#that's a really nice kyogre...

[pokecolours]

Sensu Oricorio and shiny Kyogre

[sage-nebula]

hi! what's your favorite pokemon! and do you have a dream team if you were a trainer/gym leader?

This is hands down one of the best questions I have ever been asked in the nearly 13 years that I have been on tumblr. Thank you so much for my life.

Okay, so! There are technically three answers for my favorite pokémon, because I love them all in different ways and so they all qualify. Those answers are:

Charizard: Charmander was my very first partner pokémon way back in 1998, and so the bond that I have with that species -- and in my particular with my main charizard partner, Nova -- is really special. Whenever I step outside on a sunny spring day with a nice breeze, I can't help but be filled with this intense feeling in my chest that it's a perfect day to go flying on a charizard's back. And I know that's silly, but I think it's because I used to pretend I was doing just that when playing at recess way back in the spring of 1998 (and 1999 and 2000 tbh, lol). I actually have a stylized Charizard tattoo to represent my love for Pokémon as a whole, but especially that one, because it'll always be special to me.

Mimikyu: If I picked a pokémon purely on its lore / design alone though, with no prior attachment involved, it would be Mimikyu! I adore absolutely everything about Mimikyu. I love how simultaneously goofy yet unsettling its disguise is. I love that it's an eldritch abomination that causes anyone who looks under its disguise to die a painful death. I love that despite looking like it was just going to be a gimmick pokémon at first, it is actually incredibly viable in competitive play. My favorite memory with my own mimikyu, Lilith, was when she used the Let's Snuggle Forever Z-Move on Archie's Kyogre during the Rainbow Rocket segment in Ultra Sun, and just YEETED that entire Kyogre hundreds of feet away. Truly magnificent. I love her.

Dreepy Line: But my favorite evolutionary line is the Dreepy line, because I love how Dreepy is involved at every single stage. I love how Dreepy looks as though they have no thoughts behind their eyes. I love how Drakloak panic if the Dreepy on their head goes missing and they frantically try to find some other pokémon to put there. And I love how Dragapult shoot babies at mach speed at their opponents. The entire line is just fantastic. 10/10 pokémon for sure. My Dragapult is named Mercury, and she's an angel.

As for my dream teams, you bet I do!! I have both my main six, as well as my Ghost-specialist team. (There is a bit of overlap because I do love those ghosts.) Those teams are:

Main Six: 1.) Nova the Charizard -- Adamant nature. She can mega evolve into Mega Charizard X, she can Gigantamax, and she has a Dragon Tera Type. Her current attacks are Dragon Claw, Thunder Punch, Flare Blitz, and Roost.

2.) Lilith the Mimikyu -- Naughty nature. She has a Ghost Tera Type. Her current attacks are Shadow Claw, Swords Dance, Play Rough, and Shadow Sneak.

3.) Luneth the Umbreon -- Sassy nature. He has a Dark Tera Type. His current attacks are Wish, Swift, Crunch, and Moonlight.

4.) Mercury the Dragapult -- Jolly nature. She has a Dragon Tera Type. Her current attacks are Phantom Force, Dragon Dance, Dragon Darts, and Psychic Fangs. (That last one is temporary until I find something better.)

5.) Artemis the Corviknight -- Quirky nature. She can Gigantamax, and has a Steel Tera Type. Her current attacks are Drill Peck, Iron Head, Bulk Up, and Roost.

6.) Rachel the Ursaluna -- Adamant nature. She's an Alpha Ursaluna and has a Ground Tera Type. Her current attacks are Rest, Swords Dance, High Horsepower, and Hammer Arm.

Ghost Team:

1.) Lilith the Mimikyu -- Same as above

2.) Mercury the Dragapult -- Same as above

3.) Hinoki the Hisuian Typhlosion -- Modest nature. She has a Ghost Tera Type. Her current attacks are Flamethrower, Will-O-Wisp, Calm Mind, and Infernal parade.

4.) Superman the Golurk -- Rash nature. They're shiny! Their current attacks are Dynamic Punch, Earthquake, Shadow Punch, and Stealth Rock.

5.) Nightshade the Gengar -- Lax nature. He's shiny! His current attacks are Venoshock, Dark Pulse, Hypnosis, and Shadow Ball.

