#light machamp

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3127: Light Machamp (Neo Destiny)

Light Machamp had some interesting traits. Getting a minor heal and a free switch with Evolution could be pretty useful if enough Energy was in play to attack right away, and the hit against Dark Pokemon and Darkness-types was nice when it worked. This was all put on an attacker with decent power. There was already some competition for the Fighting-type with interesting traits role, most notably with Donphan due to an equal base damage output, so separation would be needed to get this to see use.

100 HP was a very solid number, though one that was kind of needed on a Stage 2. Only the biggest hits would get a KO right away, such as a well set-up Feraligatr or a Blaine's Arcanine. More likely you'd see this go down in 2, which meant trading blows was rather doable. A Psychic Weakness meant that you were relying a ton on coin flips against Dark Gengar and were in trouble if Espeon showed up. The Retreat Cost here was 2, and the goal was to get Energy in play well enough to let another Light Machamp take over so you never needed to worry about it. In practice, you'd probably retreat at least once during a game.

Tag Team was a fun Pokemon Power, but did limit when you wanted to evolve. If Light Machamp was played from your hand to evolve a Pokemon on the Bench, you removed 3 damage counters from your Active Pokemon. You then switched Light Machamp with your Active Pokemon. There was no choice here, so you had to only evolve when ready to attack. The possible exception was if you just wanted to use it as a pivot using Balloon Berry, which wasn't usually what you wanted to do but also gave a chance to conserve Energy or get a desperate heal in. It was nice to have some of these plays available even if it was also awkward at times.

Beatdown, against most Pokemon, did 50 damage. This was pretty solid against most things, taking most opponents down in 2 hits. IT should be noted that it fell a little short against important Pokemon like Feraligatr and Steelix, howver, which was a problem. The side effect only came into effect if targeting a Darkness-type Pokemon or a Pokemon with Dark in its name. This got you a coin flip, and heads added 50 more damage. 100 for 3 was absurd in this era, and was a KO against the likes of Dark Feraligatr, Umbreon, Dark Vileplume, and even Dark Gengar through the Resistance. This was, of course, if you got the flip, which made it less nice than you might expect it to be sometimes.

Light Machamp was all about match-ups. It was quite good at messing with Dark Feraligatr if it got even decent luck, and the healing and pivoting could be really annoying for any deck trying to run Murkrow. On the other hand, it was atrocious against Feraligatr and wasn't too good at facing Steelix or Crobat either. If you really expected to see those good match-ups a lot, Light Machamp was a very capable deck. If you expected some other sort of mix and still wanted to go with a Fighting-type, Donphan could be way more annoying to deal with due to being able to hide behind a Baby Pokemon a bunch, so that was worth considering instead. Giovanni's Machamp was also worth looking at as well, but Light Machamp had its good moments.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[platinumtimesbaby]

[ranger-rai]

My husband is a ballroom dance instructor and has a Machoke that helps him demonstrate proper posture and stance - the Machop line focuses on strength building as Machop and on regulation and control as Machoke, so dancing is a perfect exercise for them to focus on muscle control and power regulation!

Exactly!

People don't seem to realize that dancing a ton of muscle control and the Machop line can do it very well with enough training.

Many fighting types could adapt if trained hard enough, there are actually many that struggle with this because of how precise the control needs to be at times.

[oldpokecardart]

Machamp illustrated by Miki Tanaka

First featured in JP Neo Destiny in April 2001, and was in the “Light” theme deck

Attacks:

PokéPower Tag Team

Beatdown

Other facts:

A “Light” Pokémon

[crescentpaws]

kotlc pokémon au!

gonna share some info abt my kotlc pokémon au here for anyone interested :> (i’ve had this in my head for yearsss but @queefsencen has inspired me to share it here now)

(also yes i have lots of drawings but they’re all old and i hate them… so you’re just getting text for now. more drawings coming soon i promiseeee)

anyway. all under cut bc it’s longgg (talking about world building as well as the characters)

(have put more thought into this than i should have)

——————

everyone still has their abilities; most people choose their pokémon based on their ability (ex. fire types for pyrokinetics, water types for hydrokinetics, etc.) but some people choose to ignore typing (and some pick pokemon based on the certain moves they can learn or what their pokédex entries say)

also, since they can light leap all over the world, it’s much easier to find regional variants

- ever since pyrokinesis was banned, it’s illegal to own a fire-type pokémon (with some exceptions) (but they’re still allowed to roam around freely of course. they’re just less common now because no one catches them anymore)

- psionipaths almost always have pokémon that can learn shielding moves (such as protect)

- physicians always have at least one healing pokémon

- lots of kids at foxfire want or have an eevee, because eevees usually evolve according to which ability the kids manifest (jolteons, flareons, and vaporeons evolving with an ability manifestation don’t require evolution stones)

- some ancients have a mythical/legendary pokémon

- vociferators and beguilers almost always have pokémon that can learn moves that are affected by the voice

- pokémon that enter the seat of eminence usually glow with the spotlight color that best matches their typing (sophie’s espeon glows red though—which is unusual because psychic types normally glow blue—because it evolved when sophie inflicted on everyone at the end of book 1)

- when pokémon enter the mysterious place known as elysian, they gain the ability to terrastalize for some reason (wild stellar type tera pokemon can also be found there)

- goblins are machokes (queen is a machamp, younglings are machops)

- dwarves: drilbur -> excadrill

- gnomes are bellossoms

- haven’t thought of the species for ogres or trolls yet tho (if anyone has any suggestions feel free to tell me lmao)

- ^^ it’s considered very immoral to catch and train one of the intelligent species pokémon (+ they can all talk similar to how team rocket’s meowth can)

- (winged) galarian rapidash = the alicorns (occasionally fight when necessary)

- haven’t finalized the gym leaders or elite 4 yet so. i’ll get back to that later. (the nobility = the pokémon league basically. they do other stuff still of course but that’s a big part of their jobs)

——————

characters:

(don’t have set pokémon really, these are just my ideas so far. feel free to give suggestions for any of them!)

-> sophie

partner - espeon (psychic) — given to her as an eevee by alden so nobody at foxfire would suspect that she already had an ability; evolved when sophie inflicted for the “first” time at the end of book 1 (the red gem on its forehead represents the red light that shoots out of sophie’s forehead when she inflicts now)

altaria (dragon-flying) — this is the pokemon species that is supposed to represent moonlarks (given to her by mr. forkle). can mega evolve (which she learned how to do after she had her abilities reset in legacy)

phanpy (ground) — caught this pokemon because it looked like her plushie ella (she even named it after her)

raichu (alolan form) (electric-psychic) — used to be kenric’s pokemon; given to her by oralie at the same time she was given kenric’s cache at the beginning of book 4

grafaiai (poison-normal) — iggy (caught by her but rarely used in battle)

possibly could get a deoxys? since of course the black swan would have access to a mythical pokemon smh. and it’s literally the dna pokemon and it’s a psychic type and it shoots lasers out of its chest AND it can learn teleport and psychic. and it’s red.

-> fitz

partner - meowstic (psychic) — male form. good friends with sophie’s espeon

gallade (psychic-fighting)

girafarig (normal-psychic)

slowbro (water-psychic)

-> keefe

partner - thievul (dark) — mischievous fox pokémon for his fox bff in unraveled :> though i think he would have already had this pokémon (he caught it as a nickit, and it evolved when he was with the neverseen) his parents don’t like this pokémon because of all the trouble it causes, and because of the fact that empaths usually work with fairy type pokémon more often

klefki (steel-fairy) — he calls his klefki “klef-keefe” because he thinks he’s hilarious. this pokemon is where most of the credit for all the break-ins into dame alina’s office should go to

granbull (fairy)

morgrem (dark-fairy) — has the prankster ability

-> biana

partner - oricorio (ghost-flying) — had since before she manifested, since her mom is a ghost type trainer and gave her the purple nectar needed to change its form

mimikyu (ghost-fairy) — shiny (because of course biana would have a shiny pokémon. i think she probably used to shiny hunt a lot when she had more free time as a kid)

gothitelle (psychic)

tsareena (grass) — shiny

would probably also have one of those special cosplay pikachus from or/as. she’d be a fan of the heart pattern on its tail & she’d love dressing it up in cute outfits <3

-> dex

partner - goodra (dragon) — given to him as a goomy by kesler when he started helping him out at slurps & burps

togedemaru (electric-steel)

klinklang (steel)

porygon2 (normal) — created as a porygon by dex himself (made during his time in alluveterre)

rotom (electric-ghost) — takes on lots of different forms depending on the situation; helps him hack machines

-> linh

partner - vaporeon (water) — quan and mai refused to give both twins an eevee, so tam let linh have the only one they were willing to give. went with her to exillium and helped her gain control of her ability

corsola (water-rock) — linh wasn’t able to catch this pokemon until much later, since she and tam didn’t have access to pokéballs until they met the black swan

lumineon (water)

probably gets a milotic later (or maybe a dragonair)

