#like a half-evolved gyarados

[lovemeonlytilthespring]

Oh hi 🐉

(Original upload date: October 20, 2022

[kafus]

SO THE FINAL CYRUS FIGHT

the photo of my team going into this fight is slightly wrong because i actually took it after the fight, which caused a couple of mons to level once, and i don't remember who. point is a couple mons were one level lower. you may also be wondering why i had a bibarel: turns out literally none of my team can learn rock climb and that's required for climbing mt coronet so i was just sorta fucked and had to bench someone LMAO, i ended up benching Mint, my scizor, because i looked at cyrus' team as a refresher beforehand and i figured they'd probably be the least useful. sorry mint

i actually wrote down each turn of the battle after it finished while it was still fresh on my mind because it ended up being very close. keep in mind i play on set mode with no items in battle (except for held items) just casually, this isn't a challenge run or anything that's just how i play pokemon or else i get bored LMAO. but yeah here's a retelling of how this battle went. feel free to scroll past if you aren't interested

cyrus leads with his houndoom, i lead with hippowdon. this sets up sand so both sides are taking chip damage every turn btw

hippowdon goes to just barely under half health from a flamethrower and then takes out houndoom with a single earthquake

cyrus sends out his gyarados

i swap from hippowdon to luxray for the intimidate drop, upon entering the field luxray takes a weak waterfall

gyarados uses earthquake which my luxray just barely survives thanks to the intimidate drop, and then i take out the gyarados in one hit with spark

cyrus sends out his weavile

i swap into the HM bibarel i brought to let it go down to weavile's fake out for a clean swap into clefable

clefable takes an ice punch that actually does just over half, so he unfortunately won't live another. i use fire blast, which is 100% accurate because of the zoom lens, but it doesn't even do half, though it's close. it's going to be a 3 hit KO. (it's not STAB + i think weavile was 5 levels higher at the time + clefable's special attack stat is only so high)

i swap into my luxray which i know will knock him out, but it gets the intimidate drop on weavile, allowing clefable to live a second ice punch and get another fire blast off

i send clefable out after luxray goes down and use fire blast and i do indeed live a second ice punch! the two fire blasts + 3 turns of sandstorm chip are enough to knock out the weavile

cyrus sends out his honchkrow and i let him take out clefable for the safe switch into hippowdon. i figured his defenses were high so he may be able to live a hit despite the flamethrower damage from earlier and get off a rock slide

unfortunately i will never know because honchkrow crits drill peck and hippowdon goes down without doing anything pensive

i only have two pokemon left at this point, lumineon and my own honchkrow, and i decide to send out lumineon

after a couple of turns of ice beam, my lumineon outlasts the honchkrow and takes it out, but is now on very low HP

cyrus sends out his last pokemon, crobat, which obviously outspeeds and takes out my lumineon. it's all up to my own honchkrow now

i try to use drill peck but crobat lands a confuse ray and my honchkrow hits herself in confusion. oh no.

i try to use drill peck again and thankfully she breaks through the confusion and actually lands it this time, taking crobat to low health, but only after taking a cross poison that left her dangerously low at 50 HP after the standstorm chip. crobat outspeeds so it looks like it should be over

HOWEVER since i patiently waited for murkrow to hit level 45 before evolving her, she has sucker punch instead of night slash, meaning i could use that to priority take out the crobat, AND SHE BREAKS THROUGH CONFUSION AGAIN AND LANDS IT FOR THE WIN!!

i was literally sweating here, if pepper didn't hit through her confusion here it was over and i would have lost lmao. this battle came SO close. it felt pretty satisfying to defeat cyrus with the species of one of his own pokemon sdfksdfl

catching giratina was also an adventure because i REALLY wanted one in a premier ball. i'm a premier ball enjoyer in general, but especially in sinnoh because as a kid, while playing diamond, i read the flavor text for premier balls which says:

A somewhat rare Poké Ball that has been specially made to commemorate an event of some sort.

and i didn't think there would be any sort of pokeball that doesn't have an actual function and was just for aesthetic? i was sure the premier ball HAD to do SOMETHING. so i interpreted this flavor text with the "commemorate an event of some sort" thing to be "surely this pokeball works better on pokemon from important events in the story" - i'd literally stockpile these thinking surely they worked better on legendaries. i vaguely remember trying to capture dialga in premier balls because of this.

obviously i know premier balls are literally just a reward for buying 10 pokeballs at a time that look cool, and don't do anything special/have the same catch rate as a normal pokeball, but using premiers on the sinnoh legendaries just Feels Right to me now. BUT uhhh there was a PROBLEM: i forgot to get more premier balls before coming into the distortion world and i did NOT want to walk all the way back.

i had 18 premier balls just from normal gameplay since i always buy pokeballs in groups of 10 for them and i've been completing the dex as i go. i would have actually had more but i used some to catch rotom and spiritomb earlier on. so i had to deal with this capture with only 18 per attempt

on top of that, nothing on my team leapt out at me as being particularly equipped to capture giratina - giratina is REALLY strong and can even get omniboosts with two of its moves, ominous wind and ancient power, so it's really easy for it to rip through your team before you can even throw balls at it. Mocha has yawn, but she also has the sand stream ability, and it would be counterproductive for the sand to take out giratina while its sleeping. (i took the video above before i figured out the following strategy which is why i'm leading with mocha there lol)

i ended up settling on using Panini - spark has a whopping 30% chance to paralyze, and since giratina resists electric moves, i could safely hit it multiple times to proc the paralysis relatively consistently. with a mixture of crunch and spark, it was pretty easy to whittle giratina to red HP too. oh, and panini has charge to raise special defense to survive giratina's special moves, as well as intimidate to drop the power of its physical moves, letting panini live multiple hits as i continuously tossed premier balls. it wasn't foolproof, crits happen and sometimes panini would faint while setting up and i definitely ran through some healing items, but considering how bleak my setup was and how not prepared i was for this, it worked great lmao

it ended up taking three attempts, i ran through all 18 premiers on the first two attempts and then used 7 on the third, so in total it took 43 premiers, which is pretty damn lucky because i used a calculator and with giratina paralyzed and on red HP there's only around a 1.2% chance for it to capture each ball and i expected to be doing this for a LOT longer yesterday evening

but yeah here's my premier ball giratina. i feel like relaxed is a really funny personality trait for a giratina to have DSFKSDFL

btw thanks cynthia i will be thinking about this the rest of my life (sobbing)

and now i'm onto sunyshore and whatnot for the endgame with the pokemon league! cyrus has fucked off somewhere in pokemon hell and the world is saved etc. i now own pokemon satan in a funny little ball to boot

[bethanythebogwitch]

Welcome back to my series covering the real life origins of all non-fish aquatic Pokemon. Today we will be finishing generation I. See the first part of Generation I here and the fish of generation I here.

The Krabby line are crabs. There’s really not much more to them than that. Well Kingler having one claw larger than the other is a reference to several species of crab with that trait, perhaps most famously the fiddler crab.

(image: a male fiddler crab)

Fiddler crabs, of which there are many species, have evolved a form of sexual dimorphism where the male has one claw that is much larger than the other. Males use their claws for sexual selection, both by waving the claw to attract females and fighting rival males. The crown of spikes on it can reference many spiny crabs, especially the king crab.

(image: a weird looking hedgehog king crab)

Gigantmax Kingler’s massive size and long, spindly legs could be a reference to the Japanese spider crab, which has the longest legspan of any crab. The bubbles are there because crabs will blow bubbles over their gills while on land.

Starmie and Staryu are stylized starfish and much like real starfish, they are radially symmetrical and can regenerate any lost arms as long as the center is intact. Real starfish have such efficient regeneration that if you cut one in half, as long as enough of the central disc in intact, you will get two starfish.

(image: a starfish)

Starmie and Staryu are heavily implied to be aliens, meaning they are likely also a reference to the common five-pointed star and shooting stars. Starfish have been compared to aliens before due to how strange they are to our vertebrate-centered view of life. Most starfish have five arms like Staryu, but a few have more, like Starmie (they still have 5 radial body segments, just more than one arm per segment. The line’s tendency to swim by rapidly rotating their bodies and their good speed stats could reference propellers and shuriken. The gems flashing, acting as their hearts, and firing beam attacks may all reference the flashing chest-mounted gems found in the Ultraman series.

I covered Magikarp in my fish posts, but didn’t cover Gyarados then as I don’t think it’s a fish. I think it’s a combination sea serpent and eastern dragon. It has the serpentine, limbless shape of sea serpents and the whiskers and carp connection of dragons. Eastern dragons are generally considered benevolent, but can be extremely dangerous when angered. They can also typically fly despite being wingless, fitting Gyarados having the flying type and actually flying around the sky in Legends: Arceus. Eastern dragons are often depited as having long barbels like those of carp and catfish.

(image: a depiction of a Chinese dragon)

Gyarados evolving from Magikarp is a reference to a Chinese legend where a carp that jumps over a waterfall will turn into a dragon. If Gyarados has the appearance of an eastern dragon, it has the violent temperament of a western dragon. It’s violent and easily angered temperament is similar to legends of sea monsters attacking and destroying ships. Side note: Gyarados’s English name was originally going to be Skulkraken, which is one of the most metal things I’ve ever heard. Mega Gyarados looks a lot like carp streamers, which makes it amusing that the form based on a wind sock loses the flying type.

(image: a bunch of carp streamers)

Lapras is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time and its origin is suitably interesting. It’s based on famous lake cryptids like the Loch Ness monster, which are often depicted as looking like outdated reconstructions of plesiosaurs. Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles that coexisted with dinosaurs, but were not dinosaurs themselves. The most famous plesiosaurs, which Lapras is based on, had long necks.

(image: a fossil reconstruction of Plesiosaurus)

Outdated reconstructions of plesiosaurs, often depicted them as being able to hold their necks out of the water in what is often described as a swan neck pose, much like Lapras’s neck. We now know that their necks were not nearly flexible enough to do that. I initially thought that Lapras’s shell was a reference to sea turtles, but it turns out it comes from the placodonts, close relatives to plesiosaurs who had bony plates on their backs that in some species developed to look a lot like turtle shells.

