#sinnoh gets announced and i just lose it

[microwave-core]

Lifeline

Cynthia x Fem! Reader

You’ve had a crush on your dear childhood friend Cynthia for as long as you can remember. Facing against each other as champions reminds you of that fact.

SO, I know the Masters 8 thing from the anime was a part of gen 8, but I’ve decided to make reader a champion in Paldea, kind of representing the region on Geeta’s behalf, in place of Alain. Lumiose Conference or whatever my ass. 

Looking back, you were always meek as a child. A little shy, a little nervous when talking or the center of attention, a little shaky when issuing your pokemon commands. Not that it mattered, not when you always had your dear Cynthia to rely on. The young girl you had met in your mutual, sleepy home of Celestic Town. 

Maybe she wasn’t as good as you remember her being at the time, not with her current level of strength, but as kids she always seemed so, so… confident. Unstoppable. And maybe that really is just your nostalgic, crush-induced rose-tinted glasses talking, but that’s how you saw her.

You always believed she could be champion. More than that. Perhaps even the best in the world. Something other’s didn’t believe at the time. Who would have thought that some spunky ten year old from a backwater town and nothing but a bumbling Gible at her side would become such an unbelievable powerhouse?

But you knew, even way back when. Even before either of you had your first pokemon, you knew she was destined for something great. Not just because of some implicit skill or natural born talent, but because of her unrelenting determination and resolve. A feeling that only solidified in the depths of your heart the day she ran up to you, announcing the hatching of the egg she was entrusted with. 

You had begun your journeys side by side, vowing to journey across the region, collecting gym badges, and becoming champions together. And yeah, maybe there can only be one champion of the region, but neither of you cared about that. You were young, full of joy and excitement and energy. Gible by her side, Swablu by your own.

It was apparent to everyone that she was stronger than you. Her team and battle prowess were higher, her confidence soaring high above your own. Not that you cared. Well, okay, that’s a lie. It did bother you a little, admittedly, but in the way that spurred you on to be stronger. Be better. The kind that made you work towards her in the race to the finish line. You weren’t a sore loser, she wasn’t a sore winner, you both worked to make the other stronger.

But by the time you both managed to collect each and every one of Sinnoh’s gym badges, your interest in becoming the region’s champion waned. Not that you didn’t want to try, but because you knew that, even if you did try you would surely lose to Cynthia. Her radiant confidence, her cool and collected nature, her dazzling smile… 

Yes, you had feelings for her. Major ones at that. Ones that obviously stemmed all the way back to your childhood. It was apparent to everyone in your old hometown. The way you followed behind her like a lost Shinx, the way that you were hooked on her every word, the way heat crawled up your face and traveled through every inch of your body whenever she smiled or laughed or did… much of anything, honestly. 

As kids, though, neither of you cared all that much. Romance and kissing were icky to you both, things that adults did that you would stick your tongues out at. That didn’t stop your parents from teasing you about getting married to her one day, or her grandmother from jokingly calling you her granddaughter-in-law.

When you went on a journey together, those feelings only grew stronger. You wanted so desperately to hold her hand, to huddle together for warmth when camping out under the stars, to kiss her softly and all of that other mushy stuff you once found gross. If kissing her would give you cooties, you would embrace them with open arms.

You knew it was obvious, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it felt like it was due to everyone at home knowing. Regardless, you felt hopeless. Did Cynthia feel the same? Did she catch on to the feelings you’ve harbored since you were kids and was just too nice to say anything about it? Was she too dense to notice? Did she even care about romance? You didn’t know. You didn’t want to find out. You’d rather keep her as a friend than ruin things when confessing.

Pinning for her was enough for you. 

Unfortunately, some time after your journey for badges concluded, you had to deliver to her awful news. Your family was moving to another region, to Paldea, to a place where she wouldn’t be with you. You stewed on telling her for a few days. Even if she didn’t share your feelings, you were still her friend, her best friend. Losing you was going to hurt. Your Altaria, who had long since evolved from the small, clumsy Swablu you once knew, was there for comfort, at least. 

Cynthia quickly noticed something was up, you told each other everything (most things, anyways), and she could tell something was weighing on your mind. And, as expected, she was devastated upon learning the news.

The last day in Sinnoh, the two of you spent together. Going on a trip down memory lane, visiting your favorite spots, returning the places you caught each of your pokemon… She hugged you tightly at the end of the day, whispering softly into your hair about how much she would miss you. You wanted desperately for her to confess some feelings, to reveal that she too was so desperately in love, but it never came. You left early the next morning, sharing one last hug, her vowing to get even stronger and become champion, just for you.

Letters were sent back and forth, turning into texts and calls as you got older. Even if it wasn’t in person, you still talked and chatted and told each other as much as you could. It wasn’t the same, but it was something, enough to keep her in your life. Enough to keep the flame in your heart alive. 

That’s why you went out on another journey, determined to collect another set of badges, to become the champion, and to stand on even footing with her. Your resolve was only bolded when you watched her become the new champion of Sinnoh. From behind the TV screen, of course. Her and that Garchomp, the sweet yet mighty dragon you watched grow stronger and stronger each day alongside her beautiful and capable trainer…

Unlike other regions, there was no tournament for the top spot, instead having a title, a class, just for people capable of defeating Paldea’s strongest. La Primera gave you lots of trouble, but your team was strong, much stronger than when you first arrived in the region, and you couldn’t back down from the challenge. If you lost to her, how could you ever beat your Cynthia?

The phone call you had after the fight with her was one of the most exciting calls you’ve ever had, loudly and happily proclaiming your victory, and she couldn’t be more happy for you. Even if you weren’t on her level at the time, Cynthia knew you were strong as well, and she believed in you just as much as you did in her. If being champion didn’t keep her so busy, she would have been here with you, to celebrate your accomplishment in person..

So when she heard you would be in the Masters 8 tournament to represent your new home, she knew she had to be there. To see you in person for the first time in years. To see just how strong you had become. And, right now, staring at you from across the field, tension high and adrenaline higher, the wait to see you was worth it.

“You’ve changed so much since we’ve last seen each other… but I have no intention of losing here.”

God, even her voice alone was enough to make your heart want to explode.

For you, the current moment was exciting and also terrifying. You had longed for this kind of moment for years, For over a decade at this point, and it was finally happening. A chance to show the woman you’ve pinned for for years just how strong you could be. Your fights with Steven and Iris before were incredible challenges of strength and skill, but neither had such intense feelings on the line.

“I, uh. I don’t intend on losing either!”

Not your finest moment. Not very cool sounding. You couldn’t care less about the hundreds of thousands of people watching, the idea of looking uncool in front of Cynthia made your nerves spike, but the angelic, albeit small laugh that fell from her lips as a result of your words might have made it worth it-

No. no time to think like that. You couldn’t be distracted by her marvelous presence when so much was on the line.

And so, you both exchanged words as your pokemon began exchanging blows, praising each other’s strategies and throwing in bits and pieces of trash talk to please the crowd every now and then. Not that pleasing the crowd was even on your mind, not much was, honestly. You were so focused on the battle and Cynthia that your mind circled around to being filled with white noise.

In the end, it was mutual destruction. You were both left with your last pokemon, both left with your starters, with no gimmicks at your disposal. Her Garchomp and your Altaria clashed against one another, each move kicking up dust and debris from the battlefield, until the two rammed into each other with the remainder of their energy.

Both of them were done for, but Altaria fell before Garchomp, who followed almost immediately after. A photo finish, a battle that came right down to the wire. A battle that proved you were evenly matched. Coming this far only to lose hurt, sure, but knowing that you were as strong as Cynthia filled that wound and more.

The blaring noise of the commentators and crowd were a blur for you, and likely Cynthia, too. You had knelt down next to your fallen companion, thanking her for all of her work, praising her for pushing it to the limit, and returning her to her ball for a well deserved rest. Cynthia was right in front of you when you looked up, smiling and extending a hand.

Your breath hitches as she pulls you back up on your feet, the feeling of her lovely soft hand making your tired mind nearly short circuit. Unfortunately, she retracts her hand, only to place it on the back of your shoulder, leading you both off of the battlefield into the privacy of the hall between the public eye and back rooms.

“You were incredible out there.”

Her tone is gentle, and probably would have been quieter if it weren’t for the echoes of the roaring crowd from outside.

“Me? Oh, you were the real star! You… you won, after all!”

“You’ve always been too modest. You drove me against the wall back there, not to mention the other trainers you championed over before me.”

You scratch the back of your neck, stumbling through your words, mumbling out a quick thanks. Embarrassed, but oh so warm on the inside. A silence came over you both, not an uncomfortable one, per say, but one underlined with tension, as if neither of you knew what to say. Unsure of where to start.

“You know, it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. There’s a cafe around here that we could go to-”

“I’m in love with you.”

The words barrel out of your mouth before you could stop them. The pounding in your chest was too intense to ignore. Years of built up feelings finally boiling up to the surface.

“I’m… come again?”

Her cheeks were painted an adorable baby pink, for once in her life unsure of what to say. 

“I… I love you. I think I always have, and I just… I don’t think I can stand it anymore. Knowing that I’ve finally caught up to you, that I could almost beat you back there, it… I just can’t hold back anymore”

You shut your eyes tightly. Even if her expression was so lovely and perfect and one you wanted to burn into your eyes to cherish for forever and ever, you couldn’t bear to see it potentially distort into rejection. The constant thump thump thump of your heart was deafening, filling your ears, overtaking the sounds of the cheering crowd, of the outside world. Her hand on your shoulder tightens slightly as she utters out your name, the syllables falling off her slips sounding like the sweetest song in your mind.

“I’m… I’m flattered.”

“You don’t have to soften the b-blow. Just say you don’t feel the same if you have toI… we can still be friends.”

Your shoulders slump ever so slightly, trying your absolute hardest to keep yourself together.

“That’s not it.”

“It… it’s not?”

Opening your eyes, you see the sickeningly sweet smile on her face, eyes pooling with warmth and crinkling. So sweet and genuine.

“You’ve worked so hard to get here today, I don’t need you to tell me to know. I’ve always known you were strong, seeing you so full of confidence was so wonderful, so…”

“So..?”

“Attractive.”

“Oh! Um, haha… That means a lot. From you.”

Your string of babbling is cute off by her laugh, soft hand leaving your shoulder and instead landing on your cheek, caressing it softly.

“How about we just take things slow for now, alright? Go out once all of the celebration ends and see how things go?”

“That… I’d love that. A lot.”

“Perfect. Oh, I just know you’ll love the place I have in mind. It has some of the best ice cream I’ve had in my whole life. You can get as much as you want, my treat.”

“It’s a date then! A.. a date.”

You can’t help the giddy smile on your face, or the fit of giggles bubbling in your chest, or the way your mind runs in circles because you’re getting the chance to be with the woman who’s been on your mind since you were a child. Her own smile brightens even further, patting your cheek before once again taking your hand in hers, walking through the rest of the hall.

“My heart has been desperate to claw its way out of my chest to engrave itself next to your own for years.”

“Hmm? I didn’t quite catch that.” “Oh, it’s, uh… nothing. Nothing at all.”

You can take it slow for now. Keep all of the feelings and thoughts in your heart contained for just  a little bit longer, knowing that you could bare your soul for her to see in full one day. For now, a simple date was all you could ever ask for.

[keviintrans]

(wearing a hat that says “ask me about my supernatural pokemon au”)

[rockheadcd]

@electrivolt​​ said: "You should not be here."

What might've sounded like normal words, as cold as they were, held that underlying sort of poison that only years curating such anger and resentment could brew, the kind only familiarity could truly tell apart.

"You have your own gym business to attend to. In the other side of the region as well." And he glares, as if Roark is not even worth of being considered an coworker, let alone an equal. "There is no reason for you to be here."

( not anymore, at last )

"If you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend regarding my city. Things that are actually important." Things he would've never understood, the implied meaning all too clear. "So if you've come to grieve, or mourn, or whatever else you think is worth your time, find somewhere else."

Ira was too busy returning things to what they were meant to be to concern himself with stupid, dead kids and worthless gym leaders, wasn't he? / YOU. | accepting, but at the cost of roark’s sanity. 

He’d gotten too comfortable. He knew it. He knew this was bound to happen, and yet he played his luck every time—it was no secret that the league had simply handed the gym over to Ira again, especially when there was such a lack of response from the league. It was clear what was assumed in the absence of their favorite pain in the ass. Electivire’s fur bristles next to him sooner than Roark realizes who he was looking at. 

They were convinced he was gone for good. That he’d probably did it himself, no less ( the vitriol he felt tasted terrible in his unfortunately unstable state ).

But to see this man in the flesh simply speak to him like he’d been here all along.. Lips pressed into a thin line, teeth gritting behind a tightly composed expression. The league didn’t announce the change of hands. “It’s been empty the last couple of times,” Roark says with as much nonchalance as he can muster. Oh, if it weren’t for the fact he would lose everything if he did anything—he didn’t realize he had this much pent up anger towards this man.

