#i love hapu so much you have no idea

[forestofmemories]

also thinking about the way hapu views pokemon battles at first in the anime. she’s the granddaughter of a former kahuna, so to her battles were something that helped her grow strong, something that is useful to be knowledgeable about when protecting other people or pokemon- something sacred, even. the duty of a kahuna. she constantly refuses satoshi’s requests of having a pokemon battle with him bc the way she sees it, he battles for fun, bc he likes it, not bc it’s something you *must* do (whether to protect something or someone or in a dire situation). it’s no wonder she’s appalled when she learns satoshi wants to battle tapu fini seeing as at that point in time poni island had no kahuna (which meant there was no grand trial to take), bc hello that’s a guardian deity, this kid seemingly has no respect for customs and what the tapus mean to alola and to us and just wants to battle for fun

but she slowly opens up to the alola gang, to the point that she confronts tapu fini, a pokemon so important and sacred to her, just for a chance of getting her new friends back, bc at this rate they might never comeback. she opens up to the point that she readily, happily accepts satoshi’s challenge the moment she becomes a kahuna. to the point that she looks forward to battling satoshi again bc it was *fun*

she already knew that pokemon battles help people grow (stronger), especially when it comes to the challengers taking on the grand trial, but she comes to the realization that they can also help you grow as a person. it’s something that can help you understand and learn something about both your own pokemon, and the person you’re battling. something that can be fun and enjoyable

[crystalelemental]

"megazardx2: I’m so glad you enjoyed it, especially since you didn’t like the Gen 7 games much at all. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!"

Then this is as good a time as any! Pokemon Sun and Moon anime thoughts, as much as I can stuff in there.

As mentioned in my last recap, the only history I have with the anime is vague recollections from the original seasons, and XY which we watched just before this. And of them, Sun and Moon pretty quickly got itself into top spot. I really like the friend group, and I think Ash works best as just some kid with the others. It feels much more natural to him than the big hero thing of XY, which was overplayed and frankly silly.

This hasn't really gone anywhere. The friend group remains the strongest aspect, I love them. Mallow's probably the favorite of the bunch, but there's not a single one I disliked. Lillie and Sophocles precious, Kiawe and Lana are hilarious, Mallow just vibes the hardest with how I am as a person so like...I get it girl. Even Team Rocket was far more tolerable this season, back to being mostly ineffectual villains with more mild goals and significantly fewer war crimes committed. Bewear helps a lot. I think the decision to swap out their old blasting off routine to Bewear's myriad entries was divine.

Nanu and Acerola had a great little arc. They were a ton of fun while present. I didn't really click with Olivia but she's fine. Same with Hala, who felt like he could've done more. I did wind up liking Hapu, which is very unexpected. Faba's alright, Wicke doesn't really do much, and I have many thoughts, none of them particularly nice, about Lusamine. That leaves the last two clusters.

Kukui and Burnet are a delight. They're adorable, they're hilarious, big fan all around. I am very glad they ditched Kukui's secret just before the final match, I don't know if I would've been able to stomach it through that. The Masked Royal thing was always a bit goofy, and this is naturally no exception. But their whole dynamic is cute.

Guzma. Ooooh Guzma. You got hit with the same bat as Lusamine. From a character in the main games with a lot of going on that you could infer, to...literally just some pissbaby loser who's mad he can't win. Dude, this is like the least compelling villain story. I do like the attempt to use Golisopod as a sort of showcasing of that same mentality, but it's a nice artistic touch on a generally bad approach. I do not like Team Skull at all in this. Or, for that matter, Ilima. Who I legitimately forgot about until this moment. Ilima just doesn't do much of anything. Oh, he's just soft-spoken and nice and talented and all the ladies love him. Sure. But he's no Ryuki. Who wins the award for funniest one-shot character in the series.

The Ultra Beast episodes were solid. I generally like the idea behind it. It's goofy, but it fits functionally. I don't strictly mind why they function in the way they do, but I'd be lying if I said the explanation being "It's the kid in Lusamine coming out" didn't rub me the wrong way given everything else about her character. Mostly I think what the anime nails are character moments. Sophocles getting over his fears and starting to appreciate battles, Mallow getting established as a talented chef in her own right with a strength in reading people's wants, Lana being...genuinely just talented at everything? Like, girl doesn't get enough time to shine because they often pass it off to Kiawe or Ash, but she's legitimately good at like everything they wind up doing.

The tournament was...interesting. I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, given how quickly they belted through top 16 and top 8. But admittedly? It works. It truncates a lot into the critical moments. Watching XY, the battles could be interesting, but often it's sort of a...going through the motions? Like okay, yes, Ash vs Sawyer was generally a good time, but there were plenty of matchups that amount to very little in the grand scheme. Ash vs. Alain, I would be willing to argue, is largely forgettable. Nothing all that interesting happens until the final Greninja vs. Charizard matchup, but I don't really respect Charizard, and I hate Ash Greninja, so it's not like I cared. But it's telling that the entire match and all the episodes in it could've been boiled down to about those 5 minutes with little lost in terms of impact or importance.

I think that's what Sun and Moon nailed best in this arc. The battles are just the parts that matter. Ash's Rowlet has one real rival, and that's Hau's Decidueye. Just do those two, and it's a nice, condensed fight. That ends kinda lame because man it really kinda feels like Hau should've won that, or they should've waited to call it a while so it didn't feel like taking something from him. Mallow has low confidence in her battling and tries to shy away from a battle she expects to lose, and Lana calls on her to make an effort. We only need the one Pokemon for that. Sophocles is learning to put his all into battles and wants to stand his ground against Kiawe, and again, we can do that in one. We need a showing of Guzma being a vicious trainer in how he battles, and boy do you get the point in the 1v1 with Lana. They do really well at linking up just the emotional connection part of the battle. Even in 2v2 matches this holds, as they quickly get to Kiawe's ace in Turtonator, and eliminate Scizor in two seconds for a story beat. It's well done! Even Kukui and Ash, which is a much longer fight, leads off the the big emotional showdown of Torracat vs. Incineroar, but both are recalled before a victor is decided leaving you waiting for the return and how that'll play out. Even after that, they manage to pivot into Tapu Koko vs. Pikachu, which was another battle that needed to finish (though I am slightly sad we don't know Kukui's actual sixth Pokemon).

The Pokemon just feel like they have real connections, not just within their team but with their rivalries. Which is...more than I can say for XY. Every major rivalry in Pokemon was Greninja vs. someone else's ace. None of that team mattered otherwise. They had cute dynamics, I really liked Hawlucha and Noivern. But what role did Talonflame play once it evolved? It ceased to matter. Why bring Goodra back? Ash just needed a sixth Pokemon, no other reason. Comparatively, when Naganadel comes back, it doesn't have a strict rival, but it's the first time it's battling and it came back through dimensions to see them again, and you get how much that means. This season did really well with connection and emotional impact for pretty much everyone involved, and it did it in a cute slice of life-y way rather than trying to big up drama to make someone matter. Which I generally vibe with a lot more.

I'm trying to think of other things to talk about but am kinda running dry. I'm sleepy, we did a lot of chores. The point is, Sun and Moon was really good. Big fan. Unfortunately, my wife and I discussed where to go next. And we have reached consensus. My wife never watched anything before this. And Journeys is more of a recap thing from all accounts, visiting characters and places from everywhere. So we will, unfortunately, be going all the way back to the beginning. I have acquired veto power over episodes if I remember them sucking shit. The original Kanto stuff is only two seasons, so hopefully this will go quickly, but from here it's sequential. I think the intent is to actually go through everything. Brace for impact. And salt. Because save for exactly five episodes I look back upon fondly, I don't know how I'm going to tolerate original Ash, or Brock and Misty.

[sleepy-shinx]

The Truth in the Mist

Summary: It's been four years since Ingo disappeared, and when Emmet gets the opportunity for some answers, he is more than ready to go in search of them... no matter what those answers might mean.

TW: death mention and talk of the afterlife, technical major character death (no one actually dies in the fic, this is jic, I'll explain in the post tags)

Relationships: not directly mentioned, no, but skyla and elesa are DEFINITELY dating

Word Count: 4101

AO3 link:

Other Chapters: Chapter Two

Emmet didn’t know why he was here. 

…

It had started like any normal week… well, as normal as his life got nowadays. He got up, ate something quick, and fed the Pokemon. A quick shower later, and he was on his way to Gear Station.

Alone. Again .

He took care of some extra paperwork that morning, sitting in the control room to monitor the system as he worked to make sure there was nothing wrong or malfunctioning. Like there had been that evening . The singles line was due to be run that afternoon. Emmet didn’t like running the Singles line it wasn’t his line to run but he was determined not to let Unova’s Battle Subway fall short of its purpose- to help trainers hone their skills and become better. Not every trainer did Doubles battles.

It was at his lunchtime that something different happened.

A local news site had been running articles on various legendary Pokemon from other regions, wanting to help Unovan citizens learn more about other regions and their history. The articles were posted every Monday, and Emmet had naturally been tuning into every single one. It was verrrrrrry fascinating! Emmet liked learning about Pokemon he hadn’t encountered before, especially rare, extra strong ones. He often found himself thinking about how he would beat each legendary in battle if he’d ever get the opportunity. 

That day, the site had posted an article on Tapu Fini.

“ Tapu Fini is the Guardian Deity of Poni Island in the Alola Region. A Water/Fairy type, it’s said it can create pure water that can wash away an uncleanness… The ruins at which people go to give thanks to it are also underwater for much of the day, only becoming accessible to people to walk through when the tide goes out… It is said that the mist Tapu Fini creates can blur the line between this world and the next. There are many reports of people coming in contact with deceased loved ones while stuck in the confines of its fog.”

What.

Emmet didn’t know why his heart leaped at that, why he suddenly felt the uncontrollable urge to drop everything and go to Alola. Ingo was still alive . He knew this, deep inside of him. He would know if Ingo was actually dead, right?

Still, the urge to just try was overwhelming his vehement insistence that Ingo was still alive. He did not want to make any hasty decisions, however, so first, he called Elesa.

“ Emmet, I know you’re holding out your hope, and I can’t stop you from doing that. You have a connection no one else has with Ingo. But it’s been four years, and if there’s any way we can finally get some closure as to what happened… I think going to Alola is a good idea.”

They were on Skyla’s plane headed to Poni Island later that evening.

…

After landing in Alola, finding a Pokemon Center to stay at while they were there, and sleeping through the rest of that night, they set out in search of the Poni Island Kahuna early in the morning. Elesa had done more research while on the plane, trying to figure out the best way to get in contact with Tapu Fini, and she had found that the Island Kahunas had a connection with their respective Island Guardians, as they worked together to keep their island safe and peaceful. 

There was no guarantee the Poni Island Kahuna, Hapu, would be able to get them an audience with Tapu Fini, but she was clearly the best place to start. 

Hapu was not difficult to find. As soon as they asked a local the best way to find her and talk to her, they were directed toward a small farm only a short walk away from the port village they had ended up at. 

The farm was indeed, small, but very quaint. It was situated against the cliff of the island’s mountain, and there were a few small fields where various crops appeared to be growing. The fields were separated by walls made out of light brown brick, and the property was outlined by the same brick walls.

There was a small house behind all the fields, looking like it was only big enough for a kitchen, a living space, and a couple of rooms. Perfect for someone who lived alone, or with maybe one other person. It looked to be made of stone, with elaborate details carved into the walls. 

Elesa walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened a few seconds later, and they were face to face with Hapu herself.

“Well, hello there,” Hapu started, dusting off her pants as she greeted them. “I was not expecting to see some unfamiliar faces this morning, but it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m Hapu, Poni Island Kahuna.”

“Hi!” Elesa was the first to speak, putting a bright smile on her face. “I’m Elesa, Gym Leader of Nimbasa City in Unova.”

“I’m Skyla! Gym Leader of Misaltron City, also in Unova.” Skyla was matching Elesa’s wide grin.

“I am Emmet.” Emmet had his signature smile on his face, but it felt even more fake than it had been even for the last four years. “I am a Subway Boss. I am also from Nimbasa City.”

“Elesa, Skyla, and Emmet,” Hapu nodded. “We don’t often have visitors from other regions here on Poni Island, as MeleMele and Akala are the more… tourist-y islands. What brings you here from Unova?”

“A news site in Unova has been running weekly articles on legendary Pokemon from other regions,” Elesa explained, pulling up the article on Tapu Fini on her xTransreceiver. “This week’s article was about Tapu Fini.”

“Oh, I actually think they reached out to me about this, I think right before they started posting these,” Hapu mused as Elesa handed her the xTrans. “They wanted to know more about Tapu Fini for this article. I’m all for helping to educate people about Pokemon around the world, so I was happy to answer some of their questions. I think they reached out to the other three Kahunas too.”

Elesa nodded. “I didn’t even realize they were taking that so seriously.”

“It’s respectable, that’s for sure,” Hapu nodded. “However, I think I can take a guess now as to why you’re here. It has to do with Tapu Fini’s mist, doesn’t it?”

Emmet blinked. She was good .

Elesa inhaled, also looking slightly surprised. “Did you happen to hear about the missing person’s case that surfaced in Unova around four years ago? Surrounding Subway Boss Ingo?”

“I think I did hear some of the locals discussing it, yeah… He just kinda disappeared, right?”

“I am Emmet,” Emmet spoke up. “Ingo is my brother. He was investigating a disturbance in our tunnels. It was after the Subway closed. He did not resurface.”

Emmet did not like revisiting that terrible evening, but he was the one who knew the most about it.

“That really is a weird disappearance, huh,” Hapu mused. “I’m sorry to hear he hasn’t been found.”

“Well, you kinda hit the situation on the nose,” Elesa admitted. “It’s been so long since he disappeared…”

“And you were wondering if you might end up finally finding him in Tapu Fini’s mist,” Hapu finished for her, nodding as she met Emmet’s eyes. “I understand.”

“We were hoping you might be able to help Emmet get an audience with Tapu Fini, or at least point us in the right direction,” Skyla explained. 

“Well, I can’t directly get you the audience you seek, however…” Hapu pondered them for a few seconds. “I can tell you have only the best intentions in mind. It is hard to doubt Gym Leaders- while we don’t have any in Alola, I know that only those who have a true understanding and connection with their own Pokemon ever rise to those positions. A battle facility head is much the same, too. I can give you some guidance as to how to go about appealing to Tapu Fini to give you the best chances of success.” 

Hapu pointed to a spot further down the coast of the island. “If you go east along the coast, you’ll eventually find the Ruins of Hope. That is where we go to give thanks to Tapu Fini. I’m sure it was mentioned in the article, too. It is also the best place to attempt any sort of communication with Tapu Fini. If there is something you wish for it to hear, I recommend going there. You’re lucky, too- it should still be accessible this morning for another couple of hours before the tide comes in. However, I must inform you that not all wishes are heard. Even I do not know how Tapu Fini’s mind works. When I was appealing to it to be instated as Island Kahuna, it took me a few months of daily appeals to it before it ever appeared to me.”

Emmet’s heart sank. He did not know if they had a few months. A few days, probably, at most. His Subway was waiting for him, and Elesa and Skyla had gyms they needed to attend to. They were meant to return to Unova by the end of the week.

Elesa reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.

“However.” Hapu continued. “If your desire to see your brother again is strong, that will increase your chances of Tapu Fini granting your wish. But, as with anyone who comes to Poni Island seeking the opportunity to explore its mist, I must warn you. The mist can be dangerous. There are people who, once reunited with their loved ones, cannot bear to say goodbye again, and they ended up becoming lost forever. You need to be aware of this if you are to seek the opportunity to explore it yourselves. Do not let your grief cloud your judgment.”

“Thank you, Hapu,” Elesa nodded, her voice sincere. “We really appreciate the help.”

“I wish you the best in your quest,” Hapu nodded. 

Emmet also quickly voiced his own gratitude, Skyla following suit. After a quick farewell, they were heading towards the coast to make their way to the Ruins of Hope.

The walk did not take long, thankfully. Elesa also found a particularly large and pretty seashell in the sand, which she grabbed as an offering to Tapu Fini, along with a few berries. “Gotta do our best to get her to hear us, right?”

And that’s what lead to where Emmet was right now.

…

Emmet didn’t know why he was here. 

Emmet was standing in front of an elaborate altar, seashell and berries in hand as he prepared his words for the Island Guardian. He didn’t really quite know what to say. How was he to explain his reasoning for coming here when he wasn’t even convinced Ingo was dead? What if that put a damper on his chances of meeting Tapu Fini?

He wished he had more time. The tide was due to come in soon.

The ruins themselves were quite beautiful. The path leading down to them, underwater for most of the time, was made out of a dark magenta and gray stone weathered into its current shape with age. It was speckled with various underwater plants that still seemed to flourish just fine while the tide was out. Inside the ruin was a path, leading to a platform surrounded by water, enclosed entirely in a cave. The walls had even more elaborate designs gracing them. Two sets of stairs at the far end of the platform lead up to the altar he was at right now.

