#are these two pokémon literally just a gender difference away from each other? or are they actually different pokémon. i genuinely dont know

[front-facing-pokemon]

[victorlimadelta]

// @preuzien​ pokeverse au //

Name: Katherine Ann “Pidge” Holt Age: 17 Gender: Cis female Ethnicity: Italian Sexuality: Bisexual Occupation: Electric Gym Leader of Preuzien Religion: Atheist (raised Catholic) Languages: German (fluent), Italian (fluent), English (fluent), French (conversational), Russian (conversational), Japanese (still picking up, a small amount and written only) FC: Bex Taylor-Klaus as Sin from Green Arrow, except with auburn hair

Notes Her father, Sam Holt, and brother, Matt Holt, were influential Prussian battle scientists, but have been missing for nearly a year now. There was a public press announcement about their deaths, along with the death of one of the region's Gym Leaders for whom they had been working--but that Gym Leader has come back, so where is her family? (Long story short: there was an Incident with a Dialga and they were kind of all set adrift in time, but Takashi Shirogane made it back--her family still hasn't.) She fraudulently enrolled in Trainer School at age eight and a half. Because no one tells Pidge Holt where she can and can't be, where she can and can't go, and who she can or can't impersonate to get what she wants. Her precocity rivals the Champion's own; she was one of the ones watching his lectures when she was his age and laughing along with his jokes. Really, she's uncomfortably like Tobias in a lot of ways, including her similar paranoia, except hers isn't neurotic like his is. She sees it as a practical defense mechanism against an unforgiving and unpredictable world. She got into the habit of making casual dossiers on people she was close to, not because she dislikes them but because she likes to think she knows them and "just in case the worst happens, I want to be prepared."

Gym Pidge's gym is a series of puzzles and endurance challenges. Yes, there's a lot of hurrhurr make the current match, make the polarity match like you find in other regions' Electric-type Gyms, but ramped up to 11. You can and will get electrocuted if you fail some of these timed puzzles. You can and will drop out of her Gym if you don't make it through enough of them in a row. There's quite a few convolutions here, though. The Electric Gym will occasionally have more than one solution to a puzzle, or will have unsolvable puzzles that require alternative 'solutions' to break through to the next challenge. If you're not creative, if you can't think out of the box, if you can't innovate your way out of the situation, you're not going to make it. In addition, as you go, Pidge and her Trainers are creating a dossier on you, of how you work with your team, how you approach each problem and how you choose to solve it. Pidge will occasionally let you go on to the next challenge even if it appears that you failed the previous one. She will occasionally stop you from proceeding even if it looks like you found the correct solution. Even if you make it to her Gym Leader battle, and beat her, she occasionally will not give you her Badge because you didn't do it "the right way." You will bust your brain on her Gym. If it doesn't break you intellectually at least a little bit, it's not doing its job. You cannot brute force this Gym, because so often it appears to be outright random. Speaking of breaking you intellectually: the final 'challenge' of Pidge's Gym is the traditional Milgram Experiment. She was hesitant to include this without feedback from Tobias and Renate, but they've convinced her eventually that this was, maybe not a good idea, but an acceptable one. - For those who don't know the reference at once: the Milgram Experiment involved asking a participant in a psychological experiment to administer an electric shock when someone made a mistake in memorizing and recalling a list of words. The issue here is that the test subject was the administrator, not the recipient. The recipient never received an electric shock, but instead gave audio feedback from the other side of a wall on the supposed pain of the electric shock. The electric shocks were fake, but the doses were calculated to run from annoying to fatal. The actors receiving the shocks were instructed to react accordingly. If any test subject expressed reticence about administering the shocks upon cries of pain from the actors, the person running the test said a phrase similar to 'The test requires that you continue.' Nothing more, nothing less. - This test was designed to tell to what level a human being could attribute their decisionmaking process to a person in authority telling them to do something, and how much responsibility they felt they could absolve if it was no longer up to them to stop. Because the tests were originally conducted in the 1950s at the inception of the Cold War (and also, consequently, after the conclusion of WWII and the revelation of Nazi human experimentation), some of the original “test subjects” were suspicious and apparently threw some of the test results by deliberately being cruel when they figured out it was a farce... it’s an interesting read because of that, because why would you want to throw test results for that. Anyway. - For Pidge, it's also a test of whether you're willing in the first place to administer an electric shock to someone who's done absolutely nothing wrong to you for the sole reason that they've made a mistake on an arbitrary task that has no social or ethical ramifications on whether it's successful or a failure. This is crucial for Preuzien's growth as a country away from what they were and towards what they could be. Strength isn't about using it at every given opportunity, it's about justice in its application. - The only way to ‘pass’ this test is to refuse to participate whatsoever. By the time you've gotten this far, Pidge knows whether it's because you already know what the experiment is, or because you simply refuse to inflict pain on a fellow human being for no reason.

Pokémon This is most of Pidge's battle squad:

Xurkitree

Ability: Beast Boost Notes: Yes, an Ultra Beast. She spent just over a year in Ultra Space hunting down the perfect competitive 'mon, actually; she has almost two and a half boxes full of stat 'fails.' Fun fact, this one knows Power Whip. Have fun with those Ground types you brought to this Gym!

Toxtricity (Low Key) (Gigantamax)

Ability: Punk Rock Notes: Toxtricity is a lot like Pidge: make eye contact and you'll really wish you hadn't. This girl is powerful, can Status your team in two different ways, and has a bad attitude.

Vikavolt

Ability: Levitate Notes: Listen. Vikavolt is a good Poke. It's actually a super strong Bug-type contender and I like alt-types for Gym Leaders to use in their 'single-type' Gyms. Immune to Ground even before Levitate. Again, have fun.

