#but violet/scarlet isn't in home yet

[bumblingbunny]

You are challenged by Gym Leader Percy!

Percy is the most intimidating of the gym leaders, with both fiery moves and a fiery temper. She’s also a well known member of The Team - a corporation that skirts the line of what’s legal for the sake of profits.

for @samssims‘s Pokemon Picks monthly theme

[talesofsonicasura]

Herald of Ruin

Hello everyone. It's been awhile since I made a post here. Tumblr isn't exactly making things easy especially because I finally gotten asks after so long. And guess who got a glitch which makes it impossible to edit said asks much less one that still hasn't been solved in days?

Nevermind the details although since that isn't the focus. I got plagued with a new AU idea which wouldn't leave me alone. Thus this particular post.

We all know about Optimus Prime. The heroic leader of the Autobots, a kind and gentle mech who battles those that dare threaten the peace. Yet one part of him we really see is his humble origin as Orion Pax. The bot before the war truly war began.

In multiple iterations, Orion is depicted as a dock worker, a miner, or for this AU Prime's archivist version. What do I have in store for him? Let's begin. (Part 2 can be found here.)

Orion Pax didn't exactly know where he was. It definitely ain't Cybertron from the vibrant greenery, bright blue sky and the peculiar fauna that roamed around him. An organic world instead of metal.

His memory core being a massive mess didn't help either. Orion could access some datas like who he is, where he came from, his function, and even a few individuals but everything else is engulfed by errors. All the archivist could do at the moment was walk.

Thus Orion Pax took his first steps into this strange colorful world. A directionless path past red cliffs, small pools of water, and the various wildlife that watched from a distance in curiosity. It all led to a peculiar metallic emblem embedded in the one such cliff.

A large vault that bear an eerie vibrant purple symbol that glowed as if reacting to him. Without word, Orion Pax approach the strange landmark. His vision flashing constantly to a dark abyss that held a faint blue light before his outstretched servo.

Time began to stretch into constant flashes until contact been made. Orion Pax barely blinked before he found himself on the ground back to the colorful world around him. And it didn't take long to see amber eyes peer down his optics.

Narrow gaze full of skeptical curiosity in what embodies a pure ancient grudge woven in wooden tablets decorated by dead leaves. The kind which had Orion remembering a phrase hidden by broken processor. Knowledge is power. A treasure that can bring peace...

Or RuIn.

Yup. We are delving into the world of Pokemon as Orion Pax just encounter the Ruinous Tablets: Wo-Chien. In Scarlet and Violet, there are four unique seals scattered across the region. These contain the Treasures of Ruin, powerful Pokemon that brought disaster onto Paldea long long ago.

Wo-Chien is the wooden tablets used by a grudge filled scribe to write the deeds of a corrupt king. The Pokemon doesn't attack Orion for one sheer reason: curiosity. It never seen anything like the archivist before.

The potential of untold knowledge leads to an unspoken alliance between the two. Something which later evolves into a powerful bond. Orion names the Wo-Chien 'Blackbox'. (Black boxes are devices that record and contain important data.)

It doesn't take long until the two come across a Pokemon Trainer named Roc. (This trainer fills the main character role for Scarlet/Violet.) After a misunderstanding which involves a language barrier and mistaking a Cybertronian for a Pokemon, Orion Pax's path is laid.

Travel the Paldea region alongside Roc, maybe even help him on his journey. By doing this he could piece together the answers to what led him here and maybe get back home. For now Orion learns about this strange new world.

Travelling across Paldea is gonna require a mix of alt mode, holoform and alternate fuel sources. Orion's alt mode is gonna be a cargo truck since my headcanon height for him is 19 ft. As for alternate fuel, it takes the forms of Tera Shards.

These shards are crystallized energy only found in the Paldea region and responsible for a phenomenon known as Terastallization. Roc made a desperate attempt to save a energy drained Orion by having him consume a Dark Tera Shard. These items become vital for the Cybertronian until he can fully perfect a recipe for Synthetic Energon. Success varies.

For Pokemon, Orion only catches those who wish to join him unless a situation calls for it. Like the safety of the creature in question that leads to no other option. Otherwise Orion leaves them be. The same goes for battling as well with the exception of spars.

Our archivist will have a team like any other trainer and I'll be going over the main ones. His signature team basically. Let's start with Orion's first Pokemon.

Blackbox: Wo-Chien

Type: Dark/Grass Nature: Serious Tera: Dark

Ability: Tablets of Ruin- reduce the ATK of all other Pokemon on the field.

Moves: Growth, Ruination, Giga Drain, Dark Pulse

This grumpy book snail of a Wo-Chien prefers to quietly read and nap in peace. He's not above using his ability to intimidate someone if irritated enough. Blackbox isn't fully heartless though as he cares for Orion alongside his close companions in subtle ways. Harm them and this Wo-Chien will drain those offenders dry.

Purrlee: Purugly

Type: Normal Nature: Jolly Tera: Ground

Ability: Defiant - Boosts Attack when stats lowered.

Moves: Play Rough, Hone Claws, Dig, Bulldoze

Orion's second Pokemon, this Tiger Cat is surprisingly very friendly, snuggly and energetic despite the species. She was abandoned by her former Trainer after evolving from Glameow. Purrlee has a tendency to bowl over others for surprise nuzzles. No one stops her though, not even Blackbox.

Vos: Gligar

Type: Ground/Flying Nature: Impish Tera: Poison

Ability: Hyper Cutter- Prevents Attack from lowering

Moves: Cross Poison, Swords Dance, Bulldoze, Fire Fang

A wild glutton who serves as Orion's third Pokemon. He joined the team back when he was a Gligar that gotten lost from his group and slept in the archivist's cabin. Vos' name is coined from a lost memory that the Pokemon had accidentally triggered. He loves sleeping in Orion's cabin or hang off him like a perch.

Shard: Quaquaval *Shiny

Type: Water/Fighting Nature:Timid Tera: Ice

Ability: Moxie- boosts Attack for each Pokemon they defeat

Moves: Aqua Step, Ice Spinner, Counter, Hurricane

Orion's fourth Pokemon is a shy dancer who wishes to perfect her craft. Shard started as a very timid Quaxly who evolves over the span of the adventure. The dual type has gain more confidence upon becoming a Quaquaval but still hides behind Orion if spooked.

Noctis: Grimmsnarl

Type: Dark/Fairy Nature: Naughty Tera: Fairy

Ability: Pickpocket - Steals an item if physically attacked

Moves: Spirit Break, Play Rough, Drain Punch, Crunch

A loyal yet mischievous powerhouse that became Orion's fifth Pokemon. He started as a self destructive chaotic Morgrem who absolutely loathe the archivist until one fateful incident led to Noctis not only evolving into Grimmsnarl but try to better himself. The dual type still pull pranks, thankfully these aren't as dangerous like back then.

Vector Prime: Steelix *Can Mega Evolve

Type: Steel/Ground Nature: Gentle Tera: Steel

Ability: Sturdy - Cannot be knocked out with 1 hit KOs

Moves: Dragon Dance, Iron Tail, Psychic Fangs, Metal Burst

A mysterious Pokemon that can sense space-time anomalies serves as Orion's sixth Pokemon. Vector is a grandfatherly soul who tends to dote on everyone and provide comfort or wisdom if needed. His name stems from a triggered memory like Vos. Vector can mega evolve with the Steelixite Orion earned if need be.

Crimson: Koraidon

Type: Dragon/Fighting Nature: Hasty Tera: Dragon

Ability: Orichalcum Pulse -Turns the sunlight harsh when entering battle. The ancient energy thrumming through this Pokemon boosts it's Attack in harsh sunlight.

