#but like with her battle frontier design from platinum

[elithesia-autem-danguarde]

Chapters: 6/30 Fandom: Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Video Game), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions, Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kudari | Emmet & Nobori | Ingo, Kudari | Emmet & Shou | Akari, Nobori | Ingo & Shou | Akari, Nobori | Ingo & Tsubaki | Melli, Kudari | Emmet & Tsubaki | Melli, Nobori | Ingo & Queen Ohnyula | Lady Sneasler, Kudari | Emmet & Hisuian Zoroark Characters: Nobori | Ingo, Kudari | Emmet, Shou | Akari, Seki | Adaman, Kai | Irida, Volo (Pokemon), Yone | Mai (Pokemon Legends: Arceus), Tsubaki | Melli, Hinatsu | Arezu, Susuki | Iscan, Wasabi | Sabi (Pokemon), Kikui | Lian (Pokemon Legends: Arceus), Yuugao | Calaba, Garana | Palina, Hamarenge | Gaeric, Teru | Rei, Perilla | Zisu, Shimaboshi | Cyllene, Original Female Character(s), Kamitsure | Elesa, Shaga | Drayden, Taro | Lacey Additional Tags: Legends Arceus AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Living in Hisui, emmet in hisui, warden emmet, Ingo Emmet and Akari all connecting, Friendship, Misunderstandings, I mean like LOTS of misunderstandings, poor communication kills, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Ingo really hating his amnesia, Eventual Happy Ending, Brotherly Love, Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, No real shipping in this fic, The Unova characters don't appear until like the last three chapters, But I'm tagging them anyway because they're still important, actions have consequences, This fic is as long as it is because no one knows how to communicate properly, Emotions, Big Sister Elesa, Uncle Drayden, Ingo Emmet and Akari are all autistic, Hikari | Dawn and Shou | Akari are Different People, Siblings, The Ride Pokemon are Considered Nobles Summary:

The Pearl Clan witnesses Ingo mourning the memories he just can't seem to recall. The Diamond Clan witnesses Emmet concealing the past that he fears would alienate him. Both groups are aware that something is suspicious, but don't know how to approach it when considering all of the other strange things currently occurring within Hisui and the interests of their individual clans.

Akari forms separate bonds with both brothers as she investigates who they are and what they mean to each other, but will it be too late to bring them back together after months of secrecy and poor communication? Or can Ingo and Emmet's brotherly bond endure even through hardships beyond what they ever could have imagined before?

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Team Analysis - Geeta

Alright, time for something that’s stupid and ill-advised.  I’m gonna talk about Geeta’s team.  Because general consensus is “It’s a bad fight,” and while I don’t disagree, I think that, like usual, it’s kind of just a blanket statement of “Too easy” rather than something discussed and dissected as to why it’s not working.

Also I think there are legitimately great aspects of her team that deserve some recognition as fairly solid game design for a challenge, that maybe people miss because overleveling is basically the norm.

I’ll start with the big thing: “Geeta should’ve led with Glimmora” is a bad take.  “But the Toxic Spikes!”  Are borderline irrelevant.  Players have no significant issues getting around them.  And to make matters substantially worse.  Glimmora is setup fodder.  It’s slow.  While it’s strong statistically, it’s weak with offensive types (Rock and Poison is a bad combo).  It would be exactly like Cynthia’s fight: super weak to setup.  Seriously, if you replay Platinum, try a Calm Mind sweeper with decent speed, and see how much of her team just drops.  Cynthia’s fight is not especially challenging when you can set up, it’s why they locked the boosting TMs to Battle Frontier in post-game.  To prevent you from doing that.

In the situation where Geeta leads Glimmora, Geeta is now significantly easier to beat.  Because Glimmora cannot threaten a good booster.  But you know what threatens a good booster?  Opportunist Espathra.

This is my favorite aspect of her fight.  Espathra is a fantastic lead for the game.  Because this isn’t competitive, it’s main game, where the AI won’t switch ever.  Where the goal of the AI now is to stop your tactics from just running train on them.  Opportunist copies your boosts, which means anything short of Swords Dance benefits her as well, and Espathra is notably fast.  And, most significantly, has Lumina Crash.  Anything not Dark-type gets hit with -2 special defense.  So if you’re boosting but you’re slower, you are guaranteed to be dead.  That’s...actually a good lead.  That’s a smart tactic for the main game.  It’s very Emerald-esque.  In Emerald, where boosting moves started to take off, nearly every major fight has something in their lead slot that can obliterate yours, be it paralysis, accuracy drops, Perish Song, or outright Toxic in Steven’s cast.  Espathra feels reminiscent of that, and is, in fact, a pretty strong lead because of it.  I just think maybe they could’ve done more than Reflect to bypass Sucker Punch strats, you know?  Like maybe ditch Quick Attack for Hypnosis or Confuse Ray.  Otherwise, great pick.

Glimmora’s the other I like, but more for thematic reasons.  I think it’s really interesting how much conversation has been generated around the simple fact that Geeta even has this thing.  For the story, I think it’s a great inclusion as her ace...I just also think Glimmora should’ve had a better speed stat, or Tera shifted into a completely different type.  Personally, I’d say Grass, because you know what blows up four of Grass-types weaknesses?  Rock.  Though admittedly, I think Glimmora needs to go Fire.  It’s got a solid defensive profile, and notably means Tera Blast can cut through Steel that otherwise hard walls its STAB combo.  I think the big problem is that it’s just a bit too slow to ever be threatening with its offenses, but its typing, including Tera, is just too defensively poor.  Poison would’ve been more valuable as a Tera type, with only two weaknesses, than Rock with like five.

The other aspect I do like is that Geeta’s team is representative of the region.  Espathra from the west, Gogoat from the east, Veluza from the lake, Avalugg from the mountain, Kingambit from the north, and Glimmora from the crater.  It’s a cool idea!  But also, when you know that?  You can...probably build a better team yourself.  And you may also notice, Geeta has a battle focus.  She’s bulky offense.  All of these options, barring Espathra, are fairly slow but also reasonably bulky.

AND BULK DOESN’T WORK

The player has natural advantage, thanks to EVs, and Pokemon is a game that works entirely on hitting each other with supereffective hits.  As coverage has expanded to insane degrees, virtually every offensive threat packs ideal coverage.  It is not had to clean sweep someone with one Pokemon when you have four fantastic coverage moves and a solid offense and speed stat.  Because of this, bulky offense cannot work in favor of the AI, which doesn’t switch out to avoid supereffective hits or leverage resistances.  Moreover, it especially doesn’t work when your heavy defenders are (1) Grass type, (2) Ice type, and (3) quad-weak to Fighting, one of the most common coverage options.

Geeta’s team is poorly balanced for the type of playstyle she’s trying to run, and we’re going to talk about better options from around the region to keep that focus, while also playing a lot better.

Espathra stays.  It’s a good lead.  I also keep Glimmora.  It’s a very cool ace.

From the east, instead of Gogoat, I would recommend Cyclizar.  How is this not considered an integral aspect of the region?  Cyclizar is such a hugely important thing.  Also, for bulky offense, the substitute is ideal.  While you could argue the idea of leading with Cyclizar, and I don’t strictly disagree, I think you’d want to program the AI to cheat a little.  If the foe boosts, switch to Espathra.  If they attack, switch to a resist.  It’s a pretty clean solution.

The lake is the most obvious solution.  Dondozo.  Curse setup, Liquidation, Earthquake, Avalanche.  Dondozo fits perfectly in bulky offense, but unlike Avalugg and Gogoat, Dondozo is blessed with a wonderful defensive typing in Water.  Dondozo would be perfect.

For the mountain, I’m going to say all of them are bad.  Most of what could fit is already a staple on someone else’s team, and I assume they were avoiding a lot of overlap.  So instead?  Gholdengo.  We need to talk about this: how in god’s name does she not have Gholdengo?  I don’t even like the thing, but a bulky offensive Pokemon with fantastic defensive typing and absurd offensive capabilities, backed by potential for either Nasty Plot or Recover?  That feels like the most obvious pick.  I feel like this has to happen.

Which means dropping Kingambit.  I don’t dislike Kingambit specifically, but I also feel like it’s pretty easy to take advantage of, especially when she doesn’t let it learn Sucker Punch.  It’s just so slow as to be laughable, and its typing isn’t super weakness-laden, but it’s not as powerful as Gholdengo’s.  If you wanted to keep Kingambit, then I’d probably say take Drifblim as the mountain Pokemon.  Make it more utility-focused, maybe taking Tailwind or something to buff the speed of Glimmora or something.  But instead, I’d say give her Lurantis with Contrary.  It has Leech Life, an ideal recovery tool.  Also give it Close Combat, since you think it’s so funny to take away Superpower as like the only useful thing it could have.  Bastards.

I think these shifts would largely improve on what she’s got going on.  But also, I think it doesn’t matter.  Again, bulky offense on AI doesn’t strictly work.  Especially without items.  It’s probably worth noting that the easiest BDSP fight, despite how hard that game cheats, is Bertha.  Because it is not hard to beat bulky offense.  I just...think a major problem is that Geeta’s approach effectively stands no chance of being particularly tough for a player.  Especially not in the era of forced EXP All and infinite coverage.  It’s just...not going to be difficult to stop her.  At all.  And I think we have to acknowledge that, with the way Pokemon is...that’s going to be the case forever.  They literally cannot design a challenging fight.  The system doesn’t allow it.  The reason older games felt harder is because it was super hard to keep on pace with the opponent’s level, so you were statistically under-prepared.  There’s a reason the only modern game to be considered difficult was Gen 7, which comprised entirely garbage mechanics to massively inflate enemy stats and force stupid 1v2 matchups.  It’s because they can’t design a fair fight that’s fun.  Because your solution is to just set levels way higher, and when you do that, the only solution is grinding, but they’ve spent four generations changing the gameplay flow to no longer require grinding, so they’re out of options.  At this point, only a major overhaul to the battle system would be successful.  And I’m...not sure they’ll know what to do with it.

[fallershipping]

Looker x Anabel Retrospective

The absolute ultimate Retrospective post as to explain why I’ve been on this OTP since 2016. Especially made in mind with the idea that some new peeps on the boat may not realize the extent of the lore between these two characters. Feel free to read this or skip this if you want, because I did pour out my heart and soul and it can be kind of a lengthy read.

Enjoy~

So Looker and Anabel have been two existing characters in Pokemon for the longest time, with both being sort of beloved for different reasons but not too often thought about as compared to other NPCs. One’s a reoccurring comedy relief detective since Platinum and the other is probably the most memorable and strongest of the Hoenn Battle Frontier from Emerald.

But when SunMoon dropped, these two characters got a new lease on life that no one really saw coming. This special appearance made them go from NPCs I never really thought too much about to placing them as my top two favorite Pokemon characters of all time.

The UB Task Force mission, as much as a glorified fetch quest as it seems to be, continues some of the darker, more adult themes brought along with SunMoon. While the main story dealt with subjects of abuse and what it means to be a truly strong person in the case of hardships, the post game surprisingly delves into the corrupt side of a seemingly good organization and idea of sacrificing one life to save another. What appears to be another run of the mill Looker mission takes a dive into the tragic backstory shared between certain characters, and all of this lore was scrapped in the ‘definitive’ USUM games.

So while a lot of people might have played this portion of the game, many could have skipped it entirely or didn’t give the dialogue too much thought.

But you’re asking, why is it special? And why have I cared so much for a potential romantic relationship between Looker and Anabel enough to draw them as much as I have?

Haha. Buckle up buckaroo.

So right off the bat, Looker and Anabel’s banter sets up what kind of relationship they have with one another. They’re formal as coworkers can be, but the more they talk to one another, the friendliness that they share quickly becomes apparent. They also tend to speak highly of each other, no matter if the person is in the room or gone out.

And he’s not wrong! Looker is well aware of just how capable Anabel is for a guy that isn’t really known for Pokemon battles himself.

After the first UB on the list is securely captured, Looker insists on a feast for everyone to enjoy in one of Alola’s famous restaurants, in which Anabel points out asking how he had known of this already having just now arrived here. Looker, flustered, says that he’s read it in a magazine and dashes out to make reservations, cuing Anabel to react to his odd antics in a more...

Affectionate way.

Look at that lil smile.

He’s an odd fellow, for sure. A lot of characters in the past called him weird or were off put by his personality, but Anabel is very patient and sort of endeared by him. He constantly returns to the gang yelling “It’s a catastrophe!” in different languages-- And Anabel doesn’t snap at him angrily for it, but calmly asks him to repeat himself in english so that she can understand him.

During the course of the post game while Looker’s away, Anabel is always talking about him in a positive manner. Despite his quirks, she finds him a league of his own even amongst the elite of the International Police.

Despite this acknowledgment of Looker’s skill and ability, she seems to be awfully dead set on keeping Looker as backup in their base of operations.

Anabel knows how dangerous UBs are. They’re not human criminals that he can easily deal with with his own fists-- they are aggravated alien monsters. Her imagining Looker facing one of them alone without any Pokemon to defend himself with probably scares her deeply.

Scares her enough for her to constantly assign him to be backup for her and the Protag, despite his protests and his expertise in fieldwork.

