#zhar meanwhile just kind of showed up out of nowhere

[iturbide]

OKAY I DREW THE DIPSHIT[S] YOU SHOULD TALK ABOUT THEM

how can I honestly resist those faces

Okay so.  As you’re probably aware by now, Pokemon is a pretty big thing for me, and has been for a long time (at the risk of dating myself horribly, my first game was Blue).  Pokemon AUs are some of my favorite things because the setting is so adaptable and the variety of actual pokemon is so vast that you can make custom teams for every character that perfectly embody their personality and style. 

A good long while back now I came across a prompt from FYCD about taking your characters and dropping them into the world of Pokemon, so of course I went “heck yeah” and did it with one of my original stories in progress, specifically using this cast of characters.  Kemal and Adia ended up as joint professors, a married couple doing pokemon research and helping new trainers get started; Dian ended up as the protagonist, with Ambrose as her rival, while Zhar and Leander became the friends she made along the way. 

It...kind of snowballed into an original region (I haven’t taken the step of doing original pokemon because designing a custom region with landmarks, gym leaders, and existing pokemon territories is already a nightmare and a half, I don’t have the juice to add custom monsters to it).  This region, called the Halcya region is home to an ancient myth:

Long ago, a wicked shadow stretched across the land, leaving naught but nightmares in its wake; those with evil in their hearts prayed for the shadow’s blessing, and when the darkness granted their wish they sowed ever more chaos with the shadows that did their bidding.  Yet when all hope seemed lost, great powers rose to fight against the darkness, pushing it back until finally the shadow was defeated and bound deep within the earth, never again to taint the light of day. 

Basically, way back in the ancient past, Darkrai came to Halcya and people there began to suffer from endless sleep terrible nightmares.  It’s said, however, that there were people who Darkrai blessed as his own, granting them the ability to call upon his dark powers; there were those who Darkrai blessed who immediately began to wreak havoc on the region, saying that it was “in Darkrai’s service,” and for a while it seemed like the region would end up destroyed...until other Legends appeared and began granting their own blessings to the people so they could endure and fight back.  With the help of these great pokemon, Darkrai’s army was quelled and the nightmare himself was locked in a prison beneath the earth under constant guard by Cresselia to prevent a repeat occurrence.  It’s also said that to this day, the great Legends who saved Halcya continue to grant their blessings to its children.

As with a lot of legends in Pokemon, turns out there’s a substantial nugget of truth in all that.

The story itself follows Dian (the cutie on the right in the picture) on her journey through this region, starting off in her hometown of Amite.  While she’s excited about this milestone, she ends up having to contend with another trainer on his way to starting his journey -- namely Ambrose, the high-and-mighty self-absorbed son of a wealthy couple, who believes he only deserves the best: he takes the pokemon that the professors been specifically chosen for Dian -- an Eevee, representative of her potential, but that he only sees as something rare and therefore valuable and desirable.  Though they try to stop him, he refuses to return the pokemon, and she ends up with another that they find fitting: a Bulbasaur, indicative of her potential for growth.

Ambrose, naturally, challenges her immediately to a battle -- and to everyone’s surprise, the “Bulbasaur” Dian received suddenly shivers into a Zorua when the Eevee hits it for the first time.  Dian manages to beat Ambrose (which he takes poorly before storming off), and she goes to inform her parents...who insist that she can’t keep the Zorua, and that going on a pokemon journey is a waste of time.  At that point, Dian goes to return the pokemon...only to have the professors encourage her to go if it’s what she wants, promising to cover for her and setting her up with some supplies to get her started.  At which point she heads off, capturing a Murkrow on the way before reaching the Elisean Town and meeting Zhar, who introduces her to the gym challenge...partly because, as it happens, he’s the first gym leader, specializing in fire types.

It’s a tough fight, but she wins with the help of her new Murkrow, at which point Zhar decides to go along with her, since he’s never been far from home in his memory -- something his father wholeheartedly encourages.  After that, they head for the next town, and the next gym, with it: an earth-type specialty gym, run by Leander.  Thanks to the Sneasel she caught along the way, Dian has a much easier time of it, and after getting so soundly thrashed by someone he expected so little from, Leander decides to head off with her, too. 

This is a recipe for disaster.  There are two braincells between the three of them, and Dian usually has both. 

Dian is very smart and has a talent for strategizing her way through battles, even those where she should be at a disadvantage (she has a handful of moves specifically to deal with problem pokemon: the Sludge Bomb on her Houndoom is a particularly potent counter to any fairy types); her downfall tends to be in her self-confidence (or lack thereof), and she can be easily demoralized by cruel words or dismissal out of turn.  Zhar, meanwhile, is clever when he wants to be, and with his combination of speed and quick reflexes pinning him down in battle a challenge; but he can also be very distractible, leading Leander to call him a bird brain more often than not (though he still hasn’t been forgiven for that one time he stole Leander’s wallet at lunch so Dian could go take a gym challenge without him knowing).  Leander’s primary talents are all physical: he’s very strong, and his understanding of Pokemon and how to use their talents to the fullest in battle makes him more than worthy of his gym appointment; but with that said, he’s also a bit bull-headed and quick-tempered, rushing to judgment and to action both and ending up in trouble for it. 

Basically I love them even if they are the dumbest of dumbasses.