Moves: Collision Course, Iron Head, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw

A hyperactive and affectionate Legendary that is Orion's emotional support Pokemon. He was entrusted to the archivist by Professor Sada as a Ride Pokemon, although she's unaware of him not being human. Crimson spends most his time munching on sandwiches and making others laugh than battling. Doesn't mean the Koraidon is unable to curb stomp those who wish to cause trouble.

I can't forget about Orion's human companion. Roc is a 23 year old trainer who tends to be quite carefree but also equally reckless. He aspires to be a Frontier Brain and run his own facility. To do so, he must compete in the Battle Frontier which will pit him against trainers who can match even Pokemon League champions in skill or strength.

Roc explores various regions to gain experience that could aid in his quest. He accidentally mistook Orion for a Pokemon on their first meeting and it took Blackbox stealing the man's Rotomphone to stop the fight from escalating. (There's a language barrier which can be resolved by the data inside the device.)

Roc is an enabler when it comes to Orion. From the limited info he got out of the bot's fragmented memory, the young man felt angry about how his new friend lived back on Cybertron. Something Roc decides to rectify by giving Orion a chance to experience life.

It does put a dent in his wallet but the price is worth it when the archivist gets to attend a carnival or read whatever book he wants. Orion tries to pay him back however Roc usually refuses. The time he doesn't is by asking to learn stuff from the bot in exchange.

Such things consist of reading/writing/understanding Cybertronian, history and other subjects on the planet that isn't functionalism. Roc's penmanship definitely approved upon trying to write Orion's language. He did roll his eyes when the bot mistook his handwriting for 'clocker' scratch. (Cybertronian Chicken)

I will be drawing Roc. For holoform design, either design my own or use the TFA version. Orion Pax is participating in all the events of the main Scarlet/Violet game and Teal Mask/Indigo Disk DLC alongside my OC except for the Pokemon League. Now this is the first half of my AU explanation.

The second will delve into the Transformers side and why it's called 'Herald of Ruin'. Do know that Orion Pax is gonna be quite different from his canon counterpart throughout this. I will drive a wedge between them and see how the character can molded.

That's all I got for now! Until next time folks, I'll see you back in Paldea. Now transform and roll out! Here's a Trainer Card that I made on Pokecharms.com for Orion Pax and Crimson(Koraidon).

[spookyc]

One this episode of reading way too much into a children's game, I want to discuss Arven and Nemona and their similarities and differences. Mainly revolving around their upbringings and how their familial situations shaped them, and even why the two became at odds with each other.

(Spoilers for the end game and post game of SV under the cut)

So let's start by saying, well what do these two even have in common?

1. They both come from prestigious families.

2. This prestigious family/family member had a direct impact on their own social standing and both are judged for it.

There are other similarities, but these are mostly superficial, these two being the ones I noted as having significance. And as you can see, both of them relate to their families in some way. Alright, so both of them come from some pretty important families, but who are these families specifically? Well, as we know, Arven is the son of Professor Sada/Turo, aka the most impressive professor the games have given us yet, and Nemona's father, who's on the board of the Rotom Phone Company.

Why are their families important? Well, their family, in some way, is integral to why they turned out the way that they did, and in part, why they grew to resent the other.

So let's start with Arven:

(For brevity's sake, I will be referring to Arven's parent as Sada, as I played through scarlet, but know that any points I make about her apply to Turo in the case of violet)

Born to the esteemed professor Sada, you might expect that Arven had an easy life growing up. With a name known across the entirety of Paldea, and even outside it, surely her influence must have been carried to her son, causing him to be studious and never late to a class. Especially not when Sada was herself a graduate of Naranja Academy. The reality, as most players know, however, is quite different from that picture.

To say Sada was a distant parent would be putting it lightly, so I'll say it outright. She was a neglectful parent, straight up. Controversial opinion, I know. From a young age she completely abandoned Arven to pursue her research and didn't even have the time to be home, let alone interact with him. His passion for cooking isn't even something born purely from a genuine like of it, as he states himself in his route in post game that he only picked up how to cook because his mother was never around.

Which means Arven had to learn to cook as a child, along with providing for his Maschiff/Mabosstiff, and Koraidon when Sada got her time machine working. Not to mention that Arven saw Koraidon as being the thing that took away his mom and childhood and yet he's the one forced to take care of it.

(On a slightly separate note I find that incredibly symbolic that Sada couldn't provide for both of the things she brought into the world. She didn't provide for her own son, and she didn't even provide for the Koraidon she brought back from the past even though that was a direct result of her research. Just something interesting I noted.)

So Arven was forced to grow up, he didn't get to experience a childhood like everyone else, instead left to clean up after his mother's mistakes and make a meal for himself and his Mabosstiff everyday. I imagine this is why he's so abrasive and standoffish in the beginning of the game, because he can't relate to any of his peers and that frustrates him. It frustrates him that he can't have fun and enjoy himself like all the other kids his age, and all because his own mother chose her research over her own flesh and blood.

And perhaps no one ignites this frustration quite like Nemona does.

Enter Nemona. A girl the same age as him, who also comes from some important names, but they couldn't be further apart. She was provided for, loved and cared for, never had to or has to worry about her next meal, and her name is heralded due to her status as "Champion" due to her age. She's extroverted and such a boundless burst of energy, and it isn't fair.

Why wasn't Arven given that? How come he didn't deserve that life? Why does Nemona deserve it? She's not so great, even if she did always win every fight he ever engaged her in. She just got lucky, she's never experienced any real hardship, not like he has.

He hates her because in his mind, she's been given everything he's ever wanted. From the outset her life looks so idealized, it looks perfect, and he can't understand why he couldn't have had that life. It's unfair, but he doesn't know her, and it's not a hard conclusion to come to, especially when Nemona's someone no one's ever been able to get close to.

Let's investigate that.

So Nemona, at least in terms of upbringing, certainly did have things easier than Arven. We see the bigass mansion she lives in, and we know at least her father is stacked. I mean they like, have butlers, so yeah, rich. Definitely never had to worry about food or likely doing anything around the house. She does mention her parents being distant but in her words, "in a good way" so I imagine gone away on business trips often or stuff like that.

With her older sister primed to be an heir, she had less expectations set on her as the youngest, but that didn't mean she didn't have any. Once she started attending Naranja Academy is when the issues started to arise.

(I will be extrapolating quite a bit from here, but we don't really know much about Arven or Nemona's first year, so it's kinda up in the air. And I am basing most of my thoughts on stuff at least mentioned in the game)

Due to her family's reputation, she began to gain a status immediately as this kind of "princess" whose family had bought her into this school. Her peers either saw themselves as beneath her or scoffed at the notion that she was above them, regardless of if Nemona substantiated these claims. I imagine, though it likely wasn't as bad as it was with Team Star, she was even picked on for this status.

That she "only got in cause of "daddy's money" and that it didn't matter what she did because she could just "buy her problems away." This bothered Nemona, as she'd always felt quite distant from her family and their business endeavors. They'd never pressured her to be a part of it, not when her sister was around, and she'd never been interested in it.

But regardless of what she told her peers, they never took her seriously, this constant invisible wall separating her from everyone her age. So she decided that if she could do something real impressive, then they'd judge her on her own merits, rather than judging her based on who her family was. So she worked her ass off training her pokemon and grinding through every gym, until at last she made it to the Pokemon League. That would have been impressive enough, but Nemona wasn't gonna stop there, no, she was gonna take on the League and she was gonna win.

