#and take this little buddy to a pokémon center

[humming-pokemon-helpers]

Wynaut hatched!

Not sure if this little one’s a guy or a girl yet, but I can tell something’s a little… off? Maybe it’s a hybrid… Otherwise seems very healthy though!

Do you all see how proud Dolly is of her little Wynaut? Look at that happy face. Look at those tears of joy. And she figured out how to cry out so I’d come and see! I’m so proud of how far she’s come in the short time I’ve had her here.

[yeehawbvby]

Their Greatest Treasures | Arven & GN!Reader

Rating: G 

Summary: You're about to compete in one of your first public matches as Paldea's newest champion. With such a large audience, you’re terrified — but your worries instantly dissipate when one of your favorite people meet you on the court.

Author’s Note: There will be end- and post-game spoilers in this, so read at your own risk!

Also, while I headcanon Arven as an adult, this fic can be 100% platonic, for those of you who don't. I just wanted to write something cute about besties being reunited :) Enjoy and take care! x

Check it out on ao3!

You stand in the center of Mesagoza, about to compete in the first ever School Battle Brawl Academy Ace Tournament. You know you’ll probably win the whole thing, having recently become a champion, but you can’t help but feel nervous with all these eyes on you. 

With the exception of being on Iono’s streams a few times, your audiences have been relatively small. But right now, nearly everyone you go to school with — teachers included — and even random passersby of Mesagoza are waiting eagerly to see their region’s newest champion in action.

On your side of the court, you fiddle with a Pokéball, tapping your feet against one another, trying to steady your breathing as you patiently await the battles that are to come. Your heart jumps to your throat as Clavell begins announcing your first opponent, and ripping the metaphorical bandaid off, you finally look up. Before the chairman can say your challenger’s name, though, you’re whispering it to yourself. Grinning wider than you have in weeks, nerves melting away. 

You haven’t seen Arven much since the whole incident at Area Zero, having been bombarded with your new champion duties so shortly after. You hadn’t realized how much you truly missed seeing those piercing teal eyes; or the streaky, puffy hair; or naturally pouty, almost angry-looking face, until now.

More importantly, you’ve missed his voice. You feel comfortable and warm as he gives a whole spiel about how it’s “just his luck” to be paired against his “little champion.” He assumes you’d be surprised to see him at an event like this, but at the accusation, you shake your head ‘no,’ knowing fully how passionate he can become when he sets his mind to something. It throws him for a loop, but only gives him more encouragement to do his best – for himself, and for you.

You begin battling no more than a minute after the exchange, and the grin doesn’t leave your eyes or lips. To others, it probably just looks like you really enjoy battling. 

To Arven, you look nuts. 

He’s seen you battle plenty. He knows that, more often than not, you look determined, sometimes even scary, when you compete. What’s different this time? Has La Primera really gotten to you that quickly?

As he's lost in thought, a second member of Arven’s team goes down. You still have that look as you return your own Pokémon to its ball, letting it rest while another comes out to play. He begins to feel self-conscious, and it turns quickly into frustration. 

Is he a joke to you? Are you on the verge of laughter because you’re kicking his butt so hard? What's going on?

Arven knows that those things wouldn’t be characteristic of you, considering how supportive you’ve always been of him… but what if that’s changed? Needing answers, he speaks up about it. 

“What’s up with that dumb face?” he shouts before the two of you can begin the next round.

Your eyes widen, and then soften. After that, a giggle comes out of you that makes Arven’s breath hitch. Arceus, he missed his little buddy’s laugh.

“I’m just… really happy to see you!”

Oh.

Oh, nothing could have prepared him for that. 

Arven’s own eyes widen, his face flushes, and your smile contagiously spreads to his features. He’s never really had anyone who’s happy just to be around him, at least to his knowledge. His own parents neglected him, leaving him without family, and he’s always struggled to make friends, leaving him without any form of kinship. 

And yet here you are. 

You helped Arven bring his partner back from what was basically the brink of death, and barely needed to be convinced to do so. You were there to console him when he found out his real parents are gone forever, with only AI in their stead, who also left him. You brought him closer to Nemona and Penny, and even if they’re insufferable at times, they’re some of the best friends he’s ever had.

Deep down, Arven thought that maybe you’re just a really kind person. A true, textbook-definition of a hero. There’s no way someone could care that much about him, surely.

…Yet here you are! Genuinely happy just to be reunited with your buddy.

You’re the greatest treasure he could’ve asked for.

[sunrise-ranch]

Attention!

Attention all irl pokemon irl's out there! I have ma important announcement that you need to know!

About... The GRAND opening of the Sunshine Ranch & Daycare Center! Come and enjoy our wonderful slice of heaven here, not only for your pokemon but for yourself as well!

Come and enjoy teaching little kids the wonders of taking care of a pokemon every Monday and or Wednesday from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM!

Enjoy Rapidash and Ponyta riding lessons every Tuesday from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM, hosted by me, Evie and my elite riding instructors; Vivianne, Mildred, and Takari! Well ride around the fairly large, new region of Jadefire, encounter new kinds of pokemon, and learn valuable riding pokemon lessons, indeed!

Enjoy a nice swim at our luxiorus below ground pool, or take a hike through the woods and head to the chillest pond around!

Or need some assistance with pokemon or are looking for a new partner? Well your in luck! Drop your Pokémon off here at our daycare (@sunrise-adoption-center) located right next door! There you can leave your pokemon for a one time or regularly scheduled day of fun and relaxation for your pokemon! And while you or your Pokémon are at our center, maybe you'll have found a brand new forever buddy from our various selection of pokemon!

So take a stroll down to Sunrise Ranch! Where we hope, we can bring a slice of serenity, to you and your pokemon!

*if you would liketo schedule for an adoption, or activity please contact us!

[kittsu-and-company]

I took my Pokémon egg to the Pokemon center a couple days ago because it was taking a long time to show any signs of hatching

And guess what!!

Guess!!

Little buddy just happens to be a little guy that needs a *lot* of incubation time! They did I dunno something with their fancy magic machines to speed up the process a bit, so maybe new friend soon!!

[chicaseptic]

Pokemon Violet: Poisonous Rebirth

Chapter 1: Welcome to Kitakami.

The first chapter is done, hope you all enjoy it! Any advice is welcome and so are questions.

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The Paldea Region…a region where people and Pokémon co-exist. From the skies to the seas, there are Pokémon at every corner! At the heart of the region lies a giant crater inaccessible to ordinary people…and around this area, in a corner around the crater, lies an academy known as Naranja Uva Acadamy. An academy where students can learn from basic lessons such as language, maths, and P.E. to Home EC, students are offered dorms, and within the academy is a shop where they have everything they need. Within the academy resides the prodigy known as Florian.

Florian is a young 14-year-old trainer who reached the Champion Rank thanks to his rival. His friend group consisted of Nemona(The Battle Hungry maniac), Arven(His cook bestie), Penny(Hacker VeeVee girl), and of course, the iconic paradox Pokémon, Miraidon. Due to his appearance, Florian was often mistaken for a girl until he spoke, which he always found funny. Sometimes, he’d just let people think he was a girl for some time and then speak.

One day, Florian heard of a trip to a place called Kitakami…which caught the young trainer’s interest. So, he willingly signed up…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the airport, Arven, Nemona, Penny, and their mother met up to bid Florian ‘bye’ even tho it was temporary.

“Make sure you call us, little buddy!” Arven grinned.

“Make sure you get stronger so we can have more fruitful battles!” Nemona chimed.

“Make sure you call…” Penny muttered softly.

Florian looked at his ride partner, Miraidon, who chirped happily. They could tell the electric/dragon type was excited to see more of the world.

Florian stared out the window, wondering how long has it been since he took off to Kitakami. He was bored out of his mind and he had a nap not too long ago. His partner, Meowscarada, on the other hand, was still napping. That grass cat Pokemon HATED being in her Pokeball, so it was up to Florian to ensure this cat wasn’t causing mischief. The boy checked his room phone.