And yet she never fails to remind him that he is important regardless of whether he’s on the field fighting alongside her or set to backup. Almost, in a way, finding a way to flatter him. (smiling at him as reassurance or perhaps even putting up a bit of charm) She is thankful for his help on getting intel and he’s a valuable asset to the mission, but she cannot bear the thought of her friend getting hurt when she can handle the UBs with her own fully trained Pokemon team.

However, despite her confidence, Anabel grows more and more fatigued with each UB encounter. Looker’s worry rises and he tries even harder to let himself take her place in the field.

As much as she also insists on not wanting to worry him, Looker’s usual goofy and eccentric demeanor begins to change. His speech patterns start to become more serious and his sentences trail off more often, which throughout all the games, is a rather rare sight to see. His care for Anabel brings out something vulnerable and emotional out of someone self proclaimed hard-boiled.

With all the respect he gives her and all the times he commemorates her aptitude, he still fears for her greatly.

And when a familiar character appears, we understand why.

Nanu comes in to talk about the truth behind Anabel’s reappearance in the series; much like the UBs, she came from another world through Ultra Space and ended up as what Interpol dubbed as a Faller. 

Fallers are bathed in the energy from ultra wormholes. Thus, UBs are attracted to these humans, mistaking them as a way back home and going on the attack. Back then, Interpol found a particular use for Fallers by using them to direct the attention of UBs away from public areas.

Which is what happened ten years prior to the events of SunMoon. Looker, Nanu, and a third member were sent to fight a Guzzlord. However, Looker hesitated in harming it further when it realized it was just scared monster sent here against it’s will. But his lapse in judgment cost the life of the third member, a Faller woman, to fall victim to Guzzlord’s attack.

Looker and Nanu took down the Guzzlord but learned the horrible truth about their companion, who was not trained in combat-- she was designated as bait, but the catastrophic results were a failure that shadows Interpol forever. Not long after, the two agents found a woman washed up Poni’s shore recollecting nothing about herself but her name; Anabel.

This is why Looker has been growing ever so worried for Anabel’s safety and why he even asked the champion in the first place to help. The protag is indeed a Faller as well. He thought he could be able to control the situation with having a fantastic trainer who befriended Solgaleo/Lunala to keep the UB outbreak in check-- To make sure Anabel was safe. After all, the protag is able to help the mission go along beautifully and safely capture each UB.

But not without a price. Anabel was still being hurt, and Nanu had to intervene to make Looker realize that he had made a big mistake.

After all, Anabel isn’t aware that she’s a Faller herself. Why doesn’t she know yet? Wouldn’t Looker tell her? Or Nanu?

It would appear as Interpol learned something after all these years, and isn’t really using her as Bait as they did before with the first Faller. Anabel is said to have autonomy over this and chose to save the UBs from a worse fate. Unlike the first Faller, she was properly trained for the UB Task Force missions and for many other Interpol related missions as her own strong, resourceful agent. However, Interpol is still quiet about her status as a Faller and anything relating to them from the past.

And Looker, years after the incident with Guzzlord, is now met with an Anabel with a newly built Interpol life determined to help people, Pokemon, and UBs in need no matter what. She absolutely believes in her successes and her cause. And she is adamant of going on these missions. Looker grows a bond with her and is faced with this troubling realization;

To tell her the truth would mean to collapse the whole world upon her.

After all... Having rebuilt her life, seeing her so confident, so passionate about what she’s doing... He sees her succeed in something he feels all too familiar with-- Starting from the bottom and creating an identity, somehow.

Having been found in the Battle Resort, washed ashore with no memory, not even a name to go by. Looker knows her pain more than anyone else. She needs to know about what she is going through-- But the uttermost pain she will feel and the lingering eyes of Interpol’s heads has been keeping him mortified and silent.

So he does anything and everything in his power to protect her in the meantime, before she can be told the truth. And with the way the Alola mission went, that time is coming up real soon.

However, with the protag and Nanu’s help the UB Task Force finally had every UB under control. And Anabel was kept safe and sound, much to Looker’s relief. They can finally enjoy some time off and no doubt will be in for quite a long, painful, but necessary conversation when the time comes.

Not of course before Looker going off into a slight panic over the idea of Anabel going on a date.

And that was the line that made me totally think “Oh yep, yep! Looker’s got a massive crush on her!”

SO! What’s the take away from all this madness??

The fact that Looker and Anabel care deeply for one another so much, as they go far too out of their way to protect each other from harm. Not just out of necessity, but their banter clearly shows that there’s a deeper connection between the two than just a professional coworker one.

You might argue that Looker is only worrying about her this deeply because of what he went through all those years ago and is trying to prevent the same thing from happening, and yet... He’s grown to appreciate and know Anabel for who she is. She is in fact her own agent that joined Interpol on her own volition and chose to do the UB missions due to her empathy to the lost beings so far from home.

He knows when she’s unwell, he knows why she hides it away. He understands her as a person and it’s wonderful how much they show that they grew to have a bond with one another. Enough for both of them to catch on to each other’s quirks and feel comfortable.

The small giggle that she gives him, the small yet playfully affectionate jab, the way it just says “Oh there he goes again thinking about the feast at this time... Just Looker being Looker~” Because she also knows him deeply as well! This man is not one of her best allies but one of her most trusted companions in this new life of hers and it shows!! 

They’re each other’s most trusted companions and their partnership is just wonderful to see.

Of course, romance can’t happen between them yet-- Not until Anabel knows the truth about Fallers and what Interpol did long ago. But let’s be honest, even the big angst/hurt/comfort fest that would come from that conversation would be a whirlwind of emotions that would just end up with them having an even stronger relationship than they’ve ever had before.

It’s not just that they look wonderful together, complement each other, and such-- It’s all those things plus the backstory and close bond and tragedy that comes from this mission. It makes me want to see them overcome every hurdle and be happy with one another and have all the joy and happiness they deserve after all they’ve been through.

I want to see them in more situations where they can be casual with one another, fight alongside one another, and so on so forth. They just have so much potential and I really think Game Freak sees it too.

And as for a lil bonus, Looker in USUM finding out the protag is the champion but is more impressed with Anabel’s knowledge than the actual champion. Also they’re always vacationing together mutually huh hmm wowie?

--

tl;dr go ship Looker/Anabel aka Fallershipping aka Lookabel best ship 10/10

[laughing-moonlight]

The Sunyshore Trio

How am I the only one noticing the strange coincidences between these three? Volkner, Flint & Cyrus have so many weird things in common...

Cyrus and Flint are POLAR OPPOSITES in so many ways! Their hair, their personalities, their career choices, etc. And yet, it seems Volkner is slap bang in the middle of them both.

Volkner is the ‘middle ground’ between the two. I swear, if Cyrus and Flint had grown up together instead of Volkner and Flint, Cyrus and Volkner’s roles would have easily have been switched.

Not only that, but when Diamond and Pearl came out, they were described as being ‘The Ultimate Pokèmon Game’ (and was designed to be so) as if this was the greatest there had ever been. And there is a very subtle nod to the Gen I games with these three.

The Gen I games (Western Release) we’re called; Red, Blue and Yellow. Flint has Red hair, Cyrus has Blue, and Volkner has Yellow-and they’re often referenced as a ‘trio’ when talking about Sunyshore in general. Coincidence? They also share the same colourings as the Lake Trio, Mesprit and Flint (and Emotion fits him well, Azelf and Cyrus (and Willpower fits him well), and Uxie and Volkner (and Knowledge fits him well)

It is debatable if Flint and Volkner knew Cyrus in their childhood, but I personally hope they did.

It is also notable that Cyrus only leaves Sunyshore alone. Whether Team Galactic couldn’t pass due to Volkner’s blackout or he still has a strong emotional attachment to the place has yet to be confirmed.

*BONUS*

When Platinum was revealed to be underway, there was a rumour that Volkner would no longer be the eighth Gym Leader, and that he would either be the new Champion, replacing Cynthia, or a Frontier Brain-specifically the new Tower Tycoon, replacing Palmer. Cynthia would be found upon Mt. Coronet when you had defeated the League and you could battle her in a special side quest just like Steven in Emerald.

Not only that, but another popular rumour was a wider expansion of Flint and Volkner’s childhood with an event like the Gen V Unova Link. There was also going to be more expansion on Cyrus and Cynthia’s relationship-but all these were either fake or eventually cut from the game.

(There was also another theory that Cyrus and Cynthia were Volkner’s parents, and while they may look like it, the facts are all there. Cyrus is canonically 27 at the time when you encounter him, and Flint left Sunyshore when he was 20-AFTER Volkner became the Gym Leader, so Volkner was around 20 too. Flint became a member of the Elite Four at about 23ish. So Volkner is 23ish too and Cyrus is 27 (Cynthia, we have no clue) so that theory is false)

[thorongil82]

Forgotten But Not Gone CH2

Fandom: Pokémon

Chapter: 2/?

Chapter (Cumulative) Word Count: 8,548 (14,179)

Can also be read on AO3 and FFN

Chapter Summary: The invitations have been sent, and Seishi must get their preparations in order.

AN: I'll just address a couple of things: Firstly, I was aware after sending the last chapter that the Frontier Brains in Platinum are the same as the ones in HG/SS. Think it just slipped my mind. But, I'm not rectifying that, and I'll just use some other characters and/or make some OCs to fill those spots. Nothing overly major, just addressing my mistake. 

Also, fair warning, a decent amount of this chapter is going to be exposition. And it's a longer chapter. Mainly we'll be going over some stuff for the tournament, along with characters appearing in the story. However, you will get your first look at all the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members of Seishi, along with the Champion. There's also another new character in as well. I'll leave a list for them at the end.

Well, that should be it. So, read on, and enjoy!

-----

“Now, Starmie, finish it with Water Pulse!” orders a female trainer with honey-orange hair, wearing a white and blue trimmed one-piece swimsuit with a light blue jacket thrown over the top.

The purple ten-legged starfish Pokémon crackles in acknowledgement as it leaps up into the air. A solid blue ball of energy forms in front of its shiny red gem, before launching through the air with trail of water spraying out behind it. The aqua orb collides with a flying chestnut brown and white feathered Pokémon arcing round in the air.

“Pi-Pirrrrrr!” the Pokémon cries out as the impact causes an explosion, before it crashes down to the water stage below.

“Pidgeotto is unable to battle!” a woman with long golden flowing hair calls out as the dual Normal-and-Flying type Pokémon lies still on the floating platform atop the pool of water, with spirals in its eyes. She raises her right hand up towards to the red haired trainer and her Starmie. “Starmie is the winner! So the victor is the Cerulean Gym Leader, Misty!”

“Alright!” Misty cheers with a giggle, pumping her fist in the air. “Good job, Starmie.”

The dual Water-and-Psychic Pokémon, rolls round on its legs to face her, its red gem lighting up as it beeps out a reply.

“Good job, Pidgeotto,” her challenger says with a small smile as she pulls out a Pokéball, a red light shooting out from it and engulfing Pidgeotto before it disappears inside. “We'll do better next time.”

The challenger then turns to Misty and bows, as the Gym Leader dives off of her podium into the pool below. She swims over to the other side in the time it takes the other trainer to walk down the stairs for her podium, and gets back out to head over.

“I'm going to go and train some more, and I'll come back another day,” the challenger says.

“Sounds like a plan,” Misty replies as she bundles up some of her hair and rings it out.

“I'll win next time!” she says as she takes off, waving behind her.

“Come back anytime,” Misty calls out as she disappears, before turning to her Starmie. “Why don't you have a swim?”

Starmie beeps out once before rolling into the pool with a splash. With a giggle, she also pulls out two more Pokéballs from her now wet jacket and enlarges them, before releasing a Seaking and a Quagsire into the pool.

“Why don't you both have a nice swim too? You all battled really hard.”

The two let out their own joyous cries before swimming off.

“You've definitely gotten stronger over the years, sis,” the blonde haired judge says as she hobbles over to the Gym Leader, leaning heavily on a crutch held in her right hand, taking the brunt of the weight that would have otherwise been placed on her right leg, also supported by a knee brace and strapping wrapping by the ankle.

“I … I guess,” Misty meekly replies as her eyes dropping down to look at the injured leg before darting away.

“Hey, it's getting better,” she says with a smile, placing a hand on Misty's shoulder. “Slowly but surely, and soon we'll be back to a full trio of Sensational Sisters.”

“Trio? There's four of us, Daisy, not three,” Misty points out, her brow furrowed.

“Hey, I only said you've gotten stronger. There's still a lot more you need to work on before you can even consider being sensational,” Daisy retorts with a wink and a slight poke out of the tip of her tongue.

“And yet I could still beat all three of you,” Misty jabs back with a growl, only for the pair of them to devolve into a fit of giggles.

“There's that fire we love,” Daisy smiles warmly, as they both settle down. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah … thanks, sis.”

“Hey! Misty!” another female voice calls out from direction of the entrance, before a woman looking very similar to both Misty and Daisy, with shiny fuchsia hair with two curly strands hanging down the side of her face, while the rest is scrunched up in a bun at the back, runs in, waving her hand above her head with a letter clenched in her other hand. She's quickly followed in by another similar looking woman, with long flowing indigo hair, who rushes over carrying another crutch in her arms.

“Some guy just came round with a letter for you,” the latter says as she hands the second crutch to Daisy, helping her as she gets her hand through the ring and gripped onto the handle.

