#piplup step

[kbug562]

I was super obsessed with this song in 2023, still a banger.

Hey buddy, I also post on Instagram and kofi! Check my socials here!

[its-a-hil]

oh shit while we're thinking about perfect songs

piplup step!!!

piplup cheer you up indeed ^.^

[negimanabe]

【公式】プロジェクトポッチャマ “Piplup Step” アニメーションMV

[jimmynanami16]

I love this mv <3333 and you?

[nyaa]

[twinkinspector]

kami has an arsenal of cute and stupid animal videos saved on his phone for when he comes home to find you bundled up like a sad burrito on the couch

[animepopheart]

★ 【nik_ibi】 「 Piplup Step 」 ☆ ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me on twitter

[hangup119]

FEELS LIKE A THRILLER! ᯓᡣ𐭩

12. #NOTACANNIBAL written chapter | 2.8k words

“WHAT, YOU DON’T feed your plants?”

Seunghan tilts his head. “... Why should I?” 

“Then what the hell kind of owner are you, dude?” you accuse, adjusting the strap of your bag as the two of you head towards the car parking lot. “Who doesn’t feed their plants?”

Seunghan pauses, eyebrows furrowing, before a smile breaks out on his face and then he’s throwing his head back to laugh. He opens the door of the passenger seat for you, saying, “You mean, like, feeding them fertilizer? Wait, how often do you feed them anyway?” 

“Everyday.” 

Seunghan looks concerned. “Um, I don’t think that’s right…” 

You shrug, hopping into the car. “My plant seems to love it, though. It has never looked this alive! That obviously means I’m doing something right, right?”

He blinks when the door finally shuts, wondering how that even works. What kind of plant do you even have in the first place to require fertilizer every single day? He thought it’d be just some room plant, something low-maintenance, but maybe you’re actually a secret plant-connoisseur since you’ve been keeping it alive all this time? Hell, for all he knows, you’re probably developing your own venus flytrap that could digest a whole-ass elephant or something… a part of some secret society with mad scientists obsessed with plants and Seunghan’s just none the wiser…

He promptly starts the vehicle, dismissing such thoughts. He really needs to stop watching those crazy Sci-Fi movies with Sohee every Wednesday. 

When the car finally gets out of school property, Seunghan takes one quick glance at you. “So,” he starts, hands admittedly a bit clammy as he steers the wheel and stops at a red light. “Anywhere you’d like to go? I was thinking maybe we should get some food, or something. We should have really planned this out, huh?” 

A notification ping suddenly rings out after he finishes; an awfully familiar sound at that. 

“Do not open your goddamn phone to play Pokemon Go right now, Seunghan,” you warn, and he immediately deflates at how easily you’ve read him. Then, you smile sweetly, “But, yeah, we can go get something to eat first!” 

He laughs anyway, swerving towards downtown. “Alright. Also, I wasn’t even going to open Pokemon Go. Just saying.” 

“Yeah, okay, and I’m definitely not going to jump out into oncoming traffic right now.” 

“Please don’t.” 

After spending some time eating at a nearby cafe Eunseok has been asking to go together with the guys, the two of you manage to get through a whole hour without glancing at each of your phones, too focused on the other to truly care whether or not there are pokemons in the area. During that whole hour of you casually attempting to flirt with Seunghan in your own little way, you find that perhaps he’s not as obsessed with the mobile game as much as you believed him to be—which is good, even though you do find it a little bit cute, but at least he’s not addicted or something. 

Seunghan pulls out his phone after you’ve stepped out of the establishment. “Holy shit? There’s a Piplup just a block away!”

“Seriously?” you squawk. 

“Yeah!” he excitedly responds, only to end up getting smacked on the arm. “Oh, not what you meant. Okay.” 

You give him a fixed stare. He returns it.

“Can we please catch it?” Seunghan pleads, forming his hands into a prayer. 

You falter, attempting to look at anywhere but his face. Hot nerds are a curse, you think miserably.

“Please, Y/N? It’s Piplup!” he continues, finally taking your hands in his. You flush, believing that he can just go ahead and go catch the damn pokemon himself but instead chooses to spend more time begging you to go with him in order to catch it together. Right. Because you’re on a date. And Seunghan isn't an asshole. Right. Guy who had a girlfriend for four years over here. Someone already cooked before you. 

“Okay, fine,” you finally surrender, mentally cursing yourself for going down such a rabbit hole. Who cares about his ex-girlfriend? She was the past, and you’re the present (hopefully)! “But just Piplup!” 

Seunghan laughs, crossing the road with you. “I promise I won’t make this a Pokemon Go date.”

He’s still holding your hand. Like a real couple. You have to mention it.

“You better not,” you say instead, squeezing his hand in return. 

After acquiring the stupid Piplup loitering by a fire hydrant next to a pissing dog, Seunghan leads you back to his car to spend a couple more minutes marveling at the 25th Piplup on his screen, before starting the ignition to make your way towards the arcade. There he finally pockets his phone and drags you towards the nearest racing game, where you both duke it out in a Fast & Furious racing game, with you ultimately ending up as the winner after two rounds. Of course, you made sure to rub it in Seunghan’s face for a good three minutes, before he’s dragging you towards the claw machines like every arcade date out there. 

Amidst the presence of screaming children and tired parents chasing after them, Seunghan holds your hand as if it was second nature, the sight of his back a constant reminder that he’s not willing to lose you among the crowd and the dirty, soda and gum-flavored floor. 

You wonder if this is what it would have felt like had you been his girlfriend in high school. Sitting next to each other in class while trying to ignore your friends’ teasing remarks, partnering up for school projects, doing community service together, or buying snacks right after school and heading to the arcade. Then he’d walk you home, or depending when he got his license maybe drive you, and you’d ask him to text you back when he gets back home. The little things that make up being highschool sweethearts, or whatever the hell he experienced with his ex-girlfriend before they broke up. 

Fine, you’re jealous. You’ve always been jealous. But who doesn’t? You’ve always liked Seunghan—everyone knows that—and you’re aware that the missed opportunities you could’ve had with him over the last four years are a result of your own cowardice and lack of assertion, but what gives? After four years, you can finally have him? Just like that?

They say that a man who yearns is a man who earns, but now that he’s right next to you, on a literal date with you—why can’t you take it? 

Because you cling too much to the past. Do you still like him as much as you did before? 

You’ve always believed that liking someone for so long is a stupid thing, especially someone who wasn’t even available in the first place. Why cling to someone who can’t look at you the way you want them to? And yet you held out for hope anyway, clinging to the possibility that maybe someday Seunghan can look at you like how he did his ex all those years. That perhaps you had a chance with the boy who was one day partnered up with you and your friends for that one project in AP World History, and unknowingly becoming the object of your affections for the next three years and still into college. 

“Just focus on my awesome skills,” Seunghan exclaims, rolling up the sleeves of his flannel as he steps closer to the machine. “I’m gonna get you that Pikachu.” 