“Man…this is taking forever…and we also need to take the bus…” They muttered to themselves.

Florian looked around the plane, so many trainers…many faces he could recognize as students but not know on a personal level, and then there was Ms.Briar…Florian wasn’t fond of her…and neither was the Magician Pokemon…

Florian checked his team: Meowscarada, A recently caught shiny Flygon, The guardian Miraidon, Azumarill, A shiny Lucario, and a shiny Gengar.

Some of these Pokemon were hatched, some were just caught at their current stages but they all obeyed Florian flawlessly.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the pilot announce their descent.

“Finally…”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kitakami…a small village-like region and a popular tourist destination…home to Pokemon who are not found in Paldea. Florian got off the bus and looked around.

‘So much green…’ They thought.

Briar guided the students to the community center, yet Florian was lost in the scenery…until he bumped into someone!

“Grah!” A voice echoed.

“A-Ah! Are you ok!?” Another voice chimed in.

Florian looked in front of him. A tall girl with a dark smoke brown hairband and eyes looked down at me. Her hairband had dark smoke-brown wings with dark orange tips. Her dark blue hair with a harsh pink interior and yellow highlights in the front hair waved elegantly in the gentle wind.

“What gives!?” She shouts.

“I-I am sorry! I got c-caught up in the surroundings!”

“Surroundings…I take it you are…new here…?”

Florian looked at the source of the other voice. A smaller boy, around Florian’s age, seemed to share a similar hairstyle to the girl. Although his hairband was a harsh pink with what Florian believes are chains hanging loosely. The boy’s pink eyes were something they were sure to never forget.

“Ummmm…you are staring at me…” the boy spoke softly.

“S-Sorry!” Florian apologized.

“Yea…I will just…mark all of this as you being new here…”

Florian nods, glad that it got sorted quickly.

“I’m Kieran…the featherbrain with wings is my sister…Carmine.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a featherbrain!?” Carmine shouts, getting all riled up.

“You…jeez…” Kieran retorted, sighing. “Sorry about the featherbrain…she gets…riled up easily, really.”

Florian couldn’t help but stare at the chains dangling from Kieran’s hairband…they were simply so pretty…no…Kieran was pretty. That shade of pink just really suits him…

“H-Huuuuuuuuuh!? Kieran suddenly blushed.

“W-Wait…what happened!?” Florian panicked.

“You just said my brother is pretty and that shade of pink really suits him…” Carmine spoke.

“I-I said that out loud!?” Behind Florian, Meowscarada chuckled.

Kieran, still flustered, took Florian’s hands in it’s and smiled.

“I-I think you look pretty too! E-Everything about you is unique!”

Carmine rolled his eyes.

‘Lovebirds…’ she mentally sighed.

The girl now watches as his little brother and the newcomer are flustered messes.

“ANYWAYS! Come now, new kid.” Said Carmine as she took Florian’s hand and took him to the Community center, Kieran following behind.

A little bit later, we arrived at the center.

“Florian! There you are!” Ms. Briar spoke as she approached me.

“Now we know your name…” Kieran muttered.

Florian chuckled.

“Sorry…”

“I see you met the two group guides already!”

“I’ll get these kids! Kiki, you get Florian!” Carmine said/

For a second, Florian swore Carmine chiriped…like a bird.

Once the groups were decided, I looked at Kieran and smiled.

“Lead the way!~” Florian smiled.

Kieran fidgeted nervously but nodded.

“O-Ok…follow me…”

‘Strange…’ Kieran thought as it couldn’t shake off the smile from Florian. ‘What is he…doing?’

Thoughts ran through the young boy’s head…

“HOLD IT!” Carmine’s voice rang loudly.

Kieran and Florian turned around, only to see Carmine rush at them.

“I want to battle Florian!”

Florian could see a spark in Carmine’s charcoal eyes. A desire to battle.

“Hmmm…let me see if my team is in good condition…” Florian muttered, playing with his braided hair before reaching into his bag for the Pokemon. Meowscarada seemed in good condition. She seemed eager to fight!

“Alright…we can battle.” Florian exhaled.

Carmine looked like he wanted to jump up and down.

“Alright! Let’s do this!”

We went back to the front of the Community Center, Carmine pulled out a Pokeball. She confidently threw it and Mightyena came out.

Florian looked at Meowscarada and she jumped into the battle, meowing ferociously.

Carmine laughs as he gets into battle mode.

“Welcome to Kitamami! For your first experience, get ready to eat dirt!”

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 3- Part 9

Igglybuff, I see. But that’s fine- I’ll just have Streak lower its Defense a bit with Tail Whip, and then we’ll-

…Oh yeah, Igglybuff can Sing. First Gullet with Yawn, now this Singing Igglybuff? Just when I was feeling proud of myself for being able to Poison my enemies right back, Sleep comes along- and the shop in Grand Hall doesn’t even sell Awakenings!

And she’s switching into Ducklett! Well, fine, two can play at that game- I’ve got a Water-type of my own!

Have fun spamming Water Gun against Riptide!

Indeed, Riptide takes care of the Ducklett, forcing Igglybuff back out. In the end, I decide to use Glare because of the type advantage, which works out very well because Glare isn’t put to sleep and defeats Igglybuff!

And a new move to boot! A Dark-type one, too, and with the chance to flinch- I like it!

No thank you.

(on a related note, happy Ace Week everyone)

Now that the way down 3rd Street is clear, let’s see those cops by the sign again.

A base…are they talking about those Team Meteor guys those two in Grand Hall were talking about? 

See, they do exist! Take that, nameless female NPC!

Anyways, behind the Pokémon Center is this small alleyway, and one of the NPCs…looks like the guy who stole the Magikarp! The salesman did mention he’d probably be somewhere in Peridot Ward, but- I mean, he also said the guy would probably be at the end of the ward’s train tracks, and this is not that. 

Still, even if this isn’t the thief, I still wanna see what’s going on back there. But just in case he and his blonde buddy wanna pick a fight, I’m gonna save (plus, I haven’t saved in a while anyways). And my Pokémon are already healed up, so- let’s see.

Just walk past the Pokémon Center and-

…So- funny story.

After I saved, and like right as Xera walked past the Pokémon Center into that alleyway, my laptop sorta…crashed? In a way? The entire screen just cut to black like the power had been cut, I couldn’t do anything, but I could still hear the in-game music. When I tried closing my laptop and opening it again- yeah, that stopped the music (like it would if my laptop had gone into sleep mode), but the screen was still black even after I opened it again.

So, I had no choice but to restart my laptop. That did fix things, luckily, and it is a VERY good thing I saved out of paranoia before that happened, because otherwise we would be having some ISSUES. Just goes to show that being a spastic saver in video games is always correct.

I still don’t know why that happened, my laptop was a little laggy beforehand but to just break like that? Just go to black, nothing else? That was really weird.

So, with no other explanation, I’m gonna blame…YOU TWO!

Those two broke the fabric of reality itself to try and stop Xera and her team from getting anywhere near them! Well joke’s on them, we have technology!

Excuse me? A Pokémon in an abandoned house, not even in a Poké Ball? I mean- that was how we found Echo earlier, he was just kinda sitting scared and alone in an empty house. Is that what these two are talking about? Or is there some other event involving a wild Pokémon in an empty house we haven’t seen yet?

There’s another house right there. If they’re not talking about the Whismur event, maybe this could be it?

Ah, nope, just an old lady.

Wait, what? They reversed the priority on Ally Switch? Isn’t the whole point of Ally Switch, like- in Double Battles, the one Pokémon can switch sides with the other, so moves that would have hit the Pokémon on that side will instead hit the one who used Ally Switch? Like, sure, I haven’t seen it used that often at all, and I’m sure there are better moves and strategies that effectively do the same thing, but- that is what Ally Switch is for. Making it go at the end of a turn- doesn’t that defeat the entire purpose?

And even ignoring all of that- why Ally Switch? Out of all the moves that one could consider lackluster or underwhelming, why did they choose to edit Ally Switch of all things? That’s just- that’s such a specific change, I’m so curious as to why that was done.