Or, maybe it had felt amplified from the months with no sign of Volkner, no signs of Luxray, and no signs of any clues no matter where he explored. At this point, roaming Sunyshore was simply the closest he could get, besides simply letting Volkner’s team roam around in the house they knew best. 

And yet, Ira still has the audacity to continue. It’s not only Roark’s fist that curls when he hears the word mourn.

“—You don’t even know if he’s dead.” You just want him to be because it’s the closest it’s ever been! 

Perhaps fortunately, the only thing that snaps Roark out of his own temptations is the growl that utters beside him—Electivire wasn’t bound by the rules of the league, nor society, really. Without his trainer, he didn’t have a reason to listen to Roark out of anything except his own generosity. It was a miracle that Rotom could divulge almost anything when asked, especially when the care of Volkner’s team was divided and essentially being shuffled around—he learned well of Electivire’s short fuse, and how quickly he could be riled up. Ira’s animosity was no different than another male ‘mon trying to establish dominance.

For his safety ( and unfortunately ira’s, lest roark wanted to also disappear from the face of sinnoh ).. “I’m sorry, big guy, I can’t let you—” Roark switches gears, his brows furrowing as he takes his ball and quickly returns the ‘mon, sighing as he stares at it.

( i’m sorry... i know how you feel.. but we can’t screw up now )

The grimace Roark sports is as honest as he’ll allow himself to be, and it stays solid even when he looks up at Ira. He’s disgusted with the way things have gone over these last months, but somehow, it’s all gotten worse. “Sorry. I’ll be out of your way,” he excuses himself, unwilling to bear any more back-handed comments about someone so dear to him. To know people like him exist... it was enough vindication to somehow bring Volkner home. 

[doubleddenden]

Hmm. So the presentation was not as much as I hoped it would be. They spent way too much time on mobile shit instead of the actual games

But what we did get was okayish for BDSP and actually pretty rad for LA.

So for BDSP we can pretty much safely say there's probably not going to be anything particularly new like forms or variants added in since the majority was just rehash from DP. In fact I can safely say we're probably not getting Battle Frontier given how "faithful" they wanted to stay. What we did get was a hideaway, which does have some Platinum exclusive Pokémon, and they showed off some Pokémon like Electivire and Magmortar that weren't originally available in the base DP before the National dex. Don't know if that's enough to confirm they'll be available before then, but it would be pretty shit of them to show those off and not add them in the regular journey. Its a concern because Masuda omitted stuff from ORAS because they weren't in Ruby and Sapphire,, and in DP a lot of native Pokémon weren't available until after the champion, as well as Platinum adding much needed improvements to the pokedex. Anyway, the Hideaway might be useful for hunting Honey Tree Pokémon since we saw Munchlax in one. Other than that, some stuff looks better and Barry no longer has lemon jello hair, Contests are now... rhythm games I guess? Following Pokémon are back, and there's character customization. Not quite as in depth as SwSh or XY, but not crappy reskins like LGPE. There's effort to make the outfits look good and varied too.

Now the real meat to this was Legends Arceus. First off, Sinnoh used to be called something else. Second, we have regional variants and evolutions, including for Stantler, Basculine, Growlithe, and Braviary. Keep in mind we also still have an unknown climbing Pokémon from the preview pics that are floating around and whatever that giant murder duck was. This is exciting because it opens doors for a variety of things, possibly for exclusive evolutions or forms for the starters. Other than this, the combat is interesting, it reminds me of Digimon Story games, particularly Cyber Sleuth where you can move multiple turns in a row if you outspeed your opponent, and can choose to increase power or increase speed of a move accordingly. It's not a bad system tbh. The only thing that might get annoying is if the opponent outspeeds you so much that it can take 10 turns in a row like a certain Cyber Sleuth boss.

Other than that, new characters. I sort of had a feeling we'd see ancestors for Rowan and Cyrus, but this is a new take I wasn't expecting. Ngl I'm kind of expecting the Rowan look alike to be the villain. The professor is... let's be real, forgettable, lame, boring, etc. However, we now see that Team Galactic appropriated its logo and name from the team that built the first pokedex, which is very cool and true to life in comparison to real life assholes tbh

As far as anything else, I'd say there's a lot of improvement since we first saw it. The village looks alive, the world looks really pretty, and the BoTW elements are really showing off here with how you ride Pokémon and have to avoid DYING. Seriously, that Luxray scared me. I love it

I was kind of hoping they'd keep the BoTW influence going further with puzzles to solve like shrines as the main objective, but it certainly seems like the pokedex is the actual goal here. Which hopefully won't be as tedious as filling the ACTUAL pokedex. Overall though, I'm pretty hyped up.

I am laughing my ass off at the poor schmucks that were expecting SwSh DLC to add in new Pokémon. They made sure to mention that SwSh is still gonna be the game for competition and stuff, but they certainly ain't touching it anymore lol

So, I'd give this Present a 6/10. It loses points for wasting my time with mobile bullshit literally nobody asked for that could've just been Twitter announcements, and it didn't really have much of what I wanted from BDSP, and the last sucker punch for SwSh was just so bad it's hilarious. In fact, I know people will be pissing and screaming because they didn't show off the 2 billion new Megas they claimed "had" to be added in BDSP. However, the stuff for Legends Arceus is pretty much everything I wanted to know about. I do have more questions and I'm curious about what else they're hiding with it, but I am actually hyped for a Pokémon game again. The only thing I'm still in the dark about is the director, because if it's Ohmori, I'm gonna be worried.

Don't fuck it up, Game Freak. Just take your time and make a good Switch game for once.

[smallersocksx]

Why the Wallace Cup Arc is one of the best returning character arcs

Introduction:

For those who have been following the Pokémon Journeys anime, know that Dawn was one of the latest former cast members to return the series for a two-episode arc. As I admitted in my episode 74 review (I’m contemplating reviewing episode 75 as well), should know I hadn’t really been keeping up with the anime up to that point as I felt all the issues, I had mentioned in one of my previous posts all culminated and I needed to take a break as I wasn’t enjoying the series. It felt more like a chore to watch the Journeys series rather than a pleasure and I felt horrible feeling this way about a series that I had loved for such a long time. However, if you’re enjoying the series, that’s great and I’m glad you find some enjoyment watching it.

Nevertheless, those that have read my posts or know me personally know DP is one of my favourite Pokémon series and I absolutely love Dawn, her Pokémon and Contests to pieces. So, when they announced she would be appearing for two episodes, I knew I had to watch. However, after sitting on these thoughts for a couple of weeks, I had to admit overall I was a little disappointed. This is a shame because I absolutely love Dawn but the reasons, I felt disappointed were:

The pacing/length – in both episodes, I felt like some areas were really slow and could have easily been cut out which in turn caused the areas that should have been slower and more fleshed out to feel incredibly rushed such as the battle with Matori Matrix. I felt like another area that could have been sped up was the exposition/discovery of Darkrai and Cresselia’s symbiotic relationship, don’t get me wrong it was interesting but I feel like it could have been handled better. I think if this DP arc had been four episodes long like the Sword and Shield arc, the pacing could have been better, we could have explored Ash and Goh’s side of the story more and we could have actually seen some Contest action. Additionally, it would give us a break from the episodic and slightly disjointed nature of the Journeys series and engage more with the story.

Chloe’s development – Now for those that have read my previous posts, should know that I like Chloe and I’m interested to see where they go with her development. Especially considering she’s meant to meeting an Espeon and Umbreon trainer in the upcoming episode. However, it kind of felt like the only reason they brought Dawn back was to help Chloe develop. It would have been nice to allow Dawn and her other Pokémon to shine more. Also, as  I mentioned in my episode 74 review, the argument between Chloe and Dawn felt completely unnecessary to me. In my opinion, one of the ways Chloe had subtly developed under Eevee’s influence was that she learnt to relax a little bit and not take things so seriously. This is why I was finding her behaviour in episode 74 to be a little annoying.

Also, it would have been nice to at least see Chloe attempt to participate in a Contest and at least try something out once even if it's not for her. Considering, Pokémon is an anime tailored towards children, it's better to send out the message of at least trying something even if it's not something for you in the end. This was something I would have liked to have seen with Serena, as before discovering Pokémon Showcases, she didn’t really try to find her goal/path. However, judging by the preview, at least the writers are acting on the idea of Chloe meeting other Eevee and Eeveelution trainers.

Dawn and her Pokémon – As I mentioned previously, it kind of felt like the only reason Dawn was brought back was to contribute to Chloe’s development. Whilst, it was nice to see Dawn and her Piplup again it would have been nice to have seen Dawn’s other Pokémon outside of a flashback. We did have that brief scene where Dawn gave Chloe a demonstration of a Contest Performance but outside of that we hardly saw anything else to do with contests. They could have done something similar to the Darkrai film and show the contest in the end credits as a one-off/special ED. Or if the arc had been longer, they could have devoted more time to the contest aspect and we could have seen Chloe and Dawn participating in the Eterna City contest. It just would have given Dawn a better opportunity to shine and show off her skills as a Coordinator.

They could have featured the rest of Dawn’s Pokémon in the beach scene at the end of Episode 75. I just wanted a Buneary and Pikachu reunion ToT

Apologies, for turning this into a critique of episode 75/this mini-arc. However, it brought me back to this point and I’ve seen people always make this comment or have made videos on it when critiquing Journeys. The problem Journeys has is that any returning characters have basically been treated as fan service that the older fans including myself have eaten up. But when you think about it, it's honestly doing these characters a disservice, and they deserve so much better. Take Korrina and Iris, Iris, in particular, they had hyped up their returns to the series and it ends kind of falling flat as they both lose to Ash to help him to further his goal (which contributes to Journeys pacing issue). Nevertheless, their losses end up diminishing all the development they built up to that point, particularly with Iris’ Haxorus, this was a Pokémon I would have loved to have seen develop more on-screen and when we see him fully evolved as he has always dreamed it was sad to see him lose.

This brings me to this point that I’ve made and so have others, that the Wallace Cup arc has arguably been one of the best arcs/methods of utilising a former main cast member. And it’s due to the reasons, I had listed were the latest DP arc fell short:

The pacing/length

May and her Pokémon

Dawn’s development

The setting

I feel like the setting, in particular, was one of the main reasons why the Wallace Cup arc was so successful. If you’re still reading this, thank you and sorry for the incredibly long introduction.

The pacing/length:

I feel like these two aspects go hand-in-hand so I decided to place them under the same bracket. Now I don’t know whether some count the Wallace Cup arc as five episodes rather than four as May does briefly appear in Our Cup Runneth Over! But I count it from A Full Course Tag Battle! Nevertheless, whether it be four or five episodes, this arc didn’t feel like it dragged on or rushed, it was the perfect length in my opinion. A Full Course Tag Battle! Was a great way to re-introduce us to May and her character, to learn of her progress/struggles in Johto and to see some of her Pokémon again. This episode had helped integrate May back into the main cast perfectly as we learn she keeps in contact with Ash and they both still have their halves of the Terracotta Ribbon and we see that May and Dawn develop a fast friendship through their shared interests and current hardships. In addition to this, I like the call-back to May’s Kanto Journey, with her fire-water combination in the Tag battle as well as the food-loving aspect of her personality (same May same).

The following episode, Staging a Heroes Welcome! Showed off one of my favourite aspects of Contests in the anime, the Performance Stage. In addition to this, it allowed us to see May’s new skills and style in a Contest setting. I really enjoyed May’s performance, as we learnt her timid Squirtle had evolved into a confident Wartortle (one of my favourite starter Middle Stage evolutions) and I loved their simple performance, it reminded me of a pebble/stone skipping across the water and you couldn’t take your eyes off Wartortle. I really enjoyed Ash’s performance, it’s not the first time he’s competed in a Contest but I love the fact he competed with Buizel, who wasn’t that interested in Contests under Dawn’s ownership. Additionally, I love the fact Ash used Dawn’s feedback to help with the performance but it honestly felt like an Ash performance, just showing off his and Buizel’s love of battle.

Finally, it’s getting closer to Dawn’s turn and naturally, she starts to have doubts, causing Piplup to launch a Bubble Beam at her face. It was a short but cute display of Dawn and Piplup’s relationship and how they support one another especially as Piplup tried to gently encourage Dawn throughout her slump. In this case, he decided to be a little more forceful. Despite a little stumble, Dawn and Ambipom ultimately delivered a simple and clean performance taking on Zoey’s advice. Ultimately being rewarded with a place in the Battle Stage. Overall, this episode was a brilliant way to introduce to the Wallace Cup, the beginning of Dawn re-gaining her confidence and seeing the Hoenn cast of characters.

