#for the record I do like Pokemon battling

[silvermoon424]

Idk why the Pokemon Company hasn't done something like Nintendogs but for Pokemon. Or really just any game that focuses on raising and living with Pokemon in a chill, relaxed environment instead of focusing so much on battling.

Give me a game where I adopt a baby Eevee and get to guide its evolution without battling being involved!

[harvestmoth]

pocket monster ideas

[masked-disciple]

me: checks serebii to see how the pokeradar works in platinum

serebii: did you know there's extra furniture for your house if you go and do things like hatch thirty eggs or plant thirty berries

me five hours later at 3am: hee hoo I tried out the whole battle frontier for you :)

[flustersluts]

Whats your thoughts on the Pokemon scarlet and violet i feel like it kinda peels away from what pokémon is at its core and kinda changes the game up entirely

ok i wanna preface this by saying ive only played like half an hour so my opinion doesn't rlly mean shit but !!

imo i think pokemon games have been super weak since sun n moon, pokemon has adapted badly to the 3d shift n theyve failed to release good titles for the switch, legends arceus was a total shot in the dark n seemed very unpolished and unfinished but ppl still rlly liked it & it's regarded as one of the best pokemon games so i like that thye haven't just stuck their head back in the sand and have tried to carry that over to scarvi for a more polished game ! that said graphics r still terrible performance issues r still annoying n there are a lot of balance issues (e.g. no scaling despite open world format) that i rlly rlly hope they fix in the next title bc ffs gamefreak really have no excuse by this point, but in general i think they're doing the right thing and trying out changes to a p stale formula!!

[prof-polaris]

oh my uxie who was going to tell me that archen and archeops are so cute!! i want a funny bird!!

I'm still a bit unfamiliar with fossil pokemon so I suppose I need to look into that more but!! ah!!

i will be keeping an eye out when i pass by shelters now, excellent pokemon 10/10

[ilaiyayaya]

🤔i don't know what to do now.

I was gonna look into getting HRT, and I'm probably still gonna do that pretty soon, but then my car died and I had to spend nearly 4k on a new one, which luckily I saved enough to where I'm still fine, but it did completely interrupt my streak of productivity towards doing trans stuff. On top of that, having to be around both my father and one of my uncles almost every day for the last 2 weeks to deal with said car has caused a massive drop in mental health and I've especially been in kill mode for the last 48 hours, which makes it kinda hard to get anything else done.

Overall tho, getting a car now is probably a net positive, I'm not gonna have to worry about panicking to get a car as quickly as possible after I moved out because if my old one had died after I left, but before I was able to get a new one, I would've probably been really fucked. Not great timing to happen at this exact moment though.

And on the topic of moving out, I don't really have any reason to not just move to an entirely different state now. I'm not entirely sure where to move, wherever it is, realistically it'll probably be relatively short-term, but every reason I had before to stay in my current area is kinda gone, I have a car now and thus won't have to worry as much about dying on the road while driving 500,000,000,000 kilometers to another state, I pretty much exclusively talk to all of my friends online now, even the ones that I do live near, so that won't really change much, I kinda hate my job now and have been heavily considering quitting since like, November so like, don't really care to stay here just for that. The only real reason I have to stay here is that living expenses are fairly cheap, but this is far from the only area in the country where that's the case, and I know there are other places that are even cheaper. My reasons for needing to leave keep increasing too, the core general reason is just, my family live here, and I want most of my family dead (and some of them want me dead too!) but more specifically, my mother almost certainly knows I'm still living here by this point, I learned about 6 months ago that she had moved back here after being in another state for the last 5 years, and while I'm not in contact with her at all, it's not unlikely that she's heard from someone else that I'm here, possibly even where I work or any other information, and her knowing literally anything about my current location pretty much puts a timer on my life because she really does not want me to be alive. Tension with the rest of my family has also gotten significantly worse in the last few months (which is largely my fault but like, what am I supposed to do, not tell my uncle to kill himself???), which really I don't care much about, most of them I normally see 5 times per year max, and even the few I do see more often than that have extremely little impact on my life, but the bigger concern is that a couple of them have definitely, at least to some degree, caught onto me being trans. Or maybe they just think I'm gay but like either way it's a potential problem for me, my family is extremely bigoted (the uncle I told to kill himself literally prompted me to say that by going on a massive rant about electric cars being bad because, something about them all being made by f*gs??? idk being in the same room as that man is like being in the same room as a stereotypical 4chan user, but like, the worst kind) (that uncle btw is not one of the relatives that have probably caught onto me being trans, he is so incredibly dense that I could probably directly tell him I'm trans myself and he probably just like, wouldn't even process it and then somehow use it as an opportunity to tell me to remove all of my money from the banks because the blog he read says joe biden is gonna pass a bill tomorrow that makes banks disappear). Biggest reason why I think some of them know is because a couple of them (one in particular, a different uncle than the one i told to kill himself) have really started to enjoy bringing up conversation topics related to trans and gay people, and my answer is always just complete neutrality, but in a way where it is so extremely obvious that I am just trying to say whatever gets them to shut the fuck up. If any of them, or especially my father who I currently live with, had 100% concrete proof that I'm trans, it would become completely insufferable, I would actually end up murdering one of them within a week I am certain of it, even just being in the same area and them knowing where I live, they would make my life hell immediately, and I'd really rather just not deal with that, and it's really hard to fully cut contact with those people if I'm living in the same town as them, even if I try to.

Another one of the other reasons I had for just getting an apartment where I currently live was that I had a few options for potential roommates, which would make paying rent a lot easier, but that's not the case anymore, some of those options went away once I came out as trans, some I am absolutely not comfortable with living with anymore, a few have since found other roommates or just moved out on their own, and the rest are all just other miscellaneous reasons. I don't really have any viable options for roommates in other states either, but since I don't have any here either, it doesn't really make much of a difference. I technically do know people elsewhere that would probably be willing to live with me, the problem is they're all either in other countries, which I'd be fine with eventually, but not right now, or they're in texas or florida, so, so many in texas and florida, texas especially, why is everyone i know in texas i am not moving to texas especially when most of the people i know that already live there hate it. so yea I'm pretty much on my own unless I want to move to the UK or Texas and I'm not doing that, luckily I expected and prepared for this so I should be fine financially for at least 1 year even on my own, even if it's not ideal. Financially I'm probably fine moving somewhere else, the main concern is everything else cuz like, I'm dumb. and stupid. and incompetent. and i fuck everything up and am bad at everything. Me being stupid and incompetent still applies to living the same state i currently do but like, 🤔idk i just feel like i'd be more likely to have actual consequences for being a massive fuckup somewhere that isn't here. But like yea I'm an idiot.

I don't even know where I would move, for the last few months I was looking into apartments with the intent of temporarily living here for like 6 more months, but again, new car, no more reasons to stay, I think it'd kinda just be a waste of 6 months at this point. But if I commit to moving to a different state I'll have to completely restart the process of searching for an apartment, except it'll be even harder because I don't even know where to look for an apartment at, like I don't know where I want to go I just know I can't be here for much longer. Plus moving states probably requires a bunch of paperwork stuff, like, I probably need a new license for that state and like uhhh new bank account because the current bank i use only has locations in this state and i don't know how hard all of that stuff is to do, like I said I'm a stupid idiot that's incompetent and dumb and should die. Guess I'll die then cause as I've been writing this I'm becoming more and more committed to the idea of just saying fuck it and leaving, I have no clue how much longer it'll take to find a place and get everything sorted out in order to move states but like, if I stay in this town for another 6 months or more like my original plan I am absolutely going to end up killing myself, and that would not be fun so I'd rather not do that.

Idk whether it'd be better to just start hrt after finding another place, or go back to trying to get it now, because on one hand finding somewhere in another state could potentially take a lot longer than it would've taken to find a place in this town and each month that goes by without me being on estrogen is another month closer to the guillotine, but also if I try starting hrt immediately after I move out it'd just be adding to the pile of things to be stressed about because I'd be going through the whole process of trying to get it while also trying to figure out everything else. I was trying to list reasons why both starting hrt now, and starting hrt later have downsides, but I think I literally just gave reasons for why starting hrt later would be bad, but like trust me there are reasons why looking into getting it now would also be hard and potentially bad, it's fine it's fine I have the excuse of being kinda tired and extra mentally ill after just getting out of one of the worst meltdowns I've ever had over the last 24 hours so like it's fine if everything I say is completely incomprehensible verbal slop I get the free pass to be unhinged right now if you yell at me for being insane right now you're being mean and unfair and i'll cry. Mods decipher what anything said in this entire multi-paragraph rant means even I, the writer, the author, the director, the lead actor, do not understand what literally any of it means. I should probably sleep but mania hittin too hard to do so so instead time to listen to the Colress battle theme on loop and walk in circles (a normal tuesday (chewsday innit)).

I am so confused

[guppyfish77]

So about the Battle Subway Trains

Hi, I love trains! And the Trains in Unova have a surprising amount of detail? And nobody talks about it? And if I don't talk about it I will explode!?!!!

