#pokemon research/resources

[jaybug-jabbers]

Gen 3 Beta Pokemon 'Dex - Page 3

Continuing the beta pokemon, previous post is here.

Name: Hipo [ヒポ]

My Notes: A pastel blue hippo that seems to have a baby bonnet-inspired frill on its head.

Name: Charmin [チャーミン]

My Notes: Some kind of baby pokemon. Might be a beta Happiny, just based on the egg and the pink coloration, as well as the frills on the side of the head. There are no evo notes or data though.

Name: Piper [ピッパー]

Type: Normal

Category: Lottery

Height/Weight: 1'4'', 17.6 lbs

Pokedex Entries:

It changes into different forms during evolution, but the cause of these transformations is unknown, attracting the attention of Pokémon researchers.

--

Its biology is mostly unknown. It doesn't seem to have a visible mouth or ears, but it reacts to sounds and light, which has been confirmed.

Additional Gamefreak Notes:

A Pokémon that evolves through transformation. When it evolves, it transforms into various different Pokémon.

Evolution: Supposedly able to randomly evolve into any pokemon

My Notes: Unlike Ditto which can transform temporarily into any pokemon, this guy would have been able to evolve into any pokemon pernamently. I imagine if they went through with this they probably would have put a few limits on it and prevented it from evolving into legendaries/mythicals, though. I also imagine Piper probably would not learn many moves before evolution, since anything it evolved into would also have access to those moves-- unless they were to make an exception for Piper and have it forget the moves of its previous incarnation.

Name: Snoun [スノウン]

My Notes: Apparently it's a snowman moth. Honestly a cute idea, though the sprite can use some refinement. We did eventually get Frosmoth of course, but this shows they were thinking of an icy moth for a long time.

Name: Panpamu [パンパム]

My Notes: A toy monkey with cymbals. By the way, if you google 'Jolly Chimp,' a vintage cymbal-banging monkey toy, be prepared for some very creepy photos. Anyway, this pokemon was probably based on it; the toy itself was based on organ grinders training monkeys to bang symbols.

Name: Bonbongo [ボンボンゴ]

My Notes: These two do not have index numbers next to each other, but it's still possible Panpamu would have evolved into Bonbongo here. Keep in mind, there is a vintage boxing monkey toy that was made in Japan.

Name: Shiomagune [シオマグネ]

My Notes: A crab with magnets for claws. The "hair" are magnetic metal filings. The use of magnetic filings as hair would later be seen in Probopass and in Sandy Shocks. We also have "hairy" crabs with Crabominable (based on the yeti crab) and Klawf. Despite all that, I wish we had this magnet crab, a Water/Electric crab (my speculation on typing) would have been cool. This is one of my favorites.

Name: Torchin [トーチン]

My Notes: A strange snake with four stubby legs and a tail on fire. HRP's notes say that this pokemon was reworked into Seviper. I don't see much in common with Seviper, other than the fact they are snakes. But until I gain access to the original files, I'll have to take their word for it.

Name: Ponku [ポンク]

Evolution: Evolves into Tanpu

Name: Tanpu [タンプ]

Evolution: Evolves from Ponku

My Notes: TCRF calls these vacuum cleaner pokemon. I . . . guess they are? They're pretty weird looking vacuums if that's what they are. Interestingly, this guy seems to have fins and looks fish-like.

Name: Paootsu [パオーツ]

Evolution: Evolves from Spinda

My Notes: We could have had a badass Spinda evolution! I'm sad.

Name: Suiba [スイバ]

My Notes: I can't figure out what they were going for here. At any rate it seems part Steel-type.

Name: Lighli [ライライ]

Type: Flying/Dragon

Category: White Dragon

Height/Weight: 11'10'', 385.8 lbs

Pokedex Entries:

Lives a nomadic life without a fixed home, attacking by wrapping its long body around opponents and striking with a sharp beak.

--

Its entire body is covered in white scales. When it flies through the sky, its scales scatter, creating a sparkling trail of light in the sky.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: A Pokémon that does not settle in one place. It has no sense of territory and lives a nomadic life. Its entire body is covered in thin, hard, white scales. When it flies, the scales scatter and sparkle. It wraps around the enemy's body, constricting them, and finishes by striking with its beak

Evolution: Evolved from Swablu

My Notes: Believe it or not this was beta Altaria. Altaria went on to be refined into a very different kind of birdlike dragon, and it's possible that elements of Lighli were then used for Rayquaza (a long, snakelike flying Dragon). In the sprite scratchpads, Lighli's design was updated to be closer to its concept art:

Name: Shaboo [シャボー]

My Notes: This thing terrifies me. That is all.

Name: Hakogame [ハコガメ]

My Notes: I feel like they were cooking with this one, they just needed to refine the idea some more. Possibly this guy was scrapped in favor of-- or changed into-- Torkoal.

[pokemonshelterstories]

Out of curiosity, do you get many adults adopting their first Pokemon at the shelter? It feels like everyone I know grew up with at least one Pokemon in the house at some point but my parents were very strict about never having Pokemon in the household. Now that I’m older I’m interested in getting a Pokemon and even after doing research I still feel out of my depth. Can I ask the people at the shelter about things I should keep an eye on (I am a fairly anxious person and can’t always tell when I’m working myself up over things that aren’t that serious)? Is that a normal thing people do? Can I ask for advice in general or is that not something I’m supposed to do?Is this a common problem for people new to the idea of caring for a Pokémon or am I getting way too worked up about this?

absolutely, we get plenty of adults getting their first pokemon at our shelter! sometimes it's the first time they're raising a pokemon on their own rather than someone doing most of the care, or sometimes they weren't allowed to have a pokemon growing up, or this is the first time they have the means to take care of a pokemon. we get all kinds of stories here!

absolutely feel free to ask your shelter employees for advice. it's what we're here for! our job is to help you find a pokemon that suits your needs and that you can provide a good home for. no pokemon is an easy pokemon- even the "everyday pets" like meowth and maschiff can still use moves and have issues you need to watch out for! many shelters will have care guides you can look and can recommend toys, food, online resources, and veterinarians to you. most people do just fine with their first pokemon, but it's normal to feel anxious about it and want to ask questions. honestly, helping people get settled with their new pokemon is my favorite part of the job!

[acepalindrome]

I’m not in college anymore and don’t have the time or energy to invest in doing a whole research project, but I think it would be really fun to research the role of technology in horror, scary stories, urban legends and so on. I was thinking about horror that deals with physical media, like the VHS in The Ring, or stories about finding a cassette tape or CD at a yard sale that has some kind of curse or haunting connected to it, or all the creepypastas about used Pokemon cartridges that have Something Wrong with them.

This is a fairly recent phenomenon since physical media hasn’t been around all that long, but now the world is becoming increasingly digital and stories like those are phasing out. So that creates opportunities for horror that deals with digital media, and especially the internet. Not even just horror where the source of the scary thing is the internet, but horror that uses the internet as a vessel to tell the stories.