Rotom (nn. "Gremlin")

Ability: Levitate Notes: "It's a gimmick!" You bet your ass it's a gimmick. Pidge keeps making up new little devices for this baby to haunt, too. It's flighty and doesn't like to stay in one device for too long, so you're going to have to deal with some weird STAB changes every few turns. By turn 15, it gains the ability to enter a new device Pidge has invented for it while she's teaching it to Ability Evolve its Levitate to affect her entire team. (The device Levitates her entire team. Including her Toxtricity and her Reuniclus, who are 4x weak to Ground.)

Prussian variant Reuniclus (ace)

Type: Steel/Electric Ability: Infection (evolved Ability from Effect Spore). At the end of each turn, this Pokemon inflicts one of six Status conditions on your Pokemon in sequence. Original Effect Spore has a 10% chance of randomly inflicting Poison, Paralysis, or Sleep on the opponent, a 3.3% chance of each. Infection has a 100% chance to inflict Paralysis on the first turn, Burn on the second, Sleep on the third, Poison on the fourth, Frozen on the fifth, and Infected on the sixth. An Infected Pokemon no longer obeys its Trainer and only obeys Pidge. "That sounds OP!" Preuzien is OP. Also, the style of Preuzien Gym Leader Battles, with its Squad format, really takes the edge off of this Ability whereas it'd be lethal in Singles or Doubles, because the Ability doesn't pick a particular Pokemon to affect, just one of the four opponent Pokemon on the field. That said, you should probably defeat Reuniclus in fewer than six turns so it doesn't cripple your team. Notes: Prussian Solosis (who looks like a little soft wormy boy, sort of like a space caterpillar) was Pidge's first ever Pokemon as a four-year-old child, but he's grown into an absolute monster over the years. Imagine this motherfucker staring you down from the other end of the battlefield. He's terrifying. That's because he looks like a bacteriophage, which is literally a type of virus. (Prussian Duosion looks like an influenza virus, but with arms/hands. If original Reuniclus looks like a bacterial blob, this is just a different form of infective vector.)

[echoeternally]

Birthday Gift!

Yikes, the month’s almost over, and I’m very, very late again! But that’s ok, because I had to make sure that I got this in before this month ended.

Here’s a belated birthday gift for my friend, @starlys! She requested a story about Pokémon Trainers together, and I decided to make a fun idea from that, using the trainers from the games themselves.

This is the first time that I think I’ve focused on the actual humans for once, not the Pokémon. Weird, but refreshing! So, here we go, with the story below! Enjoy reading it!

The Doubles Invitational.

 A brand new competition featuring top trainer duos to help draw in more folks to visiting Alola, the region that’s still starting up its Pokémon League. Challenging their first and brand new Champion must not be enough on its own by this point.

 Twisting some of my brown hair around my finger, I sighed and uncurled it, slowly letting my hand drop. Staring ahead at Iki Town’s small stage for battle practice, I watched some teams as they gathered around it.

 “Anna…? Hello?” I blinked and turned to my partner next to me. “Anyone home?”

 “Sorry, Meg…”

 “Don’t worry about it.”

 She brushed back a loose strand of her black hair, just before the wind blew it around again. Rolling her eyes, she softly chuckled as the wind blew her long hair around, messing it up again. The skirt at the bottom of her uniform flapped with the slight gust, and she waited as it died down.

 Lowering her dark eyes, she wagged a finger at me.

 “Don’t laugh, ok?”

 “Never!”

 We both giggled a bit, and she couldn’t contain hers from bursting into a light laugh. It’s the most gorgeous sound to me.

 …Ok, maybe not the most, but I love listening to her laugh. To look into her eyes. To be with her.

 If I could actually tell her that, though, then we would get somewhere.

 “Trainers, welcome!” Professor Kukui hurried to the center of the stage and raised his arms. “This will serve as your practice arena for Alola’s new Doubles Invitational! We’ll start here before we have you tour the four islands with your competition, until we ultimately work our way to the League in Mount Lanakila.” He grinned broadly. “We’re hoping that you’ll give Alola some much needed recognition from other regions and draw in some new crowds, oh yeah!”

 “Shouldn’t we have tried to gather more trainers from other regions, then?” A dirty blonde boy in a blue outfit folded his arms. “We’ve only covered a few here.”

 “Ah…we’ll work on that for next time!” Kukui rested his hands on his hips and laughed. “Guess my wife was right!”

 Wife. Of course…

 “As it is, you all must be tired from the trip,” chimed in the older man in a blue undershirt with a yellow one opened over it. “It’s best that you relax a little before the competition begins, explore the area a little, and rest before our tournament starts tomorrow.”

 “Oh yeah! Well said, Hala!” Kukui grinned to everyone again. “All right, you’re free to cruise around! Enjoy your stay, and thanks again for joining our new competition!”

 They turned in to one another and chattered together, as each of the teams hesitated before turning to talk with either their partners or other teams. I glanced to Meg, who turned and smiled back to me.

 “Hey, so, you two are from Hoenn, right?” We turned to the brunette girl in a blue uniform. “Is that anything like here in Alola? I heard the climate there is at least warm.”

 “Somewhat, but it’s probably warmer here.” My partner smiled and brushed her hair back again, adjusting the headband above it. “I’m Meg, by the way. This is my teammate, Anna.”

 “Hi.”

 “Well, welcome to Alola! I’m Aimee,” introduced the girl. She jabbed her thumb back to the blonde boy from before. “My partner here is Kent.”

 “Seriously, shouldn’t we have more representation from other regions?” He scratched his head as he stepped toward us. “Someone from Unova, Sinnoh always gets forgotten these days, and then we…wait, what’s going on?”

