#i wanted to bring up the above headcanon since Johto is the region I bring in the problematic elements of omegaverse more

[pkmnomegaverse]

So, what cause to Chuck to have a affair with Jasmine ?(BTW i love your blog)

(Thank you!!! ( ˃̣̣̥ω˂̣̣̥ )  That really means a lot to hear! Also, sorry I info-dumped. Whenever someone asks something that even tangentially relates to the omegaverse headcanons I keep hidden, I tend to go…overboard).

Tbh, Chuck having an affair with Jasmine has less to do with there being canon evidence to support the idea and way more to do with me deciding I needed more diverse family situations. They were just the unfortunate pair I chose. That being said, there’s a specific headcanon I have about how cheating would be viewed in an ABO setting that I wanted to explore with this pair, which sort of relates to what causes Chuck to cheat on his wife with Jasmine.  

In this specific version of ABO, when someone goes into their heat or rut, it’s not quite to the point where they’re completely out of control (which is a thing in some interpretations of ABO).  While the urge to have sex is very strong and decision making is certainly impaired, the person is still conscious and can make choices.  It would be incorrect to say they have no free will, and you wouldn’t be able to use that as a defense for something you did during your heat/rut (well, you could try, but whether people would buy it is another story).  

However, because an alpha exposed to an omega in heat is affected to the point that, they too, have impaired decision making, people are more willing to overlook people cheating in this type of situation. Essentially, it’s a ‘less bad’ form of cheating.  Not everyone has this viewpoint, and it’s arguable how accurate it is, but it’s still something I think would come up in an ABO setting.

Related to this, Chuck’s wife is a beta, while Chuck is an alpha.  As such, they can’t form a mate bond, which, if they could, would actually work towards keeping Chuck from being as strongly affected by an omega in heat.  One of the (debatable) benefits of an alpha/omega couple forming a mate-bond is it causes each member to not to be as affected by other people during their heat/rut.  When they do go into their heat or rut, instead of a more generalized lust for anyone, it’s all focused on their mate.  It has the effect of making them more clear-heading around other people, but it’s also more stressful to be separated from their mate.

As such, there’s an additional underlying bias in society about pairs that don’t fall into the alpha/omega dynamic.  Other types of couples aren’t actively discriminated against, but they are viewed as being prone to being less stable.  To some, an alpha/beta or omega/beta pair is viewed as the alpha or omega settling, and at the most extreme, viewed as being doomed to fail and the alpha/omega just waiting to find a better partner.  I’ve always seen Johto as the region that would have more conservative values and beliefs, so the above biases would be more common in that region over the others.

To actually answer your question though, Chuck and Jasmine’s short lived affair results from Jasmine’s heat hitting at an unfortunate time and the two just going for it.  While the two don’t know each other very well during the events of HGSS, over the years of working together as fellow Gym Leaders, they slowly develop a friendly relationship. Past seeing each other at conferences the Gym Leaders have to attend yearly, they do talk and occasionally meet up (always in Olivine though, never Cianwood).  Usually it’s because Chuck needs to come to the mainland to get something (and of course he’s going to check on his fellow Gym Leader while in the area, maybe she’ll even be up for some battling if she’s not busy), but sometimes he’ll bring her things from Cianwood.  The next time Jasmine finds herself in need of medicine from Cianwood, it turns out it’s easier to call up the Gym Leader there instead of waiting for a kind, 11 year old passerby to help you out.  

In some ways, they do have a bit of an emotional affair going on before anything physical happens.  They both find themselves enjoying the others company more than they probably should.  While Jasmine clues in on their relationship being more than just friendly before Chuck does, she always tells herself nothing is going to happen because he’s married.  And even once Chuck acknowledges to himself that he’s attracted to Jasmine, he doesn’t plan to do anything, because he does love his wife (even if the two don’t spend that much time together, with him always being busy with the Gym or training).

So when Jasmine’s heat come early while Chuck is visiting her in Olivine, it’s actually Jasmine that suggests sleeping together.  Initially, once she realizes her heat is starting, she makes some hasty excuse and is ready to head home alone, but then stops herself.  Part of her is tired of being so shy and withdrawn all the time. She’s use to just going along with others and not pushing for what she wants. And really, she’s tired of being alone. So, not truly thinking Chuck will accept, she throws the invitation out there. Would you like to head over to my place with me?  And to her surprise, he accepts. They both know it’s a bad idea, but Jasmine’s heat makes for a good excuse to just give in.