(image: a fossil reconstruction of a turtle-like placodont)

Some placodonts also had bony protrusions on their skulls, much like Lapras’s horn. Lapras’s neck and rideability could also reference the mastheads of Viking longships. Lapras being very intelligent and singing is a clear reference to whales. In early generations, Lapras was endangered due to overhunting, which could reference species like the right whale, who were badly overhunted and have never fully recovered. Gigantamax Lapras having that shell shape and sheet music lines makes me think it’s a reference to that shell-looking musical instrument from the 2nd movie.

Alright, we’re talking about Vaporeon now, so I expect you to be normal about this, ok? Like the other Eevees, Vaporeon is a mishmash of various animals. Like Eevee, it has dog, cat, and fox traits, but it also adds dolphin and fish-like traits. We actually have the word of one of the designers, who says it was designed with mermaids in mind, hence the combination of mammal and fish traits. It may also represent transitional forms between land-dwelling animals and cetaceans, such as Remingtonocetus or Kutchicetus.

(image: peleoart of Kutchicetus by Nobu Tamura)

The fringe around its neck is the aquatic form of Eevee’s neck ruff, but also makes it look like a sea-lion. No, not the real animals, but a lion mermaid used as a heraldic symbol.

(Image: a sea-lion)

It may also be one big catfish pun. Vaporeon’s ability to turn into water could reference mythical water spirits like naiads.

Omanyte and Omastar are based on ammonites, prehistoric shelled cephalopods that look very similar to, but are not closely related to, the modern nautilus.

(Image: paleoart of an ammonite. source)

Like the nautilus, ammonites could float in the water column using gas-filled chambers in the shell, contrasting the Omanyte line, who are usually depicted as bottom-dwellers. Ammonites would have had the shell opening pointed horizontally, with the tentacles used for grabbing food and a siphon used for propulsion. The Omanyte line instead has the shell opening down and the tentacles used to crawl around. Like any proper cephalopod, Omastar has a powerful beak that it uses to eat. Ammonites first evolved in the Devonian period and made it all the way to the end of the Cretaceous, where they met their end along with the non-avian dinosaurs.

Kabuto is a mix of the horseshoe crab and trilobites. Horseshoe crabs (which you can read about here) are still around now, but they are considered living fossils (a misleading term as the species alive today are not the same as fossil species). Kabuto looks like the carapace of a horseshoe crab, minus the second body segment and tail.

(image: a horseshoe crab)

Horseshoe crabs also have two large eyes on the top of the shell looking up, just like the two dots on Kabuto, and more eyes on the underside looking down. Trilobites had segmented bodies while Kabuto doesn’t. Upon evolving, it takes on some major praying mantis inspiration, but at the same time, it looks a bit more like a triobite. Its head looks like a cephalon of a trilobite, possibly one of the genus Cheirurus, which had some large spikes on the cephalon.

(image a trilobite fossil)

The body is segmented like a trilobites. Kabutops also takes inspiration from eurypterids, relatives of horseshoe crabs that had segmented bodies and large limbs used for hunting or swimming.

(image: a eurypterid fossil)

Kabutops’s head also looks a bit like a samurai helmet (and the Japanese word for helmet is “kabuto”), and that combined with its sword-like limbs may give it some samurai influence.

Finishing out gen I is the Dratini line, which serve as counterparts to Gyarados. They are also based on a combination of sea serpents and eastern dragons, but while Gyarados is destructive and violent, the Dratini line are reclusive and gentle. Like many eastern dragon myths Dreatini and Dragonair live underwater and/or behind waterfalls and Dragonair has weather control abilities. Dragonite switches to a western dragon, with 4 limbs and wings, but still retains some eastern dragon traits with its serpentine body, ability to live underwater, antennae that look a lot like barbels, and generally gentle behavior. Interestingly, Gyarados has the eastern dragon look but western dragon behavior while Dragonite has the western dragon look and eastern dragon behavior.

Next time, I'll cover the aquatic Pokémon from generation II. In the future I probably wont have to split generations up like this as the other gens don't have as many aquatic mons to cover

[dalimoor]

So I did a shiny-only run in SoulSilver

I know, it's probably the dumbest thing I've ever done. But I saw SmallAnt's Shiny-only run and was like 'I want to try that'. My rules were:

-No catching Pokémon unless they were Shiny -No using non-Shiny Pokémon in battle -Must finish the game (all 16 Badges plus defeat Red) with a full team of six Shinies -Receiving non-shiny gift Pokémon is okay, because I needed them for HM purposes Tl;dr - I did it. If you want to know how many resets it took, I didn't count, because I was doing other things at the same time and kept losing count 🤣 So, the first thing to do was to get a starter. HGSS is great because you can see if your starter is Shiny even before you receive it. After resetting a bunch, I finally got one!

...And it's my least favourite of the Johto starters, but beggars can't be choosers. (Also, sorry about the shitty photos, I was playing on real hardware.)

Welcome to the team, Gatorade! So, I decided to go for static or gift Pokémon as it would make resetting for them easier, as SmallAnt did. My next choice was Sudowoodo. He actually came along the weekend I was staying with @runeandmoon for Hyper Japan, so she saw me get him in person!

As you can see, this was five days after starting the game. Not bad, huh? I named him OnTheRocks, and Croconaw was pleased this was no longer a solo run!

Moving on, I headed to visit Bill in Goldenrod, as my next target was Eevee. He arrived sparkling four days later.

I nicknamed him 'Guinness' and eventually evolved him into an Umbreon. I'm naming all my Pokémon after drinks or drink-related things. After Eevee, I picked up the easiest catch in the game that required no resets...

...Seems a little too easy, doesn't it? This is Red Bull. I used her for a while, but eventually she was fully replaced by a more 'legit' Shiny and became just a HM slave. Our next proper team member was found in the Rocket Hideout.

Ramune the Voltorb! I forgot to take a photo of its status screen after catching it, but it was caught five days after I got Eevee. I didn't get another team member until after getting all eight Johto Badges. I was actually gunning for the Extreme Speed Dratini from the Dragon Master, but in the end, I changed my mind and went to the Game Corner instead. That way I was able to check five Dratini at once. It was probably a bad idea to change my mind half-way through, as this one took ten days to get.

Eventually, MonsterNRG arrived shining! We were so close to being done now! I could have just stopped here, as with Gyarados I did have six Pokémon, but where's the fun in that? Nope, I knew exactly who team member nuber six had to be...

LUGIA!!

Five days later, P. (Pink) Lemonade joined the party! Now I had my actual full team, it was time to challenge the Elite 4!

It was tough, because I was pretty underlevelled, but I did it.

How cool it was to see a full shiny team enter the Hall of Fame! Going around Kanto was a fairly breezy job, until I got to Red. I was badly, badly under-levelled for him, and it took forever, and a lot of healing items, but he too eventually went down.

I was too slow to catch the actual 'you defeated Red!' text when taking the photo 🤣

And there it was, my Shiny-only run of SoulSilver. I had a lot of fun, but I don't recommend anyone else doing this. I didn't count my resets, but I must've got extremely lucky, as I finished the run in barely a month. Now, what kind of run to do next...?

[lanceappreciationblog]

this is so silly but seeing starter headcanons reminded me of my own and it’s really silly tbh

it’s hard to explain in full without just absolutely infodumping about how i think Lance’s family dynamic works and every detail about them but i PROMISE it’s all connected in some meaningful way. and if i infodump anyways? im so sorry 😭

but ive always headcanoned he raised at least one of his Dragonites from an egg, but it wasn’t his first. my headcanon is that his first Pokémon was actually a magikarp when he was a wee small child on his birthday. to get into the fam dynamic for a moment, my headcanons are whacky but im the captain of this ship and im going down with it. his mom was a blackthorn dragon trainer and his dad was a random flying specialist and delivery guy and yada yada you know how the rest goes. but the parentals decided the best way to bring themselves together for such an important gift was to give him an almost-dragon with a flying typing thrown in it. but maybe not tell little baby Lance what he’s in store for right off the bat. too young to realize magikarp —> gyarados he was not too thrilled about getting Some Fish as his first. dad would always say though: “be patient little one! you’ll understand soon enough”. and it was a STRUGGLE (no pun intended[?])for the longest time Little Lance struggled hard to make any sort of progress. tragedy struck before the magikarp could evolve which takes Dad Man out of the picture. but when the magikarp finally evolved it was like everything clicked and made sense for Lance, for once things made sense. The gift that kept on giving with some love and patience, and I’d like to think this sort of “exercise” taught him what unconditional love meant at such a young age <//3. so in my messed up world, Lance’s oldest Pokémon is the (blue) gyarados!

bonus: this made the red gyarados event hit home way harder than ever, and boy did it hurt lance to see that since he has such a profound soft spot for magikarps and gyarados (bonus bonus(??) if he reacts poorly to people even joking about mistreating a magikarp even in the slightest)

bonus x3: before Lance’s first magikarp evolved, he found out how to make roses out of it’s shed scales and would give these “scale flowers” to his mom to try and cheer her up because that Tragedy really really got to her. little guy was trying his best.

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG RAMBLE ive been thinking about this for almost 2 years it’s actually insane. ��🐌

I'm totally with you anon, Lance brain dump is an addiction, but I'm all here for it. 💪

But anywho, I ADORE this idea!! Lance always reminded me personally of a strong, fierce, Gyarados, but where does a Gyarados come from but a weak frail Magikarp? Lance never strikes me as a "prodigy" child, however, one who suffered immensely and had to work so much for where he is now.

Your idea of his parents being there for him and then half of them being suddenly taken away, (hey btw what is THE TRAGEDY? 👁 ), must've been so rough for him and I can only imagine the stress in his trainer life only became more difficult.

Also, Scale Flowers are soo sweet aaaah. <33

Gyarados will always be Lance's most personal Pokemon to me. They just have so much in common man. :')

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2779: Giovanni’s Nidoran-F (Gym Challenge)

Giovanni’s Nidoran-F was a Pokemon you wouldn’t expect to be good. It did, however, have some decent power for its cheap attacks, and if anything around had a Grass Weakness it might have some potential. Sadly, peak Grass Weakness came after Double Colorless Energy rotated out. The other side of that was that there was a point that there was one dominant deck, and with that deck having the right Weakness people were going to try anything to deal with it. That included Giovanni’s Nidoran-F.

50 HP was nothing to write home about, especially on a Pokemon with an attack that had recoil. One attack lowered the HP to 30 which was enough to have it fall to almost anything. It did mean that the Psychic Weakness meant little, and the Retreat Cost was just 1 but Giovanni’s Nidoran-F would struggle to survive long enough to take advantage of it.