 “Kent, we’re saying hello to newcomers.”

 “Oh.” He straightened up. “Hello to newcomers.”

 “Great, thanks.” Aimee rolled her eyes. “Now we’re the annoying team.”

 “Of course we are!” He raised his hand into a fist. “We’re the Ace Duo! We’re going to be a wave that slams back against everyone and wins this competition for Alola!”

 “And now we’re the weird ones,” deadpanned Aimee.

 “It’s fine,” eased Meg. “I can definitely appreciate the enthusiasm.” She snapped her fingers. “And actually, Kent, Anna and I managed to capture and raise some new Pokémon from Unova as well, if you’re looking for more representation.”

 “Ah, really? Nice!” Kent folded his arms and nodded. “Aimee and I raised some more Pokémon for this competition too. We’ve got some variants of the Pokémon found in Kanto, but they’re really cool. Pun intended.”

 “Kent, I’m going to murder you.”

 “Chill, Aimee!”

 “Another pun, and I’m burying you in the sand.”

 “Ok, ok!”

 “Hey, why don’t we let our Pokémon out for a while?” Everyone turned back to me and I tensed up. “Um…it’s been some time for ours, so…”

 “That’s actually a good idea,” agreed Meg, grabbing a Pokeball from the belt beneath her shirt. “It’s good to let them stretch and explore too.”

 She tossed her first ball up, and then another after. I followed her lead and tossed both of my Pokeballs out, as our four Pokémon emerged.

 “Whoa, check them out!” Kent squished down low to my first Pokémon. “Who’s this little dude? Never seen one before.”

 “That’s my Linoone,” I introduced. “He’s cute, right?”

 “Definitely!” Kent reached out to pat him, but Linoone rushed away and behind my legs. “Shy guy, huh?”

 “A bit, yeah.”

 “That’s ok.” He hopped over to my next Pokémon, Stoutland. “This one I’m familiar with, though. He’ll be ready to really help you out!”

 “Yes, she will be.”

 “Oh, cool! I didn’t even know.” He tilted his head and studied her, as my dog mimicked his motion. “How do you tell genders without the gender differences…?”

 “Not every gender needs to be defined, Kent,” grumbled Aimee.

 “My bad.” He bounced over to Meg’s slender cat. “Who’s this pretty kitty?”

 “That’s my Liepard,” introduced Meg. “She’s new to our team, like Anna’s Stoutland. We took a small trip to Unova’s land some time before we came here.”

 “What, really? That’s cool!” Kent sat back while Meg’s Liepard cleaned her paw and brushed her face. “We’ve only ever been here, but I’d love to travel around.”

 “Yeah, we did it after our Champion thrashed the whole region,” recalled Meg. “You’d think a quiet girl like her wouldn’t be a huge threat.”

 “It’s literally always the quiet ones that kick butt the hardest,” chimed in Aimee. “Our Champion was previously less talkative than average too, yet there she sits, on the League throne and everything.” She adjusted her cap on her head. “Not to mention that Red kid from Kanto who traveled here for the Battle Tree.”

 “Yeah, but his buddy is literally the opposite, and he was the Champion before,” pointed out Kent.

 “Huh. Maybe it’s just some Champions, then?”

 “Yeah, sure.” Kent stood up before the last Pokémon, who still towered over him. “And this is a Hariyama, so this dude needs no introduction.” He smiled back to us. “Hala uses one as part of his team line-up too. Should be his signature Pokémon if you ask me.”

 “Well, they’re not asking, Kent.” Aimee plucked a Pokeball from her belt. “Come on, let’s show off ours.”

 “Huh? Oh, yeah, right!”

 Both tossed out four Pokeballs as well. Two blue and white Pokémon appeared first, followed by an enormous tree-like Pokémon and one big rock with…a…charger?

 “These might look familiar to you,” divulged Amiee. “They’re the variants on their more renowned Kanto counterparts.”

 “Alola’s special variants,” piped in Kent. “These are Ninetales, Sandslash, Exeggutor, and Golem.”

 “Oh wow, they’re different here for sure!” Meg gazed up from Exeggutor down to Ninetales. “I like them, though. Different, but fun.”

 “For sure.” Aimee stretched. “Anyway, Kent and I should help them get some exercises in.” She recalled Exeggutor to its Pokeball. “She’ll wait until later though. Otherwise she’ll just stomp all around the island.”

 “Yeah, ok!” Kent jumped up. “Come on, everyone, let’s get going!”

 He hurried off with his Sandslash stumbling after him. His Golem waited a bit, laughed, and then rolled off after them.

 Ninetales sat elegantly next to Amiee, who shook her head.

 “Sorry, he’s…excitable.” She shrugged and smiled to us. “Anyway, we’re looking forward to battling you guys! Good luck in the tourney.”

 “Thanks, same to you!”

 She jogged off with her Ninetales after waving to us, and they disappeared from Iki Town. Meg smiled as she watched her disappear, and then we both pivoted back to the other trainers gathered.

 The quickest to spot were Gabby and Ty, who came with us from Hoenn. They were wanted immediately for their coverage of the event, but the two are tough battlers too, so both were contributing factors.

 Gabby seemed like she was interviewing different trainers for the event, and chattered to some…very nice looking swimmer girls. I don’t know if I’d ever have the confidence to show off my whole body like that, but they seemed pretty fit and comfortable, somehow. Or maybe they just want to be ready to hit the water again. Either way, they’re definitely fine with how they appear, even on Ty’s camera.

 Two little girls excitedly bounced around another little girl in pink. The twins giggled as their bugs crawled around, a big ladybug and a long legged spider. The other little girl had some kind of…I think a fairy? She held the little thing before her hands and it seemed too small even for that. Meanwhile, another girl in longer, dark clothes sat and mumbled behind her…to a big, ghastly balloon.