And against all odds, she did. She defeated Geeta, La Primera, and won, becoming a Champion in her own right. Finally she had proved herself, proven that she was more than a family name, that she was Nemona, a Champion! Right? Well, not quite. Turns out beating all eight gym badges and the Pokemon League was an unprecedented feat and incredibly difficult for someone her age, so now the conversation around her just became "She must just have some crazy natural talent" and the wall never left, in fact, it might've grown worse, because now the thing she's most passionate about she can't even go all out in, because everyone is so afraid of loss.

Which is something she can't understand, because she had to have lost so many times before she eventually became Champion. To her, a loss is just an opportunity to learn how to win next time. But no one else really seems to understand that, and so she's forced to hold back, and even when she does, it's still too much. So despite her extroverted nature, she doesn't really have any friends, never able to break past this barrier she has with her peers.

Which is why (though it's likely less intense than Arven) she resents Arven. Because despite his standing as the son of the professor, no one sees him as being higher than any other kid, and no kid views themself as lower in his presence. He can interact with others normally, without having to hold any of himself back, and Nemona envies that. Sure, maybe that just means people see him as a disappointment, but she'd rather be a disappointment than be untouchable.

Which is why when they meet in Area Zero, and get to interact more, they realize how they've misjudged each other. Sure, Arven doesn't have this barrier that prevents him from interacting with others, but that doesn't mean it's easy for him. It's not better to be a nobody to everyone except for the footnote of being the professor's son, and he can't interact with his peers on a normal level anyway, not when he's matured so far past them.

And though Nemona is surrounded by attention, it's not exactly always good attention. Just because she's accomplished a lot doesn't mean she's perfect. She experiences her own problems, even if they're different than Arven's, and that while she was lucky to be born into a home that loved and provided for her, her titles were her own to gain, and that had nothing to do with luck.

And I think they always were on the way to those discoveries, it's just that their own resentments kind of clouded them to it. Like, I think Arven never felt this invisible barrier with Nemona. Maybe because he also had an influential parent, or maybe because he only ever saw her as a lucky, annoying prick, regardless, he'd always treated her like a person and not a figure. And likewise, though she acknowledged others saw Arven as a disappointment, Nemona never actually saw him as one. Hell, with her disposition, I think she saw how much potential he had, and only resented him more for not applying himself.

Think there's proof of that with her line of "You better actually show up for class!" in the beginning of the game.

But yeah, upon a second playthrough, I couldn't help but notice how similar these two were with their family situations, and that got me thinking about how differently they turned out, and how their separate problems fueled their initial distaste of each other. As of now though, definitely think they're the kind of besties that are comfortable enough to fuck with each other but knowing each other well enough to know when to stop, and that they care deeply about the other.

Sorry, I'm very sappy about these idiots, very sad I couldn't include Penny but her family has no influence and her problems are more centered around like, the failure of the school system, at the time anyway. Which I would be down to discuss as well as my own headcanons for her family situation, but that's for another post.

(If there's interest for that lmk)

[giantchasm]

let's hear abt the fucked up au

OK. So, as you may have seen, when I first beat Scarlet and Violet I made the following meme as a goofy little joke about how I thought it was funny another time travel plot came immediately after PLA

I didn't think it through much more than that at the time. But the post has been making rounds and as its popped up in my notifications again and again, I got to thinking...-

It's said in Scarlet and Violet that humans can't come back through the time machine. But let's humor the idea for a moment, just for funsies: What if Barry and Emmet did seek Sada out to get their loved ones back? What if it worked? Wouldn't that make for such a happy ending?

...On the surface, at least.

You see, there's a theory I've seen floating around about Area Zero. The theory posits that the time machine isn't an actual time machine, and that the Paradox Pokemon aren't actually from the past or future. This theory reasons that the 'time machine,' Paradox Pokemon, and AI professor were actually created by a legendary not yet in the game-- one only alluded to in the Scarlet/Violet book.

The going theory at the moment is that this Pokemon is some sort of eldritch entity that feeds off of imagination/desire and creates things based on people's wishes. That's why the box art legendaries resemble Heath's beloved Cyclizar and why the paradox Pokemon exist despite the holes in the timeline they create. None of it is real.

But if two people were to go to Area Zero with the wish of being reunited with those they care about, what would happen? Would it be like what happened when Turo/Sada went to Area Zero with the desire to see what they saw in the Scarlet/Violet book?

Would something be birthed?

What I'm trying to say is imagine an AU where Barry and Emmet get wind of what Sada's doing, go to the crater to hopefully be reunited with their loved ones, and are-- except... they're not. They're reunited with replicas based on their loved ones exactly as they perceive them.

They don't notice the things that don't add up. 'Dawn' and 'Ingo' behave exactly how they anticipate they would. But for everyone else...-

Things are weird.

Ingo doesn't remember how to run the singles train the way he should (After all, Emmet wasn't there.) Dawn doesn't recall conversations she had with Lucas or Rowan when Barry wasn't listening. Neither of them remember anything about Hisui despite historical records showing that's where they went.

...What's going on?

Their other loved ones would grow suspicious. Things wouldn't add up. But when they'd try to point this out, they'd be rebuked. Clearly they're "just not happy Dawn and Ingo are home."

So they begin to investigate the crater themselves and come in contact with some teens who claim to have entered it. Cue the Scarlet and Violet friend group also catching wind of what's going on.

And a shitstorm ensuing as Florian/Juliana, Nemona, Penny and Arven travel to Sinnoh and Unova to talk with Lucas, Elesa, Cynthia, and anyone else who might become wrapped up in all of this (I can see Looker getting involved) all to try and save Barry and Emmet from the same fate that befell the professor; AKA getting way too wrapped up in a fantasy.

But that's easier said than done. The two would drag their heels in, and it doesn't seem like 'Dawn' or 'Ingo' mean harm. After all... Koiraidon might be fake, too, and Koraidon is perfectly loving and sweet.

Scooby Doo investigation antics and psychological horror ensue.

[tabletofruination]

Expedition Log: Day One at Casseroya Lake

((small ooc note: i unfortunately only have violet for the moment because i am poor and also just have no way of getting scarlet for funsies. so please ignore any inconsistencies in appearance, i tried to make her look canon as possible with what i had <3 thanks in advance!!))

[pt. 1 (you are here), pt. 2]

[initial recording time: 2:59pm]

"Ugh, should I really be recording in this rain? Green's taking a brief nap, yeah, but ugh. If I don't do it now, I'm totally gonna forget..."

Despite the concern on her face, though, she seems more than apt to get her pep up and repositions the camera and makes a cheerful little gesture.

"...Screw it, we'll do it live! Hi everyone, it's Juli!"

Juliana talks easily, despite what seems to be a small rasp in her throat--one could likely excuse it at maybe a bit of sickness taking her, but still being able to speak on despite it. It at least shows the girl is determined, if little else, as she gestures with her hand out to the area.

"Green's taking a little nap while I go exploring outside a bit! Never really been fond of the rain, that one. But I'm over by the watchtower of Casseroya Lake, and the view is just plain stunning! Here, get a good look!"

Juliana seems to reposition the camera, the view going outward as one can hear the girl's energetic steps as she focuses on a few different views from the lake.

"Ehe! The sky's so clear, but it's still raining Fidough and Glameow--but look at that pretty sunlight! Isn't it just gorgeous?"

Juliana's laughter, her vibrance and enthusiasm, it's all very clear in how she animatedly talks about her surroundings--about some of the Pokemon she's seen so far, about how Darling has been able to go for a nice swim and enjoy herself while Guidance keeps a watch--it's a tangent that gets Juliana to laugh a bit, before she seemingly stops herself short.

"--But right, right! This is, uh, supposed to be about my notes for the expedition, right? Right. I'll see if I can edit this out once I do my presentation, but...I don't know, it always makes me super happy to be able to talk about my Pokemon, you know?"

