#i always have trouble tagging for pokemon

[meruz]

hi!! im sure ppl have asked this b4, but i scoured your asks tag for an hour or so looking to see if you answered anything abt it and couldnt find anything, so i was just wondering if youve made any posts on your process for making n selling merch b4? and how you know which franchises you can make merch for w/o getting into trouble w copyright n trademark stuff (hopefully that makes sense, im not sure,,,)

hi! got a bunch of asks abt merch stuff lately im gonna put it under a cut.

preface: i don't know if i'm the best person to ask about all this stuff because I'm doing merch on a strictly hobby basis LOL. I have a fulltime job which takes care of the bulk of my finances, I don't really make big quantities of anything and my main priority at cons is to just make enough money to see my friends in different cities at minimal expense. i pretty much always get a refund when i file my con taxes because my profit after all the deductions is like fucking..nothing.. lmao. So if you ultimately lose money following my advice don't blame me. OK NOW lets get into it

my process for making merch: when I have an event scheduled that I want to make merch for I start by brainstorming a bunch of stuff I wanna make. for mgscon this is what I wrote down in my sketchbook lol

i made a legend to denote which ones are actually just reprints. it gets easier to plan out merch when you already have merch. out of the new merch ideas here i actually only made like 4 of them. and out of the reprints i only reprinted like three. i also came up with like 4-5 other merch ideas after writing out this list that i actually did do. LMAOO UM. my point here is that nothing rly goes as planned.

when i get a merch idea i start with thumbnails what i want it to look like (sometimes this is based off merch ive seen before so its very realized and sometimes its really vague bc im kind of pulling it out of my ass)

then BEFORE i go into making the final art I research how I'm going to make the merch. whether its printing/constructing it myself or looking for a manufacturer. There's a lot of different places that you can get custom merch made, i used to go shopping around at local printing shops but nowadays it's really common to do it all online. For both these jet tags and the washi tape I did some of my own research into manufacturers and also asked friends for their contacts/referrals/recommendations etc. most manufacturers either have their specs/template publicly available or will give them to you when you ask. so once I've locked into a manu and gotten the specs I'll start designing the final art.

then it's sending it off and waiting! easier said than done.

i will say this process is a lot lengthier for some types of merch than others LOL. for prints... I've been doing prints for like a million years and I plan out almost none of it. I draw everything at print resolution so a week before I have a con scheduled I'll simply go through all the files I've accumulated since my last con, squeeze whatever drawings I want into standard print sizes lol (ie. 8.5x11, 11x17, 4x6 etc), and print them at a local shop. takes like a couple hours max.

how you know which franchises you can make merch for w/o getting into trouble w copyright n trademark stuff?

I mean. honestly I don't know. selling fanart is the kind of thing that IP holders kind of just let slide as long as they don't think they're losing a substantial amt of money on it. there ARE a couple franchises people avoid because they've been known to send IP lawyers after fanartists... disney is the big one and they're known for being pretty petty abt it... that's why you don't really see people selling fanart of the disney princesses at cons. ive heard pokemon will also crack down if your project seems to be making a lot of money lol, part of why i think a lot of pokemon fanzines operate on a charity basis. I do feel like the pokemon company has bigger fish to fry than someones artist alley table though so i wouldn't sweat it too much.

it's also generally considered impolite/bad taste to sell fanart of small franchises. webcomics and indie games especially if they only have like 1-2 devs who rely on the income that game makes.

I'm not a lawyer so you shouldn't consider this legal advice BUT I will say... I don't think you should let IP law stop you from selling fanart lol. especially if it's low quantities/not mass produced and you're not making crazy amts of money I think you kind of have a leg to stand on. Besides, most cases it seems like the worst you'll get is a cease and desist.

you Will notice that when people start turning their artist alley endeavors into a real business they'll generally ease up on selling fanart (the case most prominent in my mind is omocat lol). but i love fanart and thats why i will never make money and thats a promise [snake saluting gif]

SORRY IDK IF ANY OF THIS WAS HELPFUL. I've been doing merch and cons for a long time (10+ years lmao, you can find record of this on this very blog) and i think im kind of old fashioned about it. i recognize the artist alley/merch scene is a lot more demanding now than it used to be but start small at local low-risk events, online sales etc and work your way up and remember to have fun and itll be ok i believe this wholeheartedly.

its literally just layers of acrylic like any other dinky charm. I'm sure pretty much any manu that does acrylic charms could do it but this specific charm/template i did order through a group order server. they're pretty well known! heres a link to their twitter

@wheatormeat sorry for taking a full month to answer this... anyways. This is tricky because I've actually been changing up my sticker manu everytime LOL IDK if I've found one I actually love.

these ones i ordered thru an alibaba manu because I was jumping on a friend's group order to save on shipping. it was ok. they arrived a liiiitle late and printed a lil dark but i think thats kind of my fault LOL I use dark colors i always need to lighten things before i get them printed and i think i just didnt lighten these enough. otherwise i rly love the quality!

i realized i never posted these online and also this is not a good picture (the lighting in my living room sucks rn) but i printed these tmnt stickers thru stickerninja they feel really solid but they needed kind of a lot of space for the cutline. but their customer service was very nice and helpful!

these ones i got printed at washimill and i was so impressed with how fine their cutline is... pricing and quality of the sticker itself is alright they feel a lil flimsy? idk. but i do like the printing. i kind of elected to go with them solely because i was already ordering washi tape. A LOT of my manufacturing decisions are made based on how much money i can save on shipping tbh.

and thats my sticker manu reviews dont forget to like comment subscribe idk if i have one im gonna stick with forever or anything im rly indecisive. ideally id like a manu based in the u.s...? because im based in the u.s. and international shipping is pricey. but idk if i keep ordering washi tape maybe ill keep using washimill. who knows...

[drdtfuitgumies]

pinned post

currently posting one situation a week, along with birthdays. inbox is closed!

(updated: 19th july 2024; added rules on crossovers/referencing other series + adjusted my dni)

this blog is unofficial, and not affiliated with danganronpa: despair time, the official danganronpa franchise, spike chunsoft, or nisa. all characters belong to danganronpa: despair time; all art is made by me unless stated otherwise.

continuity:

-) (as of 3/11/2024) list of items arei has stolen: rose's hat, min's pen, xander's jacket, david's hairclips, eden's bowtie, j's hoodie, Ace Markey, ace's hair gel, hu's hairpin, nico's slippers, min's jacket, whit's jacket, whit's glasses

-) (21/7/2024) as a consequence of arei's actions, j is currently wearing a different outfit

-) (23/7/2024) also as a consequence of arei's actions, ace is currently imprisoned with the rest of arei's loot. he will undergo any situations stuck in a prison. please send your regards to him 😔

let's have fun!! rules & quick faq under cut

blog explanation & rules

i'll be drawing the drdt characters in my fuit gumy style (example above, and also it needs to be spelt exactly that way). ideally i post one thing a day, but real life circumstances might help or hinder me

requests are currently open. i can't promise that i'll get to every request and i don't know if i can answer every ask/question, but i'll try my best!

i do not Bite but please be nice to me!! i am just a 1) gremlin 2) a Student who needs stability and routine

i can draw headcanons, aus, and such, but i'll be adhering to canon most of the time. also, i love weird combos too if you can find an explanation for them interacting whether platonically, romantically, or a secret third thing

if a request has multiple characters, please specify if you mean it romantically or not, so romantic interactions can be given ship tags as well. if it isn't specified in the request, i'll interpret it as platonic by default (i'm pretty dense and have trouble interpreting interactions sometimes)

crossovers/referring to other series can be requested, but are very unlikely to be actually drawn. for me to finish them, i'd need to know the other series. However, if your request happens to be something along the lines of "[insert fuit gumy here] with [pokemon / digimon of choice]", I will absolutely not complain. I would be honored!!

i will not be accepting requests that involve canon danganronpas AND fanganronpas. this blog has always meant to be focused on drdt first and foremost, and i'm content to let it stay that way (for now). although characters from other fanganronpas may Very Rarely appear in Original Situations!

(re: full explanation for the above two rules)

i won't draw, read any of these asks, or interact with certain blogs if they contain: nsfw (out of personal comfort!), hate speech (what are you doing here), incest/pedophilia/bestiality

("proship" was originally on the above point, but i have since realized that i've misunderstood the definition of the term to mean "problematic content" in general. i apologize for my mistake, and have elaborated on what specifically i'd like to avoid! people can ship whatever they like; just ignore it if you don't like it. although the worst i'll do with this blog is still cartoonish depictions of violence, i thought it's better to explain while i can, even if it seems unnecessary)

this blog is NOT spoiler free! most of my art here is 99% going to be unserious shitposts anyways, but this is here just in case. also since drdt is 16+ this blog is 16+ too

any of my art posted in this blog can be used for personal use with credit (icons, headers, wallpapers, discord emotes for private servers and any other social media that lets you do that kinda stuff), but (for now) please don't repost in other social media (you can just share links if you'd like!)

this is a recent discovery but I can't reply to replies for some reason. if it doesn't require immediate attention, i'll reply to any questions in one big post tagged "answering asks"

quick faq before anyone asks

call me gremlyn (18+)! you can find me on @thatseitagremlin (drdt sideblog) / @iamjustagremlin (limbus main)

for this blog i draw with miro . com by default so i can restrict myself to a limited brush and color palette. this helps my brain not get distracted when drawing. depending on what tomfoolery i come up with or what requests i get i might use other apps though!

whit is the posterboy for this blog because he's my favorite character. my blorbo, if you will. my other faves are j, nico, and xander (i feel a Lot of cuteness aggression with xander specifically) if you're curious

i'm an omnivore and am fine with most ships but if i had to pick a ship to fight for it'd probably be charwhit or areiden. i also like jarei but i'm not sure if i prefer it platonically, romantically, or a secret third thing, and i'm not bothered enough to find out soon

also, do you guys know how to run an ask blog. because i don't. but once again, let's be nice and have fun!!

[leggerefiore]

Evening Café

cw: confession fic, slight pokemon attack,

pairing: Guzma/Reader

He was not the type you would expect to find at a café.

What, with his tired eyes, bleached white hair, and athleisure attire. Well, you would not pretend that you did not have the odd customer pop in similarly dressed before him, but they were usually in and out before you could give them too much thought. It was his order that made you notice him, too.

Hot cocoa.

You did not truly care what your patrons ordered, so long as they were at least on the menu and any substitutions were within reason and in the store. It just seemed like an odd order for him. He often came in later in the day when the store had long cleared out and hung around until it was just before closing time. He made occasional conversation, regularly telling you about what a terrifying trainer he was. You wondered about that. Especially when brought out one of his pokemon during his time in your café.

The Masquerain had flown around him eagerly. He even asked for a cup of sugar water for the bug-type to enjoy. You offered it with ease. He also had his Golisopod out fairly frequently during his visits. The bond between both of them together was always sweet to see him pet the giant pokemon or watch as it pestered him for attention or a treat.  His attempts at intimidation tactics really had no effect on you, either way, when he tried them. As long as he continued to just be a casual regular who came in for a cup of whatever, you did not care. His softer side had already been unintentionally revealed.

The bell rang as you checked your ingredients supply. You turned around to see him awkwardly standing about with two teens at his side. That was also not an uncommon sight to see. A smile fell across your face as you walked up to him. “Hi!” you held a cheery tone as you approached the counter. The girl with hot-pink haired looked mortified by your behaviour, while the boy kept an indifferent look. He always seemed to wrangle in types like that on the trips he had tag alongs. “What can I get you today?” you asked.

“A black coffee and, uh,” the white-haired man turned to the girl, “What did you want again?” You giggled as she squinted at the menu for a moment.

“Lele fruit chiller,” she said, and you nodded. The juice had become quite popular as the temperature grew hotter. Its bright magenta colour was a favourite among your patrons, too. The boy looked over your menu with a sigh.

“Boss, there's nothing here that sounds good,” he told the white-haired man, “… You got anything that doesn't feel like it'll cook me from the inside or isn't a shade of purple?” The oldest of the three shot a glare at the boy and made you laugh a bit. He was completely unaware he just insulted his companion's regular place.

“Er, I do have some sodas,” you replied, “Does that sound alright?” He just nodded, trying to ignore the upset he had given your odd patron. The two teens wandered off to a table while the white-haired man hung around. You gave his a curious look.

“I take it you don't actually want coffee,” you gave him a playful grin, watching as he gazed away from you in a slight embarrassment, “I'll make your usual, then.” He gave you a nod before finally walking off to join his companions. You wondered where he found all the troubled teens he showed up it. He always tried to play his actions aloof and distant, but you found yourself observing him more when he brought company with him. Boss, they all called him. You supposed that was the Team Skull you had heard was causing issues around the islands. Well, you supposed it was not really your problem.

You quickly worked to make their drinks and serve it to them.

~

Time passed away, and you found yourself walking home from your café long after the sun had sunken behind the horizon. There was little worry about danger in a region like Alola, so you had thought nothing of it. You did not live far from your café, anyway. It was an ordinary night walk. A few nocturnal pokemon roamed. Wingulls found a way to menacingly hang around the area. A warm breeze crossed your skin as you walked down the road. Everything felt peaceful.

This, however, quickly came to a sudden shift as a man seemingly came out of nowhere. You tried to move around him, but he stood in the middle of the road. He was wearing a mask over his face and dark clothing. There was some bright red logo on his shirt, but you barely had time to register it as you tried to just get away. Everything about him read completely suspicious. His hand went for a pokeball, and you tried to go for your own. He was too quick, however. A large serpentine pokemon was sent out, and you froze. At any moment, it looked ready to attack you. Its sharp teeth bared as it let out a hiss.

You screamed. It was not at all intentional, but the sound broke free of your throat without your consent. The following moments were followed by a sudden figure rushing out from behind you to tackle your attacker. The pokemon turned its attention to the scene, finally giving you a chance to pull out your own pokemon. Quickly, you knocked it out with your partner.

Your attention shifted to the attacker, to see your odd patron pinning the guy to the ground. You felt stunned.