Pruning Passel of Pals! Personally, this is the weakest episode of the arc, just for the fact it has the least amount of battling but we expand on DP’s main plot with the Lake Trio as Ash catches sight of Azelf and we expand on the Sinnoh lore. We also get a cute Team Rocket moment, where James and Meowth arrange for Jessie to act as a TV commentator for the competition, their sense of comradery is so cute (also if Jessie’s happy they’re happy). I liked the fact we got to see Dawn’s first battle of the competition after renewing her confidence and I did enjoy the battle, as we hadn’t seen Buneary in a Contest battle for a while. Up to the Quarter Finals, we mostly got still-shots or brief cuts of the other battles which is what makes this episode weaker in comparison to the others. However, it allowed us to see May’s Skitty and that her Bulbasaur evolved all the way to a Venusaur.

Once, we reach the Quarter Finals, we see Ash battle against a Coordinator named Kyle. Sadly, Ash ultimately loses the battle and is eliminated he didn’t entirely lose out as he and Buizel are more in sync and the Ice Aqua Jet that Dawn couldn’t perfect with Buizel under her ownership was finally successful. However, Kyle brought up an interesting point during his battle with Ash that stuck with me, that in these types of contests such as the Wallace Cup and the Grand Festival, varying your Pokémon is vital so your opponents can’t figure out all of your strategies. This was what led to Solidad defeating May in the Kanto Grand Festival as observed May’s tactics and battle style. I just found this observation interesting and it was something that stuck with me.

Finally, my favourite episode of the arc and probably one of my favourite Contest episodes ever, Strategy with a Smile! Now, this is how you conclude a Contest arc! There was plenty of action, the first Semi-Final Battle we have is between Kyle and Dawn, what I loved with this episode and subsequent battles was seeing Dawn confident once again and having faith in her skills re-using the spin tactic, she developed in Oreburgh City and combining it with Bide causing Piplup to glow purple and turn his opponent’s attacks against them.

Then we have May vs Zoey, which allowed us to see May’s new skills and battle style on full display. We also get to see May’s Beautifly again! One of my favourite Pokémon. Once again, we got to see, why Zoey is one of Dawn’s toughest rivals utilising the pool to electrocute Beautifly. However, I liked the way May turned the tables on her, something I don’t think we saw too often with her in previous Contests. But she didn’t give Zoey the chance to counterattack either. I just really enjoyed seeing this new fierce style, May had developed during her time in Johto.

However, the next battle had to be one of my favourite Contest battles of all time. What better way to conclude the Wallace Cup arc? Then having our two main Coordinators go head-to-head, DP was the series when the visuals for Pokémon began to increase in quality and I really loved the visuals throughout this battle. Not to mention we got to May’s newly evolved Glaceon shine in a Contest Battle as we hardly got to see it in action as an Eevee.

Some fans were upset at the fact, May the more experienced Coordinator had lost to Dawn and I’ll explore factors and reasons why this could have happened. But I felt the need to hammer this point, Dawn only won by half a point and Contests aren’t about strength, the winner is the Coordinator who best displays their Pokémon’s traits in a Performance and Battle. And say if May won, either way, both Coordinators would have had a positive experience, it would have been similar to the conclusion of Dawn’s battle with Maylene. Despite the loss, Dawn still would have regained her confidence but I think her winning the Aqua Ribbon gave her that extra sense of affirmation, as Dawn won a Contest that attracts competitors from all over the globe. I can’t think of a better way of renewing a character’s sense of self-confidence than in a setting such as this. All in all, it was a great way to conclude the Wallace Cup arc.

It felt like every episode set out to fulfill the job it was meant to do and succeeded. Naturally, they couldn’t show off every battle in the competition and it’s the same in other Contest episodes, utilising still-shots. But I generally enjoyed every battle they chose to focus on and the way the pool battlefield was utilised throughout the competition. In addition to the character development featured throughout this arc, we had some progression to the overarching plot of DP. This section ended up being an episode-by-episode review of the arc but I hope it gets the point across!

May and her Pokémon:

The issue I’ve been having as of late is that it kind of felt like the only reason former main cast members were returning was to help develop a current main cast member and that just doesn’t feel right. These characters deserve to shine and we want to see how they developed. This is why one of my favourite aspects of the Wallace Cup arc is that we truly got to see May shine and see the progress she’s made from the naïve beginner trainer she was in AG to the fearless Coordinator she is now. In addition to May, we got to see all of her Pokémon shine in their own way at least once (yes, I’m including still shots). Which is why I’m glad we had the Full Course Tag Battle! The episode gave us the chance to see her Blaziken, as using a fire-type in a contest that celebrates water-types in a battlefield with a pool probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

One of my main reasons, May split off from Ash, was because she felt like she was imitating his battle style and she wanted to develop her own. And we got to see that in the Semi-finals and the Finals of the Wallace Cup, where May defeated Dawn’s toughest rival, Zoey by utilising her own tactics against her in a very Ash/Drew-like style.

Nevertheless, we also saw that old habits die hard, as to some extent as May still relies on luck-based moves as shown in the final where May had Glaceon use Secret Power which worked the first time and paralysed Piplup however, the second time it backfired and ended up making Piplup shine more in comparison to Glaceon.

All in all, we also learnt of May’s progress in Johto we essentially got to see it for ourselves, which is something fans who have followed May’s journey appreciate all the more.

Dawn’s Development:

As I mentioned in the previous section, it felt like as of late former main cast members was being brought back to help develop members of the main cast. What I love about the Wallace Cup arc, was that even though May was the more experienced Coordinator, at the time they were going through a similar experience and were both on losing streaks. In Dawn’s case, she needed to regain her confidence after two consecutive failures in the Performance Stage, the second time in which she over-compensated for the previous loss.

However, from this experience, Dawn didn’t just regain her confidence, she learnt that simplicity is best and can allow her Pokémon to shine and be the focus. This can be seen in her later Contest performances and in Arriving in Style! In which her Pokémon do something as simple as spinning or jumping whilst uniquely utilising their moves and remaining the focus of the audience.

Moreover, many fans were upset that May, the more experienced Coordinator had lost to Dawn in the Finals. All things considered, Dawn only beat May by half a point, Dawn could have edged May out at several points in the battle as Contests aren’t about strength, the victor is who best displays their Pokémon strengths. With May, having relied on luck-based moves too much, to Dawn utilising previously used tactics such as Piplup riding his Whirlpool (from Dawn’s second Contest) to using May’s water curtain tactic from the Semi-Finals against her.

To this day, this is still one of my favourite battles from the Pokémon anime, not only because I love Contests, seeing our two main Coordinators going up against one another but seeing Dawn having the confidence in her own tactics but being influenced by those around her as well.

The setting:

As I mentioned in the introduction, I believe the setting is one of the core reasons why the Wallace Cup arc was so successful. Having May’s return be featured in a Contest setting just makes so much sense. Not only that, but it allowed us to see May’s growth alongside Dawn. However, we also got to see Ash and Buizel’s relationship develop and to see Ash successfully execute one of his best strategies for the first time with the Ice Aqua Jet.

Conclusion:

Overall, in my opinion, the Wallace Cup arc is one of the best narrative uses of a former main character. As it not only allowed our current cast to develop but it allowed us to see first-hand, May’s growth and aggressive battle style that she’s developed in Johto, especially those who had been following May’s journey from a naïve beginner trainer to the fierce Coordinator she is today.

Dawn’s growth was great from re-gaining her confidence and not allowing it to become over-confidence. Learning simple is best, and that tactic allowed her Pokémon to shine the most. Ash developing new strategies and bonding with his Pokémon. And some slight plot progression to the overarching narrative/story of DP.

The pacing and length of this arc, was just right, as it didn’t feel too long or too short and every episode fulfilled the job it had set out to do. It's nice to experience short story arcs, as it gives the audience a chance to be gripped to a story/narrative and I enjoy having that sense of focus in a story.

Honestly, I think the writers had hit the nail on the head, with this arc and it's sad they couldn’t really replicate the success of the Wallace Cup arc with future character returns. I have seen over the years that the Pokémon anime is capable of some great story-telling and amazing character arcs as shown by this entire post. This is why, I’m finding some aspects of Journeys frustrating, that they set up some amazing plot lines or potential development and fall flat on the delivery or don’t even act on it.

I don’t know if it’s just me setting my expectations too high or I’m being overly critical. I would like to think it's healthy to have some criticisms of a series rather than to just blindly love it. Initially, I did enjoy Journeys but after the episode 60 mark, my enjoyment began to wear thin which makes me sad as I genuinely love to watch the anime alongside playing the games. Anyways, I feel better getting this off my chest and if anyone actually read the entirety of this post thank you! I’m thinking of making another post possibly focusing on why I’m not enjoying the episodic formula of Journeys but that might be another day!

[nikibogwater]

(Long post incoming. You have been warned)

Reasons Niki is Excited for the Diamond/Pearl Remakes:

Diamond was Baby Niki’s first Pokémon game and I don’t think I could even begin to express the impact that game had on me. My gaming life was practically dominated by Pokémon from age 10 to 18, and it all began in the Sinnoh region. So yes, Nostalgia is a big factor in this.

I have wanted a 3D Sinnoh remake ever since I played Pokémon X for the first time. Being able to see the Pokémon actually move and emote brought so much immersion to the Pokémon experience for me, and pairing that with the deep, expansive lore that the Sinnoh games offered is the perfect union of my two favorite elements from the series. 

Like a lot of people, I was initially put off by the oddly-proportioned chibi overworld sprites, but it is already beginning to grow on me. I think the idea was to capture the look and feel of the original DS games as much as possible, and to that effect, I think this art style does really well. Everything else about the game looks very crisp and nice to me. The environments are lovely, the backgrounds are interesting, and most importantly, the Pokémon are heckin’ cute. 

I didn’t have access to the wireless functions in the original game as a kid. I didn’t get to experience connecting with others online until X and Y. And with the confirmation that the Underground will be returning in the remakes, I am so excited to finally be able to have the full D/P experience that I missed as a kid.

I’ve been really disenchanted with the mainline Pokémon games for the past few years. I think Sun/Moon is where I began to feel disconnected from the series, like it wasn’t bringing me the sense of childlike wonder and excitement that it used to. I initially chalked this up to my simply becoming an adult, but then I played Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee, and found myself sucked into that little game almost as much as the games of my childhood. Looking back on it now, I think maybe it was an issue of immersion for me. With the demands of both fans and whoever is forcing Game Freak to produce a new main series title every flipping year, a lot of immersion had to be sacrificed for the sake of getting the game out on time. Because Pokémon Let’s Go was a comparatively smaller game that only featured 152 Pokémon, the developers were able to spend more time making the environments and the Pokémon feel more alive. We got Pokémon following you, Shinies appearing in the overworld, Pokémon you could ride, dynamic backgrounds for battles, clean lines and lag-free rendering...none of which were carried over into Sword/Shield, because that game was simply way too big for the amount of time they gave themselves to make it. For me, if you simply cannot give yourself the amount of time needed to make a massive game feel polished and immersive, you should stick to creating a smaller game with less content, and more polish. I’ve always been a Quality over Quantity person, I guess, and Pokémon main series games were not delivering on that front for me anymore. 

BUT with the D/P remakes, I am already beginning to see that a great deal of the Quality I want is going to be delivered; Pleasant scenery with clean lines and nice colors (instead of the strangely blurry mess that was Sword/Shield’s environments), a significantly high chance that there will be far fewer lag/rendering issues, and a faithful adaptation of one of the few Pokémon main series games with a story and world that I can legitimately lose myself in. (Oh I dearly hope they’ve kept the Legendaries as terrifying as they were in the originals...). 

I guess for me, I do not need a Pokémon game to blow me away with something new. Simply having them improve on what has already worked in the past is enough of a reason for me to come back and buy the newer titles. I wouldn’t mind having the series go in a completely new direction, create something that we’ve never seen before, give us the ultimate Pokémon experience with insanely good graphics and mind-blowing story--but given how much they struggled with Sword/Shield, I’m beginning to think that that is just too much to ask for when Game Freak absolutely refuses to let a year pass without cranking out a new title (this is why I’m still a little skeptical about Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and am withholding any excitement over that one until we have more information). Big games take time to be made well, and since Game Freak has made it clear they do not want to give themselves that time, I’m more interested in seeing them use what time they do give themselves in the most efficient and beneficial way possible. 

In keeping with the above point, the trailer explicitly said that the only Pokémon available in the D/P remakes will be the ones that were present in the original games. Again, I think this is a smart move on their part, because it means they can devote more time to making the Pokémon they do have feel more alive and full of personality, rather than having to pour all their time into programming in the literal 1,000+ Pokémon there are now. I know this kind of thing will upset a lot of people, but again, I’m more about the Quality over the Quantity.  But we'll see if Game Freak was able to deliver on that front like I’m hoping.