So despite Unova being inspired by New York you'd think the Battle Subway Trains would be based on The New York Subway Trains? However they look like they are more based on Japanese Railway Trains!

I'd like to preface before going into this that despite talking a lot about the Japanese Railway, I am not Japanese, while I did my best to research as best I can, some stuff may fly over my head, I also used an online translator for some information so it might not be 100% accurate.

Alrighty lets get into this! This is mainly for fun and its going to be under the Read More because it is verrrrrrrrry long, I hope that you enjoy!

If you aren't aware, each train in the Battle Subway has lore! All the lore comes from this Worker NPC on the bridge in Anville Town. Depending on the day, a different train will show up on the turntable, and he'll give you a little dialogue for that train! This dialogue is what I'll be mainly analyzing :]

Single and Anville Town Trains:

"This is a Single Train! It's the oldest train in the Battle Subway. It's for a loop line to go around the Unova region! Do you know Tubeline Bridge? The train that runs on it is this Single Train."

"As you know, this is a local train to Anville Town! Isn't it just so cute? This one is a little slow and heavy. When it runs, the whole train sways. The train car is the same model as a Single Train. Because it is an old train car, I hear the maintenance is hard, but it's the one I always ride, because I loved it as a kid!"

So! The Single and Anville Town Trains are the same model of train, you can actually see this in their designs where they both share the same face but they differ in the livery. (Livery is a term referring to the train's decor/color, the color is often associated with a particular company or in this case a particular train line.) I'm going to use this fact to assume that if one train has one feature, then it's likely that the other train also has that same feature. Such as how the description of the Anville Town Train says it sways as it runs, if that is the case then the Single Train also probably sways. (which sounds kind of awful to battle on, unless you have good train legs I suppose X_X)

It is stated that the Single Train is the oldest in the Battle Subway. I believe though, that it means the oldest train that is currently running in the Battle Subway. As there is another train that seems much older and no longer running, but I'll get to that train much much later.

Older trains are indeed harder to maintain, and expensive too. This is because the older the equipment, the harder it is to get its parts as they become more obsolete. Though I will say this, trains can last a long time! The average service life of a train is about 30-50 years, it really varies from train to train. These trains would most likely be on the older side.

There is a slight possibility that it has been continued to be maintained past it service life. Given how fond the Worker NPC talks about the train, it might have high sentimental value. Therefore if it is past its service life, it has not been scrapped or recycled yet because of it. I doubt this is the case though, usually it is never worth the maintenance cost (especially for regular operation.)

Like the description says, you can see the Single Train running on the Tubeline Bridge, here's a video of it! Apologies for the way I am recording this, I don't exactly have a capture card, but I wanted to show you guys regardless

You can see how fast the train is going as it passes below you! At least the just Singles Train anyways, seems to me like it's going about 20-30mph? I tried doing math to find the exact speed but that's difficult for several reasons (no idea how large a "tile" in Pokemon really is and objects in the overworld are not very accurate in size so I can't exactly do any comparisons. The perspective of the camera also makes it tricky.) Given how the Anville Train is described as "slow and heavy", I would hazard a guess to say that the other trains of the Battle Subway may run faster than this.

You can also see that each train is made up of 7 cars as it passes below you if you slow down the footage. Which is not surprising, you have to win 7 battles in a row to complete a "set" where you are then dropped off at a rest stop. I believe the Battle Subway trains to be electrical multiple units (EMUs) so it would probably make them 7-car sets.

It also looks like the Singles Line is very busy with the trains only being seconds apart! Now I know this is more a visual thing so the environment would be interesting to look at, but I'd like to think it indicates that the Battle Subway/Singles Line is very popular! (and very well organized!)

As for Real life train inspirations I think perhaps the Tobu 10030 series?

The Tobu 10030 is a version of the Tobu 10000 series with some minor changes, such as the design of the face and using a bolsterless bogie. (Bogie is a part of the train that refers to a frame that holds sets of wheels as well as the suspension, breaks, etc. in which the body of the train car rests upon.)(A bolster is a part that connects the side frames of the bogie and the underside of the car's central pivot point.)(A bolsterless bogie is a bogie type that doesn't have a bolster). The front of the train is covered in fiber reinforced plastic and the outer panels are "bead molded" (which... I have no clue what that means...) This series has been going under renovations since 2010.

Double Train:

"This car is a Double Train! This is a mass-produced car from a decade ago! Compared to a Single Train, the number of parts was reduced so it could be built for a lower cost. The number of parts influences the budget and construction time. The streamlined and beautiful design of the Double Train is still valued today."

So the Double Train is at least 10 years old! (That's what decade means!) Honestly though, I think the Double Train might be older than 10, in Japanese the description just says that it is a "mass-produced train from a long time ago" and doesn't mention a number... Another reason is that in the Multi Train description, it mentions that it is a test model for future trains that will replace the Double Trains. Which means perhaps that the Double Trains may be reaching near the end of its service life, which again average 30-50 years. It could be a possibility that this train may have a shorter service life than usual, who knows. This all speculation really.

As for lowering the amount of parts, from what I found it makes the train lighter. It would also probably lower the cost as well like the description says (trains are really really expensive to build! EMUs can cost $2mil-$10mil per car!)

It also mentions that it is a mass-produced car! It's a train made with mass production for commercial purposes! I believe it's usually for train lines that are really busy, where they would need a lot of trains? It typically means that there are a lot of them. (All this makes me wonder about train production in the Pokemon World...)

As for Real life inspirations, I think that the Double Train is inspired by the Tokyu 1000 series train.

The Tokyu 1000's design and equipment is similar to another train, the Tokyu 9000 series, with improvements such as improved handling and making it easier to do inspection and repair work. As well as reducing the amount of spare parts from the Tokyu 9000.

Multi Train:

"This car is a Multi Train! Few cars of this model were produced. This is a test car to develop future mass-produced cars that will replace the old Double Trains. The technology born during the creation of this train car made the Super Single Train and Super Double Train possible!"

The multi train is a test/prototype train! A little surprised that an entire line is running off a few prototypes. Like the description says, not many are produced as the purpose of a prototype is to test features and improve upon them if needed before they are put into mass production. Given that it says the technology from this train was the reason the Super Single and Super Double Train was made possible. I'm thinking it was most likely testing some eco friendly features? As it is the Super Single and Super Double Train's main feature.

Perhaps them using a model with so few trains means that the Multi line isn't that busy/popular? (Surprising then the train platform is not swarming with more train photographers haha!)

As for real life inspirations, while the livery may not be the same I think it could be the Keisei 3000 (2nd Generation.)

The Keisei 3000's body is made of lightweight stainless steel and the passenger doors have a paper honeycomb structure. When they were designing this train, they wanted it to be both environmentally (energy saving) and customer friendly (being accessible to elderly and those with disabilities.)

Super Single and Super Double Trains:

"This Super Single Train is a new mass-produced car! It's an environmentally friendly train, because they revised all the parts to drastically reduce power consumption! Newer trains have to be built in a way that's both functional and environmentally friendly. Compared to the past, they've improved significantly."

"This Super Double Train is a new mass-produced car! Such a streamlined and refined design! Beauty and utility working together! That kind of beautility is unique to mass-produced train cars! It uses the same train car as a Super Single Train. The only difference is the appearance. It is a superb train car that will go down in the history of the Battle Subway!"

The Super Single and Super Double Trains are the same model. Honestly the description of these trains doesn't give me a lot of information besides the fact that these trains are eco friendly. So I'll talk about what trains do to make themselves (even more) eco friendly!

They are stated to be eco friendly by reducing power consumption. I think it could be referring to a "VVVF inverter control" (it stands for variable voltage variable frequency. In English its mainly called the VFD or variable frequency drive.) A VVVF is a type of system for an AC motor that can reduce energy consumption! (There are two types of electrical current, DC or Direct Current and AC or Alternate Current. An AC motor is a motor that is driven by AC electricity.) It is important on energy saving trains! I won't get too much into how it works, but essentially it controls the AC motor's rotational speed by controlling the frequency. By controlling these, it can control the speed and acceleration of a train. You'll find that a VVVF is often paired with a three phase motor (I will not go into that...) Let's just say that these systems are very efficient at using power and help save energy.

Really, reducing power consumption usually means being more efficient at using power. Like using LEDs, using better insulation to retain cooling or heating, and generally using parts that use less electricity. It could be that the train is lighter in weight too (lighter vehicles use less power.)

Both of these Super Trains are mass produced! Which tells me that there are a lot of Super Single and Super Double trains! Its lines are probably busy.

As for real life inspirations, it is very much inspired by the E233-2000 series train

The E233-2000 is a little bit of an oddball in the E233 family exterior design wise. Its design was inspired by the Tokyu 5000 series. Its basic running equipment is the same as the E233 trains before it though.

I think it is a bit of a stretch, but I'll mention it anyways. The E233 (which the E233-2000 is a subsection of) is a train that has won the Laurel Award in 2007. The Laurel Award is an award given to trains by the Japan Railway Friends Association for trains with an excellence in technology and design (specifically geared towards commuter trains.) It could be what all the "beautility" comments could be referencing to? They do look verrry different though, and the E233-2000 came after the award was given...

