A Sassy Rebel

I'm Nikki (25, she,/her) and my blog just has fandoms I'm interested in, some fics I wrote,  plus a bunch of other stuff :)                                                    

[canary-warrior]

[canary-warrior]

Knox AND Rohan pushing Brady away from Gigi and Savannah respectively when he got too close to them oh my god dgjjddfskdfj he's public enemy number ONE

Slate saying "I have Eve's back but someone needs to have Gigi's" OH MY GOD he only cares about Eve and Gigi

[canary-warrior]

Elite Four Member Alain and Gym Leader Mairin headcanons Part 2

Part 1 here

-Alain eventually becomes pretty close with Wikstrom and Drasna. They each see him as a nephew or even like a son after they learn about his past. A couple of people joke that Sycamore might have to fight a custody battle, but honestly, he's just happy that Alain has trusted adult figures in the League who will be there for him when he can't.

-When Alain and Mairin are in Lumiose helping Professor Sycamore out at the lab, they often bicker like the siblings they are and try to ruffle each other's hair (Alain is always successful but Mairin barely reaches becaus she's shorter). Sycamore often has to (amusedly) remind them that they are lab assistants on top of being an Elite Four member and a gym leader and should try to maintain appearances. They usually fail but it makes new trainers like them even more.

-Alain gets recognized way more than Mairin because of his position in the Elite Four as well as being the winner of the Lumiose Conference. (Going off the idea that Siebold seemed pretty famous in TSME specials yet the gym leaders weren't as well known throughout Kalos). He doesn't like all the attention, especially when he's just trying to hang out with Mairin.

-Mairin and Alain usually make an appearance at Sycamore's summer camp to surprise the campers. The winners of the summer competition gets the chance to battle Alain alongside Mairin (similar to the HZ episodes where Liko, Roy, and Dot battled against an Elite Four member alongside a gym leader).

-One time when Sycamore was away at a research conference, something happened (maybe a new evil team attacked or something) and Alain told Drasna and Wikstrom first. Sycamore hears about it on the news and immedaitely leaves for Kalos. When Sycamore comes back, he asks Alain why he didn't call him, and he says "I didn't want to interrupt your conference. And I told my next trusted adults!" (Steven in the background says "I thought I was your next trusted adult?!")

-Mairin gets involved in the ZA plotline when she covers for Clemont at his gym while he and Clembot are at a robotics conference while Ramos covers for her since he's still in Coumarine. She shares the responsibility with Bonnie and they eventually become like sisters. Bonnie eventually catches Squishy and Mairin gets AZ's Floette.

-Mairin's close, familial relationship with AZ is the opposite of Alain's terrible relationship with Lysandre. Lysandre manipulated Alain so much and then AZ told Mairin that he used to be the king of Kalos and that Mairin would've made a wonderful princess.

-The only time Mairin defeated Alain's Charizard in battle was when she used AZ's Floette and mega evolved her. Neither Alain nor Charizard will ever forget the look of absolute joy when trigger happy Mega Floette unleashed her Light of Ruin. Both of them fear that adorable little pokemon. (Sycamore in the background: "We cannot let anything happen to Mairin or else Floette will destroy the city.")

-With two Floettes and two pokemon who can mega evolve into a fairy type (Meganium and Altaria), Mairin easily qualifies as a fairy type gym leader in another region (since Valerie is the fairy type gym leader in Kalos). Anyone who's seen AZ's Floette battle is glad that Mairin isn't a fairy type specialist because it would take a lot of effort to defeat Floette.

-Alain visits Malva in prison after she turns herself in to thank her for her help in the final battle. His visits become a regular occurrence and he doesn't tell anyone for a few years because he doesn't want anyone to worry about him speaking to a former member of Team Flare. When some of the former Team Flare members are being considered for a plea deal or parole, Alain speaks up for Malva. No one trusted her around Kalos so she took a plea deal where she would help out in another region. She supported Siebold's recommendation that Alain should take his place in the Elite Four.

-Mairin visits Alain at the Pokemon League sometimes. It's a long trip from Coumarine City and Lumiose City so she's often tired when she arrives. Alain ends up getting a couch in his Elite Four chamber so Mairin can take a nap when she's there. She usually walks right in and falls face first onto the couch.

