#especially when ghetsis is also as awful as they think the character in question is.

[hollowsart]

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[ganymedesclock]

You know, I've joined the Pokemon fandom only recently and I've noticed that some people in the fandom think it's kind of unethical that Pokemon are captured in balls and then "forced to fight" in Pokemon battles. You seem to like Pokemon, so I was wondering what your thoughts on that are.

I certainly don’t have my finger to the pulse of new content, but, several things of note.

Literally the first episode of the anime, as well as many others since then, have demonstrated if a pokemon doesn’t want to go into a ball they will fight it, and continue to fight it after “being tamed”. Pikachu was given to Ash “already tamed” but utterly refuses a pokeball, constantly. This is not considered abnormal, baffling, or concerning. Even the games, which simplify this for the sake of mechanics, mention at different times that legendary pokemon will challenge you specifically because they are interested in seeing you prove your worth.

In Pokemon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness, both games feature an enemy organization that manipulates pokemon into a “shadow” state that is described as shutting them down emotionally. A big thrust of the game is capturing and healing those pokemon, so it features relationship values and things that will help them heal- being sent into battle is something that help abused pokemon heal. So exceptionally vulnerable pokemon- who can be pretty much triggered and act violently or aggressively- enjoy battle.

Very much, the narrative presented by pokemon fairly consistently is a bond of souls, of person with partner, and they are working together to overcome adversity. 

I think personally, thinking of pokemon battles as like cockfighting is not really accurate- it’s worth noting that pokemon are really a lot less like animals and a lot more like alternatively sapient people. They are fully self-aware, and in the anime more than the games, you see this big time, but even in the games, friendship values are mechanically a thing! In later generations, pokemon will resist harder attacks, and hit harder themselves, because they enjoy and value the relationship they have with you.

We see pokemon can refuse to evolve, refuse pokeballs, and push their limits in many ways by extent of willpower. People who are abusive or controlling towards pokemon are characterized as worse than filth, and abused pokemon exist, (see: Ash’s charmander being left in a situation that is dangerous for it by its abusive owner before it came to Ash’s possession, and him being unbelievably pissed at its former master) and are met with compassion.

Likewise- pokemon can outright refuse to respect their trainers! In more recent anime, Ash picked up a Gengar that was abandoned by its trainer and, when realizing this, actually attacked that person, and is still rowdy and argumentative with him / lashes out if it feels it was accused of something it didn’t do. In the sun/moon series, the bewear that takes a shine to Team Rocket makes it abundantly clear she has no intention of ever being captured (by intercepting and crushing a pokeball between her paws). 

So basically, if you see pokemon battling, it’s an exercise of informed consent. In less dangerous situations, it can be thought of like a dog competition where a dog genuinely enjoys competing because the physical and mental challenge is stimulating, or even (as pokemon, as noted before, are pretty sapient) more like two people participating in a competition together as a team. 

Look how many fighting types are described as putting independent effort towards training and evolving, and how many pokemon of all types are described as territorial, aggressive, or generally willing to throw hands! Wild pokemon attack you and try to kick your ass! In the wild areas in Sword and Shield, pokemon actively chase you down trying to pick a fight. While we do see pokemon knocked out, stunned or weakened and then pokeballed, you can think of it like two shounen protagonists who only bond after beating the stuffing out of each other to reach an emotional bond- because, given the above factors, if they weren’t like “yes, I respect your power, I think we’re cool now” they could express their ill will or discomfort many ways.

And in another sense, you can look towards other installments of the “mon” genre- the idea of characters bonding with their partners, sometimes literally fusing or teaming together to do a move, is huge in this genre.

Could someone still abuse a pokemon? Yes- again, both anime and games make it clear this is something that happens, it is socially stigmatized by humans and pokemon alike (there’s an entire movie where Mewtwo is fucking pissed at having been made as a living weapon and his anger is depicted as pretty justified even if he needs to not take it out on people who weren’t his creators) and it would leave a mark, and does.

(Ghetsis, in BW2, notably, fights you with a pokemon who knows the move “Frustration” at full strength- the move “Frustration” specifically gains power the more the pokemon hates the trainer, so we can gather pretty clearly Ghetsis is not a nice trainer. Conversely, another “Team boss”, Cyrus, has a crobat, which only evolves from a golbat who has maximum friendship values- so whether or not Cyrus is a good person, his pokemon have a strong emotional relationship with him.)

