#while in the games he's just there to be there. instead it's malva who's all for lysandre and his dreams (yeah they swapped)

[kalosian-woods]

Clemont is just really funny in general i think. he's just like that, realistically theres so much to unpack about him;

he made an entire invention where he spoke to the mayor and was spread out across the town of the uni he was in which he got in at the age of maybe like 8.

he's a gym leader. he lost his gym to his invention,

there was the slightest chance he could've been mind controlled.

his bag is a bag of holding

he can't run

his entire mental state is the way it is because of a single mistake that wasn't even his fault

There's so much to unpack about him and the creators were like; "yeah anyways!"

okay but seriously, i think we as a fandom neglect the fact that if it wasn't for Clemont's anxious(???) paranoid(???) quick thinking(???) overly prepared(???) he probably he would've gotten mind controlled. like what was up with that.

-⚡(you can call me clem anon! its also just really funny and the fact that i've so far only exclusively talked about him makes it even funnier. electric anon is okay too !)

Clemont is his own bag of holding lol, there really is SO MUCH with him and I'm shaking you on the shoulders rn clem nonnie. Please. How is it possible that there is so much to him as it is. I need to study him under a microscope.

With the first point, that always made me laugh in a way lol. Him at the age of possibly eight created a power source slash Electric Pokemon recharger for a whole town/city. The mayor has noticed his efforts. This is before he is a Gym Leader, and this is the place where he made the promise to Shinx (a promise that he broke, not by any fault of his own, but by the very thing that brought them together in the first place).

The way he actually just straight up lived in Prism Tower, or at least that's how it felt, along with Bonnie. Their father is in the same city with a house but they won't bother with that and he doesn't bother them until they are MIA for at the very least a few weeks if not months. His reasoning for being a Gym Leader is to wield Electric Types from every region and become an Electric-Type Trainer that the world has never seen. The fact that he can be this ambitious with battling gets me (and also his learning from school carrying over c':)

His bag is also a mechanical marvel (not Volcanion, sorry). His Aipom Arm has only malfunctioned once (1 time), and he's easily able to lift Bonnie into the air with it. Also we never see this beyond the first ep but it has an inflatable airbag??? That is actually safe and comfortable to land on even with the everything in his bag as it is.

Even after the whole series and after everything they've ever went through, he still cannot run. Only one time he has ever sprinted ahead (in this realm/dimension) and that was to get to a festival about Zapdos of all Pokemon (and maybe that inventing fair as well??). No one comments on it beyond that one moment. He's also tried to make shoes to help him go up hills quicker but he never tried that one again lol (he forgot he even had it until Serena mentions the monorail, in which also, wow. this gang i swear).

That's actually one of the saddest parts (and something I can totally relate with). The way that we see him so happy and open with Shinx beforehand, ready to learn and be hands on and playing outside even with all the work that he had. And then we hear about how he lost his Gym, how his Pokemon disregard his words and his invention doesn't see him as worthy or strong enough, and it really is him just living out a nightmare of his own making in a way. His fear from back then keeps haunting him with the mistakes that he makes now, and even after meeting with Luxio again you can see the way he just... accepts that he's no longer wanted or forgiven. He's fine with it. He rather everyone have a better life than he does. Just,, he needs a hug. Lots of them.

HELP PLS you've said exactly what I've been thinking off this whole time!! Geez, I thought I was alone in thinking that we brush off whatever happened to Clemont in 'The Needs of Many!' like I get that we lose Greninja, but hello? He got straight-up kidnapped right in front of our eyes! He was going to be made into a superhuman (which has some very very worrying connotations beyond what is already happening). He too was blasted by the Mega Evo Energy, and even if he did resist the mind control, there's got to be other effects as well. If his friends weren't OP and reckless as they were he would've actually been carted away to who knows where and it would've been a matter of time until his preventive measures were found out. And the way he already had a counter against it, against the beam specifically (and for it to be able to work without any issues) is also so sad and worrying in a way?? It's definitely paranoia to me, it was very specific (more than usual, anyways), small enough to hide and easy enough for him to grab. Poor boy :(( I need to just sit down and think every time I remember this is an ep that exists because they just went ham with it, didn't they??

[jadeazora]

From the games: Ghetsis having N's Dragon in USUM. This man's Hydreigon could solo N's whole team, packing moves that were super-effective for each member. At best, N's life is constantly under threat by the Triad to keep the Dragon in line, but we all know Ghetsis isn't above murder. It's definitely possible he could have killed N and took the dragon as a trophy.

In the side series: aside from the implied people-boiling in Masters, almost getting executed by Dusknoir's pack of Sableye in PMD Explorers, all while your partner, who had looked up to Dusknoir and put a lot of faith in him, is pleading for Dusknoir to explain himself. You would have been literally shredded to death by Sableye's Fury Swipes. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

In the anime: Coco's parents getting run off the road by Zed and him leaving them to die in a fiery explosion, with getting away with it for almost a decade. He also thought he killed an infant. Honestly, the AU movies had been pretty heavy already between that one kid whose Luxray froze to death protecting him and the old woman whose Snubbull burned alive, but that just takes the cake.

Also, how Lysandre manipulated Alain into working towards "peace", only to reveal his vision of peace meant many people would die, and thanking Alain for helping him pull it off. Imagine being 15-16, and told you're culpable for genocide, despite being completely in the dark on what was actually intended. (Plus, it's clear that Alain had a lot of trust in Lysandre prior to all this.) No wonder the kid has a major breakdown after.

In the manga, several moments. There's Lysandre and Malva falling onto sharp rocks, ending up in a bloody pile, and for a while, I had assumed he had died from that until the full chapter release (a few years later) revealed he just took extensive damage to his spine. The entire XY chapter, honestly tho. Like, the way they play Flare for every ounce of paranoia the games missed out on. The kids never feel safe, and can't really trust anybody outside their little group. And even that gets tested later due to Essentia's holographic disguises.

Then there's Matt siccing his Sharpedo on Sapphire and Flannery, who are already drowning, apparently having gotten bored waiting on them to asphyxiate and deciding to make it a bloodbath instead. And Maxie burning Norman's corpse in front of Ruby, Norman's son. The RS arc is just about as bad as the XY arc in terms of trauma.

[astarionancuntnin]

Taming a Tempest

summary: oh, to be the Vampire Ascendant's dark consort. to have eternity and enhanced powers right at her finger tips - only to be denied. but two could play this game, and Malva would make Astarion regret witholding anything from her.

rating: E

word count: 3.5k

pairing: ascended astarion x consort malva (oc, evil!sorcerer!tav)

cw: 18+. post-game setting with an "evil" ending, mention of violence/murder, smut, hate sex, vampire sex (blood/bites), bdsm (Master/Pet, teasing, choking, slapping, degradation and praise), semi-public sex, overstimulation, p in v, possessive sex, creampie. full list on ao3

a/n: song inspo was BURY YOU by ari abdul

read on ao3

my masterlist

or keep reading down below~

Love.

It was such an alien concept to her. 

A weakness, something to take advantage of, to manipulate. 

A weapon.

Charming people, luring them away, leading them to their demise — for business or for fun, although the two coincided more often than not in her case.

So when Astarion first flirted with Malva, she saw right through his little games, but instead of giving him a taste of what she could do, she decided to play along. After all, he could be a distraction, but one she could afford.

Until it turned out to be more, and she realised she had fallen harder for him than she anticipated, and soon enough he was offering her eternity by his side, as his consort. Obviously, as the promise of everlasting life and uncontested power were all that she desired and more, her choice was clear.

However, after a few years of this, life became dull, and Malva found herself wanting — no, needing, more. She had had as much fun as she desired, killing, torturing, draining, now too. She had risen to the top of the city’s hierarchy, along with Astarion, while the city itself became a shadow of its once glorious self. But it had all become dull, and she wanted more, always more power. 

A routine had settled, and with the rules her Master established to keep a minimum of decency around the palace, she couldn't indulge as much as she would've preferred, and recently, it had become an itch that she urged to scratch. If she was already bored after a measly few years, eternity would be dreary.

“Kill only the targets I assign you, and no matter what, you are forbidden from bedding them.” He had ordered her. “You can seduce them, tease them, even, but I won’t allow anyone to lay their tainted lips on your body. You are mine, and mine only.”

Following this command was simple enough; next to her Master and herself, all her victims were considered lowly people, insignificant. 

Tonight, her Lord organised a soiree of debauchery to share a part of his ever growing army of spawns; those who specialised in pleasures of the flesh. He had repurposed the mansion’s rooms to turn it into a luxurious whorehouse, inviting the remaining power figures in the city — all more corrupt than the last — to establish an alliance.

That’s what he made it out to be, but really, everyone knew this was only meant as a show of power from the Vampire Ascendant. To show everyone else who owned this city, and exactly what their fates could be if they accepted his reign, and make an example of those who were to challenge his authority.

Just like this pretentious Lord who dared to gossip about him and his consort, questioning their position, but it didn't matter; he would be dealt with, just like the others.

Malva was well known across town; the Ascendant’s whore, she had heard, being passed around by the visitors that the vampire Lord deemed worthy. How ignorant of them, how perfectly blind they were to reality.

Her shoulder-length, light purple hair was let down for the night, and she wore a simple eyeliner and mascara, emphasising her soulless, black eyes. Her natural features hid her vampiric nature perfectly, blending in as nothing more than a mean-looking high elf, and Astarion made sure to keep this a secret. The only piece from her ensemble to hide the one proof of her immortality being her neck piece: a dark, thick choker, that hid the otherwise evident bite marks depicting her ownership, with a conveniently placed silver ring in the back of it, barely hidden by her hair.

She made sure to wear one of her most revealing dresses to fit the occasion, one that fit Astarion’s ensemble; a dark, see-through dress, with vines of bright red oleander flowers embroidered onto the long sleeves and bleeding over her chest, barely covering her nipples, knowing anyone who looked at her for too long would get their eyes gouged out by her Lord. A smile crossed her dark lips at the thought.

As Malva scanned the ball room, sitting in display over her Lord’s lap, she found her target: Lord Azarzi. 

He might’ve been considered handsome by mortal standards; with his deep brown eyes, short, wavy hair and a full moustache of the same colour, a bright smile and tanned skin. Faerûn would lose yet another soul tonight.

How tragic. How exquisite.

Through their bond, Astarion felt her delicious hunger for blood.

“Now, now, pet, no need to be hasty.” he purred close to her ear. “Remember what’s at stake; I'll reward you if you're good,” he let go of her waist, pushing her towards the open floor, where the remaining guests waited for an available room. “Now go on, make me proud.”

She always did; seeing her work her way around their enemies was a delightful sight to him, she was his most precious possession, and he loved to see her in action. 

Although Astarion’s rewards were nothing short of delightful, she was dying to know what a punishment would look like.

She had to have her fun one way or the other, and if he wasn’t going to allow it, she would show him that she never asked for permission in the first place.

Her bloodlust naturally guided her next movements, fluidly passing through the crowd as she made her way to her victim of the night.

“Lord Azarzi,” she greeted him, his name gracefully rolling on her tongue. “I'm pleased to see you have accepted our invitation.” 

“Ah, Lady Tavaler,” he reached for her hand, lifting it to give it a light kiss before letting it go. “Of course, I could never refuse an invitation from the mighty Vampire Lord.”

She despised the use of her name, but tried to shrug off its mention, along with the vivid images she had of how long and painful would this man's torturing be. All in due time.

“Call me Malva, please. I don't believe titles are quite necessary for this kind of occasion, don't you think?” She moved closer towards him, her hands finding the front of his shirt, tracing her way down his chest. “Have you had the chance to enjoy our exquisite company yet?”

He shivered under her touch, her sharp, dark nails digging through his shirt, “I'm afraid I haven't yet, no. Your rooms are quite busy, as it turns out.”

She clicked her tongue, “That simply won't do.” She took a hold of his hands, guiding them over her waist where they now laid, and pressed herself into him. “You're our guest of honour, you deserve the best treatment.”

His eyes peered down her dress, where her breast squeezed against his chest, with his hands lowering towards her ass, fully bare under her dress. “Do I now?”

She would enjoy killing him.

Her lips ghosted over the shell of his ear as she whispered, “Absolutely.” 

Her eyes darted towards Astarion, and she smiled wickedly when she noticed the way his hands dug into the armrests at his side, fighting to contain the seething fury within him. 

“Why don’t you follow me into one of our classier suites, reserved for the richest of our guests?” She continued, with her hand dancing around the back of his neck, guiding him into her, “I’ll personally take care of you tonight, if you will have me. Consider it a gift from the Vampire Ascendant, for accepting his invitation.”

