#something i have only gotten from pokemon masters so far

[hamofjustice]

it's nice that we're getting anything i guess, but, i'm gonna be what may come off as a little petty and whiny here; it'd be cool if either iteration of the gen 9 anime so far was actually about gen 9's characters instead of using them as cameos to promote original stories we have no investment in yet

it's like, i dunno, like the bait and switch with sonic appearing in wreck it ralph ads, except if wreck it ralph existing meant there would never be a sonic movie, and if you were invested in those characters and recognized they weren't generic platformer mascots, sucks for you, nobody cares

maybe they're just giving the DLC space to do its thing with them first (if they do anything at all...) but idk, i was cautiously optimistic about nemona in horizons, only for her to be a character of the day that the episode wasn't about, and pretty excited by "gen 9 prequel anime" only to find out it's going to be like, four short stories about OCs who have quick brushes with them. these are like the lacroix hint of what an anime about the game could've been like and you're left to imagine the rest yourself

i shouldn't be that surprised if the gen 8 anime reduced hero of galar hop to a character of the day with a level 5 wooloo in order to let the galaxy revolve around ash battling his brother because epic charizards, but man. what if it wasn't like that that now that ash is gone.

we haven't seen penny and team star at all because they're the hardest to talk about without bringing up the trauma of school bullying and the fear of being yourself at school when you're way too young to be dealing with all that drama responsibly. she's still learning to love and forgive herself and feel wanted.

arven's story is about, like, being a latchkey kid to a self-absorbed parent, being unsure how to feel about repairing the relationship or how seriously to take them saying they love him, and struggling to make friends due to misdirected resentment toward people he's jealous of for having apparently normal families and the stubborn self-reliance he was forced into. he's still trying to process things, find himself, and let people in.

nemona is supposed to have been a directionless lonely and depressed kid who hated being called gifted when everything was hard for her, until she met the player character and gained a peer who understood and appreciated she was a little different and she didn't have to mask her true self to have friends anymore. she's happy for now, but may still be under a little too much pressure to be perfect at the expense of her own personality, and probably won't deal well with being abandoned.

as much as they resonate with adults and are a little darker than usual pokemon fare, they're also smaller scale and realer. they are all stories that are explicitly about and meant to be relatable to kids going to school! y'know, your audience! you don't need to paint over them with 3-4 new characters and new stories every time like there was nothing there, or something shameful you need to sanitize and cover up! you can just use the game the way it is!

this got a little more heated than i intended, i just feel a little ridiculous waiting anxiously for loose scraps of a sign that this story isn't over and in the trash already and nemona's life-changing attachment to the player character isn't going to go totally ignored, as we are bombarded with what is supposed to be followup material that almost all seems eager to talk about literally anything else like they think the main story was a mistake they need to run away from

now, i'm not one to complain about original stories being told, but this was already a story that had room to grow. imagine a world where the gen 9 anime was actually about nemona, arven, penny, and the friend who brought them together. or what their lives were like before that friend came along. every episode. that would get me to watch the anime again and whatever movie came out for it. ask yourself why we don't have that, or even the traditional, like, 1-2 characters tagging along with the MCs per region thing that would leave us knowing them better than we know some irl friends

how was starting over with 100% original characters and new lore that might conflict hard with the upcoming DLC the safer bet? why is a 44 minute miniseries specifically for fans of the game making up OCs for them to get invested in and scrambling to tell their stories as quickly as possible before throwing them in the trash instead of being about the damn game?

sigh. i shouldn't get invested in a series that's about selling monster plushies just because it had one story that stuck with me

[waywardstation]

now, I am fully aware of Rei being the Protag as almost all male Characters have been confirmed Protags in Masters and I do think people that make out such a minority in the fandom definitely deserve the rep and time to shine! And I am so happy for them! Really hope they do him justice and make the event interesting! Also so very happy PLA still gets some love. I did enjoy ScarVio and Ogerpon from the DLC has become a favorite instantly but PLA needs so much more love than it has gotten. The game, Rei, or really any character deserves so much more love!

Akari is still my personal headcanon and given how loosely things are in Masters and Pasio (Masters is basically a big fanfic where time and space don't really matter and only loosely plays with Canon of the games. (Villains such as Ghetsis or others wouldn't just be allowed to squad in a base with Grunts and regularly try to take over the island and would be behind iron bars) we shouldn't necessarily see it as canon too much if people have different views. Or there should be bigger age gaps between the characters....) I do think it's more a thing to get a few headcanons for your faves! Just like the personalities added to Ingo and Emmet.

And a fun side fic with Ingo and Akari getting sent to Pasio instead of getting home sounds fun. Or they stumble into a distortion. The joy of seeing loved ones only to realize its not their loved ones is definitely interesting too. Pasio-Barry has temporarily two Dawn best friends and Pasio-Emmet temporarily has two big brothers. Or instead of getting contact to Arceus they try to get in contact with Lear and get Hoopa's help or something like that. (I want Akari to play a prank on Lear) And the times random weirdos enter the Villa for a random request raises again! Would definitely make something fun on the side. But I'm sure rn you already got enough projects at hand!

oh definitely! I'm not saying this towards you, I'm saying this in general to agree with what you said, because it appears a lot of people are upset with Pokemon Master's decision to make this 'canon'.

I think people need to understand that this is a canon - it's canon to Pokemon Masters, but that doesn't mean it's the concrete canon to PLA, as we know that Pokemon Masters is definitely not canon. But this is how Pokemon Masters is doing it. I definitely see Rei as the canon protagonist in Pokemon Masters, 100%. But I've written so much fanfic with Akari as the protag, that like you, she's my headcanon protagonist in PLA.

I always favor pokemon's game canon, because the games' canon always caters to the individual's headcanon to who's the protagonist. Marketing and advertising are a different story, and Pokemon Masters tends to lean with what those pick as protag (and it does seem marketing did favor Rei as the protagonist for PLA). But the games favor the player's choice to make it more personal.

So I'm seeing a lot of people getting upset over Pokemon Masters' decided canon when they can simply ignore it if they do not like it, because its a canon for a spinoff that happens to match some people's headcanons while it disproves others. But it's not the canon for PLA as a game.

(Whew, said 'canon' so many times, that it doesn't even look like a word to me anymore!)

I ALSO AGREE THAT I'M HAPPY PLA IS GETTING MORE REP. Pokemon Masters is what's keeping it fresh and alive in the games department, and I appreciated that SV did what it could to keep it relevant in a game that I really didn't expect to see it in.

AND YOU ARE CORRECT! I indeed love all of your ideas, but I have so many WIPs that are so close yet so far haha. Once they start coming out though and I get them done, I will perhaps be open to some new fic ideas. Let's see if these PLA events in Pokemon Masters inspires anything!

[kettouryuujin]

So You Wanna See an Evolution Party?

[Inspired by @monsoon-of-art's Pokerus AU]

The second they’d returned with Lady Lilligant, Akari had basically Extremespeed’d to the supply tent, leaving everyone else in the dust. Rei helped Arezu get her Noble to medbay, grumbling about Dewotts and priorities. Honestly, he didn’t see what the big deal was with this whole “evolution party” anyways.

Honestly, he’d rather rest up and heal. This whole thing was just… a lot to deal with. A whole lot to deal with. And being around the Dewott may only make things worse.

---

Akari was zipping around the supply hall, going back-and-forth to try and gather the supplies needed for the party. It was astonishing one hadn’t been planned yet, but there was a crisis afoot. That and these weren’t their natural forms, but. That’s no reason to cheat someone out of one of the most important days of their life!

“So...what’s the plan for when we get this all fixed?” Eh? Fixed? Wott? “Honestly? Mainly getting rid of all these adaptations, and getting rationing reset.”

Hearing all this caused the Water-type to screech to a halt before she stumbled over another’s words. They weren’t seriously talking about...

“Heh, well. I’d kill to have arms again, if you ask me. Sucks that I have to ask for so much help.”

“Legends, that has to suck. I’m just glad I still have mine...” As the pair laughed and walked along, neither deigned to notice the slack-jawed Explorer. And, if she was of a clearer mind, she’d be thankful for that. But as it was, she had only one thing in her mind.

‘Legends, why didn’t I think of that...’

---

Rei grunted, working his forelegarm a bit. One good thing about these changes, Potions were far more useful. And if Akari was anything to go by, this wasn’t that bad a fate - Jubilife was adapting enough before she showed up, but once the Dewott had shown that life as a Pokemon didn’t have to be uncivilized things picked up pace. 

On his way out, he passed by a Sliggoo’s bed, where the Rock-type Noble helped remove some shards of stone from his Warden’s goopy body. A small chuckle escaped the Raichu’s lips - another training accident, no doubt. The pair had been sparring a fair bit after both had gotten back to health, and he’d heard even Sabi was joining in. It made sense - while Sliggoo were blind, Goodra could see. Best to get that back sooner than later, even if they don’t know how long they’ll... be like this...

Eyes slowly went wide as implications went thru his head. Sweet Groudon, was that why?

---

*thump*

“OOF! Sorry about that Rei...”

“I-it’s alright, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The duo slowly stood up, avoiding eye contact with the other.

Dust drifted upwards as paws shuffled. “So, umm... W-we don’t have to do the party.”

“I’m not sure where we cou-wait, what?” Embarrassment forgotten, the Electric-type’s eyes darted to look at the Mareepish Dewott.

“Y-yeah, I...I kinda was getting all into it, and forgot you guys. May not be staying this way.”

“I...umm. I actually realized that...”

“Wait, what?”

A small nod from the ‘chu. “Yeah, I...I know we want to go back to being human, but we don’t know how we’d do it... or when. So I guess indulging in something like an evolution party might not be that bad, especially if we...you know.”

“O-oh... I see.” Silence reigned over the pair, a small wind stirring up the dust and grass. “So, umm...”

“My apologies, but I require you to change tracks and connect with mine immediately.”

Confusion gave way to shock as the pair were gripped by the scruffs of their necks, dragged along by red claws. Eyes turned to their captor - an Express Master by the name of Emmett, smile wider and tenser than ever before. Akari took the initiative. “Umm, Emmet? What’s going on?”

“I have been informed that my brother and fellow Express Master, Ingo, was in one of the Mystery Dungeons when it formed.” Rei’s eyes widened at the name.

“Wait, you know Warden Ingo?”

“That is a matter of discussion for another station. For now, I am lifting my embargo on Dungeon exploration to proceed on this new track I have found.”

“But-”

“No buts. We are proceeding apace. As my brother would say, ALL ABOARD!!!”

Rattling ears shook out any sense of control the younger Explorers may have had. They were heading for the Coronet Highlands...

Whether they liked it or not.

[midnight-light]

Master Detective Archives: Rain Code

So I found a thing!

and I may or may not be obsessed already lol. I have not finished the game (Not anywhere close) I've only just gotten past seeing Number one for the first time so please no spoilers! I just felt the need and desire to talk about this game because I am enjoying it so much. First off, so far my favourite character is Yakou Furio. The biggest contributor to that being that I just had this clicking in moment when I heard his voice and instantly recognize the VA for once in my lifetime. Which definitely didn't have anything to do with me being a huge Gojo Satoru fangirl- 😅 Shinigami is ADORABLE in her own way, and I'd be lying if I said that she didn't have me nearly splitting my sides open laughing with some of her lines in the first Labyrinth.

"Just stare at my boobs for eight seconds-" pffff, that had me so off guard I was crying from how hard I laughed.

and omfg the main char is so CUTE! He's so precious and I am looking forward to learn more about the adorable amnesiac~! SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER ZERO AHEAD!!! Okay if there was one thing that I wasn't expecting that I SHOULD have expected considering this game was made by the same people who made Danganronpa- It was for everyone except yourself in the cast getting TORCHED/KILLED about ten minutes after you meet them. Holy HECC though I LOVED the the Labyrinth design~! Eye candy for my easily distracted dumbass~! The fact that you might have to take potentially wrong paths first to discover red herrings before going back on your tracks has me intrigued with what other Labyrinths may do. But uh... might I just say that... uh... Zilch my good sir... thats uh... thats an interesting form you got there as you sit upon your fort... My oh my. Don't get me wrong, I find Zilch interesting and have nothing against him, Fake or not. But the mystery Phantom Zilch was SOMETHING.

Couldn't take it seriously to save my life-

Onto the next topic~!;

The Kanai ward I found kind of pretty...in an eerie way. It reminded me of a few different locations from other games I've played, an example being Spikemuth from Pokemon Sword and Shield, most likely due to all the Neon lights and signs. the constant rain has me intruiged though, I am very curious as to it's causation. Full disclosure? Was not expecting the Agency to be an entire ass Submarine but I mean Hey; We all live in a Yellow submarine right? Okay, that joke was probably bad, I apologize. I'm not going to say too much on the other detectives in the agency because I don't know their characters too well yet. I might talk about this game again at a later point when I've finished it. For now though I think I'll stop here as I think I've written enough. Have a good night/day folks~!

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 10 Review: Avant-Garde!

This is the best episode of Pokemon Horizons by far! The writing choices were good. The mystery behind the Black Rayquaza is good. The way Nemona and Brassius are introduced and handled is good too.

How was Nemona handled? Great! She’s already showing off her love for battling by challenging kids to battles. Her enthusiasm is as consistent as it was in the game. What I liked was that her status as a Champion-Rank Trainer is still present. Liko is from Paldea so she knows the ins and outs of Paldean culture and society; she’s the one who realized who Nemona was and I liked that detail. Nemona got the respect she needed! Since the Rising Volt Tacklers already have all three Paldean starters, her partner Pokemon is Pawmo in the anime, which makes sense because she has one in the game, which fits canon. Her voice actress is Eri Kitamura, who has participated in the previous Pokemon anime as Roxie and is also Bea in Pokemon Masters and Twilight Wings. Her non-Pokemon roles include Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Anri Terieri from Blue Lock. Her voice suits her so well! Great choice for casting!

How was Brassius handled? Amazing! The anime did well on portraying him as both an artist and a Gym Leader. Brassius as an artist was handled well. The anime did amazing on showing off the many sculptures he produced; the tea set is adorable and I want one. The writers also did well on portraying him as an passionate artist. As a writer, I understand the ups and downs of slumps. I’ve gotten them several times in the past too; creative blocks are the worst feeling ever because even if you want to get motivated, a force keeps holding you back. He was also integral in helping Roy learn a bit about the Black Rayquaza and in turn, Roy helped him out of his slump by complimenting his art.

Brassius as a Gym Leader was handled well! He was definitely a challenge for Roy who is still a novice Trainer and Terastal was shown in this episode, which I didn’t even expect it would! Props to the anime staff for the surprise reveal! The battle was EXCELLENT! The Gym Leader theme used and then the way the music syncs as Brassisus terastalizes his Sudowoodo was perfection. I could spazz over this segment for hours. Immaculate animation. Perfect synchronization. I do like how Fuecoco learned a new move, which is a step forward into Roy’s development. The fact that Roy lost to Brassius is a good choice. It would be improbable if Roy had won.

The way Nemona and Brassius were handled gives me hope for other Paldean Gym Leaders and trainers to show up. I can’t wait to see the day the other Gym Leaders show up and for the day the other important characters appear too. The casting for Brassius was handled well! He’s voiced by Kazuya Nakai who has also voiced a character in the previous Pokemon anime; he voiced Nando in the DP saga. I find this amusing because Nando has a Sunflora and Sunfloras are Brassius’s muse in a way.

