#and its the other way around for emmet.

[fourphoenixfeathers]

*Walks in. Drops art for old au. Walks out.* /j

Can you believe I had the idea for this au in July? Me neither. Anyways! Wing boys. And a bonus Nobori with baby antlers for @ghostypetrainer .

[physalian]

7 Misused Tropes (And How to Improve Them)

Tropes in isolation aren’t inherently bad, but a lot of them are prone to poor execution. Each one of these probably could have a whole post by themselves. A few of these used to be good but have since fallen by the wayside as their original meaning has been lost.

7. Dramatic Miscommunication

You know the ones. I think it’s worse when the story is otherwise good, the writers just could not come up with a better way to get X alone or send Y off on the necessary side quest than the lowest of low hanging fruit.

Two essential ingredients for fixing this trope: Precedent and consequences

Precedent–have the character doing the missassuming already be prone to jumping to conclusions, already suspicious or insecure, or misled by a third party so this looks inevitable, instead of pulled out of your ass.

Consequences–usually these are big blow up fights that fizzle out without any impact on the plot once they fulfill their purpose, but if it’s a nasty enough fight, characters shouldn’t just forgive and forget. While they might not completely ruin relationships, it should have characters taking a step back and either second guessing where they stand, or using this blowup to fix an underlying issue in said relationship.

6. Love Triangles

Good Love Triangle for the first 3 seasons: Elena/Stefan/Damon (TVD).

Bad Love Triangle for the entire series: Bella/Edward/Jacob (Twilight).

The difference between them (besides time to flesh out both candidates) is that both brothers brought valid pros and cons to Elena’s life, both got the chance to be with her, and Elena’s whole arc wasn’t solely focused on the agonizing choice of which brother she should pick. Regardless of which camp you’re in, Stefan brought stability, that classic cliché high school romance, mostly all good vibes. He never challenged her or talked down to her or got aggressive with her. Damon did the opposite, for better or for worse, and we know which direction the show went.

On the other hand, Jacob never for one second stood a chance with Bella and the narrative wasn’t kidding anyone. They never so much as went on one date (unless you count the motorcycle ride) and it seemed like Bella was only letting him hang on for pity’s sake. Theoretically he brought pros to the table that Edward couldn’t (like, idk, being alive), but the narrative never explored what could be done with him. He just ended up being the Nice Guy friend who then decided it’d be hot to lust after an infant.

5. Agency-less Chosen Ones

These tend to be wish fulfillment characters that bring nothing to the story and have no discernible skills, yet are constantly in the middle of the action, have all the love interests fawning over them, and are Important and Critical to saving the world… because the narrative said so. They don’t make a single choice the entire plot except to move forward or stagnate, chosen by the gods or a prophecy or fate and destiny.

The problem: These characters walk with the crutch of “I’m the chosen one thus I don’t need a reason to exist in the story” and that’s just not a satisfying narrative shortcut. So? Give them agency. Even if they’re chosen by some ancient prophecy, you still have to convince the reader why the Universe wasn’t just talking out of its ass.

Good example: Emmet from Lego Movie literally says he’s useless and has no skills and cannot think outside the Lego box. He’s supposed to be as generic as painfully possible and when he does have creative ideas, they’re supposed to be asinine and stupid. And yet. He might be physically dragged around by the other characters, but he has plenty of choices, plenty of opposition to what’s happening, plenty to say about the state of his world, and his ideas do matter and his intimate knowledge of the instructions and playing by the rules is how they win.

4. Bad Boy Love Interests

These guys were supposed to be counter-culture icons, standing up to The Man for the little guy because he knows the system is broken and rigged. He’s an affront to the stereotypical nuclear lifestyle, he resents a robotic and soulless office job and wants to create art or music or in some way benefit his world and isn’t going to play nice just to get his way. He exists in contrast to the nuclear female protagonist: Conservative, demure, rule-following caged bird who falls in love with him because he shows her that life isn’t meant to be lived in The Man’s cage. He respects the authority that deserves respect, the teachers who actually give a shit, the janitors, the librarians, but probably not the principal or the police or the local politicians, because he knows they don’t respect him and respect is a two-way street. He’s probably a mama’s boy or at the very least loves his parents (if they’re alive) and while he might engage in a little property damage like graffiti, it’s for a good cause.

This dude is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE: Abusive, controlling, aggressive, or condescending to his love interest. He’s not supposed to be an overprotective stalker or plagued by insecure jealousy over any other man in his love interest’s life. He’s not rude to his friends or arrogant about his own smarts and doesn’t think he knows best about every little thing in the world. He’s not sexist or racist just to make himself feel better and he doesn’t pressure his love interest into sex because she owes him or whatever.

Ahem.

Please bring back classic bad boys. That is all.

3. Major Character Death (for shock value)

I remember the implosion of the Walking Dead fandom after they killed Carl, one of the very few characters who was supposed to make it to the end, for… various sketchy reasons and I could never figure out what was true. Some theorized that his actor was aging out of the ‘child actor’ payscale and they didn’t want to pay him as an adult and while I have no proof, it wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Carl died after getting bit in just one of those hectic moments where he got unlucky, while doing something noble and stupid. In isolation, it fits the nature of the “anyone can die” show but man did it just come across in poor taste.

Obviously “for shock value” shouldn’t be the reason you do anything in your story but there is still a way to pull it off without it causing a riot: Make sure they get killed in a non-contrived way. If you plan on killing off one of your heroes suddenly, either make it bitterly ironic, or make it a situation that this character would absolutely get themselves into. The more it “fits” the less likely audiences will see the hand of the author coming in just to break the character’s fictional contract.

2. The Power Inside You All Along

This trope is usually disappointing because it tends to melt a character’s whole arc down into something pointless—this whole adventure was apparently useless if they didn’t actually need to grow or change or challenge their conceptions of the world. They could have got up off the couch as joe shmoe and beat the villain day one.

While that’s probably not what their creator intends, ‘it was inside you all along *wink*’ tends to feel that way, as it discourages internal conflict. Usually, their creator is likely trying to convey the message that one need not change, that it’s what’s inside them already that makes them special.

I present to you once again Kung Fu Panda’s “there is no secret ingredient” i.e. “the power inside you”. The difference is. Po still has plenty of internal conflict: his own self-confidence. He begins the movie eager but inexperienced and a bit oblivious, fanboying it up around his heroes. He and Shifu both insult his weight and his lacking kung fu skills, and his arc is learning self-confidence, learning how to use his weight and the body he has to fight in a way that the villain isn’t prepared for, to where Po can shit-talk him to his face during the final fight.

Most failures of this trope don’t bother exercising their protagonist. They’re pissy and resistant for the entire story and only win when the narrative agrees they were right all along. Therefore, no change, no conflict, no resolution.

1. Strong Female Characters

So many of these read like "slapped boops on a male character". They don’t work for many reasons (usually being very preachy with their agendas), but they especially don’t work when by trying to be pro-feminist, they’re still reinforcing masculine standards. A lot of people, when Captain Marvel came out, said “you didn’t have any issues with Tony Stark being an asshole but now you do when he’s a woman” which. No.

Tony was an asshole, but being an asshole was the whole point of his character, and he got humbled right quick by getting blown up and held hostage. “Proof that Tony Stark Has a Heart” and all that.

Carol was an asshole with nothing to substantiate it, and never got a reality check. She had amnesia so we didn’t get insight into who she was before to understand this transition into dickishness and was so OP, she wasn’t ever physically or emotionally challenged like Tony was.

But the other thing is this: Slapping boobs on a male character with a slew of toxic masculine traits also says that to be a successful woman, you must behave like a man. It swings so far from the femme fatale sexy leg lamp that it comes around and eats its own tail. These characters are just mean and insecure and build themselves up by tearing down the men around them.