He needed to make his move. He needed to maximize his chances of Tapu Fini hearing him at some point while they were in Alola.

Sighing, Emmet settled on his words. He slowly set the offerings on the altar, and sat on his legs as he began to speak.

“Tapu Fini.” he began. “I know, chances are, you will not hear me. That is okay. You are verrrrry busy, I am sure. But, if you have the time. I would appreciate it if you would listen to me.”

The three humans standing in the ruins did not see the blue, purple, and black shell that slowly slid halfway into view at the entrance.

“Four years ago, my brother went missing.” Emmet continued, swallowing heavily. “He has not been found. I miss him. Elesa misses him. Our uncle and cousin miss him.”

He looked down. “Many people are convinced he is dead. Why else would he have not been found? For so long, I could not bring myself to believe it. I still don’t know that I do. My heart tells me he is alive. My brain says… how could he be? If he was still alive… wouldn’t we know by now?

“So that is why I am here. I need to understand. If this is the only way I could possibly talk to  Ingo… I have to try. So please.”

He bowed his head, tears starting to slip down his cheeks. “Allow me to enter your mist and find him.”

Unbeknownst to them, the cool-colored shell slowly slid away from the entrance, floating away and heading inland.

The three of them stayed there for as long as they could before Elesa walked up the stairs to the altar and laid a hand on his back. “Emmet. We don’t have much time before the tide will come in.”

“We can always try again tomorrow morning,” Skyla encouraged him. “Don’t give up. Tapu Fini will hear you.”

Emmet nodded, running his hands over his face to wipe away the tears that had not stopped falling. “Thank you both for waiting.”

“You know it’s no problem, Emmet,” Elesa reassured him. “This is what we’re here for.”

“As long as we got the rest of the day to waste, why don’t we look around Poni Island a little bit?” Skyla suggested. “Elesa, didn’t you say that Poni Island Grove is supposed to be really beautiful this time of year?”

Elesa nodded as she and Emmet made their way back down the stairs. “We should be careful not to disturb the local flora and fauna of course, but that spot’s supposed to be open for people to walk through to admire the view, yeah!”

“We should go, then.” Emmet started towards the exit, and the girls followed quickly behind him. “I did not have any other plans.”

…

Poni Island Grove was just as beautiful as Elesa had said. A path wide enough for a few people to walk in a line together swerved through a field of flowers. The variety of flowers was immense, two rivers of color flowing along either side of the path. However, it was also surrounded by tall stone walls, making it the grove its name implied it was. Clearly, this was a path cut through the mountain at some point many years ago.

“Oh, this is even more gorgeous than I could have imagined,” Skyla gushed. She and Elesa linked hands and started down the path, chatting to themselves as they walked. Emmet lagged behind, taking in the scenery at his own pace. It was verrrrry peaceful.

Ingo would love this .

The thought sent a pang of sadness through his chest, interrupting his attempts to clear his mind as he took everything in. He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his right temple and swallowing the lump that formed in his throat. 

At that exact moment, something in the air shifted.

Out of nowhere, the clear blue sky above them turned gray as it was covered in clouds. Shadows overtook the field, and a cool, mysterious breeze blew against him as he stopped in surprise.

Ahead of him, Elesa and Skyla also paused. “What the-” Elesa started, turning around to face him.

Then, just as suddenly, their surroundings became enveloped in gray. He could feel the humidity suddenly peak, to levels it only ever reached in Nimbasa in the morning after a rainstorm overnight-

Oh .

It was fog. Or, more specifically, mist .

“Emmet!” Elesa called out to him, her voice sounding further away than it probably should.

“Elesa!” Emmet called back. “Are you and Skyla okay?”

This time, he received no response.

…

Elesa waited for a response after her initial call, receiving none. She called again, hoping desperately to hear Emmet’s voice, to no avail.

Skyla squeezed her hand. “Is that what I think it is…?”

“It has to be,” Elesa whispered in response, her eyes tearing up as she realized what this seemingly confirmed.

…

Emmet also knew what this was.

His hands clenched into fists at his side as he processed. Here it was, exactly what he wanted, what he asked for.

That didn’t stop the growing pit of dread and grief in his stomach.

But he needed answers.

“Ingo?” he called, letting his voice grow in volume, his voice reaching to the furthest corners of the mist. “Ingo, are you here? Please, I need to see you again!”

Nothing happened.

“Ingo, please respond to me! It’s me! I am Emmet!”

Still nothing. The lump in his throat returned with a vengeance, and he couldn’t bite back a sob.

Then, he heard footsteps behind him. He froze, but a voice spoke to him before he could turn around.

“Hi, Emmet.”

That… was not the voice he was expecting to hear.

He spun around in surprise, coming face to face with a woman he’d never seen before in his life.

She was smiling softly at him, her blonde hair short with bangs outlining her pale face. A pink headpiece of some sort sat atop her head. Her outfit was pink and white, and she looked like she was dressed for warm weather, with a sleeveless top and shorts. Something was tied around her waist, and pink and white fabric fell from her waist behind her, looking almost like a cape if it weren’t tied in the wrong place. She wore pink shoes and wore a large bracelet on one wrist and identical anklets on both ankles. Around her neck was a clunky metal necklace that wasn’t fully connected all the way around, and one end had a large orange gemstone embedded in it. It sat right at the bottom of her neck.

Emmet blinked, trying to see if any memories of her from his childhood surfaced in his mind, but he drew another blank. 

Hesitantly, he asked, “Who are you?”

The strange woman clasped her hands together in front of her. “My name is Irida.”

“How do you know my name?” Emmet asked “I do not recall meeting you before.”

“You technically haven’t, yet,” Irida commented, one hand moving up to your chin. “Not at this point in your timeline. Time is weird, and hard to understand. I still can’t fully grasp it myself.”

Emmet was verrrrry confused. “What do you mean we-” 

He stopped himself. He had more pressing questions. 

“Why are you here?” he asked instead. “I came looking for my brother. You are not my brother.”

Irida took a deep breath. “That’s a very loaded question. You’re going to want both the short and the long answer.”

“Can we start with the short answer?”

“Of course. The reason Ingo isn’t here is that he’s not dead.”

… “What.” She knew Ingo’s name too?

“The long answer will take some time to explain.” She looked at him pointedly. “Are you sure you’re ready for it?”

Emmet wasn’t sure what to believe at this point. There was so much being thrown at him all at once already . But he came for answers and he wasn’t leaving without them.

“Yes. I am ready.”

…

“Four years ago, on a day you probably know very well, the timeline you are a part of was accidentally forcibly synced with a timeline 284 years in the past, in Ancient Sinnoh, also known as Hisui. So, when you are looking at the flow of time in those two places, basically, they are parallel to each other, and technically, the events happening in both places are, in a sense of things, happening simultaneously. This is not supposed to happen- times and spaces are supposed to exist independent of each other. When this happens, it can start to have effects on both realities.

“The cause of this link was a man in Hisui, who took control of the legendary Pokemon Giratina. Giratina was forced to begin to create tears in time and space, that connected Hisui with other places in time and space. One of those tears linked a place in the snowy north of Hisui with a place underneath the streets of Nimbasa City in modern-day Unova. In other words, it was linked with a tunnel in your subway. You and Ingo got reports of suspicious activity down there, which was actually the tear itself. When Ingo went to investigate it, he got pulled through to Hisui.

“That is when that link was created. A man whose timeline belonged in modern-day Unova ended up in the time and space of Sinnoh 284 years ago, and for as long as he was there, the timelines overlapped. Right now, for you, Ingo disappeared four years ago. For him, at this exact moment, it has been four years since he arrived there. 

“As for how I know you two, well, basically, I was the leader of one of the ancient clans who lived in Hisui at the same time that Ingo is there. I was the leader of the Pearl Clan, the clan that inhabits the snowy north of Hisui, and who found and took him in when he arrived there. I was the leader at this time, so I got to know Ingo very well during his time there.

“In this timeline, I have been dead for 220 years. In the Hisui timeline, I’m 23, and still very much alive. I know everything I am going through in the Hisui timeline, even though technically it hasn’t happened yet.

“The reason Ingo is not dead in this timeline, well… I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. But I’ve given you the information you need to make your own decisions about what to do next. I don’t know what’ll happen if, somehow, you don’t do what I know you are supposed to do. I don’t want to influence you in any way. So this is all I will tell you. But know this: Ingo misses you greatly , and very desperately wants to come home.”

…

Emmet didn’t quite know how to process everything he had just been told.

Irida’s gaze on him stayed steady. “I don’t expect you to fully understand all the timeline stuff. I still don’t really fully get it myself. But what you need to understand is where and when Ingo is.”

“I do understand. However, I am not sure I believe .”

“That’s… understandable,” Irida admitted. “But, I promise you. What I’m telling you is the truth.”

Suddenly, he heard a cry from behind him, and he spun around.

Floating in the air above him was the Pokemon he saw pictured in the article.

Tapu Fini.

“I think Tapu Fini is also trying to tell you the same thing,” Irida commented from behind him. “It did ask me to come here, after all.”

Tapu Fini nodded at him.

“... Thank you, Tapu Fini,” he murmured softly. Then he turned around. “Irida. Thank you too. I will figure out what to do next.”

Irida smiled back at him. “You’re welcome, Emmet. Good luck.”

Tapu Fini cried out again. The cry lasted longer than last time, and though Emmet couldn’t see it, it thrust its arms in the air.

Irida reached out and squeezed his shoulder, then turned and walked into the mist, disappearing into its folds.

Around him, the fog lifted, the clouds dissipated, and sunlight came shining back down on the flowers around him.

He turned around just in time to see Tapu Fini fly off into the Alolan sky.

“Emmet!” 

The emotional shout from Elesa from behind him was what brought him solidly back to reality. He spun around to see her and Skyla running at him. Elesa looked like she had been crying.

She stopped in front of him. “Emmet! What happened? Did you see Ingo? What did you learn?”

It was at that moment that the weight of everything that had just happened crashed down on him, and he could only make out three words, three words he was sure Elesa was not expecting to hear at that moment.

“Ingo is alive.”

[0poole]

Some Retrospective Thoughts on Gen 7

Galar’s making me go nuts. You already know. Let’s look back on Alola because why not. I feel like I have stuff to say about it. Also, I just watched the last episode of the Alolan Anime, so there’s that.

Whenever I first think back to Gen 7, I think “Eh, it was alright. Nothing special, I guess.” The Pokemon were decent, apart from being almost universally slow, apart from like 3 speed demons, the starters weren’t much, the story was alright, the location was alright, etc. etc. 

Then, I ACTUALLY think back, and I realize… I have no idea why I was thinking that. This generation was actually amazing.

First of all, they finally put the motif of the Sun and Moon into game types. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air after they tried to use the fucking dimensions in 3D space for titles in Gen 6 (Loved that gen too, but seriously “Life” and “Death” would both be more fitting and not as strange. Maybe they don’t want “Death” as a title tho). Really fits in with how naturally themed everything is too, which is obviously for the best, since this is the most “natural” game to date. Even though we technically already had an America-based region in Unova, Hawai’i is so unique in its own right it definitely fits for a region. I’m usually the type who doesn’t like super overt themes in things, and kind of just wants a very generalized experience, but it’s probably for the good of everyone that they don’t actually follow through with that idea. 

Probably the biggest thing to come out of this generation is the new habit of them posting short little videos on Youtube revealing new Pokemon/features/etc. Obviously they were super trigger happy with them then, but now it seems they’ve taken a step back a little. I do love this idea, though, because it actually hypes me up more than anything else ever could. I remember before, even though I was kinda-sorta trying to follow the updates on Gens 4-6, I never really felt like I could, and even though I was going to get the games no matter what, now I realize I really want to know what I’m getting into. 

I remember exactly where I was for some of the major announcements. For the starters, I was in my high school geometry class, where I watched and re-watched that video dozens of times just so I could keep looking at them. I started off on Rowlet’s side of course, but once I realized he was getting all the attention and ol Popplio was getting basically none, I changed my allegiance and stayed there to this day. Ignoring the fact that I don’t really like any of the final evolutions enough to actually use them in game, I LOVE Popplio himself. It’s seriously a shame that he didn’t become some clown seal like everyone was speculating. Unlike how it seems, I really, really like “normal” clown characters (as in, not “horror” clowns), so he could’ve easily become one of my favorites in that case. Decidueye is definitely my favorite of the final forms, and Incineroar I think is still underrated. Sure, whatever, he’s bipedal, and it’s weirder than it otherwise would be, but for some reason I love how his mouth was an actual modeled mouth and not just an image slapped on there like most Pokemon. It really made him more expressive than the average Pokemon. Plus, the animation for Darkest Lariat is really cool, with his hands flashing against a flat back background for a second before actually doing the move. Even better, it’s great meme potential when hacked onto other Pokemon, like Wailord.

I don’t remember if Solgaleo and Lunala were introduced in that first trailer too, but either way I love both of them. I was a bit more drawn to Solgaleo at first, but Lunala has since grown to be one of my favorite legendaries of all. The starry wings, golden rims, and white skeleton-y body are such a great combo. And yeah, sure, Solgaleo would’ve been more fitting as a fire type or whatever, but since stars form the heavy metals that make it onto planets it’s fine. I won’t accept that Lunala should’ve been a dark type, though. The Moon is a major embodiment of light in the night sky, so if anything it shouldn’t be related to darkness. As for Necrozma, I love his base form a lot. It’s such a strange look, especially how the back of his head is transparent. It’s the perfect “evil prism” pokemon. I really just wish Ultra Necrozma had more detail to him, though. He looks so flat for such a major figure in the games… At least he had a good battle and an even BETTER theme song, hot damn

Guess that’s a good transition to talk about the music, and I guess tangentially about Team Skull, since they were probably the best possible departure from the usual “Evil Team” formula. Them just being random hooligans causing trouble instead of a formal organization trying for world domination is a good change of pace, as pretty much everyone agrees… It wouldn’t have been so great if they didn’t at least try to incorporate rap/trap music into their themes. They’re probably the most music-oriented Team canonically speaking, so they’d have to have a great theme. Also, the idea that they feel left behind by the traditions of the Trials really makes sense, since something so important in their culture would definitely make someone feel left out if they couldn’t get through it. 

Other themes for the more calm situations, like Hau’oli City’s night theme, are also extremely good. I didn’t even realize how much I loved that track until I heard Insaneintherain’s cover of it. It almost sounds like something out of Steven Universe, for how pleasant it is (apart from the piano). Lillie’s theme still gives me the warm fuzzies every time I hear it, too. I don’t think a single game before this has ever done the credits so well, too. Apart from the fun artwork, the last shot of Lillie and the game’s legendary actually just kills me every time. She’s such an adorable, pure soul, it’s crazy to think that when she was first revealed, we thought she was the secret supervillain of the game, just because she looked kinda peeved in her official art. We weren’t far off, though, with the Aether Foundation and all. I love both the calm theme of the Paradise itself AND their evil battle theme. Even though one is obviously an evil theme, it does feel like it came from the same source. Same goes for Lusamine’s theme. I really love the Aether Foundation as a whole too, where we can now have “Good” Foundation archetypes to counter the Evil Team archetype. Plus, their designs all involve white with gold accents, which is basically my brand. I tried to design my own Aether outfit the instant I saw them, since I love their look so much. 

As for battle themes, I love how jazzy Galdion’s battle theme ended up. It made him so much more interesting than just a generic edgelord. The Elite Four’s battle theme might actually be the scariest theme to date for some reason, and yet all I can picture when listening to it is Acerola bobbing joyfully back and forth… Basically the same way, the Tapu battle theme is also pretty crazy, with tribal chants in the back of it. The Tapus are probably the coolest group of legendaries in the game, considering how unique they are, with their oddly wooden shells that represent animals. It really makes them feel like spirits brought about by the people of Alola themselves, instead of just some being that came out of nowhere. Probably the one theme that is the most nostalgic (yes, I know it was only 3 years ago, you can still feel nostalgia damnit) for me is the Kahuna battle theme. It was probably just some random comment on Youtube, but somewhere someone said that it was the perfect theme because it starts off intimidating, but quickly switches into a super fun melody, because ultimately, the Island Challenge is for fun. I just love that. I’m always looking for “Fun” stuff in pretty much everything, so I like a theme that represents that. Also, it’s just super catchy, and even expanded upon in Pokemon Masters. Let it be known that Hapu is the best Kahuna by the way. She cute. Also, watching her become the Kahuna is the best world building you could possibly muster up for this kind of setting. 

Of course, I’m intentionally leaving out a certain group…

You know what I think of when I think of Hawai’i? Pearly white sand beaches… Palm trees… Fruity drinks… oh, and let’s not forget fucking interdimensional aliens. 