Horn Thrust needed a Grass Energy and had a coin flip. 20 damage was done with a heads flip and nothing was done on tails. This wasn’t the attack you’d normally be going for.

Double-Edge was surprisingly decent for 2 Colorless Energy. 30 damage was like a Scyther Slash for less Energy, but there was 20 recoil which made it even easier for a revenge KO. This attack was mostly worth something against Pokemon with a Grass Weakness. If trying it in Base-Gym or Prop 15/3, you had the benefit of Double Colorless Energy and PlusPower, letting you target the occasional Aerodactyl or Dark Gyarados.

In reality, this saw the most play in the early stages of the Rocket-On format. The issue here was that it took 2 turns to charge up, which made it telegraphed. Some Typhlosion/Blaine’s Arcanine decks still used this since it could KO a Totodile, with the goal being to get it out quickly before things started evolving. It was still doing half a Feraligatr’s health, at least.

GIovanni’s Nidoran-F had a short-lived niche as a way to try to give Fire decks a way to take down Totodile before they evolved. Modern players of the format don’t really use it due to the full Rocket-On format being more diverse (especially with the Slowking errata). It really only shined at a time with an extremely centralized game, and even then some tried other Pokemon like Erika’s Bellsprout. It’s at least interesting that a Pokemon like Nidoran-F could even get into some decks for a short period of time, especially since it was done as an attacker.

[revalentine2]

Talking About My Pokemon Teams: Shining Pearl

Hi, I’m Rosa.  I play a lot of pokemon, I do a lot of nuzlockes, and I have a lot of teams from my years of all that.

There’s a team from 2021 that, despite everything having to do with thise game, is very important to me-and that’s my Blind Nuzlocke of Shining Pearl!  Let’s talk about it!

I say “Blind”, but i had played DP before and I did know the levels of the gym leader + champion beforehand.  In terms of my rules, I played on set mode and didn’t use healing items in battle, and I tried (keyword: tried) to keep my pokemon’s levels. on par with my opponents.  Anyway...the team!

-Eminence the Empoleon -Flaire the Mismagius -Rosemary the Clefable -Willow the Roserade -Crown the Rapidash -Bullseye the Ursaring

Honestly, in terms of a blind team?  I really loved this one. 

As far as Sinnoh teams go, I did my best to reject the typical “Sinnoh Starter Pack” team, and sought out Pokemon that were at least a little stranger-though I did have to go with Roserade in the absence of other, weirder grass types I thought would be available.  Empoleon was my starter of choice as it was easily the one I had used the least in my years of replaying Platinum (and Diamond...once).  Rapidash filled the rare file slot, and I lucked into getting my favorite pokemon-Clefable-with an incredible Modest nature to boot!  I chose Shining Pearl due to Misdreavus being an exclusive, and was able to get one at the earliest possible chance in Eterna Forest,  Choosing SP as my version also let me get a new addition to the story in the Grand Underground’s Teddiursa!

...Ursaring, in particular, was the start of something special.  Her pickup ability let me snag early Dusk and Shiny stones for my team, which was potentially what saved us from an early-game Gyarados.  Once evolved, that turned to annoyance at the affection mechanics of BDSP-I kept trying to take advantage of Guts, but she kept shaking off the status-but in the end that only endeared Bullseye to me even further.  She’s not the only one I loved, though-in my mind, everyone on this team was an all star!  Stuff like Crown and Willow sweeping the first two elite four members and Rosemary just generally being the MVP of tankability stick out in my mind.  We even only had one death throughout most of the game-a little Swinub I lost to a guy with three Sudowoodo.

However...there’s a sad ending to this team.

We wiped to the Pokemon league.

I had heard going into this league that this may be the hardest pokemon endgame on record, but after the first two went down easy I was feeling good about things.  Flint changed that.  After weathering the rest of his diverse team, the weakened team had to face his Infernape with basically no counter.  Rosemary was our best chance and...she got crit twice in a row, which was the only way it could have killed her.  After losing Crown and Eminence to it, too, Willow of all pokemon came in with the earlier bane of my existence, affection, living one one hp and killing the thing.  We’d made it out with three pokemon on pure luck.

Flaire was able to calm mind sweep Lucian after that, and we almost pulled off the same thing on Cynthia...but her last pokemon, Garchomp, outsped and killed Flaire.  My only chance was a guts-boosted Giga Impact from Bullseye-but in my stress, I had forgotten to teach the tm.  Slash only did a meager half hp to Garchomp, and Cynthia finished our run for us.

Despite the wipe, despite everything, despite BDSP being...well, BDSP... adored this team.  it felt so unique and so “me” for being from game with such a meager selection, and even without sticking the landing I can’t help but give this team a 10/10.

That’s not the end of my BDSP adventures, but I’ll talk about what came next later.  Until then, here’s the art I made of the final six from this adventure.  See ya!

[tobiasdrake]

Mewtwo Strikes Back - VII. Mewtwo the Blood Knight

The stage is set. Mewtwo has three modded Starters, fully evolved (and presumably with perfect IVs because if you're going to hack in modded Pokemon, why not?). Pidgeot Guy has a natural Venusaur. Dewgong Girl has a natural Blastoise. Ash has a Charizard who refuses to follow orders. And Gyarados Guy continues being fucked, I guess.

(Like, he got Force Choked and thrown in the fountain, but I don't know if that means he's disqualified or what. I think he's still in the fountain. Mewtwo hasn't told him to leave or anything so he's probably over there trying to figure out whether he's still part of this or not.)

Normally this would be the part where Charizard flies off and takes a nap, because they do not march to the beat of Ash's drum and will only fight when they sense worthy competition. But. Uh. Y'see. Fucking Mewtwo is in the room, so of course Charizard wants a piece of that.

So in a way, I guess Ash does follow in Gyarados Guy and Pidgeot Guy's footsteps. But Mewtwo does not break Charizard in half and fling them across the room like a meat puppet. It would ruin the symmetry he's gunning for.

The Trainers fight Mewtwo in sequence, and Mewtwo goes out of his way to make these mirror matches to prove his point. His modded Pokemon are, of course, level 100 so they easily stomp their rivals using fairly weak moves: Vine Whip for Venusaur, Rapid Spin for Blastoise. As a cherry on top, Mewtwo's Charizard drops Ash's with Seismic Toss, the move Ash's Charizard used to beat Blaine's Magmar and win his Volcano Badge.

(Of note, Rapid Spin is a Gen 2 move. Mewtwo's using the Johto ruleset for added fuckery. That Donphan at the start of the movie was a warning.)

With victory in hand, Mewtwo sends out special Poke Balls to steal everybody's Pokemon. As he explains, he intends to make stronger clones of their Pokemon, to create a team worthy of him.

(Oh! Huh. I thought he wanted to, like, destroy the world or something. But I think he might actually have been sincere when he called himself the strongest Pokemon Trainer. If I'm understanding right, his ultimate ambition is merely to be The Very Best, Like No One Ever Was. But specifically out of disdain for everybody else.

Dude brought all of the strongest Trainers together so he could kick their asses, take their Pokemon, and then make new Pokemon that are like theirs but better. Thus cementing his status as the most strongest of all the strongest Pokemon Masters. He is, ironically, doing a Giovanni far better than anyone in Team Rocket ever has.

This feels right. This is Mewtwo. I'm actually taken aback by it. This is the battle-hungry Blood Knight driven solely to prove himself against the strongest competitors, that I've always resented this movie for not having. I think the English version may have had me reading him all wrong.)

Mewtwo's Poke Balls capture everybody's Pokemon. Pikachu far outlasts everybody else because, honestly, he's used to this shit. Weird super-technology aiming to abduct him specifically is basically Tuesday.

Mewtwo gets him in the end. But Ash too is used to this shit, and dives inside the collection mechanism used to receive these special Poke Balls before it closes. This isn't over yet.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOAOA everytime I see a censored name of the length I’m gonna assume it’s him (also unrelated but while we’re taking abt your other posts if tumblr did that to me while I was responding to you id lowk shit myself because we yap sm)

Kalos yuki supremacy….but LMAO tabieita really start slandering him like there’s no tomorrow and then the next day they see him on national tv next to Chris Prince cue their jaws dropping onto the floor

HAHAH omg a personal twt filter i need one sometimes the stuff that ends up on my feed is batshit insane like why’s James Charles here ok but wait now that you say it being called aiku sounds wrong because my first association with him is womanizer not captain of the u20 team and top notch defender HSSBHA (says a lot about aiku)

STOP I READ THAT IN A SOUTHERN ACCENT WITH THE WILD WEST MUSIC AUTOMATICALLY PLAYING but imagine everytime Reo sees a psychic type now he’s on guard like “shit are they reading my mind” (wait speaking of I forgot to mention this like three responses ago but I relatively recently (in terms of how long I’ve known pokemon) figured out reasoning behind psychic advantages/disadvantages, it’s weak to everything that’s a common fear (bug dark ghost) and effective against fighting and poison because of the “mind over matter” mentality)

LMAOO (is there an actual term for this I could’ve sworn there might’ve been but if not I’m just coining consciousness consultants instead) not only is it tabieita in every universe I guess it’s aibarou (this name…..aiba?? Baraiku?? These are all ass airou???????) PLEASE it would be funny if reader instead said “no way I know another one too! Can’t believe there’s three of us”

IGAGURI X READER IM DYINGGGF LMAOOO second arc new characters this is the boruto of the miraverse pokemon au (instead of pursuit its chase) tell me why i created that exact picture of grandpa nagi in my mind

IM CRUIGNFNFNFJSHAHA THAT WHOLE ASS DRAWING I HAD TO STOP MYSELF FROM SCREAMING IN PUBLIC THIS JS A MASTERPIECE (you’ll progressively see all of my words become caps at some point I guarantee the more we chat the more I’ll use caps) ok but HOUNDOOMS SO CUTE?? The tail wag has me crying ok but where’s gyarados…./j Barou’s hair is MAJESTIC please include this in the epilogue im gonna go frame this in my room

Ok wait SPEAKING OF VISUALS have you ever considered designing their fits….like yk how pokemon characters have a very kinda unique sense of style that fits the series? And ofc specialty trainers usually dress accordingly but imagine like pulling up one of those piccrew generators and yk….

