#literally something darkrai could have said...

[tagarilaghost]

hey uhm @wowitsmetaylor you know about that one post you made and that one specific tag...?

Yeah well now he does have that :D

It truly sucks being an artist and having free will-

[team-heavenly]

And Now, An Interlude

I did coast through Blizzard Island pretty quick, but my next week or so is kind of insane. I'm out of state from 11/6-11/9 and I'm honestly not sure I can get the arc posted before then :(

But for every cloud, there's a silver lining. I definitely have time to share the nonsense I got into while I was stitching together the Sky Peak post. I really wanted to keep playing the game but without advancing the plot and getting ahead of the blog, so... I improvised.

This picture is basically the theme of the post so enjoy lol

(No, we did not recruit her unfortunately 😔)

First, I want to share some teammates I snagged... and some I lost.

LOOK AT THIS GOD TIER STARAPTOR. Literally the GOAT. I was so, so upset when our client Pidgeotto later got destroyed by a Monster House. I suppose I could have gone through with the defeat, but the risk of losing more than a few exclusive items just wasn't worth it.

But we did get to keep someone I'm pretty sure is Young Guildmaster Wigglytuff:

And HE COULD LEARN ROAR OF TIME. SO I SAID "SURE WHY NOT" AND GAVE HIM THE TM.

It's not a practical set of moves by any means (confusion from Petal Dance (which missed a whole ton anyway), 30% accuracy on Fissure, low PP and stall after using Roar of Time), but definitely fun to play with.

Andrea also tried learning Vine Whip upon level up, but... It wasn't very strong, so I passed on it. Honestly, unless she gets something incredible, I'm thinking her current move set is final.

...Yeah, I told you this was gonna be a common thread. Thankfully we dodged an encounter with the ancient god of the land because... *gestures to the stairs Being Right There*

After a few days of odd jobs, I realized I didn't want our duo getting too far along the experience curve. But how else could I satisfy my itch to keep playing this game? I could play as other Pokémon, sure, but most of them were far too weak for the average Bulletin Board request.

...And then I remembered: I hadn't tried a single dungeon from Poliwhirl's Dojo yet.

(Okay yeah I took these photos after completing all of them but shhhh)

This was our menu of offerings (loaded with affluence and laughter, apparently). Some were conquered on the first try. Some required a little bit of elbow grease. And some... well, they certainly put my patience to the test. I remember Affluent Turn, Hilarious Court, Prosperous Outback, and Hilarious Abyss being particularly troublesome.

"Wait, but aren't the dojo mazes only five floors-" Correct! But these dungeons are randomized like any other, meaning they have three things the mazes typically don't: traps, monster houses, and a whole lot of sticky items.

Granted, this was the squad:

But the traditional starters are well-boosted in the stats to begin with, so it wasn't too bad. And this is a randomizer, so...

I'msorryCharmanderlearnedWHAT?!

(I now want to watch an anime episode where a tiny Igglybuff and Charmander wreck Dialga's sh*t with Roar of Time.)

After enough tries, we were able to nudge the three starters towards evolution. And hilariously, they all insisted on learning OHKO moves (and Dig for some reason):

G-Grovyle, my beloved...

You Do Not See The Palkia, Grovyle Is Clearly Fighting Primal Dialga Here.

Yet the one thing that was consistent across these dungeons to the point of skepticism... was the sheer abundance of legendaries.

Like I honestly think it would be easier for me to list the legendaries NOT included. That's how many there were. Take a gander at this list (bold indicates the Pokémon sighted):

Kanto: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, Mew

Johto: Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi

Hoenn: Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys (multiple forms, all mirage)

Sinnoh: Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Heatran, Regigigas, Giratina (both forms), Cresselia, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin (both forms)

Most of these were in the Final Maze, too. No wonder it was called this instead:

In total, we only recruited two of these legends, which is pretty impressive when you remember you're forced into these places with an empty bag (so no items to help increase the recruitment rate). The first, as you can see above, was Uxie, one of the True Time Gear Guardians.

Not bad! Not bad at all.

And the second... the second is pretty special. I'm still giddy about it even all these days later:

😍 YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT. I RECRUITED THE LADY HERSELF!

I SCREECHED when I saw her in the dungeon to begin with, so you can imagine the commotion I made when she wanted to join the team!! When you talked to her in a dungeon, she even said the phrases. You know, stuff like hating the decay brought about by the world of darkness, and there being no need to worry because she can't ever be caught, of course!

I suppose she's a little confused by her displacement in time and space, but you know what? This really makes it feel like her... so I wouldn't have it any other way <3

She originally joined us at Level 38. I already knew, without a doubt, that she was gonna become a permanent fixture of the team. So I loaded her up with 3 Golden Seeds, every Gummi I had leftover from the mazes, and some Proteins.

Why Protein? Well, she originally knew... Tackle, Endeavor, Strength, and Meteor Mash lol. Her attack stat was also dreadfully low, so why not catch that up to the others when I happen to be swimming in Proteins?

I did also feed her some TMs to diversify the move set a little:

This shot is actually outdated already: presently she knows Super Fang instead of Rock Climb and Hidden Power instead of Defend Order.

There is one slightly unfortunate caveat to my sheer excitement:

Yeah... Normalize. So she can't benefit from the STAB on Giga Drain. But I suppose there are worse things.

Here's something I doubt many people have seen! You're technically not supposed to be able to speak with her in Rotom's Cafe, right? So of course I was dying to know what she said when you spoke to her there, and:

Forgive the desaturation and such, as you can see by the reflection I snapped this one with my phone 💀

Interesting, no? Read that again: Magneton. If you recall, that Pokémon was her replacement in the story! Funny to see it show up here, in what I can only presume is the title of her idle pose. For reasons unknown to me, sometimes she said "standby 2" instead.

Anyway, she and the Gabite you saw earlier were our tried and true teammates during our many, many attempts to conquer Massive Tomb. To skirt around the excess EXP problem, I simply reset whenever things went awry.

The thing with Massive Tomb is... It has 48 floors, right? (Which I found odd, why not make it 50 at that point?) And you're not allowed any items upon entry. So either you miraculously find a string of Secret Bazaars to replenish your belly until you find an Apple of some kind (lol) or you starved to death by floor 11. Oh, and basically every other floor was a Monster House. So it really came down to sheer luck.

There was one attempt where I got as far as 43F. But my string of good fortune turned sour: back-to-back Monster Houses slowly picked off my teammates and made Andrea run out of PP for Blizzard. So when we ran into yet another Monster House (this time mandatory), all it took was one Triple Kick from Persian before it's all over. That loss felt particularly devastating.

The one attempt that finally succeeded was the one where we didn't run into a single MH until we were over 2/3s of the way through. Although the one that did finally show up nearly ended me.

But finally... Finally!

YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAW!

On the one hand: Can you imagine if the aura you got at the beginning was Brown? I would be so mad if I had two of the same color lol. Though on the other hand, aura color doesn't really matter? It only shows up in the flavor text and item sprite - the latter of which you only see if the item gets knocked off of you.

But hey, I'll take it. I'm just glad I finally got through the darn place!

Oh geez, this "mini update" was very close to 30 images somehow 😬 But I hope you enjoyed seeing this not-insignificant, optional part of the main world!

Bonus:

...Okay I guess I lied, we recruited three legends.

[tobias-the-legend]

I understand how draining Pokémon battling can be as someone who has won a tournament and got dragged through literal hell afterwards. Battling takes a lot of work and no one is ever a perfect battler, not even the champions.

Understanding what your Pokémon want is a great quality of a trainer, it proves you really do care for your Pokémon! If a Pokémon doesn't want to battle, they won't battle.

To be honest, I think the reason this has blown up is because the initial post comes off as a bit harsh despite the fact you mean well at the end of the day. I wanted to try and respond as best as I could rather than make a mockery of the situation, I know Lance and Allister have also responded very well to this and I'm proud as both a conference champion and a Galarian resident.

Evasiveness strategies are great to pull off! It can really drive an opponent mad though, but that doesn't take away from the skill of said strategy and the Pokémon involved!

I apologise for the assumption involving the loss handling portion and thank you for explaining the reasoning behind that, it helps to better show your own perspective, which comes full circle to balance!

Oh, and as for Darkrai and Latios, yeah, they've helped a lot! Darkrai especially, they're a lot friendlier than what most have said about them. Latios is actually more of the irritable one of the two, but he's still a key part of my team and a good friend too.

I hope you find something that really suits you!

I could never be a gym leader.

I can't hold back. It's practically against my core beliefs to give any battle less than our best. If I had to battle and lost and had to give someone money because We Didn't Do Our Very Best, I'd be ENRAGED.

What do you MEAN gym leaders aren't allowed to go all-out on everyone?

What do you MEAN I couldn't use my level 43 Mismagius to obliterate every kid who challenges me with a Starly?

What do you MEAN I wouldn't be allowed to let Berry wipe the floor with every pokemon team in a ten-mile radius?

We fought too hard for too long to hard to lose because "you have to give challengers a fighting chance".

Fuck 'em.

Besides. It would be insulting if they saw me battle someone with a freaking... I don't know, Rhyperior or something, and win, and then they challenge me with a Luxray and a prayer and I LOSE to that.

(I don't even like battling, but that's beside the point.)

[edgeanescence]

cyrus has a strange implication of being with rotom.

at first it was more vague, the old notebook found in charons lab could be from any old kid, even if the wording feels oddly familiar. but then the pokemon company furthered this idea.

cyrus wants to look at your rotom dex in usum, and finds it fascinating despite the pokedex containing literal spirit. in masters, cyrus is attracted to rotom yet again, staring at it when interacting with sophocles.

additionally, cyrus only wakes up from his darkrai dream after hearing its cry. he was given a heat rotom in the double battle with mars during the battle tower in bdsp. even during the pokemon center take over event, the in character cosplayer seems to react to the animation regarding the rotom boy with interest.

even if you completely dismiss the rotom boy theory due to the official animation displaying a Much different child then cyrus, you cannot deny he has had some relationship with rotom in the past given how cyrus acts towards it.

rotoms dppt dex entries talk about how its mischievous and often possesses electronics to wreak havoc. the old notebook notes that it can turn invisible and that the electricity constantly spilling out of it makes it virtually untouchable. it also mentions that rotom mysteriously levitates and its name was based off motor but backwards. charons notebook notes that it can stay inside motors indefinitely.

given the heavy focus on machinery rotom has, down to its name, its easy to see why cyrus is interested in it. he enjoys machinery and technology, as stated by a couple npcs who knew him when he was younger and even himself in masters. team galactic sometimes wears a facade of being an energy company, so its electricity only makes it more alluring.

additionally, rotom can be flying type in fan form, lining up with one of cyrus’ eventual type preferences. even outside of it though, it floats due to levitate, making it ungrounded. ghost types arent exactly dark types, but their mannerisms can sometimes coincide with dark types. in rotoms case, its mischievous nature lines up with them.

from this point on, the application of rotoms background splits depending on what background you believe to be true.

if you believe the rotom boy theory debunked, then his relationship could be a bit more surface level. perhaps he interacted with it because of charon keeping it in a galactic building and how he needed to transport it to conduct tests. he could also have just about any other positive backgrounds here that are harder to apply specific elements to or really deduce at all.

if you still go with the rotom boy theory, then you could say that rotom was one of cyrus’ only friends. he is said to be rather asocial growing up, and the old notebook talks about a best friend type relationship with the pokemon. rotoms mischievous nature inspired cyrus to try to prank it back, which ended up in the pokemon shocking him and seemingly running away in shame. mischief feels like something a young child might gravitate towards, even if they were trying to be more uptight because of their parents, kids like to have fun after all.

perhaps he too felt invisible like rotom because of his anti social nature, or how his parents may have treated him. yet, he also felt seen, because this little pokemon shared a genuine interest in machines with him, going as far to possess a toy robot he owned.

as cyrus got older, he got more... prickly. more bitter about life and everything in it. he deemed emotions as a flaw, and decided to do his best to get rid of them. he wanted to fly high, to reach godhood, to become physically untouchable just like how his old friend was, in order to save the world of his own perceived injustice. he still utilizes technology, just for nefarious purposes instead of anything once innocent.

cyrus grew up from a ghost of a child into a corrupt leader with a dark world view. his spark of hope for the future that rotom gave him morphed into desperate flight towards an insane dream.