 “Do you want to go talk with the kids, then?” I glanced to Meg, who smiled back at me. “They seem pretty cute and energetic, you know?”

 “Uh, maybe in a little bit.” I scratched behind my head. “Honestly, I’m amazed that they invited two little twins here to battle against everyone.”

 “They’re actually powerhouses from Johto, if I remember overhearing correctly,” recalled Meg. “Their parents are probably somewhere nearby, but these two know their stuff all on their own.”

 “And who is their friend?” I placed a hand on my hip. “Did you hear about her?”

 “Nope.” Meg patted Liepard as the cat rubbed against her legs. “Or that girl behind her with the huge balloon creature. My guess is that they’re sisters too.”

 “Safe bet, yeah.” I picked up Linoone and cradled him while Stoutland walked over and rested by my feet. “And, the rest…”

 We gazed at the remaining teams for the competition. A couple played with a baby in a panda onesie, laughing together even as their kid kicked the father in his face.

 Another couple, younger this time, laughed and giggled together, pretty much wrapped together with one another. Both had dyed their hair to be the same color, a bright red, along with wearing matching sweaters that had a heart shape on them.

 The third couple consisted of Experts from home, an elderly man and his wife, both meditating together. They whispered and chuckled gently with one another even as they did so.

 A fourth couple gazed around the area, snapping pictures and bouncing around, showing one another pictures as they laughed and held hands.

 “…They’re…all couples,” I concluded.

 “Well, that’s nice.” Meg knelt down to rub her Liepard’s chin. “It’s good that couples can all come together and battle well, isn’t it?”

 “Uh, yeah.” I swallowed and cleared my throat. “Yeah, it’s…nice.”

 “Are you ok?”

 “Fine, yeah.” Linoone wriggled in my arms and I rubbed his belly, avoiding eye contact with Meg. “Um…do, uh, do you want to go talk to them?”

 “Sure.”

 We walked over to the four couples, as each pair had slowly gathered together, chattering and laughing, somehow easily comfortable with one another.

 “And if you’re the ‘Young Couple’ here, that’ll make us the ‘Old Couple,’” hooted the elderly man.

 “Hey, those sound like great team names,” agreed the younger man in the sweater.

 “Aren’t you two baking in those things?” The middle-aged woman paused from giving her child attention to study the younger pair. “You two should be fried by now.”

 “We’re a bit hot, but we had to wear our cutest shirts today first,” insisted the younger woman. “That, and Kanto’s a lot cooler compared to these islands.”

 “Gia really wanted to show these off,” chimed in the younger man again.

 “Oh, sounds like you’re getting primed with those shackles already,” teased the middle-aged man, holding his squirming child out to avoid another kick. “Better quit and run while you’re ahead.”

 “Does that make it too late for me?” The sightseer tilted his hat and grinned. “We’re here after just getting married.”

 “Oh, now why would you do that?!” The middle-aged man laughed again. “It’s all over for you, my friend!”

 “Pretty soon, your wife gets to run the show,” joked the elder man. “Isn’t that right, Jay?”

 “That’s right, ladies, we run these relationships.” Jay, the elderly woman, pressed her hands to her hips. “These men do as we say, right?”

 “Yes, absolutely!” The middle-aged woman switched her fairy toy with a Skitty one. “Women run this show for sure!”

 “Oh, that’s how it works?” The other sightseer lowered her phone and spun to her partner. “Guess I’m taking control of this marriage now, babe!”

 “Like I said, all over for you,” reminded the father. “Jes, you better bail while you can! Enjoy the single, bachelor lifestyle!”

 “Ha, maybe!”

 They all hollered and laughed together, not even noticing that Meg and I had approached. I took a step back, cursing my earlier suggestion to walk over. Meg had opened her mouth to introduce us, but the elder man immediately caught sight of us.

 “Well, well! Look at these wonderful beauties coming over!” He whistled and laughed. “Jay, I missed my chance with some really nice girls!”

 “Oh, John, please!” The old woman nudged him and walked over to us. “You’re both actually quite young.”

 “Bet they’re still legal!” John winked as Meg subtly pushed me back behind her.

 “John, goodness, hush!”

 “Um, hi.” Meg lifted her hand up. “I’m Meg, and this is my teammate, Anna. We’re trainers that went to school together, and—”

 “Oh, best friends!” The middle-aged woman clasped her hands together, ignoring as her child kicked her husband again. “That’s so sweet, that the two of you are here! A much cuter pair than those other women, barely wearing anything in just those silly swimsuits! It’s so nice to see girlfriends here together! I miss all of mine from back home myself.”

 “Girlfriends…?” I couldn’t help uttering that.

 “Yes, good old gal pals! Plenty of schoolgirls that I grew up with, all of us becoming best friends!” Her face soured. “Except Sharon. She was a horror. And Janice, who was a cheating, lying witch. Ah, and I nearly forgot that rotten Becky, who—”

 “Anyway girls, it’s good to meet you,” returned Jay. “There are probably some fine men around the island for you two enjoy together while you’re here.”

 “Yes, oh my!” The sightseer woman hurried over to us, holding her phone up. “We’re here for our honeymoon, and, oh my goodness. You should see the local men here! If you thought that Professor Kukui was a looker, just wait until you see the others! Fine, toned bodies, just exquisite!”

 Meg and I took a step back as the woman stumbled closer to us, raising her phone. I placed my hand on Meg’s shoulder, and she patted it as we frowned from the beaming woman flipping through her photos of several…men in open shirts and swimsuits, all posing in various ways, if they were aware of the photo.

