#Like seriously the fact they make so many pokemon AND trainers look like something else is wild

[koenna99]

Gen 9 really is the gen of:

That girl's hot. That's a guy.

That other guy is handsome. That's a girl.

Oh, that pokemon got a cool new form? Nope, it's Mimicry bitch!

[prof-peach]

if fans wanted to include peach in stuff they write, would that be okay? and how would they write peach's personality? aside from "FIGHT ME" anyway, i think that much is a given lol. i only really write the anime characters 'cause that's what i know, but it sounds like it'd be kinda fun to try making a version of ash that fits into this blog's universe! nerf'd Obviously, but i think she'd probably appreciate how hands-on he gets when training his pokemon!

Ok, I get a lot of these messages, and I often hear folks wanting to throw peach into their stories and comics and writings, and I will always simply ask that if it’s published online publicly, to be linked to it so I can snoop and enjoy the content too. If someone asks about her in your work, let them know about the blog I guess? But literally I love that people take this stuff, these characters and stories, and make new stuff with it. No ones making money off my work here? So where’s the issue? Go for it buddy, knock yourself out, I’m all for it.

For you, and all the others out there who want to add peach, and other characters to your world building, I will give you a detailed rundown of the main lot, and how they behave, what they do, how they function. You can use that, use bits, or use none of it, I do not mind at all. If you’re creating something, you’re in control, not me.

So, peach doesn’t actually fight people as much as you’d think. She’s very aware most cannot and do not want to do that, and so she likes to keep to herself with regards to that aspect of her life, she doesn’t ask to spar with people, or even bring it up at all, but people ask her all the time, even if they clearly would lose or become hurt should she miscalculate during the fight. She looks at people like they usually create problems, and often has a somewhat reserved nature to other humans. You have to work quite hard to get anything more than formalities out of her. She will dead-pan handle people with blunt and very to-the-point statements, aid whenever possible, but very quickly get back to handling the Pokemon she so carefully tends. Her focus is clear, she’s all about hard work, her very small select family, and the Pokemon.

Her brutal, loud and brash personality only comes out with friends, family, difficult humans, OR any Pokemon. She will joke and laugh and play with Pokemon, but clam up around humans, maintaining tight body language and generally will be a little cold by regular standards. She does however have some weaknesses in this emotionless shield she puts up. When peach was young she was always angry, which swung so fast to sadness, back and forth. Her teenage years it just got worse and worse, it was crippling at points. She is to this day, full of fire and rage, even sadness, but now she has learnt to control it, to use it. When she sees that in others, it’s familiar, and she is pushed to drop the front, and be very real with the person. Underdogs I suppose, people who get bad reps, but deserve the same as everyone else. She can’t ignore it.

Once you start to pry open her personality, you’ll find she’s a lot more laid back and fun than originally appeared, you just have to work hard to find that side of her. She will meme reference, can’t dance to save her life, loves her coffee, and can be caught in quiet contemplation while gardening. This hobby is her calmest, and often is why she can stay so level headed when her quiet rage boils up again. Without time outside she will become grouchy, a little snippy, and lethargic. Will not go in the ocean for any reason other than life or death, is fine with ponds and rivers, or water at wading height. Likes the rain.

With regards to her training others, they usually have to tolerate her somewhat strict nature. She is a little....unforgiving, holds a grudge if you make a lot of mistakes, and has no tolerance for ignorance in the age of information that we all live in. In previous posts I’ve mentioned she’s only recently selected two students, after many years of testing kids who want to learn from her. Hundred tried out, only two have ever been approved. How she teaches is very fast paced, be prepared to get some scrapes and bruises, she will test your physical and emotional tolerances with intense tasks, carefully watching students like a hawk. Bad posture in your stance? She’ll be the first to tell you to sort it out. Not hearing your Pokemon partner? Right, now you spend the day without using words trying to communicate, let’s see how you like not being listened to.

This is a woman who has spent her life saying very little, and watching everything, she watches Pokemon and can see an issue from a mile off, and in battles, her observations are why she can react fast, and chose effective strategy to avoid damage and achieve results. Don’t let her body fool you, her strongest asset is analysing, watching, planning. Those skills have over the years transferred to people too. As a student, mistakes don’t go unnoticed with this professor.

Her methods are harsh but fair, and should you prove yourself, she will protect you with her life.

Because of her disinterest in kids and lots of noise, she does pass the training of students on to the other staff members whenever possible. Grey takes on the lions share of battle lessons, he is far calmer, more open and friendly, with patience for people, and an empathy that peach sometimes struggles to have. When you go through a lot of harsh training, and difficult events, it’s hard to change how you feel or think, with peach, well, she’s been through it. Most do not come out the other end in one piece, but she did, and it made her strong. You may think I mean strong like buff and big, and yeah sure she is, but I mean it mentally more than anything. Peach will not quit. She has learnt to destroy the boundaries that stop people getting hurt, gone is the fear that freezes you in your tracks, that feeling that you’ll pass out if you go one more step. She’s learnt to ignore it.

This means she’s a little forgetful at how it is to be normal, to be vulnerable and soft and squishy like students so usually are.

She has her issues, but for the most part, visitors get a laugh, a smile, a calm assertive confidence, and facts. She will indulge those who have genuine interest, or show a connection with nature, an understanding of the balance that needs to be struck for everyone to live well together.

Despite her many flaws, she’s fiercely protective, and will go above and beyond to defend the island, it’s staff, the Pokemon and the visitors. Injustice is her biggest gripe, along with littering, and she doesn’t stand by quietly if something happens that seems unfair.

You will not see her without Valka, her vulpix, close by. That Pokemon doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, at all, and will run the second someone comes at her with that intent. Peach will scold you for pushing yourself onto her, should you persistently try to get close to pet Val. They are in sync, if peach is sad, Val is sad, if Val is stressed, peach is stressed, and so on. They are inherently connected, it’s just been that long, the psychic bridge between them has been built, and reinforced over the years.

The only other Pokemon who follows her so endlessly is Booker, a teddiursa who’s pretty rough looking. He quietly trots behind, grouchy and stoic, they fight closely together a lot. He lost his mom a long time ago to poachers, and peach took him in, and changed her whole life for him. Not many people know, but Booker was the reason she left the rangers, changed career, and got so strong. Will tolerate people petting him but isn’t keen at all, grumbles a lot and tries to move away.

You may also need to know about the others, for the sake of writing, she here a few more bits that may be important to you, or others wanting to do this.

Grey is very tall, very burly, composed, tells bad dad jokes, is a bit of a goof if allowed to be. If he sees a pun, he’ll say it. Can’t help himself. Very nice guy to work with, good at keeping people calm and grounded. Pokemon are drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he gives off warm energy, and has inhuman amounts of patience. If you wrong his family however, he will snap back.

He grew up in the city, loves to swim and hike and cycle, can snowboard, is really sporty. A total brain box with held items, and boosting stats. He will explore many paths, to make sure visitors and students get the information they need, in a way that can be remembered and retained for later. Is a huge guy, but will get on the floor to play with a tiny Pokemon. Treats big “meaner” looking species like babies, very good with all pokemon.

His free time is spent either tinkering, swimming, or trimming his bonsai trees. This guy stares at screens a lot, so appreciates time away from them. Peach built him his own little greenhouse for his trees and tools, which he keeps clean and loves dearly.

His methods as a teacher are built around fun and games, he makes hard work easier to do by distracting trainers from the difficult bits, and focusing in on something more interesting or compelling.

His most commonly seen Pokemon would be a houndoom, Saxon, old battle veteran, retired now to herding and being a good boy. Very gentle, loves a pet.

Pari, now a fully fledged nurse, often oversees the labs front desk and pokecentre features, such as healing pokemon, and informing trainers who come to visit. Her skills with eggs and hatchlings is high, she’s great with younger Pokemon, and hands out good advice to trainers a lot. She’s not a fighter, never was, but can find any file, any study, any book, and any refrence you may need. A true bookworm, loves her romance novels, chat shows and upbeat celebrity gossip mags. Will cry at a lot of stuff, be it sad or happy.

She’s got a seriously upbeat personality, but if caught off guard or shocked, she gets a little flustered. Too much chaos will overwhelm her, but usually she’s on top of things. The years spent on the island have made her better at maintaining composure in emergencies. With lots of siblings, she’s very competent with others, and has a good ability to disarm cagey people with her jolly nature. Because of this, she can sometimes gain information from trainers that some of the more harsh professors may not have access to. Charming is a word for it.

Her partners are an eevee, and a happiny. They are quite sweet and well adjusted, the eevee gets a bit bouncy if you get it too excited.

[epicspheal]

Leon’s Outfits

Since there have been some lovely discussions about Leon’s battle tower outfit going around, I thought I’d add my two cents on this by talking about both of his outfit

Alright so let’s start off with his champion outfit which according to the anime is pretty much unchanged since he won at the age of 10. So part of the ridiculousness many people picked up on about how it all comes together makes a lot of sense, it was something he picked out as a kid and as @youareshauni beautifully laid out became part of his brand as a child champion

But still there’s a lot of symbolism in it. Obviously the cape and the crown are symbols of monarch and Leon could easily be described as the Battle King Of Galar. But there’s more, the crown symbol on Leon’s hat is also in the shape of Charizard’s footprint. He wasn’t lying when he said he was a massive Charizard fan! And his cape is burgundy which is a shade of red that has a lot of symbolism that I’ll talk about more with his battle tower outfit. Now the sponsors places on the back are I think are deliberately meant to be tacky, to kind of show the commercialization of the League and how it kind of takes over everything.

But most importantly there’s an NPC who talks about how heavy the replicas of his cape are and how no one else but Leon can wear it. At first it seems like just a simple nod to the fact that Leon is physically strong himself. But when you consider the immense pressure of the spoltight he’s under, and the fact that he is protector of the region until the player and Hop get chosen by the wolves, you realize that the heaviness also represents the literal weight of his title bearing down on his shoulders, and how most people wouldn’t be able to handle it

Finally there’s the actual uniform itself. Like how Nessa’s uniform gives off swimmer vibes, Kabu’s being a runner, and Raihan’s a basketball player, Leon’s also has a distinctly sporty vibe- a baseball player. Specificially a pitcher based on how insanely hard and fast he can throw his Pokemon while out on the pitch. This is significant because the pitcher is the one who controls the pace of the game. One thing people forget is that Leon IS the goal of the game. 

Now onto his battle tower outfit. It’s definitely a more mature and very regal look even though it still has the costumey feel which is perfectly fine since other heads of battle facilities also sport similar regal costumes. One thing that was excellently pointed out by @leonchampionheart​ is the fact that he still keeps his snapback, which shows that even though he’s shedding his child champion image and going for an adult look. 

But I said I was going to talk about the color burgundy because it’s even more prominent in this outfit than it was in his champion get up. So every champion in the series pretty much is associated with a specific color. For example Cynthia is associated with the color black in contrast to Diantha’s white. For Leon’s it burgundy (which sidenotes makes me so happy because burgundy is one of my favorite colors) 

Burgundy is shade of red that is associated with sophistication which explains why it becomes a more prominent fixture of his battle tower outfit. It’s a symbolism of the upper class and if Leon wasn’t already loaded from his winnings as champion, he definitely is now as chairman of the league, battle tower head and potentially CEO of Macros Cosmos (I know the chairman of the league part has been confirmed but not sure if he’s canonically Macros Cosmos CEO now although I love the idea of it, major boss moves). 

Burgundy is also known for being intense color that embodies power which just exemplifies Leon as a character through and through. He is a canonically powerful trainer that always brings his full intensity to every match. Burgundy is also symbolic of being individualistic. Leon definitely marches to the beat of his own drum and bucks the status quo for champions being one of the only ones to be active in defending the region, one of the few to have some character growth, and one of the few who has taken up a different position post title-loss.

Interestingly enough burgundy is also the color of introversion and seriousness. Leon’s definitely a more serious person than many in the fandom give him credit for, particularly post title loss. And I can definitely see Leon being introvert or an ambivert leaning on the introversion side (just because he’s an entertainer and is friendly and outgoing doesn’t mean he can’t get drained from social interactions). I think the extra prominence of burgundy in his battle tower outfit plus the demeanor changes we see in him is a reflection of him finally being able to show his true personality, one that was likely surpressed during his years in the spotlight. 

Finally the burgundy in his outfit symbolizes sympathy. According to the website I’m getting all of this symbolism from, “ Burgundy understands the trials and tribulations of life”. When you consider the fact that Leon’s namesake, the dandelion also has the symbolism of overcoming trials and tribulations, you get to see the fact that Leon has been through a lot (and needs a hug big time). So too long; don’t read: there is a lot of symbolism behind Leon’s outfits that show the depth of his character

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Eevee Line

Part 1. Because seriously.

DESIGN:

Eevee was intentionally designed to be some sort of generic wild critter that could exist but doesn’t. Given traits of all sorts of small, furry things, the purpose of Eevee is to be cute, lovable, and evoke the feeling of ‘some animal.’ It is simultaneously known to everyone and completely unknown. Everyone recognizes Eevee but nobody actually knows what it is.  Eevee is, above all else, THE ‘normal’ Pokemon.

And honestly, it’s totally freaking adorable. Eevee is the best rabbit dog fox kitty thing that ever was, and nobody doesn’t love Eevee. Its design basically couldn’t be better. There’s a reason this fuzzlewuzzle regularly competes with Pikachu for being the face of Pokemon. Sure, it can’t quite win, but it’s up there.

But the concept of Eevee is really the interesting one. Eevee was the first Pokemon with branching evolutions, and while other Pokemon have gotten such since then, Eevee has always had the most. Starting with three in Generation 1, there are currently eight possible evolutions of Eevee, and there could easily be more on the way. This puts the Eevee line in a really notable position. I always love when a Pokemon has a unique gimmick, and while in combat each Eeveelution might just be another, having an Eevee with so many options to choose from makes it an interesting Pokemon to obtain.

But before we discuss the designs of any evolutions, let’s talk about the non-evolved alternate form: Gigantamax. Like Pikachu and Meowth, GIgantamax Eevee is just a gimmick. The Pokemon’s not strong enough to be used, and Gigantamax Eevee can’t actually evolve, so it’s just there to be big and fluffy and cute… and it just fails at that. It’s not that Gigantamax Eevee isn’t cute- of course it is- but it’s not cuter than Eevee is normally, and the big bushy collar isn’t nearly as fun of a unique touch as Meowth being memes or Pikachu going back to its fat gen 1 design. Sadly, Gigantamax Eevee is a waste of everyone’s time.

And now onto the actual evolutions.

VAPOREON: 

Vaporeon is an interesting and unique creature, with large fins on its head and small ones down its back and tail giving it the appearance of a fish, but still with a clearly mammalian mouth and legs. Vaporeon is clearly aquatic and clearly related to Eevee, but other than that it simply doesn’t look like anything. And yet Vaporeon still has a clear design and aesthetic, as something that could maybe possibly be something between a dog, a seal and a dolphin. It’s an elegant, clean design that looks fantastic without looking absurd. 

JOLTEON:

Jolteon’s just yellow with spikes. It’s simple, but it works. There’s nothing weird about Jolteon’s design in the least, though admittedly that means there’s nothing overly special about it. Jolteon is just what happens when you take Eevee and make it cool, and other than the bright coloration there’s nothing particularly odd about it. One of the more subdued Eeveelutions, I like it, it’s cool, but I don’t exactly have specific praise for it.

FLAREON:

Flareon looks even more realistic than Jolteon. The red coloration’s a bit bright, but other than that it’s just a big ol’ floofy floof. The shape and color of its fur suggest fire, but unlike many fire types it doesn’t feel the need to actually be on fire.  Like Jolteon, Flareon is a good, clean design.

It’s also noteworthy here that the first three Eeveelutions have big collars, like Eevee does. The rest do not. Honestly, I really like this part of the design, but I understand why not all would have it.

ESPEON:

The psychic evolution, Espeon’s purple colors are a bit more out there than the previous three,  and my first instinct when looking at it is that it’s supposed to be hairless like a Sphynx Cat, but then it has those huge tufts on the side of its face that are clearly hair despite it not having tufts or even signs of fur anywhere else. They’re too high to be whiskers, too, so they just come across as weird. In fact, everything about Espeon is weird, and not always for the better. The split tail is a cool design, but I don’t understand what it’s going for. The jewel on the forehead I DO understand as a psychic focus, but it’s so obviously artificial compared to the previous Eeveelutions that it feels out of place. In fact, the core concept of Espeon feels a bit out of place. Most of the Eeveelutions are the result of stone or location radiation, and Umbreon happens at night. Espeon levels up in the day time with affection, and somehow becomes a psychic type. A psychic type whose pokedex entry calls the Sun Pokemon. 

Eevee’s whole gimmick is that when exposed to weird stuff it transforms, so I have a hard time understanding why a happy Eevee turns into a psychic type during the day. If it was just about the strong bond with its trainer, why does the sun matter? And if the sun does matter, what’s going on with its everything?

Espeon ultimately just doesn’t work for me. It reads wrong as a creature and I don’t understand how it fits in with other Eevee lore.

UMBREON:

Okay, what’s up with those circles? Black fur I get. Gold stripes I get. Floofy tail, red eyes, sleek body, sure sure sure. I am totally on board with that. But those clean, obvious golden rings absolutely take me out of this design. I get that they’re supposed to be moonlight rings or something, but I’d have been much happier if this thing had golden spots instead of such clean shapes, to make it look more like a realistic animal. 

As far as actually fitting though, it makes sense as a Night-based Pokemon, but the Moon thing is a bit more of a stretch. It’s not nearly as bad as Espeon and the Sun, but Eevee plus Moonlight should result in a brighter, glowing Eevee, not a darker, more sinister Eevee.  Umbreon also has a serious issue of its abilities not being what it says they are. For example, the Pokedex says it’s got poison; Umbreon has never naturally learned a poison type attack. Its rings glowing is supposed to be one of its key features, but none of its abilities reflect that.

This isn’t to say that I dislike Umbreon or Espeon overall. Some of my favorite Pokemon have been Umbreons and Espeons. Their designs just really don’t sell the story that they’re trying to.

LEAFEON:

So, now this is more like what I’m talking about. Eevee + Moss Rock/Leaf Stone = Eevee that’s turning into a plant. It’s still an animal, but with its ears and tail and some of its fur turning into leaves so it can now photosynthesize. Also the leaf is a sword because that’s bitchin’.

Now, while I am totally on board with Leafeon’s concept, I do think the design could’ve used a bit of tweaking. The head and tail are great, but the little leaf things coming off the body look a bit odd, and I’m not really sold on the mostly tan color scheme. I think it’d have looked better with more browns and greens. Specifically, brown legs and belly, green back and neck. Maybe a leafy collar like the original Eeveelutions all had collars. Still, I like it overall.

