#weird ice type growlithes

[salubri-outcast]

I mean the clothes are being burned. I'm never getting them to not smell like fired ectoplasam.

The nice lady at the hotspring is helping me comb the sick out. She's just happy that the rotom is fine. She asked to adopt it but I think I'm gonna keep it due to the weird colour.

Early research (MooMoogling) has shown that it might just be a slight varation in the charge of the little guy. It might be perminant or it might just be a side result of the electromagnetic.

"We've reversed his polarity captain!"- (done in best scotty impersonation)

PS: I've got a few really weird ice/steel type growlieths that team winter were using. You want one?

@professor-amaryllis The electromagnet worked and the Rotom is quite happy and not being sick on me. It is showing zero desire to return to the phone... and it's still um... neon-electirc-cyberish green. But it's not bothering him at all and Other than the greenishness is right as rain. Now the new problem. how do I clean rotom sick out of my fur?

and... everything.

[sharpmidnight]

TSSM Pokemon Au Part 4

I watched some Pokemon videos and decided to give TSSM characters Pokemon for fun! This is also going off of @hermesserpent-stuff ‘s Spider Nephew Au. Also, there might be some people with the same Pokemon for different reasons; either they fit two people, or it’s to match with someone. I also base some of these Pokemon in different ways, from types, aesthetics, Pokedex Entries, jobs, powers, and backstories. I also won’t mind explaining my reasoning because I did a lot of research for them. Also, I tried o make sure they had diverse types, but some people might have more than 1 of the same type. Another thing is that I like to imagine that Peter and the other villains have 3 Pokemon for their civilian image and then the other 3 for their hero/villain work. 

The last thing is that I have only played up to Generation 8, and I have yet to play the other games. So my bad, if there is another Pokemon that suits them better.(let me know plz)

I will highlight their starter and their strongest. Red is their strongest, and blue is their starter. Purple is both. Any that has a * are their secret team. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

L. Thompson Lincoln/Tombstone

(Shiny) Glaceon (Ice) 

Lucario (Fighting/Steel) *

Haxorus (Dragon) 

Golisopod (Bug/Water) *

Bisharp (Dark/Steel) *

Nidoqueen (Poison/Ground) 

Tombstone was bullied as a child as he looked different than other kids. One day, he hid from others so he wouldn't get beaten up. When the bush he was hiding in started moving. He was met with a shiny Eevee hiding from its siblings for the same reason. Lonnie took it home to heal it but had to hide it from other people. When the other kids found out, they were jealous that he had found a shiny pokemon. They bullied him about it even more for different reasons (that he didn’t deserve a shiny pokemon or that he managed to find a weird Pokemon like him). Eevee was his only true friend for a while (He also thought that Robbie was his only human friend). Next, he found a Wimpod who was also hiding from others for being weak. He decided to take care of it, too. When he was walking with Robbie Roberton, they found some Nidorans, both female and male. Robbie suggested catching them since he knows they would be strong Pokemon when they evolve (Lonnie got the female one since he liked blue more. Also, Robbie just wanted another Pokemon for Lonnie so he can be more protected from those bullies). He knew he had to be tougher so others would leave him alone. He caught a Riolu to start training himself to be a better fighter. So when he got older, no one messed with him anymore. He did get shady jobs and eventually went into crime but thought of nothing of what he wanted to do in the future. It wasn’t until he was thinking about enemy gangs that he had to deal with and wishing there was a way to stop them. He then watches a Bisharp leading a group of Pawniards to hunt and gets the idea of being a mob boss. He eventually catches a Pawniard and rises in ranks. When he was almost to the top, he knew he needed one more strong Pokemon. When his men revealed some stolen Pokemon another gang had, he watched how Fraxure never backed down. He decided to keep that one and evolved it for his image as a strong trainer as a mask for L Thompson Lincoln. 

Hammerhead

Bastiodon (Rock/Steel)

Rampardos (Rock)

Grandbull (Fairy)

Garchomp (Dragon/Ground)

Sharpedo (Water/Dark)

Mawile (Steel/Fairy)

Hammerhead had a tough childhood since his father was the one who controlled the house, and he couldn’t really get any Pokemon for a while without him approving it. When his father finally let him, they were all dog Pokemon, mostly Growlithe and Houndor. Until he found a Snubull that he liked. His father was going to order him to leave the Snubull because of its look until the breeder showed him what it evolves to and said it was okay to keep it. He caught different Pokemon, but his father never approved any of them except for Gibble. When he finally had enough, he fought his father when both of his Pokemon evolved and ran away. He later joined a gang. Somewhere, he caught a Sharpedo. As he was fighting a rival gang, he got hurt really badly and was taken by a scientist. He gave him his steel skull, including a Sheildon and Cranidos, since the scientist already tested the two pokemon for their skulls and didn’t need them anymore. He joined Silvermane’s gang for a while. He and Silver Sable were dating at one point as she managed to get them to have the same pokemon since she thought it would be cute. So they both have a Malwile. They ended up breaking up, but Hammerhead kept his Malwile. Now, he works for Tombstone.

Sable Manfredi/Silver Sable 

Mawile (Steel/Fairy)

Skarmory (Steel/Flying)

Weavile (Dark/Ice)

Beautifly (Bug/Flying)

Gorebyss (Water)

Lurantis (Grass)

Sable got any Pokemon she wanted from her dad. As a child,  her first pokemon was a Wurmple because her mother had a Beautifly, and she wanted one, too. Her father asked if she wanted fully evolved pokemon so she could have it, but she wanted to evolve them herself, so he let her. Later she she managed to get a Clampearl and a Formantis as a teen. She still didn’t know what other pokemon to get later. At one point, she dated Hammerhead a few years later. She thought it would be cute to have the same pokemon together. They both caught a Malwile. Eventually, they broke up, but Sable kept her Malwile. Later, Sable was trying to figure out what to do with herself while her father was in prison. She started training and trying to figure out what she could use. She caught a Weavile for offense. Then, a Skarmory for aerial attacks and a getaway ride. 

Cameleon 

Ditto (Normal)

Zorark (Dark) 

Mr. Mime (Psychic/Fairy)

Kecleon (Normal)

Castform (Normal) (Changes Types)

Oricorio (Flying) (Changes Types)

Dewpider (Water/Bug) (Abandoned)

Dmitri Nikolaievich Smerdyakov didn’t have the best childhood growing up. Living in the household of the Kravinoff family was tough, and one of the ways he tried to impress them was his acting skills by disguising himself as someone else, inspired by watching a Ditto that they let him keep but was the only one that was allowed to. Someone noticed his talents and asked if he wanted to join his brother’s group of impersonators. He also offered him a Zorua too, if he joined. Dmitri left the house, without anyone knowing, and began his criminal career. He eventually evolved Zorua to Zororark. Although he was very picky about which pokemon to get. He then decided that he wanted Pokemon that can transform or other performing types. He caught a Kecleon for its ability to turn invisible, easier for it to escape. Mr. Mime for  Psychic moves to stop people/pokemon or when Zoroark is pretending to be something else, Mr. Mime tries to use psychic in some way that it looks like Zoroark is attacking them with the “correct” moves. Castform and Oricorio came later and used their switching types as an advantage. After a while of being alone, he heard about another criminal using theatre tricks. He hunted him down and found Quintin Beck and the Tinkerer. They decided to become a group. At one point, he managed to convince Quentin to get a Zorua (in reality he was the one who needed that Zorua and did this as an excuse because he always has one slot open when impersonating someone else and catching that pokemon just to release it.) When he wanted to impersonate Spiderman, Quentin caught him a Dewpider. When his plan failed, he told Quentin to get rid of it and decided to leave the other two to go solo. 

Extra Stuff: Hammerhead and Sable’s Malwile are on good terms so they greet each other when they see each other. It annoys the other two when they are trying to battle. 

But if Mysterio and Chameleon’s Zoroark see each other, they fight since Chameleon boasts that his pokemon is stronger.

Hammerhead’s Granbull might look tough, but when they are alone it turns into a big baby. Hammerhead believes he might have pampered it too much as a child, but he doesn’t complain that much…until it needs a bath. 

Sable grabs onto Skarmary’s leg when they are flying but Beautifly likes to get out of her ball to join them. 

Hammerhead’s pokemon likes to headbutt him for no reason (affectionate) other than they know he can take it. However, Malwile bites him even though he already told them to stop. (They won’t)

Tombstone’s Glaceon would sleep next to his desk but when it’s not wandering around it sits on his desk, watching him work. 

Tombstone’s Glaceon is curious about Peter’s Eevee, since it’s been a long time since it has been near another Eevee, but gets too close to Eevee that it gets annoyed. 

Not many people will train their own Pokemon by fighting them, but Tombstone likes to spar with his. 

Nidoqueen is the Pokemon that is mostly concerned about Tombstone’s health. She makes sure he eats and sleeps. Since she did promise Robbie that she will take care of him.

[skippthecredits]

Field Log ???

"Redo the field log Skipp this sounds like the diary of a psychiatric patient" okay you know what how about YOU get stalked through the desert by a pack of maneating cacti for two days and then we'll talk about crazy shit. Fucking whatever.

Maybe I am going crazy, I don't know. I wouldn't blame me. This entire job has been one ordeal after the other. I thought being a trainer was supposed to be fun. And hey, some of it has been. The whole battling thing, that's my shit. I'm living for it. Nearly getting eaten alive by Cacturnes, sliced to pieces by a Bisharp, getting terrorized by those fucking dogs everywhere I go? No. Why is that 90% of this fucking job?

And don't even get me started of the Team Magma shit, at least some of the grunts are making nearly drowning in lava almost worth it. That shit isn't even in the job description, I'm just the only one here and willing to make sure the region doesn't explode.

Shit, I'm just ranting again. Maybe I do need a fucking journal. Dammit.

What can I report? Weird amount of ice types, I guess. You'd think they wouldn't like it up here, but apparently Alolan Vulpix are built different. They like the heat. They're doing way better than the Snover that got dumped out here. Or the Galarian Darumaka.

Why the fuck are there so many ice types? It's colder here than the rest of Hoenn, sure, but there's no snow or ice or even a cold cave.

Maybe I should double-check that I actually saw all of that. Maybe I dreamt it like I dreamt up those cloudy-looking Growlithe. I mean, that had to have been a dream, right? I only saw it for a second, I don't know.

Whatever. I'll clean this up later and send it in to Professor Bitch. I could just lie, not like he'd have any way of knowing.

[thebrisingamen]

Ridonculous Race

Taking a break from the Island Runs to to RR!! Also just as Pokemon, since there are SO many teams. Under the cut

Starting with

THE GOTHS: Crimson & Ennui are both Meowstics, since they're the most in-sync with each other and the most supportive toward each other in the entire series. Thus, a Meowstic Set makes sense since Psychic types can learn Dark type moves, and Meowstic has seen and survived the horrors.

Bonus, their Bunny Loki would be a Bunnelby

THE ICE DANCERS: Josee would be a Weavile, graceful but scheming, while her partner Jacques would be a Gallade; also graceful, while more well-meaning, loyal to a fault.

THE BESTIES: Devin would be a Slowbro because he is useful but man is this man dumb how tf did he never notice Carrie liking him like c'mon bro its OBVIOUS. Carrie is a Goomy as I think she means well, but she came off as a little clingy.

THE SURFERS: Geoff makes his return, and he is a Surfing Pikachu still, joined by his surfer friend Brody, who is an Alolan Raichu. Again, both of them are pretty chill and pick on vibes easily enough, but can get caught up in their own egos from time to time.

THE POLICE CADETS: Sanders is a Growlithe and MacArthur I made a Herdier as Sanders seems to be thoughtful and figure things out, While MacArthur is very loud and charges ahead without thinking things through all the time. By the time things wrap, they would both evolve into their final evolutions, to showcase their growth.

THE DATERS/THE HATERS: Stephanie and Ryan are pretty much constantly arguing and breaking up/making up, plus are self-proclaimed gym rats, so I made them Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee; constant rivals, working out, working well together but also easily becoming each others enemies, like they do in the show.

THE TENNIS PROS: I made Pete a Gumshoos and Gerry a Crabrawler. Honestly, I just picked pokemon that looked like old men for them, since that was their schtick.

THE SISTERS: These two took a while, since I wanted a related set of Pokemon. I eventually settled on making Emma a Gardevoir and Kitty a Kirlia, as both girls are reported to be smart but can get overwhelmed by emotion

FATHER AND SON: I couldn't figure out what to do with Dwayne for the longest time, until I settled on Delibird, because although it is cute, it could be considered a little goofy, dorky and older. It is why I made Jr a Shinx; younger pokemon, but a completely opposite type, to explain his disconnection with his father at times.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER: Since they were clearly Kardashian parodies, I had to go for wealthy, fancy pokemon. They are also the least adept, so I went with Normal types for them. I made Kelly a Cinccino and Taylor a Delcatty.