Let’s head back out and touch some grass, geez…

At least this street has a cool name- “Spitrail Street.” Also, I’m certain that lady is a Trainer we can fight, but I’m not gonna worry about her right now, we’re still exploring.

Previous

Next

[marcmarcmomarc]

Super Smash Bros. Fighter Presentation

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Fighters 2/2

MASTER HAND: Next up, DK’s little buddy, and at one point co-savior. “The Acrobat”, number 36, Diddy Kong!

Theme: Victory! Diddy Kong by GB6

(Diddy steps to center stage and claps his hands above his head, switching feet.)

DIDDY: Hee-hee!

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, “Donkey Kong Country” for Super Nintendo Entertainment System!

MASTER HAND: Next, the youngest of a set of twins, a kind but timid boy from the Nowhere Islands. After his mother died and his brother went missing, he took it upon himself to stop the evil Pigmask Army, pull the seven needles, and befriend the Dark Dragon. Please give a warm welcome to “The Boy From Nowhere”, number 37, Lucas!

Theme: Victory! Lucas by Groovy Monkey Music

(Lucas steps to center stage and puts his hands in their “PK Fire” motion.)

LUCAS: PK Fire!

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, the game not localized in North America- I mean, “Mother 3” for Nintendo Game Boy Advance!

MASTER HAND: Next, Sega’s mascot, and Mario’s former metafictional rival hailing from South Island, “The Blue Blur”, number 38, Sonic the Hedgehog!

Theme: Victory! Sonic by DIMON • CAMI

(Sonic skids to a hard stop at center stage.)

SONIC: Sonic’s the name, speed’s my game!

CRAZY HAND: While his first appearance was a stylized head in “Rad Mobile” for Arcade, the character himself would debut in “Sonic the Hedgehog” for Sega Genesis!

MASTER HAND: Next is the self-proclaimed king of Dream Land, a greedy and gluttonous penguin, but has helped Kirby save Dream Land many times against many powerful foes. He is “The Self-Made King”, number 39, King Dedede!

Theme: Victory! King Dedede by GB6

(King Dedede steps to center stage and smirks.)

KING DEDEDE: Heh-heh.

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, “Kirby’s Dream Land” for Nintendo Game Boy!

MASTER HAND: The space-traveler who was first stranded on a Distant Planet where he had to gather the pieces of his ship with help from the planet’s inhabitants is “The Veteran Astronaut”, number 40, Captain Olimar!

Theme: Victory! Olimar - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

(Olimar steps to center stage and bows at the audience.)

OLIMAR: (in his language) Greetings.

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, “Pikmin” for Nintendo GameCube!

MASTER HAND: Olimar didn’t come alone. By his side are the inhabitants of the planet he landed on, the Pikmin! Red, blue, yellow, purple, and white.

CRAZY HAND: All debuting from “Pikmin” and “Pikmin 2” for Nintendo GameCube!

MASTER HAND: Next is the Aura Pokémon and one of the more iconic members of the fourth generation. “The Hero of Aura”, number 41, Lucario!

Theme: Victory! Lucario by GB6

(Lucario steps to center stage, stands on one foot and holds one hand in mid-air, assuming a Fujian White Crane-like stance.)

LUCARIO: The Aura is with me.

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, “Pokémon Diamond and Pearl” for Nintendo DS!

MASTER HAND: Next is the metafictional savior of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and possibly video games in general, helped the Nintendo Entertainment System get off the ground during the tail end of The Great Video Game Crash of 1983. He is “The Last of his Kind”, number 42, R.O.B.!

Theme: Victory! R.O.B. - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

(R.O.B. rolls to center stage and moves his head around, flashing bright lights from his eyes while clapping.)

CRAZY HAND: While he initially debuted as a toy as his full name, the Robotic Operating Buddy, in 1985, his first in-game appearance is “Stack-Up” for Nintendo Entertainment System!

MASTER HAND: Next is the Hero of Hyrule taking a cartoony look and hailing from Outset Island, a small location on the Great Sea, and set out on a quest to rescue his sister Aryll from the clutches of the Helmaroc King. Welcome “The Wind-Waking Warrior”, number 43, Toon Link!

Theme: Victory! Toon Link by GB6

(Toon Link steps to center stage and swings the Master Sword.)

TOON LINK: Hyah!

CRAZY HAND: While the “Toon” design for Link technically appeared first in “The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords”, the character here unambiguously represents the character debuting in “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker” for Nintendo GameCube!

MASTER HAND: Next, Fox’s rival and the leader of the bounty hunter force known as Star Wolf, “The Silver Space Wolf”, number 44, Wolf O’Donnell!

Theme: Victory! Wolf by GB6

(Wolf steps to center stage and scowls.)

WOLF: You’re good, but I’m better.

CRAZY HAND: First appearance, “Star Fox 64” for Nintendo 64!

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello Darling! Love your Thenamesh Pokémon AU and I have a prompt request :)

let’s say Thenas entire Pokémon team gets poisoned because something is wrong with the pokefood (let’s say team rocket is doing some dumb shit again). So Thena ask Gil if he can help because all the Pokémon healing centers are filled with poisoned Pokémon.

And Gil being a absolutely sweet man helps and cares for her Pokémon as well as the others at the ranger station.

Some soft moment where Thena watches Gil how caring and sweet he is! Maybe some fluff in the end between them?

It was in the water, it was determined. The ranger centre - and every pokemon centre for half a region's distance - was overrun with poisoned pokemon.

It was an environmental pollution case, and poised for a huge class action lawsuit, from what the news was reporting. A few major companies, from Silph Co. to the Devon Corporation, were expected to face massive backlash from it.

The Pokemon Ranger Association was expected to head the actions taken against them. Even then, the rangers on active duty were running around with their heads cut off trying to keep up with the mass poisoning. Luckily it was a relatively light condition, nothing that antidote supplies and pecha berries couldn't help. Curing would just take a little time--and a lot of pokemon centre help.

Gil was supposed to be out there helping, too. And he had, through his standard shift. He had been herding poisoned pokemon all morning, having called on every steel type they could find, as well as any ground type willing to simply help them out. He had been working tirelessly.

And still he came right over to Thena's after work to help with her pokemon.

She had called him in a panic at the first signs of the toxicity in them. She used such specialised home blends for their pokechow, she couldn't fathom how they had all gotten the signs of mild poisoning. Gil had told her that they were investigating it, but the likely cause was the water. He told her to shut off her water main, run all her taps dry, order some bottled water for delivery and wait for him.

"How are they doing?" he whispered as he closed the door behind him.

It was quite a scene.

Gallade was laid on the couch, curled on his side with a blanket and a cool cloth on his forehead for the reactionary fever. Ninetales was curled up as tight as she could go on her bed, all of her tails draped over her body like an extra blanket. She also had a blanket laid over her.

He had to assume that the freezer door was open because Froslass was either hovering right in front of it or inside the freezer itself.

"I gave them each a pecha berry every half hour, and I already used all the antidotes in the house," Thena sighed, rocking a miserable little Teddiursa in her arms with a frown. "I ordered more but, well, I'm sure you know."

There was about to be a region wide supply shortage. They were already in the midst of it, most likely. He set down his bag and took his hat off.

"How's Dragonite?" she whispered, rubbing Teddiursa's forehead while he was swaddled up in a blanket of his own.

"Good, actually," Gil managed to smile amidst the misery around them. "We generally use the bottled water from the machines while we're out in the field, so we got off pretty easy."

"Thank Arceus," Thena sighed, although she was looking down at her whiny little cub with misty eyes. "I just wish I could do more for them."

"I know," Gil whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. She had called him specifically because she knew the pokemon centres would all be completely overrun. And with her very specific team, she was just as equipped to handle them here at home as any care unit.

Teddiursa pried his glassy eyes open, "Ursa."

"I know, buddy," Gil sighed, also ruffling their little bear's fur between his droopy ears. "Your tummy hurts, huh?"

