gold-buyer21

[dexholderr]

once again wishin there was a pokemon game that focused on contests over gyms. like, i have No idea how theyd do it n make it interestin (cause the way contests are in game rn is. not, tbh jxbsb), but i just think a game that isnt super focused on battles and badges would be fun

[artsymew]

It’s raining somewhere else

It’s been a hot minute. Finally wrote the last installment for my Contestshipping fanfic “Race You to the City”. You can read it on FanFiction here or under the cut! Takes place in Castelia’s Cafe Sonata. Enjoy ^^

Context: May and Drew engage in small talk in "Café Sonata" seeking cover from the rain. Snippets of small talk. Their coffees keep going cold. Bragging rights. The rainy weather has them moody.

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"It's starting to rain."

The lights are dim in the little Café Sonata. The sudden downpour keeps them cooped up in Castelia's hidden alleyway café. The rain splatters on the concrete outside their window seats, earning Drew's comment. May grasps the now lukewarm caramel latte with both hands. Lost in thought.

"Ah!" May glances through the blinds of the window they are sitting besides, responding to Drew's comment, "looks like it is". She smiles slightly before turning her attention to the swirling foam again.

He wasn't expecting her to reply, yet he finds it odd that she hasn't started a conversation. Small talk is her thing. He watches her gaze trace the swirling bits of foam of what once was the latte art in her cup. He likes how the lighting in the café reflects on her face. A golden glow. Drew stares down at the steam coming from his own coffee; a usual dark roast – French press.

He likes the comfortable silences they share from time to time, yet this one seems too comforting. Disquieting, even. Any other time he'd admire the faraway look in her eyes; how she daydreams despite pocking fun at her for it. It's one of the things he loves about her. But the look she wears now seems too distant.

As if she is somewhere else.

"How is Max feeling about the upcoming League battles?"

He knows she is somewhere else; in her mind anyway. Hoenn. Judging from the phone conversation she had with Max last night, their home region is likely on her mind. Her brother giddily called exclaiming how he had finally won his 8th Gym Badge against Juan, a former coordinator and someone she and Ash had battled a few years ago. He planned to head home for a while before competing in the upcoming Hoenn League.

"He's really excited, following in Ash's footsteps and all", her tone comes off a bit deflated. She looks out the window, pensive. "I wish I could be there to celebrate with him."

"He misses you, you know."

She smiles half-heartedly, traces of guilt lingering as her eyes avert to the swirling foam again.

It had surprised Drew to hear that May hadn't visited her family in a while. Max playfully chastised during their call how he'll become League Champion twice fold by the next time she visits. Drew noted how May gripped her sleeve when she laughed him off.

He didn't pry for her reasonings about not visiting; he barely remembering the last time in a few years he visited his own family and had his own reasonings for that. He suspects hers have to do with the non-stop training and desperation. Desperation for a damn Ribbon Cup.

He doesn't see the glory of it anymore. He guesses it's the allure. The excitement waned quickly for him once he decided on his next contest route. Of course, it's easy for him to say now that he's attained the title of Top Coordinator and has a Ribbon Cup himself. But continuing to train and compete with his Pokemon is what drives him to get stronger, to get better. That and to compete against his rival. His rival who made that allure of winning worth it.

He figures May will come to understand that once she wins, too.

Once she gets out of this cloud of self doubt, that is.

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"Oran or Pecha?" May turns to Drew at his random question, looking at him inquisitively before he continues, "which do you prefer?"

May puts a finger to her lips and hums, pondering before deciding, "Pecha".

"Excuse me," Drew walked up to the café counter at May's surprise, pointing the barista to one of the Pecha pastries in the glass display, "this one please; with added whipped cream."

He sees May's suspicious look when he sits back down with a delicious Pecha Berry shortcake – with the added whipped cream. The rain outside continues to drawl, but some light returns to her eyes. The embers of the fireplace flicker in them. Drew smiles.