-> tam

partner - zoroark (dark) — tam was given a single empty pokéball by quan and mai after he let linh have the eevee. when he and linh left, he was able to catch a zorua in one of the forests in the neutral territories

umbreon (dark) — used to be umber’s partner, was given to him by gisela after umber died and he was forced to join the neverseen. since escaping, he’s refused to use this pokémon in battle or even take it out of its pokéball

-> marella

partner - flareon (fire) — an eevee she had before she manifested (obviously became a flareon). lied to the council and said that the flareon evolved by accidentally touching a fire stone (but she wasn’t permitted to take it out of its pokéball again until they approved her training)

charmeleon (fire) — gifted as a charmander by forkle when the council approved her training

vulpix (fire) — fintan has a ninetails so this is an interesting parallel

pansear (fire)

-> wylie

partner - raichu (electric) — kanto form

heliolisk (electric-normal)

ampharos (electric) — cyrah’s old pokémon (was a flaaffy when she died)

boltund (electric)

-> stina

partner - sylveon (fairy) — yeah, stina was another foxfire kid who had an eevee that evolved alongside her

bruxish (water-psychic)

rapidash (galarian form) (psychic-fairy) — a normal rapidash obviously, not winged

mudsdale (ground)

-> maruca

partner - cinccino (normal) — knows protect; maruca dyed a strand of this pokémon’s hair blue to match her own

azumarill (water-fairy) — knows protect

pelipper (water-flying) — knows protect

sunflora (grass) — knows protect

-> rayni

partner - liepard (dark) — shiny (this is her “sparkly cat” she’s always talking about)

morpeko (electric/dark)

heliolisk (electric-normal) — shiny (for some reason, flashers have an easier time finding shiny pokémon than people with other abilities do. something about the perception of light or whatever)

pawmot (electric-fighting)

whismur (normal) — bc it’s silly. & rayni reminds me of zinnia from or/as a bit (she keeps it unevolved tho bc loudred is so ugly….)

-> mr forkle

(both of them have the same pokémon)

partner - reuniclus (psychic)

ditto (normal)

beheeyem (psychic)

+ sir astin has a solrock (rock-psychic) and magnate leto has a starmie (water-psychic)

-> juline (squall)

partner - ninetails (alolan form) (ice-fairy)

glaceon (ice) — yes, juline was an eevee kid too

froslass (ice-ghost)

sawsbuck (normal-grass) — winter form

-> elwin

partner - linoone (normal) — bullhorn (has the strange death-sensing abilities that bullhorn has, as well)

solosis (psychic) — shining certain light through this pokémon has the same sort of effect that elwin’s special glasses do (though he still prefers to use the glasses for convenience. but this pokémon is always a good backup) also it’s the cell pokémon so

bellibolt (electric) — silly glowy frog guy. seems pretty elwin-esque to me (also could act as some sort of defibrillator if needed)

-> livvy

masquerain (bug-flying)

comfey (fairy) — its aroma has healing qualities, which is extremely helpful with livvy’s physician work

vivillon (bug-flying) — elegant form

(not sure what her partner pokémon should be though…)

-> jolie

partner - swanna (water-flying) — when sophie enters prentice’s broken mind, he takes the form of jolie’s pokémon instead of jolie herself. this pokémon also perished in the fire

-> oralie

partner - gardevoir (psychic-fairy)

blissey (normal)

hatterene (psychic-fairy)

alcremie (fairy) — ruby swirl + love sweet form

polteageist (ghost)

-> bronte

partner - persian (normal) — i chose this pokémon partly because the red gem on its forehead would match sophie’s espeon (which it sort of mentors now), and also it’s a pokémon that like. usually doesn’t like other people. so it’s fitting. also she was bffs with fintan’s victini (they were gfs. pokemon doomed yuri). also coincidentally has a curly tail which is so funny to me

hydreigon (dark-dragon)

marshadow (fighting-ghost) — mythical pokémon

also has an alolan persian (dark type) that he uses in official pokémon battles (bc i think the elite 4 = the four most powerful councillors. and he would definitely be a dark type trainer so. i think this persian would be like the cousin of the other one or something lmao)

will add kenric later bc i can’t think of anything for him rn… (other than the raichu)

-> alina

partner - meloetta (normal) — mythical pokémon. her having this rare & powerful pokémon (it was passed down through her family over generations) was one of the main reasons she was elected to the council

primarina (water-fairy) — “its singing voice is its chief weapon in battle” (pokédex entry)

milotic (water)

wigglytuff (normal-fairy) — used to be a jigglypuff that would lull people to sleep with its singing

-> alden

partner - slowking (water-psychic) — related to fitz’s slowbro

alakazam (psychic)

unown (psychic) haven’t thought of which specific form though… probably a v for vacker or something. helps him with deciphering ancient runes & stuff

-> della

partner - froslass (ice-ghost)

sneasel (hisuian form) (fighting-poison)

chandelure (ghost-fire) — caught after she joined the black swan because she’s already joining an illegal rebellion, why not have an illegal fire type pokémon as well? also i think it’s funny having a vacker have a chandelier pokémon.

sinistcha (grass-ghost)

jellicent (water-ghost) — female form

-> grady

(despite being a mesmer, he doesn’t enjoy using psychic types that much)

hypno (psychic) — he doesn’t like using it in battle often, but it helps him calm down rowdy animals in the pastures at havenfield

tyrantrum (rock-dragon) — verdi! she’s shiny, but for some reason appears more green than blue. a pokémon that doesn’t obey very often

raticate (alolan form) (dark-normal) — the verminion

(winged) gouging fire (fire-dragon) — the gorgodon; created by the neverseen. grady was the one to officially catch this pokémon, but it rarely listens to him so he almost never uses it in battle (plus it’s a fire type so it’s heavily monitored. he’s only allowed to have it because he’s the one attempting to rehabilitate it)

-> edaline

partner - meganium (grass) — flower dinosaur pokémon! which i think is fitting

kangaskhan (normal) — “parent pokémon”

aurorus (rock-ice) — raised from an amaura with the help of her sister (who is an expert in ice types)

leafeon (grass)

lilligant (hisuian form) (grass-fighting) — this is the pokémon that fights for her the most often

-> kesler

muk (alolan form) (poison-dark) — helps out at slurps & burps (‘helps’ in the loosest sense…)

ditto (normal) — uses elixirs to change its color often, so sometimes people will think it’s a shiny. don’t be fooled! it is not!!! kesler is just being silly

weezing (poison)

-> rex

partner - stufful (normal-fighting)

tangela (grass)

teddiursa (normal) — was caught around the same time as his siblings manifested, since he was jealous that they were catching new pokémon and he wasn’t

-> bex

partner - skitty (normal)

-> lex

vanillite (ice) — a fairly new pokemon, was caught (with help from his mom) after he manifested as a froster

-> fintan

partner - victini (psychic-fire) — mythical pokémon, played a part in the everblaze incident and the pyrokinesis ban. however, fintan refused to keep it in its pokéball after fire types were banned, since he thought it was unfair to punish a pokémon for something that was mostly his own fault. though victini was still severely traumatized by the death of its fellow fire-type pokémon friends

ninetails (fire) — shiny

delphox (fire-psychic)

centiskorch (fire-bug) — can gigantamax. also shiny. i think as a councillor he would have been very fond of shiny pokémon.

-> vespera

partner - diancie (rock-fairy) — mythical pokémon; transformed from a carbink (with the help of her scientific meddling)

hatterene (psychic-fairy) — way more aggressive than oralie’s (to show the difference in their empath abilities)

serperior (grass) — old partner, caught snivy as a starter pokémon when she was a kid (before she manifested)

dracovish (water-dragon) — shiny; mismatched fossil pokémon that was the result of an experiment

cursola (ghost)

all of these pokémon were confiscated when she was arrested, but she was able to get them back when lumenaria fell

-> gisela

partner - weavile (dark-ice)

froslass (ice-ghost) (i am not immune to giving pretty women this pokemon)

glimmora (rock-poison) — “glimmora's petals are made of crystallized poison energy” (pokédex entry); caught while she was collecting those special explosive crystals from elysian (was revealed to the main squad during their battle there)

-> brant

partner - typhlosion (fire) — given to him as a cyndaquil by fintan when he started training him; kept secret from the council until he was outed as a neverseen member. when brant and jolie got into their fight, he challenged her to a pokémon battle, and this was the pokémon that sparked the flames that killed her

turtonator (fire-dragon)

marowak (alolan form) (fire-ghost) — its ultra moon pokédex entry is “when it beats opponents with its bone, the cursed flames spread to them. no amount of water will stop those flames from burning.” which sounds very everblaze-y to me

-> alvar

partner - sableye (dark-ghost)

trevenant (ghost-grass)

runerigus (ground-ghost) — kept secret from his family until he was discovered to be a neverseen member

-> gethen

slowking (galarian form) (poison-psychic) — knows amnesia and confusion; helps wash memories

golduck (water)

aegislash (steel-ghost) — stole from lumenaria (the sword)

-> umber

partner - umbreon (dark) — this pokémon is what she decided to name herself after. was later given to tam by gisela after umber died

zoroark (hisuian form) (normal-ghost) — another parallel to tam

absol (dark)

[madd-nix]

Battling on the Train to Reunion

Ingo and Emmet finally reunite after Ingo has come home from Hisui. But before Ingo reveals himself to his brother, he decides that it would be more fun to challenge him to a battle first. My first time writing out pokemon battling!