“For me?” Misty asks.

“Yeah,” the former answers as she hands the letter over. “Oh, and can you and your Pokémon clear out the pool? Violet and I need to rehearse our routine for our next show.”

“You can wait a little longer until I've read this, Lily!” huffs Misty as she looks over the envelope.

“Hmph! Meanie,” Lily pouts, crossing her arms across her chest and turning her head away in faux anger.

“Come on, Lily, we can let her Pokémon have a bit of a swim,” Violet interjects.

“Fine,” grumbles Lily, “but we better not miss out on a big break because we're under-prepared.”

Misty rolls her eyes and turns the envelope over, her eyes widening slightly at the seal holding the envelope shut. Stamped into the blood red wax is an inscribed Pokéball with a trophy behind it, and a Moltres behind the trophy with flaming wings spread out.

“It's from the Pokémon League,” Misty mutters out loud, just strong enough for all her sisters to hear. “Wonder what they want ...”

-----

In a large room sitting high up in Lumiose City's Prism Tower, a short girl with light blonde hair, braided up at the front ending in a large bun on the left hand side that's bound with a scrunchie designed like a ring of flower petals, with the rest falling down her back to her waist, wearing a crimson jacket tied at the front with an orange ribbon, with a creamy white blouse underneath, and a short black skirt, hops onto the cluttered workbench. Her rose pink satchel bounces next to her as she lands down, the impact jostling a couple of the mechanical components resting on the bench, as she looks at an older glasses wearing man with the same coloured hair, clad in a grimy teal lab coat with a yellow horizontal stripe across the front, looks down at the letter in his hand.

“Come on, Clemont! she whines, ignoring the clattering as a robot looking similar to the man shuffles around the rest of the room, cleaning up the many mechanical components, processors, tools and metallic parts. “What does it say?!”

“I have to open it first, Bonnie,” Clemont mentions as he breaks the seal on the envelope, opening up the letter.

The room falls silent for a moment, save for the clattering caused as Clembot continues shuffling throughout the room, picking out the scattered mess and sorting it apart. Bonnie sighs as she waits for her brother, tapping her fingers against the bench.

“No way!” Clemont suddenly exclaims, causing his sister to jump in shock and fall off the worktable.

“What? What is it?” she asks, the flap on her satchel flipping open as a tiny yellow Pokémon pops its head out, antennae sticking out from the red sacks on its cheeks sparking with electricity.

“De-Ne?”

“The Pokémon Masters League is on this year!” Clemont exclaims, shaking slightly as he looks at her, only to be met with a blank look.

“The what?”

“The Pokémon Masters League! It's a prestigious tournament held every twenty years!” he says, standing up as he starts to pace around the room.

“Do you know what he's talking about, Dedenne?”

“Ne-nne,” Dedenne replies with the shake of its head.

“Is this some sort of tournament for strong trainers?” Clembot asks as it walks over, the cleaning forgotten as its curiosity is peaked.

“Not just strong trainers! It's for the strongest of the strongest!”

“Awesome!” Bonnie shouts as Clemont's words finally seem to hit home. “Of course they'd invite you if they were after the strongest trainers in the world. They'd be fools not to invite the Light of Lumiose City.”

“Well, some people, like Gym Leaders, automatically qualify for the tournament,” Clemont chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Well, even if they didn't, you'd still qualify with flying colours, I'm sure of it,” Bonnie insists, accompanied by a nod from Clembot.

“Indeed, sir. You're certainly one of the finest battlers I've ever seen.”

“Oh, I don't know about that …”

-----

“Remind me what I'm doing here?” a woman, with a long jet black ponytail with violet highlights in her hairline, down the right side of her hair, and the tip of her ponytail, asks as she looks towards the other two women sitting at their round table placed outside a café in Viridian City.

The woman who had asked the question is dressed in a plain white sleeveless shirt and a pair of black jeans held up with a worn brown leather belt. The woman to her left has sweeping shoulder length charcoal black hair that curls out at the base of her neck, while wearing a spaghetti string tank top that bares her lean midriff, a pair of long clean white pants, and a pair of thick and weighty looking black and glowing seafoam green bracelets on her wrists. The pale skinned woman to her right has rounded black hair, with cut bangs held back by a cherry red headband, and is wrapped up in a dandelion yellow kimono with tangerine maple leaves falling around the trim, tied off with a cherry red obi.

“I figured you wouldn't have heard about this,” the woman to her left explains. “It's only this time that your home region has been included in the festivities.”

“Along with Alola,” the kimono wearing woman adds, blinking as if she had just woken up before sighing and slumping back in her seat.

“Yes, but that's to be expected, as both regions didn't have a league during the last tournament. And it's being held in Seishi. So, maybe you could give us an idea of what your home is like, Jade?”

“No idea,” Jade sighs as she takes a sip from the cup of tea in front of her. “Left five years ago, haven't been back. Could have changed a lot.”

“Now why don't I believe you?” the tank top wearing woman asks, crossing her legs over one another, pressing her elbow onto the top leg and placing her hand under her chin.

“Because you can't trust anything that hasn't been checked by your powers?” Jade jabs back with a raised eyebrow, getting a smirk in response. “Besides, why don't you just use your powers to look into the future, Miss Psychic Mistress?”

“My foresight ability is somewhat limited,” she explains. “Besides, more fun to have things happen without knowing it beforehand.”

“Whatever. Why don't you start your history lesson that you've worked so hard on before we …?”

Both look over to their kimono wearing companion, who appears to be looking off vacantly, her gaze locked onto a point somewhere near the tank top wearing woman. Jade sighs as she leans back in her seat.

“Too late. We've lost her.”

“Erika, is something the matter?” the tank top wearer questions.

“... Huh? O-Oh, no, sorry,” the kimono clad woman absently answers as she shakes herself back to reality, her eyes losing their glassy sheen and returning to focus. “I'm just still a bit amazed by your wardrobe change, Sabrina.”

The sudden confession has the table quiet for a beat before a snort comes from Jade, followed by an almost unnoticeable curl of the corners of her mouth. The Saffron City Gym Leader, on the other hand, just looks at her Celadon City counterpart with a deadpan expression.

“I mean, before you used to dress up so conservatively,” Erika continues on, oblivious to the reactions of her fellow Gym Leaders as her voice gains a cheery mirth. “But now you look so cute and casual. And you even freshened your hair up. It really does suit this 'Psychic Mistress' image you've been showing off now.”

“L-Look, can we just get back on track with the Masters League, instead of focusing on my … complete … style … change …” Sabrina manages to strangle out, folding her arms over her exposed  midriff and turning her head away, a light rosy tint dusting across her cheeks.

“I'm sure you've gotten a lot more attention thanks to this too,” Erika continues on, showing no sign that she had heard Sabrina's suggestion. “I must say, it's nice to see how much you've … grown … up …”

Erika's voice trails as she feels a hand on her left shoulder. She turns to her left, finding nothing there save for the disconnected floating purple hand lingering on her shoulder. Her skin manages to get even paler as a strained whimper sounds out from the back of her throat.

“HAUNTER!!!” a voice bellows from her other side, causing her to shriek and jump out of her seat, falling on the ground. Sabrina, despite trying to keep it smothered with her hand, lets a little giggle escape through her fingers at Haunter's antics, while the Ghost Pokémon laughs loudly at the result of its joke.

“O-Okay, please continue,” Erika says a little shakily as she gets back into her chair, dusting off her kimono.

“So, you both know how if a challenger beats all the Gym Leaders and wins that region's conference that they're allowed to enter the Champions League to take on the Elite Four and the Champion?”

“Is that meant to be a shot at me?” Jade asks with a glare.

“Not at all, just where I'm starting,” Sabrina mentions, unperturbed by the sharp glare burning onto her skin.

“Right …”

“Well, the Pokémon League wanted to give other trainers a chance to become a Pokémon Master if they competed well enough across different conferences. Their reasoning was that just because a trainer won a conference didn't automatically make them the strongest trainer overall, nor did it mean that if you finished in the Top 4 that you were one of the four strongest trainers competing."

“So, sixty years ago, the first Masters League was created,” Jade intervenes with a bored tone, getting a look from Sabrina. “To prove which trainers were the strongest of the strong, the Gym Leaders from all competing regions, along with the Elite Four members and the Champions, would be thrown into the mix along with the trainers that had won conferences, trainers that had consistently proven themselves in multiple conferences, and others who were recognised to be powerful trainers in their own right by a selecting committee. Every twenty years the event is held, in a different region, and the winner has the right to be known as the greatest Pokémon Master in the world.”

“So, you do know all about it,” Sabrina says.

“Force of habit,” Jade replies with a shrug as she takes another drink from her tea.

“Haun Haunter,” Haunter moans, holding out a flower to Erika as it looks down to the floor.

“Oh, is this for me, Haunter?” she asks.

“Haunter,” the Gas Pokémon nods.

“How sweet,” Erika smiles and reaches out for the flower, only to let out a shriek as the flower opens up and sprays a stream of water out into her face.

“Hau Hau Hau!” Haunter cackles, covering his mouth with his floating hands.

“Haunter,” Sabrina warns sternly.

Haunter continues to cackle wildly at the prank, spiralling around in the air jovially. That is, until it comes to a sudden stop as a cloud of dark flickering purple smoke circulates around it. The gas Pokémon pulls out a handkerchief seemingly from out thin air and starts fanning it out. And yet, the air pushing out does nothing to disperse the spontaneous smoke.

“H-Haun …” Haunter murmurs nervously, head swivelling around as the smoke starts to manifest into ominous spectres of indigo mass and flickering violet flames.

Haunter throws up his hands and starts to float away, only to be followed by the spectres no matter where he goes. Sabrina and Erika both watch this strange sight, as Haunter frantically flies rings through the air with the spectres never losing any ground, before the former looks over towards the Leader of the Viridian City Gym, who is very calmly drinking her tea as if nothing unusual is happening.

“Could you call off your friend?” Sabrina asks.

“No idea what you're talking about,” Jade replies.

-----

“So, this is a tournament for all the strongest trainers in the world, right?” a man with shaggy grape purple hair, dressed in a navy blue and black jacket with a cobalt shirt underneath, and a pair of indigo cargo pants, asks as he looks into a video phone in a Pokémon Centre located in Sinnoh's famed Fight Area.

“That's right,” answers a similar looking man on the other side, his long dark purple hair drawn back into a ponytail, wearing a long sleeved coral shirt with a seafoam green apron over the top.

“So, does that include the Battle Frontier?”

“Well, I don't believe the Battle Frontier was set up when the last tournament took place, though I know Brandon, Palmer and Argenta were invited. They all got pretty far, too.”

The man on the other side of the video call drops his head slightly and pulls up a letter into view of the bottom of the screen, as his eyes read across the page.

“However, they are saying that the Frontier Brains have been invited,” he notes.

“Good, so we get another shot at defeating Brandon.”

“Slow down, Paul,” the man on the screen chuckles as he notes the cold fire burning in his eyes. “There's no guarantee that you'll get matched up with him. And besides, you're challenging Palmer's Battle Tower first, right? If you're too focused on a future battle, you'll end up having more trouble with the battle before it. And Palmer is a trainer you'll want your complete focus on to stand a chance.”

“You didn't tell me you'd faced him before, Reggie,” Paul says, getting a slight chuckle in response.

“Well, this was before I stepped away from battling,” his older brother points out as he rubs the back of his neck, “and I'm certain he's gotten even stronger since then. So watch out.”

“It doesn't matter how strong he is. All that matters is that we beat him.”

“Well, that's certainly one way to think about it,” Reggie says with a sweat drop. “You know, that sounds a lot like something Ash would say, instead of you.”

“Well, if the strongest trainers in the world are going to be competing, then there's no way he'll miss competing in Seishi. I'll get to settle the score with him too.”

“Paul, focus on Palmer first,” Reggie sternly suggests.

“R-Right.”

-----

“Well, Forrest, I hope you've been keeping up with your training on your journey,” a man with dark skin and spiky hair, wearing a white doctor's coat over an orange shirt and brick red pants, says as his squinty eyes over from the letter to the video phone where a similar, if not younger, looking man is being projected to the room full of nine other people – six male and three female – who look virtually identical, save for the differences in hair colour and the hairstyles of the women, and another woman with a fairer complexion and wider eyes who is sitting on the arm rest of a recliner next to the eldest in the room, with wrinkles on his face and dark grey hair.

“Of course I have, Brock …” Forrest starts, “but I'm not sure if I'll compete.”

“What are you talking about?!” Brock says as he jumps out of his seat,  the letter crumpling slightly in his hand. “This is a great honour!”

“Well, it's just, I've been on my journey to find what it is I want to do,” Forrest explains. “I'm not sure if I have that answer yet, and I don't think it's fair for me to represent the Pewter Gym if I'm not committed to being the Gym Leader right now.”

“Well, what do we do?” one of the girls, with her spiky chocolate brown hair pulled back into a shaggy ponytail.

“Personally, I think you should represent the gym, Brock,” Forrest suggests.

“Me?”

“Why not?” the male of the youngest twins, Billy, speaks up. “Forrest took over while you were away, and then when you were studying.”

“Yeah, and you were the one that took over when Forrest left for his journey,” the other twin, Tilly, continues on, tilting her head at the eldest of the Harrison children.

