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aestheticsfandomsandmore · 3 years

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PokéShipping analysis EP0003

If you’re interested in reading my previous PokéShipping analysis, there you go: EP001, EP002.

Disclaimer 1 (which applies to every other analysis I’ll make): I’ll be referring to Pokémon with the “they” pronoun, unless we know their gender (for example, we know that both Caterpie and Pikachu are male).

Disclaimer 2: I'm Italian, so I probably made some mistakes. Feel free to correct me anytime.

This episode is really important to me, because it beautifully displays character development for both Satoshi/Ash and Kasumi/Misty and it also marks the moment, in my opinion, in which Kasumi fell in love with him. This will be longer than the others, so please bear with me.

EPISODE 0003 (ポケモンゲットだぜ！ I’ll get you, Pokémon!)

In the very first minutes of the episode we have the proof that what I’ve been saying in my last analysis is true: Satoshi doesn’t mind being with Kasumi, he actually enjoys it. He has fun sharing his happiness and satisfaction with her, dancing around her, grabbing her harm to stupidly go round in circles like the kid he is. Her annoyed/shocked reactions are hilarious, honestly. He’s so enthusiastic of his very first catch, Caterpie, that he keeps telling that to Kasumi, who on the other hand hates Bug types and wants his Pokémon and his Monster Ball to stay away from her. Even though Satoshi has been making sarcastic remarks to her disgust, he isn’t mad or irritated (for now).

When Caterpie gets out of his Monster Ball and sees Kasumi, he immediately likes her and decides to cuddle her, which Satoshi seems to be glad about, but Kasumi sure isn’t. She starts shaking and begs him to get Caterpie away from her, who largely prefers Pikachu over the other Pokémon. When she grabs Pikachu to pet him, Satoshi takes for granted that he will shock her, but he doesn’t—which he finds irritating, since it only took an almost death experience to make Pikachu like him. Still, he seems to enjoy Kasumi’s company and Kasumi likes his kawaii appearence. This is not only the beginning of Satoshi and Kasumi’s relationship, this is also the start of Kasumi and Pikachu’s.

I know Kasumi may sound unfair and rude toward Caterpie, but

a) she’s a child: you’re expecting her to be as mature as an adult, even though adults have phobias and flaws as well;

b) she grows in the span of 20 minutes, which is really something.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, after Kasumi asks Satoshi to return Caterpie again, we have his very first sexist assertion: “Girls can be really selfish”. Can they? Sure, just like everybody else. I love the fact that Kasumi immediately fires up after his sentence and tells him that every human being has tastes, she just happens to hate carrots, capsicums and bugs.

I wanted to include this quote and her reaction, because it made me think. We don’t know anything about Kasumi’s parents. For all we’re told, she’s been poorly reaised by her older sisters. No parental figure was ever even mentioned. Which could be an explanation to why she doesn’t even answer to Satoshi’s question. I mean, she doesnt’t often do that: she likes to always have the final say. Why wouldn’t she respond to something as provocative as that? Maybe she never had a mother—or a father—to teach her not to be picky.

This is their very first mutual disagreement and I’m surprised to say that I’m on Satoshi’s side on this one: I mean, he should have kept Caterpie away from her, because phobias are to be taken seriously, but she shouldn’t have insulted him, not that way, and Satoshi being his trainer and a caring one couldn’t let that pass. I get it, he’s not wrong.

So he wants to leave her behind, Pikachu follows him (he may like her, but he still loves Satoshi more than anyone else), but she doesn’t want that to happen, so she follows them as well. Now, there is more than one reason for that:

a) she doesn’t want him to “bug her off”: she doesn��t want it to be his decision where or when she is allowed to be;

b) it’s not like she’s been doing anything before meeting him anyway: she left home to prove herself to her sisters, but it becomes clear as hell during the course of the seasons that she doesn’t really know how to; he intrigues her, she knows that maybe being with him she’ll be able to experience many different adventures, which is precisely what she wants—and what will eventually happen;

c) he owes her a bike: I know it’s a poor excuse and the way she brings that up makes it clear that it’s a lie, but it’s still a fact.

She keeps lying and tells him that it’s the shorter path to go where she wants to, but then ends up sleeping precisely where he does, which isn’t a coincidence by any means.

Before actually going to sleep, Satoshi says good night to Pikachu and Caterpie and tells them that the next day they will all work hard; Kasumi reveals her presence by saying “You should be the one working hard”, which is hilarious because he replies with an annoyed “I know that”. This is literally just the start of a relationship where one brings the best out of the other through annoyance.

Pikachu doesn’t like them fighting. He literally makes a pretty sad face and sighs “Chaaaa”, with the same tone I use before studying for an exam, while looking at her. I mean, he doesn’t like fights, as a whole, we know he’s a very friendly, pacifist, cheerful little guy who always tries to keep tempers in check, but I find it really cute that he doesn’t want his trainer to argue with an almost complete stranger just because he likes her.

Now listen to me, because things get complicated: Kasumi wakes up and finds Caterpie beside her, so she screams, awakening Satoshi and Pikachu as well. She exclaims that it was the worst morning of her 10 years of life and insults Caterpie pretty badly, to the point that he returns to his Monster Ball on his own. Satoshi gets really—and rightfully—mad and tells her that she has to apologize because Pokémon have feelings as humans do, then he speaks to Caterpie inside his Ball and says “Caterpie, we’ll show Kasumi someday”. When Satoshi yells at her she pretends she doesn’t care, but when she hears this her expression turns into a guilty, regretful one, proving once again to be a very nuanced character. It’s not like she’s heartless or cruel, she’s just ignorant and full of anger, which is shown in any situation that makes her scared or annoyed. She doesn’t really hate Caterpie: she’s just afraid and her natural reaction to fear is rage.

I like to highlight this because people misunderstand her a lot. She’s not just a whiney little girl who doesn’t like bugs: she’s a complex individual with flaws, who makes mistakes, but who doesn’t? This doesn’t make her a bad character, it actually makes her a very well-written character who knows how to redeem herself.

Remember what I told you about Kasumi being able to bring the best out of Satoshi? When he tries to catch Pigeon (Pidgeotto), he doesn’t even try to fight them, he just throws a Monster Ball at them, failing; so she scolds him and reminds him that he was able to catch Caterpie like that only because he was a bit slow. Satoshi gets irritated at her insult to his Pokémon and tells her: “I’ll show you! I’m going to get them so spectacularly, you’ll be in awe!”, which is fun and cute at the same time, because he’s trying to prove her she’s wrong about him.

He manages to catch Pigeon but he still messes things up, which leads to her scolding him again and even slapping him in the face. I already explained how I feel about the two scenes in which she does that, so I won’t repeat myself; still, aside from the slap, I like how she gets fired up when Pokémon’s lives are in danger (ironically, Caterpie’s this time) and the way she questions his goal to become a Pokémon Master, highlighting that he can’t make it with just willpower. This is the first time in which a recurring theme in their relationship comes up: mind versus heart. Historically speaking, men have always been associated with mind and logic, while women with emotions and irrationality; Hélène Cixous (French feminist writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician) listed a series of binary oppositions upon which patriarchal systems of thoughts are based: activity/passivity, culture/nature, father/mother, head/emotions, logos/pathos and others; here, Kasumi’s the one telling Satoshi that he must use his brain, he can’t just act out of impulsivity, that technique, knowledge and type advantages are as important as—or even more important than—willpower. “It’s not just good enough to say that you love Pokémon!”, she tells him (is she really wrong?).

Rocket-dan interrupts their arguing in their attempt to steal Pikachu. Something that bothers me a lot is that Kasumi and Takeshi rarely send out their Pokémon, due to the focus of the first seasons being merely on Satoshi. This pisses me off a lot, because instead of backing him up she just stands there, telling him to send out two Pokémon against Kojiro (James) and Musashi (Jessie)’s Pokémon (which he didn’t want to do because “it’s against the Pokémon League rules to send out two Pokémon at the time”). This isn’t her fault, though: it’s not like her character is purposely ignoring him, it’s just how the writing of the first seasons worked. So I won’t mention this again in the future: although it pisses me off a lot, it’s just one of those plot holes I referred to last time.

Aside from that, a very cute little moment is Satoshi entrusting Pikachu to Kasumi: he knows Pikachu is the one Rocket-dan’s looking for, so he wants him safe and he figures that she’ll keep him safe. It’s a nice scene because you can see the uncertainty on Kasumi’s face, who didn’t see such a responsability coming, but who still took Pikachu between her arms, accepting to protect him.

I really like this scene because Satoshi’s “I’m counting on you” makes it look more intimate and personal than a simple “Take care of him while I’m taking care of them”. Although they haven’t been in the best terms up until now, he still knows that she’s a genuinely good person and that he can trust her.

Fun fact: when Pigeon loses their match, Satoshi tries to punch Kojiro, running out of ideas. Kasumi screams his name twice, worried about him, which is cute. Something else that is very cute is the way Kasumi fondles Pikachu while he wriggles out in the attempt to fight and tells him he can’t battle in his conditions.

When Satoshi sends out Caterpie, Rocket-dan immediately makes fun of him, even Satoshi is afraid due to his health, but Kasumi encourages him (Gambatte!). It’s the first nice thing she tells him and she does that in a moment where she has all the reasons to be skeptical and critical.

After winning his very first battle thanks to Caterpie, Satoshi praises him and... Kasumi does too! She looks at him, smiles and says “You’re surprisingly strong, Caterpie!”.

To this, Satoshi smiles too and says: “Now you see his power, Kasumi!” and proceeds to tell her to pet him and be friend with him; he adds that it’s only right to praise a Pokémon after they worked hard and she answers that she knows that, with a trembling voice; then, she raises her hand and comes near Caterpie’s head, swallows but doesn’t move away, on the contrary she goes closer and closer to him. Before she can actually pet him, Caterpie evolves into Metapod, scaring the hell out of her. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that she was about to put aside her fear, brave enough to face it and to do what is right. That is not simple at all: she could have just complimented him and told Satoshi to screw himself, but she didn’t. She was really trying, even though Bugs are one of her biggest fears.

I also want to highlight that this was clearly important for Satoshi: he could have just ignored her, but instead he really wanted her to befriend his Pokémon.

We’re almost over, my dear friends, and what better way to end this than to talk about the moment in which Kasumi fell in love with Satoshi?

While he’s having fun with his neo-evolved Pokémon, she looks at him, fingers intertwined, closes her eyes, smiles and says: “This kid really loves Pokémon. This is the first time I’ve seen him like this”; and, Arceus, the soft, tender voice tone she uses! Mayumi Iizuka really did an amazing job displaying her feelings in this scene. This moment is so important, because not too long ago she stated that loving Pokémon isn’t enough to be a good trainer and did nothing but criticizing him, pointing out his weaknesses and his mistakes; here, right now, she sees someone else: this is not the brat who stole her bike and who sent a Caterpie against a Pigeon, this is the caring, cheerful young boy who almost enabled her pet a Bug Pokémon, something she thought she would never do. They have so much in common, but they’re also very different, she being logical, rational and a bit caprious, he being impulsive, mindless and proud, but in this very moment she understands him, she accepts him, she likes him.

The actual ending always makes me laugh: Satoshi brings Metapod near her, which scares her, and he sarcastically says that she evolves slower than Pokémon do; he also asks her if she forgot that they were about to become friends and she answers that she hasn’t, but then a Spia (Beedrill) comes out of nowhere, making her lose it. She wants to get out of that “gross forest”, but Satoshi wants to catch more Pokémon; he hands her her knapsack and tells her to hurry and to not get left behind; so, once again, now that she’s not insulting his Pokémon anymore, Satoshi doesn’t mind being around him and actually enjoys her presence.

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voltimer · 3 years

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'The Magic of Johto's Level Curve'

(or, 'a leisurely analysis of the singleplayer balance of Pokemon GSC and HGSS')

The Johto games - especially HeartGold and SoulSilver - seem to have a very good reputation. Some often put the aforementioned HGSS into their top 3 or describe it as the core Pokemon experience. I personally agree with this sentiment and HGSS is either #2 or #1 depending on my mood (it usually competes with Black 2 and White 2).

Despite all its praise though, there seems to be an incredibly consistent point raised against it: the level curve. I see it described as unbalanced, janky, and generally bad.

There are two main problems people tend to cite. First is the level progression in Johto itself, with Gyms 5, 6, and 7 not exactly being a smooth progression upwards and then Team Rocket's Archer and the 8th Gym having a notable level spike compared to those last three. Wild Pokemon levels are also usually a lot lower than the major boss fights they are ahead of, making raising new 'mons harder and grinding for boss fights longer. The other problem is Kanto, whose problems can essentially be said to take Johto's levelling issues and ramp them up. The jump from fighting Blue to the Elite Four rematches and Red is also very significant.

What I'm not going to do here is refute that the above isn't true - these level scaling inconsistencies are certainly present. It's also very different to the vast majority of main series entries, whose level curves are more linear and gradual. Gens 5 and 7 even have a feature which multiplies exp gain based on how much lower or higher you are than the Pokemon you defeat which in a way acts like a rubber band around each game's level curve, ensuring you can catch up easily but not go too overlevelled either. Playing GSC and HGSS when the rest of those entries are like that is a bit jarring. Pokemon is so well-known for having quite a formulaic design across its main series and when compared to that formula with regards to level progression and the like, the Johto games do seem a bit off-colour.

What I am going to do though is try to explain why this so-called bad level curve is at the very least not actually that bad, or, if I can convince you well enough, that the Johto games actually have a unique and (what I call) magical singleplayer game design not properly replicated in any other entry. It goes to the core essence of Pokemon's theming, and it fits with the fact that Johto's narrative also happens to put the most focus on those themes than the rest of the series.

When I say the core essence of theming, I mean the very basics of every Pokemon adventure: you, the player, leave home to go on a journey around your region, meeting various people and overcoming various challenges along the way together with your partner Pokemon. Challenges you overcome are all thanks to the bonds you share with your partners and how you raise them with love and care. As you get older, this is the sort of thing in Pokemon that you probably end up taking for granted. It's typical "power of friendship" stuff, and most people will tend to come to conclude through learning about the game mechanics that this sort of thing is superficial and that stats are all that matter in the end. The more modern Pokemon games also have such a big focus on larger-than-life stories with big climaxes featuring the box Legendaries that it's easy to lose this basic level, down-to-earth narrative theming.

Johto is significant for not having any larger-than-life aspects overshadowing its core. Instead, the core takes centre stage. There is no real overarching story besides your adventure. Team Rocket's antics take a sub-plot role but in the end act as a foil to your story, being one of the more major obstacles you overcome. Catching Ho-oh or Lugia is no cataclysm either, but rather a reward for your achievements throughout the game and thanks to your good and pure heart - recognised by the Legendary in question. Moments throughout the game like how you deal with the situation at the Lake of Rage, or the Dragon's Den trial where you're asked questions to test your ideals as a trainer (which, of course, you pass with flying colours) all contribute to this core as well.

The way Professor Oak congratulates you after defeating Lance ties the knot perfectly on the main campaign:

"Ah, <player>! It's been a long while. You certainly look more impressive. Your conquest of the League is just fantastic! Your dedication, love, and trust for your Pokémon made this happen. Your Pokémon were outstanding, too. Because they believed in you as a Trainer, they persevered. Congratulations, <player>!"

These are just examples of the main story events, though,and Johto has a lot more than that. The region is filled with things to do beside the main campaign - Berries/Apricorns, Pokegear calls, the Ruins of Alph and other optional caves, the Bug Catching Contest, and (in HGSS) the Pokeathlon and Safari Zone, just to name a few of the more notable ones. Tama Hero's review of Pokemon GSC talks a lot about this and it's well-worth a watch even beyond the section describing the games' breadth of side content.

Tama Hero also touches upon the supposed level scaling issue, and her response to the complaints is that there is a "sprinkling" of opportunities for small bits of exp gain throughout the game which should help you stay on track in most cases, and where you can't match levels, you can outplay your opponent.

I certainly agree with the latter. It always feels entirely possible to beat bosses at a level deficit throughout Johto. The Johto League is one of the key cases where you'll probably end up at level disadvantage, but I've consistently been able to defeat it with a team of lv 40s on average (so nearly 10 levels behind Lance's peak), and I'm pretty certain that my not-even-10-year-old self did so as well, even though it took me many, many attempts. From various people I've talked to and bits of let's plays I've seen over the years, this seems to be the common experience too. I think only a minority of people have had to grind to match Lance's levels in order to beat him at all. Granted, it might take you a couple of tries at that level disadvantage (or a great couple of tries more, like little ol' me), but that's surely not an unreasonable expectation. The concept of getting stuck at a difficult stage in a game could be called a universal one, and I think most people agree that it's always pretty satisfying to finally surmount a challenge like that. This can even be said about other Pokemon games - Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh also all have large level spikes at the end. In fact, at least when it comes to the end of the maingame, I'd argue Hoenn and Sinnoh have a larger level spike than Johto, but they're not considered impossible or anything

Regardless, though: it's certainly possible to win difficult battles in Pokemon at a level disadvantage. Tama Hero argues that the strategy required to do so isn't something the game teaches you very well, but I think this is a tad pessimistic. In the end I think that most wins will just come down to understanding of more fundamental skills that you've probably learned through the course of the game naturally - using type matchups (gyms are all type themed), using moves with stat changes (the earlygame is full of moves like Growl and Tail Whip), using status moves (no doubt you're going to see the effects of Paralysis and Burns throughout the game at least), and apt use of items (bosses always use potions and often use held items). Players also have more control over the battle than the enemy, with the default Switch mode and a huge amount more items available. It's true that the games don't teach you the deeper, untold mechanics very well, but learning about those only unlock even more ways to succeed for the numbers-minded veterans.