THE MUSIC. ‘Nuff said. 

While the trailer made it clear that they are trying to stick as close to the original games as possible, I am holding on to the hope that they will have made the necessary quality of life changes: the return of the optional Exp Share that lets all the Pokémon in your party gain xp from a battle, the elimination of HM moves that take up a battle slot, and an easier way to customize Pokémon EVs, such as candies or the Super Training feature from Gen VI (seriously why did they take that out in Gen VII???). Game Freak has slowly been inching forward with the series these last few years, introducing small changes that greatly improve the gameplay as a whole, and I think there’s good enough reason to hope that they will be smart enough to incorporate those changes into D/P remakes. 

I’m a little mystified that the general response to the remake announcements is already so overwhelmingly apathetic and even negative. I can understand not liking the art style, but for me, art direction is only one small component to a game, and even if it isn’t done perfectly, it can still be made up for in other areas. The fandom has been pestering for Sinnoh remakes for years, and now that Game Freak is trying to give us what we want, I would have thought more of us would be making a more positive fuss about it. Then again, the original game is 15 years old now. Most of us who played it have probably already moved on from the franchise as a whole. But for me, I know I’m going to buy this remake and enjoy it, even if it has imperfections. Because really, that’s all I want from a Pokémon game--to feel like a kid again and have a good time. Maybe it’s simplistic and naïve, but that’s just Niki in a nutshell for you. ✨

[pokemonruby]

omg Riley! Since you mentioned Pokemon's anniversary, do you have thots on pkmn snap or the sinnoh remakes? 👀 I wonder if dawn & Lucas (and everyone) will get new designs?

firstly i am SO EXCITED for the new pokemon snap game, considering that i played the original religiously when i was a child. i cannot believe it has taken them this long to put out a sequel considering the high-demand for it, but hey, i’m not complaining! it looks absolutely gorgeous and i cannot wait to learn about all of the new mechanics and whatnot! i really hope they have some sort of cameo with mew since discovering it in the original game and trying to get a good photo of it was a nice little challenge. or just include some legendary or rare pokemon in general that you can unlock by solving puzzles like in the original game! honestly, considering the new hardware, the possibilities are endless. i have faith that they’re going to create something just as magical as the original pokemon snap ;D 

and SINNOH!! i don’t want to say it’s 100% confirmed but considering that an extremely credible leaker came out and confirmed it (the same people responsible for leaking swsh’s entire pokedex a month prior to launch along with story details and such regarding the dlc, among other things!) i think it’s safe to assume that it’s going to happen this year. we just have to wait for them to officially reveal it on the 27th! (and if it’s not sinnoh i will eat my switch <3) 

i have so many hopes for the remakes, though. considering that dpp were some of the most expansive and overall enjoyable titles in the series, i sincerely hope they do a good job at transferring it all over to the switch and... not mess anything up... like they did with a certain other gen 8 game... ahem. sinnoh is a beautiful region and i’m so excited to see it in hd, which i have faith it’ll look nice graphics-wise since the crown tundra was INCREDIBLE imo. i am especially thrilled to see the lakes, floaroma town, snowpoint city and the surrounding routes... sinnoh has some of the most scenic locations in the franchise so i really hope tpc does them justice. 

i really really hope they include an arceus/giratina quest in the post-game like they did with oras & the delta episode! like we can finally get the azure flute legally and battle arceus in the hall of origin... that would be legendary. i just want to reexperience the deoxys fight in space, man. i don’t see why they WOULDN’T do this tbh, at the very least with giratina and the distortion world. but if they don’t i will be so unbelievably disappointed and lose all my faith in the franchise 

and regarding the redesigns!! i do think that dawn and lucas and probably a bunch of other characters will get them considering that’s what happened in oras! i could see them maybe fusing their diamond/pearl appearances with platinum or maybe just go with the latter since they’re more iconic. but i am excited to see what they come up with since oras gave us some god-tier redesigns, after all. 

all in all when they announce sinnoh remakes it will be the only thing i talk about for several months ok thank you and goodnight 

[1358456]

Legacy Spoilers - Red

I think this will be the last individual spoiler post. After Red, the entirety of the plot would’ve been given away. Individual experiences would vary of course, so the remaining Dex Holders would just be grouped up so that the few Dex Holders who don’t do jack sh*t and/or die early don’t take a whole post.

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- Red lives happily with Blue, enjoying her company and doing his best to keep her happy at all times.

- Several weeks later, Blue is targeted by the unknown enemy and is infected with a strange disease during a girls-only trip. Red hears of the news from Platinum and rushes to the hospital.

- The doctors at the hospital are unable to assist and Blue’s condition deteriorates rapidly. Silver suggests in trying Team Rocket’s experimental treatment and Red agrees, willing to do anything and everything to save Blue.

- Blue is moved to a Team Rocket facility but despite everything, her condition worsens and eventually succumbs during a visit from Red and the others.

- Blue thanks Red for all the happy memories and for loving her. She apologizes for not being able to be with him anymore, and for affecting him with her bad luck. Red is absolutely crushed with her death and something within him breaks.

- Red returns home after the funeral, and finds his home unbearably lonely, now that Blue is not living there with him. He doesn’t want to stay there anymore and leaves for somewhere far away.

- Red goes to Alola, somewhere he had intended to take Blue at some point. He stumbles upon a Hakamo-o and captures it, finding its aggressiveness somehow appealing.

- Red eventually returns to Kanto, but doesn’t return to Pallet Town and instead wanders around, becoming increasingly more aggressive as his anger and depression get stronger and stronger. His reputation as a merciless fighter grows as a result of him venting out his anger on whoever was unlucky enough to battle him.

- Gold and Platinum use those rumors to track him to a bar in Viridian City, where they find him trying to drink away his sorrows. They take him back to his home in Pallet Town so he can sleep off the alcohol.

- Red wakes up in the house he now hates so much and finds Platinum asleep on a chair next to the bed. He begins to feel an intense hate towards her as he thinks it’s her fault for setting him up with Blue and thus responsible for his depression now. And she even dragged him back to the house and the memories which hurt him so much now. But a part of him knows that none of this is Platinum’s fault. As a result of the turmoil, he doesn’t know how to deal with Platinum and chooses to largely ignore her presence.

- Platinum notices his attitude towards her and tries her best to keep her distance from now on. But her crestfallen expression only serves to frustrate and anger Red further, as he feels that everything in his life is falling apart, including his bond with the other Dex Holders.

- Gold informs Red about Silver’s discovery, that Team Rocket is responsible for purposely infecting and killing Blue. Red immediately joins the fight against Team Rocket. He helps destroy the Celadon Game Corner, thus significantly damaging the organization’s income.

- Red contacts the Gym Leaders for assistance. Most of the Kanto Gym Leaders assist the Dex Holders against Team Rocket.

- Team Rocket retaliates and kills Erika, thus forcing the Gym Leaders into disarray, but causing Sabrina to defect from Team Rocket and dragging Lt. Surge with her. Red immediately regrets his decision to ask for assistance, seeing as how it resulted in him losing yet another friend.

- During the long series of fights, Y is critically injured and falls into a coma, and White and Moon are killed. Red sees how much Platinum is suffering from the loss, and lets her return to Sinnoh for Moon’s funeral. While the Sinnoh Dex Holders are at Sinnoh for the funeral and to investigate Team Rocket activity, Red leads the others towards the Team Rocket HQ.

- Red confronts Giovanni and engages in a long fight. During the fight, the Dex Holders find out that Giovanni and Team Rocket are NOT responsible for what happened to Blue. Team Rocket had abandoned the K3 project a long time ago, and never sanctioned the continuation of the project. Giovanni had intended to help cure Blue, as though he is technically her enemy, he still owes her for her caring for Silver. And while during the war, Giovanni had ordered to disrupt the Kanto Gym Leaders, his orders were to capture or incapacitate Erika, not kill her.

- Red finds out that a splinter group from within Team Rocket had gone rogue, and that this group was responsible for continuing the K3 project and therefore killing Blue. And by killing Erika, the fight between the main organization and the Gym Leaders had escalated, thus allowing the splinter group to continue with their project undisturbed for the most part.

- The Dex Holders and Team Rocket cease fighting. Giovanni identifies and isolates the rogue splinter faction, and moves in to destroy it. The Sinnoh Dex Holders return to Kanto, and Red orders them to join in the final assault against the splinter faction.

- During the assault, Red pairs himself up with Platinum as he feels the need to reconcile with her. But with Platinum clearly avoiding him, he can’t find the right words or the right moment to start.

- Red and Platinum find a storage room filled with what looks to be deformed copies of Blue. Red has to fight off the feral deformed Blue clones to protect Platinum. The stress of seeing his beloved Blue so deformed, and having to fight the clones angers him uncontrollably, and he vows to kill and destroy absolutely everything related to the K3 project.

- Red and Platinum fight through the facility and captures some high ranking researchers. They interrogate the researchers and find out that there is a perfected clone of Blue, and that she is the K3 project.

- Red realizes that he had just now vowed to kill Blue, and doesn’t know what to do. On one hand, the Blue clone is just a copy of the real girl that he loved so much, and so he should kill her. But on the other, the copy is a perfected clone, complete with all of her memories and personality. Could he bring himself to really attack and kill her?

- Platinum notices his turmoil and tries to convince him to spare the Blue clone.

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The Good Ending

- Red is surprised that Platinum had managed to actually talk to him. Her desperate sincerity reaches him and he allows himself to be convinced. His love for Blue overcomes his anger and he decides to let the complete clone to live.

- Red leaves to find the Blue copy, and runs into her deeper in the facility. Seeing the perfect Blue triggers something from deep within and he immediately runs up to embrace her. He accepts her as Blue and welcomes her back.

- Red helps Blue finish preparing for her escape, and destroys the facility once everyone had escaped.

- Red helps Blue accept her new course in life, and he steadily overcomes his pent up anger and depression.

- The remaining Dex Holders head to Unova to finish off the splinter Team Rocket faction once and for all. Eventually they are able to deal with the fused Kyurem and destroy the faction’s remnants.

- Afterwards, Platinum assists in installing Blue’s mainframe in Red’s house. Red takes the opportunity to thank her for all of her help, especially in convincing him to spare Blue, and apologizes for how he had been neglecting her. They reconcile and return to being how they were before.

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The Bad Ending

- Red loses control of his anger. He has to honor his memories of Blue, and will not let the twisted experiment of the splinter Team Rocket faction to exist. The failed abominations of Blue’s clones defiled her honor, and Red can never let the fruit of this project to pretend to be Blue. He ignores Platinum’s desperate pleas and steels his will.

- Platinum attempts to stop him by force, if necessary. Red fights her with everything he’s got, and eventually defeats her, deeply wounding her in the process.

- Platinum still tries to stop him, blocking the doorway. Red snaps as his anger erupts and he loses control of himself. He attacks her directly for standing in his way and for causing all of this to happen in the first place. He beats her mercilessly as he vents out his rage and frustrations.

- Red returns to his senses a while later and is horrified by what he had done. He can’t stand to see Platinum so badly beaten and broken, by his hands no less which are covered in her blood, and quickly moves on, telling himself that what happened happened and can’t be undone now. All he has left in his life now is his desire to keep Blue’s honor and his memories of her intact. And to do that, he has to destroy the K3 project.

- Red runs into K3. He had vowed to kill her, but seeing the identical copy of Blue stops him from directly attacking and killing her. Instead, he forces himself to state his objective and his wish, to destroy everything related to K3. He announces that the copy standing in front of him is not Blue, and instead, something that has to be destroyed in order to defend Blue’s honor.

- Red proceeds to destroy the facility by overloading and detonating the power reactor deeper underground, which would cause the whole facility to collapse and bury alive everyone and everything inside under tons and tons of rubble.

- Red calls the other Dex Holders to evacuate immediately. Diamond and Pearl ask what happened to Platinum. Red can’t tell them the truth and lies that Platinum got lost somewhere during the fights against the splinter faction, and that he can’t reach her. Y argues that they can’t abandon Platinum, but Red orders everyone to leave her and evacuate.

- Red escapes from the facility just in time to watch it collapse, burying everything related to the K3 project, including K3 herself, and even Platinum.

- Red leads the other Dex Holders to Unova to finish the fight against the splinter faction. But Diamond, Pearl, and Y are outraged by him abandoning Platinum to die and refuse to follow him. They abandon him and stay behind, leaving the rest of the remaining Dex Holders to deal with the mess. X stays behind with Y, so not a lot of Dex Holders end up going to Unova.

- On the way to Unova, Red has plenty of time to settle down and gather his thoughts. As he thinks, he deeply regrets leaving K3 to die, as she was Blue, after all. He regrets what he did to Platinum even more, and can’t believe that he did what he did, since he had loved her and cared for her so much like a sister over the years. He falls into deep depression as he is absolutely disgusted with himself, and now has nothing left in his life.