So. Calhoun from Wreck it Ralph is this exact trope done extremely well. She’s aggressive, arrogant, loud, rude, and cynical. For about 10% of her arc. The movie immediately throws her into a situation where her strengths are basically useless—she’s stuck in Candy Land and has to rely on someone who is the antithesis of her game and character to make it out. The movie also shows you why she’s cynical via her tragic backstory.

Not only that, she’s more than just a heap of toxic masculinity in a pixie cut. She laughs, she cries, she admits when she’s wrong, she has a soft side, a gentle side, a caring side, and remains a badass through and through.

Or, once again rolling out Tigress from Kung Fu Panda: Proud, aggressive, the snubbed chosen one, cynical, mean, and overconfident in her abilities. Tigress nearly gets her entire team killed in her arrogance. She’s allowed to be wrong, very wrong. She also has her soft moments and, like Calhoun, has a very valid reason for being jaded, and is still shown to be capable of softness and nurturing during the evacuation.

Third example to hammer home that I don’t hate badass women: Andromache. Jaded, overconfident, short-tempered, aggressive, and a little mean-spirited. Tragic explanatory backstory? Check. She is also caring and loyal to her team, allowed to get emotional, allowed to be wrong and fail and lose, and kind of the surrogate mom of the team, who can also laugh and joke around and have light-hearted moments.

Whether the character is a man or a woman, being an arrogant asshole who takes zero accountability and refuses to admit when they’re wrong and never loses, audiences aren’t going to like them.

[fraycreations]

Once Reshiram ceased its fiery breath, it moved away to give Ingo space, lying down absurdly like a large cat. No one breathed nor moved. No one except for Ingo, who moved with a speed he did not know he was capable of to catch his brother when he crumpled, no longer supported by ice. Emmet was limp, muscles finally free of the deadlock the deep freeze had put them in, and he was cold. So unbelievably, unsurprisingly cold. As Ingo gripped his hand, the skin felt thin, paperlike, reacting to his touch in ways that skin shouldn’t. It was… So wrong. There was a fear, as bone-deep as the cold, gripping Ingo as he reached for Emmet’s wrist. The sharpness of the chill superseded any pulse that he may have found there, and he choked on a sob. What good would anything do, now, at this point? Even so, despite the cold, despite the Dragon with its fire at his back, watching him silently, Ingo removed the coat that he had so reverently clung to all this time and bundled it around his brother. A warming blanket or a funeral shroud, he did not know. But he could not do nothing. And so Ingo held Emmet close, a hand on the side of his face, fingers buried in hair that was still crackly and brittle with frost. Leaning forward, he pressed his forehead to Emmet’s, whole body trembling with the strength of his despair. There was only the two of them in the world, at that moment. One was clinging to the other, speaking in pleas and praying for absolution. The other said nothing at all. – @ingo-ingoing-ingone

and, what of Emmet?

[writing-time-bitches]

Submas headcanons

-Emmet was nonverbal as a child. He always had a frown on his like a his brother before being told that a smile would make him look more approachable. He doesn’t know when he began smiling. (Though, he certainly didn’t mind being talked to)

-Ingo is self-sacrificing. Its the older brother/mother hen complex he has.

-Ingo, Emmet, Elesa and Skyla were all childhood friends before Skyla moved to a different city. Elesa and Skyla reconnected in their late teenage years, with the twins following shortly after.

-Ingo, as a kid, would often take the blame for Emmet’s mistakes. Like if Emmet accidentally knocked over a glass vase, Ingo would jump to take blame and get punished instead. He doesn’t like to see Emmet ashamed. (So why did he always look that way when they were kids?)

-Ingo has the memory of a goldfish(me fr) and can barely remember what happened the day before while Emmet can recite the gear station train conductor handbook from start to finish, word for word, from heart. (Its over 300 pages)

-Sometimes they swap coats for fun.

-They take over each other’s battle trains from time to time, especially during the gym challenge season in Unova. Its always amusing to see fledgling trainers suddenly start panicking when they see Emmet on the Singles.

-Emmet is scarier than Ingo.

-Ingo is a cat person. Emmet prefers bugs.

-They have an attic full of Joltiks much to their landlord’s dismay. The electrical bill is… very high.

-Emmet does not like conflict! And neither does Ingo, especially when it relates to himself!!

-They LOVE soft fabrics. Almost every piece of cloth they own is made with Silcoon silk. Rough or gritty clothes… sends them over the edge. Including sweaters.

-As a kid, Emmet was heavily dependent on Ingo. And Ingo was stuck to Emmet’s side like he were coated in dipplin syrup. Being nonverbal made it hard to be around people and to keep those people with them.

-Emmet speaks softer and quieter than his brother but can be just as loud. Ingo is just a loudred in human form.

-Their parents didn’t know how to raise autistic twins. Ingo pretty much raised himself and Emmet. (The scars from glass sometimes stung when they looked at happy parents for too long)

[spicyicetea]

Eldritch Submas x reader

May contain NSFW topics including violence, swearing and sexual references. MDNI. This is a Fem reader but referred to with GN pronouns the majority of the time. Not proofread because I can’t be bothered.

Elesa time YIPPEE (this took way too long, I’m sorry I’ve been playing dumb demon dating game :/)

It didn't take long for the subway to gain its popularity, quickly becoming a go to destination for trainers passing through Nimbasa. Being the gym leader in Nimbasa, Elesa decided it was her duty to check the place out. It wasn't often she closes her gym for a day but this was an important matter. At first she paid them no mind, stronger trainers in the area means that she'll have stronger challengers but recently the situation has developed. Not only had there been anonymous complaints regarding the depot agents working there and their behaviour, but concern about the strange groups that gather around the streets leading into the railways are festering in the city. It's her duty as a gym leader to address public concern, so she might as well satiate her own curiosity at the same time.

“So this is the railway everyone's been talking about…” She wraps her coat around herself as she looks at the gated off stairway.

It was deep into the night at the time, the perfect chance for her to poke around without anyone knowing. She would never take advantage of it being dark to do something bad, but if a fight broke out it may endanger people during the day, it was purely for safety reasons. She grabbed the key to the large lock holding the gate closed, twirling it on her finger before unlocking and pushing the heavy gate open. The stairs down almost looked threatening, as if something was staring back at her from the darkness, daring her to go down. Swallowing her paranoia, a hand on one of the pokeballs in her pocket, she followed the stairs down into the station. The lights came on automatically, the white tiles reflecting the light back into her eyes causing her to squirt with a groan.

“Visitors at this time? How verrry rude.”

She jolts at the voice, opening her eyes wide and looking at the platform in front of her. Side by side stood two figures, heads cocked while looking at her, one grinning widely and the other frowning. The one in black placed a hand on the other's shoulder, taking a step towards her and bowing.

“It's an honour to finally meet you Elesa, are you here on business?”

She narrowed her eyes at the pair, unsure on what to make of them. She had never seen these two before yet they spoke as if they knew her personally. As she steps back, their expressions falter, both hitting an uncomfortable expression before looking back at her.

“I see your memories remain the same…”

“This is verrry bad Imgo, we can't leave her alive-”

“W What? What do you mean by that?!” Elesa stumbles back, her emolga forcing its way out of the pokeball, growling at them.

Ingo raised a hand to stop his brother's advances, sighing. They could make use of someone who was seemingly unaffected by their powers. Someone as popular as Elesa, as showered in affection and love by her admirers… yes they could use that.

“Ingo? What are you planning?”

“Calm Emmet, we could use the help of a woman like her.”

“What? What in the world are you talking about? Stay away from me!”

“No, please calm yourself Elesa, we mean you no harm.”

“What are you two?” She gulped and held her emolga to her chest.

Ingo sighed and looked away at Emmet.

“You wouldn't be able to comprehend our true forms, but we truly mean you no harm. We are here for… well why we're here isn't important for you to know.”

“What do you mean by, be of use?”

“We are in need of a humans opinion-”

“Ingo, we are not.”

