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pinkhairandpokemon · 1 year

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Introduction Post

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I’M A BAD BITCH YOU CAN’T KILL ME!

hiya! name's Blake. you might recognize me, you might not. rotomblr is confusing with all the multiverse stuff. basically, I'm an ex-champion who's kinda just doing my own thing now. saved the world a few times. met a few gods. y'know, the usual. I even died once! technically. oh, and I’m a university student at Blueberry Academy! mostly here to post about my Pokémon- but my friends Hop and Auberi have access to this blog too, so you might see them on here occasionally.

also!! I have a wonderful partner here’s his blog: @thunderblessedhero I love him sm

that's pretty much all you need to know, I think! signing out!

-Blake

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Auberi Bellerose- 21, they/them, demisexual/greyromantic

Hop Laventon- 20, he/him, asexual/biromantic

Blake- 20, they/them, pansexual/demiromantic

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Current Arc: Frozen Over

Summary:

OOC: hi! I’m Wren and uHhh this is my first pkmn RP blog. Originally I was gonna make an Eternatus one but I thought it’d be more fun to make one for my OC,, but I might still make the Eternatus one if this one goes well. my main pkmn blog is @xgoldenlatiasx (but i like and follow from @/flightmare-kid)

(update: prolly not gonna make the Eternatus blog lol. for right now at least. I have enough blogs as it is now)

also: in-character mean interactions are welcome. beat their ass

other rp blogs: @thunderblessedhero @partnersintime @scarlet-rider @pokehorsegirl @bisharpenjoyer @dragontamerhiccup @coolguyhilbert @keldeochamp1on @weirdcelebi @sapphireseafarer @justanothercastelian

Warnings: things won’t get TOO extremely dark or serious on this blog for now, there will be a lot of swearing though. Also all the characters are around 19-20, there won’t ever be anything explicit but they’ll probably make stupid dick jokes at worst. Specifically Blake and probably Auberi sometimes. I’ll tag stuff like that as #tw nsfw joke and/or #tw suggestive.

Info about my OC:

basically Blake is my protag in several pkmn games, specifically SW/SH, X/Y, and B/W! the timeline of those games’ stories are in that specific order in my OCverse. (Pretty much any semblance of a canon timeline in the games is destroyed in my OCverse, except for any games w/ sequels like Gen1/Gen2 or BW/BW2. I’ll probably put together a proper timeline eventually, but essentially it’s just in the order I played all the games. Rn that order is FRLG -> HGSS -> SM -> ORAS -> SWSH -> XY -> DPPT/BDSP -> BW -> PLA -> SV -> BW2)

Bio: Blake was born in Nuvema Town, where they lived until they were around seven before moving to Aspertia City. They lived there until they were about thirteen, before moving to Postwick in the Galar region with their mother. There, they met one of their best friends, Hop. At the time, Blake was super closed off and shy, as their social anxiety made making friends difficult. The only one they’ve ever really let their guard down with was Hop. Watching Leon’s matches on TV with Hop was what inspired them to become a trainer, though for many years they didn’t actually think it’d be possible for them- considering they came from a family who didn’t really like Pokemon, therefore they had nowhere near as much experience with them like Hop did. They feared their social anxiety would get in the way, too.

Once they were 16, they unexpectedly got their first Pokemon from Leon- a Sobble named Kappa. After getting endorsed by Leon and some encouragement from Hop, they agreed to sign up for the Gym Challenge. They had a rocky start- losing battles pretty frequently was putting a huge dent in their already low self-esteem, and it was impacting Kappa as well. But over time they learned the ropes of being a trainer and was quickly becoming a rising star amongst the Gym Challengers. They went on to stop the Darkest Day along with Hop, catch Eternatus, become champion, and earn the trust of Zacian.

During their reign as champion, they trained at the Isle of Armor and explored the Crown Tundra. These small adventures slowly helped them realize just how much pressure their title was putting on them- and finally caused them to slip up during the final match of the next year’s Gym Challenge.

After losing their title, they decided to look for a new path- which lead them to Kalos, where they helped in putting a stop to Team Flare’s plan and caught Yveltal, and eventually back to Unova, where they fought against Team Plasma alongside Reshiram. Following the defeat of Plasma, they’ve enrolled as a college student at Blueberry Academy- and have done quite a lot in the past two years, such as visiting the Paldea region and catching more Pokémon. Now, they’ve returned to Unova, and are resting after having helped in the fight against Kyurem.

Blake is also the main character in my comics, Adventures in Kalos (on my instagram @/xgolden_latiasx) and Unova Fates (on Tumblr, insta, and webtoon). This blog will probably contain spoilers for those comics!

More rules/info/explanations/etc.:

All three of these characters are friends with multiple legendaries, so if they seem overpowered to you… sorry? I’m just having fun over here. They don’t really use any of them for battle that often, though they might threaten to sic their legendary on someone as a joke (but they won’t actually). But as of right now the only legendary that’s actively with the group is Reshiram, he’s the only one who’ll get involved in whatever shenanigans/event the gang finds themselves in. (Unless I’m participating in an event from another person and they say they don’t want Reshiram involved.)

I’m relatively willing to join in on high stakes stuff as long as I feel up to it, but please ask me first if you want one of my characters to actively participate somehow.

Also, this blog runs with the idea that Rotomblr is a weird site that links other universes together. So for example say if… Kalos is blowing up or something on another person’s blog and someone tries to get Auberi involved, I’m just going to say it’s happening in a different universe. Or if a different SWSH/XY/BW/PLA protag character tries to interact.

Please also understand that I have realllllly bad social anxiety and awkwardness. I apologize if it takes me a while to respond to something, or if my replies seem short and uninterested (I promise I’m interested in the conversation I’m just bad at words). Or long and ramble-y. Please tell me to shut the fuck up if you need me to.

Past arcs/plot lines:

#Storyline: Haunting Regrets (Explanation of Auberi’s past)

#Story Event: The Calm Before The Storm (Set up for a future arc)

#Story Arc: The Press Conference (This arc was discontinued, but I didn’t really feel like going back and deleting all the tags so it IS still canon but nothing important happened.)

#Typing Through Time (Mini event where a pair of mysterious siblings, supposedly from the future, take over the blog to document their search for a special Celebi.)

#Interlude Arc (BW2 event.)

#PB Takeover (Takeover of a version of Blake that joined Team Plasma.)

List of everyone’s Pokémon (will probs be updated frequently):

Blake:

-Kappa (M Inteleon)

-Go-Go (F Coalossal)

-Venom (M Toxtricity)

-Charlie (M Boltund)

-Jeanne (F Corviknight)

-Lancelot (M Sirfetch’d)

-Athena (F Urshifu)

-Tulip (F Venusaur)

-Lizzie (F Charizard)

-Tater (F Flapple)

-Potato (M Galarian Slowpoke)

-Audun (M Flygon)

-Zuzu (F Dragapult)

-Azi (F Dreepy)

-Shiverbolt (Arctozolt)

-Alto (M Grookey)

-Oran (M Munchlax)

-Fwoofy (Cosmog)

-Stormy (M Sobble)

-Dewdrop (M Sobble)

-Nessa Jr. (F Sobble)

-Bubble (M Sobble)

-Neptune (F Sobble)

-Zacian

-Eternatus

-Red (M Delphox)

-Stardust (M Meowstic)

-Ryu (M Lucario)

-Flick (F Vivillon)

-Verde (M Venusaur)

-Basil (M Sylveon)

-Granite (M Tyrantrum)

-Snooze (M Snorlax)

-Yveltal

-King (F Serperior)

-Cordelia (F Simipour)

-Beau (M Swoobat)

-Lumiere (F Chandelure)

-Kilobyte (M Eelektross)

-Phaedra (F Krookodile)

-Toothless (M Deino)

-Scylla (F Druddigon)

-Stormchase (F Swellow)

-Larkspur (M Venipede)

-Reshiram

-Cheezit (F Pawmot)

-Tiny (M Braviary)

-Salad (F Floragato)

-Cranberry (F Flareon)

-Pecha (F Grookey X Fomantis hybrid)

-Dart (F Cyclizar)

-Mantis (F Slither Wing)

-Hermes (M Corvisquire x Galarian Zapdos hybrid)

-Odin (M Corvisquire x Galarian Articuno hybrid)

-Vulcan (F Corvisquire x Galarian Moltres hybrid)

-Spark (M Galvantula ✨)

-VIOLENCE (F Scream Tail)

-Galahad (M Skarmory)

-Snart (F UD Archen)

-Titanium (F Revaroom)

-Goober (M Scovillain)

-Banana (F Latias ✨)

Hop:

-Cloudy (M Dubwool)

-Flint (M Cinderace)

-Percival (M Corviknight)

-Rumble (M Snorlax)

-Needle (F Pinchurin)

-Jasper (M Silicobra)

-Thor (F Boltund)

-Whisperwood (F Trevenant)

-Summer (F Heatmor)

-Watts (M Toxel)

-Crest (M Cramorant)

-Zamazenta

-Galarian Zapdos

-Mango (F Squawkabilly)

-Arlo (M Quaxly)

-Deedee (F Gardevoir x Whimsicott hybrid)

-Carrot (M Tatsugiri)

-Lumi (F Joltik)

-Koda (M Inteleon)

-Dusk (M Mightyena)

-Flurry (F Cetitan)

Auberi:

-Korrin (M Greninja)

-Calypso (F Meowstic)

-Blaise (M Charizard)

-Glacé (F Aurorus)

-Cantrelle (F Noivern)

-Reaper (F Absol)

-Estelle (F Flareon)

-Sunrise (F Talonflame)

-Chester (M Chespin)

-Ignis (M Hisuian Typhlosion)

-Blanche (F Hisuian Zoroark)

-Aries (M Paldean Tauros, Blaze Breed)

-Spitfire (M Skeledirge)

-Anne Bonny (F Kilowattrel ✨)

-Voltaire (M Joltik)

-Fondue (F Fidough)

-Arceus

-Rouge (M Hisuian Zorua)

-Anastasie (F Hisuian Zorua ✨)

(A note: These aren’t necessarily all Pokémon that are registered to them. Most of the legendaries, for example, are just ‘mons they’re able to call upon or are associated with)

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lepoppeta · 1 year

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REVIEWING MAINLINE POKEMON GAMES (Gen3 - Gen9)

I'm bored - let's review my favourite game franchise! I wrote this in a bit of a whirlwind, so please excuse any typos or odd wording! If I find anything I will fix it as time goes on.

I will not be including Legends Arcues or Let's Go! in this line-up.