“Where did you come from?” you asked him, genuinely confused as to how he came to your rescue so fast. The attacker finally managed to get the upper hand. He called back his fainted pokemon and ran off into the foliage. You needed to alert the police about this later. Your patron crossed his arms and wore a deep frown.

“I was on the beach with my Golisopod,” he answered, “Why are you walking alone so late at night?” His expression was something like a disappointed older brother. You wanted to laugh.

“I got caught up cleaning,” you replied, “These things don't normally happen here, you know.” It was luck that you had someone near to rush to help you. “... Gosh, what do I owe you now…” you immediately turned to wondering how to repay him. He scoffed.

“Get home before it's this late,” he replied, “Or, hell, call me, and I'll walk you back.” You turned to him. A snort came from you.

“I expected you to say something a lot worse,” you had taken him as the type of guy to make an innuendo, “I don't even know your name, how can I call you?” His eyes went wide.

“You don't know my name?” he suddenly snapped out of it with a shit-eating grin, “I'm big, bad Guzma!” A title like that may have fit him, had you not seen his softer side already.

“Guzma…” you repeated. Was that not a name of a flower? Tilting your head, you realised you were staring at him. You exchanged numbers with him that night, and he insisted on walking you home. Guzma appeared to be a bit more of an oddity than you first thought. Ah, well, it made him all the more fun to have around, you supposed.

~

A few weeks went by without a sign from the big, bad man, and you wondered about him. You had started a few conversations with him, but they were more light-hearted and not quite at the point where you could demand to know his whereabouts. Maybe he had got busy with something related to his group. Perhaps he had got into the lucrative field of Wimpod breeding. You had known quite a few people who would go mad for the isopod pokemon. It was also possible he found a better place to buy his hot cocoa.

There was little you could do, so you settled yourself back into life, hoping for no repeats of that night.

It was as the evening began to lull in and the appearances of customers grew rarer and rare, that the bell chimed. You called out your generic greeting as you remained turned around and taking care of some dishes. When you did, however, you spotted him. He looked… different. Obviously, his hair and face were the same, but something about his clothes felt off. You walked toward the counter almost instantly. “Hey, Guzma,” you greeted more personally, “How have you been? I haven't seen you for a minute.”

He scratched the back of his head. You noticed his previously dented glasses had been fixed. When his arm moved back down, you noticed the previous ink markings on them were gone. “I got caught up in some stuff,” he replied, “I'm back now. Doubt I'm goin' anywhere like that again.” You wondered what had exactly happened to him.

“Well, it's nice to see you again,” you told him softly, “You want your normal order?” He nodded and took a seat near the counter. When you thought on it, you had not really seen or heard much of Team Skull for a while, either. Had something happened there? It seemed like it would probably be a sore topic to push with him. You finished his drink and brought it out to him. Feeling a bit daring, you took a seat across from him. “I missed having you pop in as my evening company,” you smiled at him.

“... I missed coming,” he said after taking a sip, wiping off the liquid on his upper lip with his hand. You handed him a napkin, and he wiped it off properly. “Nothing happened while I was away, right?” he seemed genuinely worried about you.

“Not a thing,” you replied, “If you want, you can finally take up your offer of walking me home again.” He gave you one of his normal grins, making your chest flutter. It had finally hit you why he had captured your attention so much.

You liked him.

It felt jarring to consider, especially with how light your conversations had been up until recently. But somehow, this delinquent looking guy had completely caught your eye. All the times you watched him take care of his pokemon, or just sit in your café, had made you grow fond of him.

“… You're a sweet guy,” you giggled, “I'm glad I have someone like you around again.”

“'M not sweet,” he tried to give you a glare, “I'm trying to become Champion, now. I got a good opponent.” You had heard about the establishment of Alola's league, finally had happened. Guzma did seem to be a trainer, you supposed. He carried quite a few pokemon with him. In your texts, it had come up that he preferred bug-types even. A bug-type champion. That would be a first.

“You're extremely sweet,” you argued lightly. He just gave a huff, leading to another laugh from you. It seemed he did not want to be interpreted that way. Well, you could keep it a secret. “I mean that as you seem kind,” you continued, “Good luck with your dreams, though. I'd love to hear about a bug-type champion.” His big grin returned. Your heart fluttered. “... I have a day off tomorrow,” you reached a careful hand across the table to catch his bigger warm. It was warm and calloused. “Want to meet up? I'd love to spend more time with you,” you asked, his hand coming around yours. Big, bad Guzma, he absolutely was not around you.

“Sounds great,” he agreed, “I was just thinkin' the same thing.”

[captain-gillian]

Here is a nice ask right back 💜🩷

What culture shock and antics would the 126 get into if they visited Australia?

(I will answer yours later probably when I am not doing what I'm supposed to do on my prep time at work again haha)

thank you so much for the return nice ask! 💕

this is a really fun one, i think they'd be on seperate trips not all at once, so they'd have different culture shocks and experiences. i have deffs overthought all of this, but it was fun. there's some new fic ideas brewing now.

so tk & carlos are on a vacation to celebrate their anniversary, tk has always wanted to see the great barrier reef.

owen is on a vacation because tk raved about the australian beaches so much, mateo tags along with owen.

grace, judd & charlie are in victoria visiting grace's sisters who are in aus for their music and doing a trip along the great ocean road.

tommy and the girls go on a trip to australia zoo because while tommy was sick she realised life is too short and she's always wanted to see a koala in real life, so once she's better, she pulls the girls out of school to spend two weeks in australia. they also visit uluru and learn about aboriginal culture and bush tucker.

paul and asha go on their honeymoon.

marjan and nancy are chosen to go to a global conference in perth about leadership for female first responders, to represent the AFD.

as for their antics and culture shocks:

for tk, I think he would somehow end up rescuing an animal, maybe an orphan wombat joey and trying to convince carlos that he can raise it fine and they don’t need to call WIRES (a wildlife carer organisation), carlos calls anyway. as for carlos, who we know is not a great traveller, I think he'd struggle with how even the familiar stuff, like american chain stores/fast food places, and basic foods like bread are different in Australia, but he'd find how laid back it is, even in touristy areas really relaxing for his anxiety.

I think judd would be surprised by how different and challenging he finds it to drive on the opposite side of the road. at first he assumes it'll be easy, he's a really competent driver, he can drive a firetruck, how hard is it to drive a minivan on the 'wrong' side of the road. He also absolutely loses his mind at hook turns in melbourne (for good reason, who came up with those?) In the end, grace takes over for their road trip along the great ocean road, and is a total natural at driving on the left. judd sits in the back with charlie pointing out every animal they pass and playing "i spy" with her. at some point in their trip, they pass a bunnings and charlie gets really excited because that looks just like hammerbarn from bluey.

i think owen would go to bondi beach to surf, and end up in an episode of bondi rescue stealing the lifeguard's thunder by pulling off some daredevil rescue before the lifeguards get there (but not before the cameras do), then he gets a really hipster vegan smoothie from a nearby cafe and somehow ends up getting a date with a rich much younger local blonde woman who's sole heiress to a mining magnate.

meanwhile, mateo takes a day trip to the blue mountains, to see if they're really blue in real life. he comes across wild kangaroos and thinks it would be so dope to send everyone back home a selfie of him petting a kangaroo and thus becomes intimately equated with the differences between paramedicine in austin and sydney. after he's been stitched up he avoids the wildlife, opting to wander around the city near their hotel playing pokemon go when owen goes to the zoo.

paul & asha are looking forward to a really relaxing honeymoon, along the east coast, eating good food, drinking good wine, sitting by the pool reading, walking along the beach, hiking and taking in the wildlife. unfortunately, as a member of the 126, paul can't stop attracting trouble, with people having emergencies everywhere they go. on the flight there, there's bad turbulence, a few people get hurt and paul has to give minor first aid. then they get to a resturant that had amazing reviews for the australian fusion cusine, paul has been dying to try it and a woman at the next table chokes just as their first course arrives. paul has to render aid until the ambulance arrives, by the time it does his food is cold, the resturant comps their meal though. then when they're driving to a mountain to go hiking, a car crashes in front of them, they help rescue the driver with no equipment before the car is engulfed in flames. by the time help arrives and they give their details etc, it's too late in the day to start their hike. a man almost drowns in the hotel pool just as paul gets to the good part of his book, the lifeguard doesn't notice, so he has to rescue them. asha starts to joke they shouldn't leave their hotel room. that said, paul is shocked by how good all the food is in australia, and the coffee. he struggles to adjust back to american coffee when he gets home, and starts importing a specalised blend from a cafe they visited in australia who ship worldwide.

while nancy and marjan are at their conference, they're constantly next to each other, in each other's personal space and making inside jokes/laughing at things the other says, to the point everyone they meet, including hen who's there representing the afd, assumes they're dating (they aren't, yet) and asks what it's like working together and dating. marjan wants to go to rottnest island while they're in perth and get a quokka selfie for her instagram, she gets at least a dozen, and convinces nancy she needs to be in at least one quokka selfie with her. they send it to the 126 groupchat and tk assumes it's an announcement that they're finally dating. they both blush. by the end of the trip they are, infact, dating.

tommy & the twins go to queensland first, they have the best time as a family at australia zoo where they cuddle a koala and tommy is so excited to see robert irwin doing the croc feeding show. then they go to the gold coast and stay by the beach, where tommy expereinces the culture shock of how much more laid back and peaceful it is. she wants to have a really 'authentic' experience, so they have fish and chips on the beach. they're surprised that nobody else is eating on the beach, until they get attacked by a flock of seagulls. after losing half their chips and all their calamari to the gulls, they decide to have ice cream for dinner instead. the twins dare tommy to try vegemite flavoued ice cream, and not only does she like it, but she gets it with a scoop of cookies and cream. when they're learning about bush tucker on their uluru trip, tommy is the only person in the tour group willing to try witcherry grubs.

[roxannarambles]

Title: Wings of a Butterfly, Eye of the Tiger (Part 5)

Ship: Nemona x Juliana (Julinemo/Terajules)

Summary: Nemona and Juliana just can’t resist returning to Area Zero once more. They find new places to explore, new pokemon to discover, and a new things to learn … about pokemon battling, but also about each other. (Sequel to Picnic in Paradise)

Chapters: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Tags: Slowburn, Romance, Friendship, Crushes, Action/Adventure, Pokemon Battles, Fakemon

You fell backwards into the chilling lake, disoriented and floundering. When you managed to kick back to the surface of the water, gasping for breath, you could noticed frantic splashing, Scarlet caught in a fierce struggle with some kind of water pokemon– from the looks of it, a massive shark, Terastallized in a rainbow of colors. The beast had chomped down on one of Koraidon’s legs and Koraidon was desperately scratching at the shark’s face with his claws, trying to escape so he could use a proper battle move. A bit further away, Nemona was treading water, mercifully in one piece.

“Juliana, are you okay?!”

“Ye-” Your head dipped below water and you popped back up, coughing and sputtering– “Y-yeah!” You weren’t as good at treading water as Nemona was. 

“Can you swim? We need to head to that island!”

“I-I think so! I’m not really–”

You stopped and turned when Scarlet cried out, and you saw he had managed to get the shark to release his foot and was now swimming away at full speed. This made sense: while Koraidon was a good swimmer, he just didn’t work well in the water for combat. He couldn’t even get into battle form while he was swimming. He’d need to reach the same island as you did.

Thinking he could pick you up along the way, you called,

“Scarlet, this way!”

Scarlet cried out again and adjusted his course, starting to swim in your direction. Her voice laden with fear, Nemona shouted,

“Juliana, careful, he could lead that thing right to you!”

You thought it would be fine, Scarlet seemed to have a head-start, he could just pick you up and whisk you away, but then you realized the problem.

While Koraidon was a good swimmer, the shark was a better one. 

You watched as the glittering dorsal fin closed the distance far too quickly. And as the shark approached Koraidon, its head lifted out of the water. The broad, flattened shape of the head that included a pair of torpedo-like horns reminded you of Garchomp right away, but the massive pair of scythe-like blades on the side of its face– which rested horizontally like a pair of insect mandibles– were certainly a terrifying addition. When the shark had drawn close enough, it swung that mighty pair of blades closed, latching onto Koraidon’s tough dragon hide. Scarlet gave a startled cry. 

“Scarlet!”

The shark’s eyes began to glow blood-red, the glow rapidly reaching the rest of its body, and it went into a death roll, spinning in the water and dragging Scarlet along with it. It roared and thrashed, its savage fury whipping up waves in the lake. You coughed and choked on water, struggling to keep your head afloat.

“Oh my god, Juliana– hang in there, I’m coming!”

The truth was, you had swimming lessons when you were younger, but it had been a long time since you’d really needed to put them to the test–  Koraidon had always been there for your water excursions in Paldea. This also wasn’t the ideal set of circumstances to try and remember how it went, but you gave it a shot anyway, kicking your legs and swinging your arms in a very poor backstroke. The trouble was you couldn’t remember how to get a proper breath while moving, and you kept choking and knew you weren’t getting very far. The sounds of Scarlet and the shark thrashing about violently nearby wasn’t helping matters, and you were starting to panic.

Luckily, it seemed Nemona was a very strong swimmer. She reached you shockingly fast, coming up from behind you and wrapping her arms under yours.

“Easy, I’m here, I’ll help you out, okay?”

You stopped struggling, letting your body go into a neutral position in the water and trusting Nemona’s hold. 

“Great job, just keep calm, I’ll do the work. I’m gonna–”

You saw a little flash of blue light, the telltale pulse of energy that indicated a pokemon returning to its pokeball, which skittered through the water and returned to the ball in your pocket. You both looked to see a dorsal fin rising up from the water. 

It was far too close.

“Shit, okay, uh, one sec,” Nemona said, fumbling around her pokeball belt. You reached for your pokeballs too, but you knew the only ones in your pockets were Paradox Pokemon that were either exhausted or would be virtually useless in the water– nothing seemed a good pick. What’s worse, you knew Nemona’s belt only had her Paradox team at the moment, too. 

Nemona flung a pokeball, and a bright-green tiger went tumbling into the water with a shocked scream.

