Tag: Friendship

The Totally Awesome Tomodachi Award

My dear island guests it’s been a while since I created my first tag, The Super Happy Love Award! That tag was all about positivity a value I really hold in high esteem! Yet there is another value I pursue here on WordPress.. one that we often share but one that isn’t as much shown through posts. Normally we talk about ourselves.. so this tag will focus around talking about our Community. With a very special game!

A friendship game by yours truely!

-Put the Totally Awesome Tomodachi  Award logo somewhere in your post!
-Thank the person who nominated you or thank the person who won you a nomination!
-Nominate up to four bloggers but DO NOT mention them by name.
-Write about your four nominees, using subjective terms only.. as if you were a friend describing them to another friend (examples follow) DO NOT use factual hard descriptors. End the paragraph with They are my Tomodachi and put a link to one of their articles on that sentence.
-Make assumptions about them, talk about your interaction or memories with them. Just create a fun little text that keeps your readers guessing who this is.Also talk about what they mean to you
-Your followers can play a game if they can recognize the Blogger you are talking about, if they make a guess correctly..they can join the tag as well if they so choose. (Thank the person whose description you guessed) -Readers are encouraged to comment their scores in the comments

And that is all for the rules now let me give you a couple of examples to explain this a bit better.

Since Scott from Mechanical Anime Reviews doesn’t do tagposts I will use him as a neutral example. Most of you know him, otherwise links are still provided!

Wrong Example

This blogger goes by the name of Scott he is a 28 year old man who lives in Wisconsin on top of a decrepit casino. He is the Owner of a Blog that mostly talks about mecha shows but also does a lot of Anitwit watches stuff. He is a member of Owls and his Avatar is either a gundam or a black haired boy. Recently he did a collab with Ashley Capes on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Wrong way to do this tag!  It would take the fun out of this game! That is also not how you would talk about a friend! Or a beloved member of your community.

Right Example

I suspect this blogger really likes the colour yellow, but white, and blue would be two other really good options for this blogger to favorite. I think their favorite letter is a V.. particularly if it’s displayed on a head. I bet they would name their daughter Venus, Jupiter or Mercury as they really seem to think that Ancient Rome was the place to be during some blog tour.. wait it wasn’t ancient Rome.. where else could they have gotten the name from?! I find this blogger among the more serious  bloggers, I bet if you stare in their eyes for a while you would think they are very wise. Whispers in the community go that this person has so much charisma that they make everyone love them deeply and if I would assign this person a role in the community they would be part of it’s beating heart indeed. Clever and very active I suspect this blogger will outlast the most of us on this amazing platform.

They are My Tomodachi!

Make your readers curious about your amazing friend! Give them a chance to recognise some awewsome members in the community! I hope you understand the point of my game now and hope you and your readers will have fun with it and I shall kick off now with my four nominations! NB your CAN nominate less and if you are not nominated you can BE by making a correct guess.

I promised this blogger to create a new tag for them when things seemed a bit dark. Though I am late on fulfilling this promise by a few days due to scheduling, here I am. I highly suspect we share a love for a particular pastel colour. Though the shade they prefer is much less bubblegum like than mine. I bet their mind is wonderfully twisted as we share a love for one of the lesser favored game genres. Though I have never written about a game in the genre this blogger is very active within it. I suspect they are a dog person over a cat person and they are at least somewhat versed into Star Wars so I really can get behind them. I’d say they are the homiest blogger that I follow adhering to more classical values than most of us here. I’d almost consider the word “normal” for them would it not been for that I now know what they do when gaming after dark. 

I do not think this blogger frequents my blog all that much and in honest i must say I haven’t been to theirs in about a month now.. at the time of writing.. at the time of posting I suspect I’ve been back once or twice. If I’d give them a dream job i’d call out interior decorating.. though that is not their real job! Their real job is one of those things i never really get!  I mean I know what it is but it’s way to complicated for me. I might be wrong but I suspect they have a stepping stool! Not for a job but in real life.. they seem tiny to me.. but it might be perspective. The stepping stool has many uses like reaching higher places, but it could also just look cute.. or they could use it for a workout. I’d say they are very open about what is going on in their life and as result I feel like I know them pretty well. I hope they are doing well and that they will participate in this tag.. with how often they get tagged we might only see this next year!

This blogger taught me a lot about self-love, not in the dirty way either. They are always so kind and responsive to my answers though. One of the first people that let me feel welcome in the community. I feel like they are a person who smiles a lot to the outside world.. but deep inside there are some rough seas. They do want to be there for other people though! Their kind words have made me pull trough many blogging rough patches! One of my biggest examples.

They are my Tomodachi!

This one I had to rewrite, since my first write up was for someone who currently is not active in the blogosphere. Once you are back I will do this post with the people I had to skip! So many of you matter to me. So if you notice this one is a bit different.. that’s why!That doesn’t make this person any less of a pick! Just because they exist I already planned a second post, with them as the frontliner! So I just had to swap them around! 

This blogger has been around for a long time though I am not necessarily talking about them as a presence on WordPress here. If I ever went on an Indian vision quest, I think I’d see them as the wise man. Or woman.. .or Non Binary.. but we know the stereotype. I’d imagine I’d have to trek to the desert and the mountains to meet them..but recently I have begun to imagine them floating around in space as well. Luckily I am dutch.. so with some Space-Cake I’ll easily be able to get there! This blogger is one of the most sincere people out there. They will tell you what they feel and do not  try to make the world any prettier than it is. You can tell that they have lived when they present the naked facts of a situation to you. I really like that sense of honesty. I am not saying none of you are honest here! I am just saying this bloggers work have a rawness to them! A natural beauty that I have come to very much appreciate.