The Ultra Beasts are the exact type of thing I’d want to insert into the Pokemon world, and that’s why I love them. They’re so weird in the best ways possible. When they were introduced in a trailer, I had the same reaction as I did with Type: Null. They put him up on the screen for a bit and was like “Haha here’s ‘Type: Null,’ okay next” like EXCUSE ME? YOU CAN’T JUST SHOW ME A POKEMON CALLED “Type: Null” AND NOT EXPLAIN WHAT’S GOING ON. Of course, that’s kind of what the games were for, but it was seriously a shock to the system to see Pokemon with code names instead of actual names. You also can’t convince me that Pheromosa wasn’t designed after Lusamine, and to a lesser extent that Xurkitree wasn’t designed after Guzma. I think it’s canon that Lusamine styled Lillie after Nihilego in her crazed state, but the uncanny likeness between those other two is pretty darn notable. I think from the first batch, Celesteela was my favorite of them all, being like a rusted copper rocket ship or something, who can even smack you with her two giant rockets. Also, Pokemon directly based on folktales are always welcome, no matter what. Meanwhile, with the Ultra games being the first sequels to introduce brand-new Pokemon, Blacephalon easily took top spot. I did say I liked clowns, didn’t I? Plus, the biggest evidence that he’s best boi is that in the anime when he appeared, he didn’t even try to attack anything. He just wanted to show off (specifically, believe it or not, by moonwalking… Whoever’s idea that was needs a raise). I also love detachable heads, which is a great idea to mix with clowns, and I guess also fireworks in this case… I just love him. I really hope that there will be future instances of Ultra Beasts, since it’s apparently super easy to just make them however the hell you want them, and since you’re not limited to a region’s natural environment. Lord knows whoever designed Buzzwole didn’t have any limitations. Exploring his, and really all of their worlds in USUM was extremely fun. It’s a damn shame Blacephalon and Stakataka (again, what a name) didn’t get the same privilege. 

As for the Pokemon as a whole, like I mentioned, off the top of my head I don’t feel super crazy about many of them, even though that’s a total lie. Shiinotic appealed to my inner mushroom-character-lover so much that I basically designed a character that looked identical to him. He’s easily the best mushroom Pokemon to date, where he looks pretty cute while also being just slightly creepy enough, with those souless eyes. The concept for Araquanid is amazing, where he’s a reverse Diving Bell spider. I might’ve designed him a bit differently, but he still looks super cool. The ideas behind Oranguru and Passimian are also cool, since we haven’t delved much into intelligent ape Pokemon enough. Wishiwashi is another great concept, and probably the best fish Pokemon in my opinion because of it. Lurantis and Minior are total cuties, the latter being one of those Pokemon that isn’t always in the forefront of my mind, but the instant it is it reclaims its place as one of my all-time favorites. Golisopod and Kommo-o are two of the coolest Pokemon designs to me, the latter being my all-time favorite Pseudo-Legendary. Vikavolt looks awesome, despite being deceptively slow. Dhelmise looks weird until you realize it’s actually insanely large (like, Wailord large). Mudsdale is just an all-around good-looking horse. Oricorio also looks really cool, especially in her fiery form. Tsareena is, well… Tsareena… That’s not even including the adorable Magearna and Marshadow, who are in generational limbo… Also, I think Mimikyu might be the overall best addition to the franchise ever. No Pika-clone could ever compare. 

I mean, specifically as far as a single Pokemon goes, Mimikyu is definitely the best addition to the franchise. Meanwhile, as far as concepts go, the absolutely HUGE idea of Regional Variants is the best addition. Again, I remember where I was when I heard the announcement: it was some sort of weird fantasy house, with a ton of cool details in it to make it look like a setting in some movie or something. It was awesome there, even if we were staying for only a night or so I think. Either way, the concept of different Pokemon adapting to different conditions in the region is the most perfect way to bring attention back to older Pokemon, and I’m so glad they seem to want to keep the idea for all future generations too. It’s especially fitting for Alola, since it’s a super remote island. I love how goofy Alolan Exeggutor is, especially because everyone else seems to love his goofiness too. Same sort of goes for Dugtrio, since his hair is actually based on a real thing… Marowak becoming a spiritual fire dancer is definitely the best possible iteration for him. My favorite might be the colorful Alolan Muk, though, even if Alolan Vulpix is infinitely cuter and better than fiery Vulpix in every way. I cannot be convinced otherwise.

Also, she’s a perfect fit for Lillie, so I guess I’ll use that as my transition into talking about the characters/anime. I’m just gonna be real with you. I’m not going to hold back. Alola has some of the cutest girls in the entire franchise. But first of all, let’s divert that train and instead lust after a man who is easily the hottest professor in the games yet, Kukui. What self-respecting researcher wouldn’t wear his professor-mandated lab coat without any undershirt? He needs his bulging abs as target practice for his Pokemon’s moves, people. He needs to let them breathe. Also, I was kind of enamoured with Sycamore before him, but you can’t deny the tinted skin gets to you a little. Burnet’s a lucky gal, let’s just say.

Okay, now that we’ve established that my pants don’t discriminate, we have to talk about Wicke. So now that that’s covered, can I just say I love Mina? I’d say she deserves more attention, but she was the only Alolan to make it into Lets Go for some reason, so I guess she’s well off? First of all, I love hippie-esque girls (idealized hippies, at least), so that’s a major plus… I mean, I should probably stop using the word “cute” altogether because it applies to every girl in the game, but yeah. Lana’s highly deserved spotlight in the anime made me love her too, where she was a perfect combination of extroverted while still more soft-spoken. I don’t know if that kind of characters’ an anime trope, but lord knows it’s not in western media, so I love how unique her personality is. Her interacting with Mallow and Lillie in cute, girly ways felt so wholesome. If the anime’s anything, it’s wholesome. 

One sec, though. I have to mention that I really like Hau. He’s obviously the one pinned as “Boo, he’s not a giga-asshole! That means he’s bad!” because I guess the fandom’s hive mind has collectively agreed that the only good rivals are assholes now. Like I said before, this stuff’s more about fun now. Hau’s a fun friend to fight, to the point where you beat him as the Champion you kinda feel bad for knocking him down so much. You feel bad because you like him, you know. Also, I forgot to mention this earlier but even though he isn’t entirely difficult himself, the trials in these games are actually both a difficult and interesting challenge. A 2v1 where you’re at the disadvantage is a great boss battle idea, especially with the strategies set out by a Pokemon’s different abilities and moves. Probably the best was Totem Lurantis, who of course summoned a Sunny Day-based Castform to activate her Chlorophyll and buff her Solar Blade, while adding a diverse fire type into play. It was really difficult, to be honest. Those who say it wasn’t either got lucky or have insane standards that cannot be met because they’re Pokemon Veterans who know every little thing about everything. I’m pretty much in that camp, and I still had to actually plan during the fight. Same goes for Totem Araquanid in USUM. I literally had to poison (not toxic, base poison) stall that guy because I couldn’t do anything to him otherwise. He was pretty much one-shotting everything I sent out, anyway, so I had to stall however I could. You can’t argue that that means it was “easy” because I knew how to beat him. It’s only “easy” if you can just send out pretty much whatever and do whatever and still win. Then there’s the Rainbow Rocket episode in USUM, which is just crazy… There’s not much to say that isn’t obvious there. It was fun seeing the villains that were victorious in a different dimension.

Anyways, for the anime, I also have a similar stance. It really seemed like the only people who started off hating it were anime nerds who had no concept of an in-between frame. I will say that it was a step down from XY/XYZ though, but those seasons’ quality was unusually high. Compared to the animation quality of every other season, it was so much better. First of all, I really don’t even like “anime style” that much, so a slightly more western style was very welcome. Like pretty much every show ever, the animation quality is seriously high where it counts, so there’s not much to be said about that, but I’d say the overall animation quality is a step up in general. The more simplified style only really looked weird in Ash because we’re so used to his more pointy style. Every other character looked totally fine, in my opinion. 

As for the story, I will say I would’ve wanted the scope of the plot to be much larger, like how with the other seasons Ash was going on an adventure, whereas here it was very contained, and centered around the Pokemon School. But, still, like I mentioned, I did enjoy the casual wholesomeness of it all. Not only do I just like mindless fun, but it made the crazy shit feel even crazier. The episode where Faba was trying to catch Nebby is a perfect example. It begins with a nice fun game of all the Pokemon and people jumping rope and having a good time, with some slapstick humor with Faba failing to capture Nebby. Then he does, and shit goes down. First of all, he’s torturing the little thing. Then, ASH (not his Pokemon, Ash himself) tackles Faba. Tell me, what other season had humans fighting other humans? I honestly can’t think of a single time when fighting was done with fists and not Pokemon (although surely I’m forgetting something, there’s gotta be at least one other example, right?) Then, Lillie re-experiences her past trauma of almost being abducted by Nihilego, except now her mom gets abducted in her place… Like, what happened? It was so cute a second ago. That’s always the selling point for any cartoon, for me. Stay casual for a decent amount, then break it with some uncharacteristically high tension. The same goes for the segment where Ash goes into Guzzlord’s post apocalyptic dimension. As for mega-feels, It’s great that they made Litten/Torracat an actual character instead of just some random Pokemon, with Stoutland and whatnot. The episode where they go into Tapu Fini’s mist and Mallow meets her mother, and Torracat meets Stoutland just destroyed me. It was strategically remedied by Lillie and Gladion not seeing their father, suggesting he’s still alive. There were some really great episodes in the season, for sure.

So, yeah… Alola was a good time. Don’t deny it. Galar’s gonna be great too. No game’s ever going to be perfect, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.

[moonvalecrossing]

Now here's something I haven't asked you in a long time: a "Fav and Least Fav" ask related to Pokémon. Favorite and least favorite Gym Leaders of each type they specialize in? Kahunas and Trial Captains will count, but if one ends up as your fav/least fav, I'd suggest separating them and the actual Gym Leader that's your fav/least fav of their type. Also, Bede and Marnie's statuses as Gym Leaders will count too, mostly just so Piers can have some competition with his sis. :P

Alrighty. Time to sit down and tackle this!

Normal Type- Least Favorite: Whitney. WHITNEY. That damn Milktank. I’m sure she’s killed many a Nuzlocke team. And yet still has the gall to cry like a baby when she loses. She also comes across as one of those vapid dumb and pretty trend girls. “Everyone was into pokemon so I got into it too!” I really think skill is the only thing they care about when they hand out the title of Gym Leader sometime because this chick really doesn’t seem to be the type who’d normally get this type of authority.

Normal Type- Most Favorite: Cheren. He is adorable baby husband. Though mostly it’s really cool to see another rival become a gym leader like Green did. I just wish they’d kept his glasses instead of for some reason swapping them to Bianca for some reason.

Fighting Type- Least Favorite: Korrina. Her character art bugs me. Is she seriously supposed to be wearing skates and also doing fighting moves? I can’t even stand on four wheel skates without nearly breaking every bone below my waist. And you’re telling me this girl runs around doing axe kicks on roller blades??? No thank you. Also she hoists a Lucario onto you. I like raising my pokemon from their earliest point and you go and make me have to take one because I’d feel bad if I didn’t since it wants to come with me now.

Fighting Type- Most Favorite: Brawly. Mostly because he’s hot. Slightly because his gym is actually a gym with workout equipment in the remake and I find that amazing and hilarious.

Flying Type- Least Favorite: Skyla. Partially because of her anime counterpart. Mostly because I hate her design. Why are her wrists so thick on those gloves? Why is she wearing boots, a cropped jacket, those weird gloves, and what look closer to boxer style panties than shorts underneath a bunch of bondage-y belts? She looks like a generic anime waifu more than a pokemon character. Like a Mega Man OC. Of one of those weird dating games where the women are just objects in female coded human form Skyla’s a humanized seatbelt.

Flying Type- Most Favorite: Falkner. Because Kahili isn’t a gym leader. Congrats, Falkner. You cute little bugger. Also he’s the only notable male flying type trainer.

Poison Type- Least Favorite: Prepare the flame shields. I don’t like Roxie. Small children as Gym Leaders bug the hell out of me. I see Gym Leaders as characters with high authority in the pokemon world. I hate the idea of kids who look like they’re only a few years out from learning the alphabet and basic mathematics having any kind of power in a region. The only exception I have is Galar because the gym leaders feel less important since they’re merely sports celebrities. ...Also I hate Roxie’s Pebbles Flintstone hair. It makes her look even more like a baby to me.

Poison Type- Most Favorite: Koga. Despite the fact I still think that he and Sabrina had their gyms switched, he’s still my favorite. He even became a member of the Elite 4 and left the gym to his daughter. I find that sweet.

Ground Type- Least Favorite: (Actually Hapu, because of reasons stated above for Roxie, except even more because this kid is a freaking KAHUNA. Why is this little mud farm girl chosen to be the KAHUNA of a whole dang island and one of the most important people in Alola? Surely the Tapus could find someone better, but then again the gods must be crazy.) Clay. Because he looks like a Texan Business Tycoon. And I’m a left-leaning American. That should probably explain things well enough. Because boy howdy do I not wanna open that can of worms. Maybe if I ever get to the point of fighting him in Black Version my opinion will change. But like I said. My real answer is Hapu. Clay just has the misfortune of being next at the bottom of the line.

Ground Type- Most Favorite: Giovanni. Because he is my mafia husbando and I am a garbage human. Have you seen a picture of the man in the “How I became a Pokemon Card” manga? Hot damn. And his newer pokemon cards? HOT DAMN.

Rock Type- Least Favorite: Gordie. This Ronaldo Fryman looking fucknugget with accessory tips from Bling Bling Boy on Johnny Test. He looks like one of those smug basement dweller types who’d call me a FEEEEEMALE if I turned him down for a date. Also his official art does the same thing I hate about Diantha’s. His knee faces more inner-forward but his foot’s pointing outward. Unless that picture’s drawn with him in mid dance spin, dude’s ankle is broken. At least he looks kind of cute when he doesn’t have his hair styled back in that douchey style. I feel like he’d yell about feemales again if I told him I thought his mom was hot. Also he’s not wearing socks with dress shoes and that should be a criminal offense.

Rock Type- Most Favorite: Roxanne is super cute. Even if she’s skirting the line of young people in positions of power she actually looks like a mature person who was ahead of her age level in school. However I will object to the idea of her being a teacher in any shape or form like in the anime. This person hasn’t even struggled through the mental ravages of puberty aint no way she should be allowed to be a teacher.

Bug Type- Least Favorite: Burgh, if only because people use him as a stereotype a lot and I hate that. Toxic masculinity is bs. MEN CAN BE FABULOUS WITHOUT BEING GAY. That said, his pants and shoes are a color crime.

Bug Type- Most Favorite: Guzma is the equivalent of a Bug Type trial captain and you will never convince me otherwise. I- what- you’re really gonna fight me on this? Fine. Bugsy. Bugsy is my precious bug-catching child. Precious baby.

Ghost Type- Least Favorite: Acerola. I’ve already stated why I hate kids in power like this. Plus I just. do not like. characters with the bubbly personality and the cat mouth. I instantly know I’m going to dislike a character the moment I see that damn catmouth. I’m not coming up with a non-trial alternative for this one. I am either neutral to or love the other ghost trainers.

Ghost Type- Most Favorite: Morty. Because 1. He’s hot. 2. He’s got a sweet scarf. 3. Agatha’s not a gym leader. :P Morty has a very nice design. After the remakes came out anyways.

Steel Type- Least Favorite: There’s only like two of these. I don’t hate Jasmine at all but she’s the only other actual gym leader of the Steel Type. So we’re gonna use Molayne anyways. Mostly because his stick-ass gangly legs give me the creeps.

Steel Type- Most Favorite: I’ve never met him but Byron looks like a miner hobo and I dig that. Plus he made Roark and Roark’s hot. (Then why isn’t Roark my favorite rock gym leader? Because not all my favorites can be because of my asexual thirst.)

Fire Type- Least Favorite: Blaine always makes me think of my grandfather and I am not that fond of my grandfather. Even though Blaine seems much much nicer and friendlier a grandpa than my actual grandfather.

Fire Type- Most Favorite: Flannery’s design is adorable and I love it. Doesn’t hurt that it’s also the kind of outfit my more pro-fire trainer would wear.

Water Type- Least Favorite: Marlon. Don’t get me wrong. Marlon’s hot. But he gets to be least favorite for lying about being a tan boy. Seriously look at that tan line around his swim suit that pastey white skin does not do his design favors.

Water Type- Most Favorite: Wallace. This one is pure thirst. Pure. Thirst. Wallace is a babe. I love everything about this fabulous bastard. Especially his hat and scarf in the remake. Especially the remake. Babe.

