#i just think animals as clemontes >>>>

[fierykitten2]

Fun fact: if you take on the Paldean Gym Leaders in the objectively best order (which I didn’t in either version oh well) the genders of each pair of Kalos Gym Leader and Paldean Gym Leader are the same in each version - the first (Viola and Katy), third (Korrina and Iono), sixth (Valerie and Ryme) and seventh (Olympia and Tulip) gym leaders are female and the second (Grant and Brassius), fourth (Ramos and Kofu), fifth (Clemont and Larry) and eighth (Wulfric and Grusha) gym leaders are male. In addition, out of the five pairs of gym leaders between Kalos and Paldea where they share a type, three of them are in the same spot based on this order (Bug-type Gym Leaders Viola and Katy are first, Psychic-type Gym Leaders Olympia and Tulip are seventh and Ice-type Gym Leaders Wulfric and Grusha are eighth). And as a bonus the second gym leaders both have cool hair that matches their types well. And the Grass and Electric gym leaders are always next to each other in that order plus the Grass Gym Leaders are among the oldest gym leaders of their region (Ramos almost certainly, Brassius probably younger than Ryme and maybe Kofu) and the Electric Gym Leaders are among the youngest gym leaders of their region (Clemont is around the same age as Viola, Grant and maybe Korrina but probably the youngest between them, Iono definitely). Oh yeah also the Psychic cities both begin with A and the Electric cities both begin with L

The first fact means that both regions have an equal gender ration for their gym leaders. In addition, they both also have equal gender rations for their Elite Four members (I believe they’re the only regions where both of these are true all the time so far though I might be forgetting something. Alola and Galar automatically don’t count because Alola doesn’t have Gym Leaders and Galar doesn’t have an Elite Four. Kanto, Hoenn and Unova are also probably excluded because they all change their lineup at some point (although it doesn’t change the gender ratio in Hoenn but then they also have Tate and Lisa so that overcomplicates stuff too. It also doesn’t change the overall gender ratio in Kanto but it does change the individual ones for Gym Leaders and Elite Four members)) although only the first and third members line up if you take on the Kalos Elite Four in order. Also both regions have female champions (and the only reason the fandom doesn’t consider either to be their least favourite is because no one can remember Trace 😭 justice for Diantha, Geeta and Trace! And by that I mean from the fandom, not Game Freak. It’s not Diantha’s fault she was too busy to beat Team Flare and kick them out of Kalos for good, Geeta’s fault she decided to make her ace a Pokémon that should be sent out as soon as possible just because she loves it so much or Trace’s fault he doesn’t want to get himself and you imprisoned for starting a physical fight only to plead innocent so only the player gets locked up (yeah this is something I think RGBY era Blue would do)) and because Larry takes a spot as both a Gym Leader and a member of the Elite Four that means Kalos has a slightly more even gender ratio for its league overall but both have more women than men. Additional fun fact (yep, I love comparing Kalos and Paldea and PLZA just gives me a bigger excuse to do it) - Kalos makes you take on the Gym Leaders in order but allows you to take on the Elite Four in any order while Paldea allows you to take on the Gym Leaders in any order but makes you take on the Elite Four in order. Oh yeah also there’s a Steel-type Elite Four member in both regions and both regions end their Elite Four with a Dragon-type trainer

[love-is-a-pearl]

hey so I know we talked a little about Kalos with Silver (for their Kalosian Woods AU) but I was rereading your one post thread about the character arc shown from Unova to Kalos to Alola and how Kalos wouldn’t have really been a narratively satisfying League win for Ash in the grand scheme of the Pokemon anime. Your analysis gave me a new appreciation for what the Alola League did and also for the inter-region story that was developed with Ash and his desire to win.

At the same time, however, I’ve been thinking about how the main XYZ writers originally wanted Kalos to be a league win for Ash, and how, combined with the final episodes of XYZ, how it did feel like they were trying to end Ash’s story there (no transition to the next region, etc). And Im thinking about how, in an alternate timeline, we could’ve gotten that and might’ve even had an Alola anime with a new protagonist, if they’d wanted to end Ash’s story with Kalos.

So I was wondering, what changes would you make to Ash’s XYZ character that would make a Kalos League win feel thematically appropriate and satisfying? Would you change anything about his dynamics with the rest of the group?

And what would you have liked from a SM/Alola anime with a different protagonist? Do you think they would’ve been able to maintain the theme of family and the culture the anime proper gave Alola? With a new protagonist, would you have had Guzma win the league, or them, or someone else entirely?

This really is just to bounce off ideas, so don’t feel like you need to respond.

Ok, first I think getting a run-down of why Kalos wouldn't be a good place to end things is a good starting point:

Ash's pokemon (other than a certain frog) are barely relevant

Kalos had a laser focus on Greninja and that's the season's biggest flaw in my eyes. Pokemon got lucky if they had episodes beyond the ones where they evolved, with Goodra and Noivern being the most blatant examples of that.None of them had super close connections with Ash and the fact some of them never even had any relevant battles before the league would make such important win along them feel extremely dissatisfying for me.

Compare that to Alola, where Ash actually had super close bonds with each pokemon he caught (save for Melmetal tbh) and how each of them had arcs in the league itself!

That's awesome! And that's the right only way for Ash to have a League win! It got to be something he does along his pokemon. Not just for himself.

Also, Ash winning any league wouldn't be as impactful if it was not by Pikachu's side (and I can assure that Kalos wouldn't allow anyone one other than Greninja to take down Diantha's Gardevoir if we came to that).

JNs was not the best and Alola's battles could have been better sure, but the fact Pikachu was there in the last battle as Ash's final pokemon in both instances is cathartic. Pikachu is Ash's extension! It's important for Pikachu to be there in the finale along Ash for such important moments for them. Kalos would not have done that.

The companions and Ash are not that close

Sorry not sorry but the "Kalos fam" has some of the most superficial dynamics of all the anime.

Serena and Ash's relationship (which was even supposed to be more than friendship) is painful to watch at times. Ash doesn't seem to like her much, not ever trying to learn about her (even with her saying they DID met before) and in general is very one-sided.

And the same can be said about Clemont. He sees Ash as this amazing trainer he has to aim towards, but other than the "science is amazing" comments, Ash doesn't seem to reciprocate at all.

Neither of them help eachother with their goals other than some few times Clemont and Ash trained. Like, compared to May, with whom Ash was very invested in getting her to find something to do at the beggining and how he showed even more interest in her goal around Battle frontier. Dawn (nuff said). Iris, with whom he trained plenty of times. Lillie, who he put lots of effort into helping with her fear of pokemon (and even sometimes Mallow's and Sophocles' episodic goals).

Gosh, even certain characters of the day got more of Ash's support than Serena and Clemont, with Korrina being the most obvious and funny example. Ash gets so attached to her, her training and her wish to become stronger and they interact SO naturally that is always funny to see how the writers can write such good dynamics between Ash and this one gym girl but not yknow, his "kalosian family". And dont dare to say that he is only like that because she wants to be stronger. Clemont wants that too and Ash doesn't give a SHIT!

Ash is a character that cares a lot for others and the fact he seemed to care so little for his Kalos friends is painful to watch (specially with how much Clemont and Serena ADORE him!)

A season where Ash wins a league shouldn't be about only him achieving something (which Kalos totally feels like). It should be something more. Something about how Ash being with those people helped them grow, about how they helped him grow, and how much they matter to him.

Kalos is not a relevant place for Ash himself

There's nothing about how Kalos is written that makes the region or the people in there feel special for Ash.

Honestly this can be said to all regions. I'm a Sinnoh apologist but even I admit that Ash becoming Sinnoh champion wouldn't be the most interesting for him as he doesn't have a super strong connection with it other than Dawn, Paul and kinda of Cynthia.

In Kalos he surely had Serena, Clemont, Bonnie; And Sycamore, Korrina, Alain and Diantha can be added into the list too if we force it a bit. But there's nothing about Kalos itself that makes it stand out as a region Ash would want to "reign", you get me? Maaaybeeee the romance thing with Serena could make it more relevant, but that was done poorly and doesn't count enough for me.

To be completely honest, the most satisfactory region for Ash to win up to gen6 would totally have been Kanto. That's his home, where he was born, his mom is there, lots of his friends (brock, misty, gary, oak, tracey) are there. That's where he met Pikachu.

No other region felt as special up till Alola. And sure it is super cheesy at times, but it works!

With those in mind, I think is also worth noting how Kalos' beggining and ending are smh detached from the middle story and how that lack of planning is one of the reasons the writing in that season is so irritating for me.

Like, we have the first 2 episodes of Kalos that stabilish:

That Clemont lost his gym to his own robot.

That Clemont's father is a superhero.

That Serena knows Ash for a while now.

And then in the Flare Finale, we have the payoff to those things, with:

Clembot dying.

Clemont and Bonnie discovering (with the most lukewarm reactions my I add) that Myers is Blaziken Mask.

Serena kissing Ash.

And that's the thing. Other than in the beggining and ending: THOSE THINGS DONT MATTER!!!!

Clemont losing the gym to Clembot is resolved in ep9 and that whole thing about him losing the gym matters nothing in the long run other than that we lose the precious potential of having a Heliolisk in the main gang!

Meyer NEVER appears outside of the starting and ending arcs!

Serena and Ash BARELY interact in any meaningful way in the WHOLE anime and their friendship is one of the weakest between all main characters!

For any of the above to hold weight, there should have been more moments in the actual anime building up to it. Clemont's gym thing should have been more important than just the place where Ash jumped off from; Meyer should have been a more relevant character; Ash should have been a better friend to Serena if they wanted to sell the idea that this girl really feel for this version of him when he is extremely neutral to her at best (and a complete jerk at worse).

Honestly for a Kalos league win to feel earned, a whole rewrite from ep 7 to 136 would be needed for me lol

Make Serena's "give up too fast" into an actual character trait and not something her mom said once. Have her try things (SPECIALLY BATTLES) and give up! Have Ash help her with those things and try his optimistic "dont give up" bullshit only for it to backfire on her because it's not easy for everybody to be like that.

And not rushing her into "doing something" because they wasted 50 episodes not trying anything with her beforehand! It's fine that Serena took so long to find what she wanted to do, but the fact she didn't try anything or had any moment focused on her struggling with that beforehand IS NOT!

Have Clemont learn something from Ash too. Have his struggle with maintaining the Gym and what it all means to him hold more weight! Have Clemont try Ash's humanxpokemon training a few times so he can build up his confidence. Have that lil tidbit we saw before his battle with Ash and what it means to be a Gym Leader be an integral part of his character! Have his inventions be more relevant than just some gag. Have him and Serena be closer because they "arent like Ash, but they want to be".

Have Ash affect them, but also have them affect Ash more! Have Ash learn how to dance with Serena and have that stick! Combine that with Counter Shield and make that move go from "ash and dawn's thing" to "ash and ALL HIS FRIENDS's thing" QAQ Have Ash learn some strategies from Clemont too and use his inventions during his pokemon training!

HAVE THE DAMN POKEMON INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH TRAINERS OTHER THAN THEIR OWN!!

Gosh, seriously, the fact I can count on one hand the amount of times Ash ever acknowledged Fennekin's existence is terrible! The pokemon should be as relevant as people in the goddamn pokemon anime and that's one thing Kalos failed to get that all other seasons get (maybe not JNs).