[tokiro07]

I think I was looking at it the wrong way

I don’t think I should have been looking at it as the legends surrounding the Pokemon individually, but rather I should have been looking at it as the legends of the Pokemon world

Like @thestuffed-alligator said, Johto’s would likely be the legend of the burning of the Bell Tower, which happens to encompass Ho-Oh, the death and rebirth of the Legendary Beasts, and the departure of Lugia. By extension from Lugia, a Johto Legends game could also include the Legendary Birds, since their relationship to Lugia has thus far been pretty loosely established. In this scenario, this may mean this game includes Kanto too if they want to combine them into one game. Kanto or no, I maintain that this game could be framed as using Celebi to travel through time, and would also give us a chance to examine Celebi’s legend a bit more. Therefore, the Johto(/Kanto) game could be called PL: Celebi or Ho-Oh depending on which they want to focus on

@amiiboacid pointed out that Unova would probably cover the conflict between the Twin Heroes that split the Tao Dragon into Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem. Since the story of the Swords of Justice involves a civil war, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out the two events were related, so it’d be easy enough to incorporate them into the story. Meloetta could also be brought in, but I imagine she’d be more of a sidequest. Unova’s game would either be PL: Kyurem or would be named after the original dragon

@golurkart made a design for Serena/Y in a hypothetical Kalos Legends game, which made me realize that it would almost definitely detail the events of the Kalos War. Other than Floette, there isn’t really a Pokemon that explicitly symbolizes this event, so I think this might set a precedent that the games don’t need to be named after a Pokemon and may instead be PL: AZ. If this is too grim, since it would pretty much definitely be depicting the deaths of countless Pokemon, this would definitely be the time to finally delve into Zygarde

Sinnoh is obviously focusing on Arceus, but definitely not from the perspective of seeing the literal creation of the world given that we’re playing in a human civilization. If I had to guess, we’ll probably more be getting into how the myth that Arceus created the world came about. We might also be seeing the conflict between Giratina and Arceus and the creation of the Distortion World, but that might be a bit much. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw sidequests involving the Lake Trio, Shaymin and Darkrai. We could also see something involving Manaphy/Phione or even Regigigas moving the continents, but I’m not expecting that

Hoenn’s a bit difficult, honestly, since we’ve basically already seen everything of importance with the Weather Trio conflict. Maybe we’ll see something involving Jirachi or Latios/Latias, but I’m personally more interested in the circumstances that led to Deoxys’ creation. I don’t know if that would be enough to make a whole game out of, but it’d be neat. Maybe this one would have a completely different gameplay style and would involve a lone astronaut in space caring for their single partner Pokemon, but maybe it’d be a bit much asking for that to be stretched into a full game. That would definitely be PL: Deoxys, though

I think it goes without saying that Alola’s would focus on Ultra Space, since htat was the biggest lore addition in Sun and Moon. I would prefer it take place from the perspective of Ultra Space, expanding on the Ultra Beast roster and Ultra Space culture. Regardless of whether we start in Ultra Space or Alola proper, we’d likely be seeing the events that led to and follow Necrozma’s body fragmenting, the creation of the Z-Crystals, and the conflict between Necrozma, the Tapus and Solgaleo/Lunala. I imagine this would be PL: Necrozma, but it could also be PL: Ultra Space

Galar would probably focus on the Darkest Day, but similar to the Weather Trio battle, I feel like it’s been covered well enough. If this were the case, it’d be PL: Eternatus

What I really want, though, more than anything, is PL: Mew. I want a Pokemon game that takes place as early in Pokemon society as possible, before Pokeballs have even been imagined, maybe even where the “line between human and Pokemon” is still vague (I’d just really like to know what that means). I imagine this would have an abundance of Fossil Pokemon, possibly with different, non-Rock type combinations to reflect that they aren’t actually fossilized yet, possibly revealing the correct designs for the mismatched Galar Fossils. As I said earlier, I’d really like to see the original form of Genesect, and this would probably be the best time

I feel like I’m still only scraping the surface of the possibilities here, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this develops as a series. Fingers crossed that I haven’t overthought it and they’ll do something even remotely close to what I’ve envisioned here

[vespiiqueen]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you (if you want !! 💛💖)

Wow I rambled a lot with this but i can't add cuts bc I'm on mobile rn DHSISHSJ sorry :"))))

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1. Ik Ik "haha how cringe are you" of me to say, but honestly? Homestuck. Homestuck helped me in a time of need and when i so desperately wanted something to latch onto. Finally, I caved into my friends telling me to read it-- and it's been a blast!! The epilogues / hs^2 make me feel kinda sad though, because so much of what I loved about the original was yeeted through the nine circles of hell and into the trash. I love Y/ffany's (I call her Yippi tho) design, the art is really pretty at times, Harry is a major dork, I LIVE for seeing Vrissy bc honestly?? Her design is 10/10, very early 2000s emo style and I also live for that. Tavros is cute and a nerd and I think that's swell!

But in terms of story and how any of this happens, it makes me sad to see it happen. If Vriska could return as Vrissy, why not OTHER beta trolls? Where's my Eridan fish man, writers?? Give me the boy or perish by my fury.

2. Also super "haha how cringe are you" but,,, murder cats (Warriors), esp the early 2005-2015 amvs and stuff. I remember watching Flightfootwarrior's "I Will Not Bow" Scourge amv for HOurs and having no clue what was happening, but all these edgy kitties were KITTIES! It's introduced me to a lot of music I still listen to to this very day (Imagine Dragons, Young/the entirety of Hollywood Undead, Breaking Benjamin). And yknow what?? This new arc is absolute chaos, but in the good way.

I'm an "OG Fan". I prefer the first arc, The Prophecies Begin, to almost any of the other arcs. I just could never get into the other arcs-- not to say I haven't read them, I HAVE and the Fire Scene was probably one of my favorite moments beside grumpy Jaypaw, god complex Lionblaze, and fear the gods Hollypaw. I thought the build-up for it was SUPER satisfying. Gray Wing is my baby and I fully embellish in the Gray Wing is Silverpelt theory.

This new arc is definitely something new for the universe. While I didn't read aVoS (but I may do that if i can find the files for it), and so I don't know the major events of it other than what I've seen M.A.P.'s (Multi-Animator Projects, for clarification,,, bc unfortunately that term is also something disgusting). There's fucking cat possession and all the Clans questioning their belief system, yo. Shit be on fire.

Also the Imposter is 100% Ashfur, that's canon now, yeah??? Also im sorry but fuck Root x Bristle that's the dumbest shit I have ever seen. Give me Root x Shadow or face the wrath of my dragon plushies.

RiverClan is my Clan and my gov assigned warrior name is Fireshell 🌟🌟

3. As much as I hate the author,,,,, Harry Potter. It's been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can never really remember why, but I've always just loved it- the movies, the books, the extra little merch that would pop up in my local Walmart. Of course my favorite character is Draco Malfoy. I could go on and on and ON about how I think his character arc was SHIT and JKR didn't have the balls to make him a confident gay man that was always implied through the text (at least, my lesbian ass thought it was implied but i may just be projecting, idk). I could ramble about Draco for HOURS and what I think his character SHOULD have been and how his parents are horrible (more specifically, Lucius bc Narcissa [?] Actually showed a few good moments), and a child should never have to pay for their parents sins.

Oh noo, Draco's a villain because he's a victim of major abuse and peer pressure? He's a villain because a literal child can be horrible and they'll always always always stay as a horrible little fiend?? Fuck that. He's a child.

Unlike manchild grease pan Snape, who was a racist piece of shit and shouldn't have became a fucking school teacher but it's okay because he was ~~~in love~~~. No, fuck you, he was a creep. James Potter n Co may have been a little posh bitch to you, Snape, but that's no fucking excuse to continue to bluntly be a little cunt all the way into adulthood. You're an adult who flatly changed your PATRONUS to imitate Lily's. You have no excuse. And Harry went and named his child after you LIKE JESUS CHRIST, DID RON'S SISTER NOT HAVE A SAY IN THE NAMES TOO?????

I also fully adore the idea that Muggles can run into Hogwarts and their patronus can 100% be a made up, fantasy creature. Imagine you learn the patronus spell and suddenly fucking ARCEUS comes from your wand. Imagine learning the spell and CHTULU (i did not spell that right but im so tired) comes from your wand-- an entire ass fucking Lovecraftian, Eldrith horror is just the embodiment of you. What if it was a fucking Homestuck character like Vriska? How fucking METAL would that be?? Hskajssowjjsjs get on it fandom.

4. Hee hee very evident by my url but Pokemon is another major thing of mine. While vespiquen isn't my favorite (that title goes to Hydreigon), it is definitely up there!

I've ALWAYS enjoyed the idea of Pokemon. You run around, training up these fight monsters and collecting them. I remember playing my sister's Ruby version on her flip-up Gameboy. I couldn't even read but I ran around catching god only knows how many of the same pokemon wherever she was. Apparently, I had fought for hours in the same area and leveled her Blaziken up to lvl 50 something and left her lvl 30s in the dust LMAO.

I got my first game when it was Pearl/Diamond. It was Pearl, and it still holds a very fond place in my heart. I could barely read, I could barely write-- I had named my Turtwig something along the lines of "MmorpHy" and my player boy "ZbsibJ". Yes I remember the names slightly. I really didn't get far-- I barely got to the first gym but I was just so happy to play it.

I eventually lost the game, as a 5 year old would do, but I can still vividly remember what was happening when the game arrived. I had just came back from the dentist and was quite tired from fighting the dentist bc I was super scared. Mom suddenly handed me a box and said it was mine-- my overseas (at that time) dad had bought me Pearl and my sister Diamond, because I lost my shit about it when he visited one time.

Well, tdlr, I played it for about five minutes while struggling to stay awake against the loopy gas they made me take. I fell asleep listening to Twinleaf Town's soundtrack. Every time I play a rom of Pearl and I get to where the player's house fades in and I hear that first tune of the song, I get a huge smile on my face and cry-- as.. Weird as it sounds.