He smiled, his brown moustache lifting along his lips, “Well then, who am I to deny the Vampire Lord himself?”

Her dark smile reached her cheeks, keeping her lips closed to hide her fangs, “I was hoping you would say that.”

As she grabbed his hand to carry him away to her special chambers where she guided all her victims, she felt the reach of Astarion’s mind.

“Careful, pet, wouldn’t want me to be jealous, would you?”

“Jealous? Of this meek mortal? My Lord, that doesn’t sound very highly of you,” she answered back through her mind.

“You know how I feel about people touching you, Malva. This is my last warning.”

“And here I thought you were the most powerful being of this city. I wasn’t planning on bedding this man, but maybe I should now. Maybe he’ll show me how a real man fucks and he’ll make me come in ways you never could.”

Oh, she could feel Astarion’s anger even from this distance. Good.

She didn’t make it to the room before she felt the Lord at her back pinning her to the nearest wall, his body pressing against her, rubbing his bulge between the curves of her ass.

“So the rumours were true; the vampire Lord has a whore as a wife…” He chuckled deeply, his hands roaming at the front of her dress, groping her breasts through her dress. “I have to admit, I always wondered how the Ascendant’s witch would feel stretched around my cock.” He breathed hard down her neck, his tongue tracing just below her ear, “Do you wanna find out, doll?”

She tilted her head as an invitation, “I believe I can please you in more interesting ways, my Lord.”

“That so?”

She smiled a toothy grin, “Ways you could only ever dream of.”

He scoffed, pulling back to free her from his hold on her, “Fine, I’ll bite, show me what you can do.”

The irony of his choice of words wasn’t lost on her, as she turned back to face him, unbuttoning his shirt to expose his muscled chest. A shame he had to die really, he had at least some potential.

Pulling back on his rolled down shirt, she guided her head into his neck where she breathed in his essence; pine and charcoal, with hints of citrus. Not the most displeasing, but would he taste the same?

She closed her eyes as she licked along the vein popping from his neck, her next feeding point, and he groaned, “You’ll have to try harder than that to please me, sweetie.”

Just as her tongue licked over her threatening teeth, about to dive her fangs into the delicious vein put on display just for her, she felt him being pushed into her, and when she opened her eyes, she was met with the very face of her Creator.

He twisted the blade into his back before pulling it out to slam it back into him countless times, blinded by his anger, as Malva was sprayed of his coughed up blood, adding a nice shade of red onto her pale, tattooed face and staining her skin through her dress. 

Lord Azarzi, now nothing but a lifeless corpse, sank to his knees before collapsing on the wooden, waxed floor.

“Really? That was a waste of perfectly fine blood,” She grunted as she crossed her arms, dismissing the body at her feet. “Now how am I going to feed tonight? This is as good as rotten.”

“Oh, you don’t get to give me that attitude,” He growled, grabbing her by her throat and pushing her against the same wall she was pinned to moments ago. “Not after teasing me like you did.”

She smiled, flashing her fangs, “I don’t see what you’re talking about.”

“You insolent, little brat,” He tightened his grasp on her neck and her mouth opened up with a gasp. “I’m a lenient Master, giving you liberties and letting you practice your art in the comfort of our own home, and yet here you are, spitting on my generosity.”

“I just followed your orders, Master.”

“Oh no, no, no,” he clicked his tongue. “I ordered you to kill this man, and I had to do it myself, because you decided to play with your food.”

“It’s not my fault you’re an impatient bastard,” she spat out, defying his gaze.

His eyes turned a darker shade of red and Malva knew she had pushed him to his limit.

“That’s it. I’ve had it with you.”

He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a leash he clipped to the back of her collar before yanking on it, sending her to the floor. 

“I think you’re long overdue for a corrective measure, don’t you think, my dear?”

She pulled back against it, pointing towards the remains of the lord she had lured away, “What about my drink? Are you really gonna make me starve?”

“I don’t think you deserve it, frankly,” he sneered.

“Gods, I hate you.”

“Now, now, where are you manners, dear? This isn’t how I trained you, is it?” He pulled her up, grabbing her by her throat. “Is it?”

She hissed through her teeth, “I’m not yours to tame.”

“Let’s see about that.”

He walked her to the nearest chair and bent her over his lap, keeping a tight hold on his leash to have her stand upright.

“Now,” he lifted her dress to reveal her bare ass, “I will give you a slap for each victim you have claimed within these walls.”

As she opened her mouth to speak up he gave another yank on her leash, silencing her. “Don’t you worry, I am a merciful Master; we’ll keep it to the number of souls you’ve claimed just this year. Twenty, was it?”

She tried to turn around to contest his claim, only to be met with a first slap on her ass.

“However, any other words you utter will count as an additional slap, understood?”

“Fuck you.”

Another slap, stronger this time, made her yelp.

“Twenty two, then.”

She gritted her teeth, debating on her next comment.

Slap. “Cat got your tongue, my sweet?” Slap. “Please, I would love to know what you think of me now—” Slap.

She cried, the sting spreading to her thighs.

“Do you still hate me?” Slap. “Do you fucking loathe me?” Slap. “Answer.” Slap.

“Yes!” She shouted. “Yes I do, fuck!”

“In that case, let’s make this more interesting; any sound coming from you will warrant an additional gift from my hand, hm?” Slap. “How’s that sound, darling?” Slap.

She yelped once more, the burning sensation of his palm against her taking her by surprise.

“One more, then.” Slap.

She bit her lip, silencing her moans. 

“That’s better.” Slap. “See how pretty you look on my lap?” Slap. “With your cheeks all red and your pussy all wet?” Slap. “Wet from me punishing you—” Slap. “ — like the little brat you are?” Slap.

“Would this be as fun if I didn’t have control over you, pup?” Slap. “Do you see how silly of you it is to desire anything more than I already have offered you?” Slap. “Don’t you love to be my little whore to put on display?” Slap.

Tears swelled to the corner of her eyes and her fists balled up, nails digging into the soft of her flesh as she held back the cries stuck in her throat.

“You’re doing so good for me, so incredibly well, my love.” Slap. “And look at you, not making any sound at all.” Slap. “Such an obedient little consort, all mine.” Slap.

“Last one now, are you ready? You can speak.”

She breathed hard, taking a moment to utter an answer, “Yes.”

He landed the last slap, harder than all the previous ones, and leaned in to whisper into her ear.

“Say ‘thank you Sir for my punishment’,” he rubbed her ass, bright red from his abuse.

Her mascara ran down her face, mixing in with the dry blood from the corpse laying not too far away.

“Thank you, Sir… for my punishment,” her voice was small and quiet, tamed.

“Now,” he easily dipped two fingers into her drenched pussy. “Do you think you’re ready for your reward, pup?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Get up, and remove my pants.”

Her shaky legs made it hard to stand up, but she followed his orders nonetheless. Removing his trousers, she set his raging erection free, veins popping out and already leaking from his arousal; the sight was both terrifying and incredibly exciting.

“Lift your dress back up and sit on my cock. You’re going to take all my come inside of you, and then we’ll go back to the party, understand? I want everyone to smell me on you. We can’t have people doubting my ownership after seeing you walk away with another man, can we?”

She nodded and did as he asked, straddling him with her hips lowering themselves onto his shaft with ease, and finally allowing herself to moan as she felt his length filling her up.

“Fuuuuuck,” he sank his nails into her hips, pushing her deeper. “You’re perfect my love, so perfect. Keep going for me, you’re doing amazing.”

The echo of their thighs slapping against each other faded with the sounds of pleasure from the neighbouring rooms, and Astarion wanted theirs to be louder.

His thumb found its way over her clit, pushing her closer to the edge as he rubbed circles around it, striking every nerve in her. Her hands grabbed onto the armrests, holding on for dear life as the stimulation became too much and her moans grew louder with each thrust.

“Come on, pet. If you come around my cock I’ll give you a little treat. You love treats, don’t you?” She nodded, words failing her. “Good, now make your Master proud, come for me, and scream as loud as you can.”

When she cried out from her earth shattering climax, it's as if the rest of the world paused around them, and it was only her and him, lost in one another. Every touch, every thrust, was all too much, pleasure blending in with pain as Astarion kept pounding into her.

The sight of Malva losing herself on his lap was almost enough for him to implode, she was only missing a single thing.

“Are you thirsty, my dear?”

She nodded, tears rolling down her defiled cheeks.

“Come here,” he pulled the collar of his shirt aside, giving her an opening. “Drink.”

Without losing another second, she bit down into his exposed neck, and she drank. She drank like he was the oasis in the middle of a desert; parched and ravenous from her stolen meal from earlier, exhausted by how he had used her body.

He grabbed the base of her scalp and pulled her away from him, making sure she didn’t drink too much. He could only allow enough that would satiate her thirst without freeing her from him.

With his forehead pressing against hers, he groaned, ”Say that you're mine. Say that you love me.” 

“I… love you,” her voice trembled.

“Mhmh, that’s right, my sweet. That’s right.”

Whether she knew it or not, ever since he made her his, he guided this dance. Everything she did was carefully thought through by him, knowing exactly how she would react every step of the way. He was the one pulling her in, like a pet on a leash. His pet.

And no matter how much she wanted more power, she couldn’t deny that the pull of his control felt delicious against her neck.

“Now, let's try this again, pup. Who owns you?”

“Y- You.”

He pulled the leash backwards, “Who?”

“You, Master.”

“That's right little love, you're all mine. Even if your dark, stubborn heart thinks it hates me, even if you don't see it, even if you try to deny it, deep down, you love me, because you know I am everything you need.” He breathed hard into her ear, “I’m the only one who understands you, the only one who could truly love you the way you deserve it.”

With one last push of his hips, he came roaring inside of her, filling her to the brim with his thick ropes of warm come. His hands over her waist held her tightly around him, making sure her womb would take every drop of him.

He enraptured her lips with his, kissing her fervently to taste himself on her mouth. When he finally pulled back, they were both panting, “Was I too harsh, love?”

She shook her head, her eyes half-lidded still dizzy from her unbecoming, “No, you were perfect, Astarion.”

It was rare that she used his name, but he allowed it in moments of intimacy like this one. The sound of his name rolled deliciously on her tongue, it was as much a reward for her to say it as it was for him to hear it.

He lifted her to her feet, pulling down her dress to give her a minimum of decency before putting his pants back up, straightening his jacket, and replacing his hair to appear as graceful as he was before taming his consort.

She smiled, linking her arm with his as they walked back to the ballroom, completely enamoured, “I love you, my Lord.”

He smiled back, giving her a quick peck on her cheek, “I love you too, my sweet.”

Was it love? She doesn't know for sure. Maybe some twisted version of it.

Was it passion, in its most depraved and unhinged state, an obsession for one another that would leave this city in ruins? 

Most definitely.

Thank you for reading! Comments, reblogs, and likes are very much appreciated <3

tag list (comment or message me if you want to be added!): @grimistheangerinmystares @silverfangmarks @roguishcat @nyx-knox @anacdoce @jwera @annnagennnie @angeldarkness95 @marlowethebard @hellethil @frankie-mercury @ariajc79 @ladycroft5245 @lets-just-daydream @pursuitseternal

[lorekeeper-backset]

PKMN IRL Master Post

This post is a list of every single one of my Pokemon IRL blogs. It will lengthen or shorten as I create or delete blogs. Mostly lengthen, probably.

@fox-poke-fanatic: A blog run by Caleb, average college student who wants to become the ultimate expert on fox pokemon.

@aura-acolyte: My take on the protagonist of ORAS, here named Mare Birch. She has Aura Powers and is also the Chosen of Rayquaza, a role that is both poorly defined and well defined. She gets involved in a lot of high stakes stuff. She's also the protagonist of that fanfic I linked.

@the-looker-bureau: A blog focusing on Looker and Emma. In this universe, Looker continued being a private detective and father figure for Emma.

@last-lorekeeper: A blog run by Zinnia, the Lorekeeper of the Draconid people. She's taken up teaching in her spare time.

@twinchampionsofkalos: A blog run by Calem and Serena, who in this universe both take the role of Champion of the Kalos region. Calem's the responsible one while Serena's the more reckless one. Calem is an Acearo malewife and Serena is a Lesbian girlboss and certified disaster gay.

@appeallove: A blog run by Lisia, contest spectacular idol. She's always peppy, never dropping her cheerful demeanor even when mad. She may be one of the scariest people on the planet.

@guardian-ofthe-sky: Rayquaza runs a blog where it tries to play the responsible parent. It's very proud of it's Chosen.