“I’m so sorry to do this Hellcat but we need you and we need you now. Play Rough, right there, now!”

Nemona started to swim backwards towards shore, pulling you along with her, so you happened to have a perfect view of the unfolding drama. Hellcat didn’t instantly sink like a stone, to your relief– in fact, it immediately started swimming, moving very gracefully and effectively in the water, honing in on the giant fish without a single hint of fear. The shark breached from the water again, lifting its head into the air, its huge scythes glowing an intense bright blue. When it reached Hellcat, the blades swung together with an incredible clashing sound that echoed enormously in the cavern and rang painfully in your ears.

You could hear Nemona gasp from behind you, but it wasn’t from exhaustion from swimming. She whispered,

“That was Guillotine.”

Oh. You’d never seen the move used before, but you sure as heck remembered talking about it in class. There were many, many pokemon you did not want to be in the same water with, but something carrying Guillotine was at the top of the list.

The blades had missed Hellcat, thankfully– the tiger had barely even flinched in the face of it. It dove into the water and launched itself at the shark. You couldn’t see the battle for a while, since it was under water, but when the two re-surfaced, the shark had its teeth sunk into Hellcat’s haunches.

“Hellcat, keep using Play Rough!” Nemona yelled. You turned your head to look and see how close you were to the little island– not far now. It had taken a while since Nemona had to help you, but at least you were almost out of danger.

Hellcat did its best to twist around and attack the shark again, slashing at its eyes, forcing it to release its crushing bite. The pair of blades came crashing together again and missed again as Hellcat dove under. Whatever went on under water must have been good, because you could see a spray of rainbow fragments, indicating Hellcat must have broken the shark’s Terastallization. 

“Yesss! Great job, Hellcat!” Nemona called, even though the pokemon were still under water. 

However, it seemed it was premature to celebrate. A few seconds later, a blue flash returned to Nemona’s pokeball. 

Then a ragged dorsal fin surfaced on the water once more. 

“U-uh, Nemona–”

The fin went careening through the water, heading straight towards the both of you, and you started to flail, trying to see how close you were to shore.

“We’re almost there, don’t panic, Jules–”

It was true, you were almost there, hardly more than a few yards, but it wasn’t fast enough; you felt Nemona yanking you as fast as she could, gasping for breath, but it just wasn’t enough. The shark’s head surfaced from the water, jaws and blades opened wide, and you pulled a ball from your pocket and chucked it, screaming.

The poor Brute Bonnet you sent out floated and bobbed in the water, wriggling its stubby legs and crying, looking very confused. The shark took the bait, its curved, red blades slamming together into the spongy body of the Bonnet.

The pokemon fainted instantly, at the same time that you and Nemona reached the island. You both scrambled ashore, out of reach of the beast’s behemoth blades.

“That thing sure has a lot of fight left in it!” Nemona yelled, sounding equal parts exasperated and impressed.

“Y-yeah, might need to weaken it a bit more for catching. At least we’re safe here?”

The shark stopped at the water’s edge, snapping its jaws and snarling, frustrated. Now that its tera was broken, you could see its coloration better and realized it really did resemble Garchomp in a lot of ways, the same slate-blue color with a red underbelly, and the same yellow star-shape on its snout. Nemona dropped to the ground and panted out,

“Right, maybe you can send something out, Jules, I think I need a minute.”

You obligingly pulled your soggy backpack off and zipped it open, accessing the pokeballs for your regular team. 

“Let’s see, not sure which one I should use . . .”

You glanced up when the shark turned tail and swam off a ways. At first you thought it was retreating, but you could see it was swimming in a large circle, gradually picking up speed. The water around it began to glow a bright blue. 

“What’s it doing?”

Nemona stared, her confused expression soon shifting to one of alarm.

“Weeee might not be safe here after all, Juliana . . .”

The swirling water was soon seething with power, and the shark turned. It began to charge directly towards the island you were sitting on. It finally occurred to you what the move looked like.

“That– that’s Wave Crash, isn’t it? Um, um, hold on!”

You tossed a pokeball, releasing your Aqua Breed Tauros. You pointed and quickly ordered,

“Tauros, I want you to use Wave Crash, okay?!”

Tauros looked around in confusion and then spotted the rapidly approaching shark. It lowered its head and water began to gather around its body like a glowing cloak.

Nemona stood and grabbed your hand, backing you both away several paces and asking nervously,

“Are you sure that’s going to work?”

“Nope!”

There wasn’t really time to consider an alternative; the shark was barreling down on the island with all the rage of an out-of-control freight train, a towering wave of water at its back. Tauros had just enough time to fully power his move and back up as far as he could on the island before the shark was virtually upon you, and then the bull charged forward and leapt into the air, at the same moment the shark launched itself from the water.

The two pokemon collided mid-air, their bodies slamming together hard. In their wake, the two opposing waves of water crashed together as well, a terrific roar that shook the entire cavern, white foam spraying absolutely everywhere. You had hoped that the two waves would completely cancel each other out, but it seemed they had only softened the blow– the opposing waves continued to pass through one another, and a few seconds later, the shark’s wave came crashing down on the island, sweeping you and Nemona off your feet and sending you right back out into the water. Fortunately, it didn’t carry you too far out, and once you’d popped back up on the surface, you battled your way back to shore, sputtering and heart pounding. You found the shark still out for blood, although it was clearly growing exhausted, its scythes crashing together again and again as it pursued Tauros, missing each time. 

“Tauros! Retreat!” you shouted, although he already seemed to be doing exactly that. A few moments later, the bull made it to shore, stamping onto the soggy ground and snorting, turning about to shield you protectively. The shark breached from the water, its toothy maw wide, letting out a draconic roar.

“Take that!” Nemona yelled, flinging one of your Dusk Balls. The shark caught the ball in its mouth, teeth chomping down on it, then dissolved into light as the ball sucked it inside. The pokeball bobbed in the water briefly before clicking. The remaining waves in the water carried it to shore, where it gently came to rest. 

The two of you stared for a few moments, as if needing confirmation that the thing was finally safely contained. Then you reached out your ball and mumbled,

“Good work, Tauros. Return.”

Nemona dropped to her knees, panting. You proceeded to have a minor coughing fit, trying to expel the water that’d gotten into your lungs, then dropped to the ground too. Nemona crawled her way over to sit under the crystal tree, so you followed her, splaying out on the ground beside her, still shaking with the occasional cough and feeling completely exhausted. For a long time, the pair of you just laid there, and the only sounds were your gasps for breath and the drips of water that fell from the glistening branches of the tree. 

Eventually, Nemona started laughing, a breathless, wobbly laugh, her voice cutting in and out. You turned your head to see the mirth sparkling in her amber eyes. She said,

“Man . . . that was pretty nuts. What a rush, huh?”

You gazed at her for a few beats, then answered,

“Of course you loved that. You know, you’re a little crazy, Nemona.”

She turned her head to the side to look at you too.

“And you’re smiling.”

You turned away, trying to smother your smile, saying,

“No I’m not . . .”

She giggled, nudging her head closer to yours, her voice full of glee.

“Yeah you are, you goober, you can’t fool me. You loved it just as much as I did.”

Losing your battle with keeping the smile off your face, you turned your head to look at her again.

“I–”

Your foreheads were practically touching now. You felt your heart climb to your throat, choking out whatever words you’d planned to say. You were helplessly lost in her eyes, as vibrant and fiery as the sunrise. 

You knew that you were staring, that you were blushing. That your face was an open book. It had to be. She had to see it, didn’t she?

Nemona gazed back at you, silent at first. Her tongue briefly wetted her top lip and she asked quietly,

“You what?”

Her voice was soft but carried some sort of undertone you weren’t confident in identifying. You swallowed, desperately trying to remember your previous train of thought.

“Uhh, I . . . I . . . forget.”

You were pretty sure you didn’t even remember your own name in the moment. Nemona’s chest bubbled with a short, silent giggle.

“You forget?”

“Mmm,” you mumbled. You would have felt embarrassed, but Nemona was looking at you with such overpowering affection that there was literally no space in your head for anything more. 

Nemona’s gaze shifted, dropping just a little below your eyes, before quickly shifting back up again. There was something suddenly very nervous in her energy. Her voice soft and vulnerable, she began,

“Jules, could I . . .”

You waited, but she trailed off and seemed to freeze. 

You asked,

“What?”

She suddenly pushed herself up to a sitting position, letting out a nervous giggle.

“U-uh, I-I– forget. Hey, um, we’re both pretty wet, huh?”

You sat up as well.

“Soaked. But really, what did you wanna ask me?”

“Nothing, it was nothing! W-we should probably figure out how to dry off though, any ideas? I was thinking maybe some kind of Flying pokemon move to give us a quick blow-dry, but I don’t think any of my pokemon have moves that would work.”

You looked at her for a few moments, processing the fact she wasn’t going to fess up to you. 

Sighing, you answered quietly,

“I dunno, lemme think a minute.”

You went to your backpack and considered your monster collection. Your main team was stacked with high-power moves that wouldn’t work as a gentle blow-dry; Corviknight’s Brave Bird certainly wouldn’t fit the bill. None of the Paradox Pokemon you captured would probably work, either, since they also seemed stacked with powerful moves. While you mulled it over, Nemona busied herself with letting out Hellcat and Scarlet to revive and treat with potions and pets. Eventually, you had an ‘a-ha’ moment, pulling a ball from an inner pocket in your bag. The pokeball belonged to the very first pokemon you had caught back in Cabo Poco, all those months back. While you hadn’t kept him on your main team for very long, you still loved him dearly and were sentimental enough to always keep him with you.

You returned to where Nemona sat under the crystal tree, two pokeballs in your hand.

“Okay, I think I have a solution.”

“Oh, great!”

You tossed the first ball, releasing your Volcarona. Nemona looked a little wary.

“Um . . . Flamethrower might be a bit much . . .”

“Not Flamethrower. Volcarona isn’t going to use any moves. But she has Flame Body, remember?”

Your friend brightened.

“Of course! That’s so smart, Jules. It might be a little slow, but we should dry out way faster than if we just sat here.”

You smiled and said,

“Well, we can do even better.”

You released your second pokemon, a Vivillon. Then you sat down beside Nemona.

“Volcarona, head over there. Yeah, that’s good. Florian, I want you to go behind her, facing us. Okay, great. Now just keep using Gust. Nice and gentle, all right? Slow and steady.”

Your Vivillon flapped his wings, the air moving across Volcarona’s body, sending a warm breeze rolling over you and Nemona. It felt really good, your skin rippling in goosebumps at the warmth, making you realize just how chilly you’d become in your soggy clothes.

“Okay, you really are a genius, Julinana,” Nemona said, sounding thoroughly impressed. You glanced away shyly, chuckling,

“I dunno about that, but thanks.”

Nemona gave a luxurious stretch and leaned against the trunk of the crystal tree, crossing her legs and reveling in the warm breeze. 

“Mmm, not gonna lie, I’m glad we get to rest a bit, I’m beat. Promise to wake me up if I nod off, okay?”

Nemona’s eyes fluttered closed, her head nodding forward slightly. At some point she had pulled her hairtie out and let her hair down so it could dry off better, the long, dark strands gathered in damp bunches at her shoulders. Her wet clothes were all rumpled and wrinkled and her red tie was loosened to the point of nearly falling off. Your fingers itched to reach out and remove it for her.

“Jules?”

You jolted a little when she said your name, but she hadn’t even opened her eyes again.

“Y-yeah?”

Sleepily, she repeated,

“Promise, okay?”

You smiled faintly. God she was cute.

“Mmmm,” you answered. You didn’t actually want to promise, you wanted to let her sleep. Fortunately, Nemona didn’t seem to notice your lack of promise, or she was already too far gone. You resumed shamelessly admiring her as you were warmed by the beating of a butterfly’s wings. Water droplets in the branches of the crystal tree above caught the light and reflected a soft rainbow across your friend’s face. The vision was positively arresting. You couldn’t look away. 

However, the exhaustion from your recent terrifying encounter started to catch up to you, and coupled with the growing warmth, you felt your body grow heavier and heavier. And before you even realized it, you’d also drifted off asleep. 

Your head slumped onto Nemona’s shoulder, the soft rainbows cast across both of your faces.

You dreamed of Nemona kissing you under the crystal tree. It felt so vivid, so real, and as you gradually woke, you could swear that you could still feel her lips on yours. They were hot and wet and a little bit rough, and . . .

“Pffft! Ptyyuck! Gackkk!”

You realized there was something big lapping at your face that was decidedly not Nemona, and you squirmed and sputtered, trying to get it off you. You pushed a giant lizard’s muzzle out of your face.

“Sc-scarlet, geez, get off!”

Scarlet trilled happily, wagging his tail. You wiped lizard spit from your face and grumbled. From beside you, Nemona stirred awake. She sleepily mumbled,

“Jules?”

You looked to her, unable to help savoring the way her long lashes slowly blinked awake, the adorable, brief moment of confusion in her eyes. She stared at you for a few beats as her senses returned.

“Nnngh, Jules, you said you’d wake me if I fell asleep!” she complained, looking slightly embarrassed over having fallen asleep. 

“I didn’t actually say that! Also, um, I couldn’t really do that anyway, since I fell asleep too.”

“Hmmph. Well, okay, I guess I can’t fault you for that . . .”

She yawned, then climbed to her feet, stretching wide.

“Ow, ow, ow.” She rubbed her neck, wincing.

“I gotta stop falling asleep under trees, that is not good neck support.”

You stood as well, feeling a wave of empathy for her. Your neck didn’t hurt, but you were pretty sure you’d been using Nemona as a pillow.

“At least we’re all dried out now,” you said, running a hand through your messy, tangled curls. Your Vivillon and Volcarona had landed in the branches of the crystal tree, apparently resting up there. They looked very picturesque. Hellcat was curled in a ball, sleeping soundly.

“Yeah, that blow dry really did the trick.We’ll have to keep it in mind for future adventures,” Nemona said. She pulled her hairband from her pocket and worked on gathering her hair up and putting her ponytail back into place. Her tie had come entirely loose by now, and it slipped off from her neck while she was busy. You picked it up off the ground.