Prompting conversation has its ways.

"Felt like trying one of their pastries out," he shrugs off simply, gesturing at the two small forks on the plate "want some?"

May takes his offer with a quick thank you. "Didn't know you had a sweet tooth, Mr. Bitter Coffee", she playfully jabs while taking a bite off the cake. Her teasing lacks her usual spunk.

"Not usually, but you didn't drink your liquid sugar in one gulp today either," Drew's smirks when her eyebrow twitches, "leave some of it for me to try, will you?"

Bait.

May literally bites, her blissful expression from those first few chews turns incredulous. "You know I won't eat all of it!" she digs out another piece of the pastry, taking some of the whipped cream Drew so graciously asked for with good measure. "At least I don't take Slakoth sips from dirt-flavour coffee."

"It's an acquired taste from the sleepless nights of being a Top Coordinator" Drew takes a bite off the pastry and chuckles at her irritated chewing. To Sonata Café's credit the pastry is quite good. A bit too sweet for his own liking, though. He planned letting May have most of it anyway.

"Yeah, yeah, bragging rights" May sighs, unresentful. Their battle together last year had been breathtaking and incredibly difficult; Drew would not have wanted to win his title any other way. "Don't bragging rights expire at some point?"

"Until you win," Drew sips his coffee. He cocks a brow hearing her sigh, but decides not to push further at the moment. He goes to ask for another coffee.

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"I'll have to deal with Max bragging about his own championship title soon," May comments after a while, looking up from her notes. Another coffee in hand, this time a mocha. Drew perks at the hint of discomfort in her voice.

Ah.

"Not sure he'll win at all, though," Drew states bluntly, closing his book. The rain shutters against the pavement outside. Her reflection turns to watch him. "How many times has Ash – an experienced trainer - challenged the Pokémon League and won?"

It is a risk to critique Ash or Max in a conversation, let alone use Ash as an example of training criticism. But Drew is not one to use sweet flattery when someone is feeling down.

"But Ash continues to work hard for his dream!" she exclaims defensively, a bit miffed at her rival. The barista looks over to them, cleaning a cup. "He hasn't let his losses stop him from getting stronger."

"He still hasn't won a League," he states calmly, turning to face his now irritated companion across his table, "winning the Orange League or the Battle Towers does not count." Proceed with caution. "In short, no different from your current position."

She stabs her tiny fork at the Pecha berry. Surprisingly, the shortcake is only half gone. "Yes Drew! I know I haven't obtained the title of top coordinator yet", she munches and closes her notes. He worries about the little notebook and whether it would damage anything in the cafe if thrown. "but Max is a talented trainer; he can do it. He beat the gym leaders in Hoenn under a year. That's much faster than Ash."

"Yet he has yet to beat you in a Pokémon battle," Drew retorts.

"Why are you being so cynical?" May infuriated gaze aimed towards him, dismissing his backhanded compliment. 'A small price to pay', he thinks.

"Realistic, May" he brings his coffee to his lips, looking sternly at his rival. He's starting to feel irritated himself. The weather is affecting them both. "Max and Ash are good trainers, yes, but they've done nothing you haven't. I know because I battle the result of it."

He watches as her mouth parts agape, before she looks downward, frowning. "But I still haven't-"

"-Arceus, May," he interrupts as May's gaze widens. "Winning that damn title wouldn't have been worth it if I hadn't battled against you. You made it worth it." He looks into her eyes, unfaltering. "You're strong. Stop feeling sorry for yourself."

Drew goes to take an exasperated sip of his coffee only to realize he finished it. He presses a palm to his head and averts his gaze to the window again. Rain continues to fall even harder, shaking the Café's hanging sign almost off it's rails. The taste of bitter coffee grounds remains in his mouth. May's lips trembles in what he catches with a sideways glance. Is she about to cry? Mew.