This is a blogger with many inner demons, one big one in particular that many people here face in varying degrees of power. Because of this demon this blogger can have the tendency to underestimate themselves. Plenty of you underestimate this blogger as well because their post don’t get enough likes for how insightful they are. So visit their posts and let yourselves be known! Share some love!  Let this blogger inspire you to be yourself without reservation because that is what they set out to do! Either  on WordPress, the stage and out there in real life! Everywhere we see this blogger in their purest form. Very natural! That is beautiful and something I strive for as well. Though where I try to be the purest form of myself by turning myself into an anime character and break through realities limitations to be who I want to be this blogger basicly strips down to the core of their soul . Out in the open for anyone to see. A bit of a .. two sides of a coin story, that gives me an odd sense of synergy! If you don’t believe me, you can go take a hike!

This blogger has helped my troubled mind with that attitude so much! Problems aren’t waved away but validated! Instead  of hugs and kisses we get concrete advise. “Try to look past that”,  “move away from the place you live in even if it’s hard”  “Don’t be afraid for what people say, be afraid of not being able to be yourself’ This is really the type of friend I love to have. Thanks to the wordful magic of WordPress , their blog and their comments on mine now I do! One with a big brain and an even bigger heart!

They are my Tomodachi

This one I confidently call a friend, so that alone definitely earns them a spot on this list. I always wanted to be friends with a magical girl and I guess this is the closest I am ever going to get. While I am a dog person and they definitely would be a cat person I feel like we still have a nice form of chemistry. Me being a bit more kiddy and naive as real me being extra excited about stuff and them walking behind me with a big grin! Handing me a proverbial butterscotch candy! A real one if they could!  Being one of the lesser active bloggers among those I associate with,though rather active recently, they are something I find myself quite endeared too. Least active might not be the correct term but they do write a bit less than me to say the least. Most certainly a cat person, though they like horses too.They are very active in the comments of everyone and their insight and wisdom sometimes makes me think they know what actual dinosaurs looked like… you know… because…

Of course that implication is only a joke as I already consider myself a fossil Pokemon. Of all the persons I follow I bet their house is the most likely to hold some crayons or maybe acrylic paints. Though I’d also imagine them hardly using it. I also kinda assume this person has loads of candles in their home. Multi coloured ones as well. They also seem like a bath person.. with scented oils and stuff. I bet they enjoy a good full moon too! Out of all you WordPresses following me I feel like this person is the most likely to play Board-Games with me, though I also feel they would easily lose to me because they would play to nice. One of the kindest and soft spoken WordPress peeps out there I suspect their voice would almost be enchanting. I am blessed to call them my friend.

This one really made me feel a sense of togetherness when I was at a low of it. So many of you have seen so much more anime than I, are so much more versed in gaming and I felt there were “camps”  as it were.. welcoming to those from other camps as it may be.. each group had a core group and I was painfully aware I just glomped on. This blogger made me feel special. Now I know that is a vanity thing and we all have our favorites but it just felt so great that with this one I feel like I reached their inner core! Like if they’d go camping with 10 other WordPresser’s I feel like they are the one that would mention me!

They are my Tomodachi

So for my last nomination I considered three people. One of them still has a few tags of me to do so they are out, for this round, the other might be a bit to obvious and the third option might be a bit too uncertain to bite down in this post for now. So i guess… the obvious one it is…with a twist! The shy one will be nominated too! I will talk about the two options in conjunction and tag them both!  Extra guesses for you all to play the game! More friends for me!

The obvious one.. I think is very easy.. I guess half of you all already have the named guessed correctly. Yet let me try to muddle the pond just a bit. I suspect that The Obvious choice doesn’t speak as much English as you all would suspect. I suspect their native languages or most spoken languages can really point out a flaw in one of the most famous Dexter’s Lab Episodes.. that dealt with said language. I might be wrong though! I do not know a lot aboot their country. Shy choice however now that is an born English speaker. I do not know why but I think Shy choice prefers dubs. Obvious Choice prefers subs I would think.  While Obvious to us is a very in your face personality and Shy is …well uhm… shy?! (Great writing skills Pinkie)  I think if we met them at a convention their persona’s would be flipped. I am pretty sure Shy Cosplays and Obvious would rather hide in the ceiling or toilets until it’s all over.

So I broke my own nomination rule in the very first post.. what a good example I am. They whose nomination makes the most sense would absolutely do the same. Rules are meant to forgotten or rambled over. Shy would probably break the rule as well .. but be very apologetic about it.  Decoration wise I think Shy has a much cuter bed filled with plushies.  Obvious seems more like a neat pillow person. Maybe with some inspirational texts like “You can do it” or “I sold ice to Eskimos and all I got was this adorable pillow” Shy choice I feel walks in heels more then her fellow nominee, obvious I feel wears more practical and a bit more butch shoes. What’s that.. a boot?  Might be a question they get asked frequently.. somehow maybe even without wearing boots?! What’s that about?! Obvious has seen more anime , but Shy has seen more cartoons. One of them I have seen a picture off! Both of them are super positive and happy people that I would love to be friends with in real life. I’d nickname them Kuro and Shirou.. though in one case that name has gone somewhat outdated. 

