#johto revamp

[matchacreamlatte]

imo i would want new a johto game over an unova game

[sunflowerrosewood]

Imagine.... Lance Confessing To You After You Become Champion

Author's Note: Since my other account @cheekyredwillow got deleted. I am adding some of my favorite fanfictions to this account and revamping this one with new ones. I hope to make an actual list of fandoms I am still a fan of! NO requests for the time being.

On to the imagine. Imagines are short blurbs of a character in a scenario with you.

Imagine you enter the pokemon league with the team of favorite pokemon in the Johto region. You have spent constant months on building a team you would love and here they are. All 8 badges and now the league.

Imagine the nerves you get when entering the league as this is a test of all your hard work. All this hard work is going to pay off. And then you'll see him again.

Imagine your heart leaps in excitement as you thought of the dragon tamer Lance. Lance - the one who helped you throughout your journey from Team Rocket to your gym badges. The many mini conversations you two had about other things. It felt like you two had a connection.

Imagine your team beats every gym leader with ease and you stand at the last obstacle. Lance. The Champion. Your chest is heavy with anticipation and also a bit of excitement to see him again.

Imagine as you enter the Champion room Lance turns to you and you notice a faint blush on his cheeks. He smiles brightly at you. Before you begin, he congratulates you on making this far and being impressed by you.

Imagine Lance's hands are a little shaky as seeing you again sparks the fire that the crush on you had. This anticipation to ask you out but waiting till you complete the League so you could focus.

Imagine you enter your fight with Lance. The battle takes longer than the past ones. Both of you are equally the same level and experience. You two can fight and challenge one another.

Imagine you two are at your last pokemon. A Dragonite on his side and your starter pokemon on the other. You tell your starter to hit a big move as Lance yells a hyper beam. Both moves hit and your starter is the last one standing.

Imagine Lance congratulating you and telling you that you need to put your name in the records. He shakes your hand and holds it tightly to show how proud he is.

Imagine after you register your name in the records as a new Champion that Lance is waiting for you. You are surprised and he is blushing. He stumbles on his words and confesses he has had a crush on you for a while.

Imagine he explains that he did not confess due to not wanting to get in the way of your adventure to become Champion. But now that it is over, he would like to take you on a date. To show how much he has a crush on you. You say yes and the two of your exchange numbers to set up the date.

[turboacek-blog]

BDSP was fine, y'all just mean

Kinda kidding but not really as I know it's a hot take

Written Feb 6th 2024

Not saying some of the dislike wasn't worth it

But the problem wasn't with ILCA it's the base game of Diamond and Pearl

A lot of people's complaints basically sum up that they didn't incorporate Platinum into the game

Mainly from Pokemon available, with some mentioning the Giratina distortion world and such plus other changes that platinum had from DP like battle frontier differences

On one hand yes it would have been nice if they did make some more changes like implementing more Platinum story elements making it more of a definitive Sinnoh experience

But also it's DP remakes not Platinum remakes

Similar with ORAS and FRLG they had some new stuff and revamped stuff. But it's not like FRLG had Yellow elements (that's lets go) and ORAS had a lot of Emerald. At most the Delta episode for ORAS was their workaround for no Emerald so if you want to group that as the full game then sure BDSP needed some DLC but then you have the DLC dilemma is getting the platinum stuff worth an extra $20-$30 dollars and have that dlc debate

The underground solved a lot of the issues imo

The underground having Pokemon down there personally solved a lot of the Pokemon availability problem

For example, I picked Turtwig so I wasn't just limited to Ponyta for a fire type since I didn't pick Chimchar I had options as Magby and Houndour were now available, which fixes the fire type problem imo

And I think people overreact about the changes to the bases and flag capturing as yes it would have been nice if they were the same but I think the changes outweigh it greatly. Plus if ORAS showed anything people really didn't care to have the secret bases as secret bases and just liked it for nostalgia mainly

Not saying BDSP was perfect but I do think in a lot of aspects it is the definitive Sinnoh experience as you're basically just missing the Giratina story which isn't as necessary to the plot imo

As it kinda just seems like Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum were seen as definitive because they don't have the dual version conundrum so they seem more complete in compariso. But when the dual version games get additional content is the additional usually third legendary plot really worth it?

