henrymidfields

After some restructuring into a fictional directory and almanac of the League Organization, I finally completed the Who's Who for Kanto. Main thread is here, feedback should be posted here.

The editorial teams as compiled their reports in the latest information of the Tokiwa Gym, now restructured and owned directly by the Kanto Regional League. This concludes the latest report the Comission has on the current situation of the Kanto Region Gyms. Tokiwa Gym 常葉ポケモンリーグジム Out of all of the Gyms in the Kanto region, the recently-reestablished Tokiwa Pokemon Gym is unique in that the Regional League Commission directly owns the Gym and directly appoints the Gym Leader and other managers. It is also the only Gym with a 1st Class Certification, therefore being the Gym that can only be challenged after winning the other seven badges. As such, Gym membership is highly competitive, with almost everyone there being full-time members and paid professionals. In exchange for generous salaries and the resulting opportunities for full-time training, members are assigned on-call duties as part of the League’s emergency response team for disasters. A few trainers that are qualified police officers also respond to The new Gym was founded after the abolition of the old one, which was run by the Tojo-Sumiyoshi Family as a front organization for Team Rocket. The aftermath of the July 9 Insurrection uncovered many scandals in various organizations across Shoyo, one of which included various kickbacks and bribes involving both officials in the Regional League Commission and the Sports Agency in exchange for the Tojo-Sumiyoshi family’s former Gym. After some political wrangling which involved two Imperial Commissions and the resultant arrest of the previous Head Commissioner and several other senior officials, the restructured Regional League Commission took upon itself to establish a new gym directly under its jurisdiction. Shigeru Okido 大木戸 滋 (Gary Oak) A grandson of the famous Pokemon Professor Yukinari Okido, Shigeru follows a more active approach as researcher, who is often out on missions and other adventures across Shoyo and the globe when his Gym does not have any examinations scheduled. Shigeru was once a competitor of the 2004 and 2005 Central Shoyo Region League alongside his former rival Satoshi Hatamoto and Midori Aoki until receiving his current calling as a researcher. Nowadays, he serves as the go to trainer for monitoring and investigating the different legendary Pokemon across the globe, often in cooperation with various adventuring trainers including his trusted former rivals. Fittingly, as a First-Class Gym Leader, Shigeru Okido represents the final examiner for aspiring league participants. Alongside his vast knowledge of different Pokemon, he also keeps all of his trusty partners in tip-top shape, whether for sanctioned battles or a no-holds-barred fight against power-hungry megalomaniacs, and no matter who you send out, he will have an answer. In addition, and many of his Elite-class Trainers in the Gym are handpicked by either him or Midori, or by Satoshi’s suggestions, and Shigeru has matured into someone humble enough to learn from them and adapt. Pokemon: Blastoise, Pidgeot, Arcanine, Electivire, Tyranitar Midori Aoki 青木 緑 (Leanne Greenway) Midori Aoki is an old friend and former rival of Shigeru who was also a budding league trainer and a participant in the 2004 and 2005 Central Shoyo Region League. Similarly to Shigeru, Midori also had her calling elsewhere, although in her case it was to record and tell the tragedies and joys of Pokemon in our society – in fact, she is our former writer who would still runs across Shoyo to chase after Pokemon of legend or myths, until Shigeru headhunted her for his monitoring and investigation project. While she may not have the refined techniques of Pokemon battles as Shigeru does, this is small comfort for many of the budding trainers when they cross her path and goad her into battle. Despite her outwardly shy behaviour, many of her past opponents admitted that she pays more attention to the battle than she lets on. And she will use anything, and everything to her advantage – whether to distract you, or to overpower you – making her an unpredictable, and arguably more dangerous opponent to face – a fact that even Shigeru himself admits in a recent interview. Pokemon: Venusaur, Clefable, Kingdra, Kangaskhan, Ninetales Datsura Tashiki 多色 騨都螺 (Noland Malteser) Datsura Tashiki is one of the more famous trainers in the gym which deserves a special mention. While most trainers know Tashiki as the Frontier Brain for the East Asian Battle Frontier in Majimina City, Tashiki is also the part-time consulting trainer for many of the Gym members of the Elite level, including Leader Shigeru himself, and has been responsible for assigning the personalised training regimens to each individual trainers. While most trainers could only master their battles through a selection of 12 at most, Tashiki is one of the few exceptions who can fight with all of the Pokemon found in Shoyo (numbering over 500 including the recently rediscovered Hisuan Pokemon) and still come on top. Author's notes: I'll be taking a short break, since I need to start writing for the Johto Gyms. As always, feedbacks and questions are welcome in this thread via this link!

Oh don't get me started on how Smash Melee and a number of Mario games after that greatly lowered my opinions on at least two characters from that series, my opinion on the franchise as a whole, and my opinion on a particular producer from that office whose retirement is overdue.

Okay, so Easter is here, so I'm updating a couple of extra entries! Here is the latest report on the Atayama Bath, Inn, and Studio, and an exclusive story on the hot-headed, Quiz-mastering, Gym Leader! Chapter 2a.7 Atayama Bath and Inn and Pokemon Gym – Guren Branch 熱山温泉旅館附属ポケモンリーグジム – 紅蓮館 The Atayama Bath and Inn is the main attraction in town that features some of the best hot springs within Kanto’s metropolitan area. In addition, the Inn also features a television studio which is sometimes used by the local television network for Katsura’s quiz shows, and also by the Shirogane Television Network for Katsura’s Who Wants to Be a Millionare. Unfortunately, we could not interview any of Katsura’s trainers due to…well, their social awkwardness and creepy behaviour freaking all of our writers away from the Gym. Katsura Atayama 熱山 桂 (Blaine Burgandy) Many of our readers are fan of Katsura’s Who Wants to Be a Millionare on TV, which features various people (sometimes including celebtrities and tarentos) compete for the title of Millionare and the ultimate 100 Million Yen Prize (roughly equivalent to 1 Million US dollars), hosted by the eponymous Katsura Atayama. While the main attraction of the show is, unsurprisingly, the drama and the thrill of the contestants’ attempts at the quizzes, a further attraction is the comically hammed up announcements from Katsura, the mystique surrounding him with him wearing his sunglasses and hat, and the suspense from the sound and display effects of an erupting volcano within the studio right after the contestants’ “Final Answers”. Even better, Katsura even insists on wearing his sunglasses and his cool-looking hat even when running his other business, which is the Atayama Bath and Inn, famed for its therapeutic spring qualities from the nearby volcano. The fact that most TV footages and photoshoots shows Katsura with his sunglasses, and some of the seemingly absurd reasons Atayama gives for this habit added to the attractive mystery fit for the Quiz Host. No one was prepared to hear the real reason behind this, until an interview in 2010… A recent exclusive interview from Shukan Bunshu revealed that Atayama was one of the scientists alongside Dr Fuji working on the genetic cloning project. In fairness, Atayama started to cooperate with his old mentor and friend to in reviving the latter’s daughter, and only became aware of Team Rocket’s involvement several years into the project. In exchange for a more lenient sentence with a shorter imprisonment period, Atayama turned in all of the evidence he had, voluntarily resigned from all of his academic appointments and agreed with his employers to abstain from all future academic work. It was this past guilt and shame that symbolised Atayama’s depiction, as someone who still struggles to come to terms with his past mistakes and move on, and who developed a case of agoraphobia from the guilt he had to deal with. While most people considers the current situation for the best, there are still many who are bitter with the Pandora’s Box that has been opened with the emergence of Mewtwo… Author's notes: As always, feedbacks and questions are welcome in this thread via this link!