On the topic of those deeper, untold mechanics I also want to talk about something which Tama Hero doesn't mention at all - Effort Values, or EVs. Most of you reading will probably know about these by now, but for those who don't, EVs are hidden values which can increase a Pokemon's raw stats by a certain amount based on the other Pokemon they defeat. They were present in a slightly different form in Gens 1 and 2 in the form of "stat exp" but the premise was the same: your Pokemon grow twofold when you defeat Pokemon, by gaining visible exp for levelling up and visibly gaining stats every time that exp bar fills, but also by gaining stats little by little every time they defeat any Pokemon. Your Pokemon's EVs weren't visible to you in-game until Gen 6 with the Super Training graphic, and numerically weren't until Gen 7 where you can press X on the Pokemon's stat screen to show what are called "base stats".

EV optimisation is crucial to competitive play because the stat boosts they give are quite significant. Competitive players will "min-max" spreads, putting as much as possible into 2 stats to maximise strengths and not wasting any on stats they aren't making use of. In maingame playthroughs, though, EVs will usually end up being a balanced spread because you'll invetivably be facing a variety of Pokemon with different EV yields throughout the game. EVs can also be increased with the Vitamin items (Protein, Calcium, etc.) which you find a handful of throughout the game (and can buy at a premium) and can be used to manually raise EVs, though only to a certain point.

In Gens 3 and onward, a Pokemon can have up to 252 EVs in 1 stat, and 510 in total. At Lv 100, 4 EVs in a stat grant 1 point extra to it. For the singleplayer campaign the conditions are a bit different, but if we assume as a standard that by the Elite Four your EV total is maxed out and you have an even spread, your stats will all be up to 10 points higher than they would be without EVs. In Gens 1 and 2, you can actually max out all of a Pokemon's stat exp values but you're unlikely to cap them all for a good while beyond the maingame so we can consider them about the same as in the later gens for this.

But why is this important?

Firstly, the difference EVs make in the above scenario account for what is usually about 5 levels' worth of stats. Depending on your exact distribution, it could be a couple more or less levels' worth in each stat but the bottom line is that they make your Pokemon's strength higher than it may seem based on level alone.

This means that the wild Pokemon grinding that is criticised for being too tedious in Johto as a result of low levels is also better than it seems because even when you don't level up, you're gaining EVs for every one of those you defeat. The stagnant levels in the midgame of Johto also contribute more to your Pokemon's growth than it may seem from the slow level gain. The Pokegear rematches which you gain access to after defeating Team Rocket before Gym 8 may also be a little infrequent, but they also very often give you Vitamins afterwards to add to all of this.

Secondly is what seems to be a fairly unknown fact: in-game trainers do not have any EV spreads. Thanks to the work of speedrunners, we have exact data of enemy trainers' Pokemon to show this. Trainers do have IV spreads based on their "AI level" (more 'advanced' AI levels will have up to 30 IVs across the board) but the difference near-perfect IVs will have on their Pokemon is not as great as the combination of random IV spreads and relatively balanced EV spreads yours.

That 10 level deficit vs Lance is suddenly more like 5 in practice. Some of his Pokemon also happen to have pretty high stats naturally in Gyarados and the Dragonites, and the level deficit will still be slightly present, but once we factor in strategy again, you can abuse their type weaknesses and make good use of items, status and whatever else have you to swing the odds in your favour.

The only way you can find out anything about EVs in Johto is from a NPC in Blackthorn City who gives your Pokemon the Effort Ribbon if they have reached their total of 510, and the only practical way for a player without the technical knowledge to have achieved this is to have spent time throughout the game doing lots of little bits of training - in other words, putting in the effort - to have incidentally capped their Pokemon's EV total. It's only fitting that you find this NPC towards the end of the Johto campaign because it's likely that by this point a couple of your team members will be eligible for the ribbon.

This finally ties back to the point of core theming. EVs are an invisible stat giving your Pokemon an extra edge over their in-game opponents, or, at worst, one closing a gap in strength between them, as a result of all of the time you've spent raising those Pokemon throughout the game. In other words, EVs are essentially the statistical representation of the "dedication, love, and trust" you have for your Pokemon which gets you through seemingly difficult challenges. Levels, then, are only a surface representation of your Pokemon's strength: they create the feeling of an uphill battle, but you can win against the odds by believing in yourself and your partners. It's probably exactly what you thought as the naive and uncynical child playing through a Pokemon game for the first time, and probably one of the ways you made such fond memories of it. In hindsight, this is definitely how it was for me. It is a sort of magic, really.

There is still a big Red elephant in the room, and I do think that the level gap between the end of the Kanto Gyms and Red is maybe too hard to go and beat immediately after even with the power of EVs and such, but Red is by all means a superboss and final challenge of the Johto games, and I don't think it's unreasonable to have to grind for a while to build up for and to finally be able to take his team of Lv 80s on. The same can be said about the Elite Four Rematches in this game and others, Steven in Emerald, or that one Barry fight in Platinum if you do decide to beat the E4 rematches 20 times to make his levels nearly match Red's. If you're setting out to fight a superboss like this, the grind is part of the prerequesites. It's definitely still possible to beat someone like Red with a 10 or even 20 level deficit if you play well, though. I admit, I haven't beaten Red in a long time, but I have beaten Emerald Steven with a ~15 level gap before. Tama Hero also said she has beaten Red with a team of level 50s in Crystal in the review.

I said before that the other games in the series haven't replicated this sort of thing as well. Gen 5 was the beginning of a marked shift away from this design, with its overarching story-driven style and a change to exp gain which would honestly be incompatible with the level curve in Johto. Gen 6, whilst returning to the exp system without level deficit multipliers, saw different means of statistical representations of the 'dedication, love and trust' trio in Pokemon Amie, which can break the game almost as much as the Exp Share when enough Affection is built up. Gen 7 brings back Gen 5's exp system whilst retaining the Exp Share and Affection systems, and actually ends up even diverging from the EV design which went before by having in-game trainers and Totem Pokemon with competitive, min-maxed EV spreads from as early as the Trainer's School. Whilst I am yet to play Let's Go and Sword and Shield, their Exp system with a 'permanent Exp Share' of sorts makes it a huge amount different and from what I've seen and heard, overlevelling is quite easy despite the game being designed around the feature. I really hope that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl at least return to Gen 6's exp mechanics, or better, reunite us with the held-item version of the Exp Share which doesn't make me feel like I'm cheating whenever I use it.

Before I go too off-topic, though, I should probably return to the original thread of this post to make some concluding remarks. What can't be denied that the way GSC and HGSS are designed may not be for everyone. I know for sure that a lot of people prefer to be able to breeze through a Pokemon game at a brisk pace without many roadblocks, but as someone who in recent years has come to appreciate much slower-paced and immersive singleplayer Pokemon playthroughs, I can't help but love the way GSC and HGSS are designed in the way I've explained, or appreciate their unique identity amongst the rest of the series. Coming to think about this has also shed light on why I adored HeartGold as much as I did when I first played it way back 11 years ago. I poured hours and hours into the game, and as a result, its magical design put me under its spell.

_____________________________________________________________

Though I linked to the references I did use when they appeared, here they are again. Do check them out if they're of interest to you!

Tama Hero's GSC review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgtMVKP2T6Y

speedrun.com trainer data for HGSS: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnhgss/guide/k2zij

speedrun.com trainer data for SuMo: https://www.speedrun.com/pkmnsunmoon/guide/d2683

Tama Hero (YT) is one of the few people I know who actually makes longer-form Pokemon analysis content besides Aleczandxr (also YT), who whilst not being a 'PokeTuber' has made some brilliant analyses of storytelling through setting in Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto, and just recently, Unova. I did not refer to them here but I can highly recommend their content, at least.

Thank you very much for reading to the very bottom here. This is my first time writing something like this and I appreciate it.

#voltimer longpost #pokemon #gsc #gen 2 #gold and silver #crystal #gen 4 #heartgold and soulsilver #analysis #hgss

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sage-nebula · 3 years

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So, the good news: Ghetsis was not redeemed, he isn’t going to have a relationship with N moving forward, and although N was shown to wish things could be different between them, ultimately the whole situation was treated with the seriousness and gravitas that it deserved and N never once forgot the abuse that Ghetsis put him through, nor was he at any point willing to just brush it aside. In that regard, I’m very glad for how Masters handled the situation.

With that said, though, the writing in Masters made me realize something else about how child abuse stories are handled in Pokémon, and that something else is . . . not good. Namely, I’ve realized there is a significant difference between how child abuse stories in Pokémon are handled depending on whether the abusive parent is blood related to the child or not.

First and foremost, let’s get this out of the way: There is a social stigma in Japan against adoption. This isn’t to say that children never get adopted, but that culturally adoption is looked down upon in comparison to having biological children, and as a result there are only a few hundred adoptions each year in comparison to the thousands of kids living in orphanages. (Although this isn’t purely stigma, since in Japan the biological parents can still retain legal guardianship over their children in the orphanages and can therefore prevent them from being adopted by families as well. They don’t do this maliciously, but instead might think, “I will be able to care for my child later” even if that never comes to pass.) Additionally, I’ve read before that the stigma is why adopted children often don’t refer to their adopted parents as “mother” or “father” but I can’t find that source now, so take that with a grain of salt.

Anyway, the point of me saying all of that is: Japan has a stigma against adoption and Pokémon is a video game series created by Japanese people. Therefore, it stands to reason that Japanese cultural beliefs (such as the importance of blood family over adopted family) can make its way into the series, even if the series itself is a worldwide phenomenon that they know will absolutely stretch beyond Japan’s borders . . . and I think that’s what has happened here, intentionally or otherwise. Basically, whether an abusive parent in Pokémon is redeemed or not seems to have very little to do with the severity of the abuse (including that which is shown to the audience), but instead everything to do with whether their children are biologically related to them or not.

First, let’s take a look at the abusive parent that was redeemed, Lusamine. In Sun & Moon specifically Lusamine is not once shown being anything but abusive to her children. Lillie tells a story of how Lusamine was kind to her a couple times in the past (dancing in the rain, co-sleeping when Lillie was sick), but that falls in line for abusive parents. Abusive parents generally aren’t abusive 24/7; there’s a well-known cycle of abuse which contains a “honeymoon period” stage in which, typically after an apology and a promise to do better, the abuser treats the victim kindly, which usually results in the victim believing that the abuser really does love them and that whatever abuse comes later (and it always does come later) is in fact the victim’s fault on some level, for failing to keep things stable. Regardless, we know that not only did Lusamine abuse both Gladion and Lillie terribly in the past (to the point where Lillie has trauma surrounding even the clothes she wears and has trouble getting new ones), but we also see her verbally and emotionally abuse them on-screen, and then we see her attempt to murder Lillie during the climax. While Lusamine was retooled into being a well-intentioned extremist in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, we again see her verbally abuse her children on-screen, to the point where when Hau says that Lusamine really isn’t a bad person after all, we see Gladion grimacing in the background. All told, we see Lusamine emotionally, verbally, and (with her attempted murder in SM) physically abuse her children on-screen, and yet she is still forgiven by them pretty much immediately, redeemed, and treated as if they’re a happy family with just a few unfortunate bumps in their history. I’ll note here, for anyone who isn’t already aware, that Lusamine is Gladion and Lillie’s biological mother, and this is obvious by how similar they all look even if you weren’t told repeatedly.

Now let’s look at the abusive parent that is not redeemed, Ghetsis. In the first set of Unova games, Black & White, most of Ghetsis’ abuse of N happens off-screen and isn’t revealed until the climax. Ghetsis had N raised in a castle underground where he was cut off from society. He was brought pokémon that had been abused so that he could be manipulated into thinking that all humans abused pokémon and that pokémon needed to be liberated therefore. Because Ghetsis needed N to act as King of Team Plasma and control the legendary dragon, Ghetsis didn’t directly abuse N during this time. Instead, he neglected him (N was primarily raised by his sisters, Concordia and Anthea), and psychologically abused him via manipulative lies about what the rest of the world was like. It isn’t until the climax when N has decided to disband Team Plasma and listen to what the player has to say that Ghetsis brings out the verbal abuse, calling N “a freak without a human heart” and revealing that he was only ever using N all along. In the sequel games, Ghetsis is similarly openly hostile to N again, showing that he has no intentions whatsoever of being a good father to him. He’s pretty terrible to him, even if we didn’t see very much of it (particularly in comparison to what we saw with the Aether family, whose abuse was also much more realistic than N’s situation), and pretty much no one would want him to be redeemed. But also it’s important to note that N and Ghetsis, despite having the same hair color, are for whatever reason NOT biologically related.

And this is hammered home time . . . and time . . . and time again, particularly in this Masters event.

Now, I think most of us would agree that it would be hard to find a woman who would want to procreate with Ghetsis. Granted, Ghetsis isn’t the type of person who would care about consent, but I do think it’s reasonable to assume that Game Freak probably wanted to avoid those thoughts, even though it could have been very easily solved by having a female Sage who was also Ghetsis’ baby mama / wife (similar to how Ariana, one of Giovanni’s executives, is very obviously Silver’s mother). So I mean, from a taste standpoint, I can see why they wanted to go the adoption route with Ghetsis, even though they still made him and N have green hair despite not being biologically related for some reason.

But.

I still think it’s noticeable that they have the irredeemable abusive parent be the one who both had the least amount of on-screen abuse (and also the least realistic abuse) and also be the adopted parent, versus the one they bent themselves into pretzel shapes to redeem be the one with the most on-screen abuse (and most realistic abuse) who also happened to be the biological parent. The message that sends, to me, is that it doesn’t matter how badly you abuse your children in this world so long as you are their biological parent. In the end, you will be forgiven and they are beholden to you as family. Versus if you’re an adoptive parent . . . well, you were never as important anyway, so. I mean, why else would Lillie leave her loving adoptive parents of Kukui and Burnet to go back to her abusive mother in Sun & Moon? Clearly the blood ties were just that much more important. (Granted, Kukui and Burnet hadn’t officially adopted her, but they as good as. I’ll never stop being infuriated by that ending.)

This is, to a lesser extent, even shown with Giovanni and Silver’s situation. Giovanni was, to our knowledge, never actually abusive toward Silver; in the one conversation we see them have in HeartGold & SoulSilver, Silver’s main issue is that he doesn’t understand why Giovanni is disbanding Team Rocket after losing to Red, and also he doesn’t get why Giovanni needs so many underlings to begin with. He thinks Giovanni is weak, and Giovanni just tells him that he’s wrong without really bothering to explain things. At most, Giovanni is aloof and distant with Silver, which makes Silver angry, but Silver’s bigger issue is with Team Rocket as a whole. Giovanni’s definitely not a good father, but he’s not an abusive parent on par with Lusamine or Ghetsis from what we’ve been shown, and the implication is there that they could potentially repair their relationship in the future. Even in this event, the tension between them wasn’t bad, just complicated.

But . . . they’re also biologically related. Silver is Giovanni’s son, we’ve been told this a million times, and it’s very obvious that Ariana is his mother. They’re biologically related. And so, even though Giovanni is routinely touted as one of Pokémon’s most fearsome villains, Silver will never actually cut him off completely / be able to do that because Giovanni is his biological father. The fact that Team Rocket is based on yakuza probably complicates things even further there, but all the same. If Silver had been adopted by Giovanni, I’m pretty positive that Giovanni wouldn’t care / Silver would cut him off entirely. It wouldn’t be seen as a “real” family.

And this all bothers me, because not only was my biological mother abusive, but my stepmother was the only one who treated me as a mother should treat her child. Similarly, my biological sister was complicit and even participated in the abuse I suffered as a child, but my stepbrother whom I’ve known practically my whole life is the sibling I’d ride or die with. To me, biological ties mean jack shit. Family doesn’t begin or end with blood; to treat non-blood relations as lesser is something that will never fail to raise my hackles. So to see it handled this way in one of my favorite franchises of all time . . . yeah, it’s more than a little upsetting. I understand why it’s happening, I’m fully aware of the cultural context that this series is being written in, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it, because I don’t.

And before anyone gets it twisted:

Both Lusamine and Ghetsis can rot in hell, NEITHER should have been redeemed. This is NOT me complaining about Ghetsis being treated as the piece of shit he is, but rather my anger at the fact that Lusamine got a pass because she birthed the children she abused, and Masters making that abundantly clear by having N and Ghetsis state in every single chapter of this event that they weren’t blood related.

But anyway, it’s nearly 4am, and I need sleep. I can continue being angry about Pokémon’s handling of abusive parents at a later date.