I love the Kisaragi Station story, in which a women is stuck on a weird spooky train that makes no stops, and starts posting to an internet forum on her phone to ask for help identifying where she’s going. She keeps posting updates, and eventually posts that her phone’s battery is dying and that she’s going to try to make a run for it (at this point in the story she was trapped by a spooky man.) And that’s the end!

I love the elements of this story using an internet forum to offer a believable way that this story is being told, as opposed to, ‘I heard this story from some guy who heard it from some guy etc.�� It’s a person posting her apparent own experiences to ask others for help in a way that people often do! And that she had a mobile phone to update the story in ‘real time,’ again, this is fairly new! A lot of old horror stories will deal with the fear of being isolated and unable to contact anyone for help, but in the modern world, almost everyone has a phone and a way to reach others. So we have to take this into account with horror! Being able to contact people outside the train doesn’t help save the girl in the story, because no one can find out where she is even though she’s asking a forum that has their own resources to help. Because she’s stuck on the train to hell or whatever, and our phones can’t save us.

It’s just really interesting! How the scary stories we tell evolve with us! New things enter our world and are sources of fear and anxiety, so we tell stories about them! Hell, look at all the stories that deal with shit getting fucked up from nuclear radiation. A fairly new fear in the history of the world! Or use things in our modern world to show that all our modern conveniences and things that made our world safer can’t protect you from like, Slender Man. I really love this stuff!!

[crimmothy]

Who's making Mario and Luigi Brothership?

I'm really really excited for Mario and Luigi Brothership! I've been with the series for a long time and to finally see a completely new entry that so faithfully emulates the style of the past game while still having unique character design, and really good animation has me hyped! But after watching the trailer and screaming for a bit I had one question. Who's actually making this game? Alpha dream went bankrupt in 2019, and the studio has been gone since. As to where their staff ended up we know that Hiroyuki Kubota is at Monolith Soft, Yoshihiko Maekawa supervised the Super Mario RPG Remake and according to Stealth40k on Twitter several of the senior staff that worked on Dream Team still work with Nintendo. The director of both the Superstar Saga Remake and the BiS remake ended up working at ILCA as quality assurance support on Sand Land. The point being is that the Alpha dream staff are scattered about the industry and aren't really at one studio. It's possible that some of them are working on Brothership but we most likely won't know until release. So I started to research Nintendo development partners that have experience with RPGs and here's what I've come up with so far. -Monolith Soft( Most notable for their franchise Xenoblade but also worked on Baten Kaitos, they're notable since they've provided support for a lot of recent Nintendo games including Splatoon 3 and Tears of the Kingdom) -Intelligent Systems ( Notable mainly for FE, but recently developed the Paper Mario Thousand Year Door remaster) -Genius Sonority( Developed Pokemon Colloseum and XD Gale of Darkness, are currently working on the New Denpa Men that was announced in the direct) Camelot ( Though they're known for their more recent works on Mario Sport titles, they made the goat Golden Sun) ILCA (Recently worked on BDSP, has an former Alphadream director as well as other staff) Arte Piazza Ltd. (Has a lot, and I do mean a lot of experience on RPGS and were recently on the Super Mario RPG remake) My best guess so far would probably be ILCA? Since I don't believe they're working on anything outside of porting One Piece Odyssey to Switch, they have several previous Alphadream staff and they have at least worked on a Nintendo Franchise before being Pokemon. But it could also be a brand new studio that Nintendo hasn't worked with before or an inhouse team! We really won't know until the game releases. But I can't wait to find out who made this game so I can thank them profusely for bringing back one of my childhood favorites.

Here's the sites I used if y'all wanna learn more! Plus the link to Stealth's tweet and other resources https://www.mobygames.com/ https://www.mariowiki.com/List_of_Mario_%26_Luigi:Superstar_Saga%2B_Bowser%27s_Minions_staff#Producers https://x.com/Stealth40k/status/1803226827080491008

Video on every Nintendo Dev Team: https://youtu.be/95oj9_eF25c?si=4sJW7iaqEvSHDHYg

[blackboxtheater]

i voted! i was going to vote them anyway but i wanna prompt!

prompt is…

pokémon (my other hyperfixation lol)

Ahhhhhh!! Yes!! We are keeping our lead!

To make sure we keep the lead, go vote for Mumpearl in the Mumbo Jumbo ship bracket!!

But onto the really exciting stuff!

Okay so I have to preface this by saying I know nothing about pokémon.

And not in a funny "yeah, I've forgotten most of it cause I haven't played since I was a kid hahaha" way. In a "didn't know you had to fight them against each other to gain experience" way.

I know nothing about Pokémon.

I know 'Gotta Catch 'Em All!', Team Rocket has a cat man creature in it, you throw the ball at the little monster to capture it, Pikachu does something with lightning, and Snorlax…..exists? Charizard…..is a thing……I think? 

So I need to preface this by saying that I am so so SO sorry from the bottom of my heart that you found the last person on earth who doesn’t know about Pokémon to give this prompt too. I am so sorry I am going to butcher the mechanics of your favorite game. You can and should roast me for it.

With all that in mind, it's probably best to think about this as a story loosely based on the concepts of Pokémon as opposed to actually how Pokémon works. But I tried. And I Googled a lot.

*-* *-* *-*

When people ask Trainer Moon and Nurse Jumbo at international research conferences about how they started the Boatem Forest Pokémon Wildlife Hospital and Research Facility, they each tell a slightly different story.

Nurse Jumbo gushes about how Trainer Moon's skill in battle is a critical foundation for his study of rare evolutions and pokémon abilities. Trainer Moon talks bout Nurse Jumbo's selfless work treating pokémon in rural communities and how the research facility is founded on the basic premise that new discoveries can only happen if the resources to study wild pokémon are actually located near wild pokémon.

Even the stories of exactly how they fell in love vary slightly, but most researchers only make the mistake of asking that question once. Because once Trainer Moon or Nurse Jumbo get started on that tangent, you had to consider the rest of your night lost to being held captive by their endless stories showering praise onto their partner. The details may vary slightly, but their adoration and devotion to one another is irrefutable.

The actual story was a little messier and a lot less inspirational.

Because the truth was that Pearl had no memory of first meeting Mumbo.

She remembered the burn in her legs as she ran up the rocky mountain road towards the faint lights in the distance.

She remembered the blood of her oldest and most loyal Midnight Lycanroc Tilly seeping into her hoodie.

She remembered praying to any god who would listen that the lights were a town and offering anything the god wanted in return for there to be a Pokemon Center in this town that could save Tilly.

She remembered crying even harder than she had been before when she finally saw the universal sign of a Pokemon center calling out to her through the darkness along the deserted town road.

She remembered sobs of blind panic and utter relief and bottomless grief at the thought of losing Tilly all crashing over her as she burst through the doors.

The next thing she remembered was waking up alone in a stiff plastic waiting room chair.

The only sounds were the quiet clicks of a keyboard and the snores of a Sylveon curled at the ground between her feet. Which explained how she slept at all considering the ache in her back.

"Oh! You're awake," a voice said to her left.

She turned to see a dark hair man towering behind the counter, far too tall to comfortable sit at the small computer terminal in front of him. The only thing she could focus on as he kept talking was the twitching of his incredibly pronounced mustache.