“Not to mention that he went on his journey because you suggested it, dear,” Lola, the mother and the most unique looking person in the room, adds on.

“By all rights, you're still the Pewter Gym Leader,” Forrest finishes.

“Except that you're still the official Leader, in the League's eyes,” Brock retorts to his brother. “We put in that transfer when I went off to study to be a doctor.”

“That won't be a problem,” Flint, the older man and father of the large family, speaks up.

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“If you keep reading, a ruling is that if anyone holding a position with the Pokémon League is unable to compete, they can nominate a substitute if they're deemed to be strong enough,” the Harrison father explains. “It's only been used twice in the three times the Masters League has been held, but it is possible. But even then, we wouldn't need to use that rule.”

“Why not?” Brock asks, his brow furrowing in confusion, along with several of his siblings.

“Why don't you take another look at that envelope, Brock?” his mother suggests. Brock nods and takes up the opened envelope that he left face down on the table in the middle of the room, before turning it over.

“It's addressed to me?” Brock reads, his brow rising as his eyes widen ever so slightly.

“Dad and I put in a request to make you the official Gym Leader while I was away,” Forrest explains.

“You both did that?!” the Pokémon doctor asks, getting a nod from both his father and brother. “And when were you going to tell me?!”

“It wouldn't have changed anything,” Flint defends. “Even without knowing it, you've still ran the gym as if you were official.”

“And you're a far stronger trainer than I am,” Forrest adds on. “I'd much rather have you representing us all than myself.”

“Hmm …” Brock sighs as he sits down, losing himself in thought.

“Well, Brock, what do you say? Are you going to accept the invitation?”

-----

“Hey, Dad, does it say what a trainer has to do to qualify?” a teenage boy with combed pine green hair, wearing an emerald green jacket with a beige undershirt, and grey shorts, asks, glancing over through his glasses at the man sitting down on a blue couch, while he keeps brushing the white fur of the Vigaroth sleeping in front of it.

“Well, Max, trainers don't qualify, in that sense,” the father, a man with short pebble black hair, dressed in a crimson red jacket with a soot black trim, and denim blue jeans, explains, an arm draped across the back of the couch. “The only real way to qualify is to win a conference. Beyond that, it's really down to the committee overseeing the selections for each region.”

“But they must have some way to determine who is the strongest, right?” a woman sitting in a matching blue recliner asks. She's dressed in a sleeveless tangerine tunic with a large folded black collar, a long white stripe down the front and two white pockets on her hips, along with a pair of slim black cycling shorts and a mint green pack strapped round her waist. She also has a pair of white gloves with black fingers and a pair of black wristbands with a green stripe going round, while her bronze brown hair – parted into two tails – is wrapped up in a mint green and snow white bandanna.

“In a way,” he replies. “There are certain conditions that are recommended for trainers to have met.”

“... and they are?” she asks, the two children looking towards their father, the Petalburg City Gym Leader Norman.

“Well, beyond winning a conference, it's recommended you finish within the Top 2 twice in a row, the Top 4 on four consecutive occasions, the Top 8 six times in a row, or the Top 16 on eight consecutive occasions,” Norman explains. “Beyond that, there can be other factors taken into account, such as the amount of conferences you've competed in, the trainers you lost to in a conference, and when you started out.”

“Guess I didn't make the cut then,” Max mopes, his entire posture slumping forwards dejectedly. “I only finished four times in the Top 16, from five conferences, and my best was a Top 8 finish in Kanto and Unova.”

“Well, you could still get in,” his sister says brightly, trying to encourage him. “You've only been in five conferences, remember? And you've been eliminated by a runner up and a winner as well. That could be taken into your consideration.”

“Maybe …” he mumbles, keeping his eyes on the floor and definitely away from Norman, fearing any possible expression that could cross his face. Max jolts up a little as he suddenly feels a hand rest on his shoulder, looking over to see the hand belonging to his sister.

“I'm sure it's just late, 'kay?” she says with a smile and a wink, hiding her other slightly shaking hand hidden behind her back.

“Yeah … Yeah!” Max pipes up cheerfully, his spirits raising by the second. He hums for a second, before pausing and looking over at his father. “Hey, Dad? There's something else I'm not sure about.”

“What is it, Max?”

“Well … I get why you got an invitation, seeing as you're a Gym Leader. But …”

He turns and looks over to the second opened letter in the room, a letter which both his sister and father's eyes are drawn to. A letter that was placed down in front of where his sister had been sitting.

“... do you know why May got an invite as well?”

-----

“It says that they're also considering and inviting coordinators that have fit the same recommendations in Grand Festivals as other strong trainers in Conference Leagues,” a messy orange-red haired woman reads off of a letter, dressed in a magenta woolly jumper with an orange vest over the top, with a faded pair of jeans on her legs. A pair of thin rimmed sunglasses sits atop her head, while around her left wrist is a bubblegum pink Pokétch with a white strap. A Glameow lies on her lap, softly purring away contently as it receives some small scratches from her trainer.

“Huh … I wonder why …” another woman ponders as she looks at her own letter. This one has long royal blue hair tucked within a pearl white beanie with a pink Pokéball print on the front. She wears a black v-neck tank top, with a white shirt underneath, and a pink mini skirt. Wrapped around her right wrist is a thin bracelet, along with a Pokétch on her left wrist identical to her friend's.

“I would guess it has to do with determining what makes a powerful trainer,” a third woman says as she walks in, holding a tray filled with cookies, a steaming tea pot and three tea cups. The third woman, quite a few years older than the other two, though not looking it, has a large round bob of royal blue hair held in place thanks to a red hair clip. She wears a white shirt with long sleeves, with a peach and red apron tied around her waist, and a pair of aegean blue capris underneath.

“Really, mum?” the second of the women asks as the latter sets down the tea set.

“Well, who's to say that a Coordinator can't be a strong trainer?” the mother responds as she starts to pour out cups of tea for the three of them. “In the past, it was kept to trainers who were competing in regional conferences to be invited to the Masters League.”

“But now, they're realising that a Coordinator can be just as strong a trainer as anyone else,” the first woman finishes as she catches on to the mother's point.

“Yeah, but our battles aren't necessarily about just knocking out our opponents,” the second interjects as she takes the cup of tea that's offered to her.

“That just means you have a different battling style to the rest,” the mother replies as she hands off another cup of tea, before taking the last cup and sitting down in a nice plush chair.

“Thanks, Johanna,” the first woman offers with a nod as she takes a sip of the heated aromatic liquid.

“You're welcome, Zoey,” she hums, before returning to the topic of conversation. “You've come across many trainers with different styles, right Dawn?”

“Yeah, like Nando,” Dawn responds brightly, as memories of facing off against the melodic Pokémon Bard come to mind.

“You see?”

“Plus you shouldn't forget Fantina,” Zoey points out. “She was a Top Coordinator before becoming a Gym Leader, and yet she still battles like she's in a Contest.”

“And then there's Wallace, someone who's both a Pokémon Champion and Top Coordinator,” Johanna adds. “Think of it this way, a trainer that takes on the gyms are more likely to focus on the strength of their Pokémon and the power of their moves. A Coordinator on the other hand showcases their Pokémon however they can. That includes utilising and redirecting their opponents moves.”

“Along with also working through different combinations!” Dawn finishes. “Yeah! We are totally going to have this!”

“Calm down, Dawn,” Johanna warns. “That doesn't mean you'll find it any easier. That just means you need to stick to you and your Pokémon's style, just like any other battle.”

“No need to worry, mum,” Dawn comments, brushing off her mother's cautions. “My Pokémon and I will be careful.”

“And what do I do when you tell me not to worry?”

Zoey lets out a good natured chuckle at Johanna's stern remark, along with the sulking pout in response from Dawn. She gives her Glameow another gentle rub, a warm smile crossing her face, before disappearing as a question comes to mind.

“Hey, Johanna? Have you been invited? You are a Top Coordinator, after all.”

“Oh yeah, it would be really cool to see you in action, mum,” Dawn jumps in excitedly.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I haven't received an invitation,” Johanna answers. “Truthfully, the last time I competed was before the last Champions League. They're probably limiting it to results in the last twenty years.”

“Aww …” Dawn expresses with a hint of disappointment, before her appearance suddenly hardens as her eyes dart to the ground.

“Dawn?” Zoey says, noticing her friend's glum look.

“Oh, it's nothing,” she replies, plastering on a wide smile that doesn't seem to reach her eyes. “No need to worry.”

Zoey raises an eyebrow at her remark, which freezes her faux cheeriness. Dawn's fake smile shrinks down to a small curl of her lips, as her flickering eyes stare down at the cup of tea in her hands.

“Right, sorry,” Dawn softly apologises. “I was just wondering if Ash will be there …”

-----

Following in through a hidden winding passage on the southern face of Mt Daybreak in Seishi, a large room opens up from within the craggy walls – a secret hideout for the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and the Champion of Seishi. The concealed tunnel morphs into a wide space hollowed out from the mountainside, showcasing a fully furnished area that could easily become someone's living space if they so desired. Smooth polished marble coats the floors, small flame lanterns hang from the cracked, craggy walls, while a couple of large globe lights dangle down from the tall ceiling.

In the middle of the chamber is a large fire pit, currently crackling away with a warm blaze, with a wide venting shaft hanging above that funnels any smoke out of the room. Seated around the flames are two large curved white velvet couches – one on the right and one directly opposite on the left – with eight people currently sitting on the furniture. Beyond, the far wall falls away to an open view of a roaring waterfall, with small vapour droplets gently spraying back into the room. Through the opening sunlight cascades in from a cavernous sinkhole, flooding half of the room in a shimmering light that dances against the golden flickering glow of the flames. Off to the right of the lounge area is a large oak dining table with ten chairs placed around it, while beyond that is a fully equipped kitchen, the surfaces sculpted in black slate, bright white quartz and handcrafted mahogany wood.

Seated on the couch on the right is Lillith, the Ice type Gym Leader; a woman with scarlet red hair pulled back into a ponytail, with strands falling around the side of her face. Her legs, clad in a form hugging pair of black pants, are crossed one over the other in front of her, while a big warm furry coat covers her torso.

To her right is Kai, the Fire type Gym Leader. He is currently slumped on the couch, with his lanky form allowing his head to still rest on top the back, allowing his eyes to stare straight up at the ceiling. His messy midnight blue hair cascades over his eyes and draws level with his nose, with little hints of electric blue roots poking through the fringe. He has on a loose white button up t-shirt, though the top three buttons are left undone, with a flame patterned tie hung slack around his neck, and a pair of denim jeans that are torn at the knees.

Beyond him is Sheamus, the Grass type member of the Elite Four, dressed in the same worn outfit that he wore during his meeting with the representatives from the Pokémon League and other regions.

Finally, beside him, is Juliette, the Electric type Gym Leader. Her bushy dark emerald hair gently brushes against the top of her shoulders, while a pair of red rimmed glasses sits delicately on her nose. She has a white lab coat – marred by a few scuff marks and holes towards the bottom – draped over a raven black undershirt, with a pair of baggy black cargo pants to match.

Across from them, on the other couch, sits Duncan, the Normal type Gym Leader. He has short fluffy ashen brown hair, while having a white and light grey striped scarf wrapped round his neck. He also has on a thick brown leather jacket over a steel-grey shirt with a white Pokéball print by his left hip – the last third of the design is cut off by the end of the shirt. Completing his look is a pair of black chinos, held up by a thin belt.

To Duncan's left is the Ghost type Gym Leader, Thane. Hunched over, with his pasty pale arms resting on his knees and holding up his head, a pair of sunken eyes stare out at the room through the curtain of raven black hair cascading down in front of his face. He has on a baggy indigo shirt that has had the sleeves torn off at the shoulders, along with several other small holes and tears pierce the fabric. His jet black pants share the same ragged look, having been frayed, torn and tattered all along the pant-length.

Sitting next to him is Alex, the Gym Leader who specialises in both Rock and Ground types. He has spiky dirty brown hair with a matching short scraggly beard running along his jawline, with a pair of slightly dirty goggles sitting amongst his hair. He's wearing a long sleeved khaki shirt – the sleeves having been rolled up to just below his elbows – and a pair of tawny brown cargo pants, both items slightly dusty, while sitting on the ground in front of him is a very large and seemingly bursting sage green backpack. Currently, Alex's head is down looking towards his hands, holding a pen and a small notepad, as he quickly scrawls across the page.

The final member on the couch is the Water specialist of the Elite Four, and Top Coordinator, Hikaru, humming softly to herself as she kicks her legs out ahead of her. Like Sheamus, she is wearing much the same outfit she did upon meeting the other representatives a couple of weeks ago, though she has also thrown on a sky blue hoodie for good measure.

Standing in between the fire pit and the opening looking out to the waterfall is Raphael, Flying type master and Elite Four member. Unlike his meeting with the other representatives, he has forsaken his black skintight undershirt, showing off his muscular arms. Also, this change in attire also shows off the winding runic and tribal-like tattoo crawling up his left arm, similar in design to the pair adorning Sheamus' bulky arms. In his hand is a clipboard that he keeps sneaking tiny glances to as he reports to everyone in the room, going over the information for the tournament and their responsibilities.