They continue to see each other for a while after that, but once Jasmine realizes she’s pregnant (not from the first time they sleep together, it happens later), she calls the affair off.  She informs Chuck about her pregnancy and tells him to go back to his wife, she’ll be fine raising the kid on her own. But Chuck refuses to let her raise the kid by herself (plus, as unfortunate as the situation is, he’s not opposed to the idea of being a father. Once the dread of the situation lessens, he might maybe even be a bit excited).  Jasmine is very firm about them not being involved romantically anymore though, so the possibility of Chuck leaving his wife for Jasmine doesn’t come up.

Obviously, Chuck has to explain the situation to his wife, Tara. Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t take it very well. Really, the main reason she doesn’t leave him ties in with some of the headcanons I discussed above. From a certain viewpoint, some would say what Chuck did wasn’t all that surprising. And again, since Johto is the conservative regions (and Chuck’s wife seems like a traditional, conservative woman), she would be influenced more by these biases than other people might be.  Their marriage is extremely strained for some time after this, but the two do ultimately stay together, taking steps to try to repair their relationship. 

[sage-nebula]

Do you have headcanons about which characters Alan meets in each region?

Brock ��� I feel like Brock would be a very good friend for Alan to have. They’re the same age in canon (15), which makes them peers, and aside from that Brock has a very soothing, nurturing nature, which is exactly the kind of friend that Alan needs after everything that happens with Flare. This is especially true since while Brock is kind, his kindness is true kindness in that he’s also firm when he needs to be, i.e. he’s not an enabler of untrue, self-deprecating thoughts. If Alan tried to blame himself for things that weren’t his fault, Brock would put a stop to that right quick, ripping the shovel from his hands and refusing to let him dig himself deeper. That said, I honestly imagine their meeting would be by chance; perhaps Alan goes to Professor Oak’s lab to run an errand for Sycamore and ends up hearing about how a couple of the Gym Leaders in Kanto have mastered Mega Evolution, and so he decides to check that out on his own before returning to Kalos, and that’s how he meets Brock. But either way, I think it’d be a good friendship for him and one that’d last for years. 

Gary — I mentioned this in another post, but Alan and Gary already have so much in common that I just think it’d be neat to see them interact. They’re both nerds who care a lot about pokémon, they both love battling, they were both raised by regional professors, and so on and so forth. Mega Charizard X vs. Mega Blastoise Round II would also be really interesting to see. Though their areas of study are different, I think they’d have a lot to talk about, and the fact that they’re both fond of fieldwork would also be another point in favor of the two of them meeting. If Alan did that errand to Oak’s lab that I mentioned above, this could easily be how he meets Gary, who is perhaps home from his own travels for a little while.

Professor Oak — I mean, let’s just continue this “running an errand to Oak’s” thing, which means that he obviously meets Professor Oak. Alan is a studious young man who’s quite experienced in taking care of pokémon and I think Oak would appreciate that. I don’t think they’d get particularly close, both being focused on the research end of things (and Oak not being one to poach other professor’s assistants, generally), but they’d get along well enough, particularly since I’m sure Alan has a lot of respect for Oak given all his accomplishments in the field.

Tracey — RESURRECT TRACEY SKETCHITT 2020. Honestly, Tracey is Oak’s assistant and so it’s completely bewildering why he is nowhere in sight ever the few times we’re allowed to actually go to Oak’s ranch in the anime. In my world, though, he’s there, and while obviously Oak is his hero I imagine that he’s also very curious about Sycamore’s research as well and would probably jump at the chance to ask Alan all sorts of questions about it, and would be even more excited to draw pictures of Lizardon. Alan would be very happy to let Tracey draw pictures of Lizardon because it gets Tracey out of his personal space bubble and to stop asking him rapid-fire questions. (He doesn’t mind Tracey, but Tracey is very enthusiastic when it comes to gaining knowledge and that would make Alan feel kind of on-the-spot and uncomfortable.)