GLACEON:

I don’t particularly like Glaceon. While it reads as an Ice Eevee it doesn’t read as an Eevee infused with Ice or adapted to Ice so much as it reads as an Eevee with design elements that look ice-like. The sharp diamond shapes over it don’t actually have anything to do with ice the way Jolteon’s spikes are the result of electric charge or Flareon’s floof looks like fire. Further, the addition of what is clearly a hairdo is just sort of weird. It’s too sharp to look like it comes naturally and while it makes for an interesting visual element it doesn’t mean anything or serve any purpose in the Glaceon itself. At least Espeon’s split tail was supposed to be for sensing things. Glaceon just has huge flaps that are definitely a disadvantage in a fight and don’t seem to serve any purpose other than possibly attracting a mate. 

Glaceon is a solid design for a creature but not for ‘this is an Eevee mutated by the ice element.’

SYLVEON:

OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THIS ABOMINATION!?!?

Oh, it’s a cute fairy Eevee that’s pink and blue with ribbons and bows? You’d think so, and I don’t mind the color scheme for a fairy type but THOSE ARE NOT RIBBONS AND BOWS. Those are ‘feelers.’ Those are FLESH. Fur-covered, wriggly, boneless flesh. 

This is bad. This is wrong. This is not okay.

This is not a fairy. This is an eldritch horror. Foxes should not have tentacles, and tentacles should not have fur. 

And that’s not even getting into how much I hate Sylveon’s evolution method. Eevee evolves into Sylveon when it has affection and knows a fairy type move… but Eevee can just learn Baby-Doll Eyes on its own at level 15, so this isn’t a feat or anything special, it’s just a normal part of raising an Eevee. The worst part is that this is some weird new and special method to explain why you couldn’t have done it before, but the only actual change here is that Eevee didn’t learn Baby-Doll Eyes naturally before, so instead of something being discovered the world has just been rewritten to allow Sylveon to exist.

Because Sylveon is a monster from outside reality that has forced its way in here.

I hate Sylveon. I hate Sylveon so much. And to truly understand how much I hate Sylveon you need to understand that I love Eevee. I have two Eevee on my nightstand- named Artemis and Apollo after my Espeon and Umbreon from Gold and Silver. I make it a point to use Eeveelutions in every game, because I love them so much. One of my oldest RP characters was a Jolteon named Flash. On Halloween, I had one of my video game characters dress up as an Eevee to go to a costume party in an MMO. Which obviously didn’t have an Eevee costume so I had to assemble it. So my hate for Sylveon isn’t just ‘oh, this is an icky Pokemon,’ but I take its existence as an insult to Eevee, who I love so much.

You came to the wrong Eeveehood by Dakunart

TYPING:

What type do you want? Eeveelutions come in eight different types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. But that’s Pokemon for you. And in the future we’ll probably get even more types. I just hope they have good designs and aren’t disgusting abominations.

STATS OVERVIEW:

We’ll talk about stats of Eeveelutions individually, but for now let’s note what they all have in common: numbers. Every evolved form of Eevee has a 130, a 110, a 95, two 65s, and a 60, for a total of 525 base stats, making for Pokemon that are highly specialized in some areas and very weak in others. This results in all of them having at least a decent stat array, except for Flareon, though whether their array is offensive, defensive, or more balanced varies.

Eeveelutions by Endivinity

MOVES OVERVIEW:

As with stats, we’ll discuss them for individual evolutions, but as they’re all evolved from Eevee they do share a large amount of their move pool. Eevee is notorious for learning Baton Pass naturally, a move so powerful and useful it’s been banned in many formats, and though it requires chain breeding, Eevee’s one of a relatively small number of Pokemon that can learn Wish.

Yawn, Substitute, Protect, and Rest all offer strategic options, and though not available in the current generation, Eevee could previously learn Toxic. 

Actual attack forms for Eevee to learn pre-evolution are pretty limited, but an Eevee can learn Shadow Ball and Iron Tail, both of which have their uses.

Eevee does have a number of unique attacks, primarily from Let’s Go Eevee but also the Z-Move Extreme Evoboost. While all of these are viciously powerful to the point of being outright broken, Eevee’s evolved forms can’t learn them, and thus they’re not relevant in most competitive play. 

Next time, we’ll start going down the list of forms and discussing them in the specifics. This one’s a doozy.

Eeveelutions by Lushies-Art

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #426

“insatiable furnace, burning up our surplus  /  watching all essential life become another servant”

Are you a brunette? Yep. It is way past due time that I get it dyed... What is your favorite channel on TV? I don't really watch TV, but if I did, I'm pretty sure it'd probably be Discovery. Have you ever been to Chicago, IL? Yes!! It's my only experience with a truly BIG city, and though I'm not a city person, the experience was pretty magical. It was something I wasn't even remotely used to. Just so much life and business and energy to feel there. Who was your first friend? Brianna. She was the sister of my older sister's best friend. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas. :') Do you regret your last kiss? Nope. Have you ever taken a karate class? No. Who was the last person to tell you ‘I love you’? My mom. Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty? No. Do you live on your own? Noooo. I don't think I ever could. I would have to stay VERY busy, or else the loneliness would kill me. Hell, even if I was very active in stuff, I still don't know if I could. With how bad my depression is capable of being, it doesn't sound smart at all for me to move out unless it was with somebody. Are your the oldest child? No, I'm the middle kid. How many X-rays have you had in the last 2 years? Two, maybe? One for my legs and the other for my teeth. Are you on good terms with your last ex? Yeah, we're best friends. Do you have scars you don’t like to talk about? Nah. Do you freak out if a bee/wasp flies near you? ... yes lol. What subjects in history interest you most? The Holocaust. It's just so... shocking and extreme that it's oddly fascinating, but of course horribly sad. Are you superstitious in any way? Nah. How do you get rid of anxiety? Do what? Are there any items of jewelry you never/rarely take off? Yeah, my two rings, my lip piercing, and tragus piercing. Has a song ever made you cry before? There are many. ^If so, what about it brought you to tears? Again, I said "many," so this would be a horribly long list. There are four though - "Eternally Yours" and "Another Life" by Motionless in White, "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, and "The Mortician's Daughter" by Black Veil Brides - that I really, really try to avoid, because I WILL cry. They're all associated with Jason for one reason or another. "Stairway to Heaven," especially, is absolutely forbidden for me to listen to. Would you consider yourself open-minded? Very, honestly. Have you ever met someone online that you wanted to meet in real life? I've met Sara! :') There are a handful of others I'd love to meet, too. Tell me about the last thing that made you laugh until it hurt. Wow, I have no idea. I don't remember the last time I laughed THAT hard. When you graduate, what color will your gown be? Ugh, it was this insufferable red. We got to vote on it, and I really wanted navy instead, as it looks more formal and not as obnoxious to me, but red won. Do you own a gun? No. My household legally can't because of my suicidal history. What color of shirt are you wearing? It's a black tank top. Do you use any acne medication? Nah, I don't really get acne anymore. Are you emotional or very stoic? I'm emotional as shit. Have you ever watched an anime series, start to finish? A few. There's Fullmetal Alchemist (as well as the Brotherhood expansion), Deadman Wonderland, and Ginga Densetsu Weed. I've seen bits of others. Which baby animal is your favorite? MEERKATS!!!!!! :') Once they reach three/four weeks, they're fucking precious. I also really like kittens. Do you like jam on your toast and biscuits? Sometimes. Have you ever reread a book? It is very, VERY rare I do this. The only cases I remember are for Because of Winn-Dixie and Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari. Do you have any religious symbols in your home? I think Mom has some religious quotes on the walls? What religion do you identify with, if any? None. What is you favorite flavor of pudding and/or yogurt? I love chocolate pudding, but I'm not very big on yogurt because of the sourness. I can sometimes eat a cookies 'n cream one, but occasionally I'm like "ew." We’re going to the best amusement park ever, first ride you choose is? One of those water rides where you go down a big slope. Did you have intense night terrors as a child? No. Know anybody who works in a tattoo parlor? No. That'd be dope. Have you ever had a piercing get infected? Ugh, yes. Worst was the first time I got my tongue pierced. It was early into infection though, thank God; I ended up having to take it out and get it re-pierced later. Have you ever shoplifted? No. Do you hate when people say, "Everything’s going to be fine,“ when it’s not? Sometimes. It can feel kinda dismissive of your extreme situation, and sometimes, things simply won't be okay. Like, you can't tell that to someone on their death bed. Do you check your fire alarms when you’re supposed to? No, oops. Are you a shorts-wearing kind of person? Absolutely not. Nobody wants to see my legs, not even me. Is your grandparents’ house obsessively tidy? My grandma's sure as hell was. She was very old-fashioned and "proper" and took cleanliness and manners very seriously. Do you know how to jumpstart a car? Nope. Would you date someone 8 years older than you? Probably. What did you do today? I WENT TO THE GYM AND DID A FULL HOUR OF EXERCISE!!!!! :') For once I am SO fucking proud of myself. I left drenched in sweat, but I also left with a feeling of great accomplishment. I'm going to be going twice a week now with a personal trainer. (: Who was the last person you fell asleep with? Sara. Have you ever punched a hole in the wall? No. People doing that shit terrifies me. Have you ever felt replaced? Sure have. Have you ever kissed someone who was high? No. If you caught your significant other cheating on you what would you do? I don't have a partner, but hypothetically, leave their ass in a blink. I don't fuck with those kind of people. Do you know who Jeffree Star is? Well, yes. I watch him on YT sometimes and (astonishingly) love his music, and I find his work ethic extremely inspiring. That man knows how to hustle. What’s your favourite alcoholic beverage? Probably sangrias. When was the last time you saw a photo of your ex? "The" ex, it's been years. I've removed all pictures I have of him, irl and digitally, because it's triggering for me. How many push-ups can you do? Probably zero. Do you play any games on your phone? There's Pokemon GO, DragonVale, and Dragons of Atlantis that I play semi-regularly. Have you ever received a compliment from a stranger? Yes. Have you ever shaved your face? Just my upper lip to avoid the lady stache, ha ha. What colour is your front door? It’s white. Do you take the stairs or the elevator? If an elevator is available, I will ALWAYS use that. I have an extreeeemely hard time getting up stairs because of having just about no leg muscle. Do you get motion sickness? No. When was the last time you went to your favourite restaurant? Oh man, it's been forever. :/ Olive Garden sounds soooo good right now. Do either of your parents have any tattoos or piercings? No. Well, Mom has her earlobes pierced once, but that's it. Are you desperate for anyone’s approval, in particular? It's funny, even though he hasn't been a part of my life for years, I still desperately crave what I think would make Jason proud. There have been many times where my mind has wondered to what he would think of me now... and I know it's not good. Are there any activities you enjoy doing, but can only do for a short amount of time before you get bored or tired of them? Reading. When was the last time you felt hopeful, and why? Today, after finishing my workout at the gym. I think, finally, that I may be taking another stride forward in life. Do you find yourself asking for the same things for your birthdays and for holidays? Ha, yup: a new tattoo, 100%. What is something someone recommended to you that you disliked/hated? Girt's recommended some music to me before. He loves sharing songs he likes with me. Of course I didn't tell him it sucked, ha ha. What’s a fact about the last person you kissed? She is very passionate about animals, reptiles in particular, and is simply amazing with them. If you had a child, would you rather have a girl or a boy? A girl for sure. Has anybody ever accused you of doing drugs? No. Have you ever fallen asleep with the last person you kissed? Yeah. Honestly, do you think that you will wanna settle down in the same town you’re currently residing in? HELL no. I hate this place. Does anyone call you darling? If so who? Sara does sometimes. Are you close to any of your cousins? No. Are you a romantic person? I think I am. What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen out the window of an airplane? Mountains. Have you ever been in the mountains when the moon and stars were up? NO BUT FUCK I WANT THAT. Just lay in a grassy spot with some s'mores or something and just ~vibe~. Do people like your hair? I get complimented on it a bit. Have you ever held birdseed and a bird came and ate out of your hand? Yeah, at a bird sanctuary. Could you ever live in Alaska? Hell yeah, I'd enjoy that. On the main page on YouTube, what’re the three recommended videos? There's one by a WoW gold maker, a song by 3TEETH, and a video of bullsnakes hatching. Do you really care how many friends you or anyone else has on Myspace/Facebook? Couldn't care less. I only "friend" people I know and care about. Does your significant other have any piercings? I'm single. Do you ever get bored of yourself? Oh, all the time. I feel like I'm extremely dull and plain and, well, boring. How many band shirts do you own? Which? Oh goodness, I have no idea. I own a lot. Do you go to shows mostly for the music, the moshing, or the merchandise? I go for the music. It's nice to buy merch, but it's SO expensive that it's dumb. Moshing, I think is just stupid. Have you ever had anything pierced that you don’t have now? Many places, actually. So many holes closed because piercings had to be taken out when I was in the psych hospital. I was so annoyed. Who were you with the first time you watched the last movie you watched? I was alone. Do you have any twins/multiples in your family? Are they identical or fraternal? No. What is the highest number of jobs you’ve had at one time? One. Is your mom a good mom? She is the actual best. Last thing you threw in the garbage? The crust of some leftover pizza I had this morning. I generally eat the crust, but this time it was WAY too hard.

[stillchaoticlogic]

Stumbling: Chapter 8

Pairing: Raihan X Reader X Leon

Your life hadn’t gone exactly as you planned…

This is why when an old rival walks into the coffee shop you work at he gives you an offer you just can’t refuse. Finally, a chance at the League. Suddenly you are thrust into the spotlight and a world you thought you had left behind. Dreams aren’t always what they are cracked up to be though, especially when you find yourself the tangled up with the champion and a certain gym leader.

Has all your dreams come true?

Or is this your worst nightmare?

Masterlist!

Team:

Serenity her Hatenna, Queenie her Vespiquen, Davine her Jango-o, Hades her Deino, Arum her Bounsweet, Axel her Toxel, Zuko her Charmander

Dreaming while you are Awake

You aren’t expecting the bear hugs you get from the guys when you walk in the door. 

“You did amazing!”

“That was a great battle!”

“Queenie evolved! I guess she won’t be able to sit on my hat now!”

“Did you feel the rush? I knew you would!”

“Guys! Calm down,” you laugh as you swat them away. 

“We’re just proud of you is all!” says Leon as he pulls you back into a hug. 

You smile as you hug him back, “Thanks Lee…”

“Stop hogging her!” Raihan says as he pulls you from Leon’s grasp. 

“Guys! Seriously! Stop!” you yell with a laugh. 

“We’re just excited! You can’t blame us!”

“Well… I’m going to take a nap… that was stressful and I need to sleep.”

“You’re no fun!” pouts Raihan as he lets you go. 

Leon chuckles, “You deserve a nap, go ahead and rest, we’ve got to head out for Hulbury tomorrow! I’m got an errand to run right now, but I should be back by nightfall.”

Leon leaves not too long after that and you head into your room to take a nap. Raihan follows you in there. 

“Raihan? What are you doing?”

“You know a nap sounds good…”

“Then go take one…” 

“Oh I intend to!” he says as he lays down next to you. 

“Why aren’t you in your room?”

He gazes over at you and you feel yourself blush, “You don’t want to nap with me?”

“I just-”

“Come on! It’s just sleeping!”

You roll your eyes, “You better not snore…”

“I do not snore!” 

You just laugh in reply and snuggle under the soft duvet. You’re excited to sleep in a bed after living out of a tent and sleeping bag for a few weeks. It doesn’t take long for you to drift off to sleep. 

You fall into step with Leon and Sonia as you all head to the academy. Today is your final if you pass you will be able to get your trainers’ license and apply for sponsorships for the League. You can hardly wait. 

“I can’t wait to get my license! I’m going to be the champion!” exclaims Leon as he jumps up into the air, “No one can beat me and Charmander!”

“Get in line Leon,” you say with a smirk, “We all know I’m the next Champion of Galar.”

“Whatever! You’ll have to beat me first if you think you’re going to be Champion!”

“Well don’t forget about me!” exclaims Sonia as she pushes in between the two of you, “I’m want to be Champion too you know!”

The three of you continue to bicker good-naturedly as you head to the academy. 

“Alright, class! Today is your final exam. You will be graded on your battling style and skills. You will be randomly paired up, I have all your names in the bowl and I will call out the pairs one by one. First pair! Sonia and Max. Second pair! Rei and Melody. Third pair! Leon and (Name)!...”

You glance over at Leon at the same time he glances over at you. You make eye contact and smirk as you both regard the other. You noticed a few of the other teens in class are looking at the two of you. You are notorious rivals with an equal number of wins apiece. 

When it’s your turn and you are called up to the pitch and stand opposite Leon. 

“No items,” he starts.

“No subbing pokemon,” you second.

“No Mercy!” you both yell as you throw out your pokemon. The two of you reciting the rules you’ve battled by for years. 

Leon sends out his Wooloo and you send out your Rookidee. 

“Leer then Peck it Titan!” you yell at the tiny bird pokemon. 

“Defense curl then tackle!” 

The two battle it out, but in the end, Leon’s Wooloo wins. You huff as you send out Pearl your Squirtle and partner. She makes quick work of the severely weakened Wooloo and you smirk as Leon sends out Charmander. 

“Now the real fight begins!” yells Leon, “Charmander smokescreen!”

“Don’t let him get the jump on you! Water gun! Let’s end this before it begins!”

You smirk as Charmander is hit with a watergun and knocked back, you frown when he just gets back up. 

“Great job buddy! Tackle her!” Leon yells. 

“Withdraw!”

Charmander runs headfirst into the shell of your turtle pokemon. Pearl takes almost no damage and pops out unharmed. 

“Dragon Breath Charmander!”

“Rapid Spin, then watergun again!” you yell. 

Pearl spins at the time that the Dragon Breath hit and it glances off of her shell. When she stops she aims her water gun at Charmander and the battle is over. You smile in victory as Leon just covers his face with his snapback. You know he’s frustrated but you don’t care. 

“Excellent job both of you! You each received passing marks! Now shake hands!”

You approach Leon and hold out your hand, he lifts his head up and smiles at you, “Great match! It looks like I’m going to have to train harder to beat you.” 

“Looks like it!” you giggle as you glance down at your joined hands. 

You blink as you gaze around the unfamiliar room. It takes a moment to pull yourself from your dream. The battle from today reminding you of your last battle with Leon. You were both so young and so full of promise. You can hardly believe it’s been so many years. Do you even recognize yourself in the mirror anymore? Your mind lingers on Pearl your Squirtle. You haven’t seen her in a while, too wracked with guilt at your failure to get sponsored, too ashamed to admit you needed help and too destroyed to be able to take proper care of her. You missed your partner and you hope she’s doing well. You made a promise to her and you intend to keep it, you just need to prove it to yourself first. 

