#yes. Yes it is clemont. They don't exist.

[themintman]

whoever decided to make me so emotional about fictional characters deserves to be shot.

Like, I'm ok with real people. Worst case scenario I'll cry cause Im terrified that me calling your outfit cute has somehow offended you. Fictional characters? NOPE NO CHILL

If I think about characters I like too hard I feel actual physical pain because my stupid brain decided to gaslight the rest of me into thinking of them more like real people than ACTUAL real people. So to my STUPID BRAIN they are just friends I can't hug.

LIKE WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS BRAIN??? NO I DONT WANT TO CRY CAUSE I ACCIDENTALLY MADE THE SILLY OLD MAN DISAPPOINTED??? BUT NO, I GUESS IM GOING TO SOB INTO MY PILLOW CAUSE I THINK I UPSET HIM (he's not even real?????)

[crystalelemental]

Alright, I'm in the vibe for some of this month's pairs, so let's give one more Gauntlet Sweep with Akari.

Vs. Tapu Bulu I just realized these are organized from most recent to most ancient game release. Wild. Anyway. Tapu Bulu started what you may notice is the combo. BP Olivia actually works really well with Akari, buffing both defenses and supplying the recovery from gradual healing. Her pop healing is good enough that Akari won't be distracted by Potion use too much, keeping her Buddy move's damage at its maximum. My Olivia is sadly not EX, so I couldn't go full crazy on Akari, but it's sufficient. I would also point out here, yes my Akari is 5/5. I got really lucky on the scouts.

Vs. Tornadus Lana's not a bad pick either. Unlike Roxanne, Akari doesn't have perfect gauge management, but 2-gauge spam and the TM giving +4 speed isn't atrocious. It's not great, either. But it can work out okay. Lana's the kind of defensive pick that can make use of Akari's Potion in a pinch.

Vs. Terrakion I had to do at least one with Dawn. Terrakion is a good one, because Dawn cuts off its physical attack boosting while Akari just beats it down. Her damage field counts for its Clear Advantage, so she's just a pure beatdown.

Vs. Cobalion I went back to Lana to avoid Dawn being the easy answer. Unfortunately, you need paralysis, so I brought Norman. It's fine.

Vs. Azelf This is where BP Olivia took off. She has access to Stalwart/Unbending, which is ideal to counterpick Azelf. In truth? This feels like her niche over Morty and Clemont. She's incredibly sturdy, even against Azelf. And the 5/5 really worked out here; debuffing defenses per hit let Akari keep wailing on it even with its damage reduction.

Vs. Uxie Uxie's also pretty easily handled by Olivia, we just need BP Erika for Trap/Toxic combo, otherwise we're hard walled. I went with Erika over Lucy, because Olivia already supplies Gradual Healing, which is redundant with Lucy.

Vs. Latios Easy enough, Akari just beats the shit out of them. Again, Olivia's Stalwart/Unbending combo is nice here, completely blocking Latios' bullshit.

Vs. Latias Okay, this one was a challenge. Latias could beat us, if Olivia missed. The main benefit of Akari is that her buddy move can't miss. But her main move can. So you really want to end bar 1 with regular Ceaseless Edge, to set up a long duration for Buddy move. But as you may guess, Olivia needs to hit like every attack, in order to avoid the mid-bar +6 from annihilating all hope. Fluid Fortification gets nasty. It's frankly riskier than it's entirely worth. But they can do it as a duo.

Vs. Registeel This is approximately what I did for Gauntlet. Akari at 5/5 absolutely annihilates this idiot. Without 5/5, Akari offers basically nothing in this fight, you'd need a trio to manage defense. But with 5/5, it's the hardest dunk on this list.

Vs. Regirock Regirock is much tougher. You need the flinch, or Akari just takes too much and it gets out of hand. That said, we missed flinch on the Iron Defense, so it got to block a ton of crits. Akari still pushed through. Her DPS is ridiculous.

Vs. Entei Getting a bit redundant, but Olivia also has Quick Cure, so she beats Entei's Fire Spin. By the time you get to the last bar, Akari's able to pop trainer move and blow it away in like two moves, even through burn. BP Morty is another option to flinch them.

Vs. Raikou Akari can't quite OHKO the sides pre-sync, but she comes close. She's strong enough to handle a lot of this. Also if you have Strike role, she'd probably one-shot on sync. Akari's a bit ridiculous.