-Alain's Charizard and Mairin's Altaria, Lulu, don't get along and often argue. If the other is in danger though, they don't hesitate to save each other. They have no problem with the other's trainer, though - Charizard loves Mairin and Lulu likes Alain. Mairin thinks their dynamic is funny.

-Many young trainers get crushes on Mairin when they battle her because she's pretty, sweet, smart, and feisty. A few other teenagers around her age also get crushes on her too. Clemont is the main one but Sawyer also had a small crush on her at some point too when their research group met up to find some mega stones in Hoenn.

-During a research trip to another region, Mairin meets a gym leader or Elite Four member around her age and they start dating. Alain does not like Mairin's new boyfriend (who has more of a 'bad boy' vibe and is basically the opposite of Clemont. He is not good enough for Alain's little sister at all). When Clemont finds out (he has a crush on Mairin at this point), he locks himself in his workshop for a week working on inventions. Eventually Mairin breaks up with her boyfriend after about two months and everyone is happy about it.

-During another crisis where the entire league meets up to fight the big bad, Mairin saves Alain. That's the moment when he truly realizes how much stronger Mairin has gotten over the years and he's so proud.

-While at research conferences, Sycamore always brags about Alain and makes sure to tell everyone how much he's helped out with mega evolution research. He pulls out a picture of him and also says that he's a member of the Elite Four in Kalos. He's very proud of his son.

-Mairin, Serena, Bonnie, and Shauna have a girls-only group chat. When Mairin got the news that she would be the new gym leader of Coumarine, that chat was the first one she told after telling Alain and Professor Sycamore.

-The Kalos League have an ongoing bet about when the next crisis will be. This includes evil teams/scientists trying to take over the world, buildings coming to life, etc. They have it written on a big whiteboard at the League and the gym leaders either add to it themselves when they're in the area or someone writes it for them. There's also a secondary bingo card that Mairin and Korrina made on another whiteboard. Outside visitors are concerned and terrified. When Sycamore sees it, he tries to convince Alain and Mairin to get therapy again.

-Alain introduces Mairin to Iris after the Masters 8 so both of them could have another friend their age. They get along like a house on fire and cause a lot of chaos together. Multiple leagues are terrified when the two of them get together. When Mairin decided she wanted to be a gym leader, Iris tried to convince her to become a Unova one, but Mairin chose to stay in Kalos.

-While at a big league conference with other regional pokemon leagues, Alain meets Karen, the dark type specialist of the Kanto and Johto League. A few people comment on their physical resemblance to each other (the same facial structure, though Karen's hair and eyes are a lighter blue than Alain's). Karen gets suspicious and reveals that she has a very estranged older sister who ran away from home when Karen was a kid, while Alain reveals he doesn't know his biological family, as Professor Sycamore took him in when he was a kid. They eventually do a DNA test after the conference and discover that they share 25% DNA, which proves that Karen is Alain's biological aunt. Karen is happy that she has a nephew and Alain is in shock. Karen assures him that she's willing to fly back and forth between Johto and Kalos if that's what it takes to have a relationship with her newfound nephew. It takes time for Alain to trust and open up to Karen, but he gets there. It also helps that Karen adores Mairin and respects Sycamore as Alain's dad.

-The irony of Alain's biological family also being a dark type specialist is not lost on Mairin. She also teases him once the dust settles by saying "See how Karen doesn't dress like an emo? She wears yellow!"

[canary-warrior]

So if Friede is working at Exceed again, and Amethio is going to be working with his father, does that make Amethio Friede's boss? Will they end up working together

I wanna see an ep dedicated to whatever sassed-fill shenanigans they get up to.

[canary-warrior]

the instagram comments are scaring me bc why do most of you want jlb to remove gigi, lyra and rohan's POVs??? they're the MAIN CHARACTERS of this trilogy and i care more about them than the hawthorne brothers (except xander, i love him).

[canary-warrior]

Why Mairin would/should be a Gym Leader

Hear me out...