“Brother we agreed we'd rather do this in a way that they could stay happy-”

“Bosses, we finished filling Y/N's paperwork so they can join us at work tomorrow. Shall I call them to let them know they can join us tomorrow?” A depot agent poked their head out of one of the staff only areas, paling once they noticed their company.

“Oh I'll call them! I already miss their voice,” Emmet beamed, cleaning his throat once he noticed his outburst.

Elesa narrowed her eyes as the depot agent left, smirking at the brothers.

“I think I understand what you needed my help for. I'm guessing this Y/N person is… special to you both.”

Both the brothers went silent, whispering to each other.

“I'll help you both, it will let me keep an eye on you two.”

The brothers sighed, Ingo nodding at her in relief

“That makes matters simpler, our friendship will be a fruitful one.”

Elesa went to correct him, claiming they wouldn't be friends, but decided against it. She would be lying to herself anyways, she already has a soft spot for them given their awkward crush, it was pretty adorable. The brother's now eagerly surrounded her asking her opinion on various romantic gestures. She waved her hands to shush them, overwhelmed by their bombarding questions. They went silent looking expectantly at her.

“What? I could barely hear a word any of you were saying!”

“Oh, well I asked what you think our darling's reaction would be if we disposed of all her enemies,” Emmet confidently asked.

“Yes, we wish to show her how we'd care for her, we must prove we're capable soulmates.”

“Soulmates? I… we need to set some ground rules.” Elesa sighed.

[nekumiho]

persona 3 reload came out yesterday so Naturally i was obligated to finally do a finished piece with my silly velvet room attendants submas au. alt versions, lore info, and misc doodles under the cut o__o (attendant related p5 spoilers mentioned). also sorry for the eyestrain.

protags they attend to are Fellow Twins hilda and hilbert who always just get referred to as 'passenger(s)'. velvet room manifestation is the inside of a subway car, no i havent worked out what that symbolizes to hilda and hilbert, dont worry about it. but i think whether its visibly in motion or not wld depend on the protags' mental state, one side of the windows for hilda and one for hilbert. mostly dark empty with no visual movement outside the windows w/ maybe a flickering station light somewhere or a visibly blocked tunnel for when theyre feeling stuck in life, default would be like a well lit platform outside of the window with faceless shadow people walking around, how crowded it is depends on their progress with social links. high speed through the tunnels with their half of the car rocking violently when there's high stress super dire stuff going on, steady movement when theyre making progress with something, etc etc

their brassards HOPEFULLY translate to 'down' (χάμω) and 'up' (πάνω) in greek??? i wanted smth like caroline and justine's hats but also not The Same and uhhh yknow. persona 3 and greek mythology are pretty :handshake:.

i dont wanna steal margaret's eldest sibling clout so i think physically ingo and emmet would be younger than her but only barely. margaret is literally the only attendant i can see being physically over like 35 and i need sbms to be mid thirties at like the bare minimum. theyre highkey disturbed whenever lavenza willingly splits herself back into caroline and justine. weirded out by the other 'twins' in general bc they're not even Real twins. they gatekeep being twins. if anyone asks "so are you guys also just two halves of one person" it will be the most offensive thing you could ever say to them. elizabeth and emmet bully theodore together. ingo doesnt dislike theodore but just kind of forgets he exists because the twins are always being like "my brother, [name] (pauses and remembers theodore), i mean, ONE of my brothers,"

emmet is very :handshake: with elizabeth while ingo is very :handshake: with margaret. they both have their own fave sisters whoops. (sorry lavenza). in any sort of 'dancing game' scenario theyre both awkward as hell. very theodore core in general with emmet having some of the elizabeth vibes of just 'i am just never going to stop making random jerky body movements' ingo is a BIT more stiff. but like in general i think theo's way of life and elizabeth's aria of the soul have pretty good ingo and emmet vibes respectively. if i ever learn model editing beyond texture replacement its so over for my mmds.

i love igor dearly but i think since there are Two of them they can kinda handle stuff on their own while igor helps with Other persona protags in their respective rooms? emmet says shit like "YEAH FUCK IGOR THIS IS OUR LINE!!!!!!!!!!!!" and ingos like "emmet be nice thats still our boss and the only reason he let us be in charge is because hes busy".

ingo handles all persona fusion stuff and emmet does storage/organization/other misc stuff and gives you p3 elizabeth styled quests. they can both be social linked because i say so. emmet is justice arcana and ingo is judgement. emmets quests are the only way or at least the main way to increase your social link with him and if you dont finish one of his Special Request ones you lose your link with him. one of the special requests is to take him and ingo to see a real subway station 100% because theyve never seen one.

of all the other velvet rooms, they like the p4 one the most because the inside of the limo is the closest to the subway car they're familiar with but i think theyd like the p3 one too for the possible rocking motion of the elevator eternally going up

thats all i can think of right now i THINK thats everything??? so heres an original concept sketch,

and also a funny emmet quest moments doodle

oh yeah emmet really fucking loves jack frost because they have similar vibes. ingo, on the other hand, is a big pyro jack fan.

[pokepebble]

He is Emmet. He is a Subway Boss.

He repeats this mantra several times, and each passenger made well aware. Each passenger lost to his Eelektross. Each time, he laughed it off. Each time, he congratulated them on a battle well fought and sent them on their way.

Each time, he missed his brother.

Emmet had grown to miss Ingo's antics. The slight shoulder taps his brother would use to drag Emmet out of a slump. The loud boisterous ‘Bravo!’ he would call out after each battle.

He is Emmet. He missed how Ingo's Haxorus’ earthquake would render Eelektross unconscious.

What a silly thing to miss.

Sat upon the plush subway seats, Emmet's chin tucked between his pointer knuckle and thumb. His eyes closed, a smile pressed against his lips. The knowledge of the missing frown that usually accompanies his grin does not elude him. It sits in his chest, nesting its way into the crater permeating his heart, building a home out of the shards of Emmet's mask.

If Emmet could muster up the courage to move, he would be well on his way home by now. It was the lump in his throat and the shake in his wrists that compelled him to stay seated.

The train had stopped. It had remained stopped for a while. He sat in his seat for as long as the train had been stopped. He had been stopped.

He was stagnant.

He was Emmet, and he had stopped growing as a Pokémon trainer. He had thrown himself into other things.

Other things, being, finding Ingo. He needed to. He was Emmet. He had to.

Teeth bit the inside of his lip, gloved fingers curled around dampened slacks. Emmet’s eyes slipped shut.

He wished he had bore witness to Ingo's departure, at least.

It wasn't something he was used to yet. He still awoke each morning expecting his brother to have made breakfast or his chandelure to be chattering away at him like usual.

Emmet nearly always made far too much to eat for dinner, waiting at the dining table until far too late into the night. Waiting for the door to open and the telltale signs of Ingo’s arrival. His hearty chuckle, and boisterous greeting, delighted that dinner had been made and was waiting. The ever so subtle grin that would spread across his face as he hung his hat and coat, sitting across the table from Emmet.

One night, he was here. The next he was not.

One morning, he had made breakfast. The next he was gone. His pokemon, his home, and his brother left behind.

---

My first submas fic? Tell me how silly it is haha (incredibly nervous to post ANYTHING)

All in all, feedback,,is very heavily encouraged because I have no idea how to write (I have like 3 more wips for them)

[leggerefiore]

Emmet was… a bit unsettling. His face was always stuck up in a smile unless he was deeply upset. It was certainly frightening to see his smile late at night when he popped in from a graveyard shift to finally come home. There were also moments that he simply stared at people with that smile still plastered across his cheeks.

Yet… It was also adorable. Seeing it widen when a Joltik appeared to nuzzle into his palm was always a beloved sight. Or how his eyes closed to reflect his pure joy when he looked at you. Emmet's expressions certainly were strange, yes, but they were without a doubt also endearing.