#pokemon #pokemon masters #pokemon critical

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vivithefolle · 4 years

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I'm a bit confused. You said in one post that you thoroughly dislike Hermione and that you had no respect for her at all. Yet ... you like Romione? idk, it seems contradictory tbh. I like when Romione shippers acknowledge her flaws and messed up moments but when someone that dislike and even hate her character that much ships Romione and I see them posting about them and calling them "cute" just seems weird

I’ll share with you my whole thought process so you can understand where I’m coming from:

Itty-bitty Vivi who read Harry Potter for the first time (at 13/14, so not so itty-bitty I guess, oops): Woaaah Hermione and Ron yaay!!! They're awesome I love them! They're my OTP always and forever!! Best thing to happen in Harry Potter!! JKR is a genius!

Slightly less itty-bitty Vivi discovering the Harry Potter fandom online (thankfully years after the ship wars, else I probably wouldn't have survived): Why is there so much hate towards Ron? And why are people so opposed to Romione?? It was meant to be since the first book! Or, okay, the second book is when I realized it was gonna happen, but still! Oh well, here is a fic where Hermione berates Ron for everything and he is the only one actually working for their relationship. Cool, more Romione!

Even less itty-bitty Vivi starting her own Tumblr and going around, adding her grain of salt to debates and talking about stuff: Yeah! Ron is great! He's done bad things of course but Hermione has done her fair share of bad things too! Actually, now that I'm rereading the books, I'm reminded of this person I used to call a friend, who was quite smart and cultured but would often be very harsh to me because they claimed it was “for your own good" and “because I'm more mature than you"… I still wanted to be around them, because they were just so smart and passionate, but we often rowed and eventually they really just went too far and tried to make ME out to be the bad guy and most people believed them because they had a reputation as someone cool and logical while I was known for being emotional… wait, what the fuck, that's… that's exactly what happens in the fandom with Ron and Hermione! What the fuck, was I Ron? Admired their intelligence, praised and supported them, fell in love even but was met with scorn and open disdain?!… no, no, come on. Hermione wasn't that bad.

Vivi rereading Half-Blood Prince (and no, this wasn't about the canaries, but about what Hermione was doing after): Oh my god she was that bad.

Vivi as she ponders alternately: Wait, what about JK Rowling? What does she think about all that? What was her intention, what did she want to accomplish with the characters? I know books belong to their readers but if I want as objective an analysis as possible I must try to understand her thought process while she wrote.

Vivi learning about a staple of British literature called “literary alchemy”: The quarreling couple!! Sulfur and Mercury, the Red King and the White Queen, who must marry for the story to end happily!! And their union is represented by… a rose!! Oh my god, that is brilliant, that is so cool! Romione was ALWAYS going to happen, I knew it! Ha!

Vivi discovering the “[Ron] needed to make himself worthy of Hermione” quote: Wha… but… what? Worthy? As if Hermione was some sort of precious trophy or whatever? What the hell? Wait, Ron had to make himself worthy of her but Hermione didn't have to make herself worthy of him? Is it because Ron is the boy or some shit like that??

Vivi going through JK Rowling's interviews and finding sexism and double-standards galore: Yep, it's because he's the boy. And that bit about Hermione being based off herself when she was younger… ouch. And to top it off the scriptwriter pretty much worshipped Hermione…

Vivi rereading the books again: Is it just me, or does Ron hardly ever get any praise or acknowledgement from the adult characters? Meanwhile Harry and Hermione get stuff like “as good as Charlie Weasley" or “brightest witch of her age"! And, damn, I used to side with Hermione because I love cats, but she was completely awful in POA! She apologized but then the plot made her out to be right even then?? And I always thought her Yule Ball entrance was kinda over-the-top, but damn if that's not compensating for something! Also what the hell, I get that Harry is suffering and all but will someone PLEASE pay attention to the fact that Ron is being bullied BY A FOURTH OF THE STUDENT BODY AND NOBODY SEEMS EVEN REMOTELY CONCERNED????? Also what the hell is wrong with the sixth book, I never liked it much but it's like it's trying to make every character look bad, wtf?? And, and, holy shit I never noticed but Ron was asking legit questions during the Horcrux Hunt debate but Harry kept deflecting or mocking him but it's still Ron who had to apologize in the end??? And I've read a whole post about how Hermione punching Ron is the appropriate reaction for a very small child and not a supposedly “mature" character, and that Harry had to SHIELD RON FROM HER, oh my god?? It's… oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with JK Rowling?

Vivi, in denial: Well, Harry Potter is decidedly not a romance. It's about love, but romantic love is quite far down the priority list when it comes to it. JKR has herself confessed that she wasn't too good at writing romance, and I don't blame her because writing romance is hard. But I did enjoy Romione! When I was little I saw it coming from a mile away, granted I was already savvy in literature but that must have been because she was doing something right! And then the sixth book happened… the sixth book which… which was released after the Harry Potter movies were being filmed, wasn't it?

Vivi looking up the timelines: Oh my god. Oh my god it's even worse, the movies were being discussed before Goblet of Fire came out. Come to think of it, I always found that the Trio felt… different, after Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry and Ron especially felt like they had gotten dumber? And Hermione was suddenly explaining everything when exposition used to be split between her and Ron…

Vivi, in mourning: So that's what happened. Ron ended up being shortchanged to make Hermione look better, because Rowling was fonder of Hermione than she was of Ron, and the scriptwriter too come to think of it. Curse you, Steve Kloves!!!

Vivi, who is nothing if not what Pokémon fans call a nostalgiafag: But… but… yeah, it sucks that Ron was shortchanged, and actually yeah it's a freaking travesty and I WILL freaking spread the world about this, mark my words, but, but I still… I can't help it, when Hermione “looked up at Ron and her frostiness seemed to melt" I melt too. When Ron compliments Hermione or tries to take care of her as much as he can I… it still does something to me, I still find myself rooting for them even if I know there's the awful sixth book and the stupid post-Locket beatdown. Their kiss, for God's sake, I've just realized that Ron may have swept Hermione off her feet physically, but it's Hermione who jumped him, you could say Hermione metaphorically swept Ron off his feet!! God damn it, that's good, that's so good!

Vivi, at war with herself: No, I can't let myself be blinded by nostalgia!! The facts are that Hermione shows borderline abusive - even actually abusive - behaviour, this can't be denied! I don't want to root for an abusive relationship! I don't want to root for a relationship that relies on my favourite character being dumbed down to work!!!

Vivi, about to uncover the secrets of the universe: … wait a second. I don't have to.

Vivi, having an epiphany: Reading Solstice Muse's Romione fanfics gives me such happiness because she just gets the characters! She doesn't portray Hermione as perfect and never fucking up, and she always treats what happens to Ron with respect… Well, especially since she can't play them off as a joke since she often makes Ron the POV character. But, yeah! I can still like Romione… if it's well-written. Which, well, isn't the case in the original books… at least, isn't the case anymore after Rowling's bias got the best of her. Even though they do have their great moments.

Vivi, finding purpose in her life: I am going to spread awareness. I am going to tell the world. Fuck, just rereading the books, I've noticed how blatant the favouritism is and how unbalanced it can be. No wonder the fandom seems to collectively scoff at Ron - the books themselves do whenever it's convenient for them! The fandom plays favourites, because the author herself played favourites, and the worst part is that she didn't even realize it! Imagine you spend your life getting into traumatic situations out of love for your friends who always receive compassion and validation for their feelings about said traumas, but YOUR trauma is hardly touched upon and in the rare case it is, it's only to be mocked or used against you… Fuck! You're a piece of work, JKR! And the fandom just swallows it whole like a bunch of lobotomized snakes! Screw it! Screw it, I'm going to say it like it is, and I'm going to say it LOUDLY! People are going to hear about what Ron goes through and we'll see if Harry and Hermione look like the only ones worthy of therapy then!!

Present day Vivi, as she scrolls through the (heavily filtered) Romione tag on AO3: Ugh, another Drarry… and another… and another… oh, a Hinny-centric fic for a change, cool but I'm looking for more Romione than that, sorry. Gah, why is it that Romione appears as a secondary ship everywhere but they can't get their own stories? I've just seen a Snupin come up for God's sake! Oh, finally, a full Romione!! *clicks* … … … awww that was so sweet. Kudos! Okay back to the search… oh, another one!! *clicks* … … … it's Ron-bashing. It's Ron-bashing and it's not tagged Ron-bashing and that's why it showed up in my search AND I'M GOING TO FREAKING RIOT-

#vivi answers #ask #romione #ron weasley #hermione granger #ron weasley defense squad #ron weasley defence squad #ron x hermione #harry potter series #anti jk rowling

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incorrect-rainbow-rocket-quotes · 4 years

Text

RR Meta #1: Lysandre’s Character + Motivation

So. Lysandre.

Call him what you wish, but it’s my personal belief that he’s one of the most in-depth Pokémon characters that often gets stereotyped by the fandom and reduced to “omnicidal maniac”, which, for someone like him, is a tragic loss of everything that drives him to be a great character.

True, while his twist as the big villain of the games was somewhat ruined by the whole… ‘openly talks about contemplating omnicide in public’ bit, as well as his traffic-cone aesthetic, but he’s actually (or was) one of the most humane and sympathetic villains the Pokémon series has produced, and his goals actually make more sense now then ever before.

So… what is Lysandre really like? What made him delve into the idea of using the Ultimate Weapon as a solution to solving the world’s problems?

(Putting this under a cut, because my love of analyzing and writing semi-essays has shown itself, and this got... perhaps unnecessarily long.)

Either Die a Hero...

The first thing I want to mention is that it’s implied in the games (and I believe in the anime, but I haven’t seen much of the XY / XYZ anime, so take that with a grain of salt) that Lysandre’s first plan was never omnicide. In fact, in the very beginning, it’s implied that he was a generous engineer and philanthropist that gave freely to those in need. His first priority was always the world’s improvement, and to quote him from his first meeting with you --

“I am Lysandre. I've tried to learn as much about Pokémon as I can to help build a brighter future. [...] Now listen! It is vital that this world become a better place. And the people and Pokémon chosen to make the world better must work tirelessly to achieve this goal. [...] My desire…it is for a more beautiful world!”

This doesn’t sound like a man who’s first thought for helping improve the world is to kill all people and Pokémon. Now, granted, Lysandre could simply be an unreliable narrator, per se, or simply be flat out lying from the moment you meet him, but given how blunt and straight-forward he is in the games and series, this doesn’t seem very likely. In fact, later on, when you progress through XY, he goes on to mention this concept of his ideals --

[When meeting Diantha in the café] “[...] She moves the multitudes with her excellent acting... Which is to say, she dedicates her life to making other people happy. Oh! If only everyone were like her -- what a beautiful world this would be!”

[Meeting him in his café] "[...] People can be divided into two groups. Those who give... And those who take... It's just as how the Kalos region's two Legendary Pokémon gave life and took life. [...] I want to be the kind of person who gives… [...]”

Lysandre does value the world, as well as those who’re passionate in what they do (think of how many times he comments on the ‘fire’ your character has), as well as those who give what they have and return it to make others happy. That’s the beauty he’s always talking about -- “a world without conflict or theft”, where people give freely and there’s no need to fight. He’s always striving for improvement, and just by speaking to him for a few minutes, we can clearly see he’s intense and generous, and yet completely driven in what he believes in.

It sort of makes sense, then, that he would value someone like Sycamore, who’s loving and yet down to earth, especially since -- in his own words -- he “taught him so much.” (And, while this isn’t the time or place for such a thing, this very dynamic between the two is, I believe, one of the biggest factors in why people ship them together.)

Speaking of the professor, however, he even makes a point in Lysandre’s café about how Lysandre supports Trainers and Pokémon with his profits from the Holo-Caster, calling him a great man. Now, that could just be Sycamore being Sycamore, with his rose-colored glasses on, but a few other NPCs mentioned Lysandre being a philanthropist / great inventor, and, generally, not the kind of person who would try to kill off others.

So, from what we can tell, Lysandre is a profiting business man, oriented on improving the world and appreciating those who do the same.

So… how did the whole ‘plan for omnicide’ thing start?

... Or Live Long Enough to be the Villain

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is from your first confrontation with him in the labs beneath his café.

“ [...] I tried to save people -- and the world -- with the profit from this lab. But my efforts had no effect... The world was just too vast...and too full of fools that I couldn't save through my hard work alone… That's why I decided the only way to save the world was to take it all for myself. [...]“

At first, it makes sense -- one man (and his evidently wealthy electronic company) can only do so much. However, it doesn’t quite hold out, the more you think about it; what could possibly drive a man like Lysandre, who, from what we’ve seen thus far, is always giving to others, to self-declared selfishness?

One thing a lot of people tend to gloss over when it comes to knowing Lys as a character is his writings on his desk when you go through Lysandre Labs, in the same room you read about the legend of AZ and the war on Kalos, and the development of the ultimate weapon.

“When I was young, I went on a journey around Kalos with my Pokémon. I reached out to help those suffering because they had nothing. At first, they were grateful, but eventually, they began to take my help for granted and demand more and more… Will fools like those people consume the Kalos region? This world is stable and secure. So the population of people and Pokémon continues to increase unabated. But there is a limit to the amount of money and energy the world is capable of producing. Either everything is lost, or only a handful are saved. This is something best not left to man… I must use a tool of higher power.”

This. This is the point Lysandre had been driving at all throughout the game -- with all his talk about people foolishly taking more than they can, and others being without resources. His entire goal has been attempting to stop the shrinking amount of resources the world has, as well as attempting to preserve the few resources we have left. However, when he realized that this isn’t something he could do alone, he turned to something higher -- the ultimate weapon AZ used and repurposed it for his own needs.

While his plan does seem outrageous (and it truly is), his reasons for doing so have become ALARMINGLY relatable within our present -- just look at the coronavirus pandemic that’s surrounding us right now. There’s been so much news about people hoarding necessary resources, then selling it back at an absurdly high price, while those who’re struggling are left behind without necessities. This is exactly the sort of thing he was trying to stop.

In fact, while explaining this concept of saving the future from further conflicts and thefts, one of the first things he points out to you is the Mega Ring -- the tool that has proved invaluable to you on your journey… and how you were the only one of your group of friends who could use it.

"So, tell me. The Mega Ring, did you share it? [...] When there is only one of something, it can't be shared. When something can't be shared, it will be fought over. And when something is fought over, some must survive without it. The only way to create a world where people live in beauty, a world without conflict or theft, is to reduce the number of living things."

While logically, such a concept is basic addition and subtraction, it’s a whole different practice to put it in motion. Lysandre GETS that. While he doesn’t seem to have any problems with killing humans necessarily, it’s certainly implied that he would have had numerous regrets should the weapon be fired. In fact, the one meme he’s often quoted for isn’t only one of these regrets, but also one of the most crucial introspection into his ideals and thought process.

"Pokémon... Shall no longer exist. Pokémon are wonderful beings. Humans have worked with Pokémon, and we have helped each other flourish. But precisely because of that, they will inevitably become tools for war and theft!"

This. This is a man who loves the world, who openly cries at the thought of killing Pokémon, even loves some of the people in it, but given humanity’s inclination for selfishness, in a bit of reverse logic, he’s willing to destroy the world in order to preserve it. His own ideas and almost one-way line of thinking almost drives him into a corner when he contemplates the supposed future.

[After Shauna suggests sharing, regardless of the resource] "If that were possible, all wars would have ended long ago! I can only see one future! One where selfish, foolish humans think about nothing other than themselves and steal more and more from one another... It's a tragic future!"

However, it’s also because of this way of thinking that allows you to be able to stop him at all; he makes no outward attempts to stop you from turning the weapon off, only explaining that you’ll need to battle other trainers to get there (and basically giving you the tip off that one of his scientists has the Key Card to move forward). He also gives you the option of activating the weapon, or shutting it down completely (although the actual answer is left vague) with the infamous button-press choice. Heck, he even APOLOGIZES if you picked correctly and the weapon activated regardless.

“[...] <player>! I apologize that the weapon was unearthed even after you chose correctly in the lab. But conflicting egos drive this world--things don't always go the way you want!"

Heck, even in Rainbow Rocket in USUM, he carries this idea of the weapon being a last resort or a trump card. After you defeat him, he briefly considers how things might have fared if he were stopped in his dimension… and then we get this statement.

“[...] No! Nothing can change me now! If there is a path to creating a beautiful world, then that is the path I must take! Even if it means I can only save a handful of the old world!"

This one statement manages to summarize exactly what ALL of XY was trying to show. If there’s a way to preserve the world and its beauty, he’s going to do whatever it takes to do so, even if he knows that it’ll be a Pyrrhic victory if he succeeds.

Tl;dr: Lysandre was a passionate, inventive, and bold man who was, in his own mind, pushed to extremities because of humanity’s natural greed over resources. Omnicide was never Lysandre’s first choice -- it was his last option, because he felt that he had exhausted his other methods, and he concluded that, if it was the only way to make a better future, no matter how bad the method, he had to do it.

#Pokemon #Flare Leader Lysandre #Lysandre #GIF #Meta #ModPost #(Heyyyy it's almost 3 AM and I'm having feelings about my favorite villain)#(I love this lion man because he's such a sympathetic character)#(Not in a 'UwU poor babu' kinda way)#(But more in that you can clearly see where he's coming from and what he's doing -)#(- but that in no way justifies his current actions)#(He IS a villain don't let this meta get that wrong)#(But he's such a well written one I can't help but like him)#(Of course this is all completely my opinion)#(So take everything with a grain of salt)#(... Maybe more then a grain because it's late and I didn't fully proofread this)

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unibrowzz · 4 years

Text

My 2020 reviews

All the cool kids were doing these so now I finally dragged my ass into doing them too lmao.