One can hear shuffling as the camera view shifts down a little bit, as if Juliana is taking a seat upon the rainsoaked ground a bit.

"But let's get started with our observations! And, oh, a little bit of history about this place. That's important too, right?"

"So! This place is Casseroya Lake, basically a beautiful haven for water Pokemon to thrive, and home to at least a few of Paldea's great wonders! On one side, you've got the Colonnade Hollow--a place where Dragon and Fighting types tend to come and raise their young before moving to other places, and a pretty common place to find Noibat, if you're looking for them! The dark cave kinda tends to evoke their old home in...Kalos, right? I think that's where they're from originally, at least."

"Then you've got the Gracia Stones, which are probably some of the nicest rock formations you'll find off of the coast of Paldea! I admit, their history isn't something I've learned about yet, but if I had to make a guess...it must've been the den of a great Water type Pokemon, waaay long ago!"

"And then there's Casseroya Falls! It's the connecting point between Glaseado Mountain--" Juliana turns her camera back towards the lake, angling it so a faint view of the mountain can be seen. "--And the lake itself! Water melting down from the mountain comes and graces the lake, welling in it, and connecting all life within it...heehee! Isn't that super cool? It just means that each and every one of us, we're all connected in some way or another--from the water that comes down the mountain, from the lake, and into the faucets of our homes, we are connected in all things. Or...something like that!"

Juliana seems to giggle a bit, brightly as she focuses the shot on the lake again and seems to sigh as the rain continues. If she minds, it doesn't seem obvious in her (admittedly still a little raspy) voice.

"If you can believe it, there used to be a giant, Titanic Pokemon that roamed these parts. The Elusive, False Dragon Titan...which in truth, was actually two Pokemon working in tandem with one another!"

"You see, about a year and a half ago, I was helping a friend of mine with his own research, see--his name's Arven, he makes the best food you could ever ask for! No joke, I'm pretty sure this guy could put any and all of Paldea's sandwich shops out of business if he opened one up. But I shouldn't get carried away! But we wound up finding and fighting this Titan, see? And at first, it was this big, huge Dondozo that had seemed to eat a Tatsugiri! And like, what on earth, right?! Poor little guy was just living his life."

"But you see--the Tatsugiri, it was actually like, waaay smarter than it looked. It was actually controlling the Dondozo from inside of it's mouth, and it wound up fighting us too after we managed to defeat it's big shield! It was the weirdest thing ever! But we managed to find this really special herb in a cave, and--"

"Juliana. Are you going to sit here and talk all day?"

"--Eep!"

Juliana's phone seems to immediately drop into the wet grass as she startles, but it's...strange, almost. The voice in question that speaks up--it's decidedly older in nature, though it's gender isn't exactly easy to determine. But more odd is the seeming...closeness of the voice. And it's qualities, too--it doesn't exactly feel like a voice that has suddenly come up beside someone, startling them while they're talking.

It seems to almost...reverb, in a way that one can't quite place their finger on. It feels there, yet not. Human, but with just enough weirdness to make one question it. It's strange, but the camera's gone dark as Juliana dropped it, and she seems to chuckle no worse for wear.

"Green, come on! You can't go scaring a girl like that when she's in the middle of a story!"

"I am well aware. I simply think there are better uses of your time than simply nattering into a camera about ancient history; writing is a far better medium for such things, no?"

"I mean, I guess..." Juliana seems slightly dejected, though she seems to laugh afterward. "But you lose all of the enthusiasm with writing, you know?"

"Mmm. I do suppose that is a fair point; I acquiesce." Green seems to chuckle, the sound very light and with a quality that seems mature in nature. Like a good hearted, gentle chuckle. "But we should begin our journey to the other side of the lake, if we wish to make it by nightfall."

"Yeah?" Juliana can be heard shifting a bit in the wet grass, seeming to ponder that. "Did you or Guidance find something?"

"I can sense something in the distance. I am not...entirely certain of what the energy is, but it feels real. I believe we may be onto something, if my hunch is correct."

"Wait, for real?! Why didn't you say so sooner?!" Juliana seems to jump up, her voice becoming more distant as she gets off the ground. "Come on, lets get going! If we have Buddy ferry us across, we should be able to get there before night time, right?"

...Oddly enough, Green's voice seems a touch more distant too. Odd, given that there seem to have been no other steps heard...? "That is exactly what I was thinking. We should make haste, then. I imagine the rain will let up in due time as well, and as long as Buddy stays on task, we should be able to make it swiftly."

"Let's get going, then! Oh, I just can't wait...!"

"Ah, Miss Juliana--do not forget your phone! You will need that, won't you?"

"Oh, shoot, right! Hang on a second--"

Juliana seems to pick up the Rotomphone again, the camera a touch blurry from the rainsoaked grass it laid in, but no worse for wear otherwise. There's a brief bit of darkness as she seems to wipe down the camera, starting to walk back while cheerfully signing off.

"Alright, that's going to end the first part of this! But I'll keep all of you posted on what we're able to find next! Bye-bye~!"

The camera ends on an odd shot of the ground--one which had been seen earlier, if only from a distance. Very little seems to be different about it from a glance, but...

...

Odd. Were there always those little buds growing on the ground? If you blink you'll miss them, but hm. How strange.

Either way, the video ends off here.

[ghcstchild-a]

𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆: @lianhuaes // JIANG CHENG

a clarity bell is being pressed into the palm of his hand— looking exactly like the yunmeng jiang sect's one, except with red threads woven in between the violet threads of the tassel. jiang wanyin is staring pretty hard at wei wuxian as he gives it, a forlorn look distant in his eyes. "i found it," he says simply, a lie easily slipping between his teeth. he had not found it- he had it specially made.

HE NEVER FOUND A PLACE that was meant for him, it seems. Never felt like he'd fit in the whites and blues of Gusu Lan — anything but black made him look too fragile and feel as if his own skin was being peeled off again, layer by layer. The face staring back at him from the other side of the mirror isn't his own either, and yet the bleeding wound in his heart is what he calls a home, a ghost lingering at the threshold, never daring to cross to either side. The clarity bell cuts into the skin of his palm, sharp edges and bright scarlet, a memento of the past he could no longer return to, another one etched into the gaze of his shidi — it's enough to forget how to breathe.

The last few times they've seen each other, Wei Wuxian had his silent guardian loom over, a wordless observer, his watchful keeper who never insisted of staying too close yet never dared to leave his husband's side, as if the mere idea of Jiang Wanyin would reopen every wound of old. He'd try to reason with it and fail, understanding sitting heavy in his chest as he allowed it every time, but they're alone today, of all days, and he chokes on a breathless laugh, eyes aflame. ❝ Found it, ❞ Wei Wuxian echoes, barely amused. Right. It's been an uphill battle for too long. Fingers tighten around the bell, around the hand caught in his own for a brief moment. He craves to attempt the impossible again, wherever his home might be he would never be anything but a wanderer. Him, a married man, a breaker of promises. ❝ Jiang Cheng– ❞ he doesn't think, nor does he wish to ponder the consequences. He does what he's always done — and smiles, that broken little smile that reaches his eyes and brings the shining of tears to light, and then, arms snake around his shidi's stiff, slumped shoulders. The embrace isn't tentative or careful, he rushes into it as he always did, as Jiang Cheng once did too, for the first time in three months, and it lets him breathe again when the world stops spinning. Maybe he never wished to grow up, never learned how to. Maybe clinging to the warmth of old memories is the only thing he knows. He's already apologized a thousand times before, gone half of this new life expecting a punch. Not today. ❝ Thank you. ❞

[miratenebrarum]

@crownhcart ► Cecil:

« Th-this... ». He winces, breath trembling. His arms hurt like hell, and he can't stop staring at them with his violet eyes, at the tubes doing something he still hasn't understood. He smiles a tense, sad smile, thinking a truth he always knew, and hurts to say out loud. « ... i-isn't... really a hospital. I-is it...? »

And there it is.