You glance over at Raihan and see him still sleeping. You gently get out of bed and put your shoes on. The afternoon is warm as you head to the grassy area where Eevee is meant to be. You spend the rest of the afternoon training your pokemon and looking for an Eevee, but you never see one. With a huff you settle yourself on a rock and lean back, the sky is painted with blues, purples, and pinks as the sun sets behind the horizon. You close your eyes as you recall an evening like this a year ago. 

The day had been long and hard. You really just needed to get away from everyone and everything in your life for just a moment. You don’t know how long you’ve been laying in the tall grass but the resident pokemon seem to be leaving you alone. Hatenna would not want to be near you right now when nobody else would either. You end up lost in thought as tears slip from your eyes. You can feel the cool trails as the wind blows across your face. Eventually, you drift off to sleep and dreamlessly slumber until well past dark. When you wake up you feel a slight pressure on your stomach. Laying on your stomach, sleeping soundly, is a small Hatenna. Your slight movement wakes up the slumbering pokemon and she blinks up at you sleepily. 

“There you are!” you’re snapped from your thoughts by a voice behind you. Turning around you see Leon walk up and sit next to you. 

“What are you doing out here?” he asks as he settles himself next to you. 

“Thinking… well I was looking for an Eevee but I haven’t been able to find one…” you pout. 

“Well, we’re going to have to find you one because otherwise, this is going to go to waste. 

You blink as you gaze down at the cool blue stone, “You got a Waterstone for me?”

“I did! I wanted you to know how proud I am of you for beating your first gym. I know I wasn’t there for you when you needed me to be, but I’m here now and I want you to know that.”

His gaze is intense and you can’t help but get captured by his amber orbs. 

“Leon…” you whisper. 

Suddenly you’re fifteen again and all the Butterfree you felt every time you looked at him are back. You know this is wrong… ‘He’s with Sonia, isn’t he?’ your mind screams at you. You break eye contact and gaze down at the stone. 

“Thank you, this means a lot to me… I just keep racking up debt with you don’t I?”

“Of course not! You don’t owe me anything other than a battle for the championship. I still have to pay you back for that loss…”

You smirk, “We were fifteen Champion Leon… I think if we’re to battle now you would win…”

“That’s why we aren’t battling now, it has to be on equal footing. You’re still technically ahead by one.”

You chuckle as you sit the stone down next to you, “I can’t believe you remember that…”

“Remember that time you creamed me? Of course, I do! I had to get stronger to beat you didn’t I? Couldn’t have my cru-err... rival think I’m weak, right?”

“I’ve never thought you were weak Leon…”

“Really?” he asks as he subtly scoots closer to you, his arm casually leaning behind you as he moves closer to you.

“Really, I just always knew I was a better strategist.”

“You are, aren’t you?” he asks softly. You’re caught off guard by his soft tone and the sweet look in his eye. 

“(Name)...I… There’s something-”

Leon is cut off by a bright light behind you. Your eyes widen as you gaze down at the Vaporeon standing before you. 

“It-”

Before you can even think the Vaporeon is off like a shot into the night. 

“After it!” you yell as you leap off of the rock and rush after it. 

“Wait!” Leon yells as he rushes after to the two of you.

“You can’t just use my stone to evolve then run awaaaaayyyyy” you exclaim as you chase after the water type. Sending out Queenie you yell for the queen bee pokemon to chase after the bubble jet pokemon. Eventually, you corner it against the fence and it has no choice but to battle you. It doesn’t take long for you to weak it, probably due to the fact that its form is still new and strange. You give a whoop after the little light on your Pokeball shines green showing you’ve captured your new friend. What you don’t expect is the Vaporeon to burst from his Pokeball and run off. 

“What the?! Wait!”

“Where is it going?!” Leon exclaims as he rushes after you as well. 

The Vaporeon stops and gazes back at you intensely as if he is willing you to follow him. You just nod in understanding and rush after him. Taking you through the grass until you get to a little den you’re surprised when he rushes up an Eevee as she stands protectively in front of an egg. She sniffs Vaporeon before she nuzzles him.

“Oh… there’s an egg…” you say as you gaze down at the tiny family before you, unsure of what to do. Leon is behind you in an instant and lets out a gasp of awe. 

“Well would you look at that…” he says as he gazes down at them as well. 

“I don’t know what to do! Do I release him? He could die though… Vaporeon’s aren’t meant to be in this climate! What if something happens!” you panic. 

You’re kind of amazed when the duo begins to speak to one another and the Eevee walks up to you with a look of determination. 

“Ee-Vee!” she exclaims. 

“I think that means she wants to come too…” Leon says in amusement looking down at the evolution pokemon. 

You smile, “Well there are worse things than having an Eevee pair…” you mumble as you pull another Pokeball out and offer it to her. She happily taps it with her little nose and settles into her new home. Popping out she sits beside her egg and glares up at you. 

“Well, of course, we’re taking your baby… We’re not leaving it here…” you explain as you bend down and take the egg from the den. The two thrill obviously excited they are to be together with their baby. 

“Well come on… Let’s go eat dinner…” you laugh as the pair follows happily along behind you. 

“Are you going to evolve her into anything?” 

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow… it’s been a long day…”

When you get back to the room Raihan has already ordered food up but stops midbite as he gazes at the family of Eevee that you have.

“Only you would come back with an entire family of Eevee…” he says with a smile and sigh. 

“It’s not my fault!” you defend as you sit down at the table. There is a large burger waiting for you. 

“How did you know?!” you ask happily. 

“I pay attention,” he says with a wink. 

“What are you naming your Vaporeon?” asks Leon casually.

“Wait! How do you even have a Vaporeon?!” Raihan exclaims.

“Leon went out and found a stone for me! Isn’t he sweet?!” you ask happily as you feed your new friends some berries. 

“Oh… the sweetest…” Raihan says with an annoyed look at his friend and rival.

“Thanks, mate! You know… you aren’t the only one paying attention…” Leon says with a smile, but his eyes are hard as he gazes back at Raihan. 

You don’t notice the interaction as you fawn over your new friends. 

“I think I’m going to name him Nile! After the river!” you give a final nod. 

“You haven’t even named your Charmander yet, how have you figured out what to name him? And what about the other Eevee?”

“I have named Charmander… his name is Zuko.”

“You named him after a cartoon character?”

“It means glory!”

“What about Eevee?”

“I...was not expecting two Eevees… I’ll figure something out later.”

“Are you evolving her?”

“I guess?”

“Ee-Vee!”

“That’s a yes from her,” Raihan laughs. 

She nods happily before she jumps up into your lap. 

“What do you want to evolve into?” Leon asks as he leans over and pets her soft fur.

She tilts her head in confusion and you pull out your Pokedex and pull up her choices. 

She tilts her head the other way she gazes down at her options. 

“You could be a Flareon, that’s a fire type, a Jolteon, that’s an electric type. Or Espeon is psychic, Umbreon is a dark type. There’s also Leafeon that’s a grass type or Glaceon, that’s Ice! Sylveon is a fairy type! What do you think?” 

She looks up at you in confusion, “Ee-veee…”

“It’s okay you don’t have to decide now…”

She nods as she continues to gaze at her options as if she is thinking deeply about her choice. 

“Let’s sleep on it… we have a long day tomorrow…” 

She nods and jumps from your lap as you finish up your dinner and head into your room to relax. 

A knock on the door alerts you to your visitor and you glance up to see Raihan there. 

“Hey Princess, what are you up to?” 

You smile up at him as he approaches your bed. 

“Just resting, it’s nice to be in a bed!”

“I’ll say… but I will miss you tonight…”

“Why?” you ask with a laugh. 

“Because I’m so used to you being near me,” he says as he sits next to you and wraps his arms around you.

“Raihan I’m literally in the next room… are you going to miss Leon this much too?” you giggle. 

“Leon isn’t as pretty as you!” he pouts as he pulls you closer. 

“You won the nap, but this bed is mine tonight! You aren’t winning!”

He looks playfully affronted, “What do you mean? Don’t you miss me too?” he asks slyly. 

 “I don’t miss your snoring…”

“I do not snore!”

“You could put Snorlax to shame,” you giggle at him. 

“Why you!” he tackles you onto the bed and you squirm as he tickles you. 

“Raihan!” you yell between laughter. 

“Nobody messes with the Dragon King!” he yells playfully as he continues tickling you. 

“Raihan!” 

“Feel my wrath!”

“I can’t breathe!”

He stops and allows you to catch your breath. Laying on the bed, Raihan wraps himself around you like you are his favorite pillow. 

“But if you let me stay… we could cuddle all night… or…” He flips you over so you’re on your back and he’s hovering over you, but his whispering is interrupted by Leon bursting through the door. 

“What is going on in here?!”

“Nothing!” you exclaim, your face is flushed and you’re panting, Raihan is too and Leon does not look convinced especially with the position you are both in. 

“Sorry to interrupt…” Leon says forlornly as he turns to shut the door. 

“Damnit Leon…” Raihan says as he pulls away and gazes at your shocked face. 

“I’ll handle him, you just head to bed okay?” Raihan says as he gets up and heads for the door. 

You look up at the ceiling and Raihan’s words echo in your head. 

‘No… he was just messing around, he wasn’t being serious… why would the strongest gym leader want me?’ You push the thoughts from your head and the Butterfree from your stomach and roll over to sleep. It doesn’t come as easily as you would like, but eventually, exhaustion from the day’s events wins out and you fall into a restless sleep.

Notes: What should our sweet Eevee evolve into?? Cast your votes! Let’s see who wins!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was fun to write! Please let me know your thoughts! Also, remember if you want to be added to the taglist send an ASK! You guys are the best! 

Taglist:@Ichigokage @pinktowne @marina-and-the-memes @ssskeletonsoffun @secretly-a-weeb @duizhangdeluxe @swiftly-heart @invaderbekk @crowkie @narees17 @skinklady @nerdyeldritchhorror @wthyuta @serendipityseoul @crescentrax @ninjarose23 @chiizwiz

[medea10]

Medea Rambles: Ash’s 1st Meaningful Victory (because nothing else counts according to the internet)

Oh for God’s sake, Medea! Literally, nothing better to talk about!

You just finished four animes today alone and must work on reviews. There’s a whistle-blower causing major havoc at the White House. Your birthday is tomorrow! Why must you poo-poo on Ash’s victory?

Because bitching at things makes me whole. Especially if it’s Pokemon related!

Because after five days of watching the internet lose its fucking mind over Ash winning the Alolan League and glaring at post after post of people bypassing or insulting or simply saying “it doesn’t count” to one of my favorite battles, I feel like ripping a new asshole in several places.

But first, DISCLAIMER!

Be warned, yes this is my own personal opinion on this matter. Some people believe the exact opposite of me and that’s fine. Your opinion is noted and I think you’re trash. Take what I say with a heap of salt. Because I’m definitely in the minority. So here we go!

So on Sunday, September 15th, 2019, our boy Ash Ketchum finally did it. He did what he couldn’t do in the past 22 years. Something we only saw some mystery guy in Kanto, a random fuckboy from Johto, a dude with Meowth in Boots in Hoenn, a troll from Sinnoh, an Eevee-hoarder from Unova, and a dickhead in Kalos accomplish up to this point.

HE. WON. THE POKEMON LEAGUE!

Not since the infamous kiss of Yuri and Viktor from Yuri On Ice or the 19th episode of Demon Slayer or Myne about to be executed in The Rising of the Shield Hero have I seen such a magnitude of people losing their shit about anime. It was so crazy that Ash Ketchum was trending at #1 the entire day, news outlets like BBC and CNN were writing articles about this accomplishment, and yes, special outpouring from fans and relations alike.

Seriously, you all should read Rica Matsumoto’s interview and watch the video Veronica Taylor put out.

But I just can’t help but be bitchy about certain things people keep saying. It’s like a drill to a tooth it’s that annoying. First of all, just because he won a single championship, does not make him a “Pokemon Master”. And secondly, there was a league that Ash won 20 years prior to this victory. It’s called the Orange League.

Yes, I know. I’ve heard it all. “That’s not a real league because it was never in the manga and games. This was just a filler arc to prepare us for Johto so it’s nothing in the eyes of Arceus. The Orange Islands are a distant memory and Alola is doing everything right that your little arc couldn’t do. Screw your cherished memories! The Orange Islands aren’t even mentioned in the latest Pokemon Guidebook. They’re nothing! HARHARHARHAR”

Let me catch my breath before I threaten every fuckface that said any such thing with a punch to the throat.

Just because it wasn’t in the manga or games doesn’t mean it doesn’t count. Since when do you people hold that into account? Ash is absolutely NOT from the Pokemon Adventures manga (other manga, that’s a given) and definitely not a game character. A lot of things exist in the anime that don’t in the manga and games. And that includes characters too! Y’all remember Paul, right?

I seriously don’t get the likability of this guy. I personally find him as pleasant as renal failure. But the fanbase for this little shit is out of this world in the Pokemon fandom. And hey, guess what?! Paul is an anime-exclusive character? So should his fighting with Ash be illegitimate? Fuck no, what idiot would want that?! Right!

Add to that, the Pokemon Leagues have a different setup than they do in the manga and games. I don’t recall having to go through the top-tier system in any of the games to become champion of a region. You fight a bunch of Ace Trainers on Victory Road to level up so you can go up against the Elite Four and then take on the champion. The anime, you fight against other trainers who won the correct amount of badges needed to enter the league and knock each other out in pokemon battles.

I would always imagine that if Ash would win a championship from one of these leagues, that he would then go on to fight against the Elite Four and then Champion. But silly me for thinking such a thing could ever happen. That would have been so awesome to see in Sinnoh or Kalos! But I digress. Many things are different from the anime. Those stupid Princess (fuck I can’t remember what they’re called) that Serena was in weren’t in any other form. But people still worship the little princess and her stupid shenanigans like it’s going out of style.

In short, Orange Islands should not be written off just because it was never part of the manga or games!

Now onto those who say that because it’s from a filler arc this victory should not count as well. Or saying that because it’s different, it’s an illegitimate league and it doesn’t count. Who the fuck are you to say that? Was there a lost episode where some old crone comes and says the Orange League doesn’t count? NO. THERE WAS NOT. Now, I can’t recall if the creators/writers themselves have said anything on the matter. But until I see that, I’m just going to say this simple thing.

The word, “LEAGUE” is in the fucking title. Ash fought in the Orange LEAGUE and fucking won. Ash won a LEAGUE in 1999. There.

Now I admit, the Orange Island gyms were very different in terms of pokemon battles and even the league as well when compared to every other league up to this point. Some were a little hit-and-miss in the pay-off, but some were absolutely epic. Again, the Orange Islands gave us things you miscreants take for granted including region variant pokemon and double battles. That’s right, first official double battle was in the Orange Islands. Suck it!

But I think it’s because for the Orange League, it was only a two-episode saga and Ash was only battling one guy. Hey, don’t write that off! In case you hadn’t realized, that was also Ash’s very first six-on-six battle. And he fought against a champion who has a Dragonite with a total of 10 moves. So imagine all three Dragonites Lance uses in the Gold/Silver games and combine that into one Dragonite. The fact that Ash was able to win this particular battle astounds me to this day. I mean, if it was his Sinnoh or Kalos team, fuck yeah. But this was his early years with pre-evolved pokemon like Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.

Then again, Ash’s Alolan team wasn’t any better. I don’t think I should bring up that travesty you call a battle against Hau, do you? No. Let’s not!

Another overlooked victory of Ash’s was when Ash obtained all seven symbols from the Battle Frontier. Yeah, I can understand that since this was sort of filler between Hoenn and Sinnoh and there wasn’t an actual league. But can you all fully admit that you were able to defeat all of the Battle Frontier Brains in Pokemon Emerald? WITHOUT CHEATING OR USING A GAME SHARK?! Yes, Ash did that. And yes, he had to do several rematches when it came to battles against Anabel and Brandon, but he still managed to take down everyone. Yes, even Brandon with his legendary Regi-trio! Just because this was not an actual championship, doesn’t make it any less. He was offered a chance to become a Frontier Brain, but declined to do more traveling.

What I want to say is that the Orange League and the Battle Frontier shouldn’t be thrown in the trash just because they’re “different” from the status-quo pokemon league.

And as for Ash winning the league, I’m glad he finally won after such a long time. I mean, even if you did count the Orange League or Battle Frontier, it’s been a long time. I just really feel conflicted because it was THIS league that he won. Not the league where he and his Infernape proved to their rival that they are not pathetic. Not the league where he masters synchronization. This one.

The saga where he looks like Luffy’s idiot cousin. The saga where he doesn’t even have a full team. And to even come from the same league where he almost loses the whole match for putting all his faith in an insomniac birdo.

Fine, if I just ignore that match and pretend it never happened, Ash’s league matches were really good. He was able to take out the undefeatable Guzma and kicked Faba’s ass one more time just for good measure. And even though the finale was just a measly three-on-three (yeah, I’m a snob like that), Ash vs. Gladion was downright epic. Especially Lycanroc vs. Lycanroc. Give credit where credit is due.

I just ask you do the same for other victories.

BTW, Ash vs. Paul is still the best league battle. I’m just saying.

This has been Medea...and time to watch my yearly odometer roll over.

[babycharmander]

OKAY so I got to watch Detective Pikachu today! Was going to watch it tomorrow but I saw the earliest showtime was actually pretty reasonable so I decided to go today. I wore my "POKEMON CHAMPION" hoodie with a Caterpie plush pinned to my shoulder, and saw other folks dressed in Pikachu shirts and hoodies. No kids in my theater--all adults!

Anyway, so here is my SPOILER FREE review:

On the plus side... the Pokemon look GREAT. I remember when I watched the trailer, some of them didn't look quite right, but that's all fixed in the final film. They feel like they're there, and the interactions between the humans and Pokemon are great. Seriously I want to live in Ryme City, dang!! This also ties into the worldbuilding, which is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Like, you really believe in this world. Aaaaghhhhh I love it so much. Lots of easter eggs too, of course. Gonna see how many more I can find when I go to see the movie again.

The humor as well was fairly solid? I feel like they used a lot of their funnier jokes for the trailers, but there's still some really great scenes in there. You won't be laughing the entire time, but there's a few scenes in there that were... kindof amazing honestly, but I won't spoil them. There also wasn't as much toilet humor as I'd been fearing (if you've seen all the trailers, you've seen all of it), and there are a handful of mature jokes, but they'll go over kids' heads. (I mean, one of them went over MY head and someone just now explained it to me. <__>)

As for the story, like... I know a lot of people have been saying that it's really predictable, and yeah some of it is, but honestly a few of the plot points surprised me, and even the ones I DID see coming had GREAT reveals. I was genuinely shocked at a few points.