The most humble of the two gave me my first comment ever. They are the spark of hope I needed that I could indeed find a community here! They are the example of possibility. I had a few blogs before that never got any followers and if they did they were silent.. I abandoned these projects after about two to four weeks each.  Now I am almost a year in and still going strong!  All because of this brave littler blogger who let me know they loved Umbreon!

The more outgoing, well known and obvious choice has taught me not to throw my voice. I wanted to write to appeal to many people.. play the numbers game. Yet their quirky style and how they are well thought of in the community made me  realise I do not need to do that. Because of this person I have actual fun in blogging!  I can be weird and I love being weird with them!

Obviously, They are my Tomodachi!

Even though they are shy,They are my Tomodachi!

Now I hope you had fun in guessing who these bloggers are and hopefuly you guessed some correct so we can be a big happy family! Remember if you guessed one correctly.. you are a Totally Awesome Tomodachi of one of us .. so you can play as well! Holy Mailman if you guessed one correctly that means you’ll have to set up a blog 😉 Also Scott I know you don’t do tag posts but should you feel inclined.. everyone loves you so you are a Totally Awesome Tomodachi as well so consider yourself nominated as well. My muse, this tag is waiting for you in the future as well, if you do your homework 😉

To all the others! A second round is coming somewhere in the next month or so! My selections are already made! Yet it’s not written yet! Feel free to convince me you are a Totally Awesome Tomodachi as well .. and I do not mean that in a lewd or e-begging way!

Pinkie in Love? The legitimacy of online bonds!

Hey Island Guests, I am sorry for closing the island down for nearly an entire week but I was in rough shape. As you might know I try to make love and positivity an important element of this blog and I felt I could not bring that to the table. A talk shook my believes and destroyed something beautiful I sorta had..without having it… Now I wonder.. can strictly online based feelings.. of either love or friendship ever be real?

Only Real is Real!

A Covid-instigated-depression came and completely wiped me for a bit. Luckily I could chill with Animal Crossing while I dealt with my issues..but I got this seasonal switch energy drain alongside it.. so the past few days have been a bit hazy and sad. I am a weak person, healthwise so I am kind of scared for this virus.. which got me into conflict with one of my best friends. He wants me to use public transport, go with him to fun places where there are people… and basically do anything the doctor advises against. Me being a frail little person with a weak heart and damaged lungs… prefers to listen to the doctors. I told him we could hang out online and voice chat and such… and he told me that online bonds are never real you have to see someone face to face…. somehow that got stuck in my head…. and completely floored me… what in my life is real.

He then blamed me for thinking that I could sustain a friendship online. He did not want some “bug” to water down our friendship. I would happily travel to him to have dinners with him if he would not break all the Corona rules himself.. he keeps travel to friends all over the place, hugging them, being super close to everyone. It’s not like I blame him either, he is young and healthy and will not have a lot of trouble so I don’t disapprove of it.. just because he does it I can’t hang out with him or risk the 1 hour by public transport trip for two hours of company. I rather phone, chat or whatsapp… but he told me it all isn’t real. Plenty of people think like this and it kinda messed me up. Am I wasting my time looking for online friends? I wasn’t sure for a bit. I was still pretty sure that I made some valid friends…. then a series of unfortunate events put some cinder blocks on my feet and threw me into the deep end of the pool.

Ce-Web-rity Crushes

I am not a very passionate person, I love people to bits but always in a very platonic way. I haven’t had a major crush since 2016. Yet the past few months I suddenly felt happier than I ever did. My new online lifestyle suited me and I felt I connected to people. On youtube (as a viewer) on Twitter and even more “locally”..on my main hangout here! The were 3 separated people I had “feelings”for.  Now I would not say I was completely smitten with any of these three (alleged) women but I just felt happy to interact. I would say they would more qualify as people I really wanted to be friends with and would not mind being more than friends with. The latter in a really weak sense of the word though. Youtube , Twitter and WordPress personalities don’t always have to align with how someone is so .. it felt like picking a Waifu that is a fictional character inside an anime.. Like two levels of fiction… Still it was a nice and innocent fantasy to have. It made me happy that I felt this again.

The youtube personality hit me hardest, you see an actual person. However what made me want to be her friend was the way she edits her videos. The first videos I watched of her where so perfect… like I would edit them in the exact same way and if I wondered why she missed a reference it would pop up a second later. She is a (inactive) Lolita youtuber that visited Japan and vlogged her adventures. Not too pretty (being too pretty  is like a turn off to me.. if you look like a hollywood actor I am NOT gonna be attracted to you) but cute as a button, a mind similar like mine and she introduced me to some fascinating things I all really enjoy. Our mindsets are super compatible. I followed her and interacted with her on Twitter, again showing that we are mentally on the same page.

She’s straight so I knew it was never going to be more than friendship. She was going to play Animal Crossing and I hoped that one day we could play together…arrogant as I can be. Her channel doesn’t have that many followers (somewhere between 500 and 700 I think) so I thought there might be a chance. She explained she would only play with mutuals and actual friends though… which is fine and completely understandable. However this happened on the same day as the prior incident… so suddenly this happy bubble of “what if” popped for me.  Again I completely understand her.. but the phrasing and timing felt like a gut punch.. reality can be a female dog.