Finally, the report everyone has been waiting for, the Yamabuki Regional Gym under a new roof and administration, and the sponsors who made the Gym possible! Chapter 2a.6c: Yamabuki Gym Main Campus 山吹ジム本館 The current main Gym campus in the Marunouchi business district of central Yamabuki was established in September 2010 under Shoji Manakano and Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane’s leadership and financial assistance from the Gym’s current head sponsor Shikimi Manakano. It was assumed that the change in leadership would result in a drop in the rankings due to Shoji and Sayuri not having the same psychic powers for their Pokemon battles like Natsume (and Itsuki prior to her) had. To address this, the former two started to focus and teach Double and Tag Battles to all trainers and gym examinees instead of Single Battles, focused on teamwork, prediction strategies, and coverage moves, and also hired various people including former Pokemon League officials and trainers, data analysts, mathematicians, and other professionals to research and analyse battle data. While their first year in their tenure saw some ups and downs, their intellectual diligence have been paying off for the most part, and the Gym kept their 2nd Class Gym Badge accreditation. The relocated main Gym now houses mainly white collar workers, scientists, Ace Trainers and Veterans across Shoyo and internationally that are more open to the current leadership. The few artists that do set afoot into the current main gym are from backgrounds considered more highbrow and international, due to Shoji, Sayuri, and Shikimi’s patronage of the finer arts. As a precedent, head sponsor Shikimi Manakano asked the Gym to open up part of the former main building to assist the Shoyoese Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra with rehearsal space after Team Rocket took over and disrupted their parent broadcaster’s studio during the July 9th Insurrection. For the current gym campus, Yamabuki Kosei Wind Orchestra, which Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane have patronized since 1999, once relocated here for rehearsals when their usual concert hall was undergoing renovation in 2011. Barry Goodman’s Blue Note Yamabuki Orchestra, which Shoji Manakano have financially supported since 2009, regularly does a mid-day bi-monthly concert as Shoji’s stipulated conditions for his continued support. Finally, Manuelle Casagranda and Dorothee Arnault from the Yamabuki Nikikai Opera Group sometimes use the gym space for their rehearsals with their Pokemon and gym member-only recitals prior to their seasonal productions. Shoji Manakano 真中野 昇滋 (Cecil Middleton) Aside from being the current leader of the main league division’s gym, Shoji is also Itsuki and Natsume’s younger cousin, Shikimi and Yoichi’s son, Sayuri’s godson and co-leader, and Takeharu’s career mentee. Shoji is one of the boy-genius type executive directors for the Yamabuki Stock Exchange, and was also the de facto leader who deals both with gym leader battles on Natsume’s behalf and with management alongside Takeharu, Sayuri, and Mitsuru. He also specializes in steel types, as an influence of his professional contacts. His immediate family in general are bilingual, and Shoji himself in particular has de facto native command of Columbian-Galarian. Shoji’s big break came in 2009 when he was promoted to be the new gym leader in both name and deed after Natsume took her sabbatical to join Pokestars Studios in Columbia. While Shoji does not have the raw psychic power of his two cousins, he makes up for that with his strong teamwork with his co-leader following their switch to Tag Battles for all future examination matches. His Pokemon also enjoys fluid teamwork with each other from years of his study in behavioural psychology, his broad knowledge and thorough analysis that allows him to both make well-educated guesses. This makes Shoji and his reformed Gym far less scary than when Natsume was the leader, but also makes him arguably more formidable as he has been able to attain comparable battle statistics without any supernatural powers. Shoji’s life may have been a high-flying one, but it has not always been a happy one. For a long time, Shoji has been working hard in being both a Pokemon trainer and as a business executive to satisfy to his parents’ ambition, which is generally easier said than done due to the latter two’s prominent careers. Furthermore, while Shoyo made great strides in modernising its society since the end of World War II, some communities are still set in their old and conformist ways, something which the third culture background-influenced Shoji have learnt the hard way. As recently as 2009, when Shoji Manakano, together with fellow board member and friend Ann Surge-Takamaki and other business executives launched their trust to contribute to the Kanto League gyms, Shoji found himself demoted from Senior Director ostensibly due to a lack of performance later that year, and his parents have publicly denounced him as a troublesome prodigy who lacks the cultural understanding of the Shoyoese business scene. Many league fans however suspect that the Mitsubishi Group and a few of the other board members who were also part of the Iwasaki family had a hand in influencing other members to scapegoat Shoji, due to their longstanding hostility against Nivi Gym and Takeshi’s family. Further adding to his workplace conflict is Shoji’s lack of cooperation and his alleged asocial behaviour which attracted further negative comments from fellow board members. Most journalists agree, however, that, this is partly due to Shoji’s rare aversion against backroom dealings and the lack of proper enforcement in market listing regulations, and to Shoji’s credit, he often had his business analysis and suspicions proven correctly. He was the only person who opposed Silph Co Ltd’s public listing in 2002, expressing his concerns in a few key aspects of transparency compliance that are not being met. As it turned out, criminal investigations in 2006-2007 revealed that Silph Company had been secretly trading with Team Rocket prior to their dispute during the 2004 July 9th Insurrection. Pokemon: Metang, Bronzong, and Reuniclus (Gym-legal) Porygon 2, Klinklang and Magnezone (personal) Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane 堂島白鐘 佐勇理 (Lillianne d’Eglise-Whitechapel) Most Shoyoese would be familiar with Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane as the Comissioner-General of Shoyo’s National Police Agency. Not as well-known is Sayuri is one of the de facto executive responsible for keeping the gym safe and its paperwork legally compliant. She is also one of the longest-serving members besides Takeharu. Alongside psychic types, she also specialise in Fighting types from her main work. After Shoji was promoted to be the new gym leader, he in turn promoted his godmother to be the other co-leader in both name and deed. Sayuri is often known to have a no-nonsense, realist approach to life with a strong sense of justice. Many of her battle strategies involve covering possible weaknesses and reading the opponent’s (and their Pokemon’s) expressions, and predicting their battle approach based off that. This even extends to her hobbies: Sayuri is very good at card-counting in blackjack and calling out other people’s bluff in Vaquero Holdem, much to Itsuki and Natsume’s chagrin when they challenged her to a game they thought they could outwit with their psychic powers. Surprisingly, for all of her focus on the practical-minded, Sayuri is also a believer of Jesus and attends her local Protestant Sunday service as long as she is not urgently needed at work, which ended up baffling many Pokemon League journalists. For her side of the argument, Sayuri has mentioned in an interview that her practical-minded attitude and her Christian faith should not be mutually exclusive, whatever that is. It is almost impossible to imagine just how Shoyo – and Yamabuki in particular – was plagued with crime and political instability a decade ago with heinous cases such as the Yamabuki Metro Poison Gas Incident of 1996, or the attempted insurrections in 2004 and 2007. We can only thank Mrs Dojima-Shirogane for her selfless and courageous work in bringing Team Rocket down, cleaning up corruption, and restoring the nation’s rule of law. Before her ascendancy as a senior official, politicians, bureaucrats, and big corporations colluding with Team Rocket were open secrets that only got the occasional prosecution. Unfortunately, by the time she started to assume senior positions, Team Rocket had already grown into the infamous far-right terrorist group of the 1990s and 2000s. Nevertheless, she started her war against corruption when she rose to become Secretariat Member in 1997. While previous officials were all too willing to turn a blind eye to Team Rocket’s and their allies’ illegal activities, Sayuri (and her husband Naoto who informally assisted her) absolutely refused to conform to said culture despite temptations and threats against her. Gradually, she and her loyal staff fought back to restore legal order, and to financially cut off Team Rocket. While this was not quite enough to prevent the July 9th Insurrection in 2004, or the Kogane Radio Tower Incident in 2007, analysts and commentators agreed that Dojima-Shirogane’s efforts prevented a possible overthrow of the Shoyoese Government and a reversal of many of the civil rights achieved under the current democracy, not to mention undoing the decades of peace goodwill Shoyo enjoyed since World War II and the decades of peace outside of UN peacekeeping operations. Dojima-Shirogane is also noted as one of the few people who openly express her disagreement, no matter how high-ranking the other person is. If anything, the higher-ranked the other person is, the more aggressive Sauri’s demands for accountability, and the cruder her language becomes – which is ironic considering that the very aversion to such language is one of the stereotypes Christian people supposedly have. She was one of the few people who warned Parliament about possible signs of insurrections from Team Rocket as early as 1997. In one of the meetings for the Budgetary Discussions that year, she rebuked then Prime Minister Fuminori Konoe and his Civic Party to “get your ****ing act together, stop *****-footing around those far-right nutjobs [referring to Team Rocket], and fund the ****ing investigation or face a world of hurt” as quoted by Shukan Bunshun. While Sayuri’s rude language often earned Prime Minister Shikimi Manakano’s ire, Manakano ultimately respect Dojima-Shirogane’s honesty and good judgement more than she likes to admit. Furthermore, while many of the parliamentary members, and even fellow bureaucrats find Dojima-Shirogane as an overstepping political activist, with some conspiracy theorists claiming that she is a sleeper agent for Shukan Bunshun, or even the Shoyoese Communist Party (which they ironically denounce her as an agent of fascism), their constituencies often see Dojima-Shirogane as a voice of reason against petty-minded behaviours and unwise policy-making the Parliament is often guilty of, and this is often reflected in the letters the members receive from their potential voters. On a less flattering note, her unfiltered opinions and verbal profanities are often the source of embarrassment to her friends and family. According to both her husband Naoto IV and their old friend Sakura Amagi, Sayuri was always rebellious in attitude and preferred to solve disputes with fistfights since her childhood days, which she never totally grown out of. Not only do Naoto IV and Sakura often rebuke Sayuri for her rude language, in a few occasions even Naoko have rebuked her mother for the same travesties. Takeharu Kirijo 桐条 武治 (Warren Paulson) The current head of the Kirijo Group, an old friend and contact of Yoichi, and the founder of the Gym. Since the founding, Takeharu is also one of the de facto executive leaders of the Gym, responsible for the accounting books and public relations, a responsibility he now shares with his daughter Mitsuru. He also specialise in Electric types as part of his work involving AI and computer development. He has a working command of Galarian and Kalosian that he uses in business dealings. Although Takeharu was an old friend of Yoichi Manakano, they are not as close as they once were due to increasing disagreements between the two regarding company management and economic policies. In fact, Shukan Bunshun in 1999 reported that Takeharu stormed out of one of Yoichi’s lectures about the 1970s Saxceltian