#that's a really nice kyogre...

[pokecolours]

Sensu Oricorio and shiny Kyogre

[blue-orb]

Unfortunately, Lysandre also gets to live into the new world.

Kyogre's got a thing for him.

[user211201]

A day at the beach

--- Originally posted by unknown on 2009-02-09 ---

--- Note: Kyogre (Pokémon) TF ---

The sun was setting in the sky as a lone man sat at the side of the beach. He stared into the water, the surface sparkling as the dying rays of the sun touched its surface. As he sat there, he had no idea of what was going to happen.

While he was deep in his thoughts, a lone creature was swimming underwater. It was heading towards the beach, slowly and silently.

Still looking at the beach, the boy checked the time on his watch, getting close to 6pm. "I think I should make my move..." He said to himself as he got up from the ground.

In that exact moment, the creature swam towards the surface, and jumped out of the water.

As the boy turned away, he felt the cold water splash against his body. "What was that?"

The creature landed on the beach, and raised its head to look at the human in front of it. The creature was a female Kyogre, a water legendary creature from a well known videogame. But unlike the game, she was more anthropomorphic looking, with strong muscled legs and arms, a more humanoid looking head, and, surprisingly, a pair of perfect sized cup-d breasts.

"Holy...." The human looked on at the creature in awe.

She stepped closer to him: Every step she took was a pure expression of elegance, and her skin shining in the sun was more than enough to qualify her as a true beauty.

He looked on at the creature, still in awe. "H..hello there"

She was now right in front of him. She was indeed taller than him. She smiled at the human, and put her hand on his face. The hand felt very cold. "What's your name little one?"

The human gulped. "Peter. And yours?"

"Alice...nice to meet you Pete" she said, as she shook hands with him.

He shook her hand, his human hand easily dwarfed by the size of her hands, large white digits holding it tightly. "That 's a nice name for someone like you"

She went down on her knee, so that she could look at him in the eyes. "You've never seen someone like me before, right?"

"Well, to be honest, no. I've only seen creatures like you in their more natural forms" Peter explained. "So seeing one like this is quite a surprise"

She smiled at him. "Mind if I sit down with you a for a while?"

"I wouldn't mind at all. In fact I'm honoured to be in the presence of someone like yourself" He smiled warmly to her

She sat down next to him. "Such a nice guy" she said, as she wrapped her left arm around him.

He blushed a little bit as he returned the gesture, wrapping his right arm around her. But due to the size of her, his hand was instead near one of her large breasts rather than her shoulder She didn't seem to mind.

She sighed, and started rubbing her hand on his back. Peter felt something weird happening as she did so...it felt like cold water running down his back. He squirmed a little as his back was rubbed, the females thick digits feeling soft and rubbery against his flesh

She kept doing so. He didn't notice that the skin on his back was slowly turning into a rubber-like skin, just like hers. Also, his shirt was vanishing, as if someone was pouring acid on it.

After a few seconds, he suddenly noticed that his shirt had almost disappeared, and he leapt up "What the heck?!"

"Hey, relax...I'm just making you more...comfortable" she said, as she stood up.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, still half shocked.

She put a hand on his chest, and the shirt completely vanished, while more of his skin turned rubbery...white on his chest, and blue on his back, just like Alice's.

"What 's wrong with my body?" He asked, feeling it

"I'm just giving you a more...interesting body" she said, as she stepped behind him, and wrapped her arms around him. "Think about it: Taller, stronger, cooler...everything you desire"

"Really?" He said as he relaxed into the morphs hug

She giggled. "Yeah...now relax" she said, while rubbing her hands on his legs, making his pants disappear, changing his skin more and more.

He relaxed a little, squirming again as he felt the cold wind blow against his now naked form

She kept massaging him. With his skin now fully transformed, new changes started to occur. His body started to get bigger, muscles swelling and giving him more strength.

He let out a few soft groans as his body enlarged, watching as his chest grew more defined, several rows of muscle bulging under the skin. "Woah..."

"Better, uh?" She asked, backing off a little so that he could examine his new muscled body.

"Oh yeah" He chuckled as he flexed his new muscles playfully

"A tail, hands and feet, and the head...and you'll be a perfect creature, just like me" she said, giggling.

Peter turned and smiled at the morph, noticing that the two were now eye level.

"Shall we continue?" she asked, stepping closer to him.

He just nodded eagerly as a response. She took his hands in hers. His hands quickly got bigger and larger, with massive fingers, probably good for swimming. She did the same with his feet, quickly turning them into massive swimming tools.

He looked on at them with a grin. "Let's be honest here for a moment. You aren't just giving this to me out of the blue, I know there's a hidden incentive"

She stepped behind him, and...she literally pulled a tail out of his tailbone. She admired the new tail for a little before answering him. "Yeah...I was wondering...if you could...you know...stay with me, once I'm done with...this?"