@aqua-magma-official: The account of the reformed Teams Aqua and Magma, run by their twin PR heads Magma Grunt Kai and Aqua Grunt Nicky. Yes, they are genuinely reformed this is not a secret evil plot. Blog is usually low stakes and will not become high stakes of its own accord.

@phantom-flower: A blog for Phoebe, Ghost Type Hoenn Elite Four Member.

@themostspecialestlegendaryever: A blog for Latias, the world's best, most specialest legendary ever.

@pokestar-rosa: A blog for Rosa who decided bring Champion wasn't for her and became an actor instead. It's also an excuse for me to give screenwriting and movie nerd rants.

@landandseaunited: Archie and Maxie are reformed and dating. Good for them.

@kalos-news-network-official: The official blog for the Kalos News Network, run by Malva, Chief Bitch.

@leavesofbattle: A blog for Leaf as an adult.

@naranja-uva-student-council: An AU where all four protags of ScarVio are on the Student Council instead of just Nemona. Inspired by Kaguya-Sama: Love is War.

@shiftingbetweenrealities: As a result of the final showdown at Spear Pillar, Cynthia has found herself cast out into the multiverse, constantly changing universes. Unfortunately, her physical body was not cast into the multiverse, only her mind, so she inhabits the body of whatever Cynthia is native to that universe.

@hoenn-battle-frontier-official: Blog for the Hoenn Battle Frontier, located in LaRousse City, run by Anabel.

@xxcodeveeveexx: Cassiopeia | Any Pronouns | Likes: Veevees, Coding, Anime, Video Games | Dislikes: Social Interactions, Bullies

@lea-hi: "Faller" (not really cause no Ultra Wormholes but I'm the only one who seems to care about the actual definition) blog for Lea from CrossCode.

@friendly-neighborhood-calem: You can call her Callie. Or Cal on boy days. Yes, I made a second Calem blog shut up. This one's the rival, not the protag, so it's different. And also she's gender-fluid.

@its-gonna-be-may: You ever see My Next Life as a Villainess? It's like that but with May.

@maydaysjournal: May's School Counselor suggested that she keep a Diary Journal. Also, her dads are Archie and Maxie.

@special-magma-friends: A blog for Courtney and Tabitha. Courtney chose the blog name.

@asterinspace: A blog for Aster, an astronaut an Astrobiologist living on the Lunala Moon Base.

@miles-edgeworth-official: Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth has found himself trapped in the Pokemon World. Now he has become... Regular Prosecutor Edgeworth.

[quartings]

Finally reading the full XY volumes!

For context, XY is my least favorite Pokespe arc, so I decided to give it a second chance hoping that the extra chapters and better art in the full volumes would help me like it more. But did it?

What I liked:

I will say that the extra “filler” chapters really helped pace out the story much better and warmed me up to the characters! The Pokemon-Amie and Super Training chapters in particular. It felt weird not having an explanation in the originals for Y’s Sylveon, let alone an Eevee. This is why I disagree with people nowadays hating filler content. Done right, it helps with character and worldbuilding in small subconscious ways that can help an audience enjoy a story more!

I do enjoy how bold the arc starts, having Vaniville be decimated by the legendaries in the first chapter!

Reading the XY arc chapter-to-chapter and mini volume to mini volume, it felt like X took much longer to even help his friends. Now reading the arc all at once, he feels much less stubborn and selfish, which is good!

Minor thing- removing Y’s nudity is the only instance of censorship in Pokemon Adventures that I actually appreciate. It doesn’t disrupt the plot or make no sense like censoring Green’s Pokeball booby trap, Emerald’s pee joke, or especially Norman and Mirei’s abuse.

Apparently, a lot of the Gurkinn stuff was added in the full volumes? My memory on it’s a bit foggy but that’s wild to me if true- it just feels so plot-important. No wonder I felt the arc was badly-paced on my first readthrough!

Speaking of which, I love that we get chapters dedicated to non-dexholders again! It feels like we last got stuff like that with Keldeo in BW or the Hoenn Gym Leaders!

A lot of the other things I like about XY have been said by most other people already and apply to Pokespe as a whole. Battles are fun and creative, making great use of Pokemon trivia from their dex entries, the leads are unique and well-written compared to the rest of the franchise, there’s a good mix of dark and light themes, and the returning characters are fun and meaningful cameos!

What I disliked still:

It’s still really hard for me to suspend my disbelief that Team Flare managed to silence or arrest everyone who saw the Xerneas-Yveltal battle or its aftermath, especially in the age of the internet.

The gang learning most of the important plot stuff from Team Flare constantly spilling their plans kind of killed some of the tension for me, to be honest. Also them letting all the grunts go instead of capturing them for info or just to turn them over to the authorities.

Sycamore not realizing Lysandre is evil is stupid in any version of XY’s story, I’m sorry.

Team Flare’s brainwashed victims having the “same personalities” felt a bit lazy still. Brainwashing is one of my least favourite tropes though, so I might be biased there.

I think the manga over-corrected with Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno. Instead of all being overly positive and aimless like in the games, being put in constant danger in the manga means they’re all similar levels of scared and stressed, so their personalities don’t stand out all that much either. Shauna especially just being a similar aggressive and serious type like Y, just with less of a backstory. That one weird sexist quip Shauna had in the Sylveon chapter also rubbed me the wrong way, too.

Minor- I still don’t get why Kusaka aged the main cast down from 17/18 to 12 in this arc. It just makes X and Y look like they got hydraulic pressed proportions-wise, and makes the aforementioned scene with Y feel gross.

Speaking of which, why is Clemont drawn SO short in this arc?! He’s normal-sized in the official art and the anime, so that’s another baffling change to me.

Minor- Malva gets her Pyroar back from Aliana after the Diancie chapter where she already has Pyroar- is there something I’m missing here?

While the pacing has vastly improved compared to the mini volumes, it still feels off in the final two volumes. Suddenly taking an intermission from the Ultimate Weapon to introduce Zygarde practically out of nowhere just feels clunky. Compared to the anime where they had both Zygarde and the Megalith planned months in advance with proper foreshadowing. Or a better comparison would be the RS manga, where both evil teams planned on using Groudon and Kyogre from the start, and that’s what we end the series on.

TLDR: Overall I’ve really warmed up on this arc! I had way less confusion reading through it thanks to the extra chapters, and I’ve grown to understand X a bit more as a protagonist. I still have some problems with the arc, namely how the rivals are handled, and how Team Flare is presented as an omnipresent all-controlling shadow government when their members at all levels constantly spill their secrets. If you have any other thoughts, facts, or even disagreements, I’d love to hear them!

I’d say this reread has put XY above B2W2 and maybe SwSh in my ranking of all the arcs, which is still something! Now we all have to wait and see how ORAS’ full volume release changes its place on the rankings, hehe…

[tejoxys]

WIP "Find the Word" Game :D

I was tagged by @gretchensinister, who has given me water, aim, plan, wish, and leaf. I'll do the MalVa WIP again, because it just passed the 30k mark and it's consuming my brain.

water: 40 uses

SkekMal slowed his breathing with effort and focused on the rushing of the water. The woods were silent, most other creatures having fled from the scent of blood and open bowel. They would return for the carrion. Some might be worth hunting, if he cared to stick around. There were good, strong trees here to perch in; he could wash away the last of the Castle stench, repaint himself with sap, and disappear.

aim: 1

He could remain out in the world and keep doing everything by halves, as befitted half a person, he supposed. Cheat around the continued insult of his presence on Thra—like a liar. Give advice, but only in riddles. Teach others to shoot, so they could aim where he could not. Keep one eye on his skeksis, tempering him when he could. Enact the Song without acting upon Thra. Find out how invisibly thin a thread could get before it snapped all by itself.

plan: 17

“We will solve this,” he said softly. “Even he… cannot make it here… in only one day. Tomorrow, we will all plan together.” UrVa hummed and rested his chin on urGoh’s shoulder.

wish: 6

In your tree, you sit and make your call through the sinking of the suns, into the purple-tinted hour when the firebugs flicker on their predatory lights. It’s a low, fluid chant in the language of your birth that goes on a long while before starting over. You got the idea from a bird, voiced much higher and sweeter than you, her call so intricate that the pattern seems lost by the end, only to retrieve itself and repeat. You’ve become an expert mimic, but this call is your own. It makes other creatures unwary. There’s a murky story, passing into legend, of one whose singing brought about the Division. You don’t think it was you—the one who broke apart to make you—but you wish it had been, because they gave your kind everything. They gave you the world. Honor them with your song.

leaf: 0, but leaves: 7

They weren’t fighting on the day when they had discovered something mystics didn’t know about themselves. They lay tangled together at the bottom of a gully, screened from sight under thick brambles and drifts of fallen leaves. They’d lost their clothes a while ago. They were lazily playing a game that had started when urVa realized skekMal had two heartbeats instead of one—that they had three hearts between them. What else was different?

Hmmm I'll tag @darrenious, @sylphidine, @caffeinatedpoltergeist, @phenyxsnest to find try, borrow, delight, blue, and star.

[wild-battlebond]

kalos league notes 👍

125

well trevor's getting eliminated first round. rip.

i do think the angsty badgeless guy is interesting just because it's the first time the perspective of someone who didn't get all their badges in time hasn't really been shown before. even if he is kind of a footnote (unless it happened in os or something and I forgot)

and paralleling ash's battle against that guy with trevor's battle is fun

this has nothing to do with the battle & it's also not really utilized by the anime but it's interesting to think about how draco meteor is kind of an attack associated with friendship… it doesn't rely on it like moves like Return, but typically it can only be taught in the games once you have high friendship with a dragon-type. so when someone used it, it kind of implies a lot about their friendship with their pokémon

oh the stronger-stronger mantra is back. also i guess it's fitting since others already tossed out mega evolution but it's still kind of suprising he leans on bond phenomenon so early into the tournament

ofc they describe ash as a "star trainer". this poor kid's never getting out of the limelight in the kalos region

126 (tierno)

using malva's news report as a recap + to fill in the audience on some other stuff is fun

what do you think leagues do when they don't have an even amount of trainers registered. do they just kick out the odd-numbered trainer

first trevor then sawyer… why does everyone have a "secret weapon". did someone think cameron's secret weapon was really compelling or something

why does it move onto the semi-finals so quickly… well it's a lot of full battles so i guess it makes sense. since a full battle takes up a whole episode

anyways i remember tierno's battle being a lot of fun to watch so I'm looking forward to this!! i still feel bad he can't be a performer 'cause he would sweep

ace king tierno's blastoise - wait wait wait what did clemont just say

but tierno's raichu was also male…?? gay king tierno's raichu??? (i looked it up & bulbapedia counts this as an error & apparently the episode is edited on at least hulu of japan to take a notch out of raichu's tail. so it's simultaneously gay king raichu AND trans queen raichu??? that's awesome. people need to post about this instead of pikachu with a heart tail from the theatre troupe episode)

so knowing blastoise was on its last legs, he had it use a set-up move for his next pokémon (raichu, I'm assuming it's set-up for thunder). awesome (i was right about thunder. here's the thing… mega sceptile's ability is lightning rod… ←knows this very well from raising a mega sceptile just to try and make SOS chaining dedenne easier (←it did not get easier)) why does mega sceptile have lightning rod in the first place though… it already has double resistance to electricity as a grass- and dragon-type. oh, right, it's because VGC is doubles. you can use it to defend a teammate.

i like goodra but it's so mean that they point out he has the option of transferring in a lab pokémon

127 (sawyer I)

i still love this guy's garchomp's nickname. garchoo. i gotta name one that one day

sycamore keeps staring at alain sadly & it's like. maybe if you weren't such a loser your weird son/nephew/unrelated research assistant wouldn't be such a loser either. you ever think about that

cute pep talk :) why does ash always seem so nervous his pokémon will leave if he messes up tho

I FORGOT HAWLUCHA DRESSES UP FOR THIS MATCH!!!! so awesome aw he wasn't even in the battle for more than a few minutes. sad & fail. so yeah as an adaptation of its ability slaking is essentially a "charge attack"… it sits around for a while, but when it does finally attack, it's extremely strong.

it is kinda wild how everything sawyer does is a counter to ash's pokémon. it makes for an interesting battle for sure, but it's also kinda like… this kid needs to get a hobby…

pikachu brings the first fun usage of the battlefield terrain

everybody idolizes this kid so badly. can you guys please find your own ideal rather than patterning yourselves after ash's every word and action

128 (sawyer II)

so to prevent pikachu from using the battlefield in a fun way, he chops down every tree. that makes sense. (i wonder if the battlefield shows up again in the finals… it probably does but it also seems like a huge pain to repair)

hellll yeah classic pikachu jumping around on floating tree stumps

it's the kind of battle that's incredibly fun to watch but not a lot to say. they put all the animation into this part of the battle.

they should have had sawyer be the XY rival who showed up in the world championship instead of alain. altho maybe not because it's hilarious that alain instantly lost to cynthia

129 (intermission)

ah it's the league intermission episode of course pancham and chespin having a little spat is the inciting incident oh but mairin is here so it's kind of important

hooray the famous pokémon league computer room

it's a throwaway line but that is actually interesting… it makes sense gyms would close during the league since you don't really want people picking up badges until the next circuit starts

i do like that after All Of This pikachu becomes extremely suspicious of eerie businessmen in the future

130 (alain I)

immediate clever usage of the battlefield to neutralize sandstorm

crunch not phasing pikachu when it makes contact with iron tail is an example of type match-ups affecting moves? (does steel still resist dark?)

are diantha and sycamore just making conversation or are they supposed to be commentating for TV or something

oh he's got a weavile. he shouldn't be allowed to have such a cool pokémon

HAWLUCHA POPPED OUT JUST TO CHECK ON IT [NOIVERN] 🥲 and then he lets it get revenge on the pokémon that knocked out its kid. poetic cinema hooray hawlucha sweep also im not sure what hawlucha glowing red is. just a metaphor/a way to show it's getting heated up? (i thought it could be an ability, but none suit what's happening. also seems like bide, but hawlucha doesn't know that iirc?)

