#pika talks: pokespe

[pikatrainer99]

PokéSpe Pearl needs some SERIOUS therapy after all he went through, and I'm gonna tell you why! (HEADCANONS GALORE, DON'T LIKE HEADCANONS, DON'T INTERACT WITH THIS!!!)

I think I might be coming down with something (it's winter here and I'm so hot and clammy I'm seriously about to change out of my long sleeves and sweatpants and switch them out with short sleeves and shorts, I'm not joking), buuuuut I'd been working on gathering photos from my DPPt manga volumes to use for this post since I'd had an idea to do this for a WHILE now, and I really wanna get it done, so my hyperfocus won over my health again (as if that doesn't happen all the time).

Anyway, here's the post!

(BE WARNED, THERE ARE HEADCANONS GALORE IN HERE!!! DON'T LIKE HEADCANONS??? DON'T INTERACT WITH THIS!!!)

So, I'm back with another PokéSpe post, this time about my boy Pearl and the reasons why I think he needs some SERIOUS therapy, I went through my volumes and gathered photos of some scenes that he had to endure/witness throughout his journey. So all aboard the Pearl trauma train as we explore why (in my opinion anyway) there's no way in heck that this boy is okay (and why I seriously love the fanfics that explore this concept and wish there were more of them).

First, a couple of general things/headcanons that make me think he needs therapy:

He's EXTREMELY ANXIOUS, he freaks out over the smallest things (especially in the earlier volumes), I headcanon he has GAD because of that, because I have GAD myself and it's like that for me too. Also don't forget my headcanon that he's neurodivergent (AuDHD) from that post I made last year! That wouldn't help things either.

He's EXTREMELY PARENTIFIED throughout the ENTIRE JOURNEY, which does not help the anxiety of this 12 YEAR OLD CHILD!!!

He doesn't really know how to handle his emotions (that's Dia's thing), so he lashes out a lot. He also doesn't like showing vulnerability (that's ALSO Dia's thing).

I will try to go in order of events as best I can. If I missed anything, please feel free to let me know what I missed. Here we go!

(Volume 2) Nearly being buried alive by Cyrus inside Mt. Coronet.

(Volume 3) Witnessing Paka and Uji be ripped from the world (look at his desperation to save them and shock when he's told there's nothing that he can do).

And then this reaction after they disappear is just...he's traumatized, look at him, that facial expression says it all, also the fact that he can't even stop shaking as he tries to process it, to the point where he needs to lean on Diamond so he doesn't collapse on the ground.

(It's a tiny bit similar to one of my traumatized Orange expressions actually, though I'm obviously not nearly as good at drawing facial expressions.)

Anyway...back to Pearl and the stuff he's been through!

(Volumes 5-6) Accidentally stepping on a moving conveyor belt in the Fuego Ironworks and because of it, facing the chance of being killed by the giant furnace (look at his face as he realizes his dire situation and says "If that fire is hot enough to melt iron, I'm as good as dead!", it says it all).

(Volume 7) BEING CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EXPLOSION OF THE GALACTIC BOMB!!!! This is one I REFUSE to believe didn't traumatize him. He's lucky to have SURVIVED THAT!!!

The slump he went into for a bit after failing to protect Azelf...heartbreaking...

His panicked state upon waking up and not knowing where he is or where his Pokémon are...(also, I headcanon that he was dreaming about the bomb which would explain his panic upon waking up).

His relief upon seeing his Pokémon are okay, and then immediately remembering how they got injured because of him and feeling so guilty, that panel looking into his window as he just sits there thinking about everything that just happened is heartbreaking, you can tell he's GOING THROUGH IT mentally with his face completely shadowed and the rain pouring down outside. Luckily Wake is able to help him snap out of it so this slump doesn't last long.

(Volume 8) 12 year old children meet giant legendary deities of time and space, and are overwhelmed at just MEETING THEM...their expressions in the panel on the bottom right of the page show that very well.

(Volume 9) Dia tries to pull a heroic sacrifice in order to stop Cyrus...look at Pearl's reaction when he sees what his best friend is trying to do...honestly this scene makes THE SCENE even more heartbreaking...(don't worry we'll get to THAT soon)

(Volume 10) Seeing the bedridden Gym Leaders, especially Wake, is upsetting to both Diamond and Pearl, but Pearl is clearly worried about his mentor and it hurts to see.

Then he gets a music player containing his very own theme song that Wake made for him, which gets him all emotional, but he keeps it in, as always. (Which isn't healthy especially considering all the stuff this 12 YEAR OLD has endured up to this point...but we're still not done yet of course.)

(Volume 11) Here we go, it's time for THE SCENE. The one event that I headcanon to have traumatized Pearl the most, even more than being caught in the explosion of a LITERAL BOMB...and that event is Dia saving Pearl from Giratina's Shadow Force attack, but ending up taking it himself...

...much to Pearl's shock and horror.

Pearl starts shaking as he desperately tries to get Dia to wake up, but his best friend just lays lifeless on the ground, eyes wide open but completely soulless.

Pearl's expression here is heartbreaking, it's like he's finally realizing what happened, he just lost his best friend.

And now he's ready for revenge, and so are Dia's Pokémon...as they should be.

Just imagine being a CHILD fighting to save the literal UNIVERSE, and then having to say that you saw your BEST FRIEND die, right in front of you...and then said best friend's BODY DISAPPEARING INTO THIN AIR!!! Yeah...there's no way he ain't traumatized from all of that.

(Of course, Dia didn't die, but Pearl really thought he did, and that's just so messed up to think about...)

So anyway, there's my post about why (in my opinion) Pearl is traumatized and needs some SERIOUS therapy. If I missed anything feel free to let me know!

(I'm finally finished with this post, so now that I'm done with it I can FINALLY go to bed, especially since I think I'm coming down with something. It's 1:05 AM right now, I've been at this for hours, and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open... Ah yes, autistic hyperfocus, both a blessing and a curse at the same time 😅.)

[sugarglider-s]

cannot stop thinking about ur posts about pokespe red they love rent free in my mind (specifically the one about his role of being The Fighter and his relationship w deoxys) that being said can I ask about ur favorite things about Red or general headcanons :-D

THANK YOU SO MUCHHHH I love him so dearly... pokespe red my adored...

[ID: a screenshot from the pokespe manga of red holding out pika, who is holding a master ball. End ID]

I love love LOVEEE his entire deal tbh. how by proxy to every other protag in pokespe he seems 'normal' despite being absolutely BONKERS. how he casually says shit like this because, frankly, he's oblivious to a lot of social cues and doesn't want to be alone!

[ID: a screenshot from the pokespe manga of red saying "Why don't we just join the contest together?" while every dex holder up to the emerald arc looks shocked and says "Wha?" in the background. End ID]

He's very much Autistic to me and i love how his narrative in fire red is genuinely extremely existential and questioning why he does... anything! why is he the way he is? What motivates him? And he can't come up with anything! And that's AMAZING to me.

I love when characters seem like they have a clear path of Purpose but it's not quite by their own volition. Sure, he attained his goal of being champion! But once you accomplish your dream, what do you even do after that? Well. That's what he has to figure out.

PLUS! he has another of one of my favorite things: accepting his own death and HAVING TO CONTINUE TO LIVE ANYWAY. YOURE NOT GETTING OUT THAT EASILY IDIOT!!!!!!!! Just because you have accepted yourself as the martyr doesn't mean that act will be fulfilled!!!! Dying's easy, living's the hard part!!!!!!!! Idk. I'm extremely fond of Red and believe he needs so many mobility aids for his chronic pain (in my mind the ice shackles gave him nerve damage) thank you for coming to my ted talk

[ID: a screenshot of red in the firered chapters in which he is screaming about being unworthy of owning a Pokédex with text edited over to say “men will literally have a breakdown on the beach about not being able to beat dexoys and therefore deem themselves worthless instead of getting a mobility aid.” End ID]

[heavenlysphere]

I’m supposed to be going to bed so idk why I’m doing media analysis of a manga but there are good moments in Pokespe but there are also some things I can’t take like. Seriously. Like Yellow having to evolve her Pokemon, something she didn’t want because she’s mega pacifist kokiri child, was really hard hitting but then FRLGs Red’s heroic BSOD just didn’t hit for me? Like he’s shonen protagonist personality it was coming but it just didn’t… feel when he was at his worst. (Probably because when I think of Red I think of him like. well I was going to show it but the TikTok got removed but it was hard knock life over the times he got his shit kicked in RGBY.)