"Stay with you in what way" Peter smirked

"As...well...mates?" she asked, blushing a little.

"Mates?" He chuckled for a moment. "That can be arranged I guess..."

"Really? Really? Oh...thanks!" she said, as she jumped and hugged him.

He smiled and hugged her back, nuzzling her face softly

As they did so, he felt the final changes taking place. His face slowly pushed out, forming a small muzzle. His eyes growth a little bigger, and turned a deep blue. His ears growth longer and pointed, while his hairs fell off. It was almost a 100% morph.

"Grrrgg..." He gritted his teeth together as they elongated into sharp fangs

She gave him a quick kiss. "It's okay...it's almost over now"

He looked at her, blushing for a moment as he was kissed, and then returned the kiss"

As they kissed, his brain got a quick reorganisation...new instincts replacing the old ones, and a n immense knowledge being inserted in his memory. His body truly became his own in that moment.

He smiled a bit wider as he leant into the kiss, looking deep into her eyes. It was done...he was a Kyogre, just like her.

She broke the kiss, and stepped back. "So...wanna go swimming now?" she said, as she walked towards the water, looking more beautiful than ever.

"I don't think I could resist that" He grinned, rubbing a hand softly against her lower back

She giggled, and jumped straight into the water. She quickly dived underwater, and just floated near the bottom.

He dived in too, quickly catching up to the morph. "This is easier than it looks!" He grinned, putting his altered limbs to good use

"I gave you the body, and also the knowledge...you are a natural born swimmer now" she said, as she took him by the hand, and guided into the deep waters.

He just chuckled, looking at her whilst he was guided further into the sea After a while, they reached a small underwater cave close to the reef.

She sighed. "Welcome home"

"This is where you live? Looks cosy" Peter said

She swam inside the cave, and just lay down inside a giant Clam. "It's not the best thing you can find...but it's what I call home"

"Well I think it's kinda cute" He smiled to her

"And you know what's even better?" she said, smiling in a very seducing way.

"What's that?" He smirked

She pulled him inside the clam, and she hugged him very tight. "Take a guess"

[nukenai]

More magical moments on the last day of Worlds. In line for our Pokemon Center reservation, a Japanese young lady next to me had a Jirachi/Minior bag and a keychain of an actual Sapphire cart. So of course I said "excuse me, I love your bag and your Sapphire keychain" in Japanese. She got all excited and of course said NIHONGO JOUZU! like all the Japanese people have been doing 😆 and I'm like ehh chottooooo lollll. So we chatted a bit, I said I love Hoenn and Kyogre. She said she did too and showed me a Kyogre sticker on her phone case, and I showed her my tattoo! She was in awe and asked to take a photo! Of course I said yes. She was so sweet and it was a delight talking to her. I told her Hoenn was my favorite region and I think it's the best, and she agreed 😆

Later I asked for a price of something, literally was just like いくらですか？ and the guy asked where I was from. I said New York and he said in Japanese "Oh New York! And you're so good at Japanese!!" 😭😭😭 I SAID LIKE 4 WORDS YOU GUYS LOLLLL I can't. everyone is so nice. My Japanese is definitely good but I get nervous speaking it and I'll forget words and sentence formatting. But people are SO excited to hear me speak! And I'm so happy to get to use my Japanese to connect with people!!

We went to a panel with TCG artists which was magical. One mentioned he was so surprised at all the Pokemon tattoos. Another mentioned she really wants to draw a card of Ingo and Emmet, and when I heard "Nobori" come out of her mouth I got all audibly excited and she like pointed at me like "ああ！" LOLLLL

The event is over. My trip in Hawaii isn't yet though. This has been such a delight. Among many things I'm feeling so much more confident about my Japanese speaking ability hahaha!

[aura-acolyte]

I like having a healing factor. I like not dying from injuries that should kill me. But sometimes its frustrating. In the end its a good thing but have you ever felt the pain of your arm resetting itself and the bones snapping into place. Really sucks.

And, I dunno, maybe having a scar or two would be nice. Like, I fought Groudon and Kyogre, I went head too head with that weird robot Gallade thing, I went to goddamn space! I should have scars. I should have something to remember those battles by besides the trauma. And, I dunno, I'm not sure if I should be grateful for that or not.

[thisurlwasnttakenbutnowitis]

I was revisiting my childhood copy of Emerald and I accidentally stumbled across the secret base of a friend I used to play with when I was 10, getting to battle him again. 🥹

The team was so emblematic of a 10 year old's team - it consisted of the Kanto starters, Rayquaza, Gyarados, and Kyogre. So yes, three Water types. And the Gyarados knew Dragon Rage. I don't think I was ever able to beat him in a serious battle either, so I was even worse.