Final Thoughts Akari's draw is her absurd DPS. Her Buddy move is absurdly overpowered, and if you have 5/5, it's completely over. I think lower move levels would have a much worse time with all of this. You're dealing with a lot less damage because you don't have any defense debuffs. But also, eggmons exist, and most of these are duos. Sincerely, you can just slap like Lickitung or Parasect on these fights, and cover most gimmicks and still have your debuffs. It's not a huge ask.

The oddity of Akari is that her sync kinda sucks, but she's still great at Gauntlet. Figure that out. I think it speaks well to the power of her Buddy move that she's a poor sync nuker who still pushes through. The lack of conditions like Emma and SS Lysandre, where stages can just deny the entire gimmick, makes her relatively hard to stop as well. In most situations, the DPS of pairs like this get stops cold by stages that counteract you, but nothing really blocks Akari's damage field. It's funny, really, seeing Damage Field contribute. I know it's mostly in how it unlocks better damage for her moves, but I think that's a sane approach. The damage fields can't be stopped, nor as far as I'm aware, overwritten by one another. It's an incredibly free condition to apply, so as far as multipliers go, it's about as safe as Restrain. Big fan of the design of this kit.

[eternalstargazer]

Delia asked Goh to look after Ash, entrusting him with her son's safety and well-being. She barely knew Goh at the time, yet she could sense Goh would be a good companion for Ash. Call it maternal instinct. A mother sometimes just knows.

Kiawe however wasn't sure Goh was deserving to walk alongside Ash. Kiawe had come to respect Ash over time, and believed he required a strong rival to reach his potential. Kiawe needed to know "the person closest to Ash" possessed strength of character and could help him reach his dream. By accepting Kiawe's challenge and speaking his heart and mind, Goh proved himself in Kiawe's eyes.

And then along came the Child Prodigy of Pallet Town, Mr. Ten Out of Eight Gym Badges* himself, Gary Oak.

Delia and Kiawe both believe Goh is capable of watching over Ash and they feel better knowing Goh is at his side. Gary? Seemingly not so.

But this is Gary. He's the guy that can never be honest with what he's feeling, as Ash points out near the end of the episode. Who knows Gary better than Ash (aside from maybe his grandfather, and he seems to feel the same way about Gary's behavior)? Gary's intentions aren't always clear (I go into more detail about this here).

Anyone remember Gary making such a big deal about Ash's past traveling companions? As someone that's watched the anime since 1998, I don't. How many times did he even acknowledge the existence of Misty and Brock? What about Dawn? When he did exchange a line or two with someone else in Ash's entourage, he never made a point of questioning their abilities as a trainer.

Gary doesn't treat Goh the same way. At first glance, it appears Gary actually has a lower opinion of Goh than those that have tagged along with Ash in the past. It's one thing to not bother to take notice of someone. It's a whole other thing to go out of one's way to insult someone.

And yes, Goh feels insulted that some guy he just met moments ago out in the middle of a forest is questioning his skills as a trainer and declared he doesn't meet the qualifications to be Ash's buddy.

I imagine this also hit a bit too close to home for Goh given his lonely childhood and past failed friendships. His friendship with Ash is very important to him - precious even, as Goh himself said in episode 91, and here stands Ash's childhood friend essentially telling him, "yeah, you're not good enough for him," before offering up one of his patented smirks.

Gary's words cut deep.

Ash recognized this behavior in Gary, having been on the receiving end of it in the past many times, and what Gary said to him would often leave him feeling angry and hurt, but it also pushed him to become stronger and reach new heights. Back then, it seemed like Gary was just being a jerk to Ash for his own personal amusement, but again, Gary's motives aren't always obvious and what he says isn't necessarily an accurate representation of how he feels.

Goh decides to prove Gary wrong. And in doing so, he does precisely what Gary wanted him to do. Join Project Mew.

Gary sees potential in Goh, otherwise he likely would've either outright ignored him or barely acknowledged his presence, just as he did with Ash's former traveling companions. Gary wants Goh to get stronger, in part, because he's all Ash has right now.

Ash has consistently been in the company of strong trainers that could and would help and protect him. He has almost always had at least one or more gym leaders with him on his journeys at any given time (Misty, Brock, Cilan, Clemont) and while in Alola, Professor Kukui and classmates like Kiawe were always around or nearby. As reckless as Ash can be, Gary never lost too much sleep worrying about his safety.