WARNING: I rag on Gen4 (DPP and HGSS) a fair amount in this review. If you have a lot of love and nostalgia for Gen4, that's great! I'm not attacking you personally! Please don't spend your time writing angry paragraphs in the comments about why I'm wrong! You will not change my mind!

#1. BLACK / WHITE - Unova is probably my favourite region (which hurts to say; I'm a Hoenn girl, born and bred). It has so many of my favourite Pokemon in its 'dex (Chandelure, Krookodile, Volcarona, need I go on?); it has one of my favourite rivals (Bianca); it presents an interesting, open-ended moral dilemma within the Pokemon universe that doesn't really have a good answer; it has great music; it has a ton of memorable characters.

Also - unlimited TMs? Uhh... yes please! Gen5 introduced something that took some of the hoarding anxiety out of Pokemon and I will forever sing its praises for that.

Weird side note, but I loved the UI for BW; that weird monochrome high-tech display with the futuristic computer-like noises whenever you pressed a button or touched the screen really 'scratched my brain good', y'know?

#2. X / Y - If Unova is my favourite region, then Gen6 has to be my favourite generation from a mechanical perspective. I love both Pokemon Amie and the Super Training functions, both for their game-breaking, anime-esque battle mechanics and also because I was able to understand and actually access competitive battling for the first time due to the continuation of Gen5's unlimited TM system and the Super Training App's progress bar.

Mega Evolution will always be my favourite battle mechanic - the idea was so cool when it was first announced and I had a ton of fun with it while playing for the first time. It's so badass. And you know what? I really don't mind the change to the EXP Share. I got used to it very quickly and even when I had it turned out I still found the game to be a bit difficult in some places.

Also... don't hate me... but I kind of like Lysandre as a villain. I know, I know, many people don't, but I have a soft spot for antagonists whose whole mantra seems to be 'good intentions but they went too far'. Team Flare themselves are kind cringe though, I won't lie.

#3. EMERALD - I am so, so thankful Emerald was my first ever Pokemon game. I'm so thankful that I chose Mudkip as my starter; I couldn't have asked for a better partner as I fumbled through the game for the first time at the tender age of 9.

Emerald holds so many dear memories for me. It's soundtrack is, in my humble opinion, the best GameFreak has produced, from the beautiful, waltzing Surf theme to the encroaching terror of Victory Road. Steven was also my very first fictional crush and remains as such (sue me).

I will admit that where Emerald (and Hoenn in general) looses out is that, outside of Steven Stone (and possibly also Norman), none of the boss characters feel particularly memorable. Emerald also simply suffers from the lack of QOL improvements that later generations have. Strangely, I find it much faster to play than any of the Gen4 games.

#4. SWORD / SHIELD - This game used to rank much lower, but I've grown to appreciate it a lot more within the past few months.

I will be honest: I like it less for what it is as a product and more for how creative it's caused me to be when thinking about worldbuilding within the Pokemon universe. The Gym Challenge narrative switch-up was an interesting and refreshing shake-up for the series; the rivals and boss characters were memorable. The Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLCs are also great fun.

SWSH introduced the Box Link, which has been the best change the series has made alongside unlimited-use TMs and the Ride Pager in Gen7.

That being said, SWSH also half-removes the unlimited TM mechanic, which was frustrating. I'm also not a big fan of raid-style fights in any video game - I find them to be very stressful and needlessly hard. Gigantamaxing I also found to be a really weak battle mechanic. SWSH also has the weakest starter set for me. Inteleon is my favourite, of course, but it's the best of a bad lot.

#5. OMEGARUBY / ALPHASAPPHIRE - In my opinion this is the best remake that GameFreak has done (outside of two glaring issues). The characters have had a much-needed redesign; dialogue and story beats have been updated; the feel of the original game is still there alongside the QOL improvements from XY and Gen6 as a whole.

The aforementioned 'glaring issues' are as follows: the Battle Frontier is missing, and the fact that the games are based off of Ruby and Sapphire and not Emerald. And no, that isn't just the nostalgia talking; plenty of other people I've noticed have made similar comments about this game and also BDSP (which we'll get to later)

I wouldn't be so bothered by the Battle Frontier being gone (because the original RS didn't have it either) if GameFreak hadn't decided to put that little sign near the Battle Maison that said "Battle Frontier under construction". It felt like a nasty cop-out and it actually put me off of replaying the game for years, right up until I successfully Nuzlocked it.

#6. SCARLET / VIOLET - I have so many mixed feelings about this game that it pretty much ranks exactly in the middle of all of the games I've played. SV is plagued by its countless bugs and poorly executed open world, but its characters and story shine so brightly that it very nearly balances things out (the battle themes also slap). SV was also the first time where I felt like the main game was long enough and had enough resources to where I could truly experiment with my team; I rotated a selection of monsters out pretty much throughout the whole game, and I really appreciate SV for giving me that freedom.

Outside of the bugs, I also find the online raid battles to be stupidly difficult; I nearly drove myself to tears because of the Samurott raid that I'd worked so hard for and got nothing out of. I'm a very casual player for Pokemon, so it really bugged me that one of the few times I actually tried to do something a bit more competitively inclined of my own accord I was shot down repeatedly by an AI that was basically built to cheat.

This game also proved to me that GameFreak can't do a fully-open world properly, and I'm dreading the possibility of the next mainline game also being open world (and before you say anything - no, PLA is not open-world, it's open-pocket, and I wish that was the route that GameFreak went with because it worked so much better). I heard many people get irritated by SWSH heavily railroading you, but the game's environment was rich and beautiful despite its linearity. SV is big in a way that allows for GameFreak to boast about how big their dick game is and then not do anything with it: towns are separated by endless stretches of bland grass and rock; the towns themselves are lifeless props without any buildings to explore or interesting people to talk to; storefronts are reduced to a menu screen instead of having actual interiors.

Another irritation I have is that the game was marketed in a way that made it out to be that the player could do anything in any order they wanted, which ended up being untrue; Gyms and wild Pokemon don't level scale based on the number of Badges you have and one of the Titans (which, might I add, are just re-flavoured Totem Pokemon) is completely blocked off unless you've obtained the Herba Mystica that allows you to surf first.

Also that sandwich game looks atrocious. It's useful, sure, but... eugh.

#7. BLACK2 / WHITE2 - I've heard many people praise the ever-loving snot out of this game for being 'the best underrated Pokemon game ever made', but just like with HGSS... I'll have to disagree, if only from a personal basis. In my opinion, Black and White didn't need a sequel, and although this game isn't bad, it isn't exactly great.

I found B2W2 to be a regression of its predecessor. It turns a thought-provoking moral dilemma into the same-old 'I will wake this legendary Pokemon and unleash havoc upon the world and its idiots for wronging me'; Ghetsis is just a copy-paste of Cyrus to me. Too many times I found myself being railroaded by annoying extra content (Join Avenue, the Film Studio, etc.).

I also found the game to be a complete and total slog. BW is pretty grind-heavy, don't get me wrong, but it saves the majority of its heavy-handed level curves for the post game, where you don't have to feel as pressured by it.

GameFreak also completely got rid of Route 10, which had my favourite route track on it. That's just a personal gripe, though.

#8. PLATINUM - This was my first ever Nintendo DS game and also the first game I ever watched a walkthrough for on YouTube (shout-out to Marriland - you were a huge part of my childhood), so it holds some room in my heart, and it definitely ranks the highest out of all of the Gen4 games on this list. Unfortunately, like Emerald, it suffers from pre-Gen5 syndrome with a lack of QOL improvements (although it was a massive step up from the mess that was DP), and, like all Gen4 games, it's slow as hell.

I also ranked this game pretty low purely because of petty reasons. See, people talk about 'Gen Wunners' being annoying, but since I've never played Gen1-2 or have befriended people that have (I think I'm a little too young), I've never really had that problem. That being said, I think people who had Gen4 be their introduction to Pokemon are just as if not more annoying. I think it's got something to do with the fact that DP and Platinum had a lot of players that weren't Pokemon fans; I remember having friends in school that owned a copy of one of those three games and they'd never touched a Pokemon game before that and they wouldn't end up buying another game after. Platinum I think deserves the praise, but I'm not sure that the other Gen4 games do.

#9. SUN / MOON - Like SV, I have mixed feelings about the entirety of Gen7, but the negatives tend to outweigh the positives more often than not. The game isn't glitchy, but it's bogged down by numerous cutscenes and its inability to render a battle scene that contains more than one monster per side (something that Gen6 also struggles with). The Super Training app was also removed and the game suffers from having too many Alolan monsters be rare or inaccessible until very late in the game - something it shares with Johto.

The Z-move gimmick also feels like it was done it bad faith, especially after GameFreak started writing mega-evolution descriptions depicting the monsters in question to be in intense pain after XY and ORAS introduced the mechanic as something that could only be achieved by having a close bond between monster and trainer.

However, I do like the interesting take on the Gym system in this generation. The Totem monsters were genuinely challenging to fight, as well as other boss trainers.

#10. RUBY / SAPPHIRE - I don't have much to say about this once since it's just a worse Emerald, but there's still something I find about it to be oddly comforting.

#11. FIRERED / LEAFGREEN - I like Kanto's Pokedex quite a lot, but there's just something about it that I don't find particularly memorable and consider to be a bit of a chore (maybe because I've tried to Nuzlocke it too many times...?) I do appreciate it being a lot more interconnected than any other region listed, allowing more freedom concerning which Gyms to face next.

#12. ULTRASUN / ULTRAMOON - While the Ultra games fixed many issues concerning the accessibility of certain monsters and also introduced the Beach Point system, it also added even more cutscenes and, in my opinion, made the story worse; I loved having Lusamine be this batshit loony villainess, and yet that was recinded in favor of her having good intentions but getting too caught up in her goals to notice her declining behavior. Normally I like this sort of villain, but when we got the deliciously unhinged Lusamine as a first pass... I honestly liked that better. This feels like a cop-out.

This game, much like B2W2, is a total slog to get through. It feels immensly slow - it's the DP of the 3DS games.

#13. BRILLIANTDIAMOND / SHININGPEARL - This game leaves such a sour taste in my mouth. It really feels like GameFreak went: "Here's your Diamond and Pearl remake, are you fucking happy now?". It isn't like ORAS where the characters were revamped and QOL improvements from the rest of Gen8 were implemented; it's more like FRLG where the game is the same and all it received a fresh coat of paint, and even then I felt like FRLG was treated with more love and care than BDSP was.

There were improvements though, such as the ability to outright buy certain TMs from the Department Store and the wonderfully revamped Grand Unerground (I will admit I've had a lot of fun with the wild encounters there), but there's so much of this game that feels like getting spat in the face.