Super Multi Train:

"This train car is a Super Multi Train! This is the latest train car! Improved acceleration and deceleration! Automated train-car controls! It's full of cutting-edge technologies. Also, a regeneration brake system, a car-body tilting system, a whatchamacallit system, a thingamabob system... I don't remember all the details, but it's just a big festival of all the latest technology!"

Ohhoho! The Super Multi Train description is a goldmine of details! This train is the whole reason I wanted to make this post! Let's run through its features!

Improved acceleration and deceleration means that it can run between stops faster, allowing for quicker operation time.

Automated train-car controls or ATC is a safety system on trains that prevents trains from going over a certain speed! If the train goes over the maximum speed permitted then the ATC will pull the brakes automatically to reduce the speed and release the brakes when it is below maximum speed. It also displays the maximum speed to the driver. It is an incredibly important safety system!! From what I understand, the term ATC is very common in Japan, in other countries the ATC would simply be a part of cab signaling (it is a safety system mainly for the driver and train crew, it tells them track status and condition information) and train protection technologies. ATC is installed on all Shinkansen trains, it is also installed in some subways and heavily used railways.

Here's an example of what it looks like! The green triangle there is the (current) maximum speed. There are a lot of different types of ATC systems and this ones a D-ATC (stands for Digital Automatic Train Control) from within an E233! There are a whole lot of different types of ATC, and they can come in many looks! I would show more examples, however, I have hit the image limit on this post... :[

A regenerative brake system is a special type of breaking that allows a train to generate electricity via breaking! The electricity can either be used immediately, stored, or returned back into the line. You might've heard this feature on electric or hybrid cars. It is a common eco friendly feature!

A car-body tilting system is a feature in trains that allows the body of the train car to tilt into a curve! It allows the train to go faster on a track (not needing to slow down on a curve) but the feature is mainly for passenger comfort! When you ride, you don't feel the centrifugal force at all when going around a curve! And it makes the ride so smooth! Here's a short video demonstrating what it looks like:

There are essentially two major ways to do a car body tilting system. There is active tilting (forced body tilting) or passive tilting (pendulum system). A forced body tilting system uses computers to tilt the train using track data or sensors, telling the train when and how much to tilt. If the calculation is not done correctly, it can leave passengers with motion sickness (An infamous example is the Advanced Passenger Train in the UK). The tilting itself I believe is done via hydraulics. Forced Body Tilting is more popular in European and American trains.

As for passive tilting, the train in the video uses it! (A controlled pendulum train!) It means it uses natural forces to tilt the train car. I'll dive deeper into this type of tilting in the Wi-Fi train section because it actually mentions it's a pendulum train! As to which tilting type the Super Multi train has... it could honestly be either.

(Ah! I forgot to mention this, but tilting trains are especially useful in mountainous regions, where there are a lot of curves.)

In the Japanese version of the Super Multi description, it also mentions that it has a "earthquake warning system" and a "tornado monitoring system".

An earthquake warning system is not something fully installed into the train, rather it's mainly a set of sensors installed along the track, coast, and major inland areas. For passenger rail, if any signs of an earthquake are detected, it will alert any trains in the affected area and drivers are required to apply their emergency brakes. For shinkansen trains it will cut off power to the affected area which will automatically activate the emergency brakes.

Well, I found something close to a tornado warning system. There is a "gust warning system" where sensors measure wind speed and to predict where strong gusts of wind would go. Again, it's not a system that is installed within the train. From what I could tell, they would restrict travel speed during strong winds. If wind speeds are too high, then they would shut down the lines. (I suppose would be very useful, especially when there's some legendaries that cause powerful storms roaming around.)

In the Japanese version of the text, it also states that the Super Multi Train is also a test train. Which again means there's also not a lot of this train. It also states that some of it's features are unnecessary due to it being a test train lol

In the description all these features are stated as "cutting edge" and "a festival of all the latest technology" when these features are not all that new? And Regenerative breaking seems to be pretty common? (Every irl train I have shown thus far all have it.) Eh, I don't think it's that big of a deal. They are just fictional trains after all.

I originally thought the train looked like an Eizan Railway Deo 800 series, but thanks to the leaks, it looks like that the JR East 205-500 was used as a base to design the Super Multi Train? With probably heavy modification to the final design. (While I don't condone the method that these leaks were obtained, curiosity did get the better of me. This is the only train that I ID-ed this way.)

This Train was exclusive to the Sagami Line, though it ended operation in 2022 and every one of these trains have been scrapped. The blue color I believe is an homage to the Sagami River that runs along the line. The Train used a semi automatic door system for its passenger doors. Which means that rather than the conductor opening and closing the doors, the passengers would press a button to open the door when the train has stopped.

Wi-Fi Train:

"This train car is a Wi-Fi Train! It is the fastest long-distance high-speed train in the Battle Subway! This is called a pendulum car. Its body tilts while going around curves, so it can run without slowing down! Faster! Farther! Our engineers' spirits are infused in it!"

A pendulum car is a very specific term!!! Like I mentioned in the Super Mutli Train section it is a type of car body tilting. There are multiple types of Pendulum systems, There is Natural Pendulum, Controlled Pendulum, Air Spring (also called Simple Pendulum), and Hybrid.

Natural Pendulum is just using the centrifugal force of when it goes around a curve to tilt the train. This type was known to cause motion sickness in riders because when it straightened out, the car would "lag" or wobble. Sometimes the force was not enough to tilt the train and this would also cause passenger discomfort. These issues were fixed later with a controlled pendulum, where there would be a degree of control to the tilting. Using mechanisms similar to forced body tilting, it would prevent wobble and ease the tilt. The air spring method, as suggests in the name, uses air springs to help with tilting. It is similar to the controlled pendulum, though it tilts less than it (controlled pendulum can tilt 6 degrees and air springs can only tilt 2 degrees). Air springs are cheaper to build though and still are able to make the train go faster. Hybrid is the combination of controlled pendulum and air springs, allowing for an 8 degree tilt.

I hope the Wi-Fi train is not a natural pendulum? You're telling me you have to battle on that and you might get motion sickness?? Though it sounds like it might be more high tech so it is most likely the other types... Hopefully...

It also states that this train is the "fastest long-distance high-speed train in the Battle Subway!" Looking at Japan's tilting trains (that are not shinkansen), they go about 120kmh-130kmh (about 75 mph-81 mph.) So it could be a possibility that the Wi-Fi goes something along those speeds.

I've looked through Japan's tilting trains, and the closest one might be the JR Hokkaido Kiha 201 series? It's not at all close though... I can't really find a good match tbh. I think the 113 series seems to be a bit more closer visually.

The one on the left is a Kansai livery and the right is a JR Shikoku livery. They are both the same train, JR Shikoku bought the 113 series from JR East to replace some aging trains and then modified it. Which is why they look a bit different. The modifications include strengthening the front of the train and adding shock absorbing material inside.

So Those are all the trains that run in the Battle Subway! However there are 2 trains that don't, instead they only show up in Anville Town on certain days. I'll be calling them "Old Train Car" and "Futuristic Train Car"

"Old Train Car"

"This train car is the kind that ran a long time ago. Compared to contemporary train cars, it has more parts, so I heard it was difficult to build. The old train cars built with lots of small parts have their own unique beauty and attract a lot of fans. Those cars no longer run in the Battle Subway, but I hear they're still used in a faraway region. Ah... I'd love to be on that train!"

So this sort of car used to run on the Battle Subway. It's said to be still running in another region, though with how old the train looks I can only think that maybe it would be running by railway preservationists.

The design of this train reminds me a lot of old Japanese electric trains and trams. Especially trams with that double roof. I don't think it's really based on any particular vehicle? Here's a couple that I found;

The only one I feel like is worth mentioning is the Jomo Electric Railway Deha 101 (this specific car is the Deha 101, others of its kind are called Deha 100 type) and the Nagasaki Electric Railway 160 type. Both of these vehicles I believe are still running to some capacity.

The Jomo Deha 101 has been running for over 90 years. While car 101 still resides at Jomo Railway, other Deha 100s have been transferred to other private companies where they have been scrapped. I believe the only existing Deha 100s today are Car 101 and Car 104 (which has been painted bright yellow.)

The Nagasaki Electric Railway 160 type used to belong to the Kyushu Electric Tramway where it was called the Type 1 Electric Tram. When it was transferred to the Nagasaki Electric Railway it was renamed into the 160 type. Today, there is a single car in operation. I believe it is the oldest wooden car in Japan that is still in service.

I suppose I will also mention the Keifuku Electric Railway Mobo 21 Type Train, it does look the most similar. Though, it's purposefully designed to look like an old style tram.

"Futuristic Train Car"

"This train car is a new train to run in the future! Wooo! Cool! Super cool! The latest motor breathes fire! Uh-oh, if it really breathed fire, that would be bad! But it is full of the latest technologies! It's undergoing a lot of testing. It's called a gauge-convertible train. It's a sweet car that can adjust its wheels to run on any rail!"