-Mairin says in TSME that she wants to catch and train pokemon. She wants to battle. And in XYZ, she watches Serena battle while in awe of her, even calling her"amazing." If anything, watching Serena would've made Mairin want to get better at battling even more, to the point where she can beat Alain and Charizard.

-Mairin was sidelined in the XYZ Flare plotline. Serena was tasked with protecting her and Bonnie, all while Chespie was inside the giant rock. I doubt Mairin wants to feel powerless, useless, and helpless like that again so she would definitely train her pokemon and befriend more. (I'm still dying on the hill that Chespie doesn't evolve because of all of the energy he absorbed).

-I know that Mairin ends up helping out Professor Sycamore with Alain, researching mega evolution. That makes sense because she deserves to spend time with Alain while everything with Team Flare is over. But I can't picture her working in a lab full time after XYZ - Mairin is stubborn and adventurous. She wanted to keep traveling in TSME, but with Alain and Mairin loved going to Hoenn and seeing the region. Maybe during their research trips, Mairin catches and trains more pokemon and challenges the gyms if they're nearby and gets her badges. Working in a lab was never her dream; she wants to use mega evolution.

-Honestly, after having a couple of people protecting her (Alain, Serena, Steven, and Professor Sycamore), she definitely wants to get strong enough to protect herself. After everything that happened with Team Flare, she wants to be prepared in case something bad like that happens again.

-I like to think that eventually, she would get strong enough to get all eight badges and challenge the league. But halfway through she realizes that she doesn't want to be champion, on the off chance she wins. She wants to have time for herself and to help out with research while still battling. She doesn't want the responsibility of looking after a whole region. That's when she realizes that being a Gym Leader or even a member of the Elite Four is what she wants. They battle challengers and still have time to do their own stuff and they come together when the region is in danger.

-Conveniently, Ramos would probably retire due to his age and Mairin, who had expressed interest in becoming a gym leader, would get offered the role. Coumarine City is a route away from Lumiose City, which makes it even better. Mairin says yes immediately - she can battle with Chespie who's a grass type and she'll be near her big bro. It's perfect.

-Mairin would consider other regions before Ramos's retirement though, even if it means leaving Alain and Professor Sycamore, so she could achieve her goal. Thankfully it all works out for her!

[canary-warrior]

We deserved to see the absolute chaos that Chespie, Clemont's Chespin, and Alain's Chespin caused in Lumiose City before Alain's evolved.

[canary-warrior]

Mairin and Lysandre (+ Alain)

Still on my TSME kick and wanted to talk about Mairin and Lysandre's relationship since it's overlooked a lot.

okay so I think that Lysandre actually didn't care about Mairin at all. Yes, he did send a grunt to get her but he didn't even bother mentioning that to Alain so he would think that Mairin was safe. Alain didn't know where Mairin was til Serena called Ash. Mairin and Lysandre even watched the match between Alain and Ash together before Lysandre left. If he actually cared about her, he would've taken her with him right then and there before the giant vines destroyed the stadium. Mairin easily could've gotten hurt or worse.

Lysandre saw how much Alain cared about Mairin. Alain became even more determined to get mega evolution energy because he wanted to see Mairin smile again and save Chespie. It was easy to convince Alain to continue working for him using Mairin and it let Lysandre isolate him even more from Professor Sycamore. Even when Lysandre called Alain and himself chosen ones who would continue into the next world, he never mentioned Mairin as one too. He was fine letting her die because he already got Alain to do what he wanted and didn't need her anymore.

The only time Lysandre mentioned Mairin was when he said Alain did all of this "For Mairin's sake. Chespie, too. A truly noble wish." He implied that he admired Alain's nobleness but didn't mention Mairin otherwise.

When Alain turned against Lysandre (after an emotional stuggle), Lysandre said he was disappointed. Lysandre did care about Alain in his own twisted way and wanted him to live by his side. Sending a grunt to get Mairin was a very low effort gesture for Alain's sake and to use her to make Alain stay on his side. That grunt most likely had to report that he failed to get Mairin to Lysandre and he probably just waved it off. If Alain asked about her, Lysandre could say that he tried but Mairin chose her side or something.