6.) Fi the Aegislash -- Brave nature. Her current attacks are King's Shield, Swords Dance, Shadow Claw, and Iron Head.

Once again, thank you so much for asking this, and I'm sorry if I talked too much! I just really love talking about Pokémon, and especially my pokémon in particular . . . particularly since I've had some of them for over a decade now (Nova and Luneth in particular -- they were bred back in X! and I caught Lilith in Sun!), I'm just really attached to them. 💜 Thank you for asking!!

[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"

[aoloquentazure]

something i find myself doing often is putting two things i like in my mind together -- a crossover -- but with an emphasis on chronological/story separations. and then plot bunnies appear

for example, Pokemon and Warriors. if i gave you a list of what game(s) I associated each arc with, with additional notes regarding that particular section, it'd probably be this:

(under the cut because i started rambling in the bullet points but i want to keep it in this post because i want to get this out there)

TPB -> RGBY/FRLG

obviously

Tigerstar I is Giovanni for reasons

TNP -> GSC/HGSS

also obvious

see i was initially going to have Brambleclaw be Silver but he's not edgy enough. Hawkfrost is going to be Silver instead

cue angst about father

PoT + OotS -> DPPt/BDSP, PLA with some elements of RSE/ORAS

i include PLA because of time travel

ignore the fact that DPPt takes place at the same time as GSC. the Erins don't always care about chronological continuity and neither should we

kind of associating legendaries to characters here but Hollyleaf -> Rayquaza, Lionblaze -> Groudon, Jayfeather -> Kyogre, Dovewing -> Palkia, Ivypool -> Dialga

Dovewing and Ivypool try to handle Giratina in this but they don't really seal it away properly so it comes back and becomes Shadowsight's problem

the Three (and Ivypool) catch the Regis: Lionblaze -> Regirock, Jayfeather -> Regice, Dovewing -> Registeel, Ivypool -> Regigigas

DoTC -> PLA

couldn't get any more obvious than that

AVoS -> BW (only a little bit though), SM/USUM

at first i put this towards BW/BW2 but then i decided that Hau's theme kinda sounds nice for Alderheart and then i kinda just lost it from there

this significantly takes away from whatever seriousness was in AVoS but that's a sacrifice i'm willing to make

TBC -> SwSh

Hop and Rootspring kinda go together in my mind concerning their familial influences and their relationships with Leon/Tree, though it's funny how they couldn't be any different in reality

while I'm at it, Shadowsight was initially Marnie Because I Said So™ but then i was like "but wait Marnie has a bunch of supporters in her story and Shadowsight barely had any in his" so then Bristlefrost became Marnie (even though what i just said pretty much still applies to her as well but in fairness she didn't have much to do with starting the whole mess to begin with). Likewise, Bristlefrost was initially Bede Because I Said So™ but then i just decided that Bede is off the table forever

i utterly refuse to make Shadowsight Bede so instead i just...havent assigned him anyone. maybe he could be Sonia but Shadowsight is important to the story in a "the camera is on him" kinda way instead of "Sonia is doing all the Darkest Day research offscreen" kinda way so maybe not

one thing i find myself wanting with TBC was make siblings (not Bristlefrost's, though, for some reason) more relevant. Lightleap is relevant in ASC though so Pouncestep gets to be Sonia instead Because I Said So™. Shadowsight can be her assistant instead lol

Hop stumbling when he throws a Dynamaxed ball in his final battle is so silly to me and it reminds me that he's just a kid. and Rootspring is like. the baby of the TBC trio but hardly anyone acknowledges this

it would also be funny if Rootspring ended up copying his dad even though he didn't like him at first just like Hop and Leon

can you tell that TBCxSwSh is the one i think of the most

Shadowsight deals with Giratina Because I Said So™

before Bristlefrost dies she gives Rootspring and Shadowsight a map/ticket/invitation/whatever to the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. Rootspring does whatever the hell he wants at the Isle of Armor, maybe some ghost power training or whatever, while Shadowsight and Sonia- i mean Pouncestep go to the Crown Tundra

let's pretend Graystripe didn't die just yet because we need someone to be Peony and Graystripe is the perfect old man for the job