High above everyone else as she climbs up the craggy wall, whilst still vaguely listening to the former Champion, is Bridgette, the Fighting type Gym Leader. Her auburn hair is tied back in a braided ponytail that hangs down between her shoulder blades. A thin black tank top clings to her lean, toned torso, while a matching pair of black sweatpants hugs her powerful legs. Her hands, strapped up and chalked, cling to the handholds she's found as her eyes scan for her next opening to manoeuvre herself even higher than she already is.

Sitting alone at the head of large dining table is Ella, the Fairy type Gym Leader. A pale violet hoodie is wrapped around her, with the hood drawn over her head, though peeking through the front can be seen her pixie cut hairstyle containing a blend of golden blonde, sky blue, and rose pink hair. She also has on a pair of faded jeans, with her hands stuffed inside the pockets of her hoodie. Though she is still listening to Raphael's report, it may not appear so, as instead her eyes are following the Pokémon chasing each other around the outfitted chamber; including a Dedenne, a Flabebe, a Litleo, a Frosslass, an Azurill, and a Pikachu.

Leaning beside the entrance to the chamber with her arms folded across her chest is Jeanne, Steel type specialist and member of the Elite Four, keeping a watchful eye over the entire room, along with sending glances towards the pathway beside her, lest someone unexpected comes in. On her other side leaning against the wall is a large greatsword, nearly as tall as Jeanne herself, unsheathed and untouched, yet within reach. Her long flowing fiery red hair spills down her back. Adorning her torso is a plain black tank top, showing off her muscular arms and the scars that litter them, matched by the long scar carved along her right cheek. However, her legs are completely covered in armour plating, with nary an opening to be seen.

Finally, leaning up against the far wall of the room, with the aperture showcasing the waterfall just to his left, is the Champion of Seishi, Aaron. With the wide brimmed hat still tilted over his right eye, and the left side of his face still covered by his bangs, his cloak has been forsaken, instead showing off his storm grey sleeveless tunic and a large amount of strapping and bandages wrapped around his limp left arm. His right hand, still held within his fingerless gem embedded glove, sits against his waist, with the thumb tucked into the waistband of his cargo pants, and a small thin golden band sits further up on his forearm.

“So, you got us all in here just to tell us it's all sorted?” Duncan sighs as Raphael finishes giving them the details over the completed selection process.

“Not at all,” Raphael replies, “We've also got some other things to do.”

From above them on the wall Bridgette lets out a groan as she throws a hand out to her next handhold. “Really? More work?”

“There are times that we do need to get work done,” Juliette points out.

“You're just saying that because your boyfriend's organising it,” Bridgette retorts with a slight strain as she pulls herself higher, the remark getting a bright red hue to coat the Electric type specialist's cheeks.

“Th-That's not true …”

“Now, now, you'll find out that there are times you'll have other priorities than battling,” Sheamus interjects, reaching out a large comforting hand and placing it very gently on the flustered woman's shoulder, while she fidgets with the hem of her coat. “We knew that when we took up positions with the League.”

“Yeah, yeah …” the athletic Fighting type specialist sighs with a roll of her eyes.

“Don't worry, most of what's left for you is just supervising construction for the stadiums and accommodation,” Raphael mentions.

“Just watching over stuff?” Thane drones, his dark eyes slowly shifting over to Raphael who nods in response.

“Yeah, and making sure they aren't damaging the habitats and the wild Pokémon. It shouldn't be too much of a problem – Jameson Inc is handling the construction process.”

“So what do we do?” Lillith speaks up with a sigh. She, like quite a few others, weren't overly fond of meetings that came down to League business, and was getting pretty bored with the affair.

“Mainly we'll be working in shifts, apart from some stuff that still needs a specialist,” he replies. “Alex, you'll be taking care of the buildings being built into Daybreak.”

“Making sure it's not disrupting the energy levels and the structures?” Alex checks as his pen pauses along his page.

“Bingo,” he answers, Alex nodding and quickly returning to his note taking. “Make sure it won't come caving in. And that we can still sneak our way through to our hideouts and our floor without interference.”

Alex's writing hand pauses again. “… You know that one of those things is a lot easier than the other, right?”

“I'm sure you'll manage,” Raphael says, before glancing at his clipboard. “Hikaru's taking care of the contest stages for the Wallace Cup, which will be held over by the lakefront of Crystdrake Castle.”

If someone had just walked in, they wouldn't have guessed that the energy of the room previously was pretty drained as, with that statement, a chorus of voices bellow out their disapproval, to the complete and utter lack of surprise of the former Champion.

“We can't hold it there!” Bridgette shouts down from above, letting go of the wall with one hand so she can lean over and twist her body to look at Raphael. “It's too important!”

“Agreed,” Thane growls, the volume of his voice staying the same, yet gaining a very dark growl. “We cannot sully the spirits of that place.”

“Not entirely what I meant …”

As some in the group continues voicing their concerns, Raphael looks back to Aaron, silently asking if he'd like to intervene. However, the light mirth dancing in the gaze that darts out from the forest of bangs shrouding his eye, coupled with the slight curl of his lips, seems to communicate to Raphael that the Champion has no intentions whatsoever to bail him out of this mess.

“I agree with Bridgette,” Duncan speaks up. “Even without the sentimental reasons you guys have for protecting it, the lakefront there is central to a lot of Pokémon's lives. You just told us to make sure the construction workers aren't damaging the habitats for the wild Pokémon.”

“But it's perfect,” Hikaru objects as she leaps up to her feet. “A contest is a showcase of magnificence, allure and beauty. The water there is perfect for bringing it out. It's so clean!”

“And what about the Pokémon?” Lillith inquires.

“It's an open stage. We won't be building a full stadium. Open top, looking out onto the natural view, and the castle in the background.”

“A ruined castle …” Kai suddenly speaks up, with a dull tone, as he continues to stare up at the ceiling.

“A slightly damaged castle,” Hikaru retorts. “Besides, it's not that bad. You can't say it doesn't look like a gorgeous sight, right?”

Some murmurs of agreement come from the discontent members of their group.

“The stage will be portable, she continues. “We should be able to float it out and bring it back in easily. Enough room to dig, move around, and it'll open up for water performances.”

“Also, we were going to have some Pokémon help out with a barrier around the stage, just like with some of the stadiums,” Raphael adds on. “So, no wayward attacks will hurt the Pokémon living around there.”

“Are you sure the stage will work?” Alex voices.

“Professor Jones believes it will, based on her research,” Hikaru answers. “We should have the proper measures to make it all function perfectly. I was always going to ask Julie to help me there as well, if that'll ease everyone's concerns.”

Juliette suddenly looks up as the multitude of eyes in the room fall on her. She quickly looks back down at her lap, squirming slightly in her seat, before she shyly glances over to Raphael. “… Will it affect the Starlight Festival?”

Raphael shakes his head. “No. The Starlight Festival should be on the night before. We'll float out the stage the morning afterwards.”

“We checked with the lake Pokémon too, and they're on board with it too.” Hikaru adds on.

Juliette takes a moment before nodding. “Okay … I'll help with the stage.”

Hikaru lets out a cheer and hugs Juliette before returning to her seat.

“Stage aside, I'm still not sure about using the lake and the castle,” Jeanne speaks up, stern eyes looking over the rest of the room.

“I should also point out that I heard Governor Daniels was wanting to hold an event their during the tournament,” Raphael mentions, getting everyone to look back at him. “If what I heard is right, he'll even get an outside organisation to handle the restorations if he needs to. If we say we're using that area for the Wallace Cup, then Jameson Inc can handle the touch ups that's needed, and we'll have one of us there to make sure that only what's needed to be repaired in case an event is held is repaired.”

A few murmurs hum around the room as they converse with one another, before they look over at Jeanne. Her eyes float over each of the gazes looking back at her, before she sighs and closes her eyes. “Guess that sounds good enough.”

“Well, with that out of the way, I'll get to the other specialities. Sheamus will be focused on the accommodation on the edges of Shifmier Forest.”

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” Ella suddenly speaks up, having had stayed silent throughout the entire conversation. Everyone looks over at her, while she keeps her head down, watching the Pokémon who were still running around playing with one another, completely unperturbed by the earlier commotion.

“It should be fine, as long as the workers know what's going on and the trainers are told to stay near the tree line,” Sheamus speaks up. “My friends should be wandering through, too.”

“Plus the Protectors could also be on hand to keep an eye on things. Right, Jeanne?” Raphael says, looking across the room at his fellow Elite Four member.

“We could maybe spare a patrol or two over there.”

“Thank ye', lass,” Sheamus thanks with an incline of his head. “It would be a great help.”

Jeanne gives him a small nod in response before turning her head away with a small huff, appearing to an untrained eye to still be keeping an eye on the entrance for any possible intruders. Raphael lets a small smirk cross his lips before he glances back down at his clipboard.

“Finally, I'll be keeping an eye on the construction for the Tyrant's Maw.”

“Sky Battles?” Thane inquires.

“Sky Battles,” Raphael confirms with a nod.

“And what are the rest of us doing?” Duncan asks.

“Jeanne and Aaron will be working on getting the Protectors organised for the tournament, and will be coordinating with our Officer Jennys. The rest of you will be rotating through on different shifts,” Raphael explains. “Mainly, you're just making sure things are going on track. Really, the League just wants to make sure a representative with a position is present, and we'd like to make sure our land is as untouched as possible. Professor Jones is also going to be on call if any complications arise.”

“So, what's going to be happening with the gym challengers?” Lillith questions.

“The Nurse Joys have been asked to direct all new challengers to you first, Lillith. You tend to be the one that gets challenged the most by first timers, so it makes sense. Any of our Nurse Joys will let you know when a new challenger has registered, and when they should get there. From there, we ask that they then notify which gym they'll challenge next. Any expected battles will be worked into the flexible shift rotations.”

An annoyed groan comes from up above, and the group look up as Bridgette lets go of the wall and falls down, landing in a crouch. She then springs back up and claps her hands together, dusting the air in front of her with a cloud of chalk. “Supervising is so boring … Why can't those new challengers come face me first?”

Bridgette moves over to Lillith as she unwraps the strapping on her hands and wrists, before leaning on the couch behind the Ice type Gym Leader.

“Hey Lil'? Wanna battle?” she challenges. “Whoever wins gets any new challengers first.”

Lillith lets out a warm chuckle and stretches her arms out above her head, before placing both hands behind her head and leaning back into them. “Dunno, Bridge, Raph's the one who made all this up. Best you challenge him instead.”

“Come on, I'm not going to beat him!”

“If you're that desperate to do something else, you can help out with the paperwork that needs doing,” Raphael offers with a smirk, getting a frustrated look in response from Bridgette.

“… Supervision it is.” she grumbles, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face with a puff of air.

“Good. Anything other problems?”

His question is met with silence, so Raphael turns around to look at Aaron.

“Anything you want to add, Champ?” Raphael checks, Aaron silently shaking his head in response. “Alright then. Let's get this done, guys.” 

-----

AN: So, there we go. A lot of information to be taken in, I'm sure.

Firstly, the list. I'll put it in order that I'd probably have them faced in, if this was a game. It will include name, type specialty, and age.

Gym Leaders:

Lillith - Ice type - 30

Alex - Rock/Ground type (yep, I'm going with a dual type specialist) - 28

Juliette - Electric type - 27

Duncan - Normal type - 26

Thane - Ghost type - 36

Bridgette - Fighting type - 24

Kai - Fire type - 27

Ella - Fairy type - 22

Elite Four and Champion:

Sheamus - Grass type - 44

Hikaru - Water type - 24

Jeanne - Steel type - 26

Raphael - Flying type - 29

Aaron - Various types - 25

So, beyond that, that's pretty much all I think I need to say. Next chapter should be people arriving in Seishi, which will be after a couple of months or so. Unless I decide I need to cover anything in between then. 

Until next time, adios!

[harusha]

What are your top pokemon games??

Official or fangame? I’ll just list both. I will say Pokemon Reborn is my top-rated overall if we combine both lists (with HGSS and Collesseum/XD following as 2 and 3 respectively.)

On Official, it’s 

1. Heartgold/Soulsilver (My favorite region is Johto, and Ethan is my favorite Pokemon protagonist so…unsurprising. The games are still genuinely good though imo because of the massive amount of content and post-game and QoL stuff like following Pokemon, auto-run, etc.) I also love the nostalgic feeling of the region. Lance is also here, and I like him and his design a lot, not as much as Volkner though. Also Proton is here, and I love the dude so. Pedometer is included here.

2. Pokemon Colosseum/Pokemon XD; I include this together since they’re a duo set in terms of story. XD is the better one gameplay-wise because of the new additions of Shadow moves, more Pokemon choices, QoL changes like saving, etc. but Colosseum is the harder of the two games imo b/c of the sparsity of Pokemon–if you can play it on laptop, mod XD with Pokemon XG for massive QoL changes (Fairy Type, more shadow Pokemon, upped difficulty, etc.)

I like how this set tries new stuff and it honestly showcases how if you the Pokemon IP to a third-party, you end up with something that tries to be different and actually plays pretty well.