Social Media Deception

Through this you tuber I got to know one of her friends on Twitter. Playing Dungeon and Dragons, quite pink, loving many tv shows I did. Again we talked a bit , though nothing to special, but hey interaction is interaction and it made me happy again. I learned stuff about them , got to show some support and we played a few of those “social media games” I normally tend to avoid..because hers looked like fun to me.  Now that doesn’t mean I hate the other games.. but I don’t listen to music on my phone and most of the pictures I get on there are either of people’s pets or stuff I use for my blog.. so those “share the last” thingies I just don’t do. Tell about yourself in 3 vampires.. feels a lot more personal and interesting and doesn’t require me to break trust of other people or listen to music to fill a list.
Getting of topic here.. she was just someone I loved to interact with. Her low follower count, made me feel like .. I mattered.. in a way. Which is a bit of a deception.

Just because someone on YouTube or Twitter or WordPress doesn’t have a lot of followers doesn’t mean that they see you as an actual friend. Friendship is a subjective term and it’s important to keep this in mind. Just because Twitter says you follow someone and they acknowledge you doesn’t make them your friend yet. I am well aware of this and do not consider this person as a friend yet..but I felt there was friendship potential. However .. (I told you before I get really unlucky)  around the same time I went through my crisis this person went to hers. It basically invalidated what happened before. A reset button of sorts was pressed. Other than me a few real friends reacted to messages and from the way you talk, you can tell I am just a follower. Both ways.. which i fine and again I do not really expect to get anything more out of it…yet it’s like you get new shoes. You proudly show them off to your friend and than all the other girls at the party take out their phones and show off complete new outfits. No matter how happy you are with your new shoes it pales in comparison. Social Media has all sorts of weird rules.. which aren’t true. People only care about you if they are mutuals is not true, because both the above appreciate my words they just choose to keep their Twitter feats as clean as possible. There are people that matter more to them or things they rather keep of their pages. In their own way they do appreciate and evaluate me… but just like those shoes.. due to having access to other dialogue it can all seem pale and empty.

WordPress Friends

Does that mean however that online friendship can’t be real?  Because we always look at things from different angles? I do not think so. I have a few online friends who I actually think of a friends. I have a few people in my online D&D game that I think the world off, even though I haven’t seen any of them in person yet. There are some bonds that I made through role playing in video games that will last and I really hope to achieve that on WordPress as well.  You know the “ lets talk in DM’s on Twitter” or add “me on discord” kind of friends. I am not there yet, though I do think I am beginning to know a few of you very well. I think I might have spotted some unspoken things about a few of you. I may be wrong..but I see patterns, I see when people act different than they usually do and that makes me feel that we are actually forming actual bonds. Some people begin to trust me and open up to me, others just ramble against me like it’s perfectly normal.. like in a way you would talk to a friend.  So WordPress really does make me happy.

Yet because of the words of that friend, I began to worry. I began noticing the “dark things”. I see cliques forming. “Islands” as it were of a cluster of bloggers. For example there is the OWLS bloggers, but the clique is very centered at the original members. Than there is the Jon Spencer Gang, a lovely bunch but something I could not really connect to as our angles are to different. I feel to shallow or bubbly to fit in there. I feel like a sweet lolita with a pink sparkly pen.. writing among monk robed scholars writing with goose feather pens and east Indian ink there. The underachiever in the room. I felt really bad and could not mesh with the tone so I left his chat silently. There is also the Island of Lita, which tone wise I connect closer too but experience wise I am way behind. Anime is one of the things I care about but It’s one of the things I do spend less time with, simply because I don’t have a great set up to watch it as comfily as I can.. watch a movie on tv. I feel too inexperienced to follow their conversations most of the time. I also followed Hikari’s channel but it was heavily focused on Manga and I am just not that much into manga. Way less than I am into anime. Anime and Manga are a bit of a hassle for me to obtain and for the first one I do think the effort is worth it for the second not so much. I feel like I am adrift between islands. I am there and I am recognized.. but I am not sure if I belong.

Pink Floaties

It’s not like I am drowning in the open sea because I got a few bloggers that keep me adrift like pink floaties of happiness, giving me the idea that at least somewhere there is a land where I can make new friends.  The thought kept me going and keeps me trying new things. Like SMILE-Force was a thing. (And still is going to be ) I got two sign ups ..though one still has to write me about it, and maybe that can be a springboard towards that sense of community. I love the support of some of the people here and the wisdom of some people here and again that keeps me strong enough not to throw in the towel. Yet I do realise that what I wish to achieve with this blog is a community.. people to talk with, to banter and just have fun. Writing does help me deal with stuff as well to clear my head as it were, yet I still feel like I am not good enough at it. This is for example why I never participate in the Jon Spencer Creator Showcase things anymore. I write because I have fun doing it.. not because I am proud of it. Let’s be honest if you actively follow me, you do so because my tone suits you or you like to read something that’s a bit different. I do not produce high quality journalist grade content..so if you are not following me already , I do not think Jon Spencer’s Showcase will convince you to do so.