 “Hey, Noriko!” Her newlywed husband placed a hand on his hip. “Your sights are supposed to be everywhere, but especially on me!”

 “Hush, Devin!” She smiled and waved her hand at him. “These girls are single, they should know just what kind of men are available for them. Besides, if I’m just looking, then I’m not cheating or anything.”

 “Ha-ha, she’s got you there,” agreed Gia, the younger woman. “You honeymooners are lucky, though, enjoy these beautiful islands for some time already!”

 “Hey! Honeymooners!” Devin snapped his fingers. “Babe, that’s a great team name for us!”

 “Wow, you’re right! How adorable, I love it!”

 “Looks like we’ve all got great names pulled for us already,” decided the middle-aged man. “Erin and I are going to be the Poké Fan Family!”

 “That’s right, Jan,” piled on his wife, “and with our Furfrous, we’ll do so well together, like a real family should!”

 “You have dog Pokémon with your baby?” Gia gasped. “That’s so cute!”

 “Babies and dogs are so precious,” agreed Noriko. “Devin, just when are we getting at least the dogs?”

 “Once we get enough money,” teased Devin.

 “Please!” Noriko rolled her eyes. “We got plenty from our wedding.”

 “And you’re blowing it all on the honeymoon, ha-ha!” John clapped his hands together. “Typical young couple spending! Back in our day, Jay and I made the same mistakes. But don’t worry, you kids will grow and mature as you go! Learn, life, and laugh together!”

 “Ok, ‘Old Couple,’ we’ll see who pays off best in the tournament,” joked Devin. “Us Honeymooners will have to do our best against you two!”

 “Yeah, we’ll have to!” Noriko jumped around. “We’ve been around here long enough to practice battling along with sightseeing, that’s for sure!”

 “We’ll see how you two measure up to a golden anniversary couple like us,” jested Jay. “Our Hariyama and Medicham have trained for years with us.”

 “Jes, we’ll have to do our best too,” insisted Gia. “We’re the ‘Young Couple,’ so we should win against the others!”

 “Yeah, youthful energy for the win!” Jes laughed. “I’m already looking forward to the battles tomorrow! Nidoking and Nidoqueen will carry us forward for sure!”

 “We should start practicing with our fur-babies, Jan,” suggested Erin, “before our little guy needs to get some rest too!”

 “Oh, he’s so cute,” cooed Gia. “I can’t wait to have a family some day.”

 “Jes, run now!”

 “It’s your only way, son.”

 “Hey, I can hear those wedding bells already!”

 “Ha-ha-ha!”

 “It was so wonderful meeting you all!” Noriko clasped her hands together. “Tomorrow is going to be such fun!”

 “Absolutely!”

 “Take care, all. You too, girls!”

 Each of the couples laughed some more and parted ways, wandering off to go train with their Pokémon. Meg and I quietly watched them disperse from Iki Town, and I opened my mouth to comment, but closed it after a few seconds. Anything that I could mention about them wouldn’t be…tasteful, I suppose.

 “To be honest with you, I can’t tell if they were happy together or barely masking their mutual miseries.” Meg beat me to the punch. She smirked and giggled a bit, and I grinned to her.

 “Thank you, I thought I was all on my own with thinking that!” I laughed. “Why are they so…odd?”

 “Some couples just…have a different kind of appreciation for each other, I guess,” delicately put Meg.

 “Maybe, yeah.” I placed Linoone back down, as he smiled up to me. “Um…do you want to go north, to the Mahalo Trail?”

 “Huh?”

 “It’s the pathway up that way, past those trees,” I pointed out. “I was reading about it while we were flying over here.”

 “Oh, sure, let’s go.”

 We took our Pokémon with us and wandered past the trees, making our way to the sunset-coated mountain path. Hurrying up and down the isolated trail, we trained everyone’s agility to start. Meg’s Hariyama couldn’t quite keep up with the others, with her Liepard and my Linoone dominating most of the way around.

 “Poor Hariyama.” I patted him as he collapsed to the ground, panting. “Here, have a Pokéblock! I brought one over with me.”

 “Great call, Anna,” complimented Meg. “You’re so thoughtful.”

 Testing some accuracy with some targets that we tossed out next, Hariyama faired much better, but Liepard managed to do the best taking them down as well. Stoutland managed to do pretty well here too, though; maybe her patient temperament helped her out. Meg helped me with directing her better, though.

 “Some of those were tricky,” I pointed out.

 “A bit, yes, but if you get her to use her surroundings a bit more closely, you can get her to hit more targets.” Meg pointed at the rocks. “Liepard can leap off a bunch of those to smash targets, and that would work for both Linoone and Stoutland. Try it.”

 Making our way to the middle of the trail, we battled next, in a doubles match against each other. Meg’s Hariyama easily obliterated my team here, and we decided to try to switch it up, pairing them off with their normal doubles partners. Hariyama won it again in the end, being the strongest against the others, but Stoutland and Liepard put up a better fight together than she and Linoone had before.

 Whining and pouting, Linoone flopped against the ground, whimpering softly to himself. I laughed and sat down beside him.

 “You’re built for running more than just battling,” I reminded him. “Not everyone can be the best at everything.”

 “Well, Liepard tries to,” joked Meg, rubbing her cat’s head, and then her chin. Liepard smirked, and narrowed her eyes on Linoone, but returned to affectionately rubbing against Meg. “Play nice, girl.”

 Stoutland sprawled out next to Linoone, and she rested alongside us. I rubbed both of their heads and bellies as we relaxed, the sunset at its end, as the sky darkened. Meg and her team sat down now as well.

 “Thanks again for coming with me here,” I spurted out.