The cub curled into Thena, as he did when he was a baby first getting used to the world outside Thena's house.

Gil picked up his bag and set it on the counter, "I was asking some Tropius how they were handling things, and they offered some knowledge about the berries that might help. They said that cherri and pecha berries mixed might provide some comfort."

"Cherri?--for paralysis?" Thena asked as Gil dumped out the collection of berries. "Pecha must be hard to come by too, I imagine."

"Well," Gil smiled at her gently, "a group of Quagsire from the lower caves remembered a very nice trainer who came to their aid not too long ago and shared their stash with me."

Thena sniffled.

"Okay," Gil whispered, cutting up the berries and mixing them as Thena pulled out a pot and poured in water they both knew they didn't exactly have to spare. "This should help you guys feel a little better.

"Froslass," the ghost pokemon apparated, just to see what was going on.

"I'm sorry," Thena whispered to her poor ice type, patting the spot between her little icicle-horns on her head. "We're just going to cook up a little soup. I'll chill yours for you."

"Fross," the pokemon muttered before disappearing from sight again, curling up in the freezer to try and endure her symptoms.

"I hate to think about how some of the other pokemon are doing with this," Thena frowned as Gil stirred around the soup, cutting up a few oran berries as well, just to give them back a little energy.

"This morning was rough, but when I was getting off we were just starting to get our heads above water."

Thena rocked Teddiursa against her as Gil tasted the berry mixture before adding a few vitamins for good measure. Once they were incorporated he ladled out a few bowls, handing one to Thena to put in the fridge before giving it to Froslass.

"Here we go," Gil whispered as he held up a bowl to Teddiursa's muzzle, tipping it to him gently. "I know it doesn't taste as good as Mama's pokechow, but it'll help your tummy."

"Teddi," the little bear whimpered before accepting the medicine. He knew better than to refuse it in Thena's presence.

"Good work," she whispered, kissing the fur between his ears as he drank up. She accepted the bowl from Gil smoothly as he went to her other pokemon with theirs.

"Think you can sit up, bud?" Gil asked Gallade, who groaned but pulled himself up to lean against the armrest of the couch. Gil handed him the bowl. "There's some HP Up, in there--just a little, though."

"Gallade," the pokemon uttered its thanks. No matter its opinions on Ranger Gil and his relationship to its trainer, Gallade had to admit that the human man was nothing if not reliable.

Gil patted his shoulder, leaving him to feed himself. He was sure that the viciously independent pokemon wouldn't have accepted being fed - by anyone but Thena - anyway. He moved on to Ninetales, "c'mere, sweetie."

"Nine," she whined, barely emerging from her little knot of tails to peek at him.

"I know, girl," Gil assuaged the poor fire type. "You're not made for this. But I've got something that'll help, okay?"

Thena watched as Gil held the bowl just off the ground, tilted so Ninetales could eat from it without having to stand. He really got off an exhausting shift of taking care of everyone else's pokemon just to come here and hand feed hers.

"Teddi?"

"Is that a little better?" Thena whispered down to her poor little baby bear. He snuggled back into his blanket cocoon and turned his head in against her shoulder.

She would take that as a reluctant 'yes'.

She opened the fridge, testing the temperature of the sweet and sour soup before holding it up. "It's nice and cool, just how you like it."

"Froslass," the ghost appeared, accepting it with a miserable nod of thanks before digging in.

That was the sign that things really were bad. Froslass never let anyone watch it eat--it wasn't in its nature to allow such a vulnerability, even in its own home.

Gil looked up as Thena took a seat on the floor next to him, leaning against his shoulder as he let Ninetales finish her serving. He set the bowl down, petting their fox pokemon on the snout before nudging Thena lightly. "Hey."

"Hey," she whispered back, looking intently at Teddiursa's restless sleeping face. But he was sleeping, and she was grateful.

Gil nudged her again, asking her to look at him. She was exhausted, obviously having been awake since she caught the first signs in her poor team. Her eyes were bloodshot and misty, her skin was pale, he could tell she had cried a little here or there. He pressed his forehead to hers. "How are you doing?"

"I hate seeing them like this," she whispered, inhaling gently as she let Gil's warmth seep into her. "Battling is one thing. Injuries, status conditions--I know how to handle those. But this-"

"I know," he comforted, moving to press his lips to her forehead. She moved closer, tucking her head under his against his shoulder. "How are you feeling? Did you drink anything from the tap this morning?"

"Barely," she sighed. "I saw on the news that humans are less likely to be affected based on volume per mass. I wish I could take it on for them."

Gil nodded, smiling at Ninetales, whose tails perked up to wag just a little. Thena was a good trainer, and they could ask for no one more caring and loyal to have by their sides.

"Gallade."

Thena puffed out a little breath as she felt Gallade drape a blanket over her shoulders from behind her. "Don't you dare get up off that couch, mister."

"Gal," he sighed, already lying back down and pulling the blanket off the back of the couch for himself again.

"Y'know," Gil yawned, "maybe we should try out some sleep powder on 'em. Could help them sleep off some of the symptoms."

"That's a-" Thena paused, the contagious nature of Gil's yawn catching her in her own, "good idea."

"I'll ask Dragonite," Gil mumbled, turning over his watch gear to send a message to his partner, who had offered to work a double to help out with the situation (and free up Gil to help Thena).

"Altaria," Thena mumbled, bringing up her beloved pokemon who was officially retired from battling and released into the wild. It stopped in regularly between migration seasons, though. "It might still know Sing."

Gil nodded, feeling Thena's fatigue seeping into him. "You should get some sleep."

"Speak for yourself," Thena mumbled right back, already slipping further and further into sleep.

Teddiursa snuggled against her as she laid down. She instinctively pulled him closer to her, as she did when he slept in her bed for the first few months of his life with her.

Ninetales and Gallade, with their combined psychic abilities, expended what energy they had to lie Gil and Thena down to rest. Thena sighed into the softness of Ninetales' fur, as she often did when they were camping in Victory Road. The fire type kindly let Gil also rest his head against her plush tails as well, since his arms were wrapped around Thena (and Teddi).

Gallade mustered enough effort to spread Thena's blanket out over the ranger as well. It would demand a thank you from him later, it determined before lying down again. "Lade."

"Tales," Ninetales yawned in agreement, also settling down to rest again.

Froslass floated over with the extra blanket Gil had brought in his pack, spreading it out over them before closing the freezer and going to settle itself in the cool of the bathtub.

The three - fully grown - pokemon could at least agree that maybe, just this once, they really did owe their trainer's mate.

[turnaboutwriter]

Safe Travels, Part 1: In Abundant Relations - Chapter 9

Fandom: Pokémon

Pairings: Paul/Dawn, May/Drew, Dawn’s Togekiss/Paul’s Honchkrow, Wallace/Winona, Candice/Zoey, Steven Stone/Cynthia

Rating: General

Summary: Paul loses to Brandon at their rematch in Snowpoint City and intends on challenging him once more in Hoenn. Dawn, who intends to participate in Hoenn contests, runs into him on the ship ride to Slateport City. Paul seeks Dawn’s coordinating expertise for a contest that Cynthia tells him he should participate in, and so, while Dawn is puzzled as to why Paul has to partake in the contest, so begins their journey together — ikarishipping.

Notes: This is a whopping 8k+ words, mostly due to the Rubello Contest, but I also wanted to give enough to curb you all over until after the new year. I am so curious to know your thoughts after reading this chapter. Please enjoy! I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays!

(Below is an excerpt of the chapter — the full version can be read on FFN/AO3, which will be linked at the end of the preview).

.

“This is crazy! I can’t believe you get to travel with Paul! I am super jealous! How did you go from spying on him during the Sinnoh League to being his travel buddy, anyway?”

Dawn and Piplup, in her arms, scowl at Barry from across the booth. “I already told you, I was not spying!” Her eyes nervously sneak over to Paul, sitting next to her, but he thankfully does not seem to be taking Barry’s words seriously as he studies his book.