But then when he comforts Forretress for just doing what its trainer told it to do while Deoxys watches that’s when the waterworks start??? Like That was really good. I think Green comforting Red when he had the heroic BSOD was good but like. Idk it just didn’t hit for me. Probably because I was thinking “you hit your head like 7 times when you were 11.” The people of the Sevii Islands did give emotion and him talking with Pika did feel but him saying they lost to Deoxys didn’t really make me gaf lmao

[peterofthedrakes]

Y'all I have.... so many thoughts about pokemon. I have pokemon brainrot.

TO BE CLEAR: these headcanons are for pokespe (pokemon adventures, pokemon special, whatever) and are probably not applicable for the anime OR the games. They're whole different worlds.

[image description: a drawing of Red, a pale boy with spikey black hair and brown eyes. He is wearing a backwards red cap, a red short-sleeved jacket over a black shirt, and jeans. Additionally, he has leg and finger braces on, and lightening-like scars on his cheeks and neck. He is grinning and holding a pokeball, and Pika, his pikachu, is standing behind him and grinning mischievously. There is writing all over the image, which reads as such: RED!!! -backwards hat is the height of fashion -hair spikes bb! -(fake) gym badge earring from Green -he keeps getting electrocuted -braces, has joint problems from being froze -lad has ADHD -pockets for cool rocks & stuff -Pika will cause problems on purpose. End ID]

[lemurballing]

my thoughts under cut to avoid spoilers:

first of all, mimic getting exposed because of his radio being on and clutch shouting at top volume, with no code words, is insane iauhuifsaihfuiahsfuiasiucabs he put on his full among us suspicion volleyball game only for it to suddenly shatter. and then he STILL tried to salvage it by saying "wrong number,,????" which tangle and whisper are NOT accepting. and then abruptly just going octopus mode and confirming it is so crazy (and poor lanolin, frozen in place - she wasn't even prepared for the possibility that this was true. even with all of duo's suspicious absences and strange contradictions, being quick to flee, and still advocating for him... that's gotta hit lanolin hard that she missed something right in front of her, and took a side before opening up to new evidence. i think this is the facet in which tangle and whisper are vindicated, but it's also valid to point out that lanolin doesn't have the trust extended towards tangle and whisper to implicitly trust they're being reasonable when they assault someone, either; that starting moment before too much evidence stacked up yet, lanolin wasn't in the wrong to hold whisper back and out silver. the only wrong thing was not following up and asking them for the evidence why they thought the way they did...) also, tangle having an excellent sense of priorities going "stop, lanolin - we're helping people right now and we can talk/apologize later because THINGS are GOING DOWN (and by that i mean the AIRSHIP)"

i saw a bunch of harsh opinions on lanolin reacting to issue 75 and while i will admit she is not my favorite and has not been... 75 only made me like her more than i had before.

eggman robot is perfect. i love how much work he put into lining up his webcam footage with his robot's moustache. and recognizing that the screen would cut off his own goggles and putting them on the robot.

surge's overcharge is SICK, and getting most of a page devoted to it is awesome. it's almost pokespe million volts pika-shock awesome levels

rough and tumble going "you can just... quit a job?" was such a wholesome and sympathy-drawing reaction up until i took in the next text bubble "we keep getting fired before we have a chance to quit" and oh ok this is just on them. this is entirely their self-generated problem. the funny option is just that they don't think employers listen when you quit and intentionally did bad to get fired first, the likely option is they did something wrong or got defensive anyway (I can't see either of them doing well in any retail/fast food/customer-facing job) and just can't keep a job.

still have no clue why jewel thought it was a good idea to enable the self-destruct, even if it still gave everyone ample time to evacuate/get saved if clutch held them hostage. like.. that just seems like a mis-play? just like soren thedragonprince says, "sometimes when your only options are bad decisions, it's not because of a bad situation as much as you already made bad decisions that lead to worse decisions". no hate to jewel though, hostile takeover of your company has to be incredibly stressful to deal with and make the right decisions during. and we get an incredible moment with jewel acknowledging to amy the bodycount this diversion still has. MAN......... jewel i am so sorry you had to make that decision. thats such an awful decision. it worked out but man that hits heavy. my first thoughts after seeing this were 'jewel's gonna need tangle'.

babylon rogues pulling so much this issue... they're so cute. i love how easy jet is to taunt into doing what you want with 'but can you beat sonic at it'. ideal

flying motobud buddy is so peak... i love that motobud is coming back. silly buddy...! with buggy wing action...!

the first time i saw tangle again after the long attention shift back to the game cast i did. i did squeal out loud. shes just. i missed her so much and was happy to see her back...

A: incredibly happy that the first thing tangle does after they can't go after the mimic stuff anymore is beeline for jewel

B: very silly and awesome that tangle just picks jewel up with no hesitation. my friend i was livereading with pointed out tangle has probably done that before. new part of the spiral hill sisters lore: tangle literally dragging jewel around (or pulling a reverse save if jewel gets herself in trouble...). or pulling tail hugs whenever jewel is down... i just love how easily and quickly tangle comforts jewel. they really are the friends ever <3

C: WE ARE OFFICIALLY BACK TO EXCELLENT TANGLE CHARACTERIZATION... tangle with NO pause is like "obviously it's not over??? the restoration was about the people not the place??" she already KNEW it... ahead of the curve... also excellent insight into tangle's own thought process, because i think also her disregard for rules and restrictions plays into recognizing the organization for the people and not the boundaries placed on it that it dwells within. she never saw what the others got caught up in at all - it made her worse at playing by the rules, but is just the pickup everyone needed in this situation! and the way she's so immediate on it, leaving hardly a beat for jewel to 'rest' with that defeat, tangle is so hard to get to feel defeated or broken... and it's not because she doesn't register a defeat or a loss! she just focuses on the next thing, the next way to move forward!

while that can definitely be a negative coping mechanism in certain cases, or if she's ignoring her own feelings (ie "feelings dont bother you if you dont pay attention to them, unlike explosions and crashing airships and your friend's emotional troubles"), i believe towards external factors this attitude is extremely beneficial. plus - although this is somewhat like sonic, the way they differ is sonic seems the type to just blow past worries or disregard their existence, or that they actually pose a problem, while tangle instead acknowledges them and has a reason ready for why they aren't a problem. she doesn't slip past it, she faces it head on and blows through it - or bounces off?

also. tangle lassoing her tail is so perfect. she's going to lasso that rogue octopus outlaw !!

however. however. big loss for the idw community. tangle and whisper back to their normal outfits :(

besides tangle looking cool with the jacket and new gloves (and i wish dearly they let her have another outfit change someday... i love her canon outfit for sure, but she looks so GOOD in other fits), whisper's outfit in particular ties in to her character/development - being a large puffy jacket instead of a cloak, it's still insulating BUT in a more comfortable way, a more casual way. primarily white and blue color schemes tie in to whisper's own palette (blue eyes), as well as indicating a lighter mood and mindset. using the light palette gestures to an improvement in whisper's mood... and the loss of that brighter outfit occurring about the same time mimic falls back into 'active threat on the loose' status is so fitting. with mimic being so slippery, and now lasting even longer than either starline or clutch, i wonder how long they'll leave that loose end before cutting him off. i don't see them ever redeeming him - and we know whisper will never be able to know peace until he's taken care of for certain somehow - so there's only a couple ways to give whisper that peace of mind. (mimic's death - locking mimic up forever actually for real forever - disabling his camouflage somehow, or tagging him, so he can't fool anyone) because, really, whisper's story can never fully close out until mimic is out - he's like the eggman to her sonic, in a way. as long as he's there it still plays out. (if they keep him around much longer, he needs some new interesting angle to play - or, keeping him around and the prior diamond cutters in memory relevant, you could attempt to pull a 'ghosts from the past' and give the DCeased (cause.. deceased-Diamond Cutters-DCeased...?) more screentime, which would be a crazy angle...!) i don't have as many comments on lanolin's outfit - it's got the same colors in different balances, and isn't too much of an overall shift to her look - just a more practical outfit for racing as opposed to a practical outfit for going out on missions.