Maybe maybe not

And I know a lot of rumors about potential Johto or Unova remakes have been going on and people are worried as they didn't like BDSP

But if for example ILCA makes the remakes and has the chibi style and etc

But they fix the level scaling in Johto or something like Pokemon availability for Unova I think those would be better even if minimal changed

I do have my own hopes and wishes for potential remakes but I will wait until they are officially announced

[bronzed-hope]

//Heyyyy so I barely use this account, and I realized that really badly at this point, I really still love these goofballs, so I have an idea.

//I can revamp this blog to focus on just Bronze as he's traveling as a Victini chosen! The first region I will have him go through is Unova, in a Volt White 2 Redux universe! (He will have stolen one of his parents dimension hoping watches, as he wanted to go off somewhere where people who wouldn't know him as the Johto champ and 8th gym leader kid)

//The previous posts will be left as is, but will be tagged as #OOD (Out of date) as there is an RP that is still cannon!

//I wanna know, what you guys think?

//The others will still be here by the way, but they will be more to the side and will take over occasionally instead of being here 24/7

[viridianforestdweller]

Yellow's ask box is open! (Finally revamping the Yellow blog I had years ago. 💛 ) (Yellow is now 20 years old.) Feel free to ask Yellow a question. She currently resides in Viridian Forest, but often travels throughout Johto/Kanto in search of work as a healer!

[pkmnomegaverse]

Me once again going down the beta builds for Pokemon rabbit hole always gets me like this

Like I can feel it building. I’m always torn on if I should revamp a lot of my Kanto/Johto stuff to fit in beta lore more or not. Since on one hand, had I known about it at the time, would def have used it more. Alternatively though, I don’t like to retcon established things unless I have a solid vision for the change. And all of this is more just fun facts vs information I can do much with. As with everything beta related, it tends to be speculation which I then further extrapolate on (aka I’m making things up). But here are some notes (compiling this for myself mostly) of beta themed lore to consider.

- Ethan having an older brother 3 years his senior in the beta build for Gen 2. I think I’ve talked about this one before but I really would have made Gold his older brother had I known about this at the time. But at this point, I feel it complicates things too much and surly if Ethan had an older brother, would his brother not have stepped in to help once Ethan was having all his drama with Lance’s family? Regardless, idea that came to me is he is Ethan’s long lost brother on a quest to find Kris, who’s always been MIA/abducted in this verse (because I never knew how to implement her/I didn’t want to retcon things in Johto to give her a connection to Ethan/Lyra/Silver). I still would be unlikely to add him (since again, I think he would help out Ethan more and that goes against my story for why Ethan ends up in the place he does) but I think making him a Red-like character could be interesting. Disappeared and people unsure on where he is. Perhaps that was a possible idea for him before Red ended up filling that role??? Ignoring the obvious idea he probably was just straight up Red at one point in development.

- Silver having a sister in the 1997 Spaceworld demo. Aka, the revelation that spawned me doing research again. Which it’s kind of interesting both Ethan and Silver had older siblings originally. I don’t think I’ll do anything with this (since I’m forever fighting making Mars his older sister, just doesn’t fit in my head, although with this revelation…). But an interesting beta fact to consider! Since certainly implications here. Also this got me thinking it was almost certainly canon that Silver was Giovanni’s son even back in the original Gen 2 games. The manga had to get the idea from somewhere (and there’s indication PokeSpe implemented other cut content, like Gold using a skateboard, which the demo proved that was canon before it got re-replaced with a bike down the line). So since Gen 4 was reusing cut ideas from the Gen 2 games….again, implications here.

- Jasmine likely being a ghost type user originally and having a connection to Agatha. This coming from her prototype design likely being the Gym Leader of a gym that seems pretty clearly ghost themed (the Gym Leader is surrounded by graves) and Agatha appearing in this same town. Meaning she’s possibly proto-Jasmine’s grandmother or perhaps her mentor (I lean towards grandmother due to the multiple cut family members in Gen 2 and also it would parallel Oak better). Which on one hand, could flip things so Agatha is related to Morty. But since Jasmine does have a relation to Sinnoh in some way (other fun fact about proto-Jasmine is she’s the Gym Leader of a city near what was the equivalent of Sinnoh in the Spaceworld demo, thus why Gen 4 probably kept that connection to Sinnoh with her) and I do like the Bertha and Agatha are sisters theory, Jasmine being related to them in some way still holds up. Just who is her grandmother and who is her great-aunt could go either way. Would probably keep it Agatha just to keep the original intention though.