“Suuure. But, hey! That doesn’t answer my question. You’ve got 10 seconds before I fine you big time! 10 . . . 9 . . .”

Dawn rolls her eyes, but cannot hold back her smile. She did miss Barry - since they ran into him in here, the Slateport Pokémon Center, he has reminded her of all of the people she met while traveling in Sinnoh, and it makes her a little homesick.

“8, 7, 6, 5, . . .”

She looks over at Paul once more, this time to silently ask permission to tell Barry. Paul’s face is blank, but simply shrugs back, his eyes never leaving his book. Do what you want - I don’t care enough, she is certain he would say.

CONTINUE READING: FFN | AO3

[arvend]

The grass is frosty, and the make of his boots is the only thing keeping him from slipping on it. The ocean breeze is ice-cold, it turns his cheeks and ears red and he thinks he probably should have grabbed a hat or earmuffs or something before leaving the lab. So, for now, he yanks his hood up over his head. It’ll do for now.

He’s been out for a while now. Mostly just exploring and gathering berries with the help of Greedent, but his Pokémon’s taken to lounging underneath a tree, snoozing away while holding onto his tail. So Arven crouches nearby, snacking on pieces of granola, watching wild Pokémon pass from a distance while Greedent snores.

It’s uneventful. He’s considering heading back early. It’s cold, and there are signs that it’s going to slurry soon, and he doesn’t currently have the equipment on him to be able to deal with that.

And then, somewhere far off to his left, he hears a distressed squeaking sound, followed by the unmistakable cackling of a murder of Murkrow. Arven pushes himself up into a standing position and throws a glance at Greedent, who clearly isn’t going to be moving anytime soon. He unclips Mabosstiff’s ball from his belt and releases the old hound, clicking his tongue for him to follow as he walks towards the source of the noise, crouching low into the tall grass the closer he gets.

There it is: about six Murkrow in a tight circle around something. They’re not really attacking, they’re just laughing and flapping their wings and jerking their heads forward to peck. They’re bullying. Arven can’t see what they’re bullying, though, but he can hear it crying. Arven clicks his tongue again, waving Mabosstiff over to his side. The canine hunkers low next to him, awaiting command.

Arven pats him on the head, waves forward with two fingers, and then points towards the commotion.

Mabosstiff prowls forward, low to the ground, and then bursts from the grass and chases the Murkrow with a loud, booming bark. The birds squawk in alarm and scatter instantly, shrieking as they take to the skies. The hound continues circling and barking until Arven can no longer see them, and then he rises from the grass to see just what they were harassing. Mabosstiff has already stopped to crouch in front of it, trying to appear less threatening.

It’s...

An Applin. It’s trembling in its little shelter, and it’s still crying, but not as loud as before. Arven notes the color of the apple — green — before he slowly walks over. It looks unharmed, just upset. The tiny dragon looks up at him as he approaches, and he drops to his knees a few feet away.

“Hey, little buddy. Those bullies won’t bother you anymore.” Arven keeps his voice light, gentle. “You’re safe now, I promise.”

The dragon keeps staring at him, trembling. Arven works his bottom lip with his teeth. Dragons aren’t... always the easiest to deal with, but this one is just a baby, and it’s a shiny thus more likely to be harassed by both its kin and by other wild Pokémon. He feels bad for it.

Arven peels a glove off one hand and gets lower to the ground, holding his hand out, palm-up.

It’s okay. I’m safe.

Mabosstiff whimpers and backs off. His rather large presence probably isn’t helping the tiny thing feel any better. Arven keeps his hand out, and his eyes soften. It keeps staring at him.

Do you want to come with me?

The Applin perks up. Arven gives it a smile.

“C’mon, I’ll make sure you don’t get bullied again.” He shifts to move closer and the dragon doesn’t jerk back. He’s close enough to run his finger over the surface of the apple, so he tries. The Applin doesn’t shrink away. I’m safe. It’s safe. You’re safe.

It hops into his palm and Arven blinks, processing, before he breaks out into a grin and sits up. He brings it closer and it nestles close to his chest. Shrugging his bag off, he uses his free hand to dig into it for an empty Poké Ball and holds it up. It grows in his palm and he presses the button in the center, absorbing the little dragon in a beam of light. It shimmies once in his hand before stilling.

Congratulations!

Applin has been caught!

[demonfox38]

Completed - Pokémon Violet

I’m usually good at not giving into peer pressure. Usually.

Here’s the problem, though. I want to be people’s pals. I wanna be the person people can rely on. And, you know, maybe I can say "no" or "wait" to one person. But, when a couple people are getting back on that Pokémon horse—Mudsdale, whatever—and they need a backup partner for trading…Well, shit. I'd like to pretend I'm useful to someone, anyway.

So, hell. I bought and beat "Pokémon Violet." And man, was committing the crime the punishment on this one.

"Pokémon Scarlet"/"Violet" takes place on Paldea, a Spanish (and weirdly, Chinese?) influenced country known for its major Pokémon academy. It also has a huge, gaping hole in its center called Area Zero, where researchers go in, but don't necessarily come back out. As a new student at the aforementioned academy, you're charged with solving a series of problems including defeating a bunch of rowdy cohorts, pile-driving giant monsters, healing a puppy, and doing the standard Pokémon League journey nonsense. Aiding you in your travels is the box art's legendary sandwich thief, which serves less as your fighting buddy and more as your mount. But, hell. When the time is right, you'll get to use it.

I'm guessing you're not as much interested in that as you are in knowing how many times I fell through the map. (Zero, by the way!) Definitely saw some Pokémon get stuck in the walls, though.

Like the "Pokémon Diamond"/"Pearl" remakes before it, "Pokémon Scarlet"/"Violet" has a notorious reputation for being a graphical and gameplay mess. And yes. Shit's rough. I never had a full lock-up or clipped myself out of bounds, but I did see some hot garbage. (No actual Garbodors, but I don't think many are crying over that one.) The distance rendering for this game is real busted. Like, "should have covered this up with a "Silent Hill" fog" level busted. I had Pokémon models snapping from low to high quality variants mid-fight, as well as constant landmarks flickering in and out of existence. Some areas slow to a crawl, particularly if a bunch of ground textures and Pokémon have to be rendered at the same time. Hell, some textures dropped so low that it looked borderline Nintendo 64 in quality. Which, hey! I love that console. But, Jesus Christ.

Worse than that for me was whatever was wrong with the lighting engine. The game has little protection going from dark to light. Often, quickly. Repeatedly. Even on occasion, flashing in and out based on what I did in the goddamn fighting menu. This one really gets me because…say. You know that one Pokémon episode that triggered so many seizures that they literally had to remove it from circulation? Wouldn't you think the company responsible for that would be a little more sensible when it came to its goddamn lighting engine? Just saying.

Speaking of compliance issues! Good luck playing this game with the audio off and attending the language professor's class! The later classes rely on you to pick up on a Pokémon mood based on sound alone. Which, guess what? I play this game around others, and often on mute (because I was raised with some fucking manners, thank you very fucking much.) The game has more than one animation set for Pokémon. Maybe use them here? Also, why don't the Pokémon play the stunned animation when initially hit on a back attack? It's like, right there in the following stalled turn. Shit, the previous dev team had this nailed for "Pokémon Legends Arceus." Was nobody sharing notes?

(Although, when I did have the audio on, the music tracks were somewhere between alright to good. So, there's a plus.)

Weird as it is to say, this game sometimes feels like it wasn't meant to be on the Nintendo Switch. Like, in a world where pandemic shutdowns and crypto miners didn't fuck up the production of technology, there would have likely been another Nintendo console announced by now. I'm wondering if, at some point, this was meant to go on some hardware that hasn't seen the light of day. And honestly, some of the alpha textures on the higher-res Pokémon models are really better than I anticipated. I just wonder if that was a hint at something greater, you know?

Something better than this, anyway.