And... like, overall, this FELT like a Pokemon movie. It felt like a Pokemon movie that happened to be live action, and I loved it. It never really winked and nudged the audience about the fact that it was a Pokemon movie--it played its world totally straight, and I love it for that.

Now for the negative... To be honest the emotional scenes kinda fell flat for me. I totally got what they were going for and I still enjoyed them, but I didn't really "feel" it. The pacing also wasn't great--it was kindof all over the place, mostly moving too fast. I felt a little lost at a few points, but eventually caught up with stuff.

And... yeah of course there's a romance that really does nothing and goes nowhere. <__> The writing was a bit weak between those two characters. But honestly they did so little with it that it didn't bug me too much.

But TL;DR: if you're a Pokemon fan, GO SEE THIS!!

There's more I wanna say, but the rest WILL contain spoilers, so I'm putting it under a cut.

Okay so first off... the Cubone scene at the beginning was hilarious. Seeing a grown man running away screaming from a teeny tiny Pokemon was amazing.

The Mr. Mime scene was GREAT but WOW they used some mega-dark humor there.

I really really really loved the Charizard. I liked him and his trainer--the trainer really seemed to care about him ("my baby!!") but the trainer using the R-dust on him... really?? noooo don't do that. Also the poor Charizard whimpering when he came to and saw the Gyarados. XD;; Poor thing.

The Torterra scene was SO COOL. Like I... somehow didn't see that coming. I had figured they might run into some big Torterras later but not MOUNTAIN-SIZED ONES. WOW.

"POOkeeeMOooNnnn... gotta caaAaatch em AaaaAAALL..." oh my GOSH that was AMAZING

also Ditto is officially the most terrifying Pokemon okay goodness  gracious sakes ALIVE I mean I knew it was coming when we first saw the woman in the sunglasses... Like, I knew she was a Ditto when she never talked. But like, the big reveal when she takes off her sunglasses... OH MY GOSH??? THAT WAS HORRIFYING??? When it turned into other Pokemon that was fine but PLEASE NEVER BECOME HUMAN AGAIN

For something a bit less positive though, the villain... Like, the connection with Mewtwo thing was pretty legit scary, but I also felt kindof weird watching the villain 'cuz like... you've got a disabled villain that ruins things for everyone by trying to overcome his disability?? That's... ehh... But I talked with some other folks about it later, who pointed out that he also has an oversized ego and believed he knew more than anyone else and wanted to save the world and all that, so it's not totally his disability that makes him evil.

So... overall I had a good time, and I really want to see the movie again. May take my nephews to go see it, since they're interested in seeing it because Ryan Reynolds. XD;

[nyxabird]

What I want from Pokemon Sword/Shield

What I hope for in Pokemon Sword/Shield. I thought about making this a video, and I might still, but it’s so long that I thought a list here would be better to start with at least.

I know a lot of people are doing videos like this, where they're saying "this is what I'd love to see or not see in Pokemon Sword/Shield", but I'd honestly like to throw my opinion out there, too. There's so much we're hoping from in these games, and some of the points I think of I haven't seen other people address at all. And of course, I just have my own things that would make the games more fun for me, so. In no real order, here's what I hope for in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

1. No Fire/Fighting Starter.

Don't make Scorbunny fighting. Don't make Scorbunny fighting. For the love of god, DON'T MAKE SCORBUNNY FIGHTING.

Look. I like most of the starters overall, and both Chimchar and Torchic are some I think are really good, personally. But unlike the other two, Fire has just gotten this habit of dropping into fighting as its sub-type, and quite frankly that's just boring at this point. Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar, all one after another, were just too much. They did REALLY good subverting this with the Fire/Psychic starter of Delphox, and while I don't personally care for it, I like the fact that Incineroar was Fire/Dark, even though its theme could have so easily been dropped into fighting.

Make it anything else. Literally anything else. No one cares what its other type is, or if it'll even have another type, as long as it ISN'T. FIGHTING. The little bandage on its face is making us worried, but with Inceniroar you proved you could have a fighting-styled theme without actually being fighting type. Please, do that again.

I, too, will accept literally any type match but Fire/Fighting. Though if I could personally choose, I'd ask for Fairy or Dark again. It'd be nice to have a Fire/Dark I actually really like.

2. No shiny locking.

Nintendo has picked up this habit of making legendaries, especially the cover Pokemon, impossible to roll as shiny.  Basically, they're hard-coded so that when you encounter them, they cannot be shiny. That needs to stop. Just... yeah. Don't do that. Stop doing that. That's really all there is to it. It's a bad thing you're doing and you need to quit. It's literally MORE work to do for no reason. Just stop it.

3. Keep easier ways to find shinies.

Easy is a bit of a misnomer, because there's no way to easily get a shiny, no matter what anyone says. But there are ways to make it easIER, and I think that needs to be kept. Whether it's chain-catching like in Pokemon Let's Go or something else, give us a way that's actually possible to do to get shinies. Do not bring back that stupid "pick the right shaking grass when all of them are two pixels different" minigame. That's a BAD WAY to do it. Give us a way, and give us a way that actually can work, not make us lose our progress because we don't have eyes like eagles.

4. No motion controls.

Now, I don't think Pokemon Let's Go had a bad catching mechanic... IF the game was in handheld mode. The idea of being able to catch Pokemon without wearing down my team was actually really good, and it was something I liked a lot. I did miss being able to battle wild Pokemon and make them easier to catch, but if the Let's Go catching mechanic comes back I won't mind...

IF it works like it does in handheld mode. Docked mode was AWFUL. There's no ifs, ands, or buts, it was just badly. Programmed. No one liked it. No one enjoyed it. It was never consistent and often times was completely opposite to whatever you wanted to do.

5. Pokemon that follow you.

Like in the Johto remakes or Pokemon Let's Go, let your Pokemon follow you. We know you can do it. You actually DID do it in the Alola games, because there's data of every single Pokemon model with walk and run cycles on the cartritage that you just never actually let us access, so don't try to claim this isn't something you can't do. On top of that, the Switch is way bigger than the 3DS' carts. You have room. You have the skill. Give it to us.

6. New Eeveelutions.

Please, please, PLEASE. Give us new 'eons. It's been way too long without getting new Eevee forms, and you have so many types you can still make it from. Give us SOMETHING. ANYTHING. You're creative, you can come up with various ways to do stuff. What about a Steel-type that evolves when you level it up holding a Metal Coat? Or a Fighting-type that evolves if you get it to a certain level? Just give us SOMETHING.

Me, personally, I'd love to see a Dragon-type, Poison-type, or Ground-type Eeveelution, because I'm always short on those types and I think they'd be awesome.

7. Bring back Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves.

They're cool, they're fun, and they make things more interesting. I've heard people complain about how it ruins competitive battling because it's unpredictable, to which I say "Why is your competitive battling completely predictable? That sounds boring and not actually competitive if you can plug in a formula and have it work." Some people say that it makes the game too easy, to which I say "Then stop using them." It's the same as people complaining there's difficulty levels in games; you think the easy mode is too easy for you, then just don't play on the easy mode. If you think Z-Moves or Mega Evolution make the game too easy for you, then just don't use them. No one's forcing you to, and taking away something other people enjoy because you have no self-control over not using them is just really rude. I mean, no one says the magic system in Dark Souls makes the game too easy, so that needs to be removed!

...actually, there probably are people who say that, depressingly enough.

Anyway. For me, I love that I can make my Pokemon feel super powerful for a moment, or just use Z-Move to skip over a specific trainer or specific Pokemon that I just don't want to deal with. It gives you options on how to handle your own game and lets you balance your own difficulty for it, which is what all the best games do. And let's not forget the core, most basic reason: they're just FUN.

8. Skippable cutscenes.

It's 2019. How do you not have this yet? Some people want to replay the game. Some people don't care about the story. Some people just want to get to a certain part. It doesn't matter. What matters is that every single cutscene in your game that doesn't require a vital decision -- and don't try to be dishonest, nothing but the opening cutscene has any actual decisions, they're all fake ones to make you feel like you're actually having an effect -- should be skippable. Straight out, out of the box. No ifs, ands, or buts.

9. No forced tutorial.

I've played Pokemon since Red and Blue. I know how Pokemon works. I know how to catch Pokemon. You're trying to teach a fish to swim.

I'm not against these tutorials. There are plenty of new people getting into Pokemon games every release, and they need it. No one doubts that. But there is absolutely no reason that these tutorials are MANDATORY. If the new people skip the tutorials, that's their own fault, not yours, and they can't complain about the bed they made for themselves. So please, for the love of god, don't torture the rest of us because some idiot might skip the tutorial and then get mad.

10. The Regional Pokedex is what matters.

Sun and Moon did this fantastically. Basically, this means that for things that require you to complete the Pokedex, like the Shiny Charm? Only the Pokemon that can be caught in the actual region count. You can still catch and register Pokemon that aren't in your Regional Pokedex, but you aren't required to in order to "complete" the Pokedex. That was something that was amazing in Sun/Moon and made the game NOT a painful, daunting slog to actually get things like the Shiny Charm in. Please do that again.

11. No HMs.

I sincerely doubt this'll be a problem, since none of the latest generation games had HMs, but this is still something that bears repeating. HMs are not fun. No one likes HMs. They're just irritating, pointless moves that get in your way and force you to either devote a slot or two in your party to a Pokemon you don't care for or trash the combat ability of the Pokemon you actually have. Whether it's Ride Pokemon or Secret Techniques or whatever... make it happen.

I, and I'm sure many other people, literally do not care if you just put a piece of plastic tape over a plot hole. If it means that we don't have to use HMs, every single one of us will ignore the giant gaping hole in space with nary a single comment.

12. Wild Pokemon that walk in the overworld.

This was, to me, the absolute best part of Pokemon Let's Go. Being able to see the Pokemon in the overworld not only makes it feel far more alive, but it makes actually hunting around a lot more enjoyable, too. This mechanic made caves FUN AGAIN. I literally HAD FUN in Mt. Moon and Rock Tunnel because of this. Those weren't fun when they were first released and every other cave after that has never been fun unless you packed hundreds of repels. Now? Caves are enjoyable because you can fight or dodge however you want, because you can SEE where things are.

13. Human Rivals.

Now I know this is a very controversial opinion, and if you don’t like that’s perfectly fine, but don’t try to insult me over it.

I hate rivals with nasty personalities that treat you like shit.

I want a rival that is actually tolerable and acts like a real person, not some entitled whiny manbaby bitch who's high on his own ego.

I will never understand how people seriously enjoyed people like Blue, who were just complete insufferable pricks. They often made me roll my eyes and ruined the experience because they were just so unrepentantly rude and assholeish, no matter what you did, and they never changed. Some people "love to hate" insufferable, intolerable assholes, I guess, and love to beat them down over and over. And if you do? Awesome! I’m glad to hear it.

But for me, they just detract from a game because they constantly have to go "Oh hey, you're that useless shitwad no one likes, hahaha let me treat you like piss on my shoe". Beating them gives you satisfaction, sure, but no matter what you do or how you win, all your interactions with them are negative. That satisfaction comes from "Hah hah, I beat up the dude who's rude to me", and that's just... to me, that doesn't stay satisfying. Eventually I just start getting angry that this shitheel won’t go away and leave me alone, because them being around isn’t fun anymore.

I don't necessarily want the rival to be your best friend or the nicest person in the world. I really liked people like Silver and Gladion, but that was because while they were assholes at the start, you saw them grow and change and become better and happier people as the game went on. Was Silver ever super chummy with you? Pft, hell no! Not even close! But that was okay, because you still saw him change into a dude who was actually tolerable and not stay as the prick with his head so far up his ass he was tasting breakfast. And that was awesome!

My favorite rivals, honestly? Are ones like Hau, who were your rivals but also your friends, so your interactions with them were positive and fun. My mood always skyrocketing whenever I talked to Hau because he was just so friendly and cute, and that’s what I found far, far more satisfying than some prick who’d come around to call me a worthless shithead.

Pokemon Rivals aren't like the big bad in games like Final Fantasy. You're stuck with them, you can't get away from them, and you're not solving some big super evil by getting rid of them and making yourself feel satisfied. You’re just having this asshole who’s being rude to you for literally no reason stalk you and refuse to let you get away.

That’s insanely creepy and nasty. You're just being BULLIED with rivals like that, and I genuinely cannot understand why people seem to love being bullied in their own game by an insufferable prick who's so drunk on their own ego they think they're Arceus' gift to the world. The satisfaction of beating them feels outweighed by the negative feelings you have of them constantly berating and putting you down.

Maybe it's just because I'm from a home life where I was constantly bullied and ridiculed by all of my cousins, but I just can't find that sort of thing enjoyable. It's part of why I don't replay the Kanto games anywhere near as much as I replay the other ones, despite Kanto being my home region. (I honestly thought PLG was better than the original because Blue wasn’t there to be an insufferable, entitled manbaby egotist)

If it were up to me, honestly, I'd let you pick your rival like you could pick your gender. One rival's the Hau-type, one rival's the Blue-type, and the one you don't pick doesn't show up in game. That way, everyone could have what they want. Barring that, I really, really don't want to see another rival that's completely inhuman because all they are is an entitled prick there to bully you. I don't care if it's like Silver or Gladion, where they're rude at first but become genuinely likeable later, or if it's like Hau where they're always nice. Just... give me an actual rival, not some guy's fragile and inflated ego wrapped in a human suit.

I genuinely have no idea how so many people think having a person who doesn’t treat you like you’re a piece of shit unworthy of life is so bad it can be considered a plague and something that needs rectifying.

14. Side games! But make them optional.

Give us more side stuff to do! Pokemon Contests, Pokeathelon, the Festival Plaza... The Battle Tower. These were all fun things to do. When they were OPTIONAL. I think we need stuff like the casino and Voltorb Flip, or an area like the Festival Plaza we can design, because those are actually fun things to do. But I also think they need to be completely skippable for people who don't want them. Forcing people into doing side-games is a sure-fire way to get that side-game hated, but making it available gives us so much more we can do. It'd sure make the post game more fun.

15. Character Customization.

Hair, eyes, skin. These should all be default customization options, either able to change very early on or able to pick at the start. Alola was pretty good at this. Do it again.

16. CLOTHES.

Clothes, clothes, clothes. For the love of god, give us clothes again. Not your shitty Pokemon Let's Go no-effort recolors your artist did while on his way home from work. Not the "two shirt models, two skirt models, and a pants model with recolors" thing you did Alola. Actual clothing. Dresses, different skirts, different pants. What about that big black coat-dress I got from Kalos? Or the boots? The hose? We know you can make these designs. Actually make them.

17. Pokeball Conversion.

Let us put caught Pokemon in a Pokeball different from what we caught in it. If we want to put our starter in a Luxury Ball, just let us spend one Luxury Ball and bam, do it! Overwrite the ball it's in now. It shouldn't really be that hard since you can outright edit IVs.

18. Secret Bases or the Underground!

Give us Secret Bases back! They were amazing and fun, and being able to make your own base -- especially a base your friend could download so they could fight you on your own time! Being able to buy and decorate, or place it randomly, was also amazing. Failing Secret Bases, give us back the Underground from Sinnoh where we could dig and find items and... well, yeah, make a base down there too.

Just give us some way to make our mark on the game world. Even better if we can set a fly-point there and put our own heal station in. That way, if there's a place we want to grind, well. We can just grind there, or if we needed a break because our Pokemon were getting battered. You don't have the make the furniture easy to get, but give us some way to make our own little spot we can get cozy in, rather than the house we'll never revisit because there's no reason to ever go back there.

19. A final area where the game doesn't cheat.

I breed Pokemon competitively. I breed until a Pokemon has the extact right IVs, the exact right nature, the exact right ability. I breed Egg Moves and everything else that would cover their types. And still, things like the Battle Tree are just an unfun, messy slogy for me. The main issue I have with it is that so many times, it seems like the game outright cheats. I can't tell you how many different teams I went in, only to find that a trainer early on had hard counters for every single member of my team. Once is circumstance, twice is happenstance, but three times is a pattern... and I had no less than ten. Different Pokemon, different team comps, different days, and still, I very regularly got hard-countered.

I don't care that these options are hard. By all means, keep them hard! They're meant to be. But stop cheating and making the AI pick out a hard-counter team to yours just because you're "doing too well". I've seen it in so many post-game Pokemons, and it really needs to stop.

[amnachil]

The College Society Chapter 1 Part 2

Hi guys ! The next part of our story.

Hope you’ll like it ! :)

Liam Thursday September 7

Nick nudged him and the young lad raised his head, still sleepy. It was their first lesson of the morning, and Liam felt like an undead (he didn't really know how felt the undead, but whatever). The professor was speaking about microeconomics, which was probably interesting but not enough to maintain him awake. Next to him, his roommate and Rebecca, their neighbor, were listening with attention. I guess I'll just take note from their courses. Yesterday night, the swimteam made a party (in fact, they were supposed to make party every night this week), and Liam still felt weak because he didn't sleep enough. (Usually, boys don't admit they are weak, but the lad didn't care : he was weak without his sleep). Nevertheless, his attention was appealed by a blonde girl who entered the amphiteater near to the professor and went to the bench. When this latter pointed the time out to her, she replied slowly :

"I'm sorry."

This tone... A blonde girl with glasses. Liam wasn't a genius. To be fairly honest, he certainly was a bit stupid, but he recognised her. She was Barbara, her schoolmate during 11th grade, who left the town for her 12th grade without any explanation. She hadn't changed that much... What is she doing there ? He decided to meet her right after this lesson, but then remembered she would probably ask him about his private situation, and he didn't want to answer. (Okay, she would question him about his ex, and he especially didn't want to speak about his ex). (Neither his family by the way). (Well, he didn't want to talk at all). It's probably better to not meet her. After all, I'm not the Liam she knew, and she probably changed too... Even if we both know it's a feeble excuse to avoid her. (both are Liam now and Liam before, if someone wonder, Liam is frequently speaking to himself).

"By the way, are you coming this weekend to the induction seminar organized by Theo ?" asked Nick, dragging the lad out of his mind.

"You know I have to work dude. Every weekend, at the Pasta's Place. I've a contract."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about this."

Rebecca, who listened silently their discussion, took part :

"I guess it's for cover the bill on your studies, Liam ? And you Nick, what are you doing in order to pay the university ? Have you a scolarship, like me ?"

"You may be surprised, but yes, I have a scolarship. And yes, Liam is working to pay the bills because his family can't help him. Anything else, Sherlock Holmes ?"