AND A BISHARP… we need to ban alain from cool pokémon speaking of hawlucha's ability, it definitely isn't limber. because it got paralyzed.

AND THEN HE EVEN HAS A POKÉMON THAT'S ONLY COOL TO ME (UNFEZANT) CAN WE KICK THIS GUY OUT OF THE LEAGUE. at least it's only unfezant M tho that one's not as cool as F oh yay a birds battle

alain slowly learns the definition of "having fun"

classic close-quarters thunderbolt hooray pikachu sweep 👏👏👏 that was fun to watch

hitting charizard with so many moves in rapid succession… it brings to mind trying to rush a kill in a fighting game. like trying too hard to grab your opponent because you know they're damaged enough that ness's back throw will be an insta kill. he knows charizard is alain's last pokémon, so he's rushing to take it down as fast as possible, while possibly not paying enough attention to everything else.

131 (alain II)

don't take pikachu out in the first minute of the second part. that's sad. oh wait disregard what i said about charizard being alain's last i forgot about bisharp oh ash also has two left. well i forgot about goodra

alain's clearly saving charizard for greninja

that thing's guillotine is way too accurate

now it's greninja time for the rest of the battle

haha it instantly KO'd bisharp (which had already taken a lot of damage)

wow he actually set up the battlefield with rain for greninja's sake. that's a first

now it's the big bond phenomenon VS mega evolution battle

here's the part where alain starts mirroring charizard's movements. oh wait that was also the end of the battle. this was more anti-climatic than i remembered

a lot of people point out that water shuriken had the type advantage in the last exchange of moves, but that's entirely untrue due to mega charziard X being part dragon-type. it was a neutral match-up on both sides.

[whispered-into-the-void]

For my own curiosity, If you're comparing the existing E4's to these type pentagons, the closest ones are ones that would struggle to close the loop anyway. Under the break is the maths.

The Hoenn league under Wallace has none, as does the Galar league, although that's by virtue of having no Elite 4.

The E4's with the Indigo League in both Gen 1 and Gen 2 only has Bruno, the fighting-type E4 member (the only one retained between generations, not counting Now-Champion Lance) and Unova has Marshal across both BW and B2W2, another Fighting-Type specialist. The Hoenn league in Emerald fills one role, but specifically because of Steven's Steel-Types.

Interestingly, none only have one from each, which is absolutely a coincidence, because they definitely didn't think about this.

The Kalos league actually has 2 from the same chain; Malva, the Fire-Type trainer, and Wikstrom, the Steel trainer. To be fair, this one actually forms a sort of mini-chain; Drasda's dragons are weak to Steel; Wikstrom's Steel-Types are weak to Fire; Malva's Fire-Types are weak to Water.

NAn additional interesting element is that every trainer I've mentioned so far is somebody who represents the first "Chain" - Steel, Fairy, Fighting, Rock, Fire. Obviously, Malva could also fit the second chain, replacing Flying with Fire, but having the one overlap felt like enough to me.

Every other League, believe it or not, has exactly 3 trainers that could fit in one of the two chains. We're gonna skip ahead to the only League with 2 in each chain - which it manages with the Rock-type specialist Olivia. Both the base and Ultra versions of the Alola Elite 4 have 2 members in each chain; Olivia counts for both, Kahili's Flying-Type fits into the second chain, and Hala's Fighting-Type coverage for Chain 1 is replaced by Molayne's Steel-Types.

The Scarlet/Violet Elite 4 does the best it can with the same number of trainers. Rika's Ground types and Larry's Flying types both represent Chain 2, while Poppy's Steel types fit Chain 1. However, the final 2 Elite 4 groupings are incredibly close to fitting.

The most fitting group is the Blueberry Academy Elite 4. Although Kieran, the de facto Champion, has no specialty, and Drayton's Dragon types can't fit in either chain as Dragon is only super-effective against Dragons, all three of Crispin, Amarys, and Lacey fit Chain 1, actually in order; fire -> Steel -> Fairy. Obviously, the whole group is seemingly fit for this type of "chain," since Drayton is also weak to Fairy, but it is good to see this already reflected, and in the most recent game.

And finally, the one I've been saving for last - for Personal Bias reasons - Sinnoh. Aaron and Bertha represent two useful links for Chain 2, and Flint's fire types - when he has fire types - fit Chain 1. But the most interesting part to me is that, by adjusting the Flying in Chain 2 back to Fire, we can make all three of them fit Chain 2 instead of Chain 1.

This means we'd just need to elevate Roark and Gardenia to the Elite 4 to make the Sinnoh League match Chain 2, and we'd just need to find Marshal's kid and ... Well, there's no Rock specialists in Unova so they'd probably have to be a transfer student, but still, both are feasibly close to being proper chains!

Fun fact: If you have an Elite Four and Champion of Fairy, Fighting, Rock, Fire, and Steel, you can have a chain of Type Effectiveness in a Type Pentagon.

Fairy beats Fighting, Fighting beats Rock, Rock beats Fire, Fire beats Steel, Steel beats Fairy.

[moonvalecrossing]

Now that you got the Gym Leaders and such out of the way, how about one for the Elite Four members (Champions will not count since only, like, 3 of them have a specialized type)? Since only 8 out of the 14 types used have more than one E4 member, this means that Koga, Aaron, Bertha, Siebold, Olivia, and Kahili literally have no competition. :P (Also, I do know that you're not really fond of either Fire-type Elite Four, so for favorite, I guess you gotta choose the one you dislike less)

LETS GO. For types with only one elite four representative, I’m gonna talk about why I like or dislike them.

Normal Type- There isn’t one. MOVING ON.

Fighting Type- Least Favorite: Bruno is terrifying. In Generations he’s just muscles on muscles on muscles. And I saw an image of him from Lets Go games and good lord that man has demon eyes.

Fighting Type- Most Favorite: Marshal. Sure he’s the only other one but I do genuinely like his design. Even if his eyebrows are out there. He wears a mouth guard to protect his teeth! Man’s smart.

Flying Type- I like Kahili. Her design is cute. And I absolutely love how the flying type fits her as a golfer! I just wish she hadn’t come out of nowhere.

Poison Type- It’s just Koga and I’ve talked about him already. :P

Ground Type- Bertha’s the only one. I really love this sweet looking old lady. She’s totally Agatha’s twin sister or cousin and no one can convince me otherwise.

Rock Type- There’s only Olivia. While I love the idea of a strong rock type leader woman, I hate the character on a design and character basis. Sexy, barely anything wearing single woman. Not to mention all the robotic stufful in her house being popular among single women. Because IF A HOT CHICK IS SINGLE WE MUST MAKE SURE ITS KNOWN. Women are distinctly tied to a man in their life, don’t you know. And stop pointing her ass at us in the game, Game Freak. Its freaking gross. Especially considering its not just her butt pointed at us and they’ve arched her back in such a way for it to bring to mind.. things. Doesn’t help that she’s another female character who’s wearing ‘pants’ that are about as useful as boxer style panties and might as well just be that.

Bug Type- Shout out to Aaron for being unexpected on my part. Of all the types I could see in the elite four, Bug Type is not one of them. Precious bug boy.

Ghost Type- Least Favorite: (ITS ACEROLA. SHE COUNTS!) Okay fine I’ll pic someone else. We’ll go with Shauntal. For whatever reason her color scheme just does not work for me. Its too bland. I feel like a long dress would have looked nicer on her. Also that freaking.. whatever around her neck. Its supposed to look like a cat but.. why? Why though? Why not just give her a weird ass poofy neck thing with a clasp that looks like a duskull’s head or something since she’s a ghost type trainer? I mean I know the answer. They want her to be totes kawaii ghosty spooky girl. That’s why she’s got a short girlish dress instead of a cool long dress. Her being a writer’s cute though.

Ghost Type- Most Favorite: Sassy attitude grandma Agatha is best ghost trainer. I want to see her in a game again. That ISN’T a remake. YOU BETTER NOT HAVE KILLED HER OFF, GAMEFREAK. If freaking Oak gets to keep kicking, his rival better freaking get to as well. She’s in pokemon masters and that’s cool. But she looks like they have her a youth lift so she’s not TOO OLD LOOKING.

Steel Type- Least Favorite: Twig Legs Molayne. I was happy so see him in there though.

Steel Type- Most Favorite: Wikstrom is a knight. That is funny. His face reminds me of Steiner from Final Fantasy IX.

Fire Type- Least Favorite: Ronald McDonald I mean Flint. Yeah. Flint McDonald. Because I hate clowns.

Fire Type- Most Favorite: I might dislike Malva for being a member of the evil team and not getting removed from her position but I do like her design much more than basically anyone else in Team Flare.

Water Type- I love Siebold. He looks like a grumpy chef and I can picture him as the Gordon Ramsay of the pokemon world. He’s also cute.

Grass Type- There isn’t one~

Electric Type- There isn’t one here either~

Psychic Type- Least Favorite: CAITLIN. Sleepy spoiled little rich girl who went from having her butler do all her battles for her because she couldn’t control her emotions and psychic powers and then somehow becomes an ELITE FOUR MEMBER? Shit I’d accept her as a gym leader first but not basically one of the five most powerful trainers in a region. At least she seems like less of a sleepy rich bitch in Black2White2. Wouldn’t be surprised if she’s a sleepy brat in Masters again though. Also I want to cut her hair because god damn is that unnatural.

Psychic Type- Most Favorite: Lucian and Will are basically the same person in my eyes and neither of them are Caitlin, so props to both of them.

Ice Type- Least Favorite: Lorelei. Because she’s an ice queen in personality and the booby character in design. Also in Fire Red/Leaf Green she collects pokedolls because we gotta make sure to have something kawaii girly for our titty character. But it has to be a SECRET because people knowing her dark dark secret of collecting cute dolls as a smart adult calculated ice queen would probably leave her embarrassed and venerable and ugh sometimes I hate Japanese characters. ALSO, SHE GOT TIDDIES MAKE SURE YOU NOTICE HOW MASSIVE THEM THINGS ARE. Anime sure won’t let you forget it. Also put on some clothes suited to the cold. Jeez.

Ice Type- Most Favorite: I love Glacia’s design. Especially since it doesn’t look like she’s be too cold in an ice filled battle room. She has that older dignified woman thing going for her. My brain wants to give her more of a southern belle accent.

Dragon Type- Least Favorite: I’m putting Lance here only because I have to have a least favorite. I love Lance.

Dragon Type- Most Favorite: Drake looks like a crazy old man who spent years at sea hunting down that giant Dragonite Bill saw in the anime as his white whale. Hot Grandpa Energy. This is a man you respect. Those eyes are scary intimidating.

Dark Type- Least Favorite: Karen, because I have to pick someone as least favorite. I love Karen.

Dark Type- Most Favorite: Sidney is cute and has a very friendly personality that I like a lot. He totally feels like the type who’d see a little girl crying because she didn’t win the cute prize at a carnival and would win it for her. Also, unlike Grimsley, SIDNEY KNOWS HOW TO WEAR SOCKS WITH DRESS SHOES. God damnit, Grimsley what is wrong with you.

Fairy Type- There isn’t one. I hope next gen has one!