A few years later, I had gotten Pokemon Black bc I liked Reshiram on the cover. Now, this one I could actually READ when playing, but I don't remember a lot of things about it. I probably lost this one too, as a 8/9 year old would do. I DO remember, I chose Snivy and my sister chose Tepig (hrmm there's a theme here of grass/fire goin on......) and vibing to the music. I was so amazed by the sprites moving, I just kept getting into encounters to see the sprites move (oh boy, no one tell younger 7-9 y/o me about Zelda......oh wait....)

Playing Pokemon NOW, as a 17 year old """gifted""" chick, I stil have very fond memories. I recently beat Pokemon Black again and GOD the OTS SLAPS. I fucking adore the soundtrack-- the track that plays when you battle a trainer, the low health dings being turned into a legit song that also slaps, the battle! gym leader themes-- and oh my gOd, the legendary theme is amazing? It really tells you just how glorious these pokemon are supposed to be. It's not intimidating like Groudon/Kyroge/Rayquaza's themes. It's not action packed like Palkia/Dialga's is, it's not filled with tension like Giratina/Arceus's is-- but it radiates the GLORY that the beasts portray. And I live for that. (Also, Kyurem's version is my favorite because it glitches in the beginning and that's rly cool)

P/D/P and BW/BW2's stories, imo, are some of the greatest ones. Yeahhh, US/USUM's is cool and I haven't played XY nor SwSh-- but the ones I can find memorable are PDP and BW/BW2. I love N. I love Barry. They're my sons. Ghetsis is fucking terrifying, Cyrus needs a hug. Giratina scared the piss out of me when I was younger, which was NOT helped by Giratina and The Sky Warrior.

I think my favorite movies are the gen 4 ones. The Rise of Darkrai having a tear-jerking theme for such a mysterious pokemon (i still tear up when i hear Ocarion), Giratina being spiteful is a mood and Shaymin was cute, Arceus being angry is also a mood. Yeah, Pokemon 4Ever made me cry my eyes out over Celebi, Mewtwo Returns made me again cry because Mewtwo accepting who he is, I remember how vastly different the BW movies are-

I just. I have a lot of memories with the series, even if Gamefreak and Nintendo kinda do the series dirty a lot (your top-grossing thing and you made That monstrosity for the Switch? How dare you.). It's comforting to be stressed and pull up my roms for the games and to play them. Mystery Dungeon is incredibly fun to play, Pokemon Ranger is really fun with the concept (Shadows of Almia continues to kick my ass to this very day and FUCK the Jungle Relic, I hate the Water Challenge fucking gyarados bullshit). I remember the pokemon I got for MD (I got Time, my sis got Darkness) was Mudkip, if that is any help.

I love my little fictional pixel monsters.

5. Yup, someone told tiny 7-9 y/o me about console games. The legend of Zelda. My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess on the Wii and BOY did I play the fucking SHIT out of that game.

Honestly, looking back and looking at playthroughs now-- I still love TP. Twilight Princess is still one of my top favorite Zelda games-- yes, even after playing OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, the anniversary four swords edition for the DS where you could play by yourself (Nintendo pls bring that back, I don't have friends to play it with ;-;), Phantom Hourglass- ect.

Something about Twilight Princess grabbed me by the head and yeeted me into the world. I can remember playing it for hours with little to no breaks. I, a tiny 9 y/o, had gotten the hang of the controllers and managed to get past the tutorial quite easily. And then, I was launched into the game and I wasn't stopping for NOTHING. Mom and Dad would have to force me to save and get off to go and eat dinner. THAT sucked.

I had done everything on my own up until the first temple, the forest temple. Not where/when you saved the dumb kid, but when you were saving the spirit's light. Theeeeeeennn I got stuck on the fucking Forest Temple for deadass six months straight. I'd play for hours, running around in circles, unable to figure out where to go, and because I didn't grasp the temple's purpose of being that way- I'd get angry and get off. It wasn't until dad looked up a walkthrough and talked me through what I was supposed to do that I learned how to get through temples.

I had gotten to the last little fight with Ganondorf before the Wii broke and i could no longer play. Despite the Wii being broke and we got rid of it, I was ADAMANT on keeping the game, and I kept that game for YEARS. It was an original copy out of a sealed box, and I eventually lost it when I left it accidentally at my now ex-friend's house.

She had a Wii and I went "hey I have a Wii game!" And I brought my Zelda over. Worst fucking choice of my goddamn life. Mom called me to come home and said I couldn't sleep over like the original plan was, and that was it. My ex-friend stashed my Zelda and I never saw it again. And, even if I wanted to-- I couldn't get it back, which makes me upset. We had a BAD falling out. She likely doesn't even remember it's there, or sold it to the local game junkie kid who buys ALL games.

But I still love the game. Midna was amazing, and I loved how snarky she was and she has a very cute design! The game's OST is fucking phenomenal. Midna's Desperate Hour makes me cry bc goddamn it really sells how serious that situation is. I love Hyrule Field's theme in this game. I love the Twilight Realm's song. Zant was fucking hilariously scary. Ganondorf's design in this game scared the piss out of me when I was younger.

Midna and this game's Link and Zelda are def my favorites. Yeah yeah, Sheik is cool and all I Guess but dhsushwishs Midna holds the special place in my heart. She was totally my gay awakening BUT

For other game antagonists, I adore Ghirahim-- let's go you funky little queer-coded villain. Skull Kid was great, I love the entire dynamic of him. Prankster lost soul stumbles upon Majora's Mask and the mask makes him act out due to powers-- which, I actually took very heavy inspiration from for one of my OCs. The moon falling to Hyrule was a fucking terrifying looming threat.

But the game series holds a place, and I've yet to be able to play BoTW-- although, I'm fairly certain I'll like it. The playthroughs I've watched of it are all fairly decent! I just. Gotta save up enough money to buy it haha.

Dang guess I gotta go watch a Twilight Princess playthrough again.

Honorable Mentions:

Avatar: the Last Airbender, specifically Book 3

my OCs definitely make me happy, they're my children and I'd ramble A LOT longer if given the chance WHEEZE

My friends, but I didn't add them here bc it's more fictional stuff, I presume

Baking. I love to bake cupcakes.

Painting is fun. I'm an artist and goddammit im going to use painting as an excuse to make a mess.

Fire. I rly like fire, down to a pyromaniac level. However, i hate the fires that happened to my home town, the Great Smokey Fires of 2016-- THAT pissed me off. How dare you burn mountain landscapes to the ground. Perish.

History. I'm a history nerd.

I'm also a science nerd.

But fuck math, I cannot comprehend math to save my life.

For some reason, I rly like learning how the human body works??? like did you know, organs are actually sticky when touched by a bare hand?? Did you?? How fucking cool is that.

Bakugan. I love Bakugan, esp the DS game. I love my Darkus Leonidas. Give me back the online world, you peasants-- I want my Darkus Dragonoid. (Also fuck all my friends from when I was in kindergarten- my theory that Alice was Masquerade was somewhat correct.)

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Dark Type

The Dark type often gets the wrong kind of wrap. A bad wrap nonetheless, but fans usually associate the Dark type with rather literal darkness or demons and the like. While more than anything that's a fringe aesthetic when considering the overall theme of the Dark type. It's commonly known trivia that Dark type's Japanese name is the Evil type. And given the context of the move that depict sneaky strategies and underhanded tactics, it's plenty evident this is more of a Villain type!

The Dark type tends to display themes of underhanded villains and sinister tricksters, or just downright the meanest looking monsters of the bunch. With moves under their belt that are almost universally cheap fighting tricks like fake-crying, stealing their opponent's move, and getting the whole team to individually beat up on one Pokemon in particular. Even biting is considered a cheap tactic! The only move I can think of off the top of my head that is all that associated with the literal forces of Darkness is Dark Pulse. And MAYBE the signature move of Darkrai, Dark Void. Of course Dark does get its fair share of literal Dark creatures. One of the first Pokemon of the type was Houndour and Houndoom, after all. Whenever Pokemon makes its occasional dip into themes of demons and whatnot, Dark is the go-to type.

With us being toward the home stretch of the types, we’re in something of a “definitive top 5″ types for me personally, Dark type being number 5, obviously. And it’s not just ranked so high due to biases for my favorite Pokemon of all time being in here. For the most part, the mean-looking ‘mons are genuinely some of the coolest looking in the entire Pokedex. But What I REALLY like about the Dark type most is when it dips into goofy territory. Things like Incineroar, Deino, Scraggy, Murkrow, maybe even the Sandile line for good measure. These are some of the Pokemon with the most personality baked into their designs, and I wish we got Dark types like them more often. And of course, the type has a good handful of spooks. Aughta do them more often too! It’s deceptively a minority for the type.

Top 10 Favorite Dark Types:

Funnily enough, a good chunk of these I keep forgetting are even Dark type. You just see them in a big pack of Pokemon and you couldn't really pick em out of "oh yeah, that's a Dark type." That's how you know they're REALLY sneaky.

Bottom 10 Least Favorite Dark Types:

Boy this was a hard one, the only two I outright don't gel with is Hoopa and Nuzleaf. The rest are the most "there" of the Dark types. And Hydreigon’s here mostly for being a mild let-down compared to its prevos.

The Cutest:

The Coolest:

The Prettiest:

Once again, I think we should get some more traditionally "pretty" Dark types. Imagine the gorgeous designs you could go with when making cave creatures or nocturnal monsters!

The Spookiest:

Complete and utter side-note, but I can’t believe I didn’t write this in the original review. But Malamar’s cry is probably the single-coolest sounding cry in the entire game.

The Weirdest/Most Unique:

Most Inventive Use of the Type:

I've already gone on an extended rant about how fun Incineroar's personality is. Same goes for the rest of these, really. Cool delinquents and upside-down squids with mad scientist hair. And even a Pokemon version of essentially Slenderman. Absol's underratedly unique in the sense that it's Dark type due to no bad behavior of its own, it's just associated with bad things happening and thusly is "Dark!"

DARK TYPE WISHLIST:

NOTE: These Type Wishlists were written out before any news on new Pokemon from Sword and Shield. The Pokemon revealed over time will not affect these wishlists. Just to present them unaltered despite spoilers and in the interest of getting the wishlist out there, and to see which items on said wishlists get fulfilled by Sword and Shield!

A Jester:

Jesters may be more thematically appropriate for the Fairy type rather than the Dark type, but there's plenty of fun to be had with a Dark type Pokemon that intentionally acts idiotic to trick its opponents. Heck, that’d just about be the best of both worlds. So why not a Dark/Fairy?

An Opossum:

Not only are they nocturnal lil dudes, but there's obvious thematic ties to the Dark type's trickery and an opossum's famous technique to play dead. Gameplay wise, you could even give it an ability where it "faints" and takes advantage of the opponent's lowered guard. On top of that, Opossums carry their young on their backs. You could stick in some spooky imagery that way!

A Bat:

It feels really weird that we have a good several bat Pokemon at this point, but none of them are Dark type! For this one in particular, I’d totally like to see a quintessential, perfectly Halloweeny Bat!

