#jolteon is the cool manager

[xxcobaltkillerxx]

Got on a brain wave talking to @hellopuns about their Pokémon aus.

Top one is jolteon and umbreon as fast food workers from memory.

Second one I looked at reference.

[belamew]

What other “special” line of Eevee are there?

I'll try not to list too many! There's many more than the below. Each eeveelution has MANY different lines.

Vaporeon:

Royal - Notably a deep, royal blue color. Their face fins don't have the ribbing structure holding them up, so it drapes next to their face instead. 7/10. Doesn't really lower their quality of life, but their face fins are a lot more delicate and easy to tear. Fine if pet-only, but not battling.

Lotus - Often more green in color, but not exclusively. Their key feature is with their tail fins, splitting and overlapping. 4/10. Makes swimming harder.

Flareon:

Charcoal - black flareon! Unlike shinies, albinism and melanism can be bred for. 8/10. Just a good ol flareon with dark fur. Score would be higher, but there's some issues with in-breeding, which isn't as bad of a problem anymore thank god.

Oh My Fluff - yes that's the actual name. They're bred to have more brown fur and are EXTREMELY fluffy, looking more like an eevee. 2/10. Their fur is HELL to manage and while flareon are fluffy, the fur on the their torso is typically short and not long. This messes up their heat regulation. Susceptible to heat stroke. How do you mess up so bad that FIRE TYPE can get a heat stroke???

Jolteon:

False shiny - bred to have that greenish color of a shiny. Not an actual shiny tho. Fairly easy to breed due to color variation and p harmless tbh. 9/10. I kinda don't care if they scam people lmao. Quality of life doesn't suffer genetically.

Elegance-Style - distinctive trait has their usually spikey fur draping down instead. 10/10. Looks goofy, but a p harmless line. This line is weaker fighting wise tho.

Jolteon in general actually has p okay lines.

Since I'm NOT AT ALL being brief, more below the cut for the other eeveelutions.

Espeon:

Lavender-Point - you may see this trait on other Pokémon, but the "point" gene gives Pokémon darker fur on their face, ears, paws and tail(s). This line has darker purple at those points. 10/10, entirely harmless. Looks cool. This gene shows on eevee! Although at that point it's a darker brown or black, not lavender.

Twin Tail - has a fully split tail! While typically harmless, I've heard of breeders splitting the tail a birth if it doesn't have a perfectly split tail :( 5/10

Snow - an albino espeon! Contrary to popular belief, not all albinos have red eyes. This line is noted for having white fur and blue eyes. 3/10 because this line often ends up with bad hearing issues and are very sensitive to the light... which isn't good for an espeon.

I've honestly got SO many more on espeon.

Umbreon:

Moonlight - selectively bred to have have very pale, nearly white yellow rings. Very pretty. 9/10. Linked to odd lethargy? But they're just a little more lazy and sleepy.

Starlight - another albino! Pure white fur, purple-blue eyes. Rings are tactile visible but are also white and not very noticeable unless it's dark. 5/10. EXTREMELY sensitive to the sun. Tends to have eyesight and hearing issues.

Halloween - their rings are more orange than the per usual yellow, more noticeable canine fangs. Bad history with being used in illegal, to-death fights. Wildly believed to be more aggressive, but this is false. 8/10, bad history, but not a bad Pokémon.

Umbreon and espeon face less issues than sylveon. The feelings involved to evolve are a LOT less strong than the ones needed for a sylveon. Emotional manipulation tactics aren't typically used on them. They're usually just treated well.

Leafeon (has the least amount of lines):

Bright Eyes - blue or green eyes! Not... really much else to them. 7/10 for eye sight problems.

Spring time - hybrid line! Often crossbred with other grass types, specifically flowery ones, to get leafeon with flowers. 9/10, doesn't typically cause issues.

Glaceon:

Princess - noted for paler, bluer coloration (similar to a shiny). The ribbons on the side of their head swirl in a curl like pattern. 4/10. They tend to have pretty bad joint issues, especially when they get older.

Snow - surprisingly, not an albino! White fur, very pale baby blues where they should have darker markings. 9./10, very pretty. Sensitive to sunlight.

Both leafeon and glaceon have false shiny lines.

Sylveon:

Flower - their bow is feathered into a several splits, forming a full circle that looks kinda like a flower. Their coloration tends to lean more peachy.

Butterfly - two sectioned bow that looks like a butterfly wing. They lean more purple in coloration.

No rating. The lines themselves don't have genetic issues, but the trauma they're put through is 100% not worth it. There's very, VERY few breeders that do this ethically. I do not trust a SINGLE sylveon breed line except for albinism and melanism since those are popular for ALL eeveelutions and don't require strict sylveon/sylveon breeding.

I could honestly talk about these breed lines all day. I see them a LOT at the daycare.

[quillpokebiology]

Some facts and care tips for flareon please! Also, Is cuddling a flareon really as good as everyone says it is?

"Is cuddling a Flareon really as good as everyone says?" Yes. Yes, it is. A lot if people worry that they'll get burned, but they're very good at controlling the heat in their flame pouch and can make it just a bit warm. They're really soft and fluffy and were literally bred so you could snuggle up against them when you're cold. 10/10 experience, totally recommend.

Flareon Facts

-The scientific name for Flareon is "Flama Vulpes Altera" which translates to "Other flame fox"

-Wild Flareon are omnivores, eating berries and small grass types. They don't like any of their food raw and will heat up their meat & berries with their fire

-While Eevee evolve into Flareon via firestone, some trainers report that they managed to get their eevee evolve into Flareon by training near volcanoes. My theory is that since firestones evolved from igneous rocks and gained the element of fire, the rocks around them still have a small amount of fire energy, ND the igneous rocks all around volcanoes create enough of that fire energy to cause evolution

-Flareon cries are very high pitched, and has surprised a lot of trainers when first hearing it

-Along with Jolteon, Flareon is one of the only Eeveelutions that is unable to purr. Instead, they'll make small squeaking sounds

-It’s common for Flareon who just evolved to pant a lot and want to stay near cool areas, since it can take awhile for them to get used to the added heat in their bodies. They’ll get used to it in a about a week, and learn to control their temperature better

-Flareon are the most vocal Eeveelutions. They’ll laugh or howl when happy, make squeaking noises to communicate, and whine for attention

-Flareon will puff up their fluff when trying to intimidate an opponent

-Flareon are surprisingly Phsyically strong and have a lot of muscle. Too bad they don't learn many physical moves

-Clothing made from the fur of Flareon was very popular in colder regions. But as the Eevee line was becoming rarer and rarer, it became illegal to hunt them

-Like the Delphox line, Flareon have really long ears as it allows them to cool down easier

-Flareon paw pads are really thick to keep then from hurting their paws when on the hot volcanic ground

-Because of their fluff, Flareon are once of the non-ice type Eeveelutions that can handle the cold quite well

-Not really a 'fact' but a thing I noticed about Flareons eyes is that the blue parts under their pupils look like the bottom of flames

-While the Eevee line is related to a lot (and I mean a lot) of Pokemon, Flareons DNA matches the most with the Delphox and Ninetales line

-Flareon mothers will warm their eggs by putting them near their chest fur, or putting their tail over them

-The pompadour hairstyle became more popular in 1940s Kanto because a fire type gym leader wore his hair in a pompadour to match his Flareon

Care Tips

Like stated before, newly evolved Flareon tend to pant a lot and overheat when first evolving. To help your buddy feel better, you could try turning on the air conditioning. You could also take them to a safe place for them to practice their new fire powers, as that can also help cool them down.

Flareon don't like to eat their food raw and heat them up themselves. This can be dangerous if they're inside, so make sure you cook the food before you give it to them. I suggest getting Poke-kibble made for fire types, as that's the one that allows you to cook it.

Flareona shed a LOT. Make sure you have a vacuum with you, because you will find fur everywhere. Their fur also gets tangled and matted really easily, so it's best to brush them at least once every day.

While they don't like water, they won't be harmed by it, and it is safe to bathe them. The process will be easier if it is hot water, as wild Flareon are known to bathe in hot springs.

Here's another post on them!

[depressedhatakekakashi]

In the pokemon AU, has Kakashi met Zapdos? Big ol giant, legendary lightning bird... I feel like he would be a big fan. XD

Oh Kakashi has definitely met Zapdos. They’re buddies 🥰🥰🥰

But in reality, Kakashi took a hit from a wild pokemon that managed to swerve Jokteon’s attack and went for a good drop down a cliff side toward the water

Thankfully there was a large legendary lightning bird around to catch him or he would have been taking a swim.

Kakashi wasn’t even in the area to meet Zapdos. He was just exploring and training, and it was one if the few days him and Gai decided to train separately (they do that once in a while to hone their own skills). Gai’s never going to forgive himself for missing out on this really cool opportunity.

But Kakashi? Oh gosh he’s ecstatic!!!! When Zapdos drops him off and stands up, towering over him, he gets so excited

And Zapdos stays because she realizes one very important thing. Kakashi never reaches for a Pokeball, and when Jolteon catches up to them he doesn’t tell her to attack Zapdos.

He’s just awestruck. The legendary thunder bird.

The best legendary bird (no obito it’s not moltreas you weirdo)

He’s so happy (and oh boy meeting GALARIAN ZAPDOS!? A fighting thunder bird!? Amazing)

Zapdos and Kakashi end up bonding so much because Kakashi makes sure to come back to that spot where they met once a year and leave food for Zapdos that he knows she likes. When he becomes a Gym leader once in a while he’ll mess with a really cocky trainer by calling up Zapdos who just… swoops in (sort of like the ‘big brain’ dude who uses f***ing Articono to face Ash in the battle frontier)

[incoherent-screaming-100]

EEVEEELUTION INCORRECT QUOTES 6- THE GANG SHARES SHOWER THOUGHTS

Leafeon: Surgery is basically just stabbing someone to life. Jolteon: Please never become a surgeon. Espeon: Why are you like this?? Leafeon: I used too much "No More Tears" shampoo as a kid and I haven't felt a single emotion since.

Eevee: Theater kids are just choir kids who joined forces with the band and strings kids.

Sylveon: Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool.

Espeon: Are oranges named orange because oranges are orange or is orange called orange because oranges are orange? Sylveon: Which came first, the orange or the orange? Leafeon: Orange was first used to refer the fruit 1280 years ago but was not used as a color until 1000 years ago. Glaceon: What was the color called before then? Vaporeon: There was no color, duh! Everything was black and white! Jolteon: Am I having a fucking stroke!?

Glaceon: When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Glaceon lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the person who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down! Flareon: Since when did you play Portal 2?

Sylveon: Dandelions symbolize everything I want to be in life. Flareon: Fluffy and dead with a gust of wind? Sylveon: Unapologetic. Hard to kill. Feral, filled with sunlight, bright, beautiful in a way that the conventional and controlling hate but cannot ever fully destroy. Stubborn. Happy. Bastardous. Friends with bees. Highly disapproving of lawns. Full of wishes that will be carried far after I die. Glaceon: Edible.

Umbreon: If you had to choose between Leafeon and all the money I have in my wallet, which would you choose? Eevee: That depends, how much money are we talking about? Leafeon: Eevee! Umbreon: 63 cents. Eevee: …I’ll take the money. Leafeon: EEVEE!!!

Vaporeon: Heyyy Umbreon, how’s your… drink?? Umbreon: What do you mean drink? It’s coffee. Vaporeon: You sure?? Looks to coffee maker Umbreon: Looks to coffee maker Cement sitting beside the coffee maker Umbreon:…I’m on my third fucking drink right now, I should be dead. Espeon: Should we take you to the hospital? Umbreon: Yeah, probably.

[pokemonbiologyirlthetabletop]

Jolteon (#135)

Jolteon (#135)

Mutabellus fulgur

General Information: Jolteon have electrically charged needles that they can shoot at opponents. They have prickly personalities to match their prickly fur, and they have the ability to produce 10,000 volt lightning bolts. Interestingly, they have an electricity-producing organ in their lungs that creates soft sounds of crackling electricity every time the Pokémon exhales. The cells in their fur also produce low levels of electricity and static, so trainers beware when touching a Jolteon! Jolteons have high-strung personalities, easily oscillating between different strong emotions, and can be difficult to train. There is an old wives’ tale that a Jolteon’s rapid change in moods is what charges its electricity stores, but this has since been proven quite false, and Jolteons are just like that.

Habitat: Jolteons are most common around places with lots of electricity, strong magnetic pulls, frequent lightning storms, and of course, Thunder Stone sites. In practice, this means urban areas (especially cities, factories, and power plants) are popular habitats for Jolteons, but in the wild they can also be found in grasslands, steppes, arid climates, and any place where lightning storms are more frequent.

Diet: Jolteons, like their sister species Flareon, require high-calorie foods in order to thrive. This puts Jolteon as a firm omnivore, easily eating fruits, rodents, birds, and eggs… or old pizza or leftover mashed potatoes, things like that. Due to high energy needs, urban Jolteons in particular are known for being incredibly opportunistic– they will hunt for food when available, but are not opposed to rifling through human garbage. During the summer, when picnics and barbeques are at their peak, particularly daring Jolteons have been known to steal food directly from cook-outs and off of grills! Absolute nuisances.

Conservation: Least Concern

Relationship with Humans: Jolteons, as with all Eeveelutions, retain affection from humans even despite them being an absolute menace to picnics and cook-outs everywhere. Their rogue-ish charms and cute/cool factor definitely has something to do with it. But they also serve functional roles as well, not just because their entire line are super popular as starter Pokémon, but also because their speed and electrical powers are useful traits in human society. Interestingly, despite being both an Eeveelution and one of the fastest Pokémon around, Jolteons specifically manage to evade being unwilling participants in a lot of shady activities (such as Boltund Racing, etc.) in large part because of their prickly high-strung natures and ability to shoot electrically charged needles at anyone who harasses them. Typically, if Jolteons are involved in shady activities at all, they are rarely the victims of it, and are instead often the partners of those perpetrating them. To that end, “Jolteon Races” are considered far more ethical sports activities in the world of Pokémon Competitions, and legitimate such tournaments exist with high standards of ethical treatment. Pokémon Rights Activists often use Jolteon Racing as evidence that these sorts of sports can exist ethically, and make concerted efforts to persuade lawmakers to establish similar laws around shadier activities.