So first off, I'd like to say that this train visually kind of looks like a "Sonic" 883 series (nothing to do with the blue hedgehog, it was just a coincidence lol)

However the description!!!! A "gauge convertible train" that is undergoing a lot of testing... That description matches exactly with the GCT! (literally standing for Gauge Change/Convertible Train, though in Japanese it's called FGT or Free Gauge Train!)

The GTC is the project name for this experimental shinkansen. The one in the picture is the GTC-01, the second generation of its kind (as this is the version they would be testing before and during the development of the game, there is now a 3rd generation.) So, the term gauge refers to the distance between the two rails. Different trains run on different gauges, they can come in either narrow gauge, standard gauge, or wide gauge. Japan's rail network is mostly narrow gauge (specifically Cape Gauge.) The main exception are the shinkansen trains, which run on standard gauge. This shinkansen like the description says would be able to run on any gauge. It used to be under a lot of testing by the Free Gauge Train Technology Research Association. Today though, the GTC-01 second generation sits on display in the Shikoku Railway Heritage Museum.

There are a lot of challenges that the GTC faces. It takes a bit of time for the wheels to adjust to the gauge and you need to go slower when it's doing so. It has increased maintenance costs. The heavier specialized bogie creates more wear on the rails as well as making the train harder to detect. (Ok! Basic explanation for Railway Signaling! Tracks are split up into sections called "blocks", and a small electrical current is run between the two tracks that makes up the block. When a train runs through, the wheel and axle of the train disrupts the current, which then the system detects that block as being occupied by a train. If it is occupied, the signal lights at the end of the block will be turned red, preventing other trains from entering the same block, thus preventing collisions. The problem arises in the GTC in that the wheel and the axle are separate, thus something about this is making it hard to detect on the rail.)

With this train being a "gauge change train" it really made me wonder what gauge the Battle Subway trains runs at? I thought maybe standard gauge or maybe even wide gauge because you can only make the train so wide depending on the gauge. And you'd probably want it wider so that there is more room, especially if you are fitting a battle arena in it! However in Japanese the description mentions that "The rails are a little wider on the tracks that run at higher speeds." Which is... exactly how Japanese rail works? So the Battle Subway lines are probably narrow gauge?

Another thing that's interesting about the "Futuristic Train" is the date that it actually shows up. In Anville Town the way that each train shows up is dependent on the last digit of the day of the month, like so:

0- (10th, 20th, and 30th) "Old Train Car"

1- (1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st) Single Train Car

2- (2nd, 12th, and 22nd) Double Train Car

3- (3rd, 13th, and 23rd) Multi Train Car

yada yada you get the point (4- Super Double Train, 5- Super Single Train, 6- Super Multi Train, 7- Anville Town Train, 8- Nothing, 9- Wi-Fi Train)

The only exception is the "Futuristic Train" who will show up ONLY on February 1st, June 12th, October 1st, October 14th, and December 30th, pretty random huh? haha of course not! These dates are dates significant to the History of Japanese Railway/Transportation!

February 1st: The opening of Japan's first electric street car in 1895!

June 12th: The temporary operation of Japan's first passenger railway in 1872!

October 1st: The release of Japan's first Shinkansen, the series 0 in 1964!

October 14th: The official opening of Japan's first passenger railway in 1872, with the first two stations between Shimbashi and Yokohama! This day is also Railway Day in Japan, celebrating this event, Tokyo holds a Railway Festival and train companies like to do events on this day as well! 

December 30th: The opening of Japan's first subway line in 1927, The Ginza Line!

Rails, Station Platform, and More Train:

So the Station, there are a few details I can pick up on here!

The type of track that the trains run on (at least in the station) are ballastless tracks! It means the rail is tied directly onto a slab of concrete rather than having ballast hold it up (ballast is that rocky gravel that you often see beneath the tracks.) This type of track is quite expensive to build and makes the place a lot nosier, but it has a lot of advantages! For one, because there is no ballast to maintain, it has lower maintenance cost (ballast must be packed every now and again using a ballast tamping machine. Which lifts the track and jostles the ballast beneath it. Ballast also needs to be replaced after a while because the rocks have to be irregularly shaped for it to work, and natural weathering can make them smooth out.) It is also easier to clean and has a longer lifespan. Because the rail is tied to slabs of concrete the rails are less prone to deformation, which is good! Though it is also that same inflexibility means that it is difficult to change anything about it and takes longer to repair.

Their buffer! (that little black thing at the end of the line, I think it is a buffer?) It doesn't look like that effective of a buffer... The purpose of a buffer is to stop a train if brakes fail. Though this thing seems to be more for the driver telling them where the end is, hence all the, what I presume are, lights. Let's hope they have some sort of other safety system in place (like some sort of Automatic Train Stop system.)

There doesn't seem to be a third rail. I have a feeling that might be because most Japanese railway trains are powered via overhead wire (literally every irl train I have shown is powered this way.) Maybe the Battle Subway trains might be powered via overhead wire? I might be over analyzing here, they might not have thought of modeling such a small detail haha

The train itself has some sort of device on top (that box thing.) I believe it to be some sort of air conditioning unit. Given how each train car has one large unit on top of it, I believe that it uses a centralized cooling system, which means there is one large air conditioning unit. (There are 2 other types, they are distributed cooling which consists of 6-8 small units and centralized distributed which consists of a couple of medium sized units.) Central cooling systems are easier to install and maintain because there is only one unit to worry about.

Signboards:

The Buildings in between routes have a electronic news bulletin board, and depending on which city is connected to it, the news bulletin will give a little flavor text about the city. There's some flavor text about the Battle Subway when it's about Nimbasa City, and it different depending on whether you are playing the first one or the second one, here they are:

BW

"Run and battle! Trains never stop!” Battle Subway in Nimbasa City"

"They say someone who loved battles also happened to be a railway maniac, and thats why we now have the battle subway"

So, this might be a coincidence, but there is an old name that Japanese Train Fans used to call themselves. The name was "Railway Mania" (鉄道マニア direct translation). It was used up until the 1950s. Today it's seen as a derogatory term but it was used very commonly back in its heyday (even more popular than "railfan" apparently.) I think it is kind of interesting that the term "Railway Maniac" was chosen for this flavor text and I wonder if it has anything to do with this old name. However, I say it might just be a coincidence because the term "Maniac" is not unheard of word in Pokemon (Item Maniac, Poke Maniac, Hex Maniac, etc.) But regardless, there's that little fun fact for you!

B2W2

“Get on a train and fight!” Battle Subway in Nimbasa City"

"The energy generated by heated Pokémon battles is the fuel that keeps the Battle Subway running"

I'm going to get a little headcanon-y here. We can interpret this figuratively, as in if there are no battles then its not really a Battle Subway is it? But I think it would be fun to interpret it literally! What if Pokemon Moves could get absorbed somehow to power the Train? And if the Train doesn't need it it could go into the line to power something else in the Subway! I think that would be cool :]

Extra Stuff:

●I think the Battle Subway Map could also be inspired by JR East's rail map, the main reason is the single lines (dark green) which goes in a loop around the Unova Region...

Reminds me of the Yamanote Line (light green) which also goes in a loop connecting a variety of major stations together in Tokyo and is a very very important line!

●While I do believe Gear Station is inspired by New York's Grand Central Station, I do think there's a lot of design elements taken from Tokyo Station as well

●The gray bodies of the Anville, Single, Doubles, and Multi cars are probably meant to represent an exposed steel/aluminum body rather than the ones painted white like the Super Trains.

●In the Anime, the trains are said to have an ATO system, this is also a real system, it stands for Automatic Train Operation. It's a system that allows a computer to control when the train stops and goes with no driver involved! I don't think that the trains in the games run on an ATO system though, as there are Depot Agents who talk about train driving (Depot Agent Cameron who says "I’m good at driving, but I’m not good at dealing with Pokemon." at the start of battle, and a way more obscure Depot Agent whom you can talk to on the platform after 14 wins on a Super Train who says "I’d rather have an exciting battle than slowly drive the train.")

●In the Anime, there's a stamp rally, which is a real thing! There are station stamps in Japan which tourists can collect. Though, occasionally Pokemon will collaborate with JR East to create a Pokemon Stamp Rally! The most recent is this Pokemon Horizons Stamp Rally promoting the show! Here's a map of what stamps you can collect at each station and the prizes you can get!

●In the Nacrane city library there is a book that mentions that Nacrane used to have steam locomotives running through it!

"This book is about the things you can ride in the Unova region, such as Castelia City’s cruise ship and Mistralton City’s planes. Before there were planes, locomotives carried people all over Unova. The railway in Nacrene City is a legacy of those lines." (B2W2)

What kinds of Steam Locomotives? I suppose we will never know, as we never see one in game.