Delia — When what he has to do at Oak’s ends up having to run into another day (or another couple days), Delia, who happened to be visiting at the time and recognizes Alan as one of Ash’s friends (because Ash told her about him and showed him the picture that was taken of everyone at Sycamore’s lab) “invites” Alan to stay the night, and by “invites” I mean “insists” and so he gets a home cooked meal and a nice place to sleep (in Ash’s room) and also gets mothered for the first time ever in his life. Like, Sycamore is his dad, obviously, and Fulbert was his grouchy uncle, but both of those things aren’t quite exactly the same thing as having a mom, especially one who (though she won’t say it) knows you’ve been through a lot recently and can tell you’re still kind of going through it and so makes extra sure to give you a warm hug when you leave and also a bento with lunch and an extra pack of sweets to take with you. (And when he tries to apologize to her for putting Ash in so much danger she won’t hear of it because Ash told her that Alan saved him multiple times and that’s all that matters to her.) Alan won’t think of her as “mom,” of course, because he’s only known her a couple days and she most definitely is not his mom, but he does wonder, when she hugs him, if that’s what being hugged by a mother feels like, and it sticks with him for a while. All in all, Alan likes Delia, although he and Lizardon both don’t know how they feel about Delia calling Lizardon “Li-Li.” 

And wow, this is getting really long, so all the rest (and there are a lot more) are going under a cut!

Misty — Because if Alan goes to Pewter Gym to battle Brock due to Mega Evolution, then of course when Brock tells Alan that the Cerulean City Gym Leader has also mastered Mega Evolution, he’s going to go there as well. Given that they both get pretty fired up for battles, Alan and Misty would get along pretty well right off the bat. Misty would be particularly interested in battling (and beating) him since she knows that he beat Ash at the Kalos League, and as much as she loves Ash, she wants to be able to have that one over on him because they’re rivals just as much as they’re best friends. Unfortunately, this battle doesn’t go so well, because when Alan learns that Misty’s Mega Evolution partner is a Gyarados, that gives both him and Lizardon trauma flashbacks pretty much right away. They both try to shake it off, but Brock can tell something’s off and all but insists they stop the match . . . which neither Alan or Misty are really happy with, but, well. Alan can’t say he’s exactly upset to see Mega Gyarados go back in its ‘ball. 

Casey — She ends up being the Johto Champion, so of course he meets her (and in specific they meet as Champions). Alan and Casey don’t really talk very much because they don’t really have anything in common. She’s not interested in “nerd stuff” like his research and he has 0% interest in baseball (when she mentions The Electabuzz he legitimately thinks she’s talking about the species of pokémon and has no idea why she’s so offended when he says he’s never heard of the sports team). Casey does get on really well with Manon, though, since the two have very similar energy, even though Manon also knows nothing about baseball. (She does know how to join Casey in making fun of Alan’s “nerd stuff” while he rolls his eyes, though, so there is that.)

Morty & Eusine — Counting these two together as they should be. I don’t think this would be a long-lasting relationship by any means, but I could imagine a scenario where Alan travels to Ecruteak City to learn more about the legends there since he’s interested, and he goes to Morty to learn about them, and Eusine either happens to already be there or barges in while the two are talking, and the second he hears that Alan has some interest in Suicune (and that Alan has interest in hearing about Eusine’s findings once he learns that Eusine is the Ultimate Expert On Suicune™ (according to Eusine himself), well. Alan regrets asking only 30 minutes into that 4 hour lecture. Morty leaves partway through and brings back some tea for them to share because, well. Alan really did it now, didn’t he.

Lance & Clair — In a timeline where Alan studies his heritage (and learns that his heritage links back to the Blackthorn dragon clan), he meets both of them. He might meet Lance in a standard timeline anyway since Lance is always vying for Kanto’s Champion seat and held it before Ash did, but nonetheless he wouldn’t get on with either of them, honestly. Clair has an imperious attitude and is prone to fits of temper when she doesn’t get her way, which would annoy Alan, and Lance can be pretty arrogant and his sense of morality often clashes with Alan’s own. On the flipside, Clair would think Alan an upstart brat who has no right to think he could be on her level, while Lance would find Alan naive and foolhardy. So while they hail from the same clan (albeit distantly, in Alan’s case), they would not consider each other friends, let alone any kind of family.

Wallace — Alan is friends with Steven, and Steven is dating / engaged / married to Wallace, so it’s pretty inevitable the two would meet. I think they’d get along well enough in the few times they were around each other, but honestly they wouldn’t see / talk to each other enough to have any kind of real relationship. 