Also, I didn't intend to post this on the 2nd anniversary of Legends Arceus' release, but hey! It worked out well! I just wanna say again how much I love this game cuz it brought back my love for Pokemon and it gave me more blorbos to love and get attached to. Amazing game, and I hope we get to see more games like it in the future!

Words: 3,592

Rating: PG (maybe like one or two swear words)

The battle continued for a while. Emmet's opponent had thrown out an Alakazam, which hit Garbodor pretty hard with Psychic. Luckily, she stayed standing, but the man's Magnezone finally managed to take out Archeops with Thunder. Emmet then sent out Galvantula, who made sure to quickly take out the Alakazam. The man sent out a Tangrowth, but he soon had to recall Magnezone when Garbodor took it out with a Focus Blast. He sent out a Probopass, then together with Tangrowth, they took out Garbodor after a few good hits. Emmet finally sent out Eelektross, his trusty partner. Now he had two pokemon out on the field and just one still waiting to be released.

Ingo healed up his pokemon one last time after defeating the last 20 depot agents. He knew the next car was the last one, where the lone Subway Boss was waiting for him.

Emmet, his twin brother. He was a little anxious about seeing him again, feeling a mix of nerves and excitement after having been gone for over five years. But now, here he was, back in modern Unova after being stuck in Hisui for so long.

With a sigh, he pocketed his pokeballs and adjusted the face mask he was wearing. He hadn't wanted to get recognized just yet, so he decided on wearing a mask to conceal the lower half of his face, a plain black squirtleneck shirt, black pants, brown boots, and a light gray trench coat. Meanwhile, his Subway Boss hat and coat were packed away safely, waiting to be worn again and probably repaired later. But for now, he just wanted to challenge the Doubles Line on the Battle Subway to surprise his brother.

After taking another moment to compose himself, Ingo stepped through the doorway to the final car. Emmet stood there, waiting patiently for him. His brother studied his appearance, but there was no sense of recognition in his eyes. Instead, he simply stood tall with a smile on his face and tipped his hat politely.

"I am Emmet. I am the Subway Boss. I like double battles. I like combinations of two pokemon. I like a challenge. You have come here verrry quickly. I am eager to see whether you will leave victorious or defeated. But I will not go easy on you. I like winning more than anything else. So, let's start a great battle in which every pokemon uses various moves."

Ingo nodded slowly, recognizing his brother's usual script. He had added in a few details, since apparently Ingo's battling proficiency had impressed Emmet enough to comment on it.

With that, Emmet threw out Archeops and Klinklang. Ingo took note, then took two pokeballs out of his pocket. He threw them and released Machamp and Magnezone. As soon as he caught and pocketed the now empty pokeballs, he positioned himself, ready to move.

"Archeops, use Aerial Ace on Machamp! Klinklang, Giga Impact on Magnezone!" Emmet called out.

"Both of you, dodge!" Ingo exclaimed.

Archeops flew up and then dove down towards Machamp, who luckily dodged the attack. Klinklang's Giga Impact was much harder to avoid, resulting in Magnezone taking the hit and forcing Ingo to dodge and roll out of the way.

"Sir, I must advise you to stay behind the yellow line," Emmet said as he watched Ingo.

"Ah, my apologies! I must have just grown used to battling more closely with my pokemon," Ingo replied. "I promise I am following the proper safety procedures." Emmet looked at him for a moment, but said nothing. Ingo had initially wondered if his voice would give him away, but his volume and vocal control had certainly changed while in Hisui. He could now keep better control of how loud he was, a skill that became necessary when needing to be quiet and hide from wild pokemon. This change must be what was preventing Emmet or any of the depot agents from recognizing him. That, and his change of appearance.

Finally, with a nod from Emmet, the former warden took his opportunity to attack.

"Machamp, Fire Punch agile style on Klinklang, followed by Close Combat! Magnezone, Flash Cannon on Archeops!" Ingo commanded.

Emmet opened his mouth, presumably to question what agile style was, or maybe to ask why he was giving Machamp two moves to use in one turn, but before he could, Machamp was already moving. Machamp swiftly punched Klinklang with a flaming fist, then immediately started using Close Combat and rapidly punched her opponent. Klinklang floated back, its gears rotating irritably.

As Machamp pulled back, Magnezone finally released the power it had been building up on Archeops. The poor fossil pokemon squawked as it took the hit, not fast enough to dodge.

"Verrrry interesting battle technique. I would like to know more about that later. But first," Emmet smirked as he pointed at his opponent, "Archeops, Rock Slide on Magnezone! Klinklang, Gear Grind on Machamp!"

Before Ingo could say anything, Emmet's pokemon flew in to attack. Archeops sent an avalanche of rocks at Magnezone, coming close enough to force Ingo to again dodge out of the way, and Klinklang sent two gears out to hit and grind against Machamp. Both of his pokemon took the hits, but they weren't down yet.

"Magnezone, Tri Attack strong style on Archeops!" Ingo exclaimed. "Machamp, another Fire Punch on Klinklang, strong style!"

Both pokemon prepared their attacks. Magnezone sent out three blasts of energy at Archeops while Machamp sent out another Fire Punch, now stronger than the last attack. Archeops managed to survive the hit, but unfortunately for Emmet, Klinklang fainted. He recalled his pokemon.

"Verrry good job, Klinklang. You did well," he said to the steel type in the pokeball. Emmet then pocketed Klinklang's pokeball and took out a new one. He released Garbodor, which Ingo recognized after a moment.

Garbodor had been one of his pokemon. She was incredibly sweet and could be shy at times, but she always gave it her all in battle. It was good to see that his brother was taking good care of his pokemon in his absence.

As much as he wanted to hug his old pokemon, Ingo had a battle to finish. And with his pokemon still recovering their energy from the last two strong style moves, Emmet was able to take his turn again.

"Archeops, use Protect! Garbodor, use Psychic on Machamp!"

Archeops put up an invisible barrier to protect himself, while Garbodor focused her energy on blasting Machamp. Machamp took the hit even as Ingo called out to dodge the attack. This ended up causing Machamp to faint. Ingo recalled her to her pokeball.

"Bravo, Machamp! You did wonderfully," he told her. He then pocketed the pokeball and got ready to toss out his next pokemon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the battle went on, Emmet couldn't help but study his opponent. His actions, his pokemon, even his voice and appearance. He was using some strange battle technique involving "strong" and "agile" style moves. From what Emmet could see, that meant that his pokemon either attacked with all their strength, forcing them to take a turn to regain their energy, or they were able to attack quickly with little strength to allow them to attack again right after. It was an interesting strategy, and Emmet hoped to ask him more about it after the battle.

He had also noticed that while the man appeared to be older - only based on his slouch, the bags under his eyes, and the receding hairline since he couldn't see the rest of his face - he was quite fit and agile. He kept close to his pokemon, which was something Emmet got tired of reminding him not to do, but every time an attack came his way, he was able to dodge it. It was pretty impressive and fascinating to watch.

However, even though he was incredibly different and a complete stranger, Emmet couldn't help but feel something familiar about the man. His voice wasn't terribly loud, except to call out attacks for his pokemon. But even then, he wasn't a booming loud like someone Emmet knew. His eyes were a bright gray, reminding Emmet of his own gray eyes, and even though the man's hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, the gray color was also familiar. Little details about the man's vocabulary and way of speaking also tipped Emmet off, but he had to remind himself that these could all be coincidences. He wouldn't get his hopes up now, especially after nothing had been found for over five years.

Eventually, Eelektross managed to take down Tangrowth, leaving the man to release his final pokemon. He tossed out his last pokeball - which Emmet had already noticed that all of his pokeballs looked old and handmade - releasing a Gliscor. A ground and flying dual type. Emmet nodded as he waited for the man to attack.

"Alright, that Galvantula should only take a few more hits," the man thought aloud. "Probopass, use Power Gem, and Gliscor, use Aerial Ace!"

Probopass powered up a sparkling blast, then shot it at Galvantula. Gliscor then followed by dive bombing the bug type from the air, hitting her and sending her flying back. Emmet turned as his pokemon hit the wall behind him. Galvantula was out. He recalled her to her pokeball.

"You did verrrry well, Galvantula. Get some rest," he told her. He pocketed her pokeball and took out the last pokemon he had.

"I see we are both down to our final two pokemon," Emmet said to his opponent. "You are putting up a verrrrry good fight. But like I said, I like winning more than anything else. We are not done yet."