"Did you sleep well? That was a stupid question. Sorry. The chairs are terrible. I know that. Everyone says that. We, well really it's just me so I guess I, I keep meaning to get new ones. Did Potato help at least? Sorry, I mean is there anything I can do for you?"

"Potato?" Pearl blinked, but the rustle at her feet answered her question before the man behind the counter could.

"Are you Potato?" Pearl looked down into the big blue eyes of the Sylveon staring eagerly back at her. The happy chirps she got in response were quickly accompanied by its ribbon twisting around her arm and tugging her hand down towards its head in a shameless demand for head scritches.

"I wish I could say that means you're special, but Potato loves everyone," the man said, stepping out from behind the counter and walking across the lobby waiting room towards Pearl. "Don't you buddy? That's why you're a good boy. Who's a good boy?"

Pearl wasn't sure if the happy chirps from Potato are from the scratches she was giving him behind the ears or from being called a good boy. But it was enough to make her smile for just a moment before the worry about Tilly sunk back into her gut.

"Are the nurses around this morning? I'd like to get a status update on my Pokemon," Pearl asked, looking up at the man.

"Oh she's stable. Still asleep in the back. It was a long night but Tilly pulled through. She was in rough shape. You both were. That's why I had Potato come out to help you get some rest too. And looks like it worked, huh buddy?"

The man, who apparently knew Tilly's name, looked down to the Sylveon as it released Pearl's hand and trotted over to curl around his legs.

"I'm sorry," Pearl said, shaking her head in confusion. "Who are you again?"

"I'm Mumbo, I was here last night when you brought in Tilly? I mean I'm always here cause I'm the only one here so…" he trailed off with a nervous laugh.

"You're the nurse?"

Pearl blamed her stupid question on the exhaustion, but the laugh she got in response had a lightness to it that made it sound like she wasn't the first person who had asked the same thing. Living on the move like Pearl did and living this far into the wildness meant she had seen a lot of different nurses in a lot of different Pokémon Centers. She couldn't say she ever remembered meeting a young man. She'd met male nurses before, but most were old enough to be her grandfather. This one barely looked older than her. And that might just be because of the mustache.

"Yeah, I know I'm not exactly what people expect. But I'm the only nurse around for at least a couple of towns, so you're stuck with me."

The nervous laugh was back, and Pearl wasn't sure if she felt worse about making the stupid assumption that he couldn't be the one taking care of her pokémon or the fact that this came up enough that he had a response ready to go.

"Do you want to see Tilly?" Mumbo asked, motioning back towards the rooms behind the counter.

Pearl could only nod, tears threatening to prickle into her eyes even though she knew that Tilly had to be okay.

Mumbo opened the door into a recovery room in the back to reveal a worse for wear, but very alive, Tilly. Pearl chose to focus on the slow rise and fall of her chest as she slept curled in on herself rather than the countless wires and IV's hooked up to her. But Pearl didn't notice the Umbreon nestled inside the crook of Tilly's legs until she was already climbing down onto the floor to try to wrap herself around her favorite pokémon.

"Mooner, come here," Mumbo called, making the Umbreon perk up from where it had snuggled into Tilly. "It's time for the nice lady here to hang out with your new friend."

"Sorry," Mumbo continued, directing his attention back towards Pearl. "Mooner like to pretend she's like her bother Potato and can help her friends feel better. Tilly seemed to calm down and sleep better with another pokémon around thought which, I mean, I guess I get now."

He gestured to how Pearl had curled herself completely around Tilly.

"She normally sleeps next to me," Pearl offered as explanation for Tilly's behavior. Or maybe her own.

And since Mumbo didn't kick her out, that was how Pearl stayed for the rest of the day, curled up next to Tilly, chatting with Mumbo as he monitored Tilly's vitals and diligently administered additional healing every 2 hours like clockwork.

It was probably a good thing that he seemed to ramble a lot, because Pearl wasn't in much of mood to talk. But she was in the mood to listen to Tilly's breathing and Mumbo's soothing voice as he explained how a guy like him ended up running a Pokémon Center in the tiny town along the side of Magic Mountain. 

Or more correctly, ended up back in Magic Mountain.

He explained, between replacing Tilly's IV bags and mixing more healing elixirs, that he had grown up here, just up the mountainside. He'd been fascinated by pokémon growing up just like so many other kids, but he'd never been good at battling with them. His friends Grian and Scar were always better at the actually fighting, he was more interested in learning about their abilities, behaviors, evolutions, statistics, or really anything he could learn.

"That’s why I have so many of these guys hanging around," he joked, picking up a snoring Mooner from the counter so he could grab the stack of papers under it.

"They can turn out so many different ways, and you mostly just need to love them for them to evolve. Which is perfect for someone as terrible in fights as me."

That was probably also why he got so experienced in taking care of injured pokémon, he said. Not a lot of nurses in rural places like this, and between his friend's eagerness to fight and his perchance to lose against anything he fought, he got pretty good at taking care of their little flock of pokémon growing up. 

He explained to Pearl that when he, Grian, and Scar were finally old enough to go to university in the big city, his friends were sure they were going to become the best pokémon trainers in the world. Meanwhile he was sure he would become a world renowned pokémon scientist.

"I thought I was going to study in this big lab. Use all this fancy equipment and powerful computers. But turns out to have that, you have to live really far away from the mountains. And you have to care about optimizing pokémon for fighting, which, between you and me, I don’t really think is the most interesting thing about them."

Pearl viscerally understood that sentiment.

She had had been told that she was a talented trainer in the cities and towns she drifted through in her early years. She had won lots of battles and defeated opponents in new and creative ways. There had been whispers gathering around her about the bright future she had, and how she could become one of the greatest trainers of her age given a little more time and practice.

Until she swung at her ally for the way his Alolan Ninetales went after Tilly in the middle of battle. Then it didn't matter how talented she was because giving a trainer a black eye made most people question if she had the mental stability needed to be successful.

The whole thing had just made Pearl question why she was making her pokémon fight battles they didn’t need to in the first place.

So she had apologized to Scott Major for breaking his nose, packed up her things from the MCC gym, and left for the mountains.

That had been nearly 5 years ago and now she had a collection of extremely rare pokémon she caught in the depths of the Boatem forest. But more importantly, her pokémon never fought unless they absolutely had to.

Which they did.

Often as one might expect in the wilderness.

But she would rather them fight a wild pokémon to help her survive than ask them to fight against another trainer just to settle some petty dispute in a big city.

"At least you're good at fighting. I spent all my years as a kid obsessed with pokémon and no way to ever evolve them because I could never win a fight," Mumbo laughed, a self-deprecating tinge settling inside the sound as Pearl explained how she even ended up in the far flung town of Magic Mountain in the first place.

"But I'm glad you're here to treat them," she offered, running her fingers through Tilly's fur. Tilly was finally awake enough to gaze up at Pearl from where her head sat in Pearl's lap, but was still too weak to do much else.