Grass Type- Least Favorite: Milo. I’m starting to feel like the people who design and did the art for some of these newer characters don’t know how bulkier people’s legs work. Because Milo and Gordie’s legs just look really, really wrong. These characters do not have ankles their calves just end at flat feet. Also milo’s leg is doin that broken ankle thing too. Other images don’t make them look as bad, though. Other than that I hate characters who have no whites to their eyes. It’s freaking creepy and Milo’s baby face doesn’t help. And I can not figure out the design of this guy’s eyebrows either. I know he has them but they don’t look like the anything but exist to blend with his bangs.

Grass Type- Most Favorite: Erika. I like her design a lot. I guess some of the weeb in me still exists deep in there.

Electric Type- Least Favorite: Sophocles. I just don’t like his design. At all. Only other arguments I could give are the kid with with Clemont again. That and his jumpsuit.

Electric Type- Most Favorite: Lt. Surge, Volkner, and Elesa are are great. But Elesa wins because Lt. Surge is a paranoid soldier who makes getting to him a chore and Volkner looks like he takes the same brooding pills they fed to Cloud after Final Fantasy Advent Children turned into into the broodlord. Also ‘urgh need actually challenging opponents’ characters bug me, regardless of how attractive they are.

Psychic Type- Least Favorite: Tate and Liza. But this time the main reason ISN’T because they’re babies. No, no. That’s a big reason, but even being psychics can’t save them. They have a BIG problem. The main reason for these two is that their gym team is garbage. Emerald and Black2/White2 not counting in this because of the remake being their current gym team in my eyes its just a damn solrock and lunatone! I love me Lunatone, don’t get me wrong. But damn, kids. How are you actually gym leaders with a team of pokemon that is barely suitable for the gym trainer in the first gym of the region? The only starter that can’t hit you with a super effective move is the fire starter. Being a double battle only means that I can get rid of your pokemon faster because I get to use TWO pokemon moves on my turn.

Psychic Type- Most Favorite: Olympia. Her design is absolutely beautiful. I want her dress. I want her cape. She is the black and silver space queen and she WILL BE RESPECTED IN THIS HOUSE. Even if whoever did her art doesn’t seem to realize dresses don’t slip into the navel or hug into the crotch hole. Surprised whoever drew it didn’t also add the camel-toe since they think fabric works that way. If I were her I’d strangle someone with one of those magical floaty ring bracelets. Space mom aint having non of your objectification shit.

Ice Type- Least Favorite: Candice. You live in a winter town. Your gym is an ice slide hell. Put on some goddamn pants and a coat. I’m not gonna give you any sympathy when you end up with the worst cold ever.

Ice Type- Most Favorite: Melony. She is adorable and has actual weight to her. And she loves her kids. And holy shit look at her she’s actually dressed for cold weather and ice unlike nearly every other goddamn Ice Gym Leader besides Pryce.

Dragon Type- Least Favorite: Claire is an arrogant b-witch who cant accept defeat and is worst that whitney because at least Whitney gave you your earned badge when she stopped crying like a baby. Claire refused until you did some ‘trial’ and still didn’t think she’d have to give you the badge until granddad dragon master told her to stop being a child. Also she gets more least favorite points because she’s what has prevented me from talking about how much I hate Iris here. That’s right, Claire. I dislike you so much you get MORE hate points because you prevent me from hating another character more than you.

Dragon Type- Most Favorite: Raihan is a babe and the most challenging Gym Leader I’ve ever faced. Bonus points because technically I wouldn’t call him a type-based gym leader but a strategy based leader because he focuses on weather more than dragons. Plus his “Leader Challenges You!” post makes him look a little wild.

Dark Type- Least Favorite: Marnie. Because I wanted to see her brother again so I invited him to the Championship thing and Marnie freaking cockblocked me by beating her brother in the first round. LET ME SEE YOUR BROTHER, MARNIE.

Dark Type- Most Favorite: Piers is my husband and Marnie’s just gonna have to deal with it. :P He’s super cute and his worrying over Marnie in the post game was the cutest damn thing. Plus young Piers in his rare league card is so precious and gives me life. It’s gonna take a lot of work for any other dark type trainer to top Piers.

Fairy Type- Least Favorite: Mina. I hate Mina. Lazy/Unfocused/High artist characters piss me off. Alo Mina should have been a normal type trial captain because of smeargle and the fact that Ilima has pink hair and the same huge buggy-like water eyes Valerie has. Mina even dips her damn hair in paint like Smeargle does with its tail. Mina couldn’t be assed to have an actual trial the first time around. Second time around she just made you go collect something from people you already beat.

Fairy Type- Most Favorite: Bede. If you can’t look this beautiful sparkly eye angel of a child in the eyes and find him amazing once he becomes Opal’s apprentice, you have no soul and should probably get that looked at.

[kibanafuji]

*steals this and runs*

GENERAL

name: griffin birthday: nov 1st sexual orientation: home of saxual dad’s name: incredibly boring. “david” school status: i was taking japanese classes but i’m moving soon and the schedule wasn’t very good this year so basically None Right Now

YES/NO

drink?: sometimes, but i’m picky (i acknowledge i am 20 but that is past the legal age in canada, don’t arrest me arrest my brother he’s 17 and drinks more than i do) smoke?: no eat cake?: who doesn’t believe in true love?: yes afraid of the dark?: depends on what i’m doing in it, though in most situations other than “trying to sleep” i probably will be spooked by it being too dark cat person: i have never owned a cat despite very very very desperately wanting a cat. feel like we would get along well, once i got used to how their bodies feel like they’re just skin and blood and like nothing else i swear to god every cat i have ever picked up felt like it had no bones virgin?: in a very christian relationship with my hatsune miku poster thank you very much. no kissing til marriage

FAVORITES

shampoo: i don’t have a favourite i just have one that i use constantly. it’s dove men’s 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, menthol and caffeine scented. it is convenient and makes my head feel fresh disney song: i haven’t watched a disney movie in ages and i actually can’t even remember how the song i’m about to talk about goes rn but you know that song with the meerkats from the spinoff lion king movie about pumba and timone meeting? i remember it being a bop and i trust my memory actress: uh... i dunno man i am not much one for this kind of celebrity... i like stephanie beatriz just as like, A Person, so car: optimus prime person: everyone in my terrifyingly named friend group, furby skinners anonymous. yes, we did skin a furby and yes, it did go apeshit when it woke up type of weather: light rain, or sunny without being too warm or bright and a good amount of clouds here and there (too many clouds or no clouds at all isn’t as nice) colour: green 90s Show: i’m assuming this means “started in the 90s and Ended sometime in the 90s or early 2000s” and i think the only show i’ve ever watched that that applies to is that 70s show so. by default, i guess it’s that

QUESTIONS

what is your special talent as a roleplayer?: uhhhhhhhhh. i think i am probably best at speech.......? like... making dialogue sound 1) unique amongst each character and 2) fitting for the character... i’ve considered applying to scanslation groups for stuff like that, since i’ve read many a scanslation where the dialogue is just really really literal and awkward and i feel like i’m pretty good at making it look Less Weird what is your favorite type of roleplay genre, and why?: i don’t know that i have a preference.......... if we were discussing general writing i could answer “i like writing roughly 1 page long poems that are fairly open to interpretation and are usually either horror or at the very least Weird And Fucked Up A Little Bit” if you could write any other muse - but know you don’t have the muse for them - who would it be?: *edits this one so it no longer says “him/her”* anyways, good question. probably a handful of sort of obscure characters-- not necessarily unimportant ones, but ones you don’t see rped often. last time i was around here i actually had a professor rowan and a hapu for a brief time, to give you an idea of what i mean what is one thing you think you need to work on as a partner?: i am easily intimidated and also i am frequently stuck not knowing how to continue an in-character conversation that someone who wasn’t autistic could probably figure out how to keep going but i can’t really help the latter very much what would be your warning label to other roleplayers?: i’m evil and i’m gremlin. viewer beware........... Your In Four A Scare’s...................... what is your favorite episode/scene of your muse?: all of them. just wanna stare into his beautiful eyes. and at his beautiful ass, What crack!ships do you have for your muse?: i don’t know what “crack” refers to do you mean rarepairs or something just for the Joke’s like raihan/godzilla (if it’s the former, probably raihan/milo. the latter, well i answered already didn’t i) What is your senpai blog for someone who plays the same muse as you?: n/a

[skittyminecraft]

HELLO DEAR SKITTY i hope you do not mind me returning to our sumo convo from the other day :]

in terms of you never beating usum i have to say... honestly. the postgame is the whole reason most people even play the game 😭 THAT BEING THE RAINBOW ROCKET MISSION AND THE ULTRA WORMHOLE MINIGAME!! i don't know how much you know about either of those so i won't Mansplain but i know the rainbow rocket mission was the main reason i played the games, and it admittedly DOES deliver it is great, but. usum still sacrifies so much....

you mentioning lusamine is the original Girl Boss and how cool the team skull vs aether foundation antagonist stuff is Literally SO TRUE and i could NOT agree more.......... yet in usum lusamine is so much more "sympathetic" and just.... boring? and unenjoyable than sumo, it's like they dumbed her down and got rid of all the actually cool and villainous stuff she did and it's SO LAME. the fucked up shit is Why she's awesome... she was such a cool villain before....... Why pokemon.....

however to conclude the fact that i got a guzma comic in my youtube recommended the other day should say everything that needs to be said about sumo being so good i love them. i still LOVE team skull my favorite "evil" team EASY... i love how colress is in sumo just because he can that's awesome... i love how grimsley is just in alola despite looking 50 years older than he did in bw and no one ever comments on it. it's amazing. and yes, maybe i DO like hapu cause she's a horse girl. but can you blame me mudsdale is one of the pokemon of all time EASY

HELLO CALLIZINC

Literally no idea what happens post game in usum so it wouldnt be Pokesplaining (<- Term i just made up) But sympathetic lusamine wouldnt be impossible (she is already has some sympathy with the missng husband thing) it definitely would be hard as hell to pull off though, esp for pokemon which has never been very nuanced when it comes to villians

Surely we all know the tightrope you have to walk else you just have "Character Experiences Zero Consequences Because They Were Kind Of Sad" <- I don't know if that is what happens to lusamine But something not great happened to her character it seems

anyway L + ratio + lusamine fell off + stream Team Skull Encounter Music

[dragongirlafro]

Miscellaneous things I liked about Sun and Moon

-Kukui coming to your house and just letting himself in.

-Kukui asking the main character to find the kahuna without actually giving a short fill in on who he is, other than “he looks just like a kahuna”.

-the little wobble effect when you’re crossing the bridge to save Nebby.

-The main character asking Lillie if she’s a kahuna, either jokingly or because they genuinely have no idea what a kahuna is.

-Hau’s theme. I mean, I’m psyched for Hau in general, but I really loved his music.

-the cutscenes. No seriously. I like reading dialogue and interactions between characters. The cutscenes at the beginning of the game really set the right mood and tone for me imo.

-Trainer models behind their Pokémon during battles.

-finding Ledybas on route 1.

-Kukui yelling “Oh yeah, Rockruff! My body is ready!” from inside his lab, giving the impression of a hilarious double entendre.

-The Rotom pokédex’s witty personality.

-And the wide variety of Pokédex entries ranging from “really sweet” to “how did this get past ERSB’s ratings?”

-just the sentiment of going out into the islands with your starter and just one or two low level Pokemon.

-Pokémon Refresh!! I had no idea how much of an improvement Refresh was to Amie! Like you can just give a Pokemon two sparkly rainbow beans and they’ll love you forever!

-the ability to just go into a PC and grab your pokémon or move it around without any of that “withdraw or deposit” bullshit.

-that adorable scene where Rotom takes a picture of you, Hau, and Lillie.

-Rotom thirsting over “that dreamboat Ilima”.

-The Skull grunts at the berry farm. More specifically the one who had self-esteem issues.

-when the Skull grunts think you can’t tell them apart cause they’d switched positions so they swap places and are like “how’s that?”

-Totem Pokémon being three times larger than they normally would and scaring the crap outta you.

-The fuckin anime-ass pose your main character does whenever they get a Z-crystal

-in fact Z-moves in general. A lot of older fans seem to dislike them but honestly they were one of the only things that convinced me to buy the game.

-Ride Pokémon!!!!No HMs!!!!!!!

-Also being able to program any Ride Pokémon on the D-pad. That’s become like second nature to me.

-that cutscene when you’re on the boat from Melemele to Akala island.

-and that little exchange between Lillie, Hau, and Kukui when they reach the shore.

-The shopping music. Holy fuck do I even need to tell you how amazing the shopping music is in this Gen???

-meeting Dexio and Sina again. I didn’t really care for the whole Zygarde thing but just seeing those two again was really sweet.

-Paniola Ranch and its chill af vibes.

-Lana trying to find a “strapping young swimmer” when she’s supposed to be guiding you through her trial.

-and her trying to convince you that her trial site has a Kyogre in it.

-The frickin Water type Z-move dance. Oh my god that wavy hula dance is the cutest thing ever.

-The whole “Professor Kukui wtf are you doing” “Who is this ‘Professor Kukui’ you speak of I am the Masked Royale!!” exchange.

-and then he just blurts out “and now we have our foursome!” and all the characters ignore it and move on as if that’s a normal thing to say in everyday conversation

-Kiawe’s trial. Just… everything about Kiawe’s trial.

-But mostly Hiker David.

-“Press A to pound the ingredients.”

Honestly tho that was the only redeeming quality to Mallow’s trial Totem Lurantis can go fuck itself in USUM.

-Professor Burnet’s groovin’ dimensional research lab theme.

-when Olivia does the Rock type Z-move dance and the camera just zooms in on Lillie gawking over her.

-OH YEAH that Pyukumuku chucking thing where you can get 20 000 pokédollars a day. I hope they bring that back because that was a real good way of making cash.

-And those missions in Pokécentres where if you’ve caught a set amount of Pokémon or if you’ve caught a specific Pokémon they’ll pay you like 10 000 dollars or something.

-Meeting Wicke for the first time and her being incredibly sweet and nice.

-That small bit when Hau can’t believe that Lusamine’s more than 40 years old and she’s really flattered.

-battling Nihilego for the first time.

-That scene on the boat to Ula’Ula Island where Hau talks to you and offers you a Malasada. That really solidified his friendship with the main character for me.

-Speaking of which that part where you’re at Malie Garden and Hau asks “hey, did you know-“ and you can just say “yah i know” and he’s like “dude come on I haven’t even asked the question yet.”

-that little side quest where you have to find a woman’s eight Stuffuls on route 10 that’s like really sweet but also why does she have so many stuffus?

-The Skull grunts who fucking try to steal a bus stop sign.

-Molayne. I liked his relationship with Kukui and Sophocles.

-and I especially liked the part where he gave you Kukui’s mask and when you give it to him Kukui’s just like “oH uhhhhh I’ll um give it back to the Masked Royale when I uh see him”

-Blush Mountain. It has such a nice name. Blush Mountain.

-Acerola’s, um… Little brother and sister? Kids she’s babysitting? I wasn’t too clear on how they were related to her, but they were cute either way.

-the whole bit where rotom’s afraid to go into the haunted store because “spoopy scary ghosts” despite him literally also being a ghost.

-On the subject of those two kids, the event where Team Skull stole the girl’s Yungoos and she gives you a Rare Candy just to get it back fucking broke my heart like oooooohhhh sweetie you didn’t have to give me this I would have gotten your Yungoos back either way!!

-Plumeria!!She was so underrated!

-uncle Grimsley’s cointoss bit where you could pick heads or tails but if you picked neither then he’d just say that Skarmory swooped in and grabbed it in midair, even though that obviously never happened and he was just bullshitting you.

-Also just the mere fact that Grimsley refers to himself as “Uncle Grimsley”

-Nanu. Enough said.

-The fact that all the Team Skull grunts in Po town are gay. Every. Single. One of them. gay

-That scene where Nanu does the Dark type Z-move pose and the main character and Gladion just stare at him and there’s just an awkward pause until he goes “there you cleared your trial or whatever”.

-actually now that I think about it, Sun and Moon had a lot of subtle humour.

-when you were infiltrating Aether Paradise and a good amount of employees were set on stopping you but there was like that ten percent who were like “whoa shit’s gettin wild out here lmao do you want us to heal your ‘mons? We could even take you back if you wanted i ain’t about to lose my job over some space conspiracy fuck that noise”

-That one Skull grunt who was all like, “wanna see me get hit by a Hyper Beam?”

-When you Battle Guzma outside of Lusamine’s mansion.

-LUSAMINE’S BATTLE THEME. HOLY SHIT.

-“Doot doo doo, just a Kahuna, taking a stroll through the laguna.”

-when Hau compliments Lillie over her outfit makeover and Gladion immediately pulls the defensive brother card.

-Seafolk Village’s night music. Oh my lord I’ve never wanted to marry a video game meledy before it.

-Hapu!!! Another underrated character!

-That scene where Lillie and the main character are in the cave on Exeggcutor Island in the rain.that was super cute.