“Whoops. Thanks, Jules.”

Her hands were still busy with fixing her hair, so your brain had the genius idea to just reach out and loop the tie back around Nemona’s neck for her, which you started to do before you had the chance to question whether that would be a good idea. Nemona’s eyes widened just a little and she let out a giggle.

“Oh, thanks! You wanna help tie it for me? I was never any good at that part, honestly.”

She was looking at you intently and there was a playful little quirk to her smile that was doing dangerous things to your heart, but you couldn’t very well stop now. You leaned in closer to her, gently running your fingers along her collar so you could turn it up– accidentally brushing against her neck for a few seconds, which you thought you might die from– before carefully adjusting the length of the tie around her neck. It somehow felt terribly, terribly intimate and you could feel her eyes on you as if they were boring holes, but you tried very hard to focus on tying the knot without turning into a blushing mess. It took you longer than it should have, but you were proud you’d managed to produce something halfway decent.

“How’s that?” you asked, your eyes finally flicking back up to hers. Her easygoing smile was strangely absent, her jaw hanging slightly slack. Her mouth swung shut again and she seemed to force a smile back in place, answering quickly in a thin voice,

“G-great, that’s– that’s great! Thanks!”

You let go of the tie and backed off a pace, and Nemona added on awkwardly,

“Although, uhm, it’s not like I can really see it, so, uh . . .”

You laughed nervously, feeling very silly.

“Yeah, that’s true . . . well um, it, it looks good.”

“Great!” Nemona repeated, a little louder than was strictly necessary. She cleared her throat, glancing around. Sounding a bit antsy, she said,

“Anyway, um, guess we should get going, huh? We can’t spend the rest of our time here napping, not when there’s so much to do!”

You nodded, looking out across the still waters of the underground lake. You felt slightly nervous about going back out there, despite how peaceful it looked. It had looked just as peaceful last time, after all.

“Okay. Maybe keep your eyes peeled, though. I don’t really feel like dealing with another ambush.”

You both got your bags and prepared for the ride. You didn’t like how vulnerable you’d been last time, without any strong pokemon choices in your pockets during the heat of the moment. You made sure to take a few pokeballs from your main team to keep in your pockets, just in case of any more nasty surprises. Nemona returned Hellcat to its ball, and you returned your Volcarona. You decided to keep Florian out of his ball, though, so he could fly along above you and keep an eye on the waters around you. You felt a lot safer with those safety measures in place. You and Nemona hopped aboard Scarlet once more and paddled your way out of the lake. As you drifted back through the tunnel-of-love, Nemona said that you both should definitely return again sometime soon and have a picnic under the crystal tree. You agreed that it sounded like a lovely idea.

Once you were back safely on land, Nemona was very eager to return to the chamber that was full of overgrown crystals.

“That shark was Terastallized, so maybe it was the right one we needed to clear the road block!” 

You and Scarlet followed after her down the passageway. You answered reluctantly,

“Yeah, but . . . I dunno, Nemona . . .”

She turned to you.

“What’s wrong?”

You hesitated.

“Well it’s just . . . these encounters we’ve been having have only been getting more and more dangerous. And it’s starting to get pretty late in the day, and um, you still wanna have at least one pokemon battle with our Paradox pokemon, right?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely!” she answered immediately, then seemed to think about what you said.

“Hm . . . I guess I see your point. We want enough time to battle . . .”

Your steps sloshed through the shallow water as she thought about it. She soon suggested,

“Okay, how about this– if the roadblock is gone, we just take a quick peek at what’s past it. Just real quick. Then we’ll get ready to battle. How’s that sound?”

You nodded. You had to admit, you were just as curious what lay beyond the roadblock. 

“Deal. Only a few minutes, though–”

“Yeah, yeah, of course! We’ll just take a peek.”

Once you’d reached the portion of cave where the walls were thick with layers of crystal like piled snow, Nemona let out an excited squeal, the roadblock now mysteriously gone just as you’d hoped.

“I knew it!!”

She rushed up to the unblocked tunnel entrance and gazed into it. You joined her and looked in as well, your eyes going wide at the sight. The cave tunnel was completely coated in dense layers of glittering tera crystal on every conceivable surface– to such an extreme that the passageway itself was restricted down to a relatively narrow hole. Looking into it felt like gazing into a dizzying spiral. You breathed,

“Geez, I’ve never seen so much tera crystal in my life.”

Nemona turned to you and said,

“It feels important, doesn’t it? Like there’s something important in there.”

You nodded. It really did. You didn’t have any rational reason to assume it, since it could just be a portion of cave where the tera crystals had run amok, but somehow looking into the tunnel really did make you feel like you were standing on the threshold of something magical and significant. 

You smiled at her and asked softly,

“Shall we see what’s inside?”

She grinned and nodded, then took your hand. You stepped together through the opening, Scarlet following behind.

The crystal-coated floor was slippery, so you had to move slowly and carefully. There was also a slight swirling optical illusion as you moved, due to the twisting way the crystals had grown, combined with the fact that so much light was shining and re-reflecting in the confined chamber. It made you feel dizzy, which was another good reason to move slowly and keep hold of Nemona’s hand. The tunnel narrowed the more you progressed, until it was so narrow that even Scarlet couldn’t fit through the gap. You returned him to his ball and walked the remainder of the passageway with Nemona. When you exited the tunnel into the darkened chamber beyond, you both stood still, gazing about in awe. 

This place was strange. So many of the Area Zero caves were well-lit, because the tera crystals glowed brightly and there were plenty of them around. The chamber you stood in now should have been the same, and yet, it was much, much darker. The problem wasn’t the number of crystals, because there were plenty of crystals growing here along the walls and ceiling– in fact, they grew in towering, thick pillars, larger than you’d seen anywhere else. But the majority of them simply did not glow with the same intensity, for whatever reason, and only threw out an incredibly dim light. You could tell the chamber you were in was large, but it was hard to say how large; you couldn’t even see all the way to the ceiling, only spotting fleeting glimpses of the reflections of crystals. 

However, not all of the crystals were dim. In the center of the chamber stood a collection of crystals that glowed with an intense rainbow aura. They were enormous. A central one grew like the trunk of a massive, elderly tree, with several other thick pillars that had grown around it in a circle, only for them to topple over in their weight and come to rest against each other, like the poles of a teepee. Your eyes were naturally drawn to the sight, which seemed especially dazzling to look at in the relative darkness of the cave.

“Whoa. Talk about the mother of all tera crystals,” Nemona whispered. You murmured,

“Yeah . . . I wonder why they’re so big down here? And why it’s so dark here?”

You both began to slowly approach the collection of massive crystals, which seemed almost overwhelming in their splendor. As you got closer you saw there was a flat platform at the base of the collection of pillars, low off the ground, around the height of a stage. It gave the impression of a royal throne, the pillars behind acting as its grand ornamentation. Sitting upon the platform was a small hexagonal gem. It actually looked rather plain when compared to the other huge tera crystals in the room, but was noteworthy in how uniformly it was shaped and how neatly it sat there, almost as if intentionally placed.

The gem had caught Nemona’s eye as well. She reached out curiously and touched it, saying,

“This one’s kinda cute.”

As her hand made contact with the gem, a silvery little swirl of sparkles flowed down her arm and into her body, and she gasped. You grabbed her, alarmed. 

“Are you okay??”

She let go of the gem, staring at her hand, looking more confused than concerned.

“Yeah, it didn’t hurt, just felt a little tingly. Kinda like static electricity? Honestly, my hair’s felt like it’s been standing on end since we came into this room. . .”

You noticed the silvery sparkles were still swirling around her a bit, but they were concentrated especially around her backpack. 

“Hold on, Nemo, hold still for a sec.”

You zipped open her bag, reaching in. You located the source of the energy and pulled out her Tera Orb. Normally the orbs glimmered very softly with power, but hers now was shining as bright as a star, almost painful to look at.

“What the heck? My Tera Orb’s going nuts!” Nemona said, taking it from you.

“Yeah . . . I think what you felt was tera energy running through you.”

She gave the orb a gentle shake and laughed,

“That makes sense! I mean, look at this place, the amount of energy here must be off the scales! You should see if yours is like this too.”

You took the Tera Orb from your own backpack, but it wasn’t shining as brightly as hers was. Nemona said eagerly,

“Touch the gem here, that did the trick for me!”

You weren’t exactly sure if it was a good idea to overclock your Tera Orb in the first place, but the temptation was too great. You reached out and touched the gem, feeling the power flowing through your body and into your Tera Orb. The hairs on your arms prickled and your skin tingled.

“Heehee, it kinda tickles,” you said, admiring how brightly your Tera Orb shone. Nemona looked pumped.

“I wonder if our pokemon’s Terastallization will be stronger now with these?? Ooh, I can’t wait to test it out! Maybe we should take this gem back with us?” 

She pocketed her orb and reached for the gem again, trying to pick it up. However, it seemed to be stuck to the crystal platform it was sitting on.

“Hmm, maybe we could break it off?” she mused, tugging a little harder on the gem. 

You suddenly felt uneasy, as if somebody was watching you. You glanced around, saying,

“Maybe we shouldn’t mess with it, Nemona. We don’t even know how tera energy works, not like Sada did . . .”

Nemona grunted, 

“Yeah, but we could give it to a researcher to figure it out, right?”

She had a point, but you couldn’t shake your feeling of anxiety as you watched her. 

“I think I almost got it . . .”

You thought you saw something in the corner of your eye, and you jerked, glancing to the side. There wasn’t anything there, though, other than the gigantic tera crystals towering all around you. You peered into the darkness.

“Nemona, stop.”

“Hm? Why?”

“Just stop.”

Your friend let go of the gem and backed away a step, looking at you. You were staring intensely at the crystals around you, and she followed your gaze. After a tense silence, she whispered,

“What is it?”

You shook your head and whispered back,

“I don’t . . . know, something isn’t right.”

You pulled your phone from your pocket and switched its little flashlight on. You aimed the beam around you, scanning the area very carefully, slowly lifting the light higher and higher in your search, eyeing all the towering crystals. Nothing looked out of place so far, but you continued to scan, the sense of unease still sitting heavy on your chest. You cast the flashlight on the ceiling, all the gems glinting and gleaming in the light. You kept going until your head was tilted all the way back, gazing directly overhead. The pattern of crystals growing up there looked kind of strange to you, a number of them jutting outwards to the sides before growing in a new direction and curving around, as if the tera crystal columns were jointed in several places; it almost gave the impression of gangly legs, a strange tangle of columns that all reached for the same point, crowned in a white, fluffy mass of material you didn’t immediately recognize. You squinted at the ceiling, trying to identify it. You were so distracted trying to figure out what the white stuff was that it took you a while to bother following the crystal columns with your eye the other direction, away from the white material, to see if you could locate where exactly in the ceiling they sprung from.

The columns did not lead back to the ceiling. They led to a center crystal mass that contained the largest pair of eyes you’d seen in your life. 

You gasped. 

They were perfectly round dark voids, as black as the pitchest of black, and would have been imperceptible in the darkness if not for the way the flashlight glinted off them. The shape of the thing suddenly came together in your head: the crystal columns didn’t simply look like a tangle of gangly legs, they were legs, holding a taut stretch of spiderweb between them like a fishing-net. The colossal spider hovered on the ceiling directly overhead in perfect silence, as still as stone, its eyes as empty as a pair of black holes. 

You froze to the spot as the full picture dawned on you, an icy chill sweeping down your back and through your limbs. The spider’s fangs were about the length of your forearms. Its eyes were almost comically oversized in comparison to the rest of its body, each one large enough to swallow you whole and then some, if they were indeed the black holes they seemed to be. You were not particularly squeamish about Bug types– in fact, you normally loved them– but this sight was enough to strike terror in the hearts of even the most hardcore Bug maniacs.

You let out a tiny squeak.  

Nearby, Nemona breathed in a small voice,

“J-jules?”

It sounded as though she’d definitely seen it, then. You were too afraid to actually turn your head and check.

“Don’t. Move,” you whispered. 

“Then what do we do,” she whispered back. You tried to think. The silent monster stared back blankly as you struggled to formulate a plan. You ran what you knew about Bug types through your mind, about Spidops in particular, since this seemed to be a horrifying version of one. Spidops hung from a web in silence while holding its net, using its massive, hypersensitive eyes to spot prey on the ground below, even in the darkest of places . . . 

You had a sudden flash of inspiration.

“I’m gonna throw my Tera Orb directly at it,” you whispered carefully.

“. . . how is that going to help?”

“They’re supercharged now, I think the light might blind it for a bit. The moment I throw it, we gotta both run for our lives, though. Okay?”

After a beat, Nemona answered quietly,

“Okay.”

You set your Rotom phone to auto-flashlight so it would hover above your head and remain pointed automatically. Then you started to reach your hand towards your pocket, moving your arm slowly, just a few inches at a time. Once you’d gotten into your pocket, you carefully grasped the orb, pulling it out just as slowly and holding it low– your eyes never straying from the menacing sight overhead the entire time.

You swallowed, pulling your arm back and doing your best to aim. 

Then you flung the Tera Orb with an underhand throw directly upwards, as hard as you could. 

You opened your mouth to shout “Run,” but the spider reacted way faster than you expected, the enormous creature dropping down so rapidly that it was all you could do to gasp. You heard Nemona cry out,

“Jules!”

You tried to run, desperate to dodge out of the way of the net. By some miracle, it seemed you were able to evade it, your shoes slapping noisily against stone ground as you ran, carrying you away from that nightmare.

But Nemona wasn’t so lucky. 

You screeched to a halt when you heard Nemona’s scream pierce the darkness and echo in the cavern.

Turning, you were met with a sight that made your stomach drop to your feet: Nemona caught in the spider’s snare, the spider rapidly climbing its line like a cable back to the ceiling. It was using its legs to wrap Nemona over and over in its net, producing a tightly-wrapped package, Nemona’s screams quickly muffled into silence.

“NEMONA!”