"Learning to take care of all different types of pokémon is an interesting challenge. One I was happy to find once I realized I would have been miserable as a scientist locked away in some pristine lab in a big city. I mean, what do they even study there? There's no pokémon in cities except the ones people bring in. How is that- Sorry. I mean yes. I like being a nurse. I like helping these guys get better. And it's needed. Ever since nurse Tin died a few years ago, I'm the only nurse on the mountain."

"That must be hard," Pearl said, realizing that if Tilly had needed round the clock care since Pearl brought her in last night that meant Mumbo must have never slept.

"Thank you," Pearl added, looking up from where Tilly was drifting back to sleep. "She wouldn’t be here without you, so thank you."

It took Tilly a few more days to recover, which meant more time for Pearl to hang around the clinic chatting with Mumbo. He taught her some quick battlefield healing tricks in case she was farther out the next time her pokémon took this much lethal damage and she wasn't lucky enough to find a pokémon center in time. And once Tilly was strong enough to walk, she introduced him to her vast collection of pokémon during their walks around the small meadow behind the clinic. He had seemingly endless questions about their abilities, behavior, stats, and history, and Pearl felt guilty the more she had to admit she didn't know the answer to most of his questions. She had suspected she had a lot of rare pokémon before, but it was wild to have her suspicions confirmed by the countless blank data fields in even Mumbo's medical grade pokédex.

So when Mumbo refused to take any payment for his work on Tilly, she promised she would come back and repay him with some answers to all his questions. He laughed and told her to not worry about it, but there was an excited flash in his eyes that she couldn't stop thinking about even as she packed up and headed down the mountain with a newly healed Tilly by her side.

That look in his eyes was all she could think about six months later when she watched her Ursaring evolve into a Bloodmoon Ursaluna right before her eyes. She could see that look so clearly as she scribbled down everything she could think of that could possibly be relevant before packing up her camp and starting the trek back to Magic Mountain that very night.

When she walked back through his Pokémon Center doors, she thought he was excited to see her because he remembered her promise to bring him back some of the answers he had been looking for since he was a kid.

Many years, dozens of adventures, countless pokémon, and a first nationally recognized scientific paper later, Mumbo confessed he had forgotten that Pearl even promised to come back when he saw her come through the doors that day. He had just been thrilled to see the pretty, brilliant trainer walk back into his life again.

The fact that she was offering a path to an unimaginably fantastic future of studying pokémon together was just a lovely bonus.

[1moreff-creator]

If everyone in P:EG had a console, what games would they be into?

Small CH1 spoilers

Cassidy: All of them, but particularly anything highly competitive and with a lot of depth.

Damon: Logic and puzzle games, since he likes feeling smart after beating them. Though he has a soft spot for visual novels with a horror/mystery aspect, such as Slay the Princess, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Danganronpa, for similar reasons. (I mean, he's the protag, I had to give him Dangan xD)

Desmond: First person shooters, because he's really good at them and takes pride in that.

Diana: Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, and similar sandboxy/simulator games with a peaceful atmosphere. Uses games to chill, and loves forming deep attachments to NPCs. Has cried over the death of a Minecraft wolf before, but then again, who hasn't?

Eloise: Fighting games, since she can apply quite a few of the concepts used in fencing while playing them. The only reason she didn't go to the Super Slam Sisters tournament is that she can get kinda intense playing them and didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable (this might be a great moment to remind everyone these are pretty unserious headcanons and nothing else :v).

Eva: RPGs are her jam, but she also enjoys puzzle and logic games, especially if they involve real world science.

Grace: Anything highly competitive, especially sport or fighting games.

Ingrid: According to her profile, she likes combat, so she's partial to fighting games, though she generally doesn't like video games too much.

Jean: Party games such as Mario Party, because it's what his crew plays on his ship when they bring a console, so it reminds him of home.

Jett: Racing games, for obvious reasons, but he can also enjoy anything with a competitive element.

Kai: He prefers playing mobile games, mainly runner style. He's the in-universe person who popularized the "Subway Surfers on the side of the video" Tiktok strategy by using his own gameplay. He's actually surprisingly good at it.

Mark: Rhythm games. Is secretly a top tier osu player. No one has connected the dots between said top player and Mayhem, and Mark would like to keep it that way.

Toshiko: Dating sims, she calls it "research." Also thoroughly enjoys RPGs with interesting characters, but which have a relatively lighthearted theme, like Undertale and Pokemon.

Ulysses: Although he dislikes computers per his student profile, if he has to choose a game, it would be something trivia or puzzle based. Again, he likes both those things according to his profile.

Wolfgang: Visual novels are his jam, and his favorite is obviously Ace Attorney. Even if he does get ticked off every time he spots some kind of inaccuracy in the depiction of the legal system. To quote him: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN UPDATED AUTOPSY REPORT?!?!?!??!"

Wenona: Resource management strategy games, such as Factorio. Since she feels a pretty deep connection to bears (it's her animal symbol and she has a tattoo of one), the Clickteam FNAF games are her guilty pleasure, and she's beat UCN's 50/20 a few times, no Death Coin needed.

Tozu: He enjoys any game where he can either inflict suffering (Plague Inc, Sims, etc.) or let out his theater kid roleplaying skills.

Mara: Gruesome first person shooters and Animal Crossing. No inbetween.

Cara: Educational games and mobile games.

Thanks for the ask! Pretty fun to think about! :D

[cafe--tables]

Character Ancestors part 1: (kaluva)

(Zinzolin’s ancestor) Vio: 

a man of the Arceusanic religion. He leads the main church of the Arceusanics in Kaluva. He’s is a the leader of the church in Kaluva. he serves his community and his kings to the best of his ability. He has a hatred for the warm weather, often praying for Arceus to make the cold seasons longer. Like his descendent, He is quite intelligent and respectable. Attempting to help make decisions with the young princes and king.  He is kind, optimistic, loving, religious and believes that there’s always something good about someone.

(colress’s ancestor) Colton:

Colton is a philosopher and a man of scientist, he dabbles in a bit of alchemy as well. Colton could Go on and on about his research Getting into things he shouldn’t. He’ll push the limits of anything and anyone. He was originally from kaluva but visits his friend and test subject, Dennis. He holds all his supplies in a large backpack, he has everything a person would ever need and maybe extra. The princes are his patron, helping him to make items that keeps the kingdom safe. 

(Ghetsis’s ancestor) Dennis: 

Dennis is a soft spoken man. He’s a happy person, living with the pokemon who he calls his friends. He treats them like people. He can understand and speak with Pokémon. For this and his past, He’s an outcast to the rest of people in kaluva. He was raised by zoroark in the Alabaster Icelands, isolated from all the people in Jubilife Village. Colton often gives him food and resources in trade for assistance in his experiments. He’s not book smart but he’s certainly smart enough to live in his environment.

(Ingo/emmet/drayden’s ancestors) Ralf and Chester:

Chester, is usually a relaxed and empathetic person. A real go with the flow type of person. However he can get really angry at people when they touch his equipment. He works as an engineer for the train, fueling the train as it goes. Not interacting with any passengers. He appears nice and kind to passengers until he’s bashing your head in for borrowing a tool of his. He cares a lot for Elec and Ralf, He’d protect them from anything he can.