A Tiny Master of Evil:

I can’t say I’d be entirely sure how to get this one to work in a Pokemon context, but the concept of a tiny, powerful yet ineffectual overlord of darkness amuses me.

[Archive]

[meistoshia]

satoshi’s Bonds, Connections, & Bro - dyns with the gods he’s met  :

houou  :     satoshi’s got a Bond(tm) with it, it being the first god he saw & it continuing to reappear in his life throughout his journey, like before his setting off to hoenn & when he decided to start from zero & received a rainbow feather & eventually ended up battling it  ;     he thinks of it as kind of a background presence that he trusts to keep watch of him, even if it’s nowhere near where he actually is, like in spirit kinda   ( except it really is Always keeping watch of him, especially when he’s in mortal danger, as it did with reviving him through the pokemon’s tears after he got caught in the literal crossfire of mew & mewtwo’s battle ) .

mewtwo  :     president of the mewtwo protection squad, the pokemon’s gone through so much that it doesn’t deserve & satoshi just wants it to be happy & be able to trust people  ;     absolutely no hard feelings for it trying to kill him, most gods have.

the orange archipelago bird gods  :     can i get a waffle ??? can i PLEASE get a waffle ???????     never meant to get caught up in their situation but can’t really resent them for it as they weren’t the ones entirely at fault.

lugia  :     they saved the world together & had half a battle the next time they ran into each other, lugia gave him a ride along w/ go, & satoshi had a Moment with it, where their auras resonated & satoshi exclusively heard lugia’s voice, unlike the first time when everyone could hear it  ;     they vibe.

celebi  :     considers the first one he met to be a friend to this day, he & young ookido bonded with it & satoshi grew incredibly attached & was absolutely heartbroken when he thought it would die, seeing it fly off to join the other celebi feeling bittersweet  ;     he didn’t get to develop much of a friendship with the second celebi he met, but any time he remembers it hopes it’s doing okay, wondering if it’s friends with the aforementioned celebi.

latias  :     he really bonded with it in the short time they spent together &, as with the johto celebi, still considers it a friend.

latios  :     while he didn’t share the same closeness with latios, he was still devastated when, as far as anyone present was aware, it died saving alto mare, so you can imagine the shock when he saw tobias at the sinnoh league with a latios on his team  ;     priorities shifted thinking too hard about it to the very bottom of the list & he only got to thinking about it one night about a month later, after which he contacted tobias as soon as he could to have an exchange that essentially went “was that latios with you” “yeah” “i thought it was dead” “long story, it’s better now” “cool” .

mew  :     thinks of it kind of like you’d think of an overly curious kitten that you occasionally see running around your neighborhood stealing trinkets & snacks & sniffing like, everything  ;     he thinks it’s sweet & fun & has literally risked his life for it & wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, but he does feel like it’s maybe a little naive & doesn’t realize some things have serious consequences, which gives him slight worry that, if it weren’t as powerful as it is, it could end up in some serious trouble   ( & because of that he has mixed feelings about go wanting to catch mew  ;     not only because he Knows it & has Gone Thru Some Things with it, but also because he knows it’s childishly innocent & naive ) .

darkrai  :     thinks very highly of it in terms of strong pokemon, which satoshi always vibes with, & is appreciative of its efforts in defending alamos town.

agnome  :     shares a Connection(tm) with it through their Wills  ;     though they separated after the galaxy gang was disbanded, that connection still remains in the background, not enough to tie them together as before, but enough that if he thinks about it enough, he can still feel that connection.

dialga & palkia  :     can i get a waffle ??? can i PLE ---     satoshi wanting pokemon to stop having destructive fights that endanger civilians that didn’t ask to be a part of their crossfire aside   ...   he wholeheartedly believes they deserve better & was very pissed on their behalves when the galaxy gang wanted to abuse their power & is thankful to them for their assistance when arceus came to michina, & even more so to dialga for sending him & the others back in time to help fix things.

giratina  :     sympathizes with it &, despite how things started out with it, really does hope it can be at peace in its dimension.

shaymin  :     despite their highly rocky start, satoshi grew really attached to shaymin & it broke his heart to have to part with it so soon after he finally started liking it  ;     he respects the rascal & hopes it’s doing okay with the other shaymin.

arceus  :     as with giratina, sympathizes with it, & hopes that the past can be forgiven for the sake of the future & that it doesn’t let human error ever create such a rift between it & humanity again.

victini  :     became incredibly attached to it, especially with their resonating auras allowing satoshi to see into victini’s past & feel its emotions, & was devastated & heartbroken when he thought he’d failed to save it despite promising to take victini to see the sea one day  ;     he was overjoyed to see it alive & well &, even if their parting was bittersweet for satoshi, he hopes it’s doing okay & has a reminder stashed away somewhere to visit it if he ever passes through that part of unova again.

zekrom  :     he’s zekrom approved, sharing a similar connection(tm) as with agnome, only through conceptual Ideals  ;     the connection never truly passed into a tangible area, but satoshi felt it nonetheless when he first arrived in unova, believing that, if they were to properly meet, he’d feel that connection again, much stronger.

keldeo  :     shares a Bond(tm) with it, growing attached & protective of it very early on, feeling a duty to help it face its fears in order to save the other sacred swordsmen, that protectiveness winning out against said duty when he saw just how terrified keldeo was  ;     he feels nothing less than pride in its overcoming its fear & becoming proper sacred swordsman material.

meloetta  :     grew very attached in the time they spent together, admiring both its voice & its strength, feeling anger not unlike one he would with his own pokemon at it being captured to abuse its power.

hoopa  :     he cares for that rascal so, so much, he wholeheartedly wants nothing but the best for it & hopes it never has to go through something like what had been happening for like a century ever again.

volcanion  :     he still has some strong opinions about it, but it’s grown on him, & the knowledge that volcanion truly cares about the other pokemon & wants to protect those that can’t defend themselves just as much as he does makes putting up with it much easier  ;     he hopes that it continues to be able to protect the pokemon in that valley & to keep an eye out for magearna..

zygarde  :     while he didn’t get quite as close to squishy as eureka, he still considers it to have been as much part of the squad as any of the other pokemon, holding it high regard as zygarde.

kapu - kokeko  :     has a Bond(tm) with it, it having taken interest in him & giving him a z - ring & a temporary electric z to go with it & luring him into the woods to battle  ;     it kept a curious eye on him &, in a time of urgency for another universe, sent him over to assist, be it to test him or trusting already that satoshi would be able to handle it  ;     the majority of satoshi’s time training in the alola region was building up to getting to battle kapu - kokeko on equal footing, & eventually winning when it came to ultimate z - move vs ultimate z - move.

kapu - tetefu, kapu - bulul, kapu - rehire  :     though he didn’t make as strong a connection with the other island guardians, he still feels thankful for all that they have done in helping him progress in both training & in times of need.

solgaleo  :     needless to say, he very much thinks of it as one of his own, like the pokemon that he watched hatch & took care of as they treated him like a parent ;     even after evolving into a solgaleo, satoshi can’t help but think of it as that tiny hoshigumo - chan that was entrusted to him by the other solgaleo & the lunala so seemingly long ago.

[internetremix]

If you guys could be any non Legendary Pokemon, what would you be and why?

2This one ended up VERY LONG so discussion below the cut:

Kristen: Um. Oh no this is hard. My kneejerk reaction to these is always Mew because Mew is my favorite Pokemon. Smol kickass pink cat, excellent.Phill: Bidoof. Easy. Hands down objectively best PokemonKristen: I'm just imagining Bidoof with a Phill beard now. Amazing. BUT I CANNOT PICK A LEGENDARY POKEMON SO. Uh.  Um. I mean Charizard is super cool and then I could be a big badass dragon but like I CAN'T BE A BIG?? THAT WOULD BE HARD I'd probably be super clumsy and burn shit. ...So I also can't be Fletchling cause then I'm also gonna burn shit on accident. Dragonair is super neat but like THEY LONG I feel like I'd get tangled up. Espeon and Umbreon are cool?? Uh maybe an Espeon?? They seem too cool for me.  I'm bad at this, I haven't played Pokemon in like a million years and I get self conscious every time I pick something cool cause I'm like "no I'd fuck up being cool". Slyveon maybe?? My fiance just said I'd be a Plusle but I don't accept it.

...fuck it Espeon. Espeon is neat but also it cute fuck it live ur dreams to be kinda cool.Atwas: It's okay Kristen. Charizard is only 5'7". But I guess even that would be a massive jump in height. :^)Kristen: ListenAtwas: :^)Kristen: RudeUprising: idk what i would BE, i know my favorite pokemon but thats chepap. my brother said shiny alolan ninetails bc it is pink, white, and has flowy hair so that sounds accurate.Alex: My favorite pokemon is magikarp but i would probably be exploudKristen: And now I'm just imagining Magikarp with Alex's hair.Jojo: ugh. why do you have to ask me this. now I have to get out my list of literally every pokemon... Either Eevee, Dratini, or Chatot. OR RIOLU! riolu is a goodie. I have  a feeling Scott would be a Buneary but that's not my place to say.Kristen: Good choices JoojJojo: /);w;(\Split: Kristens a torchic that never evolves lmaoKristen: NO ...maybe.Jojo: I actually thought about it. I have the perfect pokemon for youKristen: ...alright, hit me.Alex: Ok.

Kristen: OW! Alex why? ;A;Alex: You said hit me.Split: PffffhahahaJojo:  #742, Cutiefly.

Kristen: ...I mean. It is smol and blonde, which I currently am.Split: Yep. It you. Congrats.Kristen: SIGH I mean. It’s very cute.Jojo: By the way I think that’s it’s actual size.Split: LMAOJojo: OH MY GOD IT’S LITERALLY KRISTEN

Kristen: NOSplit: I call being the trainer of this band of misfitsKristen: I’M SMOL BUT NOT THAT SMOL!Jojo: You are that smol.Split: Joj shes like an inch or two shorter than youJojo: NO?? SHE’S LIKEKristen: HA!Jojo: SHH! THAT’S NOT TRUEKristen: IT’S TOTALLY TRUEAlex: "The wild Kristen eats approximately ten times her body weight each day"Split: If only.Jojo: ohmygodkristenI found your other one

Kristen: NOSplit: Joj that ones youKristen: He's right it's smol and blueAlex: yeah that's youJojo:  NO IM A RIOLUSplit: Which one was thatAlex: babby lucarioJojo: That boy

Split: But are you sureJojo: YES THAT'S MEKristen: Why do you get to be the cool oneAlex: i still think dratini is best choice for jojKristen: I agree.Split: Are you baby martial artist or baby huggy bearJojo: I AM STRONG YOU FUCKAlex: huggy bear it isSplit: But do you fightJojo: YESSplit: BullshitJojo:  DUKE UP YOU CHEEKY POPPETSplit: AightKristen: I can't believe Jooj is a huggy bearJojo: NoOooOo IM DRATINISplit: Thats the snake one right? The long blue dragon snake.Alex: 

Jojo: yeSplit: Oh yuh thats also joj. I still think huggy bear but ill settle for dratini.Jojo: even looks like my fursona holy shitSplit: Secrets outJojo: MOTHERFUCKER YOU HUUGGY BEAR. it's not really a secret anymoreSplit: It never wasssssKristen: I can't believe Jojo gets to be a fucking dragon and I'm a tiny fly that eats 10 times its bodyweight. Oh it's bug/fairy. I guess that's interesting.Jojo: hehehefairyAlex: real talk i based it on the math that an average human eats 2.5 kg of cooked food per dayKristen: Huh, interestingSplit: We gave you so many options other than the .4 inch bug thing kristenKristen: ....I mean I can see Cutiefly, Fletching or Torchick tbhJojo: OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS ABSOLUTE UNIT

HIS NAME. IS BUZZSWOLE.Kristen: lmao that looks like a Digimon. Is that real?Walrus: He is real. And he will punch your spirit.Kristen: SOUNDS FAKE BUT OKAlex: you question the might of our lord and savior buzzwoleJojo: no he'll punch everything and then literally use your spirit as a sweat rag! LOOK AT THIS FUCKIN JOJO ASS CHARACTER!Split: It took me a whole 2 seconds to realize you meant the anime and not yourself(edited)Alex: our joj does have bizarre adventures to be fairSplit: You right you rightJojo: :,)Split: I could just hear your soul crackJojo: I'm glad. anyway look at this other kristen pokemon.