economic deregulation and the ensuing Big Bang with his daughter in tow. The same article also reported that Yoichi now no longer have been sending any invitations to Takeharu for social or network occasions. Although Takeharu expressed concerns about the new management by Shoji and Sayuri, most particularly alienating the former Gym trainers by Natsume and Itsuki, he also made clear that he ultimately supports the new administration – after all, with much of Shoyo socially progressing, it was only a matter of time before the Gym either adapt or die off. Pokemon: Alolan Raichu, Wyrdeer, and Oricorio (Gym-legal) Porygon Z and Charjabug (personal) Mitsuru Kirijo 桐条 美鶴 (Maria Paulson) As a girl-genius of business management, and a successor to her father’s business, Mitsuru is an executive board member to the Kirijo Group. She alongside Shoji assists Takeharu and Sayuri with the gym’s administration. She is a crossover character from Persona 3. Mitsuru is also formerly a third culture child like Shoji is, and is trilingual due to spending her childhood in Columbia in primary school, and in Kalos in middle school. Unlike Takeharu and Yoichi, Mitsuru and Shoji seem to be getting along better, and despite the pressure from the latter’s father to shun the Kirijo family, the two are happy to keep things the way they are. As with her father, Mitsuru assists Shoji and Sayuri with the accounting books, financial advice, and the logistics . Unlike her more skeptical father, Mitsuru more fully shared Shoji and Sayuri’s cosmopolitan and modernistic attitudes and headhunted and bankrolled many of the scientists. Pokemon: Kadabra, Metang, Alolan Pikachu, and Porygon 2 Lila Jing (Rira Sei) 井 璃羅 (Annabel Wellensburg) Lila is a Sinoan police officer who is stationed in the Republic of Sinoa Embassy as a legal attache and an ICPO liason. As a former exchange student she was formerly the celebrity known as the Salon Maiden for the Kanto Battle Facility years ago. She regularly works with Shingo and the Metropolitan Police Department to coordinate their efforts in stamping out the Triads and other Sinoan-originated organized crime groups from Shoyo. Shingo Niijima 新島 信吾 The Chief Comissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department, who has been a long-time supporter of Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane’s administration of the nation’s police force. Like Commissioner-General Dojima-Shirogane, Metropolitan Comissioner Niijima was also responsible for the herculean task of removing Team Rocket from influence and addressing corruption within Yamabuki City, and particularly the Metropolitan Police Department. Many high-profile arrests resulted from this, including the previous Metropolitan Comissioner who was also Niijima’s former supervisor. Eventually, as we all know, Niijima led some 15,000 active officers and some 500 enlisted Pokemon trainers to subdue and arrest Team Rocket members during the July 9th Insurrection in 2004. He was formerly a member of the Fighting Dojo until Sayuri and Shikimi headhunted him and his daughter Sae. He is an original character from the Persona 3-5 trilogy fanfic adaptation crossed-over in turn to this series. Naoko Dojima-Shirogane 堂島白鐘 直子 (Rebecca D’Eglise-Whitechapel) Sayuri and Naoto IV’s daughter who is also a rising detective. From an early age, Naoko was considered as the detective prodigy that her father previously was famous for. Whether she would become a front-line detective like her father’s family, or a law enforcement administrator like her mother’s side is still under speculation, made harder by the lack of information from her or those surrounding her. Naoko seems to be more supporting of her mother’s leadership of the gym, and have also been enrolling in similar law faculty classes, and the two are often seen attending church together on Sundays. On the other hand, she generally acts more tactful like her father, and have even rebuked her own mother for the latter’s rude language in public. Rachel and Thomas Schuster-Loire レイチェル・シャスターロワール Mary and Keith’s two children and exchange students to Shoyo. Rachel currently studies in the Law Faculty of University of Yamabuki, while her younger brother Thomas is in high school. Doctor of Music and Medicine Manuelle Casagrande 音楽・医学博士 マニュエール・カサグランドゥ A world-famous opera singer and the current musical director for the nationally famous Yamabuki Nikikai Opera Company. Outside of her musical career, Dr Casagrande was also an accomplished medical doctor and professor from Kalos and a former board member to the Académie Nationale de Médecine. Our readers from Shoyo and Kalos would also recognize her as the glamourous choreographer in various Pokemon opera shows, and a capable, if reckless, shameless, and alcohol-fuelled, sister Gym trainer from Flusselles [Anistar] City Gym. In spite of her rather…colourful tendencies, she has proved to be a capable administrator, and is rumored to be headhunted by the republic’s President Celine Marie de Gaulle for ambassador to Shoyo. Pokemon: Galarian Rapidash, Gardevoir, Meloetta Dorothée Arnault ドロテー・アルナール An up-and-coming Kalosian opera singer and Manuelle’s protégé who currently sings the nationally famous Yamabuki Nikikai Opera Company under tenure. She is also a Fairy-type specialist, formerly belonging to Romant-sous-Bois [Laverre] City Gym. Pokemon: Galarian Ponyta, Kirlia, Meowstic, Primarina Sponsors Shikimi Manakano 真中野 志揮美 (Sarah Middleton) Everybody in and out of Shoyo would know Shikimi Manakano as the 134th, and current, Prime Minister of Shoyo. As an influential member representing the current-ruling Civic Party [公民党] in the National Parliament, she also represents Yamabuki City’s 7th District. Shikimi is also Shoji’s mother, Yoichi’s wife, Natsume and Itsuki’s aunt through her husband, and Sayuri’s long-time friend and fellow government official. In addition, Shikimi is also the daughter to the distinguished former Prime Minister and statesman Shige Tachihdaira who was a longtime fan of the Shoyoese National Pokemon Championships. Less known about her is that Shikimi was a former celebrated contest performer when she was an undergraduate at Totsuka University, due in part to Shikimi being more successful with her second career in politics, and in part to Shikimi herself renouncing, and declining