Ralf is the older sibling. He is a loud and abrasive on the outside. He appears to be intimidating with a permanent hostile glare. However in truth he’s a caring person to all and any passengers. He’s the conductor of the train, he makes time to help make everyone as comfortable and happy as possible. He so sweet to make crying babies laugh and smile at the sight of him. He has pockets full of candies to give to young children, to help their parents out.

Ralf has an extremely large collection of litwick and lampets that light up the tunnels. Progressively both Ralf and Chester have been losing pigment (from the lights slowly eating parts of their souls) in their hair making them become grey instead of their natural black hair.

They care for their new employees, one of them is strange but they care deeply for them. Jackie has been great help to them

(elesa’s ancestor) Elec:

Elec is an electric type gym leader and artificer. Helping the train men by building some parts that they need to run. Helping them to uses electricity to heat the water in the boiler to create steam. But still be able to use burning fuel in a firebox in needed. He’s a very calm and stoic person. Elec likes to show off his skills with as much style and a performance to have his Pokémon in the sunlight. He admires beauty in battles and shares wisdom when ever he can. He’s originally from Hisui but moved when he became a young adult.

and a height comparison for each, I might’ve done something wrong but eh

[kafus]

hi I have a question thats kind of general in terms of gaming. Mastering mechanics or maxing some if not all aspects of certain games is pretty enjoyable to me and obviously I appreciate that about some of the stuff you do, my question is on whether you think mastery most readily comes from actually using guides and online references or people who just do and explore every crevice of everything themselves. I had like a two hour convo with a friend but she couldnt really figure out an answer!

aw i appreciate it lol

tbh i don’t think i can say either way though because… i think both are required, usually? it does also depend on the game some i think, but like, for example i literally only play pokemon pretty much, and it would be ludicrous to re-document everything about pokemon myself, figure out everything about pokemon myself. sites like bulbapedia exist for a reason. that would essentially require the ability to read assembly and do software decomp to be considered a “master” of the game or a mechanic in it, which i just don’t think is reasonable! and knowing how to efficiently find & understand information about niche mechanics online is part of the skill, i think

that being said, reading guides online cannot replace hands-on experience and self-research. obviously if you want to master something you have to actually do it and that’s no different with video games. i think generally if you are really experienced with a game and playing it enough to be considered in some way a “master” of it you will naturally learn more about it or discover new things about it by playing it, including stuff which may not even be easily reference-able online

this ask makes me think of speedrunning and how popular speedgames have community resources and guides, but then when someone gets really acquainted with a speedrun, they may discover new routes or glitches on their own. this is basically how i feel about the topic in general including outside of speedrunning lol

[pokemonranch]

I would love to get a pokemon when I leave for school, but those dorms are tiny. Luckily there's a lot of outdoor and green space on campus where pokemon are welcome to play around, but do you have any recommendations for little guys who wouldn't mind being in a little dorm? Ground and water types are my favorite, but I love anything!

Many Water types can be safely kept indoors in a water tank but can also enjoy the outdoors! Small guys like Poliwag, Mudkip and Shellos are calm and like to just hang out in a water tank, are relatively easy to keep, and aren't loud, so they're appropriate for where you're stayin'.

On the other hand, if you don't have the space or resources to get a proper water tank to keep 'em in, you can research 'mons like Shieldon, Carbink or even Shuckle, as they also do well in small spaces. They're not Ground-types per se, but most of 'em Ground -types like to dig, create small dust clouds, or eat furniture, so they're not the safest/cleanest ones to kept in a college dorm!

[clowngames]

Do you feel like talking about game development?

https://youtube.com/shorts/0w3hnaUo-50

I can't speak on Palworld as a game because I haven't played it, watched any footage of gameplay, or seen any trailers, but I can aggregate some commentary by gamedevs I've talked to along with some research I've done to confirm we're not all just making shit up.

Palworld is Pocket Pair Inc.'s second major release, and it's an Early Access game while their first game is still, also, in Early Access.

The banner from their other Early Access game, Craftopia, is this:

This doesn't bode well for Palworld's future. Note that it is February at time of the screenshot taken, and more distressingly a "bugfixing update" is worth celebrating 4 years into Craftopia's development.

They have two previous releases which are an AI-art-based social deduction game and a gacha card game. There's no nice way to say this, but the types of games in their portfolio bring to mind an amount of startup capital that makes the Early Access model unnecessary. In particular, there's no circumstance in which a game dev company simultaneously needs the early return of the EA model and also has the resources to split their studio off to make a second one. The reason they're using this model is as a metric of gauging interest to figure out how to divide their resources according to demand and to show to their investors that they're doing well.

Finally, they're working on another game at the same time as Palworld and Craftopia: Never Grave - a metroidvania roguelike with visuals similar to Hollow Knight and the capture mechanic of Super Mario Odyssey (complete with throwing your hat at enemies to possess them).

All of this paints a pretty clear, if cynical, picture of their business strategy. Pocket Pair is simply making other people's video games, but faster.

To be clear, I'm not accusing them of plagiarizing. I think Palworld is pretty distinct from Pokemon in fairly obvious ways, in the same way that Craftopia is distinct from Breath of the Wild. In addition, both games are borrowing game mechanics and ideas from more than one game each.

But at the same time, the vibe I get is less "taking inspiration from multiple sources" and more "seeing what is successful about multiple sources and combining them with the goal of making something appealing." Gamers like farming, so we added crops. Gamers like third person shooters, so we added that to Pokemon. There's no consideration for thematic cohesion or vision. I think the reason there was a controversy involving the suspected use of AI in Palworld is because there's an evident absence of artistic intent which mirrors the way AI generates images or text.

Pocket Pair Inc. is the cover band of game developers. And with Palworld they happen to have learned the crowd pleasers.

That's not to say there's no artistic value to Palworld, or even that the game isn't worth playing, or fun, or "good," whatever that means. Objectively speaking, making a game that appeals to so many people it breaks records is an accomplishment worth paying attention to, and quite frankly if that were me I'd be pretty proud of myself. But I can't help but think about that post about AAA games all being the same because studios are afraid to take risks without risking capital and then think, Palworld is a manifestation of the same problem.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Gen 3 Beta Pokemon 'Dex - Page 1

So the teraleak has revealed a whole bunch of beta gen 3 pokemon. I wanted to go through them all one by one and present the gathered information on them in some Tumblr posts. HiResPokemon (HRP) is keeping a spreadsheet of this info, but I find it incredibly awkward to scroll through it, so I wanted to present the info in a format that's easier for me to read (and perhaps for others too).

I'm going to start with the beta pokemon that seem to have been entirely cut. This will no doubt span several posts since there is a 30 image cap per post.

One final note, we do not have equal amounts of data on all of these beta pokemon. For many of them we only have sprites and a name. For others, which were far closer to being included in the game before being cut, we have a lot more info.

Okay, onward to the beta 'mon!

Name: Boyatto [ボヤット]

My Notes: HRP notes this yeti pokemon was possibly inspired by a yokai called Ashiarai Yashiki. (I gotta say it seems uncomfortable to have a mouth on your foot, though)

Name: Bii [ビィ]

My Notes: It appears this pokemon's data was in the process of being swapped over to Wingull; its name is listed as キャモメ(Camome), its typing is Flying/Water, its Category name is Water Bird and its height/weight are Wingull's as well. As such we don't know actually much about this pokemon, other than it looks like a bug type. I am not sure what they were going for with this bug's design, to be honest.