The mystery of the black Rayquaza increases as Brassius revealed that he has seen it in the nearby forest. That’s the group’s only clue to finding it. I love the buildup and the suspense. It makes me anticipate what’s to come next episode.

I think the most interesting aspect about this episode is the fact that Roy and Liko are traveling around Artazon without adult supervision. Friede and the others take a step back as they are resting in the airship. I like that, honestly. It shows that they trust the kids well enough to not hover over them 24/7 and that their goal is something they have to achieve, so they can’t hold their hands all the time.

Overall, this episode was perfection in execution. The pacing was amazing as they managed to squeeze everything necessary into one episode without it feeling choppy or rushed. I also love so much of the game integration into the anime from Sunflora gathering to Brassius jumping off from the windmill. I hope that Horizons continues producing quality episodes like this. I can’t wait to see more!

[faline-cat444]

An Odd Reunion

Since yesterday I’ve been messing around at playing with Master Detective Archives:Rain Code.Detecting a few familiar tones in some of the characters I decided to see what’s been shared about the casting choices so far and got some fairly surprising connections.

Starting it off is Yuma

 I could have easily accepted at being Eiji Kakihana from Odd Taxi but scrolling a bit further I found a more “ideal” choice of why he sounded familiar and it wasn’t from playing one of the rivals in a Pokemon mini-series...

VICTOR S. COURT HAS BEEN DUG UP FROM THE GRAVEYARD

(As for who to give credit for these mentions it’s Lucien Dodge,so now I have a name and character to link if I ever cross by in any future works he happened to be casted for)

My next most major “I think I know this voice” was Pucci Lavmin

And in the grand scheme she was very recent for my experiences.Her English voice is Lindsay Sheppard and I guess until further notice she’s mainly immortalized to me as Sumire.

But Yuria is a rather close second in what I can say must have been my “true” introduction to her casting choices

Following this comes Melami Goldmine

Voiced by Lauren Landa we return to Odd Taxi as she’s the only alpaca around

Finally to end this off is something not exactly out yet but I have now gotten a mix of surprise and confusion from what seems to be known.Shinigami is a crazy little take on the Death God formula but I guess she’s become who I first think of for Anjali Kunapaneni and I’m not quite sure how to feel about that since she’s apparently also going to be Roy when the dub of Pokemon Horizons starts rolling out.Lemon Irvine from Mashle isn’t event standing a chance against a character who says lines like this.

Similar to what I said with Sheppard this is something of a sample versus the main course.But seeing some cast of Pokemon’s latest mainline anime on the English scene has been shared I also got some rather “rewarding” news from my little hunt.

The sub and dub both have a major casting choice perk...Unless nothing ends up changing but there’s still a chance Sprigatito is Megumi Hayashibara aka Lina Inverse while Friede’s going to be Zelgadis.Lisa Ortiz already took over as Litten...If they decide the cat’s cries must change I have my preference of who should be put on the spot...

[mrultra100]

Ultra's End-of-Year Recap: Electric Boogaloo

Given how little I think of just how much more insane things can get with each passing year, I really wasn’t expecting how my blog was gonna go in 2022, but after joining an ask blog (Kudos to @another-silly-mixels-blog ), now having little more than 80 followers on here, being a major player in spreading the good word on what’s basically the biggest event in paleomedia in the last few years, and my writing and art skills getting significantly better this year…

I should really give these things more thought, huh? Regardless, I should still celebrate all of the good that came tumbling towards this silly blog of mine. Just like last year, I’m capping off ‘22 with a special ‘lil recap of the biggest events to happen to the Ultra Barrier Reef (And that’s a far better name than what this blog was named originally). Seriously, alot has happened this year, and I really couldn’t be more thankful for all of the support I’ve gotten over the years, both from fans and close friends of mine. You are all amazing! I know I said something like it last time (Maybe?), but consider this my early Christmas present, from me to you.

I posted 1,622 times in 2022

209 posts created (13%)

1,413 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mrultra100 (That's me!)

@bogleech

@master-of-gaburincho

@marinebiologyfacts

@thesketchyside

I tagged 1,027 of my posts in 2022

Only 37% of my posts had no tags

#ultra ramblings - 243 posts (Again, I had alot of stupid things to say this year)

#pokemon - 234 posts (Since TWO mainline games came out in the same year, this tag was bound to increase, more than usual)

#prehistoric planet - 140 posts (Anyone remember Alien Worlds? I don't, so watch PHP instead. Make Hank proud)

#pokemon scarlet and violet - 119 posts (Are these games fairly buggy? Yes, yes they are. That still isn't gonna stop me from enjoying what's basically Sun and Moon, but ramped up to 11)

#halloween - 119 posts (Still 2Spooky4U)

#ultra-ween - 116 posts (This was the first time since 2019 that I partook in a monthly drawing challenge. One hell of a trip, lemme tell ya)

#bugsnax - 89 posts (While not as big as all of the Pokemon stuff, the Bigsnax DLC sure did help this one grow a bit)

#my artz - 88 posts (Probably my biggest achievement this year; My art has gotten BETTER)

#johnny test - 60 posts (I'm pretty sure that the 2021 revival is now dead in the water, no thanks to Netflix's legal fucknuttery. Sure as hell ain't gonna stop me from getting ideas for my own hypothetical reboot. Also, there sure were alot of V-Marys tossed around)

#mixels - 56 posts (Part of it involved me joining an ask blog dedicated to this show. It's as fun as it sounds)

Longest Tag: 101 characters

#give me a cinderella stuffing her face with food and a feral fairy godmother who contemplated murder!

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

When people are making so much fanart and memes of your show, it gets slingshotted into the spotlight, you know you’ve made it as a spiritual successor to one of the biggest cornerstones of paleomedia.

Also, Ken Ham can cry me a river.

177 notes - Posted May 29, 2022

It still boggles my mind that, of all things to happen this year, we got femboy pterosaurs. I'm all here for it, especially if it makes out-of-touch creationists drown in their own tears. Ken Ham must've made a whole ocean of them at this point.

#4

Managed to snag one of the 15 second teasers!

211 notes - Posted May 19, 2022

I understand that this was posted during the PHP hype train, but how did this blew up? Not that I'm complaining or anything, I'm just curious.

#3

"It is a lovely morning in Late Cretaceous Mongolia, and you are a horrible Deinocheirus"

240 notes - Posted March 2, 2022

Of all the many pieces that I made over the course of the year, this might just be my crowning jewel.

#2

CHINCHOU (Unovan Form)

Angler Pokemon

Electric/Ghost

Ability: Shadow Tag/Lightning Rod- Prankster (HA)

“First found within the Unovan abyss, this variant of Chinchou has evolved more bioluminescent lures to attract prey. Not only can these lights attract prey, they leave them in a daze, as if they’re under a trance. When its prey gets close enough, Unovan Chinchou delivers a powerful discharge that stuns them. It’s said that the main source of Unovan Chinchou’s bioluminescence is souls, preferably, the souls of its prey.”

STOMIGHTURN

Abyssal Lure Pokemon

Electric/Ghost

Ability: Shadow Tag/Lightning Rod- Prankster (HA)

“Due to the extreme circumstances of the deep sea, along with competition from other Pokemon, the Chinchou of the Unova region evolve into Stomighturn. Having grown in size, Stomighturn uses the same hunting techniques as its previously-evolved form, only with much more bioluminescent lures. Along with a long barbel that hangs from its lower jaw, parts of Stomighturn’s own skeleton now appear on the creature’s hide, being charged with 1.21 gigawatts of ghastly electricity. This strange beast now requires living prey, as it’s been known to swallow them whole, both their body and soul, with its elastic stomach being capable of trapping prey. This species was first discovered when scientists came across one while testing a bathysphere”

Unovan Chinchou evolves into Stomighturn when at level 27

After seeing @bogleech talking about how Chinchou was a better design than Lanturn, I decided to make a regional form for the lil’ guy, along with adding a new evolution that does both the it and the creatures that it’s based on justice.

258 notes - Posted March 29, 2022

How can you screw up making a deep-sea fish? Some chump at GameFreak somehow messed it up when they made Lanturn a thing, so I just had to do my own take on it.

My #1 post of 2022

ALL ABOARD THE PP HYPE TRAIN!

513 notes - Posted April 22, 2022

If I can be honest with myself, this whole was my Prehistoric Planet Arc. It basically was for alot of people, let's not kid ourselves.

At the end of the day, this was one of the biggest years for the Ultra Barrier Reef. Given that the blog is turning 5 next year, who knows what's gonna happen next? Well, that's the fun part. Down in these shitpost-infested waters, you never know what surprises could bubble up to the surface.

Speaking of surprises, I got an extra-special piece coming up to cap the year off. While you should expect to see that in the next few days, things are gonna be a bit slower for the rest of the year (Mainly due to me taking some time off.).

With all of that said, thank you all so much for the continued support, and I'll be rising back up from the depths next year. Happy Holidays, folks!

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Squishy Endings

I’ve been thinking about games like Dead Cells and Hades and FFTA and even Slay the Spire that have endings that are only sort of endings.

And how End-y the endings feel to the user has a lot to do with the quality and quantity and format of what comes after.

I’d say defeating the Heart in Slay the Spire is truly the Ending, even if there’s no Ascension. The bonus material includes extra challenge to deepen the experience for players who are into that, but very much feels like, well, bonus material.

At the far, far opposite end you have Automata, which has something like 80% of its gameplay and plotline hidden behind what it initially tells you is the Ending? I don’t know how to classify that.

Hades has plot doled out in little bites and the pace of those - from what I’ve seen from streamers and such, I haven’t gotten there myself - doesn’t seem to change after you defeat Hades, nor after you get to the credits. I wonder whether it just kind of peters out eventually as the game runs out of dialogue options, or whether it ever gives you a True For-Really-Reals It’s Over. I feel like it’s the former simply because I expect I’d have seen it if the latter existed.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is in this weird middle space where there’s only a little bit of post-Final Boss plot, and it’s kind of weakly written, like maybe someone wanted to include it but they didn’t have the resources to spend a lot of time on it or the like. But also it’s very possible to have only 20 or 30 of the 250 missions complete when you “win,” meaning a TON of content is still there for you, just not plot. I think even if you try to finish everything as you go something like 80+, maybe even 100, of the levels are flat-out locked behind getting the Has Won The Game status. So there’s explicitly a lot of content, but there’s also not much plot and (to my eye) what plot is present isn’t well-considered or well-executed, even compared to the regular plot (which some people rag on harshly as well).

Pokemon’s also a curious beast, not least because it has always been running two concurrent plotlines in every game: The run through the badges as you attempt to become a Pokemon Master, and the Team Evil Doin’ Evil Stuff plot that keeps intersecting yours as you go. Even after you do both, there’s often a hunt for legendaries and/or shinies, as well as filling out the ‘Dex (especially if you’re not a doofus like me who tries to collect them all as soon as they become available and then keep them all at the same level - the math around how exponential growth works makes this completely unworkable around the fourth gym pretty consistently).

To me the follow-up plot items of FFTA and Pokemon always feel a little weak, and to be positive about it I think a lot of that comes down to them having a satisfying conclusion to their basic story. You stop the rampaging pokemon (by hucking your Master Ball at it!) that Team Evil was trying to get to do their Evil Stuff, and you become Pokemon Master (sometimes by cheesing the poor Final Four with the OP moves from that rampaging legendary you just caught). The stuff after that is personal satisfaction/collection but isn’t really story. The story is properly concluded. FFTA has seen you able to get home again, and breaking your friend out of his obsession with a false reality (pushed by a creepy divine being pretending to be his mother). Having the game go on after that requires a bunch of weird hand-waving/lampshading, and from a story perspective it’s not great even if I’m glad to get to continue beating up morbols on an isometric grid.

Ah, the irony of my not knowing how to properly end this meditation on endings...!

[gogogobarry]

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY, BARRY! REFLECTIONS & MOVING FORWARD

Well, it’s here again! Way back in 2013, sometime in the first week of June, I submitted an application for this Barry blog to be accepted into an RP group...and I haven’t looked back since. I had always liked writing and Pokemon, and this blog was my real introduction to RP and Tumblr as a whole. And even though my muses, writing buddies, and scenes have changed so much over the years, I always find myself returning to this blog. Barry’s my creative north star, and--when I have the chance--it’s still so fun to write him.

Now, some of you might say: but you’ve barely written on him lately! and you would be absolutely right, not only on this blog but on my other Tumblr blogs as well. To be honest, I feel like my writing mindset here has been in a weird (not negative) space recently. I try not to post too much ooc--and almost never any negative ooc (because I feel people have enough on their plates and should spend mental energy worrying about me, I’m fine)--but I thought I would take this posting space, this blog’s anniversary, to provide a bit of an in-depth update and try to talk through my latest thoughts. As a treat.

This blog isn’t going anywhere and I am feeling great lately. Barry’s still the man. And I know how self-indulgent this is all sounding so far, so I’m going to stick the rest of my ramblings under the cut. Please note that I’m going to be mentioning hospitals (I work in one) and other real-world stuff under there, so if that’s not your cup of tea, I completely get it! And I really really do appreciate anybody who has stuck with me through this lil’ period of inactivity. Thanks. 😊

One year ago, my life was a grind. I was finishing up my master’s degree, working check-ins and staff management in a new hospital job during the height of the pandemic, and--because I couldn’t really go outside--I starting turning towards RP as an escape, a break from the chaos. I was already writing my thesis every day, so the words came easy...and RPing became a bigger part of my life, which I feel is both good and bad (I’ll speak to that in a bit.)

It was unhealthy, but I have always thrived under that pressure--pushing my own needs aside to get the job done, academics or elsewhere. If I don’t have that pressure, that chip on my shoulder, I need to replace it with another goal. I always need to be working towards something--like Barry, it’s hard for me to sit still. I’ve powered my way through a lot of obstacles that way, but that competitive mindset’s a double-edged sword.

So, when I earned my master’s at the beginning of 2022 and that pressure was finally lifted off, I doubled down on my hospital job because of staff shortages. I didn’t relax. The winter weather was awful, I wasn’t writing as much anymore, and I was convincing myself that I wasn’t burning out. I would come home, stuck inside, nap, and then escape with a bit of RP. It wasn’t sustainable.

That all came to a head around a couple months ago. While I was working, a visitor became furious when I asked them to put on their mask properly. They called me an anti-Asian slur and spat in my face. Family members were going through their own COVID scares at that time, my flight to my friend’s wedding had just gotten moved (again, thanks Delta), and I just felt numb for the rest of my shift. I remember a nurse taking me aside and demanding that I take some time off for myself. A week later, at the wedding, my friends (bless them) also had an intervention and told me the same thing: I looked exhausted.

So, when I came back, I took some time to reflect on how I was treating myself. I looked at RPing and wondered why I was finding it so hard to write lately. Years ago, when I was in a closed group setting with Barry, the circle had some pretty strict rules: no one-liners, no OOC spam, and focus on IC writing. I want to be clear: these rules were overly strict for many people and I absolutely am not trying to say that people shouldn’t post what they want here at all--go off. For me, even after going indie, I’ve personally always trended towards longform IC content and character studies/hcs/drabbles. And it still feels weird for me to make more than a couple posts a day. I fear dash cluttering.