This is the one I’m most likely to use out of all of these, since there’s something here. Mostly just need to think about the implications with what that means for Lynn. Part of me is feeling silly enough at the moment I’m like “watch out Lynn, new step-dad approaching or even retconning your bio-dad” (it’s Crasher Wake). But I think it might be interesting to make Lynn have a connection to ghost Pokemon as an homage to all this. Also congrats Rosette, your two closest people are connected to ghosts in some way! Other idea is to kind of base Lynn’s design a tiny bit off prototype Jasmine. Just a bit in the hair.

- 1997 Spaceworld Busgy was originally the Gym Leader for the equivalent of Goldenrod. Presumably this could be related to why there’s the Bug Catching Contest in that area. For sure can’t do anything with this fact, but I was amused by the idea of a fankid using roughly the design of prototype Bugsy who could be the son of Whitney/Bugsy. Never gonna retcon those fams since Rosette especially is near and dear to my heart, but I thought it was an interesting connection. Perhaps an idea I could use if I ever do anything more with Whitney or Bugsy in ChampionVerse? His prototype design for ref, back when he was the “Goldenrod” Gym Leader

- HGSS Morty is just his prototype design and final design in Gen 2 smashed together. Watched a YouTube video that pointed this out and thought it was funny. So throwing it here to remind myself. Also the YouTube video for those curious, which is worth a watch and also goes over a fair amount of what I have in this post.

Also HonorShipping real since prototype Falkner has a headband which Morty steals that design idea in his final look. Whereas Falkner gets the kinda swoopy emo bang. Cause yes, that’s how far I’m reaching. Did say I was feeling like the conspiracy theory man image! Like idk, Falkner just kinda looks like if you combined the two beta designs. It’s the hair that’s doing it for me. There’s a connection here! And the connection is that they’re in love!

[refinedplat]

My work! Refined Gold Overhaul and Stuff!

For anyone who doesn't know who I am, I am RefinedPlat! I am a modder of the Pokey Mans and specialize in DS era romhacks.

I also do some writing stuff and am interested in dinosaurs and climate relate shenanigans but that's more secondary for this account.

RefPlat - https://romhacking.net/hacks/5667/

RefGold - https://romhacking.net/hacks/5938/ These are vanilla-like hacks that significantly improve the G4 experience while staying true to its roots.

RefGold Overhaul - https://romhacking.net/hacks/7752/ This is a revamp of HG w/ Johto Dex trainers! Shard tutors, nonlinear progression, lots of really cool stuff while sticking to my usual framework.

[sleepi-mimzi]

Mirakel of (Team Rocket) the Viridian Forest

Mirakel, [9 during the johto storyline] is the second son of Giovanni, in a sort mix between the Adventures and Origin storylines (as well as the anime, bit of a rivalry with Ash). Kind to Pokémon and Blessed with powers of the Viridian Forest, Mirakel sets out find his older brother, Silver but things don't go as planned.

A Pokemon oc ive has for while and been thinking about since im replaying SoulSilver and always name my character after him (kinda, his name was originally Dylan but revamping/rethinking certain things)

(also legendaries ie: Mew and Celebi, love him and im aware this like marysue or whatnot but hey its something i have fun with)

[a-tale-of-legends]

I won't lie I've been feeling like "revamping" the Legendverse again. This isn't a new feeling by any means, it usually comes when I feel. Stuck. Or when my creativity is at an all time low. The XY run has been wonderful and helped me understand what I want to do with these characters more but what do I do with that? I don't know. This goes for like. Everything else. The Kanto trio, the Kanto-Johto league split, TLH, my ocs, etc etc etc. I have a lot and I don't exactly know where I should focus on? And now I feel like I'm doing nothing with my ideas.

This got venty real fast, but it's how I've been feeling recently.