- During the final moments of the fight against the fused Kyurem, Red apologizes to Blue for not being able to do anything to save her, and for abandoning the K3 clone to die. He apologizes to Platinum for blaming her for something that wasn’t her fault, for neglecting her the whole time, and for greatly hurting and abandoning her to die. He sincerely hopes that they can find it in them to forgive him, and leads the final suicidal attack against the fused Kyurem. He succeeds in disrupting the fusion to split them apart, but is caught in the final explosion in the process.

[tmae3114]

I'm sorry I wasn't following the news did you say SINNOH? I'm sold! Off to see what was just announced!

I DID INDEED SAY SINNOH

We’re getting two Sinnoh games! Diamond/Pearl remakes called Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl AND a brand new game called Pokemon Legends Arceus which is making me completely lose my mind with excitement

[hollowsart]

I just had a thought:

You have finally arrived to Star Tech Inc. You reach the entrance gate and are greeted by some important looking people, they chat and tell you all about what the company is and what they do, you get an update for your Pokedex-- it was about time!-- and after a few more words they leave and you’re welcome to follow them into the fascinating facility.

However... just before you can get a move on, you hear a voice of someone shouting from a bit away. They’re shouting for help it seems and you decide to follow the direction it’s coming from with sheer curiosity. You make your way around the outer perimeter of the fence and find a short and stout figure stuffed in a cut out in the fence. How on earth did they manage that?

You don’t seem to recognize the odd fellow bundled up like a purple marshmallow babushka. You let out your Pokemon to help give a hand in pulling the stranger free. Alas, it wasn’t easy and they take a tumble, losing their hat in the process. When they stand up and pat the snow from their person, you are given a good look at their head and face. Odd almost lavender hair of a pale almost grey hue adorned their crown two points atop the head and to points like horns off to the side. As well, he wore some tiny pinkish red glasses with round lenses. Who didn’t know who he was, but did you know he wasn’t very happy about having been stuck and taking a tumble face first into the snow despite your best effort to help him out.

Once he was done grumbling and removing the snow, he picks up and places the hat back on his head and huffs. He turns to you and announces who he is and what he was trying to accomplish with the fence and explains why he was here. Charon, coming from Sinnoh to give a show of his newest and most recent invention involving Rotom as a way to help get Volya to catch up in the technological advancements of the rest of the world. It all sounded a bit boring, though luckily he just gave you gist of it all as he did not feel like talking much in such frigid weather. Well, neither did you, so you simply follow him inside to which he disappears to who knows where.

[queenraikichi94]

A song to heal a tired soul 7 (Raikichi x Piers)

Rated: Teen and mature

Warnings: bad language I guess?

Notes: Raikichi is around 25 years old

----------PART 7--------------

“C’mon, little Champion” Raihan said “Give me a chance to have a battle with you”

I was in Hammerlocke in order to visit the Hammerlocke Vault in order to gather some information about the legend around the heroes that saved Galar years ago, but my research was interrupted by Raihan when he spotted me. I got access to the Vault but now the Dragon Boy was after me.

“Raihan, I’m trying to gather some information about history and you are disturbing me” I said

“Just a battle, pleeeeeease” he said putting a puppy face

“FINE” I groaned, closing my notebook and putting my things inside my bag “So, what’s in your mind?”

“A double battle. Two versus two. If I win, I’ll invite you for a dinner”

Excuse me, what?! If Dragon Boy thought I was going to loose about him, he was really WRONG. I rolled my eyes and I crossed my arms. “Alright, he have a deal, but if I win, you’ll stop teasing me with my heigh and I’ll make sure you’ll lose that smirk you have”

“Then, follow me to the Hammerlocke stadium!”

I sighed and I followed him to the stadium. Once there, the battle started. Raihan decided not to going too hard, so he choosed Flygon and Goodra. I rose an eyebrow and I couldn’t help but smirk “Seriously, Raihan? My uncle had more guts using his Gigantamax Centiskorch in our battle, and you aren’t going to use Dynamax or Gigantamax?”

“Don’t be silly, little Champion” Raihan said “I’m beeing gentlemanly with you, Princess”

“Don’t be a fool and don’t call me ‘Princess’“ I said “Now is too late for you to you to change your Pokemon, and you’ll regret it...Well, you are going to loose anyways”

“We’ll see that...Now show me your Pokemon!”

I smirked and I looked to Glaceon. She nodded and jumped to the battlefield while I held a Pokeball on my hand. “From the colder and beautiful winters, here comes Glaceon and Ninetales!”

My Alolan Ninetales got out of the Pokeball and together with Glaceon, they showed the beauty of the Ice type Pokemon to all the people that were watching us. Raihan was bowled over at the sight of my Ninetales, and that made me smirk. “Oh, you let me do the first move? Very kind...But it’s going to be your las mistake! Glaceon, Ninetales, use Hail!!”

Dark clouds covered the sky and a strong hail started to fall. Glaceon and Ninetales started to glow, their special hability, Snow Cloak, but I wasn’t done yet. “Ninetales, Aurora Veil!” I said, and a beautiful aurora appeared over our heads

“Let’s not allow them to be the first!” Raihan roared “Flygon, Steel Wing. Goodra, Thunder!”

“Glaceon, Ninetales, Double Team!”

Flygon and Goodra got confused and stopped their attacks when they saw multple copies of Glaceon and Ninetales. I smirked again “Ice Beam!!”

Both Glaceon and Ninetales used Ice Beam againts Goodra and Flygon, making Flygon fall to the ground, and now both dragons were immobilized in the floor. That was my chance to show him the power of the Z Moves. I put the Icium Z crystal in my Z Power and I activated it, starting to do a Z Move with my Glaceon. “From the coldest and hardest blizzards, from the most beautiful winters you rise up and shows your eternal beauty, shining with the first rays of the winter sun” I said “Glaceon, use Subzero Slammer!!!” 

Raihan looked at me very surprised as Glaceon performed the Z Move againts his Pokemon. The move hit both Flygon and Goodra were in the ground after the cold clouds dissappeared, showing that both of them were out of action. When the referee announced me as the winner, I smiled as I congratuled Glaceon and Ninetales for the great job they had done before returning Ninetales to her Pokeball and then, I smirked when I saw Raihan returning his Pokemon to their Pokeballs. “So this means I don’t have to have that dinner with you, Dragon Boy”

“Next time I’ll win” he said with a smirk “What about a photo to celebrate your victory?”

“Not today, Raihan. I have things to do” I said, and it was right. Today was Piers’ concert and I was going there. After saying goodbye to the Dragon Boy, I took a Flying Taxi back to Mototoske in order to prepare some food I wanted to bring to Spikemuth.

Once there, I started to bake some handmade cookies as I heard some of Piers’ music while I kept baking. Then, my uncle arrived and he went to the kitchen. “Those are Lava Cookies?” he asked and when he tried to take one of the first batch that were getting down, I pulled his hand away avoiding him to get a cookie. “Oh, c’mon kiddo. You know I’m hungry after a long day in the Gym”

“I know but these ones are for Piers” I said “Yours are baking now in the oven. Centiskorch! Stop there!” I said when I saw Centiskorch trying to get a a Poffin from the ones I’ve baked “Those are from Piers’ Pokemon. Here, have yours” I added giving him some Poffins I made for him and for the other Pokemon from my uncle

“Are you following your mother’s recipe?” my uncle said

“Yeah, the same she learnt from grandma” I said after taking out the second batch of Lava Cookies from the oven “These are for you, but you’ll have to wait until they have cool down. Now I’m going to take a bath while Glaceon watches over the Lava Cookies and Poffins that are for Piers and his Pokemon and if I see that there are less of them, I’ll be angry” I added pointing at my uncle and Centiskorch before going to take a bath as my uncle laughed and sat down on the couch.

Once I was ready and dressed, I packed the Lava Cookies and the Poffins and after saying goodbye to my uncle, I exited the house and took a Flying Taxi that left me at the doors of Spikemuth. I wondered why the FLying Taxi didn’t leave me inside the town but when I saw that it was under a ceiling when I entered, I understood. Piers told me that Spikemuth was passing for a hard moment since they didn’t have Dynamax energy nodes neat, and that made the town being in that condition, but Piers was the proud leader of the town and he turned to be the third most powerful trainer in all Galar and without using Dynamax. 

I asked some townfolks about the Gym and after few minutes, I was walking in direction to the Gym when I heard Piers. He was arguing, very angry. I approached the place and when I saw that he was arguing with Chairman Rose. Piers looked in the edge of an anxiety attack, so I decided to help him, but someone avoided me to do it.

“Hey!”

“Shhh...Let him deal with it” the girl that grabbed my arm said “I’m worried about him as well, but he’s the Gym Leader and he knows he has to show his worth againts Chairman Rose”

“But...” I tried to say as I saw Piers 

“Come, we can heard the conversation from here”

I nodded and I went with the girl to the spot she was. “For the last time, I’m not going to tell my people to leave Spikemuth!” Piers said

“Piers, you are worried about them, and I have the solution. Let me build Spikemuth near a Dynamax energy node and...”

“And making those people to watch how you destroy their houses, how you force them to leave their homes?! No way! I’m the Gym Leader of Spikemuth, and I have been defending this place and my title without using Dynamax and I’ll keep doing the same” those words made me look at him. I couldn’t help but smile as I felt porud of him. 

“Alright, I’ll respect your choice, but then you should stop complaining about Spikemuth’s situation” Chairmain Rose said and I closed my fists, angry. “Good night, Piers”

When Chairman Rose left with his employees, Piers groaned and went to another place in the city. I tried to follow him, but the girl stopped me again “You’re Raikichi, right?” she asked and I nodded “I’m Marnie”

“You’re Piers’ sister, aren’t you?”

“Yeah”

“Nice to meet you...But I need to see him...I can’t leave him like that”

Marnie looked at me and smiled “Follow me, I know where he is.”

I followed her to a secret place of the town. Then, we climbed some ladders in order to reach a big roof where Piers was, sitting down, his arms around his legs, and sobbing. His Obstagoon was trying to comfort him, without success. I let Glaceon to approach him first, and when she licked his hand, he looked at her and smiled softly as he petted her before sppoting me.

“Raikichi...”

“Hi...” I said approaching him and sitting next to him, then, I opened my arms and he quickly hugged me, sobbing. I stroked his back and his hair as I started to whistle a song I’ve heard long ago in Sinnoh. “I’m here, Piers...I’m here...”

He finally calmed down and he explained me that it wasn’t the first time that Chairman Rose went to Spikemuth in order to convince him to let him built another Spikemuth while the old one was destroyed, and Piers always rejected that. “Chairman Rose can fuck himself. You are the Gym Leader of Spikemuth, the third trainer in the list of the most powerful trainers born in Galar and without using Dynamax and the most lovely man I’ve ever met in my life” those last words made him blush madly. Then, I made him lean in order to kiss me, and he kissed me back with tender as he pulled me close to him.

“I knew it!” Marnie said and both Piers and me pulled apart, blushing madly “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed. Oh, Piers, what are you going to do with the concert?”

Piers sighed and shook his head “I’ll postpone it...I’m not ing the mood to sing today...” he said and then, he looked at me “Sorry, babe, I promised you to offer a good concert for you and...”

“You need some rest now, Piers” I said, putting a finger on his lips before looking to the hour in my Rotom Phone “It’s getting pretty late...”

“Why you don’t stay here tonight?” Piers offered “I’m sure your uncle will understand”

I nodded and when we went downstairs in order to get to Piers and Marnie’s house, I texted my uncle, telling him not to worry. In fact, he was worried since he wanted me to stay safe, but also he trusted me and Piers, so he was agreed with me staying with Piers, but also with having careful if I did something with Piers, and that made me blush. Once we arrived their home, I put the Lava Cookies in the table of the living room and I gave the Poffins to the Pokemon as Piers prepared some hand made hot cocoa to have with the cookies.

“I’ve never ate something like this” Piers said “Delicious”

“Thanks” I said with a smile as Glaceon and Obstagoon had their heads on my lap, making me chuckle

“Obstagoon likes you” he said as I gave some pets to his Pokemon

“Yeah...” I said and then, I yawned “Sorry”

“Don’t be sorry, babe” Piers said as we finished the hot cocoa and the cookies we were eating 

“Go to sleep, love birds” Marnie said with a chuckle when she saw us blushing

“Alright, but remember to go bed not too late” Piers said “Goodnight, Marnie”

“Goodnight”

I said goodnight as well and then, I followed Piers to his room. I wasn’t a big house, but it was comfy and I like it. Once in his room, he went to his wardrobe and started to search something. “Oh, try this” he said giving me one of his sleveeless shirts. “I’m going to see if Marnie is still in the living room” he said blushing madly before going to the living room in order to give me some intimacy. I blushed as well as I got naked-except of the panties- and I put the shirt he gave me on. It was black with the symbol of Spikemuth Gym. Glaceon tilted her head and rubbed it on my leg, making me smile “You’re right. He’s different than him...” I said with a smile as I sat on the edge of the bed and then, I looked to the door when I heard it ope as I removed the ponytail, letting my hair be free.