any interviews and questions pertaining to, her past Contest career. As such, while Shikimi had been a financial benefactor for the Gym (technically through her appoint trust to avoid conflict of interest), she otherwise has very little involvement. While there are many prominent contestants that managed to settle down and live stable lives. Shikimi is still one of the very few examples for being better known and more successful with their second career. The general public hails her as the leader who protected Shoyo’s present-day democracy against Team Rocket’s attempted insurrections of the National Parliament in 2004 and 2007. Not everyone considers this as a positive outcome, however, due to Shikimi’s political dealings over the years that are back-door and backhanded, if not outright corrupt – though in fairness, this is hardly unusual with most politicians. Her relation to Pokemon has become more exploitative over the years, as Shikimi constantly looks for new ways to apply her psychological studies for politics and propaganda, supposedly to uphold Shoyo’s democracy – which is perhaps true to an extent, but perhaps more to personally score political points against her opponents in Parliament. Mind you, not everyone loves this – Shukan Bunshun often publishes frequent clashes between Prime Minister Manakano and the National Police Agency Commissioner General Dojima-Shirogane with the latter often criticizing the former for her insistence on political point-scoring instead of adopting sound policies proposals from the opposing parties. Finally, despite her son Shoji being a prominent figure in his own right, she has been dismissive about her family in most interviews, often mentioning that she has “more important things to worry about than [her] son”. While some brush this off as a necessary sacrifice to prioritize the public interest, many suspect that this is a convenient excuse to conceal Shikimi’s emotional distance or possible estrangement from Shoji and Yoichi. Pokemon: Indeedee, Gardevoir, Beheeyem, Malamar Yoichi Manakano 真中野 陽一 (Joseph Middleton) The current Governor of the Shoyoese National Bank and an influential figure in the Shoyoese business community. He is also Shoji’s father, Shikimi’s husband, Natsume and Itsuki’s uncle by common bloodline, and Takeharu’s longtime friend from the same university. Most of the public have forgotten him as a former Elite Four trainer specializing in psychic Pokemon, in part because of Yoichi’s second career being even more distinguished, and Yoichi himself having moved on and have very little interest in being a Pokemon trainer anymore. As such, while Yoichi initially helped Takeharu in setting up the gym after his retirement from Champion for the first few years, he now takes very little part in the day-to-day operations. While there are many prominent trainers that managed to settle down and live stable lives. Yoichi is still the only example where one is now better known and more successful with their second career. Not everyone considers this as a positive outcome, however, due to rumors of Yohichi’s less-than-honest dealings, his close and opaque relationships with the Shoyoese Government, and his financial connections with unethical, if not always unauthorized, businesses across the globe. His relation to Pokemon has become more exploitative over the years, as Yoichi constantly looks for new ways to apply his psychological studies to manipulate the market and the media and uphold Shoyo’s capitalist system from the growing left-wing dissidence in the populance, and perhaps personally profit from it. Finally, despite his son Shoji being a prominent businessman and a Pokemon trainer in his own right, Yoichi have been noted to have very few positive things to mention about his son. The few times Yoichi mentioned Shoji, the former often mentioned the latter as a “spoiled brat” or “worthless loser”, and many suspect that the relationship between the two are estranged at best or abusive at worst. Ironically, many journalists have more reason to scrutinize Yoichi’s business conducts than Shoji’s, particularly in regards to the former’s transactions with his political allies and contacts, or the perceived irregularities in his managing of the bank. Pokemon: Indeedee, Metagross, Beheeyem, Malamar Mary Schuster-Loire メアリー・シャスターロワール A former member of the gym, and a Columbian national of Kalosian-Hebrew descent who is now heading the Department of Justice in the US Government. Mary, together with her husband Keith are family friends with the Dojima-Shirogane and the main Manakano families, and she was also the former FBI officer stationed in the overseas office in Yamabuki. Since returning to Castelia, the Schuster-Loire family founded the psychic/fighting dual-type Castelia Police Department City League Gym back in Castelia under leadership of Unova State League Elite Four and FBI psychologist Caitlin Forsythe, which has now established sister Gym agreements with the Yamabuki Main Gym. Keith Schuster-Loire キース・シャスターロワール The current State Secretary in the US Government. A former gym trainer, and a Columbian national of Berlinian-Hebrew descent, and Mary’s husband, Keith was a former Ambassador to Shoyo who helped further develop the close relationships between the two nations. He is also a founder and occasional trainer of Castelia Police Department City League Gym alongside his wife. Author's notes This one was a love letter and homage to the Persona series, and I also included at least a few OCs that I've drafted for my planned Persona 3-5 rerwrite fanfic. This includes Yu's mother (Sayuri), a career woman would be a starcrossed lover with canon!Naoto's father (Naoto IV, with canon!Naoto being called Naoto V in the fanfic) in that fanfic, while here they have a much happier life together. In both here and in the other fanfic, Sayuri would be a career woman and would be the first woman to be the Commissioner General, but she would be facing far more workplace misogyny and political obstructions in the P3-5 fanfic, no less thanks to people like Masayoshi Shido. Here, because Shoyo is less averse to social change and its people more politically active than in real-life Japan, Sayuri (and other career-focused women) experiences far less discrimination, and the country also allows double-barrelled names.