LAMAO FR imagine instead phanpy actually managed to evolve while they’re out and Karasu just facepalms like who tf is this (as if he’s recognizable with his hair down) and readers just like my phanpy evolved!! Thanks!!

LMAOA I’m kinda imagining it’s like Misty’s psyduck except they’re both like that HAHAH stop now I’m getting hyped up for the side stories omg air yuki Aryu styling shenanigans!!! I read that as “yuki taking Aryu to get groomed at first” HSHSHSHSS anyways!! No because imagine hiori finally walks out of the safari zone like covered in mud like “phew finally that Kangaskhan was MAD” only to see half his team missing like “wait where’s swanna nidoqueen and aurorus…” cue the Jurassic park sfx that’s aurorus screaming from in the safari zone and hioris like “oh ffs” and runs back in LMAOO tabieita boy failures so real if it’s not Karasu taking an L it’s otoya ok when you first said side story one of my first ideas was yayoi Karasu childhood interactions great minds think alike

HSHSSHSH I kinda had a feeling your post was referencing our convo but I was kinda hoping not because we write sm LMAOO I’m thinking about it now and I think id lose my mind CHRIS ORINCE FANBOY OTOYA WAIT DO IT imagine it’s like todo going to that (shit I forgot her name) idols meet and greet but instead it’s otoya HAHSAHAJ

Aiku helping his teammates relieve stress (according to him) but he’s the one becoming stress instead now so he’s taking it out on everyone LMAOO pause do we have an ewc…(estimated word count)

HAHSHAHA I’m also pursuit brain rotted I’m so committed to the story now it’s not even funny

Wait…pokemon based theme to foreshadow/drop hints about pursuit (not story wise just that it exists LMAO) WAITTTTT “choose your starter and get a fic/drabble/hc(idk wtv floats your boat LMAO)” idk abt the details of what starter means what but that’s a thought for later

ISAGIS SEXY COUSIN GOODBYE but so real for that HSBSHS omg wait I bet there’s probably some edits alr floating around with the crumbs we got via that trailer

HAHSBA THE USA EAGLE SCREECH YES LMFOAOA (THIS FAR??? I’d give up /j tumblr needs a better save feature or just a not delete feature) wait..you’re right….do we even get any feather aura until nel??? Because I wonder how many people end up putting two and two together and figure out that his name means crow

Mira alpha wolf era LMAOOO BUT FR I’ve never seen a really atrocious scene of nagi (except for maybe second selection after they beat Barou and he flops onto the top bunk his face looked kinda funky but wtv it was a silly moment) so very excited!!! I’m also worried for Barou LANAO but wait the hair down scene in the trailer!! Can’t wait for more of that (Karasu when)

NOOO YOUR GOOD I would fr just jump back in your inbox and be like “I need five business days to recover from this sorry” /j and I’m ngl my memory is so ass that sometimes when you respond to things I have to scroll all the way back up to my own ask to remember what we’re talking about HSHSSHSH so trust me if you don’t remember neither do I

Also wait Kaiser in pokemon has me crying banned because he pointed a gun at ash BYE LMFAOA

- Karasu anon

LMAOOO 90% of the time *** ****** is sae the other 10% it’s rin but i feel like given context you’ll be mostly able to figure out which one it is?? i think i’m in an enemies to lovers w sae or smth so i post abt him more KRJFJSJS only other *** ****** in bllk is reo but i love him i’d never censor him 😩

KALOS YUKI MY MAN also omg wait that’s so funny especially because otoya is a prince stan so it’s basically yuki just flexing because he can FJDJFJSJ like “oh you want to bully me??? your hero is my father figure 😜😴🤫” he’s actually so sassy but in an underrated way i love him

HELP because whenever oaeu aiku goes on one of his tangents abt how he’s the captain of the u20s i giggle like ok sure bro (love how this implies i don’t have control over oaeu aiku tbh i don’t i just sit at the keyboard and let his spirit flow through me and suddenly i have 3k words of aiku bullying everyone in his mind)

YESSS THAT’S EXACTLY THE VIBE I WAS GOING FOR like reo tullia nagi and reader wearing the little cowboy hats and everything LDJFSJAJ nagi chewing on a piece of wheatgrass i’m crying 😭 omg no because reo deadass thinks reader and her aegislash are like this tik tok (i always have a tik tok on hand) so he’s just like vaguely terrified of her LMAOAOA nagi’s too lucky she’s not outing him the way he outed reo 😩 reader >>>>

CAN THEIR DUO NAME BE SHOELIVER 😭😭😭😭🤩🤩🤩🤩 pronounced like shoe-liver (english pronunciations even though barou’s name is said more like sho-ei) HAHAHA never separated fr those two have an unbreakable bond 🙏🏻 help because i could actually see reader saying that like “damn didn’t know there were so many mega houndooms roaming around??” the only reason i can think that she’d realize aiku means barou is because this arc takes place after reader and nagi go through and watch all of barou’s old league battles so she knows barou is the only other person w a mega houndoom 😩

HELPP PURSUIT BORUTO I’M CRYING deadass though it could be niko as the bug catcher just imagine that mf with a spewpa 😭 for extra connectedness (never watched naruto/boruto but isn’t it like everyone is just someone’s son or smth) maybe his spewpa is tullia’s vivillon’s offspring LFJDSJS although ig niko is kinda shy too…hold on niko as aiku’s apprentice (like the oaeu) still with tullia’s vivillon’s baby, kurona just chilling and probably with like a wailord or smth, nagiy/n’s daughter with her mother’s aegislash, and kiyora as yukimiya’s successor (since he’s a dancer and all) nagiy/n’s daughter sees kiyora and is like “WOAH you look JUST like my brother but blue” HAHAHA and then wait tbh CHARLES could be the bug catcher and maybe shidou is his mentor??? i’m crying just imagine that wedding like the groom’s side is shidou partying it up (he probably dragged sae over from fucking johto or whatever region the itoshis live in) meanwhile the bride’s side is like former champion y/n l/n, former king of kalos kenyu yukimiya, flying type gym leader tabito karasu (“uncle tabito” on her mom’s side), famous breeder tullia ferraro, corporation heir reo mikage (“uncle reo” on her dad’s side), lazy hero seishiro nagi who was the face of the efforts against team x (reader was injured and he’s the one who rescued all of the trainers while she was battling barou so he got a lot of fame), fucking otoya?? no title for him (he insists on being called big o by the kids) and renowned pokémon professor oliver aiku…literally ALL of them are lowkey judging shidou except aiku who’s like hell yeah this is great LMAOAOA

I WAS CRYINGGG MAKING THE DRAWING pls barou’s hair cracked me up second only to mr mikage’s mario ass mustache 😭 i feel like nagiy/n’s daughter would def view houndoom as just a cute cuddly puppy since that’s how houndoom treats her hence why houndoom doesn’t have any of the skull motifs or the devil tail instead she’s just giving cutie puppy (also lowkey she probably combined houndoom and nagi’s arcanine into one dog shaped pokémon since i know for a FACT that arcanine was the number one stan of those children 😩) PLS I TRIED DRAWINF GYARADOS AND GAVE UP I’M NOT ARTISTICALLY INCLINED

LMAOO so i do have clear visions of what otoya and karasu wear so i tried drawing them (also in my mind chigiri just wears tan riding pants, a rugby shirt, and riding boots since he’s an ex racer but that’s basic enough that i didn’t draw it) obviously they look silly because a) i can’t draw and b) they’re meant to be goofy pokémon verse fits but here they are!!

^ also in my mind karasu’s coat and pants are the same purpley black as his hair/honchkrow’s feathers (both for aesthetic and to distinguish him from aiku who wears a white lab coat as all professors do) but i did not feel like coloring that anyways the gist as you can see is otoya = black turtleneck + black pants + black boots probably (not skin tight necessarily but def more fitted to not get in his way when he’s doing ninja bs) whereas karasu has this long coat to kind of match the bird vibe?? also he’s almost always wearing the super heavy duty falconing gloves especially when the birds are babies because they love perching on his arm and yayoi drilled into him how much it hurts when a raptor with enormous talons divebombs onto your unprotected wrist 😭 anyways no idea what the others might wear i’ll probably try to figure it out during their introductions (also like i said excuse the artistic skills this was more meant for me to have as a visual while writing but since you asked i thought i’d share LDJFSJSJSJ)

PLSSS I CAN IMAGINE THE HIORI ONE SO WELL i feel like the yuki + aryu one would be rlly cute we could see more of gagamaru in it too…pls karasu and otoya are consistently embarrassing themselves one or the other must be taking l’s at all times it’s just equilibrium 😭 imagine otoya’s like whatever you do DON’T act like nagi that man has negative rizz and karasu’s like “well he pulled y/n ya know…” and otoya’s like “yeah wtvr she’s crazy” JFKDJDNS they slander reader and tullia sm as if they are not literally the walking definition of losers??

OTOYA AT A CHRIS PRINCE MEET AND GREET PLEASE I’M CRYING AT THE VISUALLLL he would be the one who’s like “he shook my hand i’m never washing it again” and karasu’s like bro??? help omg ik which one you’re talking about…doesn’t the idol end up liking mai more??? imagine otoya brings karasu with him and chris prince ends up loving karasu like “wow you’re yayoi’s little brother?? you have a lot of potential!!” and otoya’s in the background like THAT SHOULD BE MEEEE

i think the barou version is probably going to end up at about the same length as the sae one!! we’re at 3k ish words rn and reader is just about to meet barou soooo there’s that 😭 this one is even more ridiculous than the sae version (aiku and niko kidnap barou) but i feel like barou lends himself to crack really well and barou fans are probs less picky so i think it’s okay (also PERSONALLY i find it funny and that’s all that matters fr)

nah because we’re coming up with pursuit boruto version atp it’s like a separate fandom /hj i’m actually really excited to write it!! just need to get on my grind for a bit and then we will get to pursuit hehe

THAT’S WHAT I WAS THINKING like maybe each type is a certain trope/theme and people have to find a pokémon that has the typing they want and send it in with the character they want…like say fire is best friends to lovers and flying is angst so someone could say “talonflame with karasu” or smth and i’d write an angsty best friends to lovers fic for him ykwim…it would require more effort on participant’s parts but considering i’ll probably limit it anyways and given how involved my request responses tend to be i think it’s fair and fun!! wait i could limit it to be like “help me build a pokémon team” and only have a certain number of slots available for the team or smth and that way i don’t get quite as many reqs as i did for the 500 event so i still have free time to write my own stuff

