#like the LAST fuckin pokémon in the pokédex you can catch and it looks like THIS??? why did we need another genie. what

[front-facing-pokemon]

[extreme-technicality]

Alright so I’m like Actually putting teams together, for Naofumi I’ve got Absol, Torterra, Hydreigon, Hisuian Zoroark, Bastiodon, and I kinda wanna give him Shaymin too - here’s the reasoning/stories:

- His starter was a Turtwig because I can’t not give him the Turtwig line. Imagine him running around with a teeny tiny turtle for five seconds. You agree. Also because Torterra has that sweet sweet parallel with the life tortoise and I eat that shit UP. It’s also written in one of Torterra’s Pokédex entries that Torterra is incredibly kind to and protective of the small Pokémon that live on its back, which is honestly the most Naofumi shit. He wasn’t exactly the nicest to his Turtwig in the beginning (which is understandable yet still reprehensible), not just because of his Very Fresh Rage and Hurt, but because his Turtwig doesn’t have the best stats. It takes a long time for it to grow and has astonishingly low attack and special attack, even for the Turtwig line. For most of the events of s1 it’s still a Grotle, and it evolves into Torterra right before the life tortoise arc starts. It’s so desperate to make Naofumi happy and proud, to be the Pokémon of the Hero it’s supposed to be, but it’s so painfully aware of how weak it is.

- I really love the entries for Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark in relation to Naofumi. Much like with Absol, the little Zorua took one look at Naofumi and went “oh shit same hat”. It’s about the sympathy of one exiled, hated being turned vengeful spirit for another, it’s about the compassion and camaraderie from the only beings who can commiserate, it’s about the beautiful parallels between Naofumi’s Zoroark and Raphtalia’s Zoroark, it’s about the dichotomy between his Zoroark and his Absol, it’s about the twin healing journeys between Pokémon and trainer, it’s about the deep-seated sense of community buried under the trauma and the hurt, iTS ABOUT!!!! THE EVERYTHING!!!!!!!! His Zorua is the first Pokémon he catches, fresh out of his fall from grace, when he gets found half-dead from exposure by a pack of Zorua. One of them manages to convince their Zoroark to take him back to their den and care for him. Seeing the sorry state he and his Turtwig are in, and feeling the kindred spirits between them, the Zorua that did all the convincing decided to go with Naofumi. Did the Zoroark like it? No, but it let the Zorua go anyway.

- Bastiodon! I’m sorry, did you not expect me to give the Shield hero the Pokémon with a Shield for a FACE??? Also the mental image of Naofumi running around with two tiny turtles at the beginning is very cute and I love it, it’s what he deserves <3 Shieldon was the second Pokémon he caught himself, when he and Raphtalia were clearing out the ore mines around Lure. It was the last (and the smallest) of a colony of Shieldon and Bastiodon that had either been killed or run out of the caves by the monsters that settled there. The little guy wanted revenge, so when it saw Naofumi and Raphtalia battling the monsters it jumped right in and started helping. And then it didn’t leave him alone - it started a fight with Naofumi’s Turtwig, won, and proceeded to claim one of Naofumi’s unoccupied pokeballs as its prize. I love this Pokémon so fuckin much and I just made it up. Like I need you all to understand, this lil fucker is a Bastard, a reckless little shit, cocksure and steadfast and stubborn.

- He has an Absol because Absol is my favorite Pokémon of the parallels between Naofumi’s image and reputation and Absol’s image and reputation. It’s about the misplaced blame on a good-hearted and well-intentioned being and the inexorable urge to keep trying to help Despite That. Also Absol is my favorite Pokémon and he deserves one <3 Absol was the third Pokémon he caught, right after the first Wave he fought off. It had warned Lure that the Wave was coming, and saw how Naofumi defended and evacuated the town even as they hated him for being the Shield Hero. In other words, Absol took one look at Naofumi and went “oh shit same hat”. It found him after the Wave was gone and quietly (but insistently) nudged at another one of Naofumi’s unoccupied pokeballs until he caught it. I will Absol-utely (HA) write the scene at some point because I have it so clear in my head, but basically Naofumi and his Absol have a very mutually respectful relationship. Very self recognition through the other of both of them, honestly.

- I changed my mind on giving him a Shaymin. Much as I love the mental image of the terrifying, powerful Shield Hero surrounded by all his equally terrifying, powerful Pokémon plus a teeny tiny grass hedgehog on his head, Shaymin doesn’t fit him as well as Phantump/Trevenant does. It’s the penultimate Pokémon added to the party, right after he takes care of the Bio Plant Seed situation in Lerno. Basically, once he kills the quasi-sentient plant, it leaves (HA) room for a monsterified villager’s soul to take root (H A) and be reborn as a Phantump. It essentially imprinted on him, helped him modify the seeds into something Actually Helpful, and promptly followed him around until he caved and gave it a pokeball of its own.