[best-pokemon-rom-hack-202mk]

5 Best Pokemon ROM Hacks Fan Games

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 Start exploring the most played yet best Pokemon ROM hack that will keep you glued to the screen for hours. So gladly take advantage of these best Pokemon ROM Hack and land into completely fascinating adventures of the Poke world. The beauty of the game lies in its amazing narrative arc and intriguing dialogues alongside a good roster of Pokemons. Since it is a hack of FireRed, it adopts a similar plot. The game features Pokemons and flaunts pleasing graphics. Pokemon Gala ROM hack has proven to be the ideal choice for speedrunning sessions for its epic tale and interesting hacks. However, the stats, moves, and so on are modified. Also, the range of spawned Wild Pokemon differentiates this hack from Pokemon Glaze. This is a hybrid of a FireRed hack and Pokemon Crystal remake. It has the same narrative and characteristics as Crystal. New activities, updated sprites, and updated animations are also added You will have a lot of material to discover, ranging from Johto to Kanto. Pokemon Prism is a hack of Pokemon Crystal that shares the same theme. It includes new graphics, over Pokemon from Generation I to Generation IV, an original music track, and a variety of mini-missions to complete. Despite being based on the manga Pokemon Red Adventured , the game is entirely a simulation in which you play as Red and interact with the other characters from the manga. It has new graphics, features, and mechanics. I think this is a must-try and best Pokemon Hack. This is a revamped version of FireRed that features the same stories plus different places, sites, and other features. Furthermore, in Pokemon Unbound, you can complete side missions and receive amazing prizes such as Mega Evolution. There are also some Z moves in the latest version. This is both a variation and a hack of Pokemon FireRed. With this game, you should expect a bumpy ride and nerve-wracking challenges. The gameplay is challenging but satisfying. With a whopping new pokemons and some of them having new moves as well, there will be a lot of new things for you to discover. This fixes the monotony of the game and makes it more interesting. The ROM also introduces more items in the game and makes catching Rotom a bit easier. Players can interact and challenge the new gym leaders of the Zhery Region and also catch pokemon from the Sinnoh, Hoenn, Kanto, and Jhoto regions. The characters start experimenting on the Pokemons to make the strongest pokemon. Experimentations cost money and hence the need for funds arises. A Financer comes around to help them but asks them to go a shady quest for him. There is a lot for fans of the Pokemon franchise. This is just a big Pokemon game that players should try. As the name suggests the ROM takes a dark turn in the world of Pokemon. An earthquake follows and a shadow keeps getting closer to you, when it gets very close and things go dark you wake up again in the same cavern only to realize it was all a dream. Soon you realize your dream is becoming the reality and things start getting spookier. Stay tuned with GamesAdda for more recommendations and suggestions. Pokemon Gaming. By Prachi Doshi Last updated Jul 18, Table of Contents.

[squat-lobster]

TATZLSQURM Long Body Pokémon

Ht: 10′ - Wt: 110lbs

Tatzlsqurm create intricate networks of burrows and warrens under the forest floor, which they use to pounce unexpectedly on Rattata and Raticate, as well as evade their own predators.

Nobody is quite sure where a Tatzlsqurm’s body ends and its tail begins. Their fur is extremely soft and was highly prized as a luxury pelt in the past, resulting in their current scarcity.

Sample Moves: Coil, Play Rough, Morning Sun, Crunch, Body Press, Body Slam, Double Edge, Quick Attack, Dig, Iron Tail, Aqua Tail, Drain Punch, U-Turn, Sucker Punch, Elemental Punches

Evolves from Furret with high friendship during the day.

Design notes under the cut.

As before I’m trying to revamp the Johto mons with new designs that: A) I personally prefer, B) Make them more competitively viable, C) Have a bit of biology / ecology / mythology stuff thrown in there, and D) Fit the theme of the original mon and of Johto itself. 

So I really like Sentret but I’m fairly lukewarm on Furret; even though it is cute I think it loses a bit of charm when it evolves. So I’m evolving it back to its roots here. 

When I was first designing this guy I was actually going for a normal / bug typing, and they had like 6 little legs where the legs are on the final design, but no matter how i drew them they looked a bit too much like nips so I scrapped that. But there are remnants of its bugness it with top paws supposed to be mandible-like, and originally the ears were more like sentrets to seem like antenna, but i prefer the cat ears to tie in a bit more of furret’s design. 