BRO I FR JUST STARED AT MY SCREEN i’m like obsessively saving the draft now…anyways he’s literally giving isagi but cuntier (sorry to isagi fans but karasu >>>>) LMAOAAO I NEED TO SEE HIM W THE EAGLE SCREECH yk that one crow panel of him in bm vs pxg like that panel SPECIFICALLY timed with the screech it’s a must

hair down barou 🤤🤤🤤 nah because call me reo the way i’m nagi’s number one glazer /j i’ve seen SOOO much nagi hate online recently it’s crazy i know the dude bros will start waffling on abt his comeback as soon as they remember what nagi’s built like again 😭 everyone on tumblr’s posting abt how reo’s getting blamed for nagi’s downfall erm i haven’t seen a single post blaming him…i’ve seen posts saying reo isn’t a player who they’d necessarily pick as top ten in the verse which i can see…the argument is that his best position is as a sub because he can fill any spot but why put someone who can only copy an ability to 99% in a position when you can just put the og 100% there…kinda like how reo can copy sae to 99% but no one would pick reo over sae even though reo’s technically more complete 🤔 i think copy’s one of those abilities that would be op if reo was the mc but as it is i do somewhat agree that reo is better suited as a substitute given the way the manga is written even though he’s also quite talented BUT that’s not really reo hate that’s just examining decisions kaneshiro’s made?? i see a lotttt of people slandering nagi though and saying he’ll never come back and that he sucks even though he made the goal of the century…ik ego said the five revolver whatever the fuck it’s called is not reproducible but honestly i feel like that’s kind of nagi’s thing?? he consistently pulls off impossible goals which he could never do again but that’s just how he works (and why prince said he needs to work on his creativity…if he could just be the kind of player who can use his insane talent to pull off crazy plays wherever he is the way he was doing in second selection he’d be undefeatable)

wait i just went on an entire rant abt nagi slander but this edit makes me lol so i can’t even be mad KEFJSJKS HIS FACE KILLS ME 😭😭😭

kaiser in pokémon is literally just kaiser in bllk bro WOULD point a revolver at isagi ash i’m crying LMAOAAO

nah i fear i did crash out but luckily it didn’t delete my ENTIRE response so it’s all good!! HAHAAH yeahhh sometimes i have to close the draft and go back to our old convos because i’m like “wait what is this in reference to”

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Pokemon Gen 1 Semi-Playthrough (Part 5)

Pokemon: Weepinbell.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Earlier in Arbok’s entry I said it was the last of Team Rocket’s Kanto Pokemon. When posting that entry on the blog I realised I’d made a mistake in saying that, Team Rocket did have two other Pokemon during the Indigo League, however they appeared so rarely initially that I almost forgot this was the case. When looking up about it to remind myself, I realised James Weepinbell or rather Victreebel had such a bizarre story I felt I had to go over it. It appeared after a flashback referencing James catching it off-screen and taking it to Butch and Cassidy (Team Rocket’s Rivals) who were pretending to run a daycare but actually planning on stealing all the Pokemon left with them for Team Rocket. They evolved Weepinbell into Victreebel to make it stronger and when James found it again it affectionately let out a high-pitched scream and bit onto the top half of his body. This became a running gag and Victreebel didn’t do too much for a bit before becoming more commonly used in the Orange Islands and Johto. Then Jessie and Meowth forced James to trade Victreebel for a Weepinbell that knew Sweet Scent for one of their schemes. At first James was heartbroken however he soon grew to love his new Weepinbell that actually did well against Ash for once. It did so well in fact that it evolved without a leaf stone (required to evolve Weepinbell into Victreebel) after it’s victory. After doing so however it made a huge mistake and bit Jessie, in her anger she outright kicked it off the team. At the same time the Magikarp Salesman (yes the one I mentioned in my Gyarados entry from the games) who James had traded his original Victreebel to similarly got angry at it keep biting him and kicked it away as well, the two smashed into each other in the sky, landed and fell in love leaving together. I guess I’m just recounting the anime here but still that was such a wild ride I’d forgotten about (or might have actually missed although I have vague memories of it) that I just felt the need to mention it, plus it’s more than anything else I could think to say about for Weepinbell overall. I think I might have used it on a team once but I don’t remember it being too great.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Bellsprout on Route 15 as well as Oddish. It is possible I came across a Weepinbell but Bellsprout is more the one I seem to remember catching.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Slowpoke.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Master Spirit.

Moves: Confusion.

My feelings on it: I’d be surprised if there were many people who disliked Slowpoke, I’m a fairly big fan of it. The anime helped with it’s depiction of Slowpoke but it’s also one of those Pokemon where even back in the Gen 1 games it was easy to ‘get’ what it’s like. Even better it was a psychic type back in Gen 1 which made it a very worthwhile Pokemon to add to your team. Slowpoke saw a slightly bigger role in Gen 2 with their appearance in Azalea Town, Slowpoke Well being a landmark of the town. This game also was the first time mention was made of Slowpoke tails being considered a delicacy and it underwent an interesting evolution in the series going from something seen as cruel and evil with Team Rocket doing it in Johto, yet it became something seemingly legally used as food in other regions such as Kalos, Alola and Smoke-Poke Tails (assumedly smoked Slowpoke Tails) are an ingredient that can be used in curries in the Galar region. Honestly I think this is a fairly cool bit of world-building for the series where some regions see this as a terrible practice whilst for others it’s common practice, it’s often mentioned that Slowpoke’s tails can fall off on their own and grow back very quickly. The worst thing about Slowpoke, which is obviously in the name is it’s speed where there are very few Pokemon I believe it will be faster than (barring level differences), but beyond this it's a Pokemon I’ve always liked and used a couple of times.

How I caught it: I believe I caught Slowpoke on the Seafoam Islands, it was fairly easy to encounter so didn’t take long, I caught it in a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Slowpoke has a unique role amongst all the other Pokemon in Smash as a Master Spirit. I’ve not really decided yet how I’m going to approach Master Spirits, most likely depending on their role such as shopkeeper spirits requiring me to reference their shops, explorer spirits referencing exploration in their original games etc. For Slowpoke its role is a Dojo spirit who can teach a spirit a ‘style’. Honestly… I’m not that up on the styles and things in World of Light, from what I gather they alter stats so in basic terms a ‘defensive style’ will boost defensive stats over offensive stats. Slowpoke seems somewhat unique as it grants ‘Forgetful style’ which in effect from what I’ve seen restores a spirits stats back to their original levels. I did initially plan to just say that was all there was to say on this, but I realised this actually does match something in the Pokemon games somewhat, the Move Deleter who in earlier games would allow your Pokemon to forget a move, handy for getting rid of HM moves they couldn’t forget otherwise. I don’t know if this was a reference to that or just simply Slowpoke being forgetful, but it’s the closest I can think of for a reference to the series. Beyond this I gave Slowpoke Confusion as a move which I believe is being referenced in it’s spirit battle as your controls will suddenly reverse during the battle.

Pokemon: Slowbro.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: So like Slowpoke I like Slowbro. Honestly, Slowbro’s always been an enigma to me, it’s a combination of two Pokemon as it has a Shellder on its tail, the two seemingly both evolve as the Shellder looks different both to it’s regular form as well as its own evolved form Cloyster. The second odd thing about this is it’s said often in Pokedex entries that Slowbro can devolve if the Shellder fell off of it’s tail, this is a mechanic however that has never been used in any of the games for any Pokemon. This whole idea is very interesting and cool to me however, I like Shellder biting into a Slowpoke’s tail and releasing venom into the Slowbro allows it to have more immunity to pain as well as stand on two feet and inspires it slightly beyond its usual temperament as a Slowpoke. I will also mention there’s another evolution for Slowpoke not mentioned in Smash that is fairly different known as Slowking, in this case the Shellder bites onto Slowpoke’s head instead of its tail and its venom releases actually make it far more intelligent to the point it supposedly attempts to solve the mysteries of the world. It’s said this vast intellect however will completely disappear along with all memory of it if the Shellder falls off of Slowking which is a somewhat scary thought honestly. I suppose as I’m going over other forms, I’ll briefly mention that Galarian Slowbro and Slowking are somewhat darker versions of them both with Galarian Slowbro having Shellder biting on its hand which can cause Slowbro a lot of irritation causing it to lash out at anything nearby, Galarian Slowking has Shellder covering most of its head with the Shellder being a lot more dominant and actually controlling the Slowpoke as well as apparently making various chants that are undecipherable.

How I caught it: Similarly to Slowpoke I believe I caught another Slowpoke in the Seafoam Islands and then evolved it later.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Drowzee.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Drowzee’s an odd Pokemon, it’s actually fairly accurate to what its based on being a tapir, also I didn’t know before but assumed it had some mythological reference which it turns out is the case with baku in Japanese myth being a creature (commonly depicted as a tapir) that eats bad dreams. What’s interesting is Drowzee’s often depicted as somewhat sinister (especially in the anime) in it’s ability to eat dreams, however it seems like in mythology it’s actually somewhat more friendly being something children call on to help take away bad dreams, there is a risk however in calling upon it too often as this can build its hunger to the point that it might also eat a person’s hopes and desires. In a way this has been the most interesting I’ve found Drowzee ever after learning this, it’s a shame this more pleasant side of Drowzee seems less emphasized however with it apparently preferring to eat nice dreams over bad dreams and it’s somewhat creepy aspects such as finding children’s dreams tastier as well as apparently your nose itching during the night meaning you’ve likely had a Drowzee eating your dreams through it. There is a nice aspect in that it apparently shares it’s favourite dreams with those it trusts but it’s definitely not as friendly sounding as the baku seems to be. I suppose I should briefly mention it’s more notorious evolved form, if Drowzee’s somewhat creepy Hypno is undoubtedly so, it’s said to hide away from humans and lie in wait for victims who it puts to sleep and steals their dreams. It’s also said that Hypnos have been known to kidnap people who’s dreams it likes and there apparently was even a case of one taking a child away with hypnosis. I mentioned in Cubone’s entry about it from what I’ve seen not being too involved in the creepypasta Lavender Town sorts of things, Hypno is front and centre in these sorts of stories however and honestly it’s not that far from how creepy stories about them in canon are. I realise here I’ve mentioned more about the mythology behind Drowzee and Hypnos whole… thing, but really this is the most interesting thing I have to say about Drowzee and way more than I was expecting to cover.