You roll your eyes. “Of course you choose the machine with the pokemons.” 

“This is who I am,” he simply responds after inserting the token, moving around the joystick to situate the claw exactly to where he wanted it to go. “And what I am is a Pokemon fan.” 

“You do know that these things are a scam, right?” you ask, stepping right next to him. 

Seunghan curses when the plushie falls out of the claw’s grasp. “It works out, sometimes. You just gotta have hope, you know?” 

You spare him a thoughtful look. Funny how he says that. 

He goes for three more rounds to no avail, the Pikachu plushie never budging from its place next to the Charmander. Seunghan feels as if they’re mocking him from within the glass, and he feels embarrassed, but he promised (in his head, at least) to get you that Pikachu no matter what. And he won’t go home until he does. 

What he doesn’t expect is for you to push him out of the way. “Move, you’re just wasting money,” you say, inserting a token into the slot as he tries to regain his senses. “I will get you that Pikachu.”

Seunghan stammers, moving closer to you as you maneuver the claw to align with the lone Pikachu in the corner, before confidently pressing on the button. “There’s no way that’s gonna work,” he says, eyeing the descending claw. “It’s too far.”

“Just watch,” you simper. 

Much to Seunghan’s surprise, the Pikachu plushie makes it all the way to the exit without a hitch. “What?” he exclaims in shock, watching as you crouch down to take the plushie from the machine, dust it off, and proceed to hand it to him with twinkling eyes. 

“Ta-da!” you exclaim, pushing it towards him. 

Seunghan snaps out of his reverie, handing it back to you. “Why are you giving it to me? I’m supposed to be giving it to you.” 

The side-eye you give him is almost scathing. “What, like the girl can’t give the guy a gift?” 

Seunghan flushes. “That’s not what I meant!” 

But you’re already laughing, inserting another token into the slot while he’s just helplessly holding onto the Pikachu plushie you won’t take. "Sure, you fake-progressive."

"I am very progressive."

He observes as you focus in on the Squirtle next to an Eevee, before changing your mind and going for the upside-down Bulbasaur. Within seconds, you manage to get it again. 

“What’s your secret?” he wonders, taking the plush when you hand it to him as you’re already inserting another token to get the Eevee. “Why are you so good at this? Who’s controlling you? Are you even real?” 

You don’t catch the Eevee this time. You’ve also run out of tokens. 

“Nevermind,” Seunghan says with a smile too wide for your liking. 

You remember back in tenth grade when you were complaining to Sunoo about the upcoming project for history because you simply didn’t want to do it when you had a Chemistry test to study for. Miraculously, you ended up getting grouped with some of your friends and another kid, Hong Seunghan. You thought he was cute, sure, but nothing else after that. He was just some kid who had a huge friend group consisting of six other guys, which somehow included your childhood friend Anton, and the only times you’ve thought about him was when he and his friends walked too slowly in the hallways for your liking. 

But then a day before the submission day of the project, you had forgotten to fulfill your part after getting too caught up with your other classes. Knowing Sunoo would never  forgive you for tanking his grade, you ended up panicking throughout lunch trying to research and paste together a comprehensible summary of your research, hoping that if the group wasn’t getting an A then you would at least get a B. After getting your sources printed out in the library, the only thing left to do was find whoever had the physical presentation, which had been Jaehyun, but then he told you he left it to someone else’s care. Just great, really. You’ll only have a few minutes in class to assemble it, but surely you’d manage, right? 

Wrong. Your frustrations finally caught up to you, and you felt like a ticking time bomb with your unpasted sources and incomplete project. Sunoo was gonna hate you for not even being able to finish something so simple, and you’d be letting down your whole group. Nothing was going right, and you were gonna fail. 

But just as you were about to burst into tears from the stress and resorting to fess up to Sunoo, Seunghan came jogging to you five minutes before lunch ended with the physical presentation in hand. He started apologizing for hogging it, but quickly paused once he noticed tears streaming down your cheeks at the relief of seeing that all was not lost. As you frantically wiped away your tears, he had awkwardly taken the printed sources from your hands and began pasting them into the decorated cardboard, aligning them with wherever they needed to be all the while attempting to comfort you. 

Thinking back on it now, it was a very embarrassing situation. None of that would have happened if you had simply stopped procrastinating and actually did your work, but you hated the prompt your group was given, which lowered your motivation as well. Stupid, but you were just a stupid fifteen-year-old, too. 

Yet you would never forget that very understanding group mate of yours. Seunghan didn’t have to comfort you while he did all the work of gluing and cropping the pages for you, but he did it anyway because he noticed your shaking hands. He could have told you off, said a sarcastic remark about your mishap, but he never did. He did the work and walked with you to class, even offering to buy you a drink from the vending machine to calm you down all with a smile on his face. It doesn’t take a genius to know that what he did was very kind and very attractive, so naturally you ended up forming  a crush on him. 

What you didn’t know was that it would take almost four years for you to make a proper move, albeit indirectly. But it’s the little things that matter. 

“I guess this is it,” Seunghan says after pocketing his keys, walking with you towards your dorm building’s entrance. “I had fun today, Y/N. But I guess I should thank Anton for this, huh? I mean, he was the one who made it possible,” he clasps his hands into a prayer and looks up at the night sky, “whoever made Anton drunk that night, thank you.” 

If only Seunghan didn’t smile at you that day, then you wouldn’t be this hopeless in front of him. 

You snort. “We’re not even of age to drink.” 

“You really think there wouldn’t be any alcohol at Gigi’s party?”

“Fair point,” you shrug, the both of you pausing by the entrance. You turn to him, a gentle smile on your face. “Thanks for the drive, Seunghan. Please take care of Pikachu and Bulbasaur, but since you’re a major Pokemon nerd I’m sure that isn’t an issue for you.” 

Seunghan chuckles, rubbing his nape. “You know me so well.” 

“I wish I knew more,” you joked. “All those years in high school and we’ve only had full conversations three times.” 

He falters. “Ah, yeah… What a waste, huh?” 

“Goodnight, Seunghan,” you say, quickly turning around to erase the image of him looking so awkwardly in front of you. Why’d you have to mention that on the first date? God, you must be some grade-A idiot or something because— 

“Y/N, wait.” 

You pause, trying to ignore the way Seunghan tried to grab your wrist K-Drama style only to end up missing it completely. He fumbles at first at his mistake, attempting to hide the heat quickly rising on his cheeks. “Even if Anton didn’t set us up,” he starts, slowly, trying to find your gaze, “I’d have still wanted to go on this date with you. You’re really fun to talk to, and to hang out with… and you’re also really good at claw machines.”

You smack his arm, and he cracks up a smile again. “Idiot, that’s all you have to say?” 

“It’s true, though! Those things are a scam!” he reasons, before clearing his throat. “But seriously, do you wanna go on another date next time? I really had fun with you. I promise I won’t try catching pokemons at the randomest times ever again, and I’ll try to get you that Eevee plushie next time. And you said that I’m a good driver, so maybe we can catch a drive-in movie or something… what do you think?” 