last comments on that next arc: it's giving me sonic unleashed vibes, even though that's definitely not how any of the chaos emerald recharging temples looked in unleashed. can't tell if it's supposed to be a sort of bio-technic ship/secret underground base interior, or a stony ruin with severe overgrowth, it's all rendered in the same shades... anyways, if we get some kind of new comic-original baddies like a new alien species or group of mystical enemies that would be so sick!! i've got alien stuck in my head because techno-organic is in there from how the background looks, which is probably not the angle they're going to go for... anyways, teaser does a great job at building interest for the next arc :]

and laaaastly back to the TWL group, definitely interested to see them actually follow up on the conversation tangle promised... these gals NEED to have a proper conversation and talk out their problems. a same page talk. like the STFU from Sundered Star (<- reference for me cause i know nobody else has read that fanfic :,D) if tangle leads it, it can definitely go well - even if she's upset, she won't let that get in the way of giving lanolin time to explain herself, or taking in lanolin's points. and i think she can dig in and pull the meat of their issues with one another up to acknowledge and work on. unless she's mischaracterized, this is something tangle can 100% do just fine. evan stanley i love you

just read issue 75! :3

[felikatze]

Yellow (Pokemon Adventures): The new champion Red has disappeared, and his Pikachu arrived injured in Oak's lab. When a child named Yellow appears claiming to be Red's friend, Oak entrusts Pika to them and sends them off with an upgraded Pokedex to unravel Red's disappearance and its connection to the Elite Four.

Why I like this dude: Peak gender ambiguity. Yeah yeah they totally had to pretend to be a boy for their safety. They're also very cute and I love their hat. They can talk to pokemon. They one-v-one lance in the final showdown and it's very cool. I love the RGBY arcs of pokespe. They start off naive, but their desire to help and heal pokemon hardens off into a stern determination to do right. Cool kid.

Rider (Monster Hunter Stories 2): As the grandson of the hero Red, the nameless Rider dreams of becoming, well, a Rider, someone who tames and raises Monsters. But when a mysterious red light sends local monsters into a frenzy and they obtain the egg of the herald of ruin, Raze-Wing Ratha, they find themself in over their head.

Why I like this dude: MHS2 is a MASTERCLASS in silent protagonists. Rider's struggle to take care and understand Ratha, their wavering between fear and trust is all conveyed without a single word. Though Navirou and Ena serve as the plot's mouthpieces, that emotional journey is entirely their own. It's conveyed so so well. I love them. MHS1's Rider I already adore, but this one takes the cake. No words, no sign language or writing, yet they are still understood by their friends and by Ratha. Also my Rider is a pink catboy and to see Kyle crushing on them is hilarious.

[alizardjae]

Pokespe Japanese to English comparison readthrough

Volume 1- Chapter 1

-Introduction

Hey, all! Decided to take a look at the differences between the original script for Pokespe’s volumes and their official English translations! I know basic Japanese (2 semesters of college) and English is my first language, so we’ll see how far that takes me! I’ll probably add my own little commentary on the chapter throughout.

Note that this comparison will not have pictures, as I am physically unable to take clear pictures with one hand holding my phone or camera and the other holding open the manga, and I lack a scanner.

If you have feedback on how I can make these posts better, please let me know!

This first post will have both a quick look at the covers, as well as a comparison summary for the first chapter.

Volume 1- Covers

For whatever reason, the art used for the front and back covers is flipped between the Japanese and English volumes, and Pika is further away from Red on the English version’s back illustration than on the Japanese version’s front cover illustration. The color and pattern on the background are also different; Jp version is red, with slightly lighter red silhouettes of various Pokemon, while the En version is light blue with small lighter blue squares dotted around.

The blurb on the back is radically different; the Jp version gives a little blurb about the manga being an original story loosely based on the game and then a bit of copy describing Red as a Pokemon-loving kid who’s gonna do his best to become a great trainer. En version more specifically notes Red’s first three Pokemon, and then mentions Team Rocket (in italics!).

    Round 1: Vs Mew/ A Glimpse of the Glow

Right away we get to see that Viz has changed the title style for the chapters away from the Vs [pokemon] pattern to a style more commonly used for chapter titles... a quick summary or pun.

Interesingly, Viz not giving nicknames to Red’s Pokemon, at least in volume 1 is... not a mistake! Red doesn’t start calling his Pokemon by nicknames in the Japanese version until volume 2, with no explanation given!

For some reason, Viz always reverses any ?! to !?

Red, in his narration on page 8 goes super arrogant and calls himself kono Red-sama, which is something like “I, the amazing Red”, and later uses ore-sama when talking to his Pallet Town friends (though he used ore by itself earlier on, which is more typical for shounen protagonists) he seems to switch between ore and ore-sama depending on whether he’s just talking or specifically boasting. Kono Red-sama comes back when he declares his intent to search for Mew after hearing about it from Team Rocket. So yeah, he’s an arrogant little brat, isn’t he?

Kinda neat that Green studying away from Kanto for several years prior to the series -a reason for him and Red not to know each other- came back later on.

MATO always gives Green really pretty eyelashes...

And Green’s little speech about knowing your own limitations also comes back later! Waaaaaayyyyy later. Almost 20 years later, in fact!

The sign outside of Oak’s lab looks handwritten in the Japanese version, but is clearly typed in the English version.

The characters, sans Green, all use a very casual way of speaking in the English version, lots of shortened and contracted words (’cause, d’you, ‘o, etc) and such. Not a bad way to translate a bunch of pre-teens talking with each other, honestly.

Character personal pronouns:

Red- Ore (usual), ore-sama (bragging), kono ore-sama (boasting)

Green- Ore

Not a huge amount of differences this chapter, just Red being more obviously arrogant -which is harder to pull off naturally in English, due to our fewer ways of self-address- and a few typesetting differences. You win this round, Viz...

Check in next time, which will be whenever I have the energy, for more comparisons~

[enigmaticbattlelegend]

Curiosity leading to kisses.

(Some Red/Gold for @pokespe-gold, since they got me liking these two ravens. Plus been batting this idea in my head for a while as well too.)

Curiously staring at the pair of goggles that were left on the counter and glancing about, hearing that familiar squeak of his Pikachu snickering at the cap that belonged to Gold. Evidently having let the raven hang around since it was refreshing to say the least, turning his attention back to the goggles again then lifting them up to look at them while peering through them.

Pikachu couldn't help in laughing a bit at Red and how childish he looked at the moment, "Pika... pi..." balancing that cap on his head before getting up on the chair near his trainer, "Pi!" trying to emulate Gold's behavior having seen how the other trainer acted at times.

"Pfft... nice pal, though how does... hmm...?" slipping the goggles on his head and looking through them with wide eyes which a comical sight to see, "Feel like a bird... or something..." stiffening up at the sound of footsteps that come from the hallway and turning his head to stare at who it was. Caught in the act along with Pikachu so it seemed before turning bright red in the face when hearing the other raven chuckle of the pair's curiosity.

Running a hand through his hair when shaking his head at Red and Pikachu, "Ya know you could've asked me to check out my stuff but... pfft!" walking over and looking up at Red before tapping at the goggles, "Not bad looking either, heh. Perhaps I should find a pair for you sometime..." gripping at Red's jacket to lower the other's face somewhat so they could be eye to eye with each other.