He hadn't meant to spill his heart out like that at all. He picks up where he left off in the chapter, but can't concentrate. It's down-pouring outside. He lost his cool. They're both upset and the silence is now shredded and awkward. Great.

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All the sudden May bursts out laughing.

Tears fall from her eyes as she cackles. She has a hearty laugh that fills the room and opens up space to breathe. She wails even more when she sees his dumbfounded expression. What in the Arceus-

"Oh, Drew," she breathes while pushing away the tears from her eyes "look at us- what am I even saying? Needing you scold me like some kid, oh Mew," she exasperates through giggles and Drew can only stare at her, wide-eyed. She looks at the shortcake and laughs even harder.

"Oh no, don't tell me - you bought this freaking cake to cheer me up, didn't you?" she accuses, letting out a snort at his guilty blush. "You know me too well, Arceus-"

May's outburst of laughter is contagious, he can't help but start laughing too. What the hell. Cold coffee, half eaten cake. The bartender looking at them like a pair of lunatics. The café setting like some cheap soap opera. Bickering like children. Never being able to admit their obvious feelings. The entire situation is ridiculous.

Drew has never felt so smitten yet so lost before in his life.

They are still kids, aren't they?

He presses his hand to his face to cover his own snort. May laughs even harder, eyes twinkling. Drew finds the rain drops on the window suddenly appear interesting.

"Would you look at that!" May begins sarcastically, spunk restored. "'Top Coordinator Drew snorts when he laughs!' Where is the press?"

"Great story idea, would drive my fans wild. Empty shelves for sure."

"Here I was about to compliment your nice laugh" she flicks a Pecha berry at him, that he catches easily. She sighs contended, "You're so full of it. Guess we should finish eating your pity cake."

"Why, thank you, I've heard my laugh is quite charming," he ignores her jab, flicking his hair on purpose. She rolls her eyes at him but doesn't bothering to hide her grin. "And like I said May, I had a genuine urge to try it."

"Sure you did."

They both take up another piece, savouring the flavour. It tastes sweeter, somehow. A new comfortable silence ensues.

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"We never had this much rain in Hoenn, did we?" May asks after a while, glancing over to him.

"Probably," Drew watches how alleyway lights flicker in the puddles, "it's been a while since I've been."

He watches May look beyond the rainy view outside, a renewed focus. "I should visit them soon."

"You should," he agrees, "there should be enough time after the next contest. If you want to visit, I mean."

May hums in agreement, "that would be nice," she stares at Drew through the window, the rain fall lighter on the ground. "You're welcome anytime, you know?"

"Your dad wants to murder me with his Slaking whenever I visit," Drew deadpans, elicting another laugh from May. He doesn't give away how touched he feels and how smitten he gets whenever he makes May laugh with his comments.

A bit more time passes, both coordinators bask in silence as the downpour continues to fall. Occasional commentary. Eventually, he stands to order another coffee. Might as well wait out the rain.

She reaches over to grasp his hand on the table, squeezing it. Drew's heart jumps to his throat, he looks down to her. The smile reaches her eyes again. "Thank you, Drew."

Drew lets himself smile.

"Anytime, May."

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A/N: After a year, I think this is a good place to finish this fic. I felt a casual conversation at a coffee shop would suffice. I knew I wanted to write them in Café Sonata for a long time, but I wasn't sure what to do with the scenario. Going for a coffee at my local café during a rainy day inspired me. Thank you so much for your patience with this story. 😊

[kariachi]

Okay, so now I’ve gotta get to work finding shit out for trainers, because I’m apparently horribly self-destructive. The problem is here’s where I have to figure out the one big thing- just how much does it cost for the standard person to live in the pokemon world, and the corollary- how much does it cost a wandering trainer to live in the pokemon world?