After my lil’ break away and return, I’ve lately found myself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content and posts on dash (esp. dashcomms and ooc), and I realize that that’s on me. It would be easy for me to wax poetic about the good ol’ days but it’s absolutely not true--I think indie has always been refreshingly chaotic ever since I really got into it--I just follow way more people now. Whenever I log on, it feels like the dash is in the midst of a dashcomm, inside joke or collective vent/rant that changes at such a quick pace. And again--this is NOT a knock on what people are posting--I’m just happy to be here, I like following new people and reading about new muses--I’m just personally having some difficulty keeping track of everything as of late. (Fun fact: For everybody saying curate your space, the only anon hate I have ever received on this blog came after I did a little round of non-ill willed softblocking on this account. If you’re reading this, come talk to me--I didn’t mean any misunderstanding! An unfollow doesn’t mean dislike, just that we never interacted, and I’m absolutely down for refollows.)

All of this to say: I feel like you get out of RP what you put into it, as with most things. For me, I haven’t had time to contribute much writing lately due to summer + responsibilities, so the creative motivation to be here is down right now, but I’m realizing that it’s okay. I don’t need to post every day, I can write novels & hcs for fun when I’m in the right mind to do so. In the scramble to be present and fight against FOMO here, I think I forgot about that.

When I was writing up my post here, I took a look through this blog’s history to read through some old posts. I thought about how many people Barry’s interacted with--people with deleted blogs, people with long inactive statuses, people who are still here. I think there’s this fear (at least that I’ve felt for myself since writing here) of being forgotten--the internet moves fast. This can extend to real life, too--I’m now more comfortable with the grind of my hospital job and I love helping people, but there are some days where I feel like my efforts just don’t matter or make a difference. In those moments where I feel overwhelmed/invisible, I’m learning to step back, take a deep breath and focus on the positives. 

For RP, I’m glad that I found and stuck with this place. I always think about how lucky it is that I get to talk, read, and write Pokemon and muses with people from all over the world--how a game and a platform can bring everyone together. I’m grateful for everybody who’s followed me at some point along my writing journey, and I’m also grateful for all the talented writers, artists, and creators that I follow (or have yet to follow!) in turn. For everyone keeping up with Clair, Jupiter, and especially with my boy Barry, I--as always--apologize for the sudden disappearances and my Magcargo-esque pace, but I hope my writing has brightened your day even a bit at some point. That’d be enough for me. 

Now that I’ve reached the end of this messy ramble, I’m hesitant to post it, may delete it later, but it feels so good to write everything out, to get everything off my chest just this once. If you’ve made it here, thanks for reading. It’s been a great nine years on this blog so far, and--while I might be taking things at a slower pace moving forward--I’m not stopping just yet. Sinnoh strong. 😤     

[magical-awesome-kid]

Oh my gods so I have been DEEP in the Arceus fandom theories on how Ingo ended up in Hisui and I just had an idea to explain it.

Now, one of the ideas proposed by fandom is Ultra Wormholes. Unlike the time-space distortions, these guys have demonstrated that a person who has fallen through these things can end up having their memories (aside from their names) wiped. The Wormholes also have the ability to branch across time and space.

But that still leaves the question - how could Emmet and Ingo (because you know that the two would be together) end up in Alola where the wormholes were?

But then someone mentioned that GALAR has them as well as demonstrated in the DLC, and THAT made me think of one thing:

Trains.

Galar has a vast track of train systems, and our boys LOVE trains. It's their whole jobs. So what if there was talk in Galar of introducing battle cars - something to help train up trainers what with the longer rides across the region - and the Subway Masters were invited to give some ideas and be general sources of information. Of course, Ingo and Emmet would go.

This would open up the possibilities on how Ingo would fall into a portal. Maybe they went to check out the Dynamax Dens, what with Emmet's love of battles, and, after coming across an Ultra Beast, Ingo fell through the portal with the escaping beast. Maybe they were touring the region before one opened and swallowed Ingo, but Emmet, who was skipping ahead, didn't get caught in the blast. Maybe Ingo saw Emmet's double on the other side and, worrying about his brother, leapt through, only for Emmet to be BEHIND Ingo and seeing his brother leap at a doubleganger. The possibilities are endless.

When trying to get back, the wires got crossed, and Ingo wound up in Hisui with none of his pokemon. If it was Dynamax adventures, this makes the most sense - the adventures require you use borrowed pokemon, so he would have left his pokemon at the front, and the Machop line, which is his first Pokémon on his Hisui team, is available in Galar. Even if the Machop/Machoke remembered the future, he wouldn't know who Ingo was beyond a Dynamax Adventure Traveler.

Where does that leave Emmet? He'd be fully aware that his brother went through some wormhole and is now in the future looking for a way to get to his brother. He'd probably be working with Lillie to find information on wormholes. He'd put word out amongst all the researchers that his brother fell through time and space. He'd eventually make his way to Sinnoh, given their own history with portals, and meet up with Cynthia, the historian of the region and Champion.

It would be her who hands him a book on the earliest records of time-space distortion, and point out an old photo of a Warden who fell through the portal...

(Emmet cries because he found his brother, and he's gotten this far - he's going to bring him back. The book does say that he disappeared like he appeared one day...)

[art-blogge]

Merged Tracks! C-10

Emmet had managed to convince Ingo to, once everything was settled business wise, take a vacation to Sinnoh. See how different it is! See how similar it is! Show Emmet where he lurked most often! Maybe they'd get lucky and see Hisuian Pokemon! Ingo didn't have the heart to tell Emmet that Hisuian Pokemon had gone extinct years and years ago, not including Baby Worthy. Despite that, he was definitely interested.

It had taken a few weeks to get everything arranged and ready. The travel part was easy. The finding places to stay was easy. Figuring out how to smuggle Baby Worthy in without causing a ruckus was the difficult part. She'd grown quite a bit in the past few months, so hiding her in Ingo's coat was no longer an option. That would have been especially difficult on a long ship voyage.

People turned out to be more distracted by the Subway Masters coming off of a ship than the oddly colored Sneasel one was carrying. What a relief.

They started in Snowpoint City. The only place Ingo felt remotely comfortable was near the Snowpoint Temple, and they were unable to get close as simple tourists. That was fine. Ingo had never gone inside of it anyway. Instead, they took a break nearby, Ingo told Emmet and Baby Worthy about a time that a bandit tried to rob him in the Icelands. The local Gym Leader came out to see why tourists had gotten so close to the Temple, and Ingo only called her Clover by mistake once. Startled that someone knew the name of her great-grandmother, Gym Leader Candice immediately challenged them to a battle. Emmet had to be physically restrained by his brother to stop him from approaching her at breakneck speeds.

And then Ingo let go.

Emmet lost that battle.

After dragging his defeated brother to the Pokemon Center, they set off southbound to Route 217. Despite the deep, deep snow, Ingo was more comfortable here. It felt familiar, even if he hadn't spent much time near the Pearl Clan. He was only distracted from this train of thought twice- Once by Emmet clocking him with two hands full of snow, and once by Chandelure popping out and making an appearance. He sensed something. Both Ingo and Emmet looked around for what he was sensing, but saw nothing. Emmet instead saw a bundle of Eevees nearby, huddled up and waiting for the brothers to pass.

"Go on ahead, little Eevees. We see you. Safety first! Everybody smile!"

With permission granted, the Eevees ran across the path, yipping and yapping. They were followed by two Glaceons, who both nodded to the brothers before following the Eevees and vanishing into the snowbanks. Emmet took several pictures.

Ingo saw this, but was more focused on a vague shape in the distance. Definitely a ghost, given that Chandelure was also staring at them. He recognized that silhouette.

"Lady Irida," Ingo muttered, tipping his head politely.

"Huh? Is someone there, Ingo?" Emmet asked, looking around. He didn't see it. Instead, he started marching forward, only for Ingo to hold him back. Without prompting, Chandelure began to melt the snow around them. There was a graveyard here. That's what Chandelure had appeared for.

"We are changing our course, Emmet. We cannot track our boots through this place. It would be far too rude."

Emmet didn't question this decision. Ingo placed a single berry on the largest headstone. Emmet took several pictures. The Eevees and Glaceons watched as they left before settling around the headstone. A single Leafeon joined them. ---- Ingo stopped walking as soon as they reached Route 216, and Emmet stared at him. Emmet, no longer watching where he was going, smacked into a boulder.

"Mount Coronet," Ingo announced, pointing towards the mountain, "I worked the Highlands further south of here. Let us make our own path."

Ingo grabbed Emmet's collar and dragged him off the beaten path. He didn't like it there, and he didn't feel like battling any trainers they might come across.  Mt. Coronet had been largely inaccessable when Ingo had been there last, and he intended to take paths he knew. Things change, but mountains largely do not. He knew where caves to duck into were, he knew where you could safely slide down the side, he knew where the dead ends were. Beaten paths were for those intending easy and convenient travel. Ingo wasn't feeling that today.

Baby Worthy never strayed far, even without the leash. She'd never seen the mountains before, yet she climbed alongside Ingo like an expert. She'd inherited her mother's skills. Baby Worthy was clearly enjoying herself!

Emmet struggled. He had little to no experience with rock climbing like this. He knew how to traverse them in an emergency, but otherwise ended up getting left behind. He was okay with it, though! He was happy seeing Ingo and Baby Worthy having such a good time! If Ingo had been able to learn so quickly, then Emmet could too!

But not now. Archeops could deal with it for him! Archeops knew Fly. It was fine!

It was fine until Archeops dropped him off a ledge. Ingo had slid down the mountain-side expertly, and Archeops wanted to see Emmet do it! Emmet proceeded to Rolling Girl it until he got his footing back, and he still slammed into Ingo at the bottom. Archeops laughed at him from high above, until something big and round was thrown at him by Baby Worthy.

"Oh, a Voltorb," Ingo noted, not even fazed.

"Weird looking one!" Emmet added. Neither of them did anything as Archeops got shocked for his crimes of dropping his trainer for fun.

"A Hisuian Voltorb, it's half grass type," Ingo corrected, catching the Voltorb as it came back down. "One of the historians I wanted to work with has one. We're supposed to meet at Route 208. I presume you're it, then?"

The Voltorb chirped in his arms. They were just happy to be held! ---- The historians all fawned over Baby Worthy, and she loved it! She didn't know half of the human words they were saying, but she understood the important ones! Poison, sharp, cute! Perfect, beautiful, baby! She didn't mind being handled- She liked being handled! Hold her! Pet her! Hold her paws and pat her head! Measure her height and give her a berry! She got to do climbing with Papa! Baby Worthy was having a good time.

Emmet had wandered away. He was still in frame, just verrrrrrrry distant. He didn't want to stand there and just talk about Baby Worthy. It got too boring, too fast! Verrrrrrry boring! He wanted to explore! Emmet waved to Ingo, and then pointed to a nearby cave entrance. He was going to explore now! Ingo gave him a thumbs up, and Emmet immediately turned on his heel to go explore. Safety first! Archeops sat on his shoulder, with his wing over Emmet's head. Everyone smile! Proceed! Emmet whipped out a flashlight. It was still daytime, but it was better safe than sorry! ---- Emmet returned two hours later to not much having changed other than the time of day. Only half an hour had been spent checking out the shallow cave- The rest had been spent taking a nap until nightfall. The historians were still there. Baby Worthy was still there. Most importantly, Ingo was still there.

Ingo was smirking. Emmet couldnt help but stare at his elder brother in wonder- That was a verrrry rare expression! The historians were huddled over something that Emmet couldn't see.

"What is all this about? I would like to eavesdrop!"

Emmet was grabbed by the collar before he could interrupt.

"They're looking over my flute," Ingo explained, "They're dating it. I already told them everything I knew, but that will confirm it. And I know I'm telling the truth. I was there!"

He was proven correct soon after. The flute was chemically dated as being over a hundred years old, and Ingo only got MORE smug. He'd been proven right, and he fully intended to let everybody know it. Baby Worthy copied his expression, so now there were two Scraggy-smiling scrunklies just standing there, being unbelievably smug.

It was too quiet now. Emmet really wanted to just make a noise of some sort. But there were people here doing important history stuff.... Oh, better idea.

Without prompting, Emmet stated "Ingo, I had a dream about punching a funny horse." He didn't expect much of a reaction, so when Ingo whipped his head around to stare at him, Emmet didn't have an immediate reply. It took him a moment to get his words in working order, and he twirled a hand in the air to speed this up.

"Is that weird? I don't think Girafarigs get that tall, so it wasn't one of those..."

Ingo kept staring, so Emmet kept going.

"A big pony thing said I could battle it! I was excited! But I didn't have any Pokemon with me. I'm pretty sure I won anywa-- Hey? Where are we going?"

Ingo had grabbed Emmet's wrist and started trudging up to the cave Emmet had been napping in. Despite their efforts together, they found nothing new. Oh well!

Exhaustion finally catching up with him, Ingo sat down on a small patch of grass. What a long day it'd been. Next to him, Emmet flopped down onto his back and stretched an arm out. After a moment of observing this, Ingo laid down next to Emmet, making sure his shoulder was touching Emmet's. He then raised his own arm up next to Emmet's. Yes. This felt right.

Baby Worthy curled up under Archeops' wings, cuddling a white pokedoll he had given her. Where he'd gotten it, she wasn't sure and she didn't care. It was soft.

Ingo and Emmet glanced at each other, and in sync joined their raised hands together. Sure, they could reach for the stars whenever they wanted. But why? They didn't need to reach far when they were together, after all!

[celepeace]

A monster-taming game recommendation list for fans of Pokemon

Whether you're a pokemon fanatic obsessed with all things pokemon past and present, or a veteran fan disillusioned with GameFreak's recent adoption of monetary philosophies and strategies reminiscent of other major game publishers, or looking for a monster-taming fix as you await new Pokemon content...

I'm compiling here a post of little-known games in the genre that Pokemon fans are likely to enjoy!

Under readmore cause long, but some of these games really don’t get the attention they deserve, so if you have the time, please read!

(I am also likely to keep updating and editing this post)

First up is Temtem!

Temtem is a game made by and for Pokemon fans, from the spanish indie developer Crema. Temtem is currently in early access on Steam and PS5, and is likely to remain in early access until sometime late next year. Full launch will include a Nintendo Switch release, too. Despite this, it has plenty of content to explore before full release. The developers are active, release new content on a semi-regular basis, and are responsive to the community as a whole and individuals if you happen to come across a bug you want to report.

Temtem boasts a wide variety of monsters to collect and train. It takes place in the Airborne Archipelago, a system of floating islands that orbit their star, the Pansun. The monsters inhabiting the archipelago are called Temtem, or tem(s), for short.

As far as game mechanics go, it has many similarities to Pokemon, but also many important distinctions. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that the element of chance has been removed from battle entirely. Moves cannot miss, have the same power constantly, and status afflictions have an obviously displayed countdown to when they will wear off (for instance, sleep lasts as long as it says it will last. Not 2-4 turns). PP does not exist, either. Your tems can battle for as long as their HP holds out. In place of PP, a new system called Stamina exists. Stamina is an individual stat, like HP and Attack. Each move costs a certain amount of stamina. If you go over the amount of stamina your tem has, the deficit is detracted from your health instead, and that tem cannot move next turn. Stamina passively regenerates a certain amount each turn, and items and moves exist that can heal stamina. All battles are also double-battles, you and your opponent will typically have two tems on the field at a time. This is just a few of the differences Temtem has from Pokemon, but they're some of the biggest ones.

Temtem is also a massively multiplayer game. You complete the storyline independently (or with a friend through co-op!), but in the overworld you can see other, real players moving around and interacting with the world. There is also public and area-specific chat you can talk to other players through. Despite this, all multiplayer functions are (currently) completely optional. You do not need to interact with others to complete the game.