Dr.Shaw's eyes went from the notes in his hands up to the anomaly as he finally comes to the realization - or finally stops believing his own lies - that he isn't going back home anytime soon. His coworkers carefully keep finding their shoes and computers way more interesting than the man in front of them, the poor D-Class inside the room with Cecil moves his head from left to right, from the anomaly in front of them to the mad scientists testing The-Scarlet-King-Knows-What.

And finds Shaw's cold glare.

He'll get used to these kind of reactions, eventually. For now, he'll just keep faking 'til he makes it, leaning on the microphone and starting it before letting out a soft sigh.

"Sorry, [ DATA EXPUNGED ]."

The first time he calls him with his number, rather than a name. Dehumanizing him. Pretending that he's just yet another entry.

"For what is worth, I told them this was a terrible idea."

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Day 1 of Sword went well - I picked Scorbunny as my starter but also went into Scarlet and bred the other two and then sent them back into Sword so I could have all three lmao. I'm probably gonna go for Pokédex completionnnnn there's nothing wrong with giving myself the other starters rq just to meet that endddddddddddddddd.

Multiple years ago I caught a shiny Zubat in Pokémon Sun, evolved it into Golbat, and then dropped the game, and then before all the 3DS online and eshop related stuff was shut down got Pokémon Transporter or whatever the fuck so I could send that Golbat into Home. The only Switch Pokémon game I had though is Violet so this Golbat was just stuck in Home. Now that I have Sword though I've sent it in there and even though it's slightly overlevelled so doesn't listen to me I'm working on its friendship and will eventually have a shiny Crobat, which is my 2nd favourite Pokémon, so yk, very cool.

I'm still firmly in a rather handholdy tutorial section so game doesn't feel great yet but I'm enjoying myself enough. Actual graphical fidelity isn't great although I appreciate the art design a decent amount. I did buy the DLC although I haven't started it yet because I mean, I wanna beat the main game first lol.

I keep getting fucked over in the fashion department in Pokémon because when I was doing the soul links with my friend we never played the same gender and just by way of rotation I missed the girl in XY, and then I got to be the girl in USUM but the fashion options in that game are shit, and then SV has fashion options but everything is a kind of ugly school uniform so haven't been happy there. And so things are finally looking up for me, and I've so far got a girl that I can be reasonably happy with.

Went with the name Hope, which actually isn't a great idea because of my rival being called Hop, and us doing a lot of the journey together it seems. Very easy to confuse yourself a bit in dialogue when both those names turn up in a row. Hop is kind of annoying although he's far from the weakest rival in the series so.

Gaming gamer.

[zaptap]

btw i still think theyre going to do unova remakes this year. for a second there i wavered a bit since i realized they could do something with johto first (hgss is older than gen v after all) but i think after indigo disk bringing unova back into the spotlight, it makes more sense to keep that going right into the next game (and there's no pattern yet for second-round remakes, since we've only gotten lgpe. could be total coincidence they did kanto again before sinnoh)

as for whether the remake will even be any good? idk lol. maybe they'll get ilca to do the bare minimum again. or maybe they'll decide not to after how much of a mess bdsp was (i feel like theyd rather not have to come up with special rules for pokemon home transfers again)

and to me legends arceus was one half of the sinnoh remake (the part where they add a lot of new stuff and bring newer pokemon to the region, which bdsp lacked) so they could do another legends game. they could continue the trend of focusing on a mythical and maybe do genesect or victini, or maybe base it on that merged dragon legendary we never really saw? idk

really hope though that they just... do a normal remake again. recreate the world and story of the original game, yes, but add to it. let us have pokemon that didn't exist when the originals came out, add new pokemon forms, etc. i really miss the old remakes being in the same style as the brand new games of the generation and able to communicate with each other, instead of this thing theyve been doing since lgpe where everything is in a weird bubble by itself

at the same time though i liked legends arceus and it'd be nice to see something like that again. my theory has been that it came about because game freak maybe got a little too ambitious working on a more traditional sinnoh remake (trying to work something like the wild area into sinnoh, maybe settling on making five of the areas more open, and ultimately deciding it was too different--or had some ideas to make it even more different--and spinning it off into something new while hiring ilca to cover the expectation for a "normal" remake since they'd be abandoning that)

and now, after having already done the split-model remake with bdsp and legends arceus, would they do the same thing again? i think with scarlet and violet's open world, having it be similarish to those games probably won't happen (also they absolutely wouldn't have terastalization and tera raids--if blueberry academy is in unova and has a special tera orb to enable all of that, that means it isn't in the rest of the region). but they could still have it be more linear while being stylistically similar to sv, as opposed to what bdsp did

ANYWAY how about this actually: have the type of remake we got with frlg/hgss/oras (where there's plenty of new stuff and you can get pokemon that didn't exist in the originals) and then throw in some kind of Dream World inspired side story area with legends arceus mechanics. that would be really cool

.......also there's the whole question of like. what the fuck are they gonna do about bw2. those games went above and beyond the usual third version deal. different story, different starting area and map progression, different protagonists. they can't simply tack on some alternate clothing options and throw in the kyurem/kami/etc forms and call it good. that would be unacceptable

would they put both games in one? would they sell the second as dlc? would the paired games, instead of black remake and white remake, be bw remake and bw2 remake? (would that even work?) or would they really just ignore bw2 as much as possible? honestly with the way game freak's been these days i feel like that might be most likely unfortunately

for the past few years ive been wanting to replay gen v, but with these remakes coming... well, in the past i've replayed rs before oras and played yellow before lgpe, and that was fine, but when i replayed platinum before bdsp came out it just felt like i was playing the same game again except worse. like i think i'd rather have played bdsp and then platinum. so i'll wait until after the remakes before doing that i think (or at least until we have an idea of what we're getting) (not that i think i'll have time to get around to playing those before then anyway)

[nightshadeis]

More Pokemon per Pokemon!!

With the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and a few of the new 'mons, I've decided to go through the pokedex and find out just how many Pokemon are actually MULTIPLE Pokemon disguised as one. I did not count forms that are actually two Pokemon combined, such as Necrozma Dawn/ Dusk wings or Calyrex with its steed, nor the gen 8 fossil Pokemon, which are each two halves of different ancient Pokemon slapped together.

First up, one of the originals: Dugtrio. Literally three Digletts. Now, it's entirely possible that's it's three heads on one body which we never see- but it's still three heads. Which is enough for me to call it three Pokemon per Pokemon.

Similarly, and yet not quite the same, we have Magneton. It's three Magnemite stuck together. There is at least one piece of Pokemon media (the original Pokemon Snap) that shows three Magnemite evolving by combining into one Magneton. The most literal three Pokemon per Pokemon.

Slowbro. "But Nyx," you might be saying, "I thought you weren't counting Pokemon forms that are two different Pokemon combined?" But consider this: This is my list, deal with it. Slowpoke + Shellder = Slowbro. I *think* (and I might be misremembering) there's an episode of the anime where a Slowbro devolves into Slowpoke when the Shellder detaches?? Don't quote me on this I've been awake since 8:30 last night

Doduo. Two heads, one body, I'm counting it.

Dodrio. Same deal, plus another head!

Exeggcute! They can separate from each other! It happened in a short before a movie, the second one I think, and they stole Togepi to pretend they had enough of each other until the other one got found! It's literally six Pokemon!!!