Name: Kuroboshi [クロボッシ]

Type: Rock

Category: Black Stone

Height/Weight: 1'8", 50.7 lbs

Pokedex Entries:

It's impossible to understand what they're thinking because their expression is always the same. When stared at, it makes one feel unsettled.

--

After the rain, they can be seen rubbing their wet bodies with leaves, polishing themselves. They seem to be satisfied when they are shining black.

Evolution: Evolves into Claydol

My Notes: This was apparently inspired by a roly-poly toy, which rights itself if you push it down. While I do feel as though Baltoy matches up with Claydol a lot better, it's a shame this little guy wasn't re-used as a seperate pokemon.

Name: Toroiika [トロイーカ]

My Notes: Previous beta squid pokemon include a couple from Red/Green, and a drill-armed Squid from Gold/Silver. At least we finally got Inkay!

Name: Ubausagi [ウバウサギ]

Type: Normal

Category: Foster

Height/Weight: 2'7'', 27.6lbs

Pokedex Entries:

If it has no offspring, it will seek out a small living thing and place it onto its back.

--

A Pokémon that wraps its tail around to make a cradle while raising its child on its back. Sometimes it bonds with a different creature.

--

It can run 50 meters in 7 seconds flat. Sometimes, it may accidentally drop its child. It brushes its teeth by gnawing on hard objects.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: Its stats are average strength, high speed.

Signature Move Ideas:

'Milk Time' - Withdraws from the battle forcefully to feed milk to the child on its back.

'Tantrum' - The kids on its back throw a fit, screaming loudly, which lowers the opponent's attack power.

My Notes: Literally the best scrapped gen 3 pokemon, fight me

Name: Biskyal [ビスキャル]

Type: Grass

Category: Everlasting Summer

Height/Weight: 2'4'', 17.6lbs

Pokedex Entries:

Lives in warm regions, often acts in groups, becomes very noisy when three or more are gathered.

--

It is said that giving one of its head petals to a loved one will make love come true. It gets furious if someone tries to take its petals.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: Born in tropical regions. It is weak to the cold. As long as the temperature is high, it can survive in even the most polluted environments, showing remarkable toughness and resilience. Its personality is selfish and self-centered. Only females exist.

Evolution: Evolves into Rillidiy

My Notes: HRP notes that this pokemon may have been cut due to the controversy surrounding Jynx (which would have been fresh in the minds at Gamefreak, at the time).

Name: Ryllidy [リリディ]

Type(s): Bug/Psychic (previously Grass)

Category: Red Spider Lily

Pokedex Entries:

It has long antennae that are highly sensitive, capable of sensing subtle air currents to understand the thoughts of its enemies.

--

It mesmerizes opponents with its dance-like movements and deep gaze, putting them into a hypnotic state. Only females of this species have been confirmed.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: The part that looks like a skirt is actually part of its body, and its legs are properly hidden inside. It excels at sensing the emotions of others, using its antennae to feel the opponent's aura. It can manipulate others at will. It is often seen standing still, gazing at the sunset sky.

Evolution: Evolves from Biskyal

Signature Move Ideas:

'Hypnotic Gaze' - Puts the opponent to sleep and manipulates them at will, allowing the user to command the opponent's moves. The opponent must be in a sleep state for this move to work.

Other Moves: Sleep Powder, Stun Spore

Name: Kanbok [カンボック]

Types: Grass/Water (previously pure Grass)

Category: Shrub

Height/Weight: 4'7'', 154.3lbs

Pokedex Entries:

Stores a large amount of water inside its body, which it can expel in a shower-like fashion while spinning. It's particularly useful during hot summer days.

--

Drinks more than 100 liters of water per day, and its leaves on its hands wilt if the water stored in its body runs low.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: By spinning, it creates wind with the leaves on its head and hands. It usually hops around to move. High defense. Can learn water type moves.

Evolution: Was going to evolve into an undecided pokemon which then would have evolved into Tropius

Signature Move Ideas:

'Sprinkler' - a regular physical attack where the body spins rapidly and shoots out water.

Name: Komari [コマリ]

Types: Ghost (previously Psychic)

Category: Spirit

Height/Weight: 8'', 3.3lbs

Pokedex Entries:

Is known to guide those who are lost in deep forests with the sound of its horns. Seeing this Pokémon is said to bring happiness.

--

Shakes its head side to side, producing a clear, bell-like sound similar to a xylophone, using the tones to communicate with others.

Additional Gamefreak Notes: It inhabits deep forests, and its ecology remains unknown. Its horns have a bell-like structure, and when it shakes its head, it makes a 'kaka' sound. When humans or Pokémon approach, it rings its horn to signal its companions. It communicates with its companions through the sound of its horns. It does not have a mouth. When angered, it emits ultrasonic waves from its horns, overwhelming its opponent. Extremely high special defense.

Signature Move Ideas:

'Exit Path' - Forces the opponent’s Pokémon out of battle and makes them switch to another Pokémon.

'Echo' - Reflects the opponent's move back at them.

My Notes: Because its name is a combination of 'Kima' ('the space between trees') and 'Fairy,' if this pokemon were ever made a reality in modern times I think it would be Fairy typing.

Name: Monorabi [モノラビ]

My Notes: Some of these pokemon have critique notes included with them; for our little one-eared rabbit friend here, the note was 'Looks deformed.' That note seemed especially mean and uncalled for, I really like this bun.

Name: Stanbu [スタンブ]

My Notes: The critique for this one was 'too much like Sudowoodo'

Name: Rikugin [リクギン]

Name: Aarei [アーレイ]

Name: Otoma [オトマ]

Type: Water

Category: Scale

Height/Weight: 1'4'', 5.5lbs

Pokedex Entries:

It produces sound by spinning the disc on its head. Each individual produces different musical scales. The sound varies based on the size of its body.

--

When eight of them gather, they start a performance. It inhabits ponds.

Additional Gamefreak Notes:

Uses its tail to flick the disc on its head, creating musical notes. The scale of the notes changes with the size of its body. Lives in small ponds rich in water plants. When its peers gather, they start playing lively music by the water's edge.

Evolutions: Evolves into Keromeelo

My Notes: While we do eventually get the sound-themed Tympole line in gen 5, that family line looks so very cursed to me and I think I prefer the DJ tadpole here.

Name: Keromeelo [ケロメー��]

Evolutions: Evolves from Otoma

My Notes: It was critiqued for being too similar to Politoed. HRP spreadsheet notes something disturbing, that the orange strand that makes up the shape of a clef note may indeed be this frog's intestines (similar to the swirl in the Poliwag line being its intestines)

Click for Part 2!

[heimsresearchcenter]

Welcome to the official page for the:

Heims Pokémon Research & Rescue Center !

(Find more information below this divider and cut!)

__________________

┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊

┊ ┊⋆

┊      

✧     

First of all: Who are we?