Shadowsight does the whole Calyrex thing, sure, but you know what he does for the other Crown Tundra legends? he recruits Dovewing and Ivypool to catch Regileki and Regidrago.

and then he recruits the ASC protags (i'm not going to explain this because I don't care about chronological order anymore) for the Galarian legendary birds: Frostdawn -> Articuno, Sunbeam -> Zapdos, Nightheart -> Moltres

ASC -> SV with elements of XY

Nightheart can be Arven. you know exactly why

(as a side note can we talk about how crazy it is for Arven to discover that the reason his parents abandoned him for most of his life is because they were DEAD the whole time and he gets zero closure when the ai professor says "nah im about to abandon my kid for a SECOND time". good grief, im actually shocked that he isn't bitter about this in any capacity. like maybe he stopped expecting much from his parents and so the bar is pretty low but like, the ai professor going to a different time period after they JUST revealed the nature of their existence to Arven takes the cake. forget dropping the bar to the floor, the bar is in hell now)

meanwhile Nightheart does have a dead father but he spends little time really thinking about him and instead has conflicts with his living family members

Sunbeam can be Nemona Because I Said So™

Frostdawn can be Penny Because I Said So™

if you want to consider the SV DLC then Nightheart can be Kieran instead and Finchlight can be Carmine. you DEFINITELY know why

BB Elite 4 can be, uhh, Bayshine (Lacey), Myrtlebloom (Amarys maybe?), and two randos

the ONLY justification for XY at ALL is because it would be funny if Firestar had a Charizard and Squirrelstar had a Charizard and Sparkpelt had a Charizard andn ALL of them use Mega Charizard Y but Nightheart is like "nah i'm doing this my own way" and he uses Mega Charizard X instead. can you imagine the edge

but like i feel like he wouldn't really pick Charmander to begin with. he'd be more likely to pick Fuecoco. the Fuecoco line is the best fire starter line and you can't convince me otherwise. too cute

i do have a document of pokemon team headcanons for major characters in this series that i could post sometime if only to stop rambling about them here

CS -> BW/BW2

this one was kind of the one that happened to be left over to be honest but i bet it could work with some thought. Cheren and Bianca's battle theme is one of my favourites and it reminded me of Starlingpaw and Robinpaw for some reason

"who is going to be Hugh" well Needletail was going to be Hugh but then I decided that Needletail was going to be Gladion instead so now idk what to do with Hugh. maybe she can be both. don't think about chronological order! this list definitely doesn't

"who is going to be Colress" that's a good question. i don't have that answer

"who is going to be N" Tree is going to be N. Because I Said So™.

this post was NOT going to be this long in my head and it took like 30 minutes to type all my thoughts but i do not regret it. this crossover has been getting to me

[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!

[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.

[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...

[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.

[transfem-juice]

Alright living dex update:

Finished y at an in game time of 21:16 (fuckin hell), got yveltal, articuno, shaunas gift froakie, gift bulbasaur, a snorlax that I didn't use this time, the gift lucario that I didn't use this time, also a second mewtwo and second zygarde, for if at some point I decide I want to have some extra stuff like all of the mega pokemon and all of the formes*

Began the evening of Jan 14th but I think I really began Jan 16th so I'm saying it took me 15 days which sucks cause I really need to pick up the pace of playing through these if I still need to do alpha sapphire, ultra moon, another x, and another omega ruby for their one time only pokemon and then need to actually work on the mass bulk of the dex

*due to zygarde not getting its 10% and 100% forms in the gen 6 games but the gen 7 games, I'm not sure if I'd prefer the extra zygardes in the potential forms boxes to be from gen 6 or 7, but hey I could always turn them into cells in gen 7 then "encounter" them in gen 7 which I think is kinda neat and combines encountering them in gen 6 and gen 7, even if on the status screen it will only day the gen 7 location. Also I think it would be kinda neat to have a box of mega pokemon (stored on an actual game or in the pksm app on my homebrewed 3ds rather than in bank since bank (and home) doesn't have hold items which I'll forever be frustrated at)

Oh yea my final team for y was chesnaught, the npc traded farfetchd, mega aerodactyl, malamar (the first one I've EVER evolved lol), eveolite doublade, and the gift lapras (in the second x run I'll have to make sure not to use it so I can keep it as is for the dex cause I think it looks nice to have them unused)