Exeggutor is kinda. I don't think it can separate anymore, but it's clearly all the Exeggcute stuck to a tree trunk.

Weezing is two Pokemon, but according to the dex, sometimes it's three! Never in-game though.

Kangaskhan has a baby! That baby can fight! What!!

Slowking is the same deal as Slowbro, but the Shellder bit its head instead of it's tail (or arm, in Galar).

Girafarig has two brains. This is canon. (Ftr, Wobbuffet does not. It is *heavily implied* that the tail is its actual body or brain or whatever, but it's not outright stated to be the case.)

Mantine, but only in gens 2&3 and in Home, where its sprite has a Remoraid attached.

Metang is two Beldum fussed together, and

Metagross is two Metang, ergo four Beldum.

Combee is three bees! I love them!!

Vespiquen is said to use its honeycomb abdomen skirt thing as a nest for baby Combee, but this isn't depicted in any in-game sprites. Still, more Pokemon per Pokemon.

Cherubi? Kind of?? It has a second head, but unlike Girafarig, that head doesn't have a second brain, and it loses it shortly before evolution. I'm gonna count it anyway.

Spiritomb is 108 souls trapped in a rock. Are they Pokemon souls? People souls? Do 108 people souls trapped in a rock count as 108 Pokemon per Pokemon???

Magnezone is a Magneton that got bigger. It's still three Magnemite per Magnezone.

Vanilluxe is another "two of its pre-evolutions stuck together" 'mon. Two Vanillish, one Vanilluxe. They melted and refroze together, so presumably they can melt apart?

Klink is two Klink per Klink, but it's canon that once they combine, they cannot separate.

Klang- one of the Klink got bigger!

Klinklang gains two more gears, but only the original two are sentient.

Zweilous has two heads, and they hate each other. So much so that one of the heads loses sentience upon evolution. Or maybe they just merged? Either way, Hydreigon only has one brain among its three heads.

While you were becoming a fully formed human adult, I was studying Doublade. Which is two distinct swords. However, I don't think Aegislash retains dual-sentience.

Binacle is two mons in a rock, but unlike Spiritomb we don't have to delve into philosophy about it. They're two physical and distinct entities, either of which can leave the rock to find a new partner.

Barbaracle is just a bigger rock, so the Binacles are seven roommates instead of two.

There are 50 Zygarde cells and 5 Zygarde cores (at least in Sun and Moon), which makes a 100% form Zygarde 55 Zygarde per Zygarde.

Wishiwashi school form is approximately 248 Wishiwashi, according to this person who did the math. Thank you, Goatman879.

I decided to follow Goatman879's example to calculate how many Meltan make up a Melmetal. Per the lore, it's just one Meltan that absorbed it's group (and then when it dies it splits into a bunch of Meltan again, though it's unclear if they're ontologically the same Meltan as before). Per the math, one Melmetal is approximately 100 Meltan.

Cramorant can pick up an Arrokuda or a Pikachu when it surfs or dives, so that's occasionally two Pokemon per Pokemon.

Now for the mon that set this off! It's not new as of Scarlet and Violet- this mon was introduced in Sword and Shield. It's Falinks! Six Pokemon per Pokemon!!

Drakloak carries a Dreepy with it.

Dragapult carries two!!

Now onto Scarlet and Violet spoilers, though if you've seen any of the pre-release material, you might already know about Farigiraf. I have no idea how to pronounce that! But I do know it still has two brains!!

Wugtrio, the not-a-regional-variant of Dugtrio. Though it has the same issue- is it three heads on one unseen body? The dex says no, it's three separate bodies. Not sure I believe it yet.

Tandemaus is the first multiple Pokemon per Pokemon I caught in Scarlet. It's two mice holding hands!

Then it evolves, by which I mean they procreate. Possibly. Now there's four mice, two of which are smaller and baby sized. (Or three mice with one baby size, but you have a random 1 in 25 chance of getting that form.) But it's """unclear""" what the relationship between the three/ four of them is? Or where the tiny one(s) come from??? The little one(s) just "appeared" one day????

Extra spoilers for this last one!! There are special Pokemon that appear to be ancient relatives of modern mons, that somehow survived to the present day? Including a mon known as Sandy Shocks, an Electric/Ground relative of Magneton. It's unclear if this Pokemon evolved from ancient Magnemite relatives, and is therefore also three Pokemon per Pokemon, but it certainly looks like it.

[that1nkyone]

I don’t know if you’re still accepting asks but if it’s okay I want to ask about your distortion guide au:

Does Emmet met Cyrus in the Distortion World? If he’s around in there.

Also are the twins Pokémon able to get back their memories similar to Emmet?

And are Ingo and Emmet able to get back home to their time eventually?

Sorry for dumping in several questions. Feel free to ignore this if it’s too much or I’m too late.

Hope you have a nice rest of the day!

While that would be an interesting story in itself, and the way Time works in the Distortion World could allow it, Cyrus isn't a part of this narrative. It is entirely possible that they meet at some point, however. I'm not sure what their interactions would be like, though!

Chandelure and Eelektross do! Sooner than their partners. The timing is inconvenient, however, as they have other things to Worry about at that moment.

Ingo and Emmet receive the choice to return to their home station! Whether they return home Immediately or not, I haven't decided yet - but they do have their happy end. It would be fun to have Emmet hang around ancient Hisui for a little while. (We could be dramatic and have them swept away after a Final Battle in the Distortion World to Places Unknown after a hasty goodbye, but at the very least they're both on the same track. And they rock up in Scarlet and Violet era, and get their bearings and they have a minor part in the next game... ... yeah, that's not how it Works, but I can dream.)

[definitelynotsiffrin]

Im so tired of companies shitting on their players, treating them like they're just income for a product and not, well, real people enjoying a game, a story, a world.

I don't want to feel guilty for liking a game.

I don't want to get a new game and be bombarded with negativity about it to the point I fall into depression because I KNOW they are not wrong but wished I could just be happy with my little game without hearing just how much everyone hates it every time I try to go somewhere that talks about it.

I want to be able to interact and chat with people about something I enjoy without constantly hearing how it is horrible and not being able to tell them they are wrong because we both know they're right.

I want to enjoy the little bit of joy I can get from something because I managed to save all year for it without instantly feeling guilty because of how much negativity has been thrown my way.

I wish I could play a game without feeling guilty for getting it and funding more of that company's rushed jobs and worker abuse.

I wish I could indulge in my hyperfocuses without wanting to cry because anything that is not a small and limited studio will willingly stab us in the back for liking their content.

I wish I could just let myself enjoy something without having to critically scan everything about a company to know if they will hurt me again or I can love something for once.

It was pokemon this time. It was my childhood and my wonder. It was a game based on my country that I truly want to love. But it can be so many more things. And it has.

Pokemon scarlet/violet is... a disaster. And yet, I can't help but love it. It's based on my country. I see my home when I open it. I see love put into the story. I see the little references to my culture, the one I grew up with that nobody knows because it rarely ever gets represented.

And yet, I can't help but feel guilty and bad when I see that it's not...good.That the first time Spain gets some representation that isn't a mexican stereotype happens to be just another money grab because they couldn't let their workers finish a product that clearly had at least some sort of care put into it, just never enough time.

I don't want to be made to feel guilty because I want to love something that is so dear to me. Pokemon got me out of very bad parts of my life, it was a nice place to escape to, but it's not just that which made the game so special to me. It is my home. What was put into this game is what I live in, what I grew up in, all that raised me.