The black girl looked at him for a sec, and then frowned her eyes angrily. Damn... Why it's always finishing like this ? They knew each other since three days, and those two already had arguments four times. Nick got an humor Rebecca didn't really like. And who is between them ? Liam, this brave and strong Liam. Which was a lie, because he may have a good physic, he was scared by Rebecca like a little girl in front of a dinosaur. What on earth she had been eating to be that tall ? (The unicorns hadn't say anything about her yet).

"I'll not punch you in the face, geek." she eventually mumbled. "But seriously, you have to stop with those fucking jokes."

Nick smiled (but Liam glimpsed a glint of relief in his eyes), and the trio went back to the lesson (or the sleeping, depending of who we are speaking about).

This evening, once alone with Nick in their flat, Liam decided to sleep a bit before the party, and went to his room when his roommate called him. What now ? The young lad headed towards the kitchen, where is friend was waiting him. On the table were stored several variety of foods, and in huge amount.

"Look at this ! It's everything I bought for the next week. Do you think it will be enough ?"

Beer, pasta, burger, beer, potatoes, pizza, beer, meat, peanut butter, beer, bacon, sausage and again beer. I swore to my mom I will not say any cuss word, but... C'mon.

"I know what you're thinking." assured Nick. "They may not have enough snack, but that's why I bought this too..."

He showed a enormous bag full of pre-cooked pancakes. Pancakes. Those demonics pancakes. Liam, keep cool please. The young lad smiled prudently, trying to hold the insult he was thinking about.

"It seems nice... But don't you think there is a lack of... vegetable ? You don't fear to gain weight by only eating this and drinking beer ?"

Nick laughed.

"To reminder, you made us join a sport team. We'll train every day, so I think we can eat whatever we want. Plus, I don't really care about this craps. We're at university and free dude ! Just relax ! Look, I suggest starting by pizza. There is tomato on it, it's a vegetable ! Fine ?"

Did Liam already mention he had no willpower ? He didn't want to tell off Nick. And anyway, he could let his friend eat whatever he wanted, and watch his own consumption. They put the same amount of money in this, but the brown-haired boy was ready to pass over it.

"Fine." he eventually gave in. "I'll take a shower, and then eat a bit of pizza, since you insisted."

"Cool ! I knew you were cool !" shouted happily Nick.

"Shut the fuck up motherfuckers ! Can't we have peace ?!" yelled back Rebecca through the wall.

Rebecca Friday September 8

Faster. Her legs were moving by step, used to this excercise. A whistle blast resounded. Faster. Not that far, some students were looking at her with amazement. She was the only one in the stadium running. Faster. She sped up for the home straight. Her foot flew over the sand. And she crossed the finishing line. A bunch of spectator applauded with enthusiasm. However, Rebecca ignored them and focused on the only person she wanted to impress. Of course, he wasn't impressed.

"You can run faster." he said. "Don't take it wrong : it was nice. Really nice. But you can go faster."

"I tried." she replied. "But I don't feel perfectly at ease in this stadium yet. I have to appropriate the field."

Bob smiled. He was wearing a bermuda short and a tee-shirt today. Nothing complicated, but it showed his awesome physic. Despite being over 40yo, he had the body of a young man, strong, muscled and fucking impressive. And back in his youth, he used to be a national runner, and one of the best. Needless to say, Rebecca admired him. And she wanted to make him proud.

"Tournaments will not always take place in a stadium you know." he stated. "You have to be faster in any situation. Olympics are in two years, remember ?"

She laughed. Don't worry, I remember it very well.

"Anyway, let's go, you have to get ready for your lesson."

They went to the locker room, and she changed fast before joining him. After every session, Bob always took some news about her private life. He wanted her to be in a optimal environment.

"So, are classes good ?" he asked.

"Yeah, pretty interesting. We're learning the individual comportment of each economic player."

Her personnal trainer smiled. Himself didn't make any study. He had been only running, and then, he had become a private coach. He had met Rebecca's parents three years ago, and as she was already gifted, they had decided to hire him.

"And what about your friends ? This... Nick. Is he an athlete, eventually ?"

The black girl cast a glance at Bob. She wasn't sure to understand what he was implying.

"He's doing some natation. At least when the training will start, because as you know, for now it's the first week."

They were in front of her amphiteather. Around them, students were going in for the macroeconomics lesson. She wanted to say something, but Pete interrupted her when he arrived.

"Hey Rebecca !" he greeted her. "Hi sir. Ready for the most annoying lesson ever ?"

As a law student, Pete had only macroeconomics with her, but he took advantage of it to stay with the other swimteam member as Liam and Nick. However, he could have wait before coming to see me... I really don't understand what he expects from me... Bob scrutinized the newcomer, and then smiled.

"Hello young man. Rebbie, I have to go, see you on Monday. Be prudent this weekend during the induction seminar."

"I'll coach, I'll."

The well called induction seminar started in fact tonight, and she took the bus with a bit of apprehension. She sat next to Nick, who was already playing to his gameboy (seriously, who was still playing to gameboy nowadays ?). Anyway, Nick isn't the one I fear the most. He could be clumsy, but he knew when to stop. Nevertheless the swimteam was made up five girls (it had appeared they were only four before and Pete had said bullshits) and thirty-three boys. This was way too many male testosterone for her. But she had decided to come, in order to make some friends, and she would face any danger. After all, Nick is with me... She looked his screen, curious.

"Are you playing pokemon ?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know what is it ?"

He used his ironic tone, but she blushed. To be fairly honest, no, she didn't really know what it was. She had heard of pokemon, like everyone else, but that was all. Her family preferred train her for running. Nick realised his joke went wrong, and looked at her.

"Wait, you don't know what pokemon is ? Don't tell me you never played any games ?"

"I'll not tell you this, don't worry."

He opened his eyes wide and whispered :

"You missed your life. God I can't believe it. How can you be alive ?"

"By breathing and drinking and eating, asshole. Stop making fun of me."

"Oh god, I can't stay here doing nothing. Just... take this. You have to play."

Rebecca stared at him, surprised. He's not laughing... He wants me to try. Finally, maybe some boys were still too childish to be dangerous... She took the gameboy, and started to play, listenning to his advice. And strangely, she had fun. Way more fun than she expected.

Pete Saturday September 9

There was a watchword when you went to a induction seminar the young lad decided to respect. Do not be drunk. Being drunk was like being a prey for the lions. However, even sober, Pete had a lot of fun starting from friday night and until the next morning. Right now, he was quietly sat with Theo and a few boys, half stunned by the spliff they just smoked. The team captain was discoursing on the benefit of having a dog at home, and they all listenned to him silently. He's so smart. And I love this voice... Drug effect was quite sucessful on Pete. He was literally dreaming. Slowly, he stood up and mumbled :

"I have to pee."

Someone nodded. Next to them, a bunch of boys looked towards him. One of them laughed and shouted :

"Hey Pete ! Come over here please !"

Without even noticing it, the young lad obeyed and stopped in front of the boy. He was completely elsewhere. Like, in clouds. The sophomore (he guessed it was a sophomore) looked at him.

"Can you please take off this shirt. I want to show something to my friends."

Pete submitted. He undo the buttons, and throw his shirt away. Some boys laughed. The sophome yelled :

"I told ya dudes he was fat. Look at this."

He patted Pete's belly. It jiggled a bit, making them burst into laughter.

"I understand why you want to make some swimming little boy." teased the boy. "There is a baby fat to erase because someone indulged too much during summer !"

The freshman shrugged. He was indifferent to laughs and teasing. He only wanted to pee. Therefore he left them, and went into the woods. Alone, and quiet.

Once satisfied, Pete headed towards the camp when someone caught him and pinned him against a tree. He didn't have even time to realize something was going wrong that his agressor kissed him. A hand went down to his belly, and rubbed it with excitation. Pete closed his eyes and sighed with pleasure. A second hand sneaked in his pants and boxer to find his crotch and started to stroke it.

"Please, don't stop." begged the young lad.

Himself found a way towards the ass of his partner. A solid and muscled ass. It was hot. He could feel their breaths mix up as their body came closer. One moment, Pete thought it was not discreet to make it here, but his desire got the upper hand. With a moan, Theo whispered :

"Don't listen to them... I really love this little bulge."

And he loved it during the whole weekend with a growing passion.

To be continued

Part 3 in one week I hope :)

[prof-peach]

Hello professor, I have a pretty heavy question I’m afraid, but I’m running out of people to ask, so I’ll try my best to keep it PG13.

It’s my Mienshao, Daisy. Up until recently, she and I were members of a police task force tasked with rooting out illegal Pokemon smuggling rings and underground high stakes tournaments. We’ve been partners for a long time, me and Daisy, we grew up together, and I dare say we made a great team. But then things went wrong.

For the sake of security I can’t go into too much detail, but we were participating in a raid when we got ambushed. Someone must have tipped the smugglers off, because they were waiting for us when we got there. During the firefight, there was an explosion, a gas tank got set on fire by a charizard, I believe, and Daisy and I happened to be close. She got out with a few minor burns and scrapes, I... Did not.

I’ll spare you the gory details, but I have been confined to a wheel chair ever since, and I am due to be fitted for a prosthetic leg next week.

I won’t lie, the transition has been hard for everybody, me, my friends, my family. My other Pokémon have been hovering around me like over protective nannies for weeks. But I think out of all of us, Daisy has been taking it the hardest. Half of the day she spends locked to my side like a bodyguard, threatening to punch anyone that gets too close into oblivion. And the other half, well...

She’s started putting herself through some kind of hellish self training routine. Doing katas until she all but collapses from exhaustion, running laps for hours, fighting every Pokemon she can convince to fight, wild or trained. Daisy’s always been tough, and she’s always loved training, but this... This isn’t training, it’s a death march. I’m getting extremely worried, and that’s not even everything!

She’s stopped eating her favorite foods, deliberately choosing ones I know she hates, she won’t let me pet her anymore, she just steps out of reach, trying not to look at me. But most worryingly, she’s started cutting off her whiskers. She’s always been so proud of her whiskers, she groomed them every day, always got grumpy when I teased her for having a big ol’ mustache. Now anytime they get longer than an inch, she slices them off with her claws and throws them in fireplace, like some kind ceromony.

I’m almost certain Daisy feels guilty for coming out mostly unscathed, when I didn’t. She’s always been a bit protective, even before we joined the police, and she’s saved my life multiple times out in the field, but now she feels like she’s failed me, I think. I’ve tried to convince her that it wasn’t her fault, but that only seems to redouble her efforts. I’m terrified she’s going to burn herself out if she keeps going like this, and I don’t know what to do.

I know this is a pretty heavy question, but I I’m not sure who else to ask. Is there anything I can do to convince her that she doesn’t need to hurt herself like this? Or, something? Just anything to help! Losing my leg was jarring, but losing Daisy would be unbearable!... I just... I just want my best friend to be okay.

I am sorry for what you’ve been through, I cannot begin to understand what it’s like to be in your shoes, but like all recovery, physical or mental, this will take a fair bit of time to get past, you both may never fully return to how things were, but it can get better and you can both return to a full life together with work and dedication.

I’ve certainly seen Pokemon go to extreme lengths after dangerous incidents to protect their loved ones or themselves, in this case it would be wise to assume your pokemons suffering with a hefty bill of PTSD, and needs some actual therapy to handle the feelings and thoughts they’re having. We have facilities to accommodate that if you’re local to Johto, but most Pokemon centres will be able to put you in contact with reliable and certified practices to begin unravelling the issues that now plague Daisy.

That she considers herself to have come away reasonably unscathed is not true, yes your life has physically changed, but she needs to step back and take a look at her life too. Everything’s different now, and more specifically how she’s treating herself and handling her feelings. If that’s not trauma and injury, I don’t know what else it could be. You both came away with damage that day, physical or not. The first step is to help her see that, and to begin to understand that despite this all, you can both continue to move forward together if you can overcome the injury together, it is an event you shared, and you two can aid each others recovery with time and care.

There’s some seriously gifted therapists out there, those who study for years and can help far more than me, they’ll take time to break down the events, and start to really get into the feelings that your partner is going through. The cycle for Daisy right now comes around to self-punishment, and seems to be stuck on a loop. She needs time and space to process her feelings of guilt, grief, fear and loss, facing them instead of burying herself in her rigorous training. While it is difficult to discuss, you two have a strong bond that means you could talk with her. Try to remind her who’s truly responsible, she may be blaming herself, which is pretty common in these situations, but at the root of it, you were doing your routine job, and the bad guys, the Pokemon smugglers and goons are to blame. THEY caused the issue, not her, and while it may not sink in right away it’s worth saying, and sticking to. You said you told her that it wasn’t her fault, which is the gut reaction, perhaps giving her a logical target instead of herself will work better for now. Reiterating the true issue, and taking the heat off of her may help with other tasks such as self care, later down the recovery road.

Her guilt will feel terrible, but it kind of works as a protector, keeping her distanced from the worse, more overwhelming feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. In fact the guilt that masks this all will slowly make things worse over time. That underlying intense emotion below the guilt is what you both need to work through, but more than anything, she needs to face it, in her own time, come to terms with it, and eventually (hopefully) come to an understanding that life is an endless cycle of events, things will happen, but you have to pick yourself up and turn the lemons into lemonade. She could have lost you that day, that you came away with your life is a miracle, and now you two get more time together because of that. Luck isn’t something that runs out, it’s not like there’s only so much of it to go around, it is like wining the lottery. Sometimes 20 people win, other times no one does. It’s hard to accept, but there’s no greater order to stuff that happens, but when we can come to this conclusion, it’s oddly freeing. I’ve seen a fair few Pokemon in a symilar state who can move on when they realise there’s an odd randomness to the world and everything that goes on.

This is a job for someone with far greater skills than I, but you must help her by also looking after yourself, laugh when you can, show her that your life is still very full, and that you have loved ones, and joy to share with others. You mentioned that you’re due a prosthetic, and though the transition will be long and no doubt a little difficult at first, getting yourself back on two feet (kind of) will show her, and your other Pokemon that you’re willing to move forward. I think there’s a lot to be said about talking during this all. She wants to fight, to be strong, if this is how she’s going to cope, fine. If she’s out training, sit with her, spend whatever time you can by her side, as she’s taking this the hardest. You don’t have to say a thing, just try to do your best, without putting yourself in too much discomfort or pain. Reminding her who would be devastated if it had been her who got hurt, if she was not around, may help ground her back in reality a bit. You both got granted a gift that day, you came away alive, if she works so hard she burns out, that gift was wasted. She can use her kindness, and strength to help you, she can pass her knowledge and skill forward, but it’s hard to help others, and do your best if you’re exhausted beyond reason. Kind of like trying to give people bread from a basket but the damn basket is empty yknow? You got to take time to refill so you can help those around you again, so you have some bread to give. I know, probably sounds a little dumb but it’s always been the way I remember it.

Another very useful thing I’ve found with trauma survivors would be meeting others who have been in the same position. There’s plenty of support groups for both people and Pokemon who have been through events that left them in a difficult situation, emotionally and physically. Even here at the lab we have many species who have been left without limbs, with life changing damage, and a lot of them also have the emotional trauma too. She would probably do well to spend time with them, you can send her to a resort to retreat and recoup erase, mix with others who were just as angry as she is now, or you can take time to go with her to groups to interact with others. It’s one thing to have humans help, but it’s a whole other level of connection when Pokemon can help their own. They bond quicker, trust faster, and generally are more open to listening when it’s coming from a place of mutual experience. If she had time to talk to pokemon who actually lost their trainers, or parts of themselves, she may find some peace, even if only temporarily.

Don’t mention the whiskers, and where possible don’t offer her foods she actively likes, but also not ones she actively dislikes. Just for now. Start the ball rolling with just plain simple things that are neither good or bad. Indifferent is better than bad right now, the punishment she’s inflicting on herself will need addressing further, so contact a therapist, they use Rotom or porygon to translate from poke-speech to human language, and the repair can begin with a registered professional. My advice is not sound proof, I certainly feel like I have missed something important, it’s a big response, but it’s a start in the right direction, and should you come up to any further issues, message back and update us with what’s going on. With work you two will be on track to recover. Remember, patience is the biggest thing here, you two have history, and a therapist will no doubt take the sessions as a pair, and work with you to help Daisy feel less guilty over time. I hope you both find peace, and that both of you repair in due time. Good luck with the new leg, a step towards recovery for sure.

[littlestartemis]

I have nothing better to do so I’ve decided to ramble my opinions on all of the pokemon rivals in sequential order. Under the cut cause I intend to go into detail on these.

Blue

This kid is a mixed bag for me. Part of his problem is that he just suffers from being a generation 1 character, which means only having one character trait apparently. Yes, he’s a jerk, the first ever jerk rival, and people love that, but being a jerk without nuance just makes you... loathsome. Even some of the weaker rivals, I still had these surprised moments of joy when my gameplay was halted to duke it out with them. With Blue? He’s the only one I ever uttered a groan at. “Oh good, this fucker has to waste me time and make me backtrack to a pokemon center to patch myself up before moving on.” The most insufferable thing about him is that no matter what, no matter how many times you put him in the dirt, he’s always convinced he’s so much better than you...

Until later games. It’s never stated what happened. If he had some self reflection, if Oak sat him down and told him to grow the fuck up, or what. But the next time we see him in the generation 2 games and onward, he’s still got this aura of smug confidence about him, but he seems more matured despite it. Like yeah, he’s hot shit, but you can be too if you work hard enough, maybe even almost as good as him. And while I love all of that for his character, that all comes after the fact. So as it stands, the Rival Blue, is lackluster, annoying, a headache, and undeserving of such a good fucking champion theme. Also the bitch has no unique rival battle theme unlike literally anyone else.

I’m also going to go into their music, though not nearly as much as their character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5s4VYC9xR4

There are so many official variations and remixes and retoolings of the Kanto Champion theme that picking the “Best One” would be a practice in futility I think, so I just picked one of the better ones. What I have to say applies to pretty much all of them. And goodness, while I think Blue is a lukewarm rival it’s no wonder why this track has stood the test of time. Normally champion themes are in one of two categories, at least for me. The buildup themes, or the 0-100 themes. Some of them take some time to get there, to make you sweat a little as you realize who you’re dealing with, and some of them just kick down the door and GO. Blue’s theme though is interesting in that it kind of does both. It’s powerful, it’s oppressive in its composition and instrumentation, but there is just the tiniest buildup right after the bombastic kick off. I love it, it’s a strong theme with no real weaknesses.