Albania- Fall from the Sky

A song I swear cursed this whole contest from the moment it won Festivali i Këngës. Like with the shitshow this song caused I just knew the whole year was fucked. With half the fandom whining they didn’t get their first club song of the year to the other half smugly shoving it as their winner despite no other songs being around to compare it to, the whole fiasco just left me knowing that 2020 would end in tears, just hopefully not my own. As for the song, it’s lame. It’s a standard ballad with OBSCENE amounts of autotune, which is weird because the girl can actually sing pretty decently without it, so why they decided to make her sound like a damn computer is beyond me. And WHY did they translate it, haven't the past few years proven that Albania's better off leaving their songs in Albanian?

Armenia- Chains on You

A bootleg Ariana Grande song, and a really shit one at that. The kind of song only people who think being young, gay and mean counts as having a personality would say is good.

Australia- Don’t Break Me

One of the few decent Australian entries (but that REALLY isn’t saying much coming from me, I barely care they’re in the contest by this point) but marred by a horribly untidy performance and lacklustre lyrics. At least it’s not fucking pop-opera, that’s all I can say. I’d rather listen to the sound of my face being dragged down the runway at Heathrow airport than be subjected to another Zero Gravity.

Austria- Alive

One of those pseudo-jazz dance songs, á la Olly Murs or Bruno Mars (I swear there’s a song like this in every recent contest). I mean, it’s good, but it’s just kinda meh since I’m kinda getting tired of this genre rearing its fedora-wearing head every time a new lineup rolls in.

Azerbaijan- Cleopatra

One of the “better” trashy entries this year, comprised of about five different musical genres, six ancient cultures being appropriated and absolutely zero class. Probably sounds at least 50% better when you’re absolutely steaming drunk and face down on the floor in the middle of a gay bar.

Belarus- Da Vidna

Somehow, this song sounds both very unique and original yet trite and average at the same time. I couldn’t decide whether listening to it was a new experience or if I’d heard it a million times before.

Belgium- Release Me

A song which just drones on till it ends. I would say it’s ripping off the song that won last year, but it forgot that having a chorus stops your song from being three minutes of snooze.

Bulgaria- Tears Getting Sober

A typical breathy mumble-girl song, AKA a genre I can’t fucking stand. Really don’t see the hype with this one, the melody is pretty but the vocals are out for lunch and it’s otherwise completely and utterly boring.

Croatia- Divlji Vjetre

One of the token big dramatic ballads you listen to once, enjoy, then forget about until Darius in the Discord server plays it one night whilst you’re hitting up the radio bot with requests. You’ll find that “nice, but forgettable” is a common theme for this year.

Cyprus- Running

Ironically Cyprus didn’t send a crappy Fuego knockoff for 2020, and I say ironically because a crappy Fuego knockoff would’ve actually stood out this year, and I say crappy because honestly Fuego wasn’t even all that great to begin with. "Running” itself is just one of those edgy tortured soul pop songs which, let’s be honest, would have been paired with an impressive performance which would’ve overshadowed how bland it is. Kind of like “You’re the Only One”. Or even Fuego for that matter.

Czech Republic- Kemama

Standard Afro-pop, a genre we don't often see at the contest so I'll let it pass. I feel like this is the kind of song that’s infinitely better live, and that it would’ve been one of those songs that suddenly became a frontrunner after the semi finals, but I guess we’ll never know eh?

Denmark- Yes

The quintessential mid-10s Eurovision song. It's got guitars, happy people, Scandinavian origins… it’s just a typical radio guitar song, nothing special.

Estonia- What Love Is

I mean it's better than La Forza. Granted, the sound of someone pissing directly onto a microphone installed in the bowl of a toilet would sound better than La Forza but still. Going back to this song, it’s just... a standard Eastern-ballad with some very desperate lyrics. It feels kind of outdated, if I’m honest. Like something about this just reeks of 2011.

Finland- Looking Back

Yet another dreary, forgettable ballad. It comes to something when the best song they COULD have sent was a party song which sounded like it was from the mid 90s. At least that song was memorable. That said, this one at least has some decent lyrics. Bravo for that I guess.

France- Mon Alliée

France decides to say “fuck it” to being an underground fan-favourite and takes a leaf out of the UKs book by sending the same rent-a-Swede schlock they’ve been sending since 2015. I’m just confused as to why anyone in their right mind would choose to follow the UKs example but you do you France.

Germany- Violent Thing

A rehash of Sweden's entry from two years ago, but this time sung by Justin Bieber circa 2008. Kind of alright if you can stomach the singer's whiny voice, but otherwise pretty dull and kinda forgettable.

Greece- Superg!rl

Hello fellow kidz, we are hearing you like the girl power? The super heroes? The t3xt $p3ech? We made you song, please give us the votes *dabs*

Georgia- Take me as I Am

I mean… this sure is a choice. This feels like one of those songs that everyone memes on because the lyrics are kinda janky and the singer’s voice (and accent) take a bit of getting used to, but other than that it’s just one of those NQ songs for hipster fans to declare as their unironic winner at a later date. All in all this just feels like the male equivalent of one of those mid-10s fat acceptance women’s songs, only a lot shoutier and this time he has more flaws than not being skinny.

Iceland- Think About Things

A bootleg George Ezra song, performed by a load of disinterested tumblr users in their pyjamas. Because if there’s one thing that sells me on a song, it’s being given the evils by a bunch of nerds who look like they’ll send me death threats for not agreeing with their Pokémon headcanons. To be fair, the song is kind of groovy since it sounds so 70s, but the performance is very off-putting to people who aren’t in the Eurovision loop. And also people who are, because I sure as Hell don’t see the appeal in this myself and this whole performance just feels like Save Your Kisses for Me without the charm. I feel like this would’ve come second or third, definitely with a lot of televotes but either the jury would’ve dragged it down or it wouldn’t have scored enough televotes to win.

Ireland- Story of my Life

A song that’s at LEAST ten years out of date by this point, think like an early Katy Perry, Jessie J or Avril Lavigne song. I’ll forgive it because even though it sounds like it should’ve been entered in 2013 (at the latest), it at least evokes some nostalgic memories of shitty school discos and holiday parks.

Israel- Feker Libi

The female equivalent of the Czech song. Unsurprisingly, people went wild for it when it was released. I guess only women are allowed to sing Afro-pop at this contest. Like with the Czech song, I’ll forgive it since Afro-pop is a cool genre anyway, and even though this is just another club song I can at least see myself dancing to it.

Italy- Fai Rumore

Well, at least my wish of “Italy sends a typical power ballad devoid of anything the mainstream fandom likes” finally came true. It was pretty refreshing to have a year where people weren’t shoving Italy’s entry up my nose left right and centre. In terms of my actual thoughts I can’t deny that the guy has a tremendous voice, but for some reason the song just doesn’t… click with me. I guess I like my male Italian singers a little more gruff and raspy, if you know what I mean. They gotta sound like they smoke at LEAST five packets of cigarettes a day for me to take notice.

Malta- All of my Love

Listen I am 100% rooting for Destiny Chukunyere to win this contest some day but man was this song a disappointment. It feels so… un-special and generic, like it gets the job done and that’s it. It’s not the stand-up-and-belt-it-out soul anthem I’d hoped for, it’s just… there.

Moldova- Prison

All I remember about this song is that it vaguely reminds me of that one Meccano song about the gypsy who makes a deal with the moon or something. And I’ve TRIED to remember more about what it sounds like, trust me.

Latvia- Still Breathing

The one horrible weird song you get every year which overuses strobe effects to the point it comes with an epilepsy warning. Would be bearable if it wasn't for the singer’s insistence that this is actually some feminist masterpiece when it's really just a self-empowerment club song about the singer fingerbanging herself over the fact she writes music.

Lithuania- On Fire

One of the songs everyone thought was going to win at one point, even though it seems like a surefire non-qualifier to me. It’s one of those weird entries, but not the kind of over the top, batshit insane, you’d-have-to-be-drunk-to-enjoy-it weird, the kind of subdued surreal weird. Like this is weed instead of LSD or cocaine weird. Granted my mom, who I consider to be a "typical" Eurofan, actually really liked this song when she saw it in the recaps, so who knows maybe this would have done well with televoters after all.

Netherlands- Grow

I appreciate this song for how artsy and clever it is with its structure, since it starts off acapella and the instrumental builds up with the song until it stops suddenly, symbolising a person’s growth from a child into an adult, and ending suddenly with their death (Geddit? The song’s called “Grow”). But it feels like the kind of song that would be lost on a Eurovision audience. The juries would have taken note, for sure, but the televote… let’s be honest, they’d have been too busy drunk voting for Russia to care about anything else.

North Macedonia- You

Well, it's better than the miserable dirge they sent last year, but given how I'd rather pleasure myself with a steak knife than listen to that song, that really isn't saying much. Going back to “You”, it really just feels like a diet version of Switzerland’s entry from last year, combined with Sweden’s song from 2018. What I’m saying is it’s your average “I’m a man in a club and I want to dance with and probably fuck this hot girl I just met” song, which I a new genre I just made up. You’re welcome.

Norway- Attention

One of those songs you appreciate because it sounds nice and the singer has a good voice, but instantly forget because it’s really not all that interesting. If I sound like I'm repeating myself, welcome to Eurovision 2020.

Poland- Empires

“Rise Like a Phoenix” but sung by a wannabe Adele and not a mascara-wearing Jesus in a dress. Like a lot of other songs on this list, it’s just average across the board, likeable when it’s on, but instantly forgettable as soon as the next song comes on.

Portugal: Medo de Sentir

Pretty, but also similar to their ill-fated 2018 entry, only with a bit more energy and less pink hair. What I’m saying is this would have been another NQ unless the crowd who enjoy subtle ambience music come in to save it like they did with Slovenia's entry last year.

Romania- Alcohol You

See Bulgaria, because this is practically the same song. It’s just as dreary, just as badly sung (if not worse because holy shit this girl sounds like she’s being suffocated), and I suppose you COULD excuse that by saying she’s drunk or hungover… but I don’t want to listen to someone ungracefully mumble into a microphone for three minutes.

Russia- Uno

A classic big camp party song, the kind of song people who haven’t watched Eurovision since 2003 think wins on the regular. I can see why people would like it (especially in this boring year lmao, I applaud Russia for taking the opportunity to loosen their corset and just send a complete mess instead of their usual clinical vote grabs), but it’s just not something I enjoy. It's the song that plays into the misconception that Eurovision is just a clown show for drunk people, like this is just here to be that one flash-in-the-pan meme song that only entertains people who don’t really care about Eurovision until the day before it airs. Kind of like the old ladies they sent in 2012 (remember them?).

San Marino- Freaky!

San Marino, in true Sammarinese fashion, have yet again sent a decade-ambiguous song which sounds like it was either released in 1978 or 2003. I feel like this would have been one of those songs which could have surprised us if it had a really wacky, creative performance (think like Moldova in 2018), but this is San Marino so you know that would never happen.

Serbia- Hasta la Vista

Insert unoriginal joke about a decade wanting their shitty trend back right here. Okay maybe that’s a bit harsh, especially considering how this song is actually, yanno, unique in comparison to the rest of this year. But it still feels weirdly dated, in a way where I can’t decide whether it sounds like it belongs in 1998 or 2018. I suppose girl power ages a song regardless of when it was released.

Slovenia- Voda

Yet another standard Balkan-European power ballad which you appreciate because it’s well sung, but forget the moment it ends because it’s kinda boring. … Does anyone else have a bit of deja vu?

Spain- Universo

For some reason I feel like this song is shilling itself out to someone but I have no idea who. Aside from the horny people voting solely because the singer is moderately attractive even with that wretched Jedward haircut.

Sweden- Move

Imagine soul but… boring.

Switzerland- Répondez Moi

Imagine Arcade but… in French.

United Kingdom- My last Breath

Not the best the UK could have done, but it’s at least a modern offering unlike the residual dregs of the mid-90s that we sent throughout the 2010s. It’s definitely a bit too generic to have done any better than maybe 15th, but hey at least the cancellation means we won’t have to see it not do as well as the BBC thinks it’s entitled to do, prompting a billion clickbait articles about how Brexit somehow affected our performance.

Ukraine- Solovey

At long last we come to something you probably weren't expecting: a song I actually really like. Which is weird because I usually don't care for or don't like whatever Ukraine vomits into the contest, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a song I liked from them in such a weak year. This song isn’t for everyone, it’s white noise singing which is a very acquired taste, but this is honestly the only 2020 song I find myself coming back to over and over. And it’s in Ukrainian too, so you don’t have to put up with their usual mangled English offerings.

#and that conclude's the mods thoughts lmao #eurovision #if this is good i might do this with other years let me know what you think #mod speaks #mod reviews

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musical-icarus · 4 years

Text

I’ve started writing a fun little story where our favorite angel Pit gets to go on a Pokémon journey, though not exactly in the typical fashion. I’d like to share part 1 with people, so may I introduce:

Need a Vacation?

By the gods, why has everything been so boring lately? No that’s a bad question, I know why. I’m probably not going to have a new game if at all for another twenty five years or so, meaning that I don’t think there’s any new adventures for me in the near future, and I’m just not a good fighter compared to the other characters in Smash Bros so I don’t get much attention.

By no means am I offended, it’s an honor to take part in such an event and even have a game within the past twenty years, I just wish there was something to do.

At least Min Min has opened up a noodle shop, and that’s where I’m heading later. Her ramen is some of the best I’ve ever tasted! But that’s after I’ve finished cleaning up all the items that were used today. An angel has to keep busy somehow.

While carrying the pokéballs back to the storage bin, one of master balls slips loose of my grip and begins to roll away. However it must have landed on the button or something because it was open when I picked it up and there was a tiny star shaped Pokémon floating above it. If I remember correctly that one is called Jirachi and is the wish granting Pokémon.

In an instant temptation strikes me, I could ask Jirachi if it can make it so my wings work properly so I could fly on my own. Then again wish granters are often the trickster type so I would need to think about this one more carefully. Perhaps I can come back another time after I’ve talked to Lady Palutena about it.

“I think what you need is a vacation.” A cheery voice resounds in my head, reminding me of whenever the gods would speak to my during my quests. After taking a quick look around to confirm no one else was around, I gaze back at Jirachi who was smiling me as I remember it’s one of those psychic types like Mewtwo.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, nearly forgetting about the rest of the pokéballs in my arms as I pick up the purple one belonging to the star Pokémon.

“I mean, you need to take a break, take your mind off of things however that may be. Whether it’s relaxing or getting to go on a fun adventure and I can help with that!” Jirachi floats up to my eye level after pushing down the master ball in my hand. It would be rude to return it during our conversation.

“Well, I could probably do that anyways...” I mumble, tapping my foot rapidly, extremely tempted to ask about my wings, but I’m too curious about what this mythical creature is trying to offer.

“But you’re waiting on someone to need you again?” Jirachi predicts what I was going to say in a softer tone, and they’re right. An angel’s work is never done. “And to make it more appealing, I can make it so you can fly on your own, though only temporarily.”

Now it has my interest. “What were you planning on doing?”

“Turn you into a Pokémon-“

“WHAT?!” I shout, not letting it finish. “B-but Lady Palutena! And Pittoo! I can’t just leaving them forever because I’m selfish and wanted a break!”

“Now hold on, you didn’t let me finish. I can only change you for about a year so that’s how I would have your vacation be. Anyways, I turn you into a Pokémon, teleport you to my world, you can stay there, do whatever you want, request to come back if you don’t like it, and you’ll come back as normal if something important happens.” Jirachi calmly explains, and I’m actually starting to like the idea. I’ve seen how Pikachu and Pichu are always running around so carefree, maybe being a Pokémon wouldn’t be so bad. As long as I have wings and can fly.

“Which Pokémon were you thinking you’d turn me into? Or should I pick?” I asked, not wanting to get stuck as a land Pokémon.

“I have the perfect one in mind, but I’m going to leave it as a surprise. What I will tell you is that it has fluffy wings like yours and you’ll be able to evolve since I’ve heard it’s a very satisfying experience.” The wishing Pokémon grins pulling one of the blue tags from its star shaped head and hands it to me. “Here, I think you know what to do.”

Turning and twisting the tiny strip of fabric nervously in my hand, I take one last look at Jirachi before making a wish that would hopefully be a good decision in the end.

“I wish to take to take a break on Jirachi’s terms.” I whisper with my eyes closed, though shortly after I can sense a light on the other side of darkness.

“Trust me, you’re going to enjoy this.” Jirachi whispers back in my head as suddenly my entire body goes numb, causing the tag to slip from fingers, and for me to remember-

“I need to tell Lady Palu... Lady... Palu...” Before I can finish my thought, I lose my balance and tumble down into a sitting position. My head just feels so fuzzy and the rest of my body is uncomfortable. I thought Jirachi said this was supposed to relaxing!