Kristen: No, I am drawing the line, no. You can't keep googling "what's the most harmless looking dust mote of a pokemon" and then say IT'S KRISTENJojo: NOO THAT'S NOT TRUE I'll tell you what. if you were a legendary pokemon you'd be Jirachi. that mf is p o w e r f u lKristen: Aw gosh. Wait didn’t we say MG would be edgy jirachi?Alex: her original character a jirachi-darkrai fusionJojo: I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT DARKRAI or a very smol GiratinaKristen: I do not know enough about this pokemon to comment.Alex: Giratina is Pokemon Satan.Kristen: Ah. Okay. Of course. Of course Pokemon Satan is a thing.Alex: 

Kristen: ...Oh it’s MG.Split: I distinctly remember pokemon satan ending up being a good guyJojo: so was darkraiKristen: I can't believe you just spoiled DMP and now I gotta cancel it.Alex: Satan: He's An Alright Guy!Split: P sure darkrai killed kidsKristen: ...it's fine don't worry about itAlex: Movie Darkrai was alright I thought? There are a whole lot of child murderin' pokemon out there to be fair.Split: Oh movie darkrai was futily attempting to stop the collapse of the universeIf i remember rightJojo: he also became attached to a childSplit: Big shrug on that sub plot its been yearsAlex: we have one hundred percent abandoned the original question. welcome to internet remixKristen: Yeeeep. Getting back on topic, I think Split would be Absol or Houndoom.Jojo: OOOOHHH I didn’t even think of AbsolSplit: Nah im the trainer

Alex: but consider: girafarigSplit: What isAlex: mostly i chose it because "aesthetic"

Kristen: PFFFT HAHAHASplit: Nah. Meanwhile, Kristen callin out my favorite pokemon as a kid. Regardless ive already grabbed a hat, tell tale sign of any trainer. Ive started walking the path every 13 year old must walk in their livesKristen: Pretty sure trainers start at 10?Split: Nah i mean im leaving my region for new boundsKristen: So brave. Anyway I’m trying to think of others. I'm trying to think of others. My brain keeps telling me that Alex is Entei. Tol and floofy and can burn things. But that's a legendary.Jojo: oooo I think he had a good pick of  exploud. Buuut I also think he'd be an Ursaring. 

Dawn: For me I tried to think of literally any water pokemon for me but lets be real here

Alex: I mean.Dawn: b0rfJuno: If I could be any nonlegendary mon it would be Golurk1) Giant Robot2) Can fly with rocket boosters3) Causes earthquakesTex: Umm. Hm. Something that was a mix of fire, dragon, and psychic. Like I know u can't get three. But listen.Walrus: w-walrein exists. so i meanJuno: MY TIME HAS COME

Walrus: HAHHhhhhWHEN THE FUCKHUHWHATI FORGOT OR DIDN'T SEE THISHONAtwas:  YO that's so fucking cool! To answer the prompt, I'd probably be a Zoroark.Kristen: Good choices.Scott: Could BE a non-legendary?Jojo: Hold on wait. let me guess: bunearyScott: No, that's what I would want to HAVE. Hm. This is actually tough. Maybe Altaria? It's a flying Pokemon that sings beautiful melodies and has a relatively average speed.I don't know. I'd want to be a Pokemon that was kind and graceful with musical qualities, if at all possible. So yeah, I guess AltariaKristen: I can see that.Juno: Also you're fluffyShyner: Hooooly shit there's a lot of stuff hereI feel bad about adding to this massive wall of content but I'm just putting down for the record that I would definitely be basic bitch eevee. I'll change my form for you, just please love me :,)Kristen: ;A; I LOVE EEVEE JUST THE WAY EEVEE ISJuno: eevee... babey

[antialiasis]

What ever happened to the other TQftL one-shot? I know one of them ended up as chapter 76, but the other one? I remember you posted the first few sentences from it on the quest blog since those were non-spoilery (which the server ate years ago along with a bunch of other good stuff), but is this still a thing or did plans change or something? This has been bugging me for a while now.

One-Shot A ended up as the first scene of chapter 75, the one with Mitch! One-Shot B was parts of chapter 76. Technically later there was a third one, ‘chaletwo.docx’, about Chaletwo and Mew shortly after Chaletwo’s creation, half of which became the inspiration for the final scene of chapter 76 and the other half of which (unfinished) never made it in as I deemed it unnecessary. I talk about that one a little in the chapter 25 commentary that’s going up tomorrow.

I think you may actually be referring to the QftLverse creation story that I wrote, though, because I did post an excerpt from that, but I don’t think I ever posted an excerpt from One-Shot A (it would’ve given too much away, I think). That would be this thing here. I was originally going to make that an extra at the end, but ultimately I pretty much just fit the really relevant information into chapter 76, so I didn’t feel it was needed.

I guess I can post the rest of that, though, for the hell of it! It’s a poor attempt at mythical writing last edited in 2008, so please excuse the general badness, but. (Serious spoilers if you haven’t read the fic.)

“Far, far backin the mists of time, there was no world. There was just chaos and, in itsmidst, an egg, or something like an egg in any case.

“And the egghatched, and out of it came Arceus, the Original One. And two others he made tospring out from himself, Dialga and Palkia, and with them came the fourdimensions of existence. And the third sprang out of him too, Giratina, and itbrought about the law that everything must perish.

“And when thedimensions had come into being, a little grain of potential began to expandinto the nothingness to fill it; and thus was formed the universe with all ofits laws and elements; and because the dimensions never ended, so it is stillexpanding to this day.

“But whenArceus saw the universe, he could see more potential, and wished to createLife. And he created by his will a being into the universe and named it Azelf.And it had will as he did.

“But Arceusshook his head and said: No, this will not do; and he used his knowledge andexperience from the previous creation to create another being and named itUxie. And it was wise, but it still lacked.

“So Arceusagain shook his head in despair and said: No, I must try again. And he createda being and called it Mesprit, and it could feel emotions as he did. But it wasstill lacking, and Arceus was exhausted.

“And theOriginal One had nearly given up when he realized what he should do. He toldthe three living beings he had created: I am unable to create a living soul;for Dialga and Palkia are not living, and none of you has the full makings of asoul. But I was selfish: I worked alone, and now my power is exhausted. No, youshall instead create a living soul: work together, and you shall manage what Idid not. For I was a fool.

“And the threebeings nodded, and they linked their paws in a circle and closed their eyes toconcentrate. And together, they created the perfect being that had a fullliving soul: it had knowledge, will and emotion all in one. It resembled thembut was still different, and the warmth of its heart gave it a light pink colorunlike their cold blue.

“And it openedits eyes, and they were brilliantly blue; and Arceus told it: Welcome to theworld, young soul; I shall call you Mew, and you shall be the Creator. Youshall now be able to create living beings from yourself, for you havecreativity and imagination; and the first you shall create shall be thePreserver who will protect life from evil and destruction, and then you shallcreate many beings like yourself to watch over your creations, while you shallcreate other beings who will be mortal and eventually die. And to the threebeings who had made it he said: Well done, and now I shall entrust you withwatching over Dialga and Palkia for me, for I am exhausted and will now go tosleep.

“And Arceuswent to sleep, and Mew rose up and began to create the Immortals; and the firsthe created he called Celebi, and Celebi could travel through time to help guardlife from evil. And many other Immortals Mew created, and many Mortals hecreated as well, and the Immortals would each watch over a portion of theMortals.

“But theImmortals grew arrogant, and began to rule over the Mortals to make them dotheir bidding. And their selfish thoughts manifested themselves in a being,Darkrai, which injected their malice into Arceus’s dream as he slept. And hewoke up, knowing that a nightmare of such evil could only be born frommalicious feelings, and saw what the Immortals were doing.

“FoolishPokémon! he said: he was angered that they had not known better, and grievedthat they could harbor such emotions, and afraid for what this might mean abouttheir intentions. Were you not created to watch over and help the Mortals, notto enslave them and make yourselves superior to them? With this action, youhave forgone your right to immortality.

“And Arceus’sanger, grief and fear shattered his soul, and they manifested themselves in abeing: Chalenor, the Destroyer, the True Immortal, whom even the Immortalscould not harm. While the soulless and powerless Arceus returned to sleep forall eternity, Chalenor would teach the Immortals that they should have to knowweakness and fear death.

“Chalenor’spresence, expressing the last will of Arceus, would slowly strip all Pokémon oftheir power, bit by bit, and then make them destroy one another until only one wasleft, who would become a new Creator and start the cycle anew. But because theMortals were mortal, the generations passed one by one, and slowly but surelythey grew to resist the draining of their powers; but the Immortals did notevolve and remained as vulnerable as they had ever been: their immortality wastheir curse.

“But theImmortals blamed Chalenor for their fear, and they tried to attack him manytimes; but they would always fail, because Chalenor was a True Immortal.

“So manycycles passed; but when Arceus’s soul had shattered, it had planted a seed of asoul in the depths of the Destroyer’s heart: he began to feel the sufferingthat he brought upon the Immortals, and to long for the company of another, butthe Immortals feared and despised him, and in his eternity of life, the livesof the Mortals seemed to pass as merely a drop of water in an endless stream.

“Chalenor waslonely, as no being since has ever felt loneliness.

“But then, atlast, one of the many incarnations of Mew – for the Creator’s first work wasalways to honor his predecessor and create another Mew – felt pity forChalenor. They talked and began to understand one another, as no being sincehas understood another being; and Chalenor felt joy and calm and love for thefirst time. But the thousand years that Mew was destined to live passed like abreeze, and though Chalenor wanted to save Mew from the fate of hispredecessors, he was unable to control the effects of his power, and Mew’s strengthwas drained day by day.”