(To read the first post on this topic, focusing on contests and coordinators, start here)

Okay, so, given Pokemon Centers appear to be free I think we can assume the pokemon world has free healthcare (I should hope we’d get free healthcare before free vet care) so we don’t have to worry about that.  There’s also free board at them, but I’ve been running with the assumption that it’s for people with trainers licenses (which are probably common, honestly, given kids can get them, they’re probably cheap to get but less so to renew) and the accommodations are probably pretty barebones. Still, you don’t really see people going around without homes, and with pokemon the costs of construction are probably lower. We still have the filthy rich, but they seem less filthy rich than we have to deal with (I don’t think we’ve seen a billionaire yet in pokemon, I could be wrong) so mayhaps this free healthcare is because the fuckers are actually getting taxed properly.

So, healthcare probably isn’t a thing and housing is probably cheaper (we see a lot of people in apartments, but maintaining the environment is a big deal in this world so it makes sense people would build up and have multi-family homes rather than spread out). Food bills are probably higher for most households, if just because most people have pokemon and those things gotta eat. like I can’t help but think a Houndoom probably eats more than a similarly-sized dog, ya know? Though there’s still the question of availability. One would expect food to be easy to come by, given all the benefits pokemon bring and how quickly things like berries grow, how much Miltank produce, but then we’ve got Jesse’s backstory... I don’t know.

Public transportation also seems to be free, at least for trainers, which re can probably tie back into the whole ‘they actually tax their rich’ thing.

So, I think for this I am going to base numbers off a family budget calculator I have bookmarked (you’d be amazed how often it comes in handy), looking at a single adult with no children living in a mid-range area to get my baseline, then removing things like transportation and healthcare from the costs while adding to the food bill to account for pokemon. We’ll assume the average for the pokemon is half the food expenses of the owners, because we want to feed our friends well and the variety of species means a wide range of needs (an Aron eating metal is not going to be fed as cheaply as an Arcanine with pokechow).

So, going by those numbers, our estimated cost of living for a single, childless adult is $20-25k a year in the pokemon world. Of course numbers will vary, but we’re not here to get so deep we’re gnawing seagrass so we’ll just take that as our baseline. Which means hey! Our second friend from the contests income post was doing better than expected! Still not enough to live off of alone, but definitely a good way to making a decent living.

Of course we still have to worry about the cost of living for a wandering trainer though. They’re going to have more pokemon who are more active, and be more active themselves, so we’ll just straight double the food budget from what just the trainer alone would need. Plus they’re going to need the extra supplies of pokeballs and potions and the like- first aid needs are going to be huge. But they don’t have household expenses, which should help them a fair bit.

I’m using thru-hike costs as a baseline here, since hiking seems to be the major method of travel for these things, so individuals unable to do long hikes for one reason or another are likely to have very different numbers. I won’t go into them here but think longer travel times, differences in gear needed (if you’re in a wheelchair and trying for the ‘authentic’ experience the gear needed is going to be much different and probably more expensive), or even simply more time spent in town while taking vehicular transport around the place. Though even still it’s annoying because does anybody have a good average cost dear fuck. Some people recommend $1,000 a month as a minimum, some $700, some as high as $2,000, and these of course are all including things our trainers don’t need and missing our additional pokemon feeding budget.

We also need to account for various factors that thru-hikers don’t generally deal with. For instance, in areas with things like snow trainers are likely to spend a good portion of the year in town, with free rooms and healthcare but higher expenses, while they wait for weather you can safely travel in.

$1,000 seems to be a good average, and we can easily slot things like extra trainer gear into the budget space normally reserved for hotel stays. We still need to add in the pokemon feeding budget, and account for things like extra time in town due to seasonal changes though. So we’ll bump that number up to, say, $1,700, which is high but allows for these things. This means that our estimated cost of living for a wandering trainer is about $20,400. So the low end of the cot of living we already put down, and it could go higher or lower depending on the needs of the individual (someone with only one pokemon who doesn’t have to worry about weather will be spending less than someone with health concerns who lives somewhere it snows six months out of the year) but it’s a solid average to have.