Getting past all of that—and I know, that's a lot—there are some gameplay executions that feel like a downgrade. Particularly, the targeting system and ball tossing mechanics felt soft and mushy. "Pokémon Legends Arceus" was so cool in the way you could aim and fire balls, often using different arcs and levels of power to nail targets. In this one, it's always a weak toss. And I know this isn't the same programmer pool, but goddamnit. This is the company that made that snappy Z-targeting system from "Ocarina of Time." I know they can make something better than a weak, drifty lock-on.

Okay! Time to take a breath. Relax. Be a little more professional. Not bitch about 3 of my 5 favorite Pokémon being AWOL. (Although, really, I've given up on seeing Furfrou ever again.)

Good things! Yes! I can name some of those.

It was nice not to be locked into a particular path in tackling events. You're generally allowed to free-roam, limited only by the level of your own Pokémon. Granted, changes to the obedience system mean that you'll want to mark off your gym badges as soon as you can. (It now adds the burden of what level you caught your Pokémon at into the obedience ruleset, so there's another pain the ass for ya.) It also helps to tackle Damián's quest line as it comes up, as that unlocks abilities for your legendary mount.

Who's Damián, you ask?

Well.

To challenge myself this round, I played through "Pokémon Violet" completely in Spanish. That's right, baby! It was "Pokémon Púrpura" all along for me! But, hell. I've been wanting to do this since "Pokémon Sword"/"Shield" opened this possibility up. Helps with spreading the Masuda Method love to my friends! Was it wise to do this with so many academic responses on the line? Eh, it wasn't that big of a problem. I've got the reading comprehension of at least a five-year-old in Spanish, so I was able to follow along well enough. I didn't pick up on every last minutia of Team Star's plot, but again, I was able to beat it with relatively few issues.

Now, I can't critique the quality of the translation directly. It seems to be more of a European dialect here (Castilian, I'm guessing?), and I'm more versed in Latin American styled Spanish. Granted, that's about the same difference between UK and US English. It was just a few more vosotros forms being tossed around than usual. The biggest hang-up I had with the game is how it translated names and locations to hold puns. Which, hell. That's been a thing since Gen 1. It just makes it a bit more difficult to talk about where I was and who I was talking to with other players.

Would I try this language challenge again? Hell yes. I think I can bluff my way through an Italian or Japanese translation. Maybe French, too. I did learn a few new vocabulary terms, as well as why bocadillos were chosen as the game's customizable food of choice. Definitely would recommend this for other players! It's a hell of a lot more educational than doing a Nuzlocke run, anyway.

God, if they make an Italian Pokémon themed game and they don't use pizza as the customizable food, I'll have to riot.

In terms of new Pokémon designs and regional variants, I wasn't too excited about this game's offerings. I appreciated the game's attempt at making more birds, particularly with ostriches, peacocks, storks, and flamingos. I wasn't hype for them, but I do agree, those animals needed representation. From this new block, the one I formed the most attachment to was a shiny Houndstone that I picked up in the Sierra Napada. I mean, that was a gift. Destiny.

Also, how messed up would it have been if Damián's Mabosstiff died and changed into a Greavard / Houndstone? Hard to find a Hallmark card for that. Then again, it's hard to find a Hallmark card for "Sorry your parent is an asshole, dead, and an asshole robot" too.

Shiny generation, despite allegedly being 1 in 4000, does seem to happen way more naturally in this game. It could be due to the sheer amount of creatures being generated that helps with this. I haven't gotten to shiny charm status yet, but even so, I've been able to get a shiny Houndstone, Venomoth, Orthworm, and Blissey. Definitely no slacking there!

The battle odds seem to be screwy as well. I've seen one tweet stating that the seed for each battle is always the same, which puts it about on par with a 1986 Nintendo Entertainment System game in terms of consistency. Not exactly what you want with a "random" number. I mean, hell. Even the old "Fire Emblem" strip of numbers is better than this. The side effects I personally witnessed resulted in unorthodox balls being more useful than your standard Poké/Great/Ultra Ball line. (You'll definitely want to keep stocked up in Quick, Repeat, and Timer Balls, when you get the chance to buy them.) I've also heard that attacks with a 90% rate of accuracy tend to fail more often than they did before, so keep an eye on that.

But, hey. Uh. More female Eevees than I've seen before in the wild? That's definitely a bonus. The "Let's Go" mode where you toss your lead Pokémon out to auto-mow creatures down was also nice. It trades experience for time, but sometimes, you just need to hurry the hell up.

I guess I should talk about Teracrystallisation, too. It's the game's new "oh, big super move time!" thing. The interesting twist here is that it can shift your Pokémon's type to a new type, as well as offering boosts to that type's attack. I never saw any of the game's opponents use that to good use, though. Like, you run a certain gym type, and you don't use Teracrystallisation to punish with a counter-offensive type? Like, if you could switch a Pokémon from Bug to Ground to counter an obnoxious Fire user, wouldn't you do that? Eh, whatever. I'm no Pokémon professor or gym leader or whatever.

Trainer customization is also available in this game. It's a bit of a split in terms of quality. Like, above the neck? It's some of the most personalized customization I've seen in these games. Below? You're stuck in one of four academy uniforms, only able to buy accessories. (RIP to Naranja Academy students and their stripy orange shorts. Good luck color-coordinating that shit.) But, I guess you can get a custom cellphone, so…You know what? Still boo.

Honestly, the best moments in the game were when the game left me the hell alone to just explore and hunt. There was one excellent moment where I was standing on top of a mountain as the sun was rising, and man, that was pleasant.

I was able to make one Union Circle link-up, and that was nice to do, too. The Area Zero stretch felt like the game's thesis statement, like what it wanted the game's experience to feel like this entire time. And I get that. That sense of adventuring with your friends and their little critters. Hell, that's why I put myself through this, right? To have some kind of connection to others.

Why did 10 million people buy this game if it was such a trainwreck, after all? We're not all idiots. (Okay, I might be a dumbass. Fair enough.) A fair amount of those players are people in college, people with jobs, people just trying to find a way to be with their friends or family. The world's miserable, and we want to find a way to escape it and have fun. Sometimes, Pokémon offers just that. So, there we are, spending money on a crunch-developed franchise and watching it fall apart like so many polygonal shards between our fingertips. Because we want to be with someone. Do something with or for those we care about, no matter how far away they are.

Because we're suckers.

If you're gonna buy a Pokémon game this year, pick up "Pokémon Legends Arceus" instead. It's like $40 USD on the used game market, and it's a way better product than this. If you have to have this, give it a couple of months. Or, hell! Wait for a DLC pack. (I'm assuming there'll be DLC, anyway. There's something fishy going on in the upper-right corner of Paldea's map, anyway.)

Go play "Arceus." Go play a 1986 Nintendo Entertainment System game. I don't know. Go say "Hi" to your parents, if you're on talking terms with them. Find something better to do. At least, until the trash fire has cooled a bit. Or even better, someone gets a trade bot built. Hell, the best part about a Pokémon game is when someone breaks it!

Let's face it. Pokémon games really haven't ever been the most technically sound things on the planet. It's just, ya know. How much fun you can get out of what's busted.

[kicksnscribs]

I wanted to post this on the OG post but it got super lengthy and I didn’t want to put OP through the nonsense that is my opinion but here it is

Not only was the original post spot on I feel like the stakes are just…not there anymore?

In Gen 1-2 we had Team Rocket and my god did that group hate our 10 year old guts lol. The modern Pokémon game adversaries are way too buddy buddy and unfortunately boring as shit to battle with imo, like it was cool with Team Skull I guess but Team Yell in SWHS really didn’t bring anything interesting to the games except be annoying as shit.

Back in the earlier Gens we were breaking into hideouts, jumping down wells to save slopokes from getting their tails cut off for a money making scheme, playing in casinos to get Abras (admit it that was the real reason bc those shits were hard to catch!) took down the CEO of an evil corporation, tamed an enraged gyrados (our first shiny!) got our Pokémon poisoned and had a panic attack trying to get it back to a Pokémon center before it fainted (y’all say it cause anxiety but it made you care about those little monsters didn’t it? Made you care enough to buy some Antidotes so it never happened again didn’t it?)