Now? Now it's just Goh. And that concerns the guy that can never be honest with his feelings. When Moltres was swooping in to attack Ash and Infernape, Goh yelled to Ash to watch out, but it was Gary that instinctively jumped into action to protect Ash and Infernape by calling out Blastoise.

Gary does see potential in Goh, but he also sees someone that lacks experience and confidence, and as a result isn't able to think on his feet and react quickly. Both Ash and Gary stepped in to save Goh and Cinderace when Cinderace's attack missed and Moltres countered with an attack of its own. Goh didn't know what to do or how to respond, and simply froze, but Ash and Gary - two trainers that have spent years sharpening and honing their skills (despite being ten still, don't think about it) - both had the necessary experience and confidence in their abilities to instantly react.

Gary knows Goh is capable of so much more, so he does what he did with Ash: nudge him in the direction of bettering himself through the use of teases and remarks that Goh sees as belittling. The Project Mew Trial Missions are perfect for this as they are a test of not just a trainer's battling ability, but character as well. And of course, Gary knows Goh will want to prove just how wrong he is about him, so that in itself will be a big motivator for Goh to level up his abilities as well as himself.

Gary knows that this is a far more effective strategy than coming out and saying to Goh, "when I'm not around to protect Ashy-boy here, I expect you to. Get stronger and don't disappoint me!"

After all, Gary knows it's only a matter of time before Ash decides to jump off another cliff/tower/something high, high up or gets mixed up in another plot for regional/world domination/destruction where The Chosen One again chooses to risk life and limb.

Gary needs Goh to be ready for that day.

And what better way to prepare Goh for that day than by getting him all riled up by saying he's not qualified to be Ash's buddy?

Gary is asking Goh to look after Ash, just in his own unique and special way, because he's Gary and nothing is ever that simple and straightforward with him.

...

Or it could just be that Gary enjoys a good rivalry, and it's really as simple as that. 🤣

*Thank you, @deamsgirl, for helping smooth over that sentence during the drafting process and for putting my mind at ease that this reference wouldn't be too obscure! 😅

I already had a good idea where I wanted to go with this post, but talking with @deamsgirl about the Ash/Goh/Gary dynamic, this episode specifically, and possible subtext, definitely made writing this easier - and more fun! 🤗 There's a reason Ash, Goh, and especially Gary are so good in the stories she writes; it's because she knows them so well! Her insight and thoughts are always truly appreciated! 🤗

Speaking of which, if you're not familiar with her writing, you need to be! 😉 Her collection of ShigeSatoGou/Gary x Ash x Goh stories are hilarious and heartfelt reads, along with her palletshipping fics! So check out her works over on AO3 and enjoy! 💛

[askthejourneysgang]

To Ash, (+Goh, +Chloe)

I don’t how you have stayed alive (relatively) for almost a full year with all these crazy disasters back to back. Yes, I know you died like five times and got brought back which is another thing entirely... Anyway. There is a dimension-hopping therapy group for heroes like us. We include all kinds of different people, some Serenas will go the champion route while a Lillie did the island challenge in an Ashless universe. Most tend to have caught their regions’ Mythical/Legendary Pokemon so you could have so many unique battle opportunities.

An invite should be sent to you after the Masters Eight Tournament finale. Heads up, we try not to do the “I was hurt worse/went through more pain” thing cause we’ve all suffered :,). You can talk to people resurrected to continue giving you the world. Or the similar theme of adults not being able to step up to help us when we need it. Word of advice never push anybody in battling with the word “Nuzlocke” on their nametag. Their worlds are where Pokemon die in what would be regular battles. Sometimes it is even only just them suffering from the Nuzlocke Curse.

The basics are: Hoenn gets environmentally messed up causing mass Pokemon migration, Unova gets caught in a political war in which the possibility of Plasma being right pops up once in a Blue Moon, Kalos deals with the ultimate weapon always destroying Geosenge Town, Alola tends to sort itself out since Lusamine is the only one kidnapped by Nihilego or the Ultra Recon Squad handles Necrozma, Galar is precarious with Enternatus needing to be distracted long enough for the legendary wolves to show, and lastly Kanto-Johto only ever gets truly bad when Giovanni is far more greedy than usual. We had to take down the dimension-hopping Rocket Boss a while back.