How I caught it: It’s funny, I had one route in mind when it came to Drowzee similar to a couple of other Pokemon I associate certain routes with, but then I realised after looking it up this route is the only one Drowzee is found in Gen 1 being Route 11. Naturally this means I caught Drowzee here with a Pokeball as always.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Krabby.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: This is a Pokemon that it’s only due to the anime I have affection for, but in this case it’s a lot of affection. Ash’s Krabby was his first Pokemon in the anime to be transferred as he already had 6 on him, this showed off the mechanic from the games as well as implying that Pokemon in the PC are, at least in the anime transferred somewhere else where they’re looked after rather than being stuck forevermore in a PC. Due to this Krabby didn’t look like it would have much to do but this changed with the Indigo League at the end of the Kanto season where Ash decided to use Krabby in battle. It did surprisingly well and fairly quickly evolved into Kingler. Ash’s Kingler was pretty cool managing to do well in a few battles and the voices for Krabby and Kingler I think stuck with a lot of people who grew up with those episodes with me hearing a few people imitate it even years later. It’s due to this I grew a fondness for Krabby and especially Kingler having one on my team in the past. There isn’t much more I have to add beyond this however.

How I caught it: I can’t remember for sure but I believe rather than fishing for one I found a Krabby on the Seafoam Islands. Since I decided on the Pokemon from the Melee intro later I think in this case I specifically went there for Krabby alongside others such as Slowpoke.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Rhydon.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Two things come to mind for me when it comes to Rhydon, firstly that it was apparently said by Ken Sugimori to have been one of the first Pokemon ever created, secondly an infamous moment in the anime where Pikachu managed to defeat Blaine’s Rhydon by hitting it’s horn with an electric attack, despite Rhydon even in Gen 1 being immune to electric attacks. It’s interesting on that second point that Rhydon later gained the ability Lightning Rod which attracts electric attacks towards it which it will be unaffected by, whether this was inspired by the infamous moment in the anime I don’t think has ever been mentioned. Honestly Rhydon’s never been a Pokemon I’ve had many thoughts on which is somewhat surprising really now I think about it as I quite like Rhinos, mostly related to my love of Donkey Kong Country and Rambi, it surprises me therefore that I didn’t try to get a Rhyhorn to name Rambi but I don’t remember ever doing so. It did make for a good Pokemon for Giovanni however, although along with others back then it’s quad weakness to water and grass definitely didn’t help it feel intimidating. It was one of those Pokemon that gained another evolution in Gen 4 which I think made it even more fearsome, but I admit I don’t have much knowledge of how good it made it, mostly as it was another trade evolution.

How I caught it: From what I remember I believe I caught Rhydon in Cerulean Cave rather than catching a Rhyhorn and evolving it. I believe I would have caught it simply on the journey to find Mewtwo there rather than searching it out specifically as it wasn’t too uncommon I believe, it did require a little bit of tracking down however.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Electabuzz.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Electabuzz is one of those Pokemon I always think of as strong and would try out but I’ve usually gotten something else I prefer by the point they become available so I don’t bother. It doesn’t help that it was originally in Pokemon Red and therefore the version I didn’t have as a kid. My main exposure to it beyond toys was in the anime, it had some pretty odd appearances there. The episode I probably remember most with it in it was where there were two gangs fighting in this town over which would be appointed as an official Pokemon gym. One group had Scyther and the other group had Electabuzz. I remember this episode also introducing this thing that was ignored I think ever since of both Scyther and Electabuzz being sent into a rage when seeing the colour red. Other than this, probably the thing I remember most of Electabuzz is its voice in the anime, I’d advise looking it up if you’ve not heard it before, it’s really something. Electabuzz similar to Rhydon and also Magmar who’s the next entry gained a new evolution in Gen 4. Electivire will actually have an entry later down the line so I won’t comment much more on it, but it definitely is another reason I’ve always seen Electabuzz and Magmar as being more like rivals (with them both also gaining a pre-evolution in Gen 2) and why even back in the early days I was always surprised they went for Scyther rather than Magmar for that anime episode.

How I caught it: As you can see, similarly to Arbok Electabuzz was one of the few Pokemon entirely exclusive to Pokemon Red not appearing in Yellow or Blue. Due to this I realised the only option I really had was to catch Electabuzz in Pokemon Crystal. I caught it on Route 10 in Kanto which makes sense as in Pokemon Red it was found only in the Power Plant which was on Route 10, however as in Pokemon Crystal the building no longer has wild Pokemon it instead appears in the grass outside on Route 10.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Magmar.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Melee Opening.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Magmar is a Pokemon I always thought was meant to be some amazing uber powerful monster. The reason for this was the episode of the anime where it first appeared (I believe) as Blaine’s main Pokemon. I remember how instead of coming out of a Pokeball like most other Pokemon it rose up from the lava surrounding the battlefield and managed to defeat Ash’s Pikachu. Then in the following episode for the first time Ash’s Charizard actually decided to fight for him as it felt like Magmar was a worthy opponent with it being easily one of the best fights in the original series. Magmar was again another Pokemon I wanted to try but rarely had on my team because of how late it appeared. It always felt odd though that Blaine didn’t have a Magmar on his team until Gen 2 not even having one in Pokemon Yellow which changed a lot of gym leader’s teams to be closer to the anime. Apparently this was because the games development happened before Blaine appeared in the anime, however even so I still felt like in Gen 1 Magmar was an obvious choice to go for as part of the fire gym leader’s team that late in the game, especially when instead he has Ponyta and Growlithe along with their evolved forms. Given Magmar only appears in Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar Island where Blaine’s gym is it feels like an obvious choice. Beyond that Magmar as I said in the last couple of entries had a fair few similarities to Electabuzz only as a fire type, it gained a pre-evolution in Gen 2 with Magby and in Gen 4 an evolution with Magmortar. Unlike Electivire, Magmortar doesn’t appear in the Smash series so I guess I’ll just say it’s a design that’s grown on me, I used to find it too over the top and I felt it destroyed my image of Magmar being so cool etc, but now I realise how goofy Magmar looks really (although I definitely still like it a lot) especially with it’s weird butt forehead (I realised writing this sometime I have to have an Electabuzz and Magmar and call them Beavis and Butthead one day…) Magmortar does have the cool handcannon arms so that also helps.

How I caught it: As I decided to cover the Pokemon in the Melee opening movie later down the line I didn’t run into the problem I did with Weezing of having restarted my Virtual Console copy of Blue before getting the exclusive Pokemon I needed. Due to this I simply had to track down Magmar in Pokemon Mansion, however I do remember after looking it up realising I had the best chance of finding one on the third floor. As I wanted to get it fairly quickly however I ended up going to the very small room you can access easily, so therefore I spent a lot of time just going back and forward in this small room, still eventually I found Magmar and I remember catching it fairly easily in a Pokeball.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Nothing beyond in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Seel.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: None.

My feelings on it: Seel is often put forward as an example of one of the most unoriginal of early Pokemon, partially just because its name is outright Seal but with two es. Honestly, I can agree, there are other Pokemon that are just versions of animals like Rattata but even then I feel they have a bit more to their design than just being a rat. I still think Seel is fine however, it’s definitely not one of my favourites by a long stretch, but I don’t think every single Pokemon has to be weird or deviate a lot from a real life animal, it does have the horn and tusks afterall. Also, when it comes to seals, I’ve realised after watching videos of them and sea lions in the past how much they can remind me of dogs and Seel specifically has a very ‘doggish’ face, honestly it’s the type of Pokemon that if they were real I would probably like as a pet. Beyond this I really don’t have much to say about Seel.

How I caught it: From what I remember I encountered Seel fairly easily in the Seafoam Islands so there wasn’t much of note with regards to it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: This is the first of only two Pokemon in Gen 1 who appeared exclusively in the Pokefloats stage. I debated whether to cover them but given I have just so little else to say about Pokefloats to begin with (when it comes to it being based on anything from the games, not what it’s like as a stage) I felt it was worth it to just include the Pokemon that exclusively appear on it. Beyond this, as it’s just a floating platform there’s nothing more to add other than catching it in a Pokeball.

Pokemon: Lickitung.

Region: Kanto.

Role in Smash Bros series: Pokefloat.

Moves: Lick.

My feelings on it: I mentioned in Weepinbell’s entry how I forgot there were two other Pokemon in the Indigo League anime that belonged to Team Rocket, this is the second one which belonged to Jessie. I won’t go over it’s whole history like I did with Weepinbell as it’s not that interesting, but I did find it interesting that it’s the only Team Rocket Pokemon that seemingly got to have a happy ending with another trainer, being accidentally traded for a Wobuffet and the trainer seeming fairly happy with Licktung who seemed happy with him. I remember as a kid getting Lickitung and immediately thinking of Yoshi which I would have nicknamed it if it wasn’t for the fact that in Red and Blue it is a Pokemon only available through an in-game trade (similar to Farfetch’d) which means you can’t change its name. I like to look at descriptions of each Pokemon when writing these posts just to remind me of some lore facts relating to them, but honestly reading Lickitung’s is just disgusting with constant comments about how it’s tongue is not only sticky but stinks, this might be one of the rare times hearing more about a Pokemon has put me off it more than I was before.

How I caught it: Despite being an in-game trade Lickitung is available in Pokemon Yellow in Cerulean Cave. I believe I ran into one during my journey through there and caught it then rather than bothering to go back to Blue and do the trade for it.

Specific aspects from Smash Bros: Initially I thought there would be nothing to add as this is another Pokefloats Pokemon, however I realised somewhat uniquely Lickitung will extend it’s tongue for fighters to fight on as the stage progresses. Due to this I figured the move Lick was worth noting which is already known by Lickitung anyway. I caught it in a Pokeball like everything else.

Credits.

For information on this game I used to research relating to attributes such as movesets etc for Pokemon I must give credit to Bulbapedia, Serebii and SmashWiki.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using the Photo Club feature in Pokemon Ultra Moon, screenshots using Nintendo Switch in Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Trophy Images taken from SmashWiki. Spirit Images were taken from The Spriters Resource submitted by Random Talking Bush.

[meganuzlockediary]

Diamond! Gym 4!

March 28th

Ok so with the loss of Beautifly i am less confident for Crasher and I am very close to the level cap. I decide its time to pull out a big gun. You'll have noticed Happiny in the back of my party its time to train her up.