Worth noting, that while Jolteons are extremely capable of letting harassers know what they think of them, the species is still considered very emotional and high-strung, which means they must be treated with extra caution and care. They are not for beginner trainers, though this does not stop many new trainers from evolving their precious Eevee into a Jolteon and being wholly unprepared for its emotional needs. Jolteons are the mascot for a semi-popular sportswear brand, Jolts & Volts. This is because the founder of the company, a Jewish immigrant who fled Germany in World War II as a child, had a beloved Jolteon companion named Blitz who would famously run track and field together while growing up. Blitz’s great-grandson, Blitzchka, is the current mascot for the company, which remains family-owned. Jolts & Volts donates some of its earnings to Eevee Rescues and educational ad campaigns educating young trainers about the needs of Jolteons and the difficulties raising them, but also the rewards for a well-treated Jolteon is a companion for life– and for sports! Because of this moderately successful educational campaign, many sports players have Jolteons for companions, and the limited research into the matter seems to indicate that this is turning out to be good for most Jolteons to let out their high strung energy through sports.

~~~~~~~~

Hey guess what, if you like my stuff, this is my website where you can find other Pokémon I've written on and more information about the game that I’m slowly making! Check it out! I write books sometimes too.

[kyrodo]

Slightly different topic. When it comes to color schemes of course I like my sona's main colors: Blue, Black, and Orange in that order. Orange I never have by itself, I always want it accented to blue. Blue is mandatory unless it's purely black. Those are the identifying colors for me though. Occasionally I'll use Blue/Red/Black in games if the other scheme isn't available or doesn't look as nice (warframe). It is rare for game shaders to screw up red or blue. Not to mention I see Red as my character canon's demon mode color.

For other colors. I appreciate Red as a color scheme. I particularly enjoy monochromatic red with red being accented but in a bloody looking way, often with black or white as the main color. There are plenty of furry pictures that do that, and all the better with claws or bloody looking paws as I've seen a fursuiter use.

Pink I appreciate very much. Even before Choskey I grew to appreciate it more and more, first as a close to flesh color thing, so I saw it as sexy. Later because of the transgender thing, because it's cute, and because I deeply appreciate the femboy aesthetic. Oh and the crush on Enternode way back when helped a bit. Overall it is a very cute color to splash or main. I never use it personally except as an accent. Even Azu uses red and black as her main colors. But I appreciate it a lot even if not as a self identifying color.

The colors I seem to use the least are green, purple, and yellow. Yellow is close enough to orange sometimes that if I look at furry art I'll almost see it as self-identifying if used as an eye or accent color, in place of orange. Umbreon for example. Pokemon I tend to lean towards the yellow pokemon when it comes to favorites, like Jolteon and particularly Zeraora. I also see fire and lightning as my personal elements. That said I rarely use yellow directly for anything and for candy flavors and such like starburst I definitely don't like yellow. Any time yellow could be used, I find orange or red orange would be better suited and look nicer. For example the version of Indie Assault me and eltrotraw worked on you could tell whose build was whose by if the clock stage lighting was yellow or orangeish

Green I used to appreciate to some small degree, since Morgan and Shadetail from my roleplay days had it as their self-identifying colors. Shadetail too closely idolized Lorelei from Black Tapestries web comic by Jaakal, and used it as an eye color. Morgan was deeply connected to her irish blood, so she really liked green, and foresty colors in general. Green and Red. I can respect it as a favorite color but it is definitely not one I tend to use in anything. I never seem to find a time I would use it over any other color except when I'm playing around with my google lights.

Purple is Vera's color if I remember correctly. Purple I've never personally found much use for. I generally never use it even as a smart light color. I find it has the least viable use cases when it comes to personal preference. It is the color of mystery and according to my sister it's not even a real color. Just a color our mind managed to make-up when trying to decipher a wave length it can't actually see. It was also Sothe's color. Not much else to it really. I just don't really care for it. It's not ugly at least. I mean if you made a tron light cycle, just about all these colors mentioned so far would work, but I would be the least likely to use it over anything else.

The ugly colors are generally the browner colors. So off-green that's more muddy, green yellow, darker shades of orange or gold, tend to be pretty unappealing. Cyan/Torqoise I also find a bit weird but I'll take it over the other options.

Blue however is definitely my color. The "cool" color schemes I find very calming or very... cool. Very personally identifiable. Very comforting. I find blue shadings to be generally satisfying and hard to screw up. So in particular the mmd world I'm checking out MR MMD World, the blue fish stage, and the water stage are very solid for me and they really complement my blue avatar very well. It looks so nice and it reminds me why I like blue so damn much and why I consider it deeply ingrained into my very soul. My mind and body just deeply appreciates it on a level no other color can scratch and sees the color itself as a part of me. So when I see blue accented or blue main avatars or sonas in furry art, I tend to be quite receptive of them. From my perspective sometimes I question why others could possibly feel any differently, even though I know the world doesn't quite work that way. Anyway I like it, and the blue orange black thing always comes to mind whenever I see anything with a matching color scheme. I "relate" on a semi-personal level.

Orange I like flames, so it's solid enough when mixed with other adjacent colors. I generally don't use straight up orange for anything though, just strictly accent. The flame aspect of orange is why I like to splash it so much. Fire is also pretty cool, or pretty hot for me.

Black is simply preferable to white. I like my dark color scheme browser. It reminds me of the default color scheme my rp forum had, and it's easier on the eyes when using my monitor at night. Black is comforting too. Even though it is dark, darkness hides me, darkness lets me see others when they can't see me. So darkness is actually a good thing for me. I tend to wait when it comes to turning on lights and stuff, and occasionally I used to not turn them on at all and just sit in the dark, though it's not socially acceptable with room mates. And when it comes to shirts, I don't see why I'd wear anything that doesn't have black as the main color. And sona wise it makes a solid main fur color as well. It goes with anything just about so it's a very good filler color overall. It's also darker/eviler than white thematically, so that already makes it cooler than white. Dark magic and demons ftw. Black cat or black wolf it is definitely a a part of me as well. Any time I can customize my colors I'll always try to prioritize my colors first over anything else.

But overall blue seems to be my most deeply personal comfort color.

[queenofanime]

IM BACK with yet again, another req!! (Chaotic) headcanons of being bestfriends with Suga, Kageyama & Hinata (together), Noya and the Miya twins >:D Make sure to take care, drink water, eat well and sleep well!

Nishinoya, Miya Twins, Y/N

Very chaotic if you ask me. If you are an introvert, then that's not the group for you. I mean if you are, you actually were adopted by one of them because they are loud and messy, and hot-headed.

If you're an extrovert, then you just add to the chaos, resulting in an explosion probably.

Nonetheless, you end up having a lot of fun. It's always an adventure with these three.

Nishinoya likes to travel, see new places and meet new people. Osamu is a foodie. This combination forces both Atsumu and you to be adventurous and risk-takers.

Some places are amazing, some... well it's an experience right?

I can totally imagine the four being lost in the Amazonas or whatever. Nishinoya looking at the map upside-down, Atsumu being harassed by all fauna and flora, Osamu tiered and grumpy, while you're trying to actually find service.

So yeah, many places like South America, India, and Africa. Like many camping trips and all.

Overall, it's a group that's always trying new things. A boring day with any of them will never happen.

Although, you and Nishinoya will need to be able to go with the flow, and usually act like the bigger person because Atsumu is fiery. He does like certain things and he gets whiny when things don't go his way. Osamu might be slightly more cool-headed but in reality, we all know they share the same DNA so he also likes his accommodations.

One time, Nishinoya managed to book a camping trip last minute and the accommodations were horrible. Osamu was very unhappy.

Picture the serie 'Friends', Monica getting sting by a ray... yup, with this group, it could happen.

******

Osamu: *Screams*

Atsumu: *Screams louder to establish dominance*

Nishinoya: Should we do something?

Y/N: No, I want to see who wins.

******

Y/N, setting down a card: Ace of spades

Nishinoya, pulling out an Uno card: +4

Osamu, pulling out a Pokémon card: Jolteon, I choose you

Atsumu, trembling: What are we playing?!!

******

Sugawara, Kageyama, Y/N, Hinata

Whenever you hang out with Hinata or Kageyama or both, you just end up playing volleyball or doing something related to the sport.

When you just hang out with Suga, it's a different story. More life outside volleyball.

Now, I could tell you Suga is a mother hen but I'd be lying. We all know he is just as chaotic as kagehina, but hey! So are you!

Unlike another certain *ahem* group, your chemistry works perfect.

I'd say the dynamic it's a little more balance. Plus your group has a third year in it. Suppousuly more mature.

Like Suga is very good at reading people/situations, unlike Kageyama. If you're shy, then Hinata will balance it out.

I think the group would include more stay-at-home reunions, rather than going on various trips.

Although you would take some adventures because 1) Hinata is a social butterfly and 2) He has the stamina of a beast, so it's obvious that he will want to do anything all at once.

Overall, this group would be a 100% supportive, like they always have your back no matter what

Murdered someone? No worries, they'll burry it

Stress? They will help you or get your mind off. Sad? Lots of cuddles

******

Suga: There is no future. there is no past. do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet. Hinata: Y/N: Kageyama: Everyone Else At Suga’s Surprise Birthday Party: Hinata: All I asked was if you wanted to cut your birthday cake first.

******

Suga: Why are Y/N and Hinata sitting with their backs to each other? Kageyama: They had a fight. Suga: Then why are they holding hands? Kageyama: They get sad when they fight.

[aforrestofstuff]

forrest im gonna catch up on the manga and i haven't read it in m o n t h s but before that can i get your official, murata-sponsored summary of events?

yes i am asking for the most bullshit explanation of what ive missed that your brain can come up with

Yeah sure I’ll tell you where everyone’s at, more or less. Thanks for asking, I hope you’ll catch up soon! It’s getting kinda interesting actually.

Murata didn’t wanna sponsor this bc I broke into his house last week but it was kinda his fault because he forgot to take my key away so… he is aware of it, at least. I hope that’s good enough.

Genos: got his batteries stolen and dumped by his cyboyfriend—tried to save tatsumaki, lost all his arms and legs to a bunch of little dust mites and is now lying on top of her trying to mitigate the damage while watching Seinfeld reruns.

Zombieman: has the tightest little ass on this side of the hemisphere. Going to jail for indecent exposure and assaulting a homeless man. Also, lived underground for a brief amount of time before rent got too high and emerged like a little groundhog. Has pebbles up his ass canonically.

Fuhrer Ugly: turned into a giant booger and then died because he fell over.

Black/Golden/Platinum Sperm: uhhh still alive. Kinda just bullying Genos and evolving as a side hustle.

Silverfang: got beat up and robbed by some teenager outside of a 7/11. Is currently on the floor crying. Canonically gets bitches.

Bomb: also got beat up and robbed by some teenager outside of a 7/11. Is currently on the floor crying. Canonically gets no bitches.

Garou: Also lived underground for a brief amount of time before rent got too high and emerged like a ugly shit idiot groundhog. Is now faster than the speed of light, has a little exoskeleton like a cockroach, literally just bounced around for a few pages just to kill like 3 people, and now he’s here and 95% naked. Currently looks like a Jolteon. Canonically gets no bitches.

Fubuki: unconscious

Tanktop Master: unconscious

Tatsumaki: unconscious

Homeless Emperor:

Psykos: unconscious?

Bushidrill: unconscious

Okamaitachi: unconscious

God: Big dick. On the moon. Can set people on fire by looking at them. Currently on trial for murder of a homeless man. Plead not guilty. Verdict will come next chapter.

Drive Knight: sitting by the fireplace in his laboratory drinking some of that Abuelita Hot Chocolate and feeding Nyan some of that Friskies tuna flavored can o’ shit.

Metal Knight: “I told you so.”

Child Emperor: got promoted to Team Manager at the age of ten. Also lived underground for a brief amount of time before rent got too high and Puri Puri Prisoner was sent to evict him.

Sekingar: lost an arm. Became 1000% hotter. That’s it. That’s his arc.

Metal Bat: Ran 25 straight miles to the fight and is learning to cope with his concussion by beating Black Sperm into little splats on the concrete. Thinks brain damage is just a concept invented by big pharma. Canonically has a single brain cell.

Puri-Puri Prisoner: backbone of the operation. Is currently being crushed under the weight of being the responsible one, for once. Has surprisingly not violated his probation this entire time.

Superalloy Darkshine: I deadass don’t remember, actually. He cried for a while and then was cool for like a single page before getting conked so uuuh unconscious, maybe?

Iaian: Gay awakening via Superalloy. Is sent on a quest for the Moon Blade by proxy.

Atomic Samurai: Nearly died. Got a cool sword. Nearly died. Rooted for King. Nearly died. Is now obligated to go on a lifelong quest for the counterpart to his cool new sword. Might also have another near-death experience.

The Council of Swordmasters: dead as hell.

Spring Mustachio: Left the scene to go to therapy. Will come back to the HA after he has a doctor’s note saying he’s fit to get fucked up again. Golden Ball proposed, it was a big thing. They’re gonna get married in 11 years.

Evil Natural Water: turns out his weakness was being punched a lot of times really fast so he’s now just Natural Water, I guess. He costs 99 cents at your local supermarket and looks like this:

Saitama: has now arrived at the scene via DILF teleportation.

Manako: has now arrived at the scene via DILF teleportation.

Flashy Flash: has now arrived at the scene via DILF teleportation. Also has a juicy ass.

Blast: has DILF teleportation.

King: killed all the cadres AND God with his ultra megadeath lazer beam and is canonically the strongest person to ever live. Saitama fears him.

[sapphitedreams]

HAIKYUU WEEK 2020 ── Day 4, Favourite Haikyuu!! Pairs : IwaOi, KuroKen, BokuAka.

1. Oikawa / 38. Ninetales / 350. Milotic - Yes, I gave him all the pretty Pokémon because he is so damn beautiful. I felt like he would be the only one dedicated enough to love and tend to a Feebas until it evolves. And when it does, just imagine: a dais, a red carpet, and a throne, Oikawa with his majestic Pokémon. YES.