Zinnia — In my head my Delta Episode AU 100% happens and they meet and bond through that when Zinnia tries to mug him for his Key Stone, fails, but then actually succeeds in stealing Sycamore’s Key Stone and so Alan goes tearing after her to get it back. This whole thing culminates in Zinnia revealing to Alan what Devon Corp has been doing with Infinity Energy (which puts a severe strain on his friendship with Steven, very nearly shattering the trust between them, and it takes a long time to heal), and Alan helping Zinnia summon Rayquaza despite his own trauma associated with it and also riding with her into space to help Rayquaza + pulling her off the great sky dragon at the last second so they can be caught by their dragons and both survive. (In other words: Unlike how the actual Delta Episode played out, Zinnia does not have her thunder stolen here. She is the one who summons Rayquaza, teaches it Dragon Ascent, and carries out her destiny as Lorekeeper. Alan just helps her survive the experience, even though they both still almost die, and end up laughing hysterically about it on the roof of the Sky Pillar because, after falling from space and almost dying, what else is there to do?) Their relationship definitely gets off on a rocky start due to the mugging and theft and Zinnia’s habit of being deliberately vague about important things and also talking in circles to avoid answering questions directly (not to mention that Zinnia knows that Alan is friends with Steven and figures, at first, that he must therefore be like Steven in all the ways Zinnia dislikes, such as using pokémon as a means to an end and not caring about lives that he can’t see), but after getting to know each other through the journey to save two universes from a giant Deoxys-infested meteor, they come to a mutual understanding and end up realizing they’re something of kindred spirits. Even though they can still be prone to teasing and bickering whenever their paths cross again after that, there’s also a very deep foundation of trust that can only be gained when you realize you have met your match in attempts to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the world in death-defying stunts that you will never, ever learn your lesson from no matter how many times you tell the people who care about you that you have most definitely learned it this time, you promise. (Not that Zinnia has many of those people left, but she does have her grandmother and others from the Draconid clan, plus she now also has Alan, so. There’s that. Also, no, she and Steven never, ever come to like each other, and Alan does his best to hang out / talk with each of them separately to save himself the headache of trying to mediate.)

Cynthia — She’s the Champion of Sinnoh, so obviously he meets her once he becomes Champion himself, and given that they’re both nerds they get along pretty well as a result. I think I’ve talked about this before, that she kind of becomes like a Cool Aunt for him, in that they can talk about legends and mythos and go on ancient ruins explorations together. Like if one of them discovers some ancient ruins, they’ll send the other a message to see if they want to go spelunking together and the answer is almost always yes. The only times Alan doesn’t appreciate spending time with Cynthia are the times when she teams up with Steven to try to “improve his wardrobe” because Steven and Cynthia are the designated Fashion Icons of the Champion Squad and both think it’s “such a shame” that Alan doesn’t care much about clothes. Otherwise, though, he gets along great with Cynthia and is always happy to have a new message from her.

Tobias — Alan doesn’t actually know Tobias, in that he never got Tobias’ name and probably wouldn’t recognize him again if he saw him on the street (and vice versa), but it’s my headcanon that the first time Alan and Lizardon ever successfully used Mega Evolution, it was in a battle against Tobias. They still ended up losing the match (I mean, the man has a team of legendaries, there’s only so much anyone can do), but given that they successfully used Mega Evolution for the first time, Alan and Lizardon still considered it a victory overall.

Iris — Iris becomes Unova’s Champion, obviously, but I’d like to think that they actually met before that, when Iris traveled to Kalos as part of her training (and the cameo episodes that she DESERVED but NEVER ACTUALLY GOT), and Iris saw Lizardon and got so excited because cute dragon!!! and as a result introduced herself. She makes a remark about how she knows that Charizard isn’t actually a dragon-type, and then Alan tells her about the X form of Mega Evolution and she decides to write Ash a letter right then and there telling him that he was WRONG and she was RIGHT and he should STUDY MORE, MAYBE, or something along those lines. Anyway, I like to think that they battle (with Iris using her Dragonite, or perhaps Haxorus if Axew has evolved by that point), and perhaps even run off some criminals / protect the lab together, or some such. You know, bonding time. Iris and Alan get along pretty well given that they both love dragons and enjoy battling and adventure. She’s the one who always most appreciates when Alan posts pictures of Lizardon into the Champion messenger.