We could have had so much more SerenaxHawlucha moments if they weren't cowards. That bird would have LOVED showcases and the fact Hawlucha never saw a single one of those shows how much Kalos' writing fails at making those characters feel connected with their stupid "only one person at the spotlight each time" approach. If an episode is about Serena, only her pokemon appear; If its about Clemont, only his pokemon appear; if is about Ash, good luck having screen time even if you're a human. And that's bad. That should not be the approach to a pokemon season, let alone the season where the MC is supposed to achieve his most important goal!

But let's say that Kalos ends as it is and Ash wins. I think another year and another 50 or so episodes would be needed still. To have Ash go throught the same arc he went throught Alola, but in Kalos.

Maybe we could have a rewrite from Snowbelle onwards.

Maybe after how Ash acts when she was just trying to help, Serena could leave the gang (I know it sounds like me being a hater but HEAR ME OUT). Ash hurt her feelings, treated her horribly right before and is not like she has a reason to stay other than to cheer for him in the league. So she leaves (and I keep thinking on expanding the idea of her final words being something like "I thought you were different" to add to "that's not you" she says in that episode).

And that's what gets Ash to realize he messed up. If he got the kindest girl in the world fed up with his bullshit is because he messed up big time.

And I like the promise he makes with Greninja, about starting from zero, and that could be what he does here.

But to what extend, i dont know.. I keep thinking that he could rechallenge gym leaders and about Hoenn's battle frontier to tie in with Hoenn remakes, but neither of those sound right (specially since he already did the battle frontier).

Maybe a Brandon re-challenge in specific? Since Ash never won against him fully and to parallel Paul back in DP?

Or maybe a small arc of him re-challenging the gym leaders in the Battle Chateau (it could work as JN's world championship tbh)?

Maybe he goes back to Lumiose with Clemont and we have a bit more of Meyer too to salvage THAT plot point. And maybe Sycamore could even give him mega stones to help him "start over" :0c Maybe he could then bring back reserves to tie in everything properly?

I dont know.

What I know is: It would be nice to follow a bit of Serena's side too! Maybe she could just go back home or go all the way to Hoenn and start doing contests! And we could see her growing into more of her own person and expanding the abilities she never explored before (LIKE BATTLING WHY SHE NEVER BATTLED?) and existing outside of Ash yknow!?

And more importantly, on Ash's side, I think it would be a great chance of showing his feelings for Serena in this "arc" if they really wanted to make them endgame.

Like, have him realize how much he misses her, how her support was way more important to him than he expected and have him realize how the people around you are more important than winning or something. Same message from Alola but with that romantic twist Kalos yearns for.

Have Ash grow into "the person he really is" for Serena mostly. And have him reach for her just to show her that (perhaps in a battle :3c) and have her finally back into the gang after he proves just how much he really cares.

And then league goes same way I guess. Except Greninja gets backseated for the finale cause I say so.

Now, SunMoon!

Alola would totally maintain the family theme no matter what, yes!

Alola's core theme is "finding a place where you belong" after all. We can see that in the games too, with Lillie's problems with her mother; Gladion who keeps this split life of "do I protect my sister or do I embrace Team Skull"; How Team Skull themselves is a bunch of kiddos that failed the island challenge and have nowhere to be due to that. Even the protag that comes from a whole nother region to find themselves adapting to a new life.

That's also why letting Ash win there, the kid who never had a place to belong despite 20 years of going around, is very satisfactory too.

But doing that with any main character that feels displaced in their own home would have been good ngl (making the MC Selene instead of Helio and expand on that outcast feel with some queer-coding in her relationship with Lillie would be awesome ôwô)

I also keep thinking of the idea of cutting the middle man and upgrading Lillie into full main character.

Ash stole Nebby from her, but lets say that the anime goes kinda the same way but the Tapus give Lillie Nebby instead. It would be interesting.

Have her try and protect it while also hiding it from her mom. Have her learn to battle to protect it and slowly grow stronger herself. I just like the idea of Lillie becoming a battler ok? It feels like the natural progression from scared girl who can't talk back to her mom /scared of pokemon > to girl who can fight for her ideals along the pokemon that took her in when no one else did.

Have her go with it as Solgaleo after her mom and save her with the pokemon that has always been by her side! The Pokemon that felt more like family than her own. Good stuff!

But the league.. I dont know honestly. If we keep this idea of Lillie as MC, down to living with Kukui and finding a family under him, it can work the same way in the anime, just put Lillie in Ash's place.

But I know the anime would never so. Idk. I still think a GuzmaxKukui battle would be good no matter what so Lillie(or any other MC) failing in the league against Guzma, only for Kukui to come and protect his adopted child would be interesting to see to ngl!

And PUH-LEASE, I ADORE this kinds of talk! Rambling about pokemon meta/what ifs is my favorite thing, I just dont do it more often cause I know I'm irritating :v

[spectral-idiot]

Clemont's characther analysis (Pokeani centered)

Okay so... I’ve really been wanting to do an analysis of this little sour lemon for a while now, and since I got the green light in the XY community, I just couldn’t resist.

Warning!: This post is going to be long and it's translated from Spanish (I don't think my English is good enough for this kind of thing)

I find it very interesting how my hyperfixation with Lem has developed now, as I’ve grown older.

When I was a kid and watched the series (I still identified completely as female back then), my favorite character was Serena in every possible way. I was stunned by her performances and I wanted to be like her.

But when I went back to thinking about the series (and later rewatching it), I found one of the most human characters—at least in that season. Him.

So, as you guys would say, “Bear with me,” or as we’d say in latin-america, “Síganme los buenos,” and let’s begin this analysis.

“I’m not satisfied with who I am rigth now” — Clemont, episode 866/62

His background, story, and initial surroundings:

It’s most likely that he lived his whole life in Lumiose City—or at least that’s the most reasonable assumption, since we see one or two flashbacks of him as a kid living there (like in the Shinx episode, where he studies in a neighboring town he had to move to for a while).

And we can already see that from his immediate family environment, there’s a bit of pressure. A family that may well be the only support system he ever had, since, based on his slight social awkwardness, we can assume he didn’t have many friends.

He’s the city’s Gym Leader—a position he earned, according to the anime, because he’s a genius when it comes to Electric-types. More recognition—and yep, more pressure.

Even in the games, he’s known as “The inventor lighting up the world!”

It’s clear he doesn’t have much faith in himself, or at least he doesn’t seem very confident in that role.

He has a father who’s incredibly encouraging, someone who supports and believes in him—which, on the surface, sounds great.

But at the same time, we see that Clemont didn’t feel confident enough to tell him the Gym had been taken over or controlled by Clembot. There’s no solid reason for this, especially since his dad genuinely supports him—but if we dig a little deeper, we can see it was out of fear of disappointing him.

His father is always trying to help him improve as a Gym Leader, with a positive and well-intentioned approach.

But to Clemont, those intentions may come off as expectations.

And then there’s his sister—but not an older sister who could guide and support him, show him the way.

Instead, he has a younger sister. He’s the one who has to be that figure for Bonnie: a guide, a companion, a shoulder to cry on, and the brother who gives advice. Even if no one directly told him to, he wants to take on that responsibility.

Yep, you guessed it. More pressure.

I want to make it clear that none of these pressures and expectations come from a place of bad intent or malice. His family—and even, to a certain extent, the city—genuinely have a lot of faith in him. They believe in his abilities and see him as someone capable of great things.

But that doesn’t make the weight of it all any lighter. That faith ends up becoming some pretty big shoes to fill.

And it’s mostly him who feels that pressure and sees things this way. It’s not so much that others are pushing it on him—it’s that he puts those expectations on himself, just by realizing how much people believe in him.

His personality and role in the group

(Quick disclaimer: it’s been a while since I rewatched XY, so I might not be 100% accurate.)

We can't get much insight into his personality outside of the Kalos group, since there aren’t many glimpses into his more recent past. Most flashbacks go way too far back.

(Though it’s worth highlighting that in the Shinx episode, his natural inclination to help and his determination to use science for the greater good are already present—showing that these traits existed before his interest in battling.)

That being said, we can assume he used to be a bit more quiet and reserved than how he appears in the main anime—maybe even more nervous.

From the start, we can tell he’s a rather calm person, as expected. He’s knowledgeable in many areas related—obviously—to science and Pokémon. He often plays the role of the “informed” one in the group, recognizing moves, abilities, and strategies.

I’d also like to highlight his mannerisms, way of speaking, and even his language—at least in the original Japanese version (not sure how much of this was lost in translation). His speech is always very polite, though never to the point of sounding snobbish or unnecessarily formal. He’s still the softest and kindest in the group. For instance, he’s the one who most frequently says “please” when calling on his Pokémon or giving them commands (again, in the original version at least).

He seems like someone who’d rather focus on finding a solution than dwell on the problem—unless the issue is too big and he feels incapable of solving it. In that case, he tends to quietly give up instead of complaining, getting angry, or whining. Almost as if he expected to fail.

Like when he believed Luxio hadn't forgiven him or thought Chespin would be better off with another trainer - he didn't cry or cause drama; he just quietly prepared himself, almost like he thought he deserved it.

He also gets noticeably flustered when complimented (maybe a bit insecure).

It’s clear that he’s one of the calmest and most collected members of the quartet—alongside Serena. He’s never loud or disruptive, and often acts as the peacemaker when tensions rise.

Of course, he’s calm.

Unless we’re talking about science and inventions.

That’s when his passion overflows, and the calm demeanor starts to fade. His conviction about how “The future is now thanks to science!” takes over and he turns into a full-on fanboy. Anything science-related excites him—even just visiting a Poké Ball factory is enough to make him giddy.

He genuinely believes that science can create a better future and help people. (Please, hold onto that idea of helping.) He finds it deeply disturbing when robotics and technology are used for unethical purposes.

This less shy and withdrawn version of him shows us something important—he really is comfortable around Serena, Ash, and the group in general. At least during the Kalos journey, he seems more at ease than we imagine he was before the series began.

Another noteworthy trait—especially when you consider his upbringing—is how he’s always looking to help. That small need is always present. When one of his inventions has the chance to be useful, he presents it with a bit of pride, happy to have found a situation where his passion and talent can actually make a difference.

But this goes so far that it once led him to be tricked by Team Rocket, who pretended to be someone else and convinced him that he could help by building a machine for them.

If you look closely, Clemont's very first appearance in the anime is him trying to save Ash! He doesn't know him at all he just sees someone falling from Prism Tower and immediately tries to help.

This shows that his need to help isn’t something trivial—it’s tied deeply to those expectations placed on him.

Even within the group, he plays the most “responsible” role—not just literally (he’s the one who apologizes on behalf of the group, the most grounded one), but also behaviorally. He acts in that “older brother” way: cooking, looking after others.

Beyond his natural role as a big brother, this also seems to stem from his ongoing desire to behave in an “ideal” way—as if he’s still trying to fill those shoes.

This gets to the point where in the games, he uses his defeat as an opportunity to advice Bonnie!

“Responsible.” “Kind.” “Calm.” “Useful.”

His Interests and His Inner Conflict:

He definitely has very defined interests.

His great passion for science/mechanics/robotics, his love for Pokémon (more specifically, Electric-types), and, a little more hidden, his enjoyment of battling.

Why bring these up? Because they tell us a lot about Clemont—not just about his personality, but also about expectations.

And about a small yet huge inner conflict between what he likes, what he knows he's good at, and something in which he feels he's not good enough. Because yes, they do clash with each other.

To begin with, his love for Pokémon is not something isolated—it intertwines deeply with both his passion for science and for battles.

He loves science as a way to create a better world for Pokémon. And he loves battles as a way to understand them.

There isn't much more to add about his passion for inventions that hasn’t already been said. It’s something that clearly interested him from a young age, something that fascinated him ever since. He loves understanding how things work, how to create, and most of all, how to provide or help through it. (Yes, I may be repeating myself, but it really is a strongly marked trait.)