Hopefully you don’t notice how fast Seunghan’s heart is beating right now, but that’s probably only because yours is beating just as fast. 

You shove him away gently, and he sends you a smile as he waits for your response. “Well?” he goads, but he immediately fails to hide the surprise in his face when you hold up your phone screen in front of him. 

“We can drive around and catch some pokemons next time,” you say, before turning around and walking away. “Bye!” 

And Seunghan watches just until you’ve entered the building, before tripping on the way to his car. 

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SUMMARY. pining after hong seunghan has always felt like an unachievable reality; however, just a few months into your first year of college, it seems that the gods have finally listened to your prayers when news breaks out that your long-time crush is single once again.

AUTHOR'S NOTES. idiots to lovers core

TAGLIST. @shoberi @miyawwn @starwonb1n @hwadejectedyoung @revehosh @alwayswook @rksbae @emohoon @nujeskz @ilovejungwonandhaechan @meowbini @nakam00t @siuewnb @cake1box @dearmarklee @kyusqult @snowyseungs @ffixtionista a @odxrilove e @hisrkive @saeist @lilysflower1 @seunghancore @eternallyhyucks @syzavxy @calumsfringe @yipyipmorals @user7520 @tojis-luver

[loupy-mongoose]

Hm. The Starlys sure are nuts today.

The untamed twittering of the birds sounded far more plentiful than normal to the boy. He glanced around, tilting his red hat to better block the morning sun from his slate-colored eyes.

So, where is it? It's here somewhere...

Ah!

He found what he was after, nestled in the tall grass near the lake's edge.

The briefcase.

He picked it up, grunting with effort.

Then, he heard a new sound.

A small sound, like...

A baby Pokemon?

Is that what the Starlys are so riled up about?

He set the briefcase near the path leading back home, and carefully began searching among the trees, straining his ears should the sound happen again. He readied a Pokeball.

Trusting his gut feeling, he followed the Starlys' chatter. They were definitely interested in SOMEthing over here...

He gasped at what he found, and fumbled for his radio.

“...where more Rangers have arrived, and are fighting to get it under control. There has been no news yet on how it started or if there are any casualties, but there is suspicion about a large structure--”

The TV was switched off.

“Hoenn's in a bad spot today, it seems,” The man muttered to a Lucario lying nearby. At his words, she stretched, yawning widely. “I hope they can get that sorted out quickly." He walked to his kitchen table and sipped from his tea cup.

Suddenly, his radio buzzed to life. The voice from the other end was abnormally unsettled. “Uh... P-Professor?”

The man grew serious as he held the button to reply. “Trouble, Lucas?”

“Uhh... N-Not reeeaally... I got the briefcase, but... Uh...” An anxious inhale sounded. “There's a man out here.”

“A man? You have the Piplup on hand, yes? Are you in danger?”

“No no no, I... Uh, no, he's... Not dangerous, I don't think. He's... He's unconscious... and...” The boy's voice cracked, and there was another breath. The man barely heard the next word. “N-naked.”

At this, the Professor's brows furrowed. “Is he injured?” He started toward his bedroom.

The response was quick and squeaky. “I don't know, I'm not gonna stare at a naked guy in the middle of the woods, Professor!”

The Professor couldn't help an inward chuckle at his flustered assistant. “Is he at least breathing?” He grabbed a couple large blankets from the closet, found a first-aid kit, and went to pull on his coat.

“Uh...” The radio went silent for a second. “...Y-yeah. He's breathing normally.”

The Professor nodded to himself. “Alright. I'll be there soon, Lucas. Keep Piplup at the ready in case any wild Pokemon get too involved.”

He went into his lab and explained to the top aide where he was going. He grabbed a Pokeball.

“Aye aye, Professor. And, uh... S-sorry... For, uh...”