- He also needs a very angry, very powerful dragon, which is why he’s got a Hydreigon. I think in this AU it’s the dragon he, Raphtalia, and Filo almost died to for that one mountain village that one time. All their Pokémon were down, Raphtalia and Filo were unconscious, and Naofumi…well, he doesn’t actually remember what happened. All he remembers is slowly, painstakingly patching everyone up enough to get them back to town with a new pokeball on his belt with a very angry, very overleveled Hydreigon inside. It doesn’t listen to him half the time, but it’s strong enough that Naofumi knows it can handle anything the Waves throw at them. In a desperate enough situation, he brings Hydreigon out without balking at the cost to his allies.

God fucking damnit this Pokémon au won’t leave me alone

[dragongirlafro]

Miscellaneous things I liked about Sun and Moon

-Kukui coming to your house and just letting himself in.

-Kukui asking the main character to find the kahuna without actually giving a short fill in on who he is, other than “he looks just like a kahuna”.

-the little wobble effect when you’re crossing the bridge to save Nebby.

-The main character asking Lillie if she’s a kahuna, either jokingly or because they genuinely have no idea what a kahuna is.

-Hau’s theme. I mean, I’m psyched for Hau in general, but I really loved his music.

-the cutscenes. No seriously. I like reading dialogue and interactions between characters. The cutscenes at the beginning of the game really set the right mood and tone for me imo.

-Trainer models behind their Pokémon during battles.

-finding Ledybas on route 1.

-Kukui yelling “Oh yeah, Rockruff! My body is ready!” from inside his lab, giving the impression of a hilarious double entendre.

-The Rotom pokédex’s witty personality.

-And the wide variety of Pokédex entries ranging from “really sweet” to “how did this get past ERSB’s ratings?”

-just the sentiment of going out into the islands with your starter and just one or two low level Pokemon.

-Pokémon Refresh!! I had no idea how much of an improvement Refresh was to Amie! Like you can just give a Pokemon two sparkly rainbow beans and they’ll love you forever!

-the ability to just go into a PC and grab your pokémon or move it around without any of that “withdraw or deposit” bullshit.

-that adorable scene where Rotom takes a picture of you, Hau, and Lillie.

-Rotom thirsting over “that dreamboat Ilima”.

-The Skull grunts at the berry farm. More specifically the one who had self-esteem issues.

-when the Skull grunts think you can’t tell them apart cause they’d switched positions so they swap places and are like “how’s that?”

-Totem Pokémon being three times larger than they normally would and scaring the crap outta you.

-The fuckin anime-ass pose your main character does whenever they get a Z-crystal

-in fact Z-moves in general. A lot of older fans seem to dislike them but honestly they were one of the only things that convinced me to buy the game.

-Ride Pokémon!!!!No HMs!!!!!!!

-Also being able to program any Ride Pokémon on the D-pad. That’s become like second nature to me.

-that cutscene when you’re on the boat from Melemele to Akala island.

-and that little exchange between Lillie, Hau, and Kukui when they reach the shore.

-The shopping music. Holy fuck do I even need to tell you how amazing the shopping music is in this Gen???

-meeting Dexio and Sina again. I didn’t really care for the whole Zygarde thing but just seeing those two again was really sweet.

-Paniola Ranch and its chill af vibes.

-Lana trying to find a “strapping young swimmer” when she’s supposed to be guiding you through her trial.

-and her trying to convince you that her trial site has a Kyogre in it.

-The frickin Water type Z-move dance. Oh my god that wavy hula dance is the cutest thing ever.

-The whole “Professor Kukui wtf are you doing” “Who is this ‘Professor Kukui’ you speak of I am the Masked Royale!!” exchange.

-and then he just blurts out “and now we have our foursome!” and all the characters ignore it and move on as if that’s a normal thing to say in everyday conversation

-Kiawe’s trial. Just… everything about Kiawe’s trial.

-But mostly Hiker David.

-“Press A to pound the ingredients.”

Honestly tho that was the only redeeming quality to Mallow’s trial Totem Lurantis can go fuck itself in USUM.

-Professor Burnet’s groovin’ dimensional research lab theme.

-when Olivia does the Rock type Z-move dance and the camera just zooms in on Lillie gawking over her.