Fuecoco's last evo is most likely based on a legend from our islands [Drac de na noca]. The food like the sandwiches (bocatas) and the wide arange of recipes take such a big part of the worldbuilding because they are so bound to our culture and our life. The buildings were studied to resemble the ones here. The subtle references to each province, each with their own culture and landscapes. The CARE to not make it yet another misinformed mess like almost every time we get protrayed somewhere outside of spain (whenever we even get portrayed), but make Spain and avoid stereotypes and studying our culture. Stonjourner being kept in this generation because those kinds of buildings are not just limited to stonehenge. Smoliv and the important part that olives take in our economy and gastronomical culture.

Just...there's so much effort put into it. And yet...there isn't, because there was no time. Because Gamefreak couldn't wait another year for a game that is much bigger than the ones they used to make before.

I can't blame the fans for complaining about it, they are on their right to do so, and yet I wish it stopped even if just for a little bit so I could enjoy walking around and looking at the landscapes and imagining scenarios in my head with places that I know so well because it's in the game now.

[cosmomoore]

The more I see of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the less interested I become. This is the first time I have ever felt that way about a mainline Pokemon title.

These are just my honest thoughts, so if you don't feel the same way, that is great! I'm glad that you are excited for it!

Like many others, I have dreamed of an open-world Pokemon game for as long as that style of game has existed, but it seems to me like TPCi has possibly been focusing on the wrong things this time around?

Many of the new Pokemon that have leaked... Aren't great. The designs are all over the place imho and for every great one, there are easily 3-5 that are pretty awful looking. Is this how people felt about Gen 5? (I actually love the Gen 5 Pokemon lolol)

The open world aspect has to be amazing for how terrible the Pokemon are. I feel like this gen's gimmick is yet another play on Digivolution and the raids don't really sound any better than SwSh.

The fact that TPCi/Gamefreak didn't set the gyms to scale is incredibly lazy. The fact that you can do them in any order is effectively cancelled out by the lack of effort put into this aspect. I honestly don't know much about game design (I do know that Gamefreak isn't great at it reading posts from people who have analyzed prior mainline games' code though), but if they didn't want to create code to auto-scale the leaders, they could have at least formulated 8 different set teams for each gym leader that just automatically changes based on the Pokemon levels of the last gym you defeated. (For example, they could create teams in ranges. So for the first gym the levels could be 5-10 then the next one you visit would swap out for the team that has levels 10-15, the next would swap to the team with levels 15-20, etc.) And before anyone says that is an awful lot of work... Not really? They would just have to create 64 teams (8 each for 8 gym leaders). Pokemon is the most successful franchise in history. They could afford to do this.

I admit that I wasn't one of the people worried about Dexit when SwSh launched. It honestly didn't bother me and I gave them the benefit of the doubt because it was such a jump in the overall look and feel of the game. Now that SwSh has been out for three years, I'm kinda pissed that Scarlet and Violet are launching with fewer returning Pokemon than SwSh (290-ish vs 320-ish) at launch. My favorite Pokemon line isn't returning this time around and according to leaks, I honestly don't really care for large swathes of the returning roster. Many of this game's returning Pokemon are ones that have been left out of prior Switch releases. This means that if they can import models from other Switch Pokemon games, they could easily bring them all back (which I know they won't because they want that Pokemon Home $$$).

The just-barelu-confirmed future/past forms sound confusing and not well thought out, the addition of TM creation and breaking is annoying, and there is still some basic info we just don't know.

And then there is the Ed Sh33ran of it all. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I cannot stand that guy and from what I've seen, nobody else really can either? I have seen zero positive reactions about his song being included. I hope that someone will release a patch that removes it from the game. Maybe it's misophonia, maybe it's the fact that I just can't stand the sound of his voice, but what a slap in the face it was to include him on the in-game soundtrack (to be fair most of the artists TPCi partnered with for that album they released were mostly ones I can't stand lol).

Anyways, I guess the positive aspects are the fact that it is open world and also that the character customization is more advanced than last time (here's hoping clothing isn't gender locked, which it was in SwSh - I haven't seen that discussed anywhere yet).

As of right now though, as pretty much a lifelong Pokemon fan, this game seems very mid at best and the initial (official) reactions I've seen are from people trying way too hard/phoning it in. I also have concerns about how well the game will play at launch because the version that is packaged on physical carts had some game breaking bugs as told by leakers and people who were beta-testing the games who have previously been right about so many things. I'm sure there will be a day one patch to fix some of the issues, but there were some pretty bad ones that the leakers said Gamefreak wasn't confident they would be able to patch in time for day one.

At the moment, and I hate to say this because this is a game I, like many others, have been looking forward to for a very long time, but I am not planning to get it at launch. It just seems so messy and rushed and half-baked. Hopefully it will improve once the game comes out and patches are issued and hopefully, as with SwSh they will add more Pokemon back, but currently I'm not exactly hopeful given how sloppy the game feels.

[hyrule-in-a-pokeball]

I'm very excited for gen 9

Unlike Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet will be a true open world PL:A has very open spaces to play in, however its more akin to recent Monster Hunter games than it is to what everyone is comparing it to; Breath of the Wild. You have a central hub which you must return to time and time again, and you can't travel from one locale to another without going back to said hub. This is Monster Hunter's structure through n through.

GameFreak has been slowly dipping their toe into open world game design for a while now. We got the lackluster open world Wild Area in Vanilla Sword and Shield, followed by the significantly improved open worlds of the Isle of armor and Crown Tundra. While PLA wasn't a "true" open world, the areas we did have access to were massive, with each of them dwarfing the wild area, isle of armor, and crown tundra.

Potential non-linearity Now, there's nothing wrong with linearity in a game. Erase that concept from your mind. Even the grand-daddy of modern open world games, Grand Theft Auto, follows a linear story structure. In fact its pretty common in open world games. The draw of the open world is all the other things you can do before, during, and after the story missions. However, Pokemon has never really followed a "quest/mission" structure (outside of PLA, which is really an entirely different beast all together.) Its just been following a path from one town to the next, battling conveniently stronger trainers and gyms as you go, with areas beyond these gyms usually gated to the gym's completion to prevent you from wandering too far and getting your butt kicked by strong wild Pokemon and trainers. However, given that Scarlet and Violet will be a fully open world, there isn't going to be the usual pokemon structure of "follow path to the next gym." My hope is that, like breath of the wild's divine beasts, you can tackle the gyms in any order you feel like, (maybe even find them by accident!) and that maybe, as hinted at in anime material, gym leaders adjust their teams based on their challenger's number of badges. I really feel like giving us a big open world and then saying "Go here and do this first" would not work out too well.

New regional forms Regional forms have been a thing for 2 generations and 3 games now, breathing new life into older Pokemon by giving them new designs and typings. There's no reason to assume that they won't make a return in generation 9, with a brand new set of updated classics. Undoubtedly, some won't be great, but some will be objective improvements over the originals. Will your fave get a regional form? Will it be cool or lame? Who knows? Game Freak knows. But they're not tellin'.

A potential new eeveelution Pokemon recently broke its trend of adding a new eeveelution to every even-numbered generation in gen 8, with the fairy-type Sylveon being the latest addition to Team Eevee in generation 6 waaaay back in 2013. (Good lord that was 9 years ago...) So will we get a new Eeveelution in gen 9? Maybe two? And so; what type(s)? Its time, GameFreak.

