#like i mean don't get me wrong pokemon is a big chunk of why i even draw in the first place but i seldom draw it

[keymintt]

flygon illustration for the pokemon tcg contest! didn't make it past the first round, but i had a lot of fun with this one regardless hehe

[thatoneguy031]

So... It's about time I covered Lucas's mother, huh?

Way back in the day(Like, 17 or so years ago), his mommy, known as Marcy, was a Marowak, as well as a top-class Ranger in the Guild. Like, she was damn-near on par with Hanson and Claude. They were the original Big Three.

They'd only be called on for the most serious of missions, and when they weren't on rescue missions, they grinded. They worked out, day in, day out, from the moment they woke up to the time they went to sleep.

And then Marcy got knocked up. ...By who, you ask? Not telling, you'll have to wait for that!

Now, here's the funny thing. While Marcy did what she could to ensure her baby came out as healthy as he could, she still went on rescue missions. Why? She felt like she couldn't afford to "leech" off her teammates for the 7 or so months she'd be stuck in the Ranger Guild building.

Hanson and Claude tried to get Marcy to actually take a rest, but she didn't listen to them. Why would she, amirite?

During this time, she would also talk to a Floatzel that earned the nickname Siren(She can be freaking LOUD), because she also wanted to be a mother. And one of those times, Marcy says something like, "Look, I'm not the best Pokemon to talk about this, but don't do what I do." Meaning that she's self-aware of the fact that she's ruining herself. She just doesn't care. Well, she does, but for all the wrong reasons.

A few months later, the egg was laid, and Lucas hatched weeks later, happy and healthy as ever. And, if you're wondering if a Cubone's skull mask thing was just his mother's skull, that's a load of bahookey. It's like a tradition that the mother would make one for their child. Don't get me wrong, it's still biological, it's still technically a skull, but it's made using the mother's aura and a few hard materials that resemble bone, like claws or even small chunks of their own mask. In some cases, if a bone is broken so badly it sticks out, they take a chip outta that and save it to use it as a base. Sometimes, the mask has to be resized, other times it would grow along with the Cubone. It's a mix of genetic stuff and how the mask was being made.

And for the club? Apply literally everything that I said in the last paragraph. In this case, though, the club will change shape upon a Cubone's evolution(If you're wondering, Marcy's club in particular was in the shape of a long staff, think of Son Wukong).

Anyways, after a really, really long time and some deep consideration, Marcy decided that she can't just leave Lucas alone, so she would do one of two things whenever a mission was issued: Either leave him under the watch of one of the other Rangers, or take him with her on missions. Which she did was dependent on how dangerous the mission was. She didn't want to trust anyone else with her baby.

Now, it's time for... The Incident.

One day, the Ranger's Guild was told that there was another mission. It was simple enough, there was a Pokemon that had gotten lost while travelling in a Mystery Dungeon, and needed someone to recruit them.

Marcy, being Marcy, decided to take little Lucas with her, y'know? It was pretty straightforward, and she'll have to fight what, five feral Pokemon total?

Marcy also decided to take Hanson and Siren with her as well, just in case things got a little wild.

She was doing her thing at first. Whacking ferals upside the head, finding some items the Guild could use in future adventures, and she was practically blitzing through the Mystery Dungeon(This was before the BBEG really got a grasp on everything, so he wasn't really a known issue). And, she was doing this with a 4-month-old Cubone in her right arm. Those ferals should've felt embarrassed. They were getting beat by someone that was handicapped, and using her less-dominant arm.

Things were going... pretty good.

But, when Marcy entered one of the higher levels of the Mystery Dungeon, she was greeted by a curtain of darkness, the only light source being a small hole in the wall where sunlight could reach it.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound, followed by what had to be the worst chest pain that Marcy had ever experienced, knocking her onto her back.

When she looked up, she saw a Noivern standing on top of her, aiming another Dragon Pulse, this time intending to get rid of her for good.

Marcy struggled under its weight, trying not to make any sudden sounds in fear of upsetting Lucas.

Thankfully, Siren was nearby and heard the Noivern's cries, and rushed in to help, but it was already too late. Marcy was already bleeding out, and it wasn't enough time to get her any useful medical attention.

In an act of rage, Siren hit the Noivern with the strongest Blizzard she could muster, followed by an Ice Punch. Her best friend had really just gotten cheap-shotted by a sorry excuse of a bat Pokemon, and she wanted to make it pay. She was able to knock it out, along with every other Noivern, Noibat, and Golbat in the area, but the damage was already done. Lucas was nervously patting his mother's face, hoping that she was just taking a nap.