4. Iwaizumi / 57. Primeape / 214. Heracross - I somehow felt the need to give him something completely opposite to Oikawa. Primeape was such an easy choice too, I mean, look at them. The spikiness, the angry expression, plus the two of them going after Oikawa and his sassy Pokémon together??? Then, there’s Heracross that represents Iwa-chan’s soft side, because I personally think it looks intimidating but is actually a roll, like Iwa-chan!!

1. Kuroo / 726. Torracat / 745. Lycanroc (Midnight Form) - Okay for the first time, colour had a huge part to play in deciding. Look at how cohesive they are? Torracat is an obvious choice cos CAT and also are we going to talk about how the Alolan Starters fit both Bokuto and Kuroo a little too well??? For Lycanroc, it was lowkey the hair hahah. I imagine Kuroo bringing that Pokémon to practice too cos it has long ass arms.

5. Kenma / 135. Jolteon - Don’t have much to say besides, cat. With big ears. Able to charge your console on the go. Jolteon will get along with Kuroo’s Torracat too and they’ll have cute cat kneading moments together until someone gets either paralysed or burned. Perfect.

5. Akaashi / 405. Luxray / 448. Lucario -At this point, I don’t really know why I paired every HQ!! setter up with majestic, royalty-worthy Pokémon. I swear I’m not biased. I guess the colour coordination helped me decide, but mostly it was the fact that Akaashi deserves cool, collected beings to help him deal with what’s coming next.

4. Bokuto / 723. Dartrix - An owl with an owl. This Pokémon probably has a close relationship with Akaashi and they both discuss strategies to deal with Fukurodani’s No. 4 together. They get to school and Dartrix is just like to Akaashi: “okay you take over I didn’t sleep last night because Bokuto wanted me to teach him how to fly”. Then, Akaashi pats it on its back and nods knowingly. Okay, now, imagine Bokuto trying to impress both his Pokémon and Akaashi at the same time while they try their best to look entertained. I’m here for it.

That was long and I only chose two from each school. I still didn’t manage to squeeze in Shiratorizawa ;; Here’s my ideas for them anyway: Ushijima - Exeggutor, Rufflet. Tendou - Claydol, Rapidash. I hope you enjoyed it!! Check out Part One for Karasuno boys if you haven’t already!

See my other graphics here!!

[lilacslovers]

wow the new concept art for the next gym leader in pokemon swsh looks neat /j

anyways heres what the numbers list!

1) Lilac’s Rotom Motorbike in Sparkling Black. (Shiny Rotom)

2) Her bike helmet along with her leather jacket for her Motorbike

3) Her electric guitar with Female Pikachu tail sticker.

4) She doesn’t get angry a lot, but has funny angry faces.

5) She does get very flustered easily (writing reads: Um...)

also heres some quotes she would say in the game (* ^ ω ^) (warning: really long....)

Introducing herself in the first battle:

“Hello there, Gym Challenger. I’m Lilac. You look like a very strong individual with very strong Pokémon, so I’ll be pushing your limits here today! No hard feelings though, right~ ♪ ?”

Upon sending out her final Pokémon:

“Down to my last already? You’re quite wonderful, you are!”

Upon activating Gigantamax:

“Well then, I guess I’ll have to be more tougher on you. It’s time to bring on the storm, my dear Pikachu!”

Upon using G-Max Volt Crash:

“I don’t mean to be such a brute to you, but you’ve left me no choice! G-Max Volt Crash will give you an electric shock!”

Upon being defeated:

“Hm... You’re fantastic, but... A loss like this can still hurt my heart...”

After being defeated:

“I’ve never seen more energy in a Pokémon team like yours!”

“I’m glad you were able to brace my team’s power. I think you’re going to go quite far.”

“Here’s the Electric Badge you’ve earned.”

“I can’t wait to see you on the big screens! I have high hopes for you and your team, and I know you’ll seize the opportunity to make headlines pretty soon. Now, take care out there!”

Wyndon Stadium (Champion Cup Locker Room):

“Hello once again! I knew you wouldn’t disappoint. But, to be honest, I can’t wait to put in my all when we get to battle again now, haha ♪ !”

Sordward and Shielbert Post-Game:

“P-Please stay back! You know, Electric-type Pokémon can get quite zappy when angered...”

“It’s horrendous though, Piers! I’ve managed to handle a couple Pokémon that have Dynamaxed... But the rest are just... too much!”

“You lot want to help? Well... That’s alright, as long as you all stay careful around this one Pokémon in the pitch.”

“Alright! Everyone, let’s go and calm this little- I-I mean, quite big - Pokémon!”

After defeating Dynamax Jolteon:

“Ahaha, what a relief! Looks like the thunderclouds have drifted away from the stadium... and away from my mind as well!”

“Please don’t worry about the rest of the Pokémon in the stadium, I think they’re a lot more weaker than that one. My Trainers and I can handle those.”

“Hey, <player>? I know we’re gonna battle again someday, but if you need me for whatever else, call me! Oh, and all I really have to give is one of my League Cards, if you’re alright with that...”

After receiving her Rare League Card:

“Sorry for any troubles! I promise I’ll make it up one day to you lot! Thanks for helping little ol’ me here, haha...”

Wyndon Stadium (Champion Cup Rematch):

Before battle:

“Hehe, well look who it is! Make sure you’re on your toes, I’m not gonna stall around for anything, you know.”

Upon being defeated:

“You grin and bear just about everything... Your voltage is ever so high.”

After being defeated:

“How do I sustain such force like you do? I never wanna think that my team is weak...”

Isle of Armor Random Encounters:

First encounter:

“Oh! Why, hello! What a surprise to meet you here, <player>.”

“It’s always good to get some extra training in. That’s why me and Pikachu are practising our Electro Balls! Isn’t that right, Pikachu?”

If found in the Forest of Focus:

Clear weather:

“This place is so vast and empty... But, sometimes wild Pikachus like to come by mine! It’s a good thing they’re mostly friendly...”

Cloudy weather:

“Ah, the sun’s clouded over... Now, it’s quite cold... I would’ve worn a long-sleeved Electric Uniform shirt of mine, but I hate how tight the sleeves are...”

In foggy conditions:

“Oh, no! Not fog... Pikachu’s moves aren’t gonna be that effective in the fog! O-Oh well, we can always try practising again after the fog’s cleared up...”

In harsh sunlight:

“Ah...! Too bright, too bright! Pikachu, can you even see in this weather...?”

During rain or thunderstorms:

“The rain is very nice, but the loud crash of thunder can be too harsh... Pikachu seems to love it a lot though. Must give her the burst of energy she needs!”

During a sandstorm:

“In this sandstorm I can’t see a thing...! I would look around, but sand would end up in my eyes...”

If found by the Workout Sea:

“The cool water is just wonderful to soothe me and my Pokémon... Oh, did you know? Electric-type moves are super-effective against Water-type moves!”

If found in Brawlers’ Cave: (says one of these two quotes)

“Wow... It’s so dark in here! Pikachu, if we left you in here long enough, would you turn into a Morpeko?”

“This place makes me remember the time Gordie and I wandered about in some caves... He wanted me to see some Rock Pokémon, so I thought I would tag along! It was a great break away from work, to be fair...”

The Crown Tundra:

Wyndon Stadium (Galarian Star Tournament) (also where a lot of lilakuwa is bc its the only thing i can actually write (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)):

Compliments to other Trainers before battle:

Gordie

“Gordie, your battle style is impeccable. Let’s shock them with our abilities put together!”

Replies to other Trainers before battle:

Piers

“We’re like a little band! Except, you’re kinda a boring bandmate ‘cause you don’t do encores.”

Opal

“I-I’m not sure what the whole ‘pink’ metaphor means, but I’ll try my best to be ‘pink’ for you, Ms. Opal!”

Conversations in battle with other Trainers:

Allister

“You can do it, Allister, even if you feel like you can’t! Keep on pushing yourself!”

Piers

“Keep on singing, Piers! Let’s give them an electrifying performance!”

Replies to other Trainers in battle:

Gordie

“Ahahaha... Thanks for your kind words, Gordie! N-Now I’m kinda flustered...”

Opal

“Our Pokémon types are a very cute mix, Ms. Opal!”

Upon sending out her final Pokémon:

“My final Pokémon is just eager to show her power off to you!”

Upon activating Gigantamax in the Galarian Star Tournament:

“My Pikachu is all charged up! Show off your Gigantamax form, Pikachu!”

Upon being defeated in the Galarian Star Tournament:

“Another loss... I’m completely aghast.”

After being defeated in the Galarian Star Tournament:

“You completely cut off our circuit! Though, I suppose the good battle makes up for that...”

[plusultrakincore]

Hi hi!! Purple is one of my favorite colors too! And yeah I do love Scorbunny a lot, it was a really important pokemon in my swsh canon and I just love rabbits in general, I have a pet rabbit irl! He's very cute I love him. Also to answer your question, I don't really vibe with having a trainer as Chandelure! I don't have many memories for it though so that might change. And I love Cynthia! I barely managed to win her bw2 battle hhsj. Anyway, I wish y'all a good day/night! Take care! -🌟

❥ That’s so sweet omg!! Rabbits are so soft and playful (most of the time, I know they’re quick to being grumpy/mean too). I’ve had a friend with some before! They were really calm and just vibed a lot. The only pets I’ve owned are dogs and cats, though I really want a snake or a hedgehog someday. My swsh pride and joy was my galarian Meowth!! But that’s a cat so I’m not too surprised 😔 but that’s fair! About the trainer stuff; some of mine didn’t (like Zeraora) but some did like Lana’s Popplio and my canon as Jolteon being Cynthia’s, it’s always just neat to see the differences with everyone! Hopefully you’re able to get memories someday! — OH MOOD THOUGH. No matter what game she destroyed me every time; she’s probably one of the hardest fights or at least Champion battles in my opinion. Cynthia is definitely my personal favorite, I have a bias because Sinnoh was my first full pkmn game experience as a kid! Her theme slaps!!!! Her team is epic! Aaaagh shes so cool,,, fun fact I’ll leave off with! Her eng voice in the anime is the same as Dawn’s! 🌸

As always thank you for even taking the time to do this with me!! It’s one of my new daily highlights tbh... I hope you enjoyed the 4th and that you have a wonderful night!! 🖤

[letswritefanfiction]

Pokémon Alphabet Challenge: V is for ‘Verse

Can also be read on ffnet here.

-

When he barged in, he immediately saw that the Battle was already over, and she was shaking the hand of a young boy in front of her. Whether the Battle had ended in win or defeat for her, Ash didn't know, but he also didn't slow down for her to make it through formalities. Once he was fairly sure that the echoes of the pool wouldn't distort his voice, he shouted, "Misty!"

In the empty arena, his voice spread like water, touching every wall and sounding almost like he had shouted from within the pool itself. Misty's head shot up at the sound of her name and soon she was standing ramrod straight.

"Ash?" she asked in a terrible shock. "What are you doing here?"

He ran right up to her, one hand on her shoulder, one on her cheek, then one in her hair, and one taking her hand. Then he grinned.

"It's you. It's definitely you."

 -

It had all started with a simple mission from Lusamine.

Well, it was from Lusamine, but it definitely wasn't simple. Simple was fighting and capturing the Ultra Beasts. Not simple was trying to find the root cause of why so many Ultra Wormholes were opening up in the first place, and why Ultra Beasts kept on coming through them. As far as the Aether Foundation knew, the only ways to open Ultra Wormholes were through Legendary Pokémon like Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma, sometimes through the Ultra Beasts themselves, and through the machine that they had created. And theoretically no similar machinery was in use anywhere else.

Not that it was the job of the Ultra Guardians to research any of the strange phenomena going on. But there were two sentences from Lusamine and Professor Burnet that locked them into this job nevertheless.

Lusamine: "We've hit a standstill on our research at the Foundation and we'd like to check out things on the other side."

Professor Burnet: "I've noticed a strange uptick in Ultra Wormhole-like energy emanating from you kids and Lusamine since you returned so, if you're up to it, you're probably the best candidates for the job."

That's how they came to be the lead explorers of Ultra Wormholes. And it was going great! Until that time they didn't manage to make it to Ultra Space at all.

They'd been growing increasingly familiar with Ultra Space. Sophocles had nicked a few more rocks and taken them back to Alola for study (that first one was still just for him, though). They'd also deferred to Rotom Dex to record videos and whatever data it found. So it was immediately evident when they came out the other side of a Wormhole and, instead of landing in a dark wasteland defying even their most rudimentary physics knowledge, they were dropped in a very normal-looking forest.

The first one to voice everyone's alarm, Lillie, asked: "Um, where are we?"

"Are we in Lush Jungle?" Mallow asked.

"No, the foliage is wrong," Kiawe answered. "This isn't a jungle; it's a forest."

"Kiawe's right!" Rotom Dex exclaimed. "The flora here doesn't match any that I have anywhere in Alola."

"It looks kinda familiar…" Ash said as he began to wander around. "Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

"How can you tell?" Kiawe wondered.

The forest didn't seem to have any particular markers or anything else to make it stand out. It looked like any other forest anyone had seen ever. The ground they were on seemed relatively well-trod, so perhaps they'd found themselves on a part of a main trail. But aside from that…nothing.

"No, I swear I've been here before," Ash insisted. "See! Look!"

Sure enough, Ash ran over to a wooden board that had been hammered into the ground.

"Viridian Forest," he read confidently.

"Where's that?" Sophocles asked.

Sophocles looked even more nervous than Lillie. He was frowning, eyes darting this way and that, even shivering a bit as he stood there in his Ultra Guardian suit. And his thin eyebrows were nearly overlapping each other. Lillie, on the other hand, had taken Mallow's hand and was looking at Ash with determination.

"Viridian is the big city closest to Pallet! We're just outside it right now. Oh, don't worry, Sophocles; we'll be fine. I'll get us out of here in no time."

"O-Okay," Sophocles said, his muscles beginning to relax a bit.

"I can't see the Ultra Wormhole for the trees," Lillie said, looking up at the sky. "I'm not quite sure how we're supposed to get back home from here."

"If worse comes to worse, we can always take a boat home," Lana said. "It should only take a few hours."

"I guess that's true," Lillie agreed, though she couldn't help but continue looking at the sky with concern.

Just then, everyone noticed a buzzing sounding from deeper in the forest. "What's that now?" Mallow asked.

"Uh…" Ash began to look a bit more worried and Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "Nothing we haven't dealt with before…"

"Hold on!" Rotom Dex cried. "If I record that sound, I can match it to—"

It didn't get to finish, though, as Lana shouted one word that made the situation very clear to everyone.

"Beedrill!"

The swarm burst through the trees, heading right for them, stingers at the ready.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu made quick work of the Beedrill, sending them all off flying the other way with the single blast. It wasn't enough to terribly injure the Beedrill, but enough to spook them and let them know that more pain would be involved if they didn't turn tail and return to the forest.

"Whew, glad we took care of that," Ash said as Pikachu fell back to his shoulder.

"Pikachu's so great!" Lillie exclaimed.

Before the buzzing had even fully faded, a rustling came from further in.

"What now?" Sophocles groaned, back to looking nervous, now hugging Togedemaru to his chest.

"I'm not sure," Ash said uneasily. "Stay alert, Pikachu."

"Chu." Pikachu raised itself to all fours, still on Ash's shoulder, fur raised in spikes like a Jolteon.