Squealing when noting what the other was doing and hiding behind the cap with those wiggling ears, "Chu..." peeking out again while seeing the pair at a stand still there then making those kissing noises. Hearing that flustered noise from Red before hopping down from the chair with a happy squeak to hide somewhere.

Blinking in surprise at the move and his Pokemon teasing him there, "U-Uhh..." lifting those goggles up slowly and finally getting a close look at Gold's face, "What... mmm!" feeling himself bump into the counter when taken back by the sudden change in the mood. Everything seemed to be muddled at that moment till his mind finally registered those lips had been planted on his own.

Seeming to grin while kissing there before pulling back to breathe for a moment, "Awkward much...? Haha." noting the large flush of color on the other trainer's cheeks then ruffling that hair, "Come on least kiss back man, wait... this your first time...?" letting that smile turn to that of a surprised expression on seeing that slow nod of Red's head then smirking. Going in for another kiss as it seemed and laughing a bit of how awkward Red was still which was fine with him since he knew of how the raven seemed to act.

Quietly watching from under the table with that smile and wiggling his tail at the pair, "Pika pi~" wearing Gold's cap again and pattering out the room to stand next to Typhlosion who peeked in the doorway. Grunting when watching the raven pair then looking at Pikachu with that confused look then 'talking' with Pikachu there and grinning after a moment on turning his attention back to the two trainers.

Blushing like crazy when quivering like a small Pokemon at how Gold seemed to know those weak spots of his, grunting when the light nipping at his lips was had deciding to play back in the same manner. Hearing that muffled yelp of the other raven and reaching up to run his hands in the hair, "Mmm..." pulling away and sighing with that smile there before muffling his laughter at Gold who gaped like a Magikarp for a good few minutes.

"H-Holy... shit... damnit man..." letting those slight fangs of his show when trying to breathe a bit then rolling his eyes, "Haha, you win that one man... but jeez... you learn quick." touching at his own lips when that lingering feeling stayed there then feeling those goggles be put on his head. Noticing the little bit of blood that dribbled from the other's lip and sheepishly laughing when pointing to it.

Needless to say the kiss was awkward but on the retry it was more interesting even if he tasted that slight tang of blood from being nipped on the lip, giving a soft hum when nudging Gold away since his back was a bit sore from been pinned against the counter there. Snorting when looking at the pair of Pokemon that watched from the doorway and tapping Gold on the shoulder to look at them, hearing that loud squawk of a sound from the other raven and shaking his head when the Pokemon scurried off.

Gold on the other hand was a bit flustered having been watched by his Typhlosion and shouting at the fire starter who laughed at him, till things died down activity wise he finally was able to enjoy the fellow raven's company more aside from being teased of how cute he was too. Taking a few jabs at Red when teasing back as well but sighing in relief since it's been a while since he felt like that really, having done a good job at coaxing Red out of that quiet shell and being a bit proud of it too.

[aurantia-ignis]

please do pokespe, specialshipping, and gold!

This turned out way, wayyyyyy longer than expected so I’m putting it under a cut!

PokespeFavorite character: Tie up between Red and Yellow, I think!Red is a wonderful boy; courageous, kind, intuitive. He’s got a good heart, a great head for battle, and a passion to achieve his goals with his companion Pokemon. Blaine’s words about him always struck me:”Pokemon Trainer. Someone who spends his life with, trusts, and is trusted by his Pokemon. Someone like you, Red.” He may not be a perfect child (overconfidence in his earlier chapters stick out quite a bit, and of course, they showcase his character development!), but, like Blaine, Red is everything I’d aspired to be as a Pokemon Trainer. Yellow is a lovely child with a golden heart. She represents a sort of kindness that I sometimes wish I had more of. Her battle with Lance yielded this conversation:“Pokemon aren’t tools for killing! Even this battle of yours has hurt not only humans, but Pokemon as well!”“I hate fighting… I’m truly sad when any Pokemon are injured… Even my opponent’s!” “Aren’t Pokemon your friends too!?“ Despite her pacifist nature, she’s willing to fight with all she has to protect those she cares for. She feels guilt and pain whenever she has to hurt Pokemon, but goes through it anyway, to fight for what she believes in: humans and Pokemon living in harmony together. And though she may not have the same sort of battle sense that Red does, she can still pack quite a punch, and she has a few ingenious ideas of her own, too (see the Team Rocket on the ship battle).  Least Favorite character: Pryce, I think…? His entire arc was just ridiculously melodramatic, and it didn’t make a lot of sense ^^;  5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):Red/Yellow, Green/Blue, Daisy/Bill, Gold/Silver/Crystal in a happy threesome family, Ruby/SapphireCharacter I find most attractive:It might have been N or Steven, but unfortunately, Yamamoto’s art when he was drawing those two was horrendous. ^^;; I mean, dude, noses don’t work like that! So probably Lance from the Mato era… or Red. Character I would marry:Maybe Falkner? He has a day job and he’s a good guy, and he makes gym leader! Otherwise, Steven’s very good husband material. Character I would be best friends with:Maybe Ruby? I too would like to groom my Pokemon endlessly and exclaim over how beautiful they are.A random thought:The Pokemon world is just so fantastical, there’s no way to make it realistic without having to revamp almost 70% of the entire world. ^^: Despite Pokespe seeming like a semi-realistic portrayal of it, there are way too many questions about the way things work in there that a reader still has to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy fully XD;;; An unpopular opinion:I really, really don’t much like Whitwo. :/ My canon OTP:Red/Yellow! The two of them share similar worldviews, something that I think is instrumental for building a good relationship.Red’s words in the same chapter as the Blaine one from above: “Mewtwo’s a pretty scary creature, all right. But all it knows is being held prisoner in a lab. All it knows about humans is that we’re arrogant and cruel. But what if it learns something different? What if it learns that not all humans treat other creatures badly? Find out, Blaine. Teach it.” His optimism and willingness to believe in the world is absolutely beautiful. Yellow had a similar scene in her battle with Lance. “It’s true that humans have done selfish things, taking away Pokemon’s homelands… Stripping them of their food supply… I’ve seen the results of that on my journey!”And later, with Dragonite: "Of course you feel rage toward humans. But think…. His way isn’t the answer! Humans don’t deserve death–any more than Pokemon! Humans and Pokemon can live together! I know it!”Despite knowing how terrible humans can be, both of them still believe that the rest of the world can come to understand things the way they do; that Pokemon and humans are all beings that deserve a chance to live in the same world, in peace and harmony. I love these scenes, not just for the parallels between my ship, but because they really define Red and Yellow as who they truly are. As a note, I put this under canon despite there being no official confirmations or confessions, because I think there are enough scenes (especially in the later volumes) that blatantly hint at the creators pushing them together. Although I’m not completely happy with all of them (some of the writing is way too forced, man), I’m glad that at least Kusaka seems to want them together. XD;