#14. HEARTGOLD / SOULSILVER - The game annoys the shit out of me because so many people seem to love it and I just... can't. Too much wasn't changed for ease of play - the level curve for wild Pokemon is far too low and the level curve from the E4 onwards is far too high. There aren't a lot of Johto Pokemon that are good, although there aren't many Johto Pokemon to begin with. The additions of some Gen4 evolutions helped a little, but some are blocked off until the post game (Honchkrow, Mismagius) and some are straight-up imposible (Magnezone) to acquire, which is very strange to me. Johto in general (and this matches up with BDSP's problem of being a remake but not adding in QOL improvements) is weirdly distributed, with Johto-introduced Pokemon such as Houndoom and Steelix only being available in the post-game, which I feel like defeats their purpose.

While by far the best-looking of the pixelated Pokemon games, it's as cumbersome as the rest of Gen4. And then there's that stupid Voltorb Flip game...

#15. DIAMOND / PEARL - There's not much I can say here, so I'll just sum it up by saying that Platinum is the only version of Sinnoh you really need to worry about. That being said, we wouldn't have Platinum without having DP, so... credit where credit is due?

#pokemon

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noodles24601 · 6 months

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Whats your ranking for all the pokemon generations (remakes and legends excluded)

I haven't played gen 9 or the second half of gen 5, but that being said here it is:

8: Gen 1- a very good start to the series, where I got my personal start too, and if I was ranking based on how influential each gen was this would be much higher, but ultimately every future generation has improved on the formula in some way, and even though I have my issues with some of them I'd still say they're an upgrade overall.

7: Gen 2- a generation I have a lot of nostalgia for, and while Johto is definitely one of my favorite regions, when considering the game as a whole it runs into the same problem Gen 1 does where it innovated greatly on the formula but almost entirely in ways that were polished and improved upon in later gens. Like they had held items, but we don't get most of the one's we're familiar with until later. It does have one of the biggest post-games, one that I really love, but when you consider density too its not exactly unrivaled by its successors like gens 4 and 9.

6: Gen 6- Gen 6 is really a land of extremes. Visually its stunning, but the map still lacks a sort of coherence others have. It's got some really fun game mechanics like mega-evolution, but it's also one of the easiest pokemon games to date. It's got some characters I really like (like the friend/rival group, fight me on it), but it also has some of the weakest villains in the series and an almost nonexistant champion. Ultimately I do love the game, getting to play dress up with my 3d character as a freshly cracked egg and skate around the beautiful scenery of Kalos is something I'll never forget, but I just can't in good conscience put it much higher than this on the list.

5: Gen 3- Probably the oldest games I would say still visually hold up, especially with the diverse weather and environments, Hoenn is atmospheric in a very strong way. It's also pretty well balanced from what I remember, and had a pretty epic feel to it that landed well for me. It also gave us contests, something that's honestly sorely missing from the modern games, and I'm not sure if any of the future games did them better (maybe the Pokeathalon, but thats not quite the same thing). That being said, while plenty of the characters have good vibes to them, and that gives good flavor to a lot of the minor character (supplementing the improved visuals), there are only a few I'd say are actually "good characters". On the mechanical side of things, it again innovated a lot with abilities especially, but it wouldn't be for another generation that we'd get the physical/special split that I would say completes the core of pokemon's mechanics, and you can really feel it on replays.

4: Gen 9- Probably higher than most people would put it if I had to guess, but despite its problems I really loved Galar. I still haven't actually finished the Crown Tundra, but it was kinda neat getting expansions instead of a slightly upgraded version of the original games again and I had a lot of fun with Isle of Armor. As for the base game, there are the problems of dexit and not being able to turn the exp share off, but really as far as I'm concerned those are really the only two big "problems". I've got some minor nitpicks like thinking dynamax should've been introduced with the first gym battle rather than via max raids first, but like I said that's pretty minor. As for what the games did right? I was honestly surprised with how much I started caring about and liking these characters. One of the best rival rosters in the series tbh, and I know he gets memed but it was really cool getting to see Leon be an actual character and actually help with problems around the region. Everything feels very coherent, both geographically and narratively, and there was a lot of really good character development. Rose wasn't one of the strongest villains out there, but with how strong the rest of the cast is, along with there being more interesting parts to the story than his role in it, it almost doesn't matter. Seeing the pokemon walking around in the wild took getting used to, but it makes finding specific ones a lot easier and makes the world feel more alive. I could say more I'm sure but this section is getting quite long, so time to move on.

3: Gen 4- I may just have played in Sinnoh more than any other region. I had all 3 games growing up and played all of them multiple times. As I alluded to in my Gen 3 section, to me this is where the pokemon series really matured mechanically. There would be things added in gens to come, but not much with the staying power and core influence of the physical/special split and past innovations. It has really good balance, with whats often considered one of the hardest champion battles around. The region itself fits together really nicely in my opinion, with great and coherent subdivisions. It's characters aren't quiiiite as strong as the others in this top 4, but they still manage to delight and work with the story. Also I said before, the post-game is really good, plenty of new places to explore, new pokemon to catch, and new challenges to face. While Team Galactic is pretty solidly on the higher end of middle of the road for me as far as villain teams go, they work well with the lore, which is some of the best in the series, culmiating in an epic showdown at Spear Pillar. To me Gen 4 is classic pokemon at its best.

2: Gen 7- I really can't overstate my love of this gen tbh. Some of the best writing in the series, some of the best characters, some of the best villains, it just really doesn't miss. It's got an actual intimidating, hateable villain with Lusamine, and a really cool villain with Guzma, both of whom have good connections to other parts of the story. Really my main criticism is just that in usum Guzma is done a bit better than the originals, while in the originals it's Lusamine (and by extension Lillie and Gladion) that's done better. Pretty sure they could've done all the cool extra ultra-space stuff without having her do an very sudden heel-face turn for essentially no reason. The way the story was originally told actually left me feeling somber and reflective in a way you just don't expect from a pokemon game. Like there were actual strong themes! In any case that's really both a plus and a minus, since both games do exist in the gen. I absolutely love the region. Having islands is a great ways to divide the game into sections and give a good sense of progression, and allows for really diverse environments in a way that feels great. And the gameplay, the gameplay is easily the most unique of any mainline game and it really knocks it out of the park in my opinion. Again I could go on much longer about the battle tree or the Kahunas or Kukui, but I do have other things to do today, so let's move on.

1: Gen 5- Probably not a super hot take tbh. And to be fair part of my placing this 1st is giving b2w2 the benefit of the doubt. Even having not played it though, having a direct sequel in the same gen is really really cool, and is something they should do again. To be honest gen 5 took a bit of warming up to for me, I had a tough time feeling like I was playing a pokemon game when none of them were familiar to me, but once i got past that it was just so charming having all the new pokemon there. And of course the story is just incredible. Team Plasma is probably either my first or second favorite evil team in the series depending on how I'm feeling about Team Skull that day. And Ghetsis and N are super super good characters, in fact N may be my favorite character in the series full stop. I actually cried when I saw his room for the first time. I don't think a pokemon game had actually moved me to tears before that! The region itself has a really good sense of progression with the way its shaped, but manages it in a way that feels like it makes sense. It has a good sense of difficulty, and paces itself really well. Assuming b2w2 live up to the standard of bw even a little, there's no question Gen 5 has to be number 1.

#asks #got a bit rushed at the end there because ive gotta go to work #but this was really fun to think about!#i love every gen tbh #it felt kinda bad putting some so low #but its really just a sign of how far the series has come that the games at the bottom of the list are already so good

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kob131 · 8 months

Text

I just wanted to speculate for fun. Don't mind me.

So...The Indigo Disk. No release date yet. Probably for the better- SV does not work well with water and considering it's set on an ocean...this would be a good time to reign in the performance issues so Switchs don't fucking vaporize from the strain.

Now I've been eagerly awaiting news on the release date myself ever since I completed the Teal Mask. But it's a pain waiting for something without a finishline to work towards. So I figured I may as well speculate to sate my brain for a while.

Now believe it or not, Pokemon has tried to have a pattern to the Tera Raid events. Usually following a pattern of 7 Star Raid followed by a minor Raid. Sometimes two major Raids happen at the same time (Walking Wake/Iron Leaves and the Inteleon/Chesnaught raids for example) but they usually do one major Raid raid every week or breaking for a week before resuming. Assuming that the Hisuian Starters are following the second, the last Starter's raid would end on December 18th. Now considering that would be only 3 days away from the Winter Solstice and the Teal Mask was released only ten days for the Fall Solstice, that could be around the time that the DLC comes out. Makes sense from a business standpoint too- Christmas and all.

There is another idea that can be taken in though-

The Hiusian starters, if done consecutively, would end around the 13th of November. And the one year anniversary of SV is November 18th. This could be used as a lead into a celebration of SV's one year anniversary by releasing the Indigo Disk as a celebration. Probably unlikely.

In fact, it might not be the beginning of Winter we get it but around the middle. SS's DLC, the Isle of Armor, released on June 17th and Crown Tundra released on October 23rd. That's a little over 4 months. Assuming the same for the Indigo Disk, that would mean it would release in January. Maybe not the best time to release the last wave of DLC given how dead January is for businesses but it could be that it needs that much time to be properly preped. Especially if they intend on fixing some of teh performance issues.

So those are my dates- November 13-20th, December 18th-25th and mid January, maybe 17th -24th.

Hope you enjoyed this stupid rambling.

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corpish · 4 years

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Sweet! I haven't gotten around to the DLC yet 😩. Do you make competitive teams on Shield?

I really enjoyed The Isle of Armor! It’s a cute way to expand the world and actually give a little bit of storyline to Kubfu/Urshifu! And no, I mostly just play for fun and train up different teams to play against my friends with!

#like i made a whole new team to take on The Isle of Armor and it was really cute/fun!#i had Bellossom Blissey Magnezone Heracross Charizard and Starmie for it!#i’ll probably make a whole new team to take on The Crown Tundra too #anon

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ihopethisendswell · 3 years

Text

Replaying Pokemon Sword( for real this time)

Part 3

This one's about Sonia again. Specifically her room!

Sorry for that bad pictures. For some reason my phone just won't take the screenshots I took so this is the next best thing. Anyway things I've noticed.

Sonia is a bit of an artist! Quite realistic I might add

Her cap and bag is probably what she wore back in the day!

It's cute to see all those pictures of what I'm assuming to be from her gym challenge with Leon!

One of the photos show of a beach and one of her pictures is a zubat.

Why do I mention this? Well Leon has said that he trained in the Isle of Armor before. Who isn't to say Sonia hasn't as well? ( Also I'm too lazy to remember any other beaches in Galar besides the ones in IOA sooooo)

The zubat line is only found in the crown tundra too! Has she been there before? If so, that'll be interesting!

