#there's actually real love out there for Cilan & Iris

[love-for-burgundy-blog]

So, here is my take on Ash's relationships with his traveling companions.

Misty: I don't ship them, but I do think that they have a really strong bond!! I actually headcanon that Ash didn't really enjoy Misty's company untill they parted ways, and that's when he started to miss her. It could go the other way around too. Unfortunately, this relationship is faltered by the fact that Misty and Ash clearly didn't like each other in the beginning and said some pretty nasty things to each other. To end on a positive note, pokeshipping is not my favorite, but I think Ash and Misty will always have a strong relationship with each other!!

Brock: I think Brock and Ash have a pretty good relationship, kinda like Brotp except for the fact that I don't ship them romantically. I think Brock was necessary for Ash's growth and I think Ash's company softened Brock up, he became nicer in other words. They are close friends and nothing more or less. Brock is an excellent older brother figure to Ash and he has been with Ash the longest out of his traveling companions so that also earns their relationship points.

Tracey: Yeah, this might be controversial but I think Tracey was the third wheel in Orange Islands. He practically invited himself into the group and Ash and Misty could both be pretty rude to him at times. Tracey and Ash are friends no doubt, but I wouldn't say that they are super close or anything.

May: So I think May and Ash helped each other out a lot but I don't think Ash is the closest to May because if I remember correctly, he was rude to her a lot of the time, they also don't have much in common, Ash is into battling and May likes shopping and contests. So yeah, I obviously don't ship them, Contestshipping is clearly superior!! I think Ash and May are good friends, especially after Ash mellowed out, but I think Ash has a closer connection with some of his other companions.

Max: I am not going to say that these two have a super strong bond or anything but I do think they bonded somewhat over the fact that they aren't into the the girly things that May is lol. Also, Max is a few years younger than Ash so the age gap kinda prevents a close bond from happening. Still, I think Ash and Max are friends regardless and always will be.

Dawn: She and Ash are besties!! There, I said it. I don't ship them since I'm more of a Dawn x Zoey person but I love these two as friends. Who could forget their iconic high-five and these two serve as great protagonists for DP. I love how much these two work off one another, they give sibling energy for real.

Iris: Speaking of sibling energy, Iris is like the twin sister Ash never had!! Iris is also the only female traveling companion that I ship Ash with romantically. I will argue that Iris is one of Ash's closest friends. They also work so well because they are exactly alike in terms of personality. They are both hyper, stubborn, love food, and care for their friends and pokemon deeply. And who could forget that one episode where they went sightseeing in Nimbasa city together. I love the duo of Ash and Iris and I wish people would stop undermining their relationship.

Cilan: So, Cilan tended to act like a father figure to both Ash and Iris. Sometimes, I tend to get the impression that Cilan was like the "Tracey" of the BW Trio, However to a MUCH lesser extent. Since Cilan at least had a lot of nice and heartwarming moments with Ash and Iris both individually and together. It's pretty obvious how much Cilan cares for Ash and Iris since he is always super sweet and patient with them. Ash along with Iris looks up to him for advice and guidance and he also admires Cilan's cooking. The only thing holding Ash and Cilan back from being super close is that Ash and Iris seem closer to each other, both in age and personality. Regardless, Cilan and Ash are still good friends and I think they always will be.

Clemont: If there was a male companion that I would ship Ash with romantically, it would have to be Clemont. Diodeshipping for life!! Ash and Clemont have been spotted touching each other several times, like putting their arms around each other while walking. It's also no surprise that Ash admires Clemonts inventions and Gadgets more than anyone else hence "Science is so amazing!!" Clemont and Ash also have never argued, at least to my knowledge. To conclude, I think Clemont is the closest to Ash out of the male traveling companions, Probably tied with Goh.

Bonnie: Unfortunately unlike her brother, I think Ash and Bonnie have the least amount of connection out of his traveling companions. (Besides maybe Chloe, but I don't count her as a companion and I haven't seen JN) I say this because I don't remember any significant interactions between Ash and Bonnie. But on the bright side, it's not like Bonnie and Ash truly need each other since Bonnie has both her older brother and Serena (who she has a much stronger bond with) to look out for her.

Serena: Alright.... These two are friends and nothing more. Yes, Serena has a crush on Ash, but Ash clearly doesn't feel the same way about her. If these two ever got together, their relationship would probably only last a few years max since they both have entirely separate interests and goals. I would even go and say that Serena and Ash have the least amount in common out of the traveling companions. Ash and Serena did help each other out a lot, but I think at most, they are good friends. Sorry Amourshippers.

So I am not fully done with my binge watch of Sun and Moon, but when I am done, I will make a separate post like this for the SuMo companions.

[spookberry]

Rating how likely Ash's companions are to date him

Starting from the beginning

Misty 5/10 I think theyd date for like a month straight except Ash would not realize any of their excursions were dates nor would he know they are dating. He'd only find out via her kissing him after like the 5th date and then there'd be this big embarrassing revelation, and the two would immediately choose to pretend none of this had ever happened.

Brock 0/10 he is a whole 5 years older and strictly into women

Tracey 0/10 approximately 5 years older than Ash and therefore he'd never consider it but i do think hes bisexual and i just need to put that out there.

May 0/10 they are SO siblings core you cannot convince me otherwise. I will fight you if you say otherwise.

Max 2/10 Max would have one of those cute younger kid crushes on Ash if not for the fact that Max is too smart for that

Dawn 7/10 its very obvious to everyone around them that they are dating and actively so. But both of them think this is normal friend behavior. But eventually Dawn realizes shes just been using him cuz of her own comphet and shes actually a lesbian. He didnt even notice tho so honestly its fine. They have a conversation about it and the phrase "no need to worry" gets used no less than 3 times

Iris -12/10 the mere idea of going on a date with Ash would make her vomit

Cilan 0/10 hes even older than brock

Serena 4/10 like she obvi has that crush on him so she wants to date him. However I think she'd be way more clear in asking him out. And would probs not count any potentially datelike excursions as dating cuz she wants him to be 100% aware and into her too. Unfortunately for her this will never happen cuz hes gay.

Clemont 10/10 Ash had a huge crush on him and Clemont enjoys the attention

Bonnie -5/10 i think she would also be sick at the idea of dating Ash, regardless of age

I actually havent seen most of the alola stuff but imo they are all very found family no one would date ash

Goh 9/10 he is literally in love with ash

Chloe 0/10 maybe a 2 if you count all the times she undoubtedly winds up thirdwheeling ash and goh

BONUS

Verity 0/10 ash is gay and i think she'd pick up on that

Sorrel 7/10 his whole thing is he wants to be a prof and study legendaries and like lets be real that puts him Right in Ash's path and i think itd be a cute ongoing development in that timeline

[numberonecameraman]

📢 unova gym leaders

Unlike the Champions, I haven’t spent an extended amount of time with the Gym Leaders. But, I have fought most of them, so hopefully this will do.

Chili, Cilan, and Cress are a weird bunch. They do this thing where they speak at the same time and finish each others’ sentences. They think it’s funny, but I think it’s creepy. Their teams also suck. No wonder they got replaced.

I helped with a special about Cheren and his two friends after the first Team Plasma incident. He’s a quiet kid and really wanted to get the interview over with. His responses were all a couple sentences except the ones about Hilbert. I saw him at the PWT a few years later and he appears to be doing well. If his team there was anything to go by, it must suck to fight the Aspertia Gym.

Lenora’s genuinely intimidating. She’s a sweet person overall but never get on her bad side. Her team can mop the floor with you and her husband can throw a decent punch. Beyond that, she’s opened a restaurant in Nacrene after retiring. The food is delectable. Check it out if you can.

Burgh is kinda like Wallace but replace drama with art. Everything’s about paintings to him. He makes great art, but his real talent lies in interior design. His Gym should be all the evidence of that you need. I struggled battling him but that’s mostly because my team sucks against Bug types.

I’ve had to record some Elesa’s modeling videos. She’s probably the most sensible of the stuck up rich celebrities. She treats her crew like people and usually doesn’t give outrageous demands. Usually. That Emolga strategy she uses in battle makes me seriously question my opinion on her thought. No kind person could do that to someone willingly.

Clays also a little weird. He makes a lot of weird jokes and his accent makes it impossible to understand the punchlines half the time. I appreciate what he did for the Driftveil community and actually investing money in the town instead of hoarding it like some other CEOs I know. His battle was an interesting one. I think he threw the fight. He primarily lost to a Maractus. I love him, but he’s not the strongest.

Skyla’s really annoying. Though part of that might be because I had to wait three days to battle her since she was doing some deliveries in another Region. She loves her job and I’m glad she does, but she made being a pilot her entire personality and it bothers me. Kinda like Lance now that I think about it. The difference between them is that she can actually get serious if the chips are down.

Brycen is the Gym Leader I know best since I worked on the modern Brycen-Man series. He takes acting deadly seriously. He’ll stop entire scenes if something’s slightly off. It’s annoying in real time, but I appreciate the dedication. I battled him at his prime so the fight was a really tough one. He spent half the battle in exploiting my weaknesses then teaching me how to avoid them while fighting him. It was an awesome fight.

I’ve only met Drayden once. He’s terrifying. He’s almost 7 feet tall and the rumors are true. He wrestles with fully grown Dragon Pokémon and I’ve never seen him lose. I’m not ashamed to say I lost to him twice before I beat him. Despite that, Drayden is awesome. He let me crash at his place while I was in Opelucid and really cares about the people. He and Alder are good friends, so that’s a barrier to entry, but I try to look past that.

I already talked about Iris in the Champions post.

[antihibikase-archive]

Actually yeah Blur/Blight has a lot of siblings (blood related or not) so here's a list of all the characters that are siblings/consider each other siblings;

Hilbert and Nate (half-brothers)

Cheren and Grimsley + their cousin, Kuroba (Saturn)

Cheren was mostly raised under the Alabaster roof, so sometimes, Cheren and Bianca would refer to each other as siblings

Fennel and Amanita

Hilda and Amanita; Hilda was mostly raised by her neighbors and Fennel, so when Amanita was born, they were playmates

Rosa and Roxie; similar to Hilda's situation, Rosa was mostly raised by her neighbors, but she lives with Roxie and Roxie's dad!

In addition to the previous one, Rosa often hung out in the houses of Nate and Hugh, so the trio consider each other siblings since they grew up together

Hugh and his little sister, Diana (Aya for short!)

Striaton Triplets (Eldest is Cress, middle child is Cilan, Chili is the youngest)

Graystone Twins (Ingo and Emmet)

Iris and Benga; their guardians are good friends and they spent a lot of time together when not training for their respective roles.

In addition to Benga, Iris considers the Graystone Twins her older brothers!

N and his sisters, Anthea and Concordia.

Yancy and Curtis; ended up at the same orphanage in Anville Town, both adopted and subsequently abandoned by Nikolai, and both taken in by Anthea and Concordia post-BW2. They technically become a part of the Harmonia family.

Nate looks up to Cheren as a big brother; in addition, the Hero of Ideals Felix really loved The Heart like his real brother, as his twin, the Hero of Truth, was stoic towards him

[pkmnjesus]

I’m actually surprised there’s a lot BW defenders and in twitch chat today

FAITH IN FANDOM RESTORED

[pokemonislanderprincess]

Contest for the shipping meme?

General:

Rate the Ship -   Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OTP to rule all other OTPs

How long will they last? - May and Drew are the personification of “good luck trying to return me without the receipt” while drunk and holding a match up to their marriage certificate. For reference, May is the drunk one holding the lighter, and Drew is in the corner trying not to laugh his ass off. They’re solid, despite the (read: May’s) chaos.

How quickly did/will they fall in love? - May and Drew probably got together the quickest out of all of their friends. They both knew within a year of meeting that they liked one another, and it only took about another two years for them to both confess.

How was their first kiss? - They’re about 13, so it’s kind of awkward, very short, but still sweet. Drew gives May a rose after a contest, and they’re already “kind of sort of” dating, so May just kind of leans in and goes for a little peck, which Drew returns.