I’m actually kind of impressed with the degree to which this thing is still accurate, for being last edited in 2008; I didn’t think I’d realized Chalenor’s emotive color-changing thing was rooted in being made of Arceus’s out-of-control emotions until later than that. But as the actual events are told in chapter 76, I ditched the bit about Darkrai that didn’t really add much of anything beyond hey look here’s how Darkrai comes into it, there’s more intentionality to Arceus creating Chalenor (the myth makes it sound like Chalenor just sort of happened when his soul shattered, although it does go on to say his presence was “expressing the last will of Arceus”, so it may just be a more mythlike way of saying the same thing), and Mew isn’t literally the first person ever to sympathize with Chalenor because come on, really.

The “and they understood each other MORE THAN ANYONE EVER” is a bit over-the-top too (and not really accurate, actually, what with them each managing to conceal their massive issues from one another), but I think we can chalk that up to the mythical writing.

(But they absolutely were the bestest BFFs.)

(Also why does the myth go on this long. Why does the myth go into Mew and Chalenor’s personal relationship and not just stop at Chalenor developing a soul. I guess the reason I cut it off so abruptly there was that I realized oh whoops this myth shouldn’t actually be going this far along the timeline at all, this is One-Shot B material now, let’s stop.)

[ranger-kellyn]

WIP Wednesday

content warning: suicidal thoughts

uh-oh besties we're back to venting through rhythmi and kellyn again 🤪

    “Honey, hey,” he began, reaching over to put his hand over hers.  It was so rare he used endearments, and only when he was completely at ease, she noticed.  The endearments would flow more easily, and he seemed to stop suppressing his southern Unovan accent –though not nearly as thick –and fake– as Sven’s. “Whatever you’re wanting to say, you’re overthinking it.” 

    Setting her plate off to the side, she flipped her hand over to grab his, still not ready to meet his gaze.  “I don’t know how to say it without sounding too much, or manipulative, or like I’m trying to trap you–” He squeezed her hand; enough to pull her focus from her downward spiral. 

    “Then how about I put that idea completely aside, and you tell me anyway? I am just here to listen.  If you want me to offer solutions, I can try, but otherwise let me just…I dunno.  Be a sounding board,” he said, hoping it would be enough for her.  

    Thoughts racing, her mind going through every possible way it could go wrong, she shook her head.  “I’m scared it will push you away.” 

    He ran his thumb along her wrist.  “If it pushes me away, maybe I wasn’t even a good friend to begin with.” 

    Somehow, simultaneously, it made her feel better and worse. 

    “It’s just that– okay, I’m just…” She slumped back, putting her full weight into the cushion behind her.  “I’m so tired, Kellyn.  This is how it always goes, people tell you, ‘I’m here for you! If you need anything just reach out!’ and then they don’t fucking mean it! I’m fully convinced at this point people just say that to make themselves feel better! They say it so they can then say to themself and everyone else: I did it! I did my part! I was a good friend and reached out! But when you do follow through with the offer and you do reach out, they quickly realize, ‘oh shit, she’s never getting better! She’s always depressed. It’s always something with her!’ and just…put the blame back on you for not doing what-fucking-ever to magically get better!” She felt her voice straining and she fought back tears.     

    Kellyn sat by patiently, never letting go of her hand, and never interrupting. 

    “And then you get told you always take more than you give in all your friendships and relationships, and so you give, and give, and give until you have literally nothing left and you don’t even know who you are because you’ve spent so long trying to be what other people want you to be–” By then, she couldn't keep her tears back.  “And it’s just like– what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I get better? Why does it always circle back to me vividly imagining what it would be like to jump off the union building, all the way up to imagining the fucking concrete meeting my face–” 

    She shook her head, pushing her bangs up over her head.  “And then it’s like– who even am I without the pain?  Who even is Healthy Rhythmi? Who is she? What would– how would a healthy version of myself even respond to things? My whole life has revolved around the hurt and the bad coping– I don’t even know who I am beyond that and I’m positive it’s the reason I can’t actually be better, and I just…I’m fucking tired.  I’m so tired…” She looked at him through teary eyes, sympathy pain ripping through his own chest as she quietly added, “At what point do I give up?  At what point do I go ‘I’m not strong enough to keep fighting this?’ At what point do I accept that I’ll never get out of this?” 

    He wanted to blurt out never, to tell her to never give up the fight.  That there was always something worth living for– and that there was always hope that things would get better. 

    But he held his tongue, knowing damn well he’d be a hypocrite to say all of those things when Darkrai still plagued his own life.  When he had a similarly awful upbringing that left him with scars he was still healing from... 

[melemeleguardian]

acalculatedfuture​:

“Please. Knowing you, you’re gonna end up giving Darkrai nightmares about working out too.” Then, after thinking about it for a little bit, Barry said something else. “Actually, do you know them or something? It kinda seems like you’re talking from experience.”

It was already one thing to wrap his head around the fact that he was talking to a literal god (Barry had already personally seen other deities before, which was already extremely rare, but outright knowing one on a personal level was something else entirely), but the fact that Koko actually knew deities from other regions was incredibly interesting. Did Darkrai go on vacation during the summer or something? That was funny to think about.

He then went to take the pictures, doing some cool poses for the camera. “Actually you know what, tell me. Now I’m curious.”

“And you probably would give Darkrai nightmares about fees, collisions and twinks.” Boy would that be an interesting nightmare, to say the least. 

“Yeah, I know Darkrai. He comes here from time to time. Especially when it’s very cold in Sinnoh. I could tell you more about him, but you have stop doing those weird poses and do exactly what I saw. Now relax and hold still.”

The deity snapped a picture and proceeded to snap a picture and then directed Barry on what pose to do next. He practically barked at him when Barry was doing something stupid, or when Koko thought he was doing something stupid, too. 

You know photography wasn’t something that Koko though he would be a skill he would pick up. When the first were invented they pretty cumbersome to use. Technology really come a long way huh?

“Darkrai is the type of person who keeps to himself. To afraid of causing nightmares to others. I’m trying to break him out of his shell. Sure he might cause pain by just existing, but that doesn’t mean he has to live his life in fear. Heh, though he is really unuse to interacting with others. He initially named his human form Dark Dark.”

[coldhands-and-clockwork]

Major Arcana as Legendary Pokemon

0. The Fool- Mew

The Fool is the beginning of a journey, a humble naive potential with the world at her feet. I always saw Mew this way, especially based on the english adaptation of the first pokemon movie. Mew is an ancestor to all mundane pokemon in the world, truly a font of potential.

I. The Magician- Mewtwo

The Magician contrasts both the High Priestess and the Fool in being a card of action. The fundamental meaning here is that there is power, in need of a direction or already put to a task. Mewtwo is the powerful refined potential of Mew.

II. The High Priestess- Cresselia

The High Priestess is a card of passive guidance and and intuition, often referencing dreams and the subconscious. Both the feminine energy and psychic nature of this card leave no other contender to the Queen of Dreams.

III. The Empress- Ho-Oh

It’s always interesting to think of Ho-Oh and Lugia as the parents of their respective trios, and fittingly the Empress and the Emperor are the mother and father of the tarot. The empress in this case is a card of compassion, understanding, and emotional connectedness. It’s said that Ho-Oh can grant eternal happiness, and is fabled to have resurrected three pokemon that died in the burned tower as the Legendary Beasts.

IV. The Emperor- Lugia

By contrast, the Emperor is the card denoting stability and level headedness in the face of conflict. The more rigid purpose and influence Lugia has amongst the Legendary Birds fits this role well.

V. The Hierophant- The Lake Trio

The Lake Trio were left by Arceus as a fail safe against the creation trio, as teachers of man kind and a safeguard of reality. This makes them perfect to represent the Hierophant, a card of guidance and communing with a higher power or authority.

VI. The Lovers- Latias and Latios

The Lovers represents a partnership between two entities, a reliance, a friendship, a romance etc. Need I say more?

VII. The Chariot- Victini

The Chariot is a card of dynamic energy, the adrenaline rush of success, the touchdown dance. It’s a card of power and change, specifically the journey there. Victini is literally the victory star pokemon. The little flaming fox thing is perfect for it.

VIII. Strength- The Legendary Titans

Strength as a card represents ALL kinds of strength, emotional, mental, physical. Specifically it has a connotation of endurance, for which each of the Regi Golems has a knack for. Both mechanically (Defensive stats of the golems and Slow Start on Regigigas) and thematically (Locked away individually awaiting release and redemption), the golems are a great fit.

IX. The Hermit- Kyurem

Kyruem is the empty shell of the tao, the space of neither Yin nor Yang, longing for its missing halves. The Hermit as a whole takes a positive spin on this sort of feeling, emphasizing the need for introspection and solitude. Though contrasting, the Kyurem and the Hermit represent each other well.

X. The Wheel of Fortune- The Unown

Spell of the Unown (the third pokemon movie) left me with a huge soft spot for the Unown, and while they aren’t technically legendary pokemon individually, I’d like to think that as a massive collective they’re similar. In the movie, the Unown demonstrate the ability to make HUGE changes to the world, at the whim of a young girls imagination. The Wheel of Fortune is a card that denotes big change, the turning of the wheel. Fittingly, in some cases, slipping from one world to another as well.

XI. Justice- The Four Swords of Justice

The Swords of Justice fit the card for Justice in more than just name. The four of them are musketeers, protecting the balance of nature and defending it from those who would destroy it. The card represents the idea of fairness, equality, and even handedness.

XII. The Hanged Man- Darkrai

The Hanged Man as a card appears rather grim, but the nature of the card depends a lot on context, and can actually be quite positive in some cases. In general though it tends to represent letting go of something, usually something earthly. Be it a bad relationship, a hard to shake habit, a job you hate. Darkrai always spoke to me in a similar way, a dark foreboding figure, the king of nightmares. But that’s what you do with nightmares; you process, and move past them.

XIII. Death- The Mortality Duo

Much like the Hanged Man, Death gets kind of a bad name when people judge it’s appearance. While the Hanged Man implies something that you yourself need to let go, Death is more out of mortal hands. It too speaks of the end of something, but in the cosmic nature of life and death, it also means the birth of something new as well. As such, Yveltal cannot represent this card on its own; it requires both members of the Mortality Duo, Life and Death.

XIV. Temperance- Shaymin

While Justice was more about the bite of nature fighting back in the form of the Swords of Justice, Temperance is more about patience and humility. Shaymin is the epitome of a humble nature mon, reveling the the quiet calm of growth, and maintaining it. That doesn’t mean that Shaymin is always passive, but it understands the ideal temperance of nature.

XV. The Devil- Giratina

Giratina is the closest thing the Pokemon world has to an actual Satan/Devil/Thing. The Devil as a card denotes a malevolent, misleading influence distracting people from their tasks, twisting motivations to suit their own needs. While Giratina itself doesn’t specifically do this, thematically it’s the best choice for the card.

XVI. The Tower- The Weather Trio

It helps the imagery of this card that the arbitrator of the Weather Trio literally lives atop the highest tower in the Hoenn region. The Tower refers to sudden, abrupt change. It’s usually unpleasant, and the melodramatic could certainly label it a calamity. There will be floods, the will be fires, but eventually the air will clear, and the world might look better then. Kyogre and Groudon bring the calamitous nature of this card, while Rayquaza is the resolution.