“I promise, your goddess will get word of where you went and that her angel is safe.” Jirachi reassures me, lifting up my chin up to greet me with their smile as the inside of my mouth grows on increasingly more tight. I make an attempt to feel my cheeks, but my arms feel too heavy so I can’t even lift them. My panic only grows as whatever was swelling up inside of my mouth begins to push out past my lips. I can’t see much but it looks white and round, and... and... oh gods I think it’s a beak! I can’t figure out where my teeth are and my nose, it’s disappearing! None of this feels right at all. Alright Pit, you need to look on the bright side, you did agree to this after all. A beak means you’re becoming a bird... right? And that means you’ll be able to fly, just like Jirachi said.

Once my mouth and nose had fully merged with the large, round yet squished mass stuck on my face, the entirety of my skin begins to tingle, causing goosebumps to shoot up on my limbs, and the remaining normal parts of my face became too itchy to bare. The only problem was that my arms still had no feeling in them, preventing me from scratching at my head. However when I glanced down to see what was wrong, I wanted to scream but all that left my beak were high pitched whistles. What I had noticed first was that the cuffs on my wrist were a lot further up than they should have been, but a terrifying truth clicked as I watched them come even closer to my head. My arms were shrinking into my body! My hands had already disappeared while I was distracted by my face, leaving nothing but a bit of my palms for now.

“Swa! Swa!” I try to call out to Lady Palutena, but my voice had already been replaced, and that fact really scares me. I should have seen this coming, though for some reason I still didn’t expect not being able to talk to anyone, which only made my desire to be with my goddess burn even brighter. I need her right now, but not to help me, I just need her to hold me, and care for me like I’m her own child. That’s it! I feel like I’m a little kid again, I’m surprised I even remember what it felt like given how it’s been nearly three thousand years.

I barely notice Jirachi leaving me while my bronze cuffs fall and clatter on the ground beside me. Before I get the chance to look around for the star Pokémon the itchiness in my face becomes far to overwhelming that I’m tempted to throw myself on the ground just to scratch it, though without arms getting back up might be an issue so I decide against it. While rubbing my cheek against what’s remaining of my shoulders, I catch a glimpse of red and yellow near my temple.

‘Perfect!’ I think to myself, deciding to put my new beak to good use and using it to move my scarf out of the way so I might be able to get some relief with my ruby and gold broach. I’m able to get some relief using the pin until I realize that my reflection in the polished jewel is becoming even more off with patches of purple spotting up everywhere I managed to scratch and it was slowly spreading. While I’m trying to figure out what bird has a purple face with a strange white and round beak with my limited knowledge of Pokémon, I hear the gold band that’s normally on my upper are clang to the ground, and what’s left of my shoulders are uncomfortably tight.

Thankfully as my broach falls away with the complete loss of my arms, my face doesn’t itch nearly as much, and especially where the stuff is forming. Actually, even when thinking properly becomes increasingly harder, the stuff feels like feathers, and that makes a lot of sense, given the situation.

For a brief moment my scalp began to itch like my face, which probably meant feathers were going to grow there, but instead I can feel most of my hair receding with few bits of remaining bare skin. However, I never feel new feathers taking its place. But before I can use one of my wings to investigate, a sharp snap by my shoulder blades shoots through the numbness of my body.

“BLUUUUU!!!” I cry out as I fall onto my back shortly after wings migrate their base to where my shoulders were, all while my neck begins to feel really bloated. Through the pain I hadn’t even noticed how my tunic and tank top weren’t moved much by my maneuvered limbs. As I try to and unsuccessfully get up by flailing my useless wings and legs, I find I can’t move my head independently and my whole body moves when I try to look around to watch the rest of the changes.

“Oh Pit, are you alright?” A sweet and gentle voice, that I would recognize from anywhere, asks alongside the sound of graceful footsteps. Through the discomfort, my heart warms, and if I could still smile I would.

“I saw how stressed you were, and decided bring Palutena here so she could help you through the last phase and you’d get to say goodbye.” Jirachi, who as also returned, informs me, though I don’t really pay any attention to them.

“Swa Swablu!” Mama Palutena! I chirp cheerfully as I’m lifted away from the ground, leaving my sandals and the gold band from my thigh behind. I had been so distracted I never realized how small the rest of me had become. Overall, I am able to fit perfectly into an arm of my beautiful green haired goddess, I can’t bend my legs anymore, and though it’s hard to see with how far down my head has been compressed into my upper body, my wings are just behind where my ears would have been on this compact form, and the feathers on them, they seem puffier. My toga is more like a large blanket wrapped around me, and my tank top and shorts are barely hanging onto me. And-hold on. I said “Mama” Palutena? Or at least meant to say it? I mean... I guess she is my only mother figure, but I’ve only ever addressed her formally...

Before I can dwell on the thought any longer mama Palutena removes my tops and gives me a light scratch on back/back of head, I can’t really tell anymore... I called her “mama” again! Wait, but she is my mom, she made me, it only feels right, and- ooh just a little more up- right there! That’s the spot!

Now content in mama’s arm with a very nice petting, I watch as my already small feet continue to shrink while just remaining within view of my sight. A distressed coo escapes me as my toes click and merge into each other, leaving two tiny claws on each foot while the rest of the foot thins into a point that are coated in pale blue scales before disappearing from my vision. Just as my ankles were about to sink into my tiny body, my tummy began to feel real ticklish as it bulged out a bit, moving my face to face forward and my little feet to sit underneath me. I’m overcome with a burning desire to hug mama, but without arms I needed to use the next best thing.

I keep my eyes closed and do my best to wrap my wings around mama while I can feel my eyes shrink in size, shift a bit closer to my beak, and little pinches like my feathers that have fully engulfed all of my skin, allowing me to comfortably kick off my shorts. For a moment I think I’m done, but to put the icing on one very delicious cake my wings tingled as the feathers puffed up, and they only got fluffier and fluffier, just like clouds. Underneath the pure fluff that was my new wings, my muscles and almost all other mass under my cloud feathers seemed to fade.

“Feeling better?” Mama asks, giving me a light scratch under my beak.

“Swa~a~a....” I whistle blissfully, curling up my wings against the sides of my body. Why was I so scared before? Mama is here and she’s giving me all the love I need.

“I have to say, you make an adorable little bird. I hope you enjoy yourself on your vacation.” Mama smiles down on me as she sets me on ground, where I struggle to get my balance at first with my new body. Wait... vacation? Oh yeah, that’s why I... why I... what did I do again? My head feels just as fuzzy from when I started changing, and if I changed, that means I was something else before. But... what was I? I suppose it doesn’t matter since mama isn’t worried.

Speaking of mama, she knelt down in front of me and is now holding a mirror towards me. She’s right, I am adorable! Though I was wrong about the color of my feathers, they’re not purple and instead are a sky blue. Small tail feathers ruffle behind me as I admire the three cute little thin feathers on the of my head, and giggle chirps at my oversized laurel crown that’s only managed to stay on because of my wings.

Mama untangles the crown from my cotton feathers and spins it around a little in her hands then holds out her arms above me, just high enough so I couldn’t jump into them with my lack of legs. Did she want me to fly? But I can’t.... then again, why? All I have to do it flap my wings, right? Suddenly, a feeling of weightlessness takes over me as, I can no longer feel the ground beneath me and I can see my wings moving just by thinking about it in the corner of my eye.

“Swa Swablu! Blu Swablu!” I’m doing it! I’m flying by myself! I cheer loud and proud as I land in mama’s cupped hands, though why exactly I’m so excited, I can’t quite remember. Whatever the reason, I’m happy and mama is happy so that’s all that counts. While bouncing around, mama settles my leafy laurel back on head, but she must have used her magic because now it fits just right.

“There you go, it might help you remember yourself while we’re apart.” Mama hums while petting my back, and Jirachi floats over to me. Why would I need to remember myself? I know who I am, my name is... is...

“Pit!” Jirachi grins, quickly running their fingers through my feathers. That’s right, my name is Pit, and I’m.... “You ready to go now?”

“Go where?” I ask, trying to remember why Jirachi is even here. Ooo! Maybe I can wish for a bunch of ice cream while they’re here!

“On that adventure you wanted to go on, silly!” The star Pokémon giggles, holding their hands up to their mouth.

“Adventure? But what about mama?” I solemnly question lowering my wings, but my mood perks up when mama scratches right under my wings.

“Mama will always be with you, and I’ll be looking over you even when you can’t see me.” Mama smiles, putting my worries to rest while Jirachi places a hand above and between my eyes. “Have fun on your journey-“ And for a brief moment the world around me turns white. When my sight returns there’s soft grass beneath my feet, trees and bushes are all around, and mama and the wish granting Pokémon are no where to be seem.

Just ahead of me is a small circle shaped pond which I easily fly over to the edge of. I feel all giddy inside for some reason while doing so, I’ve always been able to do that, right? Or at least for as long as I can remember. Pushing the thoughts of my memories aside, I admire my beautiful reflection in the water as inside think about what mama told me.

A journey, huh? Yeah. That sounds like fun!

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mrslittletall · 4 years

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Don’t tell me where to go. Earlier I watched a video about the flaws in Pokémon Sun/Moon. One of them I heavily agreed with, that annoying red flag that indicates where you should go next. In an already very linear game. Imo, it is just unneccessary. I barely am able to explore the world and even when I am allowed to go exploring, sooner or later I have to go back to the part where the latest roadblock was. I probably haven’t forgotten about it, because I am stuck in a small area. Also, Rotom Dex is reminding me constantly where to go anyway. So why is there this red flag on the map? It’s pointless. Thinking about this, I started Trials of Mana to get the last spirit. The remake, not the original. And just like in Pokémon Sun/Moon, I got annoyed. There is always that glowing big star on the map, telling me where to go even though this game is as linear as Sun/Moon! The elfin elder told me to go the mana goddess statue in the northwest of the forest, I can press on minus and see a map with this exact same statue on it and still, a shiny glowing star points on it! It is unneccessary! I played the original, the original didn’t had a map, the map was also divided in screens because old game and guess what? I still was able to found this mana statue! In fact, even just two weeks ago because I like to play the original with my husband. Why are games so adamant to tell you where to go? Heck, even one of my favourite games, Okami, did it. Not often, but at a few points, mostly when you have to hurry (but actually have all the time in the world), a glowing red arrow shows in which direction you should run. This actually gets me out of the immersion. That giant red arrow doesn’t make any sense, especially when Okami normally never tells you where to go with a marker, you just can look into your log and normally get Issuns latest hint where to go, but you have to find out yourself just how to get there. And mostly, in this “hurry to a location” events you already know where the location is, because you have to run back to it! I am getting more and more annoyed by this... do the game developer think we gamers are stupid? That we can’t find our way? That we have trouble when there isn’t a giant marker on the map, especially in linear games? Alright, now let’s talk about Open World games. One example I play atm is Death Stranding. That game actually TELLS me where I need to go, BUT, while I know where I need to head, the way to the location isn’t clear at all. Often you can’t just cross in a straight line, the world is in your way and you are just a basic human without any superpowers (ok outside of the whole BT sensing thing and not being able to die thing), but you get the gist. The thing is, you have to go from point A to point B and have to figure out HOW you get there. Do you pack a bunch of ladders to scale the mountains in your way? Do you try to find a way around the mountains? Do you pack weapons to take out the MULE camp in your way or do you try to sneak through it? Do you try to avoid the timefall and the BTs or do you take them head on? You have a lot of choices in this game how to handle the situation and it is beautiful. Moreso, the game profits from its online features. When you are alone, you can see and use structures of other players, you can see signs that warn you and you can see footpathes that have been created by other players. It really makes it fun to reconnect the world and connect with the other players you never see but know are there. Alright, different game. Zelda Breath of the Wild. That game has a huge world. You are in a tutorial arena in the beginning, but after you got all your shieka stone apps, you are free to leave. And that is meant literally. Once you are done with the tutorial, BotW lets you do WHATEVER you want. You can literally go straight to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon and it is a common speedrunner thing. But you don’t have to defeat Ganon. The game gives you several objectives, like tame the titans or find the shrines or the memories. Now, the only thing that downright points to where to go are the titans and they are actually pretty easy to spot from a hight point, because they are HUGE. Everything else? Find it on your own. You get a sensor for shrine and you get quests for them. Nothing ever points to them with a marker, you have to solve the hints and find the shrine yourself. The same for the sidequest of the game. You get pointed to who gave you the quest, which is a good thing because it isn’t easy to remember where they were, but the actual quest? Read the text and figure out where to go. Normally it is near the quest giver, so just exploring a bit will help. And the memories! You have twelve photos and have to find the places they got shot at. So how do you find the needle in the haystack? There is this painter in each main town and a few stables and you can show him the photos, he then gives you a hint just where to search! I pretty much found every memory with his hints, I just needed to look up the last memory that wasn’t on the shieka stone because it had been three years since I visited that area and I forgot where it was (I still remembered that it existed, so iconic did it look). BotW gets praised a lot for his sense of freeness and I totally get why. Ok, now let me talk about the last games for now... Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro. When I started Dark Souls, I was really upset. Why? Not because the asylum demon crushed my sorry ass five times, not because I thought I had to beat him with the sword hilt, not because of the boulder trap that killed me. That game had no map! I would get so lost! I am HELPLESS without a map! To my surprise... I was completely fine without the map. Sure, in the beginning I got awfully lost and stumbled to the skeletons, but then I found the Undead Burg. I fought myself through it, explored, remembered where which enemy was when I was running back to Taurus the 20th time (I really struggled, ok?) and the gameworld... just made sense. It became a really aha-moment when the shortcuts clicked into place. Granted, the shortcuts aren’t a big part of the game anymore after the lordvessel, but the first half is beautifully done! Finding the shortcut back to Firelink, finding the back exit out of Blighttown, seeing how Anor Londo opens up, the shortcut in Sen’s Fortress, beautiful. That was what let me thought about Dark Souls as Metroidvania. That game is a Metroidvania. Sadly, Dark Souls 2 and 3 don’t have it as much anymore, especially Dark Souls 3 is a lot more linear, but still has loads of optional stuff to do for me and most importantly, never tells me where to go. Bloodborne is a lot like the first Dark Souls and also different. Bloodborne has a lot more areas that are disembodied, but they have that beauty of the Metroidvania in them. One of the most mind baffling things was finding the back entrance to Iosefka’s clinic... coming from the Forbidden Woods! And the finding out, HEY, that is that gate I saw at the start of the game and couldn’t open! Slowly, you open up Yharnam and even the other areas like the nightmares have cool shortcuts to find. It feels like your exploring got rewarded, that you don’t have to fight through all this enemies anymore, only a few, to get back to the boss. Now let me talk about the last game... Sekiro. This game opens up at a certain plot point and your only hints? You talk with Kuro and Emma and they tell you a few things they found out about. I was SO confused. I had no idea what they were talking about and where to go. So I decided to check the areas out they talked about and try to make sense of the riddles they told me. I couldn’t find a lot at first and went back often to listen to their riddles, until I just went full risque and jumped into a pit only to find out that this indeed had been the right solution! One by one, I found out how to find the other locations. The game never pointed them out for me, I followed the hints and found them myself. So, to conclude. Video games, please don’t tell me where to go.

#long post #gaming #video games

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catflowerqueen · 4 years

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Sableye Backstory

So here’s that backstory I promised you all months ago now… and which I worked on instead of writing the actual paper I have due this week….

I’m going to go ahead and refer to the sableye by name throughout the narrative for ease of understanding, but none of them actually had individual names until some varying point after meeting Laura.

General Backstory:

This will also have to be split in several parts, since the six sableye that I lovingly refer to as the “Sableye Gang” actually started out as two distinct groups. Sort of.

Technically speaking, all six sableye and their families were originally part of a bigger clan/tribe of sableye, so they spent part of their early life together. They all had varied relationships to their blood relatives, but the six of them were always very close, and good friends with each other. They had their squabbles, of course, but more in the manner of close siblings—even though only Seis and Trois are actually related by blood. Or at least, they have the closest blood relationship—some of the others could probably be considered cousins, if only distantly, considering how tight-knit the clan used to be, but no one really bothered to do any sort of genealogical study to confirm that, nor do they really care either way. They’re all around the same age, with Cinq being the oldest and Trois the youngest—the age difference between the two of them probably isn’t any bigger than three years or so, however.

The leader of this clan was Seis and Trois’ grandfather. After his death, when the eldest of the gang (Cinq) was around six or seven, there was a schism in the group over which of the grandfather’s two sons should be the next leader. Ultimately, Seis and Trois’ uncle would win—and he ended up banishing the families that opposed him, so the gang was split up when Seis and Trois’ family was forced to leave. I’ll call this group “Group One,” because even though it’s the smaller of the two groups, it makes a bit more sense chronologically speaking to talk about this group first as far as Seis and Trois are concerned.

Group One

This group did not fare well at all. They were smaller in number, and couldn’t take on bigger groups of pokémon, or strong solitary pokémon, and so often lost fights over food/territory. It wasn’t long before their leader—Seis and Trois’ dad—decreed that in order to survive, they needed to get rid of the dead weight. By this, he meant the kids—including his own sons. Luckily for the duo, however, their mother loved them very, very much and protected them, covering their escape. But she was severely injured in the process, and didn’t survive long. Her sons kept her chest gem as a memento, and then buried her before moving on and trying to make a life of their own. The safest thing for them was to keep moving and work on speed (and acting skills, in Seis’ case), since they’d already seen the results of what happened when a too-small, too-weak group tried to assert dominance—and they had the added handicap of being children. They managed fairly well for themselves for a year or two… until Trois got really, really sick when Seis was around 8-9 years old. So sick, in fact, that Seis feared he would die, especially since he didn’t have any medical training and didn’t know how to help.