Non-canon OTP: Green and Blue! Although they don’t have a lot of shippy moments in canon (most of the time he’s just going TSK WHAT A NOISY WOMAN at her), I like their pair character dynamics, and the thought of their everyday life together never fails to make me laugh. XDMost bad*** character:Red! But also Ruby. The boy is very, very cool. Other than the humans, Mewtwo and Pika are pretty badass <3 Pairing I am not a fan of:Black/White. I did enjoy the BW arc, but I felt like the two protags suffered from not enough character and relationship development. I was more inclined to ship White with N based on their writing, except of course canon moments obviously support BlackWhite more. For me, however, a few ‘romantic moments’ without any proper relationship developments don’t make me feel like shipping two characters. Bill and Daisy didn’t get any, either, but they’re supporting characters who don’t appear very much, after all. Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):GOLD. I love the boy, he was so amazing and hilarious, but the fact is, his character arc was completely screwed. Aaaaand I’m going to elaborate on this in the last section of this ask.Favourite friendship:Red and his mons. Also Yellow and her mons. Between the humans, Gold and Silver make me particularly happy, but the Kanto Four together are great too. Specialshippingwhen or if I started shipping it: I think I thought of it as a jokeship at first, when Prof Oak was thinking “Does this child have any thought in her head that isn’t connected with Red”, but I only really started seeing them as a serious ship at the end of the Yellow arc, when Kitty/Piisuke’s String Shot was connecting them wwwmy thoughts:I uh…. I think I covered this in the OTP section above HAHAHAWhat makes me happy about them:The way they’re both happy together just talking about Pokemon and loving them <3 Red is a battle idiot and Yellow is just as clueless about romance, so I imagine they’d just be the slowest couple in the entire series until Blue throws things at Red. What makes me sad about them:The awkward forced romantic hints that popped up here and there after Mato left :< Things done in fanfic that annoys me:I can’t stand it when they’re written out of character. :/ Things I look for in fanfic:Anything in-character. HAHAHAHA. I also appreciate when, despite the humans being the main focus, the Pokemon also play an active role in the story. Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I guess I could sort of see Red going with Blue and Yellow with Green… My happily ever after for them:Yellow opens a Pokemon Sanctuary somewhere and Red takes over the Gym of that town. GoldHow I feel about this character: As I mentioned above, Gold was completely screwed up by the writers. Up until he read that letter from Professor Oak in Vol 14, he had just been fighting on his own terms. Yet suddenly, when he received a letter that he had originally hoped to contain tips on how to win an upcoming battle, he goes into an existential crisis because Professor Oak didn’t acknowledge that he has any ‘special abilities’! “What about MY abilities? There must be something! Don’t I have an ability that places me alongside the other Pokemon trainers?! TELL MEEEEEEEE!” That melodramatic panel of his silhouette is just… melodramatic. He respected Prof Oak, but not to any extreme degree. Why would he have felt so lost and denied just because a Professor he had barely met a few times didn’t know what his abilities were?To top the ridiculous off, the scene continues with them finding an extra page of the letter and going “WAIT GUESS WHAT. PROF OAK THINKS YOU’RE A BREEDER” and Gold conveniently hatches the Pichu egg at the same moment. And they fly off to fight. And then everything’s okay again? ….DID I MISS SOMETHING! *angry Timon noises* All that angst a page before would have been easily avoided if they just took every page out to begin with! And if it was solved so easily, it obviously isn’t worth angsting over! Gold could have been a great, great character, if only they hadn’t made his point of realization “YEAH I’M A BREEDER BECAUSE PROF OAK SAYS SO”. )o)All the people I ship romantically with this character: None, reallyMy non-romantic OTP for this character: I love his interactions with Silver. wwMy unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t ship him romantically with Silver or Crystal. :/ One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:PROPER. CHARACTER. DEVELOPMENT. *SOBS*My OTP: NoneMy OT3:With Silver and Crystal as a family! I love the fact that Silver camps out at his house to watch Proteam Omega. 

[pikatrainer99]

Sinnoh Trio character analysis (headcanon supportive) SPOILER WARNING FOR A POKÉSPE MANGA ARC THAT IS OVER A DECADE OLD AT THIS POINT BUT STILL, JUST IN CASE! 😅

This post is a follow-up to my post where I drew the Sinnoh Trio as TBH (autism) creatures. That is my personal headcanon and today I'm going to analyze these kids, and go more in-depth on why I hold this headcanon. I'm going to focus on one character at a time here, followed by a scene analysis of a particular important moment...so this will be a long post because these kids are SO neurodivergent and I love them so much.

First up, we have Pearl, who is my favorite of the Sinnoh Trio and the one I relate to the most. My personal headcanon for him is that he is AuDHD (both autistic and ADHD). I also headcanon him to have an anxiety disorder (specifically GAD) because he is constantly freaking out over pretty much everything (which is so relatable as someone who has GAD myself). There's so many panels that show his anxiety that I honestly can't pick ones to include here...

Anyway, on to the ADHD, Pearl exhibits many traits. He is constantly on the move and impatient and loud, and wants everything to be done immediately. He's energetic and much faster compared to Diamond and Platinum, even to the point of always being the first one to wake up every morning. This is, in my opinion, the ADHD side of him, it reminds me a lot of my ADHD brothers who act like this often. Because of these traits, I personally feel like Pearl has the hyperactive type of ADHD rather than the inattentive type, as he is shown to be not scatterbrained and is capable of focusing on whatever he's doing quite well, even able to go into hyperfocus mode at times, which is an extremely ND thing to do (and is common in both autism and ADHD). He is also the most rational of the trio, which I always found interesting that they actually gave the Barry counterpart the brain cell. So yeah, he's hyperactive, but to me he doesn't seem to have many issues with his attention span.

Now, onto Pearl's autism, which I feel more confident to talk about because I'm autistic myself and I know what to look for in terms of traits and behaviors, and the first thing I noticed with Pearl is that he has a CLEAR special interest in comedy. He's INCREDIBLY passionate about it, he's the one who decided that he and Diamond should become a comedy duo, he's the one who writes all their scripts and all their sketches, he's the one who always initiates practice time, and he's DEFINITELY the one who takes it the most seriously out of the duo, to the point where he had (what seems like to me) a legit meltdown about how Diamond didn't stick to the script and how awful their performance in the comedy competition was because of it, complete with yelling, nearly bursting into tears, and being afraid that Diamond was breaking the promise they'd made to become comedians all the way back when they were 4 years old. Looking back on it now, I think THAT was his biggest problem with the whole situation and what caused him to completely explode like that in the first place, because once Diamond reassures him that he's not breaking the promise, Pearl IMMEDIATELY cheers up and tells him "No use moping about today then!" when that was EXACTLY what he was doing just seconds ago. He then initiates practice time for NEXT MONTH'S comedy competition, his mind ALREADY hyperfocusing on their next opportunity...and this is their INTRODUCTION SCENE! This all LITERALLY happens within the first few pages of volume 1 of the DP arc! Here's the scene I'm talking about.

Also in regards to his special interest in comedy, there's something he does with Diamond that I've gotta talk about...and that's using the comedy routines as their own special way of communicating. They use it almost as if it's their own language, they use it to process things, they use it to give hints to Platinum when she's battling, they even use it when they meet someone new as kind of a judge of their character (in the minds of these children, if they make the person laugh, the person can be trusted, if not, stay away...that kinda thing). He even outright tells Platinum that he uses it to communicate through rhythm. I always found it interesting how they used the comedy like that, and it definitely helps with my belief that it is in fact, a special interest for them, as special interests do actually be like that, I speak from experience. Here's some examples of this usage of the comedy routines.

Another thing about Pearl that I noticed is he's REALLY not good at communicating how he's feeling or what's on his mind. He also is (brutally at times) honest, speaks his mind, and doesn't sugarcoat things. He can come off as rude and bossy because of this, even though he's really a good kid. This is something I relate to because I'm the same way, I also struggle with communicating my thoughts and feelings, and I'm also brutally honest, speak my mind and don't sugarcoat things. I have been perceived as rude and bossy so many times in my life it's not even funny. Another thing I find relatable about Pearl is that he can't lie to save his life (neither can I), here's a good example of such a moment.

(Uh-huh...SUUUURRRREEEE ya did, Pearl XD)

Also, while we're on the topic of expression, Pearl is VERY hyperexpressive, which is once again, very much an ND thing (I am hyperexpressive a lot of the time myself)...he almost always reacts to basically anything in an over-the-top, exaggerated way, compared to Diamond and Platinum's more calm and composed approach to things...I'm seriously thinking of doing a post of all of my favorite Pearl expressions because he's got so many great ones!

Pearl seems to exhibit low empathy (a stark contrast to Diamond's hyperempathy), but he really does care about his friends and will even help wild Pokémon. The wild Luxio that he helped in the chapter titled "Extreme Luxio" is one of my favorite Pokémon in the whole manga and his dynamic with it is very wholesome. He figures out that it's being ostracized by its pride because of the fact that it's disabled - its claws are too short, which makes it harder for it to communicate with the others in its pride. Pearl helps it out, and even says to the others, "Listen all of you, it's got a disability, and can't communicate as clearly as the rest of you! That's no reason to reject it!" He was quite angered by this situation and when you put my headcanon into perspective here, it's quite easy to see why. But anyway, point is, he went out of his way to advocate for and help a disabled Pokémon, and it leads to one of the best Trainer/Pokémon bonds in the series in my opinion, as the Luxio comes back later, now a Luxray and the leader of its pride...and decides to become one of Pearl's Pokémon. That moment is so sweet and wholesome and I'll just leave the picture of their reunion here for you guys. Look at them hug! They're so happy to see each other again!