THE FASHION BLOGGERS: I made them similar types or similar looking types of Pokemon, that had a lot to do with Fashion. Jen I made a Leavanny, which is noted to make its own clothes and the judgement of the middle evolution never left them. Tom I made a Lurantis, to differ him a bit but also keep him stylish.

THE GENIUSES: Obviously, both are psychic types. Ellody I made an Indeedee due to the tireless amount of work she puts into everything, and I made Mary a Farigiraf, as clearly the TD team design wanted her to be weird, but she's actually pretty cool; she's also more willing to adapt to other things, unlike her partner.

THE VEGANS: I made Laurie a Bayleef, as she seemed ready to throw down, especially after the food challenge and Bayleef is noted to kind of give of a vibe of aggression while being a plant pokemon. Miles I made a Lilligant, as once again another plant pokemon, whose performance can be quickly outstripped by others.

THE LARPers: Wow another one joke team. Anyways, to kind of match the vibes, I made Leonard a Medicham and Tammy and Escavalier. They were there so briefly, it was hard to think what others would fit.

THE ADVERSITY TWINS: I made Mickey a Feebas and Jay a Magikarp, as both ugly fish are portrayed as going through adversity and once they evolve, they do become better at surviving everything.

THE REALITY TV PROS: Owen and Noah have evolved from their stints on Total Drama to a Xatu and a Snorlax. See that post for their original pokemon choice.

THE ROCKERS: Spud is almost dumber than Devin, so I made him a Slowpoke, and Rock I made a Luxio; kind of in the middle of being useful but not too much.

Finally

THE STEP BROTHERS: Chet is a Pikachu-Colored Pichu and Lorenzo is a Spiky Eared Pichu. I specifically chose these Event pokemon because they were presented as a pair and are literally nearly identical, which the Step-Brothers, in personality, definitely are. They grow closer through the challenge and end up becoming friends, but enemies at first.

Bonus:

DON, THE HOST: Persian, as he's also part of the original 151 like Chris, but he's a much less successful host as we only meet/see him in RR, but he's got better stats. More than likely because he invested his time/money better

BLAINELY: I don't care for her enough to give her a pokemon. I guess she'd be a weezing or grimer, considering? Poison Type, anyways

[blackthorn-legion-irl]

//private message thread ic

things to crossreference with pre-hospital - i'll do this once i'm home if you haven't:

they seemed very adamant about sprite being failed by society which is. surprising.

they are also just casually chatting with sprite. about growlithe and arcanine. that's. interesting. and forgiving it for making them cry? yeah, you're right, that Is weird.

particularly since skie thinks its name made them cry since he's the known robber since revealing itself.....

i thought they already would have known the suspects got away and that's why they'd be so stressed to cause medical problems? might have just fake-forgotten though, illness memories...

skie thinks indigo doesn't like soda, but indigo is requesting 7-up or other lemon-lime soda. that's. very specific, but it's Also one of the only sodas that /i/ can have since i can't have caffeine so maybe a similar reason there? but that's...

minor things to crossreference: favourite colour (grey), belief in non-type ghosts (yes), soda preference (lemon-lime), hair-style in previous photos (it's apparently dyed, but if the style is different enough that couldn't be easily done, right?)

theory: this isn't the same person as the fakedigo from before the hospital. maybe they got another zoroark in? or someone good at disguising. i still doubt skie is in on it. i feel like whoever this is is at the very least not particularly happy to be here. i swear are they just shoving an intern in to pretend to be the heir----- i'm leaving them coded messages that hopefully they'll pick up on, just as a basic.

i am also worried that they're trying to get at sprite somehow.... sprite is a lemon-lime soda too and it would explain why they're being so nice to it. i. don't know whether we should let sprite know this or not.

i found the weird tags. running a basic codebreaker on them..... nothing. either it's blocked to me somehow - the infernal spoiler filter that apparently exists. angy this is Important let me bypass it! - or it's just more complicated. i'll set the advanced codebreaker on it. for reference, in reverse-chronological order: ETVHSKRYKTSEETBLTKRQXY MWTKMDMBSSMWTKMDMBSSMWGIWYFRUHCTFRBLTKYIRQFODY CEGPGUFRMQML BYDGTTKELEKLDZ BLCTSDBLCEPLDFDUQRFC

i really need to ask sprite if it ran into anything, if the zoroark got injured during the heist that would explain a lot... i've dropped him a message. i've also said i'm talking to you about the situation in case it wants to talk before i get back - hope that's okay. feel free to share any of my theories. or even invite it to this message thread, i'll deal with him being mad at me for worrying if needed. sprite if you're invited here and see this - i'm sorry

the intrusive thoughts are telling me something else. i'll mention it if you want but i already jinxed things enough--- no, i'll just. an impostor couldn't imitate fibro tiredness so easily, right? most people don't even believe fibro is real. ugh. ignore that........

//private message from @hearthome-habitant

Asked a few questions on a burner account, and... I suspect "Indigo" is being drugged.

Chroma's intern is administrating "cold medicine" xe know nothing about – not even its name. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid....?

//private message thread ic

that's. interesting. why would they need to do that? 'indigo' was doing just fine before and would easily be able to just. not answer questions about the break-in.......

hmm. if my previous theory about 'indigo' getting controlled, though - maybe the control loosened somehow. that would explain why they would need drugging. i might ask sprite if it saw anything weird during the heist, possible some control thing could have been at the house...

not going to yet though. i'm. worried about sprite too, honestly. it feels like he's horribly beating itself up over the heist going badly... i wanna reach out some more but i don't want to overwhelm him, you know? sounds like he thinks indigo is mad at it too....... i noted that it sounds very like my own fibro experiences in that having to rest after exertion like that, but i don't think he responded. so i don't wanna push...

[squiddokiddo]

Hi there! 💛

🐹

🎁

Hi thanks for asking, I love playing these games so much.💛💛

‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚ ꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚ ꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚

🎁: What never fails to make you happy?

•Messages from/spending time with friends.

•My pupper Alfie.

•Cosy Cafés.

•Iced coffee. (pumpkin spice or caramel)

•Autumn leaves.

•Gordon.

🐹: What are some of your favourite Pokémon and why?

Ohh I love Pokémon, I've been a fan since I was a little kiddo!!

.*⊹ Nerdy rant incoming⊹*.

So I've had to put these Pokémon into four categories Mythical, Legendary, Starter and Regular otherwise I'll have a list of like 50 different Pokémon here and the post will never end!!

Mythical:

My favourite mythical Pokémon is Shaymin but particularly it's sky forme. It's super fluffy, I love the use of ears as wings (it surprisingly doesn't look weird at all) and the flower petal scarf is adorable!! I even have a Shaymin pokédoll plush which are extremely difficult to get your hands on.

Legendary:

I have a soft spot for Reshiram because it was my first, but my favourite legendary Pokémon is Zamazenta.

I love it's design in both formes, it's defense stats are super high and this is probably weird but it kinda reminds me of Virgil. (;^^) It has that big protective, gentle giant energy

Starter:

I usually go for a fire type starter Pokémon but my favourites are probably Treeko, Oshawot, Totodile and Rowlet taking the crown.

He's so round and cute. He is a true borb and one of the most accurate representations of an owl in animation.

Regular:

Dog like Pokémon tend to be my favourites and the original dogs take the top spot. They're my absolute favourite Pokémon of all time, I've always had a Growlithe and an Arcanine in every game where it's possible to get one and they almost always end up being my partner Pokémon.

If I were to have a Pokémon irl it would be Growlithe, if it can evolve then great; super strong floofy friend, if it can't then that's great too; smol and sweet floofy friend. Best of both worlds!! I also have a Growlithe plush and I would love to have an Arcanine plush some day.💛💛

‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚ ꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚ ꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊꒷︶꒷꒥꒷‧₊˚

Thanks for reading, I'm sorry it got a bit long there but I wanted to make detailed answers.

Emoji ask game

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Gold/Silver Beta Pokemon: The April 2020 Leak

Look, 2020 was a rough year. So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that the April 2020 Gold/Silver source code leak flew almost entirely under my radar. If you Google about it, you’re find it’s very rare for news outlets to cover it. This is probably because many folks are hesitant to cover leaks. Also, the US was warming up to a truly awful pandemic around that point, not to mention other civil unrest, so it’s no surprise some people were a tad distracted. 

But the fact is, another leak turned up in April of last year, following a recent trend of huge Nintendo leaks. And this one was a doozy. I’ve only truly realized its full extent in the past few days. As such, I’d like to do a post that covers some of the new information. In particular, I’m focusing on beta pokemon that were cut or heavily reworked.

Now, back in 2018, the Spaceworld ‘97 Pokemon Gold/Silver Demo was leaked online. I made a post about some of my favorites. So, from this leak, we already knew of a while slew of beta pokemon. However, as it turns out, there were still more new faces to find-- and a lot of them! I list 45 new beta pokemon here, in fact!

In the April 2020 leak, several sprite sets were found as internal files, each at different phases of game production. The sprite sets were dated May 6, 1998, June 13, 1999, June 21, 1999, and September 17, 1999. The August 17, 1999 Spaceworld ‘99 Demo build was also found, so we have information on that as well.

Essentially, if you want to see this information at The Cutting Room Floor, then head to this page for the sprites discovered as internal backups/sprite banks. Head to this page for the Spaceworld ‘99 demo information page. And, if you need a refresher for the older leak, you can go to this page for the Spaceworld ‘97 demo build.

For this post, we will focus on the May 6, ‘98 set of sprites, which contain the vast majority of new faces. So, without further ado, onward to the pokemon!

(#300) Kokopelli Pokemon/Celebi

(May 6, ‘98)       (Spaceworld ‘99 Demo)

This first pair of sprites looks very much like Kokopelli, a fertility deity of some Native American cultures. This deity can be seen in ancient Native American petroglyphs, as a humpbacked flute player with feathers on the head. Surprisingly, we find that Celebi in the Spaceworld ‘99 Demo seems to be an updated version of this design, making Celebi’s design origins much different than expected. However, its fertility diety inspiration is still somewhat apparant in the modern Celebi, as a creature that causes plant life to flourish.

(#301) Eel Pokemon

While the sprite files did not reveal a name or other data, this eel’s sprites were numbered right beside the Gurotesu (Grotess) and Ikari (Anchorage) sprites, suggesting it once was the start of their evolution chain. 

(#304) Fire Fox Pokemon

This little fellow is a fox that seems to have a fiery tail. It’s possible this fire fox was inspired by kitsune (just as Vulpix/Ninetails were) and that it was later redesigned as Fennekin. 

(#305 - 308) Snow Bunny Evolution Line

These four pokemon seem to belong to the same evolutionary line. The second one seems to based on the Yuki Usagi, a ‘Snow Bunny.’ In Japan, these cute little critters are made in the snow (using leaves for the ears). They also sometimes make these Yuki Usagi as little marshmallow or mochi treats. So this pokemon line could be inspired by either of these. Considering the leaves and the snow, I would guess these would have been Grass/Ice. 

(#309) Elephant Pokemon

You might wonder if this chonky boy-- looking tough with horns on his head and back-- was an early version of Donphan, but Donphan and Phanpy were present in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo. Indeed, this elephant and Phanpy/Donphan both exist in the same set of sprites from May ‘98, so it was simply a case of two types of elephants. This pokemon also calls to mind a glimpse of a cut beta pokemon we saw from Generation 1 (from ‘Satoshi Tajiri: The Man Who Made Pokémon’):

Same fierce eyes, at any rate! Alas, these both never saw the light of day. However, it’s possible this elephant was reworked into Piloswine, which is not in the May ‘98 collection but does appear in the June 13 ‘99 collection (although Swinub is absent). While Piloswine and Swinub are more akin to wild boars, there is also some relation to mammoths (an inspiration more heavily leaned on with Mammoswine in later games). Then again, there’s another pokemon you’ll see a little further down this list that might have inspired Piloswine instead.

(#311) Natu/Xatu Mid-Evolution

What is clearly a mid-evolution (its file number sits between the two). Has a peacock-like tail. Honestly, I think this works really good as a mid-evolution, and I don’t know why it was cut. I want to name it “Watu.”

(#313) Drunk Kiwi Pokemon

This one is just hilarious to look at. It appears to probably be a kiwi-bird? A very crazy-eyed, loopy one. I can see why this one was cut. The goofy, simple design kind of looks like a knockoff cartoon character for children. 

(#314) Scorpion Pokemon

A pretty badass-looking scorpion, although a rather basic design. I dig the funky head, though. It seems like it has a single, beady eye and is rather menacing. This pokemon may have been later reworked into Gligar, a pokemon that first appears after this sprite set, in the June 13 ‘99 group:

Admittedly this is rather different from the Gligar we know, but it is an early design.

Or, who knows-- maybe this little fellah was later reworked into Skorupi. (If so, it’s a shame, as I don’t dig the weird accordian-like design of its limbs and its evolution.)

(#315) Quail Pokemon

A pudgey little quail pokemon. Doesn’t seem related to the kiwi pokemon. It’s a very cute little thing, and has lots of potential to evolve into something interesting, but it seems they scrapped it pretty quickly.