Emma — So this one is sort of an AU idea, considering that much of Alan’s story was clearly based on Emma’s story from the XY postgame, and as such it makes sense to think that they might not exist in the same world. But I love the idea that they were, perhaps, childhood friends; they both would have grown up in Lumiose City, after all, and I could imagine them having a sort of odd friendship over the years, wherein Emma teases Alan for always having his nose in a book or wanting to study and do homework, while Alan just wants to research in peace, and all the while Sycamore is trying to encourage Alan to make friends. Emma, I like to imagine, would have been adopted by Looker around age 7, so they didn’t get to know each other for too long before she was whisked away with her own adoptive parent. But perhaps they met again at the Summer Camp, and perhaps years later Emma — now running the Lumiose branch of the Looker Bureau — helps uncover evidence that gets the police off Alan’s back for the Flare incident somehow. I think it could be a sweet relationship for them. (Alternatively, I’ve also imagined an AU where perhaps she’s his younger biological sister, despite them being roughly the same age canonically, in that his biological parents had another child a little while after abandoning him and decided to keep this one. This AU is more sad because Alan wants nothing to do with his biological parents, and he wouldn’t consider Emma his sister even if they were related by DNA, so I don’t like it as much. It’s still one I’ve considered, though, since design-wise they still look pretty similar and, as I said, they’ve got quite a bit in common even if there are notable differences.)

Louie — We actually do see these two interact in TSME 1, as well as the Kalos League, so this isn’t a headcanon per se. What is headcanon is that Louie considers Alan to be His Rival, while Alan — despite his eidetic memory — always forgets Louie exists the moment they’re done battling. I actually like to think that perhaps they met at the Summer Camp, too, and that they got off on the wrong foot perhaps because Louie was envious that Alan, a kid like him, was Sycamore’s assistant, and Alan got irrationally upset when Louie said that he’d be a much more deserving assistant and would prove it (irrationally because Sycamore would never kick Alan out for another kid, and Alan should theoretically know better at age 10, but also Alan was a child who was already abandoned once and also abused before Sycamore found him so maybe we can give him a pass on this one), and so they spent the whole three day camp hating each other. But then after the camp, Alan forgot about him. And when they met years later and battled, Alan didn’t recognize him (even though Louie DID recognize Alan), and then Alan forgot him again. And Louie felt he’d have his revenge at the League . . . but of course, he didn’t win, and also Alan didn’t know who he was. All in all, this video is a perfect summary of how Louie feels about Alan vs. how Alan feels about Louie.

Hau: Alola’s Champion in the future, and that’s how the two meet. Hau and Alan are pretty neutral toward each other. They have very different energies (Alan is quiet but not laidback, while Hau can be loud but is very laidback), and while this doesn’t make them dislike each other, it also means that they generally don’t talk very much outside of necessary business / the occasional exchange in the Champion messenger. It’s like a very coworker relationship between the two of them, even though they aren’t exactly coworkers. (And before anyone gets in a tizzy, in my headcanon Ash becomes Kanto’s Champion, so no, I’m not “demoting” Ash, please relax.)

The rest of the Alola people he would know I’m leaving out because I wrote those relationships before the games were even released, much less the anime, and so they ended up VERY different from canon. And while I could write in canon-accurate relationships, it’s honestly hard for me to shake what I’d already created out of my head, so it’s just . . . not something that I’d really want to fight with. So if you’re curious about Alan’s relationship with the Aether family, Aether employees, etc, that can go in a separate ask, and will be specific to my Alola AU (which, again, has characterizations from before the games were released even, so the Aether family isn’t IC in it, among other things that I just plain got wrong from the trailers, but whatever, it is what it is). That said, I will say that the comment about “poaching assistants” that I made in Oak’s section was actually kind of a reference to my Alola AU, in which the idea is that after the big climax, Kukui tries to “poach” Alan by inviting him to come be his assistant, because hey, he’s got a pretty impressive resume (and also Ash told Kukui about Alan and especially about all the newfound trauma he has as a result of the Aether AU and asked Kukui if Alan could come stay with them for a while). Alan can be Kukui’s research assistant and also a student teacher at the school and roomies with Ash, it’ll be great. He actually does this right in front of Sycamore, which Sycamore thinks is pretty rude, but when Sycamore asks him about it later Kukui’s like “it was Ash’s idea” and shrugs because he’s got no stakes in this tbqh. (Yeah, I didn’t characterize Kukui completely accurately either because I was working with pre-release info, let me live.) As for whether Alan would say “yes” or not . . . well, we’ll just have to see (I say as if I’ll ever finish that fic this century).