Now, though, we need to work out how much they can expect to make from their profession, and for that we’re going to have to figure out the most consistent source of income for a wandering trainer- gym battle winnings. They have an advantage over the coordinators here. They may have to sleep in tents a lot, but they also don’t have to pay an entrance fee to try to make money.

First up we need to find out how much one earns from beating a gym, monetarily. The games have a whole set-up, but ti’s very much set on the whole gaming scale and we’re working beyond that. Instead we’re going to average the prize money from a game and call that the standard. We’ll be using my favorite region, Johto, and my favorite games in the regions, Heart Gold and Soul Silver, because I’m biased and I can.

(1560 + 1800 + 2280 + 2760 + 3720 + 4200 + 4080 + 4920) / 8 = 3,165 which I think we can safely round up to $3,200 per gym.

Now, if we assume that one can hit eight gyms a year, 3200*8 = $25,600 in gym winnings a year. Which not only would cover their expenses but also give them some wiggle room. Heck, even if they can’t hit all eight in a year (though it should be doable, I can’t imagine most regions take more time to traverse than the US would and nine months to cross it on foot is more than doable) even just getting six gets them most of the way to their expenses covered, and this isn’t even counting prize money for battling other trainers, or selling items found along trails as we see trainers do in canon.

Heck, a person could probably make some nice coin just getting a team of pokemon with Pickup and selling what they find, especially since when you’re out hiking those items are less likely to be potions and antidotes and more likely to be berries, mushrooms, and nice rocks.

But fuck, while I’m here I probably ought to do something with that whole ‘prize money from battling other trainers’ things, shouldn’t I? It’s kind’ve a big part of the whole mess... We’ll do that, then move onto the League Championships and how much money I think is probably earned for that mess.

The problem with working the trainer prize money out is that in-game mechanics aren’t really any help here. So, we’re going to have to work shit out for ourselves and because I do have limits on how difficult I want to make things for myself- shocking, I know- I’m going to say that the number varies from battle to battle and trainer to trainer. Custom dictates a minimum amount of money you can give to a trainer who’s beaten you (the cost of a potion, about $5) but otherwise it’s figured out by the trainers themselves. Upon agreeing to battle the trainers will negotiate a prize, normally never more than $1,000 but sometimes you find an obnoxious rich guy you know you can take and, well. As a result income from battling other trainers can vary wildly, but one can make some decent pocket change that way. Just don’t pick on the little kids.

Now, onto the League. This one’s gonna get the same treatment as the contests

Pokemon League Championships (Entry Fee: $250 + 8 badges from within the region)

1st: $9,000 + League Cup + League Champion title

2nd: $5,000

3rd: $3,000

4th: $2,500

5th: $2,000

6th: $1,500

7th: $1,000

8th: $500

This may seem rather low if you’ve also looked at the numbers for contests, but entry is also... not easier but certainly something more likely to be obtained. It’s not fair, but little in life ever is, really. As it stands the league otherwise functions the same as the Grand Festival- each region’s requires a certain number of prizes already won to prove one’s place and this requirement must be repeated for each. If you enter a Grand Festival or Pokemon League Championship than the ribbons or badges you use to do so will be registered and cannot be used for the same purpose again. You’ll have to re-earn them to have another go.

Most wandering trainers don’t bother, only going through a region once or twice before moving on to the next. It’s the balance between the two professions. You may never make a living being a coordinator, but you can have a stable home if you so wish. A wandering trainer will be able to make a living off their work, but as the name implies to do so they have to stay on the move, always searching for that next challenge.

But, if that’s the life you want, is that really a bad thing?

[evening-laced-moon-archived]

A Little PSA

So I’m currently writing, rewriting, and retconning some stuff about Yuu, and while I’m doing that, I would like to point out that like many OCs I have, Yuugetsu is taken to logical extremes in terms of character. With the huge amount of team members she has, and how powerful many of them are, it’s very easy to chalk her up as overpowered and even Mary Sue-ish. 