Overall, Temtem is suitable for the Pokemon fan who is looking for a more challenging experience. Temtem is not a walk in the park you can blaze through with a single super-strong monster. For one, individual tem strength is more well-balanced than it is in Pokemon. There are very few (if any!) completely useless tems. Even some unevolved tems have their niche in the competitive scene! Aside from that, enemy tamers are scaled quite high, and you typically cannot beat them just from the exp you get from other enemy tamers. You have to do some wild-encounter grinding if you want to progress.

Temtem is a very fun game and I've already gotten over 100 hours out of it, despite only 3/5-ish of the planned content being released!

However, I do feel obligated to warn any prospective players of one thing: the current endgame is quite inaccessible. After you complete what is currently implemented of the main storyline, there is still quite a lot left to explore and do, but much of it is locked behind putting a lot of hours into the game. You kind of have to get perfect temtem to do the current PVE (and this is also somewhat true for the PVP too). By perfect I mean you have to breed a good tem and then train it to get the preferable EVs (called TVs in temtem). This takes... well, for a whole team... tens of hours. Of boring grinding. Some people enjoy it! But I don't. Regardless, the game was still worth buying because the non-endgame content is expansive and fun.

So overall, pros & cons:

Pros

Battle system is more friendly towards a competitive scene

Cute monsters

Lots of gay characters, also you can choose pronouns (including they/them) independently from body type and voice

Less difference between the objectively bad tems and good tems than there is in Pokemon

Lots of stuff to do even in early access

Most conversations with dialog choices have the option to be a complete ass for no reason other than it’s fun

Having less type variety in your team is less punishing than in Pokemon due to the synergy system and types overall having less weaknesses and resistances

At least one major character is nonbinary

Cons

Falls prey to the issue of MMOs having in-game economies that are only accessible to diehard no-life players

Related to the above point, cosmetics are prohibitively expensive

Endgame CURRENTLY is inaccessible to most players unless you buy good monsters from other players or spend tens of hours making your own. However I must add that the grind is great if you like that kind of thing and is quite easy and painless to do while watching a show or something.

Here is their Steam page and here is their official website.

Next is Monster Hunter: Stories!

This is a spinoff game of the Monster Hunter franchise released for the 3DS in 2018. If you're anything like me, and you've played the core Monster Hunter games, you've often thought "Man, I wish I could befriend and ride these cool dragon creatures instead of killing or maiming them!"

Well now you can! In Stories, as I will be calling it, you play as a rider rather than a hunter. Riders steal monster eggs from wild nests to raise them among humans as companions and guardians. And yes, egg stealing is a whole mechanic in of itself in this game.

This game works pretty differently from most monster-collecting games. You do battle (usually) against one or two wild monsters using your own, except you fight alongside your monsters too. With swords and stuff. There's armor and weapons you can smelt to make yourself stronger. Type match-ups also kind of don't exist in this game? Except they do? But not in a way you'd expect?

The vast majority of attacking moves you and your monster use fall into categories reminiscent of rock-paper-scissors. Moves can be categorized as power, speed, or technical. Speed beats power, technical beats speed, and power beats technical. The matchup of your move vs your opponent's determines how a turn will go down. If one move beats the other in matchup, then the winner's move will get to go and the loser doesn't get to do anything. If you tie, you both get hit, but for reduced damage. There's also abilities and basic attacks, with abilities basically being the same as pokemon moves, and basic attacks just being "I hit you for normal damage within this category". Also, you don't control what your monster does all the time in battle. You can tell it to use abilities, but what kind basic attacks it carries out is determined by its species' preference. Velicidrome, for instance, prefers speed attacks, but Yian Garuga prefers technical. Stamina also exists in this game in a very similar manner to Temtem.

Overall this game carries over a lot of mechanics Monster Hunter fans will find familiar (how items and statuses work for instance). You don't have to have played a core Monster Hunter game to enjoy Stories though! It's fine and is easy to understand as a stand-alone.

The story has some likable characters and is rather long (it was actually adapted into an anime!), for those of you who enjoy a good story.

I'd really recommend this one especially. If it sounds fun to you and you can drop $30, just do it. I bought it on a whim and I got a few weeks' worth of playing almost nonstop out of it, and I didn't even get to do everything! (I got distracted by Hades, oops)

Stories is also getting a sequel later next year on the nintendo switch! How exciting!

And yes, you do ride the monsters.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Large variety of cool monsters to befriend and raise

Pretty lengthy story

Every tamable monster is also rideable

Deceptively simple combat mechanics, easy to be okay at, hard to master

Incorporates some mechanics from early turn-based party rpgs like Final Fantasy for a nice twist on the monster collecting genre

Cons

Many monsters are objectively outclassed by other ones, making what can be in an actually good team more limited than you’d expect

3DS graphics inherently means the game looks like it was made 7 years before its time

Here is the Monster Hunter Stories official 3DS product page.

And here is Monster Sanctuary!

Monster sanctuary is a game that just had its 1.0 launch- meaning it was in early access and no longer is! Although the devs say they still plan to implement a few more things into the game in future updates. It is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4.

Monster sanctuary is a metroidvania twist on the typical monster collecting game, meaning it is also a sidescrolling platformer in which you use abilities you gain throughout the game to explore the world around you. The abilities in this case are the monsters you get! Every monster has an ability that helps you traverse the sanctuary.

Speaking of the sanctuary, the game is set in one. The monster sanctuary is a magically shielded area, cut off from the rest of the world, created by an order of monster keepers, people who befriend and protect the mystical monsters inhabiting the world. Humankind encroached too far on the natural habitat of monsters and were hostile to the native wildlife, so the keepers created an area of varied environments to safely protect and preserve the remaining monsters of the world.

Unlike many other monster collecting games, this game only has 5 types: fire, water, earth, air, and neutral. However, the types themselves do not possess resistances and weaknesses. Instead, each monster has its own assigned weaknesses and resistances. And yes, this can include things like debuffs, physical vs special attacks, and the typical elemental types.

All battles are also 3 vs 3! And unlike in pokemon, where you can only hit the enemies nearest, all monsters have the ability to hit any opponent they want. Turns also work a little differently in that speed doesn't exist, you just use 1 move per monster in your turn and then it goes to your opponent's turn. Your monsters hit in whatever order you want them to.

There is also a quite important combo system in this game, where every hit builds a damage multiplier for the next. Moves often hit multiple times per turn. Healing and buffing actions also build this combo counter. So what monsters you have move in what order really counts!

But the main mechanical difference between this and other games in the genre is how it handles levels and skills. Instead of learning a set move at a certain level, this game incorporates a skill tree, and you get to allocate points into different skills as you grow stronger. And jeez, these skill trees are really extensive. Monster sanctuary is a theorycrafter's dream. Each monster has a unique, specially tailored skill tree, making every monster truly able to have its own niche. You can make use of whatever monster you want if you just put thought into it!

And like Temtem, this game is not made to be beatable by children. I'm sure a child could beat it, but it's not made to be inherently child-friendly like pokemon. It's honestly quite difficult.

On top of that, you are actively encouraged to not just be scraping by each battle. Your performance in battle is rated by an automated system that scores your usage of various mechanics like buffs and debuffs applied, type matchups, and effective usage of combos. The rating system directly influences the rewards you get from each battle, including your likelihood of obtaining an egg from one of the wild monsters you battled (no, you don't catch wild monsters in this game, you get eggs and hatch them). If you're not paying attention to how the game works and making good, effective use of your monsters, you'll have a hard time expanding your team!

The music is also really good, it's made by nature to be able to play over and over and not get old as you explore each area, and the composer(s) really did a good job with this. Some area songs, namely the beach one, I especially enjoy, so much so I've actually played it in the background while I do work.

This is a game I would really recommend. If I made it sound intimidating, it is by no means unbeatable, you're just gonna have to put some thought into how you play. At no point did I actually feel frustrated or like something was impossible. When I hit a wall, I was able to recognize what I did wrong and how I could improve, or I could at least realize something wasn't working and experiment until I found a solution. It's challenging in a genuinely fun, rewarding way.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Extremely in-depth combat system

I genuinely don’t know if there’s an objectively bad monster in this game

Evolution exists but is completely optional, as even un-evolved monsters can be great

Entire soundtrack is full of bangers

Large and diverse variety of monsters to tame

Cons

Story is a little lackluster, but passable

That’s the only con I can think of

Here’s a link to their Steam page and the game’s website.

A kind of unorthodox recommendation is the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series!

Likelihood is that everyone reading this has heard of this series already, but just in case anyone hasn't, I thought I'd include it! I would categorize this as a hybrid between the mystery dungeon genre and the monster collecting genre, because you recruit pokemon as you play and can use those pokemon on your team!

If you're unaware, the mystery dungeon genre is a small subset of dungeon crawler games where you progress through randomly generated levels called mystery dungeons. Throughout the dungeons, there will be enemies to fight and items to collect. The challenge of these games is mostly due to the stamina aspect of them, in that you have to manage your resources as you progress through the level. If you go all out in each fight, you will inevitably lose quite quickly. You have to learn to win against enemies while balancing your use of items and PP, so you have enough for the next fight, and the fight after that.

Pokemon mystery dungeon in particular is famous for its stories, the likes of which isn't seen often in Pokemon games. They are hugely story-driven games and are notable for the emotional depth they possess. It's pretty normal for the average player to cry at least once in the span of the game. There's lots of memes about that specifically.

This entry in my list is also unique for being a series. So, which one should you play first? It actually doesn't matter! Each storyline is entirely self-contained and requires no knowledge of prior entries. The quality of each entry varies and is a point of contention among fans. I say you should play all of them, because they all have their merits (though some more than others.... coughgatestoinfinitycough). They're mostly distinct for the generation of Pokemon they take place in. Rescue team is gen 3, Explorers is gen 4, Gates to Infinity is gen 5, Super Mystery Dungeon is gen 6, and Rescue Team DX is a remake of a gen 3 game but has the mechanics and moves of a gen 8 game.

My only real caution is that you play Explorers of Sky, not Darkness or Time. Sky is basically a combination of the two games with added items and content. It's an objective upgrade over its predecessors, and I honestly wouldn't waste money on the other two. 

I’m not going to include a pros and cons list for the PMD series because I’m incredibly biased and it wouldn’t be an honest review.

Next is Monster Crown!

Monster Crown is a monster collecting game that seems to take heavy inspiration from early-gen Pokemon games in particular. It is currently in early access on Steam and is not expensive. I learned about it through the developers of Monster Sanctuary, when they recommended it on their official Discord.

The game has lots of charm and interesting creature designs, and an entirely new take on monster typings as well. Instead of monster types being based off of natural elements like fire, water, electricity, etc. Monster Crown uses typings that seem to be influenced by the personalities of the monsters. For instance, Brutal, Relentless, and Will are all monster types!

It also captures a lot of the charm many of us look fondly upon in early GameBoy-era games. The music is mostly chiptune, with some more modern backing instruments at times, and the visuals are very reminiscent of games like Pokemon Crystal in particular. Monster Crown is definitely the monster collecting game for fans of the 8-bit era!

The thing that stands out the most to me about this game is the breeding system. Instead of one parent monster passing down its species to its offspring, you can create true hybrids in this game.

However, it is very early access. I would consider the current build as an alpha, not even a beta yet! So temper your expectations here. I have not encountered any major bugs, but visual glitches here and there are quite common. The game also could definitely use some polish and streamlining, and is quite limited in content currently. But the dev(s) seem quite active, so I fully expect these kinks to be worked out in time!

The reviews are rather positive, especially for being in early access. I'm all for expanding the monster collecting genre, so if you're looking to expand your horizons in that sense, I would recommend you at least give this one a look! I personally had quite a bit of fun playing Monster Crown and am going to keep an eye out for updates.

Pros & cons:

Pros

Charming artstyle, appealing monster designs

Faithful callback to a bygone era of gaming

Controls are fairly simple and easy to get the hang of (and are completely customizable!)

Cool breeding and hybridization mechanics

There's a starter for each monster type!

You can choose your pronouns, including they/them!

Cons

Inherent nature of being very early access means can be clunky and unpolished at times

Also not much content as of right now, see above

User interface could use some redesign in places

Here’s their Steam page and the official website!

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, Azure Dreams!

This is one I actually haven’t played, mostly because it’s really old and therefore only practically accessible if you play it on an emulator, unless you're one of those old game collectors. Azure Dreams was developed by Konami and released for the PS1 in 1997. My impression of it was that it either didn’t sell well or only took off in Japan, because it’s actually really hard to find any comprehensive information about it on the internet.

Azure Dreams is a monster collecting - dating sim hybrid. You can build relationships with various characters and can pursue some of them romantically, although that isn’t the main draw of the game. There is also a stripped-down version that exists for the GameBoy Color, which forgoes the dating portion of the game entirely.

Azure Dreams is kind of like a mystery dungeon game in that you progress through a randomly generated, ever-changing tower using the help of the familiars you have accrued throughout your adventure. Similarly to Monster Hunter: Stories, you yourself also take part in the fighting alongside your monsters. Each time you enter the tower, your character’s level is lowered to 1, but your familiars keep their experience. Thus, progression is made through strengthening your monsters. To obtain monsters, you collect their eggs, just like in Monster Sanctuary (which, turns out, was at least partially inspired by this game!)

Due to this game being very old and on the PS1, the visuals leave a lot to be desired... but if you can get past that, Azure Dreams has lots of replayability and customization to how you play the game. To this day, it appears it has a somewhat active speedrunning community!

If you don’t mind the effort of using an emulator, and like old games, Azure Dreams just might be that timesink you were looking for in quarantine.

Honorable mentions:

Pokemon Insurgence (or any Pokemon fangame/ROMhack, really!) is a Pokemon fangame that introduces Delta Pokemon, which are really cool type-swapped versions of existing Pokemon. It’s sufficiently challenging and has a lot of variety in what you can catch in the wild, so you can pretty much add whatever you want to your team! The story is quite good, and the main campaign is multiple times longer than a typical Pokemon game’s campaign. Download it here!

ARK: Survival Evolved is NOT a monster collecting game BUT you do get to tame and fight alongside a lot of really cool extinct species, including but not limited to the dinosaurs we all know and love. This game is genuinely fun as hell, especially with friends, but I must warn you: never play on official servers. I highly recommend singleplayer, playing on a casual private server, or making your own server. Here’s the Steam page.

[pokemonpowergirl]

Now that 2022 is almost here, I want to do some ramblings on 2021's Pokeani Episodes. Most of the episodes and arcs were very good, but I'd say my favorites of this year are JN053 (Goh catching a Suicune as a rookie trainer is not the most popular opinion, but I like it), JN065 (Iris returns as Unova's Champion), JN068 (Gary returns and so does many of Ash's past mons), JN074-75 (Dawn returns and Moonlightblossomshipping is born), JN084-87 (Ash's gloves return, "Saitokins" does too, and Ash finally Mega Evolves Lucario and defeats "Saitokins"), and JN89-90 (Dawn returns again and a whole lot of intense drama happens). My only least favorite episode of this year is JN081, and I know many of you guys agree with me. But other than that, the other filler episodes were pretty cute and fun as well. And some such as JN083 had it's tearjerker moments too.