-OH YEAH that Pyukumuku chucking thing where you can get 20 000 pokédollars a day. I hope they bring that back because that was a real good way of making cash.

-And those missions in Pokécentres where if you’ve caught a set amount of Pokémon or if you’ve caught a specific Pokémon they’ll pay you like 10 000 dollars or something.

-Meeting Wicke for the first time and her being incredibly sweet and nice.

-That small bit when Hau can’t believe that Lusamine’s more than 40 years old and she’s really flattered.

-battling Nihilego for the first time.

-That scene on the boat to Ula’Ula Island where Hau talks to you and offers you a Malasada. That really solidified his friendship with the main character for me.

-Speaking of which that part where you’re at Malie Garden and Hau asks “hey, did you know-“ and you can just say “yah i know” and he’s like “dude come on I haven’t even asked the question yet.”

-that little side quest where you have to find a woman’s eight Stuffuls on route 10 that’s like really sweet but also why does she have so many stuffus?

-The Skull grunts who fucking try to steal a bus stop sign.

-Molayne. I liked his relationship with Kukui and Sophocles.

-and I especially liked the part where he gave you Kukui’s mask and when you give it to him Kukui’s just like “oH uhhhhh I’ll um give it back to the Masked Royale when I uh see him”

-Blush Mountain. It has such a nice name. Blush Mountain.

-Acerola’s, um… Little brother and sister? Kids she’s babysitting? I wasn’t too clear on how they were related to her, but they were cute either way.

-the whole bit where rotom’s afraid to go into the haunted store because “spoopy scary ghosts” despite him literally also being a ghost.

-On the subject of those two kids, the event where Team Skull stole the girl’s Yungoos and she gives you a Rare Candy just to get it back fucking broke my heart like oooooohhhh sweetie you didn’t have to give me this I would have gotten your Yungoos back either way!!

-Plumeria!!She was so underrated!

-uncle Grimsley’s cointoss bit where you could pick heads or tails but if you picked neither then he’d just say that Skarmory swooped in and grabbed it in midair, even though that obviously never happened and he was just bullshitting you.

-Also just the mere fact that Grimsley refers to himself as “Uncle Grimsley”

-Nanu. Enough said.

-The fact that all the Team Skull grunts in Po town are gay. Every. Single. One of them. gay

-That scene where Nanu does the Dark type Z-move pose and the main character and Gladion just stare at him and there’s just an awkward pause until he goes “there you cleared your trial or whatever”.

-actually now that I think about it, Sun and Moon had a lot of subtle humour.

-when you were infiltrating Aether Paradise and a good amount of employees were set on stopping you but there was like that ten percent who were like “whoa shit’s gettin wild out here lmao do you want us to heal your ‘mons? We could even take you back if you wanted i ain’t about to lose my job over some space conspiracy fuck that noise”

-That one Skull grunt who was all like, “wanna see me get hit by a Hyper Beam?”

-When you Battle Guzma outside of Lusamine’s mansion.

-LUSAMINE’S BATTLE THEME. HOLY SHIT.

-“Doot doo doo, just a Kahuna, taking a stroll through the laguna.”

-when Hau compliments Lillie over her outfit makeover and Gladion immediately pulls the defensive brother card.

-Seafolk Village’s night music. Oh my lord I’ve never wanted to marry a video game meledy before it.

-Hapu!!! Another underrated character!

-That scene where Lillie and the main character are in the cave on Exeggcutor Island in the rain.that was super cute.

-Vast Poni Canyon! Love me that guitar and flute!

-Mina!!! I can’t wait for her trial in usum I love her so much!!!!!

-when you go to Ultra Space and Rotom is unconscious because you’re disconnected from your world.

-When Lillie gave that whole speech to Lusamine and her sole reaction was basically “¯\_(ツ)_/¯” that absolutely slayed me

-After all that shit in Ultra Space and catching Nebby goes down and then Nanu’s just chilin’ at the Altar and is like “oh, hey, you can challenge the league I guess, if you really felt like it.”

-Kahili!!!!!

-THE MOTHERFUCKING CHAMPION THEME!!!

-that corny-ass scene where Lillie was gonna say something to the main character after the festival and it was all set up like a love scene from the final act of a goddamn comedy romance film and then they get shouldered by the fireworks. My heart can’t handle that kind of sappy cuteness and I need more of it.

-Looker and Anabel. Those two were adorbs.

-oh. And Alolan Raichu. When I first saw that Pokémon revealed in the trailer last July I knew that I had to buy Sun and Moon. Alolan Raichu is what got me into Pokémon.