Idk about y'all, but a silly headcanon I have now is that Sonia's parents are probably from the Crown Tundra. There's no evidence for this, at least nothing I've found, but it seems fun.

They're a picture of two adults(?) In the middle, right next to the beach photo of Psyduck. Who could they be?

And the last thing I've noticed, and the one I'm most excited for, is the top picture with three silhouettes of young trainers!

The one in the middle seems to have orange/ red hair, so it's obviously Sonia.

The other two is hard to make out, but one of them is a young Leon. The other one, could possibly be Raihan, given future indications. But if it's not him, I will place an oc there!( Jk, jk)

And that's all for now! It's interesting what you can find when you take the time for it! It's a shame we don't really explore Sonia's character as much as I would like tho.

#pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #swsh #pokemon sonia #sonia pokemon #champion leon #gym leader raihan #pokemon #pokemon sword

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bluesturngold · 2 years

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i thought the last game freak pokemon game that released before pla was sword and shield in 2019? bdsp was outsourced to ILCA because both game freak teams were already busy (with pla and sv, which seem to have similar mechanics that are reused) don't get me wrong i 1000% think the workers deserve better treatment and should unionize, but it also feels wild to me that everyone is saying it's too many games too soon

this is where limited public knowledge of how game freak operates internally hampers our ability to adequately gauge what's going on, but i actually do agree with you, the studio seems to be in a better position with scarlet and violet releasing this year than they were with sword and shield in 2019

here's a list of game freak releases by year:

1989 - Mendel Palace

1991 - Smart Ball, Yoshi

1992 - Magical Tarurūto-kun

1993 - Mario & Wario

1994 - Nontan to Issho: KuruKuru Puzzle, Pulseman

1996 - Pokemon Red and Blue, Bazaar de Gosāru no Game de Gosāru

1997 - Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha

1998 - Pokemon Yellow

1999 - Click Medic, Pokemon Gold and Silver

2000 - Pokemon Crystal

2002 - Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire

2004 - Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, Pokemon Emerald

2005 - Drill Dozer

2006 - Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

2008 - Pokemon Platinum

2009 - Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver

2010 - Pokemon Black and White

2012 - Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, HarmoKnight

2013 - Pocket Card Jockey, Pokemon X and Y

2014 - Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

2015 - Tembo the Badass Elephant

2016 - Pokemon Sun and Moon

2017 - Giga Wrecker, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

2018 - Pokemon Quest, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eeeve

2019 - Giga Wrecker Alt., Little Town Hero, Pokemon Sword and Shield

2020 - Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion DLC (Crown Tundra & Isle of Armor)

2022 - Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

game freak is known to have two main teams, and the typical amount of time between pokemon game releases is about two years, so really what makes these releases seem so close together is ILCA's diamond and pearl remakes launching within a couple months of pokemon legends arceus (many people already felt these two releases were too close together), and then a new pokemon generation being announced within a month of pokemon legends arceus releasing

because of its ambitious scope and the hype around it, some people assumed pokemon legends arceus was meant to tide fans over so they could spend more time making a new mainline game and launch it one or two years from now, and that not being the case has been surprising to them

i think, in reality, the pokemon scarlet and violet team and the pokemon legends arceus team were probably working together to make doing open worlds possible and build out a library of assets they could share, that way the biggest things the teams had to do independently was come up with the stuff unique to their game

even if they did have good logistics that helped streamline development, though, and even if 2 to 3 years is a more typical wait time for a new mainline pokemon, it's no secret the series has had a rough transition to 3D and i think they should have the time they need to make something they're proud of rather than just fulfilling a quota.

i deeply enjoyed pokemon legends arceus, but other triple A studios would be mocked relentlessly for having a console exclusive game that runs as poorly in some places and has graphical fidelity as low as that game does, and there's nothing to suggest they'll have improved much, if any, of that by the time scarlet and violet release — and how could they, with it set to come out the same year as arceus, y'know?

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uas-fics · 3 years

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Title: Hop and Gloria to the Rescue!

Rating: G

Summary: Gloria and Hop are finally home for a visit after their stays in the far-off Crown Tundra and the Isle of Armor, respectively. But what's this? Someone is breaking into Hop's house!? And Leon's there alone? They have to save him!

Ships: Leon x Piers

Content Warnings: Mild spoilers for the SwSh post games and DLCs

Read on AO3

-----

"Anything but curry. Let's agree to that."

"Oh, definitely!"

Hop rubbed his stomach. "If I ever see another Max Mushroom curry in my life, it'll be too soon."

"At least the Dojo has a snack machine!" Gloria bumped into his shoulder with her own. "You know what I got to eat? Camp curry and carrots."

"So that means you got the best eyesight now, don't it?" Hop teased.

Gloria wrinkled up her nose. She moved to push Hop forward, but he dodged. She snorted. A smile played on her face.

For the last few months, the Galar continent separated the best friends, with Gloria exploring the Crown Tundra and Hop studying in the Isle of Armor. They kept in touch, of course, texting, calling,and sending pictures of interesting pokemon they saw, but none of that compared to walking and chatting with each other on their journey home to Postwick.

Both trainers had so much to tell everyone and each other.

Notebooks weighted down Hop's pack. Each one filled with notes, sketches, and photographs about the pokemon he'd been studying on the Isle of Armor. One, in particular, had a blurry photo of a black and pink bird pokemon that sped by the front of the Dojo one afternoon.

Hop already knew exactly how he would convince Gloria to help him track it down.

Gloria's pack, on the other hand, held a folder with all the notes she'd taken from her own journeys around The Crown Tundra with Peony. If the pictures of the Legendary pokemon didn't leave Hop gobsmacked, then seeing them registered in her Pokedex would!

Of course, once he knew she was tracking down Moltres somewhere in the Isle of Armor, he would have to join her.

But all that could wait until after a few days rest with their families.

Patchy clouds darkened the sun as the two crested the final hill to Postwick. Far in the distance, over the Slumbering Weald, the heavy clouds poured down. The travelers missed the deluge by less than an hour.

Gloria took a deep breath, enjoying air that didn't fill her lungs with an icy chill. Coming home a day earlier than she'd told her mum turned out to be the right idea.

Not just their families would be elated to see them. Gloria had message after message from Marnie: how she was improving her gym and the new boutique that opened near the Spikemuth pokemon center--and about The Big Secret.

Marnie had taunted her with the huge, life changing secret that was too sensitive to tell over the phone for weeks now. If Gloria wanted to know what the secret was, she would have to come to Spikmuth and hear it from Marnie face to face.

Hop ran over to a wooden fence.

"I didn't know how much I'd missed wooloo." He laughed and gestured to a herd of grazing wooloo.

One of the wooloo raised its head at the sound of his voice. It baa'ed at the two before trotting over. It butted its head against Hop's palm. Soon the rest of the herd crowded the fence line, baa-ing in delight at the attention Hop readily gave out.

"Remind me to let Dubwool out after we get home so he can talk to all his old wooloo friends. He's grown even stronger since the last time they all saw him. Master Mustard said he thinks Dubwool is getting stronger faster than even Lee’s Charizard did."

Hop scratched a wooloo under the chin. It bleated in delight.

Gloria leaned her arms on the fence. "Speaking of Leon, will he be home too? My pokemon are itching for a battle with him." She fingered the pokeballs at her belt.

If Cinderace didn't get a chance to battle Leon's Charizard, he would give Gloria the silent treatment for a week. After all the rememensing about the amazing championship battle Gloria and Leon had, Calyrex, too, wanted a good look at the former champion. Not to mention the rest of her team wanted to test their strength against the toughest trainer they knew.

Hop jumped back from the fence, much to the sorrow of the wooloo herd. "He should be. Lee told me he's been helping Mum and my grandparents around the house the last week or so."

"Well, if he's not home," Gloria punched her fist into her palm, "I'll go drag him back to Postwick myself."

Hop chuckled as he spun around towards Postwick. He wished he could see that: Tiny Gloria carrying his big brother over her head all the way through the Wild Area and back home. It was almost too bad Lee wouldn't miss a chance to see his little brother after so long apart.

He opened his mouth to tell Gloria as much when something caught his eye. He shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted.

"What's that?" He pointed.

Gloria followed his finger to see a figure in black with a hood pulled up walk through the gate to Hop's house. The figure shut the gate behind them before passing a large tree and leaving her sight.

"I dunno, but it gives me a bad feeling." Gloria grabbed Hop's wrist. "C'mon! Let's investigate!"

They hurried down the road until they came to the edge of the stone wall that surrounded Hop's home.

"Do you think we should go inside? What if that's a burglar? Should we call the police?" Hop asked. His fingers brushed his rotomphone in his pocket.

"Not yet. Let's see if we can tell what's going on first."

Gloria dropped her bag. With a leap, she effortlessly cleared the wall. She rushed past the tree and to the shed beside the house. Hop shouldered off his heavy pack and mimicked her until both their backs pressed against the worn paint of the shed.

"There's a window 'round the side of the shed. It looks into the kitchen." Hop jerked his head towards the house. "Let's see if we can see anything."

At the edge of the shed, Gloria and Hop exchanged looks. They nodded at each other then dropped to their stomachs in the wet grass. The smell of soggy earth filled their noses. They army crawled to the side of the house.

Hop's grandfather, or maybe even Leon, had recently cleared the leaf litter from around the shed into a tidy pile beside the house. The pile blocked their path like a sodded brown mountain.

Gloria started to ask, "Should we go arou--" when the kitchen window opened.

Hop slapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her until they were right next to the leaf litter pile.

A voice floated out the window.

"...won't be back until tonight."

Hop stiffened.

Leon! That was Leon's voice! So he was home. What about the burglar? The figure who walked through the gate. Did that person know Leon was home too? Did Leon know he wasn't alone?

Leon stuck his head out the window and gazed at the sky. "Rain's well past," he said before pulling his head back in.

Gloria held Hop against the wall to stop him from jumping out of their hiding place and dragging Leon out of the window by his shoulders.

She put a finger to her lips. "We don't know if anyone is in there with him yet," She hissed into his ear. "We don't want to scare him over nothing."

Hop swallowed the lump of worry in his throat. Gloria was right, of course. Maybe the figure was just cutting through his yard. People did that all the time, didn't they?

A hand with skin much too pale to be Leon's came from the window. It turned, palm to the sky, before returning to the house. The window shut with a click.

Hop and Gloria's eyes met.

There was someone in the house, someone beside Leon.

Without another word, the two crawled around the leaf pile and to the window. They waited a few heart-pounding moments before, carefully, peeking into the kitchen.