So I start cycling and cycling and cycling to raise happiness! Until I realise... it evolves in the day time with an oval stone... Well i feel dumb now. But the Happiness evolution gets me from Chansey to Blissey! Now Blissey is kinda OP but necessary I don't wanna risk a loss and having to start again. It also learns Grass knot which is essential for the next gym.

With that Crasher wake is just a few routes away with no essential battles. I do manage to catch a Girafarig on route the valour Lakefront and I finally make it to pastoria city.

With that I head straight for the gym!

Ok, Wake leads with Gyarados so I do the obvious thing and lead with the almight Bibarel! I quickly realise a quick claw was a mistake but Shockwave does a great job at taking gyarados to half health as it uses swagger! A persim berry would be so useful now! Bibarel hurts itself in confusion taking it to 81 hp as it uses dragon rage! I go for the shockwave again even though its a risk mostly because Bibarel is expendable at this point fortunately I get lucky break through confusion as he uses Brine to finish it off! Next up is quagsire allowing me to switch to Blissey... honestly there is nothing to say here a grass knot is all thats needed Blissey fully walls quagsire. Finally is Floatzel who does have some scary moves expecially considereing Blissey's low defence. So I use sweet kiss instead and luckily it hurts its self for the next 3 turns! With some final grass knots I can take out the Floatzel and get my 4th Gym badge! Great success!

So far so good in this game! I feel bad for using an OP mon like Blissey but I do need to be careful of physical attacks. Next up is Fantina!

Pokemon Used: 106

Pokemon Defeated: 24

Badges won: 44

[spirituallyghostly]

Insomnia kicked my ass into staring at a wall for 6 hours, so I'm giving up on that. It's gonna be easy mode challenges today at the gym ('help the Dreepy out of trees', 'round up all the Gastly that decided to haunt the janitor closets' 'remove the rotoms from the internet router' type shit), but while I'm still up against my will before my shift, I might as well ramble about my current team.

So, Baby is my starter, she's been with me since I was 8 or 9 (a lot of that time period is a blur in my memories, don't worry about it), and I personally hatched her from an egg. My family's lived in Unova for generations now, but my dad's side of the family started out in one of the islands surrounding Galar, and they send our side of the family random eggs every once in a while. Mom and Dad expected something like a Rookidee or a Galarian Meowth, maybe a Clobbopus or Impidimp at the high end (dad's starter is a Klinklang and mom's starter was a Gyarados within a year of her getting a Magikarp, they're not directly trainer-oriented professionals but they know how to take care of pokemon), so it was a bit of a shock to everyone to get a tiny little Ghost/Dragon instead. We spent years not even focusing on battling or anything, just kind of hanging out and learning how to communicate and exist together, until she evolved into a Drakloak when I was 16 and decided she needed to be more active in the competitive scene. We didn't do any official badge runs or anything, but we did go around to a few regions and hung out with other Ghost trainers and occasionally gym leaders, just learning the ropes and fighting for fun. She didn't hit her final evolution until 4 or 5 years ago, while I was beginning to leave my preschool work and began attending college, and she still has a super soft spot for little kids, which translates into the entire local Dreepy line colony hanging around the local schools and daycares. THAT was a weird conversation to have with the authorities, but it ended well, so no harm done.

Jade was a Duskull when we found him in Hoenn, not actually around Mount Pyre but in a field outside Verdanturf, off route 116. We still have no idea why he was there, but he seemed lost and stuck around with my team while we traveled the region and studied under Phoebe's family. Eventually, it was time for us to go, and he wanted to come with us, so he got his wish. He's been with me for 8 years now, and he's been a Dusknoir for about half that time; getting him the cloth to evolve took a bit of doing and a lot of money, but he was determined to become a Dusknoir, and I can't say no to that kind of thing. He tends to just hang around in my shadow most of the time, but he's very protective and has been known to mess with annoying challengers by untying their shoelaces, opening all their bags and pockets, and generally being as annoying to them as they are to me. He's a good friend, and an amazing helper on bad days.

Lady C is my newest pokemon, I've only been her trainer for a little over a year now. She came to the gym fully evolved, and the details of her life before the transfer are a little murky. I think she was a service pokemon of some sort before she evolved, since she's extremely practiced in taking care of people and younger pokemon, but she's very quiet and doesn't seem to want to talk about it at the moment. Originally, she was going to be one of the gym leader's gym challenge pokemon, but she never really took to the role, and isn't really the battling type in the first place, so he let her help me out in my non-challenge duties, and eventually she just came home with me and never left. She's a huge help with the younger challengers and pokemon, and usually makes sure I take care of myself. Her name is actually a reference to a video game I was playing, one of the antagonists is named Lady D, and she took a shine to the character over the course of my playthrough. I only realized she'd named herself when I called her Lady C on accident one day and she didn't even bat an eye.

[sunyshorewaves]

Oooh, OP your poll has sparked many thoughts. I had to actually think about it for a second, and in the end, you've got a point, it all comes down to Team Rocket and Plasma 2.0. The thing about the other teams is that they're honestly, kind of soft. In the murder department that is. They may be organizations capable of summoning or capturing Legendaries, but what kind of battle are we looking at? A Pokemon battle between grunts? Team Rocket is getting sweeped, I'm sorry. I had more trouble fighting Team Aqua in my run. Raticate with Hyperfang is a monster though.

Judging by your comment, if it's an honest FIGHT between organizations? TR has been around longer. Aether Paradise, despite it's dark side, are still just employees at a conservation center. The UBs won't help them, the protag caught them all. Magma and Aqua nearly destroy the planet, but they won't be pulling a move like that against their rival gangs. They're the only group that was remorseful and tried to help the protag too. Cyrus is still lost in the distortion world, rip. Kudos on having admins of your own, but neither of them far as I recall (having never played Sinnoh games but I haven't heard about any crimes of theirs from fandom yet asides from bombing lakes) come close to the Rocket admins, they've got a Proton for Arceus's sake. He had a whole crew of grunts armed with knives deep in a cave chopping off Slowpoke tails to sell on the black market.

Team Plasma may have Ghetsis down for murder and some mean people that stuck around with him, and actually succeeded in terrorizing Unova and freezing the place over for a bit and trying to kill the protag, but his grunts would CRY if they faced Rocket. We've actually SEEN how mean Rocket grunts can get in anime specials, in killing Marowak, in their grunt sprites carrying whips and MAYBE tasers if I'm not mis-remembering another source. Oh you've got Gene splicing tech? So do they, they created a whole ass Legendary. They held Sliph scientists hostage for research, caged up countless Pokemon in labs and casinos, took over a Radio tower with more hostages, forced evolution tech to lead to rapid Magikarp evolution into angry Gyarados, imagine if they unleashed that onto the ocean? I've seen a fic where 100 of them sunk the S.S Anne in honestly that most wild Rocket scheme I've seen to date. Oh yeah they also took the S.S Anne hostage.

There are so many implications of other shit they had involvement in, in dark Kanto war AU theories. the DANGER of Giovanni hiding his identity for years while all doing all sorts of crime bureaucratic stuff in the background, that general shady jazz of making deals with crime bosses, messing up, and getting "vanished" ok so maybe too much fic influence goes into this, but LOOK Victreebel and Golbat are such murder Pokemon. Interpol and their literal SWAT Teams that were sent to find them in the Pokemon Generations Special? the super cameras they use catch images of their agents? feels like a movie damn, these guys are legit. what's Plasma, but a wayward religious cult aiming for dictatorship? where your grunts are wishywashy and half of them leave in the sequel, while Rocket grunts are loyal to their boss? you sweet talked citizens into releasing their pokemon? they lured gullible trainers in with nugget bridge, people down on their luck in the slums of society, bullied a whole town, disrespected a grave site, pushed people down the stairs, another hostage in Mr. Fuji, threatening hostage meeting with Silph boss before bombing the first floor and escape helicopter in Origins, had suspicious history with the "good guys" in Kanto's government and big names. stole so many things. god just. fucked up crime list continues. Archer just casually discussing selling Cubone skulls when they evolve, the danger of Petrel's impersonations, Proton's anger issues + being their cruelest and scariest member, THAT is who Giovanni has chosen as TR's first line of defense, y'all getting fucked up. Ariana plays dirty (as double battle mechanics didn't exist back then, ganging up on us until Lance physically pushes her away from us bc he is also down for violence) and is just as willing to be vicious because TR is a WAY OF LIFE unlike Admins in other gangs who just grouped together with their boss for a single Legendary Pokemon purpose and changing the world, TR was built on crime. "I may have been around during the day, but now I'm doing my real job." dare I ask? all the dialogue of not going easy on children, on showing how mean adults can be, like yeesh. and of course, last but not least, TEAM RAINBOW ROCKET, cause Gio really gonna make all y'all other Team bosses his b- anyways, I probably missed stuff cause the list is extensive but you're right OP, Gio's got a gun.

anon. I love you dfhjmk,ljhgfds. I can't even add to this you've said everything I'm saving this forever

[embellishedbookworm]

oh you literally can't get tyranitarite until you've beaten the game. so, what, either use the lucario, or no mega evolution? like, ok, the shiny gyarados was one thing. it was red to show that shinies were a thing. but that didn't mean you had to put it on your team in order to, you know, have shinies. they were meant to be a special surprise.

but mega evolutions are supposed to be a new central mechanic. you either build a team around the mega lucario or you don't get to mega evolve. unless you trade for it. and considering there's only one mega stone per mega per new game, that's not very likely. also online is dead now.

can you believe i don't like how x&y try to build half your team for you?

and that's another pokemon game beaten. beaten without even interacting with the mechanics they added. did i go with a fairy type? well, at first, but it turns out my team really needed an electric type instead. and mega evolutions? the game gives you a lucario, but i was already raising a gallade, which, is basically built for killing team flare pokemon. the thing was super effective on all of them except the one admin who had a manectric for some reason.

does gallade mega evolve? yes!

just not in x and y. got to go to hoenn for that. :)

they could not be bothered to add the mega in a patch. like i know the internet is slow on the 3ds, but come on, oras is part of gen 6. it's shitty to make a pokemon a mega in only half the generation. ESPECIALLY when you can trade between them directly.

huh. tyranitar got a mega. guess i should have looked that up. oh well.

ngl i think this is the first time i was disappointed after beating a pokemon game. :\

[smallestapplin]

Hello

Do you think hybrids can evolve? Image you are a Magikarp hybrid. Very mocked and badly treated due to stereotyping. You meet one of the Ingo/Emmet who loves you treats you well. Evolution takes place due to protecting your love and cute little Magikarp hybrid in now a stunning fearsome Gyarados hybrid!