All this BEFORE we even thought of setting foot in the Pokémon League (not to mention the League members themselves taking an active role in investigating said dastardly deeds) which meant you got to go around meeting random trainers with cool Pokémon you never even knew existed but you WANTED bc the characters were so memorable and cool!

And rolling back to that care point again, yeah Pokémon amie and the picnic gimmicks are great and it’s wonderful to see all of your Pokémon out and about, but outside of just petting them you never really got as attached to them as when you saw them get hurt, the older gens encouraged bonding through hardship bc oh my god how could you not after your first poison faint just before you could make it to a Center to fix them??? (Course that could just be entirely me which is fine)

I guess what I’m getting at is that Pokémon was never just about the battles, it was about exploring the world as a whole with a bunch of big awesome super powered creatures, creatures that would help you delve even deeper into the land as you continued on your journey until you ultimately beat the game and became the Pokémon Master and climbed up a mountain to get your ass handed to you by Red (which they really need to play with that gimmick more lol)

Now it just feels soulless…

Which is really ironic bc yeah that’s kind of how the world is rn, there’s not much motivation to go out and explore bc like the OP said everything seems like it’s already been done or explored or modernized, always connected and never alone.

[crystalelemental]

"megazardx2: I usually don’t bother to debate over things anymore, especially when it comes to Pokémon, but check out this thing that one of my buddies wrote on Lusamine’s anime version: http://aminoapps.com/p/16f6ua. ‘Cause I felt like Lusamine in the anime was a letdown, too, until I read this."

I can check it out, but I might do so later. I am admittedly only 7 episodes in, there's room for improvement or change, but at current, this is my stance on her. And while I'm willing to hear the other perspective, it is going to take a lot to change my mind on this one.

"(There is one thing that confuses me, though. Lots of people say that Lusamine in SM was infected by Nihilego’s toxins before the events of the game, which is ultimately why she went totally crazy; I totally believed that myself, but some people like Kaito say there’s no real evidence for that in-game, and that her own underlying issues were 100% the reason. I’m not really sure which one is true.)"

Okay I lied I'm reading it immediately and am about to tear it to shreds, because part of my answer to this part is also why I'm not agreeing with this person in the slightest.

That's the appeal, man. You don't know what SM Lusamine's deal was on purpose. Part of that is motivations are complex. Maybe the loss of her husband to the UBs caused her to seek them out. Maybe she came into contact with it and that caused her grasp on things to slip. Maybe she was just always cruel and controlling. Maybe it's a bit of all of it. A relatively controlling person at baseline having a serious traumatic event in the loss of their loved one causes them to tighten that grip, and if a toxin that negates the metaphorical ego and tanks executive functioning skills is also in play, it amplifies it that much more. You're left to infer what Lusamine's exact deal is...because it doesn't matter.

A huge moral around the workaholic neglectful parent is that yes, we all know about capitalism, and the demands it places on you to constantly work. The higher up you go, the less time you have for yourself, etc etc. But it doesn't matter. A good reason isn't going to remove how it's impacting your kids. Lillie and Gladion suffer from abuse, and regardless of the reason Lusamine is like that, it doesn't make that abuse any less real. Does it matter to Lillie whether Lusamine's actions are a result of toxins, trauma, or just being awful? It might as far as her decision whether or not to reconcile after the events, but it doesn't for the story that's being told. There's not a right answer because it's not important.

But there is a wrong answer, and it's interpreting Lusamine as "just crazy." Because man, what does that even mean? It's like when lazy fiction just calls the evil guy the "mad king," like fucker what makes them mad? You can't just say they're crazy and call it a day, that's condensing a lot of very broad traits into a single point to dismiss any nuance as just "being crazy." Regardless of what you land on, deciding the initial iteration of Lusamine is just crazy for crazy's sake, is dismissing everything about her and considering her a non-entity. Which...I guess you can do. The story is centered on Lillie after all, Lusamine isn't really an important figure to flesh out beyond knowing the abuse she's inflicted. But for someone claiming Lusamine's a favorite, it's a fucking weird stance to take.

Like, they go on to state that it makes little sense for Lusamine to seemingly turn on a dime after being freed from Nihilego, and that the message is supposed to be just accept them, but that's...not what's happening. Lusamine acknowledges Lillie, sure, but the decision to stay with her and work on things is Lillie's choice. She's under no obligation, but like a lot of kids dealing with this stuff, of course she wants to believe her mother cares. Does she? Doesn't she? Up to interpretation; the story we're telling doesn't give you those answers. You'd decide for yourself in this situation, and make you own choice about where to go from here; we're not here to hand you an all-encompassing answer because there isn't one. The story is solely here to say abuse is abuse, you should recognize it for what it is and acknowledge that what your parents have done is awful, and be willing to call it what it is. From there, everyone makes their own call. And it is, admittedly, endlessly annoying to see takes like this. Like I'm sorry you can't deal with ambiguity and need your children's media to tell you explicitly how to think, feel, and react to things. Maybe the reason your opener talks about kids media not doing good with nuance is more a personal skill issue.

God, I keep wanting to just move on to the anime part, but every few paragraphs I have to stop and harp on this. "Lusamine's not supposed to be sympathetic but the games are clearly trying to make her so with the "when did you become so beautiful" and lack of any punishment or berating her choices." Like Jesus, what punishment do you think fits? Is being poisoned so bad by the toxins from the thing she chased and having estranged relationships with her own kids not sufficient for you? Does that not count? Do we need to rub her nose in it? Have more extraneous dialogue in the already overly wordy game about how wrong she was despite that being the entire narrative? Should we just kill her? That seems to be the go-to.

And the Ghetsis thing. Sounds like someone doesn't know the extended lore, because Masters absolutely tried to have N grapple with this exact same problem. Sure, Ghetsis is evil and only ever been out for himself, but he's on Pasio now, removed from his former power, and claims to want to start again, and now N has conflicted feelings between not trusting the man who used and abused him, but still wanting a relationship with the man who he called his father for so long. And guess what, that story fucks severely. It's one of the best DeNA ever turned out. Sure, it lands on "Ghetsis is a bastard and never to be trusted," but they put a lot of emphasis on the idea that yeah, this is a pretty normal response to abuse coming from someone you cared about and trusted once. Even Silver gets in on how yeah, he gets the complicated feelings despite always seeming so assured of anger as the correct response, and (rightly) gets snappy when people try to dismiss the solution as obvious. It's not about whether the parent is sympathetic. It's about the kid's reaction to it and those conflicted feelings. That's the story's focus. You can determine whether they're being sincere for yourself. You shouldn't need the game holding your hand through it. Ambiguity is not the same as saying it's all fine.

Like I hate to say it, but this person's reason for liking anime Lusamine best is that she's just the easiest pill to swallow. Of course you better like the character that's watered down and not as intense. Of course you like the one whose flaws are more understandable and thus tamer and more forgivable; more sympathetic. They're written to be more approachable. I'd be willing to bet that, despite the intro talking about how their opinion is likely fringe, theirs is pretty stock standard, given how many people praise USUM Lusamine over SuMo Lusamine. When she's less extreme, she's easier to sympathize with, and consider a "good person." Though USUM asks you to turn off critical thinking brain and shift to just "is Lusamine good" with a definite "Yes" as the answer; at least the anime tries for nuance, even if they have to make a completely different character to do so.

But that doesn't make them better. That doesn't even make her more complex. You're willing to claim complexity of anime Lusamine because you directly understand what's going on. Part of that is the anime takes more time to actually tell you Lusamine's deal, which is certainly a component of being more complex. The more time dedicated, the more you have to work on. But they also completely disregard any obligation to read into Lusamine from the games. They literally don't even try. They're willing to write all actions off as "just crazy" and then complain that the game must want them to feel sympathy and didn't do enough to condemn her actions. Like I'm sorry, but this kinda reeks of that moral purity "how am I supposed to know what the real moral is if it's not spelled out" shit. You think about it. You engage with it. Empathize with the characters and consider what you'd do in that situation, why the situation might be complex, why characters might take the actions they did. And they just. Do not. Which is fine, no one's forcing you, but don't come back to me and bitch that they did a bad job in the writing when you weren't willing to do your part.