3. Pokemon BWBW2; included as a set because of joint story line. Honestly, I feel like BWBW2 are objectively the last great mainline series additions. Even if you didn’t care for the story, they at least tried with it and the rivals. You had the nice rival in Bianca and the “focused/ruder” rival in Cheren, and both encompassed the themes of the game (Truth with Bianca as she realizes her ineptness as a trainer and Ideals with Cheren who strives to overcome his boundaries and the player even if he never can). N is pretty awesome, and I think Ghetsis is a better Lusamine (sorry, idc for how Lusamine’s actions are brushed over and blamed on the space jellyfish). There’s a lot to enjoy in Unova imo.

Also massive post-game stuff like Join Avenue (which encourages one of the main tenets of Pokemon, interacting with others and trading; ex. “Magnemite Coil”), half the region opening up for Post-game (White Treehollow, Kyurem’s abode, etc.). The Legendaries also have home locations for the most part, and their items aren’t just given to you by random people. A lot of stuff to do that isn’t just breeding mindlessly for shinies (I mean I love doing that, but options ya know?) or online battle.

4. Pokemon Conquest; Fire Emblem (or more accurately, Nobunaga’s ambition) meets Pokemon. I like turn-based grid tactic games, and this one’s actually pretty fun. You’re encouraged to roam around and give people different Pokemon to see which ones they’re compatible with. Also another example of what can be done if Pokemon is given to a another developer.

5. Pokemon Explores of Sky (and to a lesser extent since it’s the base, Time/Darkness); you can swap this with Colloseum/XD, BWBW2 or Pokemon Conquest depending on if you prefer Pokemon’s style of play, tactics games, or dungeon crawlers. I like this one since the story’s actually pretty good, the difficulty’s nice, and especially the post-game dungeons and content.

6. Pokemon Platinum and Diamond+Pearl to a lesser extent– the region that actually has a reasonably difficult Elite Four and champion. I love the additions they have like distortion world, the melancholic feel you get at times in the Chateau area and snowfields, and the post-game Battle Frontier. However, the games run so slow without Drayano’s mods. In terms of husbandos, Volkner’s pretty nice as well, and he’s pretty high-tier for me. Cynthia’s here as well, so I guess she counts since she’s a feature every time she shows up.

7. Pokemon FRLG-The definite version of Kanto for me. Sevii Islands, callbacks (callforwards?) to the Johto games with the Rocket Admins, decent difficulty and ability to sequence break somewhat, etc. It gives new experiences for those who’ve played the OG versions, but doesn’t change them drastically. The “you can’t evolve anything outside of the OG 151 before post-game” is stupid though. Lance is here as well, but his half Dragonite/Dragonair team annoys me b/c of how repetitive it is, but product of the time as well and the HGSS first battle had that as well but at least they’re all evolved.

8. Pokemon Red/Blue Rescue Team-I like this one since the story’s still good and incorporates the idea of a human being transported to a Pokemon world, but I just feel like Sky’s gameplay improvements and portraits for everyone trumps this one. I like Gengar a lot and his team. I also think the difficulty on this one (depending on starter and partner) is fairly good at times (The Moltres fight is actually pretty difficult if you don’t have Pikachu or a water type partner).

9. Pokemon Emerald and to a lesser extent Ruby/Sapphire–Battle Frontier, Scott and Smeargle cave (ie. post-game content), beautiful promotional artwork (including ORAS’s), fairly difficult battles at time if you aren’t prepared/going in blind with no excessive grinding (2nd May battle, Flannery, etc.), hidden secrets like Regis and Secret Bases. However, the latter half is so boring with the excessive surfing and lackluster variety. Steven’s here, and he’s a dreamboat even with the sprite graphics.

10. Pokemon Channel and Hey you, Pikachu!-Weird I know. This would be higher if I didn’t think this was a niche pick. It’s just really relaxing, and I want another one, especially if you can get more Pokemon to raise. It’s a lot more fun once you play it. I like exploring with Pikachu and it offers a look into the world of Pokemon as a non-trainer. I really want another one tbh.

11. Pokemon Rangers series (Ranked from favorite to lowest; Shadows of Almia–>OG–>Guardian Signs; all are good but that’s my preference) The gameplay is actually pretty fun, and I wish we got another one. They could use Joycons as a styler. Spencer, Sven, and Lunick are also pretty cute

12. Pokken Tournament- What battles should feel like in mainline if they injected millions of dollars into the mainline, so unrealistic expectation. I think Pokken is a decent fighting game. The moves are nice, and the music is good. This can go lower if you don’t care for fighting games.

13. Pokemon Battle Revolution and Stadium games-They’re mostly battle simulators with some mini-games. The animations are actually pretty lively and fun compared to SWSH’s. I would like to rank this higher, but there is no story mode sadly. It’s great if you want to see what Pokemon would look like in-scale.

14. Pokemon X/Y-I think these are actually pretty nice if only for the fact there isn’t excessive handholding; it’s there but it doesn’t force me to put down the game out of boredom. The outfits are genuinely pretty cute. However, the rivals are ridiculously terrible, difficulty is either too low or unbalanced if you use/turn off exp. share. Let’s put ORAS here as well b/c I think the lack of Battle Frontier and mediocre post-game, getting Lati@s early, etc. drops it down from Emerald. The PSS system is amazing though.

15. Pokemon Trozei and Pokemon Pinball series-Yeah, I’ve played these. Trozei’s actually pretty cool as a match-3 game, and pinball is pinball. You also get slightly more lore into the Pokemon world with Lucy Fleetfoot. I like match-3 and pinball so very much a YMMV. Pop Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon here as well. Idk, they just lack the magic of the first two entries.

16. Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Dash, all the other spin-offs I didn’t talk about-they all offer something fun, but I just wish it was either updated for modern times and not released again (like with Snap) or a bit more (in the case of Detective Pikachu and Pokepark series). Pop Puzzle League games here as well. I like them, but they aren’t much besides Tetris games. Same goes for the Pokemon Trading Card games; they’re nice, but not super great imo.

???. Pokemon Box/Ranch/all the other storage games and stuff like Dream Radar-Idk what you’d want me to say since they’re storage space or gimmick games to catch HA Pokemon. You do get Extremespeed Zigzagoon which I love since the little buggers are very adorable.

Bottom Tier. Pokemon SM and USUM. I hate these games. They’re cash grabs (more so than usual) with being $40 a piece and the updated versions being barely changed (and actually feeling like what should have been released first). Incredibly handholding, areas feel half-baked, lacks areas to explore for the most part, Lillie is kinda annoying for me tbh (which hurts because you’re supposed to feel for her and the game’s story hinges on that), and the player is an actual detriment to what they’re trying to achieve story-wise. A big shame b/c Alola is a pretty region and Team Skull is great in concept, but execution is awful. Stated as someone who has bought all 4 versions to keep, and 2 extras for gifting.

Absolute Bottom Tier- Pokemon Masters, incredibly terrible mobage game coming from someone who plays FGO, FEH, etc. lack of meaningful content, grinding but meaningless b/c of said lack of content (ex. FGO gates you with mats but it makes you feel like you’re growing with your servants and offers a story and events to compensate; basically, a sense of achievement). CO-OP is pretty bad when you can just hop over to GBF or something if you want guilds and group content. I’m still gonna wait for Ethan and Volkner to appear though.

Unrated-OG RBGY and OG GSC (the remakes are superior outside of nostalgia factor imo so I think it’d be unfair for them to take a spot), LGPE (didn’t buy them b/c pricing but the colors are vibrant and I love that), SWSH (didn’t buy them because I have opinions on the cuts and stuff and price point doesn’t look appealing for what’s offered), Pokemon Mini (these were included with Pokemon Channel), Magikarp Jump+Duel (Duel was a cash grab and Magikarp Jump is cute but no real opinion on it), Pokemon Go (weird spot where I like it, but I don’t live in an area with safe walking areas so very much area-dependent), Arcade games (I don’t live in Japan for that), Perdue Farm games (they’re flash games made to promote so…), Pokemon Rumble (enjoyable but not memorable for me imo) etc.

Fangames-

1. Pokemon Reborn-150+ hours of content, visible themes that permeate the story and characters, beautiful spritework for some of the areas, intuitive usage of TMs/HMs and some logic (ex. Field Effects that emulate anime battling in turn-based rpg such as Corrosive Field; using Rock Smash to break the glass in some areas to solve puzzles, etc.), actual difficulty that hinges on how much you understand Pokemon (ex. IVs, stats, EVs, etc.) that’s fair but still difficult, puzzles and rewards for exploring and coming back to areas, etc. Fantastic game that I wish Gamefreak had attempted to emulate (perhaps not the darker themes but the ambition basically). Has some kinks with the revolving door of characters and such but still fantastic. Also offers custom shiny sprites, custom egg sprites, and online play like Wonder Trade and battling.

2. Pokemon Rocket Edition-Not done but I think this is a fantastic hack so far story-wise and how it implements its mechanics. You’re a Rocket Grunt, but you aren’t OP. It deals with the politics behind Kanto and Team Rocket. Still being worked on.

3. Pokemon Viridian Version-Another “play as a Rocket” game. Funny yet still can be serious; it takes the tone of the anime and understands when to be serious and when to not be. It feels like it would fit into the canon tone-wise, and deconstructs the “it’s cool to be a Rocket!” thing.

4. Pokemon Gaia-Excellent and a huge callback to classic Pokemon in story. It’s an OG region and offers a lot to do.

5. Drayano hacks- QoL updates but his work actually adds a lot to the games+new events.

Anyways, that’s my list. There’s a lot of Pokemon content, but this is how I feel for the most part.

[evajellion]

Jelli’s problems with ORAS

@subbydations said: Which decisions?

Hohohohohohohooooo… *rubs hands together* where do I begin with ORAS?

Firstly, let’s get the obvious out of the way which is removing the Battle Frontier and just copypasting the extremely boring Battle Maison from X/Y, lacking in any sort of interesting challenges that gens 3 and 4 presented. 

GameFreak never patched it in either in spite of having the technology to do so now. Insult to injury is the fact that Anabel made it into Sun/Moon, which makes me theorize they planned designs for BF leaders but just didn’t put them in ORAS.

But that’s just one small thing, I mean, I could let it go if not for all of the other flaws ORAS presents (especially when put next to HG/SS or Emerald)

The Gym Leaders

When ORAS was announced, I figured “oh cool, the gym leaders might all get a buff by using mega evolutions”… and they did not. No, they all have their parties from the original Ruby and Sapphire, some of which, well, let’s face it, are pathetic compared to Emerald.

Wattson just has his Magnetson, no Manectric or Mega Manectric-- y’know, the signature Electric-type of Gen 3? Something that would have been cool and challenging?

Winona doesn’t have a Mega Altaria either, again, stuck with the mediocre party she had in the original R/S, no Tropius in sight. Giving her a Mega Altaria would have been a good challenge because people who come into the gym with electric types would have no idea how to deal with Dragon/Fairy.

And oh boy, how can we forget Tate and Liza? You would think ORAS would have changed something to make them a bit more challenging, but no. You just double battle their Solrock and Lunatone, probably wiping them before they get a chance.

Also, unlike in Emerald or HG/SS… you can’t even rematch the Gym leaders (except for Wallace in the Delta Episode). You just fight them once with their pathetically weak teams, then that’s it, no more from them ever again.

The Elite Four members got the better end of it mostly, but their initial teams are still weak. I also hate Steven’s rematch team. Why does he have Carbink and Aerodactyl? There are plenty of Steel-types, one of which is a fossil Pokémon! Carbink is weak to Steel anyway!

Wally’s party also made me sad. GameFreak didn’t like the idea of a boy trainer having a male Gardevoir I guess, so they forced a Gallade on him prior to getting National Dex or whatever. :\

Legendaries

While I already hated the roaming legendaries (seriously GameFreak, remove these), simply handing over Latios and Latias with their Mega Evolution and zero effort to obtain them was… pretty awful. It makes the entire game pathetically easy from there on out if you do speedrunning. I dunno about you, but I like getting my legendaries through a challenge.

Remember in gens 3, 4, and 5 when certain legendaries, when found, would give you a cool event? Well, ORAS just hands everything to you by flying around on Latios/Latias to certain areas, and you go to dimensional rips and rings created by Hoopa.

I have a feeling Hoopa was just made to create the excuse of randomly dropping Pokémon… I don’t know why they didn’t make a small, new area for each legendary available. FireRed/LeafGreen and Emerald did that for Lugia, Ho-Oh, Mew, and Deoxys. Simply recycling assets from the already existing mystery lands from soaring would have worked just fine.

Of course, this is a minor nitpick compared to actual issues I have. I’m glad that Pokémon like Zekrom are in the game at all, but I wish a little more effort was put in.

The Audio

I don’t like the soundtrack ORAS introduced compared to the original gen 3 games. The Champion theme against Steven, in particular, feels neutered of its GBA trumpets.

Honestly, I would be fine with it-- if they programmed in the GB Sounds, an item that was available in HG/SS! Gee, imagine that, an item that lets you play classic sounds if you prefer some of the original, classic soundtracks!

“Jelli they can’t program in old music!” Is what you’re going to say, and I’m going to prove you wrong, because somehow GameFreak managed to copypaste the themes of Lugia, Ho-Oh, Giratina, etc into ORAS… from their original DS sound fonts.

Wanna know what’s even funnier about this? In ORAS, Ho-Oh and Lugia have their themes from HG/SS, but the legendary beasts all have their Pokémon Crystal theme as opposed to the separate ones given in HG/SS. Sure, it’s nostalgic, but it clashes horribly given the others themes being from DS games.