Which brings me back to the whole adrift in the sea thing! Followers that stick to me, come from places like Irina’s I Drink and Watch Anime  and sometimes from Megan’s A Geeky Gal. Along with some lesser active places. Now when I say followers, I don’t mean people who see a tag post and click follow this blog and not do anything about it ever again.  I mean people who read and comment, people like Foovay, Iridium Eye (I would use your first names but I opted against it as people most likely will now know who I mean) Fred, Mallow and the likes. Of course if you actively read my blog ..and I have a fair bit of insight in who does and who doesn’t I’d count you amongst those people as well. .I just am not willing to guesstimate this by naming names.  However I do notice that some of my articles get less views than they do likes. So I have a fair bit of courtesy followers as well. While a courtesy follow does add some air to my pink little floaties, it doesn’t bring me any closer to finding my island.

All in all I think there is some semblance of community there. Some people I would almost count as friends and for the most of you I would still love to get to know you better! I do think online bonds are real but like actual friendships it needs to be mutual! So I played with open cards here! Now that I am way to many words in I realise I never even talked about how my WordPress Crush crumbled. Well that one kind of faded away due my new realizations. I am pretty sure they are taken anyway. I realised that I don’t need a crush right now.. I have a goal to find my island and find the place where I belong. That means I can not be distracted by singular people! I should be the me who I was… the one that says…. Remember I love you all, keep smiling and stay positive! Thank you for being my pink floaties!

What if Ash was a girl (Part 2)

Hey little monsters, today we return to one of my personal favorites stories to tell. What if Ash was a girl. Regular Ash was a stereotypical boy so for this story we use a persona Ash has used several times throughout the anime ‘Ashley Ketchum’ but rather than being Ash in a dress, like any 90’s anime did at the time, she is a typical girly girl.  In the last part we saw that being a girl made her much closer to her mother than Ash was and listened to Delia’s advice going to bed early. As a result Ashley unlike Ash did not oversleep and get her first pick! A Bulbasaur she nicknamed Flora. Quite infatuated by the young Gary Oak, Ashley determined to be a strong trainer who could beat Gary in a battle so he would fall in love with her. Yet Gary upon seeing Ashley’s pick decided to go Charmander.. putting her at a disadvantage. After failing to catch a Pidgey because her throwing skills suck the young girl gave it some thought and decided to catch a water pokémon first. This let to her staring at a young tomboyish girl that was fishing.  If you want to catch up on part 1 you can do so here.

Chapter 5: The Tomboy and the Girly Girl. 

Misty stared at her line in bliss, not noticing the girl standing behind her. As she felt the wind on her skin and rustling through the grass she was grateful for this serene moment. That moment would be fleeting though as suddenly her line went tense as she had a bite. With a brisk pull she fished out a Goldeen out of the water. This pokémon looked somewhat similar to a horned goldfish. Most of its body was in a silverish white though.. but goldfish like patterns coloured it up top and it’s fanning tail. She grabbed a pokéball and before the fish pokémon could flop more she hit it dead on with the pokeball causing the pokémon to be turned into energy and being sucked up in the catching device. As the Pokéball fell into the grass Ashley back in the bushes could not contain her excitement anymore.  ‘That was amazing can you teach me how to do that?’ As our heroine tried to make her way through the bushes her dress snagged on a branch causing her to trip into a bike that was standing on top of the hill causing it to fall down. ‘Hey that’s my bike!’ Misty shouted when her pokéball opened at the second wobble. Being to distracted by the incident Misty was unable to prevent the little goldeen from bouncing in the water. ‘Well thanks for nothing.. you made me lose my second goldeen of the day’ Misty shouted towards angrily towards Ashley. Ashley not used of negativity sobbed a bit at how her plan failed and how awkward she must have looked. ‘I … I am … so.. sorry… I … did not know… it went into the pokéball right? So why did it not stay in there?. Misty scoffed ‘Well if you don’t even know that you best better go home and study instead of destroying my bike’ Misty walked up to inspect her expensive means of transportation.  Fortunately nothing to bad had happened to it.. the headlamp was a bit off position. Ashley had trouble fending of the mean comments and some tears brimmed in her eyes she had to spend all her focus on to ward off, Misty noticed. ‘Hey.. I didn’t mean to make you cry.. did you hurt yourself? Why were you there in the bushes?’ The ginger fisherman’s newfound compasion soothed the new trainer a bit as she began to explain her story. “I am Ashley Ketchum, from Pallet Town.. I started my trainer journey today… and I picked Flora my bulbasaur, but than the boy I like picked a fire type..and I really want him to notice me so I was looking for a water pokémon when I saw you..but I really suck at throwing pokéballs..so I thought maybe I should keep watching to see if I learn anything. Misty chuckled the girl that was so awkward and lost looking, she could not help to feel some compassion for the kid. ‘Sit with me kid.. .. Ashley right? I’ll try to teach you a thing of two then you can try for yourself.’ Ashley nodded and followed Misty down the slope. Misty looked at her and began. ‘Lesson one! All boys are dumb. They always think we like them anyway.. but dont show it that much.. when you see the boy again tell him he is stupid.. and it’s not like you like him or anything’

Chapter 6: Ashley catches a Pokémon.