The region itself While no name or even official map has been revealed, a partially obscured region map can be seen twice in the trailer, once in the live action segment and again in gameplay footage. Internet cartographers have thus been able to piece together that the region is based on the Iberian Peninsula, the majority of which is home to Spain and Portugal. This is exciting, as Spain is a region of the world we haven't seen pokemonified yet. We've seen Japan four and-a-half times (Gen 1, 2, 3, 4, PLA), America twice (Gen 5 and 7), the UK (gen 8) and France (gen 6) once respectively. While not every Pokemon in a new region is necessarily inspired by an actual animal or element of the region the game is based on, some of them undoubtedly are, and I'm excited to see them all

THE NUMBER Pokemon Legends: Arceus added some new region-exclusive evolutions, and brought the overall number of Pokemon up to 905. With the new starters revealed, the number has been officially brought to 908. However, factoring in that each of them will have two evolutions, along with it being EXTREMELY likely that there will be two mascot legendaries, we can safely say that, while unrevealed, the current number of Pokemon is a minimum of 919. While the offerings of new Pokemon have been sparce in recent generations (with no generation since 2010's gen 5 reaching triple digits, though admittedly, gen 8 came comfortably close), even if we don't hit triple digits for new Pokemon in generation 9, we will most definitely reach Pokemon #1000, and I personally hope GameFreak takes this opportunity to make it something REALLY cool. After all, 1000 is a huge milestone.

What do you think of the new generation of Pokemon? Who's your starter going to be? I'll be choosing Fuecoco, as his laid back personality matches my own. I hope he maintains it as he evolves.

[randomnameless]

Pokémon fans are the most entitled bitches on the planet, its been confirmed already through future Scarlet + Violet Home compatibility that not every Pokémon is coming back. You can play a new Pokémon game and use different Pokémon. It won't kill you! I promise!

Are they not coming back because they are not coded (yet) and will be in a future DLC, or they are not in the national dex but will be able to be unlocked/imported by other means?

Sorry for you anon, I have not been playing any mainstream Pokemon game for, uh, maybe 6 years, and I am still doing fine, thank you!

Breaking news, I never gave a fuck about Furfrou pre-release and even while playing the main campaign, it was just a stupid dog, but in competitive plays I noticed his ability to halve physical damage, and it became funny to use.

I'm not saying I only want to play with old mons, of course not, but I'd like to build up my teams using a Hitmonchan and a Furfrou/whoever else comes from the newest gen.

Versatility and Diversity have always been, imo, selling points in the franchise, but now it doesn't work anymore.

I won't be able to try and to build a Dustox or a Mothim to prevent them from falling in trash tiers or to surprise people with weak mons, because Dustox and Mothis won't be there. I'm sure there'll be a new "butterfly" type Pokemon (it's a staple in the series!) but to make a "butterfly" team? Impossible.

Showdown isn't a Pokemon Game, and it's, iirc, the second gen in a row to explicitly say "All Pokémons aren't coming back".

For what it's worth, I've always supported the idea of letting the exclusive mons of the game exclusively be usable during the main game (like B/W?) and then the national dex and the mons of the other gens are released post-game.

Tl ; Dr : I'll always be salty.

[rixxy8173571m3w1p3]

Till Dusk

This is a wip that's finally been finished. I remember asking @hoodoo12 what kind of fic she'd like with Cop Rick. And honestly, I can't remember if it's this one or the other one that's still a wip, but here it is. I hope you like it dear. I can hardly do him justice as I see your portrayal of Cop Rick as the best, but I tried. @rickssugarplum I'm tagging you cause I know you like cop Rick too. @porkchop-ao3 I made a tiny reference to an OC of yours, so of course you must be tagged. For my other fics, check out my Masterpost.

A Cop Rick x Reader fic

In this fic, you two walk through the park and delight in one another.

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Burnt amber, violet streaks, and patches of scarlet painted the early evening with a sense of melancholia, although you didn't feel as such. Rather, you were warm and invigorated by the inviting atmosphere as well as by your handsome companion. Walking together; interwoven fingers and his and your shoulders brushing against one another if you happened to glance at him longer then you should was both soothing and exciting in its own right. Not needing to speak, it simply took the slightest change in body language and already there was a conversation; although a little flirting never hurt. His smile…that smile which made you melt inside and wonder while those disciplined steps kept you vigilant; there was no way you could understand him, but you dared to try.

While you were safe in his capable hands, crickets chirped along in the shadows while the ducks waddled away, and the squirrels fought over leftover sandwich crumbs; Rick's quiet amusement over the faces you made when you smelled rotting fish guts never missing a beat. Walking through the park had started as your way of trying to become more active, especially since you were so fond of binge-watching entire seasons of shows on Netflix; only getting up to use the bathroom and to get food. Yet, over time you begin to enjoy this diversion, taking pleasure in the little things, connecting back to the world around you, and of course with him. You told Rick that you could take care of yourself and that you'd be back before dark, but the cop in him thought otherwise, was cautious, and always accompanied you; motivated by duty as well as affection for you; ready to guard and protect. Though, what had started as your way to incorporate more exercise, had become quality time with your man.

Out here, you two could run, or roll around in the grass, watch the ducks, or simply walk hand in hand; like any ol’ couple would. Though, you two weren't like any ol’ couple; for the obvious reasons, as well as the hidden ones. And while you honestly thought there were many other things he'd rather do, and could do, he didn't really care as long as it was with you. Perhaps that's what made it all the more endearing.

Sometimes, you'd wrap an arm around him, he'd kiss your cheek, you'd bump his hip, and speak to him in this silent way; his amused but all the more direct eyes alerting you of his admiration; of his sincerest affections. If a bicyclist came too close, he'd pull you flush against his side, or if your shoulders brushed, then he'd apologize, and you'd kiss that cute mouth of his for being so polite. And if it got chilly, he'd take off his jacket and placed it about your shoulders, and you'd pause, and stare up at him to read his calm expressions. You never knew when you should stop, or if you ever should, but like all things, it did and you wished you could go on. Why this quality time together should end? Well, you knew, though if you asked as to when he'd most likely say, "Until a-about dusk."

Which was pretty soon. Darn it. There never seemed to be enough hours in the day, let alone enough to be satisfied. To lighten your mood, you'd tease. "Why so soon? Afraid of the dark?"

"N-not at all baby," he'd softened, catching on easily. "but I'd prefer to avoid the consequence of it. You um - you never know what might pop up in th-the night."

Of course, he'd know best; having to deal with criminals among his kind all the time would make one careful, but it never stopped you from trying to protest. "Can't we just stay out a little longer?"

"W-we can, but just not here." he answered with a hint of authority.

"But Rick, it's so lovely tonight."

Though you thought every evening was lovely with him, and it seemed like there could never be a danger or care in the world when he was around, but that was wishful thinking. For his part, Rick hated to disagree and would ponder for a few moments as to what should be said. However, he'd remind you gently of a few facts. "Baby, 24% of all violent crime committed by adult offenders occur between 8 pm and midnight. That isn't t-t-to say I can't protect you," you knew full well he could, though he'd never abuse his power. "but I - it's not exactly legal in this dimension to use a ray gun. Yet."

You'd seen enough dateline and true crime to know it was true, but you always hoped that statistics could change, and you two wouldn't have to think too hard about the possibility of danger. Maybe a few self-defense classes would help, or any training in general which would make you a force to be reckoned with. It wasn't that bad of an idea, but for now, it was still wishful thinking. "Fine," you pouted, "we can go home."

You turned around to head back towards the car, but having sensed your displeasure, he gave your hand a squeeze; stopping you in your tracks. "I'm s-sorry baby. I know the truth hurts, but we can go off-world if you'd like. I know um - I know a place where we can be alone. It's completely safe too."

"Yeah?" you brightened.

"You bet, but you'll see for yourself. I've actually been looking for a reason t-to take you there, but you were usually too tired to go."

You couldn't think of anything more pleasant than being with him, except for a little ice cream that is. Flashing him a smile, you nodded. "Sure, sounds like a plan. Though, do you mind if we get some ice cream first?"

With a chuckle, he answered. "I don't see why not. Though, I gotta see where IC is located first."

Fin