You ran back, but the spider had withdrawn back to the ceiling far too quickly, out of range of most pokemon attacks. You ran your hands over the pokeballs in your pockets, heart pounding, trying to choose something that would work, but it was a little hard to concentrate when it felt like an icy hand was squeezing all the air from your lungs. 

“F-fly, we need to fly,” you muttered, your panicked thoughts finally producing something useful. You yanked a specific ball from your pockets, throwing it with a shaky hand. Your Corviknight appeared and you climbed aboard, yelling,

“Up there! Quick!”

Corviknight took off immediately, carrying you up towards the vicious creature that held Nemona captive. It was still winding silk around her immobile body, but you knew once it was satisfied with the job, the next step for a spider was always the bite– to inject venom to paralyze and, eventually, digest its prey from the inside.

You weren’t going to let it get that far.

“Corviknight, I need you to aim right there, okay? I need you to– ugh, this is too complicated to just explain, h-hold on, um. . .”

You struggled for a bit to think of a quick solution and ended up yanking off the tie from your neck and unknotting it, then pulled the fabric through your pokemon’s beak so you could grip it like reins. 

“Okay, follow my lead, Corviknight! USE U-TURN!”

Corviknight glowed yellow and surged forward, diving straight for the oversized arachnid. You guided your pokemon to fly right into the spider’s dangling legs, striking them as hard and quickly as possible, each in turn. The sudden, jolting impact caused the creature to lose grip on its prize, the package of wrapped silk slipping and starting to fall.

You yanked hard on the reins, bringing the curving U-turn around so that you flew under the falling silk package, in time for it to land on Corvinkight’s head. Releasing the reins, you reached out and grabbed hold of the bundle, dragging it back with you and holding onto it for dear life. You shouted,

“Take us out of here, Corviknight, now!”

Once you had the silk package secured with you on Corviknight’s back, holding it steady with your legs, you tore into the silk with your hands, digging until you found Nemona’s buried head within. She gasped for breath once you’d cleared enough silk out of her face.

“Nemona,” you whimpered, thanking every single one of your lucky stars that you’d gotten to her in time. 

“Juliana,” she coughed, sounding very shaky but very much still alive. You pulled thick strands of silk away from her head, enough to be sure she could breathe fine, then switched your focus to holding onto her while Corviknight carried the two of you out of the dark cave. Your pokemon had to land once it reached the crystal-lined tunnel, however, as it was much too large to fit through. 

Spidops was mostly a slow pokemon– it was an ambush predator, which meant it lay in wait for prey to wander along and then it would suddenly spring with a quick burst of energy. It was not built to chase its prey down, though. There was good reason to believe the ancient form of Spidops was the same, since it seemed to behave in a similar way. So, you were probably already safe at this distance.

However, you still were not terribly eager to hang around and put that theory to the test.

You started to dig the rest of Nemona out from her silken cocoon as quickly as you could, grabbing handfuls of the sticky, fibrous material and ripping. 

“Juliana, you saved me . . .” Nemona said, her eyes wide, still looking very dazed. Quite frankly, you didn’t blame her, but you needed her to recover fast. You answered tersely,

“Not yet I haven’t. Help me get this stuff off you, I don’t wanna give that thing a chance to come back for seconds.”

She seemed to respond to your tone and wriggled in her silken bonds, but she couldn’t help much until you’d helped her get an arm free– once she did it went a lot faster, the both of you ripping the thick strands apart as fast as you could. A lot of the strands kept re-sticking and sticking to you and slowing things down, but you did your best under the circumstances. Once you’d snapped all the major strands around Nemona’s legs, you leaned back up and grunted,

“Okay, we should be g– ughh, damnit–”

The accumulation of broken silk strands had become a problem, which you now found an annoying percentage had reattached to both you and Nemona. 

“Get off, you crummy– get off!” you yelled, yanking at the strings. Nemona tried to help, leaning forward and grabbing handfuls to pull off you, but all this accomplished was sticking the strands still attached to her to the ones stuck to you. The opposing strands gripped to one another tightly, and when you tried to pull away, it only seemed to cinch tighter. You grumbled,

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m sorry Jules, I think I made it worse.”

You shook your head,

“It’s not your fault, I shouldn’t have rushed it. Here, don’t move too much, just see if you can sorta . . . jimmy it, you know?”

“Yeah, okay, like this?” “Yeah–”

It was so ridiculous you probably would have laughed, or at least, you would have if the spectre of death wasn’t lurking so closely nearby. Nemona ended up wriggling and writhing against you to get the silk loosened up enough, and it rapidly went from laughable to something . . . else, something that made your face flush scarlet and the thoughts short-circuit in your brain. Thankfully it was over quickly, because you were pretty sure you would have literally died if that part had lasted long.

Finally, though, you both were able to pull free of the cursed silk, clambering off Corviknight and into the iridescent tunnel of freedom, withdrawing Corviknight back into its ball along the way.

It was only when you’d reached the other side of the tunnel that the pair of you stopped running. You sat down on the floor just to catch your breath, Nemona flinging herself onto one of the crystals to pant there like a racehorse. You gazed up at the ceiling as you gulped in air, your vision spotting over for a while.

You heard Nemona pant out,

“I think– that’s, that’s enough exploring for one day.”

You nodded, leaning your back against the coolness of the cave wall. You answered heavily,

“Yeah.”

You both continued to rest for a while in silence. You picked strands of spider web off yourself as you tried to process what had just happened. Mostly your thoughts were just glazed over in exhaustion, though. 

Eventually, when Nemona had caught her breath enough, you heard her voice echo in the cave, sounding uncertain but hopeful.

“. . . we’re still on for that pokemon battle, though, right?”

[creepyclothdoll]

There's this thrift store at the old strip mall up the highway.

You go to the earrings first. You love earrings, but you’re always losing them.

This place has most of them in a wicker basket up by the register, but there’s more on a rack nearby and some of the fancier stuff is behind the glass under the table. But who goes for the “fancy” stuff at a thrift store? Thrift is the point. These earrings, the ones in the wicker basket, are stuck through blank, white cardboard squares with neon price stickers. 

All of them are under $10, lots under $5. You rifle through them, registering at first only that the colors and styles are very pleasing to you. Your favorite colors. The right size. Then the familiarity sets in. You are struck by a weird, uncanny feeling, which you don’t immediately place. Your body reacts to the surprise before your brain even has a chance to register what it is.

These are your earrings. Not all of them, but lots of them. Here’s a pair you bought from a different thrift store during your first year of college, gaudy wooden hippie-ish disks with flowers painted on– old and tacky, but you felt like you were cool enough to make them work– which you lost when you moved out of your dorm. Here’s a pair you lost in your last apartment, which you didn’t even realize you hadn’t seen around for the last two years– two fairly pricey and elegant-looking sapphires that your parents got for your 30th birthday, when you got promoted to Marketing Specialist. Here’s a pair you forgot you ever owned until now– some dangly red stacked beads that you wore for one Florida vacation in 2011 and then never again. Because you probably left them on the plane. 

“These are all mine,” you say out loud. You can see your reflection in the slim mirror built into the rotating sunglasses display. The earrings you are wearing today are a completely different style– the sort that a Marketing Specialist wears on the weekends, still arty but much more subtle than the sort you wore back then. That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t wear these dangly red things now. You just… don’t, really.  

“Oh, that’s interesting,” says the employee. She is short and dark-haired and named Beth. She is reading a paperback at the check-out and ignoring you. 

You look at the price tag for the sapphires. $15.99. That’s a steal. 

But they’re mine, you think. I shouldn’t have to pay fucking money for these. They’re mine.

Your eyes drift down under the mirror to the sunglasses rack. The first pair there is child-sized, with a blue frame that has a faded Little Mermaid logo on it. You recognize the sunglasses from a photograph of yourself when you were a child at Valley Fair that was pasted to your mom’s fridge for the longest time. They’re $2.99. 

In the “fancy things” area under the glass, you see an old, heavy camera. Could that be the one your grandma made you bring to high school for show-and-tell, the priceless antique World War II era camera, which went missing after you left it overnight? You got in so much trouble for losing that thing, even though you never wanted to bring it to begin with. It’s only $500. You have to buy it. There’s also a tote bag with your old work logo plastered on it which, you know, is packed full of cannabis. You decided to stock up during a trip to Canada because you didn’t know anyone who sold it while you were living in North Dakota, making ends meet while you tried (and failed) to get scholarships to animation schools. You never got to use any of it, though, because that bag got shoved under a seat in your car when you were crossing the border and you just sort of didn’t retrieve it for long enough that, eventually, you forgot you had it, and by the time you remembered, you couldn’t find it again. 

How did it get here?

There’s a deck of gen 1 Pokemon cards that you took to the park one day in 2000 and left on a slide. You’re sure you had some back then that would be really, really valuable now. 

“These are all mine,” you say. “Can I have them back? They were mine originally, I mean. I didn’t give them up on purpose and I don’t know how they got here.”

“You can’t just take things,” Beth says. “But yeah, if you want to buy them, you can have them.”

“But they’re mine. That’s my grandpa’s World War II camera. I lost it in ninth grade and I feel terrible about that.”

“It’s $500,” Beth says, pointing to the sign. You sigh and pull out my credit card. But then you see the rack of jackets. Among them, you see a terribly familiar jean jacket. 

“That’s my mom’s!” you shout excitedly. You run over to it and pull it off the rack. It’s a 1980’s Levi’s jean jacket that she saved up all her money to buy. She wore it everywhere, and kept it for decades until she could pass it on to her daughter. You had it for two months. You loved that jacket. It symbolized your mom’s trust in you. And it made you feel cool. You were in middle school, and being cool was very important, and you got a lot of compliments on it. Then one day, you went with your little brother to the park, and it was hot out, so you took it off and left it on a bench. When you went home, you weren’t wearing it anymore. But you didn’t realize it was gone until your mom asked why you hadn’t worn it in awhile. The fact that you were so careless as to lose something so important to her broke her heart. You used to search the closets in your house compulsively, hoping it might just turn up one day, and your mom would forgive you. But it never turned up. You checked that park bench, too, every time you went to that park for the rest of your life. The jacket never returned, of course. 

But now, here it is, on this rack. 

If you’re going to take anything back from this place, you know it should be this. 

And then you see grandma’s quilt. 

It’s draped and pinched with clothespins on a different rack, with the tablecloths and scrap fabric. 

Your grandma made you this quilt when you graduated college. It has her handwriting on the corner and the year she made it– 2014. She spent months making this in your favorite colors, picking out fabrics she thought you would like. She knew you really well. You loved that quilt. 

Three years ago, you took it to the laundromat. You set it on a table while you did the rest of your laundry first, so you could cold-wash it separately. But then, a crazy guy came in, yelling and acting all erratic, and it was night and you were the only other person in there, and he kept asking to buy your hair, and you rushed out of there with your wet laundry dripping. You forgot about the quilt until the rest of your blankets finished drying on your apartment banister two days later. You called the laundromat and they didn’t have it. Last winter, your grandma passed. 

You grab the jean jacket and beeline for the quilt, adding it to your pile. 

Two of your old pillowcases are on the rack too— you didn’t even realize those had been folded up with the quilt the day you lost it.

In the children’s toy section, you see your favorite stuffed raccoon, Dorothy. You haven’t seen her for years. She used to go on lots of adventures with you and your brother. You don’t remember losing her, but now you realize that yes, she– and all these other stuffed animals– are lost. Somewhere along the line, you saw them for the last time. 

A scarf you wore in tenth grade. A pair of pants that don’t fit you anymore. A snowglobe with a picture of your middle school friends in it. A nice sports bra you got from a hiking gear store when you thought you were going to get fit four years ago. A piggy bank shaped like Spongebob. Dozens of Goosebumps books. A decorative halloween skeleton. A purple sweater that you forgot was your favorite.

You grab all these things and add them to the growing pile in your arms. 

What am I gonna do with this piggy bank? You ask yourself. But then you remind yourself that it’s yours. It doesn’t matter what you do with it! It’s just supposed to be yours!

The worst thing is that you don’t remember the loss of most of these things. You never grieved them. They mostly just slipped away quietly, and you moved on. You stopped buying scarves that looked like that because your favorite color changed and you sort of realized you didn’t really like scarves that much. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want it back. 

That scarf reminds you of the time you wore it to homecoming. A crisp autumn day that was made better by a good hot dog and worse by Rachel and Drew making out on the bleachers in front of you. You were happy that day. Not about homecoming– you lost the game, not that you cared much, but because of the weather, and your friends, and the hot dog, and because you didn’t know to be depressed yet. 

You want it back. 

You want it all back.

You take the scarf. You take the toys. You take everything. You take the christmas ornaments and the ukulele and rope strings of necklaces over your arms and purses over your shoulders. You take printed mugs, good water bottles, old halloween masks, trophies you won in elementary school, your second prom dress (the one with the glitter), happy birthday cards from relatives who died when you were little (they loved the little you! You were so loveable), a jello mould in the shape of a chicken you bought as a joke with your first real girlfriend (wish it ended different), a pair of ladybug-print rain boots you left outside when you were three, VHS family movies from the late 90’s, a phone you dropped in a lake, an old tamagotchi you also dropped in a lake, a book of self-portraits you did as a series in college (you look nothing like her now but you still want it), your old journal filled with comics (remember when you wanted to be a cartoonist?), your old skateboard (remember how you used to play?).

It’s the little trinkets, the things you don’t even think you liked very much, but which maybe you could have made better use of, that you want back the most. You aren’t done with those things. Unfinished, all of them. 

In a stack of blue bins against a wall are a thousand little things you drew or wrote over the course of your childhood– gifts to your parents, homework you never turned in, little stories about your friends, drawings of your grandma. Some of it is still pretty funny (remember when you wanted to be a comedian?). Animation cells that you made and stored away in the basement when you were telling yourself your scholarship hunt was just “on pause” (these ideas are still good, you can still use them!) What the hell are these things doing here? How dare these people?

“Excuse me, ma’m,” Beth says, only now looking up from her paperback– which you now realize is also yours– with a mix of irritation and deep concern. You spin around, covered head-to-toe in your things. 

