#they both just air out greviences and trade stories and it's strange but it's also them

[kalosian-woods]

speaking off the other electric type gym leaders, do you think clemont would know them? do you think the other members of the league knew about the crisis? do you think they wanted to do something to help? and if they do know each other, do you think post crisis some of them made a beeline to kalos?

and if your au also sets in the galar/kalos is part of the same island mass theory, do you think they heard what was happening and wanted to get involved or something? because... you know the sub-theory that the war was between Kalos and Galar

-⚡ (my personal headcanon is that they do know each other and that volkener and clem have a sorta petty rivalry between inventors. (siebold and clemont too. but thats more silly because professional chef working in a fine dining setting, vs a teenage who maybe sleeps in his own gym and probably lives off instant noodles when he isn't cooking for others.))

Hmm, for me, I would say he has a passing knowledge of them? Like that academy he went to probably covered some notable Type users and all that, and when he was fiddling around on the web for inspiration/appliances/going on the Pokemon equivalent of eBay and checking out antiques, he's seen their name around. Similarly, Gym Leaders from other regions would've heard of Clemont (moreso as the rising young Gym Leader who's also a great inventor) and were like 'cool, what an inspiration to young folk everywhere' and proceed to forget about him. Clemont isn't very sociable, and while he was enamoured by the stuff other Gym Leaders, especially Electric Type users, would've done (like amusement park by Elesa or whatever zany thing Volkner made up on the spot), he was much too shy about it. Easier to just reverse-engineer it and figure out how it ticks from the safety of his own (totally not safe for his back) room. And then he had his problem with the Gym and you know the drill.

It's most probably after the whole journey that he mustered the courage to talk to the others and connect with the other Gym Leaders all around the world heh. Throughout the journey he became more aware of the Gym Leaders in Kalos and actually got to know them well (and through the Crisis everyone got to know each other better), and that kickstarted Clemont's desire to see how everyone else was like.

Surge would be a bit dismissive until he heard about the Crisis and Clemont's role in it (he would totally break down at that and just care for him so much, I can tell you that). Very tough love but also a great listener, makes sure that he's keeping well and not getting too lost in his work.

Wattson is just going to be a crazy grampa in the corner isn't he lol. But yeah, very much going to push him into 'renovating' Prism Tower into a death trap (but a fun one!) and telling him to have fun (he knows about the Crisis and this is his way of helping him, but to be honest he would've said this regardless). May or may not have a rivalry with Volkner, in which...

Volkner is just a little (a very tiny miniscule) impressed by Clemont. But would not say it. He expects so much more than that, don't you know, that's just childs play and if he was really into it he would've done so much more. They both have petty squabbles but then five minutes later they are dragged away by their Luxray from taking down particle colliders or smth idk.

Elesa had a very superficial relationship with him before, having met through friends-of-a-friend kind of deal. They make small talk, try to connect, and then after some time one of them admit something deep and then boom, penpals lol. She bugs him for good fashion in Kalos and he gets her back by requesting schematics of various mechanical attractions in Unova. Basically trading for their interests while also having some support on the side :3

Sophocles is totally roasting him online the first time they meet. They both get into this thread where they argue about something that they totally forgotten and just go on and on until they actually meet face to face. It's a love-hate relationship with collabs and everything, and they will simmer down one day. Eventually. Hopefully. (Soph has heard of the Crisis and done so much study but has not connected two and two and two together with Clem and also with a certain Ash having just come out from there. He's busy, okay?)

Iono scares him but he doesn't say it outloud. Very interesting with the whole livestream! Just not being on the livestream. He's also interested in those Magnemite hairclips and the concept of Terastallization but maybe he better make sure he's not broadcasted on 10 million screens before talking to her.

Going to be honest here and say that's the first time I've ever heard of that theory myself, but then again I haven't dived too deeply about it. Most of the ones I've saw were about how Kalos had an internal war (this is a great one btw heh), which made sense to me, although I do like the idea of Galar going up against Kalos (especially with the gimmicks and the problems they faced). Hoenn is definitely connected to the Crisis itself and has offered aid, and ngl I feel like most of the regions are nice enough to try to help at this point, since either they went through their own problems beforehand or have that feeling of foreboding that they are next. The Pokemon World is very idealistic in that sense! People do tend to travel around, so there are a lot of connections all over the world.