And, moreover, it’s something he’s good at. It’s something that comes naturally to him, something he feels is truly his own, something he sees as his gift and what he can offer to the world. Naturally, it's a passion where he finds comfort in the feeling of being sufficient—something he, as we know, deeply needs.

He found a purpose through this.

But even though it’s not immediately noticeable, it’s not the only thing he likes.

Besides his general love for learning more about Pokémon, he truly enjoys battling.

We can notice that he’s the one who knows the most about it in the group—second only to Ash, of course—which comes naturally with his role as “the knowledgeable one” and as a Gym Leader.

Moreover, we can see how much he enjoyed battling Ash, both in their first encounter and in their official Gym battle.

No, he’s definitely not as vocal about it as Ash is, but he likes it. He enjoys preparing, training, crafting a good strategy.

He simply doesn’t openly say it, and he's not the type to actively seek out battles. (Important note: he usually only battles when it’s to protect his loved ones—especially against Team Rocket—without hesitation.)

So that leaves us with a question: why?

We know he enjoys battling, and sees it as a way to better understand Pokémon, so why does he keep it so hidden?

Wasn’t that the very reason he chose to become a Gym Leader? Because he wanted to understand Pokémon better through battles?

We could simply attribute this behavior to his more peaceful, reserved nature—and we wouldn't be wrong.

But we can also see that he doesn't believe he's particularly good at it. And that's probably why he doesn’t feel very confident about it—not just showing it, but even within himself.

Because being a Gym Leader is about that. In his own words, a Gym Leader must be a wall that pushes trainers to become stronger.

And he doesn’t believe he lives up to that.

During the journey with Ash, he sees—quite clearly—many other Gym Leaders. Leaders who, surely to him, perfectly fulfill their role (presenting a real challenge, helping Ash grow as a trainer), putting in front of him a living example of what he thinks he should be.

And not only that: he also gets to see, firsthand, the other side—the challenger’s side. He sees how Ash gets truly excited about battling for a badge, how he prepares, eager and happy for a good match.

This, added to the involuntary pressure he felt back in Lumiose City, ended up making him even more insecure in that area.

So the question now is: how does he deal with these insecurities? How does he handle not feeling good enough at something he should excel at?

He doesn't. He escapes.

Well, better said, he used to escape.

He takes refuge in what he is truly good at: inventing (let's ignore the fact that they sometimes explode).

To avoid facing the feeling of failure or inadequacy, he focuses on what he knows he can do well, where he feels useful and safe.

This gets to the point where that’s practically why he created Clembot. I'm not arguing that he did it out of laziness to improve, but I do want to highlight that it was, at least in part, to have more time to focus on mechanics rather than confronting his deeper issues.

Yes, because instead of facing his insecurities head-on, he seeks to feel useful and capable through other means.

I’m not saying he doesn’t genuinely love science and mechanics.

But his focus on them may also be tied to avoiding that internal conversation.

You could even argue that one of the reasons he agreed to join this journey was to get out of Lumiose for a while.

I'm not saying it was his only reason—but it definitely was one of them.

Let’s remember that before this, Clemont spent his days wandering around Prism Tower, trying to find a way to regain control of it.

In other words, constantly surrounded by a reminder of his failures.

He always seems to avoid these problems.

Maybe because he doesn’t believe he can solve them.

Maybe because he simply doesn’t have the courage yet to face them.

His Growth:

It could be summarized in one sentence:

"Grant me the strength to change the things I can change within myself, and the love to accept the things I cannot."

Although his development is more a matter of one episode rather than a gradual thing across the series, we can still highlight how he grows.

We know he started out as a calm and slightly insecure boy, who seemed to prefer escaping from problems and feared failure.

To understand this, we should ask ourselves: What does he need? What kind of push does he require to start moving forward?

We know he doesn’t need someone to believe in him—or at least, that’s not the most important thing—because that would likely just put more pressure on his shoulders.

But he doesn’t need that pressure to disappear entirely either. While he does need to stop feeling like he’s not enough, it would also be a mistake for him to think he has nothing to improve, because that would mean denying reality.

He needs to look inward with sincerity, seeing both his virtues and his flaws, and accepting himself.

To stop running away from reality and to work on it. To stop seeking refuge only in what he’s already good at and focus on improving in what he wants to be better at.

He needs a fuller self-concept. More positive, of course, but above all, more complete—one where he’s not blind to his flaws (like fleeing from his insecurities).

And he starts doing that, little by little.

-Victory Over Clembot

In this episode, he starts to take a step forward.

It’s an episode where he returns to Lumiose City and admits the whole truth to the others.

He tells them the story of Clembot, and with their help, he ends up defeating his own creation.

He must face his responsibilities, the weight that comes with them. Now Ash and Serena know who he really is. He has to look reality in the face and accept it.

He had decided to keep it hidden, but was forced to show it. He’s still not completely ready or comfortable, but it’s a big step.

Moreover, he accepts it: by agreeing to battle Ash himself, he’s accepting that responsibility and the role on his shoulders.

And that's why the victory over Clembot is symbolically important too. The takeover of the Gym was one of his mistakes, and now, he is capable of confronting it.

He is able to face one of his failures and fix it, to make amends.

Beyond accepting it, he sees that he is capable. Capable of fixing a mistake.

Maybe this time, because he didn’t try to fix it alone, he succeeded.

Other positive experiences that helped him gain more confidence included episodes like the one with Shinx.

He saw that the Pokémon he thought would never forgive him for not keeping his promise actually forgave him.

Which was something important.

But that bond goes even deeper in the episode where his whole development truly takes shape.

Earlier, we could already see how surrounding himself with a more positive environment was good for him, making him calmer.

But more importantly, what helped him the most was his bond with Ash. He sees in Ash someone fearless, someone he’s willing to become better for.

Because Ash gives him an example. An example is crucial—it allows you to look inside yourself.

Something he really needed.

But soon, that would reach another level.

-Voltage Badge

This character arc is the most important one. And it begins a few days before the battle between Clemont and Ash. It’s after this arc that Clemont truly begins to move forward.

It all starts when the group realizes they’re finally close to Lumiose City.

And with Clemont... hesitating.

It was time to fulfill the promise he made. The time for their battle was drawing near.

Would he be able to meet the expectations?

He had learned a lot from Ash, and he wanted to give something back. But would he be able to?

He doesn’t think so—and all the insecurities he tried to bury resurface.

But once again, it’s seeing Ash’s determination that pushes him to act.

The group gets cornered by Team Rocket again, who this time have taken control of Ash’s Pikachu and Clemont’s own Luxio.

A lightning-strength Thunder Fang attack is coming straight at Ash, and yet his only thought is to reunite with his Pokémon—even if it means putting himself in mortal danger.

And seeing that, Clemont decides something.

Ash was always like this. Some might call him stubborn or reckless. But to Clemont, he is determined.

If he lost five leagues, he’d challenge a sixth.

If the first hit didn’t work, he’d keep trying until it did.

If he wanted to rescue someone, he would—even if it meant putting his life at risk (jumping from Prism Tower to save a Garchomp, or crossing a cliff to rescue Bonnie, for example).

And that's when, surprising everyone, Clemont's usual calm is replaced by determination.

He gets hit by a Thunder Fang, but he doesn't care.

There’s a greater good—something he wants to protect: his friends and his Pokémon.

It’s in his nature to defend, but this time, he crossed one of his own internal barriers.

That’s why the group’s victory was possible. But there's more.

His mindset had changed drastically.

When the incident needs to be reported in Lumiose City, Clemont makes a decision.

He decides to face his insecurities head-on.

He hesitates for a moment, but he asks if he can accompany them back to the city.

He’s going to leave the group for a while.

No more running away. Now there is reflection.

He knows he's not satisfied with something, and instead of hiding behind something else, he decides to change it.

He even tells his friends—and his sister—"I’m not satisfied with who I am right now."

But there’s no sadness in his voice, no discomfort, no anguish you would expect from a confession like that.

Because there’s determination.

He’s not saying it out of insecurity or pressure.

No—he says it with resolve.

The resolve that he’s going to get better.

That’s why he takes some time off and starts looking inward.

He works hard. Really hard.

He has decided.

And later, during the battle, he says it himself:

He couldn’t be happier to be a Gym Leader at that moment.

Because when the time comes to face Ash, we see a Clemont we hadn't seen until then.

A changed Clemont.

Not only happy, but excited.

Someone who enjoys the battle wholeheartedly, win or lose.

Someone who looks much stronger, who shows that his hard work paid off—managing to corner Ash for most of the battle.

But above all, someone who is much more confident.

Someone who faced his weaknesses and, no matter the result, will leave the match happy.

Because he grew.

Because he faced his own flaws.

Someone who is more at peace with himself.

Conclusion:

This analysis was really just an excuse to rewatch the Luxray episode and Clemont’s battle against Ash!! Haha. The end.

Okay, not really.

I wrote all of this simply because I find it incredible.

Because I really like the character and I wanted to share why.

Because without giving him an epic story about becoming the best or saving the world, he has one of the most interesting arcs in the anime.

Because it only takes looking a little deeper and asking yourself some questions to find one of the most human characters.

You don’t need epic stories like N’s or Gladion’s to make a character interesting or to connect with them.

Humanity is enough.

It’s enough to see how a boy, whose pride was his inventions, ends up giving us one of the most spectacular battles in XY.

Because the story behind it is about someone normal, someone ordinary,

Giving it everything he’s got.

Because it’s a story about acceptance, about growth,

And about the power of human connection.

How the people you surround yourself with can transform who you are today.

Because I—and I believe many others—can empathize with a character like this. Because he’s coherent, real, carrying a backpack full of burdens that could happen to anyone.

And because he can inspire.

As a writer, I can only take my hat off to the work that was done here.

Simple, but no less powerful because of it.

Because something simple and well done can be truly wonderful.

So, to finish this:

"The future is now, thanks to science!"

Or as it's said in the version I watched as a kid:

"El futuro es ahora gracias a la ciencia!"