(#316) Music Note Bird Pokemon

Although these sprites are numbered right after the quail, and they are both birds, the designs are very different, so they seem unrelated. It seems the beta pokemon were simply blessed with a lot of birds. This little bird is in the shape of a clef, giving this bird a musical theme. It seems very likely it was later reworked into Chatot, a bird with a music-note shaped head and metronome tail.

(#319) Boar Pokemon

A cute, grumpy little boar with antlers. Probably what eventually led to Piloswine found in the June 13 ‘99 group. A bit of a shame, in my mind, as I kind of prefer this design.

(#325) Spikey Dog Pokemon

The curious thing is that this dog looks very similar to “Pudi,” a pokemon we saw in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, which was intended to be a pre-evolution of Growlithe. But Pudi is also in this same collection of sprites!

Perhaps they were toying with the idea of re-designing Pudi (and had already scrapped a bunch of baby pokemon) and just hadn’t bothered to remove the old Pudi yet. It’s hard to say. Ultimately, these both were scrapped, but at least we still have Subbull/Granbull.

(#331) Yūrei Ghost Pokemon

This little ghost has two things that are common in Japanese folklore: the hitaikakushi (the white cloth headband it wears) and the two little balls of fire called hitodama. It is unknown why this ghost pokemon was scrapped, but perhaps they thought the little fellow wouldn’t translate well overseas? 

(#344) Viking Ship Pokemon

Look at this beauty! A pokemon based off some sort of Viking ship. I absolutely adore this one. It’s creative and charming. I hope to see it in the future.

(#349) Wooly Dog Pokemon

This canine-like creature is fluffy as all out. Honestly I think it’s a tad odd, with how tangled and disheveled its fur looks. I can’t help but compare it to the early desings of the three Legendary Beasts, since they also are very canine-like:

These three designs are present in this same May 6, 98′ sprite collection as the representations of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Were they possibly playing with a different design idea for the Legendary Beasts? Perhaps Suicune. The Wooly Dog is just such an imposing sprite, that I can’t help but wonder. All pure speculation, of course. 

(#350) Rabbit Pokemon

This rabbit has a rather intense look about him, and it makes me curious what the ideas were behind it. TCRF suggests it’s a possible pikachu clone.

(#351) Snake Pokemon

This cute little worm or snake seems to be wearing a feather headdress, suggesting its design may also be Native American inspired, like the Natu line. On the other hand, this could be inspired by Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent deity in Aztec culture. I would have loved to see this little guy’s evolutions.

(#352) Scarecrow Bird

A bird with a hat that kind of looks like a scarecrow. Honestly, it’s a super-cute idea.

(#353) Gargoyle Pokemon

This crouching beastie sort of looks like a gargoyle with a long, sharp tail. I can’t quite tell if those bits on the side are little wings or just a part of its legs. It would be interesting to see this creature standing in a different position-- I feel like that would give us a better understanding of what it looks like. Interestingly, there are striking similarities with Aerodactyl:

I wonder why they are so similar?

(#354 - 356) Manbō Evolution Family

The first of these three fishies was someone we already met in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo-- it was named ‘Manbō 1.′ In the demo, it evolved into  Ikari (Anchorage) and then Gurotesu (Grotess). It seems it’s now been split off from those and given a new evolution family here. While I find that neat, and I quite like the expressions on these fish, they are admittedly a little bland. 

(#360) Flying Squirrel(?) Pokemon

TCRF guesses this is a flying squirrel, and it seems to be wearing a sheathed sword. Not sure about the headgear it’s sporting. Is that a ninja star? 

(#364) Early Cyndaquil

So, this May 6, ‘98 collection is really exciting. The original Gold/Silver fire starter line we saw in Spaceworld ‘97 (Honooguma’s line) is still present in this collection (as is the water-type ‘Cruz’ line and Chikorita’s line). So, what we have here seems to be an early Cyndaquil before they decided to turn it into a fire type and make it the fire starter! In fact, those spikes might even be icicles (like Alolan Sandslash), for all we know. If so, Cyndaquil’s typing pulled a 180.

(#377) Early Furret?

Possibly an early Furret. Looks pretty awkward, not gonna lie; I’m glad it was probably refined into modern Furret, with more body definition between the head and tail.

(#378) Stork Pokemon

It’s a stork, based on the myth of where babies come from. A cute idea, although its curly ‘hair’ looks a little funny to me. 

(#380) Squid Pokemon

A squid with drills for its mantle and arms. Since that’s kinda Beedrill’s thing, I’m glad they scrapped the idea. The backsprite lacks drills so it’s probably from a different design stage. 

(#382 - 383) Early Burmy/Pineco

Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim is based off the bagworm. Bagworms are grubs that use silk and lots of bits of leaves, bark and other objects to create a camouflaged cocoon. When they turn into adults, some species of female bagworms just look like their larval stage, while the males turn into winged moths. That is why Burmy/Wormadam/Mothim have their unique evolution situation. Clearly, these two beta pokemon are playing around with the bagworm idea. They probably went on to inspire both Pineco (another pokemon based on bagworms!) and the Burmy line in gen 4.

(#386) Koala Pokemon

It’s so cool to see they were thinking about a koala pokemon this early. We would not finally get one until gen 7′s Komala.

(#387) Tanuki Pokemon

A Tanuki that is carrying campfire kindling on his back, but the kindling has caught fire. Apparently based on the Kachi-Kachi Yama folktale, which is a surprisingly violent story, but I suppose folktales often are. Who knows why it was cut, but Sentret is the closest thing we have to a tanuki pokemon for now.

(#392) Megaphone(?) Bird Pokemon

Yet another bird pokemon! There sure were a lot of beta birds. This one appears to have a megaphone-shaped beak. Or, possibly, its head is shaped like a gas mask (the strange eyes seem  to support this idea). Honestly I really dig the look of this one.

(#397) Frog Pokemon

It’s tough to tell but it has a small horn on its head. It has a long tongue and is probably shouting “ribbithhhhhh!” It’s cute, but a little plain.

(#400) Tiny Hippo Pokemon

Look at this little weirdo. I think it’s a tiny hippo? With a mohawk and a big grin and wild eyes. It doesn’t really seem to have a head, its mouth/eyes/ears are just stuck directly to a body. Looks pretty awkward, probably needed some polish. No idea what they were going for with it, but it’s interesting.

(#401) Skeleton Pokemon

A very spooky, bipedal, living skeleton beast. It has a long snout and sharp teeth, almost like a crocodile or a dinosaur-like creature. Its head and shoulders have bony spikes and the front of its snout has markings that seem to be a nasal cavity. Very detailed. It also reminds me of Missingno, as some Missingno used the fossil skeletons as their front sprites. I would have loved to have this pokemon, and it’s a real shame they didn’t use it.

(#402) Rodent Pokemon

A mouse or bunny with gigantic, spotted ears and no arms. Those are some serious ears; it almost looks like it could fly with them. 

(#403) Fly Pokemon

A bug-type!! It has a huge, creepy face, curly antenna and wings strangely really close to its head. I love it?? But it’s a bug, so of course I do.

(#404) Plant Pokemon

The Snow Bunny was likely part grass-type, but other than that, this is our first grass beta! It has one eye, a spikey head, and almost foot-like roots. I love how grumpy it looks. There’s a possibility it was a pre-evolution for Sunflora, before they had created the idea of Sunkern (which is not present in this collection).

(#405) Ant Pokemon

Another bug!! This one looks a lot like a winged ant. (Those do exist-- usually a temporary thing for mating flights) It’s possibly related to the fly pokemon above, sporting very similar wings. However, it doesn’t really seem like an evolution.

(#406) Dinosaur Pokemon

A little dinosaur-like pokemon, looking up at you. It’s unclear if that’s a tough, bony skull, or if it’s maybe a hat. The clubbed tail makes me wonder if it’s related to #415 below, but it’s probably unlikely. However, it is pretty likely that this later became Cranidos.

(#407) Early Cherrim

This clearly was a design that was picked up later, in gen 4, to create Cherubi/Cherrim’s sunshine form. I am glad the design was improved, because the lips on this one scare me.

(#412) Early Dunsparce

Dunsparce looking quite different. No wings, no drill tail, with a much more typical snake-like face. 

(#415) Dinosaur Pokemon

It looks like an aquatic version of an Ankylosaurus or something similar. It’s possible it’s related to the Viking Ship pokemon (as a pre-evo), but there’s no way to know. I quite like it, though.

(#416) Flying Fish Pokemon

This magnificent beast, this miracle of creation, is surely my favorite beta pokemon of all time. Revel in its glory. You may not like it, but this is the ideal pokemon body. What a perfect way to round off our collection of betas.

[mrultra100]

Ultra’s Ramblings: Legends Arceus Dex Ranking  (WARNING; Contains Major PLA Spoilers)

Alright, so Pokemon Legends Arceus is almost ready to come out, and a few chumps on Twitter somehow managed to get some early copies of the game, revealing almost everything there is to see and do, including all of the new Pokemon and Hisuian forms. You’ve probably seen it in the last few days, I’ve definitely seen it for myself (Because I’m just that willing to spoil myself to see the new Mon),but if you still haven’t seen the leaks and don’t wanna be spoiled, I highly recommend that you might wanna hit the road, cause we’re gonna get into some really 🅙🅤🅘🅒🅨 spoilers, regarding the newest additions to the Pokedex (Or is it old? I mean, these guys were around hundreds of years ago, so they wouldn’t really be “new”)

Hisuian Decidueye- I know the internet has been making jokes about this new look for the archer owl, but if anything, this just makes me wanna pick Rowlet even more than I originally did, I might even like this more over the OG Decidueye. I mean, I love Decidueye, but this Grass/Fighting, feathery straw hat-wearing, shortie is really where it’s at

Hisuian Typhlosion- While I think Cyndaquil is adorable, I never paid that much attention to Typhlosion. Personally, both Typhlosion and Samurott really needed the added type for them to stand out, and gotta say, a Fire/Ghost type who looks hella stoned out of its mind wasn’t something I was expecting, but, I’m here for it

Hisuian Samurott- For the longest time, I wonder why Samurott never got a secondary type, then again, aside from a few exceptions that make sense to me, I wonder why alot of the fully evolved starters with only one type never have some sort of added type to them (Blastoise could’ve been Water/Steel when Gen 2 rolled around, but that never happened). With that said, Samurott with the Dark type added onto ‘em is a neat thing to see

Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine- Regarding my thoughts on the boi? One word: Precious. And Arcanine looks just as good, especially with how they both have igneous rock in their fur. That’s pretty creative for a Fire/Rock type

Hisuian Voltorb and Electrode- Not much to say, except two points I wanna bring up; I just love how the expressions between the two are reversed in comparison to their original counterparts, and Electric/Grass is a pretty cool type that should be given to more Pokemon

Kleavor- Honestly, one of the best new Pokemon introduced in this game. Scizor was pretty good enough, but a split evolution that’s basically a samurai mantis with obsidian axes for arms? I fell in love with this thing when I first laid eyes on it!

Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil- This is possibly the best way to give an underrated Pokemon some love; Slap the Dark type on it, have it evolve (And make it like it fits in Splatoon), and call it OVERQWIL. This is honestly one of the most beautiful names you could give to a cartoon puffer fish, and considering how lethal real life fugu is to eat, that makes so much sense. Seriously man, OVERQWIL!? Whoever came up with that glorious name at Gamefreak deserves a raise!

Hisuian Sneasel and Sneasler- If I’m being honest, these two just feel…weird. I don’t have any big problems with them, design-wise, but considering how normal Sneasel and Weavile might also be in this game, this does raise a question; Could it be possible for a Pokemon and their regional form to exist within the same game together without bringing the former over through something like Home? The only other thing I have to say is that Ice/Poison would’ve been neat…That’s pretty much it I have for these two, don’t got much aside from that little confused rant

Ursaluna- Cool name, cool design, and a neat type combination of Normal/Ground, this one’s cool in my book

Wyrdeer- Let’s be real, Stantler is not a really good-looking Pocket Monster, but Gamefreak somehow was able to fix it in terms of…well, everything about it. Plus, i’d imagine it being a powerhouse when holding onto it as you run for your life from a pissed-off Electivire that wanted to smash your spine in half and electrocute you to a crisp

Hisuian Lilligant- Not usually big on flower Pokemon, but Lilligant apparently never skipped leg day. Be sure to keep her away from the internet tho… I don’t think those long legs are gonna help her in this case…

Basculegion (and White-Stripe Basculin)- This is it, THE Mon that got me really hooked on Legends (Pun not intended). Like with Overqwil, this also managed to bring back a lowly fish Pokemon in the best way, this time having it be possessed by the souls of its friends and family who all DIED while making their way upstream…Don’t ya just Pokemon?

Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark- Another set of bangers, in my book, it really helps that Zorua is cuter than usual. I swear, I have some sort of attachment to things that are adorable and flat-out terrifying at the same time, I can just feel it

Hisuian Braviary- Always thought that Braviary was a cool Pokemon, and I gotta say, the Hisuan variant keeps up what I like about it, now coming with a side dish of psychic screeching that’ll feel like the punch of a screaming weeaboo after you tell them their waifu doesn’t exist in real life

Hisuian Avalugg- Of all Pokemon, this one got some attention, and while it’s a weird choice for the first Gen 6 Mon to get one of these, this still holds up pretty well. Plus, this thing’s seriously giving off some mad Ukanlos vibes, like I’m supposed to hunt it down and whack it with a Long Sword

Hisuian Sliggoo and Goodra- Regular Goodra was already based on the Shussebora, so it honestly makes sense for it to be in Hisui and look like this. Plus, maybe the shell can help it hide from…well, I think we can all agree the developers knew exactly what they were doing when they designed Goodra to begin with…

 Enamorus- Never I thought that we would see the Forces of Nature gain another member, but given how past groups of Legendaries can get new additions (something that Regieleki and Regidrago proved), it doesn’t seem that impossible. I love how her Therian form is basically a soft-shelled turtle, maybe that can help her with dealing with- yeah no, Rule 34 will basically make porn outta anything, and believe me, I don’t think I should expand on that

Dialga and Palkia Origin Forms- I know, I know, these two just look ridiculous, but from the way I see it, these new forms make alot of sense, design-wise. Firstly, these two must’ve been some of Arceus’ first creation, maybe at a time when he was starting to create life, and second, the whole notion of these peeps being eldritch gods fits with the looks.

And with that, those are all of my thoughts on the new forms and Pokemon for Legends: Arceus! Let’s be real here, these are some of the most ridiculous-looking designs in the entire franchise, and all here for it. Pokemon has always featured designs for its creatures, and the developers really managed to bump up said ridiculousness to 11. To close things out, here’s a quick tierlist I hastily put together on my final ranking for these guys

[radramblog]

P:LA new pokemon dropped

At this point we know slightly more about the game everybody is fucking hyped about that comes out in like 5 months what the hell, and as such there’s probably enough to talk about to make this sort of post work.

With that in mind, fuck it I just wanna talk about the new Pokemon designs because come on that’s the fun part. We don’t really know much about the human characters aside from that half of them are blatantly ancestors of regular Sinnoh people (which isn’t how that works but sure) and the protagonists being named Rei and Akari which is so close to making so many Eva jokes work. So close.

So we’re just gonna skip to the new mons.

Wyrdeer

I actually thought this was a Normal/Ice type until I checked. As godawful as that typing would be defensively, I’m all here for trying to check off every potential type combination box! But alas, this Stantler evolution is Normal/Psychic, and will probably overshadow incredibly good boi Girafarig as a result. And Meloetta is also there.

The good: I like the antlers a lot, they feel much more regal and moose/caribou-y while still looking like Stantler. Frankly it was always a bit weird that Stantler didn’t do Psychic things, considering its association with Hypnosis via antlers, so the typing makes perfect sense! And finally, I really like the big ol’ beard this fella has. It’s cute.

The bad: outside of the colouration, Wyrdeer’s body and head are ridiculously similar to its preevolution. Like, ludicrously so- same head and nose and ears, very close tail and spots, and the detail on the legs isn’t massive. I’m not sure what I’d change them to, but I feel like there was a way to make a New Stantler without making it identical. Compare something like Mr. Rime- it’s still undoubtedly a Mr. Mime evolution, even if the Galar form didn’t exist, but it still looks very distinct from its previous forms.

Overall I’m here for this deer, but I think it’s going to depend a lot on things we don’t know yet.

 Basculegion

I think this is the one that people are most excited for, and I can see why. Much like Wyrdeer, this is an evolution to an under-represented and, frankly, underpowered single-stager, in this case the much-maligned Basculin. Gone is the weird idiot mix between Siamese fighting fish and gang wars/American political parties (I’ve heard both!), now we have a massive kickass bass that trails soulfire and bites faces off.

Pokemon has a lot of species that are just “this is a fish”, and at this point I’m getting a little sick of them. Arrokuda/Barraskewda are okay, and this is coming from somebody that likes Barracudas, and Bruxish makes me upset on a level I cannot quite articulate. Basculegion manages to go above and beyond all of these on account of being a massive badass.

Not only is Water/Ghost a rare and awesome typing (shared only with Basculin’s Gen V cousins Frillish/Jellicent), it’s a big and angry and cool fish with facial hair because why not? I’m not sure if this bad boy is meant to evolve from the Red-Striped Basculin or just both, but I don’t really care, it’s just hella sick.

Unfortunately, it does mean we’re going to have to put up with Basculin. Which sucks. Basculin is so fucking boring.

 Hisuian Braviary

Slightly less of interest are the regional forms we’ve seen so far. Don’t get me wrong, I like regional forms, but the ones chosen so far aren’t highlighting underappreciated mons the way that Wyrdeer and Basculegion do.

Braviary, AKA ‘murica burd, is arguably not the most top tier in a lot of people’s minds. But I always really liked it, and I’ve run it in competitive. So how do I feel about the new one? It’s okay. I do like how fluffy the thing looks, and the third-and-fourth eyes looks extremely sick. On the other hand, it’s yet another Psychic/Flying type, and like Wyrdeer it looks very similar to the base form. It does look like it could theoretically evolve from regular Rufflet, though, so I expect we’re not going to see a Hisuian form of that. Which is fine, Rufflet is adorable.

We’ve gone from the Chad Thunderbird to the “where do you work out?” “the library” fluff bird. It’s fine? It’s fine.

 Hisuian Growlithe

Well they had to sell people the game somehow. I’m actually surprised at the backlash I saw in some places for this Pokemon- like I know Growlithe and Arcanine are sacred icons for some people, but this thing is so fucking cute! It’s a baby komainu! It can’t dang see for the fluff in it eyes! Also that deeper red suits it very well in my opinion.

I also recall some people being like “why is this a rock type”, which. I guess would be confusing if you weren’t aware of this species’ statuesque origins. Because it’s a statue. Considering the many, many Japanese folklore references in the region so far, this particular nod is not one I’d expect people to miss- but I guess not everyone is a big nerd like I am.

Anyway it’s a good fucking dog and I can’t wait to see what the big boy one looks like.

 Kleavor

Somebody at Game Freak came out of a 20-year coma the other day and was like “guys we should make a Scyther evolution” and had enough power to force them to do that again, huh. It….why does it look like this? I think I’ve looked at this thing long enough to decide that I don’t really like it.

Scizor, aside from looking rather sicknasty, works because it looks like it could be a bug still. It has these brutal pincers but they’re pincers, it has little wings, it’s an insect.

Kleavor’s hands are caveman-ass stone axes. They look ridiculous. It looks ridiculous. I can’t take it seriously. It’s face looks more avian than insectile, the legs are weirdly wide, it has rock…eyebrows…?

This is the only miss so far for me. I’m sorry any Kleavor stans, but this ain’t it chief. I can’t wait for this fucker to have ludicrous stats so I have to stare at it for hours on end.

...it doesn’t even have cleavers???

[bundleofyarrow]

Bundle of Yarrow Chapter 9 is up!

the 9th chapter of my Milo x Reader fic Bundle of Yarrow is up! you can read it below the cut or over at AO3. this chapter is mostly inspired by an ask wanting to see a scene of Milo getting jealous! see my attempt at creating tension as you struggle to deal with suddenly being a part of the gym challenge.

Exiting Motostoke was like shifting into a completely different setting. The west side of the city was dominated by warehouses and loading equipment. Sounds of metal against metal and tumbling construction material overwhelms the magic feel of the city. Instead, haze from billowing smokestacks and whiffs of waste occupied your senses as you walked through to Route 3. You never thought you’d miss the Wild Area, but you would trade this for the scent of the forests any day.

“Whew! Now I remember why I never visit Turffield on foot unless it’s from Hulbury.” Sonia complains, waving a hand in front of her nose. “I think the last time I’ve been to Route 3 was for our gym challenge!”

Earlier in the day, Sonia showed you a statue of a hero with a sword and shield in the lobby of the Budew Drop Inn while you waited for Leon to get ready. She was reading the inscription and looking information up online while writing in her notebook. It was an interesting listen, hearing about Galarian folklore and the mysteries that remained. Her excitement and curiosity was infectious. Even though you had little relationship to this region’s mythologies, you were becoming invested in her adventure for finding out the truth. Apparently there are ancient sites in Turffield that may have leads for her research, so she decided to walk with you over to your first stop in the gym challenge.

“You don’t have to rough it with me, you know. You’re able to take a flying taxi over to Turffield.” You offer nonchalantly, not trying to give away that you do indeed want her company, but don’t want to feel like a bother. “It’s just me that has to do all the walking.”

“Absolutely not.”

A few paces behind you was Leon, except upon a cursory glance you might not be able to tell. He was dressed in joggers and a hoodie that contained his hair, complete with wrap-around sports sunglasses that tinted your reflection in yellows and greens. This is the first time you’ve seen Leon incognito, more used to his open, public displays of celebrity. In a group chat with you and Sonia, Nessa gossiped about Leon getting scolded by League higher-ups and was told to not be seen with you anymore. He was also given a bunch of work by Chairman Rose related to some new energy plan Marcos Cosmos was prototyping. Leon wouldn’t tell you more than that, only he was escorting you to the Galar Mines on the other side of Route 3, picking up some samples, and heading to Hammerlocke, which you learned is a city north of the Wild Area.

You couldn’t put your finger on it exactly, but it felt like Leon was hovering over you all day so far. He would reach for things to give to you the moment you were about to get them yourself, or he would take your coffee cup while you were texting on your phone. Leon insisted that he come along with you because you needed some training to do well at the gym challenge. You still weren’t completely sure about this whole gym challenge thing, but you figured he was right, given he’s a champion and all.

Things weren’t exactly settled with you though. When you woke up, your phone had a huge influx of notifications from Pokegram. Turns out that Raihan posted the selfies he took with you at dinner on his account and tagged you. This only seemed to stoke the speculation online about a relationship between you and Leon. While the idea didn’t offend you, things definitely didn’t feel like there was romance in the air. He always acted weird towards you, despite making advances on you twice. Not to mention, there has to be something going on him with and Sonia…

“It’s nice to do the walkin’ sometimes! Durin’ challenge season things get so busy, there’s no choice but to use flyin’ taxis.”

It was hard not to smile with Milo’s matter-of-fact optimism, seeming to be in a much better mood today and back to his usual pleasant self. He walked next to you with that permanent soft rise in the corners of his lips, not looking at all encumbered holding bags of last minute grocery shopping you did. Early this morning he actually went to get the group coffee and tea while you dragged yourselves out of bed and got ready to leave. On your way past the markets of the city you remember how you wanted to stock up on some cooking materials for the trip, and might have went a smidge overboard. You wanted to get some fresher ingredients for the first couple of days, so you got some sausage to cook for tonight and a good medley of mushrooms and veggies for tomorrow. After that, you knew you had to get things that preserve for a bit, so you also bought some potatoes and pre-cooked burger sealed tight, along with a couple cups of emergency instant noodles. And of course, plenty of curry mix! What escaped your calculations was how much all of that would weigh, and the current lack of space in your bag.

And as if on cue, with little effort at all, Milo just lifted the bag out of your arms and informed everyone he was joining you all on the trek over to Turffield. You were quite surprised, since he probably needed to get to his gym to prepare for the first wave of challengers. Milo said he wanted to stretch his legs and take things slowly before the rush, but you wondered if that was the full story. Come to think of it, this was when Leon’s weird behavior began.

As the group crossed out of Motostoke and to the dirt path of Route 3, Leon stopped you. He was scoping out the rustling in the tall grass and took notice of young trainers loitering around hoping to get some practice in. When he turns to you, he has a bit of a smirk and hands on his hips.

“Okay, it’s time to get serious about your training! Let’s go over some basics and give you some strategy.” He holds up eight fingers, four on each hand. “So there are eight gyms, what is unique about them?”

You blink a couple of times. “They all specialize in different types, even I know that Le-” He quickly makes a hushing gesture with a finger over his mouth. “Um, mysterious Mr. Man?” Sonia doesn’t hide her giggle.

“So you have to visit each of these in an order, right? It only makes sense that you try to capture and train Pokemon that have type advantages for your next gym. Then when you get to the championships, which you will, you can select the Pokemon you’ve bonded with the best to train for the end.”

“This feels like cheating, but okay.” You look over to Milo, who is looking down the route but casually listening in. “So it’s your gym first, and I feel like everyone has been saying you like Grass types?”

Milo smiles at you and gives a thumbs up. “You got it! In fact, you already met the Pokemon you’ll be battlin’.” That must mean the ones he introduced to you while you were camping.

“Right, now Milo isn’t that much of a challenge,” Milo stiffens a bit at Leon’s comment. “So as long as you find the right types, you can win pretty easy. Since his gym challenge only uses two Pokemon, you only need two yourself. And I’ll help you train!” His grin only widens, he’s really into this. “Do you know what is good against Grass?”