“I understand. This is a very unusual occurrence. You've done fine, my boy.”

~~~~~~

(I hope that subject matter isn't too, uh... weird for people. Just so we're clear, I will never do anything overtly nude. I may imply it, but never depict it. Aside from, you know, Pokemon.)

Here we go, starting a whole new chapter!

From here we're gonna be following my playthrough of Shining Pearl that I did with my shinies and Mews. It won't be a perfect match to what happened in-game, it'll just loosely follow the same steps.

Disclaimer: This is my interpretation of the BDSP story and characters. Anyone is perfectly free to disagree with how I handle things, but please respect my decisions as the storyteller here.

If anyone wants to ask about any specific moments of this arc, I'm willing to break chronology UNTIL ETERNA CITY. A very important event happens there, so I don't want to go beyond it in story telling.

[kohakhearts]

goh starter trio meta perhaps? i was ensnared by the goh-scorbunny parallel subpoint in the cubone meta bc i'm making myself unwell thinking about how scorbunny latching on to goh and goh latching on to ash.... but also more generally, sobble's whole thing and the absolute tearjerker drizzile evolution episode, and goh's weird ass dream about his rillaboom parents and then waking up to baby grookey clinging to his arm, you get it, i know you're galaxy brained about this

YESSS I AM *SO* GLAD YOU ASKED!!

so my tl;dr here is that all of the galar starters represent something about goh specifically relating to his childhood. their growth and eventual evolution (or lack thereof!) therefore serve to highlight his character development (as an aside, i think this is a very common theme in anipoke. ash's pikachu not evolving speaks to the fact that ash's growth isn't about becoming someone new but about staying true to himself and embracing a battle style that reflects the creative ingenuity that, in the early os, other characters mocked him for. similarly, dawn's piplup chooses not to evolve because it doesn't want to change how things are between them. does this not seem fitting for the partner of someone like dawn, who has always admired her mother so much that she never even considering doing something other than following in her footsteps? i'm sure there are other examples, but these seem to me the most obvious ones!).

let's break down each one, then!

scorbunny

when we meet scorbunny, goh is still determined that mew will be his first pokemon. this is a point of stubbornness that, while impressive and arguably kind of admirable, is frankly kind of stupid. how is he supposed to get to mew without any pokemon to help him? there's an interesting implication in this resolution, which jn004 and jn005 really highlight for us - goh isn't comfortable with having a pokemon. he knows a lot about them, is interested in researching them, but as far as the bond between pokemon and trainer goes, i don't think he feels prepared for that. it's easier to pick a target that is far from reasonably attainable for him at this point, especially since he does have some history with mew - didn't it take an interest in him? didn't it give him a reason to chase after it?

so meeting scorbunny, he's obviously not thinking about catching it. but he lies to the guy at the scone stand, in an interesting parallel to how scorbunny steps in to protect the nickit. he doesn't even seem to know why he does it. but just before that scene, he sees scorbunny wipe some of the dirt off its face. he doesn't get the whole story and connect all the dots until after, but i think he realizes then that scorbunny is trying to hide itself in some way. that it's performing as something it's not. and on some unconscious level, that motivates him to lie for it. after, we get this whole exchange, where the scone seller tells ash and goh the story

and this note is what makes goh get up and approach scorbunny and the nickit:

it's very symbolic that he wipes the mud off scorbunny's face. and then later, he even points out when they see it again that it looks better without all the mud covering it up - it looks more like itself. it's not pretending to be something it's not. goh wiping the mud off its face is him saying that he accepts it as it is. that being resigned to living a certain way just to fit in or just because that's how it's always been is pointless.

and i mean...even ash says in this scene that the things goh is saying are things he's only recently learned himself, right? goh denies it (and tbh when he says that he's always thought the world is big and anyone can explore it if they want to or whatever - i don't think that's untrue! i think it's just that, prior to meeting ash, he didn't have it in him to explore it), but ash has a point. and what goh is doing for scorbunny here is the same thing that ash did for him.

relatedly, scorbunny follows him, right? in the same way that goh "accepts" ash as his friend, scorbunny chooses goh as its trainer. goh recognizes that it travelled far for him, that it saw a vision of its future with him, and changes his mind about not catching it. i think the determination he saw in scorbunny to chase after its dreams resounded with him, because he's only just started doing the same thing. and his entire character is built around this idea of like, learning how to adapt and how to let other people help you find the courage to chase your dreams (and even to help you chase them). how could he possibly deny scorbunny the same thing?

but while scorbunny's enthusiasm helps motivate goh to chase his dreams, he is very flippant and dismissive, as we see when it learns ember and he says it doesn't matter, that scorbunny doesn't need to know a fire-type move and this gut-punch of a line, of course:

goh is someone who needs a lot of convincing to do things he doesn't think he'll be good at (or enjoy). he only joins project mew because gary goads him into it. he spends most of his life refusing to make friends, because he had one bad experience. he's a fairly black-and-white thinker, which makes sense considering his background. he doesn't really believe in change. he especially doesn't believe that people (or pokemon, in this case) can change their circumstances just through hard work and determination. as we see in jn003 with the ivysaur, he also doesn't think that it's anyone else's place to intervene and "help" others. if you can't change something, then don't. and there's no point in hoping it'll change on its own, either.

when scorbunny storms off here, his expression is interesting. this isn't the expression of someone being judgemental. it's the expression of someone who sympathizes.

he sees scorbunny trying so hard to do something he thinks it can't do and thinks that scorbunny's determination to change things is, if i had to guess, kind of immature. a lesson scorbunny will have to learn, whether it wants to or not. at first it's kind of endearing, but then he actually gets frustrated, because he feels like scorbunny's determination to learn ember is harmful to them both. here, there's a degree of "why won't you just trust that i know what's best for you?" for sure, but on a deeper level, i think that stems from a place of "can't you see that i'm just trying to protect you?"

...but obviously, all he really does is wind up lashing out and hurting scorbunny's feelings. he tells ash that he was trying to draw out scorbunny's strengths (and he was, by telling it to use moves it was already good at!), but ash points out that their values weren't aligned and that's kind of the opposite of strength when it comes to pokemon battling. so he reassesses the situation and finds a way to bring out scorbunny's strength that also aligns with what scorbunny wants. that compromise is what makes scorbunny evolve. it was the right call! but then raboot starts ignoring him.

and this is like. a running gag with scorbunny - goh gets distracted by other things and doesn't notice that it's trying to show him things. it happens when they meet and it happens again in this episode with its ember. we see something very similar with goh and his parents in jn032 when he's excited at the prospect of their vacation together, but when he tries to ask what they want to do, he turns around and find they're both asleep (and we see the flashback of something similar happening last time, too).

with raboot, in a lot of ways, goh is grappling with...himself. or at least, the person he was before he met ash - cold and distant, more interested in doing whatever he thinks is worth his time than in school, for example. so if goh saw his child self in scorbunny, he sees his more "adolescent" (i mean. he's still ten so still child, technically. but older child lol) self in raboot. and he actually responds to this in a way that's a lot like how we see his parents responding to him. in jn022, we see him