Pokémon broke through the brush, stomping through the bushes and looking at the Ultra Guardians with disdain. But these weren't the Pokémon Ash was sued to seeing in the Viridian Forest. In fact, members of the Weedill, Caterpie, or Pidgey lines were nowhere in sight with the arrival of their new visitors.

"Those are three angry Kangaskhan," Rotom Dex whispered.

Nobody breathed as the Pokémon began to circle around them. This must have been nesting territory. Or maybe Pikachu's Thunderbolt had been just enough for them to feel threatened. Whatever it was, these Pokémon were big, and their power rippled off of them in the form of bulging muscles, barely hidden beneath armor-like skin.

"Does this happen often, Ash?" Lana whispered.

"Can't say it does."

Before they could begin strategizing a plan of attack, from the distance they heard: "Golduck, Confusion!"

The Confusion traveled in a tight circle, encompassing all three Kangaskhan, but not touching any of the Ultra Guardians or their Pokémon. The move froze all the Kangaskhan in place, and they heard the same voice that called the Attack cry out again:

"Run!"

And they did. Ash led the way, leading the group—hopefully—out of the forest. Fortunately, like Ash had said, they weren't far from the edge and soon came across a clearing with the view of a city in the distance. Then they noticed that another boy had joined their group. A boy Ash quickly recognized.

"Gary! Wow, thanks for saving—"

"Red, what were you doing back—oh. Sorry, I thought you were a friend of mine. He has a Pikachu too."

Ash blinked at their new addition, not immediately seeing any differences between him and Gary. They had the same spiky hair, brown with shades of auburn. Ash couldn't see a single difference in facial features, and he even wore a yin and yang necklace like Gary used to have. It was uncanny. But, to Ash's knowledge, Gary didn't have a Golduck. And he wouldn't look at Ash with the vacant expression of a stranger that this boy was wearing.

"No, my name is Ash, but you look exactly like my friend, Gary," Ash said with a grin on his face. "Isn't that cool?"

"Amusing coincidence," the boy said dryly, as though it wasn't amusing at all. Then he continued, "Anyway, I see you all are Trainers. If you're going to travel through the Viridian Forest, try to be more prepared. It's dangerous here."

"I don't think so," Ash said. "And I've spent a lot of time here."

"My mistake," the boy said. "It just looked as though the lot of you were about to let yourselves get attacked by those wild Kangaskhan. If you're here all the time, you should know that Kangaskhan never stop attacking when they think their child is in danger."

"Well, there aren't usually Kangaskhan here!"

"There have always been Kangaskhan here."

"We would have been able to handle ourselves just fine," Kiawe stepped in, interrupting the two boys.

"Good to know. Then I won't worry about you as I research the disturbance that seems to have occurred here."

"What kind of disturbance?" Lillie asked.

The boy sighed. "I'm not quite sure, but I just received data reading that there might have been a dimensional disturbance in this area. And my scanner says that there's otherworldly activity near here."

The boy showed off a large tablet that had some sort of a graph on it.

"Oh, that was probably us," Sophocles said. "We just came here via an Ultra Wormhole."

"A what?"

"An Ultra Wormhole," Lillie repeated, taking over for Sophocles. "We've been exploring another dimension called Ultra Space through them, but this time we seem to have landed here in the Viridian Forest instead."

"Well, that would explain the strange get-ups," the boy muttered to himself, looking over the group again in the matching uniforms Lusamine had given them. "Let's say I believe you. Would you be willing to tell me and my friends what you know?"

The Ultra Guardians looked at each other, reading one another's faces to try and get a gauge on what they were all thinking. Then Ash turned to the boy with a smile, their previous squabble forgotten. "We'd be happy to! Hey, what's your name?"

"Blue Oak," the boy said. "Viridian Gym Leader and grandson of the great Professor Oak."

At that, everyone gasped, looking at Blue in disbelief.

"Y-You say you're Professor Oak's grandson?" Ash asked.

Lillie turned to Ash and said, "Um, Ash…strictly from a theoretical point of view…I think we may be in another dimension after all."

-

Blue said he was obligated to take them to the Champion in order to figure out what their next step was. But they had to figure out a way of getting to him.

The first obvious solution was Kiawe's Charizard—and it turned out that Blue had one as well—but that would hardly be enough for the seven of them. Then, to everyone's surprise, Blue called out, "Green, I know you're hiding in the bushes listening, so please come out."

A pretty brunette popped out of the bushes, a big grin on her face as though she reveled in getting caught. She came straight over to Blue and put a hand on his face. "What's the matter, baby? Too proud to admit that you need my assistance?"

The Ultra Guardians—aside from being surprised by the girl's spontaneous appearance—all recoiled a little at the intimate gesture and pet name. Blue, for his part, kept a straight face, as though she wasn't stroking his face in front of a group of strangers. "Could we use your Pokémon to meet with Red?"

"What's the magic word?"

"Please?"

"Not good enough."

Blue sighed. "Pretty please?"

Green clapped her hands together, looking quite pleased with herself. "That'll do. Come out everyone!"

With a flourish, Green reached into her bag and released a number of PokéBalls into the air. The Alolan crew watched eagerly to see what Pokémon she would show off to them. But then, simultaneously, their heads all tilted to the side in confusion and they released a group: "Huh?"

There before them were three pink, blobby Pokémon, none of whom the Ultra Guardians associated with flying.

"What are we supposed to do with them?" Kiawe asked, nose wrinkled at the strangely unhelpful Pokémon. "A Wigglytuff, Jigglypuff, and a Ditto?"

"Fly, of course!" Green answered. As she said the word, her Wigglytuff began to get larger before their very eyes, expanding and, eventually, floating off the ground. When it was about five feet up, Green grabbed onto its leg and she, too, lifted into the air.

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Sophocles said.

"None of these Pokémon are capable of learning the move Fly," Rotom Dex confirmed, taking on a confused expression itself.

"Maybe things are different here!" Ash exclaimed, the only one of the lot to have already overcome his disbelief. "Pikachu, do you think you could fly here?"

Pikachu then began to puff himself up like the Wigglytuff had only to deflate a few seconds later and shake his head sadly.

"Okay, so two Charizard, a Wigglytuff, a Jigglypuff, and a Ditto," Lillie summarized. "Assuming we're all going, theoretically, that still leaves us three short."

"Just two, actually," Blue said as he released another Pokémon. A Scizor, which none of the Ultra Guardians had ever seen Fly before either. "But you guys should probably return your Pokémon to lighten the load as well."

Sophocles, Mallow, Lana, and Lillie returned their respective Pokémon, but Pikachu, of course, stayed out. Blue looked at him expectantly, and Ash explained, "Pikachu doesn't like his PokéBall, so he always stays out here with me."

Blue shook his head. "Figures."

"We're still two short," Mallow said, bringing them back to the task at hand.

"Leave it to me," Green said. "Ditty, Transform!"

Somehow, without further instruction, Green's Ditto began to grow and shape shift into a large, green serpent, orange tendrils bursting out of it. But it was in the air the whole time, certainly, and inarguably, flying. And certainly a big enough size for a number of them to ride on.

"Meet Rayquaza-Ditty!"

"Rayquaza?" Ash asked, looking a little bit surprised. "That's not quite what I remember Rayquaza looking like."

First of all, its markings were all off, and it was missing notches that Ash remembered on its body. And he certainly had no memory of the streamer-like orange bits that were coming off of it.

"Whatever, it's our interpretation of a Mega-Rayquaza. A friend described it, and this is what we came up with."

"Wait, so your Ditto can transform into other Pokémon without even having seen them? It can just approximate?" Lillie asked.

"Not just that," Green said with a wink. "Ditty can turn into anything!"

"Anything?" Lana asked, wide-eyed.

Rotom Dex's screen began to glitch a little as it said in a panicked voice, "Does not compute, does not compute."

"Literally," Green said to Lana, "Correct use of the word 'literally' too, right, Blue?"

Blue rolled his eyes. "That's right. Now let's hit the road. Who knows how much time we have before things start going haywire around here."

But as far as Ash and the gang were concerned, they already were.

-

Ash was immediately confused when, instead of flying west towards the Indigo Plateau, where he expected the Champion to be, they flew north-east towards…well, he didn't know. And he couldn't ask Blue about it either, because he was being lifted by his Scizor while Ash had taken his Charizard, being one of the few to have experience riding one. As they passed over towns, though, he was able to keep track of where they were. It was easy to spot Mt. Moon and then, before he knew it, they were descending into the heart of Cerulean City. He'd know it anywhere.

"Why are we in Cerulean?" he asked as those who had offered flying Pokémon returned them to their 'Balls.

"Because it's where the Champion spends most of his time nowadays," Green explained with a wink.

As the crew began walking behind Blue and Green, they noticed they were heading straight for a nondescript building. It had no interesting features or architecture to hint at what it might be, except for some large lettering on the outside. And once it came into view, Ash had one question.

"This isn't the Cerulean Gym?" Ash cried out, the almost-statement really coming off as more of a disbelieving question.

"It can't be!" Sophocles agreed. "This isn't what the Cerulean Gym looks like!"

The first time Ash had seen the Cerulean Gym, it had been kind of a corny circus-tent-looking building with a big Dewgong on the front. Then, it had been rebuilt to look more intense and challenging. All glass and sharp angles—something to be taken seriously. And he didn't know much about architecture, but it had to be the architectural focal point of the city, he was sure. This one before him was just a block with some windows. It got the job done, but it was hardly eye-catching.

"But here, it does," Blue said as they made a beeline for the front doors. "And it is."

The sliding glass doors opened up automatically for them and they found themselves in a fairly spare lobby, not looking much more interesting than the outside of the building would imply. There were some paintings of various Water Pokémon, basic chairs, a couple plants, and an unmanned reception desk.

The lot of them just stood there for a minute, and the Ultra Guardians were confused.

"Uh, are we supposed to tell someone we're here?" Mallow finally asked.

"Not necessary," Green said as she reached into her pocket. "This'll take care of that."

And out of her pocket came a red tablet. Rotom Dex immediately flew over.

"Ooh, an older style Pokédex! May I see? I want to check out what functions it has!"

Green held out the 'dex. "Sure! And you're about to see one of its functions in action."

As Rotom started scanning the Pokédex, Blue pulled out his and held it out next to Green's. After a moment, they both began beeping. Rotom flew back, eyes wide.

"What's that?" Sophocles asked in alarm.

"Just give it a second," Green replied.

For a minute, all they heard was the beeping of both Pokédexs, but eventually Lana said, "I hear another one."

Sure enough, there was a faint beeping coming from further in the Gym, growing stronger by the second. And then another boy, about the same age as Blue and Green, entered, Pokédex in hand. When he appeared, they all put their Pokédexs away as if on cue, and the beeping stopped.

"Very interesting!" Rotom Dex noted.

"Hey, guys; what's up?" he asked. "Who're your friends?"

"Not friends; more like lost Mareep," Green said. "Guys, this is Red, Indigo Champion."

"A Champion," Kiawe repeated, sounding impressed. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Aw, thanks," Red said. "Oh, wow, a Pikachu!"

Red ran up to Ash and Pikachu and reached out a hand. Ash started to say, "Hey, wait a minute, he doesn't like just every—" but Red was already caressing Pikachu's cheek just the way he liked it.

"Awesome! What do you call it?"

"Um, Pikachu?" Ash answered with confusion.

"Huh, that's funny," Red replied. "No nickname? Here, meet mine!"

Red took out a PokéBall and released a Pikachu in front of them. It was a Pikachu, no doubt, but definitely different from Ash's. It was a little squatter, stockier almost, though nevertheless in great shape. Its cheek sacks were a tad smaller and not quite the perfect circle's that Ash's Pikachu had, plus the marks on its ears were shorter.

"Meet Pika!"

"Not really a unique nickname," Sophocles whispered to Kiawe, who couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Pika and Pikachu excitedly made their way over to each other and gave a few sniffs. Then they turned around and locked tails, taking part in a Pikachu handshake.

"Incredible!" Rotom Dex exclaimed, taking pictures of the encounter, and taking note of Pika's measurements.

"At least that's the same in this universe," Ash commented, smiling at the Pikachu.

"Hey, guys! Did I miss anything?"

Just as Pika and Pikachu were separating, in walked a face that everyone found familiar.

"Misty!" everyone said in unison.

Everyone except Ash, that is, who shook his head and said, "No, that's not Misty."

Pikachu seemed to agree with Ash. Instead of leaping for her like he usually would, Pikachu stayed firmly planted on Ash's shoulder, if anything, retreating further from her.

"Is it one of her sisters?" Lana asked.

The girl tilted her head and looked at Ash strangely. "Actually, I am Misty. The Cerulean Gym Leader. And I don't have any sisters."

"No," Ash insisted. "Your hair is different. It's not as spiky and your bangs are thicker. And you're supposed to have three sisters."

Rotom flew up in front of Misty's face, bringing up its camera. Misty's face took up half the screen, while an image of another Misty—the Misty all the Ultra Guardians knew—showed up on the other half. Rotom declared, "They're a ninety-nine percent match! Almost the same, but not quite!"

"Hold on, I'm stopping this now before we really go into crazytown," Blue inserted. "All of them claim to have come here from another universe through a portal called an Ultra Wormhole. And I thought we should tell you, Red, the Champion, before figuring out our next step."

"Is there another me in this universe?" Misty asked, looking at the whole group with continued confusion.

There were vague affirmations, but all of the Ultra Guardians looked just about as confused as Misty did. Except for Ash, who was still looking at Misty with a scrutinizing stare. His eyes just about bugged out of his head when this guy, Red, put an arm around her waist and pulled her close. But no one said anything about it, so he didn't either.

"I'd love to help," Red said, "We've been noticing interesting phenomena in the region for the last few months that we haven't been able to get any leads on and it would be great to get some answers. But I'm not sure exactly what it is that you want."

"You see," Lillie started, "usually we travel through an artificially created Ultra Wormhole, and then we travel back through that same one to get home. But when we flew here, I noticed that the Ultra Wormhole wasn't visible in the sky where we must have come out. So now we're not sure how to get home."

"Can you create a new one?" Red asked.

"Not exactly," Lille said uncertainly. "Certainly it's possible, but, assuming you don't already have the technology, we'd have to create it. And none of us have the knowhow for doing so."

Red nodded very seriously at her and then put a hand behind his head and said, "Yup, that's definitely a problem."

Misty elbowed him in the ribs. "Babe, that's not really a helpful thing to say."

Babe?

Ash squirmed a little, but said nothing as the conversation continued around him.