[foxchandelier-blog]

Lysandre is actually a really scary villain if you think deeply into the premise of his character.

I’ve done a little bit of research on him already and have analyzed some theories + “evidence” that crosses between the games, the manga, the specials and the anime and, honestly, Lysandre is actually fucking terrifying if we assume his true personality is an amalgamation of all his counterparts.

I mean, for one, he’s really good at manipulating people. You can see this in a lot of ways but the most noticeable one is convincing rich people to buy into his weird-ass genocidal organization. Just thinking about that alone boggles the mind a little because he’s managed to get people to spend millions alone on just getting just a fancy suit and a “promised place in utopia”. 

For two, Lysandre has a lot of control over the Kalos region, more control than anyone should be allowed. Literally let me exist the examples of how much control he has:

1.) Lysandre has control Lysandre Labs - a company that literally doles out all of Kalos’s most advanced technology (a la Pokemon Generations episode 16) - and has made it so that many people likely depend on his services. And, as mentioned in the manga (though I don’t know if this is a games-related factor but I would assume so) Lysandre is a brilliant engineer who’s come up with a lot of this amazing technology, putting him in a place of power through his skills alone.

2.) Lysandre is friends with the Kalos region CHAMPION and REGIONAL PROFESSOR. He literally has them both admiring him and respecting him - a feat usually only reserved for the player character. And yet, all the while, Lysandre is using and abusing Sycamore’s and Diantha’s trust in him to do terrible things. So much so that Sycamore even admits in the games of how he was aware of Lysandre’s wrong-doings but was unable to stop him. 

3.) Lysandre has control over the news media. This is pointed out in the games, in the manga, in the anime, and in the Pokemon Generations anime. And, the consistency is really appreciated because this is fucking scary. Lysandre has the ability to control how people see him through the news outlets. By using Malva - who broadcasts news to most of Kalos’s people - as a biased outlet meant to make him look good, Lysandre can easily spread lies and deceit to get people to respect him. 

4.) I don’t really think this has to be said but Lysandre is very charismatic and a convincing actor. Even if you pinpoint him as the villain early on thanks to his garish design, it’s hard not to notice how everyone is in awe of him or how no one questions his motives. Lysandre is good at being liked, strangely so, and even if you feel an urge to hate him as the player character it’s hard not to notice the way many people in-verse treat him as someone to respect and be inspired from.

For third, let’s discuss the anime. 

The third reason that Lysandre’s so scary is due to his relationship with Alan in the animated version of XY/XYZ/TSME.

Throughout the duration of the show, Lysandre is very much a puppet master moving all his pieces into place. One such puppet is young Alan, a trainer who he’s manipulated and set into place like a toy on a string.

The first time Lysandre meets Alan, it’s actually kind of terrifying to think about. He meets Alan in the midst of ruins, battles him, defeats him, and then coaxes Alan into becoming his minion. Not only that but he uses Alan’s lone role model against him - using Alan’s love for Professor Sycamore to drive him away from the man and into Lysandre’s care only.

Lysandre abuses Alan’s trust in him as an authority figure and makes use of that trust in his favor. He uses Alan as his assistant in his plot, letting Alan think that he is doing good without telling a single lie to the boy. The man uses Alan without remorse, depending on his skills and prowess while also treating him as disposable if he becomes “weak” (as mentioned in TSME episode 4 when Lysandre notes “I don’t need weaklings”).

Furthermore, when Lysandre recognizes Alan’s fondness and guilt over Manon and her Chespin’s condition, he uses that as a tool to get Alan to continue collecting energy. While Alan is hurting over how his actions have caused his closest companions pain, Lysandre weaponizes Alan’s feelings by feeding him tales of “how he can save Chespie” if he just “collects Mega Evolution energy”. 

It’s terrible and it’s downright horrifying. Even as Alan’s obviously breaking down, Lysandre’s first thoughts are not to help the boy but to use Alan’s feelings for his own personal plans. He cares little for how Alan or Manon actually feel and, instead, chooses to use their unfortunate situation in a way that only truly benefits him.

It’s cruel and malicious, selfish and yet cold-hearted. Lysandre’s relationship with Alan is honestly really toxic. He controls Alan, cuts off his closest connections, and weaponizes said connections to put the boy under his control. 

For the fourth reason for why this man is scary it’s because Lysandre thinks he’s in the right and doesn’t think himself wrong. Lysandre’s goals, though seemingly flimsy in design and terrible in the game’s execution, get established in the anime as something almost...sympathetic. In the anime, though it’s only brief, Lysandre explains a little bit of his reasoning for his actions: a reasoning that I will paraphrase here to make sense for the context of his overall character.

His explanation is that he wanted to help people who were suffering, lending them his time, money, and charity in order to help them. At first, he was thanked and appreciated and everyone loved him for it. This was something that Lysandre arguably considered “beautiful”. 

Over time, however, he noticed something changed in the people he helped. They became greedy, wanting more and more of whatever he could provide. He was treated horribly because he could not provide what the people wanted. This, in turn, opened his eyes to the “ugliness” of humanity. He grew bitter, grew spiteful of the people he helped because they saw him as something akin to a tool rather than as a hero. 

This doesn’t explain how he developed genocidal tendencies, of course, but it does give a realistic background story that I can believe and yet somehow sympathize with. Lysandre wanted to help people. But, in doing so, he made them greedy. They wanted more from him, wanted him to do more things for them because of their “rights”, and this greed ultimately makes Lysandre start to snap.

Moving on, I think a lot of the inspiration for Lysandre’s deeply off-the-rockers  and genocidal maniac transformation lies in the real fictional story of “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.

In said story, the main character - Dorian Gray - comes to be inspired by the views of a man known as Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry believes fully in beauty as the only thing being worthy of being pursued in life. Taking up this view, Dorian Gray wishes that a painting of himself would age in his place so that he can pursue nothing but beauty and sensual fulfillment.

Taking this (very short hand) explanation of the plot in association to Lysandre, I think there’s a connection here. Dorian Gray, upon becoming smitten with the idea of endless beauty, seeks to keep himself beautiful forever. And Lysandre, who’s views of the world have warped into ugliness, seeks to pursue that beauty, wanting to rid the world of “ugliness” (human greed, “unworthy people”) so that he can keep the "beautiful” all around him (the “chosen ones”).

This ties back into the story’s themes of life and destruction. 

Lysandre seeks life to keep himself and the “chosen ones” beautiful, to keep Kalos looking as pretty as he feels it should. 

But, Lysandre also seeks destruction (or, if you’re like me, death) and wants to rid Kalos of its impurities (people who are “consumed by their greed” and “unchosen” just like members of Team Flare or people who fail to realize what beauty means). 

And, while pursuing the beauty of Kalos, he’s created such a mindset that only HE is in the right. He is the only person who realizes that Kalos is losing its beauty and, therefore, it’s up to him to make the world beautiful.

This is further pronounced in the XY manga. There, the ugliness of humanity is further brought up in the way the Kalos region reacts to tragedies. When a whole town is destroyed and left in shambles, those who did not experience the tragedy “shake it off” and “remain smiling in their day to day lives”. 

There’s a certain kind of ugliness present in this scenario. The people of Kalos who weren’t involved in Vanivelle’s destruction live on happily. They smile and carry on their day-to-day lives while ignoring the suffering of others. This shows humanity’s weakness: humans do not care for things that don’t concern them personally. It’s a gut punch kind of message because it’s honestly kind of true. Until something impacts a person personally, they won’t care for the misery of others and, instead, choose to go about their merry way while another person suffers the consequences of things like poverty, famine, war, etc.

And, in a way, it kind of makes you think Lysandre is right to want to retain beauty and to destroy anything that messes with that ideal. If someone isn’t beautiful - if they’re greedy or selfish or unsympathetic to the pain of others - than you kind of understand why Lysandre would want to get rid of those kinds of people. 

This is what makes Lysandre scary: you can sympathize with and even understand his thought process on a deeper level. He’s a genocidal maniac who’s too obsessed with beauty, yes, but there’s an underlying understanding of why he likely ended up the way that he did.

In conclusion, Lysandre is actually legitimately a terrifying villain and if he was a real person we’d all be really scared of him. He’s charismatic and manipulative and holds a lot of power in his hands. He can influence people and has control over how a lot of people as a result. His obsession with beauty, with correcting the path of humanity for its greed and impurities, not only reeks of real-life historical implications but also of realism too. 

Lysandre’s the kind of villain you would expect to see in real life, someone who, if stripped of his Pokemon-verse significance, would easily exist as a person in the real world. He’s cunning and knows how to take control. Not to mention that he’s rich and the kind of person who could easily hide under the kind facade of charity. Lysandre is a dangerous man, far dangerous than any first glimpse of him might suggest, but he wields power like a sword and has the ability to determine between life and death at a moment’s notice.

[fatedroses]

Pokemon Au

N/: Alright, we’re starting off with this. This au (I have no name for it yet) works on some of the world building provided by the games/anime/manga to kinda synthesize it and make it more of, for a lack of a better word, a realistic universe (like the manga where, spoiler alert, several characters have been killed by both environmental causes and by each other and it is shown). It’s still a work in progress, so I might change how some things work or correct things I get wrong. Anyways, keep in mind this post is hella long, you have been warned.

The World:

Most of the regions remain the same, other than minor tweaks. Because this au is so far focused on the characters below, I’m mainly working on the Kalos region, as while I loved the xy games, the story really lacked details in some areas. I definitely encourage others to pose ideas for the other regions too, please, I’d love to hear from you guys. But anyways, here’s some world building stuff.

Changes to Areas: I’ll have a map drawn out eventually. But I wanted to include the Volcanion movie area, the Azoth Kingdom, and while I was looking at the regional map I noticed there are forest areas north and south east of the mountains that could still be considered part of the region. Hence west Kalos, where the setting is for gen six, is the main political/commercial hub and these two other areas are more closed off and reclusive for several reasons.

Kalos: This region, as shown by the war three thousand years before the game, and a war five hundred years before the anime with the azoth kingdom referenced in the volcanion movie, Kalos could be a very volatile and even admittedly unstable region based on its past. This region also didn’t have a professor until Augustine, as unlike Juniper he had to travel to get trained in sinnoh under Rowan (take that information for what you will, but for me it’s used to represent the instability based around 15-20 years before the xy series). Finally, like how it is implied in other regions, the Pokémon league is the political leadership of the area but there is still a royal family, they just serve more like a regional/national figure (which will be relevant later when discussing Lysandre).

Gyms: Eight gym badges are required to challenge the league (of course), however, there is usually more than eight in the region, based on local towns/populations, and they serve as defenders and local leaders for their communities, and have a higher responsibility of protecting the region as a whole (aka as seen in the ending of xyz).

Pokémon League: The primary council and political leadership, while the champion can vary drastically in age it is noted that the rest of the elite four always has at least one older and more experienced individual that can help lead, and in a normal scenario it is likely that the league was formed to a) create unity among the other regions to prevent further conflict between each other and b) organize a group strong enough to push back against threats that might arise. (In most cases this falls upon the gym leaders, likely the league gets involved as a last resort). The champions (Diantha, Steven, Wallace, Lance, Cynthia, etc) are chosen due to their charisma and likely are meant to be ambassadors between regions, mostly seen with Cynthia.

Legendary Pokémon: I mean this by the “god tier” pokemon, like the creation trio, arceus, yveltal and xerneas, basically any Pokémon shown to be able to communicate telepathically, (I’m definitely going to make a separate post about this topic but that’s for another time), can manifest themselves in a human like form. However this is very unlikely as it is shown that most of the legendaries really didn’t like humans and probably wouldn’t bother replicating their looks.

Humans: for the sake of keeping the anime/games pg of course pokemon aren’t outright killing people and other pokemon(lol but there have definitely been exceptions Jesus Christ), but in this au this can be explained by the idea that humans in the Pokémon universe are far more durable due to their exposure with pokemon (Ash getting thundershocked over and over again, trainers getting hit by stray attacks, resilience to fire, Meyer getting absolutely bodied by Zygarde and still being able to stand afterwards, etc etc.). This also plays into another concept (again something I’ll go more in depth in another post) that being exposed to a certain amount of certain types of pokemon have innate effects on their trainers.

Lysandre:

Look, we’re starting these sections off on the backstorys of these characters. Lysandre is referenced to very likely be a prince, a descendant of AZ’s brother due to both how he holds himself(plus his height) and the reference of sheer wealth Lys has. While I wouldn’t doubt he could’ve built himself from nothing, there are signs pointing that he is meant to be related to AZ so just as a note he and his family are relevant to Kalos for a variety of reasons. (I mean damn, his Japanese name is Fleur de Lis.)