Which is why you cupped his cheeks to squish them. His facial expression became an odd one as stared at you in confusion. Before he could ask what you were doing, you quickly leaned down to peck his forehead and nuzzle his nose. A giggle left him as his arms locked themselves around your waist.

“You're sooo cute, Emmy,” you teased him lightly. Emmet hummed in reply as he closed his eyes.

“Mmm, you're waaaaay cuter, darling,” he spoke after a few moments and pulled you closer, “What brought this up?”

“Your smile.”

“Hmm?”

“Somerimes you look like a Liepard playing with its prey, and other times you look like a Skitty.”

Emmet just blinked in reply. (It was not the first time that he had been described that way.)

[subway-boss-jericho]

Queuing posts for most of my AUs! Check out this Masterpost! ᵈᶦˢᶜˡᵃᶦᵐᵉʳ ⁻ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵉⁿᵗ ᵃᵇᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᶦᶜᵒⁿᶦᶜ ᵏⁿᶦᶠᵉ ᵇᵃⁿᵍˢ! ᴵ ˡᵉᶠᵗ ᵗʰᵉᵐ ᵒᶠᶠ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʳᵉᶠᵉʳᵉⁿᶜᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ᵗʰᵉᶦʳ ᶠᵃᶜᵉˢ ᶠᵘˡˡʸ ᵛᶦˢᶦᵇˡᵉ.

The Spirit Keeper

-Premise- I am going to try so. hard. to summarize. (TW: Side character death(s)) When the sky turns red, all of Hisui falls into anarchy and chaos. The hero that Sinnoh sent to protect them was banished from Jubilife and never seen again- Whisked back to the present, to spare them from the calamity to follow.

Amidst the destruction caused by the worsening space-time distortions, after the deaths of too many to count, Ingo finds himself praying to a god that wasn't his atop the Shrouded Ruins that overlook the now erased Diamond Clan encampment. He offers a plea to Sinnoh, of Pearl, Diamond, both or neither, if there is anything they can do to prevent this tragedy from wiping the region away.

Sinnoh is displeased with the fighting of the clans, of the hostility between factions, and the cold betrayal of the hero it had chosen. It will not simply wipe the slate clean, after the callous actions of the Hisuian people- After their rejection of its help. However, Ingo is a brave and compassionate soul. In this moment and throughout his time in Hisui, he has never displayed these spiteful behaviors.

In exchange for a duty, those lost will be revived, that broken can be rebuilt, and this region can turn a new leaf. The stones around him bear representation of his new duty. He must collect them from all across the region- Any soul he is able to secure, protect from the distortions that would eradicate them, will be given a second chance once the calamity passes. The final condition is that, once those souls meet their second death, he must seek them out to contain them again. A punishment, a time to reflect on their actions. Once Sinnoh deems it enough, then they will be released to the afterlife and Ingo will be released from this duty.

Ingo agrees to all of these terms. And so he seeks out the souls of the fallen- Unceasingly and desperately saving every single person, and with the combined power of their lives he withstands the shattering sky.

They are reincarnated. They rebuild. The nobles have fallen, and there is much damage to undo. They may live their lives once again.

But when they fall, Ingo will return. He will collect them, and he will keep them. He will fulfill the full breadth of his agreement- No matter how many centuries pass.

-Noteworthy Points- Yes. That was me summarizing. This story is so complicated and has so many layers please understand.

Ingo is functionally a Spiritomb, Ghost and Dark type, with the combined life force of 442 souls. This makes him functionally immortal, with a supernaturally fast healing capacity and a very difficult-to-contain level of power. He can hear the thoughts of all 442 people and often manifests them in the form of little green soul orbs. Not all of them are happy with this arrangement, but some people get used to it faster than others. They are fully aware, under no strain, and are not hurt. Essentially, forcibly travelling with Ingo is their sort of limbo- It's not all bad.

Ingo unfortunately cannot say the same, it is extremely rough to be the container for so many lives and still keep oneself sane. His willpower is overwhelming, and it's the only reason Sinnoh made this 'deal' to begin with- Because it knew Ingo would be the only one capable of this sort of thing without bias or prejudice. The calamity is solved, Hisui is preserved, the people get a reasonable amount of mercy (then comeuppance,) and Ingo can be- slowly -returned to his own time period. It is not easy burden, but it will be borne. Now, all that's left is to wait.

(Forgot to mention, the reference on the far right- Spirit Farer Emmet -is a sort of branch in the timeline. It's not the canon way the AU goes, but a friend made it up and I liked it enough to keep it :> The concept is that Emmet also makes a deal with Arceus and basically helps ferry Ingo's many souls over to the afterlife, thus releasing him from his duty. Won't elaborate more, this post is already like 4x the length of all the others.)

If it wasn't obvious, this is one of my favorite main AUs and also one of the oldest

-Links- Artwork - Commission by Fronomeeps Artwork - Fanart by Pixelga1axy Artwork - Fanart by Rudeboimonster Short Comic - Being haunted by yourself

[onestepbackwards]

So, I’m a huge fan of the idea of the streamer AU, so I can imagine the amount of shenanigans the reader gets into while trying to find a way home. Like the reader squealing over a colony of cute spheals (they are fricking adorable in the game, have you seen the one cutscene with Adaman?) and the reader revealing to have caught a whole army of them and showing them in the background while many people watching their stream are like facepalming.

Or the reader returning to Jublife with an army of cute Pokémon following them, like Spheals, Eevees, fluffy Growlithes, etc. (kinda reminds me of this whole Pikachu army parade I saw in YouTube before)

Or the reader streaming about cute Pokémon chasing them and happily playing around….and then cue the reader on the run from angry terrifying Pokémon.

The streamer Au is one dear to my heart, even if I haven’t gotten to write a lot about it. Its such a fun idea though.

The idea of you can’t communicate really with the future, but you can still just stream??

Imagine explaining that.

“Yeah, God said I have to find every pokemon here or I can’t go home :(“

Depending on the person, you could have so many shenanigans. Especially since you and Ingo are the only ones who know how to communicate with pokemon, and properly train and raise then.

Everyone in the future watching in humor or horror how you are treated for acting normal around pokemon. How you act is like an average trainer, when others in the villages would be appalled you happily collect pokemon.

Like, just imagine walking into a village with an army of eeveelutions. Something so normal, has people turning heads.

Your chat is going wild at the sight.

Especially when they see Sylveon. A pokemon that should not exist at that point in time in Hisui. How the fuck did you get one.

Either finding an Eevee in a time distortion with a fairy move, it just finding a Sylveon outright. You have historians screaming and yelling in your chat.

And the Alpha Pokemon have historians and scientists tuning into your streams, all foaming at the mouth at a real hands on view of Alpha pokemon.

“This is amazing footage! Truly nothing like it!”

“Sir, the pokemon just tossed the streamer into a wall.”

“They seem fine!”

You regularly give people heart attacks. Especially your friends and family who are stuck watching you, unable to help.

Barry sees how Kamado treats you, and books it to Rowans house.

Rowan meanwhile feels a sense of impending doom.

Cynthia is a curious one, incredibly curious about Volo. They resemblances is uncanny. One of her coworkers even joked she may as well be his reincarnation.

Imagine her horror when she sees Volo’s betrayal. She is so glad Cyrus is not here to mock her.

Meanwhile you have almost all of Gear station tuning into your stream after you drop the bomb that you met a guy named Ingo, who you think might be the missing Subway Boss. Emmet is strangling his computer as we speak trying to get you to show him.

“Yeah, he was really nice. Its a shame he lost his memory, but he talks about trains a lot.”

Gear Station is screaming.

[twistedhypersonicnavigator]

Day 7 and 8: Voice/Cozy

(Continuing from day 4)

"ALL ABOARD!!!"

Ingo's voice was always so much bigger then Emmets. It never really bothered him as long as the meaning was passed along to all the passengers that needed to hear it.