The girls spend a long while talking about boys and water pokémon. Misty told Ashley that she and her sister ran the cerulean city gym but that she preferred to be a bit more free. She came here in the hope of catching a Magikarp as she really wanted a Gyarados to show her sisters that she in fact was the best trainer in the family. Ashley nodded and told Misty that if she would catch a Magikarp she would let Misty capture it. In the distance a bit of a thunderstorm rumbled. ‘Seems like there is bad weather around Viridian City’ Misty said, I know we are close but perhaps it is better if we camp here tonight?’ Ashley blushed a bit, she never really had friends before, her mom told her stories from before the war but in Pallet Town there only were boys of her age and they all thought she had cooties. ‘W-W-We?’  Ashley asked stammering. Misty frowned. ‘You do have a tent right? It will be like a sleep over.’ She looked and saw as the pink dressed girl’s face twisted looking completely puzzled. ‘What’s a sleep over’ Ashley asked. The Cerulean city Gym leader let out a tiny gasp and asked ‘Ashley don’t you have any friends?’. The girl from pallet town panicked, this would make her look bad , her brain wasnt working when she blurted out ‘Well mom is my best friend’ clearly this was the wrong answer as Misty began to laugh hysterically. Ashley puffed up her cheeks and stomped the floor at the girls rudeness when suddenly the water surface cracked and a tadpole with feet and a spiral pattern hopped out of the water. Looking startled at the loud sounds all of the sudden. ‘Ashley wait look it’s a pokémon’ Misty shouted loudly once more scaring the little poliwag into hiding behind Ashley.  “What do I do, What do I do?’ the pink dressed trainer asked panicking. ‘You capture it’ shouted her new friend. Grabbing for her pokéballs frantically our heroine felt how a ball slipped from her hand and plummeted straight down.. bonking the poliwag on the head. With a red light the poliwag was morphed into energy that would soon be contained into the ball. The ball wobbled three times while a red LED light changed green with a melodical ping. ‘What happened?’ Ashley asked. ‘Where did it go?’ Misty walked closer while ruffling the frantic girl’s hair a bit she picked up the pokéball and handed it to her. You just caught your first pokémon Ash.

Chapter 7: You’ve got a friend in me. 

‘I can’t believe I captured my first pokémon by accident’  Ashley moped a bit as she stared at her pokéball embarrassed. ‘Yeah you are pretty green kid’ Misty laughed. Say how about we travel together for a bit? You can use the help and I can use the company’ She gave the sad looking girl a pad on the shoulder. ‘You’ll become a great trainer I am sure, after all  you are my student and I am a gym leader .. and we are friends now.’ Ashley felt a bit better after those words and nodded. ‘Poliwag I choose you’ Ashley sad as she threw her pokeball randomly. The adorable tadpole Pokémon appeared again ushering it’s name’ poliwag poli’ Ashley picked it up and examined it closely. ‘Polly huh.. is that your name girl?’ ‘Poli’ said the water type in reply. ‘Okay I will nickname you Polly then… Polly meet Misty my first human friend and also meet Flora.. your sister and teammate’ She called her Bulbasaur out as well and the two pokémon seemed to happily converse. ‘See how happy they both look’ said Misty’ that must mean you are a great trainer greeny! You just don’t know it yet yourself’ She looked at the girl who stared at her new pokémon gleefully and asked’  You don’t know how to set up a tent I presume? So how about I set up the camp and you cook some food?’ ‘Oh that’s a great idea Misty’ Ashley said ‘Mamma thought me how to cook from when I was like six.. she told me she made Pappa fall in love with her through her cooking.’ She smiled as she got a small cooking kit from her backpack as well as some supplies. The orange headed girl unstrapped Ashley’s tent from her bag first and began to set it up with ease. ‘Tomorrow I shall teach you how to set this up okay, are you close with your father by the way?’ The awkward silence that followed cued Misty in on what the answer was gonna be in advance. ‘Dad left to fight in the war one day, he never returned it’s been me and Mamma since almost as long as I can remember. I remember he showed me a rapidash.. but that is my only memory of him’ Ashley said.  She wanted to tell more but suddenly two strong arms grabbed her and hugged her tightly as Misty had her locked in a strong embrace. ‘My parents also left me and my sisters, after the war though, not even that long ago.. but I could never go out because we had the gym to take care off.. we hoped they would come back but…..’ Her words were cut off by grief and sadness. As dusk began to set in the two shared a meal and some deep conversation about their parents their duties and such. Ashley told how she tried to befriend the boys in town by baking them cupcakes, but when she gave them they threw them at her saying they did not want cooties. Misty shared stories on how her sisters felt superior to her just because they were older and how she had not been happy for a long time. After Ashley told a few more stories of her lonely childhood Misty began to realise something. She had friends once, but when she became gym leader those had all faded because of her duties. She might have been Ashley’s only friend but the reverse was quite true as well, this rookie trainer now was her only friend as well. She would need a friend for the horrible part of her journey that was to come anyway but she decided not to tell her new best friend about this yet, she was the cool one of the two for now. After a long night of sharing the two retreated to their own tent falling asleep with a content smile. 