Pearl also seems to have hypersensitive hearing (as do I), as demonstrated when he hears someone who's basically lost his voice calling out for help from a ways away.

He also experienced what I can't help but percieve as sensory overload in the Old Chateau when all the Gastly were hovering around the place making vibrations that were so loud it shook the room and it overwhelmed him a lot. I get it Pearl, that would be too much for me too...just look at his reactions here, he's clearly in pain.

I also sometimes can't help but feel like Pearl is unaware of his own strength, like when he hits Diamond in their comedy routines...I get the feeling that he doesn't quite understand that he's hitting Diamond way too hard, as he seems shocked and taken aback when Diamond finally stands up to him and tells him he's not happy with everything he's been doing lately. Diamond makes it a point to make Pearl aware of how much getting smacked by him hurts...all I can say is, good for Dia, but judging from Pearl's reactions to his best friend's words...oof...just look for yourselves...

My takeaway from this scene is that Pearl was being made aware of all this for the first time, and not only felt like a bad friend, but also, he was once again afraid that Diamond would leave him...which he really REALLY didn't want, and I totally get why, considering how long they've been friends and how much like brothers those two are (though Pearl is SO parentified during their journey it's insane and it's another HUGE stressor for him which does NOT do his anxiety any good). And now that I've decided to open THAT can of worms, I might just do a post about it as well. Because...yeah it's not good considering the fact that HE IS 12!!! Still very much A CHILD!!!

At least Pearl learns from his mistakes, which I really love his development. After his and Diamond's fight, he learns to mellow out a bit (that says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about his anxiety though). You can really tell that losing Diamond's friendship...that is one thing he absolutely DOES NOT want, and he makes a conscious effort to improve his treatment of him. He starts by not hitting Diamond in their comedy routines anymore, and even letting him come up with his own joke instead of always doing it himself and forcing his own ideas onto him. While he still yells a lot, it's mostly out of worry for his friends now rather than pure anger towards them. He even learns how to put himself in Diamond's shoes at one point, during his fight to protect Azelf from Team Galactic. I love this moment btw, it's a great moment of realization for him.

All in all, in my opinion, Pearl is an amazing AuDHD character who goes through a great character arc (and unfortunately, a trauma arc as well, as per usual with PokéSpe protags...there's NO WAY he doesn't have PTSD after all he went through in both the DP and PT arcs, I refuse to believe he's fine after all that), and I absolutely wholeheartedly love this child like he's my own son. Now for the next member of the Sinnoh Trio...Diamond!

Diamond, in my opinion, is EASILY a hyperempathic autistic child...his Dexholder title is literally "The Empathizer" and he is associated with Mesprit, the Pokémon known as the Being of Emotion. He is the only member of the trio with more than one special interest from what I can see. His are comedy (which he shares with Pearl, but his interest is to a lesser extent than Pearl), cooking (which he's extremely good at and takes very seriously), and a TV show called Proteam Omega (which his enthusiasm for it is way too adorable honestly).

Diamond is the most impulsive member of the trio, which like how they gave the Barry counterpart the brain cell, I find it interesting that they made the Lucas counterpart the impulsive one. He possesses a strong sense of justice and wants to do what he believes is right, including stand up to Cyrus, much to Pearl's dismay (this was actually the catalyst for their big fight in volume 4). He is very intuitive, his emotional intelligence is mostly intuition to him and he's also much, MUCH more perceptive than he lets on, for example he knew the whole thing with him and Pearl being Platinum's bodyguards was a misunderstanding from the beginning, but he didn't say anything about it because he was enjoying their time together and didn't want it to end. Here's that scene where he reveals he knew all along.

Diamond is a very calm, laid-back, "go with the flow" kind of kid. But I think this is because he's constantly feeling A LOT...he's extremely empathic, so he picks up on others' emotions easily and it happens so much he just keeps it all in and resorts to being incredibly calm throughout it all. When he DOES get upset or serious though, he's like a whole different person. He's hard to anger, but he is absolutely capable of getting angry. His anger though, is the tranquil fury kind. He's not explosive like Pearl, but rather, he gets much more serious and intense. Here's an example of angry Diamond.

(He angy boi.)

Diamond is also an easy crier, of the Sinnoh Trio, he's the one who is the easiest to bring to tears...which I can't stand...everytime any of these three cry it breaks my heart...and we'll talk about the scene that's the biggest offender of that soon. I guess what I'm trying to say is, Diamond is the one who's most in tune with his emotions, compared to Pearl and Platinum, who struggle with that. It makes sense though considering his hyperempathy. Also, can I take a minute to mention that he has the type of big eyes that are similar to the TBH creature...? Yes...? Okay. He does. I saw a post about this recently and it's so true! His eyes are so similar to TBH it's not even funny! And it makes total sense too, that's the best part!

Diamond is more of a pacifist than Pearl and Platinum. He's a pure, sweet soul who can do no wrong. He doesn't like conflict, he much prefers to make people smile instead. I love this about him, I don't think there's a PokéSpe protag that actually acts their age as much as Diamond does. In my opinion Diamond is a precious autistic bean and I absolutely love him like a son as well. Now for the final member of the Sinnoh Trio...Platinum Berlitz!

Platinum is definitely a masker, she's incredibly good at passing for NT (probably because of her upbringing). But there are definitely cracks in that mask that I've picked up on. First, her special interest, which is learning and experiencing new things. She says that back home she always read a dozen books a day, but seeing her actually experiencing the things she'd read about and having so much fun is great, she throws herself wholeheartedly into everything she tries, it's honestly adorable. She is also a bad liar, though she at first "lies" all the time, even though Pearl sees right through it and catches her everytime. Here's some examples.

Platinum is a stimmer. Plain and simple. She moves her arms up and down really fast when she's excited about something, and it's often accompanied by her saying "New experiences! New experiences!" in a sing-song voice.

(Why is she so adorable?!)

She is also an infodumper...a MASSIVE infodumper...just look at this scene with Thorton as just one example.

Platinum is also not the best with words, and finds that writing is the most effective way for her to organize her thoughts and feelings, as well as communicate them (relatable). She says so herself in volume 5, after finding out the truth that Diamond and Pearl are not her real bodyguards, and the scene of her reading the letter is so wholesome I love it so much!

Another thing I've noticed with Platinum is that she is a mimicker (something I myself did A LOT as a child), despite all her attempts to deny it. She often copies things she sees the others doing, even mimicking...SMACKING HERSELF...at one point, as seen here, complete with quietly saying to herself "Stop it! Stop it!"

She also has the capability to hyperfocus, particularly on details (when she thought that Diamond and Pearl were her bodyguards because green and red scarves were what she was told about them and since the boys had green and red scarves she immediately latched on to that specific detail despite everything else about them screaming that they're just kids). She also hyperfocuses when she's playing the slot machines in the Veilstone Game Corner in what is probably one of my favorite scenes in the manga, it's so funny! Because of that intense focus though, she is INCREDIBLY good at the slot machines which is hilarious to me considering she is like the richest person in Sinnoh and yet she still becomes addicted to gambling. I dunno, that scene is just funny, okay? I mean, look at her! She's so hyperfocused on it and it's just great!

Platinum is my favorite rich girl character in any media ever, and the fact that she's autistic coded in my opinion really helps with that as well. But she's also just a sweetheart who loves learning things and is just such a precious child. They're all precious children and I love them all so much. They are my fictional children and I would die for them.