The figure in black, hood still up, had their back to Hop and Gloria. A sharp knife stuck out from their sleeves.

The figure started to turn towards the window. Hop and Gloria ducked down. Their hearts threatened to tear right out of their chests.

"Oh, Arceus." Hop sucked in a breath, going to his knees.

She put her hands on Hop's shoulders and shook him once. "Do you know what this means? It's not a burglar! It's a murderer!"

"But why? Who would want to hurt Leon? He is the greatest Champion Galar's ever had!" He paused a beat then added, "Ah, I mean--"

Gloria cut him off with a wave of her hand. "That's probably why! He must know something someone doesn't want him to. He has to have some top secret information about the League or someone very powerful."

"So they sent an assassin!" Hop interjected.

"Maybe more than one!"

Then, like a feedback loop of movie cliches, the mysterious figure walking through Hop's gate turned into a burglar, then murderer, then one of a team of well trained ninja assassins from Kanto coming to either kidnap Leon to extort information out of him or kill him to keep him from talking.

Midway through Hop's edition of a secret underground society of pokemon psychics, a scream pierced the air from inside the house.

"Lee!" Hop jumped to his feet.

He ran to the front of the house, weaving around the set of metal chairs and table near the kitchen door, and skidded to a stop, sending mud and wet grass up into the air.

He took a pokeball from his belt. "Dubwool, come out!"

In a flash of light, Hop's dubwool appeared. He shook out his fleece. For a moment, excitement rose on Dubwool's face upon being home. It disappeared when he looked at Hop's terrified expression.

Gloria let out her Cinderace. Cinderace took a breath for an delighted shout but Gloria shushed him with a hand over his mouth.

"There is an assassin in Hop's house trying to kidnap Leon," She explained quickly to the pokemon. "They probably have the door blocked, so we need to break it in then take out the assassin, got it?"

Dubwool and Cinderace nodded without a second’s hesitation. Their trainers knew exactly what was going on, and the pokemon always trusted their judgement.

Hop picked up one of the metal garden chairs and Gloria the other. They weren't much for weapons or protection, but they were better than nothing.

Another scream made all four jump.

"Let's go! Dubwool, use slam on the door!" Hop ordered, throwing out his arm.

Dubwool bleated. He pawed at the dirt once, twice, then rammed, horns first, into the door. The door flew from the hinges and crashed into the stairs across the hall. Photos rattled and fell to the floor with a shattering glass. Shards of glass scattered across fleece as Dubwool righted himself.

With a war cry, Hop, Gloria, and Cinderace raced through the door.

Cinderace jumped onto the broken door and used it as a springboard to leap across the living room.

"What in the world?" Leon jumped up from the couch in time for Cinderace's foot to plant firmly on his chest. His hat flew off his head as he landed, pinned between the wall and Cinderace's foot.

Gloria raised the chair above her head and threw it as another head came up from the couch.

The assassin ducked in time to miss the metal chair, but not the Dubwool who jumped over the couch to land on them with a victorious bleat.

The shelf above Leon swung down by one nail, disturbed by the chair hitting the wall. A trophy rolled and landed square on Leon's head with a bell-like ring.

Hop darted around the chaos towards his brother, his chair forgotten by the mess near the broken door.

"Lee!" Hop pushed a shocked Cinderace away and crouched next to Leon.

"H...Hop?" Leon squinted. "What are you doing here?" He winced, holding his head. A nice sized lump began to grow where the trophy collided with Leon’s skull.

Before Hop could answer, Gloria took a pillow from the couch and began beating the only part of the assassin's body that wasn't under a mass of thick wool--their thrashing legs.

"How do you like it, huh? You're not killing any champions on my watch! Bam! Ha! Boom! Take that, assassin!" She cried, repeatedly slamming the pillow against the assassin's ankles.

Leon gasped. "S-stop! Gloria, stop!" He tried to stand, but could barely lift himself up without falling back.

Hop wrapped his arms around Leon's shoulders protectively. Why in the world would he want them to stop? That assassin was trying to kidnap him, take him to their underground base, and torture him for information!

"Get the 'ell offa me!" The assassin yelled. With a grunt of effort, they pushed Dubwool off.

The sheep pokemon rolled onto his back, hooves waving in the air. Gloria quickly changed her angle and slammed the pillow into the assassin's face.

I hope I broke this jerk's nose! Gloria thought, though she didn't hear any cartilage crunching against her attack.

A pale hand gripped the pillow and tore it from her hands.

"What was all that for?" A familiar person demanded, throwing the pillowing back at Gloria. It hit her face and landed in a sad lump on the ground.

"Piers?"

Piers narrowed his eyes. A chill worse than anything she felt in the Crown Tundra ran up her spine at his icy glare.

"Did you throw a chair at me?" He demanded.

"I, I, uh..." Gloria floundered.

What was going on? Why was Piers, of all people, here? He wasn't a gym leader anymore, so he didn't need to talk to Leon about the League. Gloria couldn't think of a single reason the two would ever be in the same place together.

Unless something was wrong with Marnie. Was that The Big Secret she wanted to tell her? Had Marnie broken some sort of huge rule? Did something bad happen? Was her best gal friend in trouble?

Leon groaned again. Piers moved his gaze from Gloria and towards Leon. He jumped to his feet and hurried over.

"Leon? Are you alright?" He winced, seeing the blooming bruise on his forehead.

Hop tightened his grip on his brother. His head spun. Had his and Gloria's grand plan to save Leon been for nothing? No way they were wrong about the danger Leon had been in.

"I'm ffffffine," Leon slurred, "propsably."

Piers held up three fingers. "How many fingers I got up?"

Leon stared into the middle distance for a few beats longer than he should before squinting at Piers' fingers.

"Six."

Piers groaned, throwing his head back dramatically and slumping his shoulders. "I think you two gave him a concussion."

"Concussion?!" Hop nearly choked on the word. "But, we didn't mean to!"

Cinderace took a few steps around Gloria. He lowered himself to hide behind her, ashamed of the damage he'd caused. She reached back and patted him reassuringly. It wasn’t his fault. If Piers had been an assassin ninja, Cinderace would have just saved Leon from a dagger to the neck.

Piers disentangled Hop from Leon. He put his arm under Leon's and around his back before hoisting him up. Leon tried to take a step on his own, but wobbled back against Piers.

"Let's get you to a doctor. That's a nasty lump." Piers' voice came out softer than Gloria or Hop had ever heard it. To Hop, he asked, "Do we got to go all the way to the next town or is there a doctor in Postwick."

Hop's mouth gaped before he shook himself. "There's not, but if I call the one in Wedgehurt, he can be here in a jiffy." He already had his rotomphone out before he finished speaking.

Gloria, feeling useless standing there like a slowpoke on a stone, went to roll Dubwool back to his hooves. She dusted some of the wood chips and glass shards from his fleece. A few chips hit the cracked screen of a laptop on the floor.

She had a feeling she would be paying for that, and for everything else...

Leon rested his weight against Piers' side.

"Surry," He muttered. "This didn't go alls well 't all."

Piers shrugged as he carefully helped Leon through the broken mess on the floor.

"Believe it or not, this still isn’t the worst date I've ever been on."

Hop dropped the rotomphone and Gloria fell over herself, landing on the other side of Dubwool.

"Date?"

------

Piers shook the rain off his coat.

“Walk more,” they said.

“It's good for you,” they said.

“The weather is great today,” they said.

Bull crap!

That's the last time he takes his gym trainers' advice on the weather--no, not his gym trainers. They were Marnie's now. He hadn’t been a gym leader in a few months, but sometimes that fact still slipped his mind.

He should have gotten a taxi to Postwick. That way he wouldn't have gotten caught in the rain.

He hurried down the road to Leon's house. He opened the gate, surprised it didn't screech in protest. Well, Leon did say he'd been doing handiwork around his family's house recently. He probably oiled the gate.

Or maybe Piers just wasn't used to gates that didn't squeak from years of rust.

He shut the gate behind him as he wondered if he could talk Leon into helping him around Spikemuth's gym. Marnie might be the gym leader, but that didn't mean Piers couldn't still keep the gym up to snuff.

Leon opened the door after the second knock. He wore a floral themed apron with his sleeves rolled past his elbows and hair pulled back at the nape of his neck.

He covered a chuckle.

"Spooky. Are you the grim reaper today?" He gestured at the long black coat and hood.

Piers rolled his eyes and pushed the hood back. How he fit all of his hair in the hood, Leon couldn't fathom a guess.

Leon gestured for him to follow him to the kitchen. Piers peeled off his coat and draped it over a kitchen chair. Leon reached back to untie the apron.

"I lost track of time," he explained, hanging the apron on a hook. "I promised Mum I'd get the kitchen spick and span for tomorrow."

"How kind."

Hop came back tomorrow from the Isle of Armor. Piers' knew that well at this point. It seemed every other conversation lately had been about how excited Leon was about his little brother's return.

Leon couldn't wait to hear what kind of research Hop was doing and what kind of pokemon he'd met and all about how everything at the Dojo was.

Of course, Gloria was supposed to come back too. Neither Leon nor Piers had ever been to the Crown Tundra, but they knew the rumors of the incredibly strong pokemon that live in the barren, frozen north of Galar.

Both of them knew they would need to battle the current champ to see just how strong she'd become before she left to continue her explorations.

Piers peered around the kitchen. As far as he could tell, it looked fine. All the counters were clean and the cobwebs dusted from the corners, but he still asked, "D’you need help?" anyway.

Leon shook his head. "No. It's just a few dishes I have to do." He jerked his head to the sink.

In fact, Leon started cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the kitchen right after breakfast. He intended to finish well before Piers showed up, but only having a few pieces of silverware left wasn't that bad.

Piers took a dish towel from beside the sink and dropped it. Using his foot, he mopped up the puddle he and his coat created on the tiled floor. With one quick movement, he hooked the towel with his toe and kicked it up into his waiting hand.

"You're welcome." He tossed the towel next to the sink.

Leon snorted a laugh. "Thanks."

"When is your family 'ppose to be back? The movie isn't that long, but..." Piers trailed off, rolling his wrist to finish the comment.

Leon didn't need him to finish to know what he was talking about. They were a little secret, for the time being. Only the bare minimum of people knew they were dating, and Leon had been putting off explaining the situation to his family until after Hop and Gloria’s homecoming.

"My grandparents are visiting friends in Ballonlea. My and Gloria's mums are in Hammerlock, so, they," Leon opened the window over the sink, "won't be back until tonight."

Leaning over the sink, he poked his head out and looked up. The dark rain clouds moved on, leaving Postwick humid, but drying. A weather Piers didn’t seem to mind, though Leon couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of humidity being better than a sunny afternoon.