I think that's all? So now on to alpha sapphire for kyogre, the gen 2, 4, and 5 gift starters, version exclusive legendaries, the legendaries that require having 2 version exclusives in your party like giratina/kyurem/landorus/etc, and probably something else I'm forgetting lol

[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-

[last-lorekeeper-archive]

we feel you are oddly familar. @yourlostworldline

Hmm... yeah, that tracks. I did have a small stint as a member of Team Magma back in the day. It was really just a cover so I could find the Orbs and keep them out of either of your Team's hands but I had a pretty good time there. Made some friends.

Though in my universe, we actually succeeded in resealing Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre so, you know, the planet's still intact. Relatively speaking.

Oh yeah, the name's Zinnia. I'm just a regular trainer dreaming of taking a little trip into space. Nice to meet ya.

[amessageonthewind]

dragon for zinnia and grass for adaman! :)

Does your f/o have a kryptonite? Does your s/i know about it? What about vice versa?

Physical or character kryptonite? Physically, Fairy-types are a lot more common than Ice-types, so that's gonna be her main kryptonite (though Ice-type does have a 4x weakness against a good half of her team).

Character kryptonite, she...has a tendency to not think very far ahead or about the consequences of her actions, at least at first. Or she knows about the consequences, but only considers them in a nebulous sort of 'ends justify the means' sort of way. She doesn't really anymore, but it was one of her major drawbacks that she needed to work on.

Yes, Rachel does know about it and boy did she chew Zinnia out for that when she found out her involvement with Team Aqua and Team Magma in order to awaken Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Thankfully, after actually seeing the impact it had on Hoenn, Zinnia realized that the ends she was trying to achieve weren’t worth gambling with people’s lives.

As for Rachel, her kryptonite is that she is relentlessly kind and is always trying to help people, which is an admirable trait most of the time, but she often takes it to a destructive degree where she’s willing to risk life and limb (quite literally, sometimes) if it means helping someone. She cannot stop herself from taking responsibility for so many things that she should not be solely responsible for and it weighs heavily on her.

Everyone who knows her knows that this is a problem for her and they have to physically force her to not get involved with whatever ‘end of the world’ shit is happening just so she can take a damn break. If they have to physically strap her to a chair to get her to take a vacation, they will.

You’re going on a picnic with your f/o! What are you packing for the trip and what does the scenery look like?

I don't have a lot of writing juice for the picnic prompt for Safeship September today, so this is gonna be my entry for it.

If it's something Rachel's actively planning to do with him, she'll either make something herself to take with her or ask Beni to surprise her with something special for him (he's a great cook, after all).

Probably something a lot more hearty and filling than what she would make on the fly, like some sort of mochi or rice dish with vegetables and such. She's not a master cook, but she knows what works in a pinch being out in the field and all and she can always ask Beni for pointers.

She'll grab one of the tarps and clothes from her lodge and grab a basket to carry everything and she'll bring along her Pokémon so that they can mingle while they eat. It does her a lot of good to see them play and get some enrichment while she's just relaxing.

In terms of where, she'll pick one of three places: the Obsidian Fieldlands (the scenery is nice, it's temperate, and it's relatively calm and peaceful), the Crimson Mirelands (as much as she dislikes how muggy and humid it is there, it is his home and she does really enjoy the scenery there and it would be most comfortable for him), or the Cobalt Coastlands (they both love the sea, it's warm and it's beautiful, and the Spheals by the shore are friendly enough company).

Aside from that, they just enjoy setting aside time for each other outside of their respective duties to just hang out and enjoy each other's time as equals and companions, letting their Pokémon bond with each other and relax to get away from the stresses of their individual duties.

[aura-acolyte-archive]

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!

[hwaksimpokemon]

give us your honest opinions on all of rainbow rocket, then. if you have time

Ooh, boy. Okay. Someone's going to show up at my house-

I do want to preface this by saying I don't agree with any of their actions relating to legendary pokémon. I'm talking about the person I interact with out of necessity at the meetings.