Wedding:

Who proposed? - Drew. In a field of roses and Beautifly very reminiscent where May’s parents got engaged.

Who is the best man/men? - Best Man: Max. Groomsmen: Ash, Brock, Cilan, Clemont.

Who is the braid’s maid(s)? - Maid of Honor: Dawn. Bridesmaids: Misty, Solidad, Iris, Serena.

Who did the most planning? - May and Drew actually did a lot of the work together, mostly because May knows Drew is more lowkey than her and wants to make sure he’s comfortable with the plans.

Who stressed the most? - May. Her friends heard about every single wedding related nightmare she experienced (and there were a lot.)

How fancy was the ceremony? - Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding? - Harley...initially. Solidad eventually convinces them to invite him. They both regret it within five minutes of the wedding.

Sex:

Who is on top? - This is something they tend to compete for, although Drew normally wins out.

Who is the one to instigate things? - May. She loves to flirt.

How healthy is their sex life? - Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

How kinky are they? - Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

How long do they normally last? - Drew lasts a while. May...not so much.

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms? - Heck no! It’s basically a contest, and there can only be one winner.

How rough are they in bed? - Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it.

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do? - No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory.

Children:

How many children will they have naturally? - 2

How many children will they adopt? - 0

Who gets stuck with the most diapers? - Drew

Who is the stricter parent? - Drew

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school? - May...this is the one thing she’s pretty strict with because she’s really afraid of injuries.

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)? - Drew

Who is the more loved parent? - May and Drew’s kids love them equally, but know which parent to go to if they want something specific.

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings? - May. She’s also most likely to bring the snacks to the kids’ activities, go on field trips, etc. She really enjoys socializing with the other parents.

Who cried the most at graduation? - May. She starts crying before the ceremony even starts.

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law? - May. These kids do not want to cross Drew.

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking? - Drew

Who is the most picky in their food choice? - Drew. Not because he has a limited palette, but because he refuses to eat a majority of junk food. May, on the other hand, eats everything.

Who does the grocery shopping? - Drew, because May buys too many snacks and not enough “real” food.

How often do they bake desserts? - Quite a bit! Baking is one thing May learns to do relatively well, so she enjoys whipping something up from time to time.

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater? - May will eat anything, although she often complains that most salads aren’t filling enough for her. Drew veers more towards salads, but won’t turn down meat based meals, especially when they’re well done.

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner? - Both: Drew at home, May out at a restaurant. 

Who is more likely to suggest going out? - May. She’s always reading up on popular or highly rated restaurants and always wants to try them.

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidentally while cooking? - May. It’s happened before. Several times, in fact.

Chores:

Who cleans the room? - Drew

Who is really against chores? - May. She just thinks it’s kind of a waste of time because “it’s just gonna get messy all over again.”

Who cleans up after the pets? - They both look after their own Pokemon.

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug? - May. Drew finds her trash and other things all over the place.

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over? - Drew used to, but he kind of just gave up at some point. So if people come over and see a mess May left behind, Drew just shrugs it off with a “yes, this is my life.”

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning? - Drew. It’s May’s. Sometimes he gives it back...sometimes he keeps it. Depends on his mood.

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths? - May, although Drew is not quick by any stretch of the imagination.

Who takes the dog out for a walk? - Drew is more likely to be seen out exercising with the Pokemon. May kind of has to be bribed to do it.

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays? - May loves decorating for holidays! It actually gets to be a little garish.

What are their goals for the relationship? - They both love each other and want to have fun, although Drew is more determined to keep their relationship private than May is.

Who is most likely to sleep till noon? - May

Who plays the most pranks? - May...Drew never even retaliates because he can’t be bothered.

[alolanrain]

Much to popular disbelief, Ash is actually pretty keen on catching romantic and platonic social ques. He just doesn’t act on the romantic ones. And how could he with what kind of platonic and romantic love has surrounded him since he was so young.

Ash watched his father promise him, a fake promise Ash refuses to believe that was actually fake for an embarrassing amount of time, that he would be back on Ash’s Fifth birthday. He doesn’t show up and after the next two weeks his mom opens a packet with giant letters of “Divorce Papers” written ages the top. He watched his mom try not to cry and sob and Ash was shooed out of the kitchen by her and forced to go to his room. It didn’t really matter, his father was never really close with Ash anyways.

Ash never met Gary’s parents, but they weren’t good ones from what Daisy would accidentally slip out when they were much younger. He watched as Daisy was distant with Professor Oak and how the Professor wouldn’t really give Gary the time of day unless Gary accidentally did something bad.

He had to watch his budding brother hood with Gary rot and withered away because Professor Oak had always preferred and loved Ash more. Ash wanted to reach out and tell him, to tell Gary that he never wanted the Professors attention if it ment he didn’t have Gary by his side. But he couldn’t and he had to watch his ex-beat friend grow even more bitter and lash out harder at everyone around him. Forcing his ego to inflate to hide the pain. Ash cried when Gary came up to him after the Johto conference, he couldn’t help himself as he blubbered because he misses Gary so much. He just didn’t know how to put his platonic love into words that wouldn’t have Gary throwing them back into Ash’s face with scorn and amplified hatred.

Ash listens and watch as Misty complains over and over again how horrible her sisters are and how they all left her to take over the gym by herself. A bunch of eighteen year olds dumping a gun on a man inexperienced sisters year old. Let alone left her to survive on herself as well with no way to pay off any kind of taxes or to pay for necessities like food and bath room supplies. Even her parents refuse to help and Ash couldn’t stomach the thought of ever hating his mother like Misty and Brock do to theirs.

Ash did the same for Brock when the rare scathing comment about his parents would slip out. Unnoticed by Misty since her own parents. Chronic dream chasers that left Brock, also a sixteen year old, to care for his nine younger siblings alone while also running a gym to boot. Ash stays quite about his own parental troubles, he’s long gone over his father and tries to focus on the more uplifting parts in his life. He also watches Brock fall for every, much older, pretty lady. Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, any citizen, Etc. He chews his lips and keeps quite. Wondering if this is love for men and how Ash as the briefest second though about his transitioning, it’s over before it could really manifest in his brain. Ash also doesn’t know what happened between Professor Ivy and Brock, but it was bad and both of them still can’t be in the same room together. Let alone face and talk to each other.

Ritchie was a bit different. He was kicked out for being trans. Ash couldn’t help but feel his own binder become extremely more tight. He’s thankful for his mothers hard work and the Oaks slipping him extra money on his birthday to start transitioning early. Ritchies parents are mean and down right cruel from what the same age boy as Ash says. Ritchies so much like Ash, to much like Ash, and he can’t help but wonder if their half brothers from the same bastards. Ash wouldn’t shove the theory out of his head and it hides in the back of his mind even to this day.

Ash watches May and Max’s parents interact. He wonders if this was what Moms relationship was before Aah was born. Then he sees the clear miscommunication between the two about the Butterfries and Ash feels sorrow for Max and May because it looks to rehearsed that it just had to happen more than once.

He watches Steven Stone and Wallace, the only real semi healthy relationship Ash had ever been exposed to if Aah was honest to himself. Though their relationship is still strained between both’s different works of fields.

He sees Barry and his father, how the man just brushes the blonde boy off to the side. Ash doesn’t know whether to feel sorry or pity for the boy.

Paul and Reggie are worse. He sees Paul’s hatred and anger and he looks over and sees Reggies desperate attempts of at least trying to build a bridge to his brother. Ash wishes someone would do that for him that seriously wounded Ash without Ash being the problem, but it always ends up with Ash having to apologize, he can’t help but feel a leats a bit jealous of Reggie and Paul but he doesn’t voice his thoughts and leaves when the shouting gets to be just a tad to much.

Ash watches as Trip slowly spirals down. He tries to help, tries to be friendly. But Ash is pushed to the side and snarled down like he’s the problem that keeps following Trip like a black raining over cloud.

He meets Alder and his Grandson Benga. He’s never heard a peep about a mother or a Grandma form both men. He watches as Alder flirts with Cynthia even though the women keeps pushing the Unovian man advances off over and over again.

Ash listens to Cilans brothers berate the youngest triplet and for them to even do it over private phone calls for over two weeks before As stepped in and told them to fuck off. Cilan’s shoulders had sunk to the ground in relief and Ash had to comfort the green haired teen as he started to cry that someone finally stepped in and pushed back against the twos verbal abuse and taunting. Ash almost throws up. He should have stepped in sooner.

He sees Iris’s relationship with Drayden and he wants to reach out and comfort the girl who obviously try’s her best to at least get a prais out of the quite and hard man. Ash has rarely prayed for something to harm someone. Ash sits by the edge of his bed when Cilan and Iris are asleep and he prays for the first time in a very, very long time. 

Ash watches as Clemont acts like a brother and a mother towards Bonnie. The girl oh so clueless to what stress Clemont is in every time her life is on the line.

He sees Alain, Lysander, and Professor Sycamore play hot truama between the three. How Lysander sounded to slick and evil like the last uncountable group of bad guys Ash faces off in his life. Ash sees Alains and Professor Sycamores past relationship that is rotting and turning to Ash before the Professors eyes. It reminds him to much like Gary and Professor Oak that Ash turns around from trying to say hello to Alain to going to the nearest bathroom to hurl his early dinner the league provided. Ash pushes Alain away from Mairin, and Pushes the girl over to Bonnie and Serena who are more than welcome into dragging the girl into a group hug, and over into the Professors arms. He refuses to let their relationship suffer any longer.

He sees Champion Dianthas obvious despair and the tears that are on the top of her eyes that threaten to fall for hours on end during the war. He sees her actual cry into Wulfrics shoulder for five minuets before straightening up and slipping back into her old calm and composed features.

Ash sees how Lillies mother is distant and how she disregards almost everything Lillie says to her, or try’s to down play Lillies feelings at every corner. It’s vile and sickening how Lillie doesn’t see how toxic it is, how Toxic her relationship is between her mother and workers-damn even her own brother! Ash wants to snarl and spit of Hladion the first time they meet but he holds himself back and acts polite and amazed because Lillie is happy that her brother is back. Ash tears into him once Lusamine comes back from the Ultra Wormhole when Gladion was trying to leave again. Leave Lillie to care for her mother alone and abandoned his family once again. Because that’s what Gladion had done. No matter what light the blonde tries to put it, Gladion had abandoned his sister when she needed him the most. Left it up to her friends to shoulder the brunt with just; “oh this is Lillie, she can’t touch Pokémon.” Without knowing why and how that came to be.

Ash sees Hau and how he hates being around his dad. Only ever acknowledged the mans existence if someone brought him up or when he’s explaining how he’s now living back on the islands indefinitely until further notice. Ash had never seen the man in his life and he bluntly states that Ash would have no qualms with fist fighting Hau’s dad if Hau ever wanted to. He gets Hau to laugh bright and loud. They never touch the topic of mothers but he sees Hau tense for when it nears Mother’s Day and how he hides his sneer at anything Morher Days related.

Ash sees the easy going relationship between Professor Kukui and Lrofessor Burnet and for once in his life, it feels like Ash can truly breath. He finally gets to experience someone’s love and warmth unconditionally without any toxic backlash. He gets to experience what it feels like to have a dad, not just a father, in his life and what a functional family is supposed to be.

Ash sees the toxic relationship between Rose, Oleana, and Leon. Sees how the chairman strains Leon and works him down to the bone. How Hop loves his brother unconditionally but Ash can see the hurt and backlash hidden deep in Hops golden eyes. Ash sees how Rose barely gives Bede the time of day but the white haired child defends all of Rose’s actions with the last of his breath. Ash hears Oleana story and Ash wants to scream how toxic the chairmen is but he knows no one would listen to anything from an outsider. So Ash holds his tongue and watches the rot spread and infect the entire league one trainer by one.

Ash try’s to love unconditionally, just how his heart is supposed to love everything and everyone around him, but he’s scared. Scared that everything he’s seen between everyone would happen to him as well. He wants something like Professor Burnet and Professor Kukui has, but his heart freezes and his throat ties itself into one of those hard Boy Scout knots.