"Well, since we have no current solution to our problem, and it'll likely stay the same for a while," Mallow asserted, "why don't we just see what we can do to help you guys out and then return to this little dilemma when we're done?"

"I think that's a great idea!" Green said.

"Why don't we go to my house?" Misty offered. "Get comfortable as we get to know each other?"

And that's how they came to be in a house that shouldn't exist, in an unfamiliar Cerulean City, in an unfamiliar Kanto region with no apparent way home.

-

The Misty Ash and the others knew lived at the Gym. The first floor of the building was the Gym proper, and the upstairs was their living area.

This Misty lived in a mansion.

They had been accompanied—by servants!—to an enormous sitting room with ornately upholstered chairs and couches that most everyone was afraid to sit on. But Misty and her friends plopped down and made themselves comfortable, which gave the Ultra Guardians the confidence to do the same. Misty dismissed the servants, but no sooner did she do so than another showed up with lemonade and shortbread cookies. No one in the group would have known what to do with themselves, if they'd all not had a little taste of this on their visits to Lillie's mansion.

Once that song and dance was done, Rotom was the one who jumped into action, wanting to share everything it had recorded in the past few months with Red, Blue, Green, and Misty. Apparently in this version of Kanto, there was no knowledge of Ultra Beasts at all, or the powers of the Legendary Pokémon of Alola, although their myths—probably not myths, everyone acknowledged—still seemed to exist. It showed footage of Ultra Space and the Pokédex entries for the Ultra Beasts that they had encountered. And everyone patchworked together the story of how they'd discovered Ultra Beasts in Alola—their Alola—and how they'd ended up in this new universe.

"Does that sound at all like what you've been experiencing in your region?" Lillie asked when their tale was told.

"I'm not sure," Red answered. "There have been no sightings of any reported 'Ultra Beasts', at least not yet."

"That's not to say that there aren't any," Green added.

"Right. But the opening and closing of Ultra Wormholes is still a possible explanation for what we've been seeing in the data."

"And what exactly is that data?" Sophocles asked.

Red looked to Blue for the answer. Blue sighed. "The long answer is that humans have always had an interest in other dimensions, particularly in how they relate to Pokémon. A number of Pokémon have been said over the centuries to come from other dimensions—mostly Ghost Pokémon which, as it turns out, is basically true—but actual research into it has been slow."

"Because it's so complicated?" Sophocles asked.

"Yes, it's difficult to access other dimensions, especially with any confidence that there will be few to no repercussions for doing so." Blue eyed the group. "As I'm sure you know."

Well, yeah they knew. Now. Maybe they hadn't put enough thought into what might go wrong in the exploring of other dimensions. They'd just fallen into it so quickly the first time that they hadn't really thought past doing whatever it took to save Lusamine. And they'd managed to perform so many trips without anything going wrong that it hadn't been on anyone's minds. After they made it home—if they ever did—they'd have to talk to Aether Paradise about having more failsafes in place.

"But the creation of Porygon-Z was probably the start of it," Blue continued. When he saw everyone's confused expressions he clarified, "Porygon-Z is an evolution of Porygon2, and its purpose supposedly was to be able to travel through alien dimensions. However, its creation was totally misguided and ended up an abject failure."

"Never heard of it before," Ash said.

"No data," Rotom Dex confirmed.

"Well, it's a human-created Pokémon, so maybe it doesn't exist in your world," Red offered.

"Anyway, about the same time that Porygon-Z was created, other dimensions really became a mainstream topic of conversation over in Sinnoh, where Dialga and Palkia actually opened up portals that people could travel through. Following that, there was a spike in research, specifically in the Sinnoh region, then Johto, then the technology spread to here."

"And we hadn't really needed it," Red said. "Until these past couple months. We have scanners that are supposed to show spikes in interdimensional activity that have basically been inactive for a few years now. But suddenly…"

Red trailed off with a shrug, but everyone knew what he meant.

"Well," Sophocles began, "judging by the fact that your Misty seems about the same age as our Misty, we can reason that our timelines must about add up. So if you guys have had this uptick in activity at the same time that we have, well, that can't be a coincidence, right? It has to be the Ultra Wormholes!"

"Otherwise how else could we explain ending up in your universe?" Lillie added.

A buzzing began emanating from Misty's watch at that point, and she looked at it with furrowed brows. "I'm gonna take this," she said.

Before standing up to leave, Misty and Red shared a chaste kiss on the cheek, and then she left the room to pick up the call. Once she was out of range, Mallow looked to Red, eyes dancing.

"So, are the two of you dating?" she turned to Blue and Green as well. "And you and you?"

Red scratched the back of his neck in an eerily familiar gesture and said, "Yeah, we—I mean, of course, yes. We are."

Ash, who had been petting Pikachu, froze in his motion. Usually, Pikachu would nudge him, trying to get him to pick back up, but instead he licked Ash's arm, trying to send a little comfort his way.

Green said, "What, me and Blueykins over here?" She poked a finger in his cheek.

"She's very different in private," was all Blue said.

"What can I say?" Green trilled. "I'm a performer."

"More like a trickster," Red corrected. "But yeah, they're seeing each other too."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Mallow said. "I'm happy for all of you!"

"Thanks, Mallow!" Green exclaimed. "I guess when you're in a group it's hard not to fall into dating each other. Though it looks like you all have avoided it somehow."

There were a few blushes throughout the Ultra Guardians as they either glanced at each other or completely tried to avoid eye contact.

"Yup! Somehow!" Lillie squeaked awkwardly, eyeing Sophocles who was licking his finger and swiping the platter on the table in order to get every last crumb of shortbread.

From his spot in Ash's lap, Pikachu looked up at Ash and gave him a toothy grin, wagging his tail into Ash's chin a bit. Ash's brows furrowed in confusion, but he began petting Pikachu again, figuring that's what his buddy wanted.

"Well, it looks like it's time to check your all's theory," Misty said soberly as she walked back into the room. "There's been a strange sighting outside of Cerulean that they want me to check out. Red, you wanna come?"

"Of course, babe," Red said, popping up off of the couch.

"We'll come too," Blue said, standing up and holding out a hand for Green.

"Sounds good to me," she agreed.

"Wait, we wanna come too!" Ash declared, leaping up.

Kiawe was the first to follow. "He's right. It's basically our job, after all, to handle these kinds of situations."

"Maybe in your world it is," Misty said. "But in this world you're civilians, so it's really best if you stay here."

"Actually," Lana started, "we don't legally exist at all in your world, so it shouldn't matter either way."

That rendered the others silent. No one could refute that.

Misty sighed. "Red, you're the Champion. It's up to you."

Red looked over the group once again, and grinned. "Well, look at them. They're already in uniform, right, so let's give 'em something to do!"

-

The group headed west outside of Cerulean, this time on foot, since flying had proven a bit of a hassle with the lot of them. Fortunately, whatever strange being had appeared outside Cerulean had been polite enough to stay on the outskirts and not jump in to terrorize the city.

"This should be the area," Misty said once the group had made it onto the Trainer paths.

"Must be," Blue said, taking out his tablet. "My scanner is showing even higher numbers than before. There must be an otherworldly creature here."

"Fascinating," Rotom Dex said, looking over his shoulder.

There seemed to be no sign of it, though. Mt. Moon was in sight and the Cerulean skyline was in the background, but there was not a strange Pokémon in sight. Spearow and Rattata, yes, but nothing that wasn't native to the Kanto region.

"How does this usually go?" Blue asked, turning to the Ultra Guardians.

"It's pretty simple," Ash said. "We find the Ultra Beast, catch it, and then return it to the Ultra Wormhole."

"Except we have a few problems with that," Mallow stated. "We don't know where the UB is, or an Ultra Wormhole, much less how to reopen one, and, Ash, do you even have any Beast Balls?"

"Beast Balls?" Green asked.

Without answering the question, Ash rifled through his pockets. "I have one," he answered, pulling it out to show the group. "Better make it count."

"Cool," Red said, getting up close to the 'Ball to look. "Man, I wish Crys could see this."

Ash bristled, pulling the 'Ball away. "Can't afford to lose this one," he said curtly, putting it back in his pocket quickly as Red pulled back.

"So that's one problem down," Kiawe stated. "Now it's about the UB and the Ultra Wormhole."

"Um, guys?" Lillie asked, her voice suddenly taking on a nervous tone that no one had heard in months. "I think I found it."

It took a few seconds for anyone else to spot what Lillie had, but sure enough, flitting between the trees was the only Ultra Beast that would draw a reaction like that out of Lillie: Nihilego.

"It's okay, Lillie," Mallow said, going to her friend and rubbing her arm.

"No, I know," Lillie said, frowning and looking seriously at the Pokémon. "I'm not afraid, Mallow."

"You know, you actually kind of look like it," Green said offhandedly.

Lillie turned to Green in shock. "W-What?"

"Well, with the hat. And then its tentacle…things kinda look like your hair and then legs. See?"

"No, I most definitely do not see!" Lillie exclaimed indignantly.

Green shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever. Just saying."

"Alright, everyone, stand back," Ash said, stepping in front of the group. "This is Nihilego, one of the most dangerous Ultra Beasts, so you'd better let me handle it."

"What makes it dangerous?" Blue asked. "It looks like a normal Pokémon to me."

"It's true that my mother's foundation has decided to classify UBs as Pokémon now," Lillie answered. "But this one has the extraordinary ability of merging with a human and taking over its mind. That's why it was originally classified as UB-01 Symbiont."

"It's a parasite," Sophocles summarized.

"So we should probably disarm it first so that it can't Attack any of us," Red said. "Maybe paralyze it or put it to sleep?"

"I've battled one of these before—I know how to handle it," Ash said firmly, ignoring Red's suggestion.

"Ash, Red's an expert battler," Misty said. "We could all work tog—"

"I've got it! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

The Attack made direct contact with the Nihilego, who turned to Pikachu and Ash with new focus. Then a tentacle lashed out, nearly grabbing Pikachu before he leapt to the side. Then another came and soon, Pikachu was zigzagging all around the field without an opening to get a hit in.

"Rotom, what type is Nihilego?" Red asked quickly.

"Nihilego is a Rock and Poison Type."

"Really?" Blue asked in disbelief, looking at the jellyfish-like Pokémon. He wasn't sure what his guess would have been, but a Rock Type sure wasn't it.

Red, meanwhile, was already in action. "Poli, go! Use Water Gun!"

Out of his PokéBall came a fully-Evolved Poliwrath who instantly began firing a thick spray of water at Nihilego, knocking it away from Pikachu.

"That's how you do it!" Misty cried.

Ash frowned. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out Type effectiveness," he grumbled just loud enough to be audible. "Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

The move just about connected with Nihilego when one of its tentacles shot out and wrapped around Pikachu, squeezing him tight as it moved to consume him like had happened to Lusamine.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in alarm, instantly running towards his partner. He only made it a few steps before an arm reached out to stop him.

It was Kiawe.

"Ash, no," he said, looking his friend firmly in the eye. "You'll only get yourself hurt like Lusamine."

"But Pikachu—"

"Look."

Kiawe pointed toward Pikachu and Nihilego, where Poliwrath was using another Water Gun to keep Nihilego from latching. Then Ash had an idea.

"Pikachu, if you can, use Thunderbolt when the water hits you!"

No response came from Pikachu, but when the water blasted him, his cheeks charged up, and a shock of electricity took over both himself and Nihilego, who dropped Pikachu to the ground. Pikachu scampered back a little and Ash grabbed him up and hugged him.

"I'm so sorry, Buddy. I should have known better than to use a Physical Attack."

"Pika cha," Pikachu said by way of accepting his apology. Then, in his fashion, he jumped down and landed in a power pose, ready to restart the Battle.

"That was a good move," Red said to Ash, a grin on his face. "Let's continue to pool our power!"

Ash nodded. "Right. Pikachu!"

"Poli!"

"You know what to do!"

Together, both Pokémon shot out their strongest Attacks yet, Pikachu's Thunderbolt wrapping around Poli's Water Gun and heading to hit Nihilego at full strength. When the Attacks connected, Nihilego faltered and nearly fell to the ground. Lana patted Ash's arm.

"I think it's time, Ash," she said. "Give it all you've got!"

"Right!" Ash reached into his pocket again. "Beast Ball, go!"

Ash threw the bright blue PokéBall, and its light wrapped around Nihilego. The 'Ball fell to the ground and began to shake. Everyone ran over to it and watched as it wobbled from side to side.

"It has to work," Lillie murmured as she held her hands over her mouth.

And, sure enough, the 'Ball relaxed, locking shut, and the Nihilego was caught. Ash picked up the 'Ball and pocketed it once more.

"Glad that's over with," he said. "No sweat."

"Right," Misty said wryly, looking at him with an arched eyebrow. Ash's brows furrowed at the comment, but he didn't say anything.

"Hmm, this is interesting," Blue said, his scanner out once again. "According to this graph, there's still some interdimensional activity going on."

"Do you think it could be an Ultra Wormhole?" Sophocles asked.

"Could be. I mean, I wouldn't know. But I doubt it, because the levels are lower than back at the Viridian Forest, and there must have been one there in order for you all to come through, right?"

"That's right," Lillie answered.

"It could be another kind of activity that we've encountered before," Red offered. "The Ghost dimension, the Distortion World…"

Blue shook his head. "The different kinds of energy read separately on here. It's definitely the same kind of energy that the Ultra Beast had."

"Maybe it's still Nihilego, even though it's in the Beast Ball?" Kiawe offered.

"I don't know…"

"You don't think…" Green started, looking around at everyone, then only at Blue. "You don't think it's them?"

Blue's eyes never left his device, but his lips pursed to form a thin line on his face. "Maybe."

"You know…that's kind of like what Professor Burnet said," Lillie reminded everyone quietly.

"But what would that mean?" Sophocles asked.

Blue shook his head.

"I don't know."

-

"I have a hypothesis," Lillie finally said.

The group had been in contemplative (relative) silence for several minutes, trying to sort out what to do with the new information that Blue's theory might provide them with. It would be nice to have Lusamine, Burnet, or Wicke at a time like this but, unfortunately, they were forced to find the conclusions on their own.

"What?" Lana asked.

"Let's say that we have a kind of residue on ourselves from traveling through Ultra Space. Maybe it's basically like a scent. So the Ultra Beasts can sniff it out and are drawn to us once they arrive in our world. Er, worlds."

"That would explain why our first spotting is after you all arrived," Blue said.

"And so close to where you were," Misty added. "And far from where we think the Ultra Wormhole is."