That is until Emmet couldn't hear it. After the explosion earlier that week Emmet was able to come back to work, but he couldn't hear anything. technically that wasn't bad simply because he couldn't really hear anyone over all the people.

But he did miss the sound of his brothers voice. It was a constant and he could always hear it over the throng of people.

Ingo looked around the many people, his height had an advantage and he could see his brother pretty well too. His brightly colored uniform gave him a soft comfy feeling. Having a constant around was something he would always desire.

After their parents departure within their childhood they took comfort in things from one another. One was Ingo's voice that could be heard from the tops of any mountain. (At least thats what Emmet thought.) and Ingo could always depend on his brother to always be there.

Until he wasn't.

After the accident Emmet took to handling the paperwork while Ingo did the single and double battles. So Emmet wasn't always beside him as per usual.

their comfort was divided.

At the end of the day Ingo walked out of the battle subway with the horrible desire to curl up into a ball in his office and wait for his brother to exit his office with the inability to hear his greetings.

then it hit Ingo...he knew exactly what to do. He pulled off his jacket and put it onto his desk and walked into his brothers office. Emmet wasn't even done with his paperwork. He missed him a lot, he really did. He walked over and slowly tapped his brothers shoulder.

Emmet jumped having not heard his brother come in. Ingo motioned for him to get up and signed to him to take off his jacket. Emmet wasn't sure what was going on. At least they learned sign language because Elesa grew up without being able to hear. They had known her all their lives.

Emmet took his jacket off and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt his brother practically pick him up in a hug.

Emmet chuckled knowing fully well that they couldn't see each other all day long, but would that warrent the desire to take off his coat?

"Can you feel me?" Ingo's voice rumbled through his own chest. Emmet stopped breathing for a moment and their was the biggest smile on his face.

"Yes, I can." He chuckled hugging his brother tighter. It was odd really, they hardly hug at all simply because they could just sit next to one another, and talk. But they hadn't been able to do that for days.

"Perfect..." Ingo said.

"Ingo...people are going to see." Emmet chuckled as he felt his brother pat his head and pull back. It was just a moments contact before Ingo signed to him.

"You're fine. Just a little longer and we'll be back to business as usual." Ingo told his brother. Emmet just smiled his usual smile and shook his head.

"Thank you, for trying to help me." Emmet said as he went to turn in his paperwork. Ingo went to leave the room only to feel his brother hug him once more. "Really, thank you. I've missed that loud voice of yours. Its a comfort to hear it...even in some small way."

"You're welcome."

[pigdemonart]

Sorry to send two asks in as many days but I’m beginning to wonder if the reason Isadore is so cranky around Ingo and Emmet is because he has a big fat crush on one or both of them

OH i dont mind, send as many as you want! I can only promise to do my best to answer when I can

Honestly, thats a funny hc. very classic for the angry guy to be secretly harboring feelings, like a tsundere type. And yes admittedly its very gay to obsessively plot the downfall of your enemies, i aint against the interpretation

The way I see it, Isadore is the kind of guy that thinks he’s smarter than everyone and he only disdainfully respects the twins because they are his superior. In every other aspect, he looks down on them LOL

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

No Mer is An Island

I didn't go out intending to revisit @monsoon-of-art's Mer AU this month, but seeing this piece in full really hit on something, and I had to get the words down. Happy MerMay, guys!

---

When they’d first met, the girl had stopped him to say that he looked kind of like someone she knew.

Given that Emmet had come all this way trying to find his brother, it sounded promising on its face, but looking past the initial wording, revealed itself to be a shallow hope. If she’d been talking about Ingo, she would have been more decisive. He wouldn’t look kind of like this person, but exactly. He’d been through the cycle of leads surfacing and then sinking often enough to know that the odds weren’t good, but it was the best he’d heard since arriving in Hisui and he couldn’t afford not to give it some cursory exploration.

As they moved away from the shaky hope of a rebuilding village, her story became more and more outlandish, but… somehow not less believable; unprompted, she’d mentioned the torn remnants of a subway car, and in a land that lacked rail transport, it lent her version of events a great deal of credence. Something much more worrisome was the claim that his twin had been found pinned beneath the wreck, trapped and slowly wasting away, before being discovered.

It was strange. When, inevitably, Emmet’s questions about a missing person failed, his next strategy was always the train car. People could move on and be forgotten, but an effigy of twisted metal should have been noteworthy.

The matter of physical resemblances had been both explained and complicated as Dawn led them to a rocky outcropping by the sea.

“Well, that’s… why I wasn’t totally sure at first.” She said, scouring the horizon. Eventually, her attention settled in one specific direction, and Emmet idly followed it to a dark little island in the distance. “The thing is, the parts of you that look the same totally look the same. It’s just that Ingo’s… not really human?”

...what.

She held her hands up in placation, grimacing at her own words. “I know, I know. Just hear me out. So the Pearl Clan found him under that big wreck and took him home to heal, only he… kind of sucks at being a merperson? The same ways I suck at it. We both keep getting hung up when we swim, and neither of us distrusted humans the way the other mers did, and you couldn’t pay us to eat raw fish or seagulls or anything like that. I've been wondering about it for a long time, but maybe Ingo was human, too?”

There was a ringing in Emmet’s ears. It took him a moment to realize that it was an actual sound coming from somewhere over the water. Something in the back of his head told him he should recognize it, but it seemed unimportant compared to the information Dawn had just dumped over his head.

“That is my brother’s name.” He eventually choked out, to the exclusion of the rest of it.

Dawn’s expression cracked into a smile. “Worth a shot! I’ll go grab him and come back-- just don’t worry, okay? Most people think he’s kind of scary.”

Despite the amount of time it had been since he’d had to field that particular criticism, Emmet felt himself bristle. “He cannot help it. His face is just like that.”

The girl paused in the middle of digging through her bag and tilted her head, “I thought it was just because he always seems kind of down, but that makes sense, too.”

Unsure what to say to that, Emmet remained silent as she took something out, unlashed the satchel from around her waist, and then brought a vibrant shell to her lips.

The notes resonated, briefly, with whatever it was coming from across the waves.

“What is that?”

“It’s a special flute,” Dawn said, adjusting her grip on it now that she was no longer playing, “I’ve had it since I got here, but I can’t remember why.”

“Not the instrument. The sound. What is causing it?”

“The… flute?” She asked, baffled, and slapped her tail against the rocks.

It took a second for Emmet to rewind and process that fact.

She had implied that before, hadn’t she? Back when she’d confirmed Ingo’s name. Strange how one piece of information could be so much more pertinent than the rest and simultaneously so much less important.

Emmet consciously had to rein himself in. If humans could turn into merpeople, this could be it. He might be about to see his twin for the first time in years.

Dawn departed shortly thereafter, handing him the flute as a gesture of goodwill, and took off in the direction she’d originally scouted. Emmet pocketed the strange shell for safekeeping and then moved her satchel to somewhere the waves couldn’t sweep it away.

The sound continued that entire time, carried from somewhere far away. When several minutes passed without interruption, he finally figured out what it was: whale song. He didn’t profess to be an expert in the matter, but now that he was listening properly, he was relatively certain of that.

After some time, it stopped, and he immediately found that he missed it.

In its absence, he returned to the water’s edge, wondering if the dark island in the distance wasn’t where Dawn was headed, where his brother lingered. It seemed too much to think that he might catch a glimpse of either when it was so far away, but the reassurance would be welcome. He had little doubt that Dawn would return, particularly given that he held the key to her humanity, but the low crooning over the water proved that there were predators about, and he wouldn’t want haste to lead her into danger.

When he scanned the ocean, however, he found that the island, too, had vanished.

---

Ingo spent a great deal of his time alone.

It was by choice, but at times, it also felt involuntary.