Leon — Galar’s Champion, and as I’ve talked about before I think they’d definitely be friends, plus a little extra, (also they love each other). They’re both Charizard specialists, they both love battling with all their hearts, they love traveling and exploring, they know what it is to have a lot of responsibility foisted upon them at young ages, they’re both very protective of others, valiant and brave, so on and so forth, I’ve already talked about this in another post, haha. They meet as Champions, hit it off immediately, and the relationship forms from there.

Hop — Hop has a tendency to hang around Leon, so I imagine that Alan would meet Hop when he meets Leon. He and Hop don’t talk / interact much after that, really, but Hop and Manon do become rivals, both in whose big brother think they is the best, as well as in battling and the like as well. Just like Alan and Leon are very similar, so are Hop and Manon. I definitely enjoyed the similarities in the Galar games, I won’t lie.

Sonia — I do imagine that Leon would introduce Alan to his friends, which would include Sonia, but at the same time I could also see Alan and Sonia meeting because, like the situation with Gary, they have some commonalities in their backstory. Sonia wasn’t raised by Professor Magnolia, exactly, but clearly her grandmother was a steady presence in her life and she decided to be her assistant. Of course, she ends up taking over the practice by the time she and Alan meet in their 20s, but nonetheless, all that means is that they’re both nerds who would enjoy talking about their research together, and even though Sonia isn’t as big on battling, that wouldn’t stop she and Alan from having a nice friendship and comparing research notes on the differences between Dynamax particles and Mega Evolution energy.

Raihan — As I said, Leon introduces Alan to his friends, and Raihan is still his best friend and rival even though they are also ex-boyfriends. I think that Alan and Raihan would really enjoy battling against one another, would definitely respect each other as trainers, and hey, they both love dragons, so that’s another thing in common. But Raihan is also a social media influencer whose Rotomphone is always snapping pictures, while Alan highly values his privacy and basically isn’t even on social media outside of a rarely updated Instagram that’s purely pictures of scenery and also occasionally Lizardon, never himself. So how they each tend to exist in public spaces is something that puts them at fundamental odds (Alan doesn’t want to be in the pictures and is kind of annoyed, honestly, by the constant snapping of the camera; Raihan thinks Alan is comparable to a caveman for not being on social media and not liking it). They don’t dislike each other, per se, but they also don’t tend to hang out much at all, and when they do it tends to be in small doses (particularly on Alan’s end, given how introverted he is compared to Raihan’s extroversion; Raihan wears him out).

Bede — I’m actually not sure how these two would meet, but while I played through the SwSh games, Bede’s devotion to doing whatever he had to in orde to help Rose achieve his goal (all the while being manipulated into doing so, albeit by Oleana rather than Rose) felt uncomfortably familiar, and I think if Alan was made aware of that he’d try to steer Bede away from that and would definitely not be friendly at all to Oleana. Of course, the primary difference between them is that Bede is a snotty brat while Alan is not and never was, so Bede would not want to listen to Alan at all, and Alan’s help would thus fall on deaf ears. But he’d still try, even as Manon would personally be of the opinion that, hey, maybe Bede is just an annoying jerk and you should just ignore him. (Bede would pick on her just as much as he picks on Hop and so she would not like him one bit. And honestly, Alan’s not too fond of him either, but that doesn’t mean he wants to see another kid manipulated and used like he once was. You don’t get a pass out of doing the right thing just because you don’t like someone, in Alan’s eyes. And that sense of justice and want to do good is really annoying in Manon’s (particularly as she gets older), but is also one of the key things that made her like him so much to begin with, so it’s like. She doesn’t want him to change, but also, Bede is really annoying and mean, though.)

