divergent-paths

[divergent-paths]

Franz Kabu

Calm ice user 🤝 Passionate fire user

silver foxes

(Also have Ninetales)

i knew what had to be done lol

[divergent-paths]

Final phase boss moment aside,

Max with wet hair looks a lot like his dad if shrunken down and clean shaven. How does Max style it to that pointy anime look?

it's actually a pretty common joke among the DP team that 'there's no paternity test needed here' when talking about max and nate lmao i've done my best to get across the family resemblance in both looks and mannerisms without same-facing them, and it really makes me happy to see people acknowledge that~!

as for the question proper: hair-gel! X'D he saw all the kids on the school soccer teams spiking their hair up, dyeing it, streaking it, etc and he nabbed a pot of hair gel from alex (because alex never gets gross/bad products lol) to find his own style with. the 'grass blades' look is, admittedly, kinda lame/silly, but it *is* unique and memorable lmao

[divergent-paths]

OC Victoria: "Max, as one trainer who fought against Kabu's ace with a type disadvantage (my partner is a Joltik) to another: good luck!"

(Kabu's ace is a killer in the game, so it's going to be interesting to see how Max gets out of this one!)

without spoiling anything, all i can really talk about is the art side X'D it was definitely an interesting battle to draw though, and there's nothing quite like a kaiju centipede to bootcamp you into learning a whole new drawing tool lmao

i normally freehand all my art, as i have steady hands and good, relaxed form, but this bug was kicking my ass so hard i had to finally force myself to learn the pen tool and boy hoWDY did i hate it but it *worked* and i think i hate that even more because goddamn where was this kaiju when i needed it to teach me this 10+ years ago lol

[divergent-paths]

Haha! Well it’s a good thing Max taught his Nuzleaf Rock tomb and Thackey Acrobatics for Kabu’s gym right?

….Right? 🫣

we're sorry anon XD

husbando has been very committed to playing as max accurately - he went into the fight blind, and with level-up only moves :'DDD

[divergent-paths]

On one hand I’m nervous for Max since he doesn’t seem as confident as Alex is, but on the other hand I believe he can win this

You can do Max! Channel your inner shounen energy! 😤

Also I love ninetales’ nickname. Nice detail about Kabu being from Hoenn (makes you wonder if you refer to him as Hoennese or Hoennian 🤔)

had to wait til this page was out before i could answer, so that i could do this X'D

also with this page though, we have the other two 'mon names for kabu's babs-- i hope you like them too! :D if you haven't heard/know what Ōmukade is, it's a giant centipede yokai! :D i am weak for yokai, ghostie, fae, folklore, supernatural stories in general X'DD

as for 'Hoennese' vs 'Hoennian', that is a question for the ages and one i have been stuck on for YEARS 😬 given that kanto/johto/hoenn/sinnoh/kitakami, all the ranger regions, and several island chains are all supposed to be part of japan and logically speak japanese as their default language, it seems weird to me to call people from there 'region-ese' but we don't also have a collective country/national name to use, so what are we supposed to use?! arguably, we have the same problem emerging with the US based regions too, given Unova, Orre, and i guesssss....? Alola (i do not like putting alola under the US but i digress) under one country.

at least europe's regions are sensible enough to be a whole country and spare us the confusion 8U

[divergent-paths]

Vs Kabu, Pt2~

it's not for no reason that Kabu is a wall to many young trainers - underestimating his strength has backed many into a corner, as max is about to learn :)))

chara tones on this post filled in by @red-bulbasaur ~!

[divergent-paths]

Vs Kabu, Pt1~

right after alex wraps up a battle at significant disadvantage, max begins one of his own --will he handle things with the same cool demeanour as his big bro?? :o

[divergent-paths]

Happy start of pride month! 🎉

To silver fox Franz (I read the Frostsmitten comic) and to GNC French boi Alex!

(I assume Max is a straight ally)

you assume correctly with max, haha~ <3 sports boyo is fairly easy to figure out, the old fox has already had all the time he needed to contemplate his own position, and alex has a lot to figure out for himself still (even though it's much clearer to outsiders heh).

thank you for the happy wishes and i wish a happy pride month to you too, anon~! <3

[divergent-paths]

Vs Brassius, Pt4~

throwing all his training out the window, alex made a risky bet that paid off big time, securing him the Grass Badge and his team a well-earned lunch~! :3

chara tones on this post filled in by @ S.K.G ~!