Ash loves, oh does Ash love, but he loves from afar. To afraid to step closer and try something new.

[zdbztumble]

“Jewel of the Seven Pokemon!” Chapter III

As a huge fan of both Tim Burton and Sir Christopher Lee, writing from the POV of characters who weren’t impressed with their Pokeverse equivalents was quite the challenge.

Chapter I Chapter II

FF.Net

AO3

---

The drawing room set was perfect. Everything Misty had ever imagined while reading Jewel of the Seven Pokémon was here. The dark aquamarine walls with white molding and filigree, the silver-plated gaslights, the deep crimson velvet of the chairs and sofa, a fireplace so big it could fit a Blastoise; even the prop for the professor’s custom phonograph had the Aerodactyl teeth lining two sides. And with all the light and sound equipment gone, there was hardly anything that gave away this was a set; except for one camera in the corner, it seemed so real.

It all would have looked even more beautiful under the proper lighting, of course, instead of the harsh florescent work lights, but Misty loved it all the same. The one costume left on set – the heroine’s dressing gown, with colors and patterns inspired by Milotic – was so wonderful that the only way Misty could keep herself from trying it on was to link arms with Ash and make him look at everything too.

“We’re here to help save this movie, y’know,” he muttered; apparently, the fineness and shimmer of the gown’s silk didn’t mean anything to him. “And Cilan’s doing his interviews right now.”

“I’m listening!” Misty hissed. Was it so hard to believe a girl could multi-task? “Besides, that director’s not gonna have anything useful to say anyway.”

Will Hampton wasn’t what Misty expected of a film director. He was a short, spindly man, with black curly hair, black scraggly beard, black baggy suit, black-rimmed blue shades, and a sickly pallor. A real weirdo – that’s what he was. He also didn’t same capable of forming a complete sentence.

“But you really have no idea where the Cofagrigus were brought from?” Cilan asked him.

“Nah,” said Hampton. His hands never stopped moving when he talked. “The producers…from what their…I think they…wasn’t important.”

Cilan looked stumped by that answer, and Misty couldn’t make any sense of it either. But Hampton apparently knew what he was doing with movies; Sir Bela called him his favorite director. “Knows exactly what he wants,” he’d said, and he could somehow make out what exactly that was; he was the only one nodding along.

“Hmm…” Cilan started to pace, his magnifying glass held to his chin. “And you had no signs of trouble from them until the jewel appeared on set? They weren’t hostile to direction, in other words?”

Hampton shook his head. “Nah. They were…did the thing…yeah.”

“And what about Bisharp?” Cilan asked Sir Bela. “Was there any sign he might be under a definite influence – Hypnosis, perhaps, or Psychic? Or even an indication he might have had a problem with the production?”

“No, but it’s funny you should say that,” said Sir Bela. “Because Bisharp is quite attentive to my feelings on our films. And he has heard me, many times, say about the Blasko series – well, they made far too many of them, of course. And they did not use Hunter’s lines, they did not portray Hunter’s character, and ��”

“Who’s Hunter?” asked Ash.

“Saul Hunter, Ash,” Misty groaned. “The author of Blasko – The Un-dead and Jewel of the Seven Pokémon.” Honestly, why did she have to go and like such an uncultured boy? It was exasperating.

Sir Bela went on without any mind to the interruption. “I do seem to recall saying to Bisharp on the plane that having a prince’s jewel instead of a princess’s worried me, that it was a sign of another poor script from Hunter’s work. All in jest, of course. Naturally, I’d already read the script – it’s superb. Superb. And given over to one of the great directors of our age.” He swept a hand to indicate Hampton, who giggled nervously and tugged at his hair. Misty shared a skeptical look with Ash.

“And you said that to Bisharp too?” asked Cilan.

“Of course.”

“Do you remember your exact words?”

“…I do, and now that you mention it – I never did say explicitly that I was joking on the plane. And between takes on the first day of filming, I may have said ‘I’ve never seen a director like this.’ Meant as a compliment, of course, but…”

“Are we getting somewhere with this?” Iris moaned. She was hanging upside-down from an empty line set by her legs, rocking impatiently. What a kid, Misty thought. Of course, from what Ash had said about Iris, Misty guessed she was thinking the same thing. What was it that made some people their age act so much more mature than they really were? And they never realize it, either…

“I think I know where you’re going with this, Cilan,” Misty said, drawing herself up tall. “Bisharp got the wrong idea from what Sir Bela said, and thought he wasn’t happy with this movie. And that’s why he’s disappeared – he didn’t want to be in a film he thought his Trainer didn’t like!”

“You think so?” said Ash, sounding impressed.

“Pika?” concurred Pikachu, still on Misty’s shoulder.

“Osha!” Oshawott, still in Misty’s right arm, clapped approvingly and nuzzled her shoulder with his cheeks.

Cilan, however, shook his head. “That doesn’t explain what’s happened here.”

“Huh? Why not?” Misty frowned. What else could he have been driving at, with those questions?

“Elementary, my dear Misty.” It was a standard line of the Mycroft Abode character; Misty suspected Cilan had been itching for an excuse to say it. “The unusual behavior started with the Cofagrigus, not Bisharp. And any misgivings Bisharp may have had about the production shouldn’t have mattered to the other Pokémon in the cast and crew. They may have made him more susceptible to whatever’s causing this mystery, but they don’t explain it.”

“Hmm…he’s right,” said Ash. Misty tightened her grip on his arm until he winced. “Whose side are you on anyway?” she hissed.

“That wouldn’t account for the missing equipment either,” said Cilan.

“Or the missing producers,” added Sir Bela. “They left for the front office after informing us about the suspension. I expected them back by now.”

“Well, that’s…I bet they…executives…lunch meeting…all day.” Hampton shrugged.

“…Yes. Er – are there any Pokémon left at all?” Cilan asked. “If so, they could have some insight. Ash’s Pikachu could question them and report – Ash is quite gifted at divining what Pikachu means.”

“Hey – yeah!” Ash said, with a snap of his fingers. It did seem like a good idea – not that Misty was about to admit it, after hers was shot down like that.

“There are no Pokémon left that were directly involved in the production, I’m afraid,” said Sir Bela. “None that I’m aware of, anyway. But I do have two more on me – they never took to filmmaking, but they travel with Bisharp and I and know him well. They haven’t been out since we’ve arrived here, but they may know something about his state of mind.” He reached into his jacket and drew out a Dusk Ball and a Luxury Ball. The Dusk Ball went out first, flashing as it opened to reveal –

“SHEDINJA!” Pikachu and Oshawott went flying. Iris and Cilan winced at the scream. Misty sprang onto Ash’s back, wrapped her arms and legs around him, and pulled and twisted until he was a complete shield between her and that horrible buggy ghost.

“Is there something wrong?” Sir Bela asked.

“Misty’s got – ack! – problems with Bug-types,” Ash wheezed. Pikachu moaned in agreement; he and Oshawott had landed in a pile on one of the chairs. Misty was about to apologize when the Shedinja floated closer. She tightened her grip and buried her head into Ash’s shoulder instead.

“Really now,” Cilan said crossly. “There’s no time for this. We have a mystery to solve, and there’s no need to be upset by a friendly Pokémon that means us no harm and –”

POP! Misty dared a look up to see what came out of the Luxury Ball. It wasn’t another bug, thankfully; it was actually kind of cute. A feline Pokémon, with a violet and cream coat and sleepy green eyes –

“PURRLOIN!” she heard Cilan shriek, and saw the green blur of his mad dash for cover behind the sofa.

***

This movie can’t be worth it, Iris thought. She ran her hands down her face and bit back a groan as the clock made one tick closer to a full hour since they’d come into this set. The time would be easier to take if anything were actually happening, but…

The first hang-up was that this Bela Christopher guy’s Purrloin was really offended by Cilan freaking out around it, and it took forever to convince it to help out. Then Purrloin and Shedinja had to go in the corner with Ash and Pikachu, a “safe” distance from Cilan and Misty. Cilan would shout his questions across the set, Pikachu would give them to the Pokémon, they would answer, and Ash would try and figure out from Pikachu what the answers were before shouting them back to Cilan. A process that had told them nothing so far, because Shedinja and Purrloin didn’t seem to know anything about why Bisharp would disappear. Not that we need it anyway, Iris thought. My sixth sense is going off like crazy in this place, but of course the Detective Connoisseur wouldn’t trust that…

Meanwhile, Iris was stuck with creepy Christopher and his fan club. The director just sat in his chair doodling, but Misty and Cilan were gathered around Mr. Christopher as he told story after story after story. Apparently, he remembered every second of his long film career, and had no problem talking about all of it.

“…I had no idea what it was going to look like. Had no idea! And of course, the effects were very primitive in those days. We had Scorbunnies casting Flamethrower at odd angles to create the animation of the shadows…”

They just went on and on, and he never let any interruptions get in the way. And Cilan and Misty were eating it all up! Sure, Cilan gave Ash a new question every few minutes, and Misty gushed over Oshawott now and then, but for the most part, they were completely under the guy’s spell.

“…nearly severed my finger clean off. It’s still bent out – you see, here. But that was the first sword fight I had in a film. There were many, many more. I think the most difficult one was…”

It was a weird combination of boring stories and creepy storyteller. Iris liked scary movies, but a guy who was in them all the time sent out bad vibes. And those eyes…Cilan told her once that red eyes were “fetching,” but to Iris, they were nothing but bad news.

“…and he finally said to me, ‘you’re too tall to ever be an actor.’ A ridiculous thing to say to somebody. Of course, this was near the end of the war, when I was stationed in Azure Bay. I’d been seconded to the Dragon Squad as a liaison, and –”

“‘Dragon Squad?’” Iris inched closer to Mr. Christopher’s chair. “What ‘Dragon Squad?’”

It was Cilan who answered. “It’s a famous unit of the Galar Air Force, Iris. They ride Dragon-types instead of planes and serve as a special attack squadron.”

“And you…you were in that?” Iris asked Mr. Christopher. And these two were asking you about movies!?

“Well, I was an officer in the GAF. I was attached to the Dragon Squad from time to time –”

“Axew! Axew!”

“Huh? What is it, Axew?” Iris asked. Axew’s head and arms were poking out of her hair. He pointed up towards the catwalks above them. With the work lights on, it was hard to make much out, but Iris saw it too – a big, boxy shadow in an open doorway.

“What is it?” Misty asked, but Iris didn’t answer. Instead, she ran over to the fly system, shimmied up one of the ropes, jumped onto a high line rail, and swung herself up onto the catwalk. Axew gave a little cheer, and Iris gave him a little pat on the head. Now about that shadow…

Shadows seemed to be all that was up here. The work lights were all hung below the catwalks, so only a little of their light came up from below. Everything was painted or plated black. But the doorway Iris and Axew saw was filled with a dim blue glow. Inside the room, a small square closet, was light after light after light – all turned off, along with microphones and boom poles and cables.

“Hey, guys!” Iris called over her shoulder. “I found the missing film equipment! It’s all – um, Axew? Do you hear that too?” Axew nodded and slunk down into Iris’s hair. It was a faint, muffled whirring sound, hard to place. There was something mechanical to it, and it seemed to be coming from more than one spot. It’s like it’s in the walls or something. I wonder if –

The boxy shadow reappeared on the wall; a few seconds later, its source materialized. Its four arms spread wide, its red eyes lit up below the mask on its forehead, and its gold and jade body took on a horrible shine in the blue light.

“AUGH! I found a Cofagrigus too!” Iris yelled. “And I don’t think it’s friendly!” As if to confirm that, the Cofagrigus reached out with two of its hands, blue and violet flames surrounding the long fingers. From the set below, Iris heard a crash, a shout, and a menacing cry of “Cofa!”