"Rain's well past."

Piers strode next to him and stuck his hand out the window. He turned his palm up, half expecting more rain, before pulling it back in. He shut the window.

"Too bad," he smiled slyly, "a scary movie is always better with some thunder and lightnin' in the background."

"I wouldn't want Hop treading home through mud," Leon replied, only half joking.

Piers took his coat from the chair and draped it over Leon's shoulders. He chuckled and patted his warm cheek.

"It's cute you care so much about your bro like that."

A faint blush crossed Leon's cheeks. Their faces were so close. It wouldn't take much to close the gap and--

"We should start the movie soon." Piers stole a step away. "We're doing this in the living room, yeah?"

Before he could get any farther, Leon took hold of his wrist and gently pulled him back. He placed a kiss on his cheek.

"I have to empty the sink first, so don't miss me too much."

Although he knew it was unlikely, Leon wished his impromptu romantic gesture would leave the formidable dark-type trainer flustered. It didn't, of course. Leon had only ever gotten him blushing and gobsmacked once, when he first proposed the idea of a date between the two.

Piers shook his head with a smile then pulled the hood over Leon's head.

"Smooth as a druddigon."

He paused, mentally storing that line away. It could make a good lyric someday. Smooth as a druddigon, loving as a gorbis? Bisharp?

He'd work on it later.

With Piers out of the kitchen, Leon sighed in defeat. Maybe next time he'd get him.

Instead of taking off Piers' coat, he put his arms through the sleeves. Piers was taller than him by a half a head, so the sleeves fell past his hands

Leon took the last fork and spoons from the sink and set them aside. Careful of the blade, he took a knife out. Mum used the knife to chop vegetables for dinner the night before, so it was a relatively easy clean.

Leon shuddered. The coat wasn't even that warm. Did Piers only wear it for the style? He turned away from the sink, knife still in hand and lifted an arm. At least the material seemed to dry fast after being caught in the rain. Maybe that's why Piers wore it?

As he turned back to the sink, something moved out of the corner of his eye. He frowned. Did a rookidee fly down from the tree in the yard just then? Setting the knife aside, he reached to open the window again when a blood curdling scream made him jump.

With his hand to his pounding heart, he hurried to the living room.

"What was that?"

Piers nodded to the laptop set up in front of him on the coffee table.

Leon craned his neck towards the laptop screen. The fakest monster costume he had ever seen loomed over a frightened woman on the title screen.

"Night Of the Living Nightmare" the title read in a dripping green and purple font.

When Piers said he had a classic of Galar indie horror to show him, Leon expected a movie with thrilling psychological horror and innovative use of pokemon moves for special effects, not a repainted rubber gyarados mask with extra teeth glued in.

"How old is this movie?" Leon asked, taking off Piers' fashionable, but impractical, coat.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was made only eight years ago?" Piers took the coat from Leon and tossed it in the corner of the couch.

"Really?" He sat next to Peers.

Piers scooted over and pressed against his side. Leon always felt warm, which was part of the reason Piers took his less than warm coat with him. A good excuse to get close as they watched the movie. At least one of them was actually smooth.

He hummed the affirmative.

'The Night Of The Living Nightmare' was a terribly cheesy movie. The fake blood wasn't thick enough, the teeth on the mask fell off half way through, the editing made scenes drag on much too long, and the actors either over exaggerated their lines or delivered them with as much life as a dead magikarp.

All together, 'The Night Of The Living Nightmare' made for a good date movie in Piers' opinion.

"Ready?" Piers already hit play before Leon could answer.

The movie started with a scene of a woman rising up out of a pool. The camera lingered on her chest and stomach and legs before it panned back towards the water. A ripple skittered across the pool water.

The scales on the wishiwashi making the waves gleamed in the harsh set lighting.

The woman dried her hair with a bright pink beach towel. She hummed a pop song that Leon remembered being popular when he was a teenager, but couldn’t recall the name off.

A set of rubber fins slapped against the pool tile. The music grew frantic with each wet slap as the monster neared the woman.

A three clawed hand reached out towards the woman. She spun, screamed in terror and--

"Is that a boom mic?" Leon paused the movie and pointed to the mic in the corner of the screen.

"There are at least seven hangin' around in different shots," Piers confirmed. "You think you can find 'em all?"

Now with a goal of finding all the hidden mics, Leon went to hit play again. Before his fingers brushed the space bar, something let out a loud "Baaaa!"

He bolted up in time to see the front door fly off its hinges, followed by a dubwool.The door and dubwool slammed into the steps. Picture frames crashed to the ground. Glass scattered across the floor.

Outside, several people screamed, then a cinderace then leapt over the dubwool.

It ricocheted off the busted door and aimed a well placed kick into Leon's chest.

----

"...And that's what happened before you brusted in." Leon adjusted the ice pack against his head.

The doctor from Wedgehurts said Leon got lucky that Cinderace's attack only left him with some bruises, bumps, and a mild concussion and not broken bones. When he left, the doctor tutted at the broken door and muttered about kids these days.

Piers set a glass of water on the table in front of Leon and two pain pills beside it.

From across the kitchen table, Hop and Gloria avoided looking at the older trainers. How could they let their imagination get away from them like that? Gloria was the Galar champion and Hop was a professor in training, and yet they really believed assassins had broken in.

How foolish! Leon was a champion, too. Of course he could take care of a few assassin's without their help!

"We're really sorry, Lee," Hop muttered then added quickly, "and Piers."

Gloria added in, "We just wanted to help."

"It's not the first time I've been hit by a pokemon, and it probably won't be the last," Leon reassured after he downed the pain killers.

Piers took a seat. He steepled his fingers and looked over Hop and Gloria with a hard, steady gaze. The two squirmed. Should they apologize again? Get on their knees and beg for forgiveness?

"This wasn't how this was s’pposed to go." Piers sighed, turning to look away and releasing the kids from his stare.

Leon nodded in agreement, only to flinch. He blinked hard until the kitchen finally stopped spinning. The doctor told him not to do anything that required much mental or physical exertion, but he didn't particularly have a choice in this case.

The thought of explaining the door, the wall, the shelf, his head, not to mention Piers, made his head pound in anticipation of the confrontation. Mum would be upset about the door, worried about him, and annoyed about Piers being kept a secret from her.

"I don't get," Hop frowned, "why you two keep this a secret from everyone? What's the big deal?"

Leon scratched his cheek with his finger. "Well, ah, that's because--"

"We were breakin’ rules," Piers cut in.

"Rules? What rules?" Hop wrinkled his brow.

Leon was a grown up now, so the rules Mum set up for dating when he was a teenager didn't apply anymore. Or, Hop thought they didn't. Had Leon broken his curfew to spend time with Piers? Did he leave for a date without telling Mum how long he’d be out?

"The Pokemon League rules. Members of The League aren't allowed to date each other. Conflict of interest and all that," Peers explained. "I was still a gym leader and he was still champion when this started." He nodded towards Leon.

Now Hop felt really confused. He couldn't imagine his big brother breaking a rule like that. Then again, he couldn't imagine Leon breaking curfew either, at least not without a really good reason.

Gloria crossed her arms. This was news to her. What a dumb rule. Who cared if a gym leader wanted to date another leader. What if she wanted to go out with a gym leader? The League could try and stop her!

"I don't think we'll get in too much trouble now, but we figured we'd wait it out before saying anything to anyone." Leon switched the hand holding the ice pack. He wanted this conversation over so he could go lay down and stare at the ceiling for a bit.

A thought crossed Gloria's mind just then. Could it be this The Big Secret Marnie had to tell her in person?

"Does Marnie know?"

"That you two nearly suffocated her brother under a hundred kilo of unknit sweater? She will when I get home." Piers glanced at the side of the kitchen where the pokemon were. Dubwool lowered his gaze. Cinderace coughed into his paws and turned to stare out the window.

"No, did Marnie know about you two?"

Piers raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. She knew."

Gloria's eyes gleamed. Now Marnie owed her a new secret, since Gloria knew this one. It was only fair after all! Maybe this whole ordeal was worth it to learn Marnie’s crushes!

Hop asked, "Is there anything we can do to make this up to you two? We messed up, and we deserve it."

Piers and Leon exchanged looks. Piers shrugged. He could always find them something to do at Spikemuth: the less artistic graffiti needed to be washed off walls, trash picked up, or moss scraped off buildings.

Leon, though, was the one who had actually been hurt so he let the punishment for the kids’ transgression be under his discretion.

"I can think of one thing," Leon said. He gestured for Piers to lean towards him. He covered the side of his mouth and whispered into Piers' ear.

Piers cackled and sent Hop and Gloria a smirk.

"Brilliant. Just brilliant." He clasped Leon on the upper arm and squeezed.

Leon set the ice pack on the table. He reached across and put a firm hand on one of Hop's and one of Gloria's shoulders.

He half smiled. "Someone has to tell Mum what happened to the door, and I don't think it will be me."

---

AN: I haven't written a fanfiction in like more than a year. But last year was 2020 so can you blame me?

#pokemon #piers #leon #hop #gloria #piersxleon #one-shot #fanfiction

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cosmiicmultimuse · 3 years

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Eternatus.

[ So, last night I was talking about Eternatus with @another-bloody-multimuse and @nats-rp-world because of the Masters Event ( Howling Shield ), and all of our brains were melting because of the Lore™️, so I’m gonna dump all of my thoughts here for Alamgir, Alex’s Eternatus. ]

[ Under the cut! ]

So, from what we do know, Eternatus’ origin is as follows from Bulbapedia:

“Eternatus is an extraterrestrial Pokémon that came to Earth inside a meteor around 20,000 years ago.”

The wiki also says this, in regards to Eternatus’ connection to the Dynamax Phenomenon:

“Eternatus serves as the source of the Dynamax and Gigantamax phenomena in Galar due to its power leaking out in the form of Galar Particles following its defeat thousands of years ago by Zacian and Zamazenta. Pieces of its body imbued with its power rain down throughout Galar in the form of Wishing Pieces and Wishing Stars. When it is awake, Eternatus causes a phenomenon dubbed the Darkest Day, in which the massive quantities of Dynamax energy it unleashes causes Pokémon to Dynamax and rampage uncontrollably. It can also sometimes keep other Pokémon from Dynamaxing in its presence.”

So, obviously, there’s a lot to unpack about this 65 foot death worm. And there’s also the issue in that paragraph: if Eternatus causes the Darkest Day every time it’s awake, why can the player walk around with it on the Isle of Armor and in the Crown Tundra and be fine? Does Eternatus being on Pasio now mean that there’s Power Spots and Galar Particles?