And even though I haven't spoken to this friend in nearly 20 years, I actually have a Pokemon of his sitting in Home: a Togekiss that was at some point evolved from a Togepi he traded me in gen 3:

Last thing I had heard about this particular friend was that he had become a teen dad, so I think it's pretty clear our lives went in different directions, and I'm honestly not really even interested in reconnecting with him. Hell, aside from Pokemon, we really didn't even have much in common as kids. He was into dirt bikes and shit like that. Nothing I'd be into. But it goes to show how much Pokemon can connect people.

It was so nice stumbling across this little time capsule of the times we would battle and trade together. He was my only friend who played gen 3, so he was the only other person to have had an impact on my copy of Emerald. This is part of the reason why I will never reset my childhood Emerald - it was my first Pokemon game, and there are just too many memories attached to that file.

[leavingautumn13]

For the WIP title asks:

Rising Tide (which is also a song by Sunny Day Real Estate)!

Tell me, do Kyogre and Groudon meet at the shore to enjoy a nice playdate while Maxie and Archie fight over land/water property lines like the suburban dads they are?

this ask is sending me, oh my lord. thank you--i laughed pretty hard at this :D

and this song is within the time frame of songs i'm referencing in the fic, so that's just perfect! thank you!

"color your skin with gold, and the violence remains cover your eyes with rose, but the stain remains will you repair your life with all the holes you fill? smother your will and drain you of your passion..."

oh yeah, that's going on the playlist.

as for our beloved suburban dads, i can't say too much without spoiling the last quarter or so of the fic--though i guess i have been pretty transparent about maxie actually succeeding in catching groudon. that's a thing that happens. gonna be mum about the circumstances and implications and fallout of that, though. i'm sure it turns out fine.

as for the wip itself, it's the first chapter of eye of the storm. the title refers to the circumstances that drive may to leave home in the first place--things get to be too much for her.

for a little context about my may, she's 22 at the start of the fic, and had moved out of her parents' house at 18, back when they still lived in johto. she opted to move back in with them temporarily when they moved to hoenn (instead of staying in johto by herself), and it's a choice she starts regretting very quickly. snippet under the cut. i feel like i should add a trigger warning for this as well--it's a bad situation if you've ever been in it before but pretty vague if you don't know what you're looking at. tw for implied emotional abuse, i suppose.

This was bad.

May sat on the carpeted top stair and gripped her empty mug so tightly her knuckles turned white. A faint “godsdammit” floated around the corner that led into the living room and up to her ears. Whatever her mother was fussing with down there had her, to be incredibly mild, extremely pissed off.

This was bad, but it had probably been worse at some point before. Not that May could put a finger on when, exactly; the last four years of solitude had papered over the memory of her mother’s moods with a series of perfectly pleasant lunches and borderline enjoyable outings to the movies. The tone of voice May was catching now, in snippets from the ground floor, was a knife widening the old wound of the six years before that, during their time in Olivine, after their last big move. The first time this had happened, May had been thirteen and stupidly hopeful.

She didn’t have age as an excuse this time.

Did she really need another cup of coffee? She could turn around, tail between her legs, and head back to her room. This one locked, though that might cause her more problems in the long run. She’d already endured the years of formless suspicion about why she kept her door closed all the time, and even that particularly bad summer where the door had been removed entirely. She didn’t need, didn’t want a repeat of that. Something told her the offense her mother would suffer over a locked door would be far greater than over a closed one. Teenagers were just like that, after all. From an adult it would be an insult.

Moving back in had been a massive fucking mistake.

[imthepunchlord]

Do you think X and Y need to get a remake already?

Well, technically BW should be next but I'm also dreading it thanks to BDSP, and as Gen 5 was the peak of Pokemon's pixel art and thinking that it'll go 3D and it's up in the air how good it'll look... yeah I'm not that excited to see it.

But a remake of XY, I wouldn't quite want what they'd probably do, cause most likely it'll be a match for match remake but I want changes to XY.

The biggest thing I want for XY is for the story to be reworked up cause I wasn't satisfied with XY's story. Most enjoyment I got out of XY was enjoying traveling through Kalos, and it's frustrating cause I think if they had more time they could've had something better. Well, story for all of pokemon.

But like, I wanted to see Malva in Team Flare then get surprised to learn that this tough admin is ONE OF THE ELITE FOUR MEMBERS which like, bruh, you realize she's been holding back this whole time. Essentially toying with you and could've knocked out any time she wanted.

I wanted Team Flare to be funny. Like, how can they be designed to be so flamboyant and fashion oriented but nothing comedic was done with them. Thankfully Skull came next.

I wish Lysandre's reasoning was better or they did something to work off of it, cause he talks about how ugly the world is so it needs to be destroyed and remade to what he thinks is better and I'm just like

Kalos is beautiful and everybody is nice. Where is this coming from Lysandre? Maybe a good chunk of the League should've been made to be assholes in some shape or form. That could offer why Lysandre thinks Kalos sucks.

