan and the departure of Mari. In a way, she was glad that she did all of it alone. It proved to her that she could do things on her own, and she didn't need anyone else to prop her up.

That all changed when Mari came back. When she returned, everything seemed to cycle back to their first year. The idol dreams were revived once more, successfully at that. Kanan returned and, after a big emotional blowup between herself and Mari, their friendship began to repair itself. It was like things hadn't changed at all.

Something had changed, though. At first, Dia had been upset that Mari returned without even telling her, but she eventually felt better because she was back. Then she was further delighted that Kanan and Mari resolved their feud and became friends again, because that meant they could all go back to being good friends as well. That wasn't exactly the case, though.

On the positive side, she and Kanan were able to become friends again. It was like their own feud hadn't even happened... and maybe that was the problem. With Mari back and a new idol group born, everything kept going like what had happened in the past didn't even occur. It wasn't that Dia wanted to reopen those old wounds, but it didn't feel right to act almost like newfound friends rather than what they used to be.

What was worse was that working out their problems brought Kanan and Mari closer. They started spending a lot more time together, and it was clear that they were becoming really into each other. That left Dia on the outs, and she would often find herself trudging along behind them, trying to not notice the way they stared at each other, or the way they seemed to forget that she was even there.

There would be times where she'd pull out her 3DS again, and boot up her copy of Pokemon Y. She hadn't even bothered to ask if Mari still played, since that would mean she'd have to stop looking at Kanan for five seconds to answer the question. Besides, the topic had never been brought up, so she felt justified in assuming that, like Kanan, Mari had stopped playing.

When the game loaded up, she opened the PC and went into the final box. There were all of the Pokemon that Kanan had traded her, hidden away due to her anger. She sat there staring at them for a couple moments, then she grabbed Salamence and dragged her into the party, right next to her shiny Houndoom.

Looking at the two of them together, she smiled a bitter smile. Right underneath them, in the third slot, was her Empoleon. She had picked Piplup as her starter all those years ago, and like the others he had followed his trainer from game to game. It seemed fitting that her starter would be in the third slot, since that was where she apparently was meant to be.

After exiting the PC, she looked up from her 3DS and out the window, sighing wistfully as she stared at the night sky. Everything seemed so peaceful outside, completely opposite of how she felt. Things had definitely changed, but they had made everyone else happy. Why did she have to be the only one who felt this way?

Looking at her team, it reminded her of elementary school, back when her, Kanan, and Mari were an inseparable trio, not a duo plus one. She wished so badly that things could go back to the way they were. Now all she had left was a team of Pokemon from a different time: a group of pixels that represented better days.

Resigning herself to her fate, Dia flopped down on her bed and took her old team to the Elite Four, allowing herself to drown in the memories. It was all she had left.

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. VII: Choices

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III ; Pt. IV ; Pt. V ; Pt. VI

This is the last article for my competitive team! And in this article I’m going to explain the pokémon I chose, why I chose them, and summarize their nicknames. I called this team the Kitelike team because the reason I chose all of these Pokémon is because I liked them and gave that precedence to the actual competitive viability (p.s. my name is kite, hence kitelike) First up:

Scolipede ; Atari 

I chose Scolipede because centipedes have always been one of my largest fears since childhood, and through my life, I’ve found the best way to conquer my fears has been to study them. So, one day I set out to learn everything I could about centipedes and became fixated. I adore them now, and though they certainly still freak me out a bit, I had to add Scolipede to my party. In addition to this, I love poison type pokémon. Centipedes are the harbingers of bad news and the symbols of death. I chose the name Atari as a deviation of the word Ataraxia because of the song Centipede by Wisen, in which the artist speaks of receiving ataraxy. Ataraxy is an extreme serenity, a peace. I thought this name would be cool because of Scolipede’s attack. It adds an almost sinister element. Calmly, cooly, killing you. 

Toxicroak ; Redlight 

Toxicroak was always one of my favorite designed pokémon, primarily because of its neat raptor-like claws. I have also, since childhood, loved frogs, and though my fixation has since faded, it’s a good ol’ call back to when I was 13. Generation IV is also one of my favorite generations, so had to pay homage. I chose the name Redlight for multiple reasons. First, Toxicroak looks very naughty at first glance and Redlight has connotations of naughtiness due to its association with the red light district. Second, it gives thoughts of a red traffic light, which is an indication to stop- like a directive to faint, a stop to your game. 

Hydreigon ; Gwendolen

It took some getting used to, but when I finally understood Hydreigon, it swiftly became one of my favorite pokémon. I wish it had better stats, because it’s seriously an awesome character. Its two auxiliary heads are actually arms, when I understood that, it changed my opinion on the pokémon, entirely. I also had a revelation that its covered head as Deino and Zweilous, peels back to form its mane as Hydreigon. It’s truly a disturbing design, and with Dark as one of its two types, I had to have it. Hydreigon reminds me of artist Nick Bantok, whose art has influenced me a lot throughout my life. Again, like centipedes, I started off being very afraid of Bantok’s artwork, but came to love it. Should my Hydreigon have been male, I would have named it Bantok. However, it wasn’t: I chose the name Gwendolen because of Queen Gwendolen of 11th Century BC Britain, who fought a battle against her husband, the king, and defeated him. She took his throne and became the first Queen Regnant (meaning she ruled alone). I chose this name because I really wanted a male Hydreigon, I had the name picked out and everything! But I landed on a female and decided I would roll with it. She took him down. Gwendolen is my second 6 IV Hydreigon, the first I named Itzpapalotl (meaning “obsidian butterfly”). I bred two because the first has a weird spread and questionable nature. 