[pokemon-my-beloved]

my thoughts on pokemon legends za: what we know so far

i'm back!!!! sorry for not posting in over a year, the hyperfixation has shifted and i started uni which has kept me VERY busy. regardless! i'm super excited for the new game! this post will be based primarily on the trailer that dropped earlier today, though i will be taking info from the official site into account.

analysis under the readmore!

general

i think this game is going to be a launch title for the switch 2. i know the trailer and website both said it would be for the switch, but considering a. that the switch 2 is coming out later this year, we just don't know when yet and b. how godawful sv's performance was (and how the visuals seem to be pretty similar to sv's), i think that would make the most sense. if this is true, both will probably be releasing in november, because that's when pokemon games come out (except pla lmao), but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we'll see!

since pla took place like... idk, 300 or so? years before dpp, i'm betting that plza will take place roughly 300 years after xy. given the amount of development and improved technology (and, from what i can tell, a lack of sycamore, clemont, and other characters from lumiose (though this is only the first trailer)), it would have to be at least 100 years in the future. i just think the time difference is roughly the same for parallel reasons. i'll elaborate more on this later, though

OBSESSED with the new battle system. finally, we can truly live out the anime and have our pokemon fucking dodge attacks without relying on evasion boosting moves. the ui is also really neat, i LOVE the info (chikorita used razor leaf, it's super effective, etc) being on the side, it feels a lot less obtrusive. also love that you can see your whole party at all times, i think that's great

speaking of ui, the minimap is fantastic. desperately needed that sooner, thank you gamefreak

the architecture and stuff looks AMAZING, i adore the style

pokemon

starters are chikorita, tepig, and totodile! definitely gives johto favoritism, but you know what, that's fair, johto has not gotten appreciation like this in years

unsure if the starters will get kalosian(?) forms or mega evolutions, i've seen speculation for both. i think it'll probably be forms, because it doesn't feel like there's any way they could give these three mega evolutions but not the others from those regions, plus samurott and typhlosion already have hisuian forms

relatedly, snivy is definitely going to be the grass starter in the next legends game (assuming we get another one, at least, which we probably will)

regardless, regional variants seem more likely to me, which gives more credence to my theory that this is a good few hundred years post xy, even if this is pokemon, changes like that take a while. fairly confident we won't get mega evolutions for the starters, but it would be cool if we did!

speaking of, mega evolution is BACK!!!!! i'm SO excited, mega evolution is EASILY my favorite mid-battle... mechanic? change? idk, but z moves, dynamaxing, and terastilization don't even come CLOSE

the currently confirmed returning mega evolutions are charizard, kangaskhan, gyarados, ampharos, gardevoir, sableye, altaria, absol, and lucario: a solid mix of mega evolutions introduced in both xy and oras. i imagine all of the old mega evolutions will return (except maybe mega rayquaza and mega mewtwo, given that i can't think of any reason for them to be there)

relatedly, the returning pokemon (in general and not counting the ones already mentioned) are sliggoo, clauncher, furfrou, sandile, bunnelby, pyroar, zygarde (obviously), budew, vivillon, eevee, patrat, pikachu (duh), larvitar, bagon, aegislash, trubbish, weepinbell, chandelure, fletchling, swirlix, spritzee, hippowdon, pidgeot, skiddo, onix, florges, dragalge, dedenne, and inkay, plus obviously all pre-evolutions and evolutions thereof

didn't see any regional variants, but i'm fairly confident they'll show up considering they've been in every game since sm (even though kalos was before that). hopefully we'll get more variants than we did in sv!

characters

not a lot to say about the rivals, tbh. they're fine enough, i don't have enough info to make much of a judgement

i do not trust jett and vinnie. mostly jett. they're leaders of a megacorporation, and i know how that goes in pokemon games (plus jett's design gives HUGE r*se and oleana vibes, both of whom i hate with a passion). the only thing that makes me doubt they're the antags is how early in the promotional cycle they've shown up, but if they're villains i will have called it on sight. stop designing characters like this, gamefreak, you've made a reputation for yourselves now

and finally, AZ!!!!!!!!! i'm super super SUPER excited about him being here, i think that's INCREDIBLE and i'm so happy he and floette are thriving now. he's running a hotel, good for him

SPEAKING OF, this is probably the main reason i think plza will be so far in the future. we've established that az..... can't die, and he didn't reconnect with floette until post xy, so there's no way this game can take place before then (unless it was way way WAY long ago, but he wouldn't be able to run a hotel then cause he would be busy being king. also all the technological improvements and stuff). given that it he's established a hotel and it seems he has been running it for a while, based on the fact that the rivals live and work there, this game has to take place long enough after xy that he would 1, not be an emotional wreck 2, get himself cleaned up and presentable 3, get enough money to buy a building in lumiose city, which i imagine would be pretty expensive 4, buy a building in lumiose city that he can turn into a hotel 5, establish it as a business to the point where people live there and the player character chooses to stay there, and 6, the events of the game occur. step 1 alone had to take years (half joking), so i'm positive that given the other steps this game has to be at minimum a century after xy

also, he uses a cane now. arguably he should've had that a long time ago, but still (i was also gonna mention the knee brace, but i checked and he had that in the official artwork for xy)

EDIT: i know there’s no fucking way this will happen but i kinda really really hope the lumiose ghost girl comes back and fucking explains literally anything. i want to know what the fuck she’s talking about but also i hope it’s a mystery forever and she stays a cryptid queen. idk, just thoughts, it’s like 2:30 am and insomnia’s kicking my ass, there are no coherent thoughts rn

that's it for now, i think. super excited for this game, i can't wait!!!!

[rainbranch]

THIS IS MY CRY FOR HELP!! CLEMONT PLEASE COME HOME IN ZA...

I may have girlfailed him but ya win some ya lose some... by the time i make a yt video abt za theories/speculation i'll probably work the design out

I have a lot to say tho so hit keep reading for off the wall ramblings

First more doodles..

The doodles kinda have to do with some clemont related theories but honestly im j playing around with hcs and whatnot rn.

I do have a lot of questions about Quasartico.. like what are they doing on top of lysandre labs? Thats it

Hc abt where this puts clemont? If the timeskip is around 12 years he could be like 25?? I want him to either be a professor now (but i dont think we would need to replace sycamore) or just heavily involved in the wild area or energy related research. If he's involved with the plot I expect a bit about him being a terrible runner. I dont really think there's any reason to see his quirky inventions like the anime, especially since there's a lot of Civil Engineering going on, he definitely is still going to have things to say about Mechanical and Computer related things- but they can do a lot and won't really be affected by his anime portrayal.

Speaking of the anime- there were 2 separate times where an evil team attempted to manipulate Anime Clemont to use his technical knowledge for evil- i think we could see that on a larger scale here... I don't know how evil Quasartico is and tbh i have no clue. (I will be looking into ORAS postgame and emerald now though because i do believe there is a good chance we will be dealing with a Rayquaza-Zygarde rivalry/juxtaposition-- especially bc that is already being explored in the anime rn AND ITS THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE...)

As for Bonnie i beg and i pray she's doing her own thing. I would be happy to see her again and maybe specializing in pikachu clones?

Idfk what the game is actually gonna be about though- probably gentrification or corruption of technology and people being blindly reliant on it. Maybe even theres going to be a natural disaster that causes a lot of the tech to go down and the protags have to clean stuff up bc the city didn't have a backup plan. Only thing throwing me off is the promotion match thing at the end of the trailer. No clue what thats about lol!!

I have had ideas about a Clemont & Bonnie timeskip before.. tbh that top left side profile is kinda peak... this one was for my fan region which is based on a fantasy region from a different universe that is LOOSELY based off the American midwest. In this one he woulda been working with umm physicists? While Bonnie finds out about the judicial system. These r a little more closely characterized as their anime versions (esp with Clemont's pokémon lol). Uh the region is the Elogh region if i ever bring it back

PRISIM TOWER IS RIGHT THERE HE HAS TO BE HERE PLEASE CLEMONT!!!

If u read this whole thing u have full permission to discuss theories and speculation in comments and reblogs im so cuorirous.

[star3synth]

presenting: a list of friendships i would have loved to see in the pokemon anime

goh, sophocles, clemont, and cilan. ultimate nerd squad. need i say more? i think not. they would be menaces to society together <3

despite popular (and awful) opinion i think goh and serena would be besties if they got to interact more. idk why i just think their friendship would be cute

honestly i would’ve loved to see serena interact with any of the pokegirls they would get along so well and it would be really cute

max and bonnie. the unhinged chaos they would cause would be so interesting to watch (and hilarious)

not sure if this one counts because they didn’t show up in the anime but……ash and nemona. oh dear god. i kind of understand why the anime didn’t let them interact because if you combine both their love for battles and tendency to get into dangerous situations the level of chaos would’ve been unmatched. personally? i would’ve loved to see that but alas the universe said no </3

also i think that clemont, bonnie, and serena would be great friends with the main alola squad if they were to interact

not sure if it would count but. i would’ve loved to see goh and gary’s friendship evolve into something beyond whatever weird rivalry thing they’ve got going on in journeys

and even though paul is my least favorite character by a long shot? him and gary should interact at least once. i think it would be hilarious and they would also hate each other’s guts lmao

[orsan1070]

A Quick Z-A Lore Overview

I love me some Pokemon lore, so here's a quick compilation of all the important things I noticed in the Z-A trailer and gameplay footage! A lot of this has already been mentioned by others, but I just wanted to get this out there! (This isn't complete, just a compilation of things I noticed and wanted to talk about.)

The very first thing the trailer gives us is a look at the protagonists.

Now, it took me a bit to notice, but these are totally based on Ethan and Lyra, right?

Firstly, their hair is very very similar. Their hats have the same color scheme, minus Ethan's counterpart missing the yellow. The Z-A protag's shoes match their respective HGSS protagonist's outfit colors very closely, and their belts match their PokeNavs. As for what this means, well, that's... less clear.

The Z-A website says the protagonist begins by "arriving in Lumiose for some sightseeing" and "While visiting Lumiose City during your travels, you’ll come to stay in an old hotel named Hotel Z." As for whether they're literally Ethan and Lyra on vacation, I'm... not sure. It's true that Legends Arceus features Lucas / Dawn, isekaid into Hisui, but here, we're in modern-day Kalos. We're definitely after XY, judging by AZ's Floette, likely after SM, due to the prominence of the Rotom Phone, and, honestly, I think after SV, due to the Rotom Phone's new capabilities (more on that later). Now, we know Red is 20 in SM, according to concept art, placing his adventure as nine years prior. Ethan / Lyra came three years later, making them 17 in SM. We don't know how much time passed between SM and SwSh and SV, other than I think Peony's Adven-tour lacking Penny only makes sense eighteen months or more before SV. Even if you disagree with me, the Johto protagonists effectively have to be adults by the time of SV and onwards, where we seem to be. Plus, the Z-A protagonists seem to not have Ethan and Lyra's eye colors-- it's kinda an averaged grey-brown. I don't think we're literally Ethan/Lyra for that reason, but I do think we're related somehow.

Just a minor observation, but those are the ambiguous statues seen in places like Kanto's Victory Road, and the Wild Zone number is inside a pentagon, much like the Route signs in the original Kalos games! Neat!

I know Sandile are frequently shown hiding in the sand like this, but if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time they've shown Krokorok like that?

Wild Zone 1 is given quite a bit of focus in the trailer-- enough where it's super simple to point out where on the map it is! It's what I've outlined in purple, while it seems like we meet the starters in the red circle. The Fletchling and Fletchinder are obscuring Hotel Z, where we can see later in the trailer the first rival battle with Urbain/Taunie occurs, and what's past the first Wild Zone?

That's Sycamore Pokemon Lab! Seems like we'll be heading there quite early in the story. Is Sycamore himself still in charge, or has enough time passed where it's changed hands to Sina, Dexio, Trevor, or another character?

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it animation when jumping across roofs, we can see that it's actually the Rotom Phone enabling the player to double-jump! The last shot of the trailer also features a Rotom Phone:

It definitely seems like the Rotom Phone will be playing a big role! I also think this points to Z-A taking place after SV-- the Rotom Phone is clearly doing more advanced things than catching us when we fall, and now it has three cameras, when it had one in SwSh and two in SV!

As for why the Rotom Phone is relevant, well, Lumiose City is the home of Clemont, who invented the Rotom Pokedex (according to concept art, Samson in SM, and Kukui in Masters). Perhaps our Rotom Phone's new features tie back to him in some way?

AZ and his Floette being together means this is after XY at the very least. But, also, why does AZ seem older? He didn't need a cane before. He's immortal, he shouldn't *be* aging (the height is not due to his immortality, that's due to ultimate weapon exposure). Was his immortality lifted somehow?

While the Pokemon Centers in Lumiose have changed designs, as has the PC, the nurse behind the counter seems to be roughly the same.