Do not try to catch the Mystery Dungeon universes’ heroes. Pokeballs affect them weirdly and they can dodge quite well from having to be in direct battle against smart wild Pokemon. Not to mention most of them were human at one point so it’s kinda insensitive to capture them when they still speak English/Common. Took a collab between Sophocleses Clemonts and other technology gifted to allow them the choice of temporarily changing back to human. They will fight you on equal terms if angered.

—Champion Wally, Mega-Timeline FC Chosen of Latios.

P.S- Nametags will be distributed to you. Any titles like Champion/Ranger/Coordinator/Trainer/Type Specialist will accompany your name. FC means first contact, so I was the first one contacted from my timeline. Which Legend you have been mainly chosen by goes next.

Ash: Ooh! Seems interesting. I think I'll join 😌

Goh: A therapy group? Hmm...

Chloe: I think you just need regular therapy, not, you know... five-times deceased immortal chosen one therapy

Goh: True... but I hope you get some good help there, Ash. I know you've needed something like this for a long time, even if you never liked showing that side of you to us

Ash: Don't worry, my scone! I'm sure it will goh great and I totally won't get roped into some multiverse-spanning adventure to save all of existence 🤞

[theangrypokemaniac]

Ma and Pa James?

Best parents in Pokémon.

Hear me out now.

The only reason they appear bad is because they're visible, but compared to the rest?

• Ash's dad abandoned him. Or, if you prefer, Ash's dad is a Mafia crime lord who abandoned him.

• Misty's parents walked out on four children.

• Brock's dad left a wife and ten kids, and then was a failure at what he left for. Given his libido there's probably a lot of other disregarded offspring he sired on the road.

• Brock's mom was a noble, long-suffering saint who died of exhaustion, and then they decided to resurrect her, making her more of a scumbag than her husband, so she's just dead to me.

• Jessie's mom had the decency to die, although in some versions she just didn't come back.

• Jessie's dad never even existed.

• Gary's parents buggered off.

• Tracey has no background whatsoever.

Everyone is either an orphan or from a broken home with no contact with one or both of their parents.

And you wonder why children leave home at ten years old. There's no bloody home to go home to!

By bothering to bring up their own child Ma and Pa James are morally superior to everyone else.

About the only competition they've got in the parenting stakes is Ash's mom, but however much you love Dame Ketchum (and I do), at best she fell pregnant in her teens to a deadbeat who dumped her at the first oppotunity, and at worst may have been a gangster's moll.

In consequence of such recklessness, those mischievous shippers match her with every animal, vegetable and mineral under the sun, the rascals!

I know what you're going to say:

Oh what about May and Max?

Bah! That's a sham marriage if ever there was one. Norman is what's known scientifically as a mad bastard going through the typical male mid-life crisis, and consequently having it away with that Nurse Joy.

Ooh, foul temptress!

You think I swallowed that blatant lie about the fireworks? As if!

Oh of course, Joy became a pyrotechnician! That'll come in use in her daily life.

She makes the night go with a bang.

If you want to take it further:

• Dawn has a pushy mom but no dad.

• Iris lives in the woods.

• Cilan has to wait tables.

• Serena has a shark-eyed, domineering mother but no dad.

• Clemont and Bonnie got no mom and their dad's a fantasist.

Don't bring up the Alola mugs as examples of fine behaviour, because as I pointed out...

Them fecking inbreds! Freaks of nature!

It's a strange world, is Pokémon. On the one hand, it's a harsh enough environment that producing children and then leaving them to survive or die is socially acceptable, and so common that no one thinks anything of it.

On the other, despite a constant stream of strangers passing through as well as the perils of electrified or poison-spewing animals, it's so safe that when your child runs away from home, you just shrug and wait for it to come back, and don't alert the police to mount a full-scale search whilst you fall into hysterics imagining them lying face down in a ditch.

Then when they do turn up, rather than you being swamped in an overflow of relief, tears, welcome, all is forgiven, you sit there whilst they get beaten for their impudence, therefore submitting them to the kind of treatment that caused them to run off in the first place, presumably as punishment for leaving.

Actually, it's probably worse treatment, as I bet Little Jessibelle didn't own a whip, nor have access to such a variety of implements of torture.

But apart from those minor details, just consider all the positive aspects of James's parents:

• They stayed together!

• They have the one lasting, happy marriage!

• They kept the magic alive!

• They didn't walk out on their son!

• They're generous with knitwear!

• And candied peel!

• And ice-cream sandwiches!

• They spoilt him on Kids' Day!

• And at Christmas!

• It's not as if James has no good memories of childhood.

