#pokemon unbound ace

[unboundedfates]

Hi! This blog isn’t dead! I got distracted! Anyways, I drew the two MCs for this blog!

Enter the Borrius Champion and her rival!

For my complete sanity, I will be referring to Ace as Atlas because there’s also Ace Trappola and I don’t want to fight my way around that.

Atlas will for the most part be in Yuu’s role. Yes I gave him both Aggron and Haxorus because I couldn’t remember if he had one or the other. He also deserves that sixth Pokémon anyways to balance Jane out.

I have mentioned in one of my posts either here or on my main blog, that since I do not know Atlas’ last name, but do know Professor Log is technically his legal guardian for the moment, his last name will also be Log for convenience sake.

[refrigeratedboombursts]

I feel like we as a fandom(three people and the linoone who got a lobotomy) don't talk enough about how fucked up it is that Log essentially groomed the player into an ideal champion and someone who could run his errands without question.

Every time they try to say no, he brings up Aros, and even promises to bring him back only after the player completes the wormhole quest.

Not to mention, he's dismissive of Ace and Melony and doesn't seem to understand Ace's need for closure.

Also considering the fact that, aside from the girl’s grandfather, he's the only other adult man in Frozen Heights and, due to his connection with Aros’ family, was likely the closest thing the Player has to a positive male role model(I use the word positive rather loosely, but whatever).

TL;DR: Log is a crusty bitch.

[gzeidraws]

Commission for @faleve of their trainer Falco, and Ace from Pokemon Unbound (Thank you !!)

[faleve]

Hello :3c I commissioned @crystaleyesd to draw Ace in Ouji Fashion. He's wearing Nostalgic Time Travel set by Alice and the Pirates! 🩶

Context is that F!Protag brought M!Protag and the rivals to a fancy party. Ace had to wear some fancy outfit, and he hated it. Especially the cravat. :3c

[starrysmiling]

hc names!

about time i talked about them, so... we stumbled upon this tweet a long time ago and, knowing that francis and fresia have jp names, decided to commit to the bit. while deciding on them all, we ended up accidentally setting down a seasonal theme, so we committed to that bit too!

fern, shimoyuki hanata (霜雪ハナタ)

the word 霜雪 is read as ソウセツ sousetsu, comprised of the kanji 霜 shimo, meaning frost, and 雪 yuki, meaning snow, but we've appropriated it as a surname. very fitting, hm? we've kept hanata as it is in the tweet. we think it's cute to keep the pun. also, yukihana means snowflake and i think that is very fucking neat.

jax, natsubane koujaku (夏羽黄雀)

夏羽 natsubane is a word that is read as is, and means summer plumage. it's literally the kanji 夏 natsu, meaning summer, with 羽 hane, meaning feather. in hs au, jax uses the name hane in games he plays as a character name, which leads to fern's first nickname for him, 羽さん hane-san. 黄雀 koujaku is a type of sparrow, which is a bird we associate with him. he prefers people calling him コウ kou if they're close enough to be on a first-name basis, which is what he gets fern to call him after knowing each other for a while. the cherry on top is that jaku sounds a bit like jax. haha you literally can't fit more bird references into this guy.

fresia, yukimine tokiha (雪嶺トキハ)

雪嶺 as a word is read セツレイ setsurei, and is actually one of the surnames i came up with when brainstorming a name for fern. i think it's really fucking banger, like. it literally means snow-capped peak. she lives in a place called frozen heights. it's fucking perfect. we've also kept tokiha from the tweet as well!

ace, umezaka ace (梅坂エース) and melony, umezaka melony (梅坂メロニー)

the symbolism i wanted for ace and melony wasn't as clear, because i did want their names to be a bit representative of spring. we went for 梅坂 umezaka from 梅 ume, meaning plum, and 坂 saka, for hill. plum blossoms are in bloom during spring, after all. the other thing with this name is that 梅 is in the word for rainy season, 梅雨 tsuyu, which happens in tropical areas (such as their home region hoenn!) that said, because ace isn't from borrius, we've kept ace as his name in katakana. similarly, melony's name is just her name in katakana, メロニー! fresia calls him エー助 e-suke as a joke sometimes. 助 is a common male name ending and um. yes! it's how we've localised her acey-boy nickname.