The Heims Research & Rescue Center is a location in the Gledai Region, meant to monitor the behavior and evolution of Pokémon, as well as rescue any of these Pokémon if they were to be in danger.

The Gledai Region has reached an all time low in temperature in the matter of just a few years, a phenomenon we have yet to understand. Mount Heims happens to be the coldest place in the region!

So we dedicate our time, energy, and resources to helping and understanding the people and Pokémon of our home. Not only that, but the biggest mystery of the Gledai region, what has happened to our climate?

This page is ran by me, Bruce, one of the top researchers at the facility. I’m only in my 30’s, but man, I sure feel older in this weather, haha.

My dear Pokémon, an alolan vulpix, was surrendered from an unethical shiny breeding system, not only for shinies but for beauty contests. We brought her to health, and they allowed me to officially adopt her. You can call her Baby.

Bruce, what Pokémon are currently in your care?

Well, if you’re talkin’ Pokémon I have official taken in as my own, there’s Baby (Shiny alolan vulpix mentioned before, female), Pea (Snom, male), and Gertrude (Arcanine, female)

But if we’re talkin’ the ones I’m nursing back to health and researching for my job..

We got

Lucy (Dusk Gledai Lycanroc, Female, Caring for)

Whisper (Phantump, Male, Researching)

Beanie (Dad, M), Weanie (Mom, F) Meanie (Kid, M), and Teeny (Kid, F) (Gledai Maushold, Caring for collaboratively, in bad condition / being monitored)

But aside from Pokémon, most of all, a task I’m proud to have been assigned, I am one of the people responsible for trying to find the source of the Gledai regions change in weather. I haven’t quite found any significant information yet, it’s unfortunately a more confusing mystery than we first thought…

What Can We Do?

All you nice little people out there on Rotomblr,, Rotumblr? Ah, forget it. You can send me some of them asks and such. Like about me, Pokémon, or something else. Talkin to me is cool. I’ll keep all of ya updated, and my coworkers might even pop in time to time.

—————

OOC // Who are YOU?

You can call me Maxie, I’m 18. I run a few other blogs on this site! This blog has no particular dni, aside from basic criteria (MAPS, Racists, Homophobes, Transphobes, etc), proshippers/darkshippers, and people who sexualize pokemon. Do not let this be a reflection of the rest of my morals, this is a Pokémon irl rp blog with a random region I made up WAAAAGHH

References:

Bruce Robillard (MC)

Story-Connected Blogs:

Chrissy:

[pokemonshelterstories]

ive been trying to research how typing manifests in pokemon moves, and i know professor kukui has written a lot about that, but the publishing company that has his papers has them locked behind a paywall! are there are any resources i can access for free to research this kind of stuff?

ugh, what a pain in the ass. if you send him an email you might be able to get copies of them- though i've had much better luck actually getting a response from his wife! he's the kind of guy who checks his email once in a blue moon, which drives me insane because i send probably 10 emails a day at least.

i'd also recommend checking out the professorssafarizone discord or reddit, as members there will gladly help you get access to papers and books that you're looking for. i've actually met with several professors who share their own works through there! it's a great place to meet people in different fields of pokemon study.

[tigerarainbowra-blog]

Tigera, your art is very beautiful and unique! I always recognise your style when I see it. Do you think you can provide some tips on developing such a unique style? I’ve been trying, but it is a struggle. Thank you, and I understand if you cannot !

Thank you very much!! Yes, somewhat. Ysee the thing is, I never focused on having a "style". I've always just tried to draw things i like as exact as possible. I also often study art I happen to see and I think is amazing is well done, which often makes me test new approaches in my art. I never really understood other artist obsession with "having my own style", you will always draw things that exist or have existed, from the world your brain can perceive and comprehend, or from other fictional works. Nothing is quite new, and that's great! Because it means you can stop stressing about being 100% unique. And perhaps you might come up with a cool concept that people haven't heard of before who knows. But that aint all. I didn't get to my level by just doing that and sitting down, I studied basic principles. These are the building blocks, the base concepts, that you can use to make your art: shapes, volumes, shading, color, composition, values, perspective, etc... If there's a word/concept in there you don't understand, RESEARCH IT RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. Be curious, observe things around you carefully. Pretend you are a fucking scientist in a lab and you have a bunch of cool liquids and you can mix them up with not much consequences, try things!! It's ok if you fail it, you'll be fine!! Also for studying said principles, here are some ressources:

I didn't get the luck of being able to attend an art school, so I'm self taught. We are EXTREMELY LUCKY to have a library of knowledge available to us at any time called the internet, USE IT.

So just have fun, I know social media nowadays makes it hard because of peer pressure and shit, but please, make art because you love making art and because you love whatever it is you are drawing!

TLDR: calm down, it'll come in time. I'm here right now because I kept drawing my pikachu plush when i was 6, and a buncha pokemons and Spyro and shit. You'll be fine! Good luck, have fun, and stay curious! OvO

[opelucidsparkles]

How the hell do you have the space and resources to care for so many Pokemon? And a lot of big ones, at that?

@feindly-fire

I come from money. ❤️

Jokes aside. It’s not exactly easy! But it’s worth it. Also, before I go for a new Pokémon I always make sure to do some research about it. So I know how to take care of it. Or perhaps if it’s not something I can handle.

[realm-sweet-realm]

One For All, Epilogue

In an AU where the protagonist never fell from the sky, the Survey Corps will have to pull together and make use of every resource at their disposal to face the challenges present in Pokemon: Legends Arceus. There will be surveyshipping.

Thank you guys for joining me on this much-longer-than-planned adventure! I have a lot of one-offs planned after this, so stay tuned!

---

The festival was a sight to be seen. Never before had any resident of Jubilife seen so many clanspeople within their streets, let alone welcomed them warmly. Children donned masks and chased each other through the streets, merchants made trades, musicians played, and every spirit seemed to soar. 

Through it all, Laventon couldn’t be in enough places at once. Everything was worthy of a photograph, and he sought to capture as much of the event as he could. He’d captured a beautiful photo first thing- one of clanspeople in their finest montsukis and furisodes pouring through Jubilife’s open gate- and from that moment on, the spirit of photography was with him. He was managing successful picture after successful picture. With any luck, this would serve as a reminder for everyone of the joy and connection that came from working as one- not that he suspected the tale of the three factions conquering Gods together would die out anytime soon. 

As Laventon captured shots of the drummers drumming, he caught sight of two men and a woman carrying fireworks toward the edge of town. He certainly wanted a picture of that. He followed the three up the towers of the village gates, asking them the best place to set up his camera for the best view.

“Excuse me,” Laventon said to the trio, “where can I best set up? To take a stunning photograph of the fireworks without disturbing you, that is.”

The woman chuckled. “The fireworks won’t be for another hour yet, and you’ll be able to see them from anywhere.”

Laventon blushed. “Oh. Yes, of course.”

“You should go down to the town square. A dance is starting, and I’m about to head down myself.”

“Oh!” he replied. “Very well, then.”

The square was in the thick of the action. It was where the musicians had chosen to play, and thus, many people had taken to dancing there and merchants had taken to the edges of it, trying to make a dollar off of partygoers.