 “Huh?” Meg raised an eyebrow at me, and then smirked. “Anna, we’re a team. Of course I’d be here with you.”

 “Yeah, but…I don’t know, I’m just grateful to be here with you,” I explained. “We used to just be those schoolgirls on Route 117, mixed somewhere with atheletes and breeders outside of the daycare.” I shrugged. “Battling that Littleroot girl, though, and having her come back to challenge us again and again, we got stronger together. And now look.”

 “We’re a top doubles team selected for a special invitational.” Meg smiled. “It’s exciting, I know. Each of us here worked really hard to get here.” She tapped my Linoone’s nose. “Even if we’re not always happy when our friends do well.” Linoone huffed and rolled his eyes at her, prompting our laughter.

 And I just listened to Meg again, and it’s so refreshing to hear her laughter again. She opened her dark eyes, and I gazed up at her, smiling at her under the rising starlight.

 “Meg.”

 “Yeah?”

 “We’ve, um…we’ve been together for a while.”

 “Well, yeah, going to the same school kind of does that for us,” teased Meg.

 “Right, but…you were always my upperclassman, so…I just never figured…”

 “Hey, we got paired for that mentor-student program, and we’ve been a dynamic duo together since then,” reminded Meg. “You and I just belonged together, you know?”

 “That’s…that’s exactly how I see it,” I murmured, lacing my hands together. “Just…I was wondering…how do you see us?”

 “…What do you mean?” Her dark eyes studied me carefully.

 “It’s…well, I’m not…completely sure?” I sat back and tilted my attention to the ground, my heart pounding. “It’s just…of the teams here today, we’ve got a bunch of different mixes. Some are just working together as they were formed, like the Interviewers and that self-proclaimed Ace Duo.”

 “Ha, true.” Meg chuckled and folded her arms behind her head. “We’re going to need our own clever team name, you know.”

 “Yep. Anyway, I just…” Lifting my shaking hand, I twisted some hair strands around my finger. “The other two pairs that we didn’t really talk to, those were sister pairs. Well, there were those gorgeous swimmers, but I’m not sure about them.”

 “They’re probably not related,” joked Meg.

 “No, not likely.” I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them. “Just…the last group left together were a bunch of couples.”

 “Ugh, the couples.” Meg laughed. “They were…definitely something. Yikes.”

 “Tell me about it.” I sighed. “But it makes me feel like everyone else has this team dynamic, be it co-workers, or sisters, or friends, or more, and ours is…I was wondering which it compares best to?”

 “…Anna, what are you trying to ask?”

 “I already asked it, Meg.” I glanced up at her, and my face burned. “How…how do you see us?”

 “…Wait.”

 “We’ve been together almost all of our lives, you know. Teammates together, always and forever, that thing.” I turned back down and flicked a pebble off to some bushes. “So, I just…I guess that I…”

 “Is that why you even wanted to go talk with the couples?”

 “Maybe? I don’t know.” I closed my eyes. “I guess…I wanted others to compare and contrast with, yeah, so…I…sorry, I don’t know where I was expecting this to go.”

 “Anna…”

 “Sorry, we can just forget that I ever brought this up.” I shook my head. “I’m being selfish, I wasn’t even thinking about our battling tomorrow, so we should go get some rest, or—”

 “Anna.”

 Blinking, I gazed up at Meg; her cheeks flushed a bit as well. She hesitated before smiling a bit. She brushed back some loose strands of her dark hair and stared right at me.

 “Here I thought I was supposed to teach you new things,” joked Meg.

 “You always do.”

 “And yet you just taught me something new.” She paused and smiled a bit more. “So, maybe now I should teach you something in return.”

 “…Meg, what?”

 “Just be quiet for a second and don’t laugh.”

 She leaned in, and I sucked in my breath as her face closed in on me. Her hot breath washed over me as her lips pressed gently into mine. Our eyes shut as we broke apart and slowly kissed some more. Her hands wrapped against my cheeks, and I brushed mine back behind her hair, and we pressed into one another. Our Pokémon made soft noises, hopefully of support, as we continued into the night.

 Morning came so quickly after that night, and I didn’t want to get up. I grumbled as I stirred, rousing from bed, as Linoone whimpered at me, refusing to really move from the spot between my legs. Stoutland rose up from the floor, and she leaned against the bed to lick at me, helping me wake up a little more.

 “Hey.”

 Rubbing my eyes, I turned my attention to Meg, and she smiled as she pushed out of the bed across from mine, Liepard hopping out with her.

 “Um, hi.” I shook my head, brushing my hand against my messy hair. “Uh, good morning.”

 “Good morning.” Meg smiled to me. “You ready to battle?”

 “Battle…?” I opened my eyes wider. “Oh, the invitational! Yeah, yeah.”

 We hurriedly finished getting ready and hurried out to the battle stage in Iki Town. Hala and Professor Kukui waited in the center of the stage.

 “Now, each of you are going to be divided into various battles to team up against one another,” instructed Hala. “These will be our qualifiers, with Iki Town hosting the first round of battling. For this round, only use one Pokémon from each trainer. First up, we’ll have Rune and Rime battle against Amy and May.” He waited as the sisters made their way onto the stage. “Now, what would you two like your team names to be?”

 “Oh, hey there.” I blinked and turned to the swimmers behind us. The blonde spoke up. “You’re the cute pair of girls from yesterday.”

 “Us?”

 “Yeah, you two,” chimed in the brunette. “You’re the only other pair that isn’t a pair of sisters besides Ashlyn and I.”

 “Yes, it’s nice meeting you.” Ashlyn rested her hand on my shoulder. “Hope you two can knock out our first round of competitors with us.”

 “Hopefully we won’t have to face off,” I managed. “Um, I’m Anna, by the way, and this is my partner, Meg.”