●There's an Roughneck NPC you can talk to at Tubeline Bridge in B2W2 where he says

"Watch it! People use “railway fan” as a catchall term, but there are many types of railway fans! There are riding fans, detraining fans, station fans, train-car fans, schedule-table fans, picture-taking fans, recording fans, and more! Don’t go thinking they’re all the same!" (B2W2)

So in Japanese, Railway is Tesudo (鉄道, testu 鉄- Iron and do 道-Road) and a Railway Fan is Tesudofan, however fans will abbreviate to just Testu and stick what aspect of trains they enjoy with it, so like 乗り鉄 (Nori 乗り-Ride, 鉄-tetsu) as a Train Riding Fan, or 撮り鉄 (Tori 撮り-Taking a Picture, 鉄-tetsu) as a Railway Photography fan. There are a lot of these and the NPC does go over some! There's also Railway Modeling Fans (Fans who collect model trains and/or construct model railways), Collecting Fans (Fans who collect railway related items such as tickets or stamps), Operation Fans (Fans who like researching railway operation and equipment), Regulation Fans (Fans who like researching railway handbooks and laws and regulations that go into a railway), Simulation Fans (Fans who like playing train driving/railway management games), Artists/Writers, Urban Explorers, and Railway Preservationist (I gave up on the last ones lol). There are lots of ways to enjoy trains!

There's also the super specific terms of "Mama Tetsu" where a mother becomes a railway fan because of their children's interest or "Oyako Tetsu" where a child becomes interested in trains because of their parents.

●The badge on Ingo and Emmet's hats probably represents the logo for the railway company that they work for, while researching about Japanese Railway Companies, I noticed that they have a lot of circular logos, here's a handful:

From what I could gather, these types of black and white circular logos are called a mon, kind of like a crest? If you wish to scroll about the logos, here is the link for the Wikimedia commons list.

The company's logo is also what's usually depicted on irl conductor's hats anyways, in the exact same place too.

(I was looking for a screenshot to showcase the hat to put here, but instead I found this promotional video! It's actually pretty good at going over the basics of what a driver and conductor actually do! Please feel free to check it out)

●The name "Depot Agent" is a little bit of a strange name, in Japanese the name is simply "Railway Worker", a depot is often referred to a train yard, however depot can also refer to a station, given where we see this trainer class working (at Gear Station), it is most likely that the depot in this case is referring to station, so they are station workers!

Final:

After all this I have come to the conclusion that somebody at Gamefreak really liked trains! And I really think all the little details are so awesome! and it really cements the Battle Subway as my favorite battle facility!

Anyways I hope you learned a thing or two and I hope you gained a new appreciation for trains and the Battle Subway! Thanks for Reading! ✌

(If I got anything wrong, please feel free to correct me, there was a lot of information I had to sift through and I am NOT an engineer * _ * and if you have something to add please do! I would love to learn more! ^ ^

[fingertipsmp3]

I’ve got a pokemon that’s been in a gym for over three weeks and one of the three people defending the gym with me has fed it so many berries that it’s at 3/4 health again. Why are you prolonging my suffering???

[written-with-blue-ink]

Pokemon Characters and Date Ideas

Basically: what dates would these Pokemon characters do with you? Characters: N Harmonia, Leon, Grimsley, Rika & Prof. Augustine Sycamore

N Harmonia

Was honestly showing affection and did private, one-on-one hangouts together even before you two started dating

It was around this time he got more affectionate in your friendship. Resting his head on top of your hair, deep eye contact (which he was often really bad at), and braiding/playing with your hair or vice versa. 

It wasn’t until you “officially” ask him out and he cocks his head to the side like a confused puppy and goes “I thought we already were?”

Confusion ensues.

As for dates, N is a really quiet and private guy. He doesn’t like being out in public or in overstimulating environments.

Most of the time dates are hikes, picnics, exploring, all that the fun outdoorsy stuff where he gets to shine in his element. 

Occasionally y’all go to Nimbasa City and go on the Ferris Wheel or play at the arcade in the Amusement Park which you both find enjoyable. 

But his favorites are on late nights when neither of you can sleep. 

You two will just go to Dragonspiral Tower and stargaze at the top of the ruins or watch the local wild pokemon do their thing. 

It’s quiet, it’s fun, and he’s with you. What else could he ask for?

Leon

Dense boy, you probably had to beat him over the head with a book to get his brain to understand (mostly bc he keeps accidentally friend-zoning himself)

Has never really dated before? 

Like, Rose set him up on dates because it's good publicity but he probably hasn’t gone on a real date.

He has money, all these brand partnerships and stuff. He tries to do really classy stuff when y’all first start dating but it leads to him being clearly uncomfortable and you getting fed up and explaining you like him for him and to do fun stuff together.

Mostly home dates from that point on or outings that don’t feel like “dates”. 

Game nights where you two play video games are super fun. Some days are challenge days where you see who can do the best run on a Roguelike or who can win the most rounds of a battle royale type game

Some days are cozy co-op games where you solve puzzles and create things…

Y’all’s favorite thing to do together though is just walk and get lost. Esp with Leon’s terrible sense of direction, you two find weird hole-in-the-wall places that are so much fun.

The best one you found was a great hole-in-the-wall traditional kantonian ramen bar that was on the edge of going out of business. However, due to you and Leon talking about it so much with friends and posting about it online, you saved the shop from going out of business.

Grimsley

Your first date with Grimsley wasn’t really what you were expecting in all honesty

He took you out for lunch at his favorite Kalosian cafe then took you to a bookstore and had you both pick out different books for each other, then went to his house and read while old records played in the background

Of course, the book he picked out for you was one of Shauntal’s (because gotta support your friends/little sister figure)

It was so different from what you were expecting but so sweet at the same time. 

Most common dates are drinks at bars after long days or flower viewings knowing you would like them

He also takes you to his favorite spots whenever he visits Alola with you.

But the most fun dates are when the two of you go to Castelia or Nimbasa to the casinos

You both are given the same amount of money and the challenge is who makes the most in time for your dinner reservation

Whenever the two of you see each other during these you have a habit of teasing the other about who’s in the lead. 

In the end, the winner pays for dinner (much to the chagrin of the other)

Rika

She’s the one who asked you and was super casual and blunt about it

Picks you up after work and takes you to the store where the two of you talk about what to make for dinner.

The two of you go back to her place and begin cooking together, smiling and chatting the whole time as the two of you get distracted by cutting veggies and being in each other’s company.

From then on dates were mostly cutesy, one-on-one time for the two of you.

Crafts while watching movies are the most common, sewing, embroidery, sketching, it's just fun and relaxing

Ceramics classes too, wet clay on your hands and you rub it on her face. Only for her to cock her brow and smirk as she cups her face with her filthy hands and kisses your nose.

Her favorite dates are the ones when you get to help her at the Academy. Running after-school activities or working in the library

It combines her admiration of her students and her love of you… her two favorite things

Prof. Augustine Sycamore

Honestly over the moon when you accepted to go on a date with him

The man is in his late 30s/early 40s and his last relationship kinda fell apart really badly 

*cough cough Lysandre cough*

So he was out of the dating scene for a while and didn’t exactly know what to do when you said yes

Like, his brain crashed and did a hard reset. He was not expecting to get this far…

He gives all his employees off one day and decks out the backyard of his lab with string lights, and sheets, rummaging around the attic of the lab, and a call to his favorite restaurant.

When you arrived you saw the backyard completely transformed into a cozy outdoor movie spot with takeout and snacks prepared at a picnic table

It’s super sweet

Besides that, you two go on “research” dates together. It’s mostly pokemon watching and taking notes on what you find.

The little sketches he does of the pokemon you find absolutely adorable!

[quillpokebiology]

Bisharp Body Language, Behaviors, & Culture

Pawniard and Bisharp behaviors are some of my favorite pokemon to analyze due to their unique groups and interesting social cues. Their social cues and behaviors extend to when they have trainers and are born in captivity, and I think it's important for trainers to understand their pokemon. So, here are some Bisharp behaviors and cultures explained!

Body Language & Behaviours

Tapping

Many trainers might have noticed that their Pawniard/Bisharp will tap random surfaces. This behavior is just used to get your atention in order to tell you something. Maybe their hungry, maybe there's danger, and they want to warn you, but they are trying to get your attention for a reason.

Thiddling

(Idea from Eve-of-Halloween on Deviantart)

I think this behavior is very cute. It's a courting act where Pawniard/Bisharp tap their blades together or tap their partner/potential partner's blades in a rhythmic order.

Scraping

Sraping is a behavior where Pawniard/Bisharp scrape their blades together in order to threaten another Pawniard/Bisharp. This behaviour is used as a warning that they're about to attack. If a wild Bisharp does this to you, turn the other way because it most likely means that you are in its territory and doesn't want you there.

Bowing

Pawniard and Bisharp bow for 2 main reasons; bowing to their superiors to to invite someone to a friendly battle. Bowing to their superiors often includes keeping their blades behind their back, while bowing to initiate a friendly battle has their arms extended forward and their hands out.

Scouting

A behavior seen more commonly in Pawniard than Bisharp, and certainly not Kinggambit. This includes a group of Pawniard leaving their camp to go check their territory for any danger. With trainers or with humans, this behaviour includes getting up early and walking around the house or yard to check for any unwanted company.

