#of all pokemon

[orsan1070]

Alolan Raichu's Dark Origins

Yes, the title is kind of clickbait. No, it’s not incorrect. Bear with me here. It’s rare that a theory like this holds water.

Alolan Raichu is a sweet, fairly unassuming mon on the surface. However, with new information that has surfaced from the recent GameFreak “Teraleak”, its behavior and origins are painted in an… interesting light.

This post kind of got away from me. If you don’t care about the nitty-gritty, here’s the TL;DR: Alolan Raichu adapted from a diet of alien drug pancakes. No, this is not a joke.

First, let me preface this. I do not speak Japanese and do not claim to. All translations shown here are done in DeepL and/or Google Translate, or an amalgamation cross-referenced. While I have verified that my ideas hold water with someone who does speak Japanese (@kiskeym on Twitter / @boh.nonso on Medium), I do not have a full direct human translation.

Okay, so, let me provide some background. Some of the documents contained within the Teraleak were development profiles on Pokémon from gens 3 through 7. Of particular interest are the gen 5-7 ones, which contain information that came back later in various dex entries (particularly, I’ve noticed, in SwSh and SV) and other tidbits supported by canon. As these are from close to release and have come back later, I think it’s safe to say that the lore in these is canon. Most of the changes between these profiles and release comes from gameplay changes– I’ve only managed to locate one lore change, and that’s in Golurk. By Alola, these profiles were even being done alongside the concept art, as Palossand’s directly references it. Ergo, I’m treating these as canon. (Not 3 or 4, as those are too early in development, have a lot more changes, and don’t cover every mon in their respective gens.) I’d like to do, or help with, a full deep dive into these at some point in the future, but for now, I just wanted to get this out there.

That said, the information I’m providing here is frequently alluded to in various tidbits in games released after SM– I will provide those sources when necessary. This is almost certainly canon, outside of its scrapped gameplay integration.

(One more sidenote-- I've put leaked profiles in blue, official in-game content in orange, and supplementary material-- in this case, websites-- in green.)

Okay, enough preamble. 

Alolan Raichu’s adaptation is, in the games, played off as somewhat of a mystery, oddly enough. The Sun and Moon website says “Even Pokémon researchers don’t know why Raichu’s form changed in the Alola region.” Sword also says “It's believed that the weather, climate, and food of the Alola region all play a part in causing Pikachu to evolve into this form of Raichu.” Both of these have some sort of uncertainty to them– while there’s folklore about Raichu’s adaptation, the true cause is only through belief. The only consistent factor brought up is Raichu’s diet. The leaked profile expands upon this in an… interesting way. The Japanese text is as follows:

幻とされるデザート『スペシャル・パンケーキ（仮）』を食べることで進化する。

パンケーキに必要な食材はウルトラホールに起因するとされるもので、アローラ地方にしか存在しない。食材は熟練の職人により特殊な毒抜きをしない限り可食できず、そのレシピも、アローラ料理界において秘伝とされている。古老による口伝で語り継がれるのみで、知る者は極めて少ない。

A rough translation of this is:

It evolves by eating the mythical dessert "Special Pancake (tentative name)". 

The ingredients needed for the pancakes are said to come from Ultra Wormholes and only exist in the Alola region. The ingredients are inedible unless a skilled craftsman removes the poison in a special way, and the recipe is also considered a secret in the world of Alola cuisine. It has only been passed down orally by elders, and very few people know it.

This is already hugely interesting, regardless of the later conclusion. Even if you disagree with said later conclusion, this is still definitely fascinating info. It does mention a scrapped evolution item, the ‘Special Pancake’, but this is far from the only case of scrapped and altered evolution methods in these profiles– another example is Alolan Grimer originally being planned to evolve by use of a crystal shed from Alolan Muk. However, we know from Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee that the Special Pancake still exists in the lore:

It loves pancakes prepared with a secret Alolan recipe. Some wonder whether that recipe holds the key to this Pokémon's evolution. 

So, Alolan Raichu adapted because of extradimensional pancakes. Crazy.

It gets weirder. Another excerpt from the profiles says

ほっぺのでんきぶくろを揉みしだくと、カスタードクリームと洋酒（仮）が混ざったような甘い香りがすることで有名。その理由は解明されていないが、サイコパワーを高めると香りが強まる為、超能力に由来する現象とされている。その香りには謎の中毒性があり、愛好家は感電防止の策を講じてそれを嗅ぐことに臨む。

Which roughly translates to

It is famous that when you squeeze the electric sac on its cheek, it gives off a sweet scent that resembles a mixture of custard cream and liquor (tentative). The reason for this is unknown, but since the scent gets stronger as the psychic power increases, it is believed to be a phenomenon that originates from psychic power. The scent is mysteriously addictive, and enthusiasts take measures to prevent electric shock when they try to smell it.