Sitting off to the side of it was Cyllene and Rei, talking at one of the tables outside the Wallflower. Leaning over the table with his good arm and a weary look in his one unbandaged eye, Rei was clearly drained. Who wouldn’t be after all he’d been through? But he was happily chatting with Cyllene, perhaps recounting the tale of how he’d been injured in the first place.

Cyllene. It wasn’t often that Laventon had seen Cyllene interacting casually- not outside her training sessions with Zisu that Laventon had sat in on and in one disastrous instance, participated in. She was wearing a fine purple kimono, her face adorned with a small smile as she listened to Rei’s tale. She reminded Laventon of a regal queen he’d once met in Johto- a comparison he perhaps ought to keep to himself.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Laventon said as he approached their table.

“Thank you,” Cyllene replied. “It’s good that you came. Rei has much he’d like to express to you.”

“Yeah!” Rei seconded. “I have so much to tell you about what the plates are for, and a story to tell you that I’ll be telling to everyone for years, especially once these are scars to bring it up with!” Rei pointed at the bandages over his eye at that last part.

“Well, I’d love to hear it!” Laventon said. Just then, the music slowed as a new, romantic song played. “But, um, first,” he turned to Cyllene. “May I have this dance?” he asked, extending a hand to her.

Rei sat back, defeated. “Ah, come on- I’ve been waiting all night to see you, and you’re leaving already?”

The two older researchers paid him little heed. “You may,” Cyllene replied, taking Laventon’s hand, and, after Laventon gave Rei a brief apology, they were on their way to the square.

“I’ll warn you, I don’t really know how to dance, let alone whatever dances are popular in Hisui.”

“I don’t dance, either,” Cyllene replied. “So show me how Galarians dance. It’s the only way either of us know.”

Laventon put a hand on her shoulder and his other one on her hip, and she mirrored him. “Very well, then… I only know so well myself, but… one step, two step… one step, two step…”

It was a simple dance, one that both of them could keep up.

Behind Cyllene, Laventon could see Irida and Adaman, laughing as a gaggle of children carried off their eevee evolutions. Many villagers had come out with their Pokémon, too- pets, creatures of labour, guard Pokémon. Though it was hard to tell, Laventon even thought he could make out the shape of ghosts in the crisp night air, perhaps drawn to the festival by the pleasant music and the smell of food.

“So, what’s next? For the team, I mean, now that this strange phenomenon is behind us.”

“Much the same as before the phenomenon began- fill the Pokédex and fulfill requests. The clans have requested a better understanding of time-space Distortions. Once we find a way of predicting their formation, this could be an excellent opportunity to collect rare specimens.”

Laventon perked up at the thought of such an adventure. While he was glad things had settled a bit, he was glad that the Survey Corps adventures weren’t over for him yet. “I’m certainly game for that!”

“Yes, it’s very exciting. However, until we have the research methodology worked out, we should keep ourselves occupied with other tasks. The Agriculture Corps has requested that we look into the possible uses of bug types. That would be a good place to start.”

Laventon chuckled, almost falling out of the song’s rhythm as he did so. “Well, I suppose we’re due for some mundanity as well. Are you certain the bug types won’t be too much for you?”

Cyllene turned slightly pink. “After fighting Gods, I’m certain I could tolerate a few wurmples.”

“Well, alright!”

With that, the song ended and another began.

“Want to try copying the others this time? It’s a pretty good way to learn dances if my experience is correct.”

“Laventon, I would like a word with you,” Kamado said, interrupting their dance before Cyllene could respond.

Laventon nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked to Cyllene, nervous and looking for guidance. Kamado had every right to be at this party, of course- Laventon had caught glimpses of him while he was running around with a camera, even- but this had come out of nowhere and he hadn’t done anything wrong that he could think of, and-

“I would like Cyllene to come as well, and Rei is already at the village gates,” Kamado continued. “I promise that you aren’t in any trouble.”

With that, Laventon and Cyllene started following Kamado. They were joined by Rei as they followed Kamado past the gates of Jubilife- gates that were left open more and more nowadays as Pokémon and the clans had become less their enemies and more their allies. Laventon began to trust that Kamado really did mean no harm. Or at least, that he might.

“You still keep a knife on you, right? At all times?” Laventon whispered to Cyllene. Not that it was likely to come to that, but it would be reassuring nonetheless!

“Is that something Mesprit showed you?” Cyllene whispered back.

“Yes,” Laventon replied, taking a more thorough look over Cyllene’s outfit and wondering how exactly she’d manage to hide a knife in it.

“I don’t think we’ll have any need to impale our commander,” Cyllene said coolly. Laventon grabbed her hand for comfort. 

The trio’s destination wasn’t far from the village: it was Prelude Beach, the same port that Laventon had arrived at Hisui, and, most likely, the place that Cyllene and Kamado had years prior.

“Laventon,” Kamado started, “I have brought you here to apologize. When the first of us arrived here on Prelude Beach, myself, Beni, and all the others, we had little. We wanted to make ourselves a home and a future here, and I would have done anything to protect it from anything that might threaten us. Our life here was fragile at first, and I reacted poorly to any change to the status quo. And yes, that included a team of adventurers teaching us to live in harmony with dangerous creatures, aided by a foreigner seeking glory. But since you have come here and since the Survey Corps has flourished, the lives of everyone in Jubilife have improved. I understand that I have made your time here very difficult and went against what I intended for Jubilife to be- a place where all who are willing to work are welcome. It would be understandable if you cannot forgive me, but thank you for your help in protecting Hisui, and I’m sorry that I didn’t see that you were with us from the beginning.”

“Sir… It’s alright,” Laventon said. “So long as I’m welcome here now and you respect me from now on, that’s all I care about.” It was the truth.

Kamado’s stiff posture seemed to ease considerably. “Thank you…” Kamado said.

For a moment, the four sat on the beach, watching the waves come in as they reflected light from the lanterns of Jubilife. 

“So… can I tell you my story now?” Rei asked.

“Of course!” Laventon replied.

“Alright!” Rei said, his eyes lighting up. “I know you don’t have your notebook right now, so I’ll just keep this casual and then give you a written report later. So, after the Captain told me to go after Volo…”

As Rei started his story, Laventon held Cyllene close and Cyllene held him back, Kamado’s presence ruining none of their comfort. Maybe Laventon should have been less forgiving of Kamado, but he honestly felt like a hurricane had stopped coming his way- like he could stop waiting for a shoe to drop. Maybe now that Kamado wasn’t a shoe or a hurricane he could be a person to Laventon, maybe even one he liked. Or, maybe he couldn’t. But all Laventon could feel now was relief. Relief, and gratitude that he could keep enjoying Rei and Cyllene’s presence without fear.

Suddenly, the four heard the whizzing sound of something flying through the air, followed by the bang of the first firework exploding into a flash of coloured sparks. 

“Oh, no! The fireworks!” Laventon cried, rising to his feet. “I need to get back and capture this!”

“They’ll be going long enough for you to take your photo. But let’s hurry, just to be safe,” Cyllene said, and the four rushed back to Jubilife together.