 “Hello there.”

 “Well, I already introduced Ashlyn here, but I’m Kylie,” introduced the brunette swimmer. “Anyway, looks like this battle is wrapped up, so good luck.”

 “Huh?”

 I spun around as the twins knocked out both of the other sisters’ Pokémon. Kukui clapped his hands.

 “The Mysterious Sisters are no longer able to battle,” announced Hala. “The Twins win this match!”

 “Oh yeah! Way to start the tournament!” He smiled brightly for Ty’s camera that focused on him. “Both teams really showed their hearts in this battle too, solid stuff. Let’s get to our next battle!”

 “We’ll have Jan and Erin face off against Meg and Anna.”

 “Here we go,” whispered Meg, as we walked forward and onto the battlefield.

 The couple across from us smiled to one another and played with their baby as they took the opposite side against us. Hala waited in the middle.

 “What will your team name be, Erin, Jan?”

 “We’ll be the Poké Fan Family!” Erin rattled some toys near their baby. “Isn’t that right, angel?”

 “Oof!” Jan’s head knocked back as his baby kicked him again. “Yep, perfect name for a couple and kid like us!”

 “Sounds good.” Hala walked over from them to us. “And what about you, Anna, Meg?”

 “Our team name?” I glanced to Meg.

 “We’ll go with what you came up with last night,” decided Meg.

 With what I what?

 “We’re the Teammates,” introduced Meg. “We’re battling partners since we were kids, but we’re teammates in all aspects of our lives.”

 She cupped her hand into mine and winked to me. I blushed and nodded back to her.

 “Very good, and promising.” Hala nodded and the swimmer girls behind us cheered, interlocking their arms together as they called for us. “Are the teams ready to battle?”

 “Yes,” we simultaneously called out.

 “Good.” Hala raised his hands. “Begin!”

 Lifting Linoone’s Pokéball, I lobbed it out, as Meg tossed out Hariyama. We smirked as the Furfrou pair popped out across from us. Jabbing our hands forward, we called out for our Pokémon’s attacks, as the battle together was underway.

 Glancing over to Meg, we shared a smile as we battled the whole way through.

Phew! A bit quick on the development, but adorable nonetheless!

Once I was requested to write about trainers, I knew that I wanted to work with doubles teams. And I think Anna/Meg is one of the first pairs that immediately jumps into my mind all the time, for some odd reason. I feel like they’re a unique and memorable pair throughout the series, and I don’t recall many others that ended up like them.

Alola made a good setting, since it was a region that would employ a different approach at getting tourists interested in visiting. I did my best to include a bunch of different trainers from regions, and where I missed trainers from Sinnoh and Unova, I tried adding in Pokémon to take their place.

If I had more time, I probably would’ve expanded on the Swimmer Girls, Kylie/Ashlyn. I originally wanted them to be the lesbian mentors for the other two, plus Lumineon would’ve been another Sinnoh rep besides Drifblim, if you spotted that one. Ah well!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this gift, @starlys, and any additional readers that joined in as well! Sorry again that it was late; I really wanted it to be on time this year. But, I did promise that I’d get it in before the month ended, and that I delivered on!

Again, I hope you enjoyed! Take care.

[ichigoreiyo]

Taggy

I was tagged by @varrix, @absolute-eruri-trash and @shippingeruri and I’ll answer all of your questions in this post in the order I mentioned your names.

Thank you for tagging me!

The Rules:

1. Always Post The Rules

2. Answer The Questions Given By The Person Who Tagged You

3. Write 11 Questions Of Your Own*

4. TAG PEOPLE*

*I’m not going to do these.

VARRIX: 

Holy moly @varrix-senpai tagged me, but I’m pretty sure she accidentally misspelled the name of the blog she actually wanted to tag, but I’ll take this opportunity. Lmao. Sorry and thank you, senpai. (At least I can feel fame for some minutes, because it’s like senpai noticed me.)

1. Best day of your life

The best is also one of my worst days: The day a letter from university arrived and it read I got accepted to Art Academy. I was so happy, I was close to tears, because it seemed I was good at something I live for. Art has always been the thing in my life I could die for… I was so happy and excited, my hands were shaking non-stop and I could hear my blood rushing through my veins in my ear.  But no one close to me was happy about the news. Neither my family nor my “friends”. Everyone told me I couldn’t do it, because I’m not good enough to become an artist. I cried the whole night, because my love for art died that night.

Another amazing day was yesterday, when my county’s parliament approved same-sex marriage. My friends and I celebrated that day way too hard and I feel like shit today.

2. Earliest childhood memory

When I was three, my late dog entered my room at night and shat onto my lego bricks because he hated me… No shit!

3. Most stressful experience

See above. And everything related to physical exercise. I’m so lazy, even a sloth is more active than me.

4. Most relatable quote

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.” I’m both, the men and the world and everything just burns and is consumed by those flames of hatred.

5. Scariest movie you’ve seen

I’m a slut for horror, thus I can’t give a proper answer to this question. I’ve seen to many films, I guess. But a film that was really scary, because it showed the reality so brutally was “Earthlings”, but it’s worth the watch.

6. Person/people who restores your faith in humanity

My best friend, who’s always there for me, listens to me and supports me as much as she can, although it has been a very rough time lately and literally everyone who’s trying to make this rotten planet a better place.

7. Something you could literally kill for

Some time ago, I’d answer “art”, but at the moment it’s just “getting healthy”. And Pizza. I love pizza so much.

8. Most beautiful person you’ve ever seen

Does Erwin count…? No. Damn. I dunno. There so many beautiful people out there I’d consider as “beautiful”, regardless on gender, skin colour or age.