And Mairin and Alain are opposites in a lot of ways - Mairin is more outspoken, extroverted, stubborn, and fiery. She's a sweet and nice girl but she's a fighter at the same time. When Mairin first saw Chespie on the stretcher being carried away by doctors, she immediately yelled at the doctors (despite crying her eyes out a few moments prior) and grabbed Chespie. Mairin looked like she was about to fight the doctors herself if Steven didn't show up. When she saw Lysandre's speech on TV, she immediately realized he was the bad guy and turned against him in that moment. She even called the Team Flare grunt who tried to take her a bad guy too and told him to stop when he tried to grab her. Then she broke into Lysandre Labs with Serena, Professor Sycamore, and Steven to save Chespie because she couldn't just walk in there anymore, she burned her bridges with Team Flare.

No doubt Lysandre watched the security footage of Mairin's encounter with the doctors and heard about her reaction from them, too. It was clear from the start that Mairin was never going to fit the mold and that he would never be able to control her the way he did with Alain.

Of course Mairin was devastated about Chespie, but she still managed to go out and be the sweet girl she is. She helped Clemont's Chespin and then became friends with him, Bonnie, Serena, and Ash. She had fun with them. Mairin was always strong and she tried to stay as lively as possible, too. Lysandre was never going to make her completely lose her spark. (Alain, bless his heart, kept saying he wanted to make Mairin smile again. But she still smiled a lot despite everything - in her video message to him, with Clemont's Chespin, and with him and the rest of the gang.)

Lysandre may have gotten Alain to stop talking to Sycamore, but he never predicted Mairin and he sure as hell couldn't stop her from becoming Alain's friend/little sister. He couldn't stop Alain from getting attached to someone else. Hell, Lysandre made Alain battle 10 trainers and if he lost, he would have to return his key stone and mega stone. That was a clear control tactic. Then Mairin and Chespie came along and Alain did whatever Lysandre wanted to help Chespie. I know Lysandre was pissed that all it truly took for Alain to fully be on his side was a 10 year old girl and her Chespin.

After Lysandre was defeated, Mairin went back to how she was before Chespie fell into a coma. She was shocked at Lysandre's betrayal because she trusted him but she seemed like she got over it pretty quickly.

If Lysandre and Team Flare actually won, Mairin would definitely be a rebel against them.

When Alain realizes all of this, he will most likely have a breakdown.

[canary-warrior]

Never getting over how Alain has a Chesnaught and a Metagross, likely to honor Mairin, Chespie, and Steven.

He is so sentimental

[canary-warrior]

Elite Four Member Alain and Gym Leader Mairin headcanons

-After winning her gym badges during her journey with Alain, Mairin challenged the Kalos league when she was 15. She beat Malva's replacement who specializes in ground type and Siebold, but lost against Wikstrom despite putting up a difficult battle. When Ramos announced his retirement, he asked Mairin to be his replacement because of her strength and because three of her pokemon are grass type which was perfect. Mairin accepted excitedly - this meant she could have a job and still have time to help Professor Sycamore and Alain with research.

-After Mairin beat him (quite easily, too), Siebold decided to follow Ramos's lead and retire so he can focus on his culinary career. He recalled how strong Alain was and asked him if he would like to be his successor, specializing in whichever type wasn't already taken by a gym leader or another Elite Four member. Alain was hesitant, but accepted because he realized how much he missed battling. He specialized in dark type because a couple of his pokemon are already that type, and he also uses Charizard. (He's not the first Elite Four member to use a type outside of their announced specialization). Alain is also continuing his research with Professor Sycamore and Mairin, and they even work with Steven Stone and Sawyer from time to time. Steven was the third person Alain told about his new job.

-Siebold invites Mairin and Alain to his restuarant for a free meal to congratulate them and thank them for taking over for Ramos and himself. The Kalos League is is good hands (after Malva, he was very skeptical about getting close to anyone because the two of them were friends. Even though Malva turned against Lysandre and turned herself in, Siebold was still concerned about the future of the Kalos League.)

-Professor Sycamore was overjoyed and so proud of his two kids. The three of them celebrated together with Sophie and Cosette at the lab, along with all of their pokemon.