and as an extra... jax's fake identity from bodyguard au, which isn't even in canonverse but i think is important to go over anyway to complete the seasons:

wren, shuusou yuu (秋霜ユウ)

wren's name was chosen before jax even meets fern. log doesn't tell jax the name of aros' son before he sends him on the mission, so the surprise he gets when he realises the 霜 sou in his name, is the same kanji as shimo in fern's name shimoyuki. we wanted to complete the seasonal theme, and wren's clothes are pretty damn orange, so we went with 秋 shuu for autumn. the origins of ユウ yuu are 友 like in 友情 (yuujou, meaning friendship), 勇 and 雄 like in 勇者 (yuusha) or 英雄 (eiyuu), both meaning hero. also, ユウ looks kinda like コウ, right?

this (super old) name chart too for reference!

[fangaminghell]

Lmao Maddy ( my Pokemon Unbound protag) just standing there awkwardly as Ace and Prof. Log battle. She just wanna go home man.....

[trans-squim]

yeah i ship jax, ace, and the player character together.

[kbt-expressway]

@transanjali im just answering both of these at once to say these are canon and correct. 10/10 shitposting

[incorrect-pokemon-rom-hacks]

Ace: Can you say something? Please?

MC:

Ace: Come on, you’re still doing this? Really? It’s been hours!

MC, sliding a paper over to him:

Ace: I AM NOT ASKING JAX IF HE’LL UN-JINX YOU FIRST

[the-breloominati]

anyways I think I posted about this before but like.. I feel like the main series pokemon ganes have balancing issues or something??

cause like if you look at mega evolution, in X and Y you're guaranteed at least 2 mega stones before the elite 4 I think (1 for the kanto starter and the other's the lucarionite; correct me if I'm wrong, its been a while gdjgdjdj), and in ORAS not only do you get the mega stone for your starter (and I'm pretty sure thats only after fortree city), I think you also get latios/latias as well as groudon/kyogre (and I'm pretty sure you get the orb too) if you caught it and like.. you can pretty much just steamroll through everything I think? like yeah stuff like that shouldn't be necessary for regular old trainer battles, but the remaining gym leaders and the elite four would probably be pushovers without any self-imposed restrictions (nuzlocke rules, not using healing items in battle (or at all), no megas, etc.)

like what I said in a post before (I'm prettyvsure at least), swords dance shouldn't be necessary, but it should at least be somewhat useful while playing through the game normally yknow?

and the other thing is the opposing trainers hardly ever switch out their pokemon?? like in Pokemon Unbound (at least on the "difficult" difficulty) if I used leech seed or hypnosis on someone's pokemon (usually battling a gym leader or in an important evil team fight) I could generally expect them to switch out at some point or another, and when I was battling the normal-type gym leader I had him switching out almost constantly

but as far as I know in the official pokemon games, unless they have a move like u-turn or volt switch or something, people (mostly gym leaders/the elite four I think) would only switch out once or twice?

and I know thats probably not the best indicator, but looking at entry hazards and stuff? in the official games they're really only good for breaking sturdy, if at all

so I guess what I'm getting at here is that pokemon should probably have difficulty settings so it doesn't have to be self-imposed as often (but not grindy of course, that's just tedious)

also exp share options (single-pokemon, full party, capped full party)

oh and before I forget, single-use items are also basically useless in the main story of the official games (except for certain berries I guess, but for some of them it just might not be worth the effort)

in radical red and unbound (maybe in blazing emerald as well? I'm not sure) single-use items arent used up after important battles, and I think it would be really neat if that was a feature in the official games (along with difficulty settings ofc)