9. Any phobias?

Too many to list them. Stupidity is one of them.

10. Place you feel most safe at

My bed. I truly and deeply love my bed. If I could I’d marry it right away.  Maybe I’m object-sexual?

11. Last thing that made you laugh to tears.

Earlier this month, my dog and I walked around a little lake, that was full of algae. The surface was completely covered in a very thick and slimy layer of green algae, which totally looked like a new-mowed meadow. All of a sudden, we could hear a frog croaking in the reeds on the opposite site of said lake and my dog, not the smartest one, went berserk and jumped in front of me, thinking the cover on the lake was some safe lawn. I’ll never forget his panicked face when he realised, he wasn’t landing on grass and I ended up cracking up with laughter after I rescued him…

ABSOLUTE-ERURI-TRASH:

Thank you so much, you cute thing! Have a lovely ghost hug: You can’t feel it, but it’s there!

1. What’s a game you used to love when you were younger?

Err, Super Mario, but I never finished any of the games, because I was just too stupid not to die a million of times.

2. What’s your favourite drink?

Non-alcoholic: Mineral water and cola once in while. Alcoholic: Vodka, Gin and Rum. Gin Tonic is my current fave.

3. Tell me about the best vacation you’ve ever been on / your dream vacation.

I don’t have money nor am I in the mood to think about vacation at the moment, though I want to travel to Australia and Japan within the next three years and hope the trips will meet my expectations.

4. What was your favorite subject at school?

History and psychology.

5. Tell me about your most horrible school teacher.

All most all of my Art and English teachers were horrible. Only one art teacher told me I was good at art and helped me with getting better, the others only told me not to waste my time with trying to draw, because I couldn’t draw for shit. But the English teachers were way worse. I wan’t even able to write down one sentence until I was 16 y/o and attended an English course of a native speaker who taught me how to write and speak within a few days. Lmao.

6. What did you want to be when you were younger?

A forensic doctor. 

7. Did you ever have a “crazy” hair colour?

Nope. I have red hair and I think that’s crazy enough.

8. Do you read fan fiction?

Is water wet? Better ask me if I do anything different.

9. Why did you decide to join Tumblr / to create your first Tumblr account?

Eru/Ri was the reason. I was a fan of S/n/K since late 2009 or early 2010 and shipped the Eru/Ris the moment I saw them. I don’t know, but I clung to the vets so much, because I never liked the kids. But I eventually decided to join after I read Sable’s and Skull9′s Eru/Ri djs in 2016. They kinda motivated me to join and constitute to the fandom.

10. Tell me about one thing that’s on your bucket list.

Scuba diving. I already went sky diving and experienced the feeling of flying through the sky, now I want to learn about the opposite.

11. Do you like horror movies?

s. above. Yes.

SHIPPINGERURI: 

Thank you so much for tagging me and asking these interesting questions, my dear.

1. Your role in school: Are / Were you the class clown? The bully? The loner? The diva? Let us know!

Ohhhh, I started as a loner and ended as a loner, but from the 7th to 10th grade I was like one of the cool kids, because one of the cool ones was sat next to me by the teacher and we got quite close after a few days and remained good friends until the end of school. That “cool kid's” clique was pretty cool, to be honest. Most of them were intelligent, funny and chill, okay, some were shit, but I really enjoyed their company.

Ah, and I can be a diva. If I don’t like something I’m not afraid of speaking up my mind and that causes some problems once in a while.

2. If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be and why? (Can be in the present or something from the past.)

…way too many things. 

3. Which book / movie / tv show / game have you read / watched / played multiple times?

Book: Harry Potter and various books by Stephen King like “IT”. I used to read those books when I was a child and they still give some nostalgic feels. Movie: The Dark Knight and Requiem for a Dream. Two of my fave all time films. TV Show: Mh… No, I’m too lazy to watch shows and I haven’t seen most of the popular shows yet. Game: Pokémon! I’m one of those old uncool farts who still plays Pokémon. 

4. What is the most important thing or person in your life at the moment?

My bestie. She’s the best friend I could imagine and supports me so much. (s. above) 

5. Do you let creators for your fandom(s) know that you appreciate their work? If yes: How? If no: Why?

Yes, I usually comment on their work on twitter. I used to reblog their fan work with my old blog on tumblr, too, but I try to keep this one clean now. Also, I often recommend artworks or fics to my Eru/Ri friends - and believe me, I like lots of works and creators in this fandom.  I also recommend works of people I’m in row with and that’s many blogs. I think it’s important to support each other, regardless on our personal disagreements.

6. Have you ever sent anon hate? If yes: Why?

Nope. (Okay, I recently sent one ask to @erurilicious, but hey, she knew it was me right from the start, because I even told her I was sending an anon ask to her. Lmao. It was just for fun, but I’d never seriously sent one to someone, because I know how shitty I feel when I get one.)

7. Are you happy with your current occupation? If yes: What are you doing? If not: What would you like to do / be instead?

Nope. If I could I’d rather win the lottery than doing anything to earn money.

8. Have you ever created something for your fandom (art / writing / video / etc.) and haven’t published it?

Oh, a lot. Naked Erwins, ugly Erwins, even uglier Levis, fucking Eru/Ris, weird looking Mikes, strange Hanjis,… And the Pornstar!Erwin fic…

9. What’s your attitude towards pineapple on pizza?

There’s nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza. Pizza comes in so different shades of beauty and all of them are tasty. Stop pizza-shaming!

10. What’s your ideal mix of genres for a fanfic?

I don’t care for genres… so… It depends on the plot and setting.

11. What’s your favourite song at the moment?

Call of Silence

Haaaaah, hope you liked my answers to your very interesting questions!