And there’s supposed to be seven of these things…great. Battling them would be much easier with help, if only she could get away. “Axew, Dragon Rage!” Her Pokémon popped out of her hair just long enough to fire the blast, which struck the Cofagrigus right between the eyes. As soon as it reeled back, Iris dashed for the exit. She jumped over the catwalk railing, grabbed at the closest rope, and slid all the way down to the set, just in time to see Purrloin, Shedinja, and Pikachu chasing another Cofagrigus out the open side door to the stage. Ash was sprawled out on the ground with his head and shoulders on Misty’s knees, inches away from the ruins of the sofa; it looked as though it had been flung at the ground, and Misty had pulled Ash out of the way. Mr. Christopher was leaning heavily on his cane, with Cilan at his elbow for support. And the director was still doodling, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Iris, what’s going on up there?” asked Cilan.

“It’s a Cofagrigus!” Iris pointed up toward the catwalk. “There! It – it just passed through the walls! I don’t know where it’s going, but it was guarding a closet with all the film equipment that’s gone missing.”

“The one down here just jumped us,” said Ash, with a slight tremor to his voice. “There was this sound – whhhrrrr – all over, and then – boo! – and – crash!”

“So you heard that noise too.” At least it had gone; the only sound left in the room was the director’s pen scratching on paper. Strange noises before ghost attacks…strange behavior and disappearances with no explanation…yep, my sixth sense doesn’t lie about things like this. Iris put a hand to her chin. “Well, you know what I think?”

Cilan scowled. “Iris, please. This is no time for superstitious –”

“I think there’s a curse going on here!” cried Misty. She stood up so fast that she knocked Ash off to the side.

“You what!?” Cilan and Iris gasped together – Cilan in horror, Iris in delight.

“Think about it,” said Misty. “This only started when those Cofagrigus saw that authentic jewel. Jewel of the Seven Pokémon was based on real legends; maybe jewels from that ancient civilization really can hold lost souls, and the one in the jewel Sir Bela brought is possessing the Cofagrigus and the other Pokémon on the set!”

“Exactly what I was thinking!” Iris hopped over to stand side by side with Misty. “I’ve had a premonition of something like this ever since we came in here! You know –” she leaned in closer to Misty – “you might just be alright, kid.”

“Well, I’m surprised at you, Misty,” Cilan tutted. “Any supernatural occurrence has a scientific explanation, and this is no exception. Surely you recall The Houndoom of Harkershire, where the haunted moor turns out to be just a thief and his Pokémon?” He nudged Mr. Christopher with his elbow and winked at him; it must have been another of his movies.

Misty scowled and put her hands on her hips. “Well, what about The Night Train to Snowpoint, when all the clues turned out to be wrong, and it really was a ghost channeling the Froslass?” She advanced on Cilan; Iris stayed back and slapped a hand over her face. Not another one of these…

“But you recall Mark of the Golbat, where the supernatural events were a tool of the investigation to wrest a confession from the murderer?” said Cilan, not backing down.

“And Kiss of the Golbat has the vampires use a ‘rational’ explanation to fool the heroes until it’s too late! I wish you could have played the head vampire in that film, Sir Bela…”

“Bah! You’re forgetting Galar after Midnight, where –”

“ENOUGH!” Iris shouted. “No more movie talk! We have two Cofagrigus to worry about, and one of them might still be in here!”

Pikachu and Mr. Christopher’s Pokémon came back over from the door. Pikachu hopped onto Ash’s knee and gave a few chirps and gestures. “The other one went to the stage next door,” Ash reported.

“The cave sets are in that stage,” said Mr. Christopher.

“Then it looks like we need to split up,” Iris declared. It was about time someone took charge. “Half of us will stay in here to try and find that Cofagrigus, and the other half will go next door. And I’m going with Ash and Mr. Christopher.”

“What?” Cilan and Misty looked like they’d both been slapped, but they were just going to have to deal with it.

“I told you,” Iris said, “I’m done with the movie talk! And I’m sure you’re driving Ash and this poor old guy nuts.”

“Now, really!” Mr. Christopher snapped.

“I don’t care, Iris…” Ash started; Iris silenced him with a wave. She linked arms with him, then with Mr. Christopher, and marched toward the side door.

“We’ll take the cave,” she said over Cilan and Misty’s sputtering. “You two and the director check out the rest of this place.” Of course, Iris was the one who had seen the Cofagrigus in this set, but she just wanted to get out for a while. It was hard to do, though, when her companions were resisting.

“I really must protest –”

“Iris, our Pokémon!” Ash dragged his feet so that Pikachu could catch up and jump onto his shoulder, and Mr. Christopher recalled his two Pokémon. But when Ash drew out Oshawott’s ball, the Water-type shook his head frantically and waddled over to Misty, latching onto her leg as hearts lit up his eyes again.

“…Fine,” Ash sighed. “But if she needs you to battle, you’d better do it.”

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” said Misty.

“You’ll find out,” Iris snapped. “Now meet us outside in an hour!” She pushed her two partners ahead and started shoving them from the back to get them to the door faster.

“Young lady,” grumbled Mr. Christopher. “I do not need shielding from fan inquiries.”

“You don’t need to be nice about it, sir,” said Iris. “It’s got to be annoying, all those silly movie questions. Now – about that Dragon Squad…”

[sage-nebula]

I had some time to kill at work so I filled out this meme a friend shared in the group chat for PokéAni (since PokéAni is one of the fandoms the majority of us in the group chat have in common). I can also do it for other fandoms if people want, but know that it’ll probably come tomorrow since I’m at home now and can do things like play video games without interruption lol.

Anyway, a few explanations:

I’ve waxed on at length about my love for Alan so many times I don’t think I need to do it again. He’s the best, period.

It’s not that I hate Manon, per se, it’s more that I hate the way the fandom puts on her a pedestal while simultaneously either bashing Alan or using him as her trophy / a pedestal to boost her up. To be honest, I don’t think fanon!Manon even remotely resembles the actual character, but fandom’s treatment of her has made it so that I feel distaste every time I see her anyway. I’ve been thinking about doing a character exploration fic to reclaim her, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t really got the time. Either way, I really don’t like her the way her stans in the fandom do, and I also really dislike that she was never called on her bad behavior / flaws in the canon itself.

My initial dislike of May was a combination of being salty that Misty was gone (I was thirteen, okay) and also not appreciating the fact that May hated pokémon and didn’t even want to be there when it was all I had wanted for the past five years (now twenty-one years). As an adult I still think that she should have never gotten a pokémon if she didn’t like them, because you should never take responsibility for another creature’s life if you don’t actually want that responsibility, but May did grow past that and develop as a character and now I think she’s great.

I know the basics about anime!Iris, but I haven’t seen nearly enough BW to really be able to capture her voice, I feel, and I wish I could capture her voice more so I could use her more actively in fics (particularly one I’d like to write where she visits Kalos post-XYZ and has an adventure with Alan). But from what I do know of her anime!Iris is just as cool as her game counterpart and I like her a lot.

He abused Chimchar so badly that Chimchar has PTSD for life, and that’s just one of his pokémon; there’s no telling what he does to the rest. No amount of “you did well” is going to redeem him in my eyes. He can go burn with Damien and Shamus for all I care.

It’s not so much that I dislike Serena per se as it is that I feel like her character could have been handled much better than it was. I would have liked it very much if she’d come to realize that her crush on Ash was based on an idealized version of him, and that she then got to know him as a person moving forward. Whether her crush on him would remain or not isn’t really relevant; she wouldn’t be the first person to have a crush on him and I’m sure she won’t be the last, and no ships will be canon anyway so I don’t really care about that. I just would have preferred if she’d gotten to know him, who he really is, beneath the idealization, and then formed a stronger opinion from there. But she didn’t, so I’m just kind of “meh” on her. That said, her second outfit was a real winner. She looks great with short hair.

This goes for his game counterpart too, but just . . . why are his eyes Like That . . . and why does he wear a waiter’s outfit when traveling . . . Cilan just get some travel clothes, I promise you’ll feel better . . .

Again, I’ve gone on about how I relate to Alan at length before, I don’t think I need to do so again lol.

Like with the Alan answers, I’ve gone on and on about how and why I love Ash/Misty, with reasons varying from Baby’s First OTP to the fact that I just think they complement and balance each other out very well. I don’t need to write another essay about it lol.

TL;DR: There’s a huge maturity gap in addition to the age gap (she’s ten but acts eight, he’s fifteen but acts seventeen), and that’s not something you “grow past” when you interact with someone regularly. Even if Manon has a precocious crush on Alan (and it’s entirely possible, perhaps even probable, that she does), Alan returning her feelings would be creepy and gross, and given my own lived experience he’s highly unlikely to ever stop seeing her as a kid in comparison to himself because of when they met and the role he ended up playing for her (babysitter). In addition, Manon has a bad habit of steamrollering his boundaries and not ever taking “no” for an answer, and after what happened to Hari-san Alan’s guilt (even though it wasn’t his fault) will make him even more likely to let her do it, throwing another element of imbalance into their relationship that, tbh, even makes friendship for them iffy at this point (which wouldn’t be an issue had the canon had Manon take responsibility and learn from her behavior, but alas . . .). Finally, every shipper I’ve seen does things ranging from writing Lizardon out of the story because they feel threatened by his importance to Alan to reducing Alan to Manon’s trophy supporting boyfriend while she’s glorified, PLUS taking any platonic content between the two and making it all about the romantic ship no matter the wishes of the original content creator (me), so I just really cannot stand this ship and will never like it.

Delia is only a year younger than I am at this point (I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M OLDER THAN DELIA KETCHUM), but I honestly feel like I’d get along really well with her. Her food would be delicious, we both dote on our pokémon / animal companions, and honestly she seems like the type who’s a total secret badass tbh. I’d hang with Delia for sure.

On the other hand, aside from the fact that Jessie is a grown adult who stalks a child and tries to beat him up to steal his platonic soulmate, I also feel like her personality and mine would not jive well at all. It’d take only a handful of minutes of her loud, obnoxious arrogance for me to be put-off. (Not to mention the fact that she’s incredibly bossy to those around her, like . . . try to boss me about and see how well that works out for you, lol.) We just wouldn’t get along at all.

[medea10]

Medea Rambles - Parents in the Pokemon Anime

If you watched Pokemon the way I have for the last 20 years, you start to notice things along the way and start to get a little curious.

Take the second episode of the original series for example. A simple line that might have come and gone. When Ash reaches Viridian City and his mother mentions that it took Ash’s father four days to reach that town. You probably won’t give it a second thought especially if you just started the series.

Fast-forward another year or so and you start to question about Ash’s father a little more. You only see Delia. And at times you’ll see Delia being accompanied by Professor Oak. Go a little further and you watch the third Pokemon movie. Sure this guy Professor Hale has a wife and child, but what kind of past does he share with Delia? More years pass by and you start keeping this question in the back of your mind. Who is Ash’s father? And along the way, you’ve compiled several theories on that question. And for added drama, you might have added Giovanni from Team Rocket to this paternity suit. And then you meet some of Ash’s other companions and notice that some of them are also without another parent...or just flat out DON’T have any parents (to our knowledge).

Don’t get me wrong, I love how Pokemon has given us different families to look at throughout the years. From Ash’s small family with Delia, to May’s family, to Clemont and Bonnie’s father, and despite it being dysfunctional as fuck, Brock’s family, we see different things.

But when I see single parents like Delia, Johanna, Grace, Meyer, and Abe (and if you’re not keeping up that’s Ash, Dawn, Serena, Clemont, and Mallow’s parents), I often wonder what happened to their partner. I don’t find anything wrong with this. Single parents rule! I was raised by a single parent and have the highest respect for them. I just get curious is all. I’m sure everyone else does too. I know I spent just about 20 years speculating who was behind Ash’s creation. And I know we will never know Ash’s father’s true identity. Though thanks to a certain light novel, we can officially squash any chances of it being Professor Oak, Professor Hale, or Giovanni. I know it seems wasteful to bring up the parents of this show. I mean, they send their child out at the ripe-old age of 10 to catch wild monsters in a ball and get caught up in butt-loads of trouble. Meanwhile, they stay at home or do their routine day-to-day jobs like proper adults. But we have to remember this one thing.