buy a bunch of apples for raboot, even though he thinks it doesn't need them (and is hurt when it doesn't let him have one, despite raboot seeming pleased that he bought them for it). compare to the device he shows horace in jn032, for example, which he says his parents built for him. or his six computer monitors. his parents reach him best through material means!

question why raboot hates him when it's not responsive to his overtures. contrarily, goh's parents don't think he hates them; they just automatically assume the worst case scenario (like in jn015 when he calls and they immediately wonder if he did something and got kicked out of the institute). but while that's their worst case scenario about him, raboot hating him is kind of goh's worst case scenario, right? it took him time to open up and accept scorbunny as his partner. now that it's evolved and is acting differently, he's terrified that he came to care for it only for it to leave him.

which leads to my last point here, which is that he doesn't actually ask what it wants. in this episode, he concludes that raboot would be happier without him. so he leaves it behind, but he never actually considers how it might feel. goh's parents do the same thing! they worry about him, but they don't share their concerns or ask how he feels. they just assume that he must feel a certain way and they adapt to compensate for that. but they never actually ask him what he wants.

this episode ends with him realizing that he hasn't been reacting to raboot's feelings so much as to his own, of course, and we see their relationship smooth out quite a bit. he's acknowledging that he's done things wrong, but also that it's not all his fault - and raboot's change in temperment is just a consequence of it evolving. they accept each other again and move on.

then, it evolves into cinderace and kind of opens up again more (though it's been doing that little-by-little since jn022). i think the fact that raboot and riolu evolve at the same time was a really cool move by the writers to kind of demonstrate how like...the relationship between ash and goh is reflected in the growth of their pokemon. they trained together! in a way they kind of grew up together! riolu, ash's token baby pokemon in jn, evolving at the same time as goh's starter feels like a very deliberate choice to highlight how ash helped goh's pokemon grow, too - through getting the ball rolling with how he helped goh grow as a person and a trainer. if that makes sense?

anyway, i don't have much to say about cinderace, other than that if he saw himself as a child in scorbunny and as an older child in raboot, then cinderace's level of openness and its enthusiasm aren't just reflexive of it getting back more of its scorbunny-esque personality - it also shows how goh has changed and has learned to embrace these parts of himself, now that he's in that "coming of age" age (well, for pokemon. he is still only ten lmao).

i think we see something similar with his other starters, though maybe a little less on the nose.

sobble

the drizzile episode, as you mentioned, is probably Thing here. but i think the theme with sobble is sort of that, where scorbunny maybe reflects more of the way goh thought about growing up and his aspirations (and how hard it was to open up to people), sobble more so mirrors his social experiences at school and with chloe.

VISUALLY, i think it's really telling that when goh catches sobble, he's...literally speaking to it from the other side of the water:

this whole episode (jn028) is about goh kind of...forcing sobble into positions it's not necessarily comfortable with, and not realizing that it's uncomfortable until it runs away from him. as we saw with raboot, this is a common theme with goh - but it's most obvious with sobble!

he realizes, of course, and says this:

even in flashbacks, goh never comes across as a shy kid. he doesn't exactly relate to sobble, but i think he's drawing a parallel here between them. he wasn't shy, but he was always on the "outside" - that's why he's so good at researching. he strives to see things as they are without getting involved. eventually, this is something that will make him a pretty thoughtful and strategic battler, though at this point he's still learning how to apply that to more than just research for the sake of research.

and then after sobble meets inteleon, we have these bits too:

goh's childhood motivations on the surface appear to be like...he doesn't want to bother with friends, because they aren't going to be able to serve a purpose for him. he isn't interested in making friends with anyone who is less into pokemon than he is. but after what happens with horace, it seems to get a little more complex, and then we have to wonder if his motivations really were that surface-level to begin with, or if, maybe, his policy of not making friends has always been a way for him to protect himself from betrayals like he experienced with horace.

we see chloe as early as jn001 trying to convince him to make friends, to no success. she doesn't even refer to herself as his friend - he doesn't seem to be willing to let her. he believes he doesn't need friends and is better off alone. but he doesn't realize until after meeting ash that his solitude is more of a self-imposed exile, in that it's hurting him more than other people. he can't improve as a person and reach his goals if he's too busy trying to protect himself to accept that he needs help from other people to do those things. so, again - i think he sees that side of himself in sobble. so it feels very impactful that he reaches out to help sobble become a better battler, but rather than forcing it to battle in a way that makes sense to him, he comes up with a way to have it train that plays off of its strengths of running and hiding.

and then, of course, there's the episode where sobble evolves, jn062. the writers themselves do most of the work here of drawing the parallel between goh's childhood and how drizzile is feeling, but i think it goes even deeper than that. drizzile is unhappy because it wanted to evolve into inteleon, not into drizzile. it's not comfortable in its own skin. and it doesn't necessarily want others to see it, because it feels like it's still growing and it's not ready yet. it kind of just...needs time to sulk and brood. drizzile runs away again, because it's not ready, and while they're looking for it, it's chloe who makes goh start thinking about when he was a kid, by saying this:

which prompts him to think about how he was searching for a "reason" for why drizzile was acting how it was, just like how adults used to demand reasons from him even when he didn't have them. and then of course we get this scene:

but i think he does on some level know why, because he talks immediately after this about how his parents weren't home and often felt lonely. he's more comfortable being alone. he's protecting himself. which is reinforced by the fact that he then tells drizzile this:

goh has a hard time putting his feelings into words, which is something we see throughout jn. he sees that drizzile is the same and this is a huge moment for him, because he's saying here that it doesn't matter what inspired its feelings; he understands it is experiencing those feelings and that's enough. he'll wait until it's ready to fully process them or whatever else it needs. drizzile kind of returns the favour when he starts crying here and it reaches up to brush away his tears, then disappears again.

overall, this episode does an amazing job of showing us how goh has become someone who actually acknowledges his and his pokemon's feelings - this is the only time we see him as a child where he's not doing something to try to ignore his feelings, or trying to walk away from them. in flashbacks, his back is often to his parents. in jn032, he gets upset, and then tries to cover his disappointment up immediately with anger and avoidance. the writers set this scene up so that we can see the reason behind his feelings clearly (just like we can see the reason behind drizzile's, even though goh and co. can't), but they rightly emphasize that goh's ability to analyze "why" he or his pokemon are feeling a certain way isn't always helpful. emotions are meant to be felt, not intellectualized. it's a good message, and a huge area of growth!

drizzile's evolution into inteleon also shows us how this acceptance translates into it eventually being comfortable enough to be who it wants to be. and the characters are impressed by it - it even earns kecleon's admiration, the same way that other inteleon earned its when it was a sobble. this is a pretty clear mirror with goh's social life, where he went from being this friendless outcast figure to someone with a lot of friends, and a great willingness to make more, as he became more comfortable and confident and willing to reach out to others.