Mier, Lysandre’s father and Sylvie, Lysandre’s mother, were members of the elite four until they eventually retire (Malva and Siebold take their place). In this au for the sake of it, despite the royal family not officially having control over the region, they still do what they can to look over it. Both Lysandre (and his brother Bastien that I’ll talk about later) are well educated and were, well, trained to be able to potentially take their place in the league. Lysandre didn’t really follow suit, instead founding his own research facility/business with the focus of improving Kalos technologically and making the region more accessible to itself. Bastien takes the role of actively representing the royal family, and is currently the king (despite that title meaning absolutely nothing). He also helps with facilitating communities, establishing relationships between towns, and reinforcing policies and proposing projects for economics first drafted up by the league.

Lysandre himself was very reserved and sheltered during his younger years. Their chateau, located in the forest area north of Geosenge, had very few neighbors. His family wasn’t really around that often due to his parents duty with the league and his brother residing mostly at the palace (which despite it being a museum it still has parts used for their average function... I might redesign it later on), but Lysandre spent most of his time with his childhood friend Augustine on his families ranch, up until the pair left to go explore Kalos (This time in the timeline Kalos, mostly in lumiose and the surrounding areas, is a dangerous place, due to a villain team that I’m working on.)

Lysandre was a very caring and an extremely generous individual (until later something so bad happens that it causes him to become a misanthrope. Referenced to be a bad event plus witnessing general human stupidity and greed). He was known for his love and admiration of life, human and Pokémon, and did what he could to protect it. (I still have some stuff to work out for the story during this time) He was willing to learn both the secrets of mega evolution and move based combat. He, alongside Augustine and the others, helped stop The Order of Midnight (the villain team, still a work in progress) from destroying Kalos.

After that, he establishes what eventually will become team flare (back when it wasn’t an evil organization and I’ll probably come up with a name for it later). He, with the help of Clemont (damn child genius), figure out how to provide lumiose and eventually Kalos as a whole with clean renewable energy. He is a known inventor and philanthropist around the region, he also took Clemont in as an apprentice up until Clemont took his father’s place as the lumiose gym leader.

Eventually something happens (still working out the details, but it will involve shadow Pokémon and maybe something with his brother), and Lysandre loses all hope in humanity. By this time and from his experience he hides his misanthropy very well, his friends notice something’s wrong but could never really pry enough to figure out what it really was, until events similar to a mix of the manga/the anime take place, (again this is a work in progress).

In a failed attempt to use the ultimate weapon the building collapses. Trapping Lysandre, who had direct exposure to the blast during the collapse, in and killing him in the process. However, because he used both xerneas and yveltal, became immortal (in a way were he can die but revives and heals /as long as he’s not impaled to something/ over and over again). Xerneas in an act of pity, as Lysandre helped her and yveltal when fighting the order, and an act of justice by freeing him from the debris and making him her champion to protect the world from those bent on making the same decision he did.

Despite his hesitation he also eventually reconnects with his friends, and through his service to xerneas rekindles his love for the world, despite knowing how unlikely it would be for the world to forgive him for his actions, but because the populace doesn’t know he’s alive he doesn’t really care as long as he could help and protect others, once again finding his purpose and his passion that he though he had permanently lost after ‘the event’.

(This is just a note, but as I scroll through sources I found that his misanthropy is also caused by his fear and his anger over his own shortcomings, as it is referenced in the anime and kinda in the games that his generosity was abused, and therefore holds himself to blame for not being able to help others because of his own blind willingness. It gives him character but isn’t something that isn’t easily incorporated into the timeline so I’m just putting it here.)

Augustine:

Augustine lived with his family (I’ll have names later, probably) on their estate/ranch, his father is a pokemon breeder and his mother is a pokemon ranger. Because of this, August grew up taking care of Pokémon to the point it became a literal second nature to him, and Pokémon are drawn to him naturally. However, even though he found that he was actually pretty good at both of his parents professions he didn’t really have a passion for them.

So as the years went on and he really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, when Lysandre proposed that he could come with him across Kalos he jumped at the opportunity. He was joined by a gabite, one that tended to give the family a really hard time but over time developed a really strong bond with him (at the cost of the smoothness of his hands /rip/).

He hates seeing Pokémon get hurt, but due to his background is a rather epic opponent in battle (he just says he’s weak to avoid conflict). But he is really good at caring for Pokémon after battle (hey maybe you can pay him back with a cup of coffee later or something). Instead during the journey he participated more in entertainment and performing and tried to avoid battling as much as he could.

However, when they get to lumiose (around the time Lysandre gets his third badge and they try to see if they can challenge Meyer) he discovers mega evolution when they encounter blaziken mask for the first time. This sets him on the path, after learning that Kalos has been without a professor for a really long time, to learn the secrets and techniques of mega evolution, (he later discovers that he is capable of mega evolving any one of his team, and the weaker members of the order built up quite a reputation for the man that could pull a super powered monster on you in seconds).

Meyer and Auriel also teach him about using pokemon moves, and how you can boost the strength of your own Pokémon (think like similar to ash greninja or az’s flotte). Once again he becomes quite a force to be reckoned with (and I’m considering making him apart of Meyer and Auriel’s team as a band of super heroes because hero Augustine is cool, okay?)

He also encounters a disguised Alva (the main villain of the volcanion movie to which they are unaware that he’s associated with the azoth kingdom) and finds out that mega evolutions can in fact be forced which a) terrifies Augustine, and b) motivates him to teach others the importance of having a bond with you pokemon if you’re going to have access to mega evolution, hence the entries on everything that goes wrong or the bad stuff that can happen with mega evolution (he discovered them from Alva.)

After the events with the order and through his own notes and research he is able to get a position under professor Rowan, leaving Kalos for a bit so he can go study in sinnoh. (If you mess with Augustine in the presence of Rowan I’m sorry but you’re hella dead, that man becomes a son to him.) Augustine also becomes a pretty well known coordinator in sinnoh, not really to the surprise of his friends but a surprise to the populace of Kalos after some of those details resurface a decade later.

(Not much is really changed with Augustine afterwards, other than making him even more of a force to be reckoned with and adding in some background details for him).

Meyer:

(Oh look one of my favorite characters) So Meyer was the lumiose gym leader, known for being one of the strongest in the region behind Olympia and Wulfric, and he could have become one of the elite for had it now been for the fact the he just wanted to settle down with his kids, his mechanic shop, and his super hero alter ego. He focused primarily on electric types and was rather difficult to get past for most trainers.

He was one of the major reasons lumiose was even inhabited during the issues with the Order, as he was a defender of the people and did his damndest to keep everything in order. Of course he is just one man, and even beat himself up over that fact that he couldn’t be everywhere at once to protect everyone.

He was also a single father, I’m not exactly sure about the circumstances, but after Bonnie was born their mother just wasn’t in their life afterwards, but he was able to raise his kids pretty well (he gladly accepted the help from his friends when he could, especially when they offered to look over the siblings so he could do his superhero stuff).

No one really discovered his identity other than his friends either because people just didn’t equate his sweetheart mechanic personality with the flying badass that is blaziken mask. His suit, unlike Auriel’s, is actually made by him. He’s not an inventor just because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, but it’s very Ironman-esk in concept to he doesn’t waste time changing if shit starts going down.

He eventually joins forces with Auriel, another vigilante living in lumiose at the time, (maybe also Augustine after he returns from sinnoh) and they work togther to try and stop the order from causing chaos and destruction in Kalos.

Unlike Auriel he learned the process of using Pokémon moves by himself, that in combination with close calls with the order means he has a few scars, they’re primarily on his palms, lower legs, and torso. He tries to avoid that as much as he can because he doesn’t want his kids worrying about him over this stuff (but that plan didn’t work).

(100% Best Dad)

[flarebossmalva]

just for future reference and in case anyone was curious i’m going to explain what the hell i was on about re: some stuff in my writing tag

skipping things that are obvious or self-explanatory but if you’re puzzled by something i wrote and i didn’t explain it here then feel free to ask i guess

disgust - i thought of vomit immediately and then wrote about the last experience i had with a friend who was sick. i don’t actually remember which friend this was anymore. “you’re never going to die ever again” i’m not sure about but i think this may have been referring to how awful stomach sicknesses are and how they can literally be so bad they make you feel like you’re dying? that’s a guess

aether - thought of “ether” instead which is very volatile so that’s how i got onto the theme about exploding. i think the rest was just vague associations

pincushion - human pincushion. i guess someone who has bled out completely

aura - you know how they talk about people having colored auras? i just picked a color and went from there. don’t know what “i can taste it under my fingernails” means even remotely but if this is from when i worked in produce/floral i constantly had plant matter under my fingernails so maybe that. am reading “you look lovely, by the way. very fresh.” in GLaDOS’ voice for some reason and not sure if that was what i had in mind when i wrote it

mint leaves - catnip is in the mint family and some people says humans can get a mild high off smoking it

indie - this was about seeing mother mother live. the “he” is ryan

wind - probably masturbation but trying to explain the trip from point a to point b that i made here would get really complicated if i’m even recalling it correctly

lamp oil - amnesia: the dark descent. lamp oil is a resource in that game. player character hallucinates bugs and grinds his teeth when he spends too long in the dark

bombs - boss fight wheatley. the track that plays during that battle is called “bombs for throwing at you”

cucumber - i was thinking of items you could buy together at a supermarket that would disturb the cashier. a single cucumber, rope, and a paperback romance novel sends some interesting implications i think

columbia - no idea but one of my friends told me this is essentially the plot of bioshock infinite

kevin james - one of those paul blart mall cop memes involved the phrase “distant egg song!” and that’s what i was going off of

marigold - flowey

25-27 - since this looked like it was referring to three sequential questions on an askmeme i acted as though that’s what i was answering here. i don’t know why i chose the colors blue and orange; portals from the portal games are those colors but what with the other two responses in this post being undertale related i’m thinking maybe blue = sans and orange = papyrus

🙌 - reference to a (nsfw, i won’t link it) fanfic about sans smoking. i have a massive smoking kink so i think you can see why i’d find that emoji appropriate

syringe - this is a reference to a short story i wrote in high school. the association is that i think syringes were used to administer drugs to the protagonist

wine - almost positive there’s an audio log in the first bioshock game that’s a bit like this. even if there isn’t, there’s an area where a party has clearly gone down (lots of alcohol, splicers are dressed fancy) and that’s what it made me think of

glow - no idea

can of soda - i was thinking of a sprite can

amsterdam by imagine dragons - a song i don’t know; i used to be friends with this kid who was weirdly snobby about music and would condescend to me if i admitted to not knowing of a song or artist, so i wrote about that, kind of

apartments - “apartments are like cages” is a phrase that either i or someone else has used and i thought of that phrase and then i thought about cages and then i thought about johanna from sweeney todd and her one musical number

gold - this is about my paternal grandfather moving west as an adult. he didn’t move as part of the gold rush but that’s what i thought of first and then i thought about his moving to california so this was kind of a mix of the two concepts

sting - musical artist sting has got an album called brand new day and this was written thinking about the album art

lunar theatre - i’ve explained this one before but i wrote this while really sick around the time i first got diagnosed with lyme disease. i was sleeping most of the time and tired whenever i was awake. at the time i was also taking ativan (among other medications) and it made me very sleepy and out of it. the title comes from an art installation i saw once which basically looked like an artificial shoreline, which is where the ocean/water imagery comes from

tessellation - obvious maybe but repetition is part of the definition of the word

roses - james from team rocket, often carrying a rose

paris - this was a joke about egg hatching in pokemon x/y (the most efficient way to do it is to bike in circles repeatedly around the game’s version of the eiffel tower)

n - i feel like this is obvious too but it’s a joke about n harmonia from the 5th gen pokemon games

nature - i’m not sure how i got to talking about gelatin molds but have you seen some of the ones from the fifties and sixties? truly horrifying

berry - early on in x/y you’re put in charge of a berry field and then later you become champion (the league is at the top of a mountain). there are curtains in the champion’s room. idk i just thought about becoming champ and then abandoning the berry field since that’s basically what i did in-game

dogs - pretty literal, this is just my experience with pet dogs

q - this is a reference to a song from goddamn sesame street

teacup - malva has a butler, who presumably serves her tea sometimes. he battles you on her behalf once and his team is pretty powerful, but of course she’s elite four and would have him beat

guitar - at the time there were a lot of “wonderwall” memes that’s what i thought of

pine - pine trees, christmas trees, their lives are cut short but they get to dress up fancy for a few weeks, i don’t know