Next here is the latest report on the former Yamabuki Psychic Gym...which still looks mysterious as ever... Chapter 2a.6b: Yamabuki Gym City League (Ueno Park) Branch Campus 山吹ジム・シティーリーグ（上野公園）分館 The original gym, established by Natsume and Itsuki’s father was located in a more traditional part of Yamabuki, and the main trainers there were Shintoist priests, mediums, and Psychics. This has changed over the years when Takeharu, Yoichi, and Shikimi sponsored the gym, with an increasing number of office workers, scientists, and psychologists joining in the Pokemon training, and the gradual professionalization and modernization of the gym. Moreover, when Shoji Manakano, Sayuri Dojima-Shirogane, and Mitsuru Kirijo took over some of the management the Gym, they brought their internationalist attitudes to the formerly ethnically insular management. Some of the more notable visiting members included Columbian ambassadorial police attache Mary Steiner-Loire and her family, former Kalosian Opéra National de Illumis and current Yamabuki Niki-kai’s musical director Manuelle Casagrande and prima soprano stars Dorothée Arnault, and Sinoan Battle Salon Maiden and ambassadorial police attache Lila Jing. On a less happy note, the modernization and internationalization of the Gym under Shoji, Sayuri, and Shikimi left many of the earlier-generation trainers struggling to adjust to the new gym culture. The Shintoist channelers and mediums were unhappy with Sayuri’s tenure due to her pro-Christian views, and Shikimi’s sponsorship due to her insistence of relegating religion out from the public sphere. Other practicing Psychics were not happy with the three’s preference for practicality and disregard of the super natural. The geinojins, tarentos and idols that enjoyed Itsuki’s and Natsume’s patronage also found themselves with a lack of belonging – for all their modern appearance and music, their culture was no less conservative and conformist, which clashed with Shoji and Sayuri’s culture of westernized intellectualism. (Though it also did not help that they and Shikimi were artistically conservative, and preferred classical, jazz, and Broadway music.) As such, most of said trainers have stayed at the former main campus near Ueno Park that now houses the Minor League Gym instead of moving into the Gym’s new main campus at Marunouchi. Natsume Manakano 真中野 奈津女 (Sabrina Middleton) Natsume was the former de jure leader, and she used to be the strongest trainer in the gym aside from Itsuki. Alongside her growing movie career under Fortuna Entertainment, she is also known as a master of the psychic arts. Her supernatural powers includes spoonbending, levitation, future prediction to note a few, and she also uses said powers to augument her Pokemon powers, which made her notorious as one of the most difficult Gym Leaders to beat, not to mention the most feared amongst many budding trainers. It also did not help that her unstable mentality from her childhood days led to her trances, which included imprisoning anyone who lost against he into dolls for a few hours until her family or Takeharu invariably intervene, which is thankfully now in the past. Natsume, for her part, has regretted that such incidents have happened, and sometimes take reclusive breaks to both contemplate on life and to calm herself down. Further dismay have come when Natsume's cousin Shoji took over the leadership position, due to his modernization of the gym and its management and culture, and Natsume mentioned in a recent interview that she regretted the leadership position's handover. She did try to wrest control back from Shoji and his co-leader, but in an ironic twist of events, Natsume (and her brother Itsuki) lost the duel 6-4 in what turned out to be an ironic self-fulfilling prophesy Natsume had pre-battle. Pokemon: Alakazam, Espeon, Mr Mime Itsuki Manakano 真中野 斎 (William Middleton) Natume’s older brother, and Shoji’s cousin and former gym leader until he was invited to become the Elite Four. He was the replacement Gym Leader for Natsume, and he still steps in from time to time to lead the newly created Minor League Gym which took over from the main Gym after the latter’s relocation to Marunouchi. He is also a popular and flamboyant magician and TV personality under Fortuna Entertainment who is often contrasted with Yashiro Tsurugi as the straight man. Most people generally enjoy the manzai-esque interactions between them in the few times the two get together in the same show. In reality, while Itsuki does wish that Yashiro “lighten up a bit”, he also considers Yashiro as a capable storyteller and singer, and even enlists the latter’s help for his own magician skits. Like his sister Natsume, Itsuki has also been unhappy with the recent changes instituted by his cousin Shoji. To their chagrin however, their last attempt to wrest back control of their main gym failed in a 6-4 loss thanks to the new gym leaders setting down their double tag battles rules policy with effective teamwork, showing that supernatural talent does not overcome Itsuki’s ego and lack of experience with anything outside of standard singles format. Pokemon: Xatu, Exeggutor, Slowking Yashiro Tsurugi 剣 弥代 (Jason Swordward) Yashiro Tsurugi is also a popular actor and TV personality under Fortuna Entertainment who is often contrasted with Itsuki Manakano as the comic relief man. Most people generally enjoy the manzai-esque interactions between them in the few times the two get together in the same show. In reality, while Yashiro does get occasionally annoyed with Itsuki’s behaviour, he also lists Itsuki as one of his inspirations for storyboarding scenes, and even enlists the latter’s help for stage effects. One big point of contention between the two, however, as been their opinions of the current gym leadership by Shoji and Sayuri. While Itsuki and his followers have been more forthcoming in denouncing his cousin as ruining the gym’s tradition, Yashiro has been more accepting of the current administration, reminding Itsuki that “[a]t the end of the day, it’s [Natsume and Itsuki] that lost the leader’s duel against Shoji.” Pokemon: Gallade, Hisuian Braviary Maiko Shimazaki 志摩崎 舞子 (Sirena Rhineland) The former model and current manager of the idol agency Fortuna Entertainment. Many of the nation’s famous artists, actors, and singers come from her tutelage including Tsubasa Oribe, Touma Akagi, and Yashiro Tsurugi. Rumors are that she has also headhunted Rise Kujikawa aka Risette, the cute S-Pop idol singer of national fame, and Itsuki and Natsume. Despite this show of business acumen and the financial success of Fortuna Entertainment, she is more ridiculed outside of S-Pop circles, although it is hard to pinpoint why. Our journalists are divided on whether this is due to Maiko’s infamous drinking habits, or her comparative lack of Pokemon battle talent compared to her sister Kanna in the Elite Four, or S-Pop simply seen as some trite entertainment compared to, say, classical music, or considered small fry in the wider world compared to K-Pop and especially Saxophone/Kalophone mainstream pop. Pokemon: Gothitelle, Slowking, Mr Mime Kiria Kurono 黒乃 霧亜 One of the charismatic S-Pop singers, known for her brooding lyrics and her cool frosty look and demeanour and a friend of Natsume’s. Her family has also been practicing trainers under Natsume’s father, and brought Maiko and her agency in sponsoring the Gym. The relationship between her and the Gym has no longer been the same since Shoji and Sayuri took over, however. Pokemon: Jynx, Gothitelle Naoto Dojima-Shirogane IV 堂島白鐘 直斗４世 (Repton D’Eglise- Whitechapel IV) The nationally famous Detective King, Naoto specializes in Ghost and Dark Pokemon in addition to Psychic. Naoto is also a noted follower of the Fortuna Entertainment Group and its associate actors, musicians, and idols. He very much prefers maintaining good relationship with the old guards in Ueno Park, and he is one of the relatively few people who attends training in both campuses. This sometimes leads to friction with his respective wife and daughter, Sayuri and Naoko, who are more dedicated in reforming the Gym’s culture. Ultimately however, Naoto and Sayuri are happily married for nearly three decades and without any signs on coming to an end. He is also good at playing poker in the gym-held charity games where his nonchalant appearance can disarm opponents and belie his cunning observational skills.