Marking

Marking is when Pawniard/Bisharp mark their territory by carving their clan's symbol on rocks, trees, or other materials around them. This behaviour is more common in Pawniard than it is Bisharp, and Kingambit don't do it unless they're in captivity and their aren't any other Pawniard or Bisharp to do it for them. This behavior makes a lot of sense in the wild, but it can be annoying when your Pawniard ends up carving things on your walls or driveway.

Courting

Bisharp have a few different courting behaviors. This includes displaying their blades, gift giving, cutting up their partner's food, or sharpening their partner's blades. This behaviour can be a bit difficult when their mate isn't a member of thr Pawniard line, but they do pair very well with Gallade bcuz Gallade court in similar ways.

Clapping

The line claps for similar reasons we do; they like something. I'm just putting this here to explain the next part.

Laughing

Bisharp don't laugh the same reasons we do. We laugh when something is funny, but Bisharp will laugh to show power. It's common for Bisharp to laugh after a fight, and the behavior is seen as mocking. If you recently caught one, you should teach them that you're not mocking them when you're laughing. Or, if you want to accommodate your Bisharp, try clapping when you find something funny because clapping is also their version of laughing.

Clanging

Clanging is when Pawniard line members clang their heads together as a form of greeting. It's used as a way to form deeper bonds amongst their pack.

Culture

I just want to say that each Pawniard/Bisharp pack/clan has different cultures and behaviors, and they're not all the same. I go over it a bit in my Pawniard Facts post, and I'll go over it as well in my Bisharp Fact posts, but I am going itno more detail here!

Writing & Symbols

Each Pawniard pack has their own symbols for their clan, which they use to mark their territory. While they don't write as much as Weavile do, there have been recorded cases of them drawing symbols that aren't their or other clan symbols that they use to communicate with one another.

Naming

The Pawniard line does, in fact, name each other! It's usually vocal sounds coming from the mouth, and they may even have symbols for their names. This extends to their trainers. If your Pawniard/Bisharp/Kingambit always refers to you with a specific soundz that means that they have named you. And while it's hard to translate what these names mean, as scientists aren't fully sure if what their symbols mean, they have figured out some, and many Pawniard/Bisharp/Kingambit are named after things that are around them; like different trees or rocks.

Affection

Because of the blades all over their body, the line isn't much for physical affection. Instead, the line will show affection to one's they are close with by doing acts of service or do something I like to call "Allogrooming but without the grooming bcuz idk what it's called," where clans will have dedicated times to just relaxing and communicating eith each other. For trainers, this behavior can translate as your partner following you around or giving you gifts.

Honor

So many Bisharp clans have such a high focus on honor. The most honorable thing a Bisharp can do is become a strong leader, so evolving into a Kingambit is one of the best things you can do. But since only one clan can have a kingambit, other Pawniard and Bisharp just focus on becoming stronger for their clan and Kingambit.

Mourning

Like humans, the Pawniard line buries their dead. They're often buried with different stones or beloved objects. Researchers understand the beloved objects part, but they're still trying to figure out what the stones mean. They will have funerals foe their dead and different clans have different ways for their funerals. Some clans will have moments of silence, some will have battles, and some will celebrate their fallen friends next chapter into the afterlife.

Integration

The Pawniard line prefers to keep to their own clans, with integration of clans not being a very common thing. BUT, it isn't unheard of. It mostly happens when a Kingambit manages to take control over multiple clans, resulting in larger territories and more clan members. Integration can also happen with outer species as well. Members of the line are known to accept other humanoid pokenon into their clans, like Charcadet or Gallade, but they also get along very well with the Aegislash line. Researchers believe it is because Aegislash is attracted to any pokemon that has organized societies and have power, making it easier for the Aegislash to befriend said pokemon. Works for Bisharp's favor, since now they have something to protect them from fighting types.

Hope this helps! It was very fun researching the structures of their socities and their behaviours. If you use any questions, please ask me!

[pokemonshelterstories]

I have a weird hobby I wanna share because why the hell not? I shiny hunt, but not traditionally. See, I know I can't take care of a ranch's worth of sparkly, little bastards. Even if I could, I'd look like one of those rich, movie villains with a menagerie of pokemon that're miserable and starving.

So I know you're wondering, what do I do, then? Just take pictures, basically. I'm often called a weirdo because there's a room in my house that's covered wall to wall in shiny pokemon I've encountered over the years, but to be honest it's better than catching a pokemon I'm not gonna keep.

Tho once in a while, I get some asshole or total nutcase that tells me I'm not a real hunter because I don't catch em. Okay, bud.

not weird at all. my sister does that for work, actually- she's a photographer, and her current job is recording instances of shiny pokemon in the wild and bringing back pictures and videos of their behavior for the team that is researching them. personally, i think taking pictures of pokemon is a great way to interact with wildlife without disturbing it, and if you don't plan on keeping a pokemon, it's far better to leave it in the wild instead of stressing it out and possibly habituating it.

i'm sorry you've got people in the community who treat you as lesser-than for not keeping a live collection of shinies. i have a lot more respect for shiny hunters who search responsibly for shinies than for those who do things like excessive breeding or mass-battling a population. there's always someone in every group i've joined who acts that way. thankfully, i do think ecological awareness is rising in the shiny hunting community, and most hunters i've met lately are more like you.

[elbdot]

Congrats on concluding such a tremendous community feat OP! It was fascinating to see your posts about them here, and I am quite thankful for the people who were able to obtain footage of some of your matches; I was so curious!! About how everyone was doing their playstyles! My favorite spectator sport LMAO

Also shoutout to Shadic the one victor whose footage made it to the compilation, that man was A KILLER JESUS. That had to have been a brutal time

Thank you so much!! :D I'm glad you enjoyed watching the few battle videos we put up!!

And yes THAT EVO-BOOST SETUP WAS SO CRUEL, I felt like the biggest idiot when it hit me 😂 The second match where Shadic promised not to use any gimmick teams didn't end well for me either tbh :'D But I'm proud to say I fiNALLY managed to win against him on a third match against his Dark type team, I didn't think it was possible to beat him AT ALL with his far more advanced competitive knowledge (I know like - the basics, my team is competitively trained, I know about...most abilities and favored movesets of often used Pokemon, but I'm not that familiar with the actual competitive scene), but alas...I GOT MY REVENGE

I wish we would have been able to record even more matches 😂 There was an absolutely legendary match where one of the challengers, Allie, managed to defeat my entire remaining team of 4 Pokemon with her LAST standing Baile Style Oricorio. I WAS NOT EVEN MAD, THAT WAS AN AMAZING TURN OF EVENTS As a huge Oricorio-fan, being defeated by one still counts as a win in my book LMAO

Unfortunately we only had ONE person on the server with the equipment to record battles and not only is it an INCREDIBLY time-consuming endeavor, but some of the codes for battle videos I put up online didn't even work for some reason, so we only got 6 videos up, but man, I'm glad we have ANY material up AT ALL 😭

Maybe I'll treat myself to a capture card one day, but right now that's over 200€ I don't feel comfortable in spending 😅😂 MAYBE ONE DAY...

[another-lost-mc]

obey me x pokemon au: the great mammon wants to fight!

summary: when you decide to become a pokemon trainer, a familiar face from your childhood decides he's going to help you by not helping you. or that's what he tells himself, anyway.

featuring: mammon x gn!reader

content: sfw (suggestive towards the end). follows the vibes of generation one except they're adults and, y'know, not children. "rivals" to lovers trope and so many clichés. tbh this is mostly mammon challenging reader to pokemon battles instead of talking about his feelings. wc: 1.6k+

Mammon is there when you choose your first Pokemon and he boldly declares that he's going to be your rival. Apparently, it's going to toughen you up and you should be grateful. When you admit you've never battled before, he embellishes his own track record hoping to impress you. (It doesn't.)

"Your first challenger is the Great Mammon! You better be ready to cough up that prize money!" He summons a low-level Pokemon similar to yours, but your Pokemon has a type advantage over his and it's almost a landslide victory in your favour.

He scoffs when you seem surprised by how easy that was. "You’re lucky I wasn't trying that hard. The next time we meet, I won't hold back!"

He just happens to set out for his own adventure the same time you do. At one of the junctions just outside of town, there's a very clear fork in the road: left or right. You think he's going to follow you, but when you turn right, he pointedly goes left. You wish him luck but he doesn't look back, and your mood deflates a little. It would've been nice to have company for a journey like this, but you carry on and accept it might be a long time before you see him again.

As it turns out, you cross paths with Mammon much sooner than you think.

For someone who claims to be your rival, it's weird how often you run into him. It's too convenient that Mammon shows up exactly when you need help the most. He teams up with you whenever a pair of trainers tries to gang up on you, or when you wander into an area with Pokemon far stronger than your own. Your Pokemon learn to fight in sync with his because they spend so much time together.

No matter how many times you ask, Mammon refuses your offers to officially join you. Sometimes he shows up out of the blue to challenge you to a battle. Other times he shoves a bag of supplies - usually spare Pokeballs and potions - into your arms and takes off again.