I also wish I got to see Lysandre getting the legendary, and that there was better build up of them cause it feels they're included last minute. And I wish poor Zygarde got included and more present and did something. Like, I enjoyed Rayquaza coming in to tell Groudon and Kyogre to calm the f down. I enjoyed Giratina arising and kidnapping Cyrus mid speech. Given the lore, Zygarde should've appeared.

I wish the "friends" were done better if they were a must to be included, they all seemed kinda pointless and a little annoying. I'm also annoyed that the rival gets pokemon but they don't show up on their team, like, what was the point of that if they're not used? They get one of the fossil mons, not on the team though. They and Shuana get a Kanto starter, not on their team though, so what's the point? Also RIP those 2 other boys, no starters for you!

...actually yeah, they didn't even get the Kalos starters. I guess Sycamore just has favorites, sorry guys.

I also question why the Kanto starters are even there, outside nostalgia. Like, if there were to be starters to be gifts to you, for sure Snivy and Piplup would've made sense given they're based on French royalty. That's why Serperior was one those gates.

I'd also want to see the Swords of Justice to appear in Kalos in some way given they're based on the famous French musketeers. Maybe they should've been the big legendaries here since Yveltal, Xerneas, and Zygarde don't really feel that tied to Kalos. Maybe them being hostile to humans could confirm Lysandre's views, and oh man, just imagine if you were dealing with Team Flare AND the Swords of Justice and you befriend Keldeo and through that friendship, Keldeo unlocked that power or evolved or whatever, and it shows the big three that oh, maybe there is something for human-pokemon relations and for things to be improved but Lysandre stays stubborn and things escalate, and the Swords of Justice work with you to stop Lysandre and save everyone.

I'd also hope to see Galar and Paldea a little incorporated into Kalos, either in pokemon, culture influence, and lore. Especially Paldea as it seems that was the region that Kalos went to war with a long time ago.

I also would love more mega evolution, but for it to be tweaked. Keep it for pokemon that need a boost of power and not popular mons who are already solid, with only exception being starters; which I am surprised that the Kalos starters didn't get megas. Uh, let mega evolving be more common and not restricted to late game and post game. Also really work off you get the ability through the bond, so you need your pokemon at a certain friendship point to mega evolve and can't just do it right away. And just call them mega stones. I always found the "insert pokemon name-ite" to be kinda silly.

But I also get why it's not being continued. It is a little bit of a shame cause that was my favorite of all the new gimmicks.

I'd also love to see regional variants for Kalos. Like, the dragon Torchic line I drew out, Kalos was the region I had in mind, with the Gallic Rooster as unofficial symbol of France (which might be why Torchic appears in XY), and I believe the cockatrice I tied it to is of French mythology. And in general, for every remake, I think it'd be a lot of fun if they updated the dex to include regional variants that could plausible exist there or make sense to.

Anyway, I'm not sure XY needs a remake now, but I do think it needs an overhaul, which I've heard that we were supposed to either get Z or XY2, but they got cut because there was no time to make it. Which, I do wish we did get Z because that third version is always the superior one, able to have more time and add more stuff in and make tweaks so it goes better, and XY I think needed those tweaks. It's a beautiful region and I like the dex a lot, but I didn't enjoy it for the story or characters. Most of them didn't even stick with me, nor could I remember their names.

Unfortuantely though, remake wise, Pokemon just likes to copy and paste typically, and if BDSP is going to be the new norm for pokemon remakes, it's a remake I don't want for XY, or BW.

[akihabaradivision]

Somehow out of the blue during her own special(?) day, by the time that her computer was still turning on, a certain notification from nowhere suddenly popped out on her screen

『 // Moshimoshi☆ this is ANGE-san, now I’m 200 meters away from you 』

Surely, this wasn’t the first time Nikki Yoshie, one of Japan’s top ten gamers, got some prank via her cyber access since she herself has already lost count of the times she teased a handful of people by breaking into their system and sent them some ‘surprise’ emails along with her birthday gifts.

Therefore, oh now, who is that prankster for this time? It seems like she has been scoring quite a lot on her lists lately —Or to think about it, should she try to discover ‘them’ herself? Ah, this is more like her style to set up with things anyway.

…However, the more she dug deeper into it, the more it made her confused.

No matter how she decoded all the algorithms that should lead to the sender, every clue she got was so scattering she couldn’t pinpoint whether this mysterious series of notifications were generated from really.

『 // Hello, test, test~ This is the same ANGE-san, hope you aren’t bored by now, I’m currently at the first floor of your apartment 』

The distance stated between them has been shortening again and again over the time.