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Banned for not writing creative content that is not uni-related.

Has not written creative content recently on this forum? Unless s/he did and I just didn't know about it.

Visited my profile page

Yeah, I remember the level curve was (and still feels like in the GBA remake) misaligned with particularly Mt Itoi. EB proper, on the other hand was quite easy for the most part if you know what you were doing - probably intentional considering how story-focused the game was by SNES standards. As for Mother 4, I think I remember Shigesato Itoi himself mentioning that he intended to finish this with M3. Did he change his mind on that one?

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S/he sure has posted in a lot of threads.

Banned for not writing an almanac LOL.

All hail the Tokyo Mirage Session extravaganza!!!!

Hollywood wuxia? From 3:10 to 5:00

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https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fcv068epbz1ka1.jpg Donald Trump as depicted in Inuyashiki - Yes, this is a thing, if you think I am kidding.

Decided to create this thread in response to my revisit in Earthbound/Mother series. While it has been a long time since I've last played Earthbound, in recent years, I've been again following stuff related to the game. I love how Earthbound created an JRPG that not only made a modern-day setting that worked, and particularly nailed the 90s vibe and the nostalgia that comes with it right. Furthermore, it's did a fake-USA setting possibly the best out of most Nintendo games, and way better than Pokemon BW1+2's Unova that supposedly "took inspirations" from USA and particularly NYC, but turned out to be a half-hearted and inferior attempt in comparison. Both Onnett and Twoson depict typical suburban American cities that I used to live in or drive through, while Fourside looks like New York or Chicago with its yellow cabs, the contrast between the fashionable vs gritty people, and historic wedding-cake-like skyscrapers you would not see outside the US. There are even fast food joints and the like that represents Pizza Hut, MacDonalds, or other type of restaurants that kids would like to go. And all of this is seen from children's perspective. I also like how villains are also based on real life and how the game doesn't pull any punches from that. Whether its a schoolyard bully gangster like Frank, or a corrupt politician like Monotoli, EB showed that more grounded villains - the ones not having to rely on sorcery or dragons - work too. What was everyone's memories or nostalgia about the games?

We then travel to Yamabuki City for a series of special editions of Kanto's most renowned Gyms, including two of the top City League Gyms featuring the much-feared Karate Dojo, the even more feared former Yamabuki Psychic Gym led by the occultic Manakano siblings and the not-as-feared but arguably more formidable main Regional Gym led by the current leader. First, here's the latest report on the Karate Dojo Chapter 2a.6a: Shotokan Karate Dojo City League Gym 松濤館空手道場シティーリーグジム Karate and the Fighting Dojo has a long history together; indeed, it is impossible to talk about the history of Karate in mainland Shoyo without the Gym or its founder, Gichin Funakoshi. Aside from a long lineage of master-pupil relationships, a lot of modern day basics including katas and kumite comes from Gichin Funakoshi and his Fighting-type Pokemon, who helped taught many of said moves to their pupils. While Funakoshi and his school was against the sportification of Karate in the postwar years, his successors had to accept the popularization of sports in the postwar years. As a compromise, they have a program of lending out Hitmonlees and Hitmonchans to promising young trainers or karate students as a way to train the mind, body, and spirit, jointly with the Kanto Regional League. In addition, Yamabuki Karate Dojo, alongside the three other schools, is also responsible for regulating and overseeing standardization for official competition karate based on the four major schools, which led to both the formation of Shoyo Karate Association, which in turn became one of the founding members of World Karate Federation. These, alongside with the popularity of karate across Shoyo and overseas, made the Shotokan Karate Dojo the most prestigious as a karate school, a Fighting-type Gym in Shoyo, and as the Gym within the Kanto Regional League. Unfortunately, all good things can to come to an end when people lose their way and forget their humility and their roots. The 1980s and 1990s saw infighting amongst disagreeing pupils and masters, with some of them breaking away to found their own karate school. It also did not help that the focus on tradition bred a lot of reactionary-minded people who saw modern-day karate as a corruption of the pure arts, instead of as evolution and innovation, with other pupils also breaking away to ally with the emerging far-right political society of Team Rocket. The Dojo started to slip down from the certification ranking, from the increasing scuitny of the League Officials. The final nail in the coffin came in 1999, when then-Gym Leader Chinzo Kyan lost to Natsume Manakano, who was then an elementary-school girl and a young trainer in her father’s Gym. Since then, the then Regional League Gym has been demoted to a City League one. In recent years, however, the Dojo and Gym have started to move on from its past mistakes. Chinzo’s son Shiba took over as the president of the Dojo, with Takenori Funakoshi as the newly acclaimed Karate King in 2006. Aside from reaching out to former pupils for reconciliation, they also started to take stock of their history and help people accept the evolving nature of karate. A much healthier relationship between tradition and sports have been cultivated ever since, with some members tasked with learning traditional karate as a reminder of where they came from, while accepting other members’ participation in competition or standardized karate. Shiba Kyan 喜屋武 柴 (Bruno Kyan) While everyone knows Shiba as the formidable Elite Four Trainer who can punch or kick out the opposition before you can yell “Hiya!”, Shiba is also celebrated amongst martial arts circle as a reformer and reviver of the karate discipline. In the wider city community, Shiba and his Pokemon are also famed (or notorious, depending on your political views) for single-handedly taking out hundreds of Team Rocket members that encircled the Yamabuki City Hall, and other government offices with the remaining 500 members fleeing for their lives. Shiba further proceeded to raid other hideouts across Yamabuki City, where his mere presence, combined together with his notoriety set off either mass desertion or mass surrender. More recently, Shiba has been appointed as a board member of the Shoyo Karate Association to promote karate as a tournament sports, and to advise on amendments to regulations and to encourage safe participation in the sports. Takenori Funakoshi 船越武徳 The current Karate King who helped revive the Karate Dojo after the scandal-ridden era of the 1990s. Takenori was also Shiba’s former teacher and still mentors the latter even after his nomination to the Elite Four. While Shiba represents the modern sporting school of karate, Takenori is the traditionalist practitioner, teacher, and research historian. Despite his moves packing more heat than a SWAT squadron (which got inherited over to Shiba), Takenori also has a soft side to him, who was able to tame and befriend various stray Mankeys and Primapes that were causing mischief across town. Most of these were the result of Takenori and his son Nobuhiko themselves sparring against the mischief-makers, often giving to the term “talk with your fists” – as quoted by an Art of Manliness webpage when they discussed how budding Pokemon trainers can tame fighting-type Pokemon. The website also has an Youtube interview with Nobuhiko with the latter demonstrating how he himself learned to befriend said Pokemon. Nobuhiko Funakoshi 船越修彦 Takenori’s travelling son who is expected to take over his father’s place as Karate King. Nobuhiko was the recent champion of the P-1 Grand Prix, and had been travelling all around Kanto and Johto to train. He is most often seen training in the foothills of Mount Suribachi east of Enju City while occasionally travelling into nearby towns to adopt stray Fighting-type Pokemon, including his own Tyrogue he spars with.