Now, time for the scene that gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME...the scene where they split up to try and protect the three lakes. Pearl goes to Lake Valor, Diamond to Lake Verity, and Platinum to Lake Acuity. On their first morning separated from each other, they wake up and realize everything is so different now that the Pokédex isn't beeping. They all talk to themselves about their morning routine, Pearl gets up first, and is always the first in the lobby, then Platinum comes down afterwards, then Diamond comes after that...and the Pokédex always beeps to let them know that everyone's there together...but now it's not making a peep. Once they realize that, they all start crying and breaking down...and it's heartbreaking to read every single time. Just look at these poor kids...

Taking my headcanon into account here, I see this scene as not only being sad that they're separated from each other, but also the stress of their routine being broken for the first time since their journey started. The way they all recite step by step how their morning routine always went when they were together, and then just start breaking down when the realization hits that everything's different now...yeah, I relate to that feeling, if my routines are broken, I get real thrown off, recite how it's supposed to be, and then break down...it's very similar to what the Sinnoh Trio are experiencing in this scene. I would analyze more scenes but this post is already way too long as it is, so I'll leave it at just this one.

Well, that's it for my headcanon supportive analysis of the Sinnoh Trio from PokéSpe! These three are my favorite characters in the manga and this headcanon is one I will hold till the day I die. My two main beliefs I hold about these kids are this headcanon, and "Do Not Separate Them!"

I hope you all can understand where I'm coming from with all this headcanon stuff. Also, headcanon deniers, you STAY AWAY from this and do not interact with this! I know it's not canon, that's why it's called a HEADcanon...I don't force my headcanons onto other people, I just talk about them, so I don't need headcanon deniers forcing their "canon" beliefs onto me!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this analysis! Please feel free to let me know how I did in the comments, and if you support this headcanon and think I missed anything, please let me know what I missed! This is only my second time doing this in my life after all, so I'm not used to this kinda stuff and I'm pretty nervous about it honestly.

[pikatrainer99]

Here's Orange's Station of Awakening, finally done!

It's not perfect by any means, but I tried my best. The colors are orange, red, and yellow because those are Orange's favorite colors since they remind him of his bond with Red and Yellow. The locations are Viridian Forest (yes I know it’s just three trees and it looks bad, but I’m not good at drawing trees, especially not bunched together), to represent his true home, and Mt Coronet to represent Sinnoh, his current home. There's Poké Balls in the outer circles because Orange loves Pokémon so much. Orange is holding the Keyblade I designed for him a few days ago, which I also posted about if you haven't seen that yet, it tells all about the Keyblade and what each design aspect represents and all that stuff. As for his pose, I went with Sora's pose as a reference, it's not perfect, but I tried to replicate it best I could.

The characters in the circles up top are Thunderheart (for obvious reasons), Yellow (because they have not just a strong sibling-like bond, but they're also literally eternally connected through the power of Viridian Forest, there’s a thing in my fanfic universe called the Viridian Bond which Orange shares with both Yellow and Thunderheart since they were all born there), and Diamond and Pearl (his first human friends). I didn't have room to put Red or Platinum unfortunately because Stations of Awakening have four characters per Station. I chose to omit them because while Orange has a strong bond with both of them, he's known Yellow longer than Red and Diamond and Pearl longer than Platinum, so I thought this decision would make most sense for his Station of Awakening. Lastly, the bright glow effect over everything is to show the Light in Orange's heart, he has a lot of Light, so his Station has a very bright glow to it (that doesn't mean he doesn't also have Darkness, because he does, his Light is just much more prevalent than his Darkness which is why it's what's represented on his Station. His Darkness though is best shown when his trauma takes over and causes him to lash out in a blind rage at the enemy...Charon being a prime example of this, though usually when this happens he is horrified upon learning what he did and regrets everything, because he's dead set on following what Yellow taught him: to use his powers for the good of both people and Pokémon. He CONSTANTLY says that his powers are supposed to HELP others, not HURT them, as he knows exactly the kind of calamity they can cause if used for evil thanks to Yellow telling him about Lance and what he tried to do).

I have to thank my amazing friend @darlingeryx for helping me learn how to do some things for this piece...including how to achieve perfect circles, as well as how to create a really strong glow effect, without their help, I wouldn't have been able to do this, because I am hopeless when it comes to using ibis Paint X. That's why all of my art is so basic in terms of lineart and coloring...I can't do much else with the app. I said to Eryx, "I can't ibis Paint X" when we were discussing how to do these things as a sort of joke, as well as a Sora quote (he said "I can't computer" in KH3), but I really am bad at this app, so I was also being serious. So thank you Eryx, for all your help, your tutorials really saved me a lot of stress. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing friend like you. ❤️

This took me all day to digitize, I think I'll die if I ever attempt something with this much detail again...😅

[pikatrainer99]

Okay so...I came up with a fun "what-if" scenario for Orange...what if Orange had a Keyblade (Kingdom Hearts weapon)?

As a massive KH fan, this idea just came into my head the other day as a fun "what-if" scenario, along with an idea for a Station of Awakening for Orange, which I hope to get around to drawing soon (it'll be way more time-consuming and difficult than this though). Now, I am not the best at drawing lightning bolts, but it made the most sense for a Keyblade for Orange so I had to draw a bunch of them. So, this is the Keyblade design I came up with, and I had a lot of fun with it! I tried using the airbrush to give it a bit of a sheen, but I'm no expert at using ibis Paint X. I really struggled to draw the chain links as well, those are the bane of my existence every time I have to draw them, but every Keyblade needs a keychain so I had to attempt it, and it's not the worst I've done at least.

I know this is absolutely CLUTTERED with writing that you probably can't read, so I'll write it out here too:

The Keyblade is called High-Voltage Bonds. Its alignment is Light, and its affinity is Light and Thunder. In terms of stats, melee combat and magic are equally balanced, allowing for a variety of attacks to be performed, though defensive capabilities are a bit lacking. Light attacks and Thunder attacks are the most powerful due to the Keyblade having an affinity for them both. It is a hyper-offensive Keyblade, it imbues Orange with incredible speed and agility, especially when using Light attacks.

This Keyblade is very special as it was created purely from Orange's bonds with his friends, human and Pokémon alike (where the Light affinity comes from), though Thunderheart's influence (where the Thunder affinity and most of the design aspects come from) is the strongest by far for obvious reasons. Even the colors of the light it casts are the same as the colors of those most important to Orange (so, bright yellow, golden yellow, red, blue, silver-ish, and light orange), as well as regular orange (his own color, obviously), and also white.

As for the design, the orange and golden yellow lightning bolts around the handle represent Orange and Thunderheart's bond, the blade being a long golden yellow lightning bolt represents Thunderheart, the various colored lightning bolts represent each of Orange's most important people (bright yellow for Yellow, red for Red, dark blue for Diamond, lighter orange for Pearl, and silver-ish for Platinum). The design of the keychain which is also used on the blade, surrounded by the colored lightning bolts, represents Orange's bond with and love for his Pokémon friends (Poké Ball inside a heart) and Thunderheart, his first and best friend (the golden yellow lightning bolt going through it). The chain links are orange in color because it represents the bonds Orange has with his Pokémon. The handle is red for no particular reason, I just wanted a little more red on it. 😅

Hopefully I'll get around to at least starting the Station of Awakening this weekend or something, it's gonna be thunderstorming here this weekend so I'll be stuck inside anyway.

[pikatrainer99]

Here, have a page full of Orange doodles since I haven't drawn in over a month!

I'd been wanting to draw another page full of these for a while now, but only just had the time to. There's way more this time than there was last time I did this, but that's because the size of my current sketchbook is HUGE, so I was able to fit thirteen Oranges on here instead of eight like last time. I also digitized it this time around solely because of the ones where he's using his powers, I needed to achieve the glowing effect, which just did not come through on the pencil sketch. I wanted to show different expressions and poses this time too, and I think I did pretty well with that, especially the sick one where his hair droops. Also the reason his eyes are orange instead of blue in the one on the bottom left is because that's supposed to be him listening to Pokémon's stories before befriending them and taking them in like the friend to all Pokémon he is. The one on top where he's protecting his friends has him with slit pupils, as he's prepping to go back to his feral roots in order to defend his friends, which, when that happens, his pupils turn to slits like a cat's. And the lines on his forehead above his eyes there are supposed to show that he's death glaring at the enemy.