THEY BROUGHT THESE CHARACTERS INTO THIS WORLD! Delia didn’t spend God-knows-how-long to squeeze Ash out of her lady clown-car to not get a mention or appearance every now and then. So yes, mention these parents! In most cases, they’re great, offer great comedic relief, a home-cooked meal every now and then, and there to wipe away the tears. Well...those are the good ones. Brock and James had some interesting families. And I use the term ‘interesting’ loosely. I will mention Jessie’s train-wreck of a life later. And then there are those characters whose parents are never mentioned. While Misty has three older sisters, her parents are never mentioned or seen. Iris’s parents are never mentioned and all we know about her is that she was probably taken care of by the village elder (not even a grandparent). Cilan has his brothers Cress and Chili, and once again, no mention of parents. And then there’s Tracey...Okay, here she goes again!

*sighs dreamily* TRACEY! No mention of parents. Not a damn thing. We’re not even sure if Tangelo Island (the island where Ash and Misty first met him on) is where he’s originally from. Yes, I’m guilty of writing fanfics of Pokemon and decided to add backstories to characters like Tracey, yes especially Tracey because he’s worth it and deserves it. I’ve written fics where his mother dies when he was younger, fics where she’s just sickly, and other ones where she’s perfectly fine and she’s actually there. And while I was at it, I had Misty’s parents be on constant business trips, Ash’s real father died in a car accident, and Dawn’s father did bad things (that’s the cleaned-up spoiler-free version of it) That’s the fun of writing fanfics. It’s fun to imagine your favorite characters with things the show would never think of doing or bother throwing a bone to. It’s been 13 years Pokemon. Are you gonna show my anime husbando or not? Tick-tock. Needless to say, the Pokemon anime has been rather lax about the identity of these missing parents. And people without a trusty search engine or are not fluent in Japanese are shit-outta-luck. Because some of these characters have some interesting, sad, and down-right fucked up family back-stories.

On the anime’s surface, there are only a few standard families shown. May and Max have their parents Norman and Caroline. And despite having one almost fall-out episode in mid-AG season, they’re quite the happy family. Sophocles’s parents are quite the cute-lovey type and because they look too much like each other, I’m starting to have other theories. Like are Sophocles’s parents brother and sister...like Milhouse’s parents? (don’t be silly Medea, they’re not). And the same happiness can be said about Kiawe and Lana’s families.

And then you have the single-parent household as seen with Dawn, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and Mallow. I’ll get to Mallow later.

Brock... *sighs* Yeah, fun times with this one. As we all remember from episode 5 (and in the dub), his mother died and his father ran off, leaving Brock alone to take care of the 10 brothers and sisters. In actuality, Lola left the kids in Brock’s care, she didn’t die. Imagine my shock in 2004 when I learned that Pokemon Chronicles was a thing and that the bitch was alive and well this entire time. Thanks a lot 4Kids. Even when Lola and Flint are around, they often leave and do erratic actions. And usually it’s up to the eldest siblings (Brock and Forrest) to take charge. Trust me, their doofy behaviors have lead to the Pewter Gym to almost be shutdown several times. So, they’re not the best of parents.

Lillie and Gladion gets a little complicated. In the games, we all saw that Lusamine wasn’t a very caring mother and would put her work ahead of her children. She even downright verbally disowned them at one point. Harsh. The anime decided to be nicer to Lusamine. Yes, she’s dedicated to her work, but also cares for her children Lillie and Gladion (though Lillie had her own reservations about her mother early on). Lusamine even sacrificed herself to the Ultra Beast in order to save Lillie. That’s a mother for you! Where does it get complicated? The father, Mohn. In the games he disappeared while researching the Ultra Beasts. And in the anime, Gladion and Lillie have assumed that he has passed away. But thanks to revelations in SM108, there’s hope for both as Mohn could still be alive. I just fear that his memories will be gone like in the games.

James of Team Rocket had one of the best backstories in the entire anime with the one episode Holy Matrimony back in season one. I’m actually surprised they kept a lot of things in tact in the English dub. Yes, both of his parents are alive and they are horrible people. Faking their deaths to try and drag James back home and force him to marry a dominatrix. Yeah, Pokemon has some fucked-up backstories. Time for it to get more fuckier! Again, if you’re not fluent in Japanese or haven’t lived in Japan during the height of the Pokemon fandom, you probably didn’t know these existed. RADIO DRAMAS! Yes, Pokemon had them! And with that, Jessie’s backstory time!

In the dub, we were pretty sure that Jessie was either very poor or in an orphanage and very poor. In actuality, Jessie’s mother was a high-ranking member of Team Rocket and left her daughter at a young age in order to search for Mew. And because Miyamoto was never heard from again, Jessie was sent into foster care. Wonder why the anime never wanted to cover that little detail about Jessie! Kinda shines a light on how sad it was that she used to eat snow for dinner.

And then between 1997-1999, Takeshi Shudo (creator of the Pokemon anime) came out with the light novel, Pocket Monsters The Animation. And that’s where we learn a little more about several original characters. Ash’s mother Delia was indeed a young mother. She met a man, got married, and had Ash when she was around 18-19 years. And in a flash, Ash’s father left on a journey and hasn’t been back since.

Brock’s mother Lola married and divorced SEVERAL men after Flint left the family. Most of Brock’s siblings are just half-siblings, if not all of them. Do you know why Brock keeps hitting on older women? He wants to bring one home to be a mother to the young siblings. DAMN. And as for Misty, her parents left Misty and her sisters. Yeah, you’re gym leaders now. Laters! Okay, I can see why the Pokemon anime decided to be a little laxer when it comes to some of these stories. Abandonment is not a happy story to write for an age-appropriate anime like Pokemon. And maybe because of the rate of women having babies at younger ages, they probably didn’t want to show that Delia was one of them. And then Brock’s story...Yikes, man! Yeah, stories like Delia, Lola, Misty’s parents, and even Jessie’s mother might be a little much for little children to absorb. Or so people thought in the 90s when Pokemon first debuted. Nowadays, there’s so much in western media and even anime that has advanced from just 20 years ago. Look at how parents are portrayed in western animation like The Loud House and Steven Universe. Who knows, Gen8 of Pokemon could possibly give us a same-sex family (one can only hope).

In the latest episode of Pokemon (Sun & Moon episode 108), we get an unanswered question of a character’s parent. All we knew about Mallow was that she has a father and a brother. This being the 20th year watching Pokemon and have gotten so used to seeing characters in single family homes, I decided not to give it a second thought and write fics later down the line. That was until a couple of weeks ago when we learn about an upcoming episode involving a pokemon and communicating with the dead. And we get a screenshot of Mallow crying. Holy shit. Is Pokemon really going to do this? Or is this going to be a bait and switch?

Guess what, they gave us a story about Mallow’s mother. They even went the extra mile to show us that she was actually sick in the hospital and mention how Mallow’s anger-induced words were her final words to her mother. In this episode, we see Mallow reunited with her deceased mother even for just a moment. I’m glad we got an episode like this. There are children who have lost a parent at a young age and sometimes don’t know how to deal with the feelings that come up pre, during, or post-death. And many of us wish we could say one last unresolved feeling to that loved one again. Mallow definitely wanted to see her mother again and she got to say what she wanted to and even hug her before she disappeared.

DAMN POKEMON. Mother/daughter moments are like my absolute weakness. And while I didn’t cry, I still felt the feels deep in my soul. That also means Misty and Togetic’s goodbye is still my #1 for saddest Pokemon moments. However THIS is now #2.

I honestly think Pokemon is evolving when it comes to stories about the character’s parents. And other heavy subjects including death. Writers are seeing that children are more mature than they originally thought. In the last two years, Pokemon has talked about death 4 times (three of those were pokemon deaths). God only knows what the English dub will do to this episode. We’re getting more heart-wrenching stories from this series. I’m glad I kept with watching Pokemon well into my adult years. Cut through a lot of the crap and sometimes, you get little gems like this. I can’t wait to see if Pokemon has it in them to continue giving us stories like Sun & Moon episode 108 (and others) or even on the same level as the radio dramas and Pocket Monsters light novel. Maybe not the Brock story. Okay, I think that’s all I wanted to talk about here.

[pokemagines]

unova boys + asking out their crush

anon asked: “Unova boys asking out their crush? Thank you!”

a/n: this is WAY too long i’m sorry,,, but hey i got to catch up on the supermega podcast and h3 podcast while writing this so it’s all good

n:

a crush for him is a once in a lifetime type thing. and even then, he doesn’t understand what he’s feeling. it’d take someone spelling it out for him, or his crush asking him out to come to terms with his emotions.    + after all, he was basically kept in a box his whole life, not interacting with anyone who wasn’t family. he’s not in touch with his feelings - especially romantic ones - as most people are.

if he does realize his feelings naturally, though, (perhaps by watching couples or reading up about what love is) he’d just tell his crush straight up. he doesn’t feel awkward in the slightest, he’s always been honest with them when they were just friends, why should anything change?

if they say ‘yes’, he feels abnormally excited. he’d probably pull them into a hug, and ask “what comes next?”. they’d laugh and try to explain what a relationship entails.    + he’s pretty bad, at first, with a relationship because he’s just used to taking care of another person or caring for their emotional needs, but he learns as time goes on.    + the keyword in this relationship is patience!

if they say ‘no’, he’d be a bit confused. he thought if he felt the one way, then surely they must? he might be a bit awkward around them after, but eventually, things will go back to normal.

cheren:

he’s pretty quick to realize he has a crush, mainly because he gets all flustered and sweaty around them. he reverts back to acting like an awkward schoolboy, heart fluttering whenever he sees them.    + he doesn’t fall in love often, but when he does he’s head over heels.

tries to impress them with his knowledge on things, but will usually end up rambling and repeating the same thing -- help this boy he is a mess.

though he realizes his feelings quickly, it would take him a long time to work up the courage to confess. he’d even tell himself that he was going to confess on a certain day, but as soon as he sees you, he chickens out.     + eventually, he’ll just ask bianca for advice, and after she screams for a minute because she’s happy for him, and she gives him all kinds of advice on what to say and do to make sure you say yes.

bianca hides in the bushes to make sure he doesn’t chicken out this time, and when he sees them he takes a deep breath, holding the flowers in his hand a little too tight. cheren basically shoves the flowers in their arms, face flushed and internally screaming, and they start laughing once he starts reciting his obviously rehearsed lines.     + he starts to freak out when they laugh, because he thinks it’s because they don’t like him, but no, it’s because seeing someone who’s usually so composed be this flustered, is cute!    + eventually, cheren just spills how he really feels instead of stating bianca’s lines he memorized and hopes that they reciprocate.

if they say yes, he’d laugh like a madman. because, yes, it was silly to get this worked up around his best friend. they’d kiss his cheek and he’d take them to get coffee.

if they say no (aka reader is a Monster), he’d be wrecked. he would probably cry a bit in private, and couldn’t hang around them alone for a long time, because every time he’d see them he’d be reminded of his feelings. 

colress:

it takes him a while to warm up to anyone in a romantic sense. he’s not really looking for love, so when he develops a crush on someone it’s a very rare scenario.

tries to make up excuses for what he’s feeling: maybe it’s because he isn’t feeling alright, or he’s abnormally anxious, but when the feeling doesn’t go away, he knows what it is. he’s in love with [name], plain and simple.

nothing really changes once he realizes his feelings for them, he’s very level-headed about it, knowing when he’s overstepping his boundaries or not.    + he’d want them to help with his inventions more often than they do normally. though, he’d make sure it wasn’t a dangerous one so they didn’t get hurt. that’s the last thing he wants.

he wouldn’t set up anything elaborate, just wanting to get his feelings off his chest so they know what he feels, all the while hoping they feel the same so he’d have someone to be his companion.    + as much as he likes to be by himself, he has to admit it gets kind of lonely. 

he invites them over and they’ll be working on something together, colress would hand you a wrench to adjust something and he’d just be like: “i think i have romantic feelings for you. can you pass me the oil?”    + they’d say: “yeah sure, colress, wait WHAT”.

if they reciprocate the feeling, he’d lean down and kiss you, him being a grinning mess. his grin is actually really creepy, so you kiss him again to wipe it off his face.