"Right, right, exactly!" Lillie agreed, getting excited. "If this is true, then we could use Nihilego to sniff out the Ultra Wormhole. At least, if we can find a way to mask our own presences."

"And then it might be able to open the Wormhole for us to follow through and back home!" Sophocles finished for her.

"Exactly," Lillie said. "Then it'll just be a matter of if we end up in the right world or not."

"And we'll deal with that when it comes," Kiawe said.

The group smiled. Once again, they had a plan. And an interesting theory to bring back to the Aether Foundation.

"You know what?" Mallow said suddenly, "This makes me feel a little fonder towards the Ultra Beasts."

"Even Nihilego?" Sophocles asked. Of all the Ultra Beasts that the Ultra Guardians had encountered so far, Nihilego had to have been the toughest, and the most damaging thus far.

"Yeah!" Mallow exclaimed. "It's like…they can't help it, you know? They're following us for a sense of home. They yearn after us like, I don't know, like they're in love with us! I, personally, feel flattered."

"Love?" Lana asked with a little snicker.

"Uh-huh! It's just like when that Dewpider thought that you were a Dewpider and was following you! They can't stop thinking about us, they wanna be around us all the time, they feel better when we're there—I'm assuming. I'm going to choose to see this as flattering."

"That does sound a little bit like love," Misty said, gazing at Red fondly. He smiled back at her and took her hand, giving it a little squeeze.

Ash watched all of this, eyes narrowing at the interaction between Misty and Red. Then he turned to Lillie determinately and said, "Let's go back to the Viridian Forest and find that Ultra Wormhole."

"Is there anything else you need of us?" Lillie asked Blue.

Blue shook his head. "No; I'd just like to see if this plan works."

"I guess we're flying again," Kiawe said, taking his Charizard's PokéBall back out.

"Actually," Green said, taking out one PokéBall instead of her previous three. "I've got you covered."

-

"Why couldn't we have thought of this last time?"

Kiawe was rolling his eyes and wearing an expression that he usually reserved for when Ash did something especially off the beaten path as the whole group stood back in the Viridian Forest, all holding hands, with a Mew in the middle of them.

Except the Mew then immediately dissolved back into the amorphous blob that was Green's Ditty.

Green shrugged with a playful smile on her face. "Oopsie, didn't think of it."

"We made it there anyway," Blue said in her defense.

Instead of enduring the long(ish) flight on strange Pokémon, this time, Green had told everyone to hold hands as she took Blue's and put on hand on her Ditto. Ditty had transformed into Mew, and then she'd called it to use Teleport, and they were exactly where they'd been when they'd first arrived in this universe.

"Now we just need a way to shroud ourselves from Nihilego," Lillie asserted. "But since we don't know exactly how it hunts us, I'm not quite sure what that shroud should entail."

"Ditty?"

Without another comment out of Green, Ditty began growing and slowly covering the Ultra Guardians with its squishy body.

"I didn't mean—!"

Lillie's exclamation was cut off as she was entirely covered by Ditty's body. Ash barely managed to throw Nihilego's Beast Ball towards the others before all the Ultra Guardians were completely engulfed in a thick, pink goo.

Red caught the Beast Ball with some difficulty, shaking his wrists out and wincing. Misty took them in her hands a rubbed a little, Red looking at her gratefully. They still weren't the same.

Blue, meanwhile, was looking at Green with amusement. "You didn't have to do that. You don't even know if this will do the job."

"But we also don't know that it won't. I think there's a good chance, since now they're totally covered in something from our world. And Ditty can completely vacuum seal them off."

"Then we'd better do this quickly," Blue said, gesturing to Red. "So they don't run out of oxygen."

"Right." Red nodded. "Beast Ball, go!"

He threw the Beast Ball in the air, and Nihilego flew out. The group watched closely to see if it acknowledged where Ditty was currently covering six human bodies and a Pikachu. It glanced about, but didn't seem to pay them any particular mind, instead turning its attention to the sky.

"I wish we would have tested this out with them first, to see if Nihilego was drawn to them without Ditty covering them," Blue said.

"Too late now, babe," Green replied, putting an arm around him. "Let's just watch and enjoy being the first ones to witness this mysterious being in our world."

"Not sure why you guys always have to be the people experiencing this region's 'firsts,'" Misty commented. "But there definitely is something cool, if rather dangerous about this."

"All in the job, Mist, all in the job," Red said.

Nihilego seemed to poke around the space before settling on a particular corner of the sky. It glowed for just a moment, hardly noticeable, and then the sky began to open up. It was like the sky had been made of glass all along, and Nihilego took a chisel to it and cracked it. Everyone intoned sounds of awe as the Wormhole opened up, and Nihilego slipped through it.

"Okay, better release them now, Green," Blue said. "They have to get up there before it closes again."

"And I've got just the idea for that!" Green declared. "Ditty, magic carpet!"

At Green's word, Ditty rolled up on one side, revealing the Ultra Guardians, who all gasped at the introduction to fresh air again, and then pushed itself under them, toppling them to the ground. Then, before anyone could get their bearings, they were all rising up in the air, towards the Ultra Wormhole on a floating carpet-Ditty.

"That was incredibly dangerous!" Rotom Dex declared as it floated above the group. "The oxygen levels—"

"Whoa!" Ash shouted, interrupting Rotom. "This is so cool!"

"I'm not so sure about that!" Sophocles called out in a worried voice. While Ash was pushing himself to his feet and looking down at the shrinking ground, Sophocles was on his knees, clutching onto the edge of the false 'carpet' for all he was worth.

"Thanks, Green!" Ash called, waving down at the group below.

"Yes!" Mallow cried out, now standing up as well. "Thanks for everything, guys!"

"I hope you have good luck!" Green shouted back.

"Me too," Lillie said just loud enough for the Ultra Guardians to hear. "I'm still worried we won't end up in the right dimension."

"Don't worry about that, Lillie," Ash said, casting one last glance back at the four down on the ground. "I know just how I'll know for sure."

Ash ignored the various looks the group was throwing towards him and looked down at Ditty.

"Alright, Ditty," he said. "I'm going to need you to fire us into this thing as hard as you can. You ready? One—"

"Wait, I'm not ready!" Sophocles shouted.

"Two…"

"Get ready, everyone!" Kiawe cried.

"Three!"

And with a bounce, Ditty shot them into the Ultra Wormhole, and everyone crossed their fingers, hoping that this time, they ended up where they belonged.

-

Even though they'd followed Nihilego in, just like last time they ended up missing its world of Ultra Space completely, instead landing on a sandy beach.

"Oof, rough landing," Mallow said, rubbing her bottom before pushing herself up to standing.

"We made it to Hau'oli City Beachfront," Lana observed, a note of excitement in her tone.

"That appears to be correct!" Rotom Dex agreed. "It matches my data one hundred percent!"

"But did we make it to our Hau'oli City?" Kiawe asked, also standing up, then reaching over to help Sophocles.

The group couldn't miss seeing the Ultra Wormhole disappear from the sky, leaving them alone on what was hopefully their beach.

"I told you guys I would figure it out!" Ash said, jumping up from the sand, Pikachu still on his shoulder. "Kiawe, I need your Charizard."

Kiawe took a step back, looking at Ash with confusion. "What would you need with Charizard?"

"I need to fly somewhere," he insisted. "C'mon, you know I know how to ride it."

Slowly, Kiawe reached for his PokéBall, but he continued looking at Ash skeptically. "And you're sure you'll know we're in the right place?"

"Positive," Ash declared. "Just need to take a short trip."

"Okay…"

Still with hesitation, Kiawe handed Ash Charizard's PokéBall, and Ash was quick to call him there on the beach. He swept on the Pokémon's back with ease, Pikachu hopping in front of him for easier travel. Then Ash kicked off, and they were in the air.

"But Ash, where are you going?" Rotom Dex asked, trying to follow him a ways.

"I'll be back in a few hours!" he called, ignoring Rotom's question.

Kiawe's eyes bugged out. "A few hours‽" he cried. "Why?"

"Just need to be sure!"

And before Kiawe could argue the point any further, Ash, Charizard, and Pikachu were but a dot in the sky.

-

He'd done a very similar flight in a totally different universe only a few hours prior. Only this time, instead of heading for a cement box, he was looking for a huge, glass arena.

It didn't take long to spot, which was his first hint that this was, indeed, his universe. He urged Kiawe's Charizard to descend and they came to a quick stop in front of the building. Ash had barely recalled the Pokémon before he was running in the automatic doors, Pikachu scampering after him to keep up.

When he was inside, he was looking around frantically in every direction, taking an extra moment before he noticed the wide-eyed receptionist behind the front desk. He ran up to her.

"Um, can I—"

"Is Misty here?" Ash asked, cutting her off without hardly realizing it.

"Uh, yeah, she's just finishing a Bat—"

"Got it—thanks."

"Wait! But there's only supposed to be one chall—"

The door closed on her before Ash could hear the rest of her sentence. He didn't care. He knew the rule, but he also wasn't a challenger, so he wasn't technically breaking it.

He was an old friend.

Luckily, from his recent visit, Ash felt fairly confident with the layout of the renovated Gym. He wasn't an expert by any means, but it was easy enough to make it to the Battle arena. After all, that was supposed to be the most accessible part of the Gym. Well, aside from the main lobby. When he barged in, he immediately saw that the Battle was already over, and she was shaking the hand of a young boy in front of her. Whether the Battle had ended in win or defeat for her, Ash didn't know, but he also didn't slow down for her to make it through formalities. Once he was fairly sure that the echoes of the pool wouldn't distort his voice, he shouted, "Misty!"

In the empty arena, his voice spread like water, touching every wall and sounding almost like he had shouted from within the pool itself. Misty's head shot up at the sound of her name and soon she was standing ramrod straight.

"Ash?" she asked in a terrible shock. "What are you doing here?"

He ran right up to her, one hand on her shoulder, one on her cheek, then one in her hair, and one taking her hand. Then he grinned.

"It's you. It's definitely you."

Misty blinked at him in confusion, a bright pink blush rising to her face. "Of course it's me, you crazy—uh, Theo, thanks for the great match; I hope you have good luck."

The young boy was looking at the two of them with vague alarm and didn't need any more of a dismissal in order to make haste out of the Gym. His footsteps echoed, his pace as fast as could be without breaking into a run as he left Ash and Misty alone in the Gym.

One of Ash's hands had dropped from her hair, but the other was still in her hand, touching the dry skin that she was never able to quite moisturize. His thumb was rubbing over the roughness and she blushed further, sure that there was no way Ash couldn't notice the particular shade of Tamato Berry that had taken over from her chest to the tops of her ears.

"It's you!" Ash said again, this time with a giddy little giggle accompanying his grin. "I can't believe it! Can't you see, Pikachu?"

Pikachu had, by now, jumped onto Ash's shoulder, and was nodding, squeaking out a "Cha" of agreement.

Misty looked at the Pokémon, noticing that he seemed far less alarmed than he would if Ash had truly gone off the deep end, which gave Misty some confidence. Ash was fine and, if she asked the right questions, she'd be able to figure out all that was going on.

"Why wouldn't I be me, Ash?"

Ash blew a raspberry, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Long story, but basically me and my school friends ended up in another dimension that had this guy who looked exactly like Gary and there was another version of you, but it wasn't you, you know? Your name was Misty and you were the Gym Leader but you looked different, and your hair, and no sisters, and you were dating this guy and just…Wow, I'm so glad it's really you."

Misty blinked a few times, struggling to keep up with Ash's quick pace—she was out of practice—but at least it all generally made sense. Well, Ash-sense. Sense for what she knew Ash's life often tended to be.

"Okay…" she said slowly. Then she smirked and, once again, Ash was perfectly sure that he'd caught the right Misty. "Who was my boyfriend?"

Ash frowned. "He was the Champion. Some guy named Red."

"Red?" Misty repeated. "That's awfully strange."

"Yeah, and his friends were named Blue and Green and he had a Pikachu too and he'd named it Pika."

For a moment, Misty tried to suppress her smile but before she knew it, a full-on laugh fell out of her. "Of course that's the kind of weird world you would find, Ash. I'd expect nothing less."

"Yeah, well, it's whatever. I know he was the Champion—whatever that means in that world—but he was whatever. You could do much better."

Misty stiffened a little. She and Ash were best friends and in all the time they'd spent together they'd chartered all kinds of different territories of conversation. They'd left nearly no stone unturned. But this wasn't the kind of thing they talked about. Outside talking about Brock's dalliances. It just wasn't.

"Well, thanks," she said uneasily. "But I guess I hope that Misty and Red are happy together."

Almost reluctantly, Ash said, "Yeah, I guess they seemed happy. I mean, they weren't, like, lovey-dovey or anything, but they touched and stuff."

Misty was suddenly much more aware of the feeling of Ash's hand in hers. Was this the kind of touch that Ash had seen her double and the Champion do? Or were they kissing? How romantic or friendly was it and what did Ash see it as?

"I uh…" Ash's voice was quieter now, even raspier than normal. His whisper always made it seem as though his voice wasn't made for it. Like his voice was made only for yelling in Pokémon Battles and he was only to whisper when it was something really private. Intimate. "I didn't like it. Didn't like…watching it."

"Well, Ash…you've never really been one for romance, lovey-dovey or mild. I'm pretty sure I remember a lot of fake-gagging back in our childhoods." She didn't know what else to say. What he wanted her to say.

"It was all wrong," he continued. "Wrong Misty, almost you but not quite, and wrong guy. I'd hate to see you with a guy like that."

Again, she was at a loss. All she could say was, "…the Champion?"

"Just—some guy," Ash said, clearly growing frustrated. His voice was no longer a whisper, but it was still just as raspy; he was almost growling.

"Ash," she pleaded. She took a risk and grasped his other hand, "what are you trying to say to me right now?"

"I—" It sounded strong. It sounded determined. Then it deflated after only one note. "I don't know. I…I feel really confused."

"What's your instinct telling you?" she pressed. "That's always been what you've had luck in. What you've trusted most."

"I—I just…" He stumbled a few times, his eyebrows looking almost like his brain was going to burst through them. "I'm the only one I want to see with you. Like that."

Her voice was a whisper. "Like what?"

Ash continued to struggle. He raised their hands. "Like this." He put his hands on her cheeks and hers fell to his chest. "Like this."

He stopped and she could feel his heart racing a mile a minute.

"Like what?"

"Like this."

He narrowed the gap, and the first thing Misty thought was that she could feel Pikachu's leg tickling her chin. She smiled a little into the kiss. Then she thought, she was kissing Ash. Or rather, he was kissing her.