“What?!” You snap. You are wrapped in the quilt, draped in ribbons and purses and medals and sweaters and scarves of all shades from all eras of your life. You look like a giant slug made of closet debris. 

“There’s no way you’re gonna buy all that,” Beth says. 

“Like hell I am!” You shout. “I shouldn’t have to buy any of it! It’s all mine, and I want it back!”

A little orange plastic treasure chest with two of your baby teeth inside– you used to be so little, so innocent. Your Girl Scout sash– you had so many friends. The orange yo-yo you got at a carnival when you were one– the first thing you consciously remember losing, remember how sad you were? A note you wrote to yourself with a funny song lyric on it last thursday (you might record it someday). A Mickey Mouse photo frame of you with your best friend Anna in elementary school (you loved her so much, why don’t you talk to her anymore?). 

“I want it all back,” you say again and again. 

There was a version of you who wore the red bead earrings. There was a version of you who played with the stuffed raccoon with your brother. There was a version of you who appreciated those nice sapphires. There was a version of you who was happy in a scarf at homecoming. There were versions of you with more friends, versions with fewer troubles, versions that were thinner and stronger and healthier and younger, versions that had all sorts of dreams and visions for the future, versions that strived for completely different things than you strive for now.

You can still have them back.

You pull the sunglasses display over, grabbing every pair and stuffing them into your many bags. You grab the hat rack that used to sit in your childhood bedroom and start dragging it toward the door. 

“Ma’am, I’m going to call the police if you don’t stop,” Beth says. You do stop– just long enough to walk back to her and take the paperback murder mystery out of her hands, which still has your library info as the last check-out glued inside the cover. 

“See?” You laugh bitterly, pointing at it. “Me!”

The nest of stuff has swelled around you, trailing behind you like the tail of a huge worm. 

Beth is already calling 911. You move very slowly toward the door, exerting tremendous effort to lug all of your precious memories toward the glass pane between you and the outside. You tell yourself that you can already feel the feelings coming back to you– all those other versions of yourself, just by proximity, are waking up again inside of you. The young woman who believed she was going to be something different, the child who was happy in the rain, the future artist before the future evaporated– all of them are coming back now. 

You don’t fit through the door. Beth is talking fast to the operator. In a small town like this, they’ll be here soon. Breathing heavy, you back up and slam into the open door frame, wedging yourself firmly inside. The little mermaid sunglasses shatter. Something crunches. You grunt and scream, pushing with all your might. Something rips. Something scrapes. 

“She’s trying to take everything,” Beth explains hurriedly. “You will? That’s great. As fast as you can.”

You have one last hail mary– you leap forward, letting yourself– and everything you’re wearing– fall to the ground. The enormous mass of things around you crunch down around you, crushing the air out of your lungs, pinning you to the cement. But you’re out. You did it. You took it all back. It’s yours. Yours again. 

By the time the police arrive, you’re gone– lumbering up the freeway, backward through traffic, a massive snakey worm made of tangled fabric and papers and trinkets. The “you” that walked into the thrift store is only a tiny piece of what you are now– a YOU freed from the burden of forgetting. Cars swerve around you to avoid hitting you or any of the things dangling from your massive, hulking form. 

Where are you going? To be everything you meant to be. To fulfill every possible future. It’s not too late. Not now that you have all of it back. 

You march forward like time.

[yersina]

[part 1]

[tag list: @whalesharksart @sleepyboosstuff]

Steve starts out on his Pokemon journey at the ripe old age of ten, toddling into the Hawkins Laboratory empty-handed and coming out with Piplup’s Pokeball. Just like every other kid in his class. Unlike every other kid in his class, he also has the weight of his dad’s words hanging over his head.

Make me proud, son, his dad had said that morning, and every other morning between his tenth birthday and his appointment at the Lab to get his starter. I don’t want you back here until you’re Champion. His mom had smiled at that, like this was meant to be encouragement. Steve had smiled back, like fear hadn’t trickled down his spine like a particularly malevolent Muk.

So he sets out that day, zero experience under his belt and a sickening churning in his stomach. He discovers that he’s bad at battling pretty quickly—he hates seeing Piplup get hurt, and he doesn’t have the money yet to heal him after every battle. Piplup, to his chagrin, picks up on this right away, and takes to reassuring him after every battle, running over to Steve as soon as the other Pokemon has fainted and raising his flippers pointedly until Steve picks him up and hugs him close.

Steve loves his Piplup so, so much.

(The first time that Piplup doesn’t win a battle, Steve… freaks out, to put it lightly. He scoops him up and rushes him to the nearest Pokemon Center, completely forgetting to pay the other trainer, and anxiously waits the ten minutes that it takes for him to reach the front of the line and for Nurse Joy to put Piplup’s Pokeball in the machine.

Later, he finds the trainer and apologizes, only to be waved off with an understanding smile. “Hey, I get it,” she says lightly. “You might want to re-think the trainer career, though, if you can’t deal with your Pokemon getting hurt.”

Steve thinks on this and thinks and thinks. He’s still thinking.)

-

It takes him six years to beat all the gyms in the region, in the end. The last two take him a year each. By the end of those six years, Steve is tired. He hates battling, probably. It never feels natural no matter how many battles he goes through, but he likes the joy that it seems to give his Pokemon. Empoleon, ever in-tune with Steve, refuses to battle if it’s not for an official gym match. Steve both loves and hates him for it.

He makes a trip back to Hawkins after he beats the last gym, eight badges clutched tightly in their case. He’s not sure what to expect when he gets there, but before he even really has a chance to start wondering, he runs into Ms. Henderson as she’s outside watering her garden.

“Oh, dear,” she says. Steve can’t decipher if it’s a greeting or an exclamation of worry. “What are you doing back here?”

“Visiting my parents?” It comes out like a question. Steve shifts nervously. “Are they… not in town?”

“Oh, dear,” Ms. Henderson repeats, and this time it’s definitely worry. “Sweetie, they moved away a couple of years ago. Sold the house and everything. Didn’t they tell you?”

Steve hasn’t talked with his parents in over two years, not since his obligatory fourteenth birthday phone call that really only amounted to a status report on how far he’d made it through the gym challenge. Never once have they mentioned moving away from Hawkins. “Oh.” All he can think about is how this frees up his weekend.

Somehow, he gets invited into the Henderson’s house and talked into staying for lunch. He learns about how Dustin Henderson left on his Pokemon journey just a year ago, together with his group of friends. They’re interested in attempting the gym challenge, but they want to explore the region first. Dustin’s starter was a Turtwig. Turtwig is much more rambunctious than Dustin and is always getting into trouble before Dustin can rein him in. Dustin caught a Scatterbug and it just evolved into a Spewpa a few days ago. Ms. Henderson is excited to see what pattern the Vivillon will have when it evolves.

Over the course of two hours, Steve learns more about Dustin than he ever knew about Tommy or Carol when they were still friends.

“Oh, but I’m hoping Dusty will come back soon so he can take Growlithe with him,” Ms. Henderson frets. As if to prove her point, a Growlithe bounds into the living room and over to Steve, tail wagging a mile a minute.

Steve reaches out with both hands, digging his fingers into the thick fur of Growlithe’s scruff, and scratches furiously. Growlithe practically melts into his hands. “Who’s a good boy,” he coos. He’s always loved Growlithes, but his parents never let him keep one when growing up. Too much fur in the house. “Has he been giving you a lot of trouble?”

“He doesn’t really get along with my Skitty, which was fine when he was out all the time with Dustin, but my hip can’t keep up with him anymore.” Ms. Henderson also reaches over to pet Growlithe a few times. “He just has too much energy for this little town.”

Steve hesitates, chewing over his next words carefully. “I don’t want to overstep, but I can take him for now, if you want?”

Ms. Henderson gasps. “Would you? Oh, but I don’t want to burden you.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Steve shrugs. “I’ll leave my contact info with you. Whenever Dustin gets back, or if he’s in my area, he can give me a call and I’ll trade him Growlithe back.”

“It would make things a lot easier for me in the house,” Ms. Henderson says reluctantly.

“It’s settled, then.”

Steve walks out of the house with three boxes of leftovers and a Growlithe at his side. This is the warmest he’s ever felt leaving Hawkins, and it’s not just because Growlithe puts off heat like a furnace.

-

It takes another two years until he feels confident enough to challenge the first member of the Elite Four and only half an hour to prove himself right. Jim Hopper—also from Hawkins, funnily enough—takes the loss with grace, but he does look up at the ceiling and groan when he comes over to shake Steve’s hand. “The next generation’s starting to come for us,” he says wryly. Steve’s not quite sure what to say to that, not when he’s still shaking from adrenaline and thinking about the three fainted Pokemon on his belt.

He finds out afterward, after he’s healed all his Pokemon and checked them over personally and given them all celebratory meals, that he has two options: 1) since he’s of age, he can accept responsibility for the Elite Four gym and run it himself, which means that he becomes a member of the Elite Four and forfeits the right to challenge the other members of the Elite Four for a minimum of a year and the Champion for three years, or 2) he can continue onward with the Elite Four challenge and eventually make his way to the Champion.

He almost goes for option 2 on automatic, because that’s been his default for eight long years, but then he stops. And he thinks.

He hasn’t talked to his parents in four years. He doesn’t know where they are, and he can’t really be bothered to care either. He knows for sure that he managed to disappoint them somehow a long time ago already. Maybe it was the fact that it took him so many years to finish the gym challenge. Maybe it was the way he battled, long and drawn out and clumsy, with none of the brutal efficiency of his dad that Steve vaguely remembers from the recordings he used to watch. Maybe he just never had a chance to begin with.

Either way, Steve doesn’t have to give a single thought to what they want out of him anymore. And he doesn’t want to be Champion.

Option 1 it is.

“Hey, you can always call me if you need anything, kid,” Hopper says gruffly when he’s handing Steve the keys to his gym. “No one expects you to know the ropes right off the bat.”

“Thanks.”

Even after Hopper leaves, Steve doesn’t walk into the building. He just stands there, looking blankly at the giant metal structure, and trying to convince himself that it’s his now. “Steve Harrington, Elite Four,” he murmurs to himself under his breath. He wonders if he’ll ever get used to the sound of it.

(It’s not until a year later—a terrifying, whirlwind of a year—that Steve realizes there’s actually a third option: stop being a Pokemon trainer and actually do something that he likes for once.)

-

The year that Steve is on the Elite Four, several things happen:

1. He meets his soulmate, twin from another mother, in the form of a trainer employed at the gym, Robin Buckley. She’s one of the only reasons that Steve manages to survive the ensuing chaos with his sanity even remotely intact.

2. Steve finds out that he has absolutely no talent whatsoever for running a gym, but he does like helping the other trainers with their Pokemon and running training exercises when he can. It’s sort of like being a babysitter, if the babies were covered in metal plates and absolutely capable of giving him a concussion.

3. Dustin Henderson, with absolutely no attention whatsoever to gym protocol, bursts in and demands to speak to him.

4. Steve finds out that the Hawkins Lab has been conducting awful-gross-abhorrent experiments with the aim of giving humans Pokemon abilities, and Dustin needs help taking it down. Steve is apparently the most powerful trainer from Hawkins that he knows, which is the only reason why he trekked all the way out here to find him.

5. Dustin knows about this because one of his friends, Will Byers, was kidnapped to be a subject. Steve remembers Will, faintly. A quiet kid, sweet, liked to draw. The whole thing makes Steve sick to his stomach.

6. Steve drags Dustin, Hopper, and Robin (who is, shockingly, also from Hawkins) with him back to his hometown, where they confront Professor Brenner.

7. In the ensuing battle, Steve works on freeing as many of the captives as possible, which takes the form of asking his Lucario to fire a Hyper Beam at the wall and making sure that no one trips over the rubble as they flee. A Tinkatink, too terrified to move, and a little girl with hair buzzed close to her head, are the last ones left. Steve, not wanting to waste time with figuring out if the Pokemon already has a Pokeball, tucks them each under an arm and gets the fuck out of there.

8. He’s not sure how everything after that happens, really, but Dustin and Hopper meet Steve and Robin at the Pokemon Center when the dust has settled, Will and Joyce Byers in tow. The Tinkatink and the girl—Eleven, apparently, which had broken Steve’s heart—have refused to leave his side.

9. Steve eventually manages to convince El (not Eleven) to go with Hopper. Hopper promises to stay behind and keep everything running smoothly in the town, or as smoothly as things can go when it’s been revealed that the town’s Professor has been running a human experimentation scheme under their noses this whole time. The Tinkatink is a lost cause. Steve adds her to his roster.

10. Steve and Robin troop back to his gym, where Steve promptly has an existential crisis and wonders if he should just quit being a trainer altogether. “Yeah, why not, dingus?” Robin asks him quietly as they look up at the stars together one night. “I don’t think I’ve ever really seen you be happy here.”

And then, a few weeks later, Steve’s contract expires. It takes embarrassingly little thought to pack his things, write Robin a quick note (‘Hey, headed back to Hawkins. Elite Four thing’s not for me. See ya.’), and hop on his Corviknight.

When he arrives in Hawkins, he finds Hopper losing his mind trying to keep all of the kids and Pokemon in order. “Please tell me you’re here to relieve me,” he says, half-jokingly, but Steve can hear the desperation hidden under there. Steve relishes his shock when he tells him that yeah, actually, he is.

In the time it takes Hopper to sort everything out with Joyce Byers (Steve’s not going to question that relationship too much) and move back to his gym, Robin has stormed her way over to Hawkins and back into Steve’s life.

“I can’t believe you thought this was enough of a goodbye, you asshole,” she yells as Steve stacks boxes of Pokeballs to move out of the Lab. “Steve! Are you even listening, dingus?”

“Robin,” he says, catching her flailing arms before she manages to hurt herself. “It wasn’t gonna ever be a goodbye, dingus. I wrote ‘see ya,’ didn’t I?”

Robin’s lower lip wobbles, and Steve realizes that he might’ve miscalculated when he penned the note. “God, I hate you so much,” she says, and wraps him in a hug like a particularly bony Octillery. Steve figures he’s forgiven.