if they don’t feel the same, he’d be able to accept it. he’d talk with them about it to understand where they stood, but it really wouldn’t be awkward.

grimsley:

he’s attracted to a lot of people, but falling in love takes time. he has a habit of rushing into things, so he doesn’t have a lot of luck in relationships. 

by the time he realizes he’s in love, he’s already head over heels.     + he’d realize when one of his gambling buddies mentions he’s not coming to the game corner as often, and they ask why he’s been away. he thinks for a moment before it sinks in: 'wow, i’ve been with [name] all week. arceus help me.’

grimsley is very suave around them, more so than usual, dialing his charm up to an eleven. [name] is very confused because they think he has something up his sleeve. when they ask what’s wrong, he’ll deny anything, spinning the opportunity to compliment them.

it’s not about getting the courage to ask them out, more like finding the right opportunity. he’d take them out to a nice restaurant (with his elite four money), and confess his feelings there.    + it’d be almost too perfect, so they wonder if this is him playing a prank on them, but he assures them his feelings are sincere, and he’s truly in love with them. (he’s pretty flustered though he’s good at keeping a poker face).

if they say yes, he’d be ready to leave so he can be close to them, not just sitting across the table. once he pays and they leave together, he’d spin them around and kiss them, letting out a relieved sigh after, him having wanted to do that for a while.

if they reject him, he’d be a little bit upset, but would want to know why they rejected him. he’d try to change whatever it was that kept them from feeling the same way.

cilan (anime bc the games don’t have a lot to go off of):

he’s very oblivious when it comes to love. he really can’t tell the difference between a crush and a best friend until it’s glaringly obvious.     + cilan is the last one who knows he has a crush - well, maybe save ash. his brothers can see it, heck, cress would even tease him about it, but he’d still think it’s just them playing around.

iris would put her hands on the side of his face and be like “LOOK! cilan, you’re in love with [name]. everyone knows this, it’s time you accept it!”     + he’d start to laugh but as it sinks in he’s like: “oh... oh arceus i DO!”

he’d be really nervous around them because he hasn’t really had a crush before, so he doesn’t know how to act. cilan would try to act casual, but he’d end up tripping over his own feet or embarrassing himself in some other way. 

it’d take iris yelling at him to stop being such a child and tell them how he feels for him to confess. 

he’d invite them to some park (himself showing up fifteen minutes early), and he’d have chocolate he made himself made for them.     + when they show up, he’d stammer through an over dramatic confession, holding their hands and trying to look them in the eye.

if they say yes, he’d be so excited he’d scream out “YES!” for everyone else in the park to hear. [name] is like “calm down cilan we’re gonna get kicked out!”. he’d apologize and ask them to try the chocolates he made for them.

i’m not even making an option for saying no but just know that he’d mope for days and would never love again thanks reader.

marlon:

he falls in love super quickly, but usually those feelings go away because they’re based on physical attraction. though, every once in a while he’ll develop a real crush.

once he realizes his feelings, he’ll try to be around them as much as possible. he can’t have anyone stealing them away, so even when they  were away, he’d text them. 

he wants to tell them as soon as possible because honestly, he loves being in a relationship because he likes having someone to hang around all the time. he’s basically a growlithe in human form.

marlon would accidentally blurt it out when they’re swimming together. he’d try to yank them under the water, and they would grab him, not letting him take them under. when he realizes they’re a bit too close, he’d smile warmly and be like: “wow, i love you, dude.”    + once he realizes what he just said, he’d just admit that he meant it, and that he’s been wanting to tell them for a while now.

if they feel the same way, he’d grab them and spin them around in the water, kissing them on the cheek. they made him the happiest man on earth.

if they don’t, he’d be dejected and would want to be alone, realizing how much he messed up.

[cbcanime]

Cause I’m bored :D

Britt: Hello everybody. For no particular reason, I decided to make a list of Ash's traveling companions ranked from favorite to least favorite. These are just my personal opinions, and I’m bored. So here ya go!~

I’m also putting this on Tumblr instead of DeviantART because I talk about Pokemon characters waaaay too much over there haha....^-^”

ALSO, I respect anyone’s opinion who’s different than my own as long as you respect my opinions as well :D

1. Dawn-

I loved how Dawn was a co-star to Ash and got entire episodes dedicated to her and only her. I also found her contests more realistic and exciting to watch than May's. 

2. May-

Other than May's contests, I'd say she was a pretty relatable character. She just wanted to travel the world, and she didn't care for Pokemon at first (like how people in real life don't really like animals.) I also liked her relationship with her brother (despite me not liking Max.)

3. Iris-

Oh, the horror! Iris is a favorite of mine! But in all seriousness, I loved Iris. Tomboy characters are usually the ones I favor over the more girly characters, but Dawn stood out to me more and that's why she's my #1 and not Iris. I also thought Iris was bad-ass. Her calling Ash a kid got old and annoying fast but that's the ONLY reason I see for why people don't like her, and I think outside of that she was a pretty unique Pokemon character.

4. Clemont-

I liked Clemont the most out of Ash's male companions, because he was the first one who felt like a best buddy/bro to Ash. Brock and Cilan felt more like mentors or older siblings he couldn't really relate to, but Ash and Clemont I'd say, bonded well and felt like they were closer to equals (even if Ash was worshiped by damn near everybody in XY.) His gag got old, but pretty much any character who has a gag got old super quickly.

5. Lillie-

I think Lillie has had some good character development. She got over her fear of Pokemon and stood up to her mother. Plus she seems like the only female in Sun/Moon that the writers are bothering to put any effort into. I also like her character design. I haven't played very many Pokemon games, but when Sun/Moon first came out, Lillie looked like a spoiled rich girl. I'm glad she didn't turn out to be that way.

6. Bonnie-

Honestly, I just thought Bonnie was a less annoying and more competent version of Max. Her gag got old (just like everyone else's), but she didn't piss me off like Max did, plus she seemed a lot more mature than him despite Max acting like he was "mature" when he clearly wasn't. She also had her own Pokemon, which gave her the responsibility of raising her own. Plus, she's adorable :)

7. Lana-

Again, the Sun/Moon girls don't have a lot going for them, but I like Lana. She's cute and I like her personality and her quiet voice.

8. Brock-

Tbh, Brock doesn't have a lot going for him (to me) other than nostalgia. Just like everyone else's running gag, his got old suuuuuuper quickly. And the fact that he was with Ash in 4 different regions made it worse and annoying. He's still better than Cilan, though. And he could be funny, and he was like Ash's older brother.

9. Kiawe-

I dunno how to feel about the Sun/Moon guys, either. Honestly, it feels like Ash is taking the majority of the screentime like he did in XY, so I don't really care for anyone else besides Lillie and Lana. Kiawe's pretty alright I guess, though. 

10. Sophocles-

Same for Sophocles. I dunno how to feel about him. I thought he was similar to Clemont by a lot, but Clemont has a charm to him that Sophocles doesn't. Idk :/

11. Mallow-

Mallow is just kinda boring to me. She doesn't do much of anything at all in the show. Even Lana does more than her, and Lana hardly does anything, too! It's really sad. I hope the writers pay more attention to her eventually.

12. Cilan-

Cilan annoyed me more than Iris did, yet people still found Iris to be unbearable while giving Cilan a free pass. My favorite thing about Cilan was his voice, cause I really like Jason Griffith. Otherwise, didn't care for him that much.

13. Tracey-

Imma be honest, I almost forgot he existed lmao (like most people do.) Tracey was alright. I didn't hate his guts for replacing Brock like most others did, and I liked that he was an artist (like me) but he was kinda just...there. He didn't do much of anything. He was boring and plain.

14. Verity-

She's ok. Felt like a mixture of Misty and Dawn. Didn’t get a lot of time to know much about her or Sorrel.

15. Sorrel-

Meh. His Luxray died cause of him. Kinda sucky.

16. Misty-

Probably not gonna make many friends putting Misty so low on the list, but eh....I don't really like her. Same with Brock, she doesn't have much that makes her "better" than the others other than nostalgia. She used to be my most hated companion of Ash's till Serena came along, though. I don't hate her anymore, and I don't even dislike her as much as I used to. But I don't think she's all that great, either. People harp on Iris for teasing Ash and calling out his stupidity when he SHOULD'VE been a lot smarter than he was, but then they'll let Misty get away with hitting both Ash AND Brock, and yelling at Ash for being a complete noob. I personally don't think that's fair, but hey. What do I know? Plus, once she got Togepi, she was boring and lifeless.

17. Max-

Max was annoying and he did a lot of things that I hate about kids. He acts like a know-it-all, treats Ash and May like they're retarded, and whines all the time. I hated it. He made fun of Ash for losing the Johto League, and then cries and steal's Ash's badge from him when he beats his GYM LEADER DAD at a gym battle! I just couldn't stand this kid. He had a more realistic relationship with May than Clemont did with Bonnie, but that's probably another reason I didn't care for him. Younger siblings suck. I thought he was OK in the Jirachi movie, though.

18. Serena-

Aaaaaaand lastly, Serena. Along time ago, Misty would've been here instead of Serena, but Serena's fans have made me borderline despise her. I already didn't care for her character, and her worshipers put her in an even worse light for me. But I thought Serena was a boring, girly, passive stereotype who's only "unique" quality is her crush on Ash, anyway. I didn't dislike her immediately, though. In fact, I went the first couple episodes actually liking her and I thought she had great potential. But, that went away. Fast. Plus, her goal...was not that great. Felt like a sexist rip-off of contests. And her "rivals" were incompetent. She beat them every time (not including Aria.) Plus from what I hear, showcases are based off of Japanese idol culture. If that's true, Serena wouldn't get to date Ash anyway. Too bad :/ At least she’s the prettiest I suppose.

I'll add the characters from the 21st movie once I've watched it :)

[frocio]

whats your favorite gym leader from each region?

this question saved my life OKAY SO:

Kanto: Koga. hear me out: i know this is an unpopular opinion. but all his pokémon are bitches. his muk is a literal demon with the minimize/toxic/acid armor/sludge combo. a true, certified Bastard™

Johto: Jasmine. no real reason she’s just rlly sweet yk

Hoenn: Wallace. did you see his ORAS outfit? big gay. lgbt icon. we stan.

Sinnoh: Volkner. 1) he had an electric type gym i actually liked, and 2) again, he just looks gay.

Unova: it’s a tie; on one hand i really like Iris, I like her character a lot, she’s really cute and I love me a good dragon gym where the leader isn’t a little whiny bitch *coff coff Clair coff*, but i’m also a fan of Cilan, Chili and Cress. they’re not strong, and I don’t like their characterization or anything, but i think they’re a good idea (even if the fact that they FORCE you to get a super effective pokémon before battling them sort of destroys the challenge). I would have liked them more if they had you decide if you wanted to pick the smart option (get the super effective pokémon), or the quick one (challenge them on your own terms)

Kalos: Ramos, but only because I like his gym design. I don’t actually have a fave for this gen, they were all pretty unimpressive. They had a chance to make the fairy gym amazing, and it was just the classic teleport thing which disappointed me a lot

I know Alola doesen’t have any gym, but my fave kahuna is Hapu! Even tho Nanu is a really, really close second. shes just a funky little lesbian

[asiryn]

i think one of the things that’s standing out to me about XY (&Z), and that’s a bit different from the other seasons/series, are the care and attention the writers pay to certain little scenes and moments

like, during the kalos league arc, when there was that brief scene of sawyer crying, and struggling between his disappointment at losing and desire to be a supportive friend. i felt that was a very effective and powerful moment (it reminded me a bit of morrison during AG, and his conflict of not wanting to hurt ash in the hoenn league). 

and just now in this episode, there’s two scenes involving grace. one in which meyer tells her about how great serena is, and as he’s listing off these things she does, grace is surprised, bc serena’s changed, and she’s watching the different way serena interacts with ash and clemont. and then later, there’s a moment between mother and daughter where serena talks through her insecurities about the future. they were just really well done, well-written scenes, and i’m really glad they were included. these two in particular really do show how serena’s grown over the series, and to see the potential of how much more she can accomplish even if we won’t get to see them. 

again, not to say that other seasons/series didn’t have these, but i feel there’s.....idk, a level of consistency and polish to XY’s that really makes it stand out to me. i’ve really grown to love all of these characters and this....dynamic of inspiration and positivity they’ve had going on with each other, and while ash and serena were favored a bit more by the writers, i felt that each character, even bonnie, all had substantial character growth over the series, and more fairly distributed focus. 