The Pearl clan was more gracious than he could have asked for, worried that his continued stints on his own might reignite the loneliness that had left him so fragile upon their first meeting; while he was happy for their company, it wasn’t what he was missing. That was the problem, though: he didn’t know what would fill the void in his heart. Their camaraderie was close-- had been rejuvenating when he’d first been ushered into the fold-- but only to a point. He felt that it was the right track, just veering ever so slightly off course; if he could figure out where his destination lay, he could course correct to reach it.

It had been years, though, and while he was no longer soul-sick, the ache of it refused to leave him.

When it became too much to bear, he would leave for the surface, to float on his back and close his eyes. The ocean air had become familiar, but it went deeper than that, the churning sea so close to making a connection somewhere in the recesses of his being. He was put in the mind of the artificial reef he’d awoken in-- pinned, scared and without a trace of memory-- but had no idea how they could be related. More than anyone, he knew how heavy the construct was; it seemed wholly antithetical to the gentle rocking that only occurred above the waterline.

Frustrated with his lack of progress, but not surprised, he let out a heavy sigh and pitched it halfway through, low in his throat. He didn’t know what purpose this ability served, as none of the other merfolk could hear when he dipped into this range, but it was cathartic; he could cry for the fact that the clan had been so kind, so welcoming, and he still didn’t belong. He could lament that there was something wrong with him, that he still felt sickness in between the beating of his heart, and he feared he would never escape it.

He could admit, in tones no one would ever hear, that he didn’t know how much longer he could bear the solitude before it consumed him whole.

Though he knew perfectly well that she was unable to parse his voice like this, it died in his throat as Dawn poked her head up from the waves. Unwilling to have a conversation with her in such an undignified position, he turned over and dipped back below the water so they could speak properly.

“Is rebuilding going well?” He asked, following up from the last topic they’d touched upon, “Has there been any recovering from the salt water?”

The humans weren’t bad, he knew-- and had known for as long as he could recall-- they were just scared. For as disastrous as the region’s flooding had been, the one silver lining was that it had given the clans cause to cooperate with the villagers and, slowly, the merfolk were beginning to make progress. He couldn’t be certain how the humans looked upon the situation, but they accepted aid, at least, and that was something.

“It’s...” There was a conspicuous pause. “Going. That’s not why I came to talk, actually.”

“No?” He asked, unable to find it in himself to be surprised. Dawn was like the sea itself at times, ever shifting, just shy of capricious.

“No. I don’t want to jump the gun or anything, but I think I met someone who knew you before! He’s waiting for us at the bluff.”

He blinked at her, the words sitting at the surface of his thoughts for several seconds before sinking in, “What makes you believe that this individual and I share any sort of connection? I don’t mean to cast doubt, but if even I’m unable to say with any certainty...”

“He was looking for someone called Ingo.” She said, and while there was a twitch of her tail that suggested it wasn’t the whole truth, Ingo was too caught up in that declaration to catch it. “He looks like you, too. A scary amount.”

“He’s also an orca?” It might be nice, he thought, to physically be on the same level as someone for a change-- unmarked as the odd man out in this regard, on top of everything else that made him feel so detached from the clan.

“Well… no, it’s mostly in the face. But your coats are basically the same!”

Interesting. That, more than anything else, lent credence to her theory. As strongly as he felt about his name, his complete lack of any other personal details meant that he couldn’t be entirely sure it was what he’d used prior to waking up beneath the ruins. The fact that this person was seeking someone of the same name was noteworthy, but not conclusive. The resemblance was also compelling, but could be explained by a mimic octopus or the like.

His clothes, however, had been a subject of bewilderment among the clan for some time. Drag caused his coat to hinder his movement and speed, and it was constantly becoming caught on bits of rock or other hazards. His hat was somewhat more practical, helping him see above the water on bright days, but beneath the waves, all it did was threaten to fly away if caught in the mildest of currents. Even if this was a misunderstanding and Dawn’s contact didn’t know of him, perhaps he could ask what the utility was.

“I see.” He narrowly refrained from breathing it out as a sigh; there was little use in speculating if confirmation or denial really was so near, “If he’s waiting, we ought not to leave him at the station. Are you ready to depart for the Clamberclaw Bluffs?”

Dawn took him by the forefinger and smiled at him-- and where he occasionally saw a flash of pity in it, there was nothing but anticipation.

“Let’s go!” She said, tugging him forward, a current all her own.

Ingo allowed it to happen, allowed her to be the force driving his tired cab onward. Maybe, when they reached their destination, there would be someone there to meet it.

---

The first indication that Emmet was no longer alone on the rocky outcropping was Dawn hefting herself up onto the edge with the grace of someone still adjusting to that specific workout. He refrained from commenting on that fact both because he liked to think himself polite and because something else stole his attention away shortly thereafter.

Offset from where she’d appeared, the water warped unnaturally, and it took a second for him to realize that it was because it was something else was surfacing, something massive enough to distort the water as it rose.

“Oh,” Said his brother’s voice, loud as one of his directing calls whilst somehow maintaining a sort of gentle surprise, “You’re human.”

Even though he’d been warned as much, as he blinked upwards, trying to process the reality he’d found himself living, he said, “You’re… not.”

“Was… was I supposed to be?” Ingo turned his head as he said it, a hand curling to rest against his lips-- and it was so achingly familiar that, for just a second, it was possible to overlook the fact that his forearm had to be longer than Emmet’s full height.

“Yes?” He half-asked, trying to keep his expression from dipping into anything too ridiculous in his incredulity, “To my knowledge, identical siblings are usually the same species.”

The animate half of Ingo’s face scrunched, puzzled, and he leaned over on his arms to put them on the same level. He spent several seconds silently assessing Emmet, before returning with, “We do look quite similar, don’t we?”

“Identical.” Emmet repeated, insistent, and he couldn’t keep his voice from crackling on it, “We are-- we’re supposed to be identical twins.”

“And I take it from your response that you were never an orca?” His brother said, a little helplessly.

“No.” At that, however, he stepped forward, emboldened both by the certainty that this was somehow his missing twin-- all but confirming that he had never been in any danger-- and a suddenly-consuming curiosity.

Ingo watched his approach, but did nothing to stop him. The only movement was that of one enormous, clawed hand tucking itself into the tattered remains of the opposite sleeve and, abruptly, Emmet realized he was still wearing his uniform’s hat and coat. The hat and coat that had been commissioned in tandem with the ones Emmet wore right now. Emmet, who was notably human-sized.

How?

The nearer he drew, the more clearly he could make out the black mass in the water beyond, a shadow that stretched and curved into an undeniably fish-shaped tail, floating just high enough for a dorsal fin to cut through the surface.

With a new clarity, he looked up, taking in the black patches that both camouflaged the actual lines under his brother’s eyes and made his weariness look orders worse, and asked, “Was the whale song your doing?”

The too-pale skin of Ingo’s face went faintly pink. “You were able to hear that?”

Emmet felt his face crack into a grin, “You are not quiet.”

“No, no, you misunderstand,” He tried, though the flush only intensified at the comment, “The frequency is inaudible to the other merfolk. I didn’t think anyone else was physically able to hear it.”

“Wait,” Said a mildly-familiar voice and, with a start, Emmet remembered they weren’t alone, “Is that what you’re doing when you float on the surface like a dead fish? You’re just screaming into the sky?”

“That is-- no. Not in the slightest!”

“If he yelled, you would know. Even as a human.” The commentary earned him a downward glance through narrowed eyes.

“Regardless,” Ingo said, transparently trying to get them back on a track that didn’t lead to further teasing, “I’m surprised that you were able to discern it without being a mer yourself.”

Emmet hummed, considering that, and then turned his head. “I’m not. Other people cannot read your face, but I can. It makes sense that I can understand you now, too.”

“Because you’re… my twin brother.” Ingo said haltingly, testing the words for himself as if to see if they were any more convincing in his own voice.