You try to remember the times you’d have lunch and Hop would force Gloria to quiz him on type matchups. Whether it’s helpful or not, you try to imagine literal grass and what it wouldn’t like. “Fire, Bugs, umm… and Ice?”

Leon nods. “Also Flying and Poison, so there are plenty of choices to beat Milo with.” Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Milo’s smile is gone and his expression is very difficult to read. It’s not that nervous, fumbling side that comes out every once in a while, it’s… something else. “This route is the habitat for a few fire Pokemon, Growlithe, Vulpix, and if you’re willing to do some searching, there’s Sizzlipedes too. And catching you a Rookidee wouldn’t hurt either. I can train you with the Thwackey I have on me, we need to work on your battling form.”

It’s hard to not feel a bit overwhelmed by everything Leon is shooting at you. But before you can protest much, he leads you down the route to begin your training. He gets nearby trainers to battle you, coaching you from how you throw your Pokeball to giving commands. Yelling orders at your Pokemon makes you deeply uncomfortable, so you try to work around Leon’s advising by cheering them on or getting better at reading the situation and relaying that information to them. You can tell Leon is biting his tongue, because while it seems like you’re winning battles, they aren’t decisive wins.

After a fight with a girl’s Vulpix, you crouch down to pet Pancham and tend to her burns. She didn’t seem to have an issue with battling at all, in fact, she’s basking in her victory. But hearing her cries when attacked was dreadful. It made you want to quit right then and there. “You’ll get a little extra curry tonight.” For some reason, your other Pokeballs shake upon hearing that.

When you rise and return Pancham to her Pokeball, you feel a strong hand on your back. “Good work, you’ll be battling me in no time!” You can see Leon’s eyes sparkle when he looks over his sunglasses at you. “I can now see what Milo was talking about, you care about your Pokemon above all other concerns. It’s hard to be that way during a fight though, during a Pokemon battle all you can think about is winning.”

You sigh a bit hearing that, and Leon soon directs you into the tall grass to find a fire Pokemon of your own. “You have a Vanillite, but it’s better to explore some more options before you settle on including her into your lineup.” It doesn’t take long to reconfirm that you are horrible at throwing Pokeballs, and you realize that you most likely only caught Yamper and Vanillite because they wanted to be caught, just with a bit of a fight first. The idea of forcing a Pokemon to join you twists your stomach. You attempt to talk to all the wild Pokemon Leon wanted you to catch but none responded very well.

“We’re really going to have to work on your throwing arm. Here, let me catch-”

“No.” You say with more force than you meant. “I don’t like doing it this way. My Pokemon picked me, and I want to keep it that way.”

Leon crosses his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow. “But how are you going to get the Pokemon you want? I admit I’m impressed that Pokemon seem to choose you willingly, and they want to fight for you. But you’re supposed to be doing the choosing, not them. You’re a Pokemon trainer now, have to get into a different mentality.”

Sonia and Milo have mostly been chatting between themselves while trailing behind you and Leon. They both give you a reassuring touch on the shoulder or elbow whenever he gets particularly tough in his instruction with you. It’s clear to you now why Leon is the champion, he can see the entire world from the perspective of a Pokemon battle. Every piece of information relates to how he can win or is discarded. On the other hand, you were interested in the story of each of your charges, wanting them to grow and live the lives they wanted to pursue. They chose you not because you were aiming to become the best, but rather some other adventure you had yet to fully define.

“I think you’re doin’ a great job.” You turn to Milo, who’s smiling. Thinking of him cheering you on sends some tingles throughout your body. “It’s nice to see someone go about being a trainer in a different way.”

“You’re just saying that because you want an easy win!” Leon smirks at Milo, slinging one arm around your tire shoulders. “Don’t listen to him, I’ll make it so you’re unbeatable for your adventure.” That unreadable expression returns to Milo’s face, and you watch his eyes lock onto where Leon’s hand is grasping your shoulder. “We’ll resume lessons soon, let’s take a break.” He gives you a quick squeeze and lets go to lead you forward.

It’s only now that you notice the sun was just starting to fall past its zenith. In a nearby clearing Sonia lays out a blanket and Milo tears apart some bread that he got at the cafe earlier this morning to pass around for a snack. You all are mostly quiet, probably for different reasons. You feel like there are maybe a pair of eyes or two on you, but you’re staring off into the distance as you mull over Leon’s attitude towards being a Pokemon trainer. However, it’s not long before the group notices a lingering smell of something unsavory. Sonia shoots a glare over to Leon while covering her lower face with her hand. “Ew Leon, was that you??”

“Sonia!” Leon practically screeched, turning a bright shade of red. “Why are you so quick to accuse me!?”

As they bicker, Milo leans towards you and points out into the distance past the route. There’s a factory with smoke drifting from it in the air, surrounded with carts full of what looks to be coal. “That’s a Marcos Cosmos energy plant over there, turnin’ ore into power.” You can tell Milo is trying to not breathe through his nose as he talks, and it takes you a bit of effort to not giggle at how cute he sounds. “Chairman Rose pretty much owns every method of generatin’ energy here in Galar. It probably smells because this is a crosswind point for the industrial district of Motostoke ‘n the factory.”

But the smell only gets stronger, and soon you hear some rustling in the nearby foliage. Sonia’s Yamper begins to bark as suddenly the source of the strong smell presents itself to you all: a Trubbish. Your friends instantly reel and move away from the Pokemon. “Let’s find somewhere else!” Sonia chokes through as she tries to grab her belongings.

You’re familiar with the Trubbish from Alola, where they gathered around cities. But you knew that most Trubbish only smell when they aren’t really in contact with people, as the stench is mostly a defense mechanism in the wild. On TV you remember multiple ad campaigns against Trubbish abuse, and that the Recycling Center harbored many that were put to work and happily coexisted with people. So your first reaction wasn’t to get up and run, but to tear your piece of bread in half and offer it to the Trubbish.

Leon calls your name. “What are you doing?? Let’s get out of here! Trubbish always leave sludge on your things and can attract other Trubbish miles away.”

“There’s a reason this Trubbish came to us. He’s hungry and must have been unable to find some food. Maybe the days before challenge season are the least traversed, so there are few people around littering.”

The Trubbish looks between your face and the bread a few times before waddling over to you. Even though the smell was no less than putrid, you did your best to smile and make it not seem like you were breathing through your mouth. “Go on, have some. And if you’d like, I can cook you some food later! What do you think about some sausage curry?”

You don’t need to see them to know your friends were gawking as the Trubbish takes the bread from you and the two of you eat your pieces together as a sign of friendliness. It was hard to notice at first, but as the breeze picks up you can tell Trubbish’s smell was beginning to disappear. Finishing the bread, he jingled happily, if the clanging of the trash items inside him could be considered jingling. Trubbish epitomized ugly-cute for you, but you didn’t want him to know that.

“All better for now?” You rise to your feet when he jumps and jingles some more. He kind of reminds you of your Vanillite, who you bring out of her Pokeball. “Something tells me you two will be friends, how about you keep each other company while we travel?”

It is clear Trubbish absolutely adores Vanillite, and you hope it’s not because he wants to eat her for looking like ice cream. But your Vanillite soon warms up, if still below freezing, pretty quickly when she notices the Trubbish doesn’t mind her cold temperatures. Once they start chattering you turn around, freezing when you see three pairs of eyes staring at you. Leon was straight-up slack jawed. “G-guys, what??”

Sonia is the first to speak up. “I’ve never seen someone speak to a Trubbish like that before… Brilliant! Had no idea their smell went away.”

Leon’s hand was pensively rubbing his chin as he looked at you and your Pokemon. “Not many people go through the trouble of taming a Trubbish. I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve fought one as Champion.”

Milo isn’t quick to say anything, but he is positively beaming at you, to the point where you think his gaze would make you melt. You walk towards the others to start again down the route, and the two Pokemon jingle behind you. “It looks a bit like magic whenever I see ya talk to Pokemon.” He finally remarks, lightly touching his fingertips to your arm for a quick second. If you weren’t paying attention you wouldn’t have noticed the contact, but whenever his skin touches yours, you can feel the warmth radiate from his body.

“You’re not going to catch him?” Leon looks confused, only continuing to walk when you pass by him. “I thought that’s the reason why you did that?”

“Oh, I didn’t do that because I wanted to catch him. It just seemed like the right thing to do.” You give a slight shrug to Leon’s question. “If he gets along with our Pokemon well and seems to be having a fun time, I’ll offer him a Pokeball and he can decide. He is a Poison type, so that’s one I should get, right?” You can’t help but smile at Leon’s puzzled expression. “I at least owe him some cooking first!”

You encounter more battling school children down Route 3, probably because everyone can see Milo’s distinctive silhouette rather easily. Leon coaches you through battling with Vanillite as Trubbish and the others watch, but barking orders still doesn’t come naturally to you. During a battle with a girl’s Purrloin, you realize it’s not that you lack the confidence. Rather, you just don’t see your Pokemon as a means to an end for winning matches. Leon seems to be critiquing you less and more watching your style, how you trust Vanillite to react instinctively to the battle. It’s clear her ice attacks are getting stronger, and that she’s good at taunting and then countering with blasts of snow.

~*~*~*~

As the sun begins to near the horizon, Milo leads everyone up a hill to what looks like the highest point in Route 3. There are already other tents set up in the area, so the four of you get to work creating a little corner with the three tents between you all. The campsite quickly becomes a bit of a circus when everyone lets their Pokemon out: your five, Milo’s three, Sonia’s Yamper, Leon’s Charizard and Thwackey along with the wild Trubbish.

The two men go off to collect firewood, Sonia visits a nearby berry tree, and you begin to slice up some sausage. The Pokemon are cautious of Trubbish, but Vanillite seems to be acting as a liaison. Before you know it, they are romping and battling each other. Every once in a while one would scamper over to smell the sausage, but were satisfied with some pets and a promise that dinner would be ready soon. Milo’s Pokemon mostly hung around his tent and Charizard sat next to you watching the others. It begins to dawn on you that this is starting to feel familiar. You pause for a second, setting the knife down and just gazing out to where the Pokemon were playing. The Yampers were thick as thieves by now, chasing your Wooloo, Pancham, and now Leon’s Thwackey around. Lombre relaxed with Milo’s Pokemon while Vanillite and Trubbish seemed to be practicing techniques with each other. Charizard nuzzled your shoulder, an eye trained on the sausage as you pet him.

Milo and Leon were the first to return, looking to be in good spirits. It didn’t occur to you until now that they probably were friends, both being major figures in the League and all. They stacked the firewood and Leon got Charizard to light it up. But it wasn’t long that you noticed Leon was watching your Pokemon with a look of concern, arms crossed over his chest again.

“Is something wrong, Leon?”

He looks to you for a second before looking back at the playing Pokemon. “It might not be the best idea to let them battle unsupervised, especially when they are new to you and undisciplined. You’ll want to make sure they are developing the right habits.” You’re not entirely sure how to answer, because you know he’s probably right but you couldn’t think of anything more unpleasant. Leon turns back to you and crouches by the fire. “You’ve been working hard all day, how about I cook dinner and you take a break?”

You shake your head and notice Sonia returning with an armful of berries. “Let me do this, to make up for worrying you these past few days. It would mean a lot for me to cook for you.” You smile at Leon, and hear Milo busying himself with his Eldegoss who seem to be giving him a piece of their minds over something. “Plus, I promised Pancham and Trubbish some curry!”

Sonia hands you the berries she found and you sift through what she found. While she got you a good number, it seemed like there wasn’t a diverse selection on this route. Sausage is one of the better meats to react to sweetness, so you decide to base the roux of the curry on pecha berries with a few oran ones mixed in for balance.

When Leon and Sonia join the playing Pokemon, Milo comes to sit down next you. “Can I help with anythin’?”

You nod absent-mindedly as you compare berry sizes and count out how many you need. “Would you mind getting the rice going? That would be helpful! We’re also going to need to crush the oran berries and stir them right into the curry mix. The pecha berries will need a slight roasting over the fire, then we’ll crush half of them and put in the others whole. I’ll also brown the sausage over the fire before adding it in and then let everything cook. What do you think?”

When you look over to Milo, he’s smiling. Of course. And that funny feeling in your stomach takes over again. Of course. You really wish you knew what was happening to you. He doesn’t seem to be having as much of a messy internal monologue as you are. “Sounds amazin’! Were you a chef back ‘n Alola?”

You chuckle a bit as you sort the berries, Milo instinctively taking the ones to be mashed. “No not at all, I don’t know if I’m that good at cooking really.” You skewer slices of sausage and pecha on thinner sticks you find in the wood pile, preparing them for roasting.

“But you’re quite deliberate when you cook. Most people throw anythin’ in the pot and hope for the best.” You’re sure that Milo counts himself among most people, though he seems like the type that can eat anything and everything. He checks the temperature of the water in a smaller pot before adding the rice in, and you take that as a sign to pour the curry mix into the larger pot.