-Vast Poni Canyon! Love me that guitar and flute!

-Mina!!! I can’t wait for her trial in usum I love her so much!!!!!

-when you go to Ultra Space and Rotom is unconscious because you’re disconnected from your world.

-When Lillie gave that whole speech to Lusamine and her sole reaction was basically “¯\_(ツ)_/¯” that absolutely slayed me

-After all that shit in Ultra Space and catching Nebby goes down and then Nanu’s just chilin’ at the Altar and is like “oh, hey, you can challenge the league I guess, if you really felt like it.”

-Kahili!!!!!

-THE MOTHERFUCKING CHAMPION THEME!!!

-that corny-ass scene where Lillie was gonna say something to the main character after the festival and it was all set up like a love scene from the final act of a goddamn comedy romance film and then they get shouldered by the fireworks. My heart can’t handle that kind of sappy cuteness and I need more of it.

-Looker and Anabel. Those two were adorbs.

-oh. And Alolan Raichu. When I first saw that Pokémon revealed in the trailer last July I knew that I had to buy Sun and Moon. Alolan Raichu is what got me into Pokémon.

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon thoughts

So just like I did with Sun and Moon, I’m going to put out all my thoughts of the game here. It’s going to cover post game and will not be spoiler free so that’s your warning if you still haven’t finished it. However, I’m not going to be touching on things that were the same in Sun and Moon. If you’re that interested in my thoughts, you can check out my post on the main game here and post game here.

My Team:

- I made it my mission to make sure I used as many alolan pokemon as possible this time around considering one of my regrets of my first Sun playthrough was that I didn’t use them enough. My final team ended up being the Rowlet line, the alolan Grimer line, the Noibat line, the Pichu line, the totem Salazzle and a spare spot where I exchanged pokemon that needed evolving through level up.

- Honestly, I don’t really look out for stats and whatever when choosing pokemon but damn most of them were frail af defensively. Like Pichu/Pikachu and Noibat were damn near unusable before they evolved. Because of this, I decided to keep the experience share on but only used refresh for status conditions up until the elite four as opposed to all the time like in Sun at which point I got sick of not using what was one of my favourite features in the game and used it for ages.

Trial + Elite Four Changes:

- So I thought getting all the “harder” sos call ins (the ones that heal and give weather helping conditions) in Sun and Moon was bad but Lana and Kiawe’s trials kicked my damn ass this time around. Like I didn’t even have issues with Kiawe’s trial in Sun and Moon but this time around, just like Lana’s trial, it took me two times to do it. Chances are though a lot of this had to do with having those defensively weak pokemon and not using refresh for the benefits.

- I have mixed feelings about Mallows trial. On the one hand, I liked it a lot more than the original games, but on the other, I still feel like it’s one of the most forgettable.

- As much as I get why they chose Vikavolt for Sophocles’ trial in Sun and Moon, to be honest, I liked Togedemaru a lot better. I also found it cute that you had to go get the Grubbin beforehand.

- I’m glad they actually made it clear that you could fight the other captains in the game considering I didn’t realise you could in Sun and Moon until waaay later than appropriate. However, I don’t think Mina’s trial was the way to do it. They hyped up the fact that Mina was going to have a trial and so much could have been done with it to the point of this feeling like a letdown if I’m honest.

- Honestly? I said this once and I’ll say it again, what was the point of Kahilli? Adding a little scene where she shows you how to use the flying z move does not make her any more relevant. I can understand replacing Hala considering he had said Hau already beat him, but not over her. Like I have nothing against her personally, I just wish they had bothered to do something with her.

- Kukui’s joke about being champion made me smile a little but to be honest, kinda eh about the rival being the champion battle again.

Story Changes:

Lusamine:

- I find it interesting that they really pushed Lusamine being someone with a mental illness that pushed her to become this way as opposed to intentionally negligent like in the original games. I mean it was very heavily implied that Mohn’s disappearance pushed her obsession which pushed her ignoring Gladion and Lillie in the original games, but the dialogue definitely pushed more of a selfish angle as opposed to mentally ill mindset, especially the difference in Gladion’s words. 

- I also find it interesting that there’s an implication that Lillie did not know what happened to Mohn in these games. Makes me wonder just how long ago he was taken. 

- I have also been spoiled about the fact Mohn visits Aether Foundation when you beat Gladion in the elite four rematch but doesn’t remember any of the family. I haven’t actually seen it but I have mixed feelings about the scene. I understand that this was meant to be a major moment of growth and closure for Lusamine and I’m glad they finally fixed the “You know where he is but never tell Lillie or Gladion” issue I had with the first game, but regardless of what goes down between them, I feel weird knowing that she never gave him the choice to know his kids. Not to mention, does Lillie even know he came? Is Gladion okay with it? It seemed that they deliberately put in how much what happened affected him into these games and yet all we get is a “Are you sure?” from him.

Guzma:

- Him becoming legitimate is everything I wanted. Him disbanding Team Skull in the process, not so much. Like with all the implications that he takes in teens that don’t fit in elsewhere and give them a place to belong, the dissemination as opposed to reforming of the team makes me sad.

- Along with Lillie, I love that you can fight alongside him during the post game.

Ultra Recon Squad + Wormholes:

- It was interesting to have them show up so early. Definitely not what I was expecting.

- I like that Hapu played a role as kahuna in the Necrozma story, even if only small.

- I would have liked more to be done with their world. Like I get not fleshing out every ultra world because that would have been insane, but the one that they made such a big deal about in nearly every trailer? Could have been done. I did like that it had the alternate squad there though.

- Quite frankly, the Necrozma story needed to be fleshed out more. Like it very clearly felt like dlc as opposed to a main difference in the game.

- All up the wormholes are one of the better features in the game. I do have to ask though, are shiny odds increased with them? Because I go 15ish years without even seeing a shiny in my game to suddenly getting one in the first wormhole which is odd to me haha.

Other changes:

- I hate and am terrible at mantine surfing tbh. Like it was cool the first time around and I have the records for Akala and Melemele but it’s going to take forever to get the other two. It actually makes me really sad because I was looking forward to it and just do not enjoy it at all.

- Making it so you can get Vikavolt and Crabominable earlier was a good change.

- Looker showing up made sense right up until he did nothing during the post game in regards to the villains which was just lame. Like I don’t care about his character but honestly? He’s useless in the game.

- As much as I would have also liked a Kommo-o clothing option too, I actuall like the Lurantis one more. Either way though, clothing is still too damn expensive in the game $2M should be enough to buy all the options tbh.

- I feel like the Rotom Loto is too OP considering you can use it any time he looks sad. In saying this, I hate how it pushes you to take pictures every time a pokemon evolves or constantly save or that type of thing. Like don’t get me wrong, I’m one of the seemingly few that thought that the photo club was cute but I’ll do it in my own time. So yeah, at least give us a “Never ask me this again” option.

- Continuing from this, forcing you to do festival plaza stuff on route 8 is not clever, it’s annoying. I didn’t want to use the feature in the first games and I’m only doing it now to get the damn stamp on the passport. Don’t force it haha.

- Pikachu valley was cute but literally what’s the point of the van? Like is it actually possible to get in there? Also I liked that they implied that the famous Pikachu was from there which made it seem like a jab at gossip journalists when that one asked him why he was in alola. Like making fun of the idea that they don’t even know the basics and are just trying to get a scoop makes me smirk.

- The way you choose your starter in these games is cuter, but honestly, the tutorial part of the game is still far too long. I get that there’s new players, but pokemon seriously need to consider putting “I’ve played Pokemon before” options for long time fans so we can skip seeing how to catch pokemon and so on.

- I preferred and was much more emotional about Lillie leaving for Kanto than Gladion.

Post Game

- Once again, I feel as if Looker should have played a larger role.

- I still do not understand them using old Archie and Maxie sprites. Like I get they’re from alternate universes but that doesn’t actually explain why they didn’t just use the ORAS ones.

- On that note, it’s heavily implied that Archie/Maxxie come from the same universe but I don’t see how that would work considering anything one does would just be undone by the other both weather wise and actions wise. So like apart from natural disasters happening, I don’t see their world being much different. But I suppose that’s the point. It could be any world.

- While I get it was post game and hence probably couldn’t take up too much room, I kinda wish they had done something different than what ultimately felt like a battle tree type quest. Like maybe rather than Giovanni bringing them all in, they happen to fall in and you have to do quests to stop them achieving their goals in Alola. So like finding Rayquaza to stop Archie and Maxie or racing to find ultra beasts before Giovanni. I don’t know, I know it’d take too much space up for the creator’s liking but I would have much preferred it.

Random other notes:

- My money is 100% on the first switch game being a gen one or two remake. There’s far too many references to Kanto in this game for the next game not to at least travel to Kanto. Whether or not this means starting back at the 151 is yet to be seen.

- On this note, everyone’s talking about who Hau’s dad is but I want to know who ours is. Is it the gym leader that signed the paper in the room? Probably not considering it’s implied the character knows who their father is and would have referred to them as such. Even less likely is my headcannon that it’s Giovanni as opposed to Surge which is what I see a lot of people guessing.

- I get that they’re going back to the regular method next game so want to leave alola behind, but I still find it strange that they added z crystals but not new alola forms.

- Despite people speculating otherwise, the Kantonian gym was exactly what I was expecting. However, I had hoped that they would have it earlier and it would be kinda like a trick house thing where each time you went, they had a different layout mimicking the Kanto gyms and actually had the trainers have that typing pokemon. So like after the first trial you could enter and it’d be a rock based one, second; a water based one and so on. I do however think that the fact that Ryuki said he wants to be a dragon gym leader will mean that the remakes will either have him take over the dragon trial and set it up as a gym or just 8 gyms in general.

Final thoughts:

This was a good game and improved a lot on parts that people didn’t like about the originals. However, while the story changes in the second half were much appreciated, the first half felt repetitive and drawn out. The game as a whole honestly just made me wish that these were Sun and Moon because the way it was done just makes them feel like dlc. Although in saying this, while it could have been done better, I do think these games were a necessary step to the generation four remakes that I’m still sure are coming out next year (lets face it, I doubt a new generation will be ready by then) and even generation five remakes, and the possibilities it has left for future games excites me.

[countmohawk]

Ultra Sun Recollections 07

The quiet episode! In arriving at Brooklet Hill, I had to pass by Paniola Town, which houses the Nursery. While I’m not ready to put the story on hold to activate the Dark Factory of Mass Production just yet, I will eventually pay homage to my usual Pokémon game tradition of breeding a whole box full of Abras, which are far and away the easiest Synchronize users to obtain. All I need is to go back to Melemele and catch a female to start the magic!

Lana “officially” stats her trial at the beginning of Brooklet Hill now, instead of right outside of the Totem’s Den. While I liked the “trickster” aspect of the way Sun handled it originally, it’s probably better for game design to have the whole trial reset if you leave, rather than just the Totem’s Den.

Wait, hold on, that’s not a School Form Wishiwashi, that’s an Araquanid! Looks like they changed the Totem for Brooklet Hill. (…why does it know Leech Life?!? Three Revives later…)

Oh, hey, it’s the UR Squad again. They showed up right as I intimidated two Sudowoodo with the mere idea of using Waterium Z against them, despite the fact I have yet to catch a Water-type. And Dulse shows off a Pokémon from his dimension: the Ultra Beast Poipole! It’s a Poison-type, so I shut it down with some Psybeams off my Butterfree.

Hapu, just because I’m on first-name basis with a pair of Team Skull numskulls doesn’t mean I hang out with them or anything!

I love how pissed off Gladion looks when the Masked Royal tells him to join in for a practice round with himself, Hau and I. Gladion does seem to beating himself up more about not being strong enough to “protect”, however.

Unfortunately, you can’t stack Roto Bargain with the Thrifty Megamart’s discount coupon for infinite money – the coupon won’t work if Rotom’s power is active. However, you can get infinite Premier Balls by repeatedly buying 10 Poke Balls at a time and then selling them all off when you run out of money. I wasted roughly 20 minutes doing this to get 100 more. Fortunately, I’m pretty good at multitasking.

Found a Staryu while surfing around the beach near Wela Volcano! I had to pick a team member to swap out for it, and that Pokémon ended up being Butterfree. Although it’s been an MVP in several battles so far (97% accurate Sleep move will do that), I’d rather have a more offensive Psychic on my team. Plus, Staryu can Recover in a pinch. If it’s still in my party by then, I’ll probably Water Stone it after I get either the Psychic or Thunderbolt TM (Water-types that can learn Electric attacks are very rare!).

The trend of “minor balance changes” continues: instead of the Scald TM, I found Charge Beam in the corner of the second area. Charge Beam isn’t that bad a TM, I suppose (especially if Staryu can learn it), but Scald is much better, which is probably why they moved it.

Kiawe’s trial of dancing is still pretty funny, with the random Hiker thrown in. Totem Marowak, on the other hand, is a nightmare to face. I’m not ashamed to admit I suffered my first loss here. Good thing I saved beforehand! Now to go level up a bit more…

Fortunately, with a few more levels under its belt, Staryu outspeeds even +2 Marowak and can oneshot the helper Salazzle with the Water Z attack. Victory earns me the Firium Z and, more importantly, the ability to Fly using Charizard. Now it’s time to go farm some Beans in the Poke Pelago! (Surprisingly, Mohn himself shows up to tell me to come on down. Wasn’t the whole point that he was stuck there due to Ultra Wormhole shenanigans?)

That seems like a good stopping point. Next time, Route 8 and the Grass trial!

[pokemaniacal]

Pokémon Moon, Episode 15: In Which I Awkwardly Attempt To Bond With A Strange Girl Of Dubious Usefulness

“I’ll do my best to keep up,” Lillie promises me as we step onto dry land.  “I’ll be fine!  I’ve got Max Repels with me,” she says confidently. “Uh… you know those only repel Pokémon of a lower level than your own, right?” “…oh.  Well… I have you too, right?” “And Nebby,” I point out. “Nebby is still unconscious!” “Yeah, but he’s… like… heavy, right?  You could throw him at people.”  She gives me a shocked look.  “Just spitballing!”  We start walking.  “What level is Nebby, anyway?” “I have no idea…” Lillie answers, a little despondently.  “He’s not actually my Pokémon; he’s just been travelling with me.” “So you’re really not a trainer at all?  Seriously?”  She shakes her head.  “With a mother who runs a huge Pokémon conservation organisation?  And a brother who… well, I mean, he’s a dick but he’s clearly got talent!” “I always wanted to be a scientist, like my mother… I never wanted to travel.  But what happened to Nebby, the way she…” Lillie breaks off, and is silent for a few seconds.  “Pokémon trainers really do amaze me.  It seems like a hard path to walk, and even so, you don’t let yourself be held back by the fear of seeing your Pokémon friends get hurt.  You just keep striving forward together…” “Eh… sometimes you do have to cut and run.  Like, being a trainer means being powerful, and being powerful means you have to do what’s right… well, when it’s convenient, obviously… but it also means you’re responsible for your Pokémon, and when it’s someone else’s skin you’re risking, sometimes the bravest thing you can do is show a bit of basic natural cowardice.  Take hiding from the Aether Foundation, for instance.  The brave thing to do, the noble thing, would have been to go back to Aether Paradise, confront your mother, and demand she take you back and treat Nebby better.  But that would have been stupid, because she would’ve literally fed you to a demon.  Hiding wasn’t the bravest or noblest way you could’ve played that, but it was the way that didn’t get you or Nebby killed.  Cowardice got us both we are today; don’t knock it.”  Lillie listens, nods a couple of times, and falls silent.