And I really don’t wanna be the one to carelessly dismiss concerns, especially of depictions of animal abuse. You can raise questions if the pokemon series- in particular the games- are over-focused on battling to the point of depicting less about day to day social life with these guys- I personally really like to think about other elements of the pokemon world- but I also feel like a lot of “pokemon is literally just glorified fantasy dogfighting it’s awful and gross” takes are.... not made in good faith? not looking at the messages sent by the games in detail.

[ihopethisendswell]

My Computer Is Terrible So I'm Stating My Story Ideas Here Part 10: The Part 2 of the other Part

So so so

Part 2 of the other part which is part 9 and this is part 10 so it's a sequel part

Okay okay okay

Here we go!

Going full ramble again! You have been warned!

So right now Leon, Sonia and Raihan aren't on the best terms after their Big Fight™

So except some back handed insults now and again.

And soon they get to the point where they're just tearing at each other

But not yet

That's for later :)

But they still have to co-op to together if they want to save their kingdom

So yeah they're pretty sour at the moment

They eventually reach the sea side where the ordered(?) a ship to reach to Eternatus. Cause it's on a isolated island

And the ship captain is none other than Nessa, the most feared captain of them all.

She takes after her cousin Archie

Yes I'm making them cousins in this Au fight me

She is often called The Siren given her beauty and deadliness

So why would she be the one to help a royal like Leon

Well she was the only one willing to go and Leon had to pay a lot to get her to cooperate so-

Yeah

But you'll never guess who else is one the ship

Hop and co!

The only reason they're even on I'd because Piers is friends with Nessa

They go way back

So it's like a favour or something

Now Hop didn't know that Leon was going on this specific ship

So you could imagine the reunion

Leon isn't happy btw

Bede is being smug about it like " I told you so" but Marnie shuts him up

Piers tries to defend Hop which honestly cause Leon to relent

So now not only Sonia is with them, but now three teenagers and a thief( I decided to make Piers the head of a big thieves guild....and possibly former duke?)

Which is just so many casualties

This is the part where we really drive home that Leon has this unhealthy way of thinking that he has to take care of everything as king.

This as always been a thing, since his parents died and Rose ( unintentional or not) telling him that everything is on him, and only him.

He didn't even want Raihan to come since he feared how would get hurt or worse

But Raihan is a strong fighter, the best in the kingdom so he can count on him

But Sonia? Sonia quitted becoming a knight a long time ago. She may know the basics but she can't really hold her own

At least that what he thinks

And now his precious little brother is one the same ship with him plus Roses mentor and two thieves( though they do seem chill)

He can't risk them getting hurt. He can't

But we don't have time to unpack all of that!

Cause ya wanna know who else is on the ship? Alexis and co! Boom!

But they actually snuck on because they heard this ship was going where they needed to go to save Naomi and honesty they rather not pay so-

Sneaking it is! Though it's hard cause N is very tall and green hair is quite noticable

But they manage

Until Alexis hears Hop trying to explain why he's on the ship in the first place

And he mentions word of a girl named Naomi

Who is his cousin( I should mention that in Alexis' and Elliot's dream Naomi tells them her name for reference)

Tis triggers something in Alexis and causes his powers to go haywire

Causing him to expose himself and the other two

And everyone is about to attack him cause he's an intruder

And Elliot gets defensive cause " that's my brother you fuckers!"

And N is trying to calm the situation down ( as a means to not get anyone hurt and to atone for his actions as a former prince)

Then Leon is like " wait your the guy from the market!" And before Alexis can respond his powers end up sparking a lot which causes him to double over in pain

And by this point Elliot is panicking cause her brother could possibly die

N is trying to heal him but him alone isn't enough

Then Bede says he could help!

And it's revealed that the boy is half fae!!! Since his hair covered up his ears most of the time!!!