In the gameplay overview, we can see this holographic person. The other man is likely speaking to him with the Holo Caster-- in fact, holographic technology seems to be heavily connected to the reconstruction in general, with the Wild Zone gates seemingly being holograms and the redevelopment program being described as high-tech. Lysandre was the one who made the original Holo Caster, though, and he's dead. So, uh, what's going on here? Could Malva be involved somehow? She was the main newscaster on the Holo Caster. This definitely seems to tie Quasartico to Flare in some way...

I'm very curious as to the in-universe etymology of Quasartico, by the way. A quasar is a very specific thing to use in a name, yknow?

One of the final shots of the gameplay overview is this-- the Looker Bureau! Emma runs it now, so she'll likely appear. I wonder what role it'll play in the story.

That's... all I've got! All the little lore details I figured were worth sharing. Thanks for reading!

[pannman]

ACE ALASTOR WEEK DAY 3 AROACE APPRECIATION DAY

Alastor x multiple ocs platonic

Alastor was always fond of trying out new places. It was one of his less extreme hobbies. So when he noticed a new Cafe down the street from the hotel, he knew he had absolutely had to check it out. When he entered the building he noticed there was an awful lot of young people. Most of them on their computers or phones or chit chatting about romance and gossip. It was never really his cup of tea. Even though he didn't really like tea

He stood in line but as soon as he was noticed everyone in line fled out of his way. He was used to this by now. Not that he minded getting to be first in line for everything. He went and ordered himself a cup of coffee. Two creams, one sugar. The lady asked if he wanted organic cream. He told her he didn't care where it came from as long as it tasted fine. He gave his name for the order and went to take his seat.

At a table across from him there was a group of young people. Two sinners and two hellhounds. They seemed to be discussing their daily lives. They wore an assortment of pins. He noticed one of them had a pin that said they/them. Ah, those Lgbts. He didn't mind whatever labels people used or who they laid with. He couldn't say he fully understood but he was not one to judge

He couldn't help but carefully point his microphone towards them and discreetly listen in. Simply for his own entertainment. The big Golden retriever looking hellhound spoke loud and excited. "Yeah, so turns out that girl I told you guys about... she's ace too! She and I are getting lunch tomorrow! I can't wait! She said she's vegan. I don't know what religion has to do with it but I respect whatever" he said.

"Kurt, Vegan is when you don't eat or use anything that came from an animal. I believe you're thinking of pagans" a small chipmunk sinner with glasses informed him. "Ooooohhh! But what if a hellhound made it?" He asked. Alastor chuckled at his stupidity. The chipmunk shook his head. "You're impossible"

Then a sinner with green skin and long grass like hair dressed in all black spoke next in a very deadpan almost bored tone "relax Clemont. Kurt's got one of those, you know, personalities. He'll be fine" they took a sip from their coffee and continued. "Lucy, anything new to say today?"

They all turned to look a bloodhound looking hellhound who immediately blushed and tried to hide her face. "I-i... I... pass!" She stuttered. So she was quite shy it seemed. The plant sinner took another sip before speaking. "You always pass. It's been a month. I'm not really a people person myself but-" they were cut off by Kurt. "Come on Rowan! Lucy doesn't have to speak if she doesn't want to. Besides she makes a great listener" he pointed out. "Well I suppose I'll go next then" The chipmunk named clemont said. "I finally told my mother who is in fact the reason I'm down here that I do not wish to date anyone. She didn't respond so well but I stood my ground" he sounded very proud of himself

What exactly was this get together for? Alastor thought. They all seemed happy for Clemont. Kurt most of all though he did seem to be the more outgoing one. "Congrats man! Don't let anyone change who you are!" Kurt said enthusiastically. "I guess I'll go last..." Rowan sighed. "My partners and I are getting an apartment together finally. We're looking for a two bedroom so I can have a room to myself. I'm very excited." They didn't sound excited but Alastor was starting to get the suspicion that this was just how they acted

His interest was piqued and his coffee was still not done so he decided to approach the group. "Pardon the intrusion, but what exactly is the purpose of your group?" He asked. They stared at him for a second unsure how to respond. They were probably just as scared of him as everyone else in this Cafe he thought

Rowan responded. "We're an ace group. We are all somewhere on the asexuality spectrum" they acted as if he should know what that is. "And what prey tell is that?" He had never shown much interest in the lgbt labels or in learning about them but there was a first for everything. Kurt excitedly spoke up. "It's a sexuality where you feel little to no sexual attraction!" His tail wagged eagerly. Alastor was never too fond of dogs but he restrained himself from saying something out of turn. At least until he decided he was bored of this group.

Although what they were describing sounded oddly familiar to how he had felt... "So you prefer to be alone rather than with a partner? I suppose I can relate" he said. "No, ace just means to no sexual attraction. Meaning what motivates others to have sex isn't the same for us. We can still date. We even still have sex. It's just the attraction. However Clemont and I are also aromantic" Rowan informed him. "Yeah me and Rowan identify as aroace which means we don't feel romantic or sexual attraction. I'm not interested in any sort of relationship but Rowan here is in a QPR with two partners"

"What's that?" Alastor asked his interest growing by the minute as well as a sort of feeling of fulfillment he had never experienced. This sounded like something he had struggled with his whole life. He thought of it as a burden yet here were other people who felt the same and not only that but embraced it. "It's a form of relationship that's closer than friends but isn't the typical romantic relationship. For example, one of my partners likes to cuddle but I only like to cuddle on certain days. So my other partner does most of the cuddling. However I am more sex positive and one of my partners is aro but not ace so we get physical on occasions but my other partner doesn't partake. I don't like sharing a bed accept on special occasions. So we are looking for an apartment where I can have my own room. So as you can see we don't follow the so called 'rules' that conventional relationships do." Rowan explained in depth.

Alastor was quite surprised by the range in which these individuals experienced their shared identities. He found himself relating most to Clemont. But he would be lying to himself if the idea of a qpr wasn't bouncing around in the back of his head. "I've never known what I felt had a name. Nor that there were others who felt the same" Alastor admitted. "Hey, man that's how I felt for the longest time. I didn't know what ace was either until I found this group" said Kurt.

"W-w-why d-dont you join us!" Lucy blurted out before covering her mouth and blushing with embarrassment. They all looked at her and she turned even redder. "Yeah there's always more room at the table" Kurt agreed. Clemont nodded. "Yeah... if you want to of course" Rowan sighed in agreement. Alastor pondered for a moment before his name was called off. He we and grabbed his coffee and was sure to tell the batista that the wait was a bit long. She apologized profusely but since he was in a good mood he told her it was fine this time

He then made his way to table of his new friends. He sat down next to them implying he had took them up on their offer. "Welcome to the club man!" Kurt exclaimed. Alastor took a sip of his coffee (which was pretty good actually). "Glad to be here. Now tell me more about all this aroace business"

Alastor learned a lot that afternoon. He agreed to meet the club every other Tuesday. He grew to like these 4 and usually he had a hard time forming friendships with those not from his time period. He was after all old fashioned. But like visiting this Cafe he knew it was important to be open trying new things. The benefits were a delicious cup of coffee and delightful conversation. Who could pass up an opportunity like that?

[oftheriverseine]

*using a shitty disguise that would make TR proud* So, I wanna hear about this XZ YZ that a certain fletching told me about ôwô)

You rn /j

Hello suspiciously-Pearl-like stranger! XZYZ is a romhack/mod I wanna make for the original XY games, except everything’s restructured to tell a sequel story to the original XY (or rather, my slightly modified hopefully-better-told version of XY :P). I kind of wanna work backwards from the XYZ anime and XY manga to write a story that could’ve been XY sequels a la B2W2, since we know that (a) XY sequels were planned and scrapped and (b) the anime tended to get the planned story for the games ahead of time so they could adapt it to Ash’s story. I also wanna include Southern Kalos and elements from the ZA game, when it comes out :D

So far, I’m brainstorming ideas for the protags, rivals, previous protags/rivals roles, Gym Leaders, and Elite 4! At the moment I think Sawyer and Mairin should be the protags, with Bonnie as the rival character. Sawyer and Mairin mostly because they both have green elements to them (something something Zygarde) and I love their characters, and Bonnie because of her in-series connection to Zygarde! I mean, look at them!

Protag energy <3 Sawyer just needs a hat. And Bonnie would bounce so well off of them (especially since, a la Serena and Calem, I’m considering making the non-chosen protag a rival as well, so all 3 starters are in rotation)

I’m also basing the Gym order off of Sawyer’s badges in XYZ. The Gym Type order would be Fire (Meyer, Lumiose), Bug (Viola, Santalune), Water (??? No idea, maybe Siebold?? But definitely southern Kalos), Grass (Ramos, Coumarine), Flying (No idea, but definitely something to do with Sky Battles because CMON! Maybe Yvette from Pokespe?? Idk), Psychic (Olympia, Anistar, though I kind of wanna make her the final Gym Leader), Fairy (Valerie, Laverre, and I definitely wanna give her a new outfit a la Elesa (maybe based on the Florges one she gives Serena?? And her ace is Florges??)), and Ice (Wulfric, Snowbelle). And the Elite 4 isn’t ironed out yet, but I know I want Clemont to be on it (and maybe Korrina??). As for Champions… something something bringing back Gen 5’s Seasons mechanic and having who you face out of Serena and Calem be based on the time of year??? Similar to what GSC/HGSS did with Red and what they planned to do with Hilda/Hilbert in B2W2’s PWC.

As you might’ve gathered, I want these games to start in Lumiose, and I want Sycamore and his group (which includes Trevor, via inspiration from the manga!) to be more involved.

For the story, all I really have is that I want the protag and Bonnie to watch over one of the cores (whichever one’s color symbol matches the Prequel legendary of that game), and that Malva or Xerosic (or both!) are leading Team Flare. I think a couple mini-adventures like the ones in the anime would be fun as well (maybe reworking Showcases so it can be a game mechanic? Or add dance competitions for Tierno??). I’d love some help brainstorming, though!

That’s all for now.

[beavauna]

Carmine Discussion

Okay, I’ve never done this before, but considering there are a lot of Carmine haters on here, I thought I’d give it a try.

I’m getting sick of going online and seeing Carmine portrayed negatively. There’s people calling her racist, sexist, xenophobic, and all around other horrifying things. It’s like I can’t go anywhere without seeing her drawn in a negative lot, and there’s even porn art where she’s portrayed like this, and I thought it’s time someone put a stop to it. (which I stumbled into on accident.)

Look, I get she’s supposed to be protective older sibling character, but people keep treating her like she’s not a character, like a puppet they can throw their problems on.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Bea.” But I do. There have only be three known sibling groups in Pokemon, Carmine and Kieran being one of them.

The best example I can give is Clemont and Bonnie. They’re brother and sister, and of course- they have their issues. Clemont is the older, protective sibling character, while Bonnie is the younger sibling who just wants to be trainer, but is often followed by her brother who wants to protect her and keep her safe.

I get Clemont’s nicer than Carmine is initially, but I’ve NEVER seen any hateful art drawn of him. It could be just because of how popular XYZ was, but like-

There should be people who portray him negatively, but I’ve never seen that.

The XYZ anime was great. Most people consider it the greatest Pokemon series of all time, with all its characters, story, Pokemon, (coughs. Amourshipping.) and much, much more.

If you ask someone, they’ll most likely tell you that their favorite anime is XYZ. And it’s the same with me.

(I’d like to mention I’ve never watched the anime where May and Max came from. I don’t even know the name- shsjsvsh. I’m not forgetting about them, I just have never watched it.)

But my point is; It’s like people automatically think that Carmine was supposed to be the Clemont character and Kieran was supposed to be the Bonnie character.

“Oh my god she’s so mean to Kieran. She doesn’t give a shit about him.”