Here’s the catch: that’s the point. 

Allow me to explain.

Yuu is made as overpowered and talented as she is to make her flaws that much more noticeable. I’ve a fondness for doing this, as I have another OC (of which I recently brought back) with the same gimmick, who is much, much more powerful (and flawed, for that matter) and was very popular back when I RP’d her on my previous account. So I figured I’d try something similar when I made Yuu for the Umbra Incident event on Discord, as it was an IC event, and I had yet to make a character for myself as a Gym Leader on the Shokiko League server. However, Yuugetsu has as many differences as she does similarities with Hoshirou, so I may as well go into what makes Yuu a more “balanced” character.

-Yuu has issues connecting to the common man. Most of us know that there’s a lot of shitty people in society, and Yuu is also very aware of this fact. Gossip, rumors, putting on masks just to stab others in the back, gross underbellies of seeming harmless cultures, Yuugetsu hates it. So, when confronted with people from these communities, she has a tendency to get rather unfriendly, to say the least. Things that also make her turn cold are idols who only use their Pokèmon as mascots and not as companions, the underside of the idol community (she knows damn well about the more disturbing things about the culture, including why it exists, what goes on behind the scenes, etc. She’s no innocent bystander.) people who treat their Pokèmon as lesser beings, and many other things that come to light when one thinks about it. I HC these issues, among others, to be very common in the Pokèmon universe, as sadly, it is common in ours, or at least, the equivalent is. This cynical view on mankind as a whole is why she is difficult to be on good terms with certain muses, and why certain other muses may find it to be a breeze to befriend. To her, good people who aren’t blind and innocent are hard to find, hence why she has few, if any, friends.

-It is very easy to upset her or get her angry, as she has a huge berserk button: her loved ones and those she respects. As shown every time me and my “family”/friends reblog the “insult meme,” Yuu gets very pissed when you make fun of others that didn’t deserve it and/or matters to her. Breaking her is also not very hard, as she has self-worth and self-esteem issues that she tries to cover up with achievements and accolades. She constantly tries to convince herself that she’s worthy of being the child of her parents, but she never feels like it’s true, no matter how hard she works, how many powerful Pokèmon she has at her disposal, or how many ribbons she wins from Contests. Want to see her as a wreck? Either get her to have a overstimulation-induced anxiety attack or just simply break her by reaffirming that she’s worthless. Either is effective.

-Yuugetsu isn’t as difficult to beat in battle as one might think. Remember, as a Gym Leader, she is restricted to a monotype team, and can be countered easily if one knows what they’re doing. That isn’t saying that she doesn’t have any counters to her weaknesses, just that there are some openings that can be exploited. Since all battles for threads take place on Showdown, and the mun herself earned her Gym Leader position through rigorous testing, noncompetitive muns may have a hard time defeating Yuugetsu in battle, especially since she takes only Double battle challenges for her badge. No need to fear, however, as the mun can tone the difficulty down if my real Gym team ends up being too hard for you. We can just retcon the battle if it turns one-sided. Battles against nuzlocked muses will automatically be toned down in difficulty to the best of my ability. 

-Outside of the Gym, she has a few powerful Pokèmon on her list that she refuses to catch and use, out of respect. Namely, Pidgeot, Manectric, and Metagross. These three are the Megas of choice of her mother, father, and honorary aunt, respectively. As much as she would like to use them, especially Manectric, she will not, as she feels as if she would be ripping off the respective user of that Mega. And yes, she still has many powerful Pokèmon at her disposal, many of them are frail or have glaring weaknesses to exploit. A surprising amount of them have quad weaknesses, many hard counters, and other very easy to spot, exploitable Achilles’ heels. That’s not to say that they can’t kick your ass, because they can, but they’re not almighty gods, either.

I’m sure I’m missing some, but those are the major ones. Hope you see my muse in a new light and enjoyed this post and all of its juicy tidbits.