Maxie: Maxie's a bit... sharp around the edges. But he's not bad at all, really, once he trusts you a little bit. We've had our disagreements, sure. He really did not like me when we first met. We can talk, now. And it's nice.

Archie: Archie and I get along well! We have a similar outlook on a lot of things, especially on Giovanni's trapping methods. And he realizes now that his plans with Kyogre were a little... well, his intentions were good. Same as Maxie. The methods weren't. Archie is one of the few people at those meetings that does look out for me where he can, and I appreciate that.

Giovanni: Oh, Giovanni... I punched his lights out pretty recently. And it felt amazing. And I hated it. I hate being angry, I hate being violent when I don't need to be, but he just would not. Stop. Talking. And I needed him to shut up. I am so sick of the way he makes me feel, the way he makes me look to people around us- I hate that he makes me look stupid, makes me look weak. I despise the hold he has over me, and I hate that he won't tell me what he keeps me around more. ... I hate him.

Chairman Rose: Rose and I don't speak often. I barely even know what he does- he's not been at the meetings since I started attending, dealing with some 'personal issues' back in Galar. I really don't have a strong opinion either way on him.

Piers: I admire how he looks after N. I also admire his honesty. We don't talk much, but I think he's a good kid.

Ghetsis: I despise him. The way he treats both people and pokémon makes me sick. I healed his Hydreigon once after a battle, and it showed up at my house that night, that's how shit he is to it. He's a vile human being, and I don't know how Colress deals with him. He was almost nice to me once, when he made me a cup of tea, before promptly criticizing my husband for marrying a man. He also tried to kill my brother, and nearly killed me. Giovanni had to stop him.

N: Honestly, I don't really know what N is doing in our meetings. He's uncomfortable around Ghetsis, which is completely fair, and I don't think he even really wants to be there. I sit next to him. We have nice conversations. I gave him a fidget cube once when he was anxious, and he returned the favor at the next meeting. He's a good kid.

Colress: Colress is lovely. Redirecting his efforts to something beneficial now that he's not fully tied to Ghetsis is amazing, and he's genuinely just a lovely person. We've battled on occasion, and I've normally lost, but it's always a fun time. We play Scrabble together, and have a rule where you can spell words however you want. We are both dyslexic.

Lysandre: I have... mixed feelings on Lysandre. For reasons I can't really delve into. It would be unprofessional of me. I do want to say, though, that he never did anything to me directly. Of Rainbow Rocket, he is nowhere near the worst.

Lusamine: She was awful to her children, and I resent her for that. I'm also from Alola, and was visiting when she opened up the wormholes. She put my family in danger, and I resent that too. I know of nothing good she's ever done.

Cyrus: Cyrus is... complicated. One the one hand, he's friends with Kamiya (who I will get to, don't you fucking worry), but on the other, he's... decently pleasant when he visits. He comes over to my house every now and then, and we talk. I worry about him wandering the island so often. I hope he's alright.

Kamiya Sakoda: Where to fucking start with you, Kamiya? He helped me through my second divorce. Namely, he helped me realize the way my husband was treating me and my son. Let me stay at his house while I was figuring things out, and was generally helpful to me. Even set me up with my new husband. Then he got upset that my attention wasn't fully on him anymore. And he started being a dick. I had been hiding from my father, at the time- meeting with him and my brother occasionally, but not letting them know where I was staying. For my own safety. But they found out eventually, and dragged me out of my home to beat me. Twelve hours in, they called our family doctor (who just so happens to be Kamiya's fucking wife) so of course, he showed up. Carried me back to his house, insisted I stay for my own safety. Generally 'caring', when he wasn't hitting my injuries. Turns out, he was the one that told my father where I was. I was furious when I found out. Angry at him for doing such a thing, angry at myself for not seeing it coming- it was horrible. I'll never forgive him. For any of it.

Haruka: My ex-husband. The one Kamiya helped me get away from. I don't want to think about him.

Zero: Zero freaks me the fuck out. I'm sure that's probably his whole thing, but it works, and I don't like it. He's horrifying to look at, boring to talk to, and overall just not my cup of tea.

Lucio: Lucio is just plain unpleasant. He thinks he's better than he is, and it shows pathetically. His business is shady at best, and at worst, plain predatory. He also has an annoying habit of hurting people that work for me.