Chapter 8: Viridian City

The next day the pair would travel towards Viridian City. Misty told Ashley they would need to go shopping because Ashley’s pink dress was not ideal adventuring gear. They would need something they could climb in and something that would not snag at every tree while they are crossing a forest For some reason Misty did seem quite adamant on the option to avoid the forest. Even if traveling would take quite a few extra days.  The trainer from Pallet Town however disagreed with that, she had hoped to rush towards Pewter city as fast as she could to beat Gary in a battle using Polly so he could fall in love with her. Polly and Flora were taken out of their Pokéball and walking alongside the pair as they passed a police station that was surrounded by people. ‘What’s happening here?’ Misty asked one of the random bystanders. He was a chubby man, wearing a purple t-shirt and some jean shorts that were to short for him, big curly hair and a heavy morning shadow made the water trainer think this man did not go out a lot. ‘You see! Last night officer Jenny apprehended two criminals who were attacking the pokémon center but they had like a talking Meowth or so is said.. so people want to see and they want some answer on the recent thefts as well. ‘Oh a police officer stopped criminals last night? That sounds exciting’  Ashley said slightly holding her sleeves in front of her nose to drown out the man’s potent body odor’ Yes you see, she arrived at the scene a bit late .. the team had already snatched quite a few pokéballs along but this made them slow, giving officer Jenny enough time to take down their Balloon with her Growlithe. They attacked with ignitable gas so there was risk of explosions throughout the battle that could have compromised the structural integrity of the pokémon center but Jenny was to smart. Eventually her Growlithe went down and Team Rocket tried to steal her motorcycle but she had the keys so they could not flee. Stuck in the sidecar the man and the meowth where apprehended. The woman tried to fight again but she could not get passed the amazing Chansey of Nurse Joy! So I came here today to ask both on a date. The main straightened his thick glasses. ‘But they are way out of your league’ Ashley blurted out. ‘Girls want boys who take a bit better care of themselves you know’ The man ogled her with disdain. Do you not know who I am? My name is X! That’s right X Posure! The greatest pokémon complot theorist blogger there is. If I can date either of these two girls I will get insight in the government and can find out if they have just planted Team Rocket to seem capable themselves. These two criminals seem grossly incompetent in my analysis after all, so why would team rocket send these two?.  ‘That’s not the right reason to date a girl’ Ashley picked up. ‘You date a girl because you want to be with her and because she makes you feel special and in love.’ The man scoffed ‘Such naive.. could you possibly be a government spy trying to take me down?’ As Ashley wanted to begin to explain again Misty grabbed her by the ear and dragged her away. ‘Alright that’s enough of this insanity.. no need to keep up this stupid debate he is just there for Exposure…. the blog.

Let’s spend our time in a more worthwhile way! Shopping! The pair visited the mall and looked at some cute boys and even cuter outfits. Ashley got two new outfits. A sky blue tank top with matching socks and a red turbine skirt. She combined this with some white clog-like walking shoes with cute red straps matching her skirt. To accessorise she bought a white felt boater hat and a cute little yellow purse to carry everything at the ready.. so she did not have to rummage her backpack all the time. Her other outfit was a black tank top and some jean hotpants of Misty’s favorite brand. The tanktop would have a sky blue collar leading into a fist size blue dot on her sternum. Sneakers in matching colours would be great for walking through the city. She would accessories by wearing some cute white flannel wristbands with a ring on the top. Each city she would visit she would buy a charm and add it to one of these rings. She found a cute one that was shaped like a silver feather that was split at the top. It was called the silver wing. After they were done shopping Ashley immediately redressed in her city outfit. ‘How do I look she asked’  Misty nodded at her approvingly and gave her a thumbs up. ‘You look super cute in that outfit Ash… still a bit Green though.

Ashley’s story might began quite a bit slower paced than the original or my other stories but soon the pair will have to travel Viridian Forest and from there on out Ashley’s  journey will truly begin. With no Ash to to blow team Rocket up and away.. Jenny was able to make the arrest as due to her function she would be much more focussed on apprehending the thieves than Ash ever would. Ashley unlike Ash.. never encountered Ho-Oh, but due her conversations with Misty being more open has gathered a lot of experience and information Ash would not acquire till much later. With very different motives and a very different persona Ashley will continue to go down a completely different journey with quite different encounters you never know what happens next. To find out you’ll just have to wait and read our next episode! Until then leave a comment and remember!

I am not weird. Just Very Pink!
Until we Read again!

XO
Pinkie

My favourite Pokémon: Sylveon

Hello again  my little monsters, each monday I will talk about a specific Pokémon, of course when kicking off this blog I just need to make one post for everything so it might not be monday.. but meh! Anyway  talking about my favorite Pokémon off al time seemed like a good place to start. You have read the title..most likely, so you already know its Sylveon.