and lastly,

grookey

the only one of the three that doesn't evolve, for reasons that aren't ever really made clear to us. but i think that as random (...and tone deaf) as his dream sequence at the start of grookey's debut episode is, it actually makes a lot of sense. in the original, the dream has camille and walker transformed into rillaboom, and goh is understandably freaked out. but i think the bigger, more symbolic thing is that even if it is a dream, his parents are the ones that foist grookey upon him. this does seem like a really weird choice, until you start thinking about the parallels, right?

in reality, grookey is team rocket's pokemon. the episode title "when a house is not a home" tells us that grookey obviously doesn't feel like it "belongs" there. but the episode doesn't open in team rocket's base. it opens in goh's apartment. and the part i didn't show in the drizzile scene above is when he says this:

the fact that goh was home alone a lot as a kid gets brought up fairly often. it implies that he kind of had to adopt this lone wolf persona, because there was no one else around to take care of him. he had to learn how to console himself and meet his own needs (hence why he's so combative about ash intervening with the ivysaur in jn003!), which is a lot of responsibility for a kid. grookey is handed to him like it's a responsibility in his dream, but then they bond. and he starts to appreciate having grookey around, to the point that he misses it when it returns to team rocket.

to me, the choice to have grookey not evolve kind of comes down to grookey being kind of...emblematic of goh's childhood. like, in his dream, grookey is this burden that's forced on him. someone he has to take care of, even though he isn't really prepared to do that. in reality, grookey is escaping from an environment that doesn't meet its needs. putting those two things together, i mean...that's just my reading of it, anyway. so grookey not evolving, and goh accepting grookey as it is - without any of the "growing up" analogs we have with cinderace and inteleon - is a way of showing that goh has come to terms with his childhood and that he accepts (and cherishes!) his childhood self. which he can only really do after he's done all the growing we see reflected in the evolutions of his other starter mons. (relatedly, grookey is the only starter of goh's who goh considers leaving with other mons in its evolution line. specifically, with two thwackey and their child, i.e. a family unit not unlike goh's!)

anyway! this is a very long post, so thanks for sticking with me if you did. hope my takes are as galaxy-brained as you hoped hehe

[merort]

Piplup, Cheer You Up Got piplup step on my mind lately, so I doodled the child

[teecupangel]

So we've had Desmond isekai'd into pokemon and Desmond as a pokemon so what if we combine the two a pokemon mystery dungeon him

Desmond wakes up as a pokemon (most likely eevee) with only remembering his name and that he used to be human for fun we could also toss his ancestors too

They end up becoming an exploration team in order to find out what happened to them and probably ends up with them coming in contact with legendaries to stop the spread of mystery dungeons caused by an upcoming solar flare

Altaïr as a shinx

Ezio as a piplup

Ratonhnhaké:ton as a riolu maybe

I kinda like the idea that Desmond doesn’t know he’s from another world. He lost all of his memories. All he can remember is that his name is Desmond and he used to be human.

The Pokemons he meets tells him that it’s unusual for an Eevee to have a black right front paw and it looked burned. It can’t even be healed by any items at all.

Desmond thinks it’s a clue.

And he comes into contact with three Pokemons that can’t remember anything else other than their names.

Altaïr the Shinx

Ezio the Piplup

and Ratonhnhaké:ton the Riolu

The mystery dungeon they enter looks…

“Out of this world”.

That’s the word Desmond described it but he can’t explain why.

Other Pokemons they meet also say that the dungeon is not from this world.

As they continue to explore deeper and deeper, they find recordings of what may have been the humans who lived in this dungeon.

Or this… ‘safehouse’?

That was what they called it?

The legendaries they find inside tell them disjointed stories of what the dungeon is.

It is from their world.

But it was from millenias ago.

When Pokemons did not exist.

The upcoming solar flare has happened more than once already.

The Pokemons were born from the ashes of one of them.

No.

Arceus was born from the Solar Flare.

By the wishes of what remains of humanity.

They had wished to revive their great leader, the one who saved the dying mankind after a solar flare that destroyed not just their civilization and most of their kind but the land around them.

The other beings that used to live in this world.

Humanity’s technology set of a chain reaction after being hit by the Solar Flare, destroying what had survived from the flare itself.

From the ashes of that horrible tragedy, one man stepped up to become the leader of mankind.

Desmond Miles.

But like all living beings in this world, he was destined to die.

A whisper among them start to spread.

Of how a certain orb that their leader used could potential create anything from nothingness.

As long as enough people believe.

But that was impossible for them.

For humanity had always been beings of contradictions among themselves.

It is that contradictions that brings innovation and propel their civilization to greater heights.

But it is also because of that contradictions that they cannot be united completely and wholly to bring back the dead.

So those who desire Desmond Miles’ revival took up arms.

Used what they learned, corrupted Desmond Miles’ teachings to control the rest of humanity.

To take away their free will, to make them pray for Desmond Miles to be revive.

But at that point, they had deitified Desmond Miles.

They no longer prayed for the real Desmond Miles.

But for a god.

Arceus.

And Arceus used the divinity they received from the prayers of all of mankind to recreate the world to what it is now.

Arceus tried to break away from the Calculations set upon this world.

But he was only able to pull away.

The chains were still there.

And they have taken the form of these mystery dungeons.

Made in the image of the pillars that was meant to create a shield that will protect the world from the next Solar Flare.

And Arceus created his own Desmond Miles.

The Eevee that goes by the name Desmond.

Desmond was Arceus’… vision of Desmond Miles.

And his mission was to clear all mystery dungeons before the Solar Flare erupts to turn it all on, creating the shield that will protect the world.

And the three Pokemons with no memories of their own?

The Legendaries do not know who they are.

They share the same scent as Desmond the Eevee.

But…

They do not have the scent of Arceus like all other Pokemons in the world.

(you know when you’re given the ask that you’re like “oh, this looks fun, something light and maybe fluffy!” then you start writing and you’re like “dear god, why???”. This is that kind of ask XD)

[monsoon-of-art]

Donut Hole

Chapter 10 - Sad Machine

And though I know, since you've awakened her again She depends on you, she depends on you She'll go alone, and never speak of this again We depend on you, we depend... I'll depend on you

[Amazingly. I have to say this; but minor Scarlet and Violet spoilers in the form of a Gen 9 Pokemon (kinda). Also minor violence!]

[ao3 link here!]

Barry woke up and immediately knew something was wrong.

All of his pokemon were awake and in the little nook, including Fern, who had been sleeping outside last he checked. All of them were awake, and completely, perfectly still. Scared stiff, as it were, their eyes wide and anxious.

Second, the air was…different. Tense, thick with static electricity. It felt as if a foggy thunderstorm had rolled in while he slept.

He tried stretching in the confined space with a murkrow on his chest, a piplup on his shoulder, and a burmy and kirlia filling up any of the remaining gaps. “Guys, c’mon. A little elbow room? Please?”

Moving Mystery off of his chest, Barry started for the exit to see what was going on outside, but Fern sat right in his way. The kirlia shook its head, tapping its paws together in a clear act of anxiety.

“C’mon Fern, let me out! I wanna see out there!” He tried to peer around the pokemon, seeing that it looked very dark outside, with flickerings of multicolored light. Was it still nighttime? Barry did feel tired, but he was always tired.

Fern shook its head.

“Pleeease? I just wanna take a look! I’ll be careful!”