For the three Main Characters goals Ash has gotten closer than ever to reaching Master Class. Though many of the Super Class battles have happened off-screen, which is disappointing cause it robbed his Pokémon of getting screentime. Something we still want more of. But the onscreen battles were still awesome to watch, and it seems that they finally took an onscreen pace after Ash entered Ultra Class. And the two Ultra Class battles we have seen this year were awesome. And Ash's Pokémon weren't completely robbed of the onscreen time they deserved, Ash's Farfetch'd now Sirfetch'd, and Dragonite got at least some of the onscreen battle time they deserved, and even Lucario was robbed of a little bit of screentime a few episodes after evolving last year got a time to shine as Mega Lucario this year. Though we still want more of Ash's Journeys Team Screentime next year(especially Gengar and Dracovish).

For Goh's goal to catch Mew, right now it's basically simple and straightforward. While it's also creative, I'm not quite invested in his goal to become a project mew member, though I do like Asahi and Tsurugi but I still Hokada's intentions. While he's says the he's researching Mew to find out why Pokémon are here. He just gives me villains vibes, and seems rather shady. And I still hope that I'm right, cause I think this would make the Project Mew Arc. even more interesting. But we'll find out next year if thing get interesting.

While Koharu's goal is simple too, but it's also relatable as well. As someone who hasn't figured her goals out I relate. So far Koharu and Eevee are on the right path, just taking it slowly while meeting all kinds of new people and pokemon on the way, and making connections with them as well. I like it, and I'm looking to more Koharu and Eevee episodes next year.

And this Year we got to see Ash and Pikachu use the Z-Move 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt again. Ash obtaining a Mega Glove, Key Stone, Lucarionite, and finally Mega Evolving his Lucario for the first time. And Gengar gets more prominent screentime and gains the ability to Gigantamax, and hopefully we'll see Gengar get a win with his Gigantamax in the next Ultra Class battle.

But in The World Championships Battle, your only allowed to use either Dynamax, Mega Evolution, or Z-Moves in each battle. But of course that could be different in the Master Class, or when Ash finally faces Leon in a rematch. I don't know for sure yet, but I can't wait to see what they decide to do.

Some Characters from the games have finally made their tv debuts this year as well. Opals debut and later appearance in JN082 was interesting and unique indeed. Not counting movie cameos, Wikstrom finally makes his tv debut since Gen 6 and helps Ash's Farfetch'd become much less aloof more chivalrous and gallant towards it's trainer. And the debut of our Shy Boy Allister was how I thought it would be, but shy or not he was still kind enough to help Ash's Gengar achieve Gigantamax. He even knows how much Gengar loves Ash and all of the hardships it endured prior to meeting him. Now that was a very sweet and wholesome moment.

But the best part of Pokémon Journeys was all the past character returns. It was nice to see many of these familiar faces again after a couple of years and for them to get some time to shine. Some have shown how much they have a grown, and play a part in the episodes plot and occasionally in the Main Characters Goals. My favorite returns this year were Iris's and Dawn's. Not just because they were Main Characters, but both have shown how much they have grown since their debuts up to this point. Iris definitely, cause she managed to catch a Goodra, and her Axew has evolved all the way into a Haxorus. While we may not have seen much of Dawn's growth since the BW Series it's still there. Besides, I loved her interactions with Koharu in the Summer Special. I definitely became a Moonlightblossomshipper during these two episodes. She even show the kind and sympathetic person she has become since dhe became a trainer through her interactions with Koharu and her Parallel Counterpart.

While Pokémon Journeys still has it's quirks, it still had pretty good episodes and moments this year. Ash and some of Goh's Pokémon (with the exception of Pikachu and Grookey) did receive at least some much needed screentime and development. And hopefully next year they will give them even more time to shine in battles and in filler episodes.

As for all of Goh's numerous and still growing Cerise Park Pokémon the ones that stood out were the most this year were Cinderace, Inteleon, and Grookey. While Cinderace didn't get a whole lot of screentime this year, it's still his number 1 ace. Sobble comes out of it's shy little shell, and evolves into a Depressed Drizzile. Though it didn't get much screentime in that form, it got a little more screentime again when it evolved into a Super Cool Inteleon though still not as much as Sobble. Grookey is a really cute mischief maker with much personality. Though it didn't get a lot of development in its screentime this year. It's still a cutie especially with its moments with Goh, Pikachu, and Eevee, and it's a favorite of mines from Goh's Pokémon in 2021. I'm not in any rush if it ever evolves into Thwackey and then Rillabloom next year.

As for Koharu, she has developed a genuine bond with her Eevee during their Journey to discover the path they want to take. Koharu's Eevee may be my favorite of all the Eevee's owned by the past Pokegirls. She has such an adorable personality, and she even helped her trainer out of her aloofness and goes out on more adventures with Ash and Goh since Eevee was caught last year. If Eevee ever decides to evolve, I hope that whatever form she chooses she'll still have the same loveable personality she has now.

Overall Pokémon Journeys went pretty well this year. I'm excited to see what's in store for our Main Characters and their Pokémon next year, and possibly the outcome of their current goals. As well as too see who else is returning for the Pokeani 25th Anniversary next year, and the other PokeGame characters that will be making their TV debuts as well.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Birthday Celebration Master List

In My Way- Kakashi has a job to do, but there’s a familiar face in the crowd that tells him it won’t be as easy as he originally thought. Rated: T

The Little Things- Kakashi has noticed Iruka struggling with a few things now that they’re older. He decides to try and help his husband out in any way he can, without being noticed. Rated: G

Sleep Overs And Ghost Stories- Naruto informs Kakashi that he has invited his friends over for a sleepover at their ranch that night. Knowing he can’t do everything himself to get ready to host a bunch of kids, Kakashi calls in some help. Rated: T

Hello, Princess: Parties have never been Kakashi’s favourite scene, but they’re a necessary part of his job protecting the prince. Thankfully, this time, he finds someone to keep him entertained. Rated: G

Worst Flirt Ever- Sakura’s one of Kakashi’s best workers. Always alert and helping the customers. So when he notices her distracted by a customer during rush hour, he decides it’s time to intervene. Rated: G

Stunning Choice- In the middle of a heist, Kakashi notices that Tenzo’s nowhere to be seen. Rated: T

This Is Not Relaxing: A day off was something special. Time for shinobi to relax and enjoy themselves. Apparently, Tsunade-sama has different plans for Kakashi’s day off. Rated: G

Why Protect Them?- Revenge is something Kakashi has been seeking since he left Konoha. For the pain he felt, the life he lives, the hatred he faced. Yet, when he thinks he has finally gotten that revenge he still feels empty. As if there’s something else for him to do. A masked Shinobi shows up to tell him just what it is he’s missing. Rated: T

Let Me Prove Myself: Kakashi finds himself arguing for a change in the roster for his mission, and receives support from an unexpected source. Rated: G

Jokes On You-After a long morning of training, Sakura feels like taking a nap. Possibly the biggest mistake she has ever made. Rated: G

High School Crushes- Sakura and Kakashi are setting up for the LGBTQ+ club when an unexpected guest shows up, and Kakashi’s forced to watch awkward high school flirting. Rated: G

Yesterdays Sadness- Kakashi tries to escape the village for a while, desperate to get away from all of the ghosts that litter the streets. Unfortunately, the spot he chose to hideaway has a surprise for him. Rated: T

What's So Great About You?- No matter what he does, Kabuto can’t seem to get his business to surpass that arrogant jerk Hatake’s, and to make matters worse Hatake has made a habit out of visiting his small bakery to ‘check-in on them’. Rated: G

Mistaken Identities- Kakashi and Gai pay a visit to the Pewter city for a nice relaxing night, only to have the Pokemon Center nurse mistake them for far more embarrassing people. Rated: G

Give Us Some Scenes- It’s a routine at this point. To check their scripts, hoping for a hint of a scene with the other man. Even the smallest one. Yet, no matter how many times they look they can never seem to find one. So they decide to take matters into their own hands. Rated: G

Hello, Terrifying- Zabuza usually finds these kinds of parties to be dull, but he can’t help but stare at the unexpected visitor that seems to have everyone’s attention. Rated: M

Coffee Date- Kakashi had agreed to a coffee date dedicated to marking the last few essays he has left for last, but when he gets there he can’t help but want to do anything else. Rated: G

Stunning- The wedding is finally here, and Kakashi can’t help but feel nervous. Especially when his husband-to-be is late. Rated: G

Memories- In the middle of recovering from the Kazekage Rescue mission, Kakashi finds himself being visited by his two best friends, and reliving some memories that he’d much rather forget. Rated: G

Animal Parade- While making his way through the village, Houki can’t help but notice something odd passing him by. Especially when he realizes that his Hero, Lord Sixth, is involved. Rated: G

Time To Move On- Tsunade decides to leave the village after suffering enough lose to break even the strongest shinobi, but this time she chooses not to go alone. Rated: T

Meet My Eternal Rival- Kakashi always knew that there would come a day where his new Genin team would end up meeting Gai. He was just hoping for a little extra time, and some support from his favourite summon. Rated: G

Let's Save The Day- It's the middle of a world-ending war, everything is going wrong, and Obito can't help but think that things might work a bit better in their favour if an old friend showed up Rated: T

Hello, Sensei- Kakashi's in Konoha to have a chat with the Acadamy Sensei about a student exchange that he and the Hokage have disguised, but he's not expecting the man he's there to meet to be so... Handsome. Rated: G

The Next Generation- While Inoichi attempts to train Kakashi, Shikaku and Choza play a game of Shogi and watch. Rated: G

Game Time Flirting- The goal? Win the challenge and prove that he's the ultimate breath of the wild player. The strategy? Distract Tenzo with the worst pickup lines he can think of. Rated: T

Get To Work- All Shikamaru wants is for his boss to figure out the pay and write up his cheque before the end of his shift. It's not a lot to ask, but here he is. Watching as Kakashi wastes time flirting instead of making sure his staff get paid. Rated: G

To The Future- Now that the Fourth Great Shinobi War is over, and everything has started to settle down, Kakashi and Gai decide what to do next with their lives. Rated: G

Answer Me This: Ever since he was young, Tenzo wandered about the mark on his chest. Now that he’s a bit older, with a lot less going on in his life to distract him, he decides to seek some answers from a trusted source. Rated: G

Goodbyes Are Never Easy- Even after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, there are still those healing from the losses they suffered. Rated: G

I Love Him More: While visiting Konoha with his friend, Tenzo finds himself in an awkward situation with one Maito Gai. Aka the man of Kakashi's dreams, and the most annoying person Tenzo could ever meet.Rated: G

Take Over For Me- In the middle of training with the Sand Siblings, Baki shows up to inform Kakashi of a change of plans. Rated: T

Secret Hideaway- During a day off together, Iruka decided to show Kakashi an interesting place he found on his last adventure in Viridian forest. Rated: G

Change Of Plans- The job was to get into Onoki's party and make sure that Anko was safe while she was wooing her way into the target's bed. The problem? She's not the target's type. Rated: T

How About, No- Doing paperwork has never been Kakashi's favourite part of the job. Doing Tsunade-sama's paperwork is somehow even worse, but apparently, that's not bad enough. Kakashi's best friend has to go and make his life more ridiculous over a stupid crush. Rated: G

Out There Somewhere- After a terrible nightmare, Kakashi make's a discovery that could change everything. Rated: T

Faded Colour- On his way to complete a mission in the land of Earth, Kakashi notices a shift in his vision that could only mean one thing. His soulmate is nearby, and for some reason, he really wants to see the man. Rated: G

[sage-nebula]

the pokemon company be like *thinly-veiled misogyny*

To be honest, the sexism isn’t even really thinly-veiled if you think about it. Like off the top of my head:

— Professor Juniper was our first female professor, and it took until Gen V to get her. But whereas all the other professors got to stand on their own without needing anyone else, Professor Juniper had to have her father come in to provide answers to various plot occurrences that she didn’t know. IIRC, she also inherited her practice from him, which was also something that the male professors before and after didn’t have to contend with. It’s a miracle that this was averted with Professors Magnolia and Sonia in Gen VIII, both of whom are women.

— Speaking of female professors being screwed over, in Gen VII we’re introduced to Professor Burnet, whose practice specifically focuses on ultra wormholes and disturbances in space-time (which makes sense since she was previously working on the Dream Radar). Given how much of the plot concerns ultra wormholes, you would think that she would be the main professor of the story, or at least play a big part. But you’re wrong! Instead she’s only in one mandatory scene, and then is basically never heard from again. Meanwhile, Kukui shows up all the goddamn time even though his goal (to create a League) is literally meaningless in the scope of the overall plot. (And even that could have been cool if it had delved into the socio-political ramifications of what overthrowing Alola’s current system of government for another one would mean, but now is not the time to get into the failings of Gen VII’s plot. I’ve gone through that enough times.)

— Back to Gen V for a second, we’re also given two rivals in the first of the Unova games: Bianca and Cheren. While Cheren, the male rival, is taken seriously and has it talked up over and over how great of a battler he is, Bianca has her Munna stolen from her halfway through the story and spends the rest of the game talking down on herself and ultimately deciding that her father was right and she really is not cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer. Keep in mind that Bianca was the first mandatory female rival in the games, because while May could be a rival in Gen III if you played as Brendan, if you chose to play as her, both rivals (Brendan and Wally) were male. So on that note, our rivals so far look like:

Gen I: Blue Oak (male)

Gen II: Silver (male)

Gen III: Wally (male), optional May (female), optional Brendan (male)

Gen IV: Barry (male) 

Gen V: Cheren (male), Bianca (female), Hugh (male)

Gen VI: Shauna (female), Tierno (male), Trevor (male), optional Serena (female), optional Calem (male)

Gen VII: Hau (male), Gladion (male)

Gen: Hop (male), Bede (male), Marnie (female)

So, let’s see. We only have two mandatory female rivals (Bianca and Marnie), as well as two optional female rivals (May and Serena). Meanwhile, we have twelve mandatory male rivals, as well as two optional male rivals (Brendan and Calem). To cap this off, while the mandatory male rivals (outside of the useless Kalos ones) are always treated as strong, competent battlers who have important roles in the story, our two mandatory female rivals, well . . .

Bianca: See above

Marnie: Gets battled a whole grand total of two times and has basically zero impact on the plot despite the fact that her brother is the only Gym Leader who didn’t give into Rose’s vision for how Galar should operate and use Dynamax evolution

And even when it comes to the optional ones, since Brendan is treated as the default MC by TPCi, that means May is the one who gives up training to go be a professor like her dad. (Which is the exact thing they basically did to Bianca in Gen V, except she studies under Juniper instead.) Serena at least keeps battling if she’s the rival, but jeez.

So to say there’s definite gender inequality where the rivals are concerned is a bit of an understatement.

— Moving away from the rivals, let’s talk about villains! We didn’t get a female villain until Gen VII with Lusamine, and even then she wasn’t allowed to stay a villain because I guess Game Freak doesn’t want to accept the fact that women can be evil, too. Moreover, all of Lusamine’s achievements come from the men in her life, and all of her motivations revolve around her husband. To spell it out:

- She inherited the Aether Foundation from her grandfather / father, without having founded it herself like we’re at first led to believe.

- Her husband Mohn was the one who discovered how the ultra wormholes work, not her. IIRC, he was also the primary researcher behind Type: Null’s creation.

- The reason why she does what she does is because she’s looking for her missing husband Mohn, with an added dash of “women just go crazy (and abuse their children) without their husbands!!1!!!” thrown in for flavor. 