[diwatya]

i'm replaying pokemon unbound and oh my gods so many has changed since i last played this so long long ago. (i say long ago but it's just around last year lmao) anyway the mc upgraded sprites look so good, im more biased to the fem sprites bc they're so pretty and hot i might redraw my pokemon oc,,,

also, UPGRADED JAX?? REWRITTEN STORYLINE AND DIALOGUE?? it's like a newly published edition of a book, so good, all the things i didn't vibe with in the old one (to be honest there isn't much i didnt vibe with, just average problems with pokemon rom games) are all fixed up as far as i know. im yet to battle the crater town gym but i just miss playing this game. i think i played it in august too.

anyway, I DIDN'T REALISE JAX WAS WHITE??? i always thought he was brown, maybe because of the colouring, i always drew him as brown, so when i saw him guarding his house i went "WHY ARE YOU WHITE". hilarious but im still keeping my headcanon.

also ace, i guess the name of the rival, is still snobby. i guess you'd be snobby too to someone who's named exactly like you. both the rival and my mc is named ace so that's gon be fun. while i like ace i really like his dad better, marlon my beloved.

also seeing the new fanbase bc of v2 and i wish they were around when i first played it and got obsessed.

[unboundedfates]

Here, have this unfinished doodle of what was my thought to have the three Unbound characters in the same dorm. Despite not being lined, Aklove looks pretty good.

Jane, Atlas (I know his canon name is Ace, but do we really need two of the same person), and Aklove.

[howaboutalittlehelpneos]

What are everyone’s teams in your Pokemon au? Do you have a plot set out or is it a more causal au?

Oooooh this is a fun one

You'd better fucking BELIEVE we have a plot set up, I have poured so much effort into the Pokemon au

Okay, so: when it comes to teams, I decided that everyone should have at least one legendary Pokemon in their party as a way to be faithful to the ace monster concept, but it wasn’t until much later into the au that I realized I’d failed to do that with Sora’s team, which led to a very fun plot point involving his secret 7th Pokemon he keeps in his box

Teams under the cut because it’s gonna be a long one, boys

Yuya has: Groudon, Sandshrew, Popplio, Hippopotas, Aipom, and Ekans

In his box, he’s got Phanphy, Charmander, Politoad, Ducklett, Liepard, Skorupi, and Lycanroc (Midnight form)

I wanted him to have as many Pokemon as he could that reminded me of the monsters in his deck, and since Yuya is a coordinator in this au instead of a regular trainer, it just felt right that he’d have a lot of different partners he could swap out for various contests

Also I’m mad that there isn’t a legendary dragon that looks like Odd Eyes, so I had to give Yuya Groudon instead, making him the only Yu boy in this au to not have a legendary dragon type Pokemon

Yuto has: Eternatus, Bisharp, Aegislash, Aggron, Lucario, and Shadow Rider Calyrex

Okay listen, I know I was supposed to only give everyone One legendary Pokemon, but with Calyrex I feel justified because it looks So Much like it could be one of Yuto’s Phantom Knights, I mean

Just look at it

Yuto gets to have two legendaries to make up for Arc-V killing him off so early into the show

Aside from this guy, the rest of Yuto’s team just felt like it should be comprised of steel types ow the edge so that’s what I gave him. His Pokemon are as edgy as he tries to appear to be and that is enough to amuse me.

There also weren’t exactly many good Pokemon equivalents of his archetype, so I made do with what I had.

Yugo has: Latios, Scizor, Claydol, Porygon 2, Ponyta (Shiny), and Sudowoodo

Yugo was honestly so hard to come up with a team for because all his Speedroid cards are just like... toys and stuff for the most part, so I agonized over what I should pick for him for a Long time. In the end, I feel like I got close enough to his general aesthetic with the Pokemon I picked.

(His Ponyta is there because of Speedroid Horse Stilts, and while it is a shiny, the dumbass has no idea about it, and thinks he just happened to get a special blue horse that was born a little differently- he never claimed to be smart.)