Because older siblings are like that?? I’m an older sibling to a (currently) 7 year old brother, and our relationship is like this.

When people first saw Carmine, people were in absolute awe of her design. There was fanart galore, discussions, ext ext.

But when the game officially came out, here came the hate.

And to be honest? I hated her too, but after playing the Teal Mask for a while, I started to like her. She reminded me of myself in a way. (Despite me being transmasculine/nonbinary) And for the love of her design to immediately go to ‘hey let’s make awful art of her’ makes me sick.

She’s honestly my favorite comfort character. She makes me happy.

And I know there’s awful art of characters in every fandom, but my point is: Why hate on Carmine when she’s simply just the living example of an actual sister and brother relationship? People can change, you know. Like goddamn…

She can go through changes. Plot exists for a reason. Like- can people actually get their act together and realize things aren’t so fucking black and white??

That being said; If you’re a Carmine hater, block me and move on. If you’re a Carmine hater but understand what I’m getting at, feel free to stay around! I’m always happy to spread the word and remove one of my favorite video game characters from a negative light.

~ Bea

[totheadhdgodsletmebe]

It would be really funny if Alain’s Malamar was once James’s Inkay.

Like some other team rocket grunt messed up, or some higher up, in team rocket saw it as too weak and left his Inkay in Kalos without James knowing

Alain finds the poor thing, while doing some work for the professor, but Inkay wanted nothing to do with him, cause it still wanted to be James pokemon (and it also recognized Alain as someone who it fought)

The poor thing kept looking and looking but still it couldn’t find Team Rocket at all. It got more and more hurt as it looked. One of Alain’s pokemon ends up find them, and convinces them to stay with him. Probably his Bisharp (Idk why but i feel like they are really sweet for some reason).

Inkay goes through the whole emotional process, of believe it has been abandoned and that it was left behind because it wasn’t good enough. It stops taking care of its self and eating, while it’s in this head space. Alain and the rest of sycamore Lab try’s to take care of it. Alain can definitely not relate to that in anyway.

Talking to them, Alain is able to convince Inkay that is much more than its trainer and that it is not its fault for being left behind. It’s not its fault that it was tricked into believing that the other person cared for them, and that still wanting the person to care for you is ok. Yes, you have to realize that they didn’t care for you, but still having good feelings and thoughts about that person is also ok. Alain was there to help them move past that, so they can be something other than a team rocket pokemon.

Suffice to say, Inkay lets Alain catch them. Inkay before was a pretty strong pokemon on its own before, so it took to fighting really quickly. Having a friend/Role model in Bisharp in was also good for it setting into Alains team.

Clemont’s and Bonnie probably also recognize them as a Team rocket pokemon. Inkay feels guilty for all of what happened, but it’s forgiven really quickly. I could see it being friends with Clem’s Chespin, a lot because they both have a sweet tooth. Macaron thieves at heart.

Well, it evolves eventually But because it is never shown in the anime how it evolves. The only thing I can imagine is, Inkay being like “Im ready sir” Alain just grab them and turn them upside down. Then boom their’s your Malamar. There was also probably something else, going on when it evolves, like fighting Neo Team Flare members maybe.

Through out all of this sadly James just thinks his pokemon is having the time of it life with somewhere in a Team rocket base.

When Alain was fighting in the World Coronation series, Team Rocket could just swear that he had at some point seen that Malamar but didn’t know where. But during the Masters 8 competition James realizes that is his pokemon and is so proud of them but confused of how Malamar got here.

At some point James confronts Alain on how he has his pokemon. Alain isn’t having any of it, his Bisharp isn’t either. Malamar is torn a bit, because it happy to see James but still doesn’t know how to feel about its old trainer. Team Rocket are at this point hell bent on getting Malamar back, or at least talking to them. So they keep getting in fights.

Ash gets involved somehow and becomes the mediator between them, because A. He is confused, because James keeps calling Alain a kidnapper B. Team Rocket steal pokemon for living but they do not tend to abuse or abandon those pokemon. He gets them to tell both their sides of the story. James feels so bad for what happed, and is actually really grateful for Alain taking care of his pokemon. Alain is just happy that Malamar doesn’t have to think it was abandoned by choice anymore.

He also kinda lays out that if Malamar wants to go back to being James pokemon it can. But James thinks that Malamar can do more with Alain than it could do with him. Eventually they both deicide with their Pokémon’s agreement that, they will stay with Alain but James can come to visit when he wanted. Also Because Ash is a Champion now he can sigh in legal documents, so Alain agrees to in the case of his death. Malamar would go to James. Yes, they sighed a custody agreement for their Pokemon. Like it was a chid of divorce.

[love-is-a-pearl]

Be me <- idly scroll Pokeani tumblr, wandering if anyone has any rewrite ideas. <- find a post with an OP who claims to loves rewrites <- the OP has recent posts writing Ash analysis, this is neat bc I can't be bothered to watch over 1000 episodes for this I have my own AU so I've been a wee bit restless not having anyone to bounce ideas to, so this acts as a fun oneway conversation :3

It can be two-way if you're down to it :3c

Not but for real, I love what-ifs and imagining what pokeani could have done differently so so much QAQ

And since you gave me a reason to talk about those, here's some of my fave personal rewrites/what if ideas that I wish I had the time to explore or that someone else would just take it

Guzma winning the Alola league and battling Royal Mask and being the one to out him as Kukui.

While I love having Ash winning the Alola league, I feel very sad that Guzma never had a rematch against Kukui and having Guzma lose against Kukui at the end and have the prof become the champion anyway made lots of sense to me. Not to mention how it would parallel AshvxPaul and ughhh I love me Pokeani parallels <3

Also if that would set Guzma to try the island challenge again, specially after Ash perhaps talking about how giving up is never getting you to your dreams and that's why he keeps going even after so many failed attempts would have been *chefs kiss*

Unova but Iris is the main character.

Like, ideally I think of this in a universe where Ash won Sinnoh's league, but I guess he could stay as some sort of mentor idk. But in short, I love the idea of having Iris be the one doing gyms, perhaps even trying to become a gym leader at some point, participating in the Unova league and winning her way into the Elite Four. I like that she got the champion title she deserved in the end of the anime, but I would have died to see her journey to getting there yknow?

Maybe even a fanfic just focusing on that in-canon would be awesome too, but in a universe where the anime commited to Ash's retirement earlier and had a main girl chara in Unova would have been my dream coming true ngl

Kalos but is the games gang and not Serena and Clemont.

Look, I know people don't like Tierno, Trevor and Shauna, but the anime was the ideal place to make them more interesting! Having them be the ones traveling with Ash would have been so so much more interesting.

Also, I could include my other idea of "let a main boy do contests damnit" here and have Tierno be a coordinator to promote ORAS for a change.

Shauna and Trevor could do whatever, but considering she doesn't seem to have a goal in the games itself, we could use Serena's plot point with her and actually do it better (and either leave it open ended, a breeder since i love the idea of a main girl breeder or a coordinator along Tierno for extra drama :3)

Goh in Sinnoh

Either a DPani rewrite and we replace Brock with Goh or some mini arc in JN could work. Just.. I love the idea of Mesprit-Dawn, Ash-Azelf and Goh-Uxie connections. Also, have all the 3 official protagonists of the anime in the same adventure would be interesting to see since the Arceus mini arc didn't exactly do much with their dynamics.

Lillie should have been a trainer

I don't have what to say here other than that girl was proven to be amazing in double battles and it would have been the perfect final goal for her considering her initial fear but constant love for pokemon and I'm still so very angry how scared the anime always was of letting girls do battles :/

Masters 8 using reserves and being Ash vs all champs

Look, look the anime had the ideal chance of having a Kanto/Johto team vs Lance; Hoenn team vs Steven; Sinnoh team vs Cynthia; Unova team vs Iris; Kalos team vs Diantha; Alola team vs Alain and JN team vs Leon. IT WAS RIGHT THERE AND THE FACT THEY DROPPED THE BALL HAUNTS ME EVERY DAY!

[kalosian-woods]

haii :3

i am here to cash in my "what are your thoughts on the Kaalos Gym Leaders?" voucher! either in this au or in general lol,

Waheyy, I'm so glad you decided to visit this humble abode and present the question that is so big that it cannot be contained in 3 maxxed out AO3 comments heh <33 I hope you enjoy your service in this super long ask and have fun at my exceedingly insane takes :P

Okay, so I'm just going to bounce around everywhere here because I have such a love for characters that ends up blurring the line with what we got in canon and what we can further extrapolate/build upon (in the AU verse), as well as bring up stuff I've already said beforehand for more cohesion + also gamesverse and maybe teraleaks as well, so it's going to get crazy around here. BUT such is the price of taking up a big project lol

Probably under the cut? Under the cut lol.

(Also because Tumblr hates me, I've got to cut this into three seperate posts so I don't clog up everything. Would just rb this but that'll ruin the surprise lol. Also it takes ages to make an individual post like this ngl)

So, of course, Kalos is the first/only region where we get focus on the resident travelling Gym Leader companion that actually has a connection with their Gym, as opposed to Kanto-Sinnoh where Brock was breaking free from that lifestyle and Unova where Cilan is presumably taking a break (presumably). With Clemont, his journey technically starts with his expulsion from his own Gym, which forced him to actually go beyond the limited and controlled enviroment of Prism Tower and see the outside world. And it so happens that he stumbles upon Ash who is rushing towards the Gym Battle and saves him from his own recklessness with his (Clemont's) own preparedness (the inflatable bag).

And honestly, I feel like that's such an amazing way to display both of their weaknesses and even a little bit of their strengths. Clemont is forced to walk around the place he was removed from/frozen by a sense of apphrension, Ash is forcing himself into a challenge he isn't ready for/blinded by passion. Clemont always being prepared while Ash is always active. The way that the anime highlights that in the two-parter by then having Clemont actively trying be complicit, little by little, in Ash's rescue of Garchomp by unlocking a side door to Prism Tower, then try to climb up to where Ash is, really shows how much he has went through in that initial meeting. Would Clemont from a day ago try to climb up Prism Tower to help save a crazed psuedo? No, but Ash's influence pushed him in ways that he never expected... even if he did freeze up at the end when Ash fell.

(the holy Clemont square of ep 2 and 3 lol)

So Clemont is deciding that Ash is the paragon of courage and that he needs to learn off him. It's interesting that 'courage' is the quality that he latches onto, because (as we learn later on) we learn that his particular problem is that he was unable to return to his Gym after getting kicked out by the robot that he built. But it wasn't that simple, was it? That robot was Clembot, a Gym Leader robot, and it utilised his own Pokemon against him-- of their free will-- to make sure that he stayed out.

Ash in relation to Pokemon and courage. These are all things that Clemont thinks are key to solving his problem. That's the reason why he takes up this journey alongside Ash, and it's his (self-perceived) failings as a Gym Leader that truly drives this reason along, because he can't face Clembot and his entire Gym Team with nothing, with an 'inexperienced Bunnelby' (literally his words), with just himself as he is.

Now this is where the AU is going to kick in because MAN does he just resolve that mini-arc/start of a greater arc so quickly (ep 9 my beloathed): Clemont avoids the Gym for some time and makes sure that everyone else does as well. He lies by ommission, because at the start the truth doesn't serve him, and then later on he's scared of their reaction, because they are one of the few people (Ash and Serena) who he's actually formed a good bond with. Despite starting this journey to discover courage that will help him take back the Gym, Clemont finds friends instead-- friends that will do anything for him, people and Pokemon. Because yes, it's not only Ash and Serena that he's found, right? It's Bunnelby and Chespin too (PLEASE WHY DOESN'T CHESPIN AID IN THE GYM TAKEBACK ;w;) (Serena could've maybe done a little more as well ngl). All of them, in conjunction, help him take back the Gym in the end. Clemont doesn't take back the Gym on his own, but with all of his friends by his side, and I think that's what really mattered at the end-- beyond out-of-the-box strategies and a malfunctioning robot. And I think that's such a beautiful lesson, that the best solution to your problems can usually be helped with teamwork and with others (courage in its own way).