Compare this to Giovanni, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, Colress, Lysandre, and now Chairman Rose, all of whom formed their own organizations (Giovanni inheriting his from his mother is anime only and does not pertain to the games at all) and had their own goals and desires, versus relying on someone else for those goals and desires. And as if Lusamine not being allowed to form her own organization and have her own goals for her own sake wasn’t bad enough, they then had to go and make it even worse in USUM by turning her into a damsel in distress in the Rainbow Rocket plot, depicting her as not only less capable as the male villains, but also less capable than her male subordinate. Gag me.

— On that note, Oleana is sorely underappreciated by basically everyone except the Twilight Wings writers considering she’s the only reason anything Rose did got done, yet got none of the credit for herself. Damn shame.

— Stepping away from the games for a moment, Generations was a hot mess in terms of sexism. First of all, they only ever used the male MCs, pretending that the female ones didn’t exist at all, even in cases where the female MCs are vastly more popular (e.g. May, Dawn, Hilda). Second, most of the episodes focused on male characters from the series, and the ones that didn’t were either there so they could disrespect the best character in the series by not giving her the episode she deserved (Zinnia), or were told from the point of view of a male character despite that it was supposed to be a female character’s story (Emma). And lastly, there was whatever the fuck that mess with Cheryl was. It was animated in a way that made it look like an anime not suitable for anyone under the age of eighteen. Like honestly, what the hell.

— Leaf has been consistently and constantly disrespected all over the franchise. Despite there allegedly being four trainers who left from Pallet Town (counting Ash) in the anime, Leaf has never been seen or mentioned even once throughout the two decades that anime has been running. They had an opportunity to show her in at least a cameo form in the 20th anniversary movie, but they chose not to do that either, adding yet another disappointment from that movie to the list. She had no appearances in Origins, no appearances in Generations, they didn’t do what they should have done in HGSS by making her the rival atop Mt Silver if you chose to play as Lyra, she wasn’t a skin for Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. until Ultimate, I’m pretty sure they never made an Amiibo for her either, they replaced her with her Special counterpart in LGPE and her characterization absolutely bonkers to boot, and back to Masters, SS Leaf doesn’t have the Main Character designation for the theme skills that SS Red has, and is also routinely left out of any story bits that feature Red or Blue. It’s a miracle she was even included in the Battling Legends event or whatever it was. As far as TPCi seems to be considered, Kanto only has one main character and that’s Red.

— Oh and speaking of Iris, they gave her the Gym Leader theme designation instead of the Champion designation, instead choosing to act like Alder is Unova’s only Champion when he, no offense, didn’t really fucking do anything in Gen V. :’) We hate to see it.

— In the current run of the anime, the two boys (Ash and Gou) have gotten to go around and have adventures for ~50 episodes while the girl (Koharu) has had to stay home and go to school. You can argue, “She wanted that!” all you want, but you have to remember that she only wants what the writers tell her to want, and the writers said the boys get to have adventures while the girls stay home. She finally has an Eevee and will presumably go on adventures now, but we’ll have to wait and see. And don’t get me wrong, I like Journeys and I love Gou as a character, but it is absolutely a Choice to not have a female lead present in the adventures at all and it’s one that the writers deliberately made for whatever reason.

— On that note, let’s look at Ash’s female companions, shall we? 

Misty: A Gym Leader who has a vague goal (water pokémon master) and is largely out of focus during her run as a primary companion. She had no rivals or in-series (as in, concrete ones she could accomplish before leaving the main cast) goals of her own.

May: A coordinator. Does have rivals and has a story, which is nice, but battling isn’t her focus.

Dawn: Another coordinator. Even more focus than May (she was written as a deuteragonist), but also not primarily focused on battling.

Iris: A battler (her Gym Leader / Champion Status is written out) who actually does get decent focus and a cool arc surrounding her connection to dragons. 

Serena: A performer, which is a girls-only career path that doesn’t have battling in it at all, unlike contests. Does have a goal, but much of her character is written around her crush for Ash and at the end of the series she says that he is her goal.

Lillie, Lana, Mallow: Honestly I didn’t watch enough of SM to have an opinion on how these three were handled outside of hating how Lusamine didn’t get to be a villain in the anime either.

Koharu: See above, she’s only just now getting to be involved with things.

Now, don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with being a coordinator (and we do see male coordinators too, such as Drew and Harley), and I think that both May and Dawn are wonderful characters. But it does make me feel some kind of way that the female characters were often given the “girly” sidequest while the male main character got to go for the Gym badges, especially since AG and DP went on for a good chunk of years. None of the ladies so far have been treated as badly as Serena was (that performer stuff is just nasty, I’m not sorry), but again, it’s a deliberate choice and something to think about, especially since I feel the only reason they didn’t go that route with Iris is because of her Gym Leader / Champion status in the games. 

I could probably think of more examples of the casual sexism in the series if I thought about it, but this is just from the top of my head. As you can see, there is a lot. All of this being said, and I’m putting major emphasis on this since I don’t want anyone to get it twisted—

I love Pokémon with my entire heart, flaws and all. It has been my hyperfixation for 22 years and that is not going to change any time soon. So DO NOT even dare suggest that I hate Pokémon, or shouldn’t play it, or anything like that. I will be playing Pokémon on my deathbed and nothing and no one will stop me.

But that being said, I criticize because I care. Because I wish it would do better. Pokémon is for everyone. It’s for boys, girls, nonbinary folks, and people all over the gender spectrum. But the treatment of its female characters and the abundance of favoritism shown toward the male characters leaves a lot to be desired (though at least girls are at the table, whereas trans folk are relegated to background NPCs and nonbinary folk are nowhere to be seen :/). I think Pokémon can get better—Magnolia and Sonia felt like a proper apology for how Juniper in particular was shafted, not to mention Burnet—but it’s got a long way to go.

(And also, yes, you’ve understood this right. Twilight Wings is the only anime series to not fuck up at all when it comes to sexism. You go, Twilight Wings. Four for you, Twilight Wings.)

[misskikuwrites]

Shattered Glass

Bederia Week 2021: Day 2 - First Date

Bede/Gloria (dressedinpinkshipping)

Tags: fluff, angst 

Words: 8,328

@bede-x-gloria

-

Gloria curled her legs beneath her on the wooden chair, holding the steaming mug of tea close for warmth. Spring had finally come to Galar, but the spacious Pokemon Lab in Wedgehurst carried a lingering chill in the air. That was probably part of the reason why Hop always wore his lab coat. Otherwise, it was the sense of pride and achievement that drove him to don it day after day- he wore it with his head high, sitting across from Gloria at the dining table nestled by the entrance to the lab. She couldn't begin to feel cold, or worry about it, with bigger things on her mind. 

 "What am I going to do, Hop?" she sighed. "The Gala is next week."

 He sipped at his coffee, unperturbed. "So? Do what you did last year- if you get asked to dance, turn them down. Simple." 

 "It's not simple. I got away with that last time because it was my first year as Champion. This time, I'm expected to socialise- and that means dancing. If I decline everyone who asks me, it'll be a serious… what's the word? Faux pas?"

 Hop's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Never thought you'd care about social expectations. Especially when it comes to rich, snobby expectations." 

 She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "You don't understand- I'm the Champion. I have to care about these things now, I don't have a choice. It's either conform to their rules, or get eaten alive by the rich, snobby people and journalists alike. Also, those 'rich, snobby people' are the ones sponsoring the League. I have to appeal to them."

 Which meant dancing. Dancing and socialising with people who wouldn't have glanced at her twice if she wasn't the Champion.

 "I see your problem." Hop nodded slowly. "Guess I'm lucky that no one will be paying any attention to me. No one's going to ask the Pokemon Professor's assistant to dance." 

 "You'll have to dance with me at least once," she said. "But you're right. It's me they'll be looking at, not you." 

 Gloria sighed again. She stared down at her tea, the churning in her stomach sucking away her desire to drink it.

 "A week." She drummed her fingers against the ceramic mug, anxiously tapping away. "How am I going to learn to dance in a week?" 

 "A better question is who's going to teach you," Hop said. 

 "Who'll be willing to teach me and keep their mouth shut," Gloria added with a huff. "The last thing I want is an instructor blabbing to journalists about my inability to dance." 

 "What if you didn't go to an official instructor?" Hop asked. "What if, instead, you went to someone who knew how to dance themselves and could teach you? Someone we know isn't going to sell you out to the press." 

 "You know someone like that?" 

 He smiled. "We both do." 

 There was something about the twinkle in his eyes that unsettled her, something suspicious. 

 "Who?" Gloria asked. 

 "Bede." 

 She blinked at him. "Bede?" 

 Hop nodded, smile widening. "He's part of the Ballonlea Theatre- there's a lot of dancing in those plays. He's probably been taught to dance since he became the Fairy Gym Leader, and I bet he'd be willing to teach you." 

 She pursed her lips at that idea. Hop was right- most likely, Bede already knew how to dance. She couldn't remember much from the first League Gala she'd attended, it was all so much of a blur, of faces and names she couldn't remember, dazzled by the luxurious hall, the music, the food, the lights. She'd been swept away by the whole experience. She hadn't paid attention to anyone she knew save for Hop, who she'd managed to persuade to come as her date. 

 "Maybe…" she said, mulling it over. 

 "Maybe?" Hop gave her an unimpressed look. "You've got a week to learn how to dance well enough to fit in with people who've had years of practice. Who else is going to be willing to teach you on such short notice?" 

 Gloria grumbled in her throat. "I know, but…" 

 "But?" 

 How could she explain what she was feeling when even she didn't know herself? The jumble of emotions inside her was confusing enough without having to voice it to someone else. 

 "I guess you're right," she sighed. She had to face the facts one way or another. "I don't really have any other options, do I?" 

 "Not since you left it so late, you don't," Hop said. He nodded to her pointedly. "Come on, call him." 

 She blinked. "Now?"

 "Yes, now! The sooner, the better!" 

 It was too soon, too sudden, and her heart began to race in her chest. She froze for a second until Hop's stare spurred her to move, and she dug out her phone with fumbling fingers. 

 "Fine, fine. I'll call him," she huffed and clicked through her contacts for Bede's number. 

 Hop stood from his chair and hurried around the table and into the seat beside her. He grinned, leaning close. 

 "What are you doing?" Gloria leant away from him, discomforted by the delight on his face. Her thumb hovered over Bede's number. 

 "It was my idea," Hop said. 

 Gloria frowned. "That doesn't mean you get to eavesdrop." 

 "You're stalling," he said, and jabbed at her phone. His finger tapped the screen, tapped Bede's number, calling him. 

 "Hey!" She balked. She scoffed at Hop, a beat of panic rising in her chest, before she decided enough was enough. 

 It was time to bite the bullet. 

 Gloria swallowed her grumble and held her phone to her ear, sending a sharp look at Hop as he leant close again. 

 Whatever, she thought, slightly disgruntled. He can listen if he wants.

 The ringing of her phone stopped, and Bede's smooth voice sounded into her ear. 

 "Morning, Gloria," he said. "I trust you're not calling because you've gotten yourself into another predicament so soon?" 

 His voice carried a hint of amusement, and already Gloria felt her cheeks begin to warm. Hearing his voice so close, as if he was speaking right into her ear, had a strange affect on her. 

 "That depends on what you mean by predicament," she said. 

 She curled a lock of her hair around her finger absently as she spoke. The way her heart fluttered in her chest, she needed something to do with her free hand to calm her nerves. She glanced at Hop. He nodded at her, raising his eyebrows expectantly. 

 "Well, you know how the Gala is next week," Gloria began. "I was wondering if… by any chance you knew how to dance?" 

 "Of course I do. Who do you think you're asking?" Bede replied. 

 Hop rolled his eyes. Gloria sent him a hard look in return. Talking to Bede on the phone was difficult enough with her nerves on overdrive, she didn't need Hop's play-by-play reactions to everything. She resisted the urge to swat at him. 

 "That's what I was hoping," she said with a sheepish laugh, "see, I don't actually know how to dance. At all." A pause. "Would you be able to teach me?" 

 Gloria's cheeks burned as she forced that question out. It felt like it had taken all the air in her lungs just to ask, leaving her lightheaded and giddy. Anticipation seized her heart as a second of silence passed. 

 "I suppose I could clear up my schedule for you," Bede said. "Teaching you to dance sounds like it would be amusing, if not a decent way to pass the time. I can hardly leave you to stumble on the dance floor at the Gala and risk you denting the reputation of the League, can I?" 

 Gloria held her phone tighter. "Does that mean you'll teach me…?" 

 "I will," he said. "How does tomorrow morning sound? You've only got a week to learn, and I'd rather we start sooner than later. Although, with me as your teacher, I'll have you mastering the steps within a day or two, just you wait." 

 She turned her mind to tomorrow morning, quickly working through any plans she might have made. 

 "Tomorrow works for me," she said, nodding even though Bede couldn't see it. "I can come by the Gym at, say, nine o'clock?" 

 That'd give her enough time to wake up and prepare herself for the inevitable embarrassment she'd face in front of Bede. Although he's not one to make fun of her, she'd never danced in her life. 

 She heard the smile in Bede's voice when he replied. "It's a date," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow." 

 "Okay!" Heart pounding, it came out as a squeak. "See you!" 

 A click sounded as Bede hung up, deafened by the drumming of her heart in her chest and the surging of blood between her ears. 

 A date. 

 She couldn't think. His words echoed in her mind. 

 It's a date. 

 It was when Gloria pulled her phone away from her ear, cheeks flushed, still feeling giddy and breathless, that she noticed the look Hop was giving her. He grinned from ear to ear, amusement twinkling in his eyes. 

 "What?" she asked, feeling her heart skip.

 "Your first date with Bede, huh?" Hop said, smirking. "I knew it was going to happen eventually, but-" 

 "It's not a date!" She cut him off as she flushed darker. Heat rose up her neck to pool across her face, embarrassment and indignation burning to the tips of her ears. 

 "He literally said, 'it's a date,' Gloria. It doesn't get more obvious than that," Hop said. 

 "It's just a phrase!" She folded her arms, meeting his smirk with a frustrated glare. "It doesn't mean anything- he doesn't like me like that, anyway!" 

 "Says who?"

 "Says me!" 

 Hop raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that? Enough to bet on it?" 

 "Of course I'm sure!" Gloria huffed again. "Bede's not interested in someone like me." 

 That's right. The memory hit her square in the chest, winding her. A chill spread through her body, through her heart, as though she'd swallowed a block of ice. His type is someone so different to me, she remembered. The person Bede likes is… 

 Who? 

 Her stomach sank. She didn't want to think about that, about the person he'd described to her. Honest and diligent, the one Bede had spoken about seemed so far away from her, and she didn't know why it bothered her so much. 

 She didn't know why it bothered her at all. 

 Was there someone Bede would rather spend his time with? 

 "Ten thousand Poké," Hop said. He still wore his ridiculous grin, still taunting her. "I bet you ten thousand Poké that Bede has a crush on you." 

 Gloria frowned. The thought made her feel ill. "I don't want to bet on that," she said. 

 "Why? 'Cause you know I'm right?" 

 "Because I know you're wrong!" she huffed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "He already likes someone, and it isn't me, okay? I know because he told me."  

The smirk fell from Hop's face. "He told you that? When? Where? What did he say?" 

 "It doesn't matter," she said, turning away from him. 

 "Come on, Gloria. There's no way he likes someone else- trust me, I know for sure." 

 Hop placed a hand on her shoulder. It was meant to be a comforting gesture, but it only served to enrage the storm churning in her gut. Nausea rose up her throat, she tasted bile. Her heart, having fallen into her stomach, pounding heavily with slow, rhythmic panic. 

