#even if Akari was cishet

[yellowocaballero]

This chapter is amazing!! Just where do I start! First of all I love your inclusion of "Dawn". just reading our trainer character going through and seeing time and space for a moment was so cool. Like I really was seeing things through her eyes... And when the "Dawn" character told the protagonist that they shared the same name 🥺🥺 and how they thought the protag was so cool and wanted to be just like her, and that's how she got to where she is now 🥺. For a moment I thought she was gonna turn out to be a descendant of the protag and Ingo would remark they looked identical or something. Like, protag would go back to the modern day but knowing that someone with her blood was like her neighbor or a celebrity. Also the Emmet letter was heartbreaking but so very sweet. The brothers are more sad to me if Ingo is the younger one lmao.

I'm really happy Akari has finally realized how valuable she is as a person, or at least on the road to it. Not to mention the convo for Rei, i like how you didn't ham in any romance into the work. Like if there is any romance, its not shouted, its just there with traces. Also her being the overseer of the clans/team contract was really funny to me. Honestly I was surprised for a second but her role as a mediator suits her. I'm really happy for her

Thank you!!!

Definitely romance in that situation would have felt so weird haha. Being someone else's ancestor would also feel SO weird. I didn't mention Akari's sexuality because it wasn't relevant, but since she's just Vaguely Me she's probably aroace. As it stands we have absolutely no explanation as to why Dawn and Akari look so similar and have the same name. Maybe Arceus has same-face syndrome when designing protaganists?

I really liked how the letter turned out. I'm rarely happy with stuff like that, but I was pretty happy with it. If it helps (?), when Emmet says something along the lines of "you're my little brother (would you believe me if I said that?)", I meant that Ingo was OLDER and that Emmet was teasing him by pretending he was younger. As in, did Ingo really remember so little that he would believe Emmet if he told him that he was younger? So if that helps???

Akari's arc was purposefully made a bit subdued and subtle, but it's still a big influence in the story. Just a local teen with bad self-esteem, who's been through something pretty traumatic and feels rejected. She had found something resembling a community in Galaxy Team and Jubilife, and she hadn't been able to get over their rejection. She probably always felt weird and an outsider at home, and she's an outsider here too. The timeline thing is a very flashy and fictionalized way of depicting something very simple - that our relationships matter, and that the good we do in the world matters. That nobody's really unimportant, and when you help people and care about people then they'll care about you back. Community will find you and this is a threat. Very Ghibli.

I think Pokemon lends itself well to a message that can be as simple as "let people care about you" or "you're deserving of love" or just a very 'Good Place' what we owe to each other type of thing. Ingo summed it up pretty succinctly - that even if it's hard to believe and even if she still feels alienated, she's not riding this line alone. And it's not really until she accepts that she CAN change things that she decides to change things.

The mediator thing was pretty important to me. I realllyyyy didn't want to go Dances with Pokewolves and have a white ("white") savior narrative in there. I didn't want Akari to show up and use her colonizer culture to fix colonization. I hope I made it clear enough that the solution isn't for the clans to become Pokemon trainers as Akari understands them. It's not about catching Pokemon or battling, it's just about teaching them how to train Pokemon so they can protect themselves better against wild Pokemon and deepen their pre-existing relationships.

At the end of the day Akari just used her connections and respect among both cultures to bring the conversation to a more open and honest footing. And use her army of sentient WMDs to make sure that nobody gets into any fights about it and that any agreements are honored. I hoped that was the most respectful way to depict both Akari's passion for decolonization, Adaman and Irida's autonomy and importance, Galaxy Team's [unrealistically...] good intentions, and punting any ideas of modernity/civility/advancement out of the window. Not completely sure if I got it right but I did the best I could considering - woof, the messaging of the source material, the fuck.

God, like. I don't LIKE talking about colonization from this super messy perspective. Going too realistic would really ruin the tone and just make the whole thing even weirder. The entire story was a really weird balancing act and I ended up having to frame the events and narrative really carefully. I was sweating over it quite a bit, but it was so incredibly weird how the Jubilife guys talked so much about how Hisui was some lawless, dangerous unsettled and uninhabited wasteland where nobody could possibly survive...when the Pearl & Diamond guys are just chilling. It's bad rhetoric. I didn't want to prop up D&P as inherently more moral and virtuous and good than the GT by nature of being indigenous, but I don't think D&P would have let a fifteen year old get mauled by wild Shinx if she wasn't a Pokemon catching genius, is what I'm saying. It was just weird and I couldn't leave it alone. Balancing that weirdness was the hardest work of the story.