Still tapping its paws together, Fern considered this. Then it carefully moved out of the way for him to move past.

Stepping out of the hollow, Barry felt the electricity crackling around his hair and skin, sparking at his feet. Looking up, it appeared as if a giant dome had settled over them; the sky was dark and swirling with energy, but with clear boundaries.

“Woah.”

The poketch on his wrist buzzed. Looking at it, all of the lightning surrounding them had given it a bit of power, but it was still clearly busted beyond repair. It garbed nothing but static, refused to switch apps, and the screen was nothing but colored lines.

“Well, there goes that idea. Let’s take a look around-”

All of his pokemon swarmed him, desperately trying to tug and pull him back to the safety of the hollow. “Guys! Guys! C’mon! I know it looks scary out here, but it seems fine!”

They’ve probably never seen something like this before, Bary reasoned. (Neither had he, but he was ignoring that part).

“Maybe there’s cool stuff here! Let’s go look!”

He began to explore inside the dark sphere, his pokemon hesitantly following behind him. “See? Nothing bad is happening! It must be a weird weather fenom…feninime …fonomone-”

Barry could’ve gone on his tangent of mispronouncing ‘phenomenon’ for quite a bit longer, but an object falling from the sky interrupted his thoughts.

It was a blue stone, roughly larger than his palm. It glittered, even in the low light. No matter how Barry turned it in his hands, he could see a star-shaped pattern inside.

“It’s…” he hesitated with the name for reasons unbeknownst to him, “It’s a Dawn Stone.”

It was an evolutionary stone, but a very rare one. He took a moment to try and remember what pokemon evolved from it. All around him, more objects fell from the sky - nuggets of gold and pearls, more stones, a pokedoll, a magmarizer, and a lot of shards.

Barry was lost in his thoughts to notice. Behind him, his pokemon scrambled to dodge the falling objects.

Finally, something pinged in his mind.

Spinning around, he slapped the dawn stone into Fern’s paws. “Alright! Evolve into a Gallade, please!”

Fern squeaked in surprise, looking at the blue stone in its paws. Baffled, it looked back up at him with wide eyes - wanting to make the boy happy but not knowing how.

It tapped the stone several times, clearly unsure of what to do.

Barry frowned, scratching at his head. “...maybe I’m doing something wrong here.”

He stood, kicking a blue shard with his foot. “Yeesh, this place is a dump! Where did all this stuff come from? Oh, oh, is that gold?? OK, let's grab some of this and then we can go!"

Eagerly beginning to pick up some of the more valuable items, Barry didn't notice the electricity in the air growing stronger, top of the dome crackling with energy.

The sky split open with a horrendous screech. White lightning screamed above them.

All four of his pokemon forced Barry into a patch of tall grass to hide. “W-What’s going on?!” He tried to whisper, before being shushed.

A dusknoir silently floated above them, several dusclops following behind. Barry felt the air grow colder as the ghosts passed by.

Was this a type of Mass Outbreak? A swarm? Barry wished he had listened to Lucas better about them, he had no clue what to do in this situation. Hiding seemed to be the best bet, though, so Barry and his pokemon hunkered down.

Maybe they could wait this out.

Or maybe, instead, a nearby magmar could push aside the tall grass with its large tail purely on accident, revealing the boy’s hiding space.

Magmar stared at him. Barry stared back.

Instinctively, he went to grab one of his pokemon. He was hoping for Jen, but instead he grabbed Pest. Holding the bug out like a can of pepper spray, he shouted, “PEST, KILL!”

Pest let out a ferocious war cry, then spit silk all over the magmar’s face.

The magmar was clearly not impressed, glowering at the boy and his pokemon. Barry tucked Pest safely back into his coat. “Alright let’s try that again - Jen! Bubble Beam! Let’s get going!”

Jen was more than eager to get fighting, sending a stream of bubbles at the opposing fire-type. “Yeah! That’s the ticket!”

The magmar recoiled from the attack, but quickly recovered. Typing was important, but this magmar was clearly stronger. It took a deep breath-

“DODGE! DODGE!” He shouted, scooping up Fern and Mystery and ducking out of the way. Jen darted just before the magmar released its flamethrower attack.

“Another bubble beam, while it’s recovering from Flamethrower!”

Jen complied, aiming for the magmar’s sides and back. The magmar hissed and spit, trying to shield itself from the torrent of bubbles.

“You got ‘em on the ropes! Hit them with everything you got!”

With a shrill squawk, Jen sent out a water pulse. It hit the magmar square on, the large fire-bird falling to the ground with a rumbling CRASH.

Defeated. Winner, Jen!

“Yeah! YEAH! That was amazing!” Barry praised, reaching over to give Jen a pat on the head.

Before he could give Jen the praise it deserved, it began to glow. 

Barry gave the penguin a wide berth for evolution, watching in complete joy as his little piplup grew. Its form shifted, stretching, growing taller. Flippers growing stronger, more sturdy for physical attacks. Starting to form a respectable crest.

His poketech buzzed to life. Kinda. It began garbling a pokedex entry;

Pri-plup: The P---uin Poke-on. Abili--: Torr-nt. With a --ight of 2 feet and a w--ght of 5-.7bs, the-e are 7 -ales for e---y female. It li-s alone, a-ay from --hers. A-par--tly, ever- one of t-em believ-s it is the m--t import---. Its -ings de---er wi-ked b-ows that sn-p even the t-ic--st -- trees. It se--ches for pr-y in ic- seas.

He gave Jen a hug, ignoring the embarrassed peeps. (Prinplups were horribly self-entitled, but he hoped that enough socializing could nip that behavior in the bud.)

“I knew you could do it, buddy! Look at you!”

Setting Jen down, he turned to the magmar and began rummaging in his bag for a pokeball. “And now let’s get you, new buddy-”

The magmar vanished in a blink of an eye, swallowed up by purple lightning.

“...oh.” Barry put the pokeball back in his bag. “OK. That’s kinda rude. Didn’t have to leave like that-”

In its place appeared a massive Rampardos, sporting the glowing red eyes that Barry was beginning to loathe.

Immediately, Barry wondered how this thing was alive. Rampardos could only be resurrected from fossils, they were supposed to be extinct. And yet, here it was, slowly turning its head to stare down at them.

“We can handle this! Jen! Let’s get another-”

The rampardos didn’t let him finish. Swinging its tail like a club, slamming into both boy and bird. It knocked the wind right out of Barry’s lungs, sending him sprawling onto the unforgiving ground, and poor Jen flew right into one of the cliff walls with a horrible CRUNCH.

With a strangled gasp, Barry reached into his bag for Jen’s pokeball, recalling it. The last thing he wanted for his newly evolved Pokemon to take any more damage.

Pokemon were always a bit fragile after just evolving. Their new bodies weren’t quite ready for physical damage yet, like a dratini after a fresh molt. He should’ve recalled Jen immediately, not try to pick another fight. Stupid, stupid, stupid .

The rampardos bellowed, rattling deep into Barry’s bones. “Y-You can do whatever you want to me!” he said, painstakingly standing back up. “But you’re not gonna hurt my friends-”

Another slam of the rampardos’ tail sent him skidding back to the dirt. He felt his head hit the ground, and he saw a flash of white and black dots.

That was a concussion, definitely. And damn, it hurt too. It felt like his world was spinning, even though he was fairly certain he had stopped moving.

Fern and Mystery tried to tug him back to his feet as the living fossil stomped closer. “N-No, guuyss-” Barry slurred. “‘M trying to protect youu, get outta here!”

Mystery immediately took Barry’s advice, flying just far enough to be out of range of the rampardos’ attacks. “‘M not running away anymore!” Barry shouted as he stood, glaring right back at the giant dinosaur. “You’re not even TRYING to kill me, you big!...Dumb!...Stupid-face!”

(If he was thinking a bit more clearly, Barry might’ve realized that the rampardos was toying with him more than anything.)

“Go, Fern! Please!” he said, looking into the kirlia’s eyes. “It’s my job as your friend to protect you! Because that’s what friends do. I’m not going to lose any more friends!”

Tears began to well in Fern’s eyes. It reached to hold Barry’s hands.

“It’ll be OK.” said Barry.

The rampardos lowered itself, claws scraping into the dirt as it prepared to charge.

“It’ll be OK.”

The rampardos bellowed as it began sprinting for them. It tore up the packed, rocky ground as it ran for them.

“It’ll be OK. I promise.”

Holding onto Barry’s finger with one paw, and holding the dawn stone in the other, Fern began to glow.