Luckily for them… when Seis was out looking for some clean water to at least try and keep his brother comfortable, he ran into the Little Imp, who was out with Dusknoir on a sort of reconnaissance mission, and he convinced her to help. She basically bullied Dusknoir into going out and getting medicinal fruits and things—either by gathering them himself in the future or getting Dialga/Celebi to send him into the past to get some (because at this point I’m not entirely sure whether or not Little Imp and Celebi had their brief meeting that forced Celebi into moving away from Grovyle and closer to Dialga, where he could keep a watch over her). With her help, Trois manages to recover—though he’ll always have some health/physical development issues stemming from this incident. The only reason that she doesn’t adopt them on the spot is that Seis’ acting skills are so great, even at this stage, that he convinces her that he is way older than he actually is, and that this illness was a freak occurrence and the two do just fine by themselves usually—he totally has everything handled.

He does NOT have everything handled, but the two adults kind of scare him a little (or a lot) despite how helpful they’ve been—Little Imp because of her intensity and how genuine she is in her kindness and caring (since its something he hasn’t seen since his mother passed away) and Dusknoir because he’s just being his typical suspicious and intimidating self—and Seis fooled him as far as ages go, too. He would have probably toned things down at least a little had he known Seis was a child, and not just Trois, he would have toned things down a bit—given his own backstory, he’s always been pretty good with children. Though, granted, the children he’s most familiar with were actually fairly well-adjusted, considering the circumstances.

In any case, despite him not having nearly as good a grip on things as leads everyone he’s ever interacted with to believe, he actually managed fairly well after this incident.

Group Two:

This group consisted of the remaining four sableye and their families. They mostly kept the same lifestyle that they’d had up until this point, as the group was still fairly large. Nothing major happened with them for roughly four or five years. But when the kids were around 9-10… the group’s leader made a humongous mistake that changed the course of their lives.

Safe spaces to hide and rest are at a premium in the dark future, even for an experienced group like the sableye clan, so when they come across a cave—complete with a sort of door mechanism guarding the entrance—that looks untouched, despite being very well-hidden and near a grove of fruit trees… they decide to try and make it their new base for a while. But the fact that it was so untouched despite being in such a great location should have set off some major warning signals, because shortly after the adults start trying to force the door open… an absolutely furious Dialga shows up. Apparently, this location was the equivalent of a holy place, and Dialga does not take well to the perceived desecration. He starts a massacre, going so far as to actually ignore and push aside the Little Imp—who had been frantically trying to catch up to him and then stop him—and then the next thing the kids know, all the adults are dead. The only reason the kids survive is that the Little Imp shields them with her own body—going so far as to gather the absolutely freaked out kids in her arms and then turn her back to Dialga so that he wouldn’t be able to push her aside again—and then makes a desperate plea and tries to bargain with him. Dialga is too far gone to listen to reason—but he’s apparently still able to parse through plans of vengeance.

Dialga is mad because the adult sableye were trying to break into a location that’s extremely precious to her, right? So if anyone deserves the right to punish the sableye, it would be her. But simply killing them is a waste, when there are more productive things that could be done—like making them into an object lesson for anyone else foolish enough to cross Dialga. And what good is an example if it can only be shown off once? Especially in this crazy world, where people are liable to forget things if they aren’t constantly exposed to it. So even though she absolutely hates the phrasing and implications, the Little Imp finally manages to secure the lives of the four kids by, essentially, putting them under her control and trading their lives for their freedom. It’s the only thing that makes the slightest bit of sense to Dialga, even though he hasn’t quite been appeased by the carnage he already wrought. In his mind, they owe the Little Imp everything—not because she spared their lives, but because they tried to ruin something that belongs to her, so she is owed repayment of some sort. Even if they didn’t actually do anything, and the whole thing was an accident.

But the Little Imp hates it, absolutely hates it, because she doesn’t want the kids to feel like they owe her anything, or that they have to be servants. She just wants them to live, and to be able to be kids. But she knows that because of what Dialga just did and said, and because of what the world in general is like… that can’t happen. Especially not now.

Still, despite the unfortunate implications and the trauma, she—and Dusknoir—try to help the kids and raise them the best they can. She doesn’t feel like she can really be a mother figure to them (which is why she never attempts to give any of them names—along with the fact that, as an adult, she actually has the chance to learn about pokémon naming conventions in general, and how some just don’t give specific names to their kids, for various reasons [such as in Dusknoir’s family, where the tradition is that the eldest child of the family remains unnamed in order to “carry on the family name/line/etc.” while all subsequent children get their own name. So Dusknoir, as the eldest, only has his species name while his younger brother, who remained a duskull, did get an actual name]), and she actually feels kind of awkward around them given the technicalities surrounding their situation… but she still tries. And it eventually starts to work—at least, a little. Their relationship is extremely complicated, and they still think of her and Dusknoir as more their bosses/masters than anything like a family… but they become extremely fond of her. They come to adore her, really, and feel safe enough to express the fact that they’re extremely grateful that she saved them—even if they don’t really get why she did. But before she can try to teach them more, or get them to understand their own worth—or the fact that they’re allowed to be angry that she couldn’t do more for them, that she chose this option rather than trying harder to change Dialga’s mind—she dies. This takes place when the eldest of them is around 12-13… and they, along with Dusknoir and Dialga, are absolutely devastated. Also a bit afraid, since she was basically their shield from Dialga’s wrath… but mainly they’re devastated.

None of them even considers running, event though they probably could have completely escaped during this time of distraction, so they’re still kind of awkwardly mulling around in confusion and grief when Dialga finally regains himself enough to start plotting about kidnapping the Little Imp’s successor. Dusknoir is just as confused and grief-stricken as everyone else, but he also has enough age and sanity to be able to keep ahold of himself and make his own plans and realizes that, given how unhinged Dialga is at the moment, the sableye are in a very precarious position, because their connection to the Little Imp was the only thing keeping his master’s eyes off them. So he quickly takes full control of them himself, telling Dialga that it’s only until the Little Imp’s successor comes of age and can decide what she wants done for herself. Plus, they can still be effective bodyguards as she grows up. Given the nature of the Little Imp, and Laura’s connection to her (and, thus, to the cave that is at the root of this whole mess), Dialga agrees to this pretty readily. Also, he’s half distracted with making preparations and trying to wrest enough control/power from Palkia to be able to open another portal to the human world.

The sableye are pretty on board with this board with this plan, mostly because they don’t really know what else to do, and are fully prepared to take on the role of guard duty/whatever Dusknoir tells them to do—in part because it really isn’t too different than what they were already doing. They and Dusknoir were expecting the new human to be an adult—because, again, only Dialga for sure what is meant by “successor”—and the fact that Earth and the Pokémon world are in different universes means that time doesn’t necessarily sync up exactly between the two [even without the mess that comes from the fact that time is currently messed up in the Pokémon world], so just because… let’s say, ten years or so have passed in Dialga’s perspective from the Little Imp coming to his world to her death, it doesn’t mean ten years have passed on Earth. It could have been twenty. Or a hundred. Or less than month. And by that same token, just because three-ish years passed on Earth from the time Laura was born to when she was kidnapped doesn’t mean that it took that same amount of time back in the Pokémon world. So even though the timing on the Rainbow Child’s personal timeline would imply that the sableye should be around 16-17 or so when they met her next incarnation, by the time they meet Laura they’re all still around the 13-14 they were when the Little Imp died.

So while the gap in age between them in Laura is still a bit large… it isn’t large enough that they aren’t all still basically kids. They’re more on equal footing—and Laura looks at them as friends and guardians more than anything else. The baggage isn’t there on either side, and they can befriend each other without worry—and, actually, the sableye are more or less encouraged to befriend Laura, because friends are what she wants and needs—and their job as her bodyguards is to keep her as happy and safe as possible. So they get to come to like her and be her friends and adore her as much as they want, without worrying overly much about what others think—though they still have to maintain a bit of “professionalism” in order to avoid ticking off Dialga, and they all know that, technically speaking, Laura is their actual boss—even if they’re listening to Dusknoir for now.

In any case, once Laura comes into Dusknoir/Dialga’s care, things proceed pretty much like she told everyone in Relatia’s Cave. The groups wouldn’t meet again for roughly 5-6 years after Laura makes her escape and befriends Grovyle.

The Convergence of the Groups:

As I said earlier, despite the bluffing that Seis managed to pull off in regards to his actual competency level, he and his brother still managed things fairly well and eventually grew strong enough that they didn’t have to be in panic mode all the time, and could actually chill out and take things a bit slower. He was also able to reflect on things a bit more and decide that the Little Imp probably really was just that kind and genuine, and he probably owed her some sort of debt—or at least a more genuine thank-you. He came to the decision in part because Seis kept asking him for stories about the strangers who helped him back then, since he was really out of it and has no recollection of the events. The two of them (though, mostly Seis, really) decide to try and find her again, working off vague clues that Seis half-remembers about her being important to someone with a high status, and the two of them utilize Seis’ acting skills to gather more information eventually come into contact with Dusknoir again. To their utter shock and joy, when they finally do find him, it also brings them back into contact with their childhood friends—who are quick to assimilate them into their group once more. The two of them actually meet up with the group first before coming into contact with their boss. Dusknoir does not recognize them as the duo he’d helped before given that Seis is acting completely different now—or, rather, he isn’t acting, for once—and he didn’t actually get a good measure of Trois given the whole “riddled with illness” thing he had going on the last time they met. Seis elects not to bring it up—because while he was swapping stories with his friends on the way to go ask if they could formally join the group, he learned that the Little Imp had since passed away. He was devastated, of course, since it meant he never got the chance to formally and fully thank her for the fact that his brother is still alive. But Dusknoir hasn’t gotten any less intimidating since the last time he saw him, and considering how close the two were, he’s a little afraid of mentioning her at all in fear of how he might react—that, and he doesn’t want to bring up any sad memories for his friends, since they were really close to her as well. So no one but Trois actually knows that the two of them met her as well, and since Trois can’t actually remember it, he isn’t quite as impacted on the personal level that the others are.

Seis had already planned to join up with his friends in their work for a lack of anything else better to do, plus the fact that it provided more support and stability, and Trois was of course going to follow his brother, but, privately, Seis also decided to join for the sake of Laura—as the Little Imp’s successor (in more ways than anyone other than Dialga and possibly Dusknoir realize at this time), Seis figures that the debt he has towards the Little Imp transfers over to her. …And he guesses he technically owes Dusknoir a debt to, and this does help to fulfill that one as well, but… honestly, it’s more for pragmatic reasons that he elects to stay on the guy’s good side since, again, he’s kind of terrifying. The better bonus to the situation would be that his friends like Laura, and he likes his friends, so helping her helps them as well.

Given his complicated feelings on the matter of the Little Imp, and the way he’s transferred them onto Laura, one might assume that a better way to repay that debt would be to actually help her in her quest directly—but at this point in time, the fact that she and Grovyle are trying to change the past is more of a side note to the fact that she just straight up ran away from home. No one really realizes yet that changing the past will lead to their nonexistence, so they’re more concerned with the fact that she’s constantly putting herself into dangerous situations—which is an undeniable truth, since… yeah, she is. And since he hasn’t spent any actual time with her, he and Trois don’t have the same conflicted feelings that some of the others might have in regards to the reasons why she’s doing what she’s doing. By the time that they figure out the ramifications for their existence if she and Grovyle manage to succeed in their plans… well, he still hasn’t spent quite enough time with her to feel as conflicted as, say, Dos does, but he is fond of her for her own merits—rather than simply for that tenuous sense of obligation carrying over from the Little Imp—and has silently decided that he’s going to try and get to know her better/cheer her up and be as good of a friend as she’ll let him be once she’s captured for good. Or, at the very least, he’s going to make sure that she’s as physically protected as she can possibly be, since he can’t see her being too happy with the actual outcome of getting captured.

That’s the basic backstory (though their ages are prone to flux as I pinpoint down exact dates and things, and how old they all feel in canon compared to how old it would reasonably make sense for them to be able to do things while still being able to keep close enough to Laura’s young age that it wouldn’t be weird for her to think of them and Grovyle as friends/older brothers)—but I do want to get into one last thing before signing off. Namely, how the sableye all got their names. Two of these stories have already been posted, but I’m not sure if I’ll end up doing specific ones for the rest, so I’ll just go ahead and list them here, in the order they were named.

1. Dos: Laura gave him a name after the two of them bonded over painting when he was guarding her cell. She did it for a silly reason, and almost on an impulse, really, after she realized that the two of them had painted portraits of each other—meaning that there were now “two” of them, although she only pointed out her own painting in that explanation. There’s no real reason she decided to give him the Spanish translation of the number, aside from maybe her thinking that since it was in a different language than either of them typically spoke, it would sound more like a name. And “Dos” was less confusing for her to spell out than “Deux.”

2. Cinq: She named him in guilt, after he got extremely injured picking her a bouquet of five flowers. Again… she thought that the foreign language sounded more like a name than the English/pokémon equivalent translation (which is still technically English, but no one realizes/calls it that since their written language has, for some reason, evolved way beyond that to become pretty much unrecognizable. Is that how linguistics actually work? Probably not, but that’s what I’m going with). She chose French this time because, for whatever reason, she just thought that “Cinq” sounded more elegant/better than “Cinco” for a name.

3. Un: Named because he was the first pokémon she ever saw, as he (along with Cinq) was one of the ones who came with Dusknoir to kidnap her from Earth. Since she’d already given two of the sableye names at this point, she just decided to go ahead and do the others as well—though she hadn’t realized that she was establishing a theme of numbers. They just sort of… happened, because they fit the situations she was naming them for. As with Cinq, she chose the French version because she just thought it sounded better in this instance.

4. Cuatro: He was the last one she gave a name while she was still in Dusknoir/Dialga’s custody, and he was was so named because he would typically greet her with four questions/fun facts whenever they saw each other, given his curious nature. This time, the Spanish version of the word sounded better. She still had not yet realized she’d locked herself into the number theme.

5. Trois: The first time she met him (which was when he joined the others in trying to chase her down and capture her) he called her “Laura.” Just “Laura,” no honorifics—and he was only the third pokémon to ever do that (with the first being Dusknoir and the second Grovyle). Since practically no one ever used just her name—even Grovyle tended to call her “Partner” most of the time—this pleased her immensely. Of course, the other sableye were horrified by this, and quickly corrected him on the matter—the next time the group caught up with her and Grovyle, he was calling her “Miss Laura,” to her great displeasure. But she’d already given him a name, so she couldn’t change it now. She elected for “Trois” rather than “Tres” because ‘Tres” sounds like “Trace” when spoken aloud, and she wanted to highlight the “three” aspect in her naming reasoning.

6. Seis: His is probably the most boring reason/story. She had finally by this point recognized the theme she’d inadvertently given the rest of the sableye (or had it pointed out to her by one of her friends), and felt compelled to continue with it. He’s named Seis because it means “Six,” she didn’t want to repeat a number, and the others alternated in language so next up was Spanish. If any other sableye joined up after him, they would have been named Sept to follow the theme and pattern. Seis takes it all in good humor—and probably figured out the reasoning behind his name without having to be told—though he can get a little annoyed when the others—especially Trois—tease him over it. And Trois likes to do it a lot, since he’s an annoying younger brother and revels in the fact that not only was he named first, despite being younger, but his name actually has a cool story behind it.

#procrastination at its finest #pokemon mystery dungeon #the world's treasure #writing #fanfiction #spoilers #explorers of sky

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mortaljin · 7 years

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Meadows Part One

Word Count: 8.2k Warnings: uh there’s a couple curse words, mentions of emotional abuse and attempted physical abuse.(The abuse is very vague and I do not go into detail whatsoever) Genre: Angst and some fluff. Fairy!au Pairing: Hoseok x female reader.

Summary: You plant flowers because there is no consequence to accidentally killing one, that’s why you don’t have a pet. Your life becomes a lot more stressful one day, however, when you barter for an exotic flower seed at your local market place. No matter what you do, it won’t grow. The old woman who gave it to you gave you no instructions, other than adequate water and sunlight, on how to care for the flower. You were about to give up, ready to smash the flower pot to smithereens, when the softest, faintest voice begs you not to. You were just hearing things, right? It’s not like the voice came from the seed, right?

A/N: Hello, I hope you guys like this first installment. There will probably only be two parts, with a potential for an epilogue. I wanted to post something tonight, and the plot idea running through my brain for this fic wouldn’t allow me to finish it any time soon. Enjoy!! Edit: Reposted this because I made a few changes (Not to plot, just format)

Masterlist

March

The smell of your makeshift balcony garden wafted through the open sliding door and filled your entire apartment with the floral scent. When guests came over, they were always pleasantly surprised to see such a well-kept flower garden on an apartment balcony. Granted, your balcony was fairly larger than most apartments, but a garden of this magnitude is rarely seen on one. Today you could be found, once again, trimming the stems and leaves of flowers that needed to be pampered and pruned. As a small child, you were always fascinated with the idea of growing flowers; the dandelions in your front yard always signaled a season of good times, and you wanted to be able to recreate that with more extravagant flowers. People often questioned your love and dedication to something as minute as flowers, and often wondered why you didn't get a pet. You would jokingly answer saying that it's not the end of the world if you kill a flower, but there was always truth behind the playfulness. The idea of taking care of an animal terrified you, and instead of running the risk of being a horrible animal owner, you opted for the simplicity of taking care of the less sentient species of life.