“Oh, you look r-really nice with that” he said blushing as he closed the door 

“T-Thanks” I said and then I put myself under the covers as he changed his clothes and got on his pajama before joining me in the bed “I hope you don’t mind if Glaceon sleeps on the bed”

“Nah, don’t worry babe” he said pulling me next to him and letting me to lean my head on his chest “I’m accommodate to sleep with Obstagoon on the bed” he added kissing my temple.

“You know, you could sing me a song to sleep” I said tangling my legs with his

“Aw, I was near to ask you about that song you whistled before” he said with a chuckle before kissing my temple again “Bu’t don’t worry, honey. For you, I’ll do everything...”

I closed my eyes and I quickly fell asleep following his soft voice, and he joined me in the dream world few minutes later.

[heartbxnd-blog]

Writober day 6 - Spirit world

// I have yet to get into full details in regards to Morty’s relation to the Spirit world, in the mean time what people should know is that:

Morty has been there once- when he dies it won’t be his first visit to the place;

The incident took place during his years of forced hiatus, after the accident that led to the death of a trainer- so in between FR/LG - HGSS events. It was in his very first visit to the Sinnoh region, where he managed to obtain his own Dusknoir- by evolving his Dusclops. During his time in the region he was able to apply some of his trainning method, as well as give a contest a shot at- both of which would turn out to go awfully wrong and backfire to him;

During the contest: Halfway through his performance- Morty lost control over Dusknoir, and the pokemon lashed out at one of the judges- putting the man’s life at risk as he was very close into dragging him away. Needless to say how this led into him being banned from participating in any contests, for a long time- but this incident would prove itself to be the first sign of what things were about to come;

A few days later, the fateful incident happened- while he was out in one of routes camping, all by himself his Dusknoir managed to break free from the pokeball- and drag Morty to the spirit world during his sleep;

His reaction to it isn’t THAT important for now, but be aware that- he felt welcomed in that realm... As though he belonged to there. This sensation has been haunting him ever since;

What felt like hours in that world, had actually been 3 days in the world of the living. It should be noted that he was travelling all by himself, so really- no one noticed he had gone missing for this long;

“Ever since he had been dragged into this world the first time by Dusknoir, the pokemon has always remained as a grimm reminder that he could return to it- his very own grimm reaper- his own exit door from this plane of existance.

He is always taunting him with this opportunity- to try and find his place amongst the dead instead within the livings.”

With those out of the way:

Warning for: Suicide and death mentions.

Obviously- the way Morty dies depends on the verse’s plot:

For the majority of the shipping verses - including the main one that is tied with @soulchased: He gets to spend a long life by his partner’s side, they both die old- hopefully in a peaceful manner without any suffering. It’s pretty standard honestly- they both go onto the afterlife together.

Now for Morty’s verse with my Lance ( @wxtaru ): His death was a combination of various aspects- starting with his reunion with his supposed lover from their teen years (a period in his life that he doesn’t remember much of, but bought into the other’s words- as soon as he realised the opportunity of getting together with someone. It’s important to point out how- when Lance approaches him about it, he finds himself in a down point in his life.), that quickly evolved into having his life completely ruined- by someone who he is so devoted and loyal to. Lance becomes the sole reason Morty is still around (at some point in their relationship- he was forced to cut ties with Eusine and even the kimono girls. He will definetely lose his job at the League as well.)- but eventually, it just becomes too much for him- he becomes self aware of his current state and it is the final straw for him.

The cause of his death: allowing Dusknoir to finally carry him to the Spirit world.

However, it isn’t the end of his businesses in the world of the livings- he may have died... But that doesn’t mean he wishes to stay alone in the afterlife, after all this entire time- he still is in love with Lance.

He wants Lance there with him- it is this wish, that turns him into a poltergeist, whose goal is to drag his lover to this world.

For context: By the time of these events Lance is no longer the League’s champion (in fact since they both start having this affair), married to his arranged fianceé- and are trying to have their child, on top of him finally taking charge over his clan’s duties.

He is completely oblivious about what happened to Morty- for him the guy just went missing, without the intention of returning- since he left everything behind in his appartment. His disappearance is around the same time his wife announced her pregnancy.

Despite not really believing in the idea and concept of ghosts/spirits/etc, Lance will be haunted by his former lover- and will be driven to madness. Forcing him to distance himself from his family, in order to try and conceal his image. This will continue, until Lance faces the same fate Morty did.

It all culminates with him killing himself, at the same day his child is born. He used a similar method, and died just like his father- ironic for someone who has always been so vocal about his hatred towards the guy.

It is a gruesome way, and a familiar image for Lance’s relatives- obviously in order to maintain his image in pristine conditions the family makes up a story to cover up the suicide and try to keep it out of the mainstream media’s attention for as long as possible.

Returning to Morty...

Lance doesn’t notify about his disappearance, instead this is only discovered weeks- maybe an entire month later (sooner depending if he hadn’t been already fired from his gym leader position). When it became obvious that he hadn’t showed up, in a long time.

That’s when Eusine, the kimono girls and the rest of the League were made aware of it- through the media. There really isn’t much left of Morty, since almost everything he had- was broken/destroyed/not salvagable at all. All of his pokemon- that hadn’t followed him into the Spirit world, were released back into the wild.

But not all was lost: Zuki got to keep his scarf alongside with the golden pin that she had given him all those years ago. And Eusine got to keep whatever was left of his cassette tapes collection.

Morty’s disappearance will forever be shroudded in mystery- nothing will ever be brought into the light. And Lance’s sudden death will also raise a few speculations/theories from the peers.

[cici-celestial]

I litterally couldn't sleep until I made this post.

Ooookay. SO.

As an avid pokemon fan, I am pretty excited for Pokemon Sword and Shield. I always am excited when a new game gets announced. I start counting my dollars, getting ready to preorder whenever I can, because I adore the games to an insane degree. I cannot wait for a Sobble to call my own.

But they also have announced that, as of the moment this post was written(June 20th, 2019), about 80% of the roster from the previous games will not be returning. And that made me pissed as all hell, even though most of my personal favorites were returning - Weavile, Milotic, Manectric, Ninetales, Mimikyu, etcetera. But still - I couldn't bring my growing collection of Pokemon into the Galar Reigon? Because they wanted to make the animations better, although they've stagnated past 2 gens? My Absol, my Emolga, my Venasaur, Staraptor, Luxray, Kommo-o, Floatzel, Ampharos, Typhlosion, and my large collection of legendaries, all gone, in what may now be considered a Pokemon graveyard. It makes me sad to think about.

Now, I know I sound like a spoiled brat whining about not being able to have all her toys, but to me, these were more than little digital creatures meant to battle. I'm emotionally attatched to these critters, for better or for worse. I want to keep them by my side as long as I can, and have the old generation step down and train the new one, making way for new favorites and memories while still holding onto the ome's I've kept with me since I was 10. I still have my Torterra from my first completed copy of Pokemon Pearl with me in USUM. I have my Absol, given from my brother, who became my favorite pokemon ever because of how much we bonded through our journey through Pokemon X. I have my Milotic - that I will get to keep, thank the gods - the best Pokemon I've ever trained and raised from an egg ever since Sinnoh, helping me in online and in game matches alike. Long story short, they're my friends, digital companions I've come to love.

I get what they are trying to do here, however, and I am mostly fine with it - balance the game's meta so it isn't flooded with overpowered 'Mons and Legendaries so newcomers can enjoy the online functionalities, too. They want to put most of their efforts into animations, good models, and the story. And that is fine. Better than fine, actually - I was waiting a model overhaul, or an animation overhaul to make things more interesting. And a lot of it is. Dynamax moves are visually impressive, as are the in-game cutscenes. But the normal attacks? The ones you'll be seeing through most of the game? The same as the ones since Pokemon X/Y, just cleaned up a bit. The models? Same as the ones since Pokemon X/Y, not counting Galar exlusives, just cleaned up a bit. They were good models and decent animations for the 3DS.

But I know Nintendo and Game Freak could do better. Especially on the Switch.

Niether Nintendo nor Game Freak aren't small companies. Pokemon isn't a small franchise. It might be the second most recognizable franchise in the world after Disney, in fact. The Switch is a pretty capable system that can hold some amazing games and a ton of data on it. So, if they are going to remove approximately 80% of all previous Pokemon, why not make this game and the pokemon within it the best it can be? They have the money for it, no doubt. Updated models, Unique animations for the pokemon and some of their moves, maybe. Like Stadium, or Gale of Darkness rather than 2 animations depeicting a special move and a physical move. Maybe have 2 more thrown in, one for each, if the stadium approach is too much. Maybe a Pokemon like Keckleon could change their actual color. Maybe the pokemon could follow you around in the overworld again, like in HG/SS or the Let's Go games, because they only have a limited set of models to make instead of over 800. There's so much potential to personalize the adventure if you limit the dex and the amount of Pokemon available in the game, more than what I could come up with at 1 am.

And yet, all I see is the same stuff from the 3ds games, and some stuff from Let's Go. Nothing new or exciting or anything that seemingly makes the lessened dex worth the loss. And no, Pokemon Home isn't the solution or the compromise I was hoping for.

If I'm going to lose my partners and leave them in Alola or in Home, then I at least want Galar to be good enough to be worth it. And I hope I'm eventually wrong by saying this, but right now, it doesn't seem like it will be.

TL,DR;

If they're gonna remove 80% of the previous pokemon and not allow you to transfer them to and from SW/SH, I at least want Pokemon SW/SH to be the best it can be with better animations and other such things, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Here's hoping that changes.

[danwhobrowses]

Tinfoil Discussions - Pokémon anime: Alola, Galar and the Fate of Ash Ketchum

So here’s a new tinfoil discussion, one of a different franchise. The One Piece Wano content got a whopping zero attention but who cares? I’d like to discuss this, especially given the uncertain nature of the upcoming series. I must warn you, there are spoilers in this, deep level spoilers. I’m not just talking about the events of Episode 138 recently released in Japan, I also want to discuss the nature of Episode 140′s title. If you wanna know about that stuff, Bulbapedia is a good shout.