-Mairin's gym team is the same as my other HCs - Chespie (Chespin), Roselia (Rosie), and Rita (Meganium, mega evolves during battle). Mairin also has Bebe (Floette) and Lulu (Altaria, also has a mega stone).

-Mairin gets along great with the rest of the gym leaders. She's closest to Clemont of course, since they were friends before and he's only two years older than her, making them the youngest gym leaders in Kalos. Mairin is also good friends with Korrina, Viola, and Valerie, who all treat her like a little sister. Valerie even convince Mairin to model for her a few times.

-Alain also gets along with the rest of the Elite Four plus Diantha, but he's not as sociable as Mairin is and prefers to keep to himself. That works out great for him because everyone else is also more focused on the job than socializing. Eventually Alain does start chatting with them more.

-The gym leaders' group chat is FAR more chaotic than the Elite Four + Champion group chat. Alain once caught a glimpse of the chat on Mairin's phone and it was Olympia yelling at Wulfric over something while Grant was trying to get them to calm down. Mairin and Korrina also send memes to the group.

-Everyone bet on Viola and Grant's relationship. Alain wasn't going to but Mairin insisted that he did so he can "join the fun." Olympia ended up winning but Alain's random guess was a close second.

-Most trainers who are making their way through the Elite Four are beaten by Alain, who is the second E4 member they must face. He eventually switches spots with Drasna after she and Wikstrom complained about not being able to battle anyone. He then becomes the last Elite Four member trainers must face before Diantha.

-This sent waves through the League community because Elite Four members switching their order for that reason is practically unheard of. Mairin, on the other hand, happily bragged about Alain to many people. As did Professor Sycamore. Alain does not want any of the attention.

-People, mainly trainers making their way through the League, are always so shocked to hear that Alain and Mairin are super close and are unofficial siblings because they're polar opposites. Mairin is always warm and welcoming while Alain is more guarded and immediately jumps into battle. Even their gyms/chambers are the opposite - Mairin's indoor gym (she kept Ramos's outdoor gym in case anyone wanted to battle there instead) is bright and decorated with art, paintings, and flowers. Alain's Elite Four chamber has a darker aesthetic and the only decorations he has are framed photos of himself, Mairin, Professor Sycamore, Sophie, Cosette, and their pokemon, and a painting that Mairin made herself. He has a few random stones that Steven gifted him on a bookshelf there, too.

-Mairin always tells the trainers about Alain - "If you make it all the way to the Elite Four, you'll get to battle Alain! He's super great!" The trainers who make it to Alain usually mention what Mairin said and he lights up and casually calls her his sister- "Yeah, she's like my little sister. She's the youngest gym leader in Kalos, you know." The trainers' reactions are hilarious and then they realize that's why there's photos with Mairin on the wall.

-Alain and Mairin always make time to go visit Professor Sycamore on a regular basis, especially on Father's Day.

-If Diantha is away from Kalos, Alain is the temporary Champion of the region. One time during this, Steven showed up and jokingly asked to speak to the champion. Alain straight up challenges him to a battle but before Steven could accept, Mairin barges into the room by tripping inside somehow (she wanted to visit Alain to see how he's handling being temporary champion). Steven immediately went to help her up since he was closer and then the three of them decide to catch up instead of battle.

-If Valerie is away on a trip for fashion designer stuff, Mairin fills in for her. She uses Bebe (evolved into a Floette), one of Valerie's pokemon she entrusts to her, and then mega evolves her Altaria, Lulu.

-Alain visits Siebold a couple of times at his restaurant and they usually battle for fun.

-Drasnsa becomes an aunt-like figure to Alain and even invites him to Celestic Town in the Sinnoh region, where she's from, to meet her family. Alain is very interested in the mythology of Diagla and Palkia which Drasna told him about.

-Mairin and Clemont get closer because of their jobs as gym leaders and because of their friendship. Clemont develops a small crush on Mairin at some point, much to Bonnie's excitement. When the other gym leaders realize this, their first thought is 'how is Alain going to react?'

[canary-warrior]

What if Friede gets a key stone and a Metagrossite stone for Orla so she can mega evolve her Metagross?