We soon arrive at Hapu’s home – an ancient adobe house on Poni Island’s southeast coast – and are greeted first by her Mudsdale, and then by Hapu herself.  After exchanging pleasantries, Lillie gets down to business and asks for directions to the Kahuna… which is when Hapu drops the bombshell that the Seafolk chief was unwilling to.  Apparently there is no Poni Island Kahuna.  There hasn’t been one for years.  You’d think someone (I’m looking at you, Hala) might have mentioned, before sending me off on a quest to defeat four Kahunas, that there were only three of them.  The Island Challenge – an important rite of passage for Alolan Pokémon trainers – has been impossible to complete since the death of Hapu’s grandfather, who was the previous Kahuna.  The island deity Tapu Fini, the Tapu of Hope, just… never appointed a replacement.  I guess it never seemed important?  This is why you should never make legendary Pokémon responsible for human institutions; they have different priorities, operate on radically different timescales, and will occasionally just screw you over without really meaning to.  Human leaders will demand gold, castles and expensive cheese, but at least they’re reliable.  In any case, Hapu apparently does have some kind of plan to get us the help we need, and asks us to meet her at the nearby Ruins of Hope.  Before we can leave, though, an old woman who introduces herself as Hapu’s grandmother offers us one extra little bit of help: another riding Pokémon. “Oh!  Thanks, but… well, Hapu already lets me summon her Mudsdale, so-” “I’m not talking about Mudsdale,” the old woman says, chuckling.  “I’m talking about this.”  A burly Machamp steps up behind her.  I raise my eyebrows. “Uh… how exactly do you ride a…?” “Like this.”  She gives the Machamp a little gesture, and it steps up to me and, before I can react or say anything, sweeps me off my feet and gently cradles me in its lower arms. “Whoa!  Um.  Wow.”  I twist my head around to look at the ground, then up at the Machamp’s face.  It gives a jolly, booming laugh.  “This, uh… you know, I kinda have a dream that starts like this, except in the dream it’s always been a human guy…”

Machamp provides Sun and Moon’s equivalent to the Strength HM, allowing us to move large stone blocks in our path – conveniently, since the entrance to the Ruins of Hope is barred by a series of exactly such blocks.  According to Lillie, Tapu Fini is said to have the power to “wash away all impurities,” and might be able to restore Nebby.  I’m sceptical – the Tapu have no love for Ultra Beasts – but if Lillie wants to give it a shot, whatever.  The ruins are somehow smaller than I was expecting.  There’s no expansive tunnel system filled with wild Pokémon, no obstacles or puzzles beyond the initial sliding block barrier, just an inner chamber with a raised dais.  When Lillie and I enter the room, Hapu is kneeling on the dais, speaking in a quiet, measured voice to a stone statue that I take to be a stylised representation of the Tapu. “I’ve read about them, you know…” Lillie whispers to me.  “Alola’s sacred ruins, and the guardian deities worshipped within.  The books say that they are… well, capricious.  Encounters with them do not always end as you hope.” “Hmph,” I grunt in response.  “Sounds about typical for deities.  Irresponsible bunch of manipulative little twerps.”  Lillie looks at me nervously.  “You heard me.  If Tapu Fini doesn’t like it, it can come out and tell me to my face…” I pause and look around.  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Meanwhile, up on the dais, Hapu has raised her voice slightly.  I can tell now that she’s speaking in a very ancient dialect of Alolan, but I can’t understand a word of it.  As her incantation ends, she is enveloped in a halo of golden light.  She reaches out with both hands and takes a small object hanging in the air in front of her, and the light fades.  Hapu clutches the object to her breast and bows her head. “I give my thanks for your great blessing.  I will do my best, for the people and the Pokémon of Alola.”  And just like that, Hapu stands, chosen by her god, the new Kahuna of Poni Island.

“Oh!” she says as she turns and sees us.  “There you are.” “Congratulations on the promotion,” I tell her.  “About time too, by the sound of it.”  Hapu smiles and shakes her head. “These things happen in their own time.  The Kahunas are chosen by the Pokémon we worship from among the people living on each of the islands they watch over.  My grandfather died very suddenly, and, well…” “…you weren’t ready.  But there were no other young trainers on Poni Island with the skill to replace him,” I finish.  She nods. “In the old days, when Poni Island was more populated, there would have been other candidates… I tried to follow in his footsteps, but I was not chosen back then.  So I set out on my own sort of Island Challenge, travelling Alola and trying to grow stronger.”  She looks at me with a hint of envy.  “You must really be something, Chris.  To be given a Sparkling Stone by the Tapu, even as a stranger to our shores.”  I glance down at the Z-Ring Hala made for me on my wrist. “Oh- oh, I’m not looking to take anyone’s position, if that’s what you’re getting at.  One run-in with Tapu Koko is quite enough for me.  Besides, I got the impression Kahuna was a lifetime position?” She chuckles. “It is – usually.  But retirement is possible.  You should consider keeping your options open, if you find you feel like staying in Alola.”  I hesitate. “…I’m fine, thanks.”  Hapu shrugs and turns to Lillie. “Lillie.  The Kahuna you wished to meet is right here.”  Lillie blinks and looks confused for a moment. “Oh!  Oh, yes, of course!  Um.”  She clears her throat.  “Please, then, Kahuna Hapu – tell me about the legendary Pokémon!” As it turns out, Hapu doesn’t know much more about Lunala or the summoning ritual than we do – but she is able to point us to the twin of Lillie’s Sun Flute, which is kept on a shrine on Exeggutor Island, an uninhabited little nothing of a place near the Seafolk Village.  Exactly why the flute is kept there apparently escapes her, but it’s definitely tradition, and if there’s one thing I’m learning about Alolan traditions, it’s that it’s best not to question them in polite company.  She also knows where we can conduct the ritual – the Altar of the Moone, on the island’s northeast coast.  Once we have the Moon Flute, we’re to meet Hapu at the entrance to the Vast Poni Canyon, and travel together to the Altar.

A short ride later, in one of the Seafolk’s damp, rickety Magikarp-styled runabouts, Lillie and I are unceremoniously dumped on Exeggutor Island’s only serviceable jetty.  The island is long and narrow, low and close to the water at the south end, with sheer cliffs rising straight up out of the sea at the north end, and a winding, gently sloping trail connecting the two.  We quickly learn how it got its name: it’s inhabited mainly by Exeggcute and Exeggutor, belonging to a curious Alolan subspecies.  The Exeggcute seem identical to their Kanto cousins, but the Exeggutor have almost comically long necks that sway precipitously in even the slightest breeze… and apparently have Dragon-type abilities.  Because Dragon-types obviously made way too much sense when all we had to deal with was Altaria, Mega Ampharos, Noivern and Goodra. “You.  Cortana McSiri.  Explain,” I tell the Rotomdex. “Zzzzt!  Azz it grew taller and taller, it outgrew its reliance on pzzzychic powers, while within it awakened the power of the zzzleeping dragon!” “You just made that up; that doesn’t make any sense at all.”  The Rotomdex buzzes indignantly, flies into my backpack, and turns itself off.  “Impudent little electronic charlatan,” I mutter.  The Rotomdex bleeps back on, delivers a mild shock to my lower back, then switches off again.  “Hey!  If you keep pulling that kind of $#!t I swear-” “Chris!  Hurry up!” calls Lillie, who has already set off up the path towards the island’s summit.  I shrug and follow her.

As we climb the hill, Lillie and I are caught in a sudden rainstorm, and take shelter beneath a rocky overhang.  After a few minutes of awkwardly staring out into the sheets of water, Lillie attempts to make conversation. “Rain in Alola, huh…” “…that’s your icebreaker?” I ask.  “Literally talking about the weather?”  Lillie glares at me, and for a moment I see Gladion’s piercing eyes in hers.  “…whoa, okay.  You have a talent for that.  You should ask your brother for some pointers some time; I’m convinced he could kill a Donphan by looking at it the wrong way.”  She looks stunned for a moment, then laughs. “My brother… we’ve grown so far apart, but if we can’t save my mother, he’s all I’ll have left…”  She stares out at the rain again.  “This… reminds me of one time, when I was little.  I’d seen it in a movie… this man singing and dancing in the rain.  I had to try it myself.  My mother spotted me out in the rain, and she was so shocked that she ran right out after me without even bothering to get an umbrella.  And then… she smiled… and she danced with me in the rain…”  I frown. “It sounded like she doesn’t have quite the same fond memories of your relationship… what happened?” “I… don’t know.  She just… changed.  All she could think about was the Ultra Beasts… and Null and Nebby both ended up suffering so much.  And I couldn’t do anything.”  I frown again. “There’s a lot of things that can change a person.  Despair, hunger for power, conviction in a cause you thought was more important than anything… to be honest, legendary Pokémon can f&%# with your brain pretty hard too; I’ve seen all of the above.  All at once, in some cases…” “Do… do you think we can save her?” “Honestly?  I have absolutely no idea.  The last guy I can think of who went through something similar to your mother… well, I don’t really know where he went, but he’s definitely not coming back.”  Lillie’s face falls, and she is silent for a while. “What are you going to do once you finish your island challenge?” she asks eventually. “What I came to Alola to do in the first place.  Hit the beach!  I’m gonna need a holiday to recover from this holiday…” “Is that all?” she prods. “…well,” I say slowly.  “There’s… this guy.”  Lillie looks puzzled for a second, then understands. “Oh!  Ohhhh, you mean… there’s this guy.” “…exactly.” “Alola’s a nice place for it,” Lillie points out.  “People always say this region is one of the most romantic settings in the world…”  I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I read the brochures too.  But… well, the last time I saw him, I… kinda treated him badly, and…” “I see…” A sudden look of comprehension crosses Lillie’s face.  “Wait, we aren’t talking about Hau, are we?”  I blink and nearly fall over backwards in shock. “Wh- what?  No!  No, god no!  Just… wow.  No.”  I shudder involuntarily.  “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s really sweet and all, but… god no.”  Lillie raises her eyebrows.  “No, seriously, Hau is… look, he’s a great guy, in his own random and incoherent way, but he’s… more like a little brother to me.  A really, really annoying little brother.”  I shake my head.  “No.” “…I think the sun is coming out.” “Oh, thank Arceus.” It turns out we were already quite close to the hilltop.  At the highest point on the island, a simple stone shrine prominently displays the thing we came for: a flute, intricately carved, coated with pristine blue lacquer, and bearing a crescent moon symbol. “Now we have both flutes!” Lillie exclaims. “Don’t get too excited,” I tell her.  “That was the easy part.” “I don’t know if it will really summon the legendary Pokémon, but we can at least try!  If nothing else, we’ll have sounded the flutes in offering, just like people used to do.”  I shrug. “I guess it is a once in a lifetime sightseeing opportunity…”

Back on Poni Island, we return to Hapu’s home and turn north, towards the entrance of the canyon.  The terrain is harsh and dry – I can see why so few humans choose to live here, and how the only ones who do might become skilled and tenacious Pokémon trainers.  Equally unsurprising is how few of the tourist brochures choose to put Poni Island front and centre…  Suddenly, Lillie grabs my arm, interrupting my musing, and points ahead at the trail leading into the canyon.  The path is blocked by half a dozen Team Skull grunts… including B.  Lillie and I exchange cautious glances and approach them.  Lillie decides to open the conversation. “You’re from Team Skull.  What is it that you want from us?”  B looks right at me for a few seconds, then back at Lillie and speaks to her. “We heard about what you numskulls got up to at Aether.  Do you really know a way to save our boy Guzma!?” “Um… well, we- that is, we’re trying to-” Lillie stammers. “We might.  Why do you care?” I ask. “Tell us!  Now!” one of the other grunts yells.  I look at her and raise one eyebrow. “Or what?”  B gives her a warning glare, but she’s already rushing forward, hurling a Pokéball. “We can make you talk, even if we have to cut you to the bone!”  Her Pokémon, a Fomantis, materialises between us.  I sigh theatrically and flick at one of my own Pokéballs with a finger.  A few seconds later, my Decidueye is standing over the unconscious Fomantis.  He hoots smugly, takes a bow, and returns to his Pokéball. “Where were we?”  The grunt stares in shock for a few seconds, then recalls her Fomantis and runs off.  B ignores her and addresses me. “If anyone’s goin’ after Guzma, it’s gotta be us.  You tell us the way; it’s only just!”  The other grunts nod and murmur their approval. “Lillie and I have in our possession a pair of flutes that may – and I stress may – allow us to conduct a summoning ritual for a legendary Pokémon capable of pursuing your boss and the President of the Aether Foundation to… wherever it is they’ve gone.  Now-” “So hand over the flutes, li’l homeslice!” he interrupts. “Even if you had the necessary archaeological knowledge to perform the ritual correctly… which frankly I doubt… you know I can’t possibly entrust a power like Lunala’s to a group like yours.  Um.  No offence.” “Yo, that ain’t fair!” B protests.  “We ain’t what you think!”  I look at him quizzically. “Why do you even want Guzma back?  From what I’ve seen, he treats all of you like garbage.”  Several of the grunts shift their weight awkwardly. “You wouldn’t understand,” B says, looking at his feet. “Try me.”  He shakes his head. “…Guzma’s… he ain’t always been a great boss and all, and sure he could be a bit more chill, but…” “…he’s like family,” Lillie suggests.  B looks at her quietly for a few seconds. “Yeah.  Team Skull’s the only family what most of us’ve got.  You’re the Prez’s daughter, right?  You gotta see why we have to do this.”  I search his eyes, and see no hint of deception. “You feel responsible for him.” “If I’da helped you out the other day… if we’da held Guzma back…” “He wouldn’t have gone with Lusamine; I see your point…” I finish.  “Listen, we’re mostly looking for the President.  But if it’s that important to you, we’ll see if we can find Guzma on the way.  Now, if you don’t mind-” “That ain’t good enough!” B shouts, stamping his foot.  “I’m comin’ with y’all!” “What?  B, we-” “Sure!” Lillie proclaims brightly.  I spin around to look at her. “What?” “It can’t hurt!” “It can hurt!  I- I can’t guarantee his safety; it’s bad enough I have to look out for your stately backside, and –” “Wait,” Lillie interrupts.  “Wait a minute.”  She looks back over at B, and points at him.  “Is this…?” “Yes,” the other grunts chorus, rolling their eyes in unison.  B turns bright pink. “Why shouldn’t he come with us, Chris?” “I- but- I- I told you why-” “I’ll battle you!” B blurts.  “To prove I ain’t gonna slow you down!  To prove I’m hard enough!” “Oh, don’t you start that $#!t again-” “Well, I think you should do it,” Lillie says.  “You did say you had something to make up for…” “What?  I didn’t-” “Zzzt!  I’m with her on thizzz one, boss!” the Rotomdex buzzes from inside my backpack. “Nobody asked you, you malfunctioning audiobook!” I shout over my shoulder. “Yo, we doin’ this!?” B demands, his hand by his Pokéballs. “I liked you better when I thought you were evil,” I tell Lillie with a glare, and step forward to fight B.

To B’s credit, he’s been practicing.  Not only has his roster swelled to five Pokémon with the addition of a Raticate and a Mareanie, they’re strong enough to give mine pause for thought.  Still, with mostly Poison-types on his team, he has trouble fighting back against my Psychu meaningfully after my Toucannon blows up his Raticate.  A few minutes later, we stand victorious once again. “I’m not giving up, even though you beat me!” he shouts defiantly.  “I’m part of Team Skull!  We’re thick as anything!”  I open my mouth to retort, but stop myself. “…not going to take the easy comeback; it’s beneath me.” “That’s enough,” says a familiar voice from behind me and Lillie.  I turn around – and see Plumeria. “…oh, hi, Plumeria!” I start, as brightly as I can manage.  “Please don’t kill me.”  She stares daggers into my skull for a few seconds.  I gulp audibly. “Hmph.”  She turns to Lillie.  “You, girlie… Lillie, right?  You really ready to do this finally?”  Lillie says nothing, but nods.  “To be honest, I’ve treated you really badly.  I guess it’s probably to late to apologise now, though.”  She pauses for a second.  Lillie says nothing.  Plumeria shakes her head and continues.  “But look… Guzma… he really likes the President, you know?  She’s the only one who ever seemed to understand how strong he was.”  Lillie looks back at her sadly. “The President… my mother is- she’s selfish.  She lavishes her love only on those she deems worthy.  But I will save her.  We will save her.”  She glances at me.  “I still have something I need to tell her.  And…” her gaze flicks to B for a moment, “I think I can save Guzma as well.”  Plumeria follows Lillie’s eyes to B, then grunts and looks back to Lillie again. “You know… deep down, you’re kind of like the President.”  Lillie’s eyes widen and she opens her mouth to protest, but Plumeria cuts her off.  “In a good way.  You’ve gone in a different direction, but I can tell you have the same strength in your convictions.  Bring Guzma back if you can.  No one can make up for what they’ve done if they’re gone.”  Lillie nods. “I’ll do what I can.”  Plumeria turns to B. “So.  Looks like you were special after all, kid.  Standing up to be a leader in Team Skull.  You’re the real deal.  The realest Pokémon trainer we’ve had in a while.”  He blinks a couple of times. “Um.  Thanks, sis.” “Take good care of our little princess here, okay?  And…” she stops for a moment, as if to think, then nods to herself.  “Take this.”  She tosses B a small purple crystal.  “It’s Poisonium-Z.  I know you don’t have much use for it now, but… someday.”  She turns to me, and says nothing for fifteen solid seconds, just glaring a burning hole in my forehead.  Finally, she speaks, in the friendliest, most casual tone I’ve ever heard her use. “If B doesn’t come back in one piece, then Pokémon or no Pokémon, I will flay every square inch of your body and feed what’s left of you to the Sharpedo.”  A single high-pitched squeak escapes my throat as Plumeria signals to the other grunts, then spins on her heel and stalks off.