You were on a mission today. Your garden had always been an unorganized array of vivid color, and that has never bothered you until you woke up this morning, itching for the opportunity to organize something, anything. The original plan was just to move the pots around a bit, but you got carried away with the upkeep of taking care of the flowers. As you stood hovered above the foliage-filled trash can, your eyes caught sight of a magnet on your fridge. It was a handmade rainbow magnet that one of your younger cousins had made for you. You admired the bright colors, and your heart began to buzz with warmth in your chest. Looking down at the Sweet Peas in your hand, you noticed that the purple of them matched almost exactly to the purple of the rainbow magnet. Instantly, a new idea formed in your head.

"I'll arrange my porch like a rainbow!" Your overly excited squeal had you face-palm and you laughed at your zeal for gardening. It wasn't that hard to arrange the flowers, and the fact that your balcony was slightly rounded made it look even more like a rainbow. Shifting the pots color by color, you actually had a small section left for a few more flower pots when you were done. Looking over your organized masterpiece, you realized something crucial was missing. I don't have any yellow flowers! The thought screamed through your head and you were slightly annoyed that your rainbow balcony was missing a color, a primary of all things. You looked at the clock and realizing you still had the entirety of your Sunday left, you headed out towards a marketplace to find a damned yellow flower.

Passing by the different flower kiosks, you were quickly greeted by many of their owners. It was no secret in this small town that you adored flowers, and you were probably one of, if not the most, regular customer. Although you were good at keeping flowers healthy and growing, you still had to be mindful of how much work and dedication it would cost you. The large box you had brought with you was already full of a few flowers; you had picked up some premature snapdragons, daffodils, and lugilarias, and was excited to tend to these little babies over the summer. At first, you thought the three would suffice, and so by the time you had scaled the entire marketplace, or so you thought, you were ready to head home. As you crossed diagonally through the area, you noticed out of the corner of your eye a little old woman sitting at a small table. Well she's new to the marketplace, you thought, seeing as you had never seen her, or her kiosk here before. You weren't sure what it was, but something about this mysterious new seller had caught your attention and was almost calling you to her table. Upon approaching the table, you weren't exactly sure what it was she was selling. There were bowls of different sizes, filled with beads of sorts.

"Um what exactly-" but she cut you off with a laugh and a gummy grin that was missing a few teeth.

"Seeds my dear! Flower seeds to be exact!" Your heart almost gave way to her explanation, and you found yourself inching closer to the bowls. Upon closer inspection, you noticed that she was telling the truth. After having planted enough flowers, you knew that some of them were for some flowers you've already grown. You walked along the little table, eyeing each bowl carefully. At the end of the table were three bowls colored red, blue, and yellow, and inside each one was a singular seed. "Ah, I knew those would catch your eye."

"Well, you do only have one of each. What kind of flower seeds are they? I don't think I've ever seen any like this."

"That's because they're not from here, deary!" You raised a quizzical brow to her statement, and she laughed again at your skepticism. "Don't worry, they will grow here, and just about anywhere. Just don't move to the Antarctic, or to the Sahara Desert for that matter either."

"You won't tell me what kind of flower will grow from them?" She just shook her head, saying something about there being no fun in knowing what they will be. Part of you wanted to leave, but the other part of you, the one with the love for gardening, was intrigued by the idea of having a unique flower in your garden.

You eyed the three bowls carefully, and for a moment it reminded you of when you were younger and had to choose between starter Pokémon. The red bowl contained a dark seed, it was small, and was perfectly round. In the next bowl over was a white seed, shaped like a lopsided heart, and was decently sized. Finally, in the yellow bowl was an extremely large bulb, and you instantly realized you wouldn't choose this one due to the likelihood of it being a common tulip. You pondered between the red and blue bowls for an eternity. The black seed was as mysterious as this random seed seller, and it was almost alluring. The white seed, however, looked so unique and you knew it would bloom into an exotic flower. If these flowers bloom anyways.

"Which one do you think I should choose? I don't have any idea what kind of flower they will bloom into and how to take care of them!" You sounded a little bit more exasperated than you should've been, but the box of flowers still in your arms was starting to grow heavy. She shrugged and held out a coin towards you.

"Flip a coin and let the Fates decide for you!" You had to feign kindness and prevent yourself from rolling your eyes. Setting the box on the ground, you quickly grabbed the coin from her frail hand.

"Okay then," you muttered under your breath, "heads is the black seed I guess?" She continued to stare at you as you flipped the coin in the air, and you held your breath. You caught the coin and slapped it over onto the back of your hand, revealing the head side of the coin. You glanced at the black seed, and for the briefest second a feeling of disappointment washed over you. Shaking your head at the women, you made your choice.

"I want the white seed, I don't think the Fates knew what I wanted."

"Perhaps then that it is part of your fate to choose part of your own path." She gave you a soft smile as she carefully wrapped the seed in wrapping paper and placed it in a little box. It's a seed, a little bag would have sufficed.

"Oh! How much do I owe you for the seed? I hope it's not terribly expensive!" You began reaching for your wallet inside your purse when she stopped you.

"Don't worry dear, I don't sell these for cash. I'm a traveling woman and I like to collect things from places, trading as I go. That's why I've collected these odd seeds."

"Oh, uh I don't think I have anything worth trading for such a special seed, I'm sorry." She lifted a bony finger towards your neck implying she was interested in your necklace. Immediately your hand flew to the pendant hanging from the chain. Your chest swelled, and your throat felt tighter within an instant. This was a gift from your boyfriend, well, now ex-boyfriend. The two of you broke up almost four months ago after catching him cheating on you. The relationship was not healthy, to begin with, and although you are much safer and well off by being apart, you were still clinging to the image of how good he was at the beginning of your two-year relationship.

"Sometimes you have to let go of what hurts to get to what heals you." Her soft whisper of words left you stunned, and for a minute you wondered if she had just read your mind. Your hands began to shake as you reached around your neck to unclasp the necklace. Once removed, your hand hesitated for a second before releasing the burden into her hand. Her eyes twinkled as she gave you that big toothless grin again, and you felt yourself automatically reciprocating it. You bid her farewell and picking up your box of flowers, you made your trek back home, your new possession safely in your purse.

"Wait! How do I take care of-" After a few moments of walking away, you abruptly turned on your heels to ask her how much water and sunlight the flower needed, if she even knew? When you turned around though, the woman was already gone, as well as her makeshift kiosk. It was almost as if she had vanished into thin air. That was certainly a strange experience.

Thankfully the ordeal with the mysterious seed seller in the marketplace only transpired over the course of twenty minutes, so your afternoon of gardening was still open. You made haste in placing your new yellow flowers in their respective section of your floral rainbow and went to find a pot and dirt for the new seed. As you removed the white seed from the box, a little piece a paper fluttered to the ground. You picked it up and turned it over in your hand to read the little note that was written on it: I need lots of sunlight, and an average amount of water, but don't drown me! I can't wait for you to meet me! You weren't exactly sure when the woman had written the note, but it was cute and made you a little bit more excited to grow the flower. You placed it in a pot, and again you cringed. This little pot was one your ex-boyfriend had gotten you for valentine's day last year, and if you had any other pot you would have smashed this one to pieces. I'll have to find a new one later. The seed was packed into the pot, watered, and placed into the sun. You weren't sure how successful your green thumb would prove to be this time, but your heart thumped at the new adventure.

April.

It had been two weeks since you bought the mysterious seed at the marketplace, and there has been no sign that it was blooming. You thought that perhaps it was getting too much sunlight, so you moved it into the shade for a few more hours a day. After nothing else, you decided to experiment with the water. You increased the amount of water, the water intervals, and even the type of water. No change you made seemed to do anything to make life sprout from the pot. Feeling defeated that morning when you woke up, you didn't even bother to water the pot before heading off to start your long day of events, and almost forgot to water it before you went to bed that same night.

It was nearly midnight when you finally stepped out onto your balcony, checking one last time on your other flowers. Standing in front of your lifeless flower pot, a wave of melancholic emotions washed over you. As of an hour ago, it had been exactly four months since you left your cheating ex-boyfriend. Staring at your flowers, you realized your passion for gardening only came from the need to distract yourself. You had poured yourself into two years of a toxic relationship, and you realized that at least flowers could show their appreciation by growing. The tears began to stream down your face as sobs racked through your chest, and you weren't sure how long it was that you had been standing there, tears dripping into the pot of soil. With a hiccup and a wipe of your sleeve, you were able to see through your slightly blurry eyes and you stared down at the pot. Like a child, you stomped your foot in frustration. Anger at the world was being released and you started to pick up the pot. You were ready to hurl it over your balcony, but the faintest, softest whisper entered your left ear and you stopped in your tracks.

"Please don't break the pot, I'm growing I promise!" The voice was quiet and you spun around to see where it was coming from. Nothing or no one could be seen around you. It's just my imagination. I'm exhausted and upset. I'm just hallucinating and hearing things, you thought this to yourself with a laugh. Had you not imagined the pot's plea for help, you still would've felt bad for tossing the pot. You made a mental note to get a new pot so you actually could smash this one. Shutting the sliding door, you gave once last glance to the empty balcony and made your way to your room to attempt a good night's rest.

With the spring sun shining directly onto your balcony, you were able to get work done without feeling the slightest chill. It had been two days since your meltdown over the empty pot, and you were finally getting around to replacing it with a new one. The one you had bought was completely unlike the other plain terra-cotta pots that you had collected over the years; this one was black with a shiny coat. There was a cheesy quote calligraphed on one side that reads "every flower is a soul blossoming in nature," and you found it too cute to not purchase. When you began to re-pot the seed, you almost dropped it in excitement to see that roots actually had started to sprout from it. You quickly switched its home and placed it back into its spot on the balcony. A sense of accomplishment came to you as you realized you had made another conscious effort to heal from your ex, and you picked up the old pot, finally ready to rid yourself of it.

"Oh my god, I was wondering if you were ever going to put me in a new pot!" The voice from two nights ago appeared again, but this time it startled you because you knew you weren't just hearing things. In your fright, you managed to drop the pot, the terra-cotta shards flying all over the balcony. "Well, I didn't think you would actually smash that pot, but good going!"

"What the hell? Who's saying that?" The question came out as an assertive scream, yet you were trembling with fear. You glanced fervently around you, and still, there was no one to be found.

"Uh, I'm right behind you?" The voice said this, and his tone made it seem like it was obvious.

You held your breath as you slowly turned on the spot, and you almost fainted at the sight before you. Standing on your railing was a man. Well not actually a man, he was about six inches tall, but it still looked like a man. Quickly you pinched yourself to wake up from the dream you were having. To no avail, the six-inch man was still there. You stepped forward slightly, and with squinting eyes, you noticed something behind him. Those are wings, you gasped again at the realization, warranting a slap in your face. The winged creature rolled his eyes and jumped from the balcony to fly in front of your face. You blinked slowly for a few seconds before you finally found the ability to speak again.

"What the hell are you?" It came out as a whisper but the creature heard you nonetheless. He fluttered in circles above your head before coming to sit on your shoulder. This caused you to visibly stiffen, and he left again when he noticed your discomfort.

"I'm a fairy, obviously!" You wanted to laugh at him thinking the answer was obvious but you were still in shock. "Specifically, I'm a fairy for that flower right there!" He pointed at the repotted plant, and you noticed that something had started to burst through the soil. "I couldn't grow properly because that pot was filled with too much evil. Thank you for changing it for me!" You just nodded your head as the gears in your brain started turning in overtime.

"I'm dreaming, I have to be dreaming. Fairies aren't real." You repeated this over and over again before you felt something poke your nose. The fairy-thing in front of you seemed to be flicking your nose, but it didn't have much power behind it.

"Of course, they are! Fairy flowers don't grow near human settlements, so I'm confused how you got a hold of that seed. I'm glad you've been watering me properly, although you almost overdid it the other day." At the mention of water, your eyes darted towards the full glass on the table. His eyes met yours, and with realization as to your next move, his face filled with horror. You quickly grabbed the glass and stood by the pot. "Please don't dump that in the pot, you already watered me this morning!"

But you didn't listen. You slowly poured the water into the pot as you kept your gaze on the fairy. As the water landed in the pot, you could see the fairy's wings start to wilt and he had to struggle to keep himself afloat in the air. You dumped the rest of the glass into the pot and the fairy landed on the ground with a silent thud. You walked over to the fairy, and you picked him up, noticing that he looked sick and he was soaking wet. Reality hit you like a freight train and you finally accepted that he was telling the truth and that he was, indeed, a fairy. You began to panic as you looked at his state.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry what do I do? I didn't think you would actually be affected!"

"Sunlight" was all he could croak out, and you rushed to bring both him and the potted plant to the hottest part of the balcony. For ten minutes you stood in silent shock, staring at the fairy in front of you, basking miserably in the sunlight.

"You're awful you know that, right?" You were pulled out of your bubble of thought at the fairy's statement. You sat next at the table and leaned forward slightly to be face to face with the fairy that had sat up from his spot in the sun.

"I'm sorry, okay? Something like you can't show up out of nowhere and not expect me to do something drastic to prove it!" You hung your head in your hands, both in disbelief and in apology as to what had happened. "Are you okay though?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, I'm fine, just don't water me until tomorrow night please." You nodded your head at his request and curiosity began to bubble inside of you.

"What's your name?" The question seemed simple enough, yet he rose his eyebrows at you anyways. "Do fairies even have names?"

"A fairy makes contact with a human for the first time in decades, and your first question is what my name is?" Again, you nodded your head, and the fairy chuckled. "My name is Hoseok, what's yours?"

"I'm Y/N. Next question, why didn't I see you the other night when you told me not to break the pot?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I wasn't big enough for you to see me." You tilted your head in confusion and he continued. "The more you take care of the flower, the more I grow. Once the flower is fully grown, I'll be normal sized, like you. Or taller, or shorter. I'm not sure where you stand on the average height scale." You felt as though your neck would be sore tomorrow from all the nodding you were doing.

"Okay, sounds legit." The two of you sat in awkward silence for a few seconds as you tried to work through the list of questions you had for him. He broke the silence with a question that caught you off guard.

"Y/N, why was that flower pot filled with so much hate?" You stared at the remains of the shattered pot, and you had to choke down the tears welling up in your eyes.

"Oh well, um." You thought carefully of the words you were going to choose. Not many people knew about the bad side of your relationship with your ex, and you weren't sure how to tell it to a member of the supernatural. "It was a gift from someone. This person became increasingly awful and destructive to me, and I think when I would garden and use that pot, I poured my hatred for this person into it." You sniffled slightly and quickly ran your hand over your eyes to remove any tears that were threatening to fall. "That person is out of my life though, that's why I wanted to smash the pot."

"You were upset because this evil person is gone?" Hoseok looked stunned at his assumption, and you smiled gently and waved it off.

"No, I think I was upset that I let them harm me like that in the first place." A look of sympathy washed over Hoseok's face, and the little fairy hugged your hand in comfort.

"I'm glad that they're not hurting you anymore."

"So, uh, what do you do now?" You quickly changed the subject to ask the real question at hand. "I mean, will you be living on my porch?"

"Well, not necessarily. I can go and fly away and do as I please, but I have to stay in the general vicinity of the flower. Which brings me to ask you. Where did you get that flower?"

"I got it from a random lady selling flower seeds at a street market." The nonchalant shrug made Hoseok furrow his brows, wondering how that would have even been possible.

"Strange. Well, I don't actually know what I'm supposed to do. These flowers are near my village, so I didn't have to worry about going anywhere to do anything. I'm not even sure where I am." You quickly explained what part of the world you were living in, and the two of you discussed the different landscapes and flora found in each other's worlds.

During the conversation, you learned many things about Hoseok, and fairies in general. You had asked the question about what happens when the flower dies, and you wondered if that meant the fairy attached to it would die as well. Initially, Hoseok had told you no, that the fairies don't die when the flower wilts. The fairy flowers still followed the course of nature like normal flowers did, blooming with one season, and dying with the next. They also followed the course of nature when it came to reblooming the following year; the seeds dropped to the ground and waited patiently for the next season to bloom. This confused you, what happens to the fairies while they wait for the next season to bloom? When a flower wilts, the fairy's body disappears with it, the life energy gets put back into the new seed. When the next season's flower blooms, they start over again, starting small and gradually working their way up to normal size.

"Wait, so you guys just keep getting reincarnated forever?" Supernatural things seemed plausible, they had to be, obviously, but immortality did not.

"No, we aren't completely immortal. At some point in the distant future, I will reach my last cycle of reincarnation and be gone forever, the next flower to bloom will contain a newborn fairy ready to repeat the same cycle I did."

"You're the same fairy every time your flower reincarnates?" This was all getting a little too confusing.