Emmet smiled, though not without an edge of melancholy, letting him reach a conclusion in his own time. That wasn’t disbelief, he knew, but it was plain to see how lost his brother was, and hurrying him wouldn’t help.

He wouldn’t push, but… but maybe it would be okay to make sure this was real, that he hadn’t hit his head upon arriving in Hisui and managed to fool himself into thinking this might finally be it.

Holding one hand up to indicate a lack of aggression-- as if something so small could do anything to hurt someone with the proportions of a killer whale-- he took a tentative, questioning step forward and asked, “Can I touch?”

Ingo blinked at him, focused momentarily on his palm, and then back on his face. In lieu of an answer, he rested his head on his arms in full, putting himself in range to reach more comfortably. His bright, bright eyes tracked the motion until he couldn’t any longer, and he breathed out, slow and impossibly long.

The skin beneath Emmet’s hand was dark, the stripe of it trailing up to a floppy ear and down below the line of a collar, but still warm and still undeniably human. He’d half expected it to feel rubbery under his touch, but the biggest difference was the subtle grit of drying salt. He was reminded intensely of the summer their family visited the Decolore Islands and specifically of when, as a joke, he’d tried to push his brother into the water, only for Ingo to clutch his hand that much more tightly and send the both of them tumbling in. Having to go on in wet clothes had been bad enough until they began to dry, contrasting outfits stiff with the residual salt on their persons. As children, it had been unbearable. He could only hope it didn’t itch the same way, now.

He only realized he’d spaced out at the renewed rumble as his twin began to speak again, “--not sure. Are you still with us, Emmet?”

For a second, he froze in place, and then drew his hand back, breaking out into an unburdened smile. Beaming up at his brother, he said, “Ingoooooo, I never told you my name.”

Ingo’s brow furrowed as he mentally played the conversation back, and then he glanced to Dawn, who held her hands up and shook her head. When that failed to yield any plausible explanation, his gaze flitted back over to Emmet, uncertain, as if he’d done something wrong.

“It’s good!” Emmet said before his twin could start to reverse down the tracks, “I do not know what happened, but you’re still you. That is all that matters to me.”

As quietly as he was physically capable of with such robust lungs, Ingo repeated “My brother,” to himself, already coming to terms with the idea, and Emmet stepped forward again.

He leaned into his twin’s shoulder, heedless of the water that immediately soaked through his coat, and, as best he could, pressed the side of his face to Ingo’s. Against his own side, he felt a pulse speed up, powered by a heart that was finally large enough to match the outpouring of love its owner had always put into the world.

A hand moved to cradle his back, painstaking in the care behind it, and within two beats of that massive heart, the whale song began anew.

[casualsnickers]

Month of Emmet Quick Write #5

Prompt #5: Forest

Too much work and too few maintenance checks resulted in Emmet being forced to take a little vacation. The location? Undella Bay. But it seems there's something odd under the waves this time of year.

*inspired directly by @irononyx32 from their artwork of the prompt. Go look at their work first, please and thank you.

Read the whole thing under the cut.

               Emmet was careful to keep a firm grip on Eelektross’s neck as they descended through the water, his other pokémon- an Araquanid he had gotten in a trade from an Alolan trainer- careful to follow along as it too crept along the shallow sand beds. It had been based off of a whim to take a small vacation in Undella. Too much stress and too many migraines had gotten Ingo onto Emmet’s case, both him and Elesa derailing his schedule so that they could all take a day off and relax. Emmet had had the choice of selecting where they would be going and with Eelektross’s influence and shining eyes, Emmet had selected Undella Bay without much of a fuss.

               That was the reason he was currently a few meters beneath the ocean’s surface, his eyes catching on the beds of waving kelp that grew like trees under the water. He couldn’t speak underwater but that was fine; both of his pokémon could understand him anyway. Emmet gently tugged on Eelektross’s dorsal fin, his ace pokémon nodding before it began swimming into the kelp forests. Araquanid followed, sneaking close to refresh the oxygen in Emmet’s air bubble before skittering away to hunt something.

               This was mostly Eelektross’s sort of vacation. Emmet rarely ever chose to visit the ocean despite Eelektross being a pokémon that thrived in deep water. It was the only resource- the only home expansion- that Emmet couldn’t afford. Not like Ingo had when his Hisuian Sneasel had started climbing the house and Ingo had been forced to relocate her to their shared home back in Anville where there were plenty of tall cliffs. Eelektross didn’t have any such allowances. Either Emmet had to manually take him to a deep body of water and supervise him for a few hours or the gigantic eel pokémon was without water until the weekend arrived. It was even worse during the winter.

               Emmet only smiled upon seeing his ace pokémon so giddy and excited, recognizing other Eelektross and Eelektrik as they slithered in the sand, their glowing eyes seeming to follow Emmet as he floated alone in the current. Emmet’s own Eelektross amiably swam closer to the shoal, almost dwarfing them with its size as it communicated with its wild friends using the bioluminescent scales along its body.

Don’t wild Eelektross regularly hunt giant prey? I hope I’m not giant prey. I should be fine with both Araquanid and Eelektross, but I should move closer just to be safe.  Something soft touched his leg, Emmet only having a minute to think before being drawn into an air bubble squarely atop his Araquanid’s back. No longer suspended in water, he carefully saddled his pokémon’s back. “Thank you!”

               Araquanid waved its mandibles and then began to pick up the pace, its long legs easily finding their way as they slowly but surely entered the depths of the kelp forest bordering the Undella Sea.

               The stalks of golden leaves rose high in the water, allowing filtered summer light to shine upon the sandy sea floor where both Corsolas and Shellders crawled around, their tough exoskeletons seeming to glitter as they moved between the columns. Emmet sighted a pack of Frillish floating at the top of the kelp, shoals of Luvdisc darting through their outstretched legs as if racing. Emmet even got to see a massive Mantine glide along the seafloor, waving one flipper at him as it passed by.

               It was quiet under the water, the only sound being that of bubbles rising from the sand and of the kelp sliding against one another, muted by the air bubble around his head. He couldn’t go too deep; the pressure of all the water on top of him would hurt him if he went any deeper, but Emmet relaxed, knowing that his pokémon were already keeping a watchful eye on him in case his protective diving suit wasn’t performing correctly.

               As Araquanid crawled over an outcrop of dark rocks, Emmet gasped, leaning closer to stare at the mystical silhouette that was the Abyssal Ruins.

               The Abyssal Ruins were old; older than Unova as a matter of fact, allegedly built by an ancient civilization that worshipped a particular king. At least, that’s the story that archeologists, divers, and anthropologists had come up with after a team of divers had resurfaced with pictures of dust-covered ancient artifacts and sunken walls containing lines upon lines of hieroglyphs. Emmet had no particular desire to get closer.

               The ruins stuck out along the seabed. It was a long slab of rock with a central ziggurat just barely tilting to the side. Decrepit stone houses littered the top of the rock face, it being the only part of the seafloor that didn’t have an obnoxious amount of kelp or coral growing on it.

               And the longer he looked, the more Emmet began to notice that he could hear music. Lulling music. Music that sounded awfully like an orchestra coming directly from the ruins. He tried to think of any ocean pokémon native to Unova that could project their voice underwater, unable to think of anything. The music- it was more like singing- seemed to float into the kelp forest, a few of the Jellicents and Frillish floating off toward the ruins as if enticed to find the source.

               It was a soothing noise. A peaceful song. One that Emmet sworn he had heard before when Ingo had once taken him to visit Celestial Tower back when they were kids. It was the same song that Chandelure often hummed late at night from her perch on the ceiling, the same one that almost always put the brothers to sleep after a long day at work. A horrible chill like being submerged in ice encased Emmet’s body. He shuddered. Time to leave.