• They got loadsa money!

• And a massive house!

• And a swimming pool!

• And stately homes all over!

• They only had one child so James will inherit it all!

• They're kind to Magikarp! Shame they didn't pass that down.

• They let a little boy have a fire-breathing dog as a pet!

• They looked after the dog when James left!

• They kept the dog despite Jessibelle's protestations because he's their boy's dog!

• They gave a mansion to the dog!

• The dog's in the family portrait because they bloody love that dog!

• James loves his parents enough to leave Growlie behind to protect them!

• James put their welfare above being with Growlie himself!

• He trusts Growlie will be safe in their hands!

• They care so much about James's future they found him a bride!

• They chose a young, pretty girl for a daughter-in-law, one whose looks are evidently to James's taste! They do know him well then.

• Yes, she's a bit odd, but you can't fault Jessibelle for keeness. She's certainly fully committed to the relationship.

• They made a valiant attempt to pull James away from the criminal underworld, where success is stealing from children and failure is grinding poverty, starvation, pain and misery.

• They want him comfortable, settled and law-abiding.

• Doing so shows more concern for him than practically all the other moms and dads put together.

• One of them has parents, giving James the most complete family tree of anyone.

• They have a nice design, resembling James to be believable as parents, but distinctive enough to be memorable.

• They're certainly not boring.

• Their son knows where they live!

• When he wanted rid, James had to leave them!

• They're not violent, they just let it happen!

• It's The Untold Love Story of Pokémon!

• Pa loves Ma and isn't creeping off to Nurse Joy's bedsit to give 'er one!

Unlike some I could name.

I can't believe sleazy couplings like Flint and Lola's are honoured with ship names when True Love like this isn't celebrated!

MaAndPaShipping here we come.

If you live in Pokémon, they're the best pair of parents you can hope for.

God bless 'em!

[sage-nebula]

If you don't mind I would love to hear about the dark idea you had for Lillie and Alan.

Oh man, okay. Well, buckle up, because this will take some explaining.

So, as I said in those tags, this is in reference to my fic To Devour the Sun, which is an Alola AU that was started before the games released and the anime premiered. As a result, I had to come up with my own characterization for the Alola characters, based on what we had seen of them from official art and little tidbits about their personalities and backgrounds. This is most apparent with both Lusamine and Gladion (especially Gladion; not only did I assume he’d get along fine with Team Skull, but I made him a little spitfire to boot), but it would have become apparent with Lillie, who in her official art appears very closed off and is frowning. For the purposes of this fic, Lillie is characterized much as she is in my write-up of how I would have written the Gen VII games, which is to say that she is quite closed off, quite cold, very intelligent and resourceful (and can be a bit impatient with others who aren’t on her level), and is faithfully helping Lusamine along with her plans, albeit with a lot of despair over it. She’s doing what she’s doing because she feels she has no other choice. She doesn’t have hope that things could be different, and she and Gladion are currently in the midst of a two year long fight because he ran away from home in order to try and make a difference, when she didn’t believe that was possible and felt the right thing to do was to stay.

So with all of this being said, the Lillie in this fic is quite different from the Lillie we see in canon, and though she hasn’t been introduced in the fic proper yet (she’d be getting her introduction in the next chapter, when Manon, Clemont, and Bonnie to go the school), the plot necessitates that she keep the characterization I originally conceived for her. Like, it could be argued that since she hasn’t been introduced yet I could still go with her canon characterization (whereas it is too late for Lusamine, and especially too late for Gladion given his numerous appearances), but the plot really would not work if she had her canon characterization. I can tweak it some, but not enough to make her canon compliant. It sucks, but it is what it is. It’s my punishment for starting a fic before the canon released.

As a final note, also because this fic was started before the games released (and because the plot hinges on it, et cetera), the Aether family are Ultra Beasts in this fic. Lusamine is UB-02 Beauty, Lillie is UB-01, and Gladion is UB-04 Blade (i.e. kartana). And it’s important to note that, because it comes into play with this idea.