5/10 rival, 8/10 character and theme

Silver

I think there was a time where if you asked around communities who long time player’s favorite rival was, a good majority would probably say Silver, and for good reason. He was another jerk rival, but with that fun little word I used before; nuance. He was mean, but rather than very deliberately being rude to you, it seemed more like he had other plans that you just happened to keep standing in the way of. He had a goal and he was going to accomplish it. And what was that? Curb stomping anybody brave or stupid enough to traipse around in a black and red uniform. This kid had a clear cut vendetta against team rocket, but instead of making him your ally with a goal like that, it set you as his obstacle every victory for you was one less for him, one less distraught rocket face he would get to see. And we even find out later why, and it’s fascinating. Giovanni’s kid? That’s utterly unique, and it really puts his hatred of team rocket and the idea of finding strength in others into a perspective you can really understand. Not to mention, there’s a bit of storytelling through gameplay with Silver that I’m sure most veteran pokemon fans know. So, he gets a Zubat on his team. Cool, right, edgy bat fits with the edgy tween. But at the very end of the game, when he’s been beaten time and time again and forced to confront why he isn’t strong enough, he realizes it’s because he’s been thinking only of his own strength, and not how much stronger his pokemon could be if they had his genuine care and support. And lo and behold, in his postgame battles, he’s got a proud, fully evolved Crobat on his team, which can only evolve with strong friendship. That’s good shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAV8mJY_Qs

For some reason it was kinda tough finding a decent rip of his theme. Ah well, this is easily one of the coolest rival themes. Much like Blue’s champ theme, it has this sort of oppressive energy about it, as if Silver isn’t even looking down on you, he’s just waiting to crush you and be on his way. He’s a fucking bad dude, and he’ll snuff you out however he can if it means he can get his shit done. 

9/10 rival and theme

Brendan and May

This pair of nerds. They’re... interesting. I do feel like they get a worse rap from folks since they were the first friendly rivals and the ones to start the trend, and truthfully I have nothing against the idea of having friendlier rivals. If every rival was an asshole it would get really stale really fast. These two though... Well, there’s just not much to them. In the rival role, they’re Professor Birch’s kid, which is basically their entire motivation for going on a pokemon journey to start with. A glorified favor/errand to fill out the dex cause they just happen to have easy access to one. Us being around is purely incidental, and I’m pretty sure the only reason they initially have an interest in us is because we’re Norman’s kid, a gym leader’s kid (dark shoutout to Brendan for throwing some nice 2002 sexism in his introduction with “Oh, you’re a girl? When I’d heard our neighbor was a gym leader’s kid, I was kind of hoping you’d be a boy.”) They get some extra significance in ORAS, which is much needed, having them around for a few Team Aqua/Magma encounters and even one last hurrah battle after you become champ to make up for throwing in the towel like a bitch after Lillycove. I don’t have much nice to say about them, but that’s mostly because I don’t have much to say about them, and what’s there is just... there. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rP0OXxc-zk

I’m not sorry. So, with our first friendly rival is our first more chipper rival theme. And truthfully, I like it! It’s very high energy, and has this twinge of suspense partway through to remind you that they have a wailmer you son of a bitch and you will respect the shit out of it under the cycling road. It’s bouncy, it’s fun, and it still has just the edge it really needs to be a proper battle theme I think.

4/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

Wally

And possibly the reason Brendand and May are so Just There. Wally. Now, I’ll say up front, I have a massive Gardevoir/Gallade bias, they’re my absolute favorite pokemon of all time, so having a rival character themed entirely around the pokemon family? Yeah that gets some free points from me. But earnestly, even without that, for as little as he appears he really is the true rival of the game. It’s a short story, but one you can rally behind. This sickly kid who isn’t even capable of catching his first pokemon without supervision and has to move to a small town with clean air just to like, function properly. But with dreams of becoming a pokemon trainer. He has the knowhow, he downloads apps he can use and study, he’s done the research beforehand for what all he needs to know, and after we set him straight in Mauville, he goes on his own journey separate from our’s. And when we see him again... what a god damn transformation (how do you become a badass by just unbuttoning your shirt). He really did it, he worked his ass off, and he made it to the pokemon league, he got a fucking mega stone - two mega stones actually since he gives you one - and he isn’t that same weak kid from the start of the game. He’s your equal, and you will respect him, if not for his power, then by the effort he had to put in to get to where he is now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_CiTJJg5_s

Why is this song so short. Powerful, resolute, triumphant, and 40 seconds long what the fuck. Length aside, this is the song Wally absolutely deserves, without question. I can’t express it anymore than in those few words. It’s the theme of perseverance, and the strength you can attain by never giving up.

8/10 rival, 9/10 theme

Barry

What a perfect bundle of energy. Barry is another friendly rival, but not just because he’s nice or something. No, he’s your friend, your childhood friend, and he treats you like it. He’s nice and is clearly happy to go on this adventure with you, but he also slams into you without saying sorry or feeling like he really needs to, and threatens to fine you billions of dollars if you’re late for your super important meeting on the outskirts of town. He is fucking chaotic dumbass personified, with such brilliant strategies as “run through the grass so fast the wild pokemon can’t catch us”, “let’s say thanks to the professor for giving us these novice pokemon by catching a legendary pokemon”, and “here’s the perfect foolproof winning strategy: never miss and never get hit, you’ll win every battle gauranteed”. And god dammit if he isn’t endearing for it. He’s your best friend, and has your best interests at heart, going so far as to take the fall with Rowan when he thinks his dumbass plan might lose you both the chance to get your first pokemon. But, he also wants you to be damn sure that the next time you see him he will be stronger, and he will beat you, and he will be the champion first, and is that one of those walls you put your face in to take a funny picture holy shit check it out I’m a croagunk haha. If you don’t like Barry, you’re taking the games too seriously, and I suggest you get in touch with your inner child because they’re probably starved for fun characters in your media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv8g5u55QFA

Did I say high energy because I meant high energy. A battle theme for the sugar high in all of us, he’s just so fucking excited to battle you again. Much like Brendan and May, there’s the tiniest hint of suspense later in the song, but it’s much shorter and less pronounced here. Because it’s not so much a battle with much at stake so much as two best friends having a good old fashioned round against one another for shits and giggles.

9/10 rival, 7/10 theme

Cheren and Bianca

If you had asked me a month ago what I thought of these two I don’t think I’d have had much good to say. Or... much to say at all, for that matter. For reasons that are very unclear to me now, generation 5 didn’t stick with me like others, and that’s actually kind of upsetting since I just recently finished playing through White version again. And boy, do these two have character in spades. 

I’ll start with Cheren. Cheren is great, because he’s actually almost a jerk rival, and I get the feeling if you weren’t supposed to be prior long time friends he actually would be. He’s very cool and calculating, and not too shy about getting pissy with each loss. He’s happy to lend you a hand, giving you tips, items he’s found that might be helpful, and fighting beside you against Team Plasma at a few turns. Something that stuck out to me was how nearly every rival battle was punctuated by “We both have the same number of badges now, so we should be on equal footing. Let’s put that to the test.” And each time, he’s not just being mad that he lost and then storming off, he’s very outwardly trying to deconstruct why he’s losing. You could almost picture him with charts and tables out, nose buried in his X-Transceiver screen between destinations, absolutely sure he missed some key strategy you used or that he simply overlooked. He’s very much the “power for the sake of power” rival at the start of the game, until the champion and the events with Team Plasma force him to confront his own flawed, short sighted goals. He can’t just Be Strong, he needs a reason for that, and that reason is ultimately protecting not just people important to him, but everyone. And that is just. So god damn cool. It extends to his eventual teaching role. Not only will he get stronger on his own, but he’ll teach others to be stronger, and in turn they’ll protect others too, and so on. And I think that’s perfect character motivation through and through.

Now Bianca. Oh man, do I love Bianca. She’s somehow the living version of if you perfectly spliced an introvert and an extrovert. She’s charming, outgoing, friendly, encouraging, and... also very shy, humble, not one to speak up most of the time. At least at first. And it’s such a tiny, blink and you miss it character trait, but every time she looses she needs like a full five seconds to hide her face under her hat before speaking again. Losing to you time and again does get to her, but she’ll be damned if she lets that deter you and your progress. It’s not your fault she lost, it’s her’s for not being stronger, and she ultimately realizes it’s because while she’s enjoyed raising pokemon and going on this journey, battling just isn’t where her heart is. But she still went on the journey, and fought to go on it, arguing against her father’s wishes for her to return home, and fighting by your side however she can through the debacle spreading over the region. She learns to stand up for herself and what she wants when she actually wants it, and even though in the end she might have been good enough to challenge the league if she kept at it, she realized it wasn’t for her, and that’s still ok. 

I don’t have much to add on regarding Cheren and Bianca’s roles in B2W2, beyond that it’s such a delight seeing them both realize their true purpose and being really happy with where they’ve wound up. Also I love their new looks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yr5Taoyalo

Their theme invokes the same sort of feeling as Barry’s in the sense that this is less about beating the other person and more about two friends having a good time with some friendly competition. Any sense of suspense is almost nonexistent, and the fun factor has been cranked up. It’s bubbly, it’s cheery, and it never really lets up, and while I do think that makes it kind of weak as a theme representing both of them, it makes for a fun song.

9/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

N

So like, I know BW/B2W2 are older games, but, spoilers for plot stuff.

I’ve heard a lot of arguments regarding whether N even counts as a rival instead of an antagonist outright, but I personally think he’s meant to be the rivalry edge to make up for Cheren and Bianca being so buddy buddy, like they were trying to address the friendly rival complaints after the last two games. And N is certainly a fascinating beast (hah), being very intentionally directly designed to be the dark antithesis to the standard pokemon protagonist character. The protagonist doesn’t speak at all, he speaks too quickly. The protagonist’s goal is very vague and broad, simply being “the best”, while N’s is powerfully stubborn and full of conviction. And of course it’s right there in the design, he’s even got the hat. N is also a very tragic character, intentionally raised and taught from childhood all for the purpose of being Ghetsis’ perfect tool towards world domination. He can literally speak with pokemon, he doesn’t get people, and interestingly up until the final battle in the game, he exclusively catches and uses local pokemon when you meet him, presumably releasing them once his friends have helped him test your own resolve. Team Plasma eventually splits into two factions in B2W2, those who truly believed in their ideals, that what they were trying to do was create a better world for people and pokemon alike, and those who were just using it as an excuse to be cruel dickbags and steal pokemon. If Ghetsis is the later, N is the former. This isn’t an evil plot for him, he isn’t some wicked mastermind working behind the shadows, he’s very clear cut and up front with you about what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, he even basically says “hey I could be wrong, I’m like 90% sure you’re also a hero so prove it and show me who’s intentions are more pure.” I love this guy, and I’m genuinely happy he ends up just living a happy life with his pet dragon wolf friend by the end of B2W2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ajBL15Knk

N’s theme is a weird one for me. I genuinely don’t enjoy the composition, but I can’t deny that it’s pretty perfect for him. This intentionally twisted idealist seeking all of the best things in all the wrong ways. It’s dark, fast paced, foreboding, and the ticking clock in this final version really sells that he won’t back down on creating what he truly believes to be a perfect world if you don’t get him to listen to reason. In short, wonderfully thematic, just not for me.

9/10 rival 5/10 theme

Hugh

I’ll be up front, I’m very overdo for a replaying of B2W2, so my recollection of Hugh is a bit foggy. That said, I do recall liking him. He’s high energy, but he also has a better handle on knowing how to direct said energy. Much like Silver before him, he’s very goal oriented and with a vendetta to work through, but rather than seeing your presence as an obstacle, you’re a trusted friend and ally, anything to make stomping out Plasma that much easier, and what better way to fight crime than with a friend at your side. I recall he had a habit of lashing out at strangers for being inattentive of their pokemon since his little sister’s purrloin got stolen (irony) by Plasma, but it comes from a place of good, so you can kinda get it. He’s well meaning, head strong, and a bit of a hot head, and while I need to reacquaint myself with him, I remember liking him alright if nothing else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZDEr6_xzsM

Shockingly, his theme is a bit more subdued in terms of your average battle theme. It’s got a bit of an edge to it, and I love the shit out of those drums, but it still has that friendly ring to it. Oddly, it gives me more of a megaman vibe than anything pokemon. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing. Just a very strange song altogether though.

6/10 rival and theme, subject to change

Serena and Calem

I don’t recall how much of this is true for Serena, but I do seem to recall the two actually having somewhat different personalities. And Calem borrows a bit from what I liked about Cheren. He’s still being buddy buddy with you, but as each loss piles on, he starts to get more and more outwardly frustrated with himself over them. What’s he doing wrong? You’re supposed to be at the same level as one another, why can’t he pull out just one win? And he’s slightly less apologetic about it, so he is a bit of what I described with “what if Cheren was still your rival but not your childhood friend”. I want to say that Sarena is much the same, but it’s simply been far too long, and for what good points they’ve got even after two full playthroughs, they just... don’t bring much to the table, much like similar rivals before them Brendan and May. And man, speaking of not bringing much to the table...

The Friend Gang

Mmmm... let’s start with what I like about them. Because earnestly, there is an aspect about Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna (respectively) that I like. For all of our rivals up until now, you’ve had roughly the same goal. To conquer all 8 gyms, defeat the elite four and champion, become the champion yourself, and maybe save the world if you happen to be in the area at the time. And you know, world of pokemon, that makes sense it’s all well and good. But like, some people run businesses. Some people drive taxis, some are singers, some are artists, some are scientists, not everybody wants to be a world class ace trainer. And, neither do these three. Tierno is interested in dance, and seems to want to go out there just to see new moves and techniques to incorporate them into dance moves. Trevor is actually interested in and invested in filling out every shred of information in the pokedex, which is refreshing since you know, we usually get as far as like maybe 50 pokemon tops before just calling it quits. And Shauna, I’ll admit I don’t recall much of her, but I seem to remember her going out on her journey much for the same reason Bianca did. Do figure out what she actually wants to do in the first place. Unlike Bianca though, she never really finds it I don’t think. So, they’re trainers, but with their own unique goals in mind. That’s cool! ... and it’s also all there is to them. They’re extremely one note most of the time, and regrettably very forgettable. Calling them rivals at all honestly feels kinda generous. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73UoF45hBVQ

Imma be real with you chiefs, I’ve been listening to like every other Gen 6 song except this one while writing this. This could have easily just been the generic trainer battle theme in any other region, which... after my analysis, I’ll admit, kinda makes sense. These aren’t ace trainers or anything, they’re just... some friendly peeps doing their own shit who happen to know how to battle too. But, thematics doesn’t save a song on it’s own.

3/10 rivals and song

Hau

Hau is just... god damned precious. He’s loose, he’s chill, he’s excitable, but not always excited, and happy to go with the flow on things. He’s not your childhood friend, but he acts like that just means he’s got lost time to make up for once he gets to know you, more than happy to offer you up snacks and whatnot. He’s a fast and loyal friend, and surprisingly one with his own goal in mind that actually kind of weighs on him in the background. He’s the grandson of the island Kahuna, Hala, which means he’s eventually supposed to take that role from the old man. And that’s a huge responsibility for a kid who just wants to enjoy the sun and malasadas. But, it’s one he wants to live up to earnestly, and he’s willing to work towards. He just has a little trouble working past that initial fear of “how can I possibly be as good a kahuna as my grandpa”. Plus, once he makes a friend, he’ll fight for em, eagerly and happily going along with you to the Aether Resort when he finds out Lillie’s in trouble. Rain or shine, Hau’s got your back, and is easily one of the best friendly rivals to date if you asked me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYcMPXxJrg

This one reminds me a lot of Cheren and Bianca’s theme but this time it’s a lot more fitting. It’s a fun and silly time, whoever loses doesn’t matter, so long as everyone’s having a good time! A bit of a boring song, but perfectly befitting the character, so it gets a bit of a pass.

8/10 rival, 6/10 theme

Gladion

I would say “who hurt you”, but we have the answer to that question, and it really helps propel Gladion and indeed the entire Aether family to the heights of “well written pokemon characters”. But, we’ll stick with just Gladion here. When we first meet him he’s just another skull flunky, but even then not really. For as pathetic as the skull grunts are (I love all of you but you’re so bad), even they make fun of him. He’s a nothing to nobody who has nobody, nobody but him and his weird dog. He is so much the rebellious tween but dammit if he doesn’t have a good reason with how horrible and abusive Lusamine became after her awry experiments with ultra space. He took their experimental pokemon for his own, ran away, and never looked back, just trying to live a happy life as best he can with Type: Null. He’s very hardened, and clearly not looking to go make any relationships, but eventually he does warm up to you at minimum as someone he can trust in battle, and by the end of the game someone he can see as an equal and maybe even friend. Really, calling him a rival is a bit off. He has no real beef with you or your journey, most of the time it seems like he’s just fighting you because he’s in a bad mood. But he’s a young man who’s been hurt badly, and wants to keep others from feeling that same kind of hurt, and obviously if he’s nice and strong then nobody can ever stop him from keeping himself and the people he cares about safe. The friendliest of jerk rivals who deserves the utmost care and protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDLj143lxVk

How to make a good battle theme: Step 1, slap bass. Step 2, there is no step 2. Jokes aside, I love this shit. It is utterly not in line with what you normally expect from a pokemon theme, and that kinda makes it work really well. It’s wild, it’s strong, and it denotes a kind of complexity to its energy. Not jaw dropping, but just a great slap.

8/10 rival and theme

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Z...eroara?

570: Zorua

Welp. This is it. It's all downhill from here. This is the highlight. The big triumph over my heart. We won't see another Pokemon be able to top this one across the entirety of this review series. (Unless of course something even more perfect graces us in a future Generation...)

That's right folks. If you know me from my personal blog, it may be no surprise that I absolutely adore Zorua here. I've done my best to not outright say it on here, but I wouldn't be surprised if I laid out less than subtle hints. If not, well, er. Here it is. Zorua, my absolute #1 favorite Pokemon. And if that's not enough, these two collectively are also my favorite evolutionary family to boot!

And while I'll make an entire segment to just gush about both of them, I'll cover the two individually since they're fairly aesthetically different from each other.

Zorua here is the absolute perfect fox creature for me. Literally the only absent bit to it is that it's not a baby nine-tailed fox. But we'll be fair since we've already come up with one, and this one has a cooler theme at least just stand-alone as a fox. The tricky and shady look to it isn't just a personality choice; this Pokemon can change its appearance on a whim. Emphasis on appearance though. It's not like ditto where it'll literally shapeshift, but rather more like an illusionist; only appearing to shape shift. Which can create situations where you can fake-out opponents (or cheese the computer-controlled trainers by making it take on the shape of a Poison type as they desperately try to hit it wish Psychic moves that just won't work for whatever reason.)

The lil guy's tuft of hair even takes on the appearance of a little leaf over its head. Giving it some Tanooki vibes! Which is a Japanese mythical creature I'm surprised took this long for us to get a representative of. And even then, it's a fairly indirect one. It loses the look entirely when it evolves, but it at least fits with Zorua between the “leaf” on its head and the ability to psuedo-shape-shift.