 "Don't-" she swatted his hand away, "-don't say that. He doesn't like me, okay? And I don't want him to. I don't want anyone to." 

 Something squeezed tight in her chest. Crushing. Heavy. It sucked all the air from her lungs, made it impossible to breathe. 

 I don't want that, she thought, clamping her eyes shut as a wave of pain, of grief, crashed over her. I don't want love. 

 Love hurt. It brought suffering and heartache. It destroyed, leaving nothing but pain in its wake and scars that never heal. She'd seen what it had done to her mother, felt an echo of it herself. A monster wearing the guise of hopes and dreams.

 Gloria breathed out shakily, opening her eyes. She felt cold. 

 "I thought you liked him," Hop said slowly.

 Her heart thumped. "I don't," she said. "Not like that." 

 The weight in her voice struck a chord with Hop. His expression fell, and he looked away from her as realisation filled his eyes. 

 "You still don't want anything to do with love?" he asked. "Even after all this time? Even with Bede?" 

 A sliver of ice dug into her heart. "What does Bede have to do with that?" 

 "I thought… with him, it might be different for you," Hop said. "That you might stop denying yourself happiness if it was Bede." 

 Gloria stood abruptly. Clinched her hands at her sides, affronted by Hop's suggestion. She turned to him, stared him down. 

 "I'm not denying myself anything. I'm protecting myself. From pain, from grief, from the kind of hurt you've never experienced," she said, her voice a whisper, a hiss in the silence. "I don't need love to be happy." 

 She stalked from the lab, leaving Hop and his questions, his naive hope, behind. 

 -

 The next day, Gloria stood in her bedroom and tried to quell the nerves building in her chest. After her conversation with Hop, after she'd stormed out on him, the things he'd said kept returning to her mind. The way he'd gloated about it being Gloria's first date with Bede. The way he'd brushed aside her determination not to fall in love, as though her promise was paper thin, the flimsy words of a child, as though he knew better. 

 He knew nothing. Nothing of pain, of heartache, of grief. He didn't know what it was like to have a third of his family taken in an instant, to have his word turned upside down in a split second. Hop didn't know what it was like to be the only one left for his grieving mother to hold onto. 

 Gloria was all her mother had left. She grit her teeth, forced away the pain. Hop didn't understand, but that didn't mean he didn't care. His words had come from a place of kindness. He hadn't meant the damage he'd caused, she'd seen the hurt reflected in his eyes when she'd stormed out, the regret he'd been unable to voice. She hadn't given him a chance to. 

 In a way, in the deepest recess of her heart, Gloria feared that Hop was right. There was some truth to his words- something had shifted inside her when it came to Bede. Her guard slipped. She found herself wanting to be with him more, to know him more. The space he occupied inside her mind had grown to proportions she hadn't imagined possible, and he took over her thoughts when she least expected it. The slightest of things reminded her of him. The scent of tea, cookbooks in store windows, Great Balls in the hands of young trainers. 

 And there in her wardrobe hung the beautiful dress she'd bought for the Gala. Hidden in it's black protective sleeve, the floor-length dress was beautiful with a delicate lace bodice and flowing chiffon skirt. It was gorgeous - and expensive, she'd winced at the price tag when she'd glanced at it - but she'd been drawn to it for more than it's design alone. 

 She knew why, now- for the dress was a stunning, deep violet. A colour that had quickly become her favourite for reasons she refused to ponder. Gloria refused to look at it. Refused to think about it or what others would assume when they saw it. Would anyone else - journalists, sponsors, her friends - make the connection?  

Would Bede? 

 Gloria clenched her jaw harder until it ached. There was no connection, no deeper meaning, to her choice of dress. It was a coincidence, nothing more. She shook off that thought as a needle of fear stabbed through her chest. Her hands trembled for a moment. She took a deep breath and collected the shoes she'd laid out by her bed the night before- barely a few inches high, the silver heels still daunted her- and stuffed them unceremoniously into her bag. She didn't have time for this. She had an appointment, a date as Bede had said, to attend. 

 No, it's not a date, Gloria reminded herself. He was just teasing you, like he always does. 

 A tiny part of her ached, knowing she was right. She quashed it before it could surface any further, driving it hard into the pit of her stomach like it was a revolting bug to crush beneath her heel. Stamp it out, grind it into dust. 

 Let nothing of it remain. 

 -

 The backstage of Ballonlea's Gym had transformed into a place of wonders. Costumes hung from racks, fantastical dresses and robes fit for kings strung up like garments in a store. Props sat atop boxes, shiny swords with ornate hilts next to thick books bound in leather, and Gloria might have believed she'd been transported to another time if it wasn't for the bluetooth speakers filling the room with an orchestral piece and the Rotom phones in the hands of actors on break. She stopped by the door to stare at painted murals slanted against the wall. They depicted different scenes, each exquisitely detailed, from the interiors of a castle to palace gardens. 

 Gobsmacked by the sight before her, Gloria remembered that the Ballonlea theatre was as highly regarded as the Gym. She'd never been backstage inbetween League Challenges, and as a result had never witnessed the inner workings of the theatre as they put together their plays. Actors were strewn throughout the large backstage area and into practice rooms on either side of the hall, memorising scripts, repeating lines and rehearsing scenes. Some were even in costume, clashing practice swords in a mock battle. As her eyes skipped from actor to actor, she saw someone turn in her direction. Her heart caught. 

 Bede. He stood tall, his lean figure accentuated by the form-fitting pants - or were they leggings? - that he wore, and he walked over to Gloria with subtle grace. She swallowed thickly and stopped her mouth from falling open as he drew closer. Her heart raced, she suddenly felt on edge. As if all eyes had turned on her, as if her nervous tells were obvious to the world, to Bede. He was dressed for theatre practice, wearing dark leggings and a thin turtleneck shirt, and Gloria chewed the inside of her cheek, cursing how attractive he managed to be in every situation. Coils of heat made their home on her cheeks when he stepped up to her. With a toss of his platinum blond curls, his lips pulled into a faint smile.  

It's a date, those words echoed in her head again. She shot them down quickly. It's just a phrase. He didn't mean anything by it. 

 "You're three minutes late," Bede said, tilting his head in amusement as he gazed down at her. "No matter. I'll work you harder in order to make up for it." 

 Gloria flushed. "Three minutes is barely late," she said. "Besides, I arrived in Ballonlea before nine." 

 His eyes twinkled with mirth. Violet. That soft colour striking her speechless. 

 "And yet, our agreed meeting time was nine, and you somehow missed it," Bede said. He smirked, turning on his heels and motioning for her to follow. "This way. I've reserved a room for us." 

 Gloria bit back her retort and skipped to follow Bede away from the bustle and commotion of the backstage crowd. He led her down the hall to a secluded room that had mirrors lining the back wall from floor to ceiling. There were speakers plugged in by a corner, a drink bottle beside them, and Bede walked over to it and set his phone on top. 

 "Put your bag down off to the side so it won't get in the way," Bede said. He busied himself with the speakers and his phone for a few seconds before standing. "Did you bring your heels like I asked?" 

 He turned to look at her, and she realised she hadn't moved an inch since she'd stepped into the room. 

 "Yes, of course!" Gloria said, startling and shucking off her bag. 

 She shoved her backpack into the corner of the room as she flushed. She'd been too busy watching Bede, too busy following his graceful movements with her eyes, too enraptured by how lean and fit he looked when he'd squatted by the speakers with ease. The leggings he wore were practical, giving Bede's legs a range of movement that other clothes would've restricted, but the sleek black fabric was form-fitting and accentuated the shape of his thighs and the curve of his backside that she wouldn't have noticed otherwise. 

 Arceus, Gloria! she chided herself as her heart lurched into her throat. She flushed with heat, nerves fluttering in her lungs. Get a hold of yourself! He's your friend, don't gawk at him like that. 

 It didn't matter how attractive Bede was, it wasn't right for her to ogle at him like a rabid, obsessed fan. It was shameful. She bit down a pang of disgust at herself and pulled her silver heels from her bag. 

 Bede nodded appreciatively at them. "Good. Leave them there for now, I'll have you practice with them later," he said. "First, let's run through the basics." 

 'The basics,' according to Bede, started with her jogging a few laps of the room and stretching in order to warm up. He then had her go through the steps facing the mirrors, following the movements Bede made as he ran through them beside her. She stepped when he did, quickly getting over her apprehension and the embarrassment of holding her arms up as though she were dancing with an invisible partner. Slow music trickled from the speakers and filled the room, Gloria's shoes clacking against the floor to the gentle rhythm. Bede's steps were silent and enviously more graceful than hers, but with him going through the same movements, she felt at ease. He called out each step before they took it, carefully watching her to make sure she got it right. Occasionally, their eyes met in the mirror. Bede gave her nods of approval or the hint of a smile. Always, his gaze held more than he let show in his expression, and it sparked something ablaze in Gloria's chest. She cut her attention away, catching herself before she stumbled or missed a step. 

She hadn't yet fallen on her face in front of Bede and was determined to keep it that way. Despite how distracting he was. 

 Soon enough, to the appreciation of Gloria's aching arms, Bede called for a break. She dropped her arms to her sides with a heavy sigh. 

 "People actually do this for fun?" Gloria huffed as she stalked over to her bag to retrieve her water bottle. She drank greedily, uncaring of the droplets cascading down her chin to slide beneath the front of her top. The water was cool and refreshing, and she would've tipped a bit more down her front if Bede wasn't with her. 

 He turned away from her stiffly and coughed into his hand. "Dancing at functions is an important Galarian tradition," Bede said. For a moment, it sounded like his voice was slightly strained. He drank from his water bottle, and when he spoke again, his voice was clearer. "These steps haven't changed for hundreds of years, and remain a constant fixture at events such as the League Gala. It's imperative that you learn, as being able to dance expertly is a symbol of status." 

 Right. Because Gloria cared about status. She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She was more worried about making a fool of herself in front of all the people, the sponsors, the media, her friends, that would be at the Gala. Status, reputation, when she wasn't in the spotlight, it didn't matter to her. 

 "When did you learn how to dance?" Gloria asked, splashing some water on her face. 

 Bede's expression hardened for a split second, long enough for her to catch the twitch of his brow, the stiffening of his jaw, and the shadows that flickered behind his eyes. The darkness that overcame his face was gone in an instant. Had Gloria blinked, she would have missed it entirely. 

 "Years ago," Bede said, "as per Oleana's instructions, I had the steps drilled into me so that if such a time came where I would accompany the Chairman to functions, I wouldn't make a fool of myself and tarnish his image." 

 Of course. Gloria's heart sank. She should have known, shouldn't have asked. Prying into Bede's past, despite how much she longed to know more about him, hardly ever went well. The pain in his eyes was one she'd felt herself- the pain of dredging up old wounds. Even now, fragmented as it was, pieces of Rose's hold over Bede remained. Memories slowly faded like scars, never truly disappearing.

 "Turns out, he needn't have worried about me ruining his image- he managed that well enough himself," Bede said, his expression lifting. "Besides, now I'm skilled enough to dance at functions that require my attendance as a Gym Leader. Skilled enough to teach the Champion how to dance herself." 

 He turned to her as he said that last part, and the pride in his eyes, the satisfaction in his smile, eased a weight off Gloria's heart. She found herself smiling back at him. 

 "Guess I should be thanking Rose for his foresight," she said. 

 Bede scoffed. "Hardly." 

 Gloria stepped over to him. She was drawn to Bede's side by a firm tug on her heart, by the tender warmth pooling through her chest, and she smiled brighter. 

 "I'll settle for thanking you instead," Gloria said. 

 "As you should." He nodded, and walked back towards the wall of mirrors. "It's time you learn how to dance with a partner," Bede said. 

 He turned on his heels to face her, waiting in the centre of the room, and held his left hand out, palm up, with his right held behind his back. He eyed Gloria intently, and her heart skipped. She knew this would happen eventually, that she'd have to practice with Bede as her partner, but the sight of him there, waiting for her to approach, sent nerves skittering through her chest. She breathed in a deep, silent breath, and stepped up to him. Slowly, she placed her hand in his. 

 And he closed the distance between them. In a split second, his arm was around her. His chest was right in front of her face. She let out an undignified speak at the touch of his hand low on her back, jolting at the sensation. 

 "Ah, sorry," Bede said, dropping his hand from her back. "I didn't mean to startle you." 

 Gloria straightened, blushing at the embarrassing sound that had slipped from her lips. She shook her head hurriedly and peeked up at him. An echo of his touch lingered on her skin, the slightest pressure on the small of her back that tingled with warmth. 

 "That's- that's okay," she said. Her voice was strained. Tight. "I-I didn't realise we'd have to stand this close to dance." 

 It was difficult to speak with her face flooded with heat. Her eyes were at the level of his collarbones, and she could make out the threads of his turtleneck shirt at this distance. She took short, shallow breaths. They were so close, she was afraid to breathe too deeply lest her chest brush against his. 

 "You don't seem to mind getting closer than this to me when we hug," Bede said, quirking an eyebrow at her in amusement. 

 "That's different!" Gloria said. 

 Why was it different? Her protest didn't make sense. She stared straight at his chest, unable to lift her gaze to meet his eyes. Her heart thundered at a dizzying pace, and she was grateful for the music playing from the speakers- the pounding of her heart was deafening in her ears, she worried that Bede would be able to hear it in the silence. 

"Well, you'll have to get used to this if you want to learn how to dance properly," Bede said. "I'll take it slow for you, alright?" 

 His hand returned to the small of her back, and she sucked in a gasp at his touch. 

 "Don't tell me, you're ticklish here?" he asked, gently sweeping his fingers over the spot.  

A tingle shot down Gloria's spine. She jumped back, stifling a yelp in her throat. 

 "D-Don't do that!" she squeaked. She rubbed her back where he'd teased her, trying to remove the sensation of his touch. 

 Bede lifted a hand to his lips, covering up his smirk and his quiet breath of laughter. Gloria scowled at him, pouting. It wasn't fair that he could play her so easily like this. She wasn't ticklish on her back- not at all, but the touch of his fingers had sparked something across her skin, something that left her confused and indignant. 

 "My bad," Bede said. His voice was light with mirth, eyes twinkling at her. "I won't do that again." 

 Gloria narrowed her eyes slightly, pressing her lips together firmly as she watched him. He'd enjoyed her reaction so much, she wasn't sure she trusted him not to try that again. Bede's expression softened when she didn't budge, and he held out his hand with an apologetic smile. 

 "I promise," he said, and Gloria gave in. 

 How could she not, when he was looking at her like that? She stepped up to him and took his hand, holding her breath to steady herself when he set his right hand low on her back again. 

 "Place your hand on my shoulder," Bede said, directing her free hand so that it was resting lightly on his shoulder. 

 Gloria nodded, still staring at his chest. 

 "You realise your dance partner might take offense if you stare at their chest the whole time, right?" Bede said. "At the very least, you should try and meet their eyes." 

 "Sorry," Gloria said, and forced herself to look up. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest when their eyes met, and a renewed rush of warmth swept across her face. She fought the desire to look away. 

 The corner of Bede's mouth twitched with the hint of a smile as he nodded. "Good. Next, try not to look like a stunned Magikarp, and I'm sure you'll do fine."

 Gloria balked at him. "A stunned Magikarp?!"

 "There. That's much better," he said with a smirk. "You'll dance a lot finer if you just be yourself." 