touch-me-not - fanfic i plotted out once but never actually finished writing. in it, bryony and celosia are using one of those remote-control vibrators (celosia was the one wearing it, and bryony had the remote, iirc) but if you remember team flare also used a remote to control the ultimate weapon and i loved the idea of getting the two remotes mixed up. all the higher-ups (save bryony and celosia, of course) are playing with the remote thinking it’s broken and trying to get it to work. meanwhile poor celosia is dying and the only one who notices is malva, who is the “she” in this piece, who deliberately starts messing with the remote to get a reaction out of bry + cel. i don’t remember how this fanfic was going to end but i think probably celosia would excuse herself to go to the bathroom (to, ahem, take care of herself) and malva would follow her in and then idk they’d fuck. listen i’ve had worse ideas

nightshade - i’m not sure how i got from the prompt to my fill but the fill is definitely about another fic i was working on involving a trainer who experiments on eevee trying to discover new eeveelutions

knives - my abuser had a “suicide attempt” (not really, he didn’t do anything except think about it, but that’s how he classed it iirc) where he planned on using a knife. also he wrote (bad) poetry once comparing me to a knife because idk i was mean for not wanting to fuck him probably

cake - it’s 2007 bro. memes bro. this was about portal bro

gameboy - self-explanatory i think but this was specifically a goof on ben drowned even though a lot of video game creepypasta start out this way

ruby - as in the pokemon game. this was about being a team magma grunt

cicada - i think this one is straightforward but in case it’s not, in my area you find dead cicadas all over the place in june

notebook - this was about harriet the spy

tree - based off of something that happened with me and my best friend when i was eleven or twelve

big ben - well, english clock towers... there’s a scene in a christmas carol where scrooge wakes up and hears the clock strike an hour it’s already struck and gets freaked and worries about the spirits coming to haunt him

cookie - i got a baby doll for christmas when i was a little kid and gave it to my younger sister bc she liked baby dolls and i didn’t. she named that doll cookie. this was general feels about being the Bad Child who Wasn’t Feminine

paint - straightforward again but this is about my parents’ house, the one we moved into when i was a young teen and where they still live with my little sister (and, currently, me). it was initially painted white and we repainted yellow a few years ago (i think after i had moved out to go to college). also that house still doesn’t feel like home to me in the same way our old house did

boots - god this is gonna take a lot of explaining but in the underland chronicles, second book, gregor (protagonist) is separated from his baby sister (nicknamed boots) after, iirc, the boat they’re in capsizes and they get washed into the nearby catacombs by the waves. he assumes she’s drowned since she’s a toddler and can’t swim. it’s basically his blue screen of death moment and he spends the next part of the book feeling totally dead inside, like a machine, no emotion no empathy. this scene fucked me up bad when i first read it aged about nine

freckles - i think this is obvious but just in case, this is about me (formerly) hating my freckles

egg - aforementioned fic about eevee experimentation was maybe going to involve unethical forced hatching of eevee eggs by cracking them open before they’re ready. i was basically thinking of every sick thing you could do to a pokemon to try and force an evolution

fairy - same fic. the protagonist has a shiny eevee that she gives special treatment and thinks is going to evolve into something special bc no evolution method she’s tried has worked on it. it was to be revealed later that her “special” eevee had actually just swallowed an everstone, and, immediately upon operating to remove said everstone, eevee evolved into sylveon

orange - as a small child i was allergic to oranges. the only memory i have of having an allergic reaction was breaking out in hives and going down our creaky old staircase, which felt big and intimidating to me as a little kid, to tell my parents about it

yuri - i thought of a favorite f/f pairing of mine, bryony/celosia, and in particular the scene that got me to ship it. in that scene, you battle celosia (who acts very woe-is-me upon being defeated) and bryony immediately springs to her (girl)friend’s defense

mitochondria - i learned the word from the sequel to a wrinkle in time, in which charles wallace gets really sick with some sort of mitochondrial disease and his older sister meg tries to save him by like astral projecting inside his mitochondria or something. god that book was weird

a gigantic rubber duck - when she was a baby someone gave my sister a gigantic rubber duck (which she adored, i think we still have it somewhere) and so this was about how i felt about having a new sibling

electricity - eevee fic again. rival character in the fic was an electric-type trainer. this was about the convention of trainers locking eyes and then battling

feverish - fevers as sex metaphor somehow??? i guess because fevers, like sex, often leave you sweaty. eleven was when i had my first wet dream and eighteen was when i listened to that “naegi with a fever” audio and got real gay

anger - metaphor again. i really did make a glass paperweight one time, on a class trip to a glass museum. my abuser and i were off-again with our friendship at the beginning of that trip and on-again by the end of it but there was still, i think, unresolved anger on both sides. that’s the association. i don’t know how to explain what i was thinking here beyond that

mosquitos - “petty annoyances” is just what i think of mosquitos and then i guess i just went from there. “bigger than i am but you know when to kneel” might have been my abuser again. he was, indeed, bigger than me but he got down on his knees begging me to be his friend again right at the end of things between us lol. honestly it was the most compelling thing he ever did

laundry basket - i thought about dirty laundry and then about worrying my clothes smelled dirty or that i smelled dirty and like, obsessively bathing because someone wanted to come over and have sex with me and i was just barely not a virgin at that point and had no idea what i was doing and was freaked out over the whole thing

cow - i took a year of spanish and for some reason the only thing i actually learned was how to say “where is the cow” and “the cow is here” which are not actually useful phrases in most contexts

[sage-nebula]

The one good thing that came out of the Pokémon Direct is that I got to have a several hour long discussion about it with my coworker J, given that he returned from studying abroad just in time for us to be able to discuss Pokémon things again. (Sadly, my coworker K has left us to go work elsewhere, so he wasn’t able to participate (at work at least---we’re still friends outside of work) and never will be again. =( It’s okay, though. Farfetch’d still wasn’t thrown a bone, so I’m sure the Direct made him salty regardless.) During our conversation we talked about our opinions on mega evolution vs z-moves (as well as which mechanics will or won’t stick around in the transition from Gen VII to Gen VIII), and I pinned down a reason at the heart of why I infinitely prefer mega evolution over z-moves.

First, just to get it out of the way, it’s important to note that my feelings on these mechanics stem largely from a lore / personal perspective standpoint, in the sense that while I of course appreciate the gameplay aspects as well (and still prefer mega evolution even in that sense, because mega evolution requires far more strategy when building your team to include it than z-moves do), at the end of the day my strongest feelings are going to center around the lore / characterization aspect of it. Pokémon is a deeply personal series for me, and so I’m always going to approach it from that standpoint.

So with that said, part of why I vastly prefer mega evolution to z-moves is because they’re so much more personal. While both mega evolution and z-moves have some level of dependency on the bond between the human and trainer when it comes to their effectiveness and strength, mega evolution feels vastly more special and unique to me than z-moves do, for several reasons:

To begin with, as I touched upon above when discussing mechanics, there really isn’t any complexity to z-moves. There are a limited number of z-moves all dependent on type. While some pokémon have unique z-moves that only they can perform, for the vast majority of z-moves you have one or one move per type that literally any pokémon of that type can use so long as they also have a regular attack of that same type. So while only certain pokémon can mega evolve, you can literally just chuck a Grassium Z at a random gloom and say “okay, here you go.” Of course, the lore behind it says that you need to really work at and earn this, and the anime kind of pushes that as well by making a big deal out of where characters get their Z-Rings (e.g. Ash got his from Tapu Koko, and Kiawe from his grandfather), but as far as the games go I just tossed a Firium Z at my arcanine so that she could use a fire-type z-move. I mean, I’m glad I can at least give her something since she doesn’t have a mega evolution, but there’s no real thought behind that, you know? Unlike with mega evolution, where you have to really think about forming your pokémon’s moveset to also be compatible with (or even take advantage of) the mega evolved form, with z-moves it’s literally just another attack. You don’t have to put very much thought behind it. The most you have to consider is which one to use per battle, but that same thing is there with mega evolution, so it’s not really an added layer of complexity. It takes very little thought at all. And since it takes very little thought and doesn’t have very much complexity, it feels a lot less like something you would have to work at. With mega evolution, you train your pokémon so that they can be most effective when mega evolved (but also so they can handle themselves when not, if you’re that skilled of a trainer). Because of this, you can’t just toss a Mega Stone at them and call it a day. You have to take into account the possibility of a changed type, changed abilities, changed stats, et cetera, and with that you have to make sure their moveset is best suited to handle the change that come with mega evolution. You have to spend a lot more time with them, which increases the bond between you two even allowing for the lore which calls for it. Z-moves, due to the lack of complexity, simply don’t have that. I mean, sure, in theory you also have to practice that dance (more on that in a second), but as far as gameplay goes you just toss the Z-Crystal at the pokémon and call it a day. It doesn’t take a lot of forethought or planning and, as such, feels a lot less personal to me.

Each mega evolution is unique, since each pokémon has their very own, and outside of a few select instances (e.g. 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt) this simply isn’t the case for z-moves. Again, you have one move depending on type, and then that’s the end of it. So my arcanine can use the same z-move as, say, someone’s rapidash. Since z-moves are just new attacks, they’re not . . . special. But it’s different with mega evolution. Sure, you can have two Mega Kangaskhan on the field at once (Arceus save you), but while two Mega Kangaskhan may be able to pull off some of the same feats, the things that Mega Kangaskhan can do are still different than, say, the things that Mega Gyarados can do. It still feels more special and more unique because it’s specific to that species of pokémon. And yeah, I’m sure that creating a mega evolution for every single evolved pokémon is way beyond the scope of Game Freak’s capabilities, and in that sense some people might be sad that their fave still doesn’t have one (I know K would be thrilled to see Mega Farfetch’d), but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have kept adding more mega evolutions as the generations go on. Where are our megas for the Johto starters, hm? Or the KALOS starters, since mega evolution originated in Gen VI? We could have had mega evolutions for the Sinnoh starters in the Sinnoh remakes, but since Game Freak seems to hate mega evolution now, it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t get it (and instead got special z-moves for them instead, whoop-di-doo). Instead of having a cool new form for each species, we instead just get generic moves outside of a few select instances. It feels a lot less personal and a lot more lame to me.

Building on that, the dance. The same exact dance is used for every move depending on the type, save (again) for a few special instances. What I mean by that is, whether you’re using Bloom Doom or using Grassium Z to power up a status move, you’re going to use the same grass-type dance each and every time, regardless of the base attack used to initiate Bloom Doom. And likewise, you’ll use the ghost-type dance for every ghost-type move, the fire-type dance for every fire-type move, and so on and so forth. It’s very standardized. Sure, you and your pokémon would have to practice it (well, mostly you; the anime has Pikachu participate, but in the games that is not the case), but it’s still the same one every time. Every trainer who uses a fire-type z-move is going to use the same dance, and the same goes for every other type. It’s very uniform. But mega evolution is something different. In both the games and the anime we see that people wear their Key Stones in all kinds of ways. The player characters usually get brace---I’m sorry, Mega Rings (and Alan had one as well), but we see other characters with pendants, wristbands, rings (like, actual rings you wear on your fingers), bookmarks, pocket watches, camera straps, pins---you name it, they wear it. And in addition to carrying their Key Stone however they wish, the anime takes things a step further by having each trainer use a special invocation that they come up with themselves in order to trigger the mega evolution. As a few examples: ALAN: “Key Stone, respond to my heart! Surpass evolution! Mega evolve!” STEVEN: “The sparkle of the stone shall be our bond! Mega evolve!” MALVA: “Blaze up, Houndoom! Mega evolve!” LYSANDRE: “My Gyarados, unleash your power and mega evolve!” And so on and so forth. Each trainer who uses mega evolution has their own invocation whenever they use it, which seems to hearken back to how they personally feel about mega evolution and the pokémon they are choosing to mega evolve. This is especially implied given the conversation between Lysandre and Alan on Prism Tower: LYSANDRE: “This power of mine is what mega evolution is all about. The power that blooms only during battles is, so to speak, a fighting instinct. An ability that was completely forgotten by the ordinary pokémon who are simply tamed by people. When a pokémon unleashes that fighting instinct, it gains a whole new power!” ALAN: “You’re wrong! Mega evolution is about---” LYSANDRE: “Only the winner can prove that, Alan.” What Lysandre says on Prism Tower is that he believes mega evolution is all about power, and fighting instinct. And his invocation reflects that; he flat out tells his gyarados to unleash its power to mega evolve. His invocation reflects his relationship with mega evolution. Meanwhile, while Alan doesn’t actually get to make his case because Lysandre cuts him off (and Alan does fall silent after that shut down, though he is glaring heatedly), we know exactly what Alan believes mega evolution is. Not only did Alan hypothesize that the power for mega evolution could come from people before he even left on his journey (though Sycamore told him that wasn’t the case, that it comes purely from the pokémon; as it turns out, they were both right and both wrong, as it’s a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B since it depends on the bond between human and pokémon in all cases that aren’t legendary), but in TSME 4 he reaches that conclusion---that mega evolution is dependent on the bond between human and pokémon. Specifically: ALAN: “I realized that [mega evolution] requires us trainers to have a great resolve as well.” Alan also talks repeatedly about the bond between him and Lizardon. In TSME 1 he says that: ALAN: “I want to be the strongest together with Lizardon. [. . .] The bond between us will overcome reason!” And in TSME 4: ALAN: “I’ve walked this path together with Lizardon. We’ve fought together . . . and aimed for the same destination together. I believe in him.” So it’s clear that to Alan, mega evolution is about the bond between human and pokémon---it’s about the bond between partners, a bond that “overcomes reason” (and one that Malva observes “surpasses its limits”). So it makes sense, then, that Alan’s invocation for mega evolution contains the words respond to my heart, because to him, mega evolution is about the bond between himself and Lizardon---it’s a power that they share and create together. Therefore, he has to have just as much resolve and determination in his own heart as Lizardon does, and he calls upon the power of mega evolution to respond to that. Alan’s invocation directly reflects his relationship with mega evolution, too. (And then you’ve got Steven, who also mentions a bond . . . but then also the sparkle of the stone. Oh, Steven.) And this---all of this---this is so much more personal, in my eyes, than the z-move dance. Each trainer comes up with their own invocation for mega evolution that reflects their beliefs and feelings toward it. It isn’t a standard, uniform thing that every trainer does; it’s something unique and personalized and special. And I love what each invocation says about the trainer using it, how you can tell so much about what they think, feel, and believe based on the invocation they use. Even with the deviations it has made, I don’t think the Alola anime can do that for z-moves---not when the z-move dances are right there in the actual games that the anime is designed to promote. (Whereas with the mega evolution invocations, the anime team had a lot more freedom.)