He tossed out the pokeball and released Chandelure. She trilled excitedly, then looked at the man across the train car. She froze, her flames flared, and then she immediately moved to fly over to him. Emmet reached out to try and stop her, but she was too quick. She flew right into the man's chest, nuzzling her face against him. Now, normally, most people would be surprised or shocked or even startled by this. But once the man had seen what she was doing, he had welcomed her and wrapped his arms around her glass bowl. Emmet could faintly hear the man's voice, but he was speaking quietly to her, and with the distance between them and the clacking sound of the train moving, Emmet couldn't make out what he was saying. Chandelure just trilled happily, and after he pat her glass once more, she floated back to Emmet.

"I am verrry sorry for Chandelure," Emmet apologized with a tip of his hat. "She is not normally like this."

"It's alright, she meant no harm," the man said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "She is a very sweet pokemon, and I'm excited to see how she does in battle!"

Emmet nodded, adjusted his hat, then pointed towards his opponent.

"Chandelure, Will-O-Wisp on Probopass! Eelektross, Thunderbolt on Gliscor!"

Both pokemon sent out their attacks, with purple flames and electricity shooting across the train car. The man rolled back to avoid the hit, but his pokemon weren't so lucky. Probopass and Gliscor both took the hits, but they still stayed floating in the air. They were hurt, but ready to attack.

"Probopass, Earth Power on Eelektross, agile style! Then go for Flash Cannon! Gliscor, Stone Edge on Chandelure, strong style!" The man commanded as he pointed towards Emmet's team.

Probopass glowed as it created a crack in the flooring. Luckily, the cars of the Battle Subway were built to be reinforced, able to take attacks of any type without sustaining damage. This crack would simply need welded down later at best. The crack continued on towards Eelektross, then dirt and ground formed and shot up from the floor, hitting the eel pokemon. It didn't do much damage, but Probopass quickly changed tracks to shoot a powerful beam at Eelektross, sending Emmet's partner back a bit. He still stayed up though, and Emmet flashed a proud smile to his pokemon.

Meanwhile, Gliscor stabbed both of his claws into the floor, creating huge rocks. The rocks shot up all the way towards Chandelure, hitting her and sending her spinning. She quickly steadied herself, but it was clear that she had been badly hurt. She was still determined though.

"Okay, Chandelure, use Overheat on Probopass! Eelektross, use Discharge!"

Chandelure and Eelektross did as they were told. Chandelure sent a fiery blast at Probopass, dealing a good bit of damage. Eelektross then sent out an electric wave, hitting every pokemon in the car, and also causing the hairs on Emmet's neck and arms to stand up, as well as the man's ponytail to frizz out a bit. Gliscor and Probopass both took the hit, and while Chandelure was hit too, she at least shook it off fairly well.

"Gliscor, Aerial Ace on Eelektross! Probopass, Power Gem strong style on Chandelure!"

"Dodge it!"

Chandelure managed to dodge the blast from Probopass, but Gliscor's Aerial Ace unfortunately hit Eelektross. He was still able to fight, but Emmet knew it wouldn't be for too long. He had to end this.

"Eelektross, Thunderbolt again on Gliscor! Chandelure, another Will-O-Wisp on Probopass!"

"Dodge!"

Probopass was able to dodge the attack, but Gliscor wasn't so lucky. It seemed like all of their pokemon were getting close to fainting. This was going to be a close battle.

"Let's finish this!" The man exclaimed. "Gliscor, Earth Power strong style on Eelektross! Probopass, another Power Gem strong style on Chandelure!"

Both pokemon readied their attacks.

"Dodge it!"

But it was too late. The ground came up and hit Eelektross, and the sparkling blast flew across the train car to hit Chandelure. Emmet had to shield his eyes from the bright blast, but once he opened them, he saw both of his pokemon were fainted on the floor. He had lost.

He recalled Eelektross and Chandelure, then held their pokeballs close to himself.

"You both did great. We came verrrry close. You and the rest of the team have earned some treats tonight."

Emmet pocketed the pokeballs and turned to look at his opponent. The man had recalled his pokemon and was quietly talking to them, presumably to congratulate them on their win. Emmet walked across the car to face him.

"I am Emmet. I lost against you. Because you are the strongest trainer I've fought lately. Yup! You put up a verrrrry fun challenge. I hope you will ride the trains some more."

Emmet then stuck out his hand to properly congratulate his opponent. The man shook his hand, then chuckled a little.

"That was a great battle, Emmet! I forgot how fun it was to battle you! Now, remind me, how many wins is that for me now?"

Before Emmet could even think of a response, the man pulled down his face mask. Emmet's eyes widened as he looked back at a face that almost exactly mirrored his own. Ingo. His brother Ingo. His twin brother Ingo had just beaten him in a doubles battle and was now smiling back at him and shaking his hand.

"Ingo?!" Emmet immediately let go of his hand and pulled his brother into a hug. Ingo just laughed and hugged him back, harder than Emmet had ever thought was possible from his twin. There was a mix of laughing and crying from both of them as Emmet tried to make sense of what was happening.

"Ingo, i-is it... is it really you?" Emmet pulled away just enough to look at his brother.

He looked older, but that was mostly just around the eyes. Ingo had some wrinkles and eye bags, but it wasn't like Emmet could say that he himself didn't have the same wrinkles and heavy eye bags. After many sleepless nights and years spent worrying over his brother's whereabouts, he knew he had aged quite a bit. Along with that, Ingo's normal frown was pulled up a bit into a smile. It was a small, warm smile, but coming from Ingo, that was the biggest smile he had ever seen. His brother also had a short pointed goatee, which Emmet had to laugh at. It almost matched his own goatee, which was shorter and pointed more up towards his mouth. Even while separated, they still found ways to match. However, the receding hairline had certainly caught Emmet off guard, along with how long his brother's hair had grown. Sure, Emmet's hair was starting to thin, but not that drastically, and he still managed to keep his hair cut short. Where had his brother been, and what had he been up to?

"It's really me, Emmet, I promise," Ingo said, answering his earlier question. He sniffled, and even though he was crying with tears staining his cheeks, Ingo instead wiped at his brother's eyes. The affectionate gesture just brought more tears for Emmet.

"You... you're really home," Emmet cried. "You're alive and back home."

"Yeah, I'm alive and here," Ingo said. When had his voice become so quiet? "And I'm so incredibly happy to see you."

Emmet pulled Ingo into another tight squeeze. After a moment, he realized something and pulled away again.

"I am Emmet. You battled me before telling me you were here!" he exclaimed. "And what's with the mask and the disguise?"

Ingo laughed and patted his brother's shoulder.

"Haha, I wanted to see how you'd react!" Ingo said between laughs. "I thought it would be fun to surprise you!"

"You are so mean!" Emmet punched Ingo in the shoulder, but he wasn't actually mad. Sure, he was a little pissed off that Ingo had made him go through a whole battle without telling him who he was, but he also had to admit that it was a little funny. "You are so mean to me! My own brother! Battling me and beating me before telling me you are back! The worst brother ever!"

Ingo just laughed more, then raised a hand to his chest in mock hurt and shock as he gasped dramatically.

"Emmet! How could you say such a thing! My own brother!" His voice played up the mock hurt, but his eyes were upturned in the way that let Emmet know he was really smiling.

"Yup! I am deeply hurt, Ingo. Verrrry hurt! Disguising yourself from me."

"It was just a joke, brother! I meant no harm!"

"Verrrry mean to your poor, sweet twin brother. I am Emmet. I will never recover."

"Nooo!" Ingo lifted his arms dramatically, which just caused Emmet to laugh. They both fell into another laughing fit and hugged each other.

"...I am Emmet. I have missed this. I missed you verrrrrry much, Ingo. I am so glad you are back," Emmet said once they were calmed down. He rested his head on his brother's shoulder, and Ingo responded by gently rubbing Emmet's back.

"I missed you too, Emmet," Ingo said, his voice once again uncharacteristically soft. "Although, I must admit that my amnesia prevented me from fully remembering you for quite a while."

Emmet pulled away a little at that.

"Amnesia?"

"I'm okay, I promise," Ingo assured him. "But it's a long story. The short version is that I had sustained a head injury, resulting in amnesia. I couldn't remember much aside from my name. But I could eventually vaguely remember a man that looked like me. That was all I knew for a while, other than the fact that I knew he was someone close to me that I missed deeply. But I had some help, and I've been able to remember you and our home here in Unova, and our pokemon. I will need assistance remembering more, so, I hope you'll help conduct me back onto the right tracks."

"Of course," Emmet held his twin close. "Of course I will help you. I am Emmet. You are Ingo. We are a two car train again. I will help you in any way I can."

"Thank you, Emmet," Ingo said as he buried his face in Emmet's shoulder again. Emmet hugged him close for a while longer. If he could, he would just stay like this forever.

However, the train eventually had to pull back into Gear Station. Ingo pulled his mask back up, saying how he didn't want to cause a huge fuss with his reappearance just yet. Emmet understood that, and together, they stepped off of the train. Emmet then made a call over his radio to the depot agents, saying he would be taking the rest of the day off, citing that something with his family had come up. As they walked out of the station, Ingo suddenly perked up.