(this is so beautiful fr.... :'D) (also yes the gif quality sucks here just take it pls)

Another pivotal moment in Clemont's (barely existing) Gym Leader arc is, of course, when he's getting ready to face Ash himself with the fifth badge on the line. XY EP62 / 'The Future Is Now, Thanks To Determination' is pretty light with the details, but listen I will take anything right now. And the fact that Clemont is wondering about his status as a Gym Leader and whether things should change because Ash is a friend, a friend who has taught him a lot during their journey together? Wondering if he can even face someone like Ash, who he has learnt is unpredictable, insatiable, and never stopping? And the way that he decides to take some time off to train up for it, because he remembers his promise to make it 'a Gym Battle he'll never forget' and he honestly, truly, wants to give Ash that???? He even returns Ash's call to beat him at the end by saying that he's going to win in the end PLS

Because, seriously, I'm so intrigued about the fact that he questions if it's okay for him to challenge Ash as an 'ordinary Gym Leader', and then follows it up with if he has gained enough skills to even be worthy of it. You'd expect that being an ordinary Gym Leader isn't that high with the word 'ordinary', but the way that Clemont feels like he's not worthy of it in comparison to Ash's progress?? And then he asks himself is there anything he can offer Ash as a Gym Leader???

(okay but seriously WHY didn't we go into this more???)

Ngl, the only continuation we get for this is the actual Gym Battle ep itself, which is sad because as you can see from my Clemont + Sawyer snippet, he could've done so much at the Gym. He was reflecting what it meant to be a Gym Leader independent of Ash and everyone else (which is so cool and such a nice parallel to the start where he had to get his Gym back with the power of friendship), so why didn't we see him actually interacting with other challengers? Helping them learn how to battle? Guiding them like he has seen other Gym Leaders in his journey? Finding a bit of his own groove with this whole buisiness, while also brushing up on his Pokemon's skillsets and getting ready for Ash himself. Yeah, we got Bunnelby learning Wild Charge and the whole trying to program Clembot to an Ashbot (so many implications that I'm not getting into rn), but we could've gotten so much more from that. Even the fact that Clemont is alone again has so much potential, as he's always been with Bonnie at the very least. Show us how that affects him!! And also show us him interacting with his father, his Gym Pokemon and also Clembot too now that he's finally back in Lumiose for an extended amount of time.

But even then, the fact that the Gym Battle is a continuation of their first ever battle is pretty cool lol, especially with the plot twist that Clemont throws in to throw off Ash. Not going to go through the whole Gym Battle but just,,, urgh, why didn't we get more of this?? Why didn't we see Clemont go through his reflection time thinking up of ways to stop Ash, throwing out plans and scribbling up machines to help perfect his strategies and idk maybe even take some of that creativity that Ash has (because dang it anime, Clemont is creative!! How else does he make his machines sans the names themselves??) and actually blend it with his analysis?? And for him to get a little obessessed over winning before realising through his own challengers that it isn't about winning or losing that makes the Gym Battle great or memorable, but the fact that the challenger has given it their all?? Because it feels like we got the Sparksnote version of it imo and I really like delving into cool issues like this, especially since it concerns a major aspect of one of the main characters here (no matter how much the anime wants me to forget).

OKAY, now onto other Gym Leaders because I can't keep yapping about Clemont unless I get another post (or an ask) (can you believe this is all from the anime, and specifically only at two points from S1 and S2 respectively??)

(also can I say the 'Gym Freaks' quotes on Bulbepdia never fail to get me laughing?? The games has the weirdest yet funnest scoops on Gym Leaders for sure lol)

VIOLA

Man, it's going to be hard to talk about her without getting into her relationship with Grant (in anime makes me scream, wdym they only have two appearances together???) or her relationship with Alexa (which isn't as touched upon in canon... or in my fics so far?? need to fix that) but can I just say I love this madwoman of a person fr.

I keep thinking about how dang tough she was a first Gym Leader (if we're going in order, in which most people in Kalos aren't??), with the use of ice to combat Flying Types as well as mons on the ground and Psychic as a busted move. We know that she also goes around the Battle Chateau enough to have risen to Duchess, in which wow girl you passed your in-games self and also ARE YOU OKAY???

(proof of how busted she is in the anime, fr -> going by maths she must've won around, if not at least, 227 matches by the time we see her in the anime, ready to ascend to Grand Duchess-hood) (also why is this so blurry it's not just me, right??)

Anyways, she's very competitive and I feel like that bleeds into her Gym Battling style, really challenging new Trainers (either that or really hamming it up). On one hand it's pretty harsh, but also it really gives you that sense of accomplishment and good experience/EXP yes I've got the Sawyer syndrome.

(fun lines part 1: i've noticed, even in dub, how worked up she can get in gym battles. dw girl we all know you're op, no need to kill him ^^')

But also we know that she takes breaks from the Gym (ep 1, when Alexa called ahead and had to break it to a very hyperactive Ash the bad news), can really take some stunning pics with only a fracion of her works lining the foyer of the Santalune Gym and is known as a Bug Type photographer (which I would imagine would take a lot of patience and finesse with how finicky that Type can be), and idk but I love this detail in the games where her hair barrette is a birthday gift from Valerie and her camera is another one from Alexa (she is loved!!! 🥺🥺🥺). All of these details really do lend a more comprehensive view on Viola as a person with her own interests and her own life, which is so good to have in the Pokemon anime.

We never really get to dwell on her too much AU-wise so far, but I'm thinking of a small detour way later where we meet up with her again and all that lol. She has so much more to give the group beyond a rematch and a badass showing at the Chateau-- I feel like her eye for detail with photography would work so well with Serena and possible Pokevision shenanigans (especially since Alexa is very much Like That :/ with Serena as it were), and her connections with others really gives her more chances to show up around the place and feel more grounded as a person with interests beyond destroying peoples dreams battling. Imagine a whole clothing collection Valerie made based on an album Viola filled out and gifted? Or her trekking over to a place that Alexa has scouted that is full of cool/rare Bug Types and taking her own pictures? The fact that photography relies a lot on the right place at the right time, with so many factors coming into it like lighting and angle, and how it's all condensed to singular pictures that can be interpreted differently with different people?? And the whole evanescent nature of it all can lend really well to XY themes overall just hire me writers (jk I've got the AU to scream about instead).

We've seen her in the heat of battle, so maybe the next time we see her it's in a more relaxed state where she's indulging in her own hobbies. Balacing life and work. And giving that little realisation to Ash, who was pretty bitter after the first loss, that, idk, it wasn't personal. That she has her own things going on, her own problems and her own life beyond the Gym and that battling isn't everything. Also because we deserve more casual Viola please :P

GRANT

Okay I've got to preface this by saying that yes, Grant has to have also won more or less 227 matches in the Battle Chateau exclusively in order to have been at the rank he was at the start of XY EP20 / 'Breaking Titles at the Chateau!'. They're both insane. They're both battle fiends. They both probably spent some nights over at the Chateau just battling everyone within view without taking breaks.

I mean, the WAY that we are introduced to him in the anime is so refreshing and new!! He's in a battling enviroment but not in the Gym, not in his own 'carved' out area but in a communal space where chivalry is valued above all else (why no Wikstrom here it's perfect for him ;w;). He's hanging on a wall; like seriously what a WAY to really showcase how a character is like. And Viola walking in and noticing him and he notices her and waves first?? Just what is this guy /lh

I guess this is a good place as any to really get into the infamous Grant and Viola dynamics, but dw, we'll get into Grant as an individual later. Since I love to abuse dot-points to break up the monotony of paragraphs:

The way they are so casual with each other never fails to astound me. We rarely, if ever, have Gym Leaders that know each other-- Sure, there's E4 Flint and Gym Leader/E4-adjacent Volkner, the family relationship of Champion Lance and Gym Leader Claire, and Gym Leader Juan and his mentorship with Gym Leader/Champion Wallace (and everything for the memory links in the BW2 games), but we never really get explicit relationships between actual Gym Leaders on-screen, especially in the anime!! Even in XY (help me). So the fact that Viola and Grant readily know each other is so, so good to me <33

Speaking of casual, their banter!! Please!! Viola has had enough of his wall talk but still indulges in it anyways, she doesn't even have to look at him to know he was the one who fell, and he has no shame in just brushing off the incident and just harping on about the many intricacies of walls overall. Like, c'mon, what is this:

(get a room you two /j)

They can both get serious however, and the way that he takes her word for how gutsy Ash and his Pokemon can be (with a pinch of salt heh) is pretty cool to see. Again, we don't get to see Gym Leader interactions in the anime much, so seeing how they would react to a potential challenger moving across the region is fun! Although idk how legal it is, considering how Brock once said in S1 how he can't rat out another Gym's team/type... I mean, get yourself a rival/competitive bestie/whatever they are who is just as willing to bend the rules as you are!

Their battle. Where to begin. We've seen Champions (Cynthia) go up against E4s (even in Unova... hi one and only appearance of Caitlyn in the anime, at least you actually showed up ;w;), and Gym Leader (Skyla) against idk what Cilan was doing, but woo boy do NOT skimp out on these two Kalosian Trainers. While, yes, the Type match-up left a lot to be desired, I feel as if they both got their very unique battling styles from going toe-to-toe against each other, constantly improving their techniques and working with strengths/weaknesses in mind. That's how Viola was able to react so quickly against Grant's versitile Rock Tomb, and how Grant based his whole strategy to countering her speedy attacks by pulling in Rock Polish (and that cool Rock Tomb, seriously that was so fun to see!!). Honestly, it feels like Viola might have won their last match by the way that Grant has so many countermeasures against her, but it was a very close match this time regardless (just check out the way their Flash Cannon and Signal Beam cancelled each other out!!).

(the way that they read each other... it really speaks to their experience of the other's battling style)

We get a heck-ton of it in the Battle Chateau ep, but that isn't the only time. DESPITE me being blind to the fact that people really ship that particular moment (??) the Kalos Crisis really showed how even with the burning passion to eviscerate the other in battle, they watch each others back when trouble is ahead and would even...

Ahhm. Yeah. Sacrifice themselves. XY loves people jumping off stuff, evidently lol. But seriously, even with me and the rivals/competitive besties goggles on, you can tell that they really value and care for each other!!

About Grant himself, well, he's definitely a character and a half with his... okay I'm going to stop thinking about walls, lol. He doesn't actually get introduced as a Gym Leader until the very end of this episode; initially, Ash (and the gang, yes, that includes Clemont for some reason) is led to believe that he is just a strong Trainer by the COTD and Viola, and he doesn't correct them. He only-- just barely, may I add-- remembers to tell Ash that yes, they will meet again in Cyllage, and that's what clues them into his actual status. Which is interesting in the way that a lot of the Gym Leaders in Kalos are just met as ordinary folk-- Viola was just taking pics of Ash before following up after him, and Grant was just having fun at the Chateau (and Clemont was wandering around Lumiose is he okay?? /j). We've come a long way from just meeting the Gym Leaders straight up in their Gyms in Kanto, that's for sure.