I think if they cropped out all that legendary music (and simply made one song for all of them), they could have fit the GB (or rather GBA) Sounds into ORAS.

“But Jelli, that sounds like it would be too much for the 3DS.”

Definitely not, but if it was, here’s my last point.

The Delta Episode

I hated this, lol. I was fine with the remake up until this point. This was a poor excuse of post-game, it’s basically one big, handheld cutscene where you go from place to place and put up with the most annoying character in the world; Zinnia. (who is an even more obnoxious jerk in the manga if one can believe that)

Honestly, they should have cut this entirely and allowed the players to find Mega Rayquaza on their own so they could use the remaining data to put in the Battle Frontier, GB Sounds, and Gym leader rematches. I don’t play Pokémon to watch a short movie with poor story-telling, sorry.

I know it sounds like I’m being harsh for the sake of shitting on GameFreak but… that’s not true. I’m saying this because I absolutely love Gen 3! It’s my favorite Pokémon generation next to 5 and Hoenn is probably my favorite region. I still go back to Pokémon Emerald sometimes (I recently transferred my shinies to SoulSilver) and just embrace everything.

ORAS… I have not gone back to. It made me feel empty from how unfinished this was. This game didn’t have the love put into it like HG/SS or FR/LG did, and as someone who did want Hoenn remakes, that makes me extremely depressed.

It makes me worry for the people who want Sinnoh remakes, they’re going to be stuck with the Gym leaders having terrible parties like in the original Diamond/Pearl rather than Platinum, with no post-game content.

Sorry if this was a long read and if people don’t agree, again, I’m just super passionate about Gen 3.

[pokemon-terra-aeris-blog]

Welcome to Pokemon Terra and Aeris

Hey! My name is Chris and I’m the creator of my Pokemon Fangame, Pokemon Terra and Aeris! This is the second time I’m writing this post because the first time something happened and it didn’t save.

Well with that being said lets get into it!

About the Creation of the Game:

The time I knew I wanted to create a Pokemon game was back in April/May. I started actually working on the game in June. Making the game was fun, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to complete it by myself. After joining the Pokemon Amino, and various other Social medias (now we’re on Tumblr!) I created a small team. In July, I got a message from a fellow Pokemon fan game developer, that RuffledRowlit wanted to make a video about my game. Now of course I didn’t let this opportunity go to waste, and although I wasn’t ready to show off the game yet, I quickly threw together a trailer video (You can watch that here: https://goo.gl/TJHomt ) and the feedback in the comments were great! Everyone seemed to like the game, so far, and even since then, I’ve made multiple huge changes to the game.

To start off the list:

I changed the female Protagonist, as at the time the female was just rushed so she would be ready for the fan game.

I changed the rivals, they still have the same name, but their design was changed to be way better.

I changed the Antagonists from “Team Scavare” and “Team Aria” to Team Elemental.

I changed towns and routes.

I added seasons!

Pokemon will now follow the player (like in HGSS)

I changed dialoge

I changed the release date of the demo from Fall 2017 to some time in 2018 (still to be determined)

Now to get off of the boring stuff lets move onto the game!

About the Game:

Geography:

The game takes place in the Seren region. The name Seren is derived from Serenity, or Sereno from Italian. I chose this name because I think it fits into theme of Italy overall. The region is based off of Italy. And going back to what I was saying about connecting with Italy, is that, in my experience of travelling to Italy it was a laid-back, and calm place to be at. It felt like time has just stopped any there was no worries in the world. I want to represent that in my game by having all the natives be calm people (of course until the legendary shows up)

The map of Seren consists of five main islands. One huge, Three smaller ones, and one that’s inaccessible. There are also various smaller islands scattered around the ocean. The region is pretty big with about 23 towns to visit. This amount of towns may go down in the future. So far I really like the style of the map, and I’ll probably keep the style the same.

The main island is mostly covered in mountains and forests, while the other islands are more tropical/beach-y/seaside. The small island in the middle (may or may not be there in the final game) will be the elite four, white the island farthest to the left would be something similar to the battle frontier from Sinnoh.

The island the player starts on is most southern island, based off of Sicily, Italy.

Gameplay:

The game will consist of 8 gyms, and an Elite Four. This choice was made because its so close to France (aka Kalos) that I think their “trainer adventures” will be similar. 

The game consist of graphics similar to Generation 4 (Pokemon Pearl, Diamond, and Platinum, and HeartGold and SoulSilver.) 

I chose Generation 4 graphics because I want it to give a nostalgic feel to back when I got my first Pokemon game, Pokemon Pearl. I really want the music to be similar to Generation 4 and the graphics.

Any other questions please message me!

Characters:

Protagonists:

Male Protagonist: Andre

Female Protagonist: Juliana

Rivals:

Asher: Asher is a hot-headed, competitive young boy. Being about the same age as the Protagonist, he is about to embark on his own journey! He’s lives in Stella town his whole life, and now is ready to set off to explore the region. He wants to be the best out of the other two, Willow and the Protagonist. He thinks he will get better and better, almost good enough to beat the champion! He’s studied battle techniques ever since he was young, so his mom says, but sure enough he is ready for a world of adventure!

Willow: Willow is a young, “à la mode”, and cheerful girl. She’s not the competitive type like Asher, but is more excited to explore the huge region with her friends! She doesn’t really mind which Pokemon she gets in the beginning, but knows that she’ll love any one that she’ll get!

Professor:

Professor Olive: Professor Olive is a young, and beautiful Pokemon Professor. After just coming out of schooling, her father gave her the position of the Pokemon Professor in Stella town, just a few years earlier.

Features I Want in the Game:

Full art for characters and fakemon

100-200+ Fakemon

Custom Music

And a lot more! (that aren’t as important as these few)

Want to help?

Feel free to message me here, the Pokemon Amino (@PKMN Terra and Aeris) on Twitter (@PKMNTerra_Aeris), or by E-mailing us at PkmnTerraAeris@gmail.com

Requirements:

An ability to create high quality work

Practice in the field

A social media

We’re looking for:

Artists that can draw similar to the style of Pokemon Gen 4-7

Pixel Artists that can create original sprites for new Pokemon designs and Trainers, similar to official 5th Generation Pokemon Games

Sprite animators that can animate from pre-existing sprites made.

Tileset Pixel Artists that can provide high quality original graphic to be used in the game.

Singer / Songwriter that can write music on their own, with plenty of experience in writing, composing, and performing songs.

Please message us if you are interested!

Thank you! And I’ll try to keep up on here!

[themattress]

Before the next post...

Here are the things I don’t like in the Pokemon Adventures arcs I do like.

Red/Blue/Green Chapter - Their characters are still well-written, but I'm a little disappointed that Red and Blue both end up gradually developing the stereotypical shonen hero and rival personalities - it's especially bad with Blue, who becomes nothing like how he started and nothing like how every other incarnation of the character is portrayed.  

Yellow Chapter - The goddamn Viridan Forest powers.  Kusaka seems to have completely forgotten that he already established Pallet Town as a special place where its people have a special empathy for Pokemon.  Why does he replace that with Viridan Forest of all places, and now have a literal superpower based upon that empathy be tied to it?

Gold/Silver/Crystal Chapter - Gold himself is a relatively shallow and static character who doesn't have much to offer on his own, and while this gets played for drama toward the end and he redeems himself, it's still irritating in the first two volumes.  Speaking of which, the art quality in those is a huge step down from the previous two arcs - replacing Mato was absolutely the right move. Lastly, wtf was up with how Whitney was characterized?

FireRed/LeafGreen Chapter - While Giovanni is as brilliant as ever, the Beast Trio is lame - completely unappealing both visually and as characters.  And the arc's cliffhanger ending is bullshit and doesn't really amount to much in the end.

Diamond/Pearl Chapter - It takes pretty slow - until the third volume - for the action to really get going when compared to previous arcs, and it can get repetitive at the start with running gags like Dia and Pearl's manzai routine.

Platinum Chapter - I must admit, Kusaka has to really contrive a way to fit in the Sinnoh Battle Frontier, Looker, Buck, Cheryl, Marley, Mira, Charon and his scheme at Stark Mountain, AND Giratina and the Distortion World together for one short story arc that will also wrap up all the loose ends from the previous arc, and it's pretty noticeable.  

HeartGold/SoulSilver Chapter - Gold is much worse in this arc than he ever was in his debut arc, and he doesn't redeem himself in the end either. The characterization of Whitney is fixed, but Petrel's characterization is all wrong. Lastly, even if its the site of an admittedly epic climax, I don't care for the Sinjoh Ruins - not in the games and not in this manga.

Black/White Chapter - While the deconstruction work done with them later is good, I still can't say I like the stock hot-blooded shonen hero and stock useless shonen heroine personalities Kusaka chose for Black and White - it just doesn't match their designs well, especially in White's case.  Much of the plot in the first four volumes is just lifted from the games, except not done as well, so it takes quite a while before things get really interesting. Finally, I absolutely HATE what Kusaka did with N, and unlike Black and White, I can't even understand why he made this choice.  All I know is that it undermines N's character, and thus much of the story's power since it hinges on said character.

Black 2/White 2 Chapter - Again, I totally understand what Kusaka was going for here, but keeping so much of the arc in the same location - Aspertia City, especially its school - makes the first half of it pretty monotonous. It's a good thing the characters are interesting to help you get through it.  Also, the schedule slip for this arc getting out is unforgivable.

X/Y Chapter - The dark, bleak atmosphere of this arc can feel pretty oppressive at times. Replacing Looker with Cassius as Emma's father-figure just doesn't feel right.  Most of the Gym Leaders needed more development than they got. And lastly, while this couldn't really be helped, the manga follows the anime in still keeping this all in the same reality, which raises a big plot hole as to where Mega Evolution has been in the Pokemon World until now.

Sun/Moon Chapter - Sun himself is a big problem for me.  Gold, Ruby, and Emerald actually look good compared to this greedy jackass, and I can only hope he gets development that makes him more sympathetic later on.  Also, Lillie has been criminally underused so far, and while Kusaka may have a reason why he's doing that and a set plan for her, right now it's just frustrating that we're getting into Aether Paradise and Lillie still hasn't left Melemele Island.  

[empathfallen]

The Pokemon Timeline

The Pokemon Timeline is a rather confusing place, and considering Anabel’s relevance to timelines and multiverse, I feel I need to make a post explaining the timeline(s). My interpretation are heavily influenced by this video as it explains the logic nicely. The timeline itself has been roughly explained/confirmed by a GameFreak employee in a Tweet. (Yeah yeah, Tweets aren’t the most valid but this is big for video game theorizing and it’s an interesting timeline).

Warning. Spoilers of all games, duh!

Original Timeline / Non Mega Timeline

Red/Blue/Yellow and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald take place at the same time on the timeline. So for the sake of the sake of continuity, let’s say that the remakes, Fire Red/Leaf Green and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire take place at the same time as well.

3 Years Later

Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heart Gold/Soul Silver states within the game that it takes place 3 years after R/B/Y/FR/LG. Roughly around the same time, Diamond/Pearl/Platinum takes place. This can be seen since in Diamond and Pearl, we see in the beggining a reference to the recently spotted Red Gyarados in the Johto region.

6-9 Years Later

Black/White There is no confirmed time between the generations. However, Caitlin from the Elite Four in B/W, is also in the Battle Frontier in D/P/P. You can also meet the Rocket Grunt with a peculiar speech pattern in B/W who originated from G/S/C/HG/SS. He is married and with a child with a school kid sprite. We can speculate this child to be 6-8 years old. (However, I speculate time for the Grunt to settle down and have a child as well). 

2 Years Later

Black 2/White 2 Simply confirmed in game. The GameFreak Tweet also mentioned that X / Y take place at the same time as Black 2 and White 2

The Mega Evolution Timeline

Now this is where things start into two different timelines. X / Y. We could simply claim well just because Mega Evolution isn’t featured in previous games, doesn’t mean it isn’t in two timelines, they just didn’t use/feature them in the games at the time and it was rare. However. in OR/AS, Zinnia states that there is another Hoenn without Mega Evolution. When the Kalos War 3,000 years ago fired the weapon, it’s power created two separate timelines.

“But, we have mentions of characters in games in the non mega timeline! A-And we see them!” You say. On the contrary, we see Grimsley and Cynthia in Sun and Moon, after all. (And more). Due to this, I will say that everything did happen on the Non-Mega Timeline happened on the Mega-Timeline. Mega Evolution was not a part of the story because they were not important, sort of like how Sun and Moon didn’t have any new Megas but still had the feature.

Anabel herself is evidence of the separate timelines. There is no Battle Tower in OR/AS, and when you battle her in the Battle Tower, her original Emerald theme plays. In OR/AS, they said they would build the Battle Tower in the future. So there is no way Anabel can originally be from the Mega Timeline.

BACK TO THE TIMELINE!

2 Years Later

Sun/Moon. Why 2 years again? Simply put, it has to be 2 years after. Dexio, Professor Sycamore’s assistant from X/Y, mentions how the player’s battle reminded him of the 5 young trainers from X/Y. PLUS! Official artwork of the Sun and Moon of Grimsley notes that it is Grimsley 2 years later. When was the last time we saw him? Black and White 2. When did that take place? At the same time as X and Y.