The idea is:

Lillie and Alan encounter each other once before the actual idea takes place. I don’t want to spoil too much about it, but essentially, at the end of chapter five Alan and Lizardon both had a very, very bad time battling a giant chimera deep within the basement of Aether Paradise (in an arena). It’s enough so that the cliffhanger I left that fic off on makes it look like Alan died (he certainly thinks he’s going to, given what happened to him, but he managed to save Lizardon, so he’s okay with it). In honesty, he would and should have died, but Lusamine saw the bond between him and Lizardon, and realized that they could be suitable candidates for sacrifice as per her plan. So she has Aether Foundation employees use medicinal alchemy (far more advanced than what this dimension should have as far as medical science goes) to save his life so that she can run him and Lizardon through tests to see if they are indeed the sacrifices she needs (or at least one pair of sacrifices—she needs three pairs).

Well, this being a story, they are, so she keeps them for a while. At some point during their unwilling stay, Lillie goes to Aether Paradise for her own reasons. While she’s going through, she comes across Alan. She remembers Manon telling her about Alan (she recognizes him from the description she was given), and she decides to help him escape. However, due to a series of circumstances that I won’t go into right now (because it would be #spoilers and I still want to write this fic someday), it doesn’t end up working. Lillie gets out of there, but Alan is trapped behind, wherein the bad times continue. (It’s a series of bad times. The little snippets I’ve written are very tame in comparison to what’s in store for him and Lizardon both, but you can still see that Lusamine is not at all nice to him. And trust me, Wicke and Faba aren’t either.)

Some time long after that, when things are revealed and other things happen, there’s some big climactic battle. I haven’t figured out the entirety of how it happens yet, but I do know that obviously Alan and Lizardon are involved, and Lillie is there as well. For the first time in years she has come to have at least a sliver of hope that things could, perhaps, be different—that maybe her mother’s plan to reduce this dimension to an empty husk for the sake of Ultra Space can be stopped. And she feels, due to all the circumstances and things that have happened, that Alan and Lizardon are perhaps the best bet to making that happen, that if anyone can defeat her mother (and more importantly, her mother’s creations), they can. But the thing is, well …

Here’s the thing:

It’s my belief that pokémon do not use 100% of their power in battle—that pokémon naturally restrain themselves to a degree in battles so that their attacks aren’t lethal. It’s the only explanation, isn’t it? We know that a charizard’s flames are hot enough to melt boulders, and that ‘Zard X has blue flames, which are the hottest flames in existence, and can potentially rival the sun in heat. Yet you can have a charizard battle a caterpie, and while the caterpie will faint in short order, it won’t die. Even if it’s hit by flames, it won’t die. And I have to believe this is because pokémon, like the dragons in the Dreamworks Dragons franchise, can control the strength of their attacks. Just like how Toothless didn’t kill that terrible terror when he shot fire into its mouth in the first movie (but then later killed the Red Death by doing the same, meaning he was intentionally holding back when he shot fire into the mouth of the terrible terror), pokémon can make it so that their attacks aren’t lethal. It does’t mean they’re not trying their best when they battle, because of course they are, but it does mean there’s a certain degree of restraint involved. They can regulate their attacks, and they do so, at least in battles against other trained pokémon (so in the wild, it may very well be that there are no holds barred; anything goes in fights between wild pokémon).

When it comes to mega evolution, part of this restraint is given to the trainer. Not just anyone can mega evolve their pokémon; outside of legendary pokémon, who can mega evolve without a trainer nearby (hi, Rayquaza), regular pokémon need an incredibly strong, nigh telepathic bond with a trainer in order to be able to mega evolve. The link that is established between human and pokémon when mega evolution occurs ties their souls and strength together; the restraint that the pokémon normally places on themselves when battling is shared with the trainer, so that the trainer’s feelings can influence the pokémon, and vice versa. It’s a shared spirit, in other words. The pokémon mega evolves because of the bond they have with their trainer, and in turn the trainer fights with their pokémon in a sense, their emotions melding with their pokémon partner’s in order to create a whole new experience.

I bring all of this up because by the time the final battle occurs, Alan and Lizardon have been through … a lot. Even setting aside all the testing, due to the events at the end of chapter five, Alan firmly believes that he should have died, that it’s unnatural and wrong that he didn’t, and that … that alone has messed him up. Everything else Lusamine did to him (and honestly, this is a woman who sees humans as the lowest life form, and who commissioned Faba to create the chimeras and has allowed him to do whatever with them, so the tests she ran Alan and Lizardon through are … pretty inhumane) just made it worse. Nonetheless, he’s still Alan, he still has limits …

… but that’s where Lillie comes in.