So, here’s my take on all of this, and my meager attempt to try and string everything together.

What is the Darkest Day and Where the Hell Did Eternatus Come From?

20,000 years ago, Eternatus landed in the meteor, and, according to Bulbapdedia’s page on the Darkest Day that states that it took place 3,000 years prior to SwSh, basically slept for 17,000 years. I wish I slept that good.

The dex entry for Hero of Many Battles Zamazenta in Sword also reveals something: “In times past, it worked together with a king of the people to save the Galar region. It absorbs metal that it then uses in battle.” Of course, this could mean a human king, like the two brothers from the tapestries, but we actually have a king Pokemon.

Calyrex.

Calyrex was said to rule over the Crown Tundra in times past, as a benevolent and merciful king, but willing to fight if necessary. Zacian’s other name, the Fairy King’s Sword, also ties into this, Calyrex potentially being inspired by depictions of the fae or elves.

So, the Darkest Day happens, and, if I’m correct, Calyrex and the wolves defeat Eternatus, who then goes into another slumber for 3,000 years.

So now that we have that: How Do the Galar Particles and Wishing Stars Work?

After Eternatus was defeated, pieces of their body rained down on Galar in the form of Wishing Stars, and given that they’re still raining down to this day ( see your Route 2 encounter with Hop ), it’s safe to say some are probably floating around in the atmosphere.

Wishing Stars are little pieces of Eternatus, imbued with legendary power. Oleana figured out how to slap ‘em into a band, and now you have Dynamax around your wrist.

But then there’s the other piece that got mentioned, like. Twice by Sonia or Rose. And never showed up again. Galar Particles. Released by Eternatus after their defeat by the Hero Duo and Caly, these little guys are what actually allow Dynamaxing. They’re also what allows Eternatus to live, them absorbing Galar Particles pretty much all the time in order to survive.

But, give them too much, by say, over loading them with Wishing Stars ( See: Rose ), and they Eternamax, causing the Darkest Day.

So, Abi, What the Fuck Does Any Of That Mean?

Here’s the tldr of the whole thing:

Eternatus crash lands on Earth 20,000 years ago and is asleep for 17,000 of them, probably holding in this great power the whole time. Since they’re not expending it gradually, 3,000 years before Sword and Shield, they cause the Darkest Day, as a result of their own overload.

Zacian and Zamazenta, lead by King Calyrex, defeat Eternatus, who expends a whole bunch of Galar Particles and Wishing Stars, which would allow trainers to Dynamax in the future, and then returns to their slumber, now without power.

Flash forward to the present day, and Rose decides to fuck around and find out, and begins reviving Eternatus with all the Wishing Stars he can get his hands on to solve an energy crisis, thanks to Bede and Oleana. Darkest Day happens again, thanks to Rose’s meddling, and the wolves wake up to save the day alongside Alex and Hop.

The Darkest Day is not directly a consequence of Eternatus being awake - that would be disastrous given that Alex has captured them and intends to train them.

Rather, the Darkest Day is simply a result of Eternatus being overloaded on power through the Galar Particles and Wishing Stars ( which likely have Galar Particles in them ).

Now that Eternatus has a trainer who can monitor how much power they have, it’s unlikely that the Darkest Day will be occurring again.

That was long as Hell but I hope it was worth the read.

#( For the Bookshelf ): Reference #( Team: Alex Farrell )#( alamgir. )

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vaugarde · 3 years

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19, 20, 43!

19. favorite pokemon game

of all time? pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky. it was my first pokemon game and is a massive comfort game to me. it's extremely dear to me and its aged very well for me. i know i rib on it sometimes for darkrai or how often flashback cutscenes happen, but thats because i love this game and love thinking about ways it could be even better. it's fun and has my favorite ranking/mission system in the whole series, it has my favorite plotline in the whole series, i love the world its in and all the environments, i love the partner and grovyle, holy shit its so good and i dont think i will ever get tired of it. maybe im overhyping it, i dont care. it means so much to me.

favorite mainline game though would definitely be pokemon white. i have so much love and nostalgia for that game, and its honestly soooo hard to pick a favorite gen 5 pokemon bc ive played it over and over and over again with a ton of pokemon in the game that it's easier to pick out the ones i DONT like. its nostalgic and i love everything gen 5 has to offer, its just so fun.

20. least favorite pokemon game

oh boy. im sorry but its either gen I and II games or swsh.

i mean my least favorite of all time is probably detective pikachu actually. i actually got a few headaches playing that game bc the music was so dull and the animations and voice acting (and often lack thereof) were so distracting. its probably the game that i regret having the most. but at least i can just say that its a tedious spinoff game with not a lot of effort put into it, and the movie is leaps and bounds better (altho im not sure why THAT was the game they made a movie off of? the movie literally overhauled everything bc the game was so boring)

but for main series its a little more "aww MAN" to me because yknow, that's the main output with the mechanics i know and love. gen I and II were definitely good for their time, but i was very disappointed by them when i finally played them. i dont really get why people hold them up as the definitive pokemon experience, they're very boring and i dont like the general pokemon you find in those games enough to get an engaging team that i like. doesnt help that i find kanto to be a very boring region in my opinion.

and swsh. i mean we all know the issues with swsh. the natdex thing isnt really an issue for me personally because ive never used pokemon bank or home because they cost money, and i can get gliscor in other games and be just fine, but i get why other people hate that aspect. swsh by itself just kinda made me realize "wow. maybe i am too old for this series" like i didnt get a grand scale of wonder and adventure like i did with gen 7, which only came out a few years earlier. it felt like it was put together by tape and threads, the battles are boring and the presentation, while mostly being pretty with towns like ballonlea, was terribly stale. dont get me started on isle of armor, that was actually more offensively boring than detective pikachu and i think i wouldve felt that way even as part of the target audience. crown tundra and the wild area are pretty much the only reason i revisit it.

idk. i just dont have fun with those games like i do with gens 4-7. (im neutral towards gen 3)

43. favorite electric type

EMOLGA. just a little girl :)

#dragonsden #mail

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demifiendrsa · 4 years

Video

youtube

Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Expansion Pass—Announcement Trailer. Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass, which contains both The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra expansions, will launch in June and Fall 2020, respectively. Some of the Pokemon and characters that appear will differ between versions. Each Expansion Pass will cost $29.99.

youtube

Pokémon Direct 1.9.2020

Overview

Part 1: The Isle of Armor

Theme: Growth

Release Date: June 2020

The next destination in your adventure is a giant island off the shores of the Galar reegion known as the Isle of Armor. This island is full of beautiful natures. You’ll find beaches, bogs, forests, caves, and dunes. And of course, you’ll find Pokemon that you couldn’t previously find in Galar dwelling there, too.

There’s a dojo for Pokemon battles on this island. And you’ll take up an apprenticeship under the Pokemon trainer who runs it. Mustard will become your mentor. He is also the mentor of champion Leon, who you probably know quite well. In fact, Mustard has occupied the seat of champion himself in the past.

You’ll also encounter new rivals among your fellow apprentice. When playing with the Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass, you’ll be training with Klara, who is a Poison-type user. When playing with the Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass, you’ll be training with Avery, who is a Psychic-type user. They’re both training hard so they can someday have a gym and stadium to call their home.

Next, we’d like to introduce the legendary Pokemon that will be central to the story. Kubfu is a Fighting-type Pokemon that strives to become stronger with single-minded dedication. As you progress through your training, Mustard will entrust you with this Pokemon. Once you complete your training together with Kubfu, it will be able to evolve into Urshifu.

Urshifu is a Pokemon with two distinct styles. There is Single-Strike style, a Fighting- and Dark-type style that delivers a single strike at blinding speed. There’s also Rapid-Strike Style, a Fighting- and Water-type style that focuses on unleashing a torrent of rapid strikes.

What’s more, it’s been revealed that Urshifu has a Gigantamax form. Each style has a different appearance, as well as a different G-Max move. You’ll be able to evolve your Kubfu into an Urshifu in one of these two styles, Single-Strike Style or Rapid-Strike Style, during your adventure.

Urshifu is a powerful Pokemon with a brand-new ability. And it also has a new move for each of its new styles. Once you’ve completed your training, bring it with you for some online battles or official competitions.

We also want to talk about Rillaboom, Cinderace, and Inteleon, the final evolutions of the first three Pokemon you team up with in the Gallar region. During your adventure in the Isle of Armor, these special partners on your team will be able to Gigantamax. You can look forward to seeing their new forms and new G-Max moves.

And as you can see here, there is even more in the works to make sure your journey is as smooth and fun as possible:

Tutor Moves – Including all-new moves.

Apricorns – Can be made into Poke Balls.

Exp. Charm – Earn more Exp. Points for your team.

There are new fashion items, and you’ll even be able to obtain new looks for your bike.

Part 2: The Crown Tundra

Theme: Exploration

Release Date: Fall 2020

This expansion is set in the snow-swept realm of The Crown Tundra. Take a look for yourself at the beautiful scenery of this shining, silvery landscape.

As it turns out, the Isle of Armor isn’t the only uncharted area waiting for you all in the Galar region. In this frigid area, with its towering winter mountains, people live in small communities that support and rely on each other.

Much like on The Isle of Armor, you’ll be able to find Pokemon that didn’t appear in the Galar region before. Fitting right in with this area’s theme of exploration, there will be plenty for you to uncover. You might find a strange temple where you least expect it, or maybe spy a mysterious giant tree growing in a place it doesn’t seem to belong.

A certain person will appoint you as the leader of their exploration team in The Crown Tundra. You can gear up for adventure and then head out to explore blizzard-swept fields, and even deep inside Pokemon dens that you could only previously get a glimpse of during Max Raid battles.

Next, we’d like to introduce Calyrex, the legendary Pokemon you’ll discover during your adventure. Legends say this Psychi- and Grass-type Pokemon once ruled over a part of Galar that included The Crown Tundra. It’s characterized by its graceful, regal movements. Get ready to experience a never-before-told story about the mysteries of Calyrex.

The Crown Tundra will have a new form of co-op play as well. This will allow you and friends to enter and explore Pokemon Dens that exist underground in The Crown Tundra. Deep inside the dens, you may see legendary Pokemon from past games Dynamaxing before your eyes. You’ll be able to meet and make allies with all kinds of legendary Pokemon during your adventures in The Crown Tundra, including ones you’ll be able to catch through this co-op play.

It also appears that some brand-new legendary Pokemon are also waiting to be found somewhere in this land. And combined with The Isle of Armor, dozens of new clothing items will be added. Plus there will be new battles waiting for you to challenge once you complete your entire game, including The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra.