—It was as if the system itself was mocking any method she tried, but that might be just her own imagination…

And lastly, here came the last message;

『 // Yo ANGE-san is speaking. You know, I’m in front of your home now 』

Thus, as soon as she finished reading the sentence, her apartment’s doorbell started ringing and soon followed by a call from the deliveryman from the other side the door.

“Dear Miss Yoshie, we’ve got your parcel!”

The deliveryman was the familiar face, so she was quite certain that he had no part in this. But what about the parcel she got? It was a stunning figure of Kyogre, the Pokemon known to be the overlord of the vast ocean;

And at that time the blue-haired brought her mysterious birthday gift into her room, the another notification on her computer happened to pop up—

『 // Congratulations in receiving our gift⭐︎ This is the present from our division! Nice to meetcha and Happy Birthday —ANGE speaks on the account of her human ;) 』

A few seconds later, the message from the mysterious sender suddenly disappeared, causing Nikki to frown slightly. She wasn't used to being outmaneuvered like this, especially on her own computer. Only a handful of people were able to do something like this, and she knew that this wasn't them. For one, sending something like this was entirely out of character for them. And two, the people she had in mind wouldn't have been able to do something like this without Nikki tracing it back to them. She wouldn't claim to be the best hacker or computer specialist alive, but she was up there with Sumire Shinomiya, Kaoru Shinozaki, etc.

Looking down to the figure of Kyogre in her hands, the E-gamer had to admit it was a pretty statue of the Pokemon. She wasn't entirely big on the series, itself, but she did play the games now and then. Looking around, she found a suitable place to put the figurine and nodded, liking how it looked.

"Now then," Nikki said, a serious and determined look on her face. Sitting down at her computer desk, the young Kuudere then set to work on her new objective: finding out who or what exactly this mysterious ANGE-san was...

[jacksgreysays]

Pokémon Badges (Generations I-V)

My friend had the enamel pins already but asked for a way to display them and it's his birthday soon so... project time!!!!

Process under the cut

I still had to minutely shift certain pins around so they were lined up nicely--the actual pin part isn't necessarily standardized so the badge is oriented/placed correctly--and I'm sure there are a few that ought to be gently nudged over, BUT this is where I'm at so far and I wanted to get this post up already.

I admit, without the pins, it is a little... summer camp arts and crafts... but it's nice to have finally finished a project! And I am very pleased with the concept, especially in deciding how to differentiate each section but not distract too much from the pins which are the stars

Anyway, obviously the sections are based on the color of the games where they apply. Some of the generations I included their "third game" so I had another color and could make each section unique. So

Red Blue Yellow: I would have just done Red and Blue but my friend has fond memories of Yellow so I made it a trio

Gold and Silver: I didn't put Crystal because it uses Suicune for the cover art. Not that I don't like Suicune, but because Suicune is a set with Raikou and Entei not HoOh and Lugia who match each other as a pair

Emerald Ruby and Sapphire: Rayquaza = Emerald = Sky over Groudon = Ruby = Land over Kyogre = Sapphire = Sea

Diamond and Pearl: I mostly used the colors of the legendaries so Dialga is navy blue with light blue details and Palkia is white with dark pink details. It really was a toss up on whether or not I'd go more purple-y or pink-y since Palkia's detailing is, like, a bizarre fushia, but the purple I had was just slightly further from the box art than the dark pink

Black and White: no thoughts head empty, lol.

There was a moment early on in the planning where I was considering different colors for the base of the whole thing--red would have felt very velvety, celebrity red carpet, jewelry box type luxurious or if maybe black would make the pins pop more? But I ended up going with white since the packaging was white and I at least could trust they would look decent on a white background without experimenting too much.

Anyway, I am proud of how it turned out, may do something similar just to have my own enamel pin collection be dual function as wall decoration as opposed to chilling in a little drawer and waiting for me to by an ita bag for it.

Hope you enjoyed!

[ladala99]

Pokémon World Championships... The Disqualification Thing Going On

For anyone not in the know, a bunch of people got disqualified on Day 1 of the Pokémon World Championships (Day 2 as well) for having illegitimate Pokémon (Pokémon obtained through cheating devices).

Which for me, watching from the sides and sometimes thinking about getting into competitive but never actually doing so partly because of how much cheating is normalized/somewhat required, is a nice change of pace. On the surface. There’s a lot going on this tournament, though.

Quick history of cheating in the Pokémon competitive scene: it’s been part of it from the very beginning. Pokémon have hidden stats (called IVs - or Individual Values) that just make some better than others and it used to be incredibly improbable to get perfect ones. Especially when you consider older generations allowed Pokémon with event-exclusive moves only obtainable in Ruby/Sapphire in specific locations to compete. A legitimate one came from some machine in Japan years prior. And had random IVs.