Design:
Let’s break down why I love this Pokémon so much. Step one it’s design. In my humble opinion it’s the best looking Eeveelution by far. Of course it helps vastly that it is made in my favorite colour and its absolutely cute as a button but there are so many design choices that work for it as well. Putting it leagues above the likes of Glaceon Jolteon and Leafeon, and putting it still quite a bit above Flareon, Espeon and Vaporeon. It’s only rival in my opinion is Umbreon. They even help each other boost to new levels. Eevee to me is kind of like the ultimate “pet” Pokémon and I prefer the Eeveelutions that keep that quality. 
Jolteon Vaporeon and Leafeon kinda drop the ball in this category in my opinion.  Jolteon looks to “rough” for a pet, while Vaporeon gets too “weird” to be a pet, it’s fishtail and that big collar make me think it’s kinda slimy and not as huggable. Leafeon becomes too skinny and frail looking, giving it a much more “wildlife” vibe to it. The others all keep the “pet’ feeling quite intact. Next on the agenda,does it read like it’s typing. Umbreon Sylveon, Vaporeon Flareon and Leafeon read incredibly well as their types. Imagine watching them in black and white, for all of those you can still pretty much tell what type they would represent.
Espeon’s readability doesn’t directly scream psychic.. it’s mostly the colour that gives it away, the split tail or gemmed head might remind of us psychic by referring it to other things and legends and the likes it doesn’t scream it out to me. Jolteon in black and white would be just a spikey dog, something I if I wasn’t aware might rather class as a bug type like look.   Glaceon just looks sharp, there is nothing that would give away it’s ice type accept for its colour, if I saw it in black and white I might think it’s a steel type or so instead, it just has it’s colour going for it really.
Now why does Sylveon’s design work so much for me? It represents the Pokemon perfectly, much like Umbreon. Where Umbreon is very sparingly decorated to represent the emptiness of the night with their only being the moonlight to keep you company Sylveon is in many ways the polar opposite. Sylveon becomes what it is by showering it with love and presents ( sweets or games etc)  and that is captured in its design very well. It feels lavish, it feels like it’s been groomed. The ribbons representing all the stuff you deck your pet out with, giving it a much needed departure from the very basic peers of it. It feels more colourful than the others, yet it doesn’t actually use more kinds of colours then most.
Most of the family is made up out of four colours, with some minor intensity changes. Though some only use three. Sylveon is made up out of just four colours as well.
The slightly pinked white, the bright pink, a light blue and a dark blue. Yet with Sylveon you feel like there is more, I for one distinctly  and always remember there being a softish yellow on it’s ribbons as well as the four earlier mentioned colours, and it’s eyes just are more sparkly for me. When it’s out of the pokeball and the ribbons wave around it just feels so alive and vibrant to me that I just think … I would love that to bits… and that is exactly what Sylveon has to be about. 

In game
Now if a great design automatically meant a great Pokémon, I would always run Swanna and Alolan Ninetales in my team, but unfort, I don’t particularly enjoy battling with either. Alolan Ninetales really felt lackluster when I ran it on my team..partially due to how terrible the ice typing is. Most of the Eeve’s are not very usable in battle.  Flareon, Leafeon (kinda) Umbreon and Sylveon being the exceptions. Leafeon being bogged down by needing a lot of set up unfortunately can’t compete with the other three. In fact the fire dark and fairy trio are pretty much the only eeveelutions you get during Random Battles at Pokémon showdown.. a good way of telegraphing what they are capable off. Sylveon being the only one of the three, that can fulfill a more versatile role.  Umbreon will always be your toxic stalling wall. Flareon you run with an Toxic Orb and Guts and the whole physical sweeper shabang, that Swellow and Talonflame do better. Sylveon can function as a toxic staller, as a team healer, with Pixilate-Hypervoice it can adequately damage as well and it’s one of three Eevee’s that has an immunity, the others being Umbreon and Eevee itself, for safe swapping. The fact that it can safely be swapped into a subbed (behind a substitute) outrager makes it nice to use in some friendly battles. During the regular game its bulky enough to take some hits and strong enough to deal some damage, making it a delight for your team in that aspect as well.
Here is where Umbreon falls a bit flat for me, as toxic stalling mostly shines in Nuzlockes, which I don’t like cause I will cry if my Pokémon dies.  So another point for Sylveon.I also feel I encounter more fighting, dragon and dark types then I would encounter psychic or ghost types so yet another point where Sylveon has what the japanese call “Blacky” beat.

Appeal
‘Okay great Pinkie, yes Sylveon might be on of the better Eevee’s but why use that overused troper, there are so many cool Pokémon, why would you keep going to Sylveon?’
That is a good question actually, whenever I do a run without a Sylveon in my team… I feel naked. I feel like I am actually lacking something. Poke-Amie isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do in the games, but the feedback when a pokemon hangs on for you, or when it looks at you when it landed a big hit, it does do something for me. I care more for such Pokémon, and because I can’t escape that with Sylveon, even when I rush through a game otherwise, it will be the one I care about most. I’ve bonded with this Pokémon in a way like I never did to a Pokémon before. Not even the follower Pokémon in Heart Gold and Silver not even the Pixelgoop, I mean Pikachu from Yellow, felt as close to me… and as loving to me as Sylveon does. Though I love Pokémon very much, the idea of creating a Pokémon that actually loves you back I’d say was a stroke of sheer brilliance. Sylveon doesn’t love you because it walked enough steps or murdered enough of Joey’s rattata to max the damage on return? No you have to earn it’s love to draw out it’s potential, you have to make it love you, and when it finally does it always will. Sylveon might not have been my first Pokémon, it was my first Pokémon companion, dramatically increasing how much I like it.
The very way it is designed, the way you evolve it and interact with it, I have never felt a Pokémon to be as much of a pal to me before Sylveon.
Of course Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu blow it out of the water now, but hey, I might have nicknamed my Eevee “ Sylveon” and when it uses Sparkly Swirl… it channels the spirit of its inner Sylveon…not because I love it .. but because it loves ME! No other Pokémon can do it like my pink little adorable ribbon floof. No matter the design, no matter the mechanics. Sylveon loves me…and I love it because of it.

Well then my little monsters, I could go on about Sylveon’s cute anime moments, and how I love it’s cry, and its Gijnaka’s but I figured it’s time to leave the floor to you.
What is your favorite Pokémon? Leave a comment to tell me! Leave a like to farm some affection from me.. so one day I may turn into a real life Sylveon as well.
But before that day has come, be good to your Pokémon , make them love you but love them back and stay pink!
Until we read again.