For most of your journey, Mammon's not far behind you. There are a few times he beats you to your destination. It’s a rare treat when you arrive at the next gym in time to watch him battle against its leader. He gets flustered when he realizes you're watching from the sidelines, but his Pokemon preen under your rapt attention. His team's gotten a lot stronger too.

If you're last to challenge the town's gym leader, Mammon waits for you outside and drags you into another battle. You're not sure what he's trying to prove, but you reluctantly accept his challenge and defeat him once again.

He doesn't usually have much prize money to give you when he loses. You refuse to take the small amount of gold he has in his pockets. He's your friend and you don't even want his money, but that just seems to irritate him even more. He denies loudly and vehemently that you're nothing more than his rival.

You think losing would hurt less than the sting of his rejection.

Contrary to what he says, your not-a-friend keeps traveling the same path you do. It would be cute if he wasn't being so stubborn.

Your dream of becoming a Pokemon Champion draws closer with each gym leader you defeat. You fasten the shiny new badge from the eighth and final gym leader to your jacket, but your excitement is short-lived. There's a familiar figure waiting for you on the outskirts of town, and he's wearing all eight badges too.

"Mammon, do we have to keep doing this? We've come so far. I really don't want to fight you anymore."

But he just smirks and plucks a Pokeball off his belt. "How are you gonna beat the Elite Four if you can't beat me?"

It's a close battle - the closest one yet - but you add another victory to your winning streak against him.

After the dust settles (literally), Mammon storms away. You heal your Pokemon with some potions first and you heal his too. None of the Pokemon pick up on the tension between you and Mammon. In fact, they all play together like they weren't just locked in a feverish duel a few minutes before.

You look over your shoulder and spot Mammon under the shade of a nearby tree. The scowl on his face is unwelcoming and you decide to give him his space. You assume he's stewing in the disappointment of another defeat. You could say "I told you so," but that would probably make things worse. (And you don't want to make things worse.)

Besides, even if you asked him, Mammon wouldn't be able to tell you what's wrong. He watches his Pokemon flock to you for attention and you feed them berries from your satchel. Was it the fact that you beat him every time he challenged you to a battle? He's always been a sore loser. Or was it the realization that he wasted so much time being your rival when he could've just been your friend instead?

"I wonder if you ever needed me at all," Mammon mutters to himself. His voice is too quiet for you to hear.

Eventually he returns but his mood is indiscernible and you don't know what to say. By the time you're both packed and ready to leave, the bitter expression on Mammon's face is gone. He runs his hand through his hair, glancing at you from the corner of his eye while his cheeks darken slightly.

When he's not too busy being your rival, you think that he can be very charming.

"How do ya feel about goin' up Victory Road together?" He holds his hand out to you stiffly. "Y'know, safety in numbers and all." His expression softens when you immediately place your hand in his. He laces his fingers with yours and you both pretend neither of you are smiling.

You make it through Victory Road, but the playful banter between you fades into grim anticipation when you finally reach the steps of Indigo Plateau. You both sign up to challenge the Elite Four at the reception desk before you lose your nerve and run back out the door.

There must not be any other challengers because Mammon's name is called almost immediately. He looks as panicked as you feel; there's so much left unsaid but not enough time to say anything at all. When he passes through the door without a word and it slams shut behind him, you feel like you're going to cry. Regret sits heavy in the pit of your stomach but all you can do is wait.

It feels like an eternity before they finally call your name, and Mammon still hasn’t returned.

You try to push thoughts of him away so you can concentrate on battling your opponents and their formidable Pokemon. Adrenaline surges through you and your hands tremble each time you summon a new Pokemon to your side. One by one, you come out of each battle victorious. It feels like luck rather than strength or skill that's gotten you this far because your potion supply is dwindling. Doubt clouds your mind each time one of your Pokemon is knocked out but the third member of the Elite Four finally bows to you.

The battle with Lance, the final member of the Elite Four, is absolute chaos. Your Pokemon suffer the merciless onslaught of his powerful dragon-types, the likes of which you've never seen before. Somehow your team barely manages to secure your victory, but it's still too early to celebrate.

There's one more challenger waiting for you.

When Lance accepts his defeat and moves aside, you step into the next arena to face off with the region's newest Champion.

“Yo! I was wondering how long you were gonna keep me waitin’!”

You gape at Mammon who waves to you from the Champion's podium. He looks so happy to see you that you break the stunned silence with a sigh of relief that bubbles into giddy laughter.

He tosses his first Pokeball into the air and catches it again, over and over, while his confident smirk warms into something more teasing. "C'mon babe, it's just you 'n me at the top of the world. Show the Great Mammon what you've really got!"

Both your teams fight like they've never fought before. It's a knock-down-drag-out battle that shifts back and forth between your favour and his.

When your last Pokemon is the only one remaining and the battle is won, Mammon jogs across the arena to you. He hands you a bag filled with more prize money than you know what to do with. "I owe ya from all those times before, don't I? You deserve it. Besides, I got most of it from those losers back there."

He nearly loses his balance when you throw your arms around him and give him a hug. It only takes a moment for him to wrap his arms around your waist and melt against you.

"So, Champion," he murmurs, brushing his lips against your cheek with a smile, "how about we find somewhere to grab dinner and celebrate?" 

The next morning, Mammon looks far too devilish with his messy white bedhead hair and starchy hotel sheets draped loosely across his hips. You're not sure you'll ever want to get out of bed when he looks like that, but when your tummy rumbles with hunger, you bashfully suggest getting up.

Mammon waggles his eyebrows and slides an arm around your waist to pull you closer to him. His very thoughtful suggestion is staying put and eating a breakfast of champions instead.

(He holds up his hands in mock surrender after you hit him in the face with a pillow, and he agrees to go out after all - once you give him one last kiss, of course.)

read more: obey me x pokemon au masterlist | obey me masterlist

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Could you please do a fic where Steven and Mike from strangled red meet a reader from another region (preferably one with fairy type pokemon) and the two are either terrified or confused about the reader's pokemon, leading to them asking the reader questions like: "why does your pokemon look like that?" "What even is a fairy type?" And all that jazz

The moment I saw this request, the first fairy pokemon that came to mind was Klefki! So that'll be the chosen one <3

........

"Dude, why is your keyring so-?"

"Kiiii!!"

"Huh?!!" Mike took a huge step back, eyes widening as the large keyring hanging beside your door suddenly came to life. It lifted itself off the hook and did a little twirl, smiling at the dumbfounded brunette in front of it.

"Uh-"

"Klefki! What did I say about pranking our guests, hm?"

Hearing your voice, Klefki perked up and flew away from Mike, floating over to where you and Steven stood in the living room. You had just finished showing him your collection of badges, but the sight of your partner Pokémon startled him.

"What did you say that was..?" The longhaired trainer blinked.

"Klefki. The Keyring Pokémon." You introduced, turning to see it raise one appendage and hand you a key. "Thank you very much. You know, you're less stingy than usual today. I'll get you some pokepuffs after-"

"Wait, that's a Pokémon??"

"....is it really that shocking to you guys? Your region has Pokémon who look like eggs and pokeballs." Chuckling, you turned back to the two brothers who seemed so fixated on the levitating keyring--before they suddenly began scrambling to open their pokedexes, hoping there wasn't a sudden update they needed to catch up on.

"No. You two aren't missing anything."

They paused, now staring up at you.

"Klefki is originally from Kalos. You won't find them in those regional Kanto pokedexes."

Both of them blinked in realization, as though lightbulbs have simultaneously turned on upstairs before they bashfully put away their dexes. "Right, I forgot.." Steven awkwardly mumbled. "That's cool, though."

"Here. I got my regional Kalos dex." You decided to show them both Klefki's entry, letting the former champion take it into his hands while Mike leaned in closer to take a look.

All the while, you stood there patiently, amused at how their eyebrows furrowed as they read its description. They were acting like Pokémon researchers who just made a phenomenal discovery.

Then finally, after a long silence, Steven looked up at you.

"There's a "fairy" type? Is that a new thing?"

"It was the most recently-discovered type, but that was..........wait, you've never heard of them?" You blinked, seeing that his older brother had an equally confused expression. "Don't tell me that you, Kanto's first recorded champions, have never seen or battled a fairy type Pokémon in your life."

"........"

"........"

"What about Clefairy?"

"....that's a normal type according to our pokedexes." Mike frowned. "Is it a regional thing or-?"

"No, I...I'm working on my national dex. And it clearly states it's a fairy type." You huffed, realizing that these two poor uncultured souls didn't have a clue what you were talking about.

With a small sigh, you decided to sit on the couch, patting either side of you. "Come here, boys. I'm about to teach you allllll about fairy types. Because there's a lot you two need to catch up on if you wanna be "pokemon masters".

They both nodded and sat down, listening to your explanations about what fairy type Pokémon were, what they typically looked like, their weaknesses/strengths, etc.. You even presented them with the fairy feather you let Klefki hang onto.