We can’t go into the details of everything, but we’re working on planning and developing new ways to enjoy Pokemon even as we speak. The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra areas themselves are actually two key examples of the things we’re working on. Both areas are in fact seamless maps much like the Wild Area you can already experience in the Galar region, where players can move around freely and control the camera. Of course, you’ll be able to connect with other trainers and play with them, too. There will be Pokemon Dens as well, and you’ll be able to engage in Max Raid battles against Pokemon that haven’t previously appeared in the Galar region. There’s more to see and do in The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra than there was even in the Wild Area.

Future Free Updates

We’ll be releasing free updates for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield that will coincide with the releases of The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. These updates will allow people who don’t have the Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass to obtain the Pokemon that appear on The Isle of Armor and in The Crown Tundra through other means such as trading.

Players will also be able to bring over Pokemon from the game into the cloud service Pokemon Home as long as the Pokemon appear in the Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass.

Today’s Free Update

There will be a software update going live available later today. Once you’ve received the update, head to Wedgehurst Station. In Pokemon Sword, you’ll run into Klara, while in Pokemon Shield, you’ll run into Avery. You’ll also encounter a Galarian Slowpoke that’s wandered in from The Isle of Armor. You can try to catch it and add it to your team. Galarian Slowpoke and evolve into Galarian Slowbro if you use an item that can be found on The Isle of Armor, or into Galarian Slowking if you use an item that can be found in The Crown Tundra.

Special Purchase Bonus

If you purchase the Expansion Pass, you’ll be able to receive a Pikachu Uniform and an Eevee Uniform as a special purchase bonus. You’ll be able to wear these outfits in the expansions, of course, but also in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield! Until The Isle of Armor’s release, it might not be a bad idea to complete your adventures in the Galar region decked out in your new outfit!

Launch your Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield game.

Select Mystery Gift on the X menu.

Select Get a Mystery Gift.

Select Get with Code/Password to connect to the internet.*

Enter your code.

Watch as the gift arrives in your game. (Pokémon will appear in your party or your Pokémon Boxes. Items will appear in your Bag.)

Be sure to save your game.

Pokemon Home

Pokemon Home is planned to release in February 2020. More information will be released before then, so please stay tuned.

#Pokemon Sword and Shield #Pokemon SwSh #Pokemon Shield #Pokemon Sword #Pokemon #Game Freak #Nintendo #video game #Nintendo Switch #long post

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askkrenko · 4 years

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Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Onix Line

Look, I’m not saying Onix is inherently a metaphor or was designed to be one, but just as we use euphemisms in the real world, there is absolutely no way that the men of Kanto don’t refer to their “Rock Snake Pocket Monster” and mean something entirely different from an actual Onix. DESIGN: Onix is a huge serpent made of boulders stuck together, with an inexplicable spike on its head, and you know what? It gets the point across. Its size makes it scary, it blends in with the terrain enough to make it clear why it’s advantageous to look like that, and it’s design is simple but also detailed enough to not look silly. I really like the design of this long, hard beast. Steelix is then less interesting. The metallic sheen and tail spike are cool, and I do actually really like the head redesign, but the crossbars don’t strike me as anything that do anything but make it harder to go through tunnels, they look kind of goofy like stubby arms and legs, and Steelix’s huge head makes its body look short. This thing is thirty feet long but because its head is so big compared to the rest of it, it looks more childish than Onix does.

It seriously looks like this thing needs to keep growing, and it’s all because of its ridiculous, massive head. Shrink that thing down and we’ve got a much better serpent. Mega Steelix is an overdesigned mess. It still looks too short, it has a weirdly flat face, it has crystals now for some reason, and what’s with the blue hexagons? Oh, and the crystals aren’t even sharp so it looks LESS dangerous than Steelix did. Onix has three forms and its later forms are just... less good.

EVOLUTIONS: I dislike trade evolutions, but what I really dislike is trade evolutions that require a specific item. If the item can do it, just let the item do it. You’re asking for extra steps with another player that don’t really enhance the gameplay. It’s just a chore. At the time of this writing I’ve mostly completed my Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor Pokedex. I’m missing some Sword Exclusives... and I’m missing some Pokemon that only evolve by trading. Because I have to take time out of playing the game to actually get that dealt with. And the ‘requires a metal coat’ thing is just an excuse to explain why Onix couldn’t evolve in gen 1. At this point, just let it be a trade evolution. Onix, Magmar, Rhydon, Slowpoke, all of them. Steelix is a great choice of Pokemon to Mega. While I don’t like the visual design, Steelix as a Pokemon always needed a bit more of a boost, and it was frankly a bit big. Very few Pokemon evolve past 450 stat total, and Type Null’s the only Pokemon with a stat total over Steelix’s 510 that gets to evolve (And frankly, Type: Null to Silvally is one of the smallest evolutionary jumps in all of Pokemon in terms of raw stats.) So yeah, Steelix was a good choice for a Mega, bring up a weaker full evolved Pokemon.

On the other end of the spectrum, Onix is big enough that adding a Baby Onix at some point would be an entirely reasonable option. This isn’t to say I think the games actually need one, just that there’s clearly room for it in the evolutionary line.

Art by mark331

TYPING:

While Onix was a Rock/Ground type, the decision to evolve it away from that was probably due to Rhydon and Golem already existing. Rock/Ground is very mediocre defensively. Though it has an immunity and five resistances, two of its six weaknesses are double weaknesses. Offensively, the combo’s got super-effective hits on eight types, with nothing resisting both. But you’re not using Onix in a real fight, you’re using Steelix. Steelix is Steel/Ground, which gives it one of the best defensive lineups in the game. With eight resistances, two immunities, and four weaknesses, Steelix is capable of some serious tanking. Offensively, Steel instead of Rock still gives Supereffective Stab against seven types, and once again there’s no type that resists both Steel and Ground attacks.

Art by Arvalis

STATS: Steelix has 200 defense.

That’s it. That’s all Steelix’s stats. Okay, its HP and Attack are average. Its Special Defense is sub-par but not painfully so, and its speed is negligible. But it has 200 defense, one of the highest in the game, and when combined with its strong resistances, Steelix is one of the tankiest tanks around.

Mega Steelix ups the stats that needed it most. While a defense rise from 200 to 230, while amazing and the new highest, is actually kind of negligible at that point, upping Special Defense to 95 and Attack to 125 turns Steelix into the full package, minus the part where it always, always, always goes last. The weird part there is, Onix has a respectable speed of 70. Guess all that metal slows it down.

ABILITIES: Steelix has three ability options and, honestly, they all should be good but none of them really live up to their full potential on Steelix. Sturdy is probably the least necessary of the three, but Steelix is still vulnerable to one big hit from a strong hit from a special sweeper, and being able to give a flat ‘no’ to those is useful. Sheer Force is a particularly powerful ability that increases the damage of attacks by 30% by removing their beneficial secondary effects. Steelix has a decent variety of moves that can take advantage of this, most notably Iron Head and Rock Slide, but also the elemental fangs for type coverage.

Rock Head is probably Steelix’s strongest ability. Rock Head removes recoil damage from attacks, and while Steelix only has two attacks that can take advantage of this, one of them is Head Smash, a 150 Power Rock Move that normally deals 50% of the damage dealt as recoil damage. Rock Head doesn’t have the versatility of Sheer Force, but a Super-Effective Sheer Force Thunder/Ice/Fire Fang is still only doing slightly more damage than a neutral Head Smash, and Steelix’s best attacks, Earthquake and Body Press, can’t benefit from either. Mega Steelix, sadly, does not get Rock Head. Mega Steelix gets Sand Force, which increases the damage of its STAB and Rock moves during a sandstorm. Obviously, this takes effort to set up, and Steelix doesn’t get the Rock-type defensive benefits, but hey, if you’re going to Sandstorm, Mega Steelix is a great idea.

Art by Isabelle Rathner

MOVES: It’s weird to say, but Steelix’s strongest attack isn’t STAB. While Mega Steelix just Earthquakes basically everything forever, Steelix’s 200 defense to 85 attack ratio means Body Press outdamages even Earthquake, though it does have the issue that more things resist Fighting than are weak to it.

From there, you’ll want some coverage. Earthquake, Head Smash (with Rock Head), various Sheer Force attacks, etc, are all options. Steelix is also slow enough that Gyro Ball is often very strong for it, especially if you get a nature with -Speed instead of the more obvious -Special Attack. Mega Steelix is heavy enough to reliably Heavy Slam, but I wouldn’t try it with regular Steelix.

Generally, for coverage you want to combine Ground with Steel or Fighting with Rock. “Ground and steel” might seem obvious because Steelix is Ground and Steel, but Head Smash and Body Press are both as strong as Earthquake, and how well your Steel moves work really depends on what you’re fighting. And you can use three if you really want to.

Then you get the setup moves. Steelix has two great setup options. Iron Defense raises its already insane defense to a ludicrous level and functions as Swords Dance for Body Press. On the other hand, Curse increases the Power of Gyro Ball while also raising Attack and Defense one stage. It’s not as much raw power as the Iron Defense+ Body Press strategy, but, as said, a lot of things resist Fighting. In fact, Fighting and Steel make a good attack duo for coverage purposes, and Curse still increases damage from Body Press, just by one stage instead of two. What makes Steelix interesting here is that with a few turns of setup it can start sweeping, and its defenses mean there’s only a few attacks that can do good damage against it.

For a more defensive option, try having another Pokemon lay down Spikes, then have Steelix use Stealth Rock and bat Pokémon about with Dragon Tail. Whipping up a Sandstorm also works great in this scenario. Combine with Leftovers for maximum longevity, and your opponent will probably take a lot of random damage throughout their team before something’s able to put a serious dent in Steelix.

Art by Tious

OVERALL: Steelix is a lot of cool stuff that interacts in weird but not quite great ways. Sheer Force is a strong ability, but it can’t really take advantage in the way Nidoran can. Rock Head is great, but it doesn’t get STAB with either of the moves it applies to, unlike Aggron who gets Rock Head with STAB Head Smash. And then there’s Sand Force, which is strong, but as Steelix isn’t actually a Rock type, it doesn’t get the special defense boost.

You know, I kept thinking it, but this whole time it feels like Steelix would be better if everything else were identical but it was Rock/Steel instead of Ground/Steel... Though I guess Steelix’s defenses are overall more favorable, so maybe not.

Steelix is a great tank, and it has a few options of what to do while tanking, especially now that Body Press exists. Mega Steelix is even stronger, with a real attack stat.

I just find myself moderately disappointed in all three ability options, despite them all being great ones.

Also I still think Onix looked cooler.

#Krenko's Pokemon Guide #Onix #Steelix

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