Rather fluffy, but could you do the Submas boys and maybe Warden Ingo if not too much?

Many thanks Small Anon ❤️

Personally I think hybrids just kinda grow into the final evolutions but I can do this!

Also I’m sorry I could only think of stuff for subway bosses!🙇

-

-

🔲Ingo🔲

- Magikarp aren’t native to Unova, much less a hybrid.

- Of course people aren’t kind to you, and neither is the waters you live in. You’re constantly hiding from humans are the much stronger and aggressive Pokémon and hybrids in the water with you.

- You met him when his Excadrill fell off the dock and the ground type started flailing.

- You lifted the mole Pokémon up from below but Ingo was all so grateful for you.

- His poor Pokémon isn’t fond of water.

- You aren’t use to praise or just someone being kind, so you flustered quickly at all his thank you’s

- He’d come back at least once a week to Undella bay to spend time with you.

- A nice friendship was formed you two before it turned into love.

- How could Ingo not? To him, you’re the sweetest thing! You are always so happy to see him, it warms his heart.

- He still remembers you nervously handing him a beautiful seashell. You looked on the verge of tears as you did, but he knew, he read up on water hybrids courtships.

- Of course he agreed, you’re so sweet!

- And he’s a bit moronsexual for you-

- He never grows tired of you and your adorable antics.

- But other hybrids didn’t like a human being in their territory.

- You didn’t know what came over you, but with a loud roar and a tail thrash they were gone.

- You were instantly at Ingo’s side, nuzzling and cooing at him.

- “D-dear!”

- You let out a confused sound before he cups your face. Which you instantly notice his hands no longer cover your cheeks like they use to.

- Ingo just stares at you, his silver eyes wide with wonder.

- You’re massive, you’re no longer a small adorable hybrid, your tower over him, your human half alone is larger and bulkier than he could ever dream.

- You look around and are amazed to see how much bigger you are, the strength and power you tail holds alone is astounding!

- “Ingo! Ingo look!”

- You’re instantly cheering and swimming laps, flashing him your new blue tail.

- “Yes! You’re quite lovely!”

- You do one more excited lap before diving under the water, and pop back out in front of your mate.

- “Here! Here! Here!”

- Ingo is laughing at how excited you are. He thought Gyarados hybrids were just as aggressive as their Pokémon counterparts, yet here you are, much like an excited lillipup.

- You hand him your deepest blue scale.

- “A proper gift! I finally have scales pretty enough.”

- “My dear, your scales have always been pretty, but thank you, I will cherish this.”

- He doesn’t think he’s seen you this happy before.

-

🔳Emmet🔳

- Undella bay is a nice spot to hide in.

- Humans are easier to avoid here. But it’s no fun being alone.

- A strange man and his Eelektross sought to change that.

- You were so scared of Eelektross and Emmet felt so bad for scaring you! He had to make it up to you!

- You two quickly became fast friends due to his determined nature.

- Emmet came to visit you every day off he had.

- He’d always bring you something cool to show you or for you to try. He was so confused on why you were nervous and embarrassed until you explained courtships.

- Then HE was the nervous and embarrassed one.

- But you two have known each other for a while, and he did really like you….so why not! Just because your an aquatic based hybrid isn’t going to stop him from showering you with love!

- “Even though I’m a magikarp hybrid?”

- “I fail to see what that has to do with my love for you-“

- You two are idiots together.

- He adore spending every chance he gets with you and swimming on your back.

- He likes cruising with you.

- Eelektross is practically a water puppy to you.

- A lot of Pokémon and hybrids don’t stay close to the shore, so that’s usually where you stay, but Emmet wanted to venture out and see a water cave.

- You tried telling him it was a bad idea and now safe, but his pouting pleading face made you crack.

- Your grinning man placed goggles and a snorkel in his face, he held onto your dorsal fin and you two ventured further out into the water.

- “Stay close to me, it’s not safe.”

- You earned an enthusiastic nod before diving under the water.

- You wish you could see the awe on his face at the beautiful world below the waters surface.

- You chuckle at his pointing at all the schools of fish and pretty Pokémon.

- You kept your eyes locked onto a Frillish that was lingering by. But Emmet wanted to approach it.

- Of course you don’t expect him to know every danger there is, but the panic you felt in that moment was unreal.

- He lets go of your dorsal fin to get a little closer, seemingly entranced by the soft pink.

- The second the Frillish moved to also get closer to him you lost it.

- Fear and panic overwhelmed you, next thing you knew Emmet was in your arms and you two were at the surface once more.

- “Darling! Hey hey it’s okay.”

- You tried to slow your breathing but you lightly bap his head.

- “Stupid stupid stupid stupid! Do you know how dangerous that could’ve been!? Almost letting yourself become a frillish’s dinner!”

- Emmet winces and gives you an awkward smile.

- “I’m sorry! It was just really cool to see up close! But look at you!”

- You stare down at him confused, wait…down? Emmet is never ‘down?’

- You look into the water as a mirror and see you’re much larger, teeth much sharper, blue and white frills on the sides of your face, you quickly look behind you and see a long blue and white tail with white spines on top.

- “I…HOLY SHIT!”

- “Large darling! Big beautiful darling!”

- Emmet is just as excited and gleeful as you.

- He’s absolutely smitten at how you can pick him up with such ease now. Your Gyarados strength makes him so light.

- You were never expecting this.

- “I can properly court you now! And protect you! And hunt for you!!! This is great!”

- While he doesn’t quite get it, he adores the shells, your scales, and lost treasures you bring him.

- You use tk only get him what was near the shore.

- But now that you’re larger you can go further out and get him bigger and better things!

- Emmet was happy with whatever you gave him.

- He just adores spending time with you.

[sage-nebula]

In honor of today being Charizard Day (6/6), let's take a moment to discuss the best Charizard in the anime—Alan's Charizard, Lizardon.

— Lizardon's nature is Adamant, and though there's no way for anyone in-universe to know this, he has perfect IVs and EVs.

— Perhaps ironically, his egg was dumped in a Lumiose trashcan by an irresponsible breeder who got the shiny they wanted and didn't want to deal with the extra. Alan, age 9, found the egg and brought it home.

— Lizardon hatched on Alan's 10th birthday after careful incubation. And yes, this means he's only 5 years old in canon.

— Although he has an Adamant nature (like his trainer tbh), he is also VERY sweet, affectionate, and friendly. He's always happy to meet new friends and, though he is tough as claws in battle, will be like "me and the bestie 🥰" with the opponent he just finished bodying immediately after the battle.

— To that end he doesn't really hold grudges, but he DOES have grudges against Lysandre and Lysandre's pokémon (especially Pyroar and Gyarados).

— As a dragon, he has a hoard. His hoard is Charizard merch because it makes him so excited to see stuff that looks like him. Alan always buys it for him because he loves seeing Lizardon happy.

— His name has been Lizardon ever since he was a charmander.

— Lizardon loves training and battling as much as Alan does. On top of sharing the same drive to protect others (including Alan himself, because Alan is Lizardon's boy and Lizardon doesn't want to see him hurt!), it's just fun to him and he loves working with Alan to figure out new strategies and tactics.

— Lizardon evolved into Charizard when Alan slipped off a cliff trying to retrieve a mega stone for Lysandre and Lizardon needed wings to save him.

— When Lizardon first hatched, Professor Sycamore's Garchomp, Gabrielle, picked him up and held him in the air to show him to all the other pokémon, Lion King style. Alan has a picture of this framed on his desk.

— Lizardon doesn't like scary movies! He would rather set the TV on fire than watch one, and trust, he has before.

— He's very close to Gabrielle, who is like a big sister or dragon mom to him. Alan is his favorite human in the world, but Gabby is his favorite pokémon in the world.

— Lizardon goes flying (with Alan of course) at *least* twice per day: once in the morning, and once in the evening. Often there are afternoon flights too, though.

— Sometimes Lizardon and Alan wrestle and it always ends with Lizardon pinning Alan to the floor and drenching him in kisses.

— Lizardon likes spicy and seafood and consequently always has fishy breath.

— Lizardon gets along well with Leon's Charizard, Zar-Zar. Zar-Zar is stronger than Lizardon, but Lizardon is faster than Zar-Zar.

— Lizardon and Hari-san have commisserated over how much work it is to keep their humans safe, between Alan's hero complex-induced recklessness and Manon's clumsiness. It's a full time job!

— Regardless of what's being shown in Journeys, post-canon Lizardon wears a gold half-sun pendant around his neck that holds his Charizardite X. This pendant fits together with a silver half-moon pendant that Alan wears (+ Key Stone) to form a perfect circle. These were gifts from Professor Sycamore.

— He would never admit it, but Lizardon does get a little lowkey jealous of Alan's other pokémon sometimes. He was here first, ok??

— Lizardon is allergic to eels and cannot eat them lest he get horrible tummy aches.

— Sometimes Lizardon gets a hold of Alan's PokéNav+ and tries to send text messages. They are always gibberish because his claws are too big for the keyboard :(

— When they're camping outside, Alan usually sleeps under Lizardon's wing. This is equally comforting to both of them.

— Lizardon loves to be petted and get scritches and cuddles from Alan. He also likes to return the favor by grabbing Alan up in a hug. Sometimes he gets so excited he forgets his strength and Alan ends up with bruised ribs, but that's okay. Alan is never mad at him for that.

— You know this gif?

This is Lizardon if someone tried to talk bad about Alan in his presence. It would probably end in very loud roaring.

— He generally doesn't care for cars or other vehicles but he LOVES Leon's Charizard jeep.

— Lizardon likes to draw. His drawings are never quite decipherable to people, but when he draws on paper Alan puts them all on the fridge anyway.

— Lizardon sometimes does art collabs with Manon, where she colors in his line work. These collabs also go on the fridge.

— Lizardon and Alan perfectly understand each other and can and do have conversations, sometimes even without words.

— Above all, Lizardom can and has bodied legendary pokémon before (50% Zygarde), but for all his determination to be the strongest to protect others, he's still a sweet and friendly boy who looks forward to spending every new day with his human by his side. 💙🖤🧡