"Pretty much, let me put it into simpler terms. A fairy is born, and looks just like a baby, right? Fairies exist almost like humans do, except not having to have human food as substance. The baby fairy lives out its first season, only growing to the size of how a normal nine-month human baby would look." He paused to make sure you were still following along, and you urged him to continue. "Well, when it's time to be reincarnated, the baby comes back as a super tiny version of how he was before his cycle ended. Then the baby grows normally and starts to look like an eighteen-month-old baby. Gets reincarnated as a tiny eighteen-month-old, then grows into a baby who is over a year and a half old. So on and so forth. It's like how humans grow and get older, but with a short break in between. Make sense?" You wrapped the explanation around your mind, and you understood what he had said, but none of this made any sense. How did you manage to find a magic flower?

"Mostly. So what age would you be then?" This was something you weren't sure about. He looked like a miniature adult at the very least.

"Well, this is my twenty-fourth cycle, making me the equivalent of a twenty-four-year-old human. When the flower fully blooms, you won't even be able to tell I'm a fairy! Except for when you see my wings." There was a pause. "You are going to continue growing the flower, right?" His eyes filled with worry for a moment, and you patted him on the head with a few of your fingers.

"Well of course, how stupid would I be to let a magical flower wilt on purpose?" You laughed at your joke, and Hoesok smiled at you. "Anyways, this is kind of a lot to take in and I need a nap. Will you stay out here, or would you want to come inside?"

"I'll stay out here, it's fine." You bid him farewell and went back inside your apartment. The nap waiting for you was calling for you, but not before you stopped for a glass of wine in your kitchen to help you wrap your mind around the newfound knowledge.

Your nap had been going perfectly. You had a dream that you could remember for the first time in weeks; you were in a meadow filled with beautiful spring flowers of all kinds, some you recognized and some you didn't. The sun was shining and people were prancing and galloping through the flora all around you. Suddenly, a horrible high-pitched noise rang through the meadow, causing everyone to run away in terror. You opened your eyes when the dream had ended, rolling over to find that the noise was coming from your cell phone. You glanced at the unknown number for a moment, debating on whether to answer it or not.

"If it's important, they'll leave a voicemail or call again." You sighed heavily and closed your eyes again, wanting to continue the peaceful vision in your head. Your eyes shot open and you grunted heavily as your phone once again began to ring from the unknown number. "Hello?" you groggily asked after you pressed the receive button and held the phone up to your ear.

"Y/N?" It was a man's voice that you heard from the other end of the call, and you didn't think you recognized it.

"This is her. Who am I speaking to?"

"It's me, Jackson, can't you recognize my voice?" You lurched forward into a sitting position as you did begin to realize the familiar voice. "Are you busy today?"

"Why does that matter, Jackson?" The reply came out like a hiss, but you didn't care. He had no right to be questioning your whereabouts.

"Don't be like that, Y/N. I just wanted to catch up with you."

"I don't care, goodbye." You angrily ended the phone-call, and your heart was threatening to beat out of your chest. Without even thinking about it, you stormed off to your balcony in hopes to find something to calm your green thumb. Opening the sliding door, you realized that you had never bothered to clean up the pot that had fallen earlier that morning. You glanced around, but there was no sign of your new fairy friend. Most people didn't think it would be possible to put passion into sweeping, but you certainly were able to.

"Who the hell does he think he is?" You grumbled to yourself. "Wanting to ‘catch up,' more like wanting to kiss ass is what it sounds like to me."

"Who wants to kiss ass?" Hoseok had just flown over the railing to the balcony before he asked you this, and he had sat himself on your shoulder.

"My ex-boyfriend. I haven't had any contact with him in two months, and he wakes me up from my nap, and for what? To tell me he wants to see me?" You scoffed as you swept the last of the terra-cotta shards into the dustpan. With Hoseok still on your shoulder, you made your way to the garbage can in the kitchen to dispose of the broken pot.

"Did you tell him to leave you alone?" Hoseok's tone seemed very serious when he asked you this, and you grabbed him from your shoulder to place him on the counter facing you.

"Yeah, I did, I told him I didn't care about-" Your rant was cut off by a few raps at your front door. You began to walk towards it before you remembered the fairy that showed up this morning. "Uh, Hoseok?"

"I know, I'm hiding." The little fairy flew off down the hallway, seeing as you had shut the sliding door, and you wondered if it would be easy to find him when you were done with your visitor. You brushed down the wrinkles in your shirt and ran a hand through your hair in the hopes of laying down some of the frizz that had sprung up. You gently opened your front door and the person standing on the other side almost made your heart stop in despair.

"Y/N, wait!" Jackson, of all people, had shown up unannounced and was requesting to be let in. "I just need to talk to you!"

"And why would you need to do that, huh?" Your voice was harsh, and you could see him wince at the tone. "Last time I checked, you have another girl to talk to." Once again you tried to push the door closed, but he was too strong. He did not force himself in, however, despite the fact that you knew he was capable of doing so.

"I left her, weeks ago." The seriousness in his voice let you know that he was telling the truth, and finally, you relented on the door and let him step inside, but no further than the little rug in front of it. "Y/N please hear me out. I can't live without you. I don't know what I was thinking when I cheated on you. I wish I could blame it on being under the influence of something, but I can't. I was stupid to think that anyone could love me better than you can." His heartfelt confession had brought you to tears, and for a moment you wanted to run into the warmth of his arms. Instead, you straightened your back and lifted your chin.

"I'm sorry Jackson, but I can't." Your words had come out barely above a whisper despite your attempt at feigning confidence.

"Please forgive me, Y/N, I truly am sorry for what I did." Even he had tears threatening to fall, but still, you held strong despite how badly your heart was aching.

"Jackson," you stepped closer to him and looked him directly in the eye, "I forgave you a while back. You need to forgive yourself too." At this confession, he rushed forward to embrace you, but you held a hand to stop him. "I forgive you, and that's it. We both know we're not meant for each other, nor is our relationship a healthy one. Move on, Jackson, that's what I'm trying to do." The shift in his expression made it seem as though a switch inside of him had been flipped. In one swift movement, Jackson had you pinned against the wall and was screaming obscenities in your face.

"What the fuck do you mean you don't want to be with me? You think there's anyone else who's gonna give a shit about you?" The verbal abuse continued as he made derogatory comments about anything and everything about you. When you refused to make any attempt at a reply, his frustration had reached his peak and reared his hand back to slap you.

"Leave." You had managed to catch his hand before it made contact, and the fact that you stood up him for once had him stunned into silence. "I said leave, and do it right now. I will call the police if you don't." The flames in his eyes continued to dance as he stared at you before he pulled away from you.

"Fine, bitch, but you're gonna regret this when you die alone." That was the last thing you heard from him before he stalked out your front door, slamming it behind him. The momentum from the slam caused one of the small picture frames nearby to fall from its place in the wall. Before it was able to hit the ground, little Hoseok had come flying in to save it. He flew it back up to its place and hung it on the hook before turning to stare at your shaking form. Not knowing what to say, he used all of his strength to pull you by the hand to your couch. You sat there for a few minutes, the tears piling in your eyes, but you refused to sob over that evil man any longer.

"Was that the evil man that left you?" Hoseok was the first one to break the silence and you continued to sit there for a few more beats before he asked another question. "Was he always like that?"

"No, he-" your reply got caught in your throat, so you coughed slightly and restarted. "He wasn't always like this, at one point he was very kind and treated me like a princess. A year into our relationship, he started to change. At first, I thought it was stress causing his mood swings, but then he began to verbally attack me; he made comments on my weight, my looks, and other things that made me insecure." The first tear fell. "There were multiple instances, although not very many, where he would grab me and shake me, or push me around. I always had bruises on my arms." A slight stream began cascading from your eyes. "I never th-thought that h-he would tr-try to h-hit me!" Your stuttering sentence had come out in the form of loud, body shaking sobs. You were a mess, and you were aware of the sight you must have made for your new friend, but you were too shaken up to care. In the midst of your wailing, Hoseok had flown to your side and was making circles in the air above your head. Red flecks of sparkling dust began to rain down on top of you, and within seconds you felt your heart beat calm, and your breathing become steadier. After five minutes, you were completely relaxed although slightly stunned at what had just occurred.

"Do you feel better now?" You nodded your head yes in reply.

"What did you just do? I didn't know you could also do magic!" You felt like a little girl with how excited this thought made you.

"It's not necessarily magic. I can't do many things apart from healing people in various ways. I don't have an unlimited supply of it either, I can only dish out what I'm given." You questioningly raised a brow to him. "The happiness and joy I get from other people are what fuels my ‘magic' as you like to call it. No offense, but you've been fairly gloomy for a while." He smirked as he joked, and you couldn't help but giggle as well. You felt yourself calm down to normal, and you were able to continue on with your housework filled day. Hoseok had made the rounds with you, and you found yourself slipping into easy conversation while you did mundane things like dishes, or mopping, or dusting.

"Hoseok, uh, do you think you could you could take this rag and get the dust off the fan blades?"

"What do I look like, your personal fairy maid?" At first, his tone looked as though you had offended him, but then he broke character and erupted into laughter. You fell into a laughing fit with him. He took the rag from your hand, and flew his way to the ceiling fan, causing dust to rain down.

"Hobi, stop it! I don't want to vacuum again!" You shrieked as he continued to let the piles of dust fall down, and you could have sworn you saw him grow an inch at the use of your new nickname for him.

May.

Three weeks. All it took was three weeks of proper water, plenty of sunlight, and all the love that you could put into your green thumbs. Three weeks since Hoseok's first appearance and the flower had completely bloomed. Every morning up to this moment, you would wake up to a slightly taller Hoseok rapping softly on your window to let you know that he was thirsty. This morning, however, there was no knock against your window, and you were concerned that something might've happened. Upon further inspection into your apartment, you found Hoseok in the guest bathroom. Once he had become tall enough to reach the door handle, you opted to leave it unlocked so that he could come and go as he pleased. It was almost scary how human he could seem. As you stood in the doorway of the bathroom, you could tell Hoseok hadn't noticed your presence yet and so you silently admired him. He was most definitely checking himself out in the mirror; he was turning his head every which way, and he was pressing his fingers into every part of his body. His beautiful red hair was full of volume and rested perfectly against his forehead. Cheeks were aglow with life, and you couldn't help but trail your eyes down to his lips. They looked soft and plump, not a single dry spot to be seen in them. His eyes were sparkling, and your heart began to thud in your chest as you saw the way they shined. You took in his height; he seemed to be quite a bit taller this morning than he was last night, and you gulped when you saw how lean and fit he looked. To top off the heart problems you were gradually gaining, Hoseok had shifted his clothes, the ones you gave him once he was tall enough to fit them, and revealed a portion of his alarmingly toned abdomen. You quickly darted back to your room and the sigh that came from your lips was extremely vulgar. With a few pats on your cheeks, you felt as though you were closer to being calm enough to face him.

"Y/N?" a voice came from the bathroom you had just passed, and your heart thudded once more when you heard it sounded just a pitch deeper today. You backtracked your steps and met Hoseok in the bathroom.

"Y-yes?" Good one. He's so going to know that you're nervous.

"Look!" He held up his arms and twirled around in a circle. "I'm fully grown!" The heart palpitations you experienced this morning made sense now that you knew Hoseok was in all of his whimsical beauty.

"That's wonderful!" You couldn't help but grin at his excitement. "Wait, does this mean the flower is fully bloomed?" He nodded his head to you, and without a second thought, you were running to the balcony. An audible gasp filled the air as you took in the beauty of the singular flower in the middle of the black pot. The flower was every bit of exotic that you had imagined it to be; with twenty-four petals of a brilliant fire red and perfectly petite leaves, there was no doubt in your mind that this was a flower that could only be found in dreams.

"Huh, that's strange." Hoseok had snuck up behind you, and it seemed as though he was contemplating something. "Twenty-four petals seem weird. I liked it best when it only had twenty."

"Do you get another petal after each reincarnation?" You had turned to face him when you spoke, and the sight of him staring intently you at you made you want to run and hide in embarrassment.

"Yeah, can you imagine what this bad boy will look like when I turned eighty?" You stifled a laugh as Hoseok made a wide gesture with arms to show how massive the flower will be in the future. Suddenly you started laughing, for no reason, and he looked at you as if you had lost your mind. "Why are you laughing like a maniac?"

"I just, this is surreal you know? I managed to grow the prettiest flower I've ever seen on a balcony, and I grew a fairy along with it. This is insane, are you sure you're real and I haven't been hallucinating for the past few weeks?"

Hobi stared at you intently again, a furrow forming between his brows. His eyes darted downward slightly, and it felt as though time had begun to slow as he stepped forward to close the gap between the two of you. He ducked his head down and placed a kiss on your lips. The only explanation for the sensation it gave you was the magic that made up the essence of Hoseok's soul. Stepping back to look at you, his expression was much softer now and he was looking at you fondly.

"What?" You blinked in surprise, and you knew you were probably standing there like an idiot with your mouth agape.

"I've been wanting to do that since, like, the first time I saw you but I couldn't really do much until I was full grown." You stared in amazement again at his confession. "I've begun growing, no pun intended, quite fond of you, if you didn't know."

"I'm glad the feeling is mutual then," you sighed in contentment after learning that you were not the only one who had budding feelings inside them.

July.

The summer began to pass by in a blissful haze filled with sunshine and warmth. Hoseok was no doubt the mythical representation of the sun and all that was good and joyous in the world. He taught you everything there was to know about his mythical land of fairies; his words sounded like velvet coated children's stories, and every night before bed you asked him to tell you more. Once Hoseok had grown full size, you thought it best for him to actually stay in the house with you, despite his insistence that he could shroud himself from onlookers outside. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that the two of you had grown close enough to share a bed, a nice change from the couch in the living room he had been using. It was another night of having the tv playing softly in the background as the two of you laid entwined with one another under the sheets. Every day you fell deeper and deeper in love with the man who was born from a flower, and every day you yearned to tell him so. Do fairies even say, ‘I love you'? Is it even normal for fairies to have romantic relationships?

"Hobi?" You lifted your head from his chest to look him in the eyes.

"Yes, love?" The fluttering in your chest never seemed to cease no matter how often he called you that.

"Do fairies have relationships like humans do?" You paused, and he looked at you confused. "Like, do fairies date other fairies, get married, and live happily ever after?"

"Why do you ask this?"

"Well, I don't know. I just don't know if this kind of relationship stuff is what you fairy people would normally do." He pulled you a little closer to his chest and you could feel his laughter rumble through him.

"Well pretty much yeah. I can't stress enough that fairies are like 88% like humans, save for obvious details. We love the same, we hurt the same, we feel the same, we just don't live the same is all it really is."

"So, you do date other fairies?" You were trying to get down to the question of asking whether he had a girlfriend before he reincarnated on your balcony, but you weren't sure you wanted to hear the answer.

"Sort of yes, sort of no. After reaching full growth during our twenty-fifth cycle, we are now able to form a bond with our life mate." He looked down at you to find that you were soaking in every word he was saying. "Some fairies choose to date before their twenty-fifth cycle, just to get a feel for interacting with someone in a romantic sense, but others choose to wait until they come of age. There's a fanciful ceremony, like how humans have weddings, but the meaning of the bond goes much deeper. Once this bond is created, the two people are connected through their souls for eternity. It is the closest relationship we can form as fairies."

"Well, what happens when the bonded fairies reach old age and officially die? Is that the end of the bond forever, then?" Hoseok looked at the ceiling in deep contemplation.

"Not exactly. When we reincarnate each cycle, we keep our memories, emotions, personality, etc. from the previous cycle. That's why we don't change drastically each time. When a fairy reaches its final cycle and ‘dies,' as you would put it, the soul itself remains and embeds itself into a new fairy. This fairy starts as a blank slate, with no recollection of his past life. That being said, the new fairy souls still share the previous fairy bonds to an extent, and more often than not, the new reincarnated fairies find their way back to each other." He shrugged his shoulders, "that's what they say anyway, it's not like we can remember who our past selves loved."

It was your turn for deep thoughts as Hoseok went back to laying under you in silence, his gentle fingers traced patterns on your back, and wove themselves through your hair. You hadn't realized that you had been repeatedly sighing until Hoseok said something.

"Y/N, love, is something wrong? You only sigh that often when you're thinking too much." His face was full of concern and worry, and you didn't want to bother him with such trivial things.

"Were there any pretty fairies that you pined for in your previous cycles?" This seemed to have warranted a deep laugh from him, and you hid your face in his chest in embarrassment.

"Ah, so that's what these questions were about, huh?" He kissed the top of your forehead and grabbed your chin to bring you to face him. "Don't worry, Y/N. I don't have another lover that is missing me from my village right now. I chose not to fall for anyone before I come of age." You grinned sheepishly when he told you this, and you could feel your worries start to melt away. His village. When will he be going home?

"Hobi?" You began to ask him about when he would be returning to where he belongs.

"Yes, love?" But, you thought better of it.

"I'm glad you're here in my life" His departure was an answer you wanted to put off for as long as you could.

"As am I glad that you are in mine." You fell asleep to the sound of Hoseok whispering sweet nothings into your ear, and for the moment, everything was as it should be. You dreamt of that perfect meadow full of flowers and fairies again.

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