Also Legendaries. Most Pokemon you could breed to get a fairly good one, but Legendaries it was all luck. And you have one try per save file. So if you caught Kyogre during the story and it has awful IVs, too bad. You have to play Sapphire all over again to get a good one.

Naturally, some people used cheating devices to get their Pokémon. And because some people did it and got away with it (since you couldn’t really be the luck police. Maybe they really did get a straight 31 Shiny Kyogre. You don’t know they didn’t), others did it too. By the time I was looking into getting into it in the Diamond/Pearl era, there was a perception that if you don’t cheat, don’t bother. You will be at a disadvantage.

Starting with XY and getting better each generation, it started to become sanely possible to get competitively-viable Pokémon in-game. First by making it easier to control breeding and with Legendaries always coming with half of their stats as perfect, then in Sun/Moon being able to raise any stat to perfect, and finally in Sword/Shield being able to fully customize Natures and Abilities, which also affect a Pokémon’s performance and were previously set at a Pokémon’s generation.

At this point, any Pokémon you obtain can be fully made perfect… except if you want the Speed and/or Attack to be the worst they can be instead of the best. Which in certain circumstances, you do. This is relevant.

What is also relevant is how the tournament structure normally works vs how it’s worked this year. Usually, year one of a game coming out is a Regional Dex format. This means only Pokémon that are actually obtainable in the games that just came out are useable. This is an accessible tournament that anyone just getting into the series can play with just the latest games.

This time, though, while the rest of the season used a Regional Dex format, with the small shakeup that certain categories of Pokémon were excluded at first and got included later, Worlds did a much larger shakeup - some Pokémon only obtainable in Sword/Shield and Legends: Arceus are also allowed. And many of these are high-power Pokémon who are practically needed in the current meta.

Most noteworthy are Ursaluna and Enamorus. They both play best at 0 Speed, which isn’t something you can change on the fly. Which for Ursaluna, you can still breed its base form elsewhere and just use Legends: Arceus to evolve it, so it isn’t that bad.

But Enamorus. It’s not breedable, it’s exclusive to the postgame, and it’s a pain to catch. And once you actually catch it, Legends: Arceus calculates stats in a different way so you can’t tell what its Speed IV is until you save the game and move it into HOME. If it’s wrong, you have to play the entire game over again to try again. Oh, and because Legendaries have half their stats perfect by default, you have a 1/64 chance to get one with a 0 Speed IV instead of the 1/32 you’d have for a regular Pokémon.

Did I mention the ruleset was only announced two months before the tournament?

Yeah. Having a multi-game ruleset at the highest level when the rest of the series only required the most recent games was bad enough, but announcing it so late meant people playing legitimately did not have the time to get perfect Pokémon along with all the rest of the theorizing and practicing. If you want to use those new Pokémon, you are very likely to cheat to get them, or get them traded from someone who cheated to get them.

Add in that Worlds introduced new hack-checks never used before. Most people using illegitimate Pokémon have been pretty comfortable not getting caught. As long as it’s theoretically possible it’s been okay. It’s only people snooping in the metadata of those who uploaded their teams that could tell. But now the official hack-check checks the metadata.

Metadata that you cannot check without using cheating programs yourself, by the way. Say you play 100% legitimately and you wanted to use a team with a non-slow Urshifu. You only have Scarlet/Violet, not Sword/Shield. What are you going to do? Trade for one, of course! You get one fresh off the GTS, train it up and you’re ready to go. Right?

Nah, you find out at the tournament that the person who traded it to you cheated it in and you can no longer use it for the rest of the tournament. Shouldn’t have cheated, cheater!

And that’s why this doesn’t feel good even though I have little respect for those who in this day and age still hack in their competitive teams. Changing up not only the barrier to entry but also rules enforcement literally at the final tournament is just not a good thing.

[wigglepiggle]

so since school is rapidly approaching me next week I'm having dreams about back to school now. and I was worried they'd be nightmares but no. kyogres here now apparently

basically I was in this cafe place that is supposed to be the lunch line but. it's definitely not the one at school so yeah and everyone's being roudy and rude and the lunch lady has not come out yet so we're waiting

and in walks fucking KYOGRE the god of sea in a APRON AND NET HAT SOMEHOW ON ITS HEAD because it's the lunch lady so it's fixing the food and people in the lunch line start bickering and pushing people around so it screams really loud and I get nervous but it doesn't stop the people

so it goes back to fixing the food and the people get roudy so it screams again and jumps over to rearrange everyone so now I'm like 3rd in line and very nervous about kyogre

it put the most annoying person in the front. (who happens to be a person in my grade when I was in like 8th grade but he was nowhere near the most annoying person in the lunch line so idk why my brain picked him)and I was very confused about that until I realized it was gonna make him embarrass himself by doing something that uh not gonna describe because it's really gross and I don't know why I dreamed it but long story short guy throws up skip over the next bit and he leaves and the second guy in line kyogre also makes do something stupid but i cant remember what it was but he also leaves

so now it's just me and the whale. I decide to ask it why it made those two guys do those things because what could possibly go wrong I've been silent the entire time I was in here so.