The Stuff We Know Last week on the aftermath of Episode 137, Pokémon teased a new anime series, alluding to the fact that all regions would be visited in some manner. Leaving it at that, many things have circulated, the main question is: Is this the end of Ash Ketchum’s story? After all, Ash is on the precipice of winning the Manalo Conference, Alola’s first Pokémon League, all that’s left is to defeat Gladion - who has put off the search for his lost father to fight in the league but more on that later. The final title of the Sun and Moon series has not been announced, all we know is that by Episode 140, Guzzlord will hop dimensions onto this world. The Potential End of Ash Ash Ketchum has been the main protagonist for the anime for over 2 decades, I was a boy watching him, Misty and Brock travel Kanto. On every (official) region however, Ash has fallen short of the Pokémon League, sometimes poorly, sometimes impressively. Many people thought last season in Kalos would be his time, and many of those people were angry when he didn’t, so Alola can be seen as retribution - second attempt and all. Should he win the league, the question is what then? Winning the league should enable Ash to fight the Elite Four, but it may be considered a stopping point since it means that Ash has no true reason to continue resetting. So is Pokémon planning on closing time on Ash Ketchum? The movies have not followed his anime journey anymore and there is so much you can do. Personally, this is a worrisome thought but - because there’s always a but - I don’t think this is the route they should or will go. The Outcome of the Manalo Conference The Manalo Conference is the name of the Alola League, and it’s expected to end next week.  Frankly, I have felt that this conference was a sham, a true vanity project from Professor Kukui. Now I’m not saying that Kukui is a bad guy, he’s just a bit vainglorious; he made a Pokémon League - having failed to defeat Lance in the Indigo League at least in the games - based off the architecture of a Pokémon School where he has like 6 students that learn nothing and have an underground X-Men facility, he lets just about anyone enter it regardless of the Island Challenge and what does the winner get? To fight his Masked Luchador alter-ego. The man puts himself on a high pedestal, but worse than that this league is tailor made for Ash to win. His only major opposition is the finalist Gladion - who has no reason to fight the ‘Royal Mask’. We also could’ve buffed some of the side character teams with Oranguru for Mallow, Drampa for Mallow or Lana, Dewpider for Lana, Clefable for Lillie, even Bewear for TR, but we didn’t, never really giving any of Ash’s companions a chance at making an impact. Narratively Ash is the only person who should win the league, since Kiawe and Hau had not enough attention to be considered viable and Guzma was the generic ‘bad guy who underestimates Ash’ who Ash always beats. The league also doesn’t feel like the right setting, since Ash doesn’t even have a full team and the final is not a full battle. Lillie, who is great but not a battler, made it further than Kahili - in the games an Elite 4 Member. That is the extra silliness we get on top of Ash’s ‘strategies’ (which involve Pikachu’s Electroweb not working like Electroweb and Rowlet’s Featherdance not working like Featherdance) and the fact that Gladion can use Items mid-battle to grant Silvally unfair advantages. But despite my opinions, the conference can still go either way. Because really, Ash doesn’t need the league to fight Kukui, the last time he fought ‘Royal Mask’ was on a beach, and Gladion doesn’t need the league to find his father, but we are reaching a point where a winner seems to be close to decided. Currently, despite both being 1-1, Ash is on the front foot, he’s only lost his most inexperienced Pokémon and it was to Gladion’s Pikachu-equivalent, he knows that Gladion has got Lycanroc for last and his Pikachu still stands against Zoroark, but this is not our first rodeo, we fully expect the finale to be Lycanroc vs Lycanroc, so who comes out on top? Option 1 is Ash, obviously, Lycanroc hasn’t beaten Gladion’s Lycanroc so it can be due, Ash goes one better than Kalos and wins undoubtedly the easiest League he’s ever signed up for in front of his mother. Option 2 is Gladion, like Alain’s Charizard against Ash-Greninja, Gladion’s Lycanroc maintains a perfect record against Ash’s, being the more experienced battler and Ash loses his easiest league in front of his mother but saves his crowning achievement for a proper challenge and liberates Ash to continue challenging gyms and resetting per region. Before the episode title for 140 was announced, these seemed to be our only options, until Option 3 Option 3: Guzzlord Guzzlord appeared in a random 2-parter to market Zeraora, but it seems to be coming back around. Guzzlord secretly seems to be the key to some character resolution, primarily the status of Gladion and Lillie’s father Mohn - who has been missing since falling through an Ultra Wormhole. Guzzlord can also be key to sparing Ash the restriction that comes with the League Victory but also prevents the disappointment of Ash losing. If Guzzlord intervenes the final outcome of the battle, then there is no winner. Ash didn’t lose but he didn’t win, and he carries momentum to get a victory with his magic changing z-crystal to best Guzzlord with his friends once and for all, and it allows Ash to still do the bi-annual reset. Guzzlord’s appearance also can lead to Magearna, Bewear and Team Rocket’s Mech being utilized, loose threads that will hopefully surface (though I’m stumped as to the status of Shaymin, why can’t Mallow just keep it?). Out of the three options this does feel like the better one, because Ash hasn’t earned his league victory yet. Why hasn’t Ash earned the League Being a Pokémon archivarius, I can cast my mind back to past leagues. Indigo was hard, the rules were stupid and we were basically robbed of a rival battle thanks to Charizard’s Laziness, the Silver Conference saw Ash be edged out by Harrison and his Blaziken to promote Hoenn, Ever Grande saw Ash lose to eventual winner Tyson in a tough Pikachu/Meowth fight, Lily of the Valley had Ash bested again by the eventual winner, the OP Legendary user Tobias, the Vertress Conference stepped back and had Ash lose to clumsy, forgetful Cameron thanks to a Lucario evolution and Lumiose had Ash overachieve by losing to the seemingly unstoppable Alain. Out of all of those leagues, the best arguably for me would have to be Sinnoh - the second longest league with 7 episodes to reach the semi finals, Manalo being 10 and all previous being 6 - because every battle Ash had to fight for it; Nando, Conway, Paul (considered one of the best Pokémon battles) and Tobias, he used the full power of his arsenal to do it, which sold that Ash was giving it his all, we got to see Pokémon old and new shine from it, and full battles for at least half of Ash’s battles. The thing that also makes it stand out to me is that there’s no excuse; Ash doesn’t have a fancy one of a kind form like Ash-Greninja or Dusk Lycanroc, he doesn’t have a Legendary Pokémon like Meltan/Melmetal and he doesn’t apply a tactic that shouldn’t work or the same motion of Pikachu quick attack everything and then iron tail - like I know there’s only 4 moves but he always starts with Quick Attack and it drives me insane! It’s stuff that’s inspired rather than convenient so all that Ash is left with is his mettle. Comparing that journey to this one, where Ash beat Faba in less than 4 moves in a 1v1, 2-Hitted Hau’s Decidueye while absorbing a nonsense amount of damage and a fakeout loss to beat Hau, and bested Guzma by really lucking out on Golisopod’s Emergency Exit, it doesn’t feel right now does it? Ash’s League Victory should be a triumph that pushes the extent of Ash’s team, strategy and connection to his Pokémon, against true challenges where either one has a chance at besting him, that is why all the Post-Sinnoh conferences have not been ‘it’; Sawyer, Trip, Guzma and Hau were never really given the threat that they could beat Ash, in fact Sawyer only beat Ash once and it was excusable by him having Ash-Greninja dysfunction. Compiling all of this into account, it should be clear that even if Ash does win this league, it is not what it’s meant to be. The Galar Series Question So Galar is still going to be a thing, we just don’t know how. What is this new series after all? It could just be a side series, it could be a means of bringing older companions to Galar or it may even follow Ash in Galar and some other characters who’ll entwine with him a la Alain and Mairin. Possibilities are endless until the answer is concrete, but in this person’s opinion I still believe Ash would embark in Galar. Would not miss the chance to Dynamax Pikachu for love nor money, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they heavily divert from the game’s plot like they have for Alola. Galar seems to revolve its gym system in a similar manner to Football (or Soccer if you’re overseas and well, wrong), it’s heavily televised like a League, which means that if they go this route Ash would be thrown into a heavy limelight, which can be restrictive, so I kinda expect that to be toned down, I will also expect TR to return with Bewear (or maybe a Nurse Joy kinda deal with another Bewear) and Marnie to probably be a companion. So of course, that answers my closing statement Are we closing the Book on Ash Ketchum Stupidity and failures aside, Ash is undoubtedly an anime icon, and I would find TPCi and TV Tokyo foolish to give that up, especially when other franchises have brought back the OG Digidestined for TRI and Goku & Friends for Dragon Ball Super, Ash has mileage but perhaps not in the same routine past series have followed. Each new setting is a new adventure and even small things can influence a unique dynamic - like even making Ash 11. People may need to think outside of the box, pick the qualities of what has passed, but that’s a good thing! Change is scary yes but that doesn’t mean you drop something entirely, Pokémon have enough IP that they can make Non-Ash series too, if they want to they can expand their market that way, just don’t give up on Ash Ketchum. This is not how his story should end, it would insult the character and the storytellers of the past to do so. But I wouldn’t worry too much about this happening, the best we can do is sit down, enjoy the show, and bide my sweet time until I get hired by them hope that sense prevails over a quick ‘shocking headline’. So that’s my piece, if you have opinions don’t be shy, but also be respectful, this is only stuff I’m feeling at present, by the passage of time new information may alter opinion.

[makomaragi]

okay I am very behind on these and skipping a few for right now because I finished this one first, but I will go back to them. things have been bad for me personally but I am going to do my best to try to do these okay............

this one super got away from me but I’m pretty happy with it, I think?? I have to give @drfennel the credit for coming up with this idea tho!!!

Title: Disaster

Pairing: Prof Aurea Juniper/Fennel (Scientificshipping)

Rating: um pg maybe? but there is nothing graphic at all but it might be implied a bit

Fandom: Pokemon

The professor knew it annoyed Fennel when she set an alarm for their days off, but she didn’t care most days. Fennel didn’t have to get up if she didn’t want to. She slept like a rock as it was, it wasn’t as if it would wake her up, anyway.

Sitting up, the brunette stretched out her arms, throwing the covers over her sleeping girlfriend and picking up her robe from off the floor. She was extremely under dressed for how chilly the room was, despite wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants, not sure why they kept it so cold in the first place. The only reason she could think of was the excuse to use all of the blankets they had acquired for some reason over the years. She counted three on the bed alone at the moment, and it never seemed like enough.

She made her way downstairs slowly, but stopped in her tracks when she heard a quiet chatter. One of the voices was very familiar – her father. What was he doing here? When did he get here? Was he on the phone? Who was he talking to at eight in the morning?

After covering but a few more steps, she realized the other person at their kitchen table was none other than the world renowned Pokemon researcher – Professor Oak. Her father had a habit of showing up unannounced, which she never terribly minded, but to bring a guest, and one that she had nothing but an exceedingly professional relationship with?

“Aurea!” her father called when he finally noticed her, raising his cup of coffee with a broad grin. “Come, join us!”

Aurea Juniper pulled the strings on the robe at her waist to better cover herself, despite being fully clothed. Should she go back to her bedroom and make herself more presentable? Her father and their colleague both appeared to be dressed, groomed, and ready for the day already. She looked like quite a sloppy mess in comparison.

Not only was she a mess, but so was their house. Had she known someone was coming over, she would of cleaned up a bit. Her and Fennel’s laundry was thrown in a pile by the basement steps, there were chip and cookie bags littered throughout the living room that they had left the night before, some of which were probably empty.

“Aurea! I’m cold, come back to bed!” she heard Fennel yell before she could decide what her action plan was, feeling her face lose all its color.

“I, um...” the youngest professor started. How long had the two men been here? Hopefully they had just arrived, and hopefully Fennel would put some clothes on should she choose to come find out what was keeping her.

“My dear, Sam and I were just talking about you. He would love to hear more about the trip you took to the Sinnoh mines looking for fossils,” Cedric Juniper didn’t at all seem phased by how awkward she must of appeared, let alone her girlfriend calling to her.

The younger Juniper chose to ignore her girlfriend for now – perhaps the others didn’t hear her, though she could be pretty loud. The thought alone sent a chill up her spine in really hoping that they hadn’t arrived but a few hours ago.

“When, um, did you get here, Papa?”

“Last night, it was fairly late, around two, I think. I knew you wouldn’t mind the two of us here just for the night. You were both already in bed, I was hoping to have a few beers with you.”

They had arrived a few hours after they had gone to bed, which cleared her of that anxiety.

“Ugh, honey, I’m so cold, would you-” Fennel appeared as Aurea hoped she wouldn’t, draping her body over her and pressing her chin in to her shoulder. Nothing but her robe and a blanket covering her, also stopped in her tracks at the realization of their guests. “Oh, hi!” The scientist waved cheerfully to the two men, both waving back as if they were friends greeting each other on the street. Her tired demeanor seemed to evaporate immediately when she realized they had company, but it didn’t seem to occur to her to get dressed, either.

“Fennel! Ah, so good to see you, my dear!” Cedric held his arms out stretched, Fennel racing down the steps to hug him.

“Doctor Fennel, I didn’t expect to see you as well!” Professor Oak seemed surprised, but not offended in the least by her presence.

“Oh, well, I live here, Professor,” Fennel shrugged at that. “Are you guys hungry? I’ll make us all pancakes!”

None of them seemed to of found this all as weird or awkward as Aurea Juniper had. Fennel was rushing around the kitchen half naked making breakfast. Professor Oak, a researcher whom she had admired for as long as she could remember, was seated across from her father, both of which could of very well heard them messing around night. But, surely they had not, if it were that late when they arrived. The evidence was there, even if only she herself saw it, especially the beginnings of a bruise on Fennel’s neck that was visible if the robe moved off her shoulders the right way.

At some point, Aurea had become brave enough to seat herself at the table with the two guests. Her father poured her a cup of coffee, even placing the cream and sugar in front of her.

“You know, there’s quite a bit of space in the house. You have, what, three extra rooms? You should really consider making this a bed and breakfast place for trainers passing through,” her father seemed satisfied with his suggestion, taking a long sip from his coffee. “Or, at least until you have your own children.”

Aurea gave a small nod yet couldn’t tear her eyes off of her girlfriend, who had longed dropped the blanket once held around her shoulders somewhere between the stairs and the kitchen, clad now only in a robe. She moved effortlessly through the kitchen, mixing the ingredients, humming to herself. On a normal morning, she’d approach her, wrapping her arms around her, Fennel ignoring her advances and continuing her breakfast concoction. She felt as if the other two men noticed her staring at the other woman, tearing her eyes off of her and to the cup of coffee before her. She wasn’t staring for the reason they had probably implied, anyway, but for the fact that she was inappropriately dressed.

Fennel caught her glance for half a second, smiling and raising her eyebrows. Aurea tilted her head in the direction of their room, hoping she would take the hint. She did not.

She truly couldn’t be upset with Fennel in any of it, neither of them knew the senior professors made themselves at home last night with no warning. Aurea found herself in a place of deep regret giving him a house key, it was her own fault for inviting him knowing full well that he would make himself right at home and invite his own guests.