Chairman Rose — Since Alan would participate in tournaments in Galar, and also since he’s Leon’s Special Someone, of course he’d end up meeting Rose at some point. To be honest, Alan wouldn’t trust Rose right off the bat. The fact that a megacorporation owns and runs everything in Galar, including the League, wouldn’t sit right with Alan and he’d be suspicious of it. This is especially true considering that Fleur-De-Lis Labs held considerable influence in Kalos (and look what happened), and Devon Corporation still holds considerable influence in Hoenn (and look what they do re: Infinity Energy). But the thing about Rose is that he’s a natural fit for the public eye and is legitimately a philanthropist / humanitarian, and he’d brush off any distrust that Alan has and always be cordial with him, and over time with him not doing anything wrong to anyone and Leon’s assurances that Rose is all right, Alan would relax around him. A little. Bit by bit. Look, he has a lot of trust issues, okay? He’s hypervigilant. And it doesn’t help that Rose’s second-in-command is, well . . .

Oleana — Oh ho ho these two would not get along at all. While Rose is genuinely friendly and likes talking to people and enjoys battling etc, Oleana is all business and, on top of that, she decides to make some of her business manipulating and using a literal child to do her bidding and then throws him away like used garbage when he goes too far on her orders. To most people she’s cold, calculating, and ruthless (and I say “most people” because she shows the most warmth toward Rose and even that’s not too much). And like, that bit’s fine, she can be how she wants to be, but when she uses and manipulates a child and then discards him like trash, that gets under Alan’s skin. And the thing is, Oleana doesn’t care about that. What she does care about is that she has, of course, done her research on Alan, and she knows that he is Very Likely to interfere with Rose’s plans if he finds out about them, given his past actions (and I believe she’d be of the opinion that he bit the hand that fed when it came to turning against Lysandre, and she’s the type who might bring that up in an argument against him so oh boy), and she’s not about to have that. (To that end, him being around Leon so much, when Rose needs Leon for Eternatus? Hmm. She doesn’t like that.) So there would definitely be a strong and mutual dislike between them, even if they Keep It Together during public events, and Rose and Leon either don’t notice or pretend not to because, well, they’re keeping it civil and don’t have to be around each other for long, so it’s fine, right? Right?? 

. . . oh boy.

[kaizerinj]

When ya realize your headcanon went.....waaaaaaay off the beaten path, but it was done so subtly it takes years before you realize how awry it really went.

or

where I went wrong with Falkner&his dad’s relationship, but like 10+ years later I’m not bringing myself to fixing it. Cuz fuckkit. Seriously, fuck that.

In the beginning, there was GSC!Falkner. He had like five lines. The only mention of his father being immediately after you defeat him.

...Darn! My Dad's cherished bird Pokémon...

It was an effort to give characterization to an otherwise 2D Important Obstacle, which...uh....still doesn’t sit well with me. Guy’s a damn gym leader. Be one on your own merits. But I liked him. He was cute. Attractive. And me just starting my “baby yaoi fan!phase”? Magic in the form of honorshipping. 

But oh

oh

the anime happened. And this is where I lost sight of canon.

Ash had participated in the Indigo League. He had just beaten the Orange League. He was stepping into a brand new region full of new pokemon and new challenges. He needed suitable opponents that seemed strong.

So here comes this guy who saves his Pikachu, who bonds with him over Pidgeot, then proceeds to be the guy he’s gotta beat for a badge.

Well, whoops.

This Falkner’s a good guy, who, sure, admits it’s awkward to suddenly have to battle when you weren’t excepting to need to, since Pidgeot!lover, but his game face is stern, serious shit. He’s not going to go easy on you just because you’re friends.

....I fell in love with this version so hard you guys you don’t even know

But this was during the years where episodes were not just easily available on the internet. You had to wait for.....

shudder

repeats on TV.

So. Parts of this episode actually escaped me while I was happily mushing Falkner and Morty’s faces together, and his friendliness kind of fell off my brain as I focused on one fact and one perception: he was a self-made Trainer, and his stern, no-nonsense battle style = anger.

There was one thing the game did try to make clear, too. If Falkner’s using his father’s pokemon...........................................where the hell is his dad?

Which came up as I started writing this fic called Status: Before Elitism, because I really wanted to delve into Falkner, Morty, and Whitney (and Karen, Clair, and Will)’s ascent into the positions they hold in GSC. Kids have parents, right?