The Japanese word used for ‘addictive’ here is, in fact, a word frequently used to describe addictive drugs. This addictive scent has been alluded to in games after this, also, particularly in Ultra Moon:

When you rub its cheeks, a sweet fragrance comes wafting out. However, you'll also get a light shock! 

The aforementioned Pokemon Sun and Moon website also relays this information:

Raichu has electric sacs on its cheeks, and rubbing them causes a sweet aroma to be released. The mechanism behind this is not clear, but it’s thought to be connected to the psychic power that Alolan Raichu possess.

This directly reflects the profile. So, the pancakes made with ingredients from Ultra Space made safe for eating by an expert, give Alolan Raichu psychic powers (since it adapted to have them as a result of this diet) that are directly correlated with an addictive scent. The profiles also specify one more detail, this time about Alolan Raichu’s personality:

実際の性情も大人しくボーっとしたもので、何事においても動じず、常に笑みをたたえている。

This roughly translates to:

Its actual nature is also quiet and absent-minded, unfazed by anything and always smiling.

This is in direct contrast to Raichu’s usual nature, characterized frequently in the Pokedex as becoming aggressive when it has too much electricity stored:

It turns aggressive if it has too much electricity in its body. It discharges power through its tail.

When electricity builds up inside its body, it becomes feisty. It also glows in the dark.

These specific instances are from Brilliant Diamond and Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee respectively, but there are several more. This means that Alolan Raichu’s personality changed with its adaptation as well.

So, in short, we’ve got pancakes made with poisonous extradimensional ingredients, purified by experts, that give Alolan Raichu psychic powers connected to an addictive scent and make it quiet, absent-minded, and unflappable. While nothing is explicit here, outside the mention of the scent being addictive, this is certainly reminiscent of common portrayals of various kinds of drugs.

Alolan Raichu is on drugs. Canonically. Probably. Alien drug pancakes. What has Pokémon lore come to

(Thanks again to Kiskeym for verifying this information, and to MewMallow for pointing out some of the similarities here and making me realize what’s going on.)

[antennatoheaven]

[anthrophobixx]

I had a dream where Brock was revealed to be a butch lesbian at the end of journeys and he thought that "ash and the others already knew" and the entire internet started losing their minds over it and after a couple hours the pokemon company tweeted "surprise faggots" with a picture of Brock holding a poorly edited lesbian flag

I tried to recreate it it looked smth like this

[reeftide]

galar top 3 flight and riding gear sets

[skipppppy]

Congrats?

[onefey]

you're going about your normal day when, suddenly, surprise! you've been pokémon mystery dungeon'd!

unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the pokémon assigning quiz has been canceled. instead, you must spin THE WHEEL, assigning you a random, unevolved, non-legendary and non-mythical pokémon. you must now go on some sort of world-saving adventure as this pokémon. good luck!

tell me in the tags what you rolled, and how you feel about it - for bonus points, you can spin the wheel again for (or just take your pick of) a pokémon to be your partner.

bonus rules:

you're not shiny unless the wheel tells you you're shiny

take your pick of regional forms and evolutions (for example, if you roll vulpix, it's up to you whether that means normal or alolan vulpix)

apply whatever logic you like with regards to gender

have fun and be yourself!

[corantus]

ed emberley pokemon!

[kiwymelody]

So Maushold just won a regional.

Here's every time the crowd chanted along to Population Bomb during the finals :

[jaafar-gaza08]

Hello, my name is Jaafar from North Gaza. I previously created a GoFoundMe donation campaign, and when I got $2,400, they deleted the campaign without knowing the reason. Please support me in my new campaign, Chuffed. Any amount you donate, even if it is small, will help buy flour and vegetables for my family. The price of everything we have is many times its normal price. Please help save my family from starvation! 🥹🙏

✅️Vetted by @gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #299 )✅️

Please know that the beginning is difficult for everyone, donate even a small amount, it will definitely mean a lot to us 💔🥲

https://chuffed.org/project/helpjaafar

[subterra-rose]

Honestly pokemon is the ideal universe not just because there’s cute animals that are your life companions, but because they have walkable cities and adequate biking infrastructure

[dailytricksterfox]

Oops all Fox!

[snailfen]

typhlosion fans reading the leaked pkmn mythos doc, realizing that their fave is going to become an unfortunate punchline in the pokemon community that absolutely no one will let go of for the rest of eternity because no one can seperate unused mythos from canon or understand mythos as mythos

[koobiie]

based on that one q&a... i'm a sucker for a pokemon crossover

[lakesparkles]

Them with their favorite pokemons because I wanted an excuse to draw all of them (expect that other guy... I forgot his name)

[noelledeltarune]

really fun duo you have there. mind if i add arbitrary roles to their relationship dynamic so i can write one of them as an overprotective caretaker and the other as a naive helpless baby?