As I mentioned before, Lillie has spent the last few years feeling despaired over everything, because she doesn’t want this dimension to be destroyed (it’s the only home she has ever known), but she hasn’t had hope that anyone could stop her mother. Now she feels like maybe there’s a chance, but it’s a slim one. That giant chimera is still in existence and still on the field, and there are all the other chimeras as well. In addition, Lusamine has Ultra Beast auras protecting them, and as if all of that wasn’t enough … well, remember that Lusamine is actually UB-02 Beauty, and according to the official SM website:

So even if others try to battle her, good fucking luck; their pokémon lose the will to fight her, once she employs her own ability. (Which, yes, was sadly not put into the game itself, just—Game Freak, why do you live to disappoint? Oh well, if they won’t take advantage of this, I will. Just see if I don’t.) There is still a chance she can be stopped, but it’s extremely slim. The situation doesn’t look good, and Lillie feels that the longer the battle draws out, the slimmer their chance at victory (a chance which is perhaps granted by Lusamine trying to employ that effect on Lizardon, and it seems as if it’s almost working … only for it to ultimately fail, because Lizardon’s bond with Alan—platonic soulmates that they are—is just that strong) becomes.

But while Lusamine may have a special ability … she’s not the only one.

Lillie is, in actuality, UB-01. UB-01, as we know, has the ability to lower people’s inhibitions through physical contact. Lillie doesn’t usually employ this; she doesn’t want to control others, and in truth has doubts about how much she can given that she has felt, for years now, like she is in a minecart going along a predetermined track with no power over how far or fast it goes. But the situation is desperate right now, and Alan has been through a lot. She knows this, even if she doesn’t know all the exact details. She knows what her mother is like. She knows what the tests are like. She doesn’t need the specifics to know how much torment both Alan and Lizardon underwent as her mother’s test subjects.

But that makes her think that … maybe there’s a chance.

So in this idea—that, again, I likely won’t use, for a few reasons—Lillie … takes advantage of that, and her own ability. She has an idea of how strong Lizardon is, and knows that a pokémon’s power is amplified post-mega evolution. She knows about the restraint that trainers and pokémon employ when battling. She knows that if Alan and Lizardon are strong when employing that legal restraint (and they are), that if that restraint wasn’t there—if they didn’t adhere to any limitations …

In the midst of everything, she takes him by the hand. She focuses on the neurological altering ability she was born with as she holds his hand in both her own, and looks him in the eye, and talks to him. He has been through so much. Even before coming to Alola—Lillie doesn’t know these details, but this Alolan “vacation” (it was supposed to be a vacation) occurred only six months after the Flare crisis. Six months ago was the Flare crisis, and two years before that he was in Lysandre’s service, at the lowest point in his life. All of that, plus everything Lusamine did, plus a little urging and, honestly, toxic influence from Lillie to take those metaphorical gloves off and fight with everything they have, no restraint … 

It’s just … a little push. A little push on someone who, after having been through so much, was honestly already on the edge, but was holding himself back through simple virtue of his own honor.

(“But haven’t you always wondered what would happen if neither of you did hold back? What you could accomplish? She isn’t holding anything back. She never has. Even now, everyone here—they could die, because she isn’t sparing them any mercy. That giant chimera can and will kill them. Everyone—your family, my brother, Ash and the rest of our classmates, they’ll all die because there isn’t enough strength here to prevent it, except … if unrestrained, and fully tapped into … what you and Lizardon are able to do … the strength you have …”

“… The strength to protect …”

“Yes, exactly.”)

If Alan, in that mindset—that unstable, unrestrained mindset—used mega evolution just then … if he said, respond to my heart while activating his Key Stone … if Lizardon’s mega evolution had so much fury backing it, fury that came from both of them … the results would be devastating, probably, and that’s where Gladion’s horror would come in (and not just his, I’m sure, but still), because, “Lillie, the bastard is strong enough without you pushing him to this point, what the hell have you done?!” 

All of that said, no one would die and I’m sure it would all work out in the end, but … I feel like releasing restraint like that would be cause enough for someone to lose their Trainer’s License, although in this case it could probably be argued that it was some form of psychological break (not to mention Lillie would admit to what she did), therefore he could probably keep his if he went through something like six months dedicated therapy (which after all this, he could probably use). All the same, I doubt I’m going to use this idea because I have other ideas in mind for the climax, but it’s interesting to think about nonetheless, because … well, employing restraint, Alan and Lizardon are strong enough as it is. But can you imagine … what would happen … if they stopped holding back? 

I can, and I usually imagine it to this music.