Not to mention, Zorua's also got a bit of sentimental value being not only the first Pokemon I've laid eyes on from Gen 5 (comes with being the first of the two revealed, alongside Zoroark). But also this little bit of self-trivia I suppose. By now, a lot of people that follow me on any social medias or art sites will see me draw plenty of Pokemon the day they're announced to exist in a trailer or what-have-you, especially if I like them a lot. Zorua's the very first time I've ever done this. I guess granting I didn't start taking art seriously until well after Gen 4 was released, but still.

Personal Score: 10/10

I'm not quite done talking about Zorua, but let's get a word in for Zoroark too before we really get into gushing mode.

571: Zoroark

Zoroark may understandably be a put-off given it had marketing advertising it as the next Lucario and it's another anthropomorphic canid. But Zoroark is leagues ahead of Lucario with an overall tighter theme and aesthetic. Zoroark looks much more animalistic; mostly enough to be firmly out of any uncanny valley that it would have fallen in, and its design elements flow much better than Lucario's rather clunky execution. So I didn't mind Gamefreak trying to push this one as the “your new favorite Pokemon” shtick they like to pull. That's very selfish I know, but...

It's also very unique given anthropomorphic foxes in fiction. A lot of them take after Renamon or the like to be very pretty and upright. While Zoroark's still a design I'd describe as “pretty,” it's also very gangly and menacing, complete with the shit-eating grin, long face, and a design the emphasizes a flow into aggressive forward...ness.

My one solitary issue with the design is that its midsection looks a bit too skinny. I get it, sleek, tricky fox. But that's a step too far, I feel.

Personal Score: 10/10

A pair of near-perfect tricky foxies!!

Overall:

Ohhhh no. We're not getting off Matt's wild ride that easily. It's my absolute favorite, so instead of an “overall” segment, I'm gonna take a number from Bogleech and say let's do a...

Top 10 Things I Love About Zorua and Zoroark:

1. A Fox

Let's get this out of the way since that's a given. But I don't meant to point that out because I'm shallow like that; I can get REALLY picky about how my fox monsters look. But rather, these two are plenty unique among the other fox or fox-like Pokemon. Sure, I love me some Vulpix, Fennekin, and some of the Eeveelutions, but they all end up sharing the same general cutesy look. Zorua on the other hand takes on a whole other personality from the previously established foxy Pokemon. And Zoroark too! Ninetales and Delphox generally lean more toward looking beautiful more than anything, but that's not Zoroark's sole focus here. Instead, we get a much cooler looking monster with a more gangly face, which is a type of fox-look sorely missing from the foxmons all the way up until now. The only downside is that it isn't full gangly crookedness like Murkrow. But that's fine by me.

2. The Kabuki Dancer Theme

More prominent with Zoroark, for sure, is the fact that these two take heavily after Kabuki theater. Zoroark's really rocking the tons-o-hair look, with the both sporting some red markings to look like makeup.

3. Their Color Scheme

It's hard to go wrong with black and red, sure. That's a pretty go-to color scheme for something shady or, dare I say, “edgy”. But it serves these two better than most given they lean more toward the “shifty shadows” type of critter than “ultimate edgelord” like Shadow or Reaper or what have you. Then you also add in the teal, bluish green. Just the absolute perfect amount. A tiny accent and little more. Not too obtrusive or anything, because too much of that color could've easily thrown the whole thing off. But they held their restraint. Thank goodness.

4. Their Faces

I've gone over Zoroark's face enough by now, and how wonderful it is. But Zorua's adorably smug look and sly fox visage is the totally perfect foxy face. Now flaws. Just a sleezy friend.

5. They're Fluffy as Hell

Okay, this one I will admit is shallow as heck. But I don't care. Zorua's got the good ol neck ruff that makes it look super huggable. Zoroark may be sorely lacking a tail, but it plenty makes up for it with that big, poofy head of hair. Hair so big and poofy that their Zorua children can sleep in it. That's cute as hell.

6. The Okami Vibes

Obviously not in art style or even saying they deliberately went for an Okami look, but they certainly look like they wouldn't be too out of place as a creature out of Okami wouldn't they? Zoroark's design even calls Ninetails to mind, even moreso than the actual Ninetales. While Okami does tend to favor ogre-ish and Oni-like designs for their monsters, they do have such creatures running around like the tricky Tube Fox.

7. They Don't Kill Each Other's Vibe

It happens far too often that a cute or unique Pokemon will evolve into an ultimate badass that, while cool, end up really losing out on the original form's charm. These two, while pretty drastically different, aren't so completely detached that I'd say Zoroark is missing the same aesthetic cues of Zorua or vice versa!

8. They're Even Fun To Use Ingame!

Because of their Illusion ability, they can end up having a unique play pattern different form most other Pokemon. Especially if you're playing in the single-player parts of the game. Sadly, Zoroark can be predicted into with online battles since you get to see team layouts, but in a regular casual playthrough of a Pokemon game it's definitely fun to watch the AI fall for your disguise tricks. Especially when you disguise your Zoroark as a Fighting or Poison type fighting a Psychic type and watch as they hopelessly attempt to use Psychic moves against a Dark type.

I've also got a fun fascination with shapeshifting, so. Even psuedo-shapeshifting like with these two is neat. Ditto is cool and all but. A fox that shapeshifts? Get outta here. Now you're just toying with me.

9. Ridiculously Photogenic

Yeah, I guess technically any Pokemon is subject to this but. Just looking at illustrations of them is always really nice. Especially when you find really good ones. TCG art is for the most part pretty great, so of course I'm a fan of the illustration on certain cards.

10. Extremely Fun to Draw

Yeah, maybe that's not a totally fair thing but. I really can't say I'd ever get tired of drawing these two. I could draw them into infinity if I really wanted to just never draw anything else ever. That's the true problem with the world! To many things that are also fun to draw! Keeping me from drawing Zorua constantly! Bah!

There are two shames to this line. One being you could say that these two are pretty much sequels to Riolu and Lucario, Pokemon I've previously tore into. And Pokemon's not seemed shy of introducing, I hate putting it this way but, “furrybait” Pokemon. So these two had a success formulated in much the same way as Lucario. But they both pull it off so much more tastefully than Lucario's nonsense design does.

The other bummer being that, in a post-Gen 5 world, their popularity has significantly fallen off. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with Pokemon other than my absolute favorites getting some time in the limelight, but it's so annoying seeing repeated Pokemon Marketing All-Stars that you find boring getting things like Mega Evolutions or Alolan Forms with your top favorite Pokemon of all time sadly getting left out. Lucario can get a Mega, Charizard can get two, but not Zoroark?!

Anyway, sure, this review has gone on long enough. Fiiiiine. I got to sing all the praise I can. Fox Pokemon has historically been the best of the canid Pokemon. So hopefully all foxes from this point onward don't disappoint. You got high standards to live up to!

[Archive]

[stillchaoticlogic]

Stumbling Chapter 6

Pairing: Raihan X Reader X Leon

Your life hadn’t gone exactly as you planned…

This is why when an old rival walks into the coffee shop you work at he gives you an offer you just can’t refuse. Finally, a chance at the League. Suddenly you are thrust into the spotlight and a world you thought you had left behind. Dreams aren’t always what they are cracked up to be though, especially when you find yourself the tangled up with the champion and a certain gym leader.

Has all your dreams come true?

Or is this your worst nightmare?

Read the First Chapter Here!

Read the Second Chapter Here!

Read the Third Chapter Here!

Read the Forth Chapter Here!

Reader the Fifth Chapter Here!

**Masterlist Coming Soon!** Seriously though...Would someone be willing to make a banner for this story?

Unexpected Issues

You wake up a few hours later from your nap with your face all over the internet. A few major networks had picked up the story and now you were the mysterious challenger that helped Leon and Raihan. Several of the articles speculated about your relationship with the duo. Even more were asking questions they had no business knowing the answer to. 

“Oh… shit...” you say as you gaze down at your phone. 

“It’s going to be fine! Trust me!” 

“There are articles speculating about our relationship Raihan!”

“So?”

“You may be used to the spot Mr. Gym Leader, but I am not! Plus what if I don’t make it through the challenges? I’ll be humiliated! What’s worse… every move I make is about to be documented! Oh… I need to sit down…”

“Oh!” Leon grabs a chair and sets it behind you just as you fall back, breaking your fall.

“Something will be more interesting tomorrow, I promise! Staying in the spotlight takes work! Although, you may want to keep the attention on you. Even if you don’t end up winning the League, having sponsors to endorse you is a great source of income. You could do a lot with the money from those.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… Do you think I wear this cape for the fun of it?” Leon asks as he indicates the logos on his infamous cape. 

“I guess I never thought of it… I always just thought it was gaudy…”

Leon sputters but doesn’t reply and just goes back to his lunch looking a little crestfallen. 

“I’m sorry Lee… That was mean… I’m just a little stressed but that’s no reason to be rude.”

Leon looks up in surprise and gives you a smile, “It’s okay, I know this is new for you.”

You pull yourself a little closer to the table the men are sitting at and rest your head on it. You feel someone begin to rub your back while another played with your hair. You feel yourself relax after a few seconds and heave a deep breath. 

“I’ve just… been invisible for so long I don’t know if I know how to do this….” you say in a small voice. 

“Just be you and they are going to love you, you don’t have to do anything else,” Leon says as he wraps an arm around you and pulls you into his side. 

“Yeah,” Raihan says as he lays his head on the table to catch your eye, “You’re going to kill the competition and become famous anyway, you’re just getting a head start,” he says with a wink. 

“But the RUMORS!” you wail, “I don’t want people to think that I’ve made it because I’m sleeping with the champion or one of the gym leaders! OR BOTH!” You say with wide eyes.

“At least it’s the most handsome gym leader…”

“No that’s Piers,” you say without missing a beat. 

Raihan’s mouth falls open in offense before he screws it up into a pout. 

“Oh… I’ve seen that face before… I’ve offended it…” you say with a Chesire cat-like smile. 

“I thought we had something special… Now I know you just want me for my body.”

You shake your head while you chuckle and just roll your eyes, “You caught me…”

Raihan sends you a lazy smile, “There she is…”

“It’s going to be fine…” you hear Leon say as he regards you with that sweet look you’re beginning to associate with him.

“I’m going to have to do some training…” you mutter as you pick up your fork and begin to play with your food absentmindedly. 

“Oh that’s right you still need to complete your team!” exclaims Leon, “This is going to be fun!”

“What is?”

“Helping you complete your team, and training them up! It will be just like when I was first starting out with Charizard… except he was a Charmander at the time…”

“Umm...Lee… what are you talking about?”

“I’m going to go with you.”

“Umm… No, you’re not,” you say slowly. 

“I am. You had a run-in with a major criminal ring and they made you a target. They will try again to get Davine and you took one of their pokemon, you don’t think they aren’t going to want it back?”

“But...NO! I need to do this by myself, Leon! Also, your fans will have an actual Miltank if they know you’re traveling with me!”

“I’m leaving the uniform and cape at home and I’m just going to wear regular clothes.”

“You don’t think the rest of you is going to give away that you’re...YOU?!” You can feel your anger starting to build

“I think you need to calm down…”

“Bro...No,” Raihan says as he puts a hand on Leon’s shoulder to quiet him, “Don’t say that…”

“Calm down? You think I need to ‘calm down?’” you ask in a dangerous tone. 

“Oh… I’ve made a mistake haven’t I?” Leon asks as he glances over his shoulder at his friend.

“Oh yeah…”

“Leon, I have waited my ENTIRE life for this moment, okay? I have literally worked at a dead-end job just to make ends meet and I have one shot at doing this right. ONE! I will NOT have anyone think I am any less deserving than every other challenger in this competition, OR that I am getting special treatment!”

“How does keeping you safe from an actual threat ruin these chances?”

“You’re the champion, okay? Everyone loves you, women adore you and they get vicious when they feel like someone is getting too close to their idol. They don’t care why you are with me Leon, the only thing they will see is a threat to their imagined relationship with you. And they are vicious. They would have no issue ruining me.”

“What if something happens to you? I’ll never forgive myself if you get hurt! This is more than just rumors on the internet, this is your life.”

“Leon… I need you to just trust me okay? I’m going to take a few days and do some training, you can hang around while I do that, but once I officially hit the first gym you need to make yourself scarce.”

Leon looks displeased at your terms but nods reluctantly, “I understand… I’ve got some business to take care of, I’ll see you when it’s time to head out,” his voice is chilly.

With that, the champion gets up and leaves, the door shutting behind him feels more final than it is. 

You slump into a chair and run your hands down your face before you begin massaging your head. 

“He’s not giving up is he?”

“Nope.”

“Ugh!”

“We’re just worried about you is all… That’s why we’re coming with you…” Raihan says as he casually takes another bite of his sandwich. 

“We?”

He sends you a predator-like grin, “You don’t think I’m going to let him get the jump on me, do you?”

You just narrow your eyes, “What does that mean?”

His smile turns suddenly innocent, “Nothing princess…”

“Ummm hmmm…” You hum in disbelief. 

It’s about an hour later when Raihan leads you down the street to the nearest store so he can replace your tent. 

“Ah! This one will work!” he says as he points up at one, the store clerk helping you nods before he goes to the back to get the appropriate tent. 

“Raihan… That’s huge…” 

“Yeah! It even has a divider so you can have your own space, but we’re still right there!”

You frown at the fact that you don’t have a say in this. 

“Come on, Princess! It’s not going to be that bad, okay? Once we’re out of the city and on the road it’s going to be much harder for anyone to find us. It’s not going to be as big of a deal as you think…”

“Don’t you guys have responsibilities?”

“Look… Those guys will come back and there will be more of them. They aren’t going to be easy to take on yourself, the sheer number Leon and I had to deal with was insane. You didn’t see it okay? You don’t know how many of them there are. It’s not that we don’t trust you, or think your capable, but we’re not going to let anything happen to you okay? So like it or not, we’re coming with you.”

You heave a sigh and tilt your head back, but you know he’s right. 

“Damnit…”

“You get it now?”

“I’m going to have to apologize to Leon...again…” you huff as you follow Raihan up to the counter to pay. He picks up a few other things that he and Leon will undoubtedly need. You realize that it’s been years since the two have traveled on foot between the towns. 

“It’s going to be fun!”

“I just wish I could go by myself… I feel like I’m going to be missing out on the experience.”

“Nah… You have a good bond with your pokemon. They love you and will do anything for you. Having a few friends along for the ride will be fine. Plus you’ll have the best trainers in the league to give you pointers!”

“I guess…” you mutter in annoyance. 

“We’re going to have to stock up on more food… We should probably head to the store as well…” you think aloud. 

Raihan chuckles as he grabs the bags from the clerk, “That’s the spirit!”

You let a small smile crawl onto your face, it’s hard to be upset for long with Raihan around. He has an easy-going and playful nature that keeps you happy. His energy is one of the reasons he’s so great at what he does. 

After you pick up groceries, two of you meet back up with Leon at the Budew Inn. He’s not wearing his cape anymore and his usual snapback has been changed out for a different one, one that is solid black. He’s wearing a pair of black pants with a white button-down and a black jacket over it. 

“Nice…” you say as you look him over in appreciation. 

He gives you a smirk, “Not gaudy?”

You roll your eyes with a smirk as you walk over to him, “You’re still a dead giveaway, but it will have to do…” 

He smiles proudly at your compliment nonetheless. 

“Damn… I’m going to have to go up my game! I’m heading to change, I’ll be back in a second,” Raihan murmurs with a smirk as he passes the two of you, sending you a wink. 

“Listen… Leon...I-”

“I know.”

“Huh?”

“I know you didn’t mean to get mad, and this isn’t what you expected your journey to be like… I’m sorry that you don’t get to have the carefree experience we did when we were kids. I just… can’t stand the thought of something happening to you, especially if I can do something to stop it,” he says as he takes a step towards you, his hands resting on your arms as he rubs up and down. 

“You know… I always figured we would have had so much fun on our journey…” you say as you think back to all the battles the two of you had together when you were younger. A deep sense of regret washes over you, you adored Leon when you were younger. Do you still?

“Maybe this is just our second chance?” Leon asks as he gives you a smile.

“Yeah… I think it is…” you say as you gaze up into his eyes. 

Raihan comes downstairs wearing a pair of navy track pants with a black tank under a different dragon inspired hoodie. 

“How do I look, princess?”

“You look great Raihan,” you say with a soft giggle as you pull away from Leon. You regard both men standing before you and shake your head at the two of them. They just have no idea how to be discreet is all. 

“Stop showing off! She doesn’t care what you look like!” you hear Leon say as he walks up behind you. 

“What do you mean? Of course, she cares!”

“This is going to be a long journey, isn't it?” you ask no one as you walk out the door of the inn. The two bickering men rush out behind you as you just head back towards the wild area. 

“Why does it feel like I’m starting my journey over?” questions Raihan as he follows behind you. 

“It’s the excitement! For the first time in years, I think I know what freedom feels like,” laughs Leon as he stretches his arms above his head.

“Yeah I guess you two are pretty busy aren’t you?” you ask as you glance behind you. 

“It’s not something you really notice until it’s been like two weeks and you haven’t had a day off…” Says Raihan as he looks out over the grassy field a wistful look on his face. 

“So! What are we looking for?” asks Leon taking in his surroundings like it’s the first time he’s ever seen them. 

You glance back at them and realize that they need this adventure just as much as you do. 

“Honestly… at this point, I would like to round my team out… I’ve got a psychic type that will evolve into a psychic/fairy type, a dragon/dark type, a bug/flying type, a dragon that will evolve into a dragon/fighting type and a grass type.”

“So… a fire type would be good…” muses Leon. 

“What about a water type? We could do some fishing!”

“Let’s just see what happens…” you murmur as you roam across the wild area. 

You spend the day training your team while Leon and Raihan let their own team out to stretch. The two end up having mock battles while you explore and while you don’t think they are paying you any attention, they are never too far away. 

Your current goal is to get Queenie battle-ready for Milo. So you have paired her up with Arum, your newly acquired Bounsweet. You’ve also paired up Hades with Serenity hoping that by helping him to focus through sounds and smells he will become a more confident battler. Davine just remains by your side watching the teams battle with uncertain curiosity. By the end of the day, you are surprised by the strides your team has made. Hades though not perfect, was able to remain calmer than before during the onslaught of attacks by Serenity. And Queenie, as to be expected of her typing, is growing rapidly. Arum is adjusting to her friends and seems to have become fast friends with Serenity already, the two huddle together and chirp back and forth to one another happily.