Over the next few weeks, Steve gradually moves everything out from the Lab and converts an unused storefront in town into a Nursery. It feels like a natural choice—most of the Pokemon from the Lab were only babies. He comes to be known as That Person Who Takes Care of Baby Pokemon, and eventually, That Person Who Takes Care of Pokemon in General. It’s the convenient option for most people, especially when no one wants to go to the Pokemon Center two towns away for a checkup.

Ms. Henderson stops by with a casserole. Joyce Byers stops by with stock from the PokeMart. Will Byers stops by with a Sliggoo, which he apparently picked up at the Lab. It has a hard shell and doesn’t look like any Sliggoo Steve’s ever seen. He tentatively stamps it with a clean bill of health and tells him to contact him immediately if it ever shows signs of wanting world domination or anything like that. Will laughs, but Steve’s being mostly serious.

He’s busy pretty much from the second he wakes until the second he collapses into bed, or whenever Robin decides that he needs a break and forcibly closes the Nursery for a day. It’s the most busy he’s ever been, even if he includes when he first started running the gym, and it’s also the happiest he’s ever been.

“I don’t regret this at all,” he tells Robin one night, looking up at the same stars as they always do. It’s a particularly clear night, and the stars glimmer brightly. He wonders if Jirachi had been listening that day, had heard his unspoken wish and granted it for him.

“Yeah, I know,” she says softly. “Me neither.”

In a moment, they’re both going to trudge inside and curl up in bed after a long day, and tomorrow they’re going to wake up and do it again. But for now, they sit together quietly under the light of the stars.

[lyzelky]

Writer Interview Game

Tagged by @gilded-glitter!! Kissing u

When did you start writing?

I remember getting pissed off about the writing choices in the Pokemon Anime when I was about 8 or 9, and I came to the realization that I could write my own story featuring my own Pokemon Trainer and handle the story the ✨right ✨ way (lol). From there I started filling up several dozen school composition notebooks until several years later I realized I could write on my ipod touch and save myself the trouble.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I'll read just about anything as long as it interests me, but I think the genre I enjoy least is sci-fi? I don't hate it, but it just doesn't have that strong enough of an appeal to me, though I do like when people get goofy with it (Doctor Who, some episodes of DS9, etc.) I love a good mystery/period piece though, and I while I enjoy writing it, whether or not I'm any good at it is another matter entirely. If there is a procedural detective show with a will-they-wont-they pair of leads, chances are I've seen it.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Oh jeez, well, I've never published fic before so I don't think I have ever been compared to anyone else, but an english teacher I had in high school once complimented me on have a "unique voice" in my writing, and I still think about it from time to time. As for writers I admire? Off the top of my head: Toni Morrison, Norman Maclean, Cormac McCarthy, and Tolkien.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space? I write primarily on my phone, so I don't really have a dedicated space. I used Pages primarily but I kept running into issues with lag, so I recently switched over to Scrivener on my phone. As for where I write I either do so at my desk or in bed, or on long train rides. The good thing about writing on my phone is that if I have a sudden burst of inspiration and have the time, I can write almost anywhere.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Music, especially with long train or car rides. Staring out the window at scenery with music often gets my imagination going. Long walks work too, especially if I'm on the treadmill at the gym and can zone out without worrying about walking into oncoming traffic lol. Other than that, ideas often come to me just as I am drifting off to sleep.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Found family, prophecies, newfound/hidden powers, finding purpose, feeling like an outsider. These don't really surprise me, I was always kind of a weird kid and am now a weird adult, with the pervasive feeling of "not belonging" a constant throughout my youth. This isn't to say I don't have friends and family that I love, and am certain love me back, but I've always been a little awkward in most social settings, regardless of the context.

What is your reason for writing?

I have a very active imagination that probably borders on maladaptive dreaming, but writing and art create a healthier outlet to channel that into.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Basically anything vaguely positive or encouraging is enough to make me blush.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Honestly I don't even know, I hope they think I'm moderately cool? I have never been perceived through the lens of my writing before, only my art.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

World building and character development!

How do you feel about your own writing?

Pretty shy, I am always mildly concerned that my stuff is too trope-y or whatever, and other times I re-read what I wrote and go "hey, that's pretty good!".

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I would say 99% of what I write is my own OC stuff that I never plan to make public, so I'd say I write mostly for myself. That being said, I do think people would enjoy certain aspects of my OC stuff, it's just way too jumbled for anyone but myself to make any sense of it at this point in time.

Tagging whoever wants to join in on this!

[aura-acolyte]

Hello, hello. The name's Mare Birch (call me Marie at your own peril) and I'm 18. You may know me as the Hero of Hoenn who saved the world from Groudon and Kyogre and Deoxys' Meteor. Or maybe you don't know me at all because nobody ever seems to recognize me even though I've saved the entire world at least twice maybe more.

Anyways, I'm the Chosen of Rayquaza which basically meant Rayquaza looked at me and said "yeah, I wanna give her superpowers. That seems like a good idea." And it was cause now I can save so many people!

I'm an Aura User. Aura Wielder? Aura Guardian? I can manipulate Aura. It lets me do things like throw Aura Spheres and sense people's emotions and be cool.

If you're ever in trouble or need the world to be saved, just call my name and I'll be there! Uh, actually, that doesn't really work cause super hearing is one of the few powers I don't have so instead, like, send me an ask or something. My askbox is always open which is probably a mistake but hey, what're you gonna do.

List of Pokemon because they won't all fit on my trainer card:

Kaen the Blaziken: My starter and one of my most powerful Pokemon, he is a master of speed and is capable of Mega Evolving into an even faster Mega Blaziken.

Kyoshi the Lucario: My mentor and other strongest Pokemon, she taught me everything I know about Aura. He uses any pronouns.

Okami the Mightyena: The only Pokemon I've ever caught in a traditional manner. She once attacked my Uncle but now she's my loyal friend.

Kusanagi no Tsuru the Doublade: Kusanagi for short, Kusanagi is a powerful Doublade who taught me swordplay. I often weild her like a pair of swords. She uses any pronouns.

Henka the Sylveon: A Sylveon who hatched from an Egg I was given. She evolved during a battle with Drake.

Shiruto the Swampert: My other starter. Yeah, that's right I got two. Nobody else was taking him.

Ataque the Tinkaton: A Tinkaton I picked up on my trip to Paldea. I'm pretty sure she's secretly evil. Warning: She will Bonk.

Other facts about me:

I'm a Champion Class trainer meaning I've beaten the Hoenn E4 and Champ but I am not the Champ because I don't wanna be.

Latias is my bestest friend ever.

I have a girlfriend named Zinnia. Go bother her at @last-lorekeeper.

I'm 4 foot 6. It's the worst.

OOC: Hey, hey! It's me, BackSet. It's been a while so I thought I'd revamp my pinned. Now it explains Mare a lot better and is a lot more characer for her. Anyways, there's not much I need to explain here but some general disclaimers: Mare kinda sort of breaks the Power Ceiling for Pokemon. Most of the time I make sure to only put her up against threats on the same power level because of that. Legendaries, freak science experiments, natural disasters, etc.

Mare's blog also regularly deals with themes of death, the sanctity of life, what it means to be a good person, injuries both major and minor, and mental illness (particularly a savior complex). So if any of that gets to you, you probably wanna block. I'll try to tag where appropriate.

(Also, here's art from @awn-moo)

And some art from my friend Jupiter (she's tagged in the post and I don't want to bother her by tagging her a second time so just go to the post to find her blog)

[diamondphantom-art]

OK SO I've been wanting to draw my pokemon trainer self insert with all of her pokemon for a while but...it's just not doable LOL I decided to do a group pic for the pokemon she has for each region!

For example, these are all the Pokemon she has that were first discovered in the Johto region. Most people would start with Kanto, butttt, her first journey was through Johto, so I decided to start there.

Her outfit is based on my FIRST outfit design for her (it's not her current one). She'll have a different outfit every pic! At the end I'll try to make some kind of nice ref for her. ✩ Johto Team Shot ✩ Kanto Team Shot ✩ Hoenn Team Shot ✩

Click the read more to learn about each of these mons!

Petal—Meganium—♀— Calm Nature Caught in her sister’s garden in Celadon City as a Chikorita. Very mellow and prefers to go with the flow. She isn’t one for crowds and prefers opens spaces with plenty of flora. She enjoys spending time in the nearby meadow looking after the local Pokémon that live there. Petal is a great mediator and often helps settle various disputes.

Ash (Ashen)—Typhlosion—♂—Timid Nature Obtained from Prof. Elm in New Bark Town. He was supposed to be a starter for new trainers, but wasn’t suited for it due to his high anxiety. With a specialized treatment plan, his anxiety is mostly under control. He’s, overall, quite timid. He rarely interacts with others and spends most of his time sunbathing or battling whoever challenges him.

Blitz—Shiny Pichu—♂—Rash Nature The child of Dia’s Pokemon: Lightning (Raichu) and Vanilla (Alolan Raichu). Born at the same time as his cousin, Tess (Pichu). As a fairly young Pokemon, he doesn’t make the best decisions. He’s quick to start fights for fun but also quick to run when it doesn’t pan out. He wants to be a great battler like his dad someday, but hasn’t seemed to do well thus far. Special notes: Shiny palette comes from GSC.

Tess (Tesla)—Pichu—♀—Timid Nature The child of Dia’s Pokemon: Duskio (Umbreon) and her sister’s Pokemon: Thunder (Pikachu). Born the same time as her cousin Blitz (Pichu). As a fairly young Pokemon, she still clings closely to her parents. She’s very meek and tends to avoid most other Pokemon. However, she usually tags along with Blitz in an attempt to keep him out of trouble. She seems to have a good instinct for battling, even though she isn’t particularly interested in it. Special Notes: Spiky-Eared Pichu!

Volt (Voltaic)—Laturn—♂—Calm Nature Dia fished him out by the bay in Cherrygrove City as a Chinchou. He was happy to join her and her Pokemon. Volt enjoys sunbathing, taking relaxing swims. and naps. He's not much for activity and just tends to go with the flow. Although laid back, he's the first to rush out and help anyone in trouble. Volt's a certified Pokemon Lifeguard.

Dom (Dominic)—Espeon—♂—Hasty Nature The child of Dia’s Pokemon: Navy (Vaporeon) and Syntha (Leafeon). A prankster with little impulse control. Dom likes to drag his brother Damian (Jolteon) around on mischievous adventures; usually harmless pranks are involved. He often visits Violet City because he enjoys teasing tourists with at Sprout Tower with his wild Pokemon friends.

Duskio—Umbreon—♂—Impish Nature The first Pokemon that Dia ever caught! He had been corrupted in early Shadow Pokemon projects and released into the wild. Never fully a shadow Pokemon, Dia was able to unlock his heart and return him to normal. He’s very loyal and sees himself as a protector, especially now that he has a child: Tess (Pichu). When he’s not guarding/on patrol, he greatly enjoys playing with the younger Pokemon or spending time with his partner Thunder (Pikachu).

Dell (Dellutio)—Shiny Umbreon—♂—Bold Nature Given as a gift to Dia by her father when on a trip to Orre. Even as an Eevee, his goal was always to become as strong as possible. He’s very bold, ambitious, and stubborn. He cares deeply for his partner, Escalus (Flareon) and would do anything for him. Special Notes: Shiny palette comes from the GameCube games.

Cress (Crescent)—Teddiursa—♀—Rash Nature She originally belonged to the daughter of a berry farmer. Cress desperately wanted to leave the farm and see the world, so she ran away. Dia found her and brought her back to her original trainer, but, the daughter agreed to let Cress join Dia on her journey. Cress is a hotheaded and passionate gal. Most other Pokemon shy away from her due to her personality and she has trouble making friends. Despite this, she’s actually excellent at taking care of eggs and younger Pokemon which she does at a Violet City Daycare center along with a few of Dia’s other Pokemon.

[sollucets]

get to know me tag

as tagged by @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, and @troubled-mind! thank u everyone 💜🥰

do you make your bed? literally never!

what's your favourite number? 52. i picked it as a child and i don't remember why, but it pleases me still

what is your job? i'm a humble lil grocery store employee

if you could go back to school, would you? if i could quit my job and go to school and still have my same money, then yes, i should think so, but that's super not happening! it might be nice to have a second degree. i think history would be fun

can you parallel park? yes i can! i used to have to do it every day to park in front of my last house. >:c

a job you had that would surprise people? i think all of my jobs have been either rather generic or right on the nose for what people would expect of me so probably not. i was a nighttime gas station attendant for a fair bit of college, which could be a surprise i guess? everyone always goes ":0 but werent you scared????" and like, no, not most of the time, but sometimes you do it scared yknow

do you think aliens are real? yes, but real in a way that there are many real things i can't see and don't understand (protons, gender, etc)

can you drive a manual car? i could do that once and probably still can, but it's been a long long time since i practiced

what's your guilty pleasure? as far as media goes, i do my very best not to have things like this. if i feel bad about liking it i generally do not like it for very long. i would say the closest is being into kpop, but it's not like i keep that a secret, i just dont really want to engage with kpop fandom, so i dont often post or talk about it publicly. a real guilty pleasure is that i like cherry pepsi too much

tattoos? i have one; he's on my left forearm & he's an abstract little spaceman with a fern for a head. i call him my cosmonaut. i have plans for more but i never have the time or money lately

favorite color? we know this one already surely. 💜

favorite type of music? ohh, i don't like to discriminate hehe. my very favoritest songs usually have fun harmony or funky rhythms, though, and it's best if i can sing along

do you like puzzles? sure! i used to have a book of fairy puzzles when i was a kid that i love dearly even now

any phobias? i am afraid of all bugs, but i can be a grownup about most kinds of them. i Cannot be a grownup about moths or centipedes, which i am terrified of (using those words will cause this post to be filtered for me on tumblr). i try not to kill them if i can avoid it, since it isnt their fault i'm like this, but i,,, i really can't, i'm useless if i see one. when id find centipedes in my room at my last house i wouldnt be able to sleep.

favorite childhood sport? i did tennis all of middle and high school, explicitly because of ryoma echizen prince of tennis lol. i was on varsity! i also figure skated as a kid. both are still fun when i get the chance

do you talk to yourself? oh yes all the time. i keep odd hours so i used to accidentally wake my roommate cause i just kind of absentmindedly chatter abt everything

what movies do you adore? i am not really a movie person if i'm perfectly honest; i don't watch them often as an adult. from my childhood my favorite movies were kenneth branagh much ado about nothing, the princess bride, pokemon 2000, and return of the king

coffee or tea? neither, i dont like most hot drinks. apple cider is ok now and again but i usually drink it cold, and im horribly picky about hot chocolate

first thing you wanted to be growing up? i changed this answer all the time as a kid and i have records of me doing so in my old notebooks lol! answers i know about include "pilot", "author", "dragon", and "eowyn"

this one seems like it might be a little personal so im shy to tag people hehe. go ahead and put me down if you want to do it though; i will be happy to know :)

[gaycey-sketchit]

15 questions

Tagged by @thedoggoesed-ward! Thank you!!