 I think I justified the bug typing as it being effective vs. the normal / dark alolan rattata, but fairy works just as well for that and what with the clefable-y azumarill-y face and stuff. Plus later on I was like wait whats a tatzelwurm again and looked it up and it turns out its like a cat with a snake bod so i was like sick theres the fairy type justification. 

So in gen 2 sentret only appears during the day and rattata only at night, so to further emphasize this guy as a counterpart to the rattata line (particularly alolan rattata) I made it more sun themed. The circle and markings are supposed to look a bit like a sun, but i feel like that became a bit too subtle as i kept drawing. 

In terms of stats and abilities, I really wanted to design it around using coil cuz that’s one of my favourite set up moves. So I decided on giving it hustle so you can use it as a risky banded mon or a mon that really benefits from coil’s accuracy boost, and fluffy also benefits from boosting defence with coil alongside morning sun recovery to make it a tankier mon. And then yeah just better stats without being too extreme, just a good speed tier and decent attack. 

And finally the name, I was trying to think of a good -ret suffixed name for ages, and i acknowledge what i went with is clunky as fuck but it gave me early gen vibes with the 10 character limit, so im happy with it.  (Tatzelwurm + Squirm + Worm)

So yeah, even though part of me is like dude all you did was make a giant fat long sentret, I’m actually pretty happy with this guy. 

[kk-dirge]

OH FUCK I NEVER INTRODUCED BASIL

[kabutoraiger]

due to the questionable quality of official pokemon games lately i’ve seen more people promoting playing free fangames and romhacks which i think is great bc i love those, so i thought i’d share a few of my faves. :)

(i’m not sure if every creator would want them to be directly linked so i’ll just say most fangames are available on the pokecommunity games showcase or the relic castle project showcase, and most romhacks can be found prepatched on gbahacks.)

pokemon insurgence

fangame. probably my #1 favorite. so much effort was put into this. interesting world with a lot to do in it & a ton of replayability. the difficulty can be pretty high if you want it to be (though you can turn it down for an easier time as well). but of course the main draw of insurgence is the large number of special retyped pokemon (above you can see my ice/electric gallade and ghost/dragon charizard) who all have great spritework.

pokemon blossom of the soul

fangame. i tore thru this one my first playthrough bc it just has a very addictive pace and so many nice features & QoL touches. (wild pokes visible on the overworld! access the PC from anywhere! sped up day/night cycle!) no fakemons or new retypes in this one but it includes like every official pokemon including the swsh ones which not many fangames offer yet.

pokemon sienna

firered romhack. this one is more than a decade old and is a bit rough around the edges, including many of its fakemon designs, but that’s part of what i like so much about it - it just has a very charming back to basics vibe to it. you can tell the creator had a lot of passion for the project.

pokemon electrum

fangame. a lovely revamp of the johto games that makes the region more environmentally diverse, adds new areas (the whirl islands are like their own little region here), gives the gym leaders more to do in the story, includes all the betamon, etc. unfortunately for some reason HMs are still needed for progression which is the main thing that brings it down for me. but it’s still really recommendable.

pokemon altered

firered romhack. it’s just firered... except every single pokemon has been retyped and had their sprites changed to match, some of them with silly results, and others you’ll end up wishing were official forms.

[jacscorner]

Gen2verse: A Different Kind of Rival

Hey, remember this dumb fanfic idea I had back in, like, June?!

...It's okay, I understand. But here's the bulk of what I said back then.