Setting up camp that night is a relaxing affair, and you have to admit that outside of the city and away from the crowds, the problems that seemed so large this morning seem so insignificant now. Raihan sets up the new tent while Leon gathers wood for the fire. His Charizard lights the wood aflame and you pull out the cooking utensils to get to work. Queenie is hovering around the pot as you slowly stir the broth and Hades is snapping at the ingredients you have laid out on the counter. Leon’s Haxorus is suddenly hovering over the pot as well watching more politely as you cook. You chuckle as he gently scolds Hades when he steals an oran berry from the pile. You aren’t surprised when Queenie notices Flygon and flies over to investigate the dragon as he hovers over his trainer helping with the tent. Davine is curled up next to Goodra while he talks with Leon’s Dragapult. You feel a sense of peace come over you and you can’t help but feel happy. Far happier than you have felt in many years. 

When the tent is set up Raihan is behind you leaning over you as you stir the curry. You aren’t expecting the moment he discreetly whispers in your ears, “Everything looks delicious, especially you,” his lips brushing against the shell of your ear. You fight the blush as you swat him away, he gives you a devious smile and a laugh as he goes to cook the rice. You don’t notice the frown that mars Leon’s face at the interaction or the smirk Raihan sends his way. 

When dinner is ready you divvy out the food and everyone sits down around the fire as a chill haunts the night air. 

“I haven’t done this in forever…” Leon says as he gazes into the fire. 

“It’s relaxing, isn’t it? Like going back to your roots,” Raihan supplies before he takes large bite out of his food. 

You lean back against the fallen log you are sitting against and just take the moment in. Your pokemon are cuddled up around you, and while you are eager for them to grow and become stronger, this quiet moment is one you cherish. For once everyone, including the bickering hooligans Leon and Raihan, is quiet and you love it. 

The silence is broken by a soft cry. 

“Do you hear that?” you ask as the cry becomes louder.

“Yeah… Is it a pokemon?”

“If it is, it’s young!” you say as you get up. Serenity is already on your shoulder her little antenna twitching every now and then. She lets out a cry and points towards the right. 

You set off into the darkness, Charizard’s tail lighting the way as you search for the pokemon making such a sound. You blink in surprise when you come upon a Toxel crying out in the darkness. You walk over to the baby pokemon and crouch down in front of it. 

“You probably shouldn’t touch it,” Leon says as he crouches down next to you.

“But what if it needs help?!” you ask.

“Don’t worry… we’re not going to leave him here.”

“Here!” Raihan says as he pulls off his hoodie and hands it over to you. 

You wrap the hoodie around the small pokemon and lift him into your arms. It stops crying out and just gazes up at you before snuggling against you drifting off to sleep. You blink down at it in confusion.

“It… fell asleep…”

“Well… at least we know you’re going to be a good mom?” questions Leon, as he helps you to your feet. 

“I guess? That was anticlimactic...” you mutter as you begin to make your way back to camp. 

“Are you going to keep him? He would be a great addition to your team.” Raihan asks as he watches the baby pokemon over your shoulder. 

“How do you know it’s a boy?” you ask. 

Raihan chuckles before he points down indicating that it is, in fact, a male. 

“...Oh…”

Once you get back to camp you head over to your bag and gently tap the pokemon on the head with the pokeball. He doesn’t even wake up as his data is downloaded into the device. 

“It would be nice if I could just… catch a pokemon the traditional way for once…” you huff as you gaze up at the duo on either side of you. 

Both men just shrug in reply before they start cleaning up the area. You put the sleeping pokemon in the tent and help them. Once everything is completed for the night you all pile into the tent. 

“Raihan this thing is huge!” you exclaim as you gaze around the huge tent. 

“Yeah well… I’m a grown man who needs his space from other grown men… You’re welcome on my side of the tent anytime you want though,” Raihan says with says a smirk. 

You roll your eyes at him, but you can’t help but be enchanted by the homey tent. There were separate ‘rooms’ with zippable dividers. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and the floor had sleeping bags along with extra pillows and blankets. 

“Raihan! How did you fit all of this into your pack?!” 

“It’s all collapsible,” he says with a shrug, “Plus only the best for my princess.”

Leon rolls his eyes in annoyance at his rival as he picks a corner and starts to set his own area up. 

You huff as you set up your stuff into your own corner before grumbling to yourself, “Why is it so chilly?” 

A moment later, a blanket is draped around you, “Here, I have an extra one that you can have.” 

Leon wraps the blanket around you, pulling you into him before he rubs your arms with hands to generate heat. 

“Here I’ll finish setting up for you while you get warm. I’ll see about getting an electric blanket tomorrow.”

“Oh? Leon you don’t have to do that!”

“Nonsense! I can’t have you getting sick on me!”

You gaze at Leon’s strong back and feel your face heat up before you chide yourself. 

‘He’s just being nice! I can’t do that to Sonia…’ you think to yourself. 

“Then again… if you don’t want the electric blanket… there are other ways to keep you warm…” Leon mutters in your ear as he passes you by. 

Your eyes widen and you let out a squeak. 

“Well good night guys!” you exclaim as you reach up and turn the lamp off. You practically dive into your sleeping bag and bury your face into your pillow. Suddenly, you don’t feel so cold anymore.

Notes: Your continued support means soooo much to me! This was kind of a filler chapter, but I hoped you enjoyed it nonetheless! Also baby needs a name! What do you have for me?!?! Please let me know your thoughts I love hearing from each and every one of you! Also if you want to be on the taglis send an ask!! It just makes my life easier when you do! 

Taglist:  @Ichigokage @pinktowne @marina-and-the-memes @ssskeletonsoffun @secretly-a-weeb @duizhangdeluxe @swiftly-heart @invaderbekk​ @crowkie @narees17 

[panickypeachboy]

RULES: Answer the questions you’ve been given, then write your own and tag 11 people. 

//Under le Read More, because 11 answers for 11 questions is long!

1. What’s your favorite thing about your muse(s)?

Oh goddess I’ve answered this twice already, but here’s me gushing over his clothes, cuz the face is just cute. There’s just surprisingly okay/good design with Momotaro that is overlooked because of all the pretty ladies that do the fan-service.

2. What’s your least favorite thing?

About Momo? Or ever? I would say losing close friends, over drama. That’s impacted me a lot, and why I can get really anxious over rping. But if you mean an actual object/show, then disposed (but there’s still notable remnants) food. Y’know the stuff in the trash. I’m allergic to bananas and that’s the most common thing rotting in the there. Makes it real tough to breathe, particularly when it comes to class too.

Don’t worry, I do have an inhaler for those sorts of things but...it’s only one inhaler and I end up mixing up where I last placed it. I just hope to the goddess that I don’t have to deal with a disposed peel during class...

3. Seeing how they’ve lived their lives - if you were in their shoes, what would you do differently?

Honestly, I’m not too sure. I would’ve said I wanted to speak up against the others (i.e. bullies, the girls) more often, but that’s just against Momotaro’s nature...and how Japan culture works. Also I would totally try to (re)tame Momotaro’s mutated friends. Come on, that Chimera is awesome! Let the boy have an awesome steed!

4. How independent is your muse(s) from your control? How much do you approve of their actions? 

Hoh boy, usually I’m like “Momo no”, so that’s pretty clear that I don’t have all le controls over him. He’s simple minded so there’s not much I would need to fuss over, I suppose. HOWEVER, I do have to restrain ourselves from doing too much in the subject of triggers/pstd, because I’m still learning about that...and not many folks are fine with muses suddenly attacking their precious muse just because they tried to be affectionate.

5. If you were friends with your muse(s), what would you do together?

We’d probably go visit animals at shelters and zoos...and befriend the crud out of them. Help care for those buggers, if possible! Also I would try to learn how to cook with Momo too, if he had my headcanon-trait of being a good cook.

6. What’s one of your favorite fandoms, and why?

H.ow to K.eep a M.ummy is one, out of the sheer fact that no one has produced r34 of it yet...or at least something that’s easily found. Also the fans are pretty cool with their enthusiasm and arts. I’ve seen some cute plushies of the main critters that are fanmade! ...I probably ruined that streak didn’t I?

Also the anime is adorable, and I look forward to reading the manga. I just don’t like the heavy focus on the protagonist. I wanted to learn more about the other peeps in the gang, AND THEIR MYTHICAL FRIENDS. Especially the baku and dragon.

7. Are there any fandoms that you want to interact more with? Any AUs that you haven’t gotten a chance to try out yet?

Utapri, and kinda Idolm@ster??? I don’t know I’m working on interacting with folks in this fandom because they’re neato folks, and I fallen in love with the idols! Gah! I had this headcanon for the longest time that Momo’s guilty pleasure is idol music, but he’s only remember how melodic the voices are, and not the names or faces! It would be really cool to well, have the boy be weak but not in a depressed manner, ya know? Actually I wanna see more muses fangirling over each other, particularly if one has a publicly known job.

An au I haven’t tried out yet is actually...Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I did rp Momo as a pokemon...ONCE, but nothing mystery dungeony. Just a “what if he was reborn as a pokemon” or “experiment gone wrong” thing, and he had a human trainer too. Now I wanna actually find a better Pokemon to suit him and do them mystery dungeon stuff...maybe someday. There was this cool group verse!

That and I wanna try out a verse where Momo is a live-in servant/butler. Seriously I gave him too many traits that fit that sort of job...and I watched too much gakuen babysitters which has the amazing Saikawa. I hear Black Butler is cool too.

8. What was one of your favorite video games as a kid?

Lemme see, Melee is VERY popular, but I loved fooling around in that game, not being a competitive smasher with all them wave dashes. Actually there’s a fair amount of games I liked that are still popular amongst the internet so let’s go something more obscure:

Mario Party 3

Dunno how the fam got it, but that was the game me and my sister played a ton of as kids, and we still came back to it when the Gamecube was around. It was part of our like strange pseudo rping thing to jump around the games to emulate the activities our characters partake in. Start in smash bros, kick some rivals butts and go on adventure! Then visit Mario Party 3 to celebrate with a giant pizza! Oh no, we need to collect some goodies, let’s go do a round on one of the boards! Kick the impostor star’s butt again! Jump to another Mario Party to run through the dungeon and ride the bus! It was kinda our way of playing pretend...I think. Good times, which is why I see the appeal in rping, ya know?

9. What’s the best song you’ve heard for the first time in the past few months?

S.O.S, by Weaver. Holy cow it’s catchy, but like so amazing in its beats. A close second would be Nijiro ⭐ Over Drive! by Otoya Ittoki...I mean his va. I love me some energetic beats man.

10. What’s the best meme you’ve found in the past year?

Okay maybe it’s not exactly a meme but it can be a culmulation of memes...of sorts... Anyways, there’s a channel called “ColeyDoesThings” and she has a series of videos where she visits a room containing a representation of a fandom...represented by her donning various personas based off of personalities found in a fanbase. This series is called “Entering the ___ fandom”. While she can’t catch all the quirks of a fandom (because some are so freakin huge), this woman catches a lot the traits I’ve seen in the places she visits. It’s hilarious to me at least.

I highly recommend the Ship Wars video, at the very least!

11. Is there something you’re looking forward to in the next few months?

Yes. Hatchimals Season 3...oh okay, not a lot of folks are into the collectible toy things. Fair enough, YouTube has fostered the growth of creepy toy channels! I am hyped for obtaining Bayonetta for the switch sometime soon, the end of the semester...I think Blade Strangers is coming out within that time period and I’m hyped to see Curly Brace in that games! Also MORE AMIIBO. That’s all I can recall, at the moment.

Eleven questions for everyone else!

1. What’s your favorite toy from childhood? Do you still have it around?

2. Do you like to collect anything? If so, what is it?

3. Who’s one of your favorite YouTubers?

4. How did you first encounter your main muse?

5. Are there any headcanons for a muse that is related to a trait/experience of yours?

6. What’s your favorite thing to look up when it comes to researching for your muse?

7. Are there any characters (or muses) that influence your muse?

8. What is your favorite, very random, headcanon for your muse? Like something that seems improbable in canon, but is too hilarious/good that you gotta keep it?

9. A memorable, but sweet moment in rping? Could be a thread, or having fun with another mun ooc, or whatever!

10. Are you more keen on rping older muses, or younger muses? Are you fine with rping your muse at different ages?

11. What’s your favorite meme-related song? (i.e. Caramelldansen, Numa Numa, Levan Polka, Momotaro, Kobini Store, etc.)

Tagged by: @notevenjupiter, thanks a lot!! :D Tagging: @maracanight, @ultimate-impostxr, @plumeriaxskull, @patixntia, @gattaimuses, @pinkdressed, @yesfxckyxu, @inkybluez, @embersiisms, @niji-iro-melody, @zoolinguistics, @queenxfjustice, @ahogedetective, @hopeprevaiils, @jabberwockis-lupus, but anyone can do this, or not!

[ninthextrication]

The Soprano

Rating: G Word count: 1333

Junpei had found himself in the little town in district Lambda with a bit of a frown on his face. In hindsight, that email had probably been spam- but the address had looked real! Who else would have the ‘hivescientist@hivemail.com’ email than one of the scientists, after all? And he would’ve ignored that too, considering he wasn’t exactly fond of the scientists… but it’d said there was BTTF merch out here.

The longer he thought on this, the more certain he was that he’d just been suckered, but he was too stubborn to admit as much by now.

He’d ended up too embarrassed to admit the actual reason he were here to any of the people who lived in the little down, so he’d just lied and said it was for work… which technically, could be true? He could at least tell Boss that he’d been investigating an email scammer out in Lambda… and just avoid the part about how he’d been suckered in by the most obvious lie email possible.

Mountain climbing didn’t really seem like a fun time to him, but at least it made for an interesting walk for his pokemon. Kuebiko in particular seemed to love it, there was plenty of stuff for him to examine, and room enough that he could run around forwards and back as much as he needed. Junpei on the other hand wasn’t enjoying it as much- and after only about a half-hour he’d decided to take the first (of what would likely be many) breaks, resting on a boulder that was beside a stream, in a rather open area.

The view from this place was really nice- the stream was a color of blue Junpei’d never seen before, and the sky and mountain made for something fantastic to look at. He figured he might as well take his phone out to grab a few pics, thinking that Akane might like to see them… but when he looked at the first one there was a weird dark blur in it, like something was falling.

Frowning, he looked closer. It wasn’t Kuebiko- he’d been behind Junpei, and the colors were too off for it to be Inari or Sakuya. So after a moment, he looked up from his phone… and saw a box in the water. It was shrink-wrapped, so it wasn’t soaked yet- a fact that had him heaving a sigh of relief when he realized exactly what it was that’d dropped from above.

Leaping forwards, Junpei scooped the box up from the water- it was the magnetic “levitating” car figure! This thing was worth well over a couple hundred dollars, and he’d just found it? He didn’t even bother to question why or how- he was fucking pumped, and he hadn’t been scammed!

He took immediately to inspecting the box- it’d be hard to tell if it was broken or not like this, but no way was he going to open it way out here in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like this was the best he could do… and then he felt something weird. It was fairly immediate- a weight on his head, and the pricking of little claws. They weren’t from Sakuya, this definitely wasn’t her weight- and he didn’t have time to think much more before a beak pecked him square on the forehead.

“YEEEEEEOWCH! GODDAMMNIT!”

His shout scared the bird, taking off for a short moment, and then landing on the rocks in front of him. It was a weird looking bird for certain, with a blue body and cloud-like wings- after a moment it occurred to him that this was probably a pokemon, but that didn’t make it any less odd to look at. (Or make the pain on his forehead any less real, but that was beside the point.)

“Blu. Bluuuu.”

The bird cooed softly as it looked up at Junpei, hopping around a bit and then looking pointedly at the box.

“This? Oh no. Ooooooh, no. This thing is a collector’s item, it’s not nest material. Sorry bud.”

“Bluuuu.”

“D-Don’t look at me like that! Besides, it’s a bunch of plastic and cardboard- that’s not good for a bird!”

The pokemon seemed to consider his words for a moment, fluttering up- and then landing back on his head once more. His pokemon had taken notice right after his shout of pain earlier, a growl catching in Inari’s throat, but Junpei tried to wave them off. After all- he trusted his partners, but this bird was on his head. There’s a limit to trust, sometimes.

Rather than pecking at him again though, the bird this time started… well, for lack of a better word, dusting him. It was patting off his head and shoulders with its wings, hopping from his head to his shoulders, then onto the box itself. Everything was getting a cleaning, apparently, and Junpei had no idea how to react. Was this… normal? Was this a thing that happened?

Once finished ‘dusting’ him, the little bird hopped over to the stream where the box had been dropped, and started bathing itself. It seemed like the little guy cared about cleanliness, continuing until its wings were somehow more shining and spotless than they’d been before. It then hopped back over again.. and once more, went back to staring at the box.

“Wait… was it you that dropped this?”

“Blu.”

“And… you’re saying I stole it, is that it?”

“Bluuuu.”

“I-I’m not a thief! That’s… ugh. Fine. You can have it back…”

He didn’t really know how he’d managed to lose to a bird, but he held it out to the little pokemon- who instead hopped on top of the box, ignoring it completely and staring at Junpei instead.

“O-Oh, come on! I’m offering it back, what more do you want?!”

“Bluu, bluuuu.”

“I don’t know what that means… guys, help me out a little?”

His pokemon didn’t respond to their trainer’s call for help- Sakuya was content to rest in his lap, Inari had decided that this bird wasn’t a threat so she’d curled up beside him, and Kuebiko was hopping around once more, playing. So much for helping… eh, he couldn’t hold it against them, not really.

However, he had no idea what to do about this bird.

It’d hopped back onto his head at this point, cooing and chirping and occasionally fluffing up its incredibly soft wings. Well, he wasn’t going to be rid of it, clearly- so after a sigh of defeat Junpei pulled out a pokeball, and tapped it against the pokemon. There wasn’t any fight put up there, and once it clicked shut Junpei opened the pokeball up again, not surprised at all to find that the bird near-immediately found its way back onto his head.

“Seriously?”

“Bluuu.”

“Fine… whatever. You need a name now, don’t you?”

“Blu.”

There was something so matter of fact to the way it chirped and cooed, staring right at him. She didn’t seem to be a very patient bird, though, because yet again she was brushing him (and the box) off with her wings, then hopping right back over to the little river to wash up.

“Azukiarai.” He blinked, then nodded to himself- he’d accepted that he now had some sort of ‘theme’ going after picking up Sakuya, so he’d ended up spending time googling up on random Kami and yokai on weekends, in case he found himself faced with another pokemon partner. “Rai for short. Because you keep washing off your wings- that work for you?”

“Twee~”

She was singing now, her chirps happy and light and relaxing to listen to. Junpei was glad at that- smiling to himself, he picked himself up and started his way back down, figure in hand (and Rai still quite content to perch on his head).

“Actually, wait- where’d you find this thing?”

“Blu. Blu.”

“You’re… not gonna answer, are you?”

“Twee~”

“Fine, Fine… that’s what I get for asking, I guess.”

He’d just leave it at that.