"Oh! There are two people that I'd like you to meet," he said excitedly as he pulled out a phone. He eagerly began sending a text to a group chat. Emmet peeked over at his brother's phone and saw the names Dawn and Johanna.

"Who are Dawn and Johanna?" he asked.

"The people I'd like you to meet!" Ingo explained excitedly. "Dawn is a wonderful young girl with incredible battling skills! She is actually the one who helped me get home. As for Johanna, she is Dawn's mother. She's an incredibly kind and strong woman, and she's actually a talented contest coordinator from Sinnoh! She is, um, also my girlfriend."

Even with the mask on, Emmet could tell that his brother was blushing. Emmet's jaw hung open slightly.

"You have a girlfriend?!"

[belltrigger]

Submastober Day 04!

Inspiration: There's an older OC-tober prompt-list here that I am using.

Title: A Late Night Event Prompt: Hidden Word count: 779 Synopsis: Ingo sees something in the sky.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Although Ingo considered his comrades in the Pearl Clan to be quite observant and astute, he had determined over the course of the last few days that none of them witnessed the strange meteor fall from the sky around ten nights ago. The event had been quite notable, he thought: a brilliant white streak in the sky, leaving a trail that resembled a scatter of twinkling stars in its wake. While it was true that it had been quite late at night, long after most of the lanterns had been snuffed for the evening, he had thought surely someone would have seen such a stunning display. But no, any inquiries he made were met with confusion; some members of his clan attempted to be polite, but there were some that seemed to think it was perhaps another symptom of his strange amnesia.

There was no doubt in his mind that he'd seen it, however. Despite the loss of his memories before arriving in this place, he retained a crystal clear knowledge and understanding of all that he learned while here. He remembered even the most minute details of that day like it had only been the night before.

The evening was cool, like many evenings this time of the year, but his breath fogged in front of his face a bit more thickly than usual. He felt antsy that night, unable to settle and even having a few of his pokemon out of their pokeballs for a bit of companionship to help potentially ease whatever was setting him on edge. Finding that he couldn't sleep, he went outside to get some air and found it to be much brighter than one would expect - he hadn't even needed his lantern.

Inexplicably, Ingo felt a tug in his chest as he watched the shimmering light etch a fading line through the sky and immediately set out to find the landing spot of whatever had fallen. The bright shine had all but disappeared from his vantage point after entering the treeline, but he was quite confident that he could find the general location of the landing. It was an area that he frequently patrolled, and even this late at night, the paths were not a difficult traversal with his chosen pokemon companions.

Of course he could never have imagined what he would find once he made it to the designated spot. Gently resting in a patch of grass, with absolutely no impact mark at all, was a young man, eyes shut as if he were sleeping peacefully. Any of Ingo's confusion was tucked behind his shock - the man was dressed almost entirely in white, including a coat that looked identical to his, though significantly less worn. Fearing he was dreaming, he knelt down to touch the fabric of the high collar pressed against the ground under the man's cheek, fingertips meeting with fabric that felt as real as his own coat. As if sensing him there, the man curled himself further in towards Ingo.

Resolve firmed then and there, he had Machamp lift up the sleeping man and help carry him back to their home. The man didn't stir again during their travel. Once under the warm glow of multiple lanterns, Ingo could see that not only did the man wear a coat similar to his, he bore a striking resemblance to Ingo himself. Younger, perhaps, but their features were almost exactly the same, and he also had Ingo's quite distinguishing hair style.

Dismissing Machamp once he had bedding set up for this mysterious new arrival, Ingo spent some time simply watching the young man. His chest felt strange, excitement at possible answers making his ribcage feel as though it was squeezing his lungs and heart, and he found it nearly impossible to tear himself away to sleep. He managed it, barely, lying awake in his futon, face turned towards the young man as he drifted off.

It had been days since the young man's dramatic arrival, but he remained in a sleep-like state. Without a firm plan to wake him up, Ingo felt it best to not reveal his presence to the other members of his clan. Perhaps it was selfish, but he wanted to be the first person seen when the young man woke up. He wanted to make sure his questions were the first answered, and that he was the one to answer any questions the mysterious young man had. For some reason, “I want to see his smile first” lingered in the back of Ingo's mind.

And so, Ingo waited for him to wake up, deeply considering what his first words would be when the man woke up.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

in honor of my pokémon obsession and vague desire to one day write a pokémon au, here are the pokémon teams i think some of the bllk boys would have!!

warning: all pokémon are from gen 6 or before because i didn’t really play the games after that, i chose pokémon based on aesthetics and vibes not functionality in battle or stats or anything like that HAHA, this truly is not that serious but if anyone steals my ideas i will be mad 😐 don’t plagiarize pls it’s not cool

characters: isagi yoichi, chigiri hyoma, barou shouei, nagi seishiro, mikage reo, otoya eita, karasu tabito, yukimiya kenyu, hiori yo

isagi yoichi: charizard, lapras, stoutland, machamp, leafeon, raichu (this man is basic i’m sorry but he’s not going crazy or picking any atypical pokémon)

chigiri hyoma: rapidash, zebstrika, dragonite, gorebyss, liepard, pyroar (only chooses fast pokémon and likes to ride them around so he gets places before everyone else)

barou shouei: pangoro, krookodile, zoroark, sharpedo, houndoom, weavile (exclusively dark types so he can continue w the whole villain thing he has going on)

nagi seishiro: goodra, reuniclus, clefable, whimsicott, snorlax, arcanine (what can i say?? a bunch of squishy cuddly pokémon for a squishy cuddly guy)

mikage reo: gallade, mawile, flygon, persian, cinccino, florges (idk all of these pokémon just feel very elegant and classy to me which is super mikage “rich boy” reo)

otoya eita: greninja, sylveon, ampharos, blissey, altaria, ninetales (he tries to be cool so he picks greninja to start with but he ends up with exclusively cutesy pokémon for the rest of his team because he’s actually a loser)

karasu tabito: garchomp, honchkrow, staraptor, talonflame, pidgeot, lucario (his commitment to the bird aesthetic is impressive, but he feels a kinship with garchomp — perhaps due to their similarly shaped side profiles?? — and thinks lucario is cool, so those two get a pass)

yukimiya kenyu: breloom, alakazam, steelix, manectric, azumarill, noivern (i think he would only pick pokémon that make him seem refined and cool)

hiori yo: kingdra, metagross, nidoqueen, luxray, aurorus, swanna (a relatively balanced team in terms of typing, but to be honest i picked them because they’re all light blue/have light blue on them)

[supermarket-goblin]

In a pokemon au, Fig gave Gorgug a Grookey and a pair of drum sticks and the Grookey encouraged Gorgugs drumming. Kristen and Fig both have Rapidash but Kristens is the Galarian kind. Fabian gave up his father's Machamp in Sophmore year, and his main partner is now a Talonflame. Adaine and Aelwyn were both given Eevee's as children and were expected to raise them as Espeon's but Aelwyn has a Glaceon and Adaine has a Vaporeon. Riz's partner pokemon is a Dragapult, but can most commonly be found working by the dim light of his Lampent. Gorgugs first pokemon was a Shroomish that his parents gifted him and he was the only one in his Barbarian class not to have fighting type first day of Freshman Year.

[scarilydark]

Bell's Hells as pokemon types!

Orym: Grass/Steel! Orym would be a fast and deadly, i'm thinking something like Kartana, Sceptile, Serperior, Scizor, or Lucario.

Ashton Greymoore: Rock/Fighting! i don't think there's many Rock/Fighting types in pokemon, but this fits Ashton best i feel. a combination of Rhyperior, Tyranitar, and Aggron, with Machamp, Emboar, and Pangoro. a physical tank that can hit HARD

Chetney: Grass/Dark! another speedy physical machine, Sceptile, Shiftry, with a hint of Hydreigon and Mightyena. RTA!

Fearne: Fire/Fairy! fearne is a wild special attacker, i don't see her as very fast, but a good special wall. she's got that Ninetales, Delphox, and Salazzle vibes, combined with a healthy dose of Tinkaton, Gardevoir, and Sylveon Fresh Cut Grass: Steel/psychic! there's not really a 'light' typing in pokemon, so it's hard to really quantify a cleric, but i feel like psychic fits. the vibes for the robit is Ferrathorn, Jirachi, with Kinklang, with Wobbuffet, Celebi, and Beheeyem vibes. (plus when they're in murder mode he's got that Iron Valiant and Kingambit vibes) Imogen: Psychic/Electric! now if there's anything pokemon knows, it's glass canon special attackers. and that's what Imogen is to a T. she's (mega) Gardevoir, Espeon, and Cresselia, with Ampharos, (Alolan) Raichu, and Jolteon as well. Laudna: Dark/Ghost! i mean, it's pretty obvious. our favorite dead girl got them Spritomb, Mismagius, and Mimikyu vibes, with a little bit of Absol and Zoroark.