(as a counter example, for most of brock’s time in the show, he didn’t actually get any real character growth or development until DP, where they sparingly sprinkled in foreshadowing of his eventual switch in career, but his own realization of it was rushed into one of the last episodes of DP; same case with misty (who didn’t get focused character growth until Pokemon Chronicles), tracey, max, and iris and cilan (tho these last two were due to the writing being hindered by status quo syndrome, and thus there was not much of a serialized narrative in BW (i.e. something happens, but then it’s never mentioned again and everything’s back to the way it was in the first place by the start of the next episode), and also that rushed pile of fail at the end))

the point is, XY felt much more even-handed, and had a very serialized narrative (maybe that’s the shonen showing through), and thus as a whole was much more consistent than the earlier seasons.

(this is not to say that AG and DP didn’t innovate, bc they did; May was the first character to get a goal (contests) that she could progress forward on alongside ash, as opposed to the vaguely defined goals of “best breeder”, “water pokemon master”, and “dragon master”; and Dawn built even further upon what may started, and DP was almost evenly split between her and ash. it’s just that XY did this for ALL of the characters, and if not tangible goals like ash and serena, then clemont and bonnie both experienced a lot of self-growth (clemont in particular; bonnie’s development mainly kicked in for XY&Z))

anyway, this post is getting away from me. the point is, i love the writing in XY, and i’m really hoping they finish this off strong (and don’t completely choke at the last minute like BW did >.> NO I AM NEVER OVER THE WRITERS JUST KICKING IRIS AND CILAN OFF TO JOHTO OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE >:(  ....ahem.)

[poliwhirl42]

In a Nearly Perfect Pokeani World...

So I’ve been seeing a lot of M20 salt going around, including my own, and my friends and I thought it would be a great idea to dream up a perfect, ideal Pokémon anime. Beware- this is a VERY long post, but we’re talking 20 years worth of changes here. I tried making it as realistic as possible to the anime we’ve grown to know and love, but added/removed certain events on my own accord. Like I said, this is my personal opinion so feel free not to agree with everything- it’s all in good fun! And thanks to my friends @djsockpuppet, @itstimetodrew, @dentos-wife, @floaromanights, @mistyisbae and @rosssquirtle for giving me their contributions as well! 

Ash isn’t eternally 10. He’s aging slowly, but his age is never brought up again after the first episode. He does make references in the future series, however, to the fact that several years have gone by since he started his journey.

Game logistics are taken into consideration: Ash can still be a brash, bumbling fool in the first season, but there are no cop-outs (such as the sprinklers weakening Onix or Erika awarding him the Rainbow Badge after saving Gloom, etc.). He wins them fair and square- maybe not in the smartest way possible, but he finds creative solutions. 

The water ballet and Team Rocket chaos in the Cerulean Gym happen in one episode; Ash and Misty have an actual, uninterrupted gym match in the next episode. Ash wins and gets the Cascade Badge.

The gang spends more time in game locations and less time in obscure silly anime-exclusive towns never to be talked about again. Another episode in Saffron featuring Silph Co. would’ve been cool. 

There is a special right before Mewtwo Strikes Back that directly echoes the Rocket CD drama on Mew’s origin. We see Miyamoto recording the cries of Mew (in an anime or game-exclusive location, NOT the Andes Mountains to avoid confusion about the real world and the Pokéverse), and also see her put Jessie into foster care. Madame Boss and a younger Giovanni are also shown.

Jessie and James recognize each other when they are paired as partners in “Training Daze.” We find out what happened after they dropped out of Pokémon Tech and joined the Bike Gang. 

There’s an episode where some crazy scientists find out Meowth can talk and want to conduct a dangerous experiment on him. Ash and co., and the TRio, help him escape and he makes it his goal to be the sole Pokémon interpreter for the rest of the series (of course, he vows use his interpreting skills in Team Rocket’s favor).

4Kids is still dubbing the anime, and all of the original voice actors (save for Maddie, rest her soul) are still intact. All of the dumb “painted” edits are nonexistent. All dialogue is accurate and similar to what’s being said/done in the sub. ALSO, NO DUB MUSIC. 

We find out why Brock left Professor Ivy and came back home. 

There is a GS Ball arc that leads up the events of Pokémon: 4Ever.

The TRio, similar to the SM series, does not appear in every episode. Yes, there are fillers but it’s not the same “CoTD/TRio-shows-up formula” every single time.

That being said, LESS FILLERS IN JOHTO. I loved them personally, but it did drag on.

The TRio’s assistant, Mondo, appears from time to time video-chatting them from Headquarters. He’s responsible for all the crazy mechas they use and he complains about them destroying his hard work, which becomes a gag throughout the series. 

The Johto admins (Ariana, Petrel, etc.) are introduced in the Lugia Arc. Butch, Cassidy and Namba are still there but are working underneath the higher-ups. Silver replaces the CotDs and helps Ash and co. stop Team Rocket. It’s hinted that Ariana is Silver’s mother. 

Silver is also known to be Jimmy’s rival in “The Legend of Thunder.”

There are more battles between Misty and Ash! Misty acts as a bit of a coach from time to time. 

Speaking of Misty, SHE wins the Whirl Cup.

Misty also gets her own ending.

There are more episodes featuring Casey and Ritchie! Maybe a fun baseball game episode where the Electabuzz team comes to play at a stadium in Johto!

More Gary episodes in Johto. Gary has an ending too. Why the hell not. It would be the last ending of the OS series, showing his dream of becoming a Pokémon Researcher as well as his relationship with Ash.

Lots of foreshadowing hinting at Brock’s eventual decision to become a Pokémon Doctor. Give him his own developmental arcs in AG and DP. 

EVOLUTIONS IN OS: Not all have to evolve, but SOME should have.  

An episode where Ash and Pikachu get into an argument and Pikachu runs away (nothing too drastic). This would kind of give a realistic approach to relationships and how even theirs isn’t perfect 24/7.

MAY CATCHES THE SWABLU. AND USES IT IN HER CONTESTS.

Ash’s arrogance in AG bites him in the butt at some point. He suffers a devastating loss in one of the gym battles and realizes he’s been a bit of a jerk about rushing his companions along. He offers to support May in her journey more and not be as brash. This kind of leads to his mellowing     out/maturing in the DP series. 

Make the Hoenn League not as boring somehow. This kind of heads into “Should Ash have had a rival in AG?” territory, and I’m personally not sure how to weigh the pros and cons of that since this series was so well done.

Max gets his own ending. 

Solidad is introduced in the first episode of Battle Frontier. She gives her whole “I know Drew” spiel to May early on and says she’s planning to enter the Kanto GF. She appears a few more times until the GF. She still wins the GF, but there’s at least more buildup and she has more of a     relationship with May.

Drew appears in Destiny Deoxys and assists the gang, as he obviously knows his way around LaRousse city.

The “Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon” does not exist. A better 10th anniversary arc is in its place, featuring a good portion of the current cast.

Lance and Steven get better cameo episodes. In fact, the entire Elite 4 is shown in their respective regions throughout the series. 

May is a bit more emotional about the group splitting up. She’s happy to set out on her own journey, but it would’ve been more meaningful to see her just a teensy bit sad about leaving Ash and Brock. 

There’s more backstory on Dawn and Johanna, and what made Dawn want to be a coordinator as opposed to a trainer. Some tension between the two would’ve been interesting- maybe Johanna could’ve been more of a “stage mom” putting some pressure on Dawn, or maybe Dawn put the pressure on herself to be perfect because of her mom, and that would be the very core of her developmental arc, to which she realizes her way of thinking is wrong and begins her goal of coordinating for herself and her pokémon.

Barry is introduced as Dawn’s childhood friend alongside Kenny; none of them travel together though obviously and all somehow receive their starter Piplup at different times. 

More bonding moments between Brock and Dawn.

Less fillers in DP. There can be fillers, just less and the pacing is evenly balanced between fillers and gym battles/contest episodes. 

Ursula is introduced early on. She beats Dawn in a contest at least once.

Scrap the Kenny vs. Ash battle at the end of the series. Make it one final onscreen Dawn vs. Kenny battle instead.

More exposure with the Sinnoh rivals in general. Replace the fillers with more episodes featuring Conway, Barry, Nando, and the coordinators. 

Some foreshadowing for Buneary’s modeling career with the Hearthome Collection! And while we’re at it, a few more PokéStylist episodes.

Marina makes a special appearance to judge a Pokémon Contest, particularly one Dawn loses. Backstage, she finds Dawn and encourages her to keep going despite the odds. Marina’s appearance would also further promote HeartGold and SoulSilver. She references Jimmy and Vincent in a flashback. Ash remembers Vincent from the Johto League. Also, in the Johto League, his name was Vincent. No Jackson nonsense.

Dawn gives Ambipom to Princess Salvia instead of that dumb “O” guy, when Salvia gives her Togekiss. 

After Ash defeats Paul, Paul basically “apologizes” to Infernape in his own words. This provides some good closure. 

Brock and Dawn get their own goodbye flashback sequences. Brock’s montage especially highlights everything he’s done during the past 12 seasons. 

May and Dawn get their own spinoff series, in which they are protagonists of a show that solely focuses on the coordinator sphere. The episodes flip-flop back and forth to show May in Johto, competing against Drew, Harley, Solidad and new rivals here and there, and same with Dawn in Hoenn. The Wallace Cup arc stays the same, except the episodes following portray May and Dawn as buddies keeping in touch and checking in on each other. The Sinnoh coordinators also make frequent appearances. Serena eventually joins the show as a novice coordinator, whom Dawn and eventually May take under their wing.

The Chronicles never ended; this time, newer protagonists sans the coordinators are added and we get to see frequent glimpses of their lives. We learn how Gary started working for Professor Rowan, we see Brock’s adventures on the journey to becoming a Pokémon Doctor, we see Max start his journey as a novice trainer, and of course there are plenty of episodes that still feature Ash’s previous pokemon, Delia, Tracey, Ritchie, Butch and Cassidy, etc. 

Ash isn’t terribly incompetent in Best Wishes, but he suffers a bit of a setback not being used to battling so many new and unfamiliar pokémon. This is the first time he’s completely alone without Brock and with     completely new people, so it’s a huge culture shock. Iris and Cilan are there to help him get back on his feet. Still, battles such as the Elesa     one and first battle with Trip aren’t completely ridiculous. 

There’s no Pikachu reset at the beginning of every region. Pikachu, like all pokemon, wins some and loses some, but the losses aren’t outrageously     ridiculous, such as the loss against Trip’s Snivy (which Ash would win here). 

Cilan and Iris get their own endings.

Cilan catches more pokémon. 

Iris is secretly in training to become the next gym leader of Opelucid, and she is the last gym leader Ash battles. Good plot twist, eh?  

Dear lord, develop the Connoisseur thing. This is the whole point of Cilan’s journey, so it’s so important to have the PCA be on par with the exposure May and Dawn’s journeys got. 

Have Pokémon Connoisseur “Conventions” be the goal for both Cilan and Burgundy, maybe starting during Season 2. These conventions could be comprised of two rounds in which Connoisseurs give “public evaluations” to up-and-coming trainers and then later evaluate pokémon-human relationships through battles. A series of judges gives them criticism and ranks them and whoever has the highest score wins; it’s very similar to the Contest structure.

^Imagine an arc where Cilan has to evaluate a trainer’s Purrloin and he flops terribly because of his fear. We eventually find out why he’s so afraid of Purrloin and Ash and Iris help him overcome this fear somehow. The next time he competes in one of these conventions, toward the end of the series, he has to evaluate a Liepard- and now, with his fear completely gone, he does extremely well. 