wrong it screeches and grabs me with it's teeth and drags me outside and throws me on the pavement and then stares me down with it's fins on. where it's hips should be I guess while I stare it down and then I run away back home

my momom asks me about school and the only thing I say is that "i think the lunch lady is doing illegal stuff" and then that was it

nice detail from my brain though: the entire dream it was raining because of kyogre lmao

[zaptap]

when i first found out you had to fight through 100 battles at basically a battle facility (which i usually avoid) to get ho-oh i thought, “well, if i ever play colosseum i’ll probably cheat my way through to get it”

but... once i got through the game and found out more about how it works, i decided to give playing it legit a shot (aside from using pkhex to get everything leveled up and with good movesets/evs, which really just saves me time), and it worked out pretty nicely

mostly because i tried to find what some good strategies were, and learned that if you bring in kyogre, its rain-boosted water spouts are good at taking out anything that doesn’t resist water, and for those you can give it ice beam and thunder. your other pokemon are pretty much just backup

i came close to losing some of the battles in the 90s but other than that i swept most of them (water spout targeting both foes makes double battles go really fast). and even then, every time you win without a pokemon fainting, you get a continue, and i probably had like 80-90 of those piled up by the end, so if something went wrong i could try again. and again

anyway i’m practically done with colosseum now, but i found out there’s an action replay code that lets you get the rewards from the japanese bonus disk (apparently they’re built into the game?) so once i get 30k poke coupons for the maximum rewards, i’ll do that. and there’s another code that lets you access the e-reader room, where you can battle a bunch of trainers to catch 3 extra shadow pokemon (both codes are on tcrf btw)

and then i’ll move on to xd

[crystalelemental]

“books-are-my-life-stuff: Your stance is very similar to mine. I think the problem is because she just flat out refuses to explain. She barely explains any of her motives, she only just said to do this and not, jumps straight into the action without elaborating much. And that's very consistent in Masters too. Conversations with her are deliberately left vague, people find her hard to understand. So, I can see why she can be frustrating to some people.”

I don’t necessarily mind vague, but I feel like certain aspects just aren’t clear in a way that hinders understanding rather than builds something to engage in.  Like the Aster thing.  With all this talk of multiverse stuff, my gut reaction was wondering if this was an AU thing too, because we’re not really handed any other form of explanation.  But if it’s just an old Pokemon she had that died, was its death related to some kind of mistake similar to what happened in the past?  And if yes, is that why she’s so on about it?  I dunno.

“Though, yeah, as what you said, maybe it's because Hoenn's lore is very much a mess in the remake. They tried to implement Rayquaza's significance in the plot of Emerald without creating a third game, but as a result Hoenn's lore felt...disorganized, and felt very underexplored too (especially regarding Draconic people beyond what Zinnia had explained). I'm on the same boat with you for preferring the old one more, and I wish Zinnia didn't just appear in postgame.”

I think it’s just the attempt to over-complicate.  Rayquaza was already a big deal.  Groudon and Kyogre were already kinda assholes.  We did not need to go so in depth with how there are multiple universes and the Primals happened from meteor strikes that are recurring, and mega Rayquaza got its significant namesake from AZ who is in this a lot, and whatever the fuck project Azoth is.  Like it’s trying to connect things, but in a way where I have lost the thread.  Zinnia’s appearance, I think, is supposed to be the final pieces to answer the puzzle.  But the puzzle still doesn’t feel complete, and worse feels overly complicated.

“But yeah, she's a great character, just trapped in a very messy lore. Once she could stand as her own character, she's pretty great. Which is why I like Zinnia's Legendary Event, because it resolved her internal conflicts she still had, managed to move on to the better future, and can stand as her own character without being too dependent on Hoenn's lore.”

Entirely fair, because yeah, I think there’s a lot of neat stuff going on with Zinnia.  It would be nice to get a bit more of her throughout the game, but it’s also hard to say where she should’ve appeared or what she should be doing.

[stargazeraldroth]

I feel like the obvious solution to the Ogerpon problem is shared custody. Kieran can come back to our academy with us and all three of us can hang out and be friends without pressure from his village and family (however intentional or unintentional that pressure may be, you can’t say it did anything good for him).

I feel like he’d fit well with the friend group of Arven, Penny, Nemona, and the protagonist, anyways. Look me in the eyes and tell me Nemona wouldn’t love helping him get stronger.