[pikachic]

Okay so this has been bugging me for a while now: you said that Jared would have a normal type gym in the Occulus AU, but the man looks like he was made to lead a team of Machamp, Gurrdurr, Hitmonlee, Emboar, Poliwrath and his ace and prolly fursona Buzzwole. I fully support Melanie being a fighting gym leader because god shed pull it off but it physically pains me that Jared doesn't have a team of similarly beefed up weirdos with bulging muscles and veins all over the place. Can you expand a bit about his normal type gym?

...is his team just four Dittos, a Blissey and a Snorlax? Please say yes. That'd be be even more perfect thst a team full of beefcakes.

Actually hang on I think I'm warming up to it as I type. Ditto (shapeshifting), Slaking (big and beefy), Snorlax (big and beefy), Smeargle (steal opponents' moves like Jared steals bones etc), Blissey (big and tanky, plus I think it'd be funny) and either Lopunny, Ambipom or Diggersby for the additional pair of limbs/ears used to punch the shit out of things. Definitely at least one of the three and at least one Ditto.

Yes? No? Maybe? Is that the vibe?

The Normal Type thing was from when I initially started laying down the lore for the AU!

In the first draft of the AU’s gimmick, different Fears were mapped to different Pokémon types, and Pokémon of that type got a sort of Fear-based power boost. These mappings were:

The Eye - Psychic

The Lonely - Ice

The Desolation - Fire

The Dark - Dark (duh)

The Vast - Flying

The Spiral - Electric

The Slaughter - Fighting

The Flesh - Normal

The Hunt - Dragon

The Web - Bug

The Corruption - Poison

The Buried - Ground

The Stranger - Fairy

The End - Ghost

The Extinction - Steel

Because of the nature of the gimmick as it was, I really didn't want to assign two fears to the same type - for example, The Eye and The Spiral can both be Psychic, but I felt like none of the other types fit The Eye as well and The Spiral could be mapped to Electric with some light mental gymnastics (The Spiral is also associated with fractals, fractals -> lightning -> Electric, also something something brain signals)

I assigned The Flesh to Normal because it felt. The fleshiest?? To me? If that makes sense? Like most all people and Pokémon are probably made of meat (I can’t believe I wrote that LMFAO) and I see Normal as a sort of “default” type that kind of. Makes up everything? It’s a bit hard to put into words lol. Normal Type is also a really versatile type, which sort of fits with the shapeshifting aspect of The Flesh

(EDIT: Oh I just thought of the WORST reason why Normal Type fits The Flesh - a good chunk of Pokémon that are based on livestock (Miltank, Tauros, Wooloo, etc) are Normal Types. And The Flesh emerged because of factory farms. It’s so awful but IT WORKS.)

Even when I scrapped the old gimmick I held on to the old type assignments for the gym leaders, which is part of why Jared is the Normal type gym leader

BUT YEAH the vibe for Jared’s team you described is EXACTLY what I was aiming for! :D

Though come to think of it, I could prooobably come up with a beefy Normal/Fighting type Fakemon for Jared to fill that last slot in his team. Maybe something with bone gauntlets :)

OOH I’m also mildly obsessed with the flesh garden episode of magnus so a Fakemon inspired by it could be fun

(I watch a bunch of Fakemon designing videos on YouTube and one I watched recently was horror themed, and the artists talked about how the juxtaposition of a Pokémon that looks really strange and a bit fucked up just being a Normal Type can be leveraged for horror, and I kind of latched onto that idea)

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3107: Light Dragonite (Neo Destiny)

Light Dragonite was a Pokemon that was meant to handle only specific things. It could block the effects of Special Energy, including the Energy types they tried to provide. This would devastate some decks and be absolutely useless against others. This necessitated a good secondary attacker to go with Light Dragonite, as its damage output was decent but nothing more. Being a Colorless-type meant finding a pairing wasn't too hard, with the trick being finding one that was good enough against the wide variety of Pokemon Light Dragonite was poor against.

100 HP was quite good, being up there on the better side even for Stage 2 standards. This was on a Pokemon without a Weakness, so the standard here was to try to take Light Dragonite out in 2 hits instead of 1. This was balanced by the general lack of power from Light Dragonite itself. A Fighting Weakness provided protection mostly against Tyrogue and occasionally Donphan, though if using this in Rocket-On (its weakest format) Giovanni's Machamp was notable as well. The Retreat Cost here was 2, which meant that switching out could be somewhat annoying to do.

Miraculous Wind could be either really good or pointless depending on the context. If Light Dragonite was your Active Pokemon, every Special Energy card in play provided just a Colorless Energy and had no other effects. This was a giant pain for anyone running Steelix or Murkrow in any format, Scizor in Neo-On, or Sneasel or one of the Metal tanking decks in Base-Neo. Some of those decks were completely shut down by this, not being able to pay for their notable attacks. It wasn't invincible, as a few of these (Steelix and Scizor especially) paired well with Muk already, being able to shut the Power off. Anything that didn't need Special Energy, however, just didn't care about this, and Light Dragonite itself lacked access to those Energy as well. This Pokemon Power turned Light Dragonite into a Pokemon that just tried to fish for the right match-up, which could have its place if people figured out how to build around it.

Light Wave wasn't the strongest thing in the world, but was usable at 40 damage for 3 Colorless Energy. It was probably on the lower end of power for a Stage 2 due to the strong Pokemon Power, and just cemented Light Dragonite's role as something that mostly wanted to show up in certain match-ups. Blocking all effects of attacks done to Light Dragonite (outside of damage, that was) during the opponent's next turn was nice, at least, to block things like Poison from a Dark Muk or Confusion from Crobat.

Light Dragonite was incredible against the Metal- and Darkness-types out there, and those types had some very notable Pokemon. It was also below average against most other things, which meant that a catch-all partner was required. Espeon seemed to have the most success with it, as both could at least provide solid damage against most things, with Espeon handling the otherwise terrifying Crobat. The deck was at the lower end of the competitive scene because it still struggled against the likes of Kingdra and Feraligatr and had to try to race Magcargo. It sometimes just dominated a game, however, and being a Colorless-type brought room for experimenting so maybe a pairing that worked better just wasn't found out.

[rc--chan]

Gym Leader Pokespe AU

This is basically an au where the dexholders are gym leaders. I picked what types they use based on which type is the most populous in their teams for the most part, but there are cases where a) there are no repeat types in their team, b) I don't think that specific type fits them or c) someone needs to take that type for some variety. I am also making their teams as if they were the 8th gym leader, so you can just imagine the pre-evolutions for earlier gyms.

Red: Fighting type gym. Yes I know Red had 2 water types on his team but I do not see him as water type gym leader. Also he's the Fighter so…His gym is located in Saffron City, Sabrina finally gets booted like she deserves, in place of the Fighting Dojo. He has a strength gym puzzle, if you place the boulders correctly around the room a door opens up that leads you to him but if you fail a trap door opens under you and you fall into a room filled with trainers. There are also Machokes in the room with the puzzle that will try to mess with things so you have to defeat them if you don't want to restart everything. His team is: Hitmontop, Machamp, Hitmonlee, Primeape, Hitmonchan and Poliwrath. Poliwrath is obviously the ace. If you win you get the Dynamic Badge and the TM for Dynamic Punch.

Green: So I know Green already is a gym leader, but I still wanted to give him a monotype team, so…he's a Steel type gym leader now. Did I choose steel simply because I like Scizor a lot? Absolutely. Do I regret it?…partially. I am trying to give them teams that mostly have pokemon from their home region…but Kanto has like…two steel types and that is the Magnemite line so…yeah I had to get some other generation steel types in here. But anyways, onto the gym puzzle…it's the exact same, hooray! His team is: Skarmory, Steelix, Alolan Sandslash, Magnezone, Aegislash and Scizor. I know none of these are gen I pokemon…but I'm doing my best. Steelix, Magnezone and Scizor are evolutions of Kanto pokemon, Alolan Sandslash is an alternate form of a Kanto pokemon and Aegislash he could have picked up while he was in Kalos. Skarmory is there just to set up Stealth Rocks. Scizor is his ace. If you win you get the now renamed Metallic Badge and the TM for Iron Defense.

Blue: So before Fairy was introduced, Blue basically had 4 normal types on her team, so she's a Normal type gym leader. Her gym is located in Vermilion City, since you use a boat from there to get to the Sevii Islands so I think it works for her. Her gym puzzle is basically a sales pitch. You craft some items, like TMs or potions and then you try to convince the gym trainers to buy them. You need to get 1000 pokedollars from your sales if you want to fight Blue. If you don't manage to convince the gym trainers to buy, you have to fight them for the money. Her team is: Ditto, Persian, Kangaskhan, Chansey, Snorlax and Wigglytuff as the ace. If you win you get the Craft Badge and the TM for Hyper Beam.