He also deadass thought Sudowoodo was a grass type for the longest time. Rin had to be the one to tell him it wasn’t. 

“Yugo. Sudowoodo? It sounds like pseudo? As in fake wood?”

“Ohhhhh is that what its name means? Wow Rin you’re so smart.”

No Yugo you’re just exceptionally stupid.

Yuri has: Naganadel, Seviper, Victreebel, Toxicroak, Vileplume, and Roserade

For the most toxic of battlers, I felt it only necessary to give Yuri an all poison type team. I included an even mix of plants in there to tie into his Predaplant deck, Seviper for the snake eye vibes, and Toxicroak... just feels right, you know. I couldn’t find any other poison plant themed Pokemon that seemed like they’d fit his vibe, so he gets a poison frog instead.

Yuzu has: Meloetta, Sylveon, Meowstic (Female), Gardevoir, Florges, and Jigglypuff

I tried to stick with Pokemon that had very feminine vibes for Yuzu, since her deck is comprised of pretty singing ladies, so Meloetta and Jigglypuff in particular feel very fitting in that regard.

Serena has: Cresselia, Delcatty, Glameow, Lopunny, Persian, and Pyroar (Female)

The moon vibes with Cresselia felt perfect for Serena, and as for the rest of her team, all cats and a bunny to pay homage to her Lunalight deck ^^

Rin has: Celesteela, Mismagius, Hatterene, Glaceon, Froslass, and Chimecho

Her team vibes with the witch part of her Wind Witch deck, at least for Mismagius and Hatterene. Glaceon, Froslass, and Chimecho are there due to the etymology of her name, where possible meanings of it include “cold” and “bell”, which I thought was pretty cool, no pun intended.

Ruri has: Galarian Articuno, Pidgeot, Noctowl, Chatot, Altaria, and Unfezant (Male)

Some softer birds for the soft bird girl, for the most part. I liked the thought of her team being all birds like her Lyriluscs, and just... yeah. They’re all very friendly birds that Ruri’s bonded pretty closely with. Also I made sure she had Galarian Articuno for no reason other than it is purple like her, and I think that’s all the reason I need.

Gong has: Kartana, Machoke, Samurott, Golisopod, Hariyama, and Conkeldurr

Gong was really easy to assign a team to- just had to find as many samurai themed Pokemon as possible, and fill in the rest with really strong fighting types, like Machoke, Hariyama, and Conkeldurr.

Shingo has: Type: Null, Dusclops, Misdreavus, Spiritomb, Decidueye, and Cramorant

With Shingo, I tried to go for Pokemon that had the same vibes as some of his Abyss Actors, and I think Dusclops is the best example of this. Tbh I am very proud of giving him a Type: Null because Type: Null is an amalgamation of other Pokemon, something that was created in a lab to be a fighting machine. There’s nothing natural about Type: Null, and it’s kind of terrifying to Yuya specifically, who’s always viewed Pokemon as creatures to befriend. This experiment created purely to kill... unnerves him, and serves as a very good foil to his beliefs when it comes to Pokemon.

And they were narrative foils

Oh my god they were narrative foils

On a sillier note, I chose Cramorant purely because of this quote from its bulbapedia page: “Cramorant are also rather unintelligent as they can't remember which Pokémon they fight in mid battle, but never forget Trainers that they trust. However, they try to attack their Trainers if they steal food from them.”

I just thought the idea of Shingo having this dumb bird that occasionally pecks at him over food would be funny tbh, gotta dunk on the rival at least a little bit.

Sora has: Banette, Vanillish, Swirlix, Stufful, Litleo, and Buneary

In his box, he has a Guzzlord

I feel like Sora’s team is very straightforward, as it’s a mix of sweets themed Pokemon, and Pokemon that represent monsters in his deck- Stufful for Flufflal Bear, Litleo for Fluffal Leo, and Buneary for Fluffal Rabbit. Guzzlord... is relevant later on in the plot after shit goes down, that’s all I’ll say for now.