So not going the “he’s dead ” route, Daddy became the guy who’s never there. ....#neitherwasmymom ANYWAY. In my mind, the dad was some wandering adventurer type who wasn’t at all content to stay in one place, leaving his son to be groomed by his mom, into the no-nonsense persona Falkner, in my mind’s eye, had grown to be. Mom was strick, traditional, and a hard lady. Not unloving, but she grew colder as the years went on, because the guy she loved was never. Fucking. Home. She had a temple and monks to manage.

Oh, right, religion.

...how’d that happen.

So here we are! Current headcanon: anime-warped Falkner (has a temper) with half a game!Falkner detail (dad is where?) apart of a traditional Japanese sect thing (anime setting).

Side note: Adventures fucking makes up Falkner’s dad during the GSC years! Named Hayate. Dubbed Roy (????!?!?!) by some Serebii rando who can’t be assed to just use the J!names (Coronis [!!!?!?!?!?]). Dubbed Wayne by Chuang Yi (why). Dubbed Wren by me. ....I hate Adventures but man

mAN

Hayate is DIL(not really)F.

Ooowph.

So with this, the man who abandoned his kid and sometimes returns has a face, and that’s what his dad became. And how can you fucking admire a guy like that.

How.

HOW.

So naturally, we have unconsciously reached the point that Falkner cannot, at all, ever be happy with his dad entirely.

Plus note: headcanon’d Corey from Mewtwo Strikes back as Falkner’s younger brother, so Dad has abandoned TWO kids. TWO. What a dick.

Just to note: I held onto, and still have, the canon that Falkner’s original haircolor was green. I held onto it so hard I strangled it and had to justify the discrepancy between the blue and green with the shade changing colors over the course of his life. But the green hair was important.

Because then, the DP anime happened, and Dad’s headcanon became so. Much. Worse.

Dad was, at this point, just a vagabond and a deadbeat. But then, he was an adulterer. In Sinnoh. And suddenly, there was just no reason for Falkner to like him in my head, because Falkner now had two emerald green-haired half siblings across the damn world.

Oops?

I did always kinda maintain my position this was anime!verse though I do tend to bleed anime and game at points, so with no mention of his father in it, I could be comfortable that there was no true canon divergence from the games.

....

"You do? Just as I thought! You know something? I'm sure we'll enjoy talking about my dad! Here is my number! Give me a call Saturday morning if you want to hear about my dad!"

fUCK

I mean this means he’s still alive at least, right??

#neverencountered

"I'll show you the real power of the magnificent bird Pokémon! Dad! I hope you're watching me battle from above!"

GOD DAMMIT.

(It was, at the time, minorly debated if this meant Dad was dead or if....yanno.....flying..... Thanks for that ambiguity.)

(I want to point out that, since FRLG came out, Adventures was quietly toted as being ‘correct’ when it came to eventual canon, given it took the hints of Silver being Giovanni’s son and ran with it like it was true [it was, but this was pre-HGSS], as well as pitting Janine v Falkner during the Johto GLs v Kanto GLs, putting them into connection well before HGSS did. [Then Kusaka’s precognition came crashing down with the Striaton trio = Shadow Triad theory being debunked, when he was setting it up to be a believable reveal. HA..........sobs])

But I wasn’t really bothered, ultimately. Again, I primarily based myself in the anime!verse, but it’s only recently I’ve come to mull a little bit over how Falkner kind of got away from me overall as he self-developed over the course of his existence. And it really does come down to his relationship with his dad, because you can’t really say you’re being canon-compliant, despite not taking place in a universe where it’s unknown what their relationship is. I like being canon-compliant. I like making canon do my bidding.

But I can just not get behind Falkner having a good relationship with his dad, if he’s alive. Nor can I get behind Falkner’s abilities as a Trainer using someone else’s team, unless it’s in his dad’s memory, because the anime showed me something differenct. But the games also don’t layer anything into this, just leaves it bare boned and rather plain, so there’s this nice, gasping hole in Falkner’s game!character that cannot be stitched closed.

......I am legit miffed the father was never easter egg’d into the series. I want his side, if only to have more insight into my fave. Sure, that would just make my headcanon complete garbage in the eyes of overall canon. But I’m so curious.

Bonus fact: VIZ dubbed him Walker and this fit so perfectly into my headcanon, and overall works as a surname.

Because who else’s surname in the anime is Walker?

Someone else with affinity for the Flying type.