Yellow: Electric type gym. Pikachu is her whole thing, it would be wrong not to make her an electric type gym leader. Her gym is located in Pewter City since it's the other city close to Viridian Forest. Her gym puzzle is finding 'injured' pokemon in Viridian Forest and healing them. They're not really injured, they're pretending to be for the puzzle. Around the forest there are gym trainers that will battle you to prevent you from helping the injured pokemon. Her team is: Electrode, Jolteon, Electivire, Raichu, Alolan Golem and a Pikachu with a Light Ball to make it strong enough to be her ace. I did not give her any pokemon from the Magnemite line because I don't want 2 gym leaders from the same pokemon line in one region. So she gets Alolan Golem, an alternate form of a Kanto pokemon and Electivire is there because it makes sense as the evolution of a Kanto mon. If you win you get the Lightning Badge and the TM for Thunderbolt.

Gold: Fire type gym. So, personally when I think of Gold the first pokemon that pop into my mind are Togetaro, Mantaro, Explotaro and Ataro, since they are his most iconic in my opinion. So it was a choice between these 4 and since Typhlosion is my favourite starter, he's now a fire type gym leader. His gym is located in Goldenrod City, since it's next to the Day Care. RIP Whitney's Miltank, you will not be missed. His gym puzzle is hatching 4 pokemon eggs and delivering the babies to their mothers. You have 20 minutes after the first egg hatched to deliver them and gym trainers will do their best to stop you, either by stealing the baby pokemon or by putting obstacles in your path. His team is: Arcanine, Magmortar, Ninetales, Magcargo, Houndoom and Typhlosion as his ace. If you win you get the Hatching Badge and the TM for Blast Burn. Yes ik in the pokespe world this is not a TM but let me have this, I swear I have a legitimate reason for giving them the ultimate moves as TMs.

Silver: Water type gym. Silver has 3 water types on his team, ain't no way I am giving him something else. Sorry Weavile. His gym is located in Blackthorn City simply because we cannot have 2 Kingdra trainers in one region and also fuck Clair, she sucks. His gym is a trading game, you give your pokemon to the Gym guide and he distributes them among some of the gym trainers, then you have to trade using rented pokemon to get them back. However if you ask someone to trade and you do not have the required pokemon they will challenge you to a battle using your own pokemon and another pokemon that you might need for another trade. After you get your team back you can challenge Silver. I feel like his gym would be very popular among people that want to evolve their pokemon but don't have friends to trade with. His team is: Shiny Gyarados, Lanturn, Azumarill, Slowking, Kingdra and Feraligatr as his ace. If you win you get the Trading Badge and the TM for Hydro Cannon.

Crystal: Mega is absolutely her most iconic pokemon and since Parasee is part grass, this makes it her most populous type on her team. Technically so is Psychic due to Chumee and Xatee but we'll ignore that. So she's a Grass type gym leader. Her gym is located in Violet City since that's where the orphanage/Pokémon Academy is located. Her gym puzzle is catching specific pokemon that can be found in the grass in her gym. You get 10 of each pokeball and you have to catch a pokemon for each one. The gym trainers will try to stop you either by catching a pokemon before you can get it, scaring pokemon away or battling you. Her team is: Parasect, Jumpluff, Exeggutor, Bellossom, Vileplume and Meganium as her ace. If you win you get the Catching Badge and the TM for Frenzy Plant. So, for the record, I did not plan for the Johtrio to be a fire, grass, water trio, it happened on accident as I was deciding the types for their gyms and I decided to just roll with it and have them match by giving all 3 the ultimate moves as TMs.

Ruby: Fairy type gym. Fairy is like a very pretty type and Ruby is someone who values beauty so it works. Also I refuse to make him a water type gym leader. Sorry Mimi. His gym is in Lilycove City because that's where the Master Rank Pokémon Contests are held. His gym puzzle is basically a bastardized version of a Pokémon Contest, the only difference is that if you don't get a high enough score you have to battle a gym trainer. Ruby, Wallace and White via video call are the judges. His team is: Mawile, Wigglytuff, Clefable, Togekiss, Azumarill and Gardevoir as his ace. Ruby is in a similar situation to Green, not a lot of fairy types in Hoenn so I borrowed from other generations. Also since this is a different region Wigglytuff is fair game for Ruby to have. If you win you get the Beauty Badge and the TM for Charm.

Sapphire: Rock type gym. Imma be honest, I did not know what to do with Sapphire, so I just took all the types of her team, put them on a wheel and it landed on rock so…yeah. If you're disappointed in me, trust me, so am I. The gym is in Rustboro City because we cannot have 2 rock type gym leaders. Her gym puzzle is basically the tower defense game, you get to construct your own secret base and you have to defend it from invaders, be they wild pokemon or gym trainers. If you manage to successfully defend your base for 30 minutes, Sapphire will come to your base to battle you. She's basically the final boss. Her team is: Relicanth, Armaldo, Cradily, Kabutops, Tyranitar and Aggron as her ace. I gave her Tyranitar to make up for the fact that she has Relicanth, Armaldo and Cradily. I feel like these three's uselessness balances out Tyranitar's power. People who play competitive pokemon know what I'm talking about. If you get past Tyranitar you win the Corundum Badge and the TM for Sandstorm. Fun fact, corundum is what sapphires are made of.

Emerald: Psychic type gym. Emerald was the exact opposite of Sapphire, the moment I looked at him I was like, 'Psychic, Emerald is a Psychic gym leader and I will not take any criticism'. He also has a connection with Jirachi, Latias and Latios, who are all psychic types so it works. His gym is in Mossdeep City because again, we cannot have 2 psychic gym leaders. In his gym you are handed a slingshot and small capsules with soil from a pokemon's birthplace. In the gym there are wild angry pokemon you have to shoot the soil at to calm them down. After all of the pokemon are calm you can challenge Emerald. Gym trainers will attempt to anger the pokemon again and if you want them to stop you have to defeat them in battle. His team is: Grumpig, Medicham, Claydol, Starmie, Xatu and Mr. Mime as his ace. If you win you get the Shooter Badge and the TM for Psychic.

Platina: Ghost type gym. This is the exact thing that happened with Green, I really like Froslass so she gets to be a ghost type gym leader. Her gym is located in Hearthome City because Fantina exists so we have to steal her gym. Her gym puzzle is a trivia game combined with an escape room. You get into a room and are given a piece of paper, a feather, the TM for Thief and an Ultra Ball. On the paper there are 3 pokemon listed: Mismagius, Bastiodon and Milotic. Bastiodon's Sinnoh Dex number, #039, ends up being the combination to a safe. You open it and you get a scale. The scale is a clue that leads you to figuring out you need to know the weight of Mismagius, 4.4 kg and with that you find out how much weight you need to put on a pressure plate. A door opens and you get led to another room where you find a plastic copy of the Griseous Orb, a stick and a wild Misdreavus. You use the Ultra Ball to cath Misdreavus and teach it Thief. You also find out it's holding rope. Milotic is 6.2 m long which is how much rope you need to create a pulley system using other items from the room that allows you to open a rusted trap door. You jump into the room and find a Glameow that is very skittish and won't stay still. You use the feather, a stick and some leftover rope to create a toy that will distract the cat long enough for the Misdreavus to use Thief and steal the item the cat had around it's neck. It is a locket with a picture of Giratina, you insert the fake Griseous Orb into the wall and a door opens up to a room where you finally reach Platina. If you don't manage to escape in less than an hour you get taken out of the room and have to beat 6 gym trainers. Her team is: Rotom, Drifblim, Gengar, Spiritomb, Mismagius and Froslass, with the ice type as her ace. If you win you get the Apparition Badge and the TM for Shadow Ball.

Diamond: A Normal type gym leader, because he has 3. This is our first repeat type because there are more dexholders than there are pokemon types. His gym is in Pastoria City because it's in between Hearthome and Sunyshore, which are the gyms of his friends. His gym is a cooking game, you are presented with 5 pokemon with different natures: Naughty, Bold, Sassy, Hasty and Rash. Your objective is to make Poffins that cater to their tastes. If you fail you have to fight that specific Pokemon's gym trainer. His team is: Purugly, Staraptor, Ursaring, Blissey, Lickilicky and Snorlax as his ace. If you win you get the Chef Badge and the TM for Return.

Pearl: Ground type gym. Pearl has almost no repeat types on his team, with the only overlap being Tauhiko and Chahiko, but I already made Dia a normal type gym leader so I went with ground because I also needed someone to take that type. His gym is in Sunyshore because I wanted to place Dia in between him and Platina. In his gym puzzle you are given a pokemon that knows Helping Hand, you have to traverse with the pokemon through a labyrinth. Inside the labyrinth there are pokemon that are able to shatter parts of the walls to make a path or to obtain you a clue, you have to determine what move the pokemon will use next and use Helping Hand to boost it. However if you guess wrong the pokemon will fight you instead. There are also trainers there that will try to stop you. His team is: Hippowdon, Gliscor, Rhyperior, Gastrodon, Garchomp and Dugtrio as his ace. If you get past Garchomp you win the Willpower Badge and the TM for Earthquake.