The reforestation project of Viridian Forest made a smile grow onto Erika's face. The grass was fresh and growing, the trees were mighty and tall once more. It hurt her when she saw the devastating effects of humans taking more than what nature could replace. All the while, she felt trapped within her gym; her duties as a Gym Leader kept her from doing much of anything. But, through the cooperation of Pokemon and People, Viridian Forest was back to what it was before. In a way, it looked better than it did before; stronger than ever, with more Pokemon than ever roaming the grass and ducking under logs. It was magnificent. It was, genuinely, a marvel of na- "Hey, Erika, look!" Misty's voice suddenly broke Erika out of her self-induced trance. She gasped, nearly tripping over her sandals. "Uh, you okay?" "Y-yes, yes, I'm fine." Erika assured. "My mind was just somewhere else for a moment." Misty giggled, "jeez, Erika, you can't just zone out like that. I could've lead you somewhere dangerous or something." "We're in the middle of the woods, Misty. I doubt you'd lead me somewhere nefarious..." "You don't know that." The Tomboy gave Erika a wink. Her face turned a soft shade of pink; before she could say anything else, however, Misty looked ahead. "Oh, look, there's a clearing! Let's set up camp and have a battle!" "Battle?" Erika giggled a bit, "Misty, I know that we didn't bring our strongest Pokemon, but I hope you remember that Grass beats Water." Misty smirked back at Erika, "hey, you don't get to be a Water-Type Pokemon specialist when you don't know how to handle Grass-Types! Now come on! If you lose, you go on a date with me!" "Very we-wait, excuse me?! I-I don't agree to these conditions! Misty!"

I'm a lot prouder of this pic than the one I did before. Not that I hate it, but I really like how I did this one. It looks more fantastical and dreamlike. I think it helps to build up the fantasy that Pokemon is. I even did some neat stuff with the background Pokemon! Anywho, as I mentioned before; one idea I had to keep the Gyms from getting stale in this hypothetical reality where you just kept going through Kanto-Johto over and over again would be for some Gym Leaders to step down and let some new blood take over or set up gyms elsewhere. Misty and Erika, thus, have left their gyms. I'd imagine this is a process done by the Pokemon League through some selection process and it's possible the two simply volunteered for this.  Misty can take the time to reevaluate her 'all-out Water-Type Pokemon offense' strategy. Time to retrain a new team of Water-Types and to teach this old dog some new tricks. And, naturally, this is after Gen 2, so I had her keep that hairstyle and more-or-less put her in her Let's Go Clothes. She probably wears a swimsuit under those clothes. 📷 Erika, meanwhile, stepped down cause, well, this gives her the chance to do a lot of things. Tend to her flowers, practice her flower arranging skills, train casually, catch up on her sleep since she apparently naps in her gym. Also, her design is mostly her Gen 1 design, you probably saw it if you played Pokemon Colosseum and played through the Gym Castles. The two gals have put away their Gym Leader teams and decided to go on an adventure of their own! Mist left Cerulean with just Horsie and Erika, an Oddish. It was really Misty's idea to decide to go on a Pokemon Adventure!  Erika: Misty, aren't we a little old to be going around as new trainers? Misty: Eh?! What do you mean?! By the time the two of them reached Viridian Forest, they've probably gotten some serious training done and are a bit tougher than your average Bug Catcher. And, hey, wouldn't it be cool to have some former Gym Leaders as a pair of Rivals? Or, better yet; imagine running through a revamped Viridian Forest. It's a new, more complex maze. More Pokemon roam about now. And boom! You turn a corner and still Misty and Erika! You can battle them and they can join you as Traveling Companions! For Double Battles, you can pick one as a partner! Misty can help you fish in ponds and a big lake and Erika can help you pluck berries and heal your Pokemon. Maybe a 'cutscene' can happen where you camp during the night and swap dialogue with Misty or Erika, and maybe depending on how well you do, they'll be a long time companion for your adventures!

[floralcalaveraa]

HEADCANON: BACK A revamp of this post. This headcanon will be based upon observations from the games, manga, and my own interpretations. If you roleplay any of the mentioned characters, this can be altered, but this is his default canon. The first part is the observations. Underneath it is the story. The following contains assault and body harm.

                    Throughout the entirety of the main Alola games, Guzma remains slumped except for when he is shown laughing or bending over backward over a loss. However, in Pokemon Masters, there are more unique movements, a subtle yet important one being where Guzma stretches his hunched back before he returns to slouching all over again. In Pasio, he confides to a trainer about a daily routine:

“Me ‘n’ my Pokemon gotta keep training our bodies each day so punks like you can’t beat us down!”

Usually, exercise leads to a healthy posture. Pair that with how often he does and surely that should ensure an upright pose. Yet, the intimidating gangster of Alola, is often seen hunched, a posture that is the pull of gravity and the burden of carrying a family on his back.