XVII. The Star- Jirachi

The Star represents the most fundamental hope, the light at the end of the tunnel that guides you out. It can also be a goal, a guiding force you set your compass to. Jirachi has less to do with hope specifically, but it does corner the market on the ‘wishes’ thematic, and to me a wish was always a goal, a hope, a prayer of some kind.

XVIII. The Moon- Lunala

Lunala and Solgaleo were of course the obvious choices for the Moon and the Sun. The Moon has to do with the dark unconscious, the wild unknown. The Cosmog line has the ability to shift reality to this dark world (the ultra dimension in the games), but also the power to bring people out of it. The Moon says it’s easy to get lost in the dark, but you might find what you’re looking for there.

XIX. The Sun- Solgaleo

The Sun is radiance at its finest, basking in its rays you feel the warmth of the world. I’ll be level with you, both Solgaleo and Lunala would have been great for the Moon, but Lunala got that one, so Solgaleo’s the Sun. So there.

XX. Judgement- Arceus

Judgement is a scary word, and a scary concept, but once again the Tarot focuses on a different aspect of the word. The Judgment card can be summed up as ‘Forgiveness’, truly a godly quality. This and the fact that Arceus’s signature move is Judgment make it a pretty good fit.

XXI. The World- Zygarde

The World is the final card, the direct counterpart of the Fool. The World is the end of a journey, completeness, being whole. Not only is Zygarde a protector of the planet, generation 7 gave it even more lore, a fractured being looking for the individual pieces it lost. The 100% complete Zygarde is a fearsome one indeed- If you’re at the stage of the World, you’re on the right track.

Pokemon and tarot fans are welcome to critique, feedback is appreciated!

[jumpchain-drop]

Chapter 2.34: 9.95 Years

Year 10, day 346: The other team members are aware of the warehouse. I mean, the door’s right in the base, it’s impossible to hide really. But aside from my straightening out of Porygon-Z, I haven’t let them in. When they ask about it, I’ve said that it was a gift from Palkia as an apology for all the trouble he caused us years ago. They know I’m a human, but they think I’m a human from an averted dark future – which I guess I might be, technically, but the part of me that’s a human from Earth that spent ten years in Orre is much stronger. Having no memories of the former is probably a factor.

I had no intention of introducing the idea of Poké Balls to this world.

But today, with 19 days left, two weeks and three days, it was time to start bringing out selected few into the new world.

So Terra and I held back Manaphy, Mightyena, Porygon-Z, and Azumarill from going out on missions today, and once we were the only ones left, we guided them inside. There was a lot of looking around in awe; the warehouse was literally unlike anything else in the world.

“When I said that I used to be a human, I wasn’t lying,” I told them. “When I said I was a human from the future, I guess that wasn’t a lie either. But I’m also a human from another world where humans and Pokémon are both alive and work in harmony to make it better. It’s not perfect… but we never had to resort to making magical instruments and starting a war. Terra’s from that world too; she was my closest Pokémon partner. Our journey off the map that I selected you all for is a journey to worlds beyond those. No idea how long it’ll take; it might well last forever. But it’s one we’ll be honored to have you all along for.”

I opened the “1” bin. “And for three of you to do so...” I pulled out the Poké Balls and showed them to them. “...we’ll need these.”

They had questions. So many questions. I answered them as best I could. Terra chimed in when she had something to add. When they asked about the previous world, I referred more to my memories of the games and anime than I did my own experiences in an outlier of a region.

But they were eager. They were explorers, and there were whole universes out there they hadn’t seen before. They were sad they couldn’t tell anyone in this world about them; I left out about the time freezing, at least for now, but I did say who knows, maybe we’ll be able to swing back this way again. I don’t know how, but the reassurance was important.

So I caught them. They didn’t struggle; they had been with me for years and knew me more than worthy of leading them.

Shadow the Mightyena.

Bitbit the Porygon-Z.

Maria the Azumarill.

I guess this was the chance I had to nickname them. I had just enough time for that before they vanished, perhaps into where the others had gone.

Terra and I took Manaphy over to the stasis pod.

“Why can’t I go in a Poké Ball like the others, Papa?” he asked. He was still pretty baby-ish; I guess Manaphy have long natural lives.

“I don’t have any more, Manaphy,” I said as gently as I could. “You’ll have to rest in here.”

“It looks scary...”

That seemed ironic from a guy that helped me fight Darkrai, but I don’t think that’s how you talk to children. “I guess it does, a little, but it won’t hurt you. You’ll be taking a nap the whole time, and when you wake up, we’ll be right here. So be brave for me, OK?”

“O-OK, Papa.”

We both gave him a big hug before he went in. The pod closed, and a fog covered the window inside. The little light on the front turned green – according to the instruction plaque, that meant the contents were acceptable and he would be carried over so long as the pod wasn’t opened before the world ended.

I cried a little, I’m man enough to admit that.

When the others came back from their missions, I told them we sent them ahead and they’ll meet us later. A statement that was perfectly true.

[works-of-magic]

Pokemon headcanon asks!

☀️ : Who is your character’s partner Pokémon? Do they prefer to stay outside of their Pokéball? What’s their dynamic with their trainer?

Well, Jess is very closely bonded to more than one! Missie the Misdreavus, Mistress the Mismagius, and Murky the Murkrow are her constant companions. The closest (and most often worked with) has to be Mistress, though. That Mismagius really made her work for their connection, Jess helped her struggles with a lot of things that come naturally to other magical ghosts, and Mistress encouraged Jess to do things that really made her happy, however hard they may be. There's a reason she became Jess's familiar.

As for the Pokeball: Mistress can't stand it. Jess didn't "capture" Mistress, technically; she kind of just convinced her to come along. (And even then, it was a hard sell, and she only joined because Missie wanted to go with her.) Even though Jess splurged for a Luxury Ball early in their relationship, Mistress still emerged very jittery and stressed, so Jess never held her in it again. (Jess rarely keeps any Pokemon in a ball though; for the longest time Ninetales was the only one who would happily go in, and sometimes Murky when it was raining or otherwise just more comfortable in the ball.)

🌗 : Does your character have a favourite Pokéball? Which ones do they use the least? Jess rarely uses Pokeballs (she rarely captures at all!); she usually Makes Friends and they Follow Her Home. But when she does throw and capture? It's either a Luxury Ball or a Heal Ball. Jess sometimes utilizes Timer Balls (because she's a strategist that bides her time), and very rarely a Quick Ball if she can make a Snap Decision with a Quick But Thorough Read on a prospective Pokemon, but she does her best to keep them comfortable while they're in there (hence, Luxury).

💾 : What is your character’s Pokémon team? Any Pokémon they don’t have currently in their team (in their PC Box or elsewhere)? Her "team" changes dramatically! It can be anywhere from: ~ The core 3 she takes with her everywhere (Missie the Misdreavus, Mistress the Mismagius, and Murky the Murkrow) ~ When she's travelling FAR, she's usually bring Excalibur (a Pidgeot) and Ninetales (her very first-ever Pokemon, initially given to her as a companion "pet"), since they've been with her longest. Excalibur is among her most powerful combatants, strong enough to carry her away if need be, or if they need to travel swiftly, and Ninetales has powerful fire-type attacks to defend against a wider range of threats. ~ If she's out and about to raise/train: She'll bring whoever she bred and/or caught to train for contests, special events, and casual, friendly competitive battling (typically a young Murkrow or Misdreavus). ~ The team she built for the Ghost-only “Trick or Treat” competition in Kalos, since she wasn't allowed to enter with her Pokemon from Sinnoh. So she traveled with Willow [another Mismagius bred in Kalos and evolved for the competition], Aegislash (caught in Kalos), Gourgeist (given for the competition as a Pumpkaboo and trained), a Mega-compatible Gengar, and a Chandelure she caught in Kalos as a Litwick.

😀 : Describe one of your character’s relationships with their Pokémon. Her relationship with Murky is so fun. Lowkey antagonistic, but in the teasing and goofy way. He was her first Murkrow, the first Pokemon she captured in Eterna Forest, and probably the only Murkrow ever that never wanted to evolve into a potential flock boss. They hide each others' things (to make them find it, never to lose it), Jess plays games with him to keep him entertained, and he often provides ideas that get them out of tight spots. He's one of the gutsy determined kind of birds that can get himself into trouble, but Jess will always back him up (even when he's being an arrogant idiot), and he'll always defend Jess to the death. They bonded quickly on their journey, Murky was proud of his new role as a protector while she explored the forest, and the more they endured together, the closer they grew, until nothing could tear them apart.

👥 : Does your character travel with anyone aside from their Pokémon? Quite often, with one of her two dearest friends! She joined Sonia while the latter was gunning for the Sinnoh League (they bonded quickly, and Jess was basically along for the adventure, trying her hand out at gyms along the way). Jess also meets and hangs out with Lacey at some as-of-yet undetermined point, but probably on an expedition to Johto. (Jess has a nigh-spiritual connection with wild groups of Misdreavus and a passion for helping professors understand them, so she ventures to Johto now and again for surveys and such.) She has no problem exploring as a lone wolf, though she's usually content to handle the breeding center and only venture away for special occasions.

♠️ : Does your character specialize in a Pokémon type or do their types vary? Do they pay much attention to type match-ups? Oh, HELLA ghost! Ghost was always her favorite type to watch others battling with, even before she had any inkling that she'd become a trainer herself. And there are just so many interesting STORIES about them! (She'd always been a spiritual person, and the whole "creepy spooky dangerous Ghost Types" myth never got to her. Heck, it INTRIGUED her!) When she discovered Misdreavus and immediately became enamored, she developed an almost fanatical obsession with them, and the more she learned about them, trained them, bonded to them, and lived life with her ghosts, the more she loved them.

She's also very fond of Flying types, the older she gets, and the more familiar she becomes with their power and beauty. She has a special connection to birds, especially. + Jess doesn't battle often, but when she does, she pays special attention to type match-ups. She's that strategic trainer that annoys her competition by switching whenever the match-up is unfavorable (or having Ninetales use Roar), and surprises them with things like a Mismagius that knows Magical Leaf and Thunderbolt.

🗻 : What type of journey is your character on? Are they tackling the Pokémon League, engaging in contests, on researching endeavors, a ranger scouting for danger? Or do they have a more ‘normal’ occupation? What type of life do they lead? Jess's journey is a hodge-podge of exploration, really. ~ Initially, at age 14, she only set out because she wanted to find and train a Misdreavus. That was it. ~ But then she discovered she LOVED travelling! And she developed very deep, sincere bonds with the Pokemon she caught. She discovered the necessity for protecting each other while travelling, so she figured out how to train for their own safety, researching to strategize... ~...and then discovered, while studying training, she was pretty good at researching, too! ~ Along the way with Sonia, Jess tried her hand at gym battling, and she did fairly well, for a trainer that only trained Pokemon she loved deeply, and wanted nothing to do with the leagues. But her real passion for training lied in Contest coordinating! And she rocked the Indie contest scene, growing her own berries and making her own poffins at home, following her passion and rising to Master-rank excellence within just a handful of years. She only ever competed in three Master-rank contests, but once she had that ribbon, she felt like that journey was complete. ~ Mistress once met a wild Misdreavus, nature happened, and Jess fell in love with the care of the egg, and then the baby Misdreavus, and her whole being felt so Right being there to help watch over him, and help Mistress and Trick take care of the baby in any way she could. She wound up training that Misdreavus to be a strong battling partner for her brother, and it was one of her proudest accomplishments. So, researching again, Jess tried her hand at breeding, and once she established her breeding center in Eterna Forest, Jess became a little-known wonder in the Ghost fanatic circles. That becomes her lifelong primary profession. (She didn’t just play match-maker and hand off babies; she also raised, trained, conditioned, and socialized the babies, vetted prospective owners, and sent them away with a clean bill of Pokecenter-certified health.) ~ Even later, Jess would meet up with various professors and help them research the wonders of the Ghost world, contributing to peer-reviewed articles and wildlife studies whenever she can.