Petition to adopt Kieran into the Paldean Friend Group. I think he would absolutely get along well with the other 3 characters. Nemona can help him get stronger while also doing some good for his self-confidence, Penny's anti-social herself and would be able to sympathize with his social struggles (also, she's not exactly known for using strong Pokemon, but doesn't let that get her down), and Arven has strained family bonds (ouch) and has done life-threatening things for the sake of a Pokemon (as someone who lost their childhood dog, the scenes with Mabostiff made me tear up).

I think the change from "friendly rival who is chill with everything" to a character who is a "friendly rival turned into your arch-nemesis" is actually a nice change! As much as I love Hau, Hop, and Nemona, the idea of a rival who goes from being a close friend to actually starting to dread being around us is so... interesting! I mean, you could say Bede was starting to despise running into us, but he was never really a friendly rival to begin with. Anyway, while I love the idea here, why did they have to do it to my boy? Actually, I'm surprised that more characters DON'T say anything at all about us getting Legendary or Mythical Pokemon. They're just like "Oh, you caught (Legendary/Mythical Pokemon)? That's cool. I had pancakes this morning" like they're as common as a Caterpie.

And I am 100% with you on the intentional vs unintentional thing. A person's intentions don't dictate the impact of their consequences. Even if Kieran's family meant well, that doesn't magically erase any potential harm that could've been done. That's like saying Lusamine, whose original intention was to find a way to find her husband again (or something like that), is magically repented from the harm she put Gladion and Lillie through just because she had good intentions. Or, for example, you could say Team Magma and Team Aqua have good intentions when they wake up Groudon or Kyogre, but they're seen as evil groups for a reason: because they do harm. Lysandre is a perfect example of this- or better yet, AZ is a perfect example of this! You could argue that AZ had good intentions with the Weapon by ending the great war and reviving his Pokemon that was killed because of it, but does that change the fact that he killed a bunch of people and Pokemon for it? No, it doesn't.

That's like saying a parent who gives you minimal attention isn't guilty of neglect or something because their intention was to prepare you for the real world. There's literally an old saying that goes something like, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions". If you hurt someone, whether it be physically. mentally, or emotionally, your intentions don't really mean anything. Can it make your actions more understandable? Perhaps, but that doesn't change how your actions/intentions impacted other people. Even if they're unintentional, that behavior still affects someone, like how the pressure from the village and Kieran's family would still impact him in a negative way, even if they didn't mean to.

Sorry for the rant, that went a bit deeper than I meant to, I just got too into the writing-

[aura-acolyte]

Actually, you know what, lets start discourse. Hoenn cities ranked:

Lilycove. Basically my home base, and my two favorite places (Sharkie's Magikarp Sanctuary and the Aqua-Magma Conservatory) are nearby.

Mossdeep: I have a lot of memories there, some good and some bad, but its all cancelled out because Tate and Liza are there and they are objectively the best gym leaders.

Sootopolis: City built in a crater. Real cool. Loses points for having Groudon and Kyogre trapped under it.

Pacifidlog: You built a whole town on the water! How cool is that!

Meteor Village: Gotta give a shoutout to Z's hometown. Great place to learn about Ancient Hoenn stuff.

LaRousse City: Home of the Battle Frontier. Kickass in general. Had to help out in a hurricane there once.

Lavaridge Town: Still think its insane to build a town next to a volcano but it does have Flannery.

Dewford Town: I know, I know, there's not a lot there but its where I met Steven for the first time. Technically also where I met Zinnia depending on what you count as "Meeting."

Fortree City: I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty sure this city is every 8 year old's dream. Or it was when I was a kid, at least. Not sure how into treehouses modern kids are.

Slateport City: I love the sea and I love port cities. It reminds me of all the best parts of Goldenrod but without any of the shit parts (you know, like Team Rocket and my bio father). Plus, if you hang around the market enough you can hear all sorts of stories from trainers from all over the globe.

Verdanturf Town: There's not a lot interesting here but I gotta give a shoutout to my boy Wally's home.

Mauville: Mauville is problematic for obvious reasons but also its really fucking cool. Plus Wattson's there.

Littleroot Town: Finally getting around to my Hometow. Well, my Hoenn Hometown. Its nice and quaint and my Uncle and Mom live there so, you know, cool.

Petalburg: It's only this low on the list because I refuse to give Norman a break.

Oldale Town: Booooorrrrriiiinggg! I'm sure the people are nice but its such a boring town. I legit have more interesting memories from Route 103 than Oldale.

Ever Grande: Its a League City so there's not much going on there during the off season but its absolutely bustling during League Season. Sometimes I like to watch the League Matches on the big screens they have. Nobody's beaten Steven yet but a few have gotten close.

Falarbor Town: Hmm... a town created for the purpose of mining meteors to study which directly led to the death of Zinnia's sister. I wonder why I have a negative opinion of this place.

Rustboro: Capitalism ho!

Some of these are arbitrary, most of them aren't. Bye!