 She blinked for a moment, realising what he'd done. Her heart still raced, she still felt flushed with heat, but no longer was her body stiff with nervous energy. Gloria could look Bede in the eyes without wishing to flee. He'd eased that all away with a simple jest. 

 "You're horrible," she said, shaking her head. She managed to smile, her voice soft with amusement.  

"Ah, but you're the one who came to me for lessons," Bede said. "Surely you knew what you were getting into."

 With that, he pulled her into the first steps of their dance. The time they'd spent practicing earlier came back to her after she stumbled for the first few seconds, almost kicking Bede's shin at one point, and before long, they were dancing smoothly in time to the music. Gloria repressed the urge to look at her feet, and instead found herself meeting Bede's smile with her own. A flicker of pride showed in his eyes. Pride, satisfaction, and something more that she couldn't place. With each step, her confidence grew. She relaxed further, following Bede through the motions of the dance as it came easier and easier for her. A smile broke across her face whenever their eyes met, a bubble of something sweet and tender blooming in her chest. 

 Dancing, as foreign as it had been when they'd first begun, soon felt natural. It felt natural to sway and step with Bede like this. To be so close, to share smiles and breaths of laughter. It was obvious to Gloria now why people danced, why it was a cemented Galarian tradition, for she felt so light, so carefree, she wouldn't have minded if the dance lasted forever. 

 Bede slowed, and Gloria came to an abrupt halt, stopping herself in time so she didn't continue and step right into him. She blinked as Bede dropped his hand from her back. 

 "You got the hang of it rather quickly," he said, releasing her hand. "Next, you need to be able to master the steps in your heels." 

 Oh. Gloria blanched, glancing to where her heels sat next to her bag. 

 "Have you worn them in yet?" Bede asked. 

 Gloria twisted her lips and trudged over to her shoes. "Not exactly…" 

 "Not exactly?" Bede echoed. Gloria suppressed a pout at the disapproval in his voice. "Have you worn them at all?" 

 She sat on the floor by her heels, pointedly focusing on taking her shoes off so she didn't have to suffer under the unimpressed look Bede was giving her. 

 "I tried them on in the store," Gloria said, her protest dying beneath her breath. She slid her feet into the sparkly silver heels, weaving the thin straps through the clasps.  

Bede sighed. "You really should be wearing them for a couple of minutes every day, in order to loosen them up and get yourself used to them," he said. "It won't matter how well you can dance in your regular shoes if you stumble in heels at the Gala."  

Gloria pursed her lips and stood. He was right, annoyingly so as always, but that didn't stop her from grumbling wordlessly at him as she found her balance. Bede raised an eyebrow at her, watching the way she stood with her legs stiff and taut. 

 "Walk the length of the room," he said. 

 She frowned for a moment before complying and walking towards the mirrors. Bede studied her as she passed him. Each step she took felt awkward, as though she were walking on stilts instead of heels a few inches high. The clack of her shoes made her even more self-conscious, and she wanted to shrink away at the noise. 

 "Stop." 

 Gloria froze. With a sigh, Bede stepped up beside her, their eyes meeting in the mirror. 

 "This is exactly why you need to practice walking in heels," he said. "You're walking like a baby Ponyta taking its first steps, not like the Champion of Galar." 

 Gloria pressed her lips firmly together. "Hey, it's harder than it looks! You're lucky you don't have to wear shoes like this- I'm terrified I'm going to roll my ankles if I'm not careful!" 

 "If walking in heels is as difficult as you make it out to be, no one would be wearing them," Bede said. He gave her an unimpressed look at her complaints. 

 "You're saying that because you've never worn high heels before," Gloria said with a huff. "I'd like to see you trot around in these without an issue." 

 She met his gaze in the mirror with defiance. Bede looked as though he was about to bark back at her, his brow furrowing slightly, eyes narrowing, but then he sighed and turned on his heels. 

 "Fine," Bede said, stalking towards the door. "Stay here. I'll be right back." 

 Gloria blinked at him, stunned into silence, and he whisked through the door and clicked it shut behind him. She stood there, confused, and shifted awkwardly on her feet. She definitely needed to get used to her heels. Barely five minutes into wearing them and she already wanted to kick them off. The looming Gala and the hours she'd have to spend on her feet seemed more daunting than ever before, and she hadn't even attempted to dance in her heels yet. She faced the mirror and practiced a few steps of the dance. Her movements were stiff, ankles wobbling as she tried to balance on her heels. She jumped when the door swung open. She whirled in shock, mouth dropping open, as Bede cut across the room towards her wearing a pair of sleek black high heels that looked straight out of Nessa's wardrobe. He walked with confidence, with his head held high, his steps smooth and graceful despite the pencil-thin heels that were taller than Gloria's. 

 Bede deposited his regular shoes by the wall, before stepping over to Gloria with a smirk.  

"What were you saying?" Bede said, "I've never worn heels before?" 

 Gloria gaped wordlessly, fumbling to find something, anything, to say. "You- How? When? Why?" She gestured wildly at him, at his high heels, and shook her head in disbelief. "Since when do you wear heels?!" 

 "Not of my own accord, I assure you," Bede said. He lifted an eyebrow at her, as though slightly put off by her shock. "Some of our plays require historically accurate attire, heels being a part of that. These are not mine, I simply borrowed them from an actress that has a shoe size close enough to mine." 

 "Right." Gloria nodded, trying to wrap her head around this. "I just… never expected you to actually… wear shoes like that. Willingly, at least." 

 "It will be easier to show you how to walk naturally in high heels if I demonstrate myself," Bede said, nonplussed. He turned towards the mirror, gesturing for her to do the same. "In order not to walk like a stilted Girafarig, you need to step toe-to-heel, rather than heel-to-toe." 

 Bede swept his leg forward, touching the front of his shoes to the ground as he said, the heel coming into contact with the floor a split second later. 

 "Don't exaggerate the movement," he continued, "the heel should hit right after, if not with, the front part of your shoe as you walk. Like so." 

 He turned and walked parallel to the mirrors, giving Gloria a side-on view of his gait. 

 "The length of your steps will naturally be reduced in heels. Compensate by taking small, but faster, steps than usual, in order to maintain a normal pace." 

 Bede reached the end of the mirrors and spun on his feet to face the opposite direction as deftly as a ballerina. He continued his walk, returning the way he'd come. 

 "You'll have a natural inclination to lean forward if you try to walk faster than your heels will allow, so lean back slightly to compensate," he said. "A sloppy posture will destroy your efforts to fit in, and put all the training I've given you to waste. Above all, do not slouch." 

 Gloria bit back a smile. "It sounds like you're trying to teach me etiquette," she said with the hint of a laugh. 

 He raised an eyebrow at her as he passed. "Am I not?" 

 "Maybe." 

 A bubble of amusement, of enjoyment, built in her chest. She clasped her hands behind her back as she watched Bede walk to the end of the mirrors again, the trepidation inside her having lifted. He turned around to face her, and she knew it was time for her to practice. 

 "Right. Now that you've seen what it should look like, I'll have you walk the length of these mirrors like I did," Bede said, and stepped over to her. 

 "Okay. I can do that," Gloria said, nodding to herself in order to cement a thread of confidence inside her. She turned side-on to the mirrors, and absently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears as Bede's attention fixed on her. A different wave of nerves flooded her chest, and she straightened instinctively beneath his gaze.  

She took a deep breath, flexed her fingers at her sides, and stared at a single spot on the wall in front of her. 

 Pretend he's not watching you, she told herself. Just ignore him completely. 

 The thumping of her heart refused to slow. There was something about having Bede focus on her so intently that made her stomach flutter as though she'd swallowed a swarm of Combee. She warmed from the inside out, and struggled to recall his advice as she went to step forward. 

 What is wrong with me today? It's just Bede. Nothing's happened, nothing's changed. Gloria puzzled over her thoughts as she walked along the wall of mirrors. One foot in front of the other, toe first as Bede had advised her, she tried to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her. She kept thinking back to their phone call. To the phrase Bede had used. 

 This isn't a date, she reminded herself as she reached the wall and turned to walk back the other way. She stiffened when her eyes fell on Bede. He had a hand cupped over his mouth, watching her with a deep, thoughtful expression. His ardent concentration made her heart flop. She wobbled on her heels, and his eyes flicked up to her face with a beat of concern before she broke into a fast-paced walk to get past him as quickly as she could. 

 "Not bad, I suppose," Bede said. He turned to face her as she passed him. "Practice walking like this in front of a mirror every day until the Gala, and you should be fine." 

 Gloria slumped with a sigh of relief. 

 "Make sure you don't do that at the Gala," Bede said, muffling his laugh behind his hand. 

 She pouted at him, but it was sweet to hear him laugh, however brief it was. His violet eyes softened with his smile, and it made her heart soften in response. She loved having him be so genuine with her, comfortable enough to smile and laugh without a care. Comfortable enough to wear heels fit for a model to prove a point.  

"So, are we going to practice dancing with you in those heels, or-" Gloria cut herself off when Bede turned and marched towards his shoes by the wall. She was still suppressing her laughter when he walked back to her wearing his regular shoes. 

 "There's no point in having me practice dancing in heels," Bede said. "I have no desire to wear those unless strictly needed." 

 "Aw, but you look so graceful in them," Gloria teased. She blinked up at him coyly, taking his hand when he held it out for her. 

 Bede huffed, rolling his eyes. "Of course I do. I wouldn't be seen dead in them otherwise- too many people view men in heels as a comedy act, something to ridicule. I refuse to fumble about for anyone's entertainment, which means I can't settle for less than perfection in my gait. They can hardly laugh at me when I'm as skilled as - if not more than - any woman in heels." 

 Gloria blinked at Bede as he set his hand on her back, drawing her closer as they began to dance.  

"I didn't think about it that way," she said, surprised. "I guess a lot of people would see a guy wearing heels as some sort of joke." 

 "Exactly." 

 They fell back into the rhythm of their dance, one step following another, and Gloria quickly realised something was different. She was taller in heels, which meant she was no longer staring at Bede's collarbones but rather at the level of his shoulders. She was closer to his face, closer to him, now. The fluttering returned to her lungs. Strangely giddy, strangely warm, as though a simple change in height had shifted something inside her. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling- if anything, she wanted to bask in it. It was like a weird combination of delight and anxiety, swirling together in her stomach and flooding her veins. She was enjoying the moment, yet dreading it at the same time. With Bede, she felt comfortable. Light. Happy. And strange. Gloria glanced at his eyes, but quickly looked away before he noticed. 

 Why am I being so weird about this? she thought as she tried to swallow down the bundle of nerves building inside her. This is all Hop's fault for suggesting those things yesterday. For saying that Bede had a crush on me, that I had a crush on- 

 Gloria stopped. Her heart stopped. 

 No. 

 "Gloria?" 

 She shot away from him like she'd been zapped. Cold. She felt cold. Cold and numb and-  

Bede was looking at her in concern.

 "I-I just need a drink," Gloria said, whirling on her feet. Panic rose up her throat. Choking. Tight. The edges of her vision went dark. She stumbled over to her bag and snatched her water bottle off the floor, unscrewing the lid with trembling hands. 

 No.

 She drank quickly. Drank too much, forced the water past the lump in her throat. 

 This isn't- 

 She couldn't breathe. There wasn't enough air in the room. Her heartbeat deafened her thoughts, pounding in her ears with creeping dread. Darkness fell over her mind. Gloria turned away from her bag, her stomach lurching as her eyes drew towards Bede. He stood still, stretching out his arms. Tall and elegant. Handsome yet beautiful, with a model's poise, as graceful as a prince. He was kind. Forgiving, understanding. He never pushed her harder than she could take, but made her want to strive to be something more. He was her friend. Her rival. She loved his smile, his determination. His wit. She loved that she could be herself around him. She loved his company, his rare but sweet laughter. Everything about him. Gloria loved- 

Bede looked to her with a start. Water sloshed over her feet. Her bottle lay on the floor, water trickling out, having slipped from her hands. 

 No.

 Her heart pounded. Concern worried his brow, he stepped towards her. 

 "Gloria? What's wrong?" 

 She stepped back into her bag. Panic as cold as ice shot through her veins. 

 No- 

 She couldn't move. Bede came closer, worried. Saying something she couldn't hear. 

Don't come over here! 

 Panic seized her. Gloria grabbed her bag, shoving her discarded shoes into it. Her heart boomed between her ears like an earth-shaking drum. 

 "I-" she choked on her words. "I need to go-" 

 Bede frowned with concern. She wanted to vomit. To scream. To cry. To protest-

 To flee. 

 Gloria ran. Out the way she'd come, the backstage a blur of colours, of people, of  costume racks she almost crashed into. She bolted, tripping on her heels. She stumbled. Lurched forward, caught herself before she could hit the ground. Her lungs burned. Her throat burned. 

 Tears burned in her eyes. 

 She shot out of the Gym, throwing a Pokeball to the ground in front of her. She leapt onto her Corviknight's back before the surge of light had faded, and called for her Pokemon to fly, to go, to get her away from here. 

 Away from the one calling her name.

 She didn't look back. She couldn't. Gloria buried her face in Corviknight's steel feathers as they took to the sky, and she shut everything out. She felt nothing, thought of nothing, until they landed in Wedgehurst. 

 Gloria stumbled off the back of her Corviknight and hit the ground hard. Her legs drove her forward. Through the pain, the fear, the panic, through the front doors of the Pokemon laboratory. She shoved them open with force, and they swung open to crash against the wall. She didn't care. Couldn't care. Hop saw her.  

And Gloria crumbled. She fell to the floor, legs buckling beneath her, and the look on her face was enough for Hop to know something was wrong. He was in front of her in an instant. 

 "Glo, what happened?!" Hop asked, reaching for her. 

 It was too much. Gloria collapsed into him with a broken wail. Everything she'd held back broke forth all at once, and she shattered. She screamed. She clung to him with desperation, nails clawing into his lab coat, face pressed to his shoulder. Hop wrapped his arms around her. 

 "It's okay, it's okay," Hop said, repeating those words again and again. "I'm here. you're alright, you're okay." 

 It hurt. Her lungs, her throat, her heart. She was in pieces. Fractured. Broken. All she felt was pain. 

 Guilt. 

 Gloria's sobs tore from her throat like daggers of ice. Her scream rose from her chest like bloodied thorns, tearing her skin, her lungs, leaving her bleeding. Raw. It ached.  

There was nothing left of her. 

 She couldn't hear Hop's whispers, couldn't feel his touch. Amidst her sobs were broken words. 

 "I don't-" 

 Gloria clung to Hop. Tighter, firmer, muffling her words into his coat. 

 "I don't want this-" 

 Why- 

 It hurt. 

 Why did this happen? 

 Hop held her tighter in return. "Oh, Gloria…" Understanding in his voice. 

 He knew. 

 "I don't want this…!" She shook her head, again and again, against his shoulder. Into his lab coat, smearing her tears across the stainless white. "I don't want this…!" 

 "I know," Hop said softly. Quietly. A gentle recognition that only she could hear. "I know…" 

 It was too late. Her guard had slipped, her walls had lowered too far. She'd thought she was safe. 

 She was a fool. Her heart, fractured and broken, lay in pieces in her hands. A million shattered pieces. She'd fallen from the precipice she'd danced around for so long, stepped too close to the edge one too many times, and this was the result. Her fate. Her punishment. 

 No, she'd slipped from that edge long ago, only realising when she'd hit the bottom. 

 Hop had been right all along. 

 Gloria was in love with Bede.