They pulled away before too long, both breathing heavily, both from the lack of air and the profound nervousness that had found its way into their chests and was pressing onto their lungs. Before thought had entirely returned to her, Misty said, "I'm going to have to go to this other universe and tell its Misty thank you."

"For what?" Ash asked, oblivious as ever.

"For this," she said simply. "For whatever it is that happened over there that made you come running from Gods know where to my Gym."

"From Alola," Ash said. Then he rubbed the back of his neck abashedly. He'd been filled with an almost manic energy from at least when he'd arrived back in this universe, if not earlier, and was only just starting to come down from the high. "I actually took Kiawe's Charizard. I told him I'd be back in a couple hours, but…"

"But what?" Misty asked, a little confused, and a little hopeful.

"I think I might need to send Charizard back without me," he said. "And I can catch up with them later."

Misty grinned goofily. "I guess we need to go to the Pokémon Center then."

Ash grinned back, taking one of her hands in his once again. "Guess so."

-

In order for Kiawe to learn that his Charizard was going to be returned via the Melemele Pokémon Center and not on a winged trip to the Pokémon school, Ash had to make a few phone calls. It took a few tries to reach one of his friends, but eventually he reached Lillie at Aether Paradise, where everyone else was as well.

"Ash, where are you?" Kiawe shouted, butting into the frame to make himself heard. Lillie leaned away and smiled awkwardly.

"You left us, Ash!" Rotom Dex added indignantly.

Ash blushed a little, embarrassed now that he had to explain his little episode. "Actually, I'm in Cerulean City."

"I have no idea why you decided you had to go there to confirm our universe," Lillie said. "The rest of us came straight here to speak with my mother and everything checks out."

"Well, except for how we ended up in the wrong universe, how we made our way back to this one, and why you're suddenly acting so strange," Sophocles listed, ticking off his fingers one by one.

"And why you took my Charizard!" Kiawe added.

"Your behavior has been a little strange, Ash," Mallow agreed, but with a tad more tenderness than either Kiawe or Sophocles.

"Yeah, sorry about that, guys, I know," Ash said. "The other universe, uh, made me realize that I had some…unfinished business."

"Hi, guys!" Misty said, choosing that moment to come into frame. A quick glance down at Ash and his reddening ears told her that she made the right decision in doing so.

"Hi, Misty!" Lana said enthusiastically. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy, Lana, and how are all of you?" she asked. "Sounds like you've had quite a day!"

"We have," Mallow agreed. "I'm sure Ash will tell you all about it."

"Oh, he already has."

"I have pictures!" Rotom Dex added.

"I'd love to see them, Rotom, thank you!"

"Ash, did you go all the way to Cerulean just to visit Misty?" Lana asked.

The words didn't come to Ash right away, so Misty took over, saying, "It seems like it was something like that."

"What about my Charizard?" Kiawe begged again, his voice hitting full desperation this time.

"Your Charizard should be arriving at the Melemele Pokémon Center as we speak," Misty said simply. "I hope that's not an inconvenience to you."

Kiawe's whole body curled over a bit and he breathed, "No, that's just fine, thank you, Misty."

"Wait, so, Ash, you're not coming right back to Alola?" Sophocles asked.

Ash looked at Misty and couldn't help the soft smile that formed on his face. "No, not right away. But soon enough."

"But Ash, we have school!" Rotom Dex insisted. "And how am I supposed to accompany you when you've left me in Alola while you're in Kanto?"

Ash laughed. "I won't miss any school, I promise, Rotom."

Meanwhile, the girls were all looking at each other with growing smiles on their faces. "I think I know what's happening," Mallow said conspiratorially.

"I agree," Lillie said. "It's the only logical solution."

"What is?" Sophocles asked.

"I can't draw any logical conclusions!" Rotom Dex agreed.

"Oh, you guys will figure it out someday," Lana said, waving them away.

"Are we right, Ash? Misty?" Mallow asked.

Ash and Misty exchanged another glance. "You may be right, Mallow," Misty answered.

The girls all squealed. Sophocles turned to Rotom Dex. "What could they be so happy about?"

Rotom Dex had a question mark pop up on its screen. "I have no data."

Ash and Misty laughed at the scene before them and Ash finally said, "Well, it seems like I don't have that much time here, so I'm going to make the most of it if you guys don't mind."

"We don't mind at all!" Mallow said waving at them through the screen. "Have fun!"

"Hope to see you all soon!" Misty said, waving back.

When all the goodbyes were said and done, it was just Ash, Misty, and Pikachu sitting in front of the blank video phone. Then, as though it had been their habit forever, Ash took Misty's hand as they both stood up, and they made their way out of the Center, Pikachu on his shoulder.

The truth was, he'd probably have to head back to Alola that night for school in the morning. And he'd hate to worry Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet about where he was. He'd return to his friends, the Ultra Guardians, and they'd probably be called to another mission soon enough, probably to research how things had gone so wrong today.

But for now, he could only be grateful that they had.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Gai’s Kanto Adventure Pt. 3

Another gym badge down, but it was not easy.

Unsurprising to Gai the third gym proved even more difficult than the previous two. So much more difficult in fact that he actually lost on his first attempt.

That loss was espeshally hard to face when Kakashi took his turn at the gym battle and won it, though Gai could see that even he was struggling to secure that win. After Rin’s attempt, and subsequent loss, Gai headed out to do some intense training so that he could re-challenge the gym leader.

After three days of intense training he returned to the gym. His Primate tried her best, but in the end it was his double kicking Pikachu that secured him the win. rin continued to train for an extra day and retook her gym challenge the next day, securing herself a third gym badge and officially allowing the group to move onto the next town.

With a third gym badge secured Gai, Kakashi, and Rin headed into diglettes cave for some more intense training. By the time they left their start pokemon were all level thirty, and Kakashi’s starter had found a thunder stone and evolved into a beautiful Jolteon.

Rin also managed to capture a chansey in diglettes cave which she immediately added to her team and which quickly became her new ace.

After a quick run through the rock tunnel, stopping only so Gai could catch himself a machop to add to his team, the three reached lavender town and followed a wandering cubone into the Pokemon tower.

While there Kakashi decided to challenge Gai to a battle to see just how much they had grown as trainers, because fighting in a pokemon grave yard is cool! (Did Kakashi just bury a pokemon that had passed away after his tough battle against the third gym leader? Yes. Was he in need of a pick me up? Absolutely)

Jolteon did not appreciate being brick breaked in the face and has yet to approach Gai for treats. He’s starting to miss the snooty little cutie who gained an even worse attitude with evolution

At the end of the day the three friends had some yummy curry (Kakashi had grilled fish) and decided to take it a bit slower tomorrow before challenging the next gym.

Gai’s team is currently made up of 2/4 actual fighting type pokemon, but he DOES have brick break on both Kakashi and Ningame to make up for them not being fighting types.

[thegoodgayshit]

Marvel Runaways/Pokemon AU

Yo whaddup, I got really inspired and I wrote a whole fanfic about Karolina and Nico having their starter Pokemon be in love. 

You can read it here if you’d like. 

 or you can read it here!

The Best Thing I’ve Ever Seen:

It was easy to forget that the six trainers were on the run from their parents, because adventuring together was so much fun.

Sure, Karolina knew that sometimes money was short, and that Alex or Nico losing a battle or Karolina losing a contest meant they might be short on ample food for a few days. But watching the five of her friends enjoying each other's company and raising Pokémon together was all she had ever wanted!

Once in a while, they even got to thwart their parents plans. Team Pride was always on the move, and always looking for some way to take the Pokemon world all for themselves. It was horrible, and it didn't make it any easier for Karolina and her friends. Nobody else knew after all, that the leaders behind the Teams horrible crimes were their own parents.

Alex's parents ran the actual business side of Team Pride, while Nico and Chase's parents worked on the production of pokeball's, pokedex's, and technology, Gert and Molly's parents were always creating the next best potion, and Karolina's parents… well her mother had been hunting legendary Pokemon since before she was born. She could only imagine what horrors awaited the world with all of these Region Superpowers working together. She didn't even want to think about it.

Karolina gripped the loops in her belt, where all her Pokemon were safely tucked away, and closed her eyes as she remembered the night everything went to shit.

She was frantically running around her room, throwing whatever she could in her backpack. She didn't know how much she would be able to carry, so she just brought the basics, some cash, her toothbrush and other personal items, a change of clothes. She wrapped the belt she had been given for her tenth birthday around her waist, one she had never worn for longer than twenty minutes. Girls like her, girls from Brentwood, didn't go on Pokemon journeys. It was unheard of.

She clipped it on quickly, reaching over to grab her only Pokeball. She snapped it on her belt and grabbed her last important item, her Pokedex, a bright vibrant yellow. She had to hurry, leave and join the others now before they came home. She froze as the door downstairs opened, and a very stern woman's voice yelling her name and charging up the stairs. Panicking, she opened her window and grabbed her backpack, sparing one last look at her childhood bedroom before leaping, and landing on her feet on the soft grass below. Without wasting another second, she fled, running through the trees to meet the only other people she could trust.

"Karolina?"

She snapped out of her trance, glancing around wildly. It was Chase, looking at her with concern.

"Are you alright? Gert made dinner, although just between us," his voice dropped to a whisper, "I don't know if it's safe to eat."

Karolina forced out a little laugh, not wanting him to be worried about her. The shock that came with discovering their parents' true identities left an imprint on all of the trainers hearts, even though it had been three months since they had run away. Karolina still couldn't shake the fear and despair she felt.

"Alright, I'm sure the Pokemon are hungry." She said, giving Chase a smile. The boy had clearly been training, probably battling with Alex or forcing his Pokemon to run with him. His hair was windswept, his face red, and he looked out of breath. Instead of his jeans and boots, he was wearing a muscle shirt and shorts with his sneakers. For someone so fit, it must have been quite the workout.

Karolina left the little cliff side she had been meditating on, joining the others at their temporary campsite instead. A small clearing on the outer edge of the forest they were passing through. There was a campfire roaring, and around it she could see Alex and Nico setting up a large tarp to sleep under. Karolina looked at the sky, though the sun was setting, she could see a series of clouds blowing through. There was a chance it could rain. She seriously hoped it wouldn't, it always left the people sleeping on the outside of the tarp area slightly damp when morning came.

As she and Chase got closer, she could hear Alex and Nico bickering while Molly and Gert were prepping the food onto plates they had snagged from a restaurant they visited a few towns back.

"I told you, we should have kept walking and found a cave or some other kind of cover. Nobody likes getting rained on!" Alex complained.

"And I told you, look around! Everyone's tired, we've been walking for two days now. The next town is still a few days journey and we need to rest." Nico hissed back.

Karolina resisted the urge to roll her eyes, the two were rivals after all, they couldn't help but getting in each other's faces. Instead of just watching however, she joined in on the debate.

"Guys, enough. Look, Alex you have a point, I definitely don't want to be rained on. But Nico isn't wrong. We've somehow managed to run into three different Team Pride goons in 24 hours, and we need to stay off the path and keep quiet. Besides, we have a river, which means we can clean up, and not to mention a good clearing up the hill to train."

Nico held out her hands smugly. "There! See Alex, this is the smarter move!"

Alex looked disgruntled but nodded nonetheless. "Fine. You're right, I don't want to go looking for trouble with Team Pride, but do you always have to side with Nico? It's getting old."

Karolina felt her face heat up, and she had a sneaking suspicion Nico's did too. She covered it up by looking away quickly.

"Ok, now that that's over with…" Gert said, clearly tired of the two bickering, "I have actual food ready! Soup, Salad, and noodles!"

Everybody sat down around the fire, Karolina taking a hesitant seat next to Nico, whose face was still cooling down from the teasing. Gert passed around bowls and everybody started to eat.

Karolina's mood quickly skyrocketed, it looked like Gert and Molly actually came through. Good food was hard to come by, especially things they couldn't make out of a box. Salad was impressive.

As if reading Karolina's mind, Gert bumped Molly's shoulder with pride. "Molly and Eevee were a real help! She picked all the veggies today."

There was a murmur of appreciation, and Molly flushed. "Thanks. Considering I'm 'too young' to battle like the rest of you, I might as well do something useful."

"That's because you are too young Molly." Gert sighed.

"I'm fifteen! Plenty of people are battling at my age."

"You need more training Molly." Chase said diplomatically. "You're coming a long way though! You really had Flareon and I going for a bit!"

Molly pricked up a little at the praise. "Well, if I can beat you does that mean I can enter a gym battle?"

Gert quickly shut down the conversation. "Maybe. Now let's talk about anything else."

"I spotted a strange looking Pokemon today." Karolina piped up. She was tingling with excitement, when she had seen it she wanted to go after it, but it was across the river and she knew running off would only cause panic with the others. "I don't know what it was, my Pokedex wouldn't reach that far. But it was very graceful, perfect for my contests."

"We sure are getting a lot of new Pokemon recently." Alex added, looking pleased. "The more Pokemon we train, the stronger we'll be."

Nico nodded. "Hate to say it but Alex is right, if you want Karolina, we can go look for it tomorrow."

"Yeah, for all we know there could be other interesting Pokemon we haven't seen." Chase encouraged. "Maybe we'll all catch something new!"

Gert suddenly jumped, as though electrocuted. "Shit! We forgot to give the Pokemon food!"

Everybody else looked guilty. They got so wrapped up in the conversation they realized Gert was right. Mumbling apologies to their belts, everyone reached over to their pokeball's and released their teams.

The first to appear were Alex's Luxio and Combee, Chase's Machop, Gert's Ponyta and Tyrunt, (who they had all been affectionately calling Old Lace since she grew a strange love of shoelaces) Molly's Budew, Nico's Houndour and Nuzleaf, and Karolina's Rockruff and Mareep. Once appearing the Pokemon looked at the food happily, and began to take some and converse amongst themselves.

The last Pokemon to appear were the groups starters, appearing in the order they always did. Alex's Vaporeon appeared looking regal, as though judging Chase's Flareon and Gert's Jolteon for appearing with energy and excitement. Molly's Eevee appeared with cute, blinking eyes, and finally came Karolina's Espeon and Nico's Umbreon, both standing close to one another.