Black: From his team, the pokemon that always stood out the most to me were Brav and Musha, and I like Braviary more so, Flying type gym leader. His gym is in Mistralton City, because Skyla is a type overlap. In his gym you have to win 3 consecutive battles with only one of your pokemon against trainers who have 3 pokemon so it really forces you to strategize. You have to do this for each one of your pokemon, leading to 18 battles in total. There are flying Braviarys above you that you have to latch onto to get carried to the next trainer. His team is: Archeops, Emolga, Swanna, Mandibuzz, Sigilyph and Braviary as his ace. If you win you get the Aerial Badge and the TM for Aerial Ace.

White: Grass type gym leader because she has 2. Her gym is in Virbank City because of Pokéstar Studios. Her gym puzzle is a musical. Your pokemon have a chance to become actors and they have to reenact a movie where they are the heroes of the story. All trainers are hidden from view for the camera and gym trainer's pokemon act as villains for the movie. Once most of the story is over you get to battle White, with her pokemon pretending to be the big villains of the story. Her team is: Simisage, Lilligant, Ferrothorn, Whimsicott, Sawsbuck and Serperior as her ace. If you win you get the Story Badge and the TM for Magical Leaf.

Lack-two: This is another dexholder with three water types on his team, so he gets the Water Gym. His gym is in Humilau City because of Marlon. His gym puzzle is a murder mystery. You get a file for the fake victim and have to find who killed them. There are clues all around the gym and you have to battle the trainers if you want their testimonies. This all leads around to discovering that the murderer was actually the gym leader all along. Once you figure this out, you can challenge Lack-two. His team is: Simipour, Seismitoad, Jellicent, Carracosta, Kabutops and Samurott as his ace. If you win you get the Clue Badge and the TM for Scald.

Whi-two: Bug type gym leader. Whi-two has 2 pokemon if you don't count the Delphox she got at the end of XY and one of them is a grass type, so we only have one other option for her. Her gym is in Castelia City, taking the place of Burgh. In her gym you have to 'liberate' Pokémon from evil humans. Her gym trainers are pretending to be bad people that you have to defeat to steal their pokemon. Once you defeat them, you take the pokemon to a safe place. You have to be careful because the gym trainers will try to get their pokemon back. Your goal is to help as many pokemon as possible before 15 minutes are up and if you haven't managed to liberate at least 6, you fail. Her team is: Leavanny, Scolipede, Crustle, Galvantula, Volcarona and Accelgor as her ace. If you win you get the Critter Badge and the TM for U-turn.

X: Dragon type gym. Someone needed to take that type and Mega Charizard X is right there so…His gym is in Lumiose City because that's where Professor Sycamore's lab is and he's the one that gives the player the mega evolving Kanto starters. His gym is a long series of mega evolving battles, there are 10 gym trainers in total and all of them have pokemon that can mega evolve. After you beat all 10 you can challenge X. His team is: Tyrantrum, Dragalge, Hydreigon, Goodra, Noivern and Mega Charizard X as his ace. If you win you get the Scales Badge and the TM for Dragon Claw.

Y: Flying type gym. Everyone saw this coming. She's a Sky Trainer so it makes sense. In the games, the first Sky Battle happens on Route 8, if I remember correctly and the nearest city is Cyllage City, so that's where her gym is. Her gym puzzle is gliding down from the top floor of the gym to the bottom, along the way you have to fight gym trainers and defeat them. If you don't have pokemon that can participate in Sky Battles, platforms will appear in places for them to land on but the trainer cannot use them. Her team is: Altaria, Vespiquen, Crobat, Drifblim, Pidgeot and Talonflame as her ace. If you win you get the Sky Badge and the HM for Fly. I know normally gym leaders don't give you HMs, but it would be weird to give her anything else.

Sun: So Alola doesn't have any gyms, but they do have Island Kahunas, which are similar enough for me to make him and Moon a team. He specializes in Dark types, because he has 2 on his team, so he takes Nanu's place as the Kahuna of Ula'ula Island. The Kahuna grand trials are just battles so I'll just move on to his team: Sableye, Honchkrow, Umbreon, Malamar, Alolan Persian and Incineroar as his ace.

Moon: I think we all know what type Moon uses: Poison. She's the Kahuna of Akala Island, because both Slandit and Mareanie can be found there. Her team is: Tentacruel, Dragalge, Arbok, Gengar, Toxapex and Muk as her ace.

Sou: So for Sou, I did something a little different, I looked through the pokedex and searched which type has the most pokemon holding items, since that's his thing. And the answer to that is Psychic, with 7 pokemon if you count Galarian Slowbro's Shellder-gun-arm thing, which I have to, because otherwise I have to give him Hoopa and that is not happening. Does this make you mad? Because it makes me mad, but oh well. I did not spend 40 minutes searching for pokemon with items just to scrap this. I don't know if some of the pokemon in his team even are in the Galar pokedex, but I don't care. It's too late to change it now. His gym is in Stow-on-Side, because it has the Bargain shop and you can get cool items there. His gym puzzles are item based battles, like against a Focus Sash pokemon with Endeavor and Quick Attack or a Toxic Orb, Guts pokemon. You have to battle against 10 gym trainers if you want to battle Sou. His team is: Delphox, Hypno, Galarian Slowbro, Alakazam, Mr. Rime and Oranguru as his ace. If you win you get the Psychic badge, because Galar names their badges after types and the TM for Magic Room.

Schilly: Ice type gym leader. As I'm writing this I realize Platina would have made more sense as the Ice type gym leader but in my defense, I need someone to take the ghost type and Schilly has none but also, it's 5am as I'm writing this and I'm tired so you will just have to deal with it. Her gym is in Circhester because of type overlap and for her puzzle you get placed in a room in the middle of a blizzard and are given a drone that you have to use to find 10 pokemon before 30 minutes are up. As you attempt to do this, gym trainers will try to shoot your drone down so you will have to battle them if you want them to stop. Her team is: Weavile, Frosmoth, Arctozolt, Arctovish, Galarian Darmanitan and Eiscue as her ace. If you win you get the Ice badge and the TM for Ice Beam.

Bonus:

So we all know how close the Sinnoh trio is and it feels wrong to split them up in different gyms so I also did a version where they share a gym.

Sinnoh Trio: So the type that all 3 of them share, that isn't Normal, is Electric, so they share an electric type gym in Sunyshore, because Volkner is a type overlap. I really like the rotation battles that were introduced in gen V, so even though they don't exist in DPPt, I decided to give them a rotation battle gym. You have to win against 10 gym trainers to battle the gym leaders. And yes, even their battle is a rotation battle. Their team is: Magnezone, Jolteon, Raichu, Pachirisu, Rotom Wash and Luxray. If you win you get the Friendship Badge and the TM for Thunder Wave.

[yarboyandy]

For Xander, I think he needs pokemon themed around construction, muscle and compassion.

So, maybe a Conkeldurr and Machamp (cause Xander loves muscle lol), Greavard because it's dog themed and dogs are mans best friend (the pokemon is also the embodiment of dogs who never had much human interaction ie neglected) and also very compassionate with humans. He'd probably get it in its final form around season six the same time Buffy was brought back.

Stoutland, cause another dog themed pokemon and also normal type to reflect Xander being one of the few relatively normal Scoobies with no special abilities. Xander had it since he was a kid and it was abandoned. We would first see it as a Herdier in the start of the series and would evolve to save Xander in Inca Mummy. Also great with kids, loves to let Dawn ride it's back in the false memories and in the later series

Sylveon cause it is emphatic and I feel like would have been originally an Eevee Cordelia gave him in season two and Xander showered with so much affection, especially after they broke up because Xander wouldn't want his Eevee to think xander was mad at it and loving it helped him come to terms with the failed relationship and deciding to make amends with Cordelia. It would evolve towards the end of season three, right before the prom and would be a pleasant surprise for Cordelia along with the dress Xander bought her. Plus, a strong fighter and sole special attacker on his team. Anya would have helped Xander understand it's hidden ability, Pixelate, and be the embodiment of the two women Xander loved and lost (hopefully not fatally in this au)

And Mr mime, cause Xander is a known clown and also a support member with light screen and reflect, much like Xander supports his friends. Maybe it was Mime Jr in season one and evolved in Prophecy Girl in order to help provide cover when everyone is barricaded in the library. Might have even helped set up the "uninvite" vampire spells several times too

ok fr all of this ^^^ very well put together team and reflective of Xander. Willow I think would have a psychic based team in later seasons but have something cute like a clefairy to start. Giles on the other hand would have NO psychic type pokemon bc of his past with magic but I am comfortable with giving him a noctowl and a Toxtricity or obstagoon (to reflect his past/love of rock music and also since its from the generation that literally takes place in the UK) also maybe a Porygon2 that was Jennys.

buffy I cant put my finger on. Either electric or fighting I wanna say...I think she would have a mixed team but one that primarily would combat ghost/dark.