[divergent-paths]

I have to say this battle with Brassius has to be my favourite so far. It’s because I enjoy how expressive you make Sudowoodo and admittedly the charming puns.

But correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t the first time Axel lost temper right?

Does Axel not like being teased or being down on? Or is it something more related to a trauma response?

i'm really glad to hear the artazon gym battle has been enjoyable so far! i've seen a lot of people attached to brassius so i was concerned my take on him wouldn't be well received. seems i was worrying for nothing though haha :'D on the battle itself, it's also been the first decent chance to have everything go against alex, and we're finally getting to see some of his actual personality under what all the battle training has conditioned him to suppress.

as for axel, you're correct in that this *isn't* the first time the dog has lost it, as four years prior his jealousy got the better of him, and he snapped and bit Franz severely enough to send the old man to the hospital. when that happened, axel was forcibly removed from alex's roster/care, and put through an intense training regime by franz and blanca. the result of that was them effectively creating a guard dog that no longer has much sense of play, and isn't afraid to bite people if his human looks genuinely threatened. because they didn't quash the moodiness, and instead redirected it, something like taunt can pull that aggression out without restraint, which we saw in this recent page. thankfully, alex is good at reading his mons, and shut it down before any harm could be done.

[divergent-paths]

Vs Brassius, Pt3~

it is true that many Lycanroc are moody beasts that can snap over the weirdest things, and combining that with axel's training we get a fearsome beast indeed. good thing alex is a responsible trainer, ready to react appropriately~

chara tones on this post filled in by @calicowitchling ~!

[divergent-paths]

(The previous anon about the names) ooohhh I didn’t know about that! Thank you so much for the info!

1 more question:

Brassius and Hassel.

Do you see them as a couple? Or as bromantic guys over art?

I'm glad you found the answer interesting~! I'm pretty fond of trying to find names that are either amusing puns, clever notes, or nerding out; there's a lot of interesting topics out there to pull ideas from -- the real trick is avoiding falling into the rabbit holes and getting distracted for hours on end lmao

As for the Hass and Brass, I see them in the same kind of iconic bromance that Sirs Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen have. Completely adoring of one another and genuine in their respect and support of each other irrespective of what anyone else may think. Something we can all aspire to, I'd say~

[divergent-paths]

Galene!!! 😭

She’s such powerhouse in Alex’s team despite being such a sweetheart by nature.

But of curiosity,

What does Petilil and Smoliv names (Verdigris & Vernis) mean?

galene is the best girl and her no1 fan (after alex XD) is meeee lmao

As for Brassius' mons, I picked the names Verdigris and Vernis from French art~! I see Brassius as someone who is very honest with his feelings, be they positive or negative, having hit his lowest point when he was burying those feelings to try and appeal to the masses. And part of that honesty with himself is embracing his cringe; he's clearly a bit of a Ouiaboo/Francophile with how flippantly he throws out his limited French in his dialogue, so I opted to carry that into his 'mon names (aside from mr-pun-tree lol).

Verdigris is most widely known as the green patina (rust coating) that covers old copper/bronze works, and was one of the few ways to achieve vivid greens in classical art, due to difficulties in producing strong yellows and blue pigments until the late 1800s. Vernis is the French word for Varnish, a protective clear coat that artists use to seal and protect their paintings.

Given a Petilil's green body, and the oil a Smoliv produces, you can see how I assigned such names to them~ I hope that was interesting~! :)

[divergent-paths]

Vs Brassius, Pt2~

Where Brassius' art talk and point about burning out is just as much a message to myself as it is to Alex :'D

[divergent-paths]

Vs Brassius, Pt.1~

fun fact, anthracite really did pull this stunt in my playthrough. :'D bro' was living up to his naughty nature right off the bat lmao

chara tones on this post filled in by @diamondphantom ~!

[divergent-paths]

May 10, Maid Day~! :D

Whilst Alex has a natural tendency to pose more feminine, he absolutely cannot be trusted around food, so probably wouldn't be a good fit to work a maid cafe, unlike our boi Arven here XD

Hopefully you all like the main pic and extra doodles (plus a bonus gal for the one person bold enough to sub a ref pic to me <3)~!

[divergent-paths]

So Alex & Max,

Besides grass and rock, what other Pokémon types are your favourite or can see yourself raising?

max is defo the type to find sports that fit his mons no matter what hypotheticals get discussed while alex can be a pretty mixed bag lol