And his Gym?? Immaculate. The famous rock-climbing wall (which he made optional!! It has no ill effect on the way your challenge is accepted!!) is such a cool way for him to connect with challengers, showcasing his love for (Rock Type) Pokemon and giving Trainers a new view, so to speak.

(also check out the gangs faces 5 seconds after lol VVV)

The way that he gets them to experience the wall so he can use it as an apt metaphor for what challengers should do is so (>///<); his whole strategy really is to just focus on what's ahead, always climbing up, never staying in one place. This really appeals to Ash, who obviously takes this lesson in full-heartedly, but it's also such a good lesson in life (and for everyone else in the gang as well). Don't look back. Keep moving ahead. There is no wall you can't climb.

And Grant?

Well, he's a wall too. And he wants you to go at him full-throttle, with all the Pokemon that you've got and the experience that you've gained, to overcome him. To show, with every fiber of your being, down to the very skin of your teeth, that you are ready for the League. That you've got what it takes to take the rest of the Gym Challenge on. That you, at 100%, can scale that wall and make it out of it just fine.

It's a hell of a way to battle, I'm sure (Just like with Viola; why are all of the Gyms so dang hardcore lol). But this is the guy who made it to the top rank of the Battle Chateau advocating that there is always something more to climb. He can walk that walk for sure lol.

The thing that I love about the later Pokemon series (and especially earlier XY imo) is how they handle the Gym Leaders, with all of these extra details that we never knew we needed beforehand that really build up their character. They're no longer 'random mentor figure that I've got to beat to show my worth', they're actual people with their own interests, their own lives outside, their own struggles and their own growth. They're not static. They're not just obstacles. And super fun eps like the Battle Chateau and arcs like Korrina's really do help in humanising them and making not only the wins more worthy and memorable, but also giving us new people to love and root for all the same.

Also I know this is supposed to be about them but just one (1) thing I want to touch on about the Battle Chateau:

C'mon. It has so much potential. It's literally spelt there. WHY DIDN'T CLEMONT DO ANYTHING HERE PLS :'((( Or even Serena!! It would be a nice place for her to go her own pace and try battling without the stress of... Viola or Grant lol. More ideas for me ig.

For the AU, well, we've already seen quite a bit of Grant lol. Transferring my romance-blind ass onto him and magnifying it was so fun lol, I feel like it goes so well against Monsieur Skittish at the top there/Clemont and Madame Very Intense At Time/Viola. It even said in the Teraleak how there are a bunch of ladies that like him but he thinks they're a nuisance like DAMN okay, I get it heh, you like your space. His love for walls is perfect, no notes or additions lol. He can handle social situations well, it's just that the nuance in relationships frequently fly over his head in a 'will-spam-your-phone-at-1am-if-you-missed-an-appointment-and-you've-only-met-once' sort of thing. What can I say? That's just his way of caring. And his Pokemon team reflect that in a way-- he plays with them just as much as he trains with them, and that's how he gets all of these cool moves. Amaura slides around on ice a lot and Onix can't really keep up, so that's how he learnt to counter her speed in such a way. Tyrunt hates ice though, so using moves that trains up its legs so it can break the ice or jump away from it, since its speed isn't the best, are some of the ways that Grant decided to do after training Tyrunt against Amaura. And Amaura is a very skittish Pokemon ('hey, she's kind of like you, Clemont!' 'stop it!') so Thunder Wave can stay lol, to boost her confidence.

Carefree and reckless and in a way, going for broke himself. A very fun guy who enjoys life to the fullest, and dang if I can't respect that. I've got to stop talking about him ONLY but just, argh, he's so interesting to me!! We'll definitely be seeing him soon with his Gym (many fics later... which is soon enough ig heh), and even afterwards, so I'll probably have more coherent thoughts there (this goes for every character I write about here because my opnions and thoughts always change around every day and while it allows perspective it is so tiring lol).

Also it's not just me, right?

(grant words coming out of previously-skittish kid, more at 7)

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Extra Parts because Tumblr hates my images: 2 | 3

[teehee-vibes]

In the Pokémon XY(Z) anime, I think that Tierno should have been the Pokémon performer out of the Kalos friends. I think he should have been Serena’s rival, instead of or with Shauna.

On one hand, Shauna’s great and fine, ya know? She was alright! But just Fine. I would like her more if she was there more.

On the other hand, Tierno’s personality is dancer. He is literally a DANCERRRRR. His Pokémon are DANCERS. It was his entire thing in the games (the source material) and even in the anime because of his battling style. And I get it, girl power and stuff. I loved the female solidarity in the master class, ya know? Girls supporting girls, even when competing, which is why I sorta would still like Shauna there (or give the other girls attention, god bless /lh). But as far fetched and/or impossible as it is for the anipoke writers (/lh again), I would have adored seeing a boy in that setting. A boy unabashedly passionate about performing in a sphere that’s female dominated and being just as supportive and positive. Being totally unashamed. I think that would be so cool.

It would have made his crush make more sense too, honestly, or just add some more charm to it. It wasn’t hindering the show because it didn’t come up often, just hindered his character because it came up when he was there. But imagine it developed as she grew into being a confident performer. Don’t even make the crush reciprocated, it still could have been cuter this way.

AND WHILE IM AT IT, because I just thought of this while writing, if I were in charge of the writing with my current mindset and understanding: Change up the counterparts for the trios.

Make Tierno and Serena each others’ counterparts, and change the others along with it.

I think it’s safe to say Trevor and Clemont were kinda~ counterparts, just the least developed of them (brainiacs, both seem to have some type of anxiety, not neurotypical IN THE SLIGHTEST, etc.). I think that Trevor and Ash could have been fun. Trevor was the member of the Kalos rival trio to master Mega Evolution, and he also battled in the League. In the games, he has a crisis about his own strength and doubts his abilities as a trainer because he has end goals different from other trainers. I just KNOW Ash would have been the best rival and friend to help him through that. Trevor has an affinity for taking photographs of Pokémon, pointing out the differences and rarities in them, and seeking out the legendaries Ash has met and battled before. And Ash, mister nomad with such love for the world around him, I think, would find a lot of interest in that and support it. Plus, Trevor has Charizard. Ash’s ace used to be Charizard. They could have bonded, they could have been incredible.

And that leaves Clemont and Shauna. And what do ya know?? Clemont and Shauna are EXPLICITLY FRIENDS in the games! It didn’t click with me until I started ranting about Tierno and Serena, but CLEMONT AND SHAUNA ARE CANONICALLY BUDDY BUDDY IN THE SOURCE MATERIAL (I get that Shauna is super friendly with Serena in the games as well, but you know what I mean). The device Shauna uses to break into the final chamber of Team Flare’s secret lab was a gift from Clemont. In the beginning of the game, Shauna knows little to nothing about being a trainer, but when she gets to Lumiose City and sees the gym leader and his little sister outside the gym, she recognizes them by face and exclaims “Those two are my friends! :D” It would have been fun seeing an unlikely friendship develop between the scientist who thinks he’s got his future figured out and the trainer with no set path who’s striving to love life as it is in the present.

Do you see the vision?

[timkonshipper]

How I imagine Ash’s relationship with his friends to be(Part 2):

Ash and dawn are the ultimate wing(wo)men: They love to hype each other up, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t equally tease and make fun of one another. Dawn loves to try new food with Ash and to her Ash and Brock are basically her big brothers. They’re very touchy-feely with one another but everything is completely platonic/familial. It’s just reassuring for them to know that they have the other with them. 

My hc is that Ash has chronic pain which flares up in cold climates. Gary is Ash’s no. 1 support in that regard but sinnoh is cold af. Whenever the pain is too much for him to handle, ash and dawn curl up together with all of their pokemon. Brock is usually too busy to join but whenever he has the time, he automatically joins in. 

Dawn mostly keeps her hair down but whenever they have time to spare, Ash loves to test out new hairstyles on it. 

Note: Ash showers his friends with gifts because he has a ton of money to spare. If he sees something and thinks that one of them would like it, he could care less about the price. 

Ash isn’t super duper close with Iris and Cilan mainly because he had a lot on his plate in Unova. He was too caught up with working on himself to develop very deep bonds with them. That doesn’t mean theyre not close friends however. They talk somewhat regularly and keep up with each other's accomplishments. Ash and Iris bicker a lot but when it's really important, they can comfort each other just as well. Cilan is like their eccentric uncle who they love but do not want to be seen with in public. 

Ash and Clemont are best buddies: Clemont is super smart however he does have a couple of self esteem issues. Ash has no qualms in absolutely destroying them all and showering Clemont with praise and affection. Ash was Clemont's bi awakening but there’s nothing romantic between the two. Ash battled quite innovatively in Kalos partly because he loved hearing Clemont be in awe of them. They have deep convos over call but their chat is full of random memes and jokes or just things that reminded them of each other. 

Ash and Serena have an older brother-little sister bond dynamic as well: Serena’s crush was not as fullblown as it was in the show. She did have lingering feelings in the beginning but they faded out over time. Ash was a major part of her growth and development as a person. Serena’s character arc in the anime is absolutely amazing. She learns how to be confident and love herself. It wasn’t lightning fast because earlier on she only did it so that Ash would be impressed. But then she begins to understand that she wants to be someone that she can be proud of. 

Shauna sends her into a lesbian panic but Ash helps her sort out her feelings. Ash was basically her guide into the real world and helped her become her own person. Similarly, when Ash was in a funk she helped bring him out of it and taught him the lesson that he had taught her. 

Ash and Kiawe are rivals that are 100% gay for each other. Ash found it amazing that someone had a passion to rival that which he had for pokemon. 

Ash is instrumental in Lillie’s development until she reaches a point where she becomes the main person behind her own growth. Ash was the proudest of them all when she could finally touch pokemon again. He is the biggest shipper of mallow and lillie and tries to make it become a reality. 

Ash and Lana are high on life: Ash is sarcastic and cynical with Lana in a way that he stays true to himself but still manages to both have fun and get rid of repressed trauma. 

Ash and sophocles are texting buddies: They don’t talk a lot separately and stick to groups, but it would take a day to scroll up through their hours worth of messages. They bounce ideas off on another and talk about everything and nothing at the same time. 

Ash really likes Goh but their friendship is still quite new and still developing. Goh doesn’t take criticism well so Ash has to make sure that whatever he means isn’t taken the wrong way. They’re learning and defining boundaries, but Ash doesn’t mind the time it’ll take cuz he’s mainly relaxing and exploring more. Sure the world championship is nice but until the final stretch comes, he still has a lot of free time on his hands.

[generallemarc]

How. Is the animation. This good.

Ok, so maybe having grown up with the classic series(which, while good, was made in the very early 2000s and shows) and Advance/DP(which, while solid as Pokemon seasons go, were clearly not getting the DBZ treatment) has given me lower expectations for this series than for others, because I think I've got like 5 other posts just saying this same thing. But while this is technically a plot-relevant episode because it's where Clemont catches Dedenne, it could not be projecting more filler energy if it tried. So why. The hell. Are they doing this much for it?? That scene that's a first-person view of Pikachu running through Dedenne's underground tunnels has more quality in it than, and I say this with love, several episodes of Kanto all put together. This is the complete opposite of the games, just like with Gen 5. Black and White were the last Pokemon games that everyone can agree were good, were in some ways the best the series ever got, while Best Wishes was absolute garbage that got an entire generation to stop watching the anime altogether. Meanwhile, X & Y the games were the start of most of the things people now hate about the series(albeit the "constantly introducing new gimmicks" thing can't be fully blamed on it as at the time it looked like megas were here to stay, and by golly they should have) while X & Y the anime took the show to heights that, at least in terms of visuals, it never even came close to before outside of feature films meant for theaters.