“I guess that’s true. Thinking on it, there’s just something special about making a good meal. Like, it’s one of the most satisfying things in life, eating good food that you made yourself, knowing others are happy because of something I did.” Milo pushes in the mashed berries into the curry while you prop up the skewers, lightly rotating them every once in a while over the fire. “Right now my mind is like, how can I make everyone happy with what I’ve got? I haven’t learned your preferences yet, but I feel like you’d enjoy this. And it would be really satisfying knowing that you did.”

Milo is quiet for a bit. You can’t tell if he’s thinking up a proper response or just taking in the moment. After you take down the skewers and toss the meat and remaining berries in, you begin to stir it all together. It smells how you imagine it, a savory-sweet smell which seems to waft over the camp since Pokemon are drawing nearer to the campfire. Sonia is back on her phone with her notebook in hand, and Leon is giving poor Thwackey a lecture. Curious noses sniff around the pot, but everyone can now read the look you give them to have some more patience.

“I can’t wait for you to see Turffield. I hope ya like it there.”

Milo’s voice was barely above a whisper, almost drowned out by the crackling fire and Pokemon chatter. You turn to him, a little taken back from his Eldegoss and Gossifleur staring at you expectantly. His face is in profile from your angle, shadows and light from the fire flickering across his cheek as he watches the curry bubble.

Before you respond, you feel mass of wool bump up against you. Wooloo immediately and consistently begins to bleat at you, crawling into your lap and staring at the pot of curry. You notice that all the other Pokemon have gathered around the campfire as well.

“Okay okay, it’s about done. You all should know that the longer it similar the more-” a range of Pokemon whines and protests erupt. How did you suddenly end up with so many children?

Leon takes the ladle before you can reach for it and begins to serve the curry over rice. With a smile he hands you the first bowl. “You earned it.” Soon enough the humans have their servings and the Pokemon gather around a few large bowls they share from.

The sounds of happy eating pleases you as the curry came out nicely. You’re glad that you decided to grill some of the ingredients to give the curry some texture and not get more sweet than savory. It could have done with more spice, you’ll have to make sure you gather some cheri or figy berries next time for when there aren’t any in nature.

“This is amazing!!” Leon regards you with his mouth full, with Sonia more politely covering her mouth as she nods beside him. “I didn’t know you could cook this well! Might be better than Sonia’s cooking.” Which then causes her to frown.

“I’ll remember that the next time you’re pawing at my tent door for breakfast.”

The two get into their usual back-and-forth, letting you shift your attention to Milo. He was shoveling his food down, probably needing seconds soon. “Did it come out alright?” Mouth full, he nods and chews at the same time.

As the night goes on, conversation inevitable gets back to the gym challenge. Though the two are friendly, you can’t help but sense some tension between Leon and Milo. It’s clear that Leon perceives Milo’s gym to not be much of a challenge, and expects you to only be in Turffield for a short while before heading to Hulbury. Apparently there’s a train station there and he can visit you from Hammerlocke easily when you get there. “I’m sure Sonia will want to hang out with Nessa for a while, too.”

That’s when you realize that, while not arrogant, Leon was quite used to getting his way and being the center of attention. He didn’t demand it really, but it seemed like he had this magnetism that drew people to him and he based his understanding of everything bending towards him. Leon never once asked for Milo’s input about his gym or your opinion on what you wanted your travel plans to be. It’s like he had this vision and just needed everyone to play their parts.

The Pokemon quickly tired out after eating and grouped up in different piles ready to sleep for the night. Social groups are definitely starting to form, though you don’t really see anything wrong with that. You’re happy that Vanillite, who usually wants to return to her Pokeball come bedtime, has found a cuddle buddy in Trubbish. Watching them makes you yawn, and it’s only now you realize how tired the day has made you.

“I think it’s time for you to turn in.” Leon rises from his spot next to Sonia and begins collecting the dishes. “If you’re going to make it to the other side of the mines before sunset, we’ll need to get up early in the morning.”

After another yawn, a hand reaches down from above; it’s Milo, with a soft smile on his face, the jade of his eyes almost glowing reflecting the fire. Always the gentleman. But when you take is hand, you can’t help but feel all those funny feelings again. You’re sensitive to the tactile nature of his hand, one that is calloused and used to manual labor, is firm in grip only just as much as it needs to be. It’s difficult to not notice his bicep flexing as he pulls you upwards. Upwards towards him, almost enough for you to bump into his chest. Thankfully it’s dark out and he probably can’t tell you’re flushed being this close to him. You realize he’s slow to let go of your hand, and he looks like he’s working up to say something to you.

Another’s hand grasps your shoulder and gives it a little squeeze. Leon’s. “Sleep in my tent tonight, okay?”

You’re caught off-guard by the request, but in an effort to not reveal how embarrassed you were feeling, you just nod. The cool night air brushes over your hand as Milo releases his hold and creates some space between the two of you. Leon goes to wash the dishes (with Charizard, or else he wouldn’t find his way back), Sonia lets the Yampers hop into her tent, and you’re alone with Milo. His eyes are downcast, and eventually he rubs the back of his neck as he turns away from you.

“We should get to sleepin’, huh?” The uncertainty in his voice intrigues you. His shoulders then square and he turns back to you, looking determined. “I guess I’m the first challenge in your adventure. I… won’t let ya go that easily.” Before you can respond, he nods to his Pokemon and heads into his tent. Maybe Milo won’t be as easy of a gym leader after all.

After putting out the fire and whispering good night to all the Pokemon, you take your bag and head inside Leon’s tent. Wooloo sneaks in after you, followed by Pancham and Thwackey. Looking around on the inside, you’re not really sure what you were expecting, it’s just a tent with usual camping things. You decide to unfurl your sleeping bag and change your clothes while Leon is still away. The three Pokemon settle in the middle of the tent, and you crawl into your sleeping bag.

When Leon returns, you hear the clanging of pots and dishes. Outside the tent he wishes Charizard a goodnight before entering. He grins seeing all the Pokemon resting next to you. “Now that’s a picture.” His Rotom zips out but he flails to catch it before it does anything. “No! I’ll be in so much trouble if that hits Pokegram.”

You raise an eyebrow. “What do you make off all that? I imagine you don’t take it seriously if you’re letting me sleep your tent.”

He scratches the back of his head. “Huh? I just want to talk battle strategies…”

As he launches into the typical moves that Gossifleur and Eldegoss use and their counters, you realize that he earnestly just wanted to talk Pokemon. And boy, can Leon talk about Pokemon battles. You feel a little guilty hogging him as a resource, wouldn’t Gloria and Hop benefit more from his guidance?

Milo’s parting words echo in your mind. The thought of battling him makes you uncomfortable, and it was like he drew that line between you two. It definitely sounded like he wasn’t going to make his battle with you easy. Thinking of Milo as an opponent just didn’t sit well with you.

You began to drift to sleep somewhere around the part where Leon mentions something about… Gigantics? Maxismist? Something like that, that future you can deal with as you think about a certain peach-haired man as you slip into your dreams.

[abbacchiosbelt]

Can I ask for headcanons for Brunos Gang and La squadra with a new female member who's stand is summoning any Pokemon and has a team of her own? (*throws out a pokeball and out pops a mewtwo* what's your favorite Pokemon?)

ooh i had fun with this one!! i had my wife help me brainstorm on what type of pokemon the gangs would have!! thank you for the request 🌟

as for my favorites… espeon is my number one!! otherwise, i really love: chandelure, sylveon, mawile, skarmory, cyndaquil, snivy, and mimikyu!

under the cut for length!

Bruno’s Gang

Bruno is impressed – he doesn’t trainPokemon as much as he heals injured Pokemon and rehabilitates them. His ‘team’is a bunch of baby Pokemon he couldn’t bare to part with after healing them up.He’s a good nanny for your Pokemon if you need someone to watch them, and heknows a lot of information about different species and types.

Abbacchio raises an eyebrow – he thinks it’s interestingbut wonders about the merits of bonding with a Pokemon who was summoned by yourstand. He has a Growlithe he never evolved from the police academy andotherwise trains Ghost and Normal Pokemon. He’s more interested in talking toyour team of Pokemon than you.

Mista thinks it’s great! He’s amazed thatyou can summon any Pokemon you want and may beg to see a Legendary or two. Hetrains Bug types because they have a lot of multi-hit moves, just like his SexPistols! He’s very enthusiastic about you joining, and bonds with your Pokemoneasily.

Fugo is wary – he doesn’t trust manytrainers to raise and treat their Pokemon right. He trains Poison and Dark typesand takes the dangerous nature of his Pokemon seriously. He’s a strict trainer,but the deep respect and love he has for his Pokemon is obvious. He thinks aStand like yours could be overused, so he watches you closely with a scowluntil he eventually starts to trust you.

Narancia is super happy! He has an Emolgathat rides on his shoulder, much to Fugo’s scolding that the Pokemon is toorowdy. He has a natural way with Pokemon that a lot of people are jealous of –he’s able to bond and train with frightened Pokemon easily. He mostly trainsFlying and Electric types. Narancia is happy to get to know your team, andthinks your stand is awesome! He’ll absolutely beg to see some LegendaryPokemon, though.

Giorno thinks your stand is interesting,but he’s a little nervous around new trainers. He worries that the summonedPokemon might feel lonely. Giorno trains Grass and Fairy types – he has aFlorges that he’s taken care of since he was a child.  Still, he finds your Stand intriguing andlikes to watch you in action.

Trish is enamored – she loves cutePokemon, so she’ll ask if she can see rare cute Pokemon she’s never gotten thechance to encounter before. Trish has a Goomy she really loves because it’s sosquishy – when things are safe, she wants to compete in Pokemon contests with ateam of adorable and pretty Pokemon – don’t be fooled, though. She’s aformidable trainer that likes to undermine unsuspecting opponents with herPokemon’s cute appearance.

La Squadra

Risotto thinks it’s a very useful Stand. Hetrains Dark and Steel Pokemon, so he may ask to see some stronger Pokemonsummoned to train against you. Otherwise, he trusts you to use your Standwisely – if you didn’t, you never would have been assigned to La Squadra.

Formaggio thinks it’s cool – he gets drunk andasks if you can summon tons of Meowths. He trains Fire types, but he also has alot of cat-like Pokemon. He can’t resist helping out strays, so his house isfull of recuperating Pokemon.

Illuso is fascinated – really, any Pokemon?He wants to know if the Legendary Pokemon are clones of some sort, especiallyif there’s only one in the world. Illuso trains Ghost and Fairy Pokemon, andhis Ghost Pokemon have a habit of sneaking up on others. He likes to watch youbattle from the Mirror World.

Pesci thinks it’s a bit weird, but he alsothinks it’s a very cool Stand. He trains Water Pokemon, and just evolved hisbeloved shiny Magikarp into a formidable Gyrarados – he’s actually a very smarttrainer with lots of knowledge on Pokemon, so he’s interested to see your teamand how you dea

l with the temporary Pokemon summoned by your stand.

Prosciutto is just as wary of you as he isevery other new member, but he finds your Stand interesting. Prosciuttoprimarily trains Ground and Steel Pokemon, but he has a shiny Milotic thatPesci instructed him in raising – it’s his prize Pokemon, and his Milotic isheavily bonded to Prosciutto. He’s never lost a battle with her.

Melone is fascinated – he wants to know everythingabout your Stand. What is the genetic makeup of the Pokemon summoned? Can theybe bred? He trains Psychic type Pokemon, although he does have one Ditto thathangs around outside of it’s Pokeball.

Ghiaccio just scoffs. There’s no way aPokemon summoned by a Stand can be stronger than a trained Pokemon – he’s notimpressed. You’ll have to battle him for him to gain any respect, but he’s avery strong trainer. Unsurprisingly, he trains Ice type Pokemon. He’s not tiedto a type, though – he has a balanced and strong team.

Gelato& Sorbet findyour Stand interesting, but they don’t really care. They stick amongstthemselves when it comes to raising Pokemon – Gelato raises Dragon and Firetypes, whereas Sorbet raises Poison and Steel types. They prefer double battlesover everything.

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

To everyone: what would your Pokemon teams be and why?

Oh good god.

Well… this is going to get complicated. At least from me.

Let’s start with assuming no legendary Pokemon. Makes life a bit easier. Of course only a bit.

So… first off a lot of this depends on generation and limit. If you’re asking for a full team that I would have with rotations and stuff, we’re looking at… probably close to 10 full teams of 6, maybe even more.

In my defense, I’m a major Pokemon fan and I really really like a lot of them.

Of course, if we’re going to cut down the team to a more manageable six which can be from any region/gen, but only one from each region/gen to keep things interesting and varied… well, it would depend on a lot of things, including mood and such, so if one were to ask me this question again it would likely change. But, here would be, as I feel right now, the team I would use if I was limited to only six, one per region/gen.

1: Lucario. I’ve been a fan of this guy for so so long, ever since it was first introduced. I loved Lucario and the mystery of Mew as a kid (still kinda do). The whole concept behind aura is amazing. One’s spiritual energy/life force/ soul being utilized in combat? Being able to sense others and see without seeing? So awesome. Lucario is just SO. FREAKING. COOL. It’s design is wonderful as well. Jackel/Anubis? Yes please. Plus, I’ve been maining Lucario in Smash Bros. ever since Brawl. You better believe it’s making my team.