               Emmet tapped his Araquanid three times on the side of its head- the signal to resurface. It then called out to Eelektross who had immediately swum back, something large caught in its mouth- probably prey. Eelektross flashed the bioluminescent spots on its body. Two flashes on the side of its face, one on its tail. Resurfacing?

               Emmet nodded, pointing upward. He was grateful when Eelektross swam up to him and wrapped its hands around him, allowing Emmet to take hold of its dorsal fin as both it and Araquanid began to float upwards. And as he rose higher and higher, Emmet chanced a glance back down at the fading ruins.

               He saw what looked to be a shoal of small Basculins swimming toward the walls of the ruins, a much bigger, sleeker-looking Basculin leading the pack. Emmet squinted. No. No, that doesn’t look like a Basculin. Maybe an evolution? But Basculins don’t evolve… Emmet blinked. Ingo had mentioned that the place he had been- Hisui- had featured new evolutions of certain pokémon. Basculin… Basculin was one of those noble pokémon, wasn’t it?

[raynavan]

heavy spoilers for chapter 23 of Always by your side by @ingo-ingoing-ingone!! this chapter was so fantastic i. didnt have words for it. ended up doing 6 (nearly 7) drawings for it instead. i think this is my record- it took me roughly 7 hours. a fair warning! this is both art and a comment to the fic in one. so its rather long!

ok i had an Unreasonable amount of fun doing the background on this one. ended up looking up a lot of the celestial bodies mentioned in the fic, man are they cool! it was implied that Emmet didn't really have a body so! stars instead. the colors were fun- i dont often let myself just. color like this haha! this one was... reall amazing. a fantastic opener! i immediately latched onto the visuals and painted a picture in my mind. it was just so... astronomical?

i actually struggled with how i was going to position these two for a while. at first it was just them coloring in a clearing- then i made them watching pokemon, and then. this! idk- there just something sweet in how Ingo turns around to look at Emmet and... lighting was funky for this one- how a forest shades the things beneath it will always hold a special place in my heart. these two interacting is always so wonderful to read. the gentle ribbing and teasing and... just them chilling and talking was so nice. the fact that it was dragons was even better! dragons are the best. i felt a very sweet and gentle moment needed an equally sweet and gentle drawing. if i could, i might have gone for line less on Ingo and Emmet here as well.

right- this was the last one i did. i think its the only one that i didn't get specifically from what was written. i just... wanted to give Emmet cuddles alright? /lh i had another sketch exploring exactly what Emmet might look, but i think ill revisit that when i... haven't been drawing for 7 hours straight hgfireohgope. the one in this is more simplified. the horror of having your face show one emotion- not even the one your most known for... your voice is toneless and the only was you can show even a fraction of what you feel is by copying what you (supposedly) dead brother used to do. there is a quiet horror in that- and yet Emmet still goes on. he cant feel texture and yet... he deserves many nice things.

this one!!! was originally going to be an Entire piece with a more "realistic" drawing of Ingo sitting behind a fire just like this. when i sketched this out (in the middle of reading it) that was the plan. Jedi saved me by making Emmet draw it like this. you saved me probably an hour ghirepoghpeirh. i... still might draw it how i wanted at some point. also the lighting was added last minute! i thought it would look... more messy with the light of the fire shining on it. i think it looks nice. the scene was sweet and, like Emmet mentioned he did, i put emphasis (or uh... thicker more defined lines) around peoples faces to better define their happiness. it made me happy to read them being happy and then draw them being happy <3

them!!!!!! i do not think it is a secret at All how much i love this au. i was More than happy to draw them again. and!!! being happy!!! perfect. i remembered this was a dream, and decided to blur the background quite a bit of this one- lopsided like its not really being thought about. adored this one. them!! teasing each other!! just!! going through a day!! perfect. amazing. it was really fun the way the small details of their routine was captured. from Ingo just. turning to goop so he doesn't have to pick up his clothes to Emmet just. accepting everything that happened from the mental connection to the shared feelings.

DRAMATIC FORESHORTENING!!!! i almost wanted to play it up More but then i might lose Ingo's expression. the background for this was fun to do- emphasis! strong colors!! looks like something broke. like something was torn away. this whole bit is just. exactly what Emmet fears and its just. ough. Ingo would never do this- we know this, Emmet knows this two- he knows how ridiculous Ingo was being here. and then the climax with Emmet just... falling off... amazing. Ingo's horrified expression is what caught my attention here, though i had a few more ideas depicting Ingo leaning over Emmet. i figured a dramatic drawing here would fit.

so! there ya go. i had. so much fun doing this and! thank you so much for writing this and sharing with us Jedi. if you keep this up, ill just have to keep making more drawings!! i don't think words are enough- not even sure if these can properly express how i felt reading it all (i actual had to get up and pace around bc i got so excited) but! i think that your art inspired my own art is a very beautiful thing.

lets all keep making art with one another forever.

[weirdwyvern]

Collection of observations so far on Pokémon Legends: Z-A

It'd be reasonable to assume that PLZA is going to be based around the same time period as Haussmann's renovation of Paris, a major public works initiative focused on city modernization (by the day's standards). This included taking down a lot of medieval neighborhoods and replacing them with avenues, squares, and parks, as well as installing extensive water-based features such as sewers, aqueducts, and (of course) fountains. Haussmann was eventually dismissed bc he was being way too extravagant with spending (along with other political stuff etc etc), but the modern-day layout of central Paris still directly echoes his designs.

The renovation period lasted from 1853-1870, which would put PLZA in roughly the same timeframe as PLA; the Meiji Restoration (also called the Meiji Renovation, ironically) began in 1868.

However, the aesthetics they've chosen for the announcement trailer are giving me pause. Though the drafting/sketching portion certainly has an old-timey feel to it, the use of a holographic, wireframe style to show the city feels markedly futuristic. In addition, one of the humans we see (the woman sitting at a table next to a Klefki) appears to be using a smartphone. Whether or not we're gonna have another Arc Phone situation has yet to be seen.

This could just be a way of expressing "here's what Lumiose is PLANNED to look like far in the future, and this game is going to be focused on building towards that future." As there was a "Not actual gameplay footage" disclaimer at the beginning there, we can assume that nothing shown in the trailer is necessarily going to appear in-game – tho I'd imagine at least some of the models are going to be utilized (two birds, one stone).

With how Pokémon has played around with ancient/futuristic dichotomies (Unova, Paldea) and time travel (Alola, Hisui, and…many others tbh) in the past, though, it'd be interesting if PLZA wound up being a futuristic isekai to complement the distant-past adventure of PLA.

All that said, if PLZA is set in the past: We are all but certainly going to see young (or at least younger) AZ.

Very interested in this logo! Presumably it's comparable to that of the Galaxy Team, though unlike that one, it doesn't share much resemblance to the logo of its region's future evil team (Team Flare). The most similar organization logo we've seen thus far would be that of the Aether Foundation.

The only theory I have at present is that it could potentially be related to Diancie, which was first introduced in Kalos. The logo could be a stylized version of the incomplete ring & glittering gem around its neck.

Adjacent to that: I get the feeling that the Anistar City Sundial is going to have some level of importance to the plot. In XY, the Sundial allows the player to upgrade their Mega Ring + locate more Mega Stones throughout the region. As the Mega Evolution symbol was prominently displayed at the end of the presentation, we may get to learn some more about it and its origins – especially that bit about how it supposedly descended from space.

Other assorted notes:

We may get to see Camphrier Town – or, at least, Shabboneau Castle – during its heyday!

The A in PLZA's logo shares a similar construction to the marking on Xerneas' chest. It also has a plantlike pattern on it, which would connect to Xerneas' ability to induce life/growth…or it could be interpreted as a veinlike pattern, which would connect to Yveltal's design. It could also be completely unrelated to the Aura Trio lmao

I want to see Emmet so bad. Put both of those muppets in situations. Also I want double battles back please I'm begging and pleading stop making me fight 3+ enemies with only one Pokémon on my side–