Chapter 2a.5: Iga Ninjutu School Koga House Dojo and Pokemon Gym 伊賀流忍術古河組道場附属ポケモンリーグジム The Koga Family have been ninjias originally from Choji who has been passing dow the arts of ninjutsu for generations since the Yamabuki Era. Kyo’s family is a branch from the main house who settled in Sekichiku to further develop their own arts. Ninjutsu once nearly died off in the early-to-mid 19th Century when Shoyo opened up to the west and the martial arts were discarded for Western guns and cannons. However the arts were rediscovered in the subsequent decades for intelligence officers’ frontline training in the new Shoyoese Defense Force and Central Intelligence Agency. The Gym is the most notorious for being the most confusing, with hidden doors, booby traps filled with smokescreen-emitting Koffings and Weezings, and asking gym challengers whether they’ve managed to venture the Gym is a good indication of whether that trainer has grown in his or her street smarts. In some ways this makes the Gym not all that different from a urban warfare training scenario, and many special operations team in and out of Shoyo sometimes use the gym for training excercises when no gym challenge battles are scheduled. Kyo Koga 古河 享 (Master Koga) The current head and master of the Ninjutsu Dojo, and the current Elite Four in the Kanto-Johto regional league. Kyo is mainly the dojo teacher for his martial artist apprentices dedicated in passing down the arts, but he also works with his sister Aya in instructing the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to help defend the country from insurrectionists like the far-right Team Rocket. His training has been credited for saving lives and stopping further attacks by Team Rocket during the Yamabuki Metro Poison Gas Incident, and was also noted as a factor for the success by the Shoyoese Defence Force’s counterterrorism units in thwarting the takeover of the National Parliament during the July 9th Insurrection. He also is a tea afficionado who regularly hold tea ceremonies for important guests within the Sekichiku community, including the head of the Safari Park who provided the Koga family with their Poison-type Pokemon. Pokemon: Weezing, Venomoth, Crobat Aya Koga 古河 綾 Kyo’s younger sister Aya works in the Shoyoese Central Intelligence Agency. She acts as the advisor for domestic security, and oversees the team that monitors what is left of the right-right terrorist group Shouen-kai (昇炎會), or what Aya christened it with the better-known codename Team Rocket. Pokemon: Muk, Venonat, Tentacruel, Galarian Weezing Anzu Koga 古河 杏 (Janine Koga) Kyo’s daughter that is the acting Gym Leader, and the nominated successor of the Dojo. Compared to her father and aunt, Anzu is still of middle school age with a tomboyish and carefree personality. Anzu regularly partakes in the school’s gymnastics team and her ninja training is reflected in the highly versatile movements she thinks up for the school team. Pokemon: Ariados, Weezing (Junior), Golbat Shamira Nevrand シャミア ネーヴラント A visiting intelligence officer from Hebria-Pallesta’s Intelligence Agency aka Mossad, and a former soldier from the former Hebrian (now Hebrian-Pallestian) Defense Force. She was brought in to Shoyo to work with Aya and assist and advise the Shoyoese Central Intelligence Agency in response to the internationalization of the Team Rocket’s remnants' activities and the resulting need of law enforcement groups to similarly cooperate with each other. According to news outlets, Shamira was also one of the first generation of mercenary agents lent out to other agencies by the Hebrian-Pallestian Government, in turn borne out from the restructuring and downsizing of the home agency, which forced many soldiers to take other roles or retire from military life. All of this ironically came from the fragile yet hopeful peace treaty that the former nations of Hebria and Pallista has finally achieved in 1999, and the co-federation of the two nations the year after. Shamira is also a professional Pokemon trainer specialising in Poison and Ghost-type Pokemon, which naturally led to her interest in joining Kyo’s Gym through Aya’s invitation. Pokemon: Toxicroak, Gengar, Weavile Author's notes Having Shamir being part of a modern spy group with some ninja training was too good to pass up. You are welcome.

So here's my obligatory feedback thread. I'll also allow questions you may have about the details of the work.

None, actually. There are franchises I still keep in touch, but they all have their stinkers, with some more than others. And yes, this includes FE. One franchise in particular which has become ridiculous to watch considering a particular someone keeps getting kidnapped, except, turned out, she fights back just fine in Smash Bros. In terms of FE, I'm baulking at Fate Conquest's ridiculous story, the ridiculous price of the Tellius games (and also how surprisingly one-sided Radiant Dawn is), and the shallow gameplay of Awakening. For Zelda, I ended up throwing away Spirit Tracks due to its awkward controls (and I was also kind of disappointed by the story too...), and I've little interest in Link's Awakening Remake version which was essentially a glorified remaster of the original. For Pokemon, RSE unfortunately made the departure from the real-life setting that I thought defined Pokemon until then, and BW1+2's Unova is an overrated region and is a half-hearted depiction of fake-America that Earthbound's Eagleland did way better with. Earthbound's probably the closest though. Mother 1+2 had a great immersion narrative in an 80s-90s fake-America world, and I've also started to warm up to Mother 3 when I was previously turned off by the radical departure in the story. (The story itself is worth experiencing, but I still do wonder if it had been better as a spin-off instead of a fully-fledged sequel.)

I've actually thought of an idea for Cerulean's Misty based on my fanfic in my signature: 1st Level Gym Challenge: Staryu, Horsea (Lv 10-14) 2nd Level Gym Challenge: Staryu, Horsea, Wooper (Lv18-23) 3rd Level Gym Challenge: Staryu, Horsea, Gyarados, Quagsire (Lv 25-30) 4th-5th Level Gym Challenge: Starmie, Seadra, Gyarados, Quagsire (Lv 33-43) 6th-7th Level Gym Challenge: Starmie, Kingdra, Gyarados, Quagsire, Lanturn (Lv 43-53) 8th Level Gym Challenge: Starmie, Kingdra, Gyarados, Quagsire, Lanturn, Lapras (Lv 55-60)