Masumi has: Diancie, Sableye, Corsola, Aurorus, Tyranitar, and Lycanroc (Dusk form)

Gem Knight girl deserved to have a bunch of good rock type Pokemon, and Diancie is like. The best possible legendary I could have given someone like her lol, the crystal aesthetic is just perfect for her. Not much to say here honestly, I just really vibed with these specific rock types and thought they’d make a good team for her.

Yaiba has: Zeraora, Kecleon, Pangoro, Scyther, Purugly, and Stantler

So I actually threw this list together just now because I realized Masumi was the only member of her trio to have a full team, and that just wasn’t right. I tried to base this team off the XX-Sabers as well I could, but it was a little hard with how many humanoid cards Yaiba has. With his legendary, I actually chose it based off this monster right here! 

I think they’ve got similar enough vibes aesthetically for Zeraora to fit him. Scyther is based on Emmersblade, Kecleon on Ragigura, Stantler on Garsem, Purugly on Gardestrike, and Pangoro... Honestly, it just makes me think of Yaiba himself when I look at him. I think they’d get along well.

Hokuto has: Deoxys, Espeon, Grumpig, Starmie, Lunatone, and Malamar

Psychic type Pokemon just sort of felt right for him to have, considering that his deck is based on constellations and has an overall space theme to it. Not sure why that translates over to psychic in my brain, but you know what, it looks right, I love this team for him, and I’m not gonna question it.

I especially think Deoxys makes a good legendary for him considering it is literally a space alien, and Hokuto’s whole thing is space, so yeah, he gets to have the space alien.

Shun has: Galarian Moltres, Skarmory, Fearow, Dodrio, Staraptor, and Talonflame

Pretty straightforward team I feel- it’s all birds of prey for the Raid Raptor boy, and I just thought the Galarian version of Moltres was neat. Makes me think of his Blaze Falcon since they’re both black and red.

Dennis has: Hoopa, Mr. Mime, Delphox, Zoroark, Alakazam, and Hawlucha

Hoopa seemed like a very good legendary for Dennis to have, given his deck archetype and all, he just kind of looks like a little circus dude. Its unbound form makes me think about the swap Dennis has when it gets revealed that he’s actually been a double agent the whole time, and the play gloves finally come off.

The rest of his team... I feel like they speak for themselves. I tried to give him Pokemon that matched up with his deck archetype, so there’s Delphox to rep the fire themed monsters, Mr. Mime because it just fits Dennis’ general personality- and I love the thought of those two being friends and just copying each other’s theatric poses. Chaotic dynamic duo.

(Also: Zoroark's ability letting it disguise itself as another Pokemon is just another parallel to Dennis pretending to be one of the good guys at first, and I love it)

Shinji has: Buzzwole, Beedrill, Vespiquen, Ribombee, Kricketune, and Leavanny

I tried to give the bee man all the bees I could, but there are only so many bee Pokemon out there 😔 I knew the rest of his team had to be insect types to make up for it, so I picked Kricketune because he is just... a friend... a musical buddy who definitely gets along well with the kids. Leavanny is just a bug mom who also helps patch up the kids’ clothing when they get tears in them, which I just love the idea of. Sweet bug mom whose dex entry talks about how they sew for other Pokemon looks after her trainer’s kids when she’s not battling.

Buzzwole: witness the fitness

Throwback to the Smash Bros mains lmao 

Crow has: Murkrow, Braviary, Starly, Swellow, Pikipek, and Corviknight

Bunch of birds for my Blackwing user... This team was partially picked out by June, and it was mostly meant for the Other Pokemon au, but I don’t really see a reason to change his team here. Crow is the one person without a legendary on his team, which makes me sad, but there really isn’t a legendary bird out there that fits his vibes, so as much as I wanna give him a legendary, he will have to make do without one. Sorry Crow.