The team:

Tane the Decidueye Male, Timid nature, Overgrow ability Level 45 Steel Wing, Leaf Blade, Synthesis, Spirit Shackle

Rhea the Toucannon Female, Lax nature, Keen Eye ability Level 44 Bullet Seed, Roost, Beak Blast, Brick Break

Ashley the Psychu Female, Timid nature, Surge Surfer ability Level 44 Discharge, Hidden Power (Ice), Nasty Plot, Psychic

Joanna the Salazzle Female, Timid nature, Corrosion ability Level 44 Flamethrower, Nasty Plot, Sludge Bomb, Toxic

Sigourney the Golisopod Female, Careful nature, Emergency Exit ability Level 44 Brick Break, Payback, First Impression, Leech Life

Zygarde Genderless, Sassy nature, Aura Break ability Level 40 Safeguard, Stone Edge, Dragon Dance, Thousand Arrows

[kastillia]

oh oops it's been like a month since i updated y'all on my pokeventure hasn't it

well i mean i switched out pokemoon for fates to wish my kana-bean a happy birthday and i haven't switched it back yet, but i'll finish the game someday soon probably maybe

alright! let's see how much i remember

so i beat the grand trial and then lillie and i were on our way to summon my moon bat

i entered the cave!

....it's just a bunch of trainers

now that i think about it, it was dumb of me to assume that we'd be able to summon the legendary moon bat in a small cave like this

THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO GO

i found the first way

hello lillie idk how you managed to get here even with all those repels

aww i love when she does that little z-crystal dance

YEAH LILLIE!!! CROSS THAT BRIDGE!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!

NOOOOOOOOO YOU MURKROWS LEAVE LILLIE ALONE!!!!!!

SHE DID IT!!!! SHE DID IT ANYWAY!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

awww lillie i'm so proud of you!!

so do you think she's scared of bird pokemon or just pokemon with wings

bc if it's the latter.......lillie i've got some bad news for you.......

........we're on our way to summon a giant moon bat and boy howdy that wingspan

thank you my personal pokecenter for healing my pokes ily

onto the next series of caves!

....oh!

oh this is

hey girl your face paint got on your hair.........

oh it's a captain!

i already beat the grand trial though so what does.....this mean.....

where is the trial

i think she gave me a z-crystal before disappearing.......probably the fairy z-crystal?? i don't remember

anyways

onwards to the altar of the moon!

actually wait first there was another trial with dragons which i beat solely with izanagi

and then it was time to summon my moon bat

it's......well i mean it was night when i was playing, but daytime in game so uhh...

oh hi hapu what's up

right, lillie. good idea. let's wait until nightfall........

and somehow we're able to play both flutes perfectly in sync

my dad bought a flute recently and i have absolutely no idea how to play it

i don't think this scenario is entirely realistic.........

COME FORTH, MY MOON BAT

IT IS TIME TO ENTER YOUR REALM AND SAVE GUZMA

oh and lusamine too i guess

[pan-matsuri]

Pokémon Moon Update 2

Last night, I finished Akala Island and the brief plot events directly following. Continued thoughts on my adventure below. Ye have been warned, there be spoilers. Akala Island: A Bunch Of Things You Have To Do

My current team is Brionne, Misdreavus, Ledian, Fomantis, and Umbreon. All girls except for Umbreon. Marowak is traveling with me and was used briefly on Akala, but she is currently on the bench. A Rock or Electric type would be a good replacement for coverage, or maybe a Dragon, or maybe Vulpix because I do what I want. I just noticed that my whole team, save for Ledian, is single typed. That’s not too uncommon for me, but usually in these instances I have a Raichu. Not this time because Alolan Raichu is not cute. I really like the cinematic sequences between you and Hau. He is my favorite character other than myself, but he continues to not be taken seriously by the rest of the cast. Before you even really set foot on the island, you’re introduced to two new characters, neither of whom properly introduce themselves. You’re told after the conversation that they’re a kahuna and a captain, but maybe they could have said as much. Or maybe they could have even said their names? I think captain Mallow did but the kahuna Olivia definitely didn’t. And another thing. The cast of characters I’m supposed to care about is huge. After the first meeting, you’re quickly introduced to Sina and Dexio, who we’d apparently met before in Kalos during XY. Plus there’s the oldest 8 year old ever, Hapu. And also the Team Skull people, Gladion and pink hair. And also also the Aether Foundation. There’s the clearly evil green dude, the clearly evil boss lady, the really nice administrator, and the unnamed employee that Rotom has the hots for. There’s too many names! Speaking of Rotom, I’m actually warming up to it. It’s not that intrusive and tends to think what I’m thinking most of the time anyway. This island, like Melemele, is very linear, unfortunately. The stupid boy and his Stoutland constantly block your path and force you to explore only in the designated areas. This isn’t really new for Pokémon, I guess. I don’t like how many surprise battles there are. I know by now I should just expect that a story marker on the map will have a battle, but more often than not I forget and my whole team will start in the yellow. I’ve used more healing items in this game than any other, but that may also be because my team is far less balanced than ever before. Ledian and Umbreon are walls and are bound to take chip damage. Fomantis is a glass cannon and slow to boot, so she’s hard to switch in without Ledian or Umbreon’s support. I didn’t like the ranch town. You couldn’t go into hardly any houses, which hurt the immersion. I don’t like how unceremonious it is when you are given access to Stoutland as a Ride Pokémon. For Tauros, you had to chase him all across Melemele and make friends with him. It felt like you earned the chance to ride it. But for Stoutland, it’s basically Mallow saying “oh hey here’s the itemfinder okay bye” I didn’t like how the first trial captain was Lana. On Melemele, we met Ilima several times before the first trial. I feel like it’s been standard for a while now to meet a gym leader at least once outside of their gym before the challenge. But once again, you walk into Brooklet Hill and meet someone you’ve never met before and it feels unceremonious. Also, you are given a new ride Pokémon, again with no ceremony. This time it’s the surfing Pokémon and I knew it was gonna be Lapras but I just really hoped it would have been anyone else. By this point, I had not yet caught Eevee or Cubone. But that’s fine, as Fomantis was able to single handedly take on the Totem Wishiwashi and it’s allies, thanks to Razor Leaf being an AOE attack. The fishing pole can seemingly only catch Magikarp which continues to be stupid. In GSC, the Old Rod can actually catch other things, like Poliwag. Apparently we forgot that tho. I don’t remember at what point we’re introduced to Gladion and his Pokémon. It has the worst name ever, Type: Null. It’s a cool concept tho. This is also about the time that we’re introduced to Hapu as well. I don’t like her. She’s failed to show me any reason to be interested in her. She has a horse. Cool. I really like Battle Royals. I do not like the way that you’re forced into your first one without any time to prepare, per the usual in this game. I had been level training my Eevee, which had just hatched, so I was way lower level than everyone else. Luckily, they all ignored me for whatever reason. So I just used Growl repeatedly, so that no one could do any damage to me if they tried. Once somebody was in the red, I used Quick Attack to steal the KO. I really liked how you didn’t hear from Kukui hardly at all on this island. I don’t like Kukui. I did like the build up to Kiawe’s trial. This was again another person we’d never met. But the dance thing was pretty funny. I did not like Totem Salazzle. This match was very difficult, but only because the rules suddenly changed for this fight. Totem Pokémon can call for help from predefined allies. In the first two trials, when you defeat the allies, they’re gone for good. But in this match, the ally Salandit keep coming forever. So if you don’t focus on Salazzle from the start, you’ll have a rough time. Annoyingly, I’d never seen either of these Pokémon before. They might have been in the wild in this area, but I didn’t bother looking because 1) catching Pokémon sucks in this game, and 2) wild EXP gain is not worth the time. So I stopped spending a lot of time looking in the grass, notably around the ranch, because I was sick of seeing Lillipup and nothing else. There’s 800+ Pokémon now, can we have some variety please? Anyway, they are Poison/Fire types. I had my whole team at this time, and they all were put through the paces, except for Fomantis who had no chance here. Misdreavus missed on the first turn with Thunder Wave and then died, which set the stage for an awful battle. Ledian could survive their stupid combo, but wasn’t fast enough to get a Light Screen up. Umbreon could survive but couldn’t do much on its own other than tank for a turn and let the others heal. Cubone could do serious damage but couldn’t survive for longer than a turn. Brionne was the MVP, but only after I switched focus to Salazzle and used Hydro Vortex. Poison was the killer here, even though this was supposed to be a Fire trial. Anyway. I do not like the ride Pokémon for flying, Charizard. It seems that even Nintendo thinks Gen 1 is the only good one, which is just not true. There are so many Flying types, you didn’t have to pick literally the first one on the list. I really like the music. Especially the ambient music in calm places, like where you first meet Tapu Koko. Mallow’s trial was neat. I did like how it incorporated Lana and Kiawe. I think Mallow’s trial should have been first. Totem Lurantis was not as hard as people on the internet said it was. Ledian was the MVP. I first took out ally Trumbeak with Brionne and Umbreon. For some reason, Lurantis kept using Solar Blade instead of X-Scissor on Umbreon, so I kept using Growl. After 3 Growls and a Reflect, Lurantis could only do 5~10 damage to Ledian using X-Scissor. Castform was taken out quickly using Brionne and Ledian. Brionne admirably tanked a sunny Solar Blade thanks to prior support. Ledian’s Infestation was able to outpace Lurantis’s Synthesis after an X Sp Atk. Professor Burnet is way cooler than her husband. I don’t like Kukui. I don’t know what to think of this Ultra Wormhole thing yet. Diglett’s Tunnel is stupid because Steel type is stupid and Zubat is annoying. I’ve even raised one before. I loved my Crobat in Crystal. But that was well over a decade ago. I really like how there are two clothing stores on Akala Island. I also really like the hair accessories. They are way better than hats. I was not a fan of all the surprise battles with Team Skull on the way to the grand trial. I like that Team Skull is dumb, and I’m glad to start meeting their leaders, and I like that even their leaders know that Team Skull is dumb. The grand trials are similar enough to gym battles that it’s refreshing. I like Olivia as a character. I don’t like Aether. They’re clearly all evil, except for Wicke and the girl who was nice to Rotom and me after we saved Slowpoke. I wish we could have actually explored their island a little. I liked the encounter with the Ultra Beast. I wish I could have beaten it before it fled. All in all, I generally felt the same as I did on Melemele. Kukui seems to want me to take this adventure way more seriously than anyone else. I wish I could have an adventure with Hau, where we could take it slow and enjoy our travels through the islands, perhaps without Kukui breathing down our necks. I don’t like Kukui. Some other thoughts: • I like how the trainers actually stand with their Pokémon during battle. It’s an idea that I had in my head a long time ago, and I’m glad it made its way through the aether into reality. • It seems like a lot of the moveset changes were made with competitive battles in mind. Which is annoying, because I don’t play competitive. I want to actually use cool Pokémon like Ledian and cute ones like Glaceon that are not very good in competitive, but it makes the single-player game more difficult. • I don’t like the version-exclusive clothing. I’d love to wear more red and yellow without having to figure out the Festival Plaza. But then again, like in real life, I only wear black and white so maybe it doesn’t matter. • I’m not sure why I feel so discouraged to wander into the tall grass in this game. My favorite thing about Pokémon is catching them all. It’s probably a combination of SOS battles being garbage, catch rates being lower, wild exp being lower, and my team being slower and more defensive.

[traditionallymodernartist]

How will the rivals celebrate thanksgiving and new years

Maybe the New Year's event will be a bit similar to the Christmas event but I'm surely they will do this outside and count down the New Years countdown at the city' tallest building. Though I would like you guys to know the possible scene of the New Year's kiss 😘Osamu will forcibly grab her shoulders and hug her before kissing her quickly, and rather harshly too, before running off telling her he doesn't like her and he did that because of tradition.Anju will lean forward and maybe catch Ayano off guard but I can see him either doing a chaste kiss or a cheek kiss. I think Ayano wouldn't mind the cheek kiss but the chaste kiss, she'll tell him no and Anju will respect that. Kazuhiko will do that famous stage kiss. That or Ayano stomps of his foot.Oboro is too shy to kiss her but he will try and lean closer to her and shaking but Ayano will put her hand up and let him kiss her her palm. He'll not complain though, he is still happy.Akito will be very excited and cheer after the countdown before suddenly grabbing Ayano and lifting her up and kiss her.Masayoshi will try to kiss her, arms wide open and his lips pouted but I can see Ayano dodging him and he falls to the ground or he falls on her. Your choice.Miusagi will grab her and have a hot make out session. He will have to restraint her or else she snap his neck. Either she slaps him away before he got a chance to kiss her or the other rivals (specifically Osamu) will kick him away.Okami will be awkward and ask "So we like kiss or something?" And Ayano would say no and he is fine with it but asks if he could kiss her cheek or if she can kiss his cheek but she will say no.Haruko will be jumpy and say "Kiss me! Kiss me! Senpai!" Over and over until he wrapped his arms around her and lift himself up to his tippy toes (he is shorter than Ayano) and kiss her. He would get slapped but he say its all worth it.Kami would simply stare at her and once Ayano notice and is confused, he would grab her shirt or shoulders and pull her into a kiss before walking away before she could slap him. Apart from avoiding getting slapped and creating a scandal, he wanted it for so long and that's what matters.Bonus! Rookie Policeman won't kiss her on the lips because I think he doesn't want others to see him with a minor (Ayano may be 18 but she still considered a minor for she is still in school) but I think he would give a quick peck on the forehead (I like to think he is tall :D) and say a Happy New Year to her. Pair of twins would try to snatch a kiss from her but they will do it together, so I think they stand by her side and try to kiss her cheek all together. You can also imagine Ayano ducking down and the twins accidently kiss XDAnother Yandere a quick peck on the lips and he'll run off screaming and squealing like a fangirl! After being far enough from her, he will continue to laugh, smile, and say random things of how happy he is.Magical Boy would make a magical scene and kiss her on the lips. The scene vanishes the moment she slaps him.Shapeshifter will shapeshift into Taro to get a full on passionate kiss. Ayano doesn't know.Mido Gurin either he will be there to personally kiss and get slapped or send a photo with his kissy face and add "send me a kissy face", its more like a digital kiss. I bet Ayano sent him a question mark or some thing (your choice, be creative! 😆)Phantom Boy would kiss her on the lips but Ayano wouldn't know because she can't see him it totally feel lips over hers. However, she will feel something cold and airy over lips. I bet someone took a photo of her on the side view and is shock to see a boy that wasn't there kissing her.Incubus would have a similar scene with Miusagi. But Ayano won't be able to get away from his grip unless someone kicks him away!BTW, the only reason Ayano is at the New Year event is because she wants to pray her wishes to come true. You guys already what it is.Now about the Thanksgiving event, I looked up the internet and saw that it is held in November 23 and it is all about thanking the workers for all their hard work, like the firemen, police, doctors, nurses, etc.I may not know everything about the Labor Thanksgiving Day in Japan but it does say in the Wikipedia about a harvest festival? Correct if I'm wrong.Its seemed clear to me that they would go together and do the things they want to do (Note: I don't like the idea they follow Ayano almost everywhere, so, let's pretend they split for a short time before regrouping). So below this will the actions they will do:Also, Ayano would feel indifferent to the occasion, she just dragged along by the rivals.Osamu will go to his family and say how much he admires them and saw them as heroes. I also like to think he is a fan of a star and would send lots of letters to that person (I don't know guys! I think I should give him a personality where he is a typical teenager XD). Anju is given a "Onii-chan" title for a reason; he would visit the home for the aged and orphanage and bake food for them. And since this is about Thanksgiving, he would each and every worker a treat as a thank you for their hard work.Kazuhiko will either join or make a play about heroes (I like to think he would do a play about the soldiers who have died or the ancestors, what about you guys?) In order to show his gratitude to them. I also see him as a person who admires history, so I can see him go to the museum.Oboro would call out to the spirits of fallen heroes and chant spells to keep their spirits calm (especially the unsung heroes or the ones that aren't recognized) so they wouldn't be haunted.Akito is so excited, hapu, and more energetic than usual that he will help Anju and Haruko with the food and cards and drag Ayano to his door to door hand outs.Masayoshi's hero is a doctor that he fangirls over (don't be surprised if the said doctor is so much smart and different from him) and that he will also make a bunch of cards and send them to his "hero".Miusagi, to him? I won't be surprised if his hero is a well known pervert or Playboy that everyone somehow loves. I won't be surprised if he drags Ayano to a convention or shrine or whatever is dedicated to his said "hero". I'm not surprised if his hero is also a teacher.Okami is all about the strongest people. I won't surprised if some of them are martial artist or samurai, as long as they are exclusively from Japan, he have high pride of his Japanese blood. This would also be the time he and Budo will get along (I added that because I can).Haruko. I can see him so giddy and excited, he will make hand made cards and run around smiling and happy as he gives them. Ayano is one of the people who got his cards, saying something about being a great Senpai.Kami, I think he might visit his relatives (they might be dead) because he sees them as his heroes. I would also think he would agree to the idea of creating a Thanksgiving Card and send it to all over the people of Japan. I have always portrayed Megami or Kami as someone scary, cold, and maybe a bit vindictive but I think its time for me to show that they can be kind and sweet 😊Bonus! Rookie Policeman would tell stories about heroes (police, military, fire fighter, doctor, etc.) And how we should always be grateful and thankful to them. Pair of twins, the only time (maybe its the only time either) that they won't be mischievous and pull pranks others. Instead they make cards and give gifts to the workers and send meaningful messages to workers in abroad (to be honest, I like to think that their reason to be so close to each other and share everything because I like to think their parents are at working in abroad and only have each other). Because of this day, a lot people, especially the ones they love to prank, would become paranoid around them.Another Yandere (I forgot to mention, another Yandere is not like Ayano, in fact he/she is perfectly normal, an everyday person until the strong emotion of love made him change) will sees those people he adores and loves as his heroes. Sure he will give those cards out and be all hugs and smiles but the majority of the letters and gifts are for Ayano, written there is how she is his hero and how much he adores her. Don't surprised if Ayano doesn't know or remember him.Magical Boy, well in my mind, I see him away from earth and is in the magical realm to celebrate their version of the Thanksgiving. He celebrates it happily and with great galore but he would feel empty because Ayano isn't around, so he would leave early. He would also try to celebrate the Thanksgiving of earth, he would also use his magic for people to recognize heroes or be heroes themselves (like a rich person passing by a beggar and uses magic to make the rich person come back and give charity. He would wish to do this everyday but he is not cut out for that and can't do that for the rest of his life, but at least one day, everyone can feel their heroic sides and the people who will experience it).Shapeshifter will not celebrate, because he have no reason to. He is depressed and even if he saw the workers doing their and helping, he wished they helped him. But ever since he met Ayano, he sends her cards and gifts because the moment he saw her, his heart beat for God knows how long and he have a reason to live. He saw her as his hero.Mido Gurin will send and this time he will NOT spam messages to people he knew inspiring messages. He have a lot of connection due to his social life, so don't be surprised if he send messages to people who doesn't know him.Phantom Boy, he's a bit tough but I don't think he will celebrate this event. Apart from the fact he is dead, he is upset to the police, not doing their jobs and bring him justice to his dead. He is also aware of the bribery and sees no reason to celebrate the day (yes he loves Ryoba but he wished he would gain justice to lessen his pain. Besides, he's going to get her while she's in prison). He will appreciate the nurses, firemen, etc. Except the police.Incubus doesn't care about human celebrations. I also think he won't hesitate acting like he doesn't and maybe even rude to others about how openly doesn't care about those kinds celebrations, he would use the excuse of being "foreign" but that doesn't stop specific rivals into scolding him.