Develop literally ALL the BW rivalries more. Cilan/Burgundy and Iris/Georgia for the most part. These rivals were amazing characters, they had so much potential so it would’ve been great to see them more aside from being shoved into the Club Battles and Junior Cup. Have the rivals travel to the Decolora Islands as well, so that they’re not shafted after Season 2.

Speaking of the Junior Cup, have Dawn do a little more during her cameo. She felt kinda invisible. Also, slow down her battle with Ash. 

Introduce more Pokémon Connoisseurs, geez. Ricard could be a great antagonist similar to Harley- maybe he tries rigging the system at one of these conventions. Bring back that female Connoisseuse from “A Connoisseur’s Revenge!” and introduce Santo in THIS series so we have a familiar face at the Pokémon Showcase in XY.

The Rocket vs. Plasma arc airs sometime during the BW era. Ash and Giovanni recognize each other from the Mewtwo incident at Mt. Quena. 

Episode N is done completely differently; N is introduced at the beginning of the series and is a recurring character.

Cameron doesn’t exist, or at least he exists as one of the menial trainers Ash defeats in the Unova League preliminaries.

Ash vs. Trip isn’t the first round. They have a heated match in the semi-finals, but their battle is interrupted when the Plasma castle rises from the ground. And bam- the main Plasma arc begins. 

Give Cress his own episode! Chili got one, after all!

Speaking of, give the Striaton brothers their own flashback episode. How they got the elemental monkeys, how they became gym leaders, etc.

A more emotional goodbye episode for the Best Wishes trio, seriously! They had an amazing dynamic and were very close; it was surprising to see them so chipper on the train. Also, clarify their goals for the future a bit better.

Ash’s XY (and going forward) personality is a combination of that of all the previous series. He’s not as bumbling as he was in OS but not as brash and impatient as he was in AG, either. He’s a combination of all with just a tad more maturity. He makes references to his previous traveling companions and makes the occasional snarky quip here and there. 

Ash isn’t blind to romance, but it’s not his main concern. Hints created solely by the dub to promote [insert ship here] are nonexistent. 

In this case, Ash isn’t completely blind to the fact that Serena has feelings for him, but his main concern is battling and helping people and pokémon. He does get a little blush-y after the kiss, though. Fans are free to interpret this whichever way they want.

No matter what happens though, Ash and Serena come out of this series as good friends. There are more moments beyond the “Serena’s-got-a-crush” moments where they battle together and help each other out, reaching the “in-sync” level Ash and Dawn had.

More bonding moments between Ash/Bonnie, and Serena/Clemont.

The XY rival trio is handled better. It was nice seeing Shauna for the most part, but give Tierno and Trevor something to do too. They, along with Serena, could’ve also had a better role in the Flare Arc.

Speaking of which, slow down the Kalos League. It sucked that it was shafted for the Flare Arc. Ash doesn’t have to win, but it felt very rushed. This is where Tierno and Trevor could’ve came in and not have been shafted after the first few rounds. 

Serena does more before her decision to become a Pokémon Performer. It could be anything as easy as entering a Rhyhorn racing competition or battling more. 

IRIS GETS HER CAMEO IN XY DAMMIT.

There’s more buildup/episodes featuring the relationship between Ash and Froakie/Frogadier/Greninja. We get a little taste of Greninja’s feelings as opposed to just Ash’s. 

Greninja doesn’t leave and winds up getting Oak’d. Let the Zygarde figure things out on their own lol. 

Delia, Oak, Tracey and possibly others are shown watching the Kalos League on television, and worriedly watching the news during the Flare Arc.

Gary visits the Kalos region to work on another project. Serena recognizes him as the bratty grandson from the Oak summer camp and the two engage in some banter.

A few Pallet Town episodes in between generations, geez. Let Delia see her son! In the meantime, have Ash check in with Gary, Tracey and possibly Misty and Brock. 

Oh yeah, one last thing. M20 would’ve had this plot instead.

[pkmnjesus]

P J a shipper? SHIP-A-THON ‘18

𝒫𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒱𝐼𝐼

My case with the others:

Now the ships I like listed here are uncategorized by any series of the main-core anime series, such as QuestShipping. This pairing between Jimmy/Kenta (Trainer Gold’s anime counterpart) and Marina (Trainer Kris’s anime counterpart) can only be seen in the Legend of Thunder anime special. While their feelings for each other are flat out obvious, it’s nice to see a main protagonist that actually responds to a girl’s feelings for him *cough* *cough*

Other examples of unlisted pairings are Flint and Lola, Brock’s parents. They’re weird bunch if you’ve seen the anime specials they were in, but their love is definitely strong as a rock. Not even redesigning the Pewter gym to a water type gym with streamers around could break this marriage. And speaking about their son... 

The case with Brock/Takeshi: Now Brock deserves a special mention for this ship-a-thon post he is always finding for new love every day with every girl his age or older he meets. Unfortunately 95% of that he gets reject and gets his ear pulled, or poison jabbed. But there is that 5% of females that do like him (he didn’t really like the younger ones back though). And out of all that liked him back, Pike Queen Lucy from Battle Frontier was my favorite one (LuckShipping). I really got mad at Max for dragging him out in the end of that episode, where we clearly see Lucy blush. What’s funny about all of this is that she probably only liked Brock because most of the Pokémon she had at home had the same eyes (e.g. Skitty, Swinub, Snorlax) as he did xD I bursted out laughing because of that scene. On the friends side of things, he was Ash’s first big bro and chef. It’s amazing to see how close they were traveling for 3 series straight (the only companion to do so). GymShipping (Brock and Misty) had some cute moments too, but mostly goofy ones (like with Max’s ear-pulling lol). Big bro Brock also applies with May when she helps him buy for traveling supplies in Hoenn, or with Dawn giving her advice to lighten up during her times of depression. WE <3 YOU BROCK, screw all the girls that rejected you!

RocketShipping / KojiMusa (Jessie/Musashi & James/Kojirō): The favorite villain ship of the series definitely has a special place here in the others section since they were basically in every series! Take that Butch & Cassidy (I kinda ship them too) with your unoriginal motto! Along with PokéShipping, this is one of the most respected older ships in the community (as it SHOULD BE for being the longest running one TO THIS DAY). I feel like they’re already a married couple discussing plans every night before going to bed on how to catch Pikachu. This also the first adult pairing I grew up loving whether they eat, argue, cheer (in Jessie’s contests and performances), or blast off together, it’s really nice to see a mature (not really if you think about it lol) pairing over the course of 20 years in this show. Favorite moment - All the episodes with Jessebelle/Rumika (James’s childhood “friend”) in it. I remember watching the first one where they introduced James parents, and actually seeing a good side of James for the very first time outside of Team Rocket. At the end of that episode is really when the ship was sold to me. James pulls Jessie aboard the Meowth balloon, and they look into each other's eyes promising to continue to live without anymore personal commitments and resume Team Rocket operations. I’m sure hardcore RocketShippers loved that scene as much as I did. Unfortunately because of that sweet moment, they forgot about Meowth who was still in the ground running to the balloon as the episode ended xD

Meowth’s/Nyarth’s loves: Meowth has had its fair share of romances too that deserves a bit of mentioning. Meowzie was the first one he fell for, and in fact was the reason why he can talk and walk like a human! Too bad she had preferred to be with the Persian :( That episode broke my heart too because I was rooting for Meowth to succeed. After that we saw multiple occasion where he was infatuated with other Pokémon, such as Skitty, Glameow, Purrloin, and others I might be forgetting. KrazyShipping is the cat and mouse relationship he has with Ash’s Pikachu, although I really wouldn’t say there’s that much love in this relationship (gets shocked like every time they meet lol). In the end, his one true love is helping and aiding Team Rocket with Jessie and James (he loves them each of them you know it)...or fetishes with Giovanni fantasies. 

Inter-region interactions: There are some fantasy shippings people would like to see happen because of region barriers (I NEED MAX AND BONNIE TO MEET), however some came true in the form of cameos like Misty and May, May and Dawn, Brock and Cilan (FAV!! Gotta love the experienced chefs), Brock and Kiawe, or even Piplup and Oshawott (best Pokémon meeting/rivaly ever). But I would have to say that Misty and Lana’s recent interaction is worthy of praise. The two trainer specialists showcased their love and passion for water type Pokémon when they swam together finding the Gyarados that startled their group. There’s a bit of a watery rivalry in this cool and clean wet relationship (okay I’ll stop the water puns). I would definitely pay to watch a spin-off just between these two sailing the oceans of the Pokémon world together, and diving into the deepest part of the sea just to see more Pokémon. 

Movie shippings: There are a couple of movie shippings to take into account over the past 20 years, especially with the movie exclusive characters. I would have to say one of my favorite ones (besides AccordShipping that I explained in a prior post) is in Pokémon Heroes with Ash and Latias (AltoShipping...though MareShipping is the Bianca alternative term of the ship). This human Pokémon relationship is just so unique since Latias could transform to the human form of the movie’s Bianca (kind of creepy if you take advantage of that). Another one worth mentioning is CarnivalShipping in the Jirachi movie. I don’t remember much, but I know that Butler and Diane were an awesome magician & assistant dynamic...too bad Butler had evil intensions with Jirachi that made me (and Diane) lose respect for him a bit (he later redeemed himself but cmon man).

Game ships: Like with the movies there’s a lot of game shippings to take into account, but my favorites would have to be from Gen. V! I do like the pairing of Dawn and Lucas from Gen. IV and the player with Lille/Hau OR Lillie and Hau themselves from Gen. VII. A lot of obvious hints too! But the Gen. V games had AgencyShipping, FerrisWheelShipping, SequelShipping (FAV!!!) and VisorShipping. I don’t know why but the character designs stuck out to me and really enjoyed its characters emotionally. But I would definitely have to say TransceiverShipping is my favorite game ship simply because it is the first time where you can actually have a DATE OPTION IN A POKÉMON GAME. Whether if it was the male player and Yancy, or the female player and Curtis, the mysterious conversations you have with the Xtransceiver build up to the eventual date you’ll have with them. Some very, very cute stuff if you haven’t experienced it yourself. Go play Pokémon Black or White Version 2 NOW!!!

Shippings from Pokémon Adventures manga/PokéSpe: We gotta show some love to the manga side of things too! One of my favorite PokéSpe shipping include LuckyShipping (the flirting in here IS REAL), FranticShipping, ChessShipping (manga counterpart of AgencyShipping), and the pairing of X and Y (don’t know the name for that one). But SpecialShipping to me takes the cake on my favorite manga ship simply because of Yellow’s shy feelings for Red. It’s kind of like AmourShipping in a way, since Red is a bit dense in his own right to notice Yellow’s feelings AND Red and Yellow had their own childhood history before the Adventures storyline. It’s just very very adorable, and full of blushes! If you aren’t into PokéSpe, but love shipping cute characters together, you should definitely give it a read! 

KetchupShipping (Pikachu & Ketchup/Kechappu): BEST. SHIP. EVER. Favorite moment - The moment where Pikachu first laid eyes on that delicious bottle of ketchup at the Dark City episode, and licked it with cute pleasure :p

.....okay in seriousness what I really want to be talking about is PikaShipping

Of course the final Pokémon shipping I have to showcase here is between Ash/Satoshi and Pikachu of all people and Pokémon! I can’t really say favorite moment because almost every time these two interact, it is always a great moment in my book! RocketShipping maybe the longest, but this beats it by an inch because there isn’t a single episode where we don’t see Ash with Pikachu by his side. They made this show work ever since it started, and everyone around the world knows this dynamic duo since 1997! Ash leaves every Pokémon behind after Johto, BUT NEVER HIM. Everyone in the anime has had their one special Pokémon partner (Dawn and Piplup, Iris and Axew, Bonnie and Dedenne, Sophocles and Togedemaru, etc...), but it is not quite like the courageous and close bond that Ash and Pikachu share. Nothing will ever beat their Pokémon partnership...NOTHING!!!

P J’s ship-a-thon: OS | AG | DP | BW | XY | SM | Others | Non-Pkmn ships