Hoo... that’s finally all the teams down. Now I can talk about the plot! So, as I briefly mentioned in a previous post (I think), this particular au is inspired by Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum! It’s the era where contests really became a big thing, which is perfect for a lot of these characters because it’s easy to translate dueltaining over to coordinating in this world. Much like in canon, Yuya aspires to be as great a coordinator as his dad was, and strives to entertain people the way Yusho could. He’s not much for battling, and far prefers getting to show off his Pokemon’s talents in contests than anything. 

Academia is going to play the role of Team Galactic in this au, which is incredibly fitting with their mission in canon: to remake the universe in their leader’s image. In this case, with Leo Akaba taking on the role of Cyrus, his intent is, presumably, to either destroy the universe that took his daughter from him, or create a new one where she can live once again, no matter the cost.

Sora being a key member in Team Galactic is a very big part of the plot in this au: his mission was to capture one of the lake legendaries, Uxie, since Leo needed all three of them for his plan to remake the universe, but things don’t exactly go well for him, and he ends up losing his battle against Uxie, resulting in all of his memories being locked away, and essentially making him a blank slate.

Side note: the Galactic grunt haircut reminds me a lot of Sora, I mean just look at it

Practically same bangs as him, just add an upturned ponytail and you’ve got my son.

This post is getting very long... but I will add one last plot related thing to it before I go: Uxie can erase memories, Mesprit can erase emotions, and Azelf can erase willpower. All three of these lake legendaries play a very important role in the plot, due to being the keys to Leo Akaba’s plans to remake the universe. Sora was touched by Uxie, effectively doing away with all memory he has of being in Team Galactic. Yuya ends up touched by Mesprit in an attempt to save them, and subsequently loses his emotions as a result. Riley?

Riley had been affected by all three of them before the plot began, which is why she is the way she’d been in Arc-V: Emotionless, unable to remember anything about her past except for those brief, fleeting flashes of memory when put into certain situations she’d experienced before, and without any will of her own. She’s so dependent on her older brother because she quite literally has no clue what to do with herself without being told to, and needs orders to function.

Hoo, if you’ve made it all the way to the end of the post, congratulations! I think this is the longest one I’ve made... ever lmao. I hope you guys found it enjoyable! If anyone wants to know more about certain aspects of this au, feel free to ask! I look forward to talking about it more c:

[gzeidraws]

Commission for @aohane-dream of Francis, Fresia, Jax, and Ace from Pokemon Unbound! Thank you so much🤗!!

[faleve]

I like Pokemon Unbound, but I also really enjoyed Collective Unconscious. There also is no context why Ace is in Rainstorm City, I just thought it'd be a cool idea. :3c

I commissioned @brenni-murasaki for this piece. Please commission them if you like retro style art! 💜

[starrysmiling]

unbound characterisation notes

recently i've been thinking about how to explain (how i see) the main unbound characters to others in a concise way because there's... a lot i always want to say and i guess i condensed it into some of the most important traits i see in them? the protags are basically home-brewed ocs at this point! might as well put it here because i advertise my fics here anyway, which do require basic understanding of fern, if not the whole gang:

fern (male protag): easily switching from cool and aloof to humble and polite, he constantly adjusts his outward persona with sharp observation skills, which also help hone his instinctual battle style. underneath, he is loyal to a fault and cares far more than he seems to look, though he absolutely refuses to admit it.

fresia (female protag): natural moodmaker with a cheerful disposition, quick wits, and the knowledge and skill to back it up. her dream is to be a pokemon research professor, even though she's a troublemaker who likes to find ways to get away with pranks.

jax: gentle extrovert with charming looks, a heart of gold, and a burning drive to become the best person he can. he wears his heart on his sleeve and loves with his entirety, but don't be decieved, because behind his infectious smile, he's memorised hundreds of self-made battle strategies.

ace: while easily the loudest and most headstrong, he isn't the best at delicate communication and keeping his short fuse dry, letting the raw strength of his pokemon do the talking for him. stubborn and determined, he is someone who achieves whatever he sets out to do in his own personal style, no matter what it takes.

and a relationship chart, because i really enjoy how they interact with each other!