Fern’s body flickered and shuddered, limbs stretching, jumping too far, then snapping back into place. Like a broken gif, looped in unnatural ways. “Fern!? FERN!?”

He didn’t care that the rampardos was still coming for them. He didn’t care about anything else right now - he needed Fern to be OK.

But Fern still held on tight to Barry’s hand. Even as its paws grew and changed, its grip held firm.

Barry could see a head horn forming, along with the long blades on its arms indicative of a Gallade - but he could see the flowing skirt grow longer, into almost the dress of a Gardevoir.

“Fern?! Don’t hurt yourself! Please!”

The rampardos was right on top of them now. Even if he wanted to, Barry couldn’t move. It was roaring now, shaking Barry’s very soul-

Mere inches away from headbutting Barry into a fine red mist, something too fast to see slammed into the rampardos’ thick skull, sending it careening off into a rock pillar. It smashed right through it, falling into a pile of boulders.

Barry slowly turned to Fern.

Fern stood tall, shaking off the lingering energy of evolution. It wasn’t a Gardevoir, sporting a blue head crest and bladed arms. But it wasn’t a Gallade either, sporting a dress and longer ‘hair’. But there were other things that neither evolution had that Fern did - such as its bladed arms being a pinker color, and its belly being black.

Its fist was clenched, and Barry realized it must have been Fern punching the Rampardos in the face moments earlier.

“Fern? Buddy?” he whispered. “Are…are you OK?”

Fern turned to Barry, giving the boy the smallest of smiles. It unclenched its fist, carefully patting him on the head - not unsimilar to what Barry would do when Fern was a ralts.

Then, Fern’s gaze snapped back to the rampardos as it stumbled out of the rubble. It shrieked at the two of them, already preparing another charge.

Fern finally let go of Barry’s hand, striding over to the dinosaur. Barry’s poketch buzzed.

ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR - True -o its honorable-warrior image, it u-es the blades on its elbows protect --s Trainer even at the risk of its own life seeks out those in ne-d and aids Tra-ner it has bonded c-osely with cut down any-ne confront--g it without hesitat-on protect trainer protect trainer protect trainer protect Barry-

It stood in front of the rampardos, glancing over its shoulder. Waiting.

Barry understood completely.

“ALRIGHT FERN!” he shouted, finally feeling like he was in his element. “LET’S SEND THIS CLOWN BACK TO THE STONE AGE! Let’s go with a close combat! Before it gets a charge in!"

Fern didn’t hesitate a moment.

It sprinted forward, rearing back to uppercut the rampardos before it could get in a double-edge. With how slow it was, rampardos didn’t stand a chance. Fern barraged the opponent with punches, moving far too fast for the rampardos to even try and retaliate.

“Let’s go with confusion now!”

Fern stopped. Luckily, the rampardos was too stunned from the previous attack to do anything. Fern looked back at Barry, clearly confused and a little panicked.

What, did it forget confusion when it evolved? Was it not a psychic-type anymore? “O-OK! Let’s go with a final close combat! Let’s end this!”

With a final blow - an uppercut directly under the rampardos’ head, Fern sent the dinosaur crashing back into the rocks. And while it shuddered and twitched, this time, it didn’t get back up.

Before Barry could properly praise his pokemon, the black dome that had covered them at the beginning began to shake. Lightning cracked and the air seemed to scream in his ears.

And then, just like that, it was gone. His poketech shut back off, the sky was a brilliant blue, the darkness was gone.

The rampardos too, disappeared with the black dome.

“...that was. Really weird.” he muttered, feeling a headache coming on.

Mystery flew back from wherever it had hidden, chirping as if nothing had happened. Barry, a tad annoyed that his murkrow had ditched him, recalled Mystery back to its ball.

He slowly approached Fern. “Buddy…I have no idea what you are.” he said honestly. “BUT YOU LOOK SO COOL!”

A Gallade? Or a Gardevoir? Barry wasn’t sure. Barry also didn’t care. If Fern was safe and fine with it, then he was fine with it too. “Maybe you’re like uh! Regional variant! An alternate universe kirlia evolution! I think I get naming rights! Maybe even a finders fee!"

Fern hummed alongside him, happy that Barry seemed happy, but not quite understanding why.

Barry circled around Fern, taking note of the petal-like formation of the dress. The longer hair with pink ends. The difference in coloration. The horn shapes. All were just slightly off from normal.

"Let's call you….Galiant! Because it starts with a G-A like Gardevoir and Gallade and a mix of Valiant! They should pay me to make more names, heh!"

Fern the ‘Galiant’ chirped at that, again patting Barry on the head. “H-Hey! Just because you’re taller than me doesn’t mean you get to tease me about it!”

He tried to brush the affection away, Fern chuckling as he tried. It had black paws now, and it kept trying to poke and prod at him.

“Yeah, yeah, c’mon bud, let’s get serious for a second. We gotta get back on the road. We gotta find Cyrus, so we can punch his stupid blank face in!”

---

[Surpriiiiiseee! Fern's a girl! :) and also technically an Iron Valiant. But not Iron! (Galiant name came from tumblr user @/hezuart!)] New Team:

[pokemon-ash-aus]

Thoughts for cursed au Buizel potentially having a faulty floaty so it doesn't expand and maybe even only one tail so he can't swim efficiently and kinda sweet thing since Buizel was originally Dawn's it's possible she had him to help combat like the image of disabilities in pokemon through performances (I also thought potentially her Piplup might have a nubby wing and need a prosthetic extension hence her also training a Buizel with some issues)

i think that’d be cute honestly. Slowly having all his companions adopt or have disabled pokemon

and if the going gets too tough for them, to the point both the trainer and pokemon are stressed, Ash steps in to offer a few words of advice if he can.

trading with Dawn was unintentional but it needed to be done. Neither of them were happy and Ash had Aipom who ALSO wasn’t happy.

so it was made.

dawn has a New Aipom with only a nubby left arm while Ash has a Buizel with electrical burns and missing tails

[rabbitholeresearch]

Pokemon Legends Celebi because talk of the Sinjoh Ruins came up quite a bit. But also ALSO: Pokemon Legends TRILOGY. This photo has been circulating as people begin talks of Gen5 remakes or possibly the fan-named "Pokemon Legends Kyurem." their evidence is seeing our Hisuian starters alongside starters of the same typing.

However, I don't think this is a hint to a Gen5 legends game. Solely because of Oshawot and Snivy.

To say there's a formula would imply repetition. With Arceus being the only Legends game as of writing this, I doubt they'd use Snivy for Ancient Unova.

For the most part, Arceus went with vastly different starters, pulling from a roster we were already familiar with. They even provided our Sinnoh starters which are much more abundant in the wilds of Hisui (def going to be working on that theory later).

Which is why, our little buddy, Piplup, is our first hint at this being a Legends starter. Piplup being present brings me to one theory: Pokemon Legends Johto is all but confirmed.

but what does that have to do with BW remakes or Unova at all. Well the fact that we see 2 unovan starters.

With Arceus, we received a bit of information regarding the Sinjoh Ruins, a place only accessible in the postgame of HGSS.

But wait, what about Tepig? glad you asked because I think this will continue, leading UP to what will be our gen5 remakes...or sequels.

Ladies and gentleman, I'm not only theorizing that with the newest Unova game, we will not only see Black3/White3 but we may also see a THIRD Pokemon Legends game, which somehow ties into the events of B3/W3.

Afterall, Pokemon Legends, while a spin off, is a MAINLINE game.

In fact, I would say as to go a step farther, Pokemon Legends Johto as well as what I believe will be Pokemon Legends Kanto, in which Tepig is our fire Starter and we get to explore Kanto, during the war, and maybe even we invent Porygon.

Also Commander Kamado is confirmed to be from Johto, given how he switches to a Kansai accent when All Mighty Sinnoh begins to wreak havoc.

So like, given how Pokemon LOVES to hint at the next game, seeing as god knows they're already beginning actual development five seconds after starting another game, they would have enough information to instantly confirm what the next game will be.

but also please let it be confirmed that torchic will be a new starter cuz gen 3 is literally my favorite