A permanent reminder of their parents, who gave them all the best gifts any child could ask for. They had come back from a Team Pride meeting, (at the time, the six had assumed it was a charity event) with six pokeball's, one meant for each of them. The only rule they had been given was they could not open them before picking one.

"But how are we supposed to know if they're any good without looking first?" fifteen-year-old Chase asked, and his father gave him a withering look.

"Chase, as I've said before, Pokemon are not valued by if they are 'good' or not."

He visibly shrunk back, which went unnoticed by all the parents. Nico's mother Tina took the silence as a chance to continue.

"You probably noticed that most kids your age have Pokemon already. We wanted you six to know the value of Pokemon, and how essential they are to us. So, until today we made you wait."

Dale nodded, looking excited for the six of them. "But now you can have one! Trust your instincts, and choose wisely, they will be your friend for life!"

Leslie and Katherine on the other hand, looked a little uncertain.

"But there will be no journeying! You have responsibilities outside the Pokemon world." Leslie said.

"And absolutely no battling! It's not a competition to get strong!" Katherine added.

The six young teenagers eagerly reached for a Pokeball of their own, gripping one tightly. Karolina grabbed the one that seemed to draw her in, a calmer energy to match her excited one. When each teen had one, the parents took a few steps back.

"Now meet your Pokemon!" Geoffrey said with a smile, and the teens all pressed the button on their ball, and were met with six identical Eevee's.

"Evee?" They all cried, before glancing at their new trained with confusion and apprehension.

The stunned silence on all six kids was broken by the squeal Molly let out.

"They're so cute!"

As the others slowly approached their new Pokemon, Karolina gasped in awe as her own nuzzled her hand, looking completely at ease.

"But, they're all the same!" Alex said in confusion.

"Yeah!" Nico agreed, holding her very quiet Eevee to her chest. "I thought we had to trust our gut!"

Robert chuckled with amusement, and each parents face seemed to resemble the same look, even Victor.

"Well that's just it sweetheart! That's what the lesson was!"

"What, that every Pokemon is actually the same?" Gert questioned, and he shook his head.

"No no no, the lesson is…" He gestured to the Eevee's with pleasure on his face. "That you had to trust your gut and pick the Pokemon that spoke to you, because every Pokemon is different on the inside!"

Karolina remembered that day like it was yesterday. It had been three long years ago, and so much had happened since then. Alex, Chase, and Gert had evolved their Eevee's accidently at the Pride gala last year, when they had accidentally knocked down a table of stones. They laugh about it now, saying that everything happened for the best.

Karolina and Nico's Eevee's were the next to evolve. They had been battling secretly late at night and had totally lost track of time. As the sun was rising, the rays touched Karolina's Eevee, and the darkness remained on Nico's, and the two had evolved together. The others joked that Espeon and Umbreon were in love with each other, which made both Karolina and Nico blush. Karolina didn't know why the thought made her go red, because it was most certainly true. When released, the two were inseparable.

Molly's Eevee had yet to evolve. Molly didn't seem to mind though, when the conversation was brought up she would always affectionately pat her head and tell the others that she would evolve when she was ready. Karolina thought that was incredibly cute, despite Molly just calling it decency.

Molly's Eevee immediately leapt onto her lap and began eating food Molly would hold out for her. Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon bounced up to join the other Pokemon, but Espeon and Umbreon just wedged their way between Karolina and Nico and laid down, tails intertwining.

Nico hummed, stroking Umbreon's head. "Not hungry?"

In response, the sleek black Pokemon just chirped lazily and rested his head on his paws. Espeon cooed as well and did the same, leaning back appreciatively into Karolina's hand as she ran it up and down her purple body.

After dinner, everybody helped wash up. By the time they were done, the sun was beginning to set, and Karolina was ready to finish up the day with another quick rehearsal.

"Hey guys, can you watch my appeal and give me some tips?" Karolina asked, and the others nodded.

"Sure! You appeal's are so good!" Molly encouraged.

Karolina looked over at her Espeon, who was blinking at Karolina. She chuckled and waved her over. "Come on Espeon, one more run with Mareep and Rockruff and then you can sleep."

Espeon chirped in understanding, and slowly detached herself from Umbreon. When Mareep and Rockruff realized what was happening, they headed over too.

The five others sat down a good distance away, giving Karolina space to practise.

"Ok, so this is part of the new versions of appeals. Triple appeals are difficult, so we have to really practise to get it right." Karolina said, her nervousness shining through.

The others whooped and gave Karolina encouraging smiles.

"You got this Karolina!" Gert cheered, and Tyrunt roared in approval.

"Knock em dead!" Chase agreed, his Flareon bouncing in excitement.

Her Pokemon were straightening in excitement, but Karolina was still feeling a little nervous. She looked up and met Nico's gaze, and the black-haired girl shot her an encouraging smile.

"I've seen you do it before," she said, "you can do it now."

That was all Karolina needed. With a deep breath she nodded and began her appeal.

"Ok, Mareep use Electroball, and Espeon use Psybeam!"

The two Pokemon shot out the attacks as called, but instead used their energy to curve the attacks into one another. Mareep's Electroball was sustained in midair as Psybeam curved around it, holding the giant yellow electric ball up with a purple, yellow, and blue wavelike force.

"Rockruff, use Stealth Rock!"

Rockruff grunted and slammed his paw into the ground, causing shards of rock to fly into the air, circling around the Psybeam, and when Espeon dropped the attack, the Stealth Rock seemed to hold the electric ball right into the air.

"That's incredible Karolina!" Alex gasped. "How did you managed to figure out that Stealth Rock changes the gravitational pull inside the-"

"Shut up with your nerd talk Alex!" Molly groaned, "let her work!"

Karolina let out a little giggle at her friends faces, they all did seem very impressed.

"Mareep, confuse ray! Rockruff, attract!"

A purple ghostly orb shot out from Mareep, sailing around the golden ball of energy. Rockruff sent out little red hearts that soared around in the opposite direction, but the second they entered the Stealth Rock zone, they changed into a marvelous black colour.

"I know what she's doing!" Chase exclaimed, "she's mimicking space, and the Electroball is a planet!"

"Did you just get that now, Protein Powder?" Gert snapped.

"Guys! Shut up!" Nico growled.

Karolina was barely listening. Now was the moment that always went wrong. She had to focus and time it just right.

"Espeon, Future Sight!"

Espeon's eyes glimmered for a single moment, before it went quiet. Karolina hesitated for a moment, before nodding.

"Ok, use Swift!"

Espeon flicked its tail quickly, and a glimmer of stars sailed once around the Electroball before vanishing.

"Wow! Shooting stars!" Molly gasped.

Karolina nodded one last time.

"Rockruff! Rock Tomb!"

Slamming his paw down again, the ground lifted around the floating Electroball, and a pillar shot from the middle of it. For a brief moment, the Electroball flickered, and Karolina panicked.

"Now!"

As if someone heard her cry for help, a cloud appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and a thunderbolt fell from the sky, cracking into the Electroball causing it to explode. For a brief moment, Karolina had to squint as the light blinded her, before there was complete peace, and all that was left of the electric ball was sparkles that rained in every colour down from the sky.

Karolina let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and her friends all cheered.

"That was incredible Karolina!" Alex and Gert cried at the same time.

"That was SO COOL!" Molly yelled, and Chase didn't say anything, he just sat there stunned.

Karolina laughed and was encircled by her Pokemon, chirping excitedly.

"You did awesome guys! That was our best run yet!" She exclaimed proudly, giving them all a hug.

She did notice however, that one person hadn't spoken. She turned to look at Nico, giving her a searching look.

Nico's face was hard to read. It was swimming with pride, which helped calm her nerves right away. There was also wonder, and amazement, but there was also something else there too. Something she couldn't quite reach.

Nico had gotten up and walked over. Karolina froze as she lifted up her hand, and gently flicked a sparkle off of Karolina's shoulder.

"You know, I think that was the best thing I've ever seen. Ever." She said.

And meeting Nico's eyes, and seeing that strange glimmering look up close, Karolina knew she was telling nothing but the truth.

[radramblog]

5 Random Pokemon

Had a low energy day today so I’m just going to shit out some bad content, sorry lol

(post-writing this me checking in, haha you thought you weren’t going to put effort into this)

Hitting the ol’ random button 5 times and seeing what pops out is always fun, right? Anyway I’m just gonna do that and give opinions on what pops out.

Kingdra (#230, Water/Dragon)

Kingdra is the only Dragon type introduced in the second generation of pokemon, and since only the Dratini line were Dragons in Gen 1, it meant the type was still absurdly rare. Despite this, the game has not one but two Dragon specialising bosses, and one of them doesn’t even have one.

3 Dragonites does not a balanced team make.

Clair’s Kingdra is actually an interesting bit of game design. It’s unique (until Gen 4) Water/Dragon is an excellent defensive typing, having only one weakness (Dragon) since Water shores up Dragon’s Ice weakness and Dragon resists Water’s Grass and Electric weaknesses. The game is designed such that it is extremely unlikely you are able to hit that weakness- while the area on the way in to Blackthorn is full of Ice types (it’s… Ice Path…), Kingdra of course isn’t weak to those, and it’s exceptionally difficult to get a Dragon type or a Dragon move before fighting her. Without trading, you can’t get a Dratini at all before her in Crystal (in Gold and Silver it’s available in the Game Corner, but it’s fairly pricey), and the only other species to get a Dragon move is Kingdra’s preevolutions, Horsea and Seadra. The Dragon move in question, however, is Twister, the weakest one in the game. These limits effectively mean that Clair’s fight is substantially harder than Kingdra’s solid but not groundbreaking stats would suggest.

After you fight Clair, you get immediate access to tools that would have made the fight easier- she gives you the Dragonbreath TM so at least one of your party can deal with them, and Dragon’s Den is not only home to wild Dratini and Dragonair but also has a Dragon Scale, letting you evolve Seadra into Kingdra. In essence, you’ve proven you can beat Dragons, so now you can play with them yourself.

Vullaby (#629, Dark/Flying)

Vullaby, the preevolution of Mandibuzz, is a ‘mon that doesn’t get a lot of use in the main series games. It’s always a version exclusive and is often only available lategame (Black, Black 2, Shield) or postgame (XY, ORAS). I can’t think of a single major character that uses it or Mandibuzz on their team. I think it’s a shame that it’s so dorky looking, since it’s a neat design idea- a baby vulture with a skull for a diaper- and it’s bulky enough that it was able to briefly see Smogon play (granted, in the lowest non-LC tier, and only in Gen 6, but still). At least Mandibuzz is a genuinely excellent Pokemon in competitive Singles (doubles, less so.) and a fucking excellent design.

Also, it’s female only for some reason? I don’t get it.

Cloyster (#091, Water/Ice)

Cloyster is a great example of an early generation Pokemon that could have been overshadowed by later power creep but was given the tools to remain relevant competitively. It’s yonic design belies a monstrous 180 base physical defence, higher than anything else in the first generation, tying it for 6th highest in the franchise overall (9th including megas and the purposely overpowered Eternamax Eternatus), and decent attacking stats as well, though it’s HP and Special Defense make it quite fragile on that end.

Also, it’s sideways in Red and Blue for some reason. But only on the front sprite?

Despite this glaring weakness, its strengths have let it be relevant in different modes across basically every generation of competitive Singles. In Gen 1 Clamp was an excellent move that only it had access to, and Ice typing made it immune to Blizzard freezes as well as giving it STAB on its own Blizzards, letting it effectively wall most of the viable physical attackers. In Gen 2 it gained access to Spikes, which were incredibly powerful and pretty rare, as well as the one thing that could get rid of them in Rapid Spin, though it competed for slots with the common Suicune. Gen 3 it was mostly doing the same thing, but the addition of Skill Link in Gen 4 and Cloyster getting it gave it a niche all its own. While there are a few Pokemon that get Skill Link, Cloyster is different from all of them in two ways- it isn’t fragile, and it (as of Gen 5) has access to arguably the series’s second best boosting move in Shell Smash (Geomancy is exclusive to a legendary, so). Because of Skill Link letting it hit astonishingly hard with it’s decent but not incredible offenses and what would normally be inconsistent moves, and having enough Defence to live just about any hit from a physical attacker it switches in to, Cloyster has an excellent niche as a lategame sweeper/cleaner, especially since its former Spikes/Spin niche has been largely overshadowed by things like Ferrothorn.

Jolteon (#135, Electric)

Jolteon is probably my second favourite Eeveelution, behind Umbreon. Unlike Umbreon, I don’t have a plushie of it, a fact that I should probably change.

Jolteon is unique in Gen 1 in being the only thing other than Beedrill to get a Bug move that isn’t the completely unusable Leech Life, making it one of the few things able to effectively combat the game’s many broken Psychic types. Unfortunately, said move (Pin Missile) isn’t actually very good, and its Attack is far from stellar either. It’s still pretty decent just spamming Thunderbolt, though, seeing as it’s high base Speed (tied for second best in the first gen behind Electrode with Aerodactyl and Mewtwo) makes its Critical rate very high.

Outside of Sylveon, none of the Eeveelutions are really competitively viable these days, which is a shame. I personally thing they should be given those busted-ass moves from Let’s Go Eevee as signature moves, but that might be a bit much.

Dubwool (#832, Normal)

Since Wooloo being basically a perfect being in every way, Dubwool is sort of painfully disappointing in comparison. It’s like, not particularly cool, a little too angry/gonky to be cute, and it’s like… a soccer ball? I think? Those ugly patches don’t make much sense otherwise, and it somehow looks way worse on the shiny.

ew. Inverting the black and the white looks great on Wooloo, not so much Dubwool.

It’s such a shame too, because there were so many fan designs for a Wooloo evolution before Sword and Shield’s release- Wooloo was, of course, one of the first Generation 8 Pokemon revealed, and was very popular, so there was plenty of time to come up with content ahead of time. I did like that a lot of the ideas were around the idea of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” theme, but most of those actual fan designs were waaay too edgy.

So what of Dubwool? Well, it’s closely associated with Hop, seeing as it manages to make it to his endgame team- having it sit alongside a fully evolved starter and fucking Zacian in the Galarian Star Tournament is a bit of a trip. And that’s fine, it suits his character. But aside from that, it’s not really noteworthy at all. A rare fate, to be overshadowed by your preevolution- Raichu and Sceptile (thanks PMD2) can surely relate.