Personally, the starry-eyed one is my personal favorite, I just think it's adorable, though the embarrassed one where he's rubbing the back of his head is cute too. The one where he's rolling his eyes is just funny to me, and the ones where he's using his powers turned out pretty decent if I do say so myself. Surprisingly the hand on the one where he's pointing doesn't look as bad as my pointing hands usually do, so that's good. And of course I had to draw a chill pose (similar to the pose I gave him when I drew him as a Chimchar), as well as a panicked pose because that kinda expression is a necessity when drawing a character with a lot of trauma like Orange. Finally, I drew a sighing face because that was the last thing that came to my head so it was the last thing I drew on the page. The little dialogue bits were also pretty fun to write, especially "Ya gotta be kiddin' me..." That one just made me laugh. Same with "Whoooaaa..." for the starry-eyed expression.

Anyway, I've gone on way too much about these. I just love drawing my precious child so much. Hope you guys like these, especially since I haven't drawn in a little over a month now. 😅

[pikatrainer99]

Okay, so I never got any response on whether or not you guys wanted to see my Pokémon-ified Orange drawings, but I love how this Pikachu one came out and am dying to share it so...here it is! 😅

This took so long to draw you have no idea, plus it was my first time experimenting with filters and effects on my drawing app, Ibis Paint X, to make the electricity effects!

This is Young Orange (specifically his four to six year old self), aka the scrappy lil guy who will fight and defend himself and the Pokémon of the Viridian Forest from literally ANYONE (and was taught how to fight BY the Pokémon themselves which is why in my stories he goes COMPLETELY feral when he fights), so combine that personality with strong electric powers and you've got a Pikachu you DON'T wanna mess with! His electric powers as a Pikachu work the same way as his Viridian Forest powers as a human work, so they get stronger with his emotions and they're amplified tenfold if he's in Viridian Forest itself.

I made his eyes glow because again, using power, but it's electric power this time since he's a Pikachu, and used the blur tool to achieve the glowing eye effect, as well as the glowing cheeks. I made his little hair antennae/ahoge/whatever you wanna call them into lightning bolt shapes this time (instead of the usual sticking straight up as a human) to reflect his electric typing as a Pikachu, and his fur and the top of his hair are BRISTLING with both electricity and hostility since he's ready to fight! I drew the tail facing upwards instead of the normal facing back pose since I felt that the tail facing up gave off more of a battle ready vibe, like he's saying, "Warning, warning, I WILL attack if you come any closer!" Making the bristling fur took forever, and it was so difficult to make it look right, but I'm happy with how it came out. And he's still got his red shirt on and the band-aid over his nose (but it's yellow colored because it's covering yellow fur and band-aids are translucent for the most part, at least the ones I use are) because he's literally just Young Orange Pokémon-ified, so I kept both of those for that reason.

For a mostly experimental piece, it came out pretty decent I think! Here's the pencil sketch as well if you're curious as to what it looked like before the digitizing and effects I added and stuff.

The pencil sketch also took forever to draw, mostly because of the bristling fur, but it made for a great digitized piece, which is exactly what I was going for. The pencil sketches, while I always keep them, are never anything compared to the digitized, colored versions, but I'm posting this one so you can kinda get a feel for the process of this one. I hope you guys enjoy this fun silly concept art of what my boy would look like as a Pikachu! I don't know what Pokémon I'll draw him as next but I know I want it to be one of the many Pokémon he has on his team...and he's got a lot of them to choose from! So I'll mull it over some more and hopefully I'll decide on one soon enough, because Pokémon-ifying Orange is fun, even though I've only done this one so far.

[pikatrainer99]

I Pokémon-ified Orange again, this time he's a Chimchar!

This took a couple hours to draw, from beginning of pencil sketch to finished digitized version, but it was fun! Pokémon-ifying Orange is way more fun than I thought it would be, so I'll keep doing it!

This is his 10-12 year old self, when he's grown up a bit more and is living a better life in Sinnoh, hence the chill pose. No shirt this time, only his scarf, because the shirt would touch the fire on his butt, and clothing and fire do not mix. The shirt would get burned to a crisp. So I just gave him his scarf, and shrunk it down to Pokémon size just like how I shrunk his shirt down to Pikachu size in the Pikachu drawing. I also kept his normal eyebrows instead of Chimchar's tiny ones as another 'human-turned-Pokémon' indicator. He's also got his regular bright blue eyes here, no glowing orange this time since he's not in battle or anything. No effects or filters needed this time either. This time he's just chillin'.

His hair gave me PROBLEMS. I struggled with drawing it, first off, because it's really hard to give a Pokémon a full-on HAIRSTYLE. And also, the color...before I digitized this thing I was struggling to decide what to do for the hair color, if I should keep it the same color as the rest of Chimchar's fur or make it blond like Orange's actual hair. Once I got it digitized and was coloring it, I tried both, and found that the blond actually made for a nice contrast to the brown of Chimchar's fur, so I went for that instead of the full brown...because the full brown was too dull and blended in with everything too much for my liking. For his hair antennae/ahoge/whatever you wanna call them, this time I went with wispy designs to resemble smoke (or maybe candle fire?) sorta like the supposed "wispy ember" fur design on a regular Chimchar's head (it doesn't really look much like a wispy ember which is why it's in quotes here 😅). Like the lightning bolt shapes in the Pikachu drawing, I tried to make them fit his typing here too, whether I succeeded or not, well...that's another story.

No pencil sketch this time because Arceus, that thing is an absolute MESS and I don't feel comfortable sharing something THAT messy...too much eraser marks and poorly erased lines everywhere.

Anyway, I chose Chimchar next because 1: Orange has one, you'll see him in one of my older drawings I posted. 2: Of all Orange's Pokémon, I have the most experience drawing Chimchar (besides Pikachu of course). Chimchar's part of my favorite evolution line of all-time (Infernape being my all-time favorite Pokémon EVER), so of course I've drawn it a bunch of times! I hope you guys like the drawing! I'm personally pretty happy with how it came out. I wanna keep drawing my boy as different Pokémon, it's time-consuming as heck to do, but it's so much fun just experimenting with this kinda stuff! Now I just have to choose the next Pokémon to turn him into...dunno how long that'll take but hopefully not too long. 😅

[pikatrainer99]

First drawing of 2025, and it's Teen Orange this time!

(This is actually the first time I've colored a drawing of Teen Orange so now you get to see his new shoe design XD)

This takes place after he comes back home from his second journey (the one he went on alone). His hair grew longer over the course of said journey and he hates it. He wants to do something about it but he hates haircuts, it's a sensory thing for him. Eventually Red and Yellow come to visit him in Sinnoh and Red gets the idea for Orange to style his hair in a similar way to his own, and after a quick bangs trim by Yellow (which he wasn't happy about but he let her do it because she's one of the people he trusts the most), Red helps Orange style his hair like his. He ends up loving his new look and is happy his hair is finally out of his face.

So, this was hard to draw, because this was the first time I drew Orange with his arms crossed, which is a hard pose to draw, and also the thumbs up took a while and looks too big because of how hard it was to draw, and also I constantly curse myself because I made his hairstyle so hard to draw. But I am at least happy with how it came out...for the most part. I'm glad I drew it. It's not what I was originally planning to draw, but this idea just randomly popped into my head and I realized I needed to practice more Teen Orange, so I did, the more practice I get with drawing his teenage design, the better (he's 14 in this drawing btw). I hope you like it despite all the weird proportions and everything. 😅

I'm so glad I'm able to draw again, I've missed drawing and creating things so much, those weeks with COVID were the worst because I couldn't draw or do anything really. I hope to be back with another drawing soon, maybe one of the ones I had originally planned on doing.