God, I needed that. I've been in such a slump lately, and nothing gets the juices flowing like being irritated at mundane stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[dannyknowscomics]

What I Want Out of The Scarlet and Violet DLC

Hey everybody we’re about 23 days away from any news Pokemon dlc or lack there of but I think it’d be fun to share what I’d like to see in the potential dlc and maybe you all can share what you want

*A Brand New Rival, basically i enjoyed Avery and Klara from the Isle of Armor and would love it we got something like that, perhaps a former student from the academy who has a team of whatever Pokémon we’ll get in the dlc

*If Two Make Them Connect, As much as I loved the two dlc we got in Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra I always felt like they were a bit disjointed, like one minute we’re learning martial arts with a bear next thing ya know we’re helping a bunny king get back his pony, my hope would be if the dlc are two this time around hopefully they connect in some way.

*More Pokémon: So we currently have 400 Pokémon available to us in SV, the same as when we first played SW/SH, so hopefully like last time we get at least 250 more Pokémon, not including new legendaries and potential regional evolutions

*New Areas To Explore: To be Frank I don’t really think the dlc will just have us explore deeper into Area Zero, because I don’t actually think that’s where the legendary is, like there had been many expedition teams that have colonized Area Zero (as seen with all the outposts) if the legendary was there wouldn’t Someone have seen it by now?

*More to Do: I’m bored right now playing the game, there are no more Pokémon to be caught and until the next Unrivaled is revealed I’m just going around beating up poor Pokémon with my god team, so idk give me a quest to do, give me a battle frontier or fetch quest or something.

*New Trade Options: give me trainers who will trade me a Kantonaian Tauros, Alolan Meowth and Diglett, a Galarian Slowpoke etc

*An In Game Surprise: okay so long story very short 3 years ago I woke up getting ready for work and turned on Pokémon sword to play a bit before I left…..well I stopped at a Pokémon center and the nurse said soemthing off about going to the train station, obviously I was very confused but hey I had 45 minutes to kill, I head to Wedgehurt Station and a cutscene happened, cute pink haired girl asked me to catch a weird Slowpoke, so I did then she blathered on about going to train somewhere awesome but didn’t take me with her (like a jerk!) anyhoo I was very confused about what the heck just happened so I turned on YouTube and found out it was Pokémon day and that there was going to be a DLC! Oh and I got Golder!

And of course spent the time between January and Isle of Armors release date training Golder but alas my little buddy didn’t evolve even at lv 55……Sorry about the tangent I just want something like that, a random in game event to set up for the dlc the day it’s announced.

So that’s about all I got atm what do you want to see in the dlc? And what don’t you want in them?

There’s no wrong answers unless you don’t want Emmett reuniting with Ingo (you monster!)

[barrenrawstliesbleeding]

Hi! I’m Fox!

Fox Lore Speedrun? Ran away from home, was raised by a zoroark, ate raw meat, joined Interpol when I was ten, lost my zoroark parent at sixteen, gained a team of pokemon that I would commit crime for, Gained a discord server I’d fly across the ocean for, moved to Unova, quit Interpol, moved in with my dad Norman and my sibling Isla @darktypetrauma (Hi Isla!!), found out I never actually worked for Interpol, finally grieved for all I lost, started healing, and now I’m here!

My gender is like. Zoroark. I’m a zoroark and my sense of self is ever changing. My pronouns are she/her they/them it/its paw/paws pup/pups fluff/fluffs bite/bites pounce/pounceself ♥️/♥️s 🔅/🔅s and I’ll probably collect more.

My Pokémon! Oh, my babies!

Grapple the braviary. I’ve used she/her for her since I met her and she’s fine with it… apparently braviary are all male but she doesn’t care, so?

Storm the Hisuian Samurott- I was raising this guy because scientists wanted to see how a hisuian Pokémon raised by one human as opposed to a team would develop. That’s why I was stationed in Sinnoh for a year. Which allowed me to meet a lot of other Pokémon too! Storm is a big softie, he doesn’t really battle but he likes being around in the same room as family.

Crumb Cake the riolu that hates everything. He’s my friend my buddy! Well. Not really. I rescued him from a hording situation and for months and months I made no progress. He hated me, he hated my other pokemon. But then I found a stray glameow, and then an egg, and he started opening up. Now he lets me touch him, and even if he doesn’t like any other people he let me take him to the Pokémon center and. He’s a level 64 riolu. I don’t know how he got that strong but for now I’m learning how to battle so he can get his energy out safely!

Crime the Weaville. I met him when he stole my knife. Nowadays he has a prop knife and settled down with…

Punishment the Sneasler. She’s pretty mellow, and adjusted really well to modern life. She’s one of two Pokémon I ended up with while helping investigate a shady hisuian revival group.

Virtute the Hisuian Zoroark. They’re my baby. Named after Virtute the purrloin explains her departure. They were verrrry scared to be in modern times at first, but slowly, slowly, they’ve adjusted. Nowadays they’re interested in battling! And they evolved!!!

Pudding the glameow. I found her when she was probably a few weeks old, and she’s part of why Crumb settled down. She’s verrry close to the other little ones, including

Madoka the togepi! I found her egg in the snow on a walk, had a breakdown, ran barefoot in the snow to the nearest Pokémon center, and took care of the egg. She’s a cute little baby who likes blowing razz berries at the people she loves.

Blossom and Breeze the hisuian growlithe. Adopted from the shelter my long lost twin’s mom works at. Breeze is bigger and he has a twisted paw, Blossom is smaller and she’s higher energy

Lake the shiny zoroark. Yeah so one night I was trying to bully uncle Emmet and found him in the woods. It wasn’t him. Lake needed medical care and used illusions to lure me to it. I took them to a center and they followed me home. They don’t have a pokeball.

Cheri and Sitrus, drakloak and her dreepy. Cheri crawled into my tent while camping, made me throw it until it brought back a second, shiny dreepy, Sitrus. Cheri evolved, and Sitrus sits on her head!

I’m a cane user, and. I guess? I count as disabled? I was in a cave in, and injured and that injury gets in the way of. Normal living. And that’s what disabled means. I’m still coming to terms with it but it’s the truth.

(OOC: blanket “pretending a fictional media is real” warning for this blog. Main blog is @stormcloudsandshadows so I’ll follow back from there.)

[professor-fanalia]

Professor Kryspyn: “You know the best part about working here in the Rejuven Archipelago? Its definitely the fond memories we get to keep with each of our patients and inhabitants. I was just doing some early attic cleaning back at the Lodge with Grandma Rue, when we found our box of photo albums. And this happened to be the photo that fell out of the thick book. This was taken a while back, during the late fall and the winter chill was coming in, and the heater in our Sector A adoption center had broke due to some wiring issues.” 

“So, we did some reshuffling and took some Pokémon into our main house to keep them warm, personally this is one of my favourites. Sole, who is Grandma Rue’s Absol had allowed the trio to take her bed to keep warm, I couldn’t help myself and take a picture of all of them together. Oh man, now I’m starting to miss my snuggle buddies. This was way before Hydrus the Zweilous was adopted by Rexi of the Titomoth Region - @dragonofthenorth​.” 

“Snuggling with him on his back is Hibiscus, the Mimikyu. She is a sweet little thing, loves giving people luau necklaces, and dancing with the Pau’u Oricorio. And the one beside Hydrus, snuggling into his arm is Luna, the moonstone Sableye. She doesn’t enjoy battling, but she is an excellent cuddle buddy! burying under blankets and sweaters, she is the best confident when your feeling blue.” 

“Get the joke? Cause she’s pewter blue... you know what never mind. Anyway, I’m sure Hibiscus and Luna are missing their cuddle buddy, and are still awaiting for the day they too find a trainer who wants to partner up with them just like Hydrus.”

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The Art was done by - @startistdoodles​