Steven's eyes periodically wandered to your partner, who was noisily jingling its keys and grinning at him.

"So Steven...do you have any questions?"

"H-Huh? Oh, uh...yeah.." Snapping his attention back to you, he fidgeted with his hat. "You're saying its type advantages and disadvantages are all.....based off of fairytale stories?"

"Precisely." You nodded. "Fairies are strong against dark because they're typically good, and like the fighting type they triumph over evil."

"But they're also weak to fire because....?"

"Fire typically burns down their forests, but it's not one of their weaknesses. Fire Pokémon just resist Fairy Pokémon." Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed Mike sheepishly raising his hand. "Yes, Mikey?"

"....you lost me on why steel types are supereffective against them.." He admitted with a nervous chuckle.

"In most myths, iron harms fairies because they're manmade material."

"....gotcha...wow.." Flopping back onto the couch, he sighed dramatically, trying to absorb all this information you've told them. "I mean, it's awesome that more Pokémon types are being discovered, but....dang...it's gotten more complicated, too."

"Yeah." Steven nodded, mimicking his posture. Although a moment later, he sat up and looked at you. "[Y/n]...you said fairies were supereffective against dragon types, right?"

"Correct." You nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"...is Miki secretly a fire/dragon instead of fire/flying?" His eyes narrowed in suspicion and worry. "Because if I ever battle your Klefki, that might be a-"

"No, I can assure you that in every region Charizard is fire/flying....although some trainers have the mega stone called Charizardite X that could turn theirs into a fire and dragon type instead-"

"The Charizardwhat???" He gawked.

To that, all you could do was sigh and shake your head, becoming more amused by the second at how much the brothers didn't know. You felt like a Pokémon Professor at this rate.

'Oh jeez..I'll be here for a while..'

[missashketchum]

First Years with Ash’s Pokemon

Headcanons of the TWST boys with Ash’s Pokemon: First Years Edition!

Sorry they're kind of short, hope you all enjoy!

Ace- Gliscor

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?

vampire-bat scorpion thing :/

Ace is completely confused about Gliscor, and is also low key terrified

I mean, the way the met, Gliscor literally swooped in and picked Ace up and into the air

so while Ash and Gliscor are laughing their butts off, Ace is up in the air, scarred for life

also doesn't help when Ash explains the dex entry about how silent and deadly Gliscor is

let him down!

Ash sorta starts to take pity on him and makes Gliscor put him down, but now whenever Ace shows up, Gliscor will always be there to swoop him into a 'hug'

spare him pls (lmao no)

Deuce- Sceptile

as Sceptile stared at the poor boy, there was only one thought in his head

SO COOL!!!

meanwhile, Sceptile's looking at him like "who's this weird lost child?"

"the one that destroyed the chandelier"

"a h"

Takes a while, but Deuce manages to just barely get Sceptile to warm up to him

the two then have this weird truce, mainly because Sceptile kind of likes him if he ignores the dumbassery

totally has the same "talk shit, get hit" vibes Deuce gets, so there's a sort of unity the two gain when protecting Ash/when they just generally get pissed off

Deuce watches Sceptile use his moves and he's awestruck, lmao

"No Deuce, you can't learn Leaf Blade..." -Ash Ketchum

Sceptile sorta just keeps to himself for the most part though

they can actually coexist in the same room unlike Ace and every single one of Ash's pokemon lmao

Jack- Lycanroc

a wolf, with rocks in it???

doesn’t it hurt?

and he gets his answer when Lycanroc loses its mind when he tries to pet it

"yeah, don't do that, Lycanroc hates it when people or pokemon mess up his fur"

"oh NOW you tell me" meanwhile he's got a rock painfully poking his side

Ash explains how Lycanroc actually went on full rampages whenever he got dirty, and Jack is glad he didn't get an Accelrock to the face

it takes a bit, but Lycanroc does warm up to Jack more than the rest of Ash's pokemon, mainly because wolf solidarity

if Ash is hanging out with Jack, then you best believe that Lycanroc is close by

Epel- Gible

a baby?

A DRAGON BABY!?

watched the baby pull a draco meteor and epel regrets underestimating him

is lowkey concerned when Gible just begins chewing on Ash's head, but she acts like she doesn't feel it, so he sorta just stands there

out of all of Ash's Pokemon, Gible is one of the few to warm up to the guys quite quickly

Gible bites epel too jbksjahjds

Vil, upon seeing the marks, has a heart attack lmao

but in all seriousness, Gible actually really likes Gible, and the dragon is growing on Epel, so if he ever does get bit again, he literally just shrugs it off

it's how Gible shows his affection, VIL

Ortho- Krookodile

this is probably the weirdest pairing

saw Krookodile and thought he was the coolest ever, especially with his sunglasses

enjoys watching Krookodile train with all of Ash's other strong/fully evolved pokemon, especially since he can record data for himself later

with such a wide movepool (knowing Dragon Claw, Aerial Ace, Dig, and Stone Edge) Ortho is in awe

100% the two would power up a death laser/Stone Edge in an attempt to destroy the school together

the amount of pictures he has with Krookodile is astounding, Idia is lowkey jealous

his personal fave is of him with Krookodile and they both have sunglasses on, looking cool

Sebek- Sirfetch’d

A BATTLE OF KNIGHTS

Sirfetch’d does not like Sebek one bit XD

Sebek is too loud for Sirfetch'd, and he insults their trainer any chance he gets

HOW DARE-

i wouldn't be surprised if Sirfetch'd has attacked Sebek on multiple occasions lol

even then, i'm pretty sure Sebek takes it as a challenge and tries to fight back, despite Ash's warnings

every time he gets his ass kicked though, he blames Ash for it, and at one point, homegirl just picks him up and tosses him across the yard

Sirfetch'd is laughing and Sebek would be lying if he said he wasn't scared (because he was)

girl can carry and throw a tree, idk why he wasn't scared before dwbjsksm

slowly learns to respect Ash and her ability to keep up with her Pokemon

grows to tolerate Sirfetch'd, and same is said for the 'mon

but the tensions is definitely still there lmao

[itsbenedict]

Zero has an edgy pokémon coma theory, and I kind of love it.

Obviously this is contradicted by a bunch of things, and presumably isn't secret lore the devs decided to include. But in the spirit of demonstrating how easy it is to develop a plausible conspiracy theory with sufficiently hyperactive pattern-matching, here's some "evidence" we found:

Apart from Wishiwashi, which might be a separate phenomenon (where do the extras even come from when it does Schooling?), no pokémon which is actually multiple pokémon exceeds a squad of six members. Falinks tops out at six, and Exeggcute has six but one of their heads exploded.

Random trainers around the map tend to only have two or three pokémon in their team. Game balance reasons? No! Only career trainers like the Elite Four or breeders bond with the maximum safe number of pokémon at once!

Gary/Blue has seven distinct pokémon, but only swaps one out when it- judging by its disappearance in the fight in Lavender Tower- literally dies.

The protagonist of gen 1, Red, shows up in the next game... totally nonverbal, hanging out at the top of a mountain, unable to interact except to battle. He's lost his mind to bonding with too many pokémon! The price of power!

Things this theory explains:

Multi-pokemon like Magneton- what makes Magneton a single pokémon, and not two or four Magnemite? Magneton is the configuration of Magnemite that's capable of bonding with a trainer as a single pokémon.

This is the function of pokéballs- they're a prosthesis for the organ pokémon have but humans don't that allows them to form psychic mind-meld links with other pokémon. It's not mind-control or convenient loyalty- you're in each other's heads now. Escape from a pokéball is rejection of the psychic link.

The original four trade evolutions- Gengar, Alakazam, Machamp, Golem- all become more humanlike on evolving. This is a side effect of trading a psychic bond with one human for another one, giving them more humanity to sample.

Things this theory makes way more sinister:

The pokédex quest is way spookier under this paradigm. The box system- if you can't catch more than six, why do boxes exist? Actually, it's weird that they exist at all, isn't it? Boxing the majority of your pokémon is a weird neglectful thing that the games just kind of pretend doesn't happen- trainers rarely if ever acknowledge its existence.

What if most trainers don't HAVE boxes? What if that's something you have, because the evil professor gave you a special pokédex that can access a private computer system belonging to a confederate? For example "Bill's PC" or "Lanette's PC", as opposed to "[playername]'s PC"? You don't normally keep pokémon in indefinite stasis in a computer system- this weird app just exists to allow you to complete the pokédex without your brain exploding!

In Red/Blue/Yellow, Oak gives Blue a pokédex, sure, but he clearly makes no attempt to fill it out. And... really, why would he? He didn't give his grandson the special pokédex that cares about whether you've caught pokémon. He just gave him the normal one! The one that's already filled out! Because of course a filled pokédex already exists! It's yours that records new information only when you catch stuff.

The implied endgame here is... the professor wants to create a pokémon-catcher capable of melding with a legendary pokémon, to interrogate it about the secrets of life.

There are so many levels on which this doesn't even kinda work, but it's extremely fun to occasionally cut loose and take a swim in some cool refreshing Edge.