He was told to repress his fae side by Rose in fear of getting hurt( and that having a fae would cause some chaos that he can't control and Rose must have control over thingd to make sure things are good)

So Bede and N heal him, Bede being half fae REALLY helps

So much so that it seems that whenever Alexis uses his powers they don't hurt him as much as it did before

Which is cool and all but he can't really in a child forever that would be wrong

So for now it's a temporary solution

Now everyone is a bit calm now, minus the million questions that Hop and Sonia is asking Alexis

Eventually the two parties( Alexis and Hop) spill they're story and when Alexis confirms that Naomi is very much real Hop is overjoyed and is like " See!!! I told you!! I told you she was real!!!" And everyone rightfully apologizes to Hop

Honestly the revelation that Naomi is in fact real made is already terrible mental state worse cause that means he's been discouraging his little brother for so long and he starts going through what Alexis went through in game canon as " What if I was a better brother,"

And Nessa is over here a bit annoyed that there's a bunch more people than expected but Leon reassures her that they'll pay more and Sonia suggest that they'll work on the ship as well and Nessa ain't complaining to that!( Especially because one of them is a cute red head)

So now bonding time!

Leon, Raihan and Sonia still aren't on the best terms

In fact they've been avoiding each other a lot

They're all stubborn

Though they do miss each other a lot

Hop and Sonia bombard Alexis with questions that he honestly doesn't know the answer to

Elliot is a bit of flirt, flirting with both Nessa and Sonia

She managed to get Nessa flustered at some point and will never live it down

But then she notices that the two of them have a connection and she's like " oh I see" and she's not even mad about cause that just means she has more victims to tease endlessly

Which also somehow worked into them getting together but that's for later

Marnie forces to Bede and Hop to talk out they're issues cause she's grown tired of it, and they do and reach a better understanding of each other

Hop the tells them about Naomi and about his dreams

They take it the wrong way, because of course they do, but he assures them that he only see's her as a friend.

Marnie is shown to be the most curious about who Naomi is.

Raihan and Piers start to bond

Piers was a former duke of a failing/dying nation(? Idk what to call it) and had to resort to thievery the keep things a float. Hence meeting Nessa

He doesn't hate Leon by any means but is always ready to point out his privileged lifestyle before bonding with Leon himself as older brothers

He also bonds with Alexis and Elliot for their mutual love for music

This is where the shipping starts

Alexis and Leon haven't properly interacted before this point. It's mostly small talk

But! Leon has always been fascinated by Alexis, given his tendency to keep to himself and his curse

So one night on deck Leon wakes up( woke up from a nightmare of loosing everyone. Y'know. The usual) and was about to go back to bed when he hears singing

At first he thought it was Piers,as he's known to sing and they've all heard him sing before BUT!

When he listens closely he realizes that it's not Piers

So he goes out to investigate

And it's revealed to be Alexis!!!

And his voice is so beautiful!!!

It's a contrast to his speaking voice , while still quite, his singing voice is more softer and smooth.

His singing voice is much more sadder than his usual stoic monotone voice

And Leon is completely enamored.

Not to mention that Alexis isn't wearing his cloak that covers the majority his body, so this is the first time Leon has gotten a clear view of him and

The man is , mm, I would say infatuated. A small crush begins to form

Alexis' song is a sad one

He sings about the pain he's going through and how he wishes he didn't involve those he cares about

Which really spoke to Leon. Like a lot

Because parelles babeyyyy

But when Alexis notices Leon's snooping he calls him out, pretty embarrassed

Cause the only person he ever sang in front of is Elliot, Cheren, Bianca and his parents

So having Leon there, a stranger,is embarrassing

Not to mention that he's not very proud of his appearance via the curse

He's been called a monster by someone on the ship prior and while Nessa was quick to snap at that person it still took a blow to his already low self-confidence

Leon begs to differ but he doesn't know that, and even if he did it's more of a him thing that he needs to get over .

After a quick back and forth they end up talking and just....spilling everything

Alexis talks about his time as a chosen one, his battle with Ghetsis, his scar his curse, and especially his want to do this alone to protect others

While Leon talks about his fight with Raihan and Sonia, the disconnect between the three, how he feels like an awful older brother to Hop, the pressure if being a king after his parents, the guilt he feels for dragging everyone into this mess

Both of them don't know why they're saying this. They're both pretty secretive about how they truly feel, but it's incredibly late, and the two are in a vulnerable spot so it kinda just comes out

After a while they both go to bed with a strange but welcomed friendship!

I just wanna say, if I ever do write this, it's not gonna be entirely romance focused.

The ships will be there, but like, the amount of character set-up I did prior demands a lot more attention soooooo

Especially with Sonia, Raihan and Leon's whole conflict!

I hope I didn't misrepresent their characters here!

But yeah

This got very long very fast so part 3 is in order!

TDLR: Leon and Alexis needs a hug, and I feel like this is going to be a series within a series