1. Are you named after anyone?

I named myself after a grand total of four fictional characters (Drew von Pokemon, Will Solace, Alphonse Elric, and a secret fourth one).

2. When was the last time you cried?

Good question. My SSRIs make it harder for me to cry, so I don't cry often, even when I want to. I almost cried the other day, but I'm not quite sure when the last time I actually did was--it was definitely in the last couple months though.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, and I intend for it to stay that way (the only kids I might want are baby goats). Thankfully I'm in a gay t4t relationship (and pro choice anyway) so there is no chance of it happening by accident.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I had a brief stint in track and field as a youngin, and as an adult I took up playing tennis for fun last year.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Occasionally! Sometimes when I'm annoyed, often to be silly.

5. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hm, hard to say. Hair is a major one though--color, style, how much of it there is. I have trouble with faces, so I have to figure out other ways of recognizing people.

7. What's your eye color?

Very dark brown.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings all the way, but I can handle a lot of things in a story if it turns out okay in the end.

9. Any talents?

I have a pretty keen ear for recognizing voices! I watch a lot of animated media and it's always fun to hear a familiar VA.

10. Where were you born?

Some hospital in Georgia

11. What are your hobbies?

Writing, drawing, dancing, baking, reading, playing viddy games, taking photos, watching cartoons, and collecting things related to my special interests (Pokemon and horses).

12. Do you have any pets?

My dog Buddy! I also live and spend time with my sister's pets, a dog and guinea pig.

13. How tall are you?

5'7"

14. Favorite subject in school?

I was big on the sciences, particularly biology! I could do Punnett squares all day. I also really enjoyed French.

15. Dream job?

I have many. Working with horses in any capacity, voice actor for TPCI who voices like 30 Pokemon and the occasional CotD, baker, librarian, defense attorney, something in medicine, sustainable sheep farmer... to name a few off the top of my head. I like a lot of things and I want to either be involved with one of my special interests or help people.

Tagging: @itstimetodrew @kohakhearts @kongpang @torchickentacos @a-star-that-fell and anyone else who feels like doing this!! (No pressure to anyone!)

[bombcollar]

I was tagged by @go-go-devil!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I currently have 151.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

327,526

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently the most recent fics I wrote have been for Cadence of Hyrule but I've also recently written for Iconoclasts and Pokemon.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Ferris Wheel (Bugsnax, Snorplo) - 248

Gemini (Bugsnax, body horror) - 169

Imitation Beef (Bugsnax, continuation of a canon scene) - 165

Imago (Elden Ring, Miquella wakes up as a big bug) - 154

Field Notes (Bugsnax, AU, cosmic horror) - 148

5. Do you respond to comments?

I always try to, even if it's just to say thanks.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh god probably one of my bugsnax fics... bugsnax really was ripe for angst. Both One Last Dance and Weary end in the implication that everybody has succumbed to the snax. I tend to leave things on more ambiguous notes than angsty, so even if the characters are in a sad or desperate situation it's uncertain what's going to happen to them next.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sleep is Dark Souls III fic that implies the age of dark is actually a good thing and Lorian and Lothric survive to see it after all they've been through. I know I have written other happy things but this one is very hopeful.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've gotten a couple shitty comments or ones where I was just like, I have no idea what you're trying to communicate to me, but they're extremely rare and I just delete them if I do get them.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

I do not write smut. Just not my thing.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Not often, I have a few Fromsoft crossovers but I did write a Bugsnax/Nier Automata fic that never got finished. That's Between My Teeth.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, quite a few. Ao3 user Dashana in particular has translated a number of my Iconoclasts fics to Russian. I will probably never say no to having a fic translated if it helps it reach a larger audience, especially because I tend to pick niche fandoms or subjects.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have, with @malicious-fisheeves and with @wheeled-jack as well as some other friends who don't really use tumblr.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I really don't feel that strongly about ships much of the time but I do really like Wally/May from Pokemon RSE/ORAS and Gwyndolin/Darkmoon Knightess from Dark Souls.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Ugh I have this Mochi Mayhem rewrite thing in the works but I just can't seem to make any progress on it. I may put it out there unfinished but the problem is I have a big chunk of the beginning done and then a scene at the very end and nothing in the middle lmao.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm really good at building dread. I personally think I'm good at writing platonic and familial character relationships, and writing characters who might be antagonists but who are complex and sympathetic.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have some trouble when it comes to writing incidental side characters that might serve a purpose for one scene but aren't really that important.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I really enjoy writing dialogue, it's one of my favorite parts of the process.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I wrote a Rayman 3 fic about some OCs of mine probably back in 2003 or something. It was about these griffin-like creatures that had the powerups tested on them and it fucked them up because they were flesh and blood rather than made of cloth like the Hoodlum enemies are. They were trying to escape the facility they were kept in. Unfortunately I do not think it's still posted on my old ff.net account so it may be lost media.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'll always be extremely proud of Monarch Sunrise (the bugsnax timeskip cruise fic) for the sheer scale of it (as far as my fics go) and for all the help I had plotting and editing it.

This is a tough question to answer though because I'm really happy with many of them. I'd say my favorite thing I've written lately is Lyre Lyre, my Octavo backstory fic, because I think it does a good job of laying out his situation in a concise and entertaining manner, like he's telling this story to a crowd.

as for tagging folks uhhh how about @wheeled-jack @mumagi @disco-descent

[pinky-lemon]

WELCOME NEW FRIENDS!!

hihi and welcome to my art blog, hosted by a 2-inch-tall moth

here's the basic rundown in the Little Guy District:

====================

if you're here to cause trouble then go away!!! your ass is not welcome in the Little Guy District!!

====================

yes my name is a stardew reference

my art schedule is kinda wonky- im not a person who posts daily or anything like that,,

i don't have a theme to my blog- i post whatever i'm into currently. so you will see fanart with a couple oc arts

majority of my art is cute/fluff! however, i will tag angst/serious stuff properly (including tws)

i don't tag asks/reblogs (excluding au asks)

speaking of asks, they're always open!

PST timezone

====================

About Me (and stuff)

the little guy in my pfp is my sona, Patches! he symbolizes myself and is pretty much the mascot of the blog

im kinda silly. a little bit off the walls. but in general im just a lil gal w/ a tinge of anxiety so pls be patient with me

my love language is screaming (i abuse caps lock sorry)

i go FERAL over boys. no apologies

not particularly active on tumblr, but you can find me on discord! (@/pinky_lemon)

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Likes and Dislikes

things I like: RGG games, TTRPGS (DnD/Pathfinder etc), vocaloid, pokemon, team fortress 2, guilty gear, buncha indie games, dougdoug, rtgame etc

favorite ships: kaigami, kurogami/kuroaya/kuromura (guilty pleasure) sugitsu, majimako, ichizhao, saenan + others I cannot mention bc I will get tomatoed

things I don't like: uhhh I'm pretty open to things so I don't really *hate* anything. other than the usual DNI stuff. just be nice, ok?

for an art-only experience, i tag my art with #pinky's gallery

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Important Links:

@substorysketches - my rgg blog where I draw little substory doodles!

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serious arts are tagged with #not fluff

text posts are tagged with #pinky speaks

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you can use my art in pfps, banners and the like, just remember to credit me!

credited reposts are ok, commercial usage is not.

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all in all, i hope you enjoy my blog! thanks for reading!

[taiyami]

Do you ship your mutuals with any characters? If so, who and why

OF COURSE I DO .. it's the most fun a fella can have these days :)c I'm not super involved in the self-ship community, but I support it fully and indulge every once in a while. (If I leave anybody out I'm sorry, !)

@nagumoan always and forever will be attached to Jugram (BLEACH) or Shion's (JGKRK) image to me. I don't even know who Shion is but I do know he and Loni are happily married. In fact I was there for their wedding and caught their bouquet.

@hopefulstarfire I don't know this man personally but GUZMA (pokemon) for sure. That's their stinky man 😤🙌🏼 Kenz and I have known each other since teenagehood so I could list any and all their hubbies if I so felt inclined.

@upperranktwo MY SKY PIE ❤️ Douma only, there literally cannot be a more perfect duo. They are SOO SILLY together augh :o) They make me SO happy!!

@semisgroupie IKKAKU (BLEACH), I have never known a gal to be so perfect for that man !! I can't imagine him with anyone else, only my Ve.

@strawberrystepmom I always associate this pretty gal with Natsuo (BNHA), It just feels so right. Ice boy with a warm blooded gal, I love it !! I also love her and her old man Kakashi (who happens to be in his late 20s but shh. (I shouldnt have to say but. Naruto))

@nymphoheretic OUR DARLING RENGOKU (KNY) .. I just think these two are SO cute together 🥺 I just think they compliment each other really well. ❤️‍🔥

@rozentias MY BELOVED RÓ .. As much as I find Urahara (BLEACH) and Ró super silly and cute, I really love the dynamic he has with Axl (Guilty Gear) .. I think he just deserves to have a cute fun guy who loves him and cherishes him!! But I love all of his self ships, they're fun to talk about with him <:]

@diorsbrando Listen I know he's a troubled man but we love troubled men in these parts, I can't imagine Sosa without thinking of Sasuke too 💔 I LOVE seeing Sosa go a little feral over that man, it's what he deserves 😤

@sixeyesgojo Now he better not misbehave and cause my Yoru any problems or I will have a problem with him but .. Gojo 🫡 I trust that he takes care of them.

Aaaagh i hope I'm not missing anybody .. feel free to stop by my inbox if you want an assigned ship :o) There's a strong chance I pair a person with a character if we're mutuals, even if we don't talk much! I usually take a peek if someone has a f/o list, or I keep note whenever they have special tags for people. I wish I was more active about self ships because they're harmless fun, but I'm just embarrassed of my own HEHE. I'd talk about them more if people asked or came into my inbox but .. for now I just keep them to myself 🫡

Thanks for stopping by !!! I loved answering this !!!

[kappatengu]

NAVIGATION POST

Welcome to KappaTengu! A pokeask blog about two traveling mercenaries consisting of a Nuzleaf and Lombre, named Koban and Lianhua. While there is a vague story going on, I am not immune to memes and silly antics (like 90% of the blog was memes/meme asks before my hiatus). I made this blog in 2018, and pulling it out of hiatus as of now, December 2023. This blog is best viewed on desktop.

This blog will be using a format where plot will be advanced after we reach an ask goal, eg: let’s say I set a goal of 10 asks until X happens, after answering that many asks, I’ll close the askbox, proceed with what was promised, then open the askbox again. There will be times where there’s no goal– called ‘free days’, where nothing is set to happen anytime soon– and there will be times where I will only count asks that pertain to the plot/lore, and any unrelated asks won’t count towards the number. I’ll typically call these “plot asks”.

So if you see the sidebar say anything like “ASKS UNTIL EVOLUTION: 20” or “PLOT ASKS UNTIL KOBAN EXPLODES: 5” those are just the ask goals for plot progression! If you see nothing like that anywhere, then we’re probably in a ‘free days’ phase, and our silly yokais are just chillin’.

So feel free to send serious or memey asks alike! And while this isn't an RP blog by any means, interactions from other Pokemon blogs are encouraged! You may even have impact on the plot, and the characters will certainly remember you!

On rare occasions, I may reply with art should anyone answer an ask I sent to them. I don't mind if anyone does the same if I answer their ask. Just keep in mind they probably won't be extensive/drag out.

Link accessibility for mobile users is still WIP. On desktop, you can use the blog theme links for navigation (the circle buttons to the left).No rules page yet since I haven't had any bad apples come in, but one will be made if trouble happens. I do ask you don't reblog any of my OOC posts (anything tagged "outofyokai"!), and not to send too many joke asks during plot advances. I trust everyone to read the room/atmosphere.

CHARACTERS

About Koban About Lianhua About Budew About Takuya

BLOG STUFF

Ask Hints #Answered Art Asks #Lianhua Answers #Koban Answers #Both Answer #Art Tag #OOC posts

EVENTS AND PLOT

#Intermission 1: Budew and Toxicroak #Egg Arc #Lianhua’s Past #Koban’s Past

A brief "about the blog" description and a summary of what happened on the blog so far in terms of vague plot under the cut.

This blog revolves around a strange Nuzleaf and Lombre, named Koban and Lianhua respectively. They work as self-proclaimed self-employed mercenaries dubbed Team KappaTengu, taking on any work they can, and doing anything they’re hired for, whether it be good or bad.

Koban has amnesia about his past, and Lianhua seems to be cagey about his own past.

Although always travelling, they primarily seem to hang around forests.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR:

Koban has stolen an egg from Takuya, lying to Lianhua that it was for a quest he accepted. But in reality– and Lianhua has already caught on, too– Koban stole it because it rung something familiar in his head, and hoped that keeping it and perhaps hatching it would help Koban gain any memory at all.

The egg has hatched into a strange Budew.

INTERMISSION 1:

Budew was left on her own, seemingly waiting for Lianhua and Koban to come back. She's attacked by an unknown Fire Pokemon while waiting, to which she was saved by a passing Toxicroak named Takuya. Takuya follows others' advice, and goes to search for either the attacker or Budew's parents.