“Guzma! What is wrong with you?!”

It is associated with insecurity, and Guzma’s body is a temple that manifests this feeling. Only a special population, his gang, knows that underneath his wild, overbearing nature is a surprising amount of instability. The ones that hold him back from self-harm when he loses, when he fails. But the pool of people becomes smaller when it comes to the knowledge of the physical impairment that hounds Guzma. Guzma’s posture is the effect of an injury.

. . . an injury that originates during his Island Challenge.

                    When a young Guzma, alongside the trial goers of his generation --his friends Kukui and Molayne, and rival Kahili-- were offered the opportunity to travel the regions beyond Alola by the Kahuna Hala, Kahili wasn’t accepting that Guzma would be coming along. She never saw worth in him. From golf to pokemon battles, mercilessly beating his bug-type team against her flying type team, her disdain for him was clear since day one for reasons unknown to the boy.

What would be even more elusive to him was her intention on rendering him unable from this trip. This idea was dropping a young Guzma from an unimaginable height. From the place her scheme would occur, to the patience and timing in recognizing Guzma’s routine, she was meticulous in disguising this plan as an unfortunate accident.

Route 2 --a path of many grassy patches-- is where Guzma’s home is located. Connecting it is Route 3, where it greets its travelers first thing with a sign that warns,

‘Watch out for flying Pokémon overhead!’

for the untamed avian that soar above the rocky terrain. Melemele Meadow, however, can be found wIthin Route 3, a field that’s in abundance with bug pokemon for its nectar; this was the small piece of information that Kahili spared to lure Guzma into her scheme.

When Guzma decides to embark there for a potential pokemon to his party, she exploits his care for insects by making an innocent bug the prey to her flying pokemon --a bird-- that is unbeknownst to him. Oblivious, shielding the creature was his priority as his back was in the face of danger. However, this exposure of his back was merely just a spot for Kahili’s pokemon to claw its talon on; gripping his upper back, Guzma is taken to great heights effortlessly, as this pokemon’s dex entry describes their strength:

One can carry a car while flying.

Despite his protests, he was taken higher until Guzma was then let go. Falling on a series of jagged surfaces on his back, he experienced one of the most agonizing aches of his life on Route 3. The path is recognized in the map as:

A steep mountain path surrounded by rocks where a lot of bird Pokémon live.

The incident cost him not only the experience of venturing beyond Alola, but a moment that was to be lived with his friends; he missed Kukui challenging the Indigo Plateau as well as its champion Lance in Johto, and Molayne finding inspiration from the renowned Bill of that region to be a manager of the PC box system of his own. When Kahili became champion of the island challenge, she left Alola --Guzma, her burdens, and all-- to get stronger on her own. Guzma wasn’t able to travel to regions until later on in his life, as a late teenager without his friends by his side:

“... your grandpa took me to another region for a training battle.”

The result of Kahili’s strategy was a gravely injured Guzma, immobilizing him from many moments; one of them was being a Trial Captain on time.

Alas, Guzma remained bed-ridden throughout most of his youth. There, he was treated with drugs, painkillers, and homemade remedies to alleviate some pain in his back. Yet, it wasn’t enough to remedy the time wasted being useless, unable. The essence of his ache and melancholy is undeniable; today, it still remains on the bed he spent healing his back on.

There is a sad, musty odor of an old bed that no one has slept in for a long time …

[polkscastle]

That New Pokemon Direct, Though (My Thoughts)