2: Tyranitar. Is it probably the weakest pseudo legendary when it comes to typing? Yes. Do I care? No. Tyranitar is BA. First, it’s one of the only two pseudo’s to not be a dragon. Yes, 8 regions, 9 pseudo’s, and only 2 are not dragons. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some dragons. But… variety would be nice, you know? But yeah, not a dragon, still awesome. It’s Godzilla for crying out loud! Plus, its design is just so good. It’s simple but perfect. It’s a giant Lizard creature that could fell mountains. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and is perfectly awe-inspiring and terrifying without being complicated. I also used a Tyranitar in my Ultra Sun playthrough, a male one named Typhon, Man was he fun to use.

3: Golisopod. Listen, if a Pokemon is good enough for YOUR BOI GUZMA to use it on his team, you know it’s a good pokemon. It’s the Alola take on Gyarados and Milotic (weak pathetic first stage with few moves  and while those two do have a slightly higher BST, that ain’t enough to keep my boy Golisopod down. Golisopod’s design is just so good. An Isopod mixed with a Samurai? Sign me right up thank you. It mixes the creepy crawly aesthetic of the bug type with the strong proud samurai perfectly and I love it. And yeah, sure Emergency Exit can be kind of annoying, but it allows you a second usage of First Impression. That is worth it. Also, it’s shiny is dope.

4: Toxtricity. Part of building a team means keeping in mind type composition. I love Grimmsnarl dearly and equally, if not more so, but I already have one Dark-type on the team, so Toxtricity manages to bag this spot. At least, for now considering my current mood. Ask me again tomorrow, or even in an hour, my answer may very well change. Anyway, Toxtricity itself. When I fist saw the design, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. It was… interesting to say the least, but I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, or what it was supposed to be. But after some more time with it, learning more about it and using one I can say that Toxtricity is easily one of my new favorites. Quite possibly my absolute fave from Gen 8. A punk lizard that plays music? Rock/Metal? HECK. YES. The form change is also pretty nice. The stats don’t change between the two, but I honestly like it that way. Just the idea that more energetic natures would have an ‘Amped Up’ form based on an electric guitar while the more mellow natures would have a ‘Lowkey’ one based on a bass is ingenious. Same with the movepool changes. It makes sense that the different forms with their different music preference would have different moves. (My personal fave is the Amped Up, especially with its shiny colors.) Plus, an electric posion type? SO. COOL. Who cares about 4x weak to earthquake, this thing is boss! And Punk Rock is an amazing ability.

5: Flygon. Man oh man was Flygon treated poorly. Added in Gen 3 as a solid pokemon, but with a better attack stat than a special attack one. True, not bad in it of itself but before the Special/Physical split, ALL Dragon-type moves were special. Meaning Dragon Claw, a solid dragon type move back in Gen 3, wasn’t yet a physical move. And Outrage wasn’t even something Flygon could learn yet (it wouldn’t be until Gen 7 that it became a TM). Then came gen 4. Now, I love gen 4. I truly do. It is by far my favorite Gen. And it did do something very good for Flygon. It gave the special/physical split, allowing some Dragon type moves to now be physical as well. But you know what else came along? Garchomp. Honestly, I like Garchomp, I do. But suddenly here we are with a new Dragon/Ground type that is a pseudo-legendary? My poor poor Flygon. And it didn’t get any better. I mean seriously, give Mewtwo and Charizard two megas but none to Flygon? WHILE GIVING ONE TO GARCHOMP WHO DIDN’T NEED IT AND WAS ITS BIGGEST COMPETITION?! Why Game Freak? Why?Anyway, mini-rant aside, I love Flygon. The design is incredible. The line is based on an antlion and is so cool. That sweet green design and the little lenses over the eyes? Perfect, just perfect. Plus, it has some sweet lore. Appearing in sandstorms with haunting music coming from its wings? Yes please. Beautiful pokemon that was done such disservices. It’s a shame really. With Megas gone, Flygon will likely never get that final boost it needs. Though considering it is in Galar while Garchomp isn’t… maybe Flygon will have a chance to shine again. (A shame though that it will never get to have a type change to Bug Dragon. Would be sick.) Regardless of the future though, Flygon will always have a place in my heart, and in my team. 

6: Zoroark. Yeah, I know what I said about team composition above with Toxtricity and Grimmsnarl. But  I also pointed out mood has a lot to do with it. Anyway, for Zoroark itself. Like Lucario, I’veb een a fan for so long, ever since it was first introduced. It’s kinda funny in a way. Zoroark acts as the perfect yin to Lucario’s yang. Lucario uses aura to sense things and to see, Zoroark is the maser of illusions. In it of itself, this illusion business is awesome, but add in how it counters Lucario and it works just so well. Typing as well, Lucario is a fighting steel, the type you’d think of for a chivalrous paladin of justice and truth, while Zoroark is dark (evil type in Japan), perfect for a sly illusion master. Of course, it’s not just dualism with Lucario. The line is just so amazing itself. Clearly drawing from Kitsune, Zoroark is a sly fox that is able to not just use illusions, but masters them to the point of being able to create solid constructs out of them (see the anime). It is just so cool, how can I not love it? Also, like Tyranitar before it, I used a female one named Vixen in my Ultra Sun playthrough and it was a delight. 

Anyway, that would be my team. You know, assuming all the limitations I put on myself and my mood at this moment. But if you guys enjoyed this and want to know more about my favorite pokemon, please let me know. I’m always happy and excited to talk about Pokemon.

Anyway, going to hand this over to the other mods. I’ve been monopolizing this ask for too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooo!! This’ll be fun to answer! Cause, well, I love Pokémon!!!

But, forgive me for this; I haven’t played any of the games.

So im just saying my favorite characters!!!

1: Glacieon, I really, really like glacieons and have always loved ice type Pokémon. Mainly because I really like the cold. Like; really, really, like the cold. I also really like her attacks, their cool!!! (Pun intended)

2: Furret. Absolutely furret, I never knew why I liked furret, but. I’m just gonna blame it on me really liking Ferrets and cause I honestly have really liked normal types for some reason.

3: Vulpix (either one), I really like any fire type Pokémon mainly because I’ve always just had a very weird interest in fire and because vulpix can be either a fire or ice Pokémon I love that about them. And they remind me of a bunch of irl animals that I love!!

4: Smom , I LOVE THOSE LIL ICE BABEYS SO MUCH!?!? They are so cute-!? I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH???! They are all my children and I want to adopt them all, and I will. No one can stop me………except maybe the other mods-

5: Sylveon, absolutely. I always have such an attachment even with digital animals, so I absolutely would give my eevee enough attention and love for them to evolve into sylveon. Honestly, it’d end up be accidental, but, I still really love Sylveon, and wouldn’t care if I got more than one of them-

6: Flareon, listen- I just love eevees okay-? I love them all so so much, and would lay down my life for each and every one of them. Just 💞💞💕💖💓💖💝💞💖💕💝💓💕💞💖💞💖💝💘💖💕💕💞

——————————————————————————

Ah, I bet you missed hearing from me! No worries, I’ll tell you my pokemon team, even if it’s not particularly exciting.

First off, a Pachirisu is a must for my team. I’ve always loved how hyper it can be and the mishaps it would cause. Plus, c’mon- who doesn’t like its color scheme?

I’d also incorporate Chimchar to my team. I’ve always had a soft spot for Chimchar, since it was my first ever starter and I leveled mine all the way up to 100 in my Pokemon Platinum playthrough.

Yamper definitely had my heart the moment I saw it! I have a really strong love for dogs, and its addition to the game got me so excited!! Kirigiri can vouch for me on that one.

Growlithe is also integral to me. When my dog was a puppy, I used to jokingly call her a growlithe. I don’t think I still have pictures, but I even got her a floof for halloween once so she could be in a costume with me. Also... Arcanine is seriously badass.

Wooloo is super cute too! I love that it rolls away from its problems, and I, too, wish to do that. Plus the braids immediately reminded me of Peko, so I was super soft for it the moment it was revealed.

Finally, I’ll add my favorite Eeveelution to the team: Glaceon! Something about its sleek design always made me happy, and the way its fur sharpens as defense is super interesting!

(If legendaries were allowed on the team, I would’ve added either Giratina or Shaymin. They’re my favorites.

[kariachi]

Pokemon Spoilers Time!!

We have a name for the region finally! It’s in the title of the video. We’re working with the Paldea Region, though at first glance I thought it said ‘Paella Region’ and now am kinda disappointed because that would’ve been hilarious. Like calling Galar ‘Pasty’.

Okay, did a full watch through to start things off and I can already say the animation looks seriously janky in places (y’all these are your trailers you can’t at least make them look good?). But, going back through for things I personally find of note.

Growlithe and Arcanine return! This is Good and Right and I may love that line.

New Woopers! Little brown Woopers, what are they, who are they, what crimes will they commit? No sign of a Quagsire though when the pokemon shown previous had their evolutions with them as well so we can probably assume there’s a new evolution for them. Either that or they’re just hiding the new Quagsire form for some reason.

Confirmation of the ‘you are a student in uniform’ thing

The legends can be quadrupedal! I love quadrupedal critters! Love the way they move.

You can ride the legends, one turns into a bike and the other just runs like you would expect of a quadruped. ll the more reason to prefer Scarlet in my eyes, but what do I know

They also both fly. They grow wings. It’s kinda weird but okay I guess.

Gogoat is back! Did we know this? I can’t remember.

There is a new pokemon, it looks like someone tried to make Cavalier King Charles Spaniels out of pastry. Might be competition for the Slurpuff line, which I’ve never been fond of from a ‘dog made of food’ perspective. Or a dog perspective in general really. Something’s just off about them. Hopefully whatever this is is better. And also can join the ‘anosmiac service pokemon’ list because come on.

Another new pokemon! Looks like an Ice-type, Some sorta land-whale maybe? With a lot of spikes. Spiky land whale of the ice, I dun know.

There appears to be some sort’ve seriously tricked out car driving itself in one shot and I kinda wish we could drive that rather than ride the legendaries

You can all grab your legends in multiplayer, or at least bring them into multiplayer. Go forth, you and your posse can ride your dragons off into the sunset

Eelektross is back! I love it.

Also seeing Lechonk among a load of fully evolved pokemon is weird. I know they probably don’t wanna reveal the evolution of any of the new guys or whatever but, seeing it in pride of place along the others is odd.

I, I think you can crystallize pokemon? Which let me tell you if this is a lasting thing my magpie ass is here for it I love things that go sparkle. Yes, let me turn my pokemon into something out of a Swarovski catalog.

And that’s about it that I have words for which means it’s time to actually go check the details available outside the trailer....

Start off with how we finished- this Swarovski shit. Apparently this is the ‘Terastal’ phenomenon?

“This phenomenon is found only in the Paldea region and makes Pokémon shine and glimmer like gems.

When a Pokémon Terastallizes, a Tera Jewel appears above the Pokémon’s head like a crown, and the Pokémon’s body glistens like a cut gemstone.

It’s said that the Terastal energy that seeps from the ground of the Paldea region is involved in the phenomenon.

Many details remain unclear, but Professor Sada and Professor Turo are researching this mystery.”

Well that’s certainly a thing. Glad to see if they’re going to have these new gimmicks all the time they’re at least making this one ‘Pokemon go sparkle shine activate magpie instinct’.

Oh hello, looks like your pokemon’s type might change when you turn them all crystal. They use as an example that some Eevee may stay Normal-type while other may become Flying-type. And whatever you ‘Tera Type’ is the crystal effect increases the power of those moves, which actually makes sense this time around as the crystal refraction would change things and could be used to focus power. I like it.

From the pictures it looks like Eevee can be Water-type too? So maybe it’s more of an ‘individual pokemon are assigned a Tera Type from any of the types available’ thing? Looking back up, it sounds like that’s the case, because they talk about there being 18 types and so countless combination of types and pokemon. That’s cool, so if this lasts then with effort I could make an entire team of Swarovski-Electric-types and live my childhood dreams.

Okay, they don’t say whether your pokemon stays all crystally but they do say that you have to recharge the item you use to turn them crystal before you can use it a second time. Fingers crossed. I want this to be an option.

Looking at this other article on the main site, it looks like they really are pushing this whole ‘open world’ thing as far as they can with multiple storylines you can go between as you please and at your own leisure to make the story your own.

Also we have an Ice-type gym, the leader is named Grusha, he seems nice enough. I like his scarf, but he’s very hatless for someone who is very bundled up.

Okay onto the pokemon now-

I was right, it’s a land whale! Cetitan, Ice-type, the Terra Whale Pokemon. A baleen whale from the looks of it. They’re migratory in the snowy regions, and use their five horns to lower the temperature and freeze things around them. Also looks like they’re probably a physical attacker and tank, if their description and abilities mean anything.