🌟: Has your character met any Legendary Pokémon before? If so, what were the encounters like? Do they have any Legendary Pokémon on their team? If not, do they believe in Legendary Pokémon? She has glimpsed Uxie, Sinnohan Bringer of Knowledge, via cave pond reflection, and in Unova she glimpsed Reshiram, but she has never interacted with any (unless a Darkrai counts). So belief? Definitely. She's a practicing witch and lives with a Mismagius that learned to speak. Honestly, Legendaries don't seem all that far-fetched to her.

🍼 : Are there any Pokémon your character has difficulty handling? Are there any they find easiest to raise? Okay, listen, Mistress tried to put the brakes on absolutely EVERYTHING at first! She was harsh, critical, stubborn, uncooperative, refused to communicate, and disdained absolutely EVERYTHING about the whole situation. (She had a very strong distrust of humans in general. But didn't care to divulge that, for the longest time.) Literally the only reason Mistress agreed to go with Jess when they met was because this random trainer had healed Missie (her friend, who was badly hurt at the time), and Missie wanted to go with her. So Mistress, begrudgingly, followed along. Jess was a little too tender and new at training to know just what to do about it? And after Jess said something that Mistress really took offense to, she even went as far as to vanish completely (breaking Missie's heart in the process). It took a long time and a lot of trust-building to get her to realize Jess wasn't like the humans that had hurt her family, or judged her cruelly based on her species alone, and to finally open up and just relax. It was frustrating, but Jess isn't known for giving up, especially not on a Pokemon.

Jess also struggles to interact with any creature that's too energetic, loud, attention-seeking, or noncommunicative, but that's way more based on individual personality than species or type. She can "handle" it, just wouldn't choose to adopt one for herself.

🐤 : Does your character use Daycares? Or do they manage all the training and caretaking themselves? Oh, Jess absolutely manages everything herself. Her breeding center is quite spacious, she has a garden of many different types of berries for her own healing endeavors, she takes all her creatures to the Pokecenter for regular wellness visits, and trains where and when she deems it beneficial, but there's a reason she grows up to be a breeder!

🕶 : Are there ‘troublemaking’ Pokémon on your character’s team? If so, how do they tackle these troubles? Murky sometimes, but it's more that his pride gets the better of him. The ghosts like playing pranks , but whenever boundaries are crossed, they address it and set it straight (like Missie's fear of dark types, or Mistress's distress at her species' reputation-- those are off-limits). Mistress likes casting trippy, creative hallucinations and dreams, just to keep things interesting (which can be disconcerting to new people, but Jess embraces it as a creative outlet for her). And of course, Trick was named because he REALLY likes playing tricks on everyone he encounters, but he's a Ghost! Jess knew EXACTLY what she was getting into with those guys, and LOVES it!

As for things that actually cause trouble in the team, that's a negative, because as soon as she notices someone's being Genuinely Bothered, Jess addresses the issue point-blank and makes sure it gets worked out amongst the team.

🥘 : Is your character any good at making Poffins? She's the one you go to if you want a poffin with a gold-standard High Level and a complex flavor! She's also the best at making Bitter poffins in Sinnoh, or so she says. Though her multitude of Smart ribbons help that claim, and of course the large berry garden.

🎊 : If your character takes part in contests, what category is their favourite? What are the best at? What are they worst at? See above-- Smart contests! She's worst at either Cool or Cute, largely because her idea of what's "Cool" and "Cute" tend to fall into the generally-accepted parameters for Smart or Beauty.

📱 : How full is your character’s Pokedex? Sinnoh? Quite full! At least the Seen section; not so much Captured. She explored quite a bit of the region with Sonia, and took the time to familiarize herself with any Pokemon they encountered out of sheer curiosity.

✨ : Has your character ever encountered a shiny Pokémon ? Do they have one in their team? Yes, and it was eventful enough to fill a whole chapter of AWoM! (See the link in the sidebar; that was the last chapter I completed actually!) To be honest, though... that particular Murkrow was kind of a dick. Jess never captured it, and while she was admittedly distracted by the gleam and glimmer of his feathers, the trouble he brought, trying to stick a wedge between her and Murky, and then getting his entire flock to attack Murky when he struck out alone (because on his end, it worked), then attacking Jess and her team when they tried to save him? Nah, it just wouldn't work. That bird wouldn't have been happy as part of a coordinator's team, anyways.

🎲 : Has your character ever been to a Game Corner or equivalent? How much time do they spend there? Have they ever gotten really lucky at the slots? Nah, Jess doesn't gamble. (Her family has issues with addictions, and she'd much rather invest in something she KNOWS she's going to get halfway decent money from, than risk straight-up LOSING money.)

🌑 : How does your character handle villainous organisations? Have they ever encountered one? How did that go? Jess mostly sticks to her own business. However, there was a big run-in with Team Galactic

⛔️ : Has your character ever mistaken an owned Pokémon for a wild Pokemon and tried to catch it? Nope! See the aforementioned "doesn't often catch Pokemon anyways" thing.

🚴: Does your character own a bicycle? Can they ride it? Are they constantly lectured by their professors for riding it where they’re not supposed to? Nah, she has a Pidgeot and feet that serve her just fine. (...mostly.)

🎣 : Does your character fish? Do they have any luck with it? If so, what’s the biggest Pokémon they’ve caught? What’s the smallest? She doesn't fish, mostly because they tend to panic for a moment on the line and that really bothers her. She doesn't really have need for a water-type, anyways.

🎃 : Do any Pokémon types unsettle your character? Do they have a phobia of them? Why? Absolutely not! The girl's a big fan of Ghosts, and she appreciates Dark types. (Missie, however, has developed a fear of Dark types due to being attacked by a group of them when she was only level 8.)

📖 : Did your character go to Pokémon School? If so, was it public or private? Were they homeschooled? Not "Pokemon" school, but Jess attended public primary school, and then struck out on her own to research and learn by experience. There was enough general knowledge for her to not feel like she needed it, anyways, since she had so many acquaintances that went to Pokemon School, and she did ask a lot of questions, even as a kid. (And played a lot of the games. ;P )

[ghostliied]

( ✦ ✦ — Pokemon Battles ; hc.15 ✦ ✦ ✦ )

Alright, I actually got on the computer during my small hiatus just to talk about this cause honestly its something very, VERY important to me and probably one of the other reasons why I don’t really engage in pokemon battles with Kimiko (aside from her actually knowing wtf she’s doing, but that is besides the point)

Pokemon battles in general are kind of unique in the sense that trainers need to know stuff about their pokemon. So, moves, skills, techniques, styles, combos etc. They honestly need to know that because there is so much to be put into a pokemon battle. If you go in not knowing these things, then the battle is gonna be really rough for you.

And I’m not saying that they need to know generally for all of their pokemon, I mean the more they know about a specific pokemon, the better they will be in battle with their pokemon. 

Hence why not many trainers ACTUALLY have the full team of 6 pokemon. You have to be really good at battling and you really have to know your stuff in order to have a ‘good’ team of six. Like I’m not saying you cant have six pokemon. But that team of six will be no good if you don’t know the skill sets, abilities, etc of those 6 pokemon. A person with 3 pokemon, for example, could easily wipe your team of 6 if you don’t know what you are doing cause maybe they are more experienced with THOSE 3 pokemon.

It’s not about how many levels you have or how strong a pokemon is, its more about the battle techniques and strategies. It really is. Why?

Because pokemon know MORE THAN 4 moves.

Pokken Tournament actually proves that pokemon use more than 4 moves in their combos and move lists. Such examples are Sceptile and Darkrai. All of the pokemon have their moves listed, some don’t have special/unique names, but you can still tell that there are more than 4 moves because the two listed above have 5+ specially named moves alone. 

Take Darkrai for example just the known moves alone that are found in other pokemon games that he can use are the following: Dark Pulse, Dark Void, Nasty Plot, Nightmare, Dream Eater, and Shadow Claw. Plus there are ‘ranged, weak, and strong attacks’ as well on top of these known moves. 

Now I just recently got the newer Pokken game so I couldn’t really tell you Darkrai specifically. But I am really good with Lucario and can see it for him as well. 

Now, I know that pokken shouldn’t normally be taken into account for like ‘other’ pokemon games and all that. BUT regardless. there are a lot of other worldbuilding HCs that I have created that don’t normally fit the games nor the anime (like the DW for example.) That being said, having pokemon know only 4 moves and then calling yourself a pokemon master, based on such limiting criteria is a little funny for me. Because if you really were a ‘pokemon’ master or champion or whatever, you aren’t known for just sheer strength. You are known for your knowledge and battle style. And 4 moves, again, is very limiting. At least in pokken, you need to know what you are doing in order to have moves hit correctly or to pull off combos.

That is why people who have trained with the same pokemon for longer are known to be better battlers with those pokemon. Its the same if you have the battle conditions where you have to ‘rent’ pokemon. You don’t jsut put your pokemon to the test, you challenge yourself. Pokemon battles are not just to have pokemon slave away at your will. There are bonds created, you learn about your pokemon partners and companions and they learn stuff about you. Its why a pokemon that has a stronger bond with you will battle more efficiently than one that you recently caught and put on your team. You know about them as they know about you and what you like for a battle style. 

It is also why Kimiko is really good at battling. She will never admit to it, but she’s capable wiping the floor with somebody who is not as experienced or against a wild, raging pokemon. Maybe she won’t know your strategy or skills, maybe she has no idea about some pokemon. But she knows her own pokemon’s strengths and weaknesses and her pokemon know the same thing.

She’s also extremely smart. and she reads up on stuff all the time. Just cause you have a big, intimidating pokemon, doesn’t mean you’ll win. Sure you have size, but that literally means nothing if my weavile can take out your Machamp with ease simple cause you don’t know your pokemon.

Again, you need to know your pokemon and where they are. its a growing thing. the more you learn, the more you figure out how it works. 

Thus when you have 6 pokemon and KNOW what you are doing, you can come off as QUITE intimidating in battle. And you really shouldn’t underestimate pokemon or their trainers because you really never know.

Or maybe you can. Hence why people who really are dumb, aren’t very good at battles. You have to be smart. it doesn’t take a genius or anything but I mean consider the pokemon games. Team grunts are easy to beat sure, but the commanders and leaders are usually a lot harder because they are smarter and stronger. literally the same concept, except the number of moves changes from 4 to ???? depending on your pokemon.