Pokemon is now 25 years old!! With this momentous occasion, we have received a new Direct video about Pokemon's up-and-coming developments!! It came and went in a snap but, still gave us a look at a brilliant and shining future, while providing a taste of a legendary history. My Thoughts: ----- New Pokemon Snap: I don't believe I have ever talked the Pokemon Snap revamp on this site so, here we go. I've never played the original Pokemon Snap game so, I have no personal nostalgia for this spin-off. However, I am kind of excited for it. I think it could be a full little side adventure. No battles, no enemy teams, no big save-the-world journey; just looking for Pokemon doing fun Pokemon things and taking pictures of em. Sweet!! I may or may not actually buy it on release (I'm trying to be tighter with my budgeting). Still, I hope it turns out to be fun for a lot of people. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: OoooooooooooooOOoooOO!! THIS IS IT!! We've finally got some Gen 4 love in here!! No joke, Generation 4 is my all time favorite era of Pokemon. Diamond was the first main game I ever played and was what really drove me into becoming a full on Pokemon fan. This maybe fueled by blind Nostalgia but, SWEET ARCEUS, I AM HYPED AS HELL!! That said though, I do feel I need to address some criticism/concerns I have as well: - I will count myself among those who expected GameFreak to give us the same game story of the originals delivered with the graphics/art style of the current generation, like with previous remakes. Color us surprised when we're shown gameplay footage and see the return of chibi-fied overworld characters and grid-based environments. Now this really isn't an issue for me. I don't need the end-all-be-all of video game visuals as long as the game can still function properly. Honestly, I kinda missed the little blocky little overworld people. They were cute. Still, it's bit weird that the main games of the two most recent generations have consistent full scale models and more organic environment layouts but, these remakes appear to be recreating the old games' style as closely and as strictly as possible. Why this is, maybe explained more by my next point. - Despite being co-directed by Masuda himself, the remakes are not being developed by GameFreak's staff but, by a partner company, ILCA. This has me concerned. Not that I think that they'll do poorly or change the games in any bad ways. They're already working off of a solid template. However, that is my concern. That since they're not the usual staff, they're going to be too cautious with changing anything from the original games. Whether out of reverence to Masuda and GameFreak or, out of fear of the nostalgia blinded fans, they'll stick strictly to adapting Diamond and Pearl exactly as they already were. I know that is kind of the point of remakes and remasters (giving old and new fans another chance to play the original) but, since I've already played the originals, I wouldn't mind some alterations. I like it when a remake can look at its older self, keep and enhance what was great about it, change or take out what doesn't hold up well anymore, add some new things for little spice, and ultimately give its consumers a fresh new take on a older property. Things like the Delta Episode (a new epilogue adventure building off the old main story) were my favorite parts of playing through Alpha Sapphire. So, I am hoping for something like that to appear in these games. However, this is just the announcement. I can't truly say that GameFreak/ILCA sticking so close to originals (if that is indeed what they're doing) is a pro or a con for these remakes until I play them. And yes, I will be playing these remakes because my love for Gen 4 is that strong!! One of my main boys isn't a Luxio for now reason!! Heck, I've even thought about streaming my playthrough of it!! Nah, never mind. No one would watch that. Still, I am a bit disappointed that I won't be able to explore a full-scale, open area Sinnoh region... ...unless... Legends Arceus: OH MY... okay, just listen. Within the back corners of my mind, this is the Pokemon game I always wanted. A Pokemon adventure taking place in a far earlier time in the world's history; SIGN ME UP!! Years ago when I tried coming with ideas for a fake Pokemon game, my biggest idea was an adventure that was half set in the past (time travel shenanigans. I blame Pokemon 4ever and its steampunk Pokeballs). So far, I love what I am seeing of the game. The old world versions of the Gen 4 protagonists look great and, I'm stoked to see an untamed version of Sinnoh. What's the story? How does Arceus come into play? Could the story possibly be about the older conflict between Dialga and Palkia? This actually gives me hope that Legends will continue on as a series with the other regions!! Possibly even one for Johto that depicts the story of the Legendary Beast Trio... ...please? No major criticisms or concerns so far, except maybe two. First is that, from what we were shown in the trailer, the game still needs polishing. The overworld Pokemon animations look a little janky to me. Second, and by far the most important thing, is HOW DARE YOU MAKE THE STARTERS THREE FAVORITES OF MINE!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE!!!???? ----- TLDR; I thoroughly enjoyed the new developments shown in this Direct but, I'd still like to keep up an attitude of cautious optimism for these new releases. They may not end up being perfect but, I'd like to keep hoping they'll still be enjoyable to play. Thank you for stopping by, Friends. Hope you're all staying safe and well. Have a wonderful day. ^w^ (*sigh* that was a long one. Thank Arceus, I no longer have to deal with all those nagging REMAKE GEN 4 comments ever again... ...they've already started screaming about Gen 5 now, haven't they?)