Quick note on why some reappearing characters that should have been aged up at times and weren’t. They weren’t relevant enough to the story to have updated designs. (This mostly applies to Black and White 2′s Battle Tournament and Sun and Moon’s Battle Tree).

So this is the timeline up until Sun and Moon. I will update/remake this game timeline when Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon come out and I get a play through of it done. 

[extraterrestrialmasquerade]

Battle at Silver Frontier Military Base

Location: Empire’s Military Base at the Silver Frontier Lunar Colony

C’therax felt as if fire was in his veins every single time he breathed.  Instinct told him not stir.  There were sounds…jeers…shouts…then someone talking with a cruel but gleeful voice.  

C’therax remembered fire and figures running…laser cannons…the sound of C’rululian tentacles striking metal and crushing bone…and of Oquruian Ion blasts…

The ship flipping 180 degrees…seeing the glowing lunar isolation…a flash of light…a rush of motion…then pain…

C’therax remained absolutely still as he checked his body mentally.  Nothing was obviously broken.  But his hands were tied.  Ooze droppings.  He listened to the voice speaking over an amplifier.

“For too long the Empire has claimed cultural superiority over us!  Destroying our ways of life!  Barricading and sanctioning us over alleged “human rights’ abuses!  It’s just an excuse to topple our governments to help their businesses!  They may have ceased taking colonies, but THEIR IDEOLOGICAL COLONIZATION CONTINUES”

Great.  I am a Oquruian prisoner.  Well I might as well size things up.

Taking care to remain absolutely still, C’therax sightly opened one eye. “He stirs!” Ooze droppings.

He opened both eyes and kept an emotionless face.  C’therax was tied in front of a camera and arranged in a half circle were dozens of Oquruian fighters.  Upon seeing C’therax stir they started a new round of raucous jeering.  Behind C’therax was the desk of the Diplomat of the Silver Frontier with the gold seal of the Empire blazoned upon it.  It had several laser-holes in it now.  A fitting backdrop for an anti-Empire propaganda video C’therax thought.  

I hope Xogue got to read my response to her letter before she was taken.  

The speaker at the microphone turned and got as close to C’therax face as he could while being out of reach of his pinchers and spat on him.  C’therax suppressed the urge to try to use his natural C’rululian acid-spit defense mechanism knowing that it was standard protocol for Oquruian bracelets to be rigged to electrify their prisoner should any of his species’ natural defense powers be activated.  

C’therax sized up his captor.  Both C’rululians and Oquruians were standard bipedal, opposable thumbed creatures.  C’rululians had a slight greenish tinge to their skin whereas Oqurians had a reddish tinge and a leathery texture to their skin.  Both species had pinchers around their mouths.  C’therax was pleased that his captors hadn’t broken his off.  He supposed his so-called “anti-colonialist” captors wanted him to be conscious to experience the pain of their removal.  Oqurians were known for their ability to summon quantum blasts that were effective long range weapons and to detonate small explosions within a three foot radius of their formidable claws.  C’rululians had tentacles that they could summon from the quantum realm that, when made extant in the physical world, could range as long as ten feet and connected to their arms.  While C’rululins were stronger and had an effective acid-spit weapon, Oquruians were faster and could more then compensate for their weaker bodies with their natural defenses.  

“Prisoner of justice!  You stand on trial here today for crimes you have committed in service to the Empire’s arrogance.  You have no jurisdiction to be policing the galaxy!  You will answer for crimes against the Pyronians, the Oquruians and against numerous outcasts of the Seven Worlds!  But before we have you undergo a fitting experience of justice let us show you how quickly the empires propaganda can fade!  Bring us our liberated Daughter!”

Xogue came in dressed in the ceremonial robes of the Pyronian people. 

 C’therax suppressed a burst of rage because he knew Xogue would find those robes more humiliating than his chains.  Those who did not comply to the caste system and the standards of decency the robes implied could be beaten or killed, often by their own families.  For Xogue the ceremonial robes were a sign of oppression.  

Xogue was placed in front of the camera.  “Hello, my name is Xogue and I want to thank the Anti-Colonist Insurgents for liberating me from the brainwashing of the Empire.”

What are you doing Xogue? C’therax thought.  

“I was promised liberation if I would forsake the ways of my ancestors and participate in their culture’s depravities….”

Xogue opened a suitcase she was carrying.  As was standard in these captivity videos, there were shocks of horror whenever some supposed artifact of the Empire’s depravity was brought forward.  C’therax stared at the suitcases contents.  It contained numerous items that the captors would deem proof of the Empires immorality.  But nothing of that sort would interest Xogue.  C’therax stared closer.  Something wasn’t right about the items…they all looked wrong.  C’therax found that when he moved his eyes from one item to another he was unable to move his eyes back to the original item he had been looking at.  

“The thing about propaganda…” Xogue continued.  C’therax noticed that the original speaker was worried.  Xogue was going on script.  “..it only lets you see things that fit your worldview.” Xogue let out a psionic scream and her psychic illusion was broken.  Instead of ceremonial robes everyone now saw she was wearing combat armor and the suitcase she was caring was not holding proofs of the Empire’s alleged polluted culture but was rather holding several self-flying laser turrets.  Chaos exploded as the remote controlled turrets opened fire and Oquruian bodies started dropping and blood started soaking the walls and floors.  Xogue dropped a smoke pellet and dashed to C’therax as Oquruian quantum bolts lashed out at her.  C’therax felt his bracelets charge to give him a probably lethal shock but Xogue activated one of Dr. Vyryn’s more ingenious gadgets in time and soon several auto-aimed lasers blasted off C’therax’s bonds.  C’therax let out a roar and summoned his tentacles and started spinning in a furious pinwheel of death.  Soon debris and bodies were flying and the sound of his tentacles crushing armor and bone were heard through out the hall.  

A quantum blast from the event’s main speaker soared just over C’therax’s head and he wisely stopped his assault to seek cover under the desk.  Reserve Oquruian fighters poured into the hallway but were soon driven off by a liberation squadron led by Dr. Vyryn, a fierce fighter in his own right, even if he considered medical functions to be his expertise.

Behind the desk Xogue gave C’therax a blaster and continued up a barrage of psionic screams to disrupt and distract the enemy.  C’therax’s adversary had taken up refuge behind a large statue of one of the Empire’s greatest diplomat and for a long while they both exchanged laxer fire without being able to hit the other.  Eventually seeing that any hope of reinforcements had been slain by attacking C’rululians the Oquruian propagandist dropped several grenades and in the resulting chaos darted out the hall’s back door.  C’rululians forces followed suit.  

“It’s a good thing their hate made their minds easy to psi-hack,” Xogue muttered.

Several explosions rocked the hall and soon an air-raid alarm sounded.   “C’therax!  There are incoming Anti-Empire forces bombing the base!” Dr. Vyryn shouted.  “Intelligence says they want to take out the Platinum Grade ship we had prepared for our Earth mission!”  

“Lets get the ship into orbit!  We can defend it from there easier than in the atmosphere!”

“No” C’therax responded.  “We need to launch for Earth now.”

“What!?!” Xogue said.  “While bombs are dropping?  From Orbit we can provide air support to insure these monsters don’t kill any more of us.”

“Our general I am sure is more than up for that task Xogue!“ Dr. Vyryn said.  “C’therax is right.  The number of enemy fighters is not enough to do substantial damage to the base or it’s inhabitants.  It’s a suicide mission.  These fighters want to be die gloriously taking down one of the few ships we have that is ready to reach Earth.  Once they find its location they will all concentrate on that area.  The only safe space is Earth!”

A huge explosion shook the building and cracks started appearing and growing on the walls.  

“LETS MOVE!” C’therax shouted” “Vyryn, tell Sp’rark to meet us at the launch site”  They met no enemy resistance as they tore through the bases weakening halls but they could hear the sounds of aerial battle being played out above their heads.  They found the ship which was a silver tube with rounded edges.  It had eight legs.  The cannons in front were designed to make it look like a giant spider with large cruel jaws.  It had massive after burners on its rear.  Once inside Vyryn and C’therax took their place upfront at the weapon stations.

“Where is Sp’r…” C’therax began “GRRRR” came a sound and C’therax gave a start and almost released his tentacles.  “Easy boy,” a young Senonian woman said as she struggled to restrain the angry Crater Wolf.  “Good to see you Sp’rark!” C’therax said, “You too Apoll-roe” he continued addressing the wolf. Sp’rark was a Soenonian woman with gorgeous glittering silver skin that contrasted strangely with the layer of black soot that was currently covering it.  She contrasted strongly with her jet-black and fearsome Crater Wolf.

Sp’rark took her seat near the rear of the ship next to a holding pen for her Crater Wolf companion.  Xogue stood on a silver platform and started to float as her mind reached out to the ship’s psionic controls.

“Control tower this is an emergency take off.  Destination Earth!” C’therax shouted as Xogue mentally deployed the ship’s afterburners. Within half a second they were roaring through the lunar base’s atmosphere.   “Enemy ship heading to X3534 R3433 35-2141-02” Vyryn shouted.  “There is nothing there…except Earth” “I guess we will have company on Earth” C’therax said. “So Xogue, we will get to kick some ass after all!” “We need to blast out of orbit quickly Xogue!  Fighters are pouring in!” Vywrn shouted.   Sp’rark’s Crater Wolf started to whine, startled by the ships rocking and she began singing it a lullaby.

“Hush little larvae get some rest And curl up in your nest. Baby dear don’t fear the sky Even if the strangers can fly”

“Xogue enemy fighters getting close!  What in the name of our Dear King are you doing!!!” Vyryn shouted. “Not…yet..”Xogue said.  Her eyes were glazed over.  Her lower brain functions now believed that the ship was their body and Xogue only had a fragmentary understanding of events inside the cabin.  Her mind was peering through the ship’s optical instruments.

From the view ports C’therax saw Oquruian ships start to form a shrinking noose attack formation meant to limit their prey’s ability to dodge laser fire.

“Xogue…now might be a good time…

A siren started blaring.  “They are in range Xogue!”

Xogue let out a mighty battle cry and unleashed the full power of the ship’s mobius reactor and the resulting shock wave released a percussive wave that damaged the incoming enemy fleet and launched their ship towards the wormhole that would lead to that strange new world called Earth.

As the stars swept by C’therax resisted the urge to cry.  Home already seemed so far…and may never come back again.  As he thought of home he listened to Sp’rark’s lullaby, one that he had been sung as a child.

“Hush little larvae get some rest And curl up in your nest. Baby dear don’t fear the sky Even if the strangers can fly But if they do fly… I’ll swap a dove for a cloud from the sky And if they can stick to the roof above… I’ll swap a rug for a nest made with love. And if they can slurp an eight-legged bug... I’ll ask them to clean the lice from our pug. But in your bed you must lay ‘cause it’s an Extraterrestrial Masquerade.”

[1-800-divorce]

How would you rank each generation from favorite to least favorite? State your reasoning why?

Johto (Gen II / IV remake) was the one that got me into the games and I loved all the pokemon. I stayed up way past my bed time huddled under my blanket with a flashlight to play it, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I adored Heart Gold/Soul Silver and loved the updated designs and story without it feeling too different from Gold/Silver/Crystal.

Sinnoh (Gen IV) is a very close second. I like Platinum better than Diamond/Pearl because there was more to the story and I liked the Distortion World part. I instantly fell in love with Cynthia and thanked her when she forced me into stalling with hyper potions. But really, the additional pokemon were all very cool and though the music wasn’t necessarily my favorite overall, I enjoyed the story, Team Galactic, and each of the characters. Minus Barry.

Kanto (Gen I / III remake) I admittedly liked more when I played Fire Red/Leaf Green than Red/Blue/Yellow. I hadn’t yet built an appreciation for the game when I played Red and Blue and mostly trudged through the story since it was what I had to pass the time. 

Hoenn (Gen III / VI remake) took a little while to grow on me. I didn’t love it the first time I played it, I liked it more the second time, and a little more the third. The pokemon were wonderful, but I didn’t care about most of the characters which was what made it less likable for me. When Emerald came out, that’s when I started to love it. Come ORAS (I got Alpha Sapphire since Sapphire was the one I started with) I really enjoyed it. I remember in Emerald I spent a lot of time at the Battle Frontier, particularly Lucy’s Pike Palace (or something along those lines). Mostly because I liked battling her than the actual facility.

Alola (Gen VII) was one where I started out very iffy on it. No gyms? I couldn’t see what would make the story move along without them. Of course, I know better now that I’ve played it. I love each of the characters in the game and have found the overall story appealing and fun. It would be ranked higher but the slow beginning is hindering its ranking. It took me some time to really get pulled into the story and most of the time I wasn’t really sure what I was doing other than bumping along with wherever the plot dictated I go. I forgave that though in favor of liking the characters. I do hate SOS-chains though among other things.

Kalos (Gen VI) was great except for Team Flare. They fell flat for me and it was more of a drag a tedious work to battle them than enjoyable. Nonetheless, the characters were all fine and dandy and the environments were enjoyable. I really liked Diantha.

Unova (Gen V) which I nearly forgot to include, and it took me a moment to remember it, which should say enough in itself what I think of it. Or rather, I don’t think about it at all. It wasn’t terrible, but it was incredibly bland and easily forgettable, evidently.