So yeah, ultimately, mega evolution is so much more special and personalized to me. It holds a deeper connection than z-moves do. And I’m still salty (and will probably forever be salty) that Game Freak decided to try and paint it in a negative light in order to push z-moves, as if that was in any way necessary. I swear to god, if they decide to give us even more terrible mega evolution ‘dex entries in the remakes---if they dare to tarnish ‘Zard X or ‘Zard Y---so help me, I’m gonna be livid. (And will then probably spam everyone with gifs of mega evolved Lizardon being cute and happy to counteract the sheer nonsense spread by the ‘dex entries, should they exist after the remakes come out. HMPH.)

But yeah, that conversation was one good thing that came out of the direct, I guess. Gave me something to think about, anyway.

[sage-nebula]

In terms of heroic achievements which pokemon protagonist do you think accomplished the most/least?

I’m assuming you mean objectively, in terms of the player characters we see in the games, rather than my specific ‘verse, so I’m going to go just based on what we see in the games without applying any characterization. So that said, let’s just list out their heroic accomplishments, shall we?

RED / LEAF:

Forced Team Rocket, an organization equal to the mafia irl, to disband.

Defeated Green, who was acting like a power hungry twit, and took his place as Champion. I’m counting this because Green being so drunk on power would have made him a terrible Champion for Kanto.

ETHAN / LYRA:

Forced Neo Team Rocket to disband (again).

Defeated Lance, who was acting like a power hungry twit in a different way, and took his place as Champion. (i.e. Whereas Green crowed about being “THE MOST POWERFUL TRAINER IN THE WOOOOORLD!!!!111!1″, Lance was going around berating children and siccing his dragonite on unarmed trainers. Both were power hungry, but they just demonstrated this in different ways.)

BRENDAN / MAY:

Stopped Team Aqua/Magma’s various villainous activities all over the region, similar to Red/Leaf and Ethan/Lyra with Team Rocket, ultimately making both (depending on the version) teams disband.

Confronted the legendary pokémon (either Groudon, Kyogre, or both, possibly primal) and captured them in order to avert/end the apocalypse.

In ORAS, captured Mega Rayquaza, and then rode Mega Rayquaza into space in order to capture/defeat Deoxys and avert another apocalypse, this time via meteor.

DAWN / LUCAS:

Confronted Team Galactic’s terrorism head-on in numerous instances, similar to the other anti-Team examples above (but more extreme in this case when you remember what happened at the three lakes). This ultimately resulted in Team Galactic disbanding, especially when Cyrus was trapped in the Distortion World in Platinum.

Confronted the legendary pokémon (Dialga/Palkia/Giratina depending on the version) and defeated/captured them to stop Cyrus’ plan/avert the world’s destruction. Possibly also traveled to the Distortion World to do this.

WHITLEA (LEA) / BLAIR:

Fought through the Elite 4 at double speed in order to try and reach Alder before N did, though this endeavor ultimately failed.

Stormed N’s castle to face him / revive the legendary pokémon as the other Chosen Hero. This endeavor ended in success.

Fought Ghetsis after fighting N in order to end Team Plasma’s regime once and for all and restore the government of Unova back to what it was before N/Team Plasma took over.

Helped Looker track down the remaining Sages of Team Plasma so that they could be arrested and held accountable for their crimes.

ROSA / NATE:

Combated Neo Team Plasma’s criminal activities all over the Unova region, particularly since Lea/Blair had left this mess to be cleaned up in favor of hunting down N instead. Ultimately, this led to Team Plasma being disbanded again, once and for all this time.

Helped sort out the mess that Ghetsis and Colress were making with Reshiram/Zekrom being fused with Kyurem. This helped restore Unova back to its original state (i.e. not frozen)

Helped N confront Ghetsis.

SERENA / CALEM:

Combated Team Flare across the Kalos region, and ultimately stopped Lysandre’s mass genocide attempt by capturing/defeating the legendary pokémon he was going to use to power the ultimate weapon. Lysandre then killed himself(?). Team Flare was disbanded, but Malva is still at large for reasons unexplained.

Helped Looker stop Xerosic from forcing Emma (as Essentia) to commit petty crimes across Lumiose City. This culminated in Xerosic’s arrest.

SUN&MOON BOY / SUN&MOON GIRL:

Stopped Team Skull from being nuisances at various instances, and also rescued a yungoos they stole for the lulz. (As in, they stole it for the lulz. I can’t imagine why else they’d waste their time stealing a yungoos from a preschooler.) Ultimately forced Team Skull to disband. This is only arguably heroic, however, as Team Skull were never truly threatening, and they seem to be a bunch of severely impoverished teenagers led (kind of) by a severely emotionally unstable, potentially alcoholic abuse survivor. They were never actually helped, so ymmv on the heroism of just disbanding them and then leaving them to fend for themselves.

Helped Professor Kukui overthrow (at least partially) the religious oligarchical style of government Alola has operated under for centuries to create a League instead. “Helped” is used loosely here, however, as Kukui did pretty much all of the work himself, and all the Sun/Moon PC did was take the throne when the time was right.

Stormed Aether Paradise in order to rescue Lillie and Cosmog. Succeeded in rescuing Lillie, however, Cosmog was tortured and reduced to its second-stage evolution.

Traveled with Lillie to retrieve the second flute, and help Nebby (now a Cosmoem) evolve (into either Solgaleo or Lunala). 

Traveled into Ultra Space to aid Lillie in confronting Lusamine. Battle Lusamine/Motherbeast while in Ultra Space in order to protect Lillie and stop her nonsense, even though tbh she wouldn’t be hurting anyone if she was just left alone in Ultra Space with the Nihilego like she wanted. So, again, YMMV, since the world wasn’t actually in danger anymore (and her kids would be much, much, MUCH better off without her).

Assisted Looker, Anabel, and Nanu with tracking down and capturing the Ultra Beasts that had been unleashed on the world. Since the Ultra Beasts were shown to be legitimately dangerous, this is probably the most heroic act under the Sun/Moon PC’s belt.

CONCLUSION:

So with all of the feats listed out above, if we made a list of Most Heroic to Least Heroic, I think it would look like:

Brendan / May (as of ORAS)

Lea / Blair

Rosa / Nate

Dawn / Lucas

Serena / Calem

Sun&Moon Boy / Sun&Moon Girl

Lyra / Ethan

Red / Leaf

Brendan/May averted two (2) apocalypses as of the ORAS remakes, and one apocalypse aversion resulted in them flying into space on a giant dragon in order to battle a sentient alien virus. If that’s not heroic, I don’t know what is.

Lea/Blair had their entire regional government overtaken by a totalitarian dictatorship, and they resisted this despite not knowing whether or not they were going to be able to awaken their chosen dragon. They also succeeded in this, and then took the time to help Interpol hunt down the remaining Sages before they left on their own personal quest. Especially considering the fact that they originally faced N without Zekrom/Reshiram, I’d say that counts as pretty heroic.

Rosa/Nate did similarly, but their quest was mostly focused on cleaning up the remnants of Lea/Blair’s quest, which is why it comes in third. However, they do get extra points above the rest given the fact that Kyurem was steadily icing the entire region, and they helped stop/put an end to that. So they do still have a respectable third slot.

Dawn/Lucas get the fourth slot because Team Galactic pulled off actual acts of terrorism, such as bombing lakes and mass killing the pokémon inside so that they could capture the lake guardians and then torture them in order to create devices to restrain the mascot legendaries. They also, as of Platinum, went into the Distortion World itself to deal with this threat and avert that apocalypse. That’s pretty damn impressive, and to be honest I’d be tempted to swap them with Rosa/Nate. The only reason why I’m not is because Unova was literally being destroyed, whereas Sinnoh (aside from the lake bombings) didn’t face a similar threat (like, Cyrus was going to remake it in his image, but the Unovan people were actively suffering due to the ice; the Sinnoan people weren’t suffering like that yet). It’s close, though.

Serena/Calem are up next, and while they do get major, major props for averting a mass genocide (which is a very big deal), they also lose some heroism points because, prior to Lysandre announcing to everyone that he was about to murder everyone who hadn’t paid him an exorbitant amount of money to be saved by joining Team Flare, Team Flare didn’t actually pose very much of a threat. The most threatening thing I can remember them doing is taking over the Pokéball Factory, and that wasn’t a very big deal. Serena/Calem also lose some points for not doing anything about Malva, and they also didn’t really do too much in the post-game subplot (instead, they were mostly our vessel for watching that story unfold)—and even if they did, Emma/Essentia’s crimes were mostly petty, although they were escalating in violence. So all in all, while Serena/Calem were very heroic by stopping a genocidal maniac from, you know, committing genocide, the rest of their feats (or lack thereof) land them in slot five.

The Sun/Moon PC has the most items on their list, however, most of their feats are dubious at best due to Gen VII’s shaky (at best) writing. While they certainly accomplished some of the most amazing things (riding a massive sun lion/moon bat into Ultra Space certainly sounds/looks impressive), the true weight behind them is skewed when you realize that the morality behind their actions is so tenuous (i.e. Team Skull clearly needs help, and yet they were offered none), they really didn’t do anything at all (i.e. Kukui formed the League while the PC did fuck all), or the world was never really in danger and everyone would have been better off had Lusamine been left to rot in Ultra Space. The only inarguably heroic thing that the Sun/Moon PC accomplished was the post-game subplot, in which they actively worked to save people from a very real and present danger. Otherwise, they didn’t do very much, and though Lillie credits the PC wholesale with helping her, I would argue that Lillie accomplished what she did as a result of her own strength and mettle, not because of the PC. Therefore, they’re sixth.

Lyra/Ethan come in at slot seven, the reason for this being that they … didn’t really accomplish very much. I’m being generous by giving them defeating Lance simply because he wasn’t a good Champion, but other than that the most they did was disband Neo Team Rocket, who weren’t posing any major threat to the world. That said, Lyra/Ethan did directly combat some of their more villainous activities (the Slowpoke Well, the Mahogany Town experiments, Radio Tower takeover), and since they had the bravery to stand up and stop Neo Team Rocket in those instances, they get slot seven …

… versus Red/Leaf, who come in at dead last. The most Red/Leaf did was stop Team Rocket’s activities in the Silph Co. building, and defeat Green (and again, I’m being generous by giving that to them). That’s it. Team Rocket wasn’t even posing that serious of a threat to the world (even less so in Gen I than Gen II), and so while it was still brave of Red/Leaf to do something about it, it’s not like they were saving the world. Therefore, they come in dead last since they objectively accomplished the least.