[booksandwords]

Her Majesty the King by Patricia L. O'Neill

Series: The Hatshepsut Trilogy, #1 Read time: 4 Days Rating: 4.5/5

The quote: “I wouldn't think you'd be overly concerned about conformity, Princess. It isn't normal for Egyptians to ride horses astride, yet here we are, doing just that. It isn't normal for women to drive their own chariots, or be educated in the Kap, or dispatch Shasu. Or is having a mind of ones own a privilege reserved for royal princesses?” "No, of course not. I've just never met anybody else who thought that doing things their own way was a good idea. Most people like to do things the way they've always been done." "But you're not like other people." "No. And neither are you." — Senenmut & Hatshepsut

Warnings: Rape, incest, death and potentially dubcon (it’s murky).

Going to start with what would usually be my concluding thoughts because this turned into a really long review. I have a serious bias to this book. This review is written after maybe the 3rd or 4th time I've read it. The writing is at times clunky the writing but the characters are engaging and make you feel the emotions you should. There are all kinds of moments that could be problematic for some readers in Her Majesty the King. Rape, Incest, Death and that is without raising the mess that is the age of majority in 1480s BCE Egypt. But if you can read past those and life in the world with the characters then it is an enjoyable ride. There is something that keeps pulling me back to this story.

The arc of Her Majesty the King starts the day Hatshepsut turns 14, the age of majority in her day and ends when she is 22(ish) with her ascension to the Horus Throne. In between, there are two-time skips but the majority takes place when Hatch is 19. Part of the heart of the story is a rather complicated love story. It's a pentagon of a form. Hatshepsut, Senenmut, Hapuseneb, Neshi and Tuthmosis. Tut is a forced marriage to preserve the royal bloodline and the Royal Ka. The other will be a lover physical or emotional. Senenmut, Hapu and Neshi couldn't be much more different. Their archetypes are the like-minded commoner, the aristocrat/ the priest, the royal prisoner/ Prince. Hatch was raised with Hapu and Neshi they know her and they adore her. There is a line in the closing pages that summarises the relationship of the three and Hatch quite well "I had three loyal, gifted men—Senenmut, Hapuseneb, Neshi—who loved me so much they would rather die than fail me. As long as they didn't kill one another first." Her relationship with Senenmut is likely what keeps bringing me back, they are the only people that can keep up with each other intellectually. It makes for some brilliant conversations.

One of my favourite aspects of this story, at least time around, was the signposting. Every major event is not only this book but The Horus Throne and The Eye of Re are seeded before they happen. Senenmut is not like other Egyptian men (yes, of course, it is part of the appeal) but the extent of his differences his seeded here if you know what to read for. Two of the reveals are shown to the reader in veiled fashion before we see them. But there are also misdirects.

Another aspect I liked is something that previous me wouldn't have picked up on, the gender roles. This is a story that simultaneously annihilates some of the gender roles of the time but rigidly conforms to others. Without going into spoilers too much. Hatch is a King and God's Wife both masculine and feminine in her roles. Her "husband" Senenmut strictly conforms to his masculine role of the protector. It's hard to explain.

This is a story with a great support cast. Which I will add to another review because this is long enough. But essentially there is a lot of development done and each of the characters is designed to show a different side of Hatshepsut. Senimen and Dedu are favourites though what starts as working for her out of loyalty to their family members becomes loyalty to her.

This is Historical Fiction with a capital H and capital F. If you are going to read it you need to be able to exist and be in that world. Some things to realise before you read. This starts when Hatch is 14, the age of majority for this culture. Senenmut is 24. The fiction aspect is acknowledged by O'Neill in the postscript and Appendix. But O'Neill has a point in that this is a series of steps that would allow Hatshepsut to rule as a Horus King under the cultural restrictions. There is a reason Hatshepsut is used not infrequently in historical fiction, we don't know how she managed to do what she did.

2nd quote: "You're the king—you can do as you like." "If only that were true. Because I'm a woman, my every action will be minutely scrutinised. If the courtiers knew about you, I would be condemned for wanton behaviour" "But kings are admired for their sexual prowess." "Male kings. Sexual appetite in a woman terrifies most men." — Senenmut & Hatshepsut

[court-of-pokemuses]

Every Kukui ship rated!

I’ve done this over on my main account @/pkmnsdarkqueen, and I think it’s kinda fun. It’s every ship on the muse from this page rated by my personal opinions. For this account I’ve been slowly working on it since January, and since this is a multimuse it took this long. I hope ya’ll enjoy!

Disclaimers directly below and the list under the cut!

strike through=my side commentary, trying to be funny, usually about ship names italicized=if asked I’d be down to rp it mostly just to see how/it it’d work * by name=I just think it’s a wildly random ship bold=ship name and who in it to help you find a certain ship highlights=they are grouped up, again in case you want to find that one ship

Took out category of Kukui and a protagonist/rival/or companion since they’re all children so it’s a hard no. A few other younger characters fit in the other categories though they’ve been judged no as well for the most part. Some shipped but ONLY in the context of the character being grown up.

Took out category of Kukui with pokemon because pokephelia. In multiship some of them have a pokemon and these have been dubbed as being one of the human’s part pokemon.

ships on ‘never ending romance’ website. Before asked yes mun has other ships she likes that aren’t listed, but Im only focusing on those listed.

Kukui w/ Villian

Top rated ships: LabSafetyShipping

Bottom rated ships: FieryNutShipping

DarkParadiseShipping - Guzma & Professor Kukui 4/10 I don’t think it’s bad I just genuinely love Plumeria and Guzma so much. Also they’re both unwilling to say sorry to fix their friendship I don't think that’s a good sign for long term. Maybe in the early days tho.

*FieryNutShipping - Lysandre & Professor Kukui 1/10 Who named this ship, I just want to talk. Anyways I get Lysandre has a thing for profs but c’mon now Kukui is too down to earth for this guy.

LabSafetyShipping - Colress & Professor Kukui 7/10 Colress smacking him left and right for not having proper safety. Tbh tho it could be kinda cute. Like Kukui is more brass tax and put em up approach to science meeting cool calculated and methodic. 

PurescienceShipping - Faba & Professor Kukui 3/10 Ok so we know Faba has a man crush at the minimum on The Masked Royal. I don’t think it’d be reciprocated on Kukui’s end tho makes for fun plot.

Kukui w/ Elite

GrandSlamShipping - Kahili & Professor Kukui 5/10 I mean this is one of those that depends on interpretation cause we don’t get too much info on Kahili from the games. In pokemon Masters she’s pretty cool though so I’d give it a shot. 

*NowWeHereShipping - Drake (Hoenn) & Professor Kukui 3/10 I love the name cause it’s like,”yeah...yeah why not this, heck!” So Drake and Kukui would be interesting, I think there’s a bit of an age gap between them which would make somethings awkward but also I can just see them both enjoying exploring things together. 

Kukui w/ Gym leader or trial captain

EducationalbattleShipping - Ilima & Professor Kukui 0/10 Ok so according to the internet Ilima is either 11 or 19??? Just kind of a weird age thing there cause Kukui looks like 28 to me and they seem to of known each other awhile so no on this. 

*HotMovesShipping - Professor Kukui & Flannery 0/10 Heh, 2 high energy people in a room together. Yeah this seems great to me as a friendship because Flannery is 18 folks and again that’s just kind of a weird age thing. If they met which she was older sure, but rn it’s squeaky.

*MasochisticShipping - Professor Kukui & Gardenia 8/10 I think this could be kinda cute. She’s got the high energy of Flannery with the explorer side of the coin, and some gentleness about her. Yeah I like this alot

OldNutsShipping - Hala & Professor Kukui 0/10 Oof that name, yeah I don’t like that. Ok so it’s cannon they met when Kukui was young. Hala was like a mentor to Kukui. Yeah this just kinda reads bad, don’t like that connotation. 

Kukui w/ Professor or Assistant 

Top rated ships: EternalHoneymoonShipping

Bottom rated ships: TropicalNutShipping

*DreamAttackShipping - Professor Kukui & Fennel 7/10 Yes, please yes. I’m a sucker for high energy meets soft energy and Fennel is certainly a soft gal. Also heck maybe after the dream service closed down she moved to Alola to retire and met this cool nut.

EternalHoneymoonShipping - Professor Kukui & Professor Burnet 100/10 You mean my Kukui OTP? Yes I ship this, it’s cute. They’re relationship is some of the few episodes I’ve seen and they’re adorable man. Seriously I suggest go taking a look at those clips on youtube.

*SturdyGlassesShipping - Professor Kukui & Professor Willow 8/10 The two manly young professors shipped. I mean...ye I’m down. Willow definitely got that yearn for adventure and Kukui brings the chaos. It’d be a cute time. 

TreeNutShipping - Professor Kukui & Professor Sycamore 3/10 I hmmm, I mean maybe? I just idk how they’d work or what they’d have in common really? I just think they’d be good friends but I can’t envision any sparks of romance happening. 

*TropicalNutShipping - Professor Birch & Professor Kukui 0/10 Naw dude. If original Hoenn games are anything to go by Birch for one seems kinda like the stereotypical white straight guy so that’s a killer there. But even past that he couldn’t fight a poochyena, and I don’t think Kukui would be too impressed by that. 

Kukui w/ minor GAME npc

*ArtificialMovesShipping - Professor Kukui & Viscountess Julia 0/10 Look I like this trainer class ok, they’re cool, but like ya’ll she’s like 80??? Um yeah no.

*MoveInversionShipping - Inver & Professor Kukui 4/10 I do think that they’d get along great especially what with this guy twisting moves around and doing cool stuff with em. I’d give it a shot yeah.

Kukui w/ mange character

MoveExpertShipping - Professor Kukui & Ultima 0/10 Again she’s like 80???? No, but he’d love to know how she teaches these cool moves.

Kukui w/ minor MOVIE or ANIME npc

Top rated ships: TreeResinShipping

Bottom rated ships: NewScience, and ScientificUnderstanding shipping

*BeachFireShipping - Macy & Professor Kukui 0/10 And she’s an actual child. that’s a big no.

*FistTechniquesShipping - Clayton & Professor Kukui 6/10 I mean he’s a secluded boi and Kukui is vibrant so maybe it could work with the opposite attract couple. Also Clayton would helped the masked man train.

*IslandStudyShipping - Professor Kukui & Professor Westwood V 0/10 Ya’ll he also super old wtf. Also he isn’t the most trustworthy with scientific information and I don’t see Kukui vining with someone who does that. 

*MoveStudyShipping - Professor Kukui & Marble 2/10 I think they’d get along via adventure, but she seems a bit on the young side. I feel like he’d enjoy mentoring her though.

***MyislandhomeShipping - Professor Kukui & Caroline 5/10 So this is May and Max, wife to Norman. Uhhhhh yeah so home wrecker Kukui? I men if she’s already divorced then I can see it, but Kukui would certainly not be a home wrecker.

*NewScienceShipping - Jarvis & Professor Kukui 0/10 Kukui is in no way a bad guy, he’s all pure, so this is not gonna happen. 

*ScientificUnderstandingShipping - Dr. Akihabara & Professor Kukui 0/10 This is the guy who’s episode caused seizures. So about this ship, the guys a bit crazy so I don’t really see it personally. 

*TreeResinShipping - Meyer & Professor Kukui 7/10 It’s another person with kiddos! Ok so I don’t know if this guy is married or not, cause again Kukui is no home wrecker. But besides that I can maybe see it. Tbh might be cute if they meet both in costume first and fall for each other that way.

 Kukui w/ multiple people: (All are gonna be a no romantically because I don’t see Karen being poly, but I’ll give plot ideas)

Top rated ships: PhylogeneticTree, ColorlessParadise, Copse, Cousin, and Osteology shipping

Bottom rated ships: HotRoastedTreeNut, and HotRoastedTropicalTreeNut shipping 

ColorlessParadiseShipping - Colress, Guzma & Kukui 10/10 I can see them all hanging out for sure. You have the nerd, the rebel, and the jock all in one room and I ship that friendship.

CopseShipping - Professor Birch, Professor Elm, Professor Kukui, Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, Professor Sycamore & Professor Juniper (Gen infinite) 10/10 It’s the pokemon professors! Yeah I wish there was more with them all interactiong and hanging out cause I think they’d get up to some fun shenanigans.  CousinShipping - Professor Kukui, Sun (game) & Moon (game) 10/10 I mean he already hangs out with these nerds and I see it as a mentorship kind of thing which is like what he had with Hala but in his own style.  GreyparadiseShipping - Faba, Guzma & Professor Kukui 9/10 Again we have nerd, rebel, and jock. In a bit more sleepy of a way though. Anime this would work, game no cause Faba betrayed like everyone. Also not as seamless as ColorlessParadiseshipping.

**HotRoastedTreeNutShipping - Lysandre, Professor Kukui & Professor Sycamore 0/10 Oh no the name tho....ooohhhh boi. This would be a situation where Lysandre and Sycamore wanted to bring a third person in. I don’t see it going well though.

**HotRoastedTropicalTreeNutShipping - Lysandre, Professor Birch, Professor Kukui & Professor Sycamore 0/10 Bruh these names with Kukui x3. Ok so again I don’t see this working cause what I said with Birch and Kukui just throws a wrench into the flow with Sycamore and Lysandre.  LeagueChallengerShipping - Challenger Tristan, Faba, Gladion, Hau, Molayne, Professor Kukui, Ryuki, Sophocles, Hapu & Plumeria 5/10 All of them doing big training sessions sounds about right to me, or just them all challenging the league one at a time one day just to see who can get the farthest.  OsteologyShipping - Guzma, Professor Kukui & Professor Burnet 10/10 Osteology, ah yes the study of bones. Kukui and Burnet try to figure out how the fudge Guzma’s brain works. Nah I’m kidding just do think that they’d get together every so often for game night, add Plumeria in there too though! PhylogeneticTreeShipping - Professor Kukui, Professor Sycamore & Professor Juniper 10/10 This is just all the pretty professors minus Sonia. I can see them going to get drinks together though or after a professor meeting going to stay up late at a bar and cheer each other on as they try to flirt or talk to people.  TropicalTreeNutShipping - Professor Birch, Professor Kukui & Professor Sycamore 5/10 Eh kinda, maybe I can see them talking about maybe how mega evolution and habitats go together and maybe how that effects moves. I just see them getting along but only work/research related.