We also have Paldean Wooder! Whose gills look like little bones now that’s so cute. Poison/Ground, the Poison Fish Pokemon, it looks like they became terrestrial due to habitat matters and to prevent their still-technically-amphibious bodies from drying out they started producing a film over themselves that’s also poisonous. They’ve become slow and heavy so they shoot poison from their gills to deter threats. I like it, can’t wait to see what they evolve into.

And finally, we have, wait for it, Fidough. Who is naming these pokemon, did they call in Pesky? Fidough is a Fairy-type, the Puppy Pokemon, and exhales fucking yeast. People keep it to help make bread and lets be honest alcohol so people have been keeping them around for ages. Oh gods their skin is smooth and elastic and they puff themselves up to deter threats they’re honest to god little dough dogs! That will presumably evolve into bread dogs! Oh gods I love them. This region is giving me food pokemon and I am here for it let me make a sandwich team! (they say as if they’re ever gonna play this shit, but still)

[bastionkeeper]

Tagged by @allye-cat-draws (thanks for the tag hun)

Rules. 1. Post the Rules. 2. Answer the questions given to you 3. Make 11 questions of your own. 4. Tag 11 people.

1. Who was your favorite powerpuff girl?

Okay don’t hate me but......I never...actually...watched powerpuff girls. I didn’t watch a lot of tv as a kid and I wasn’t allowed to watch most Nick and Cartoon Network shows anyway

2. What is the weirdest dream you can remember having?

Shit man all of my dreams are weird I guess the weirdest one might be the one I had last night where like....Thor (Marvel) and I were traveling through time with this robot lady that followed the moon cycles and we found this bomb shelter full of old food and when I peeled these two bananas there were living Barbie dolls in them?

3. If you could give your past self advice what would it be?

Stop settling for people who mistreat you just because you’re lonely

4. What about yourself makes you the happiest?

it’s bad that I blanked on this one for so long huh? I guess I like that I’m tough, I don’t give up as fast as everyone else

5. If you were a gym leader in pokemon what type would you pick?

“THE SAME BLASTOISE” I would probably be fire I love charizard and growlithe and rapidash

6. What do you like to do if you’re awake at 3am?

cry? XD usually I’m playing video games snacking or reading

7. Have you ever had a crush on a friend and if so did you ever do anything about it?

yeah most of my crushes were on friends and I have a pretty good streak of 3/4 dating them

8. How willing are you to fight the mcdonalds clown?

Put ur dukes up Ronald you bastard

9. If sleep was optional, would you stay awake forever or would you still sleep occasionally?

I’d probably only sleep after weeks and weeks of stress just to get a break from it all

10. What’s the best song to dance badly to?

Uhhhh......idk man. No clue. We Didn’t Start The Fire? It would be funny to see someone trying to dance to that lol

11. If you could have a parlor trick type power, like changing your eye color, what would it be?

Defos just minor changes like growing fangs or changing my hair color/length little cosmetic things

My Questions

1. What’s your favorite book?

2. Who was your first fictional crush? (ex: Zuko, Kim Possible, etc)

3. What song always makes you smile?

4. What’s your guilty pleasure?

5. What food makes you think of home?

6. Do you like the cold or the heat better?

7. Who’s someone you’ll never forgive?

8. Have you met any of your idols?

9. What element would you be if you were an Adventure Time character? (candy, flame, slime, etc etc etc)

10. If you had to live in any other time period which would you choose?

11. Would you date a robot?

I tag @mykindofcontent @wizardtwins @fan-art-ic @transthespian @papa-dragon-king @punkpillywiggin @bunnylexicon @lsunnyc @bibarrybluejeans @comeherequeerdeer @becrockroll

[the-splodge]

okay so I’ve come to offer some solid thoughts on gen 1 and dog allergies

I’d like to preface this that I don’t know MUCH about how dog allergies work other than some quick research and personal experience, and that I’m not a biologist so don’t take this too seriously

we all know pokemon substitute in for animals. And we all know people can be allergic to animals. So it makes sense you can be allergic to pokemon

firstly I think the two pokemon lines most likely to trigger a dog allergy is the eevee family and growlithe family. they’ve always just seemed to fit in the category of ‘dog’ best

secondly we need to establish what triggers a dog allergy - it’s usually dander from fur and saliva! So in order for me to judge, I’m going to judge them based on my allergy, which is triggered by fur

(sources say shaving your dog does not help but honestly I managed to have a dog for 10 year by keeping her fur short and cleaning up shedded fur. I am not a professional tho so DO NOT take my Word for this)

growlithe and arcanine. Both very fluffy and adorable bois

unfortunately, fluffy dogs are the WORST for triggering allergies. so while i’d LOVE to pet these lads i dont think i’d be very well afterwards

next the eevee line. im going to rank these bad boys by how bad i reckon they’d trigger a reaction

in the first group we have eevee, flareon and jolteon

these are pretty much in the same park as growlithe and arcanine! very fluffy and lovable but NOT good for allergies. i can feel my chest getting tight already

the next group is umbreon and espeon - and no im not putting them together just because they’re a duo

as you can already see, these are a LOT less fluffy than previously shown pokemon. so its reasonable to assume they have less fur and/or shed less, which imo is a lot more helpful for managing allergies!

so the judgement on these two is although they may not be as fluffy, i could DEFINITELY spend more time with them

the next group is glaceon, leafeon and sylveon

now. i would have lumped these in with the previous group, as they all appear to be relatively short furred, but its obvious we’re getting into weird pokemon biology here, as they have ice/leaves/ribbons on their bodies as well

this calls into question what their ‘fur’ is made of, as it could either be conventional fur + another material, or their fur could be made of something very different altogether   

now. people say there’s no such thing as a hypoallergenic animal. this may be true in the pokemon world as well. however i beg to differ

VAPOREON!!

look at this fucker! no fur in sight; it’s all scales! it couldn’t trigger my dog allergy even if it wanted to!

(yes i guess if ur allergic to saliva it’s not really a help. probably worse since most water type attacks are implied to come from the mouth)

i could cuddle vaporeon all day and not have even a minor tickle in my throat - and this is why i believe vaporeon is the closest thing to a hypoallergenic dog from gen 1

okay I’ve been thinking about pokemkn today

and do you reckon theres Pokemon allergies in the pokemon world? Like dog/cat allergies in ours??

cause like of Pokemon replace the animals it’d make sense for there to be Pokemon allergies, ESPECIALLY with some of these mons being based on dogs/cats, which quite a few people are allergic to

i dunno. It’s just an interesting thought

[jaybug-jabbers]

All-Glitch Pokemon Blue Run Pt13: Fossils of the Future

June,

I am terribly grateful that you’re still all right after encountering all those glitch trainers. Judging by your notes, it was an extremely trying experience. This does seem to confirm my beliefs, in the very least, that there is something special about you. You seem to possess a certain resiliance and resistance against the effects of glitching, enough that you merely black out and wake up later, typically none the worse for wear. Still, you musn’t start to believe you are invincible. I ask that you still exercise caution in your experiments and exploration. 

I must also thank you for your detailed notes about all of the glitch trainers you encountered. These observations will prove invaluable to my work, I feel. June, I was a little nervous when you first started out as my assistant, but you have proven that you are not only talented with glitches but that you possess the adventuresome spirit and eye for detail that are the marks of a true scientist. I’m very proud.

I hope that you enjoy your day of rest. When you’re finished, we have more work to do. It’s about time you come to meet me in person at my lab. After your return to Fuscia City, you won’t be far. At the moment, my colleagues and I have been working on a new method of researching glitch pokemon. It involves injecting glitch pokemon DNA into fossils and then reviving the fossils. It’s very cutting-edge, and I’d like you to help me in the Cinnabar Island lab. 

Looking forward to finally meeting,

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

I’m glad my notes are gonna help you out! And I’m happy I’ve been of help. Honestly, I wasn’t sure about this whole thing either, but . . . it’s been really interesting looking into all this glitch stuff. I dunno what it is, exactly, but it fascinates me. And the glitch pokemon . . . the more I work with them, the more attached I get to them. They’re so strange and alien, but also so familiar, in a way. They kind of remind me of bug pokemon. They’re weird and wild, but they’re also so cool and loveable.

Uh, anyway. I thought I’d let you know how my trip to Saffron went.

One of the top places to go for tourists in Saffron is the Silph Company, that massive corporate building that loves to give tours to trainers. Show off all the pokeball production and latest tech gadgets. I planned on doing that, but unfortunately I ran into a little trouble. The entire building was crawling with those ‘Team Rocket’ creeps.

It was kind of a slog beating all the guys who kept wanting a piece of me-- put a dampener on the fun of looking around. To make matters worse, I then ran into Professor Oak’s freaking grandson once again. He was determined to beat me in a fight. 

Thing is, his levels were pretty high compared to mine, and I was nervous. He started with a Pidgeot, a full level 37 by now. Dusty had been my lead pokemon, but I switched to Fractal. I admit this was just to distract Pidgeot so I could then safely bring in Wobbles, my powerhouse with a great ice move. That’s not a strategy I love using, but we were in a desperate situation. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Pidgeot outsped Wobbles anyway, and took him out in one hit.

I put in Giago to try and have a go with her, but Pidgeot fights dirty and after a little bit was kicking sand in Gia’s face. So I swapped out again and tried Dusty once more. And you know what? I never should have doubted Dusty. She got a lucky freeze and kept pelting away with Ice Beams until the Pidgeot went down. 

Gia was able to handle the Growlithe, and Dusty took out the Exeggcute-- barely, but she did. Charmed got to see her first taste of battle and slashed the Kadabra to death. Finally came Blastoise, which was a whopping level 40. 

I was worried. Giago’s weak to Special attacks, and Wobbles was already fainted. I did as much damage as I could with Charmed, then after going down to Hydro Pumps, I finished it off with Giago.

It was a close battle. Very close. But we pulled through, and I think I learned some things, especially losing Wobbles so early in the match. Wobbles is my ace, my powerhouse, and the one to usually protect us all when we’re outclassed in a battle. But Wobbles goes down to physical attacks in an instant if he happens to be outsped or doesn’t kill right away. When that happened, I thought for sure we were toast. But we weren’t. Giago and Dusty did a lot of work to save us. 

It was a true team effort, too. Giago has immense defense and HP and is the wall of the team, but her Special makes even her frail to powerful Special attackers. Charmed was important to have around to take the Special attackers on. Dusty helped make up for Gia’s weakness as well, somehow taking out a Pidgeot and an Exggecute, despite having some rather low stats. Seperate, they may not have made it, but together they managed to snatch victory. 

After that battle, finishing off the Team Rocket thugs was a breeze. At the top floor I found some dude who claimed to be the leader of the group. He was being obnoxous, so I battled him and forced him to leave. The president of the Silph Company was grateful for that, and he gave me a free pokeball! 

After that, I decided to visit the local gyms during the rest of my free time. I figured I may as well.

After some shopping and relaxing, I finished out my day in Saffron. Overall, not bad. But I’m eager to see your lab at Cinnabar Island. I’m on my way to Fuscia now, to take out Koga at his gym. That’ll give me the clearance I need to Surf around here. Then I can head over to Cinnabar. 

I’ll let you know when I arrive!

-June

---

June,

Excellent. I’m glad you’re bonding so well with your glitchmon, and I’m glad you’re on your way now. Allow me to ellaborate a little on the fossil conversion process we’ve developed here.

The process partly involves something you have already done in the past. Recall when you handled that glitchmon #C6 with the Superglitch move? Yes. You will be repeating those steps, although this time, your C6 should know Double Slap, not Mega Kick. The easiest method is to simply capture another C6 for the task. 

Once you’ve initiated the controlled Superglitch corruption, according to the steps you learned previously, meet me here at my lab. Give me the Helix fossil you collected previously. You will then do some swapping with a pokemon in your expanded party-- the 33rd pokeball, to be exact. I will take this 33rd pokemon and use its DNA to splice with the Helix fossil, and we can revive a glitched pokemon as a result.

Be sure to return the 33rd pokemon to its proper place when finished and then repeat the steps you followed last time for ‘cleaning up’ after controlled Superglitch corruption.

-Professor Gingko

---

Professor,

It was wonderful to finally meet you face-to-face! The lab was nicer then I imagined. A little small, but still fascinating. I enjoy the ocean breeze and the atmopshere of Cinnabar Island, too. It’s the perfect place to study pokemon.

Your lab assistant is a little hard to understand, but I get the feeling he doesn’t get out much. Anyway, I have the glitchmon we revived, #C9, and I’m trying him out in battle now. Sometimes he blends in with the scenary if there’s a lot of rocks around, but he screeches a lot so I usually can find him that way. He’s been an energetic fellow, so I can’t wait to see what he can do!

-Junebug

---

Glitchdex #: C9/201 

Family: Onix Hybrid (95)

Type(s): Rock/Ground

Species Keyword: FRIENDSHIP

It seems to form great friendships with Drowzee. It is best to keep a Drowzee with this POKEMON to allow it to reach its full potential. 

—

End Notes

Glitches mentioned/used in this post:

* English Fossil Conversion Trick

Click for the next part of the series!

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 2, 2020.