“I, um...wish I had known you both were coming,” Aurea started. “I would of cleaned up the house a bit more.”

“Your father told me that you had purchased a house, but he neglected to tell me that you shared it with the lovely Doctor Fennel,” Oak was ever the professional, smiling, ignoring the statement that Aurea had confessed that their house was in disarray, nor seeming phased that she had a live in girlfriend, if he had even put that together. It wouldn’t have been difficult.

Fennel had turned and smiled at the compliment, winking and continuing to focus on her mixture.

“Aurea can be quite modest and untelling, aren’t you, dear?” Cedric laughed, Oak laughed, and even Fennel laughed, leaving Aurea wondering what was so funny. “You two have been here together for, what, about a year now? She had enough of spending the weekend in your apartment above the lab.”

“Papa,” the younger professor spoke in a hushed tone, “I don’t exactly broadcast that she lives here. Or that we’re together. I wish that you wouldn’t, either.”

“Oh, well, you should,” Professor Oak seemed to address the building tension, laughing, stirring his coffee off handedly. “You and Doctor Fennel have both done quite well for yourselves if you ask me.”

Usually she would of accepted the compliment with poise and grace, but she made it known for a nod for now.  

“You know, I remember when you were...what, couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Old enough to begin your own Pokemon journey, for sure. You and your father were visiting Kanto, and I asked you why you weren’t on a Pokemon journey and offered you a starter. You said you didn’t want to train Pokemon, you wanted to study them.”

“Pancakes are done!” Fennel’s announcement cut off their thoughts, scraping them off the pan and on to the plate she placed in the center of the table.

The brunette gave way to a smile when they met glances as Fennel took the seat next to her. She was still incredibly uncomfortable with how they were both presenting themselves, but for that half of a second, she didn’t mind.

“My darling daughter, I have but one more favor to ask. Can you take us to the port? We need to get a ferry to Virbank.”

“Can’t you just take a taxi?” Aurea visibly rolled her eyes and sighed at this. “You drop in, bring a guest, completely unannounced, might I add, you spend the night, now you need a ride to the docks?”

“Aurea’s just cranky because we didn’t get to sleep until late last night.” Fennel said through bites of her pancakes, seemingly unaffected by any of this. “Let me get dressed and I’ll take you guys.”

“Fine, whatever,” the professor relented. She wanted to at least enjoy her breakfast, the only thing she could enjoy about the morning. She was mostly certain that Professor Oak would never see her the same way again, despite her wanting to share her research notes from Sinnoh with him. It didn’t seem appropriate now. Or maybe it’d be a very good distraction.

Before she could mention it, Fennel rose from her seat, announcing that she was going upstairs to get ready, leaving the three of them.

Cedric must have finally sensed his daughter’s annoyance with the entire morning, bringing up her fossil research again. Professor Oak had not seem at all bothered by anything that had happened, and Aurea was determined that the one thing she would take away from today was his approval on her research theories. Or, at least, give her something to ponder that she might not of thought of already.

“Well, we best be going. The ferry isn’t going to catch itself!” Cedric and Oak had grabbed their luggage from the Jeep, throwing it over their shoulders and making their way over to the dock itself.

“Aw, already? But I barely got to see you guys!” Fennel had followed them close at their heels, which for some reason, wasn’t what the other woman expected her to do. Now she would have to get out of the car and see them off.

“I’m sure I could find something for you do in Kanto if you ever wanted, Doctor,” Professor Oak gave her a wink and a smile, extending his arm for her to shake his hand.  It was harmless, along with the thought that Fennel would return to Kanto at all.

Aurea somehow was able to separate her father from the group, pulling him off to the side of the building while Oak kept Fennel distracted. She would of preferred to have spoken to him over the phone later, but she wasn’t about this eat at her until then, either.

“I don’t care that you come here and stay, I really don’t. But please tell me when you’re coming, let alone when you’re bringing guests! Professor Oak is someone I’ve admired my entire life, and you bring him here, unannounced, tell him I’m living with another very esteemed colleague, that I’m dating her, and to you this is somehow entirely okay?!”

“I simply don’t see what the fuss is, Aurea. I don’t think you need to be ashamed, if-”

“I’m not ashamed!” his daughter cut him off, brows furrowed at the seemingly oncoming accusation.

“Then what?”

“Fennel is a very respected scientist. She has her own lab, her own scientific pursuits…I don’t care that others know that we collaborate often on projects, but I just feel that it is best right now if the entire scientific community didn’t know that we were living together. It...doesn’t seem professional.”

Her father remained calm as ever, giving a slight shrug. “So? Out with it, then. The sooner the better, you know that.”

“Don’t you see how this comes across to other professionals? What would you think if you heard that two well known scientists were dating?”

“Not everyone looks at these things as you do, Aurea. You’re two like minded individuals who forged a relationship based on your interests. There’s lots of fellow scientists that are in relationships, it’s not as uncommon as you may believe,” the senior professor took a seat on the bench they seemed to be hovering over. He certainly wasn’t in any hurry to catch a ferry.

The brunette conceded, taking her place next to him. “This is different.”

“What, because you’re gay?” She wasn’t confirming anything, nor denying it, simply staring at the ground upon how bluntly her father grazed the subject. She didn’t think she ever heard him say it out loud before, though he seemed to be stating it as a fact than anything to give thought to.  “While I’m not able to relate to your plight, you should know that people won’t care as much as you think they will, especially here in Unova. You know how much we pride ourselves on our differences.”

She could feel her body tensing up, her heart racing, and tears stinging her cheek before she realized they were there. Looking up, she caught Fennel’s eye for a second, still engaged in her seemingly pleasant conversation with the other professor. She was too far away to hear them clearly, and hopefully far enough that Fennel didn’t become distracted by her posture as a cry for help when it wasn’t. At that, she pushed her shoulders back, inhaling and exhaling deeply. “I...I just don’t want this to be the thing that defines us. We’ve worked so hard to be where we are, professionally...”

“It won’t be, if you don’t let it. People talk, you can’t stop that. But I don’t want you going through life thinking you need to be secretive about something that has no effect on anyone else besides you and her.”

“Her family isn’t happy...” she wasn’t sure why this was the first thought that came to her, besides that it did, indeed, affect a few others.

“But they know. So who cares.” He pulled his daughter in to a tight hug. “You’re both doing fine. Ask her to marry you already.” At this he pressed a kiss to her cheek, releasing her from his grasp and waving as he made his way to the ticket booth, not allowing her any time to formulate an answer if she had one.

“I hope you didn’t yell at him too much,” Fennel approached her where she stood, blissfully unaware of the conversation that took place, grabbing her hand.

“Not as much as I wanted to,” she admitted.

“I love your dad. He has the coolest friends. You’re so lucky,” Fennel mused. “Did you know Professor Oak invented the Pokedex? You’d never know how important he was by just talking to him. He’s so down to earth, and really funny, too.”

“I guess that’s why he and Papa get along so well.”

The professor became very aware that Fennel was holding so tightly on to her hand as they made their way back to her Jeep. She could of let go a while ago, and Fennel would of followed suit.

But she didn’t.

[tumblunni]

...i have never been less hype and i hate it

i feel really guilty for not being happy when i mean these games are very pretty and all but all of it just seems to not be grabbing my happy when i got myself SO HYPED for the unlikelihood of something better

like man COME ON

come on man

TWELVE YEARS

almost 13!

sinnoh was fuckin due for a remake back when sun and moon got announced

ive been getting hype and dissappointed at every single goddamn announcement nintendo’s ever made for the last 4 years or so and it never happens and yet they keep teasing it why are there so many official tweets teasing sinnoh if its not fuckin happening im starting to lose hope that it will happen EVER

twelve. fucking. years.

like man we’re almost due for a goddamn unova remake by now!

like man fucking kanto got TWO REMAKES already

like man SINNOH IS THE REGION THAT MOST ACTUALLY NEEDS A REMAKE

its not just im nostalgic its that i want desperately for the generation i love to get any goddamn recognition at all. fuckin gold and silver were already beloved as the best generation even before their remake. ruby and sapphire got some unfair hate for the no transfer between games thing but that died immediately after the first remake happened. neither of them were in this unique situation where they were fuckin DEAD ON ARRIVAL and waiting TWELVE YEARS for resuscitation!

sinnoh failed ENTIRELY not on its lack of appeal as a generation but because of goddamn CONSOLE LIMITATIONS

it was slow, it was buggy, it had buddy green brown palettes, the wifi didnt work. all problems with it being an experimental first ds game by the company. it was fuckin HATED as the WORST GENERATION for so many years and it wasnt its goddamn fault and like seriously its only even become TOLERATED again because of this ‘sinnoh confirmed’ meme that NINTENDO FUCKIN REFERENCES AS IF THEYRE GONNA ACTUALLY DO IT ANY TIME IN THE NEXT DAMN DECADE

fuck i was more hyped for lets go than i am for this. like a second kanto remake was the thing i hated the most but at least it seemed original enough with the goofy new minigame for catching and loads of nice reveals like the return of following pokemon and stuff. this trailer didnt really say anything except hey its a new region hey the starters look generic as fuck. nothing to mitigate the dissappointment

and i feel AWFUL cos i know rationally that this is a great pretty game and nothing about it is actually bad yet and my only complaint is that i only like one out of three starters when i felt the same way about sinnoh itself. its just that feeling ‘meh its probably okay’ isnt what i hoped for. i hoped even if it wasnt what i wanted itd be something else equally as hype? just ‘meh’ has turned into ‘oh god no’ cos man ive been up for 48 hours getting hype for this shit why the fuck am i unable to not get hype even though i KNOW every goddamn time its a dissappointment and it has been for years and it will continue to be every goddamn time

like the highlight of the video was ‘oh an underground area maybe at least theyll bring back the sinnoh underground minigame in another country’

also.. uhh.. bags? i like the protagonist designs a lot and im happy to have the hiker bags cos srsly if i was in pokemon world i would absolutely want to go 100% ham in all ways possible AS YOU CAN SEE BY HOW I CONSTANTLY GET MYSELF TOO HYPED AND ALWAYS DISSAPPOINT MYSELF

and GOD i know im being predictable and i know that probably when i let the grumpiness wear off and get a few hours of sleep i’ll rewatch this and actually be able to notice all the lil details and get properly hype about things and probably by then we’ll know what country its meant to be based on and more info and stuff. like LOL i almost had a heart attack when there was some generally industrial looking stuff and a big ben esque clock tower like im sorry no i REALLY dont want poke-britain even though im british. its like the most cliche generic idea for a region and following on from a great region that gave representation to a nation historically mistreated by britain and america im kinda like hey can we not. like britain region was everyone’s immediate idea for the next ‘white region’ after unova happened and i was still dissappointed that we got france after that and pleasantly surprised that theyd even THINK of doing a non-white western country like hawaii! and it was really great and had loads of stuff based on hawaiian culture and even taught you some hawaiian words and local foods and stuff!! i dont wanna learn about my own country through the sanitized false ‘child friendly’ idea of us being all knights and stuff AS IF IT WAS A GOOD THING. So yeah im not sure what other european country this might be, the outfits make me say possibly holland? but im just real glad that someone other than britain gets to be ‘sword and shield’ and the only british representation we get is thematic elements being used for the design of team plasma’s uniforms. yes thank you we were fuckin colonialist pigs please never glorify our military ever again in any fiction. please never put a sword anywhere near fiction britain unless youre ready to talk about how many indigenous cultures we slaughtered. SORRY IM KINDA GOING OFF ON ONE!! im not like ‘never put my country in pokemon ever’ but if theres any form of specifically HISTORICAL CONTENT in the pokemon version then HOO BOY it would need to be handled carefully and the name sword and shield does not bode well for that so FUCK YES please be holland, please be the other place that has a lot of picturesque farm scenery and also better hiking and also literally everything. it cant be britain cos if it was britain we’d definately have a fuckin sheep or somethin for a starter. srsly tho i am very confused by the big ben looking place, am i just bad at geography and dont know about a similar clock tower in holland that is also associated with red brick industrial buildings and mines? i hope so! either that or maybe its like a combination region of multiple european countries? but thatd be weird since france got to be its own thing. tho honestly i would like it if britain got COMPLETELY ignored except to be one single town that contains the underground minigame, lol

please be holland i love you holland please save me from my rambling awful post WHY THE FUCK am i getting so bad at recognising geography oh yeh cos i havent slept in ages

i love the big bags and the rabbit starter is something ive wanted since i was a lil kid. those are two positives. holland is a third. and its super pretty. okay. i can see all the positive things individually but still somehow my net reaction is a meh because i got too hyped for the wrong thing and also kinda got jumpscared by almost maybe britain I AM SO GLAD IT IS NOT

theory: pokemon world is so idealized and wonderful and beyond us in technology and equality and etc because britain never existed in this universe.

holland stabbed it with a sword

the end