Marcy put a paw on her son's face for the last time, trying to comfort him. "...I'm just wonderful," she said softly, trying her best not to cry. "I... I just hope that you remember all the fun times we had together. I'm so happy to be able to call you my son." With that, the last of her life faded from her eyes. She had passed away.

Safe to say, it was a very quiet night after that incident, even from Siren. After that mission was completed, she was chosen to be Lucas's new caretaker, until he was at the age where he could take care of himself.

Hanson hadn't heard about the situation until after the mission, and Claude found out shortly after. The Guild didn't do anything for our fallen hero, however, simply choosing to move on as though nothing happened. In their eyes, they had lost nothing more than a strong soldier.

Hanson, Claude and Siren weren't having any of it, though. they chose to hold a funeral for Marcy, the Marowak that will never be forgotten. She was a wonderful addition to the Guild, and had done so much for the upper-rank members alone, nevermind the improvements she's made to make the Guild a more comforting place for all.

Siren chose to leave the funeral early, so Lucas didn't have to see his mother's body lowered into the ground. It really, really sucked. The poor Cubone would have to grow up without knowing his real parents. Siren would have to tell his father eventually, and she was sure that he'd panic. While he wasn't the best father in the world, he still cared for his child.

[scruffyssketchbook]

To that one/those anon(s)...

Are you intentionally ignorant or just misled?

The history of the US (which is where I live) is mired in slavery. And despite people coming up with a thousand different, pseudo-scientific explanations for why black people were inferior to white people, the cold hard truth was that slavery was simply good for business.

Even after the Industrial Revolution, things in the US didn't improve much. Factory work was incredibly dangerous. Companies didn't want to have to pay the money it would take for safety. Children were even used in factories.

Do you know how much the average wage is in places with no worker rights laws, such as the Global South? Pennies, if even that.

If a person...

1. Lives in a place without worker rights laws.

2. Isn't protected by the worker rights laws of the place they are currently living.

...Then companies will exploit that fact by paying close to nothing. It doesn't matter if they can't pay for the things they make, because someone else can. Is that extremely short sighted? Yes, but all of capitalism is short sighted.

Why do you think companies are moving into using automation? It isn't just because robots make less mistakes, it is because robots don't have to be paid.

It is the nature of business under capitalism to make profit, and the only two ways you can do that is by:

1. Getting workers to work for longer while being paid less.

2. Increasing consumer prices.

This is obviously oversimplified, but all business can be boiled down to this. Due to how much easier it is to hide worker exploitation than it is to hide a big price tag, companies go for the former.

"But if you don't pay the workers well, then how do you make money on products?" The million dollar question. Maybe in the 1950s this mattered, but despite how the minimum wage in the US looks stagnant, due to inflation, it has actually been steadily decreasing.

So, how do people pay for things now-a-days? Government welfare, or you work two or three jobs at once. It really is an ingenious idea. Pay people so little that they have to work multiple jobs. That way, you can squeeze out as much time from them as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really don't like to shove politics into things like this. Often because you can't talk about politics without pissing off 10+ people for hundreds of different reasons. I brought this upon myself though by bringing up politics, but I just can't keep my mouth shut with things like those last two anon asks.

I'm going to end this by saying that I am not the best person to talk about this kind of stuff. Still hold me accountable if some of the info here is wrong, but if I have to I may post links to better info than this. People will still scoff at said info, but better than what I can provide.

Author chan: Hmm. To simplify even further, It takes money to run a business. Lots of money. The more money someone could save for their business, the better. A chunk of money is paid to workers, but slaves wont get anything because they are essentially working for free. Meaning, it would be in companies best interest to keep slaves around specifically because if they do, they wouldn't have to pay people to do the jobs for them.

And to turn this topic back around to pokemon, THAT is why Pokemon labor is so sought after. Its essentially free, non human labor. Why pay construction workers when you can catch a few Machamp? Why hire seamstresses when you can catch Leavanny? Because pokemon are not human and can be easily controlled, humans use that to their advantage. And due to this being the case throughout this whole time, most people in the public are ignorant or complicit to the bad things that pokemon have to go through due to them. That's why they can so easily support people who take pokemon and make them beat each other up till they are Knocked out, among other things.