Porygon-z ; ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ

Ah, here we are. Porygon-z says more about me on this list, than any other. It’s my star. I can’t get enough of it. When I was younger, I used to love Porygon. I used to think it was really cool, but as it evolved I never really paid attention and didn’t have the knowledge, nor attention span to appreciate what was going on. I didn’t know what “dubious” meant, I didn’t know anything about computers or graphics, and though I loved Generation IV, I mostly loved it because it took place in a snowier region, Sinnoh. However, as I grew older, some naivety faded. I got massively into Glitch art culture as I grew older. I became an avid fan of Alva Noto, a glitch/minimalist musician. I love glitch digital sounds and artwork more than I can even describe, it shaped me into who I am more than any other type of music/artwork. I dowloaded VC Red about a year ago. I played through it, purchased my Porygon at the Game Corner, and had a good time. But when I transferred my Porygon up to Pokémon Sun and Moon and evolved it into Porygon-z, it all hit me. I had no idea that Porygon-z’s design was to be based off of a glitch/virus, until I saw the frantic manor in which it moved in Sun and Moon. The Dubious Disc now made sense. A bootlegged up-grade gone awry. If you pay attention, it could even be argued that Porygon-z’s head is simply Porygon2′s head, detached and flipped upside-down. The pokémon is literally a whacked out version of it’s preevolution and that. That. Is RIGHT up my alley. Everything from its cry to its physicality is exceptional thinking. Of course, I had to give it a proper name, so I named it after the harrowing ZZAZZ glitch in Pokémon Red and Blue. I didn’t name it “ZZAZZ” because in the glitch, when in battle, your opponents name contains the characters ZZDZZAZZ4ZZIZZ9 and so on. I shortened it to ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ so I could justify calling it “zaz” verbally. Regardless, I mainly chose the name because this glitch corrupts your save file, destroying your progress, again, making an allusion to destruction. 

Houndoom ; Niko

Back when I was younger, I used to play Monster Rancher 4 on the PS2. It’s ... such a good game, it’s fun, makes collecting species fun, and includes battling and training, much like pokémon. I used to have a Tiger/Zan mix (Nightfang) that I named Niko, after my grandparent’s Samoyed dog. Niko was a staple in their house when I was a child, but died when I was still young. SO this nickname is a massive homage to several bits of myself in a more nostalgic sense. I’ve always liked Houndour/Houndoom and have definitely raised them before, but never with the intent of being a party member, and with all of the increased interaction we’re seeing with pokémon via Pokémon Refresh, I HAD to have a Houndoom. I want to pet it and love it <3. 

Mandibuzz ; Ulna

If I could be reincarnated as any animal I would want to be a vulture. I love them so much, but, fun fact: I do not like Mandibuzz. I chose several other pokémon beforehand. Alolan Marowak, Dragalge, I tried a bunch of options, but kept coming back to Mandibuzz. I just... do not like it’s design as much as I could. Vultures are so neat, badass, would make an AWESOME pokémon, but instead they made Mandibuzz. As is the norm for me, through my dislike blossomed amiability and I actually grew to accept Mandibuzz as an option for my team, ultimately feeling like the team was missing something when I removed it. And so here we are. One of my massive qualms is its cry, I know, it’s not a real vulture, but vultures don’t make vocal calls because they lack vocal organs, so instead they make raking, guttural, hisses that sound SO FREAKING BADASS I CANNOT TELL YOU ENOUGH. Instead they made it a squawky mess. I also love bones, but the idea of giving this awesome-ass bird a bone .... apron.. . . ? ? //? /? /  because? ? ?it’s a woman?? ? I have no idea, regardless, it found its way onto my team and I appreciate it enough to allow it to stay. Before anyone starts on me, it’s named “Mandibuzz”, implying it might be meant to be a “buzzard”, right?? But my kind fellow, No. It’s named that because here in the good ol’ US of A we call vultures “buzzards” and actual buzzards are unknown to most the good folk ‘round here because they have no clue what they’re talking about. A true buzzard is more like a hawk, but Mandibuzz is clearly meant to be a vulture, much to my chagrin. Another reason for choosing it was all of my childhood reminiscing and glitchy folly, lead me to offensive team member after offensive team member and I needed a good defense option. Instead, I chose Mandibuzz, an okay defense, but a powerhouse if played correctly. I’m really hoping that this pokémon grows on me, and I think... it could. I named it Ulna after the bone in your arm, conterpart to the radius. It took me a while to name this one, but I’m happy with what I landed on. 

I learned a lot through this experience and I’m actually going on to create a more viable team. I’ll do an article on that team, but I won’t draw it out over 7 parts. For now, thanks for reading all this jargon and going on this journey with me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go raise and EV train 6 pokémon.