Stuff I don't like talking about because it's so out of my lane that it's not even funny but it would be disingenuous not to address. Thanks for reading! We'll see if Akari's efforts helped any in the epilogue.

[raventreehouse]

(Im sorry if you don’t feel comfortable (I’m sorry if you don’t feel comfortable doing this request just plz let me know) My best friend just made fun of me for having a very small chest and that I will never get a partner because “Nobody finds you attractive” so can you please do Akira/Ren, Sunny, Kel, Ann, and Ty lee with a S/O who has a small chest and often gets made fun of for it

Like all these characters would too, I’m going to throw hands with your ‘best friend’ cause you don’t make fun of someone’s appearance, you can make fun of shit as long as they know it’s a joke and since you’re here for comfort.... Me and this particular squad fucking pulling up >:(

Akari

Very smoothly just throws his arm over your shoulders

“I don’t think they asked for your opinion did they?”

Just a pretty intimidating glare at the person 

And then just walks away from them

He would just make the rest of the day the best day of your life?

Take you to everything like, if it’s the arcade, cafe or anything

He just makes sure you’re happy

Nobody tells you you will never get a partner

I mean he’s right there

And he doesn’t care how you look

He cares for you for your personality

Your gorgeous looks are a bonus ;) 

Also if anyone says they’re not gorgeous welcome to the AUTHOR COMING TO FIND YOU AND SMACK YOU WITH GOOD VIBES

YOU’RE ALL BEAUTIFUL NO MATTER HOW YOU LOOK >:(

Sunny

Sunny tell me what you have

A KNIFE

NO

Actually yes though

He will try to attack the person because you know he’s bad at words

Even quieter than Akira, which is pretty impressive

Anyways Hero holds him back

And everybody just kind of walks away from the person if they haven’t already ran the fuck away-

Sunny holds your hand for the rest of the day

He won’t really comfort you

Because he doesn’t like talking

But he would give more touches than normal hoping you know he doesn’t care about that stuff

Cause he doesn’t, he just cares that you love him

Kel

Bruh I kid you not, this fucking would deadass call Aubrey and Kim

Mari too

Just the girl squad in general

“Yeah this stupid person made fun of s/o’s chest area? Can you come to this street? thank you bye!”

And then just hold you comforting you about that’s not even what he cares about

He really is the person to look for personality and not body type

He loves all girls (and boys but Hero hasn’t had the talk with him yet)

And then the girls show up and Aubrey has her fucking bat bitches

The girls fucking destroy this person, verbally cause Mari is good at keeping people in check

Tell me Aubrey ain’t a bit gay for this girl 

So all in all Kel comforts you and cheers on the girls

He doesn’t say a lot of stuff and just hugs you cause he doesn’t want to say anything weird accidentally

So he just tells you that he loves you no matter what you look like

He fell in love with you as a whole

Ann

Ann would blink out of the audacity 

And then just go off on them

“I’m sorry I thought I heard someone speak shit about something that shouldn’t even matter! Nobody cares if people’s breasts are big or small! Only cishets do! Dick!”

Just goes off about how people with breasts get too sexualised

Listen she gets those creepy guys drooling over her curves on the daily

So the second someone tries to insult you about it?

Hands on deck, Ryuji and Akira have to hold her back so she doesn’t physically throw hands

(also in the background the girl group glaring this fucker down? YEAH, can you imagine how menacing it would be to just have Ann being held back by two dudes who are struggling to keep her there, mind you and then just have a Makoto, Haru and Futaba in the background just glaring this fucker down?)

This person is r u n n i n g

“That’s what I thought!”

You get a girls night out

Everybody just having fun and after that Ann just cuddles the shit out of you mumbling how amazing you are no matter your body type

Ty lee

The queen of throwing hands

This fucker is out, in a fucking second

Acts so sweet about it though?

Like cheeks puffed out in annoyance 

You looking at her like 0-0

“What? They said something dumb about you >:(“

Will just tackle hug you to the ground

Mai and Azula probably have seen this whole thing go down and just .-.

“Alright, don’t fuck with Ty lee’s s/o” -Mai

“I’ve never seen her that angry before” - Azula

Yeah she starts complimenting the shit out of you

Not even like your chest area just in general

“Your body is perfect in every way, and if someone says otherwise, well it doesn’t matter cause the only ones you have to listen to are the ones you care about.”

“And if someone you do care about says something like that, they are an asshole and not your friend, you just come to me and I’ll teach them a lesson! Or,, wel Mai and zula :D”