[canary-warrior]

A small canon divergence scene about Lysandre and Alain hearing that Mairin got away from the Team Flare member Lysandre sent to get her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're destroying the city and hurting people," Alain said, trying to reason with Lysandre. "Is this really what you think world peace is about?" His voice got louder. "You said you're protecting us!"

"Yes," Lysandre said slowing, bringing his gaze to meet Alain's, "I'm protecting the chosen ones only." Before Alain could voice his horror and ask what he meant by chosen ones, Lysandre's phone rang. The man's eye twitched at the interruption but he answered it. "What is it?"

A hologram of one of Lysandre's employees appeared. "Sir, I am sorry, but I was unable to get Mairin."

Alain's blood froze. "What do you mean, get Mairin?" The teenager demanded. Oh no, where was Mairin? She got separated from Alain when the vines started attacking more. He tried to spot her from the helicopter, but he couldn't see her familiar bright green hat and red hair. Alain assumed she ran away from the attacking vines and found safety, but he supposed he was wrong.

"I found Mairin in the streets and told her that you ordered me to take her to you," the grunt explained, "but she said she did not want to go with me. In fact, she called us the bad guys. I tried to assure her that we were the good guys, however she refused to believe me."

Alain let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Mairin was a far better person than he was, and so young too. She had a strong moral compass and didn't let Lysandre twist it. That ten year old girl who barged into Alain's life and somehow made him love her like a little sister stood her ground. The fact that Mairin saw through Lysandre's words faster than Alain did made him feel proud.

Proud, yet terrified for her. Chespie was still at Lysandre's lab. The fact that Mairin would throw away her access to get to Chespie like this made Alain feel guilty. All of the choices he made led to Mairin having to choose between burning her bridges with Lysandre and her morals. Mairin had to choose between Lysandre, Alain, the rest of Team Flare and the world.

And while Alain chose her, she chose the world.

Hot tears pricked in his eyes. Alain didn't blame Mairin for not choosing to come back. He didn't deserve her. But the world was in danger and so was Mairin.

"I told you to use force if necessary," Lysandre growled.

Alain snapped his head towards Lysandre. "Force? You're willing to hurt Mairin? I thought you cared about her!" His mind flashed back to that fateful day at Lysandre's lab when Chespie fell into the coma. Mairin had clutched Lysandre's clothes and cried, and he let her. Was that all an act to get them all to trust him?

Lysandre turned to Alain, briefly ignoring the grunt. "Care about her?" He scoffed. "I admit, I was willing to allow her to be one of the chosen ones because of her pure heart."

There was more, and Alain had a terrible feeling. "But?"

"But at the end of the day, she was nothing more than a tool to keep you focused on your mission. You've collected much more mega evolution energy once that Chespin of hers was in a coma. You got so attached to her, that you went out and battled hundreds of times for the mere purpose of seeing her smile. That's a truly noble goal, Alain," Lysandre praised him. "So noble that I thought you deserved to keep her around."

Alain swore his heart stopped. Lysandre used Mairin to manipulate him. He didn't see her as the bright, good person she was; he saw her as a means to an ends. Lysandre saw her as a thing to use to keep Alain in line. "No..." he breathed out, everything crashing down at once.

Lysandre turned back to the holographic video call. "Forget about Mairin. She made her choice, and she will die with it. Get back here." Not waiting for the grunt's response, Lysandre ended the call.

"No!" Alain yelled angrily, grabbing Lysandre's arm. "How could you just leave her to die?"

Lysandre yanked his arm away. "Mairin made her choice, Alain. I understand you're upset. After all, everything you did was for her and now she's throwing it all away to die for an imperfect, horrible world. I'm surprised at her ungratefulness, too, but get ahold of yourself. We are so close to creating our perfect world."

Alain wanted to scream. He wanted to run back into the city and find Mairin. He wanted to stop this. He needed to stop this, for Lumiose and for the world. For Mairin, too.

Lysandre then brought out Ash and his pokemon, all bound by something Team Flare invented, and then Alain truly lost it.

[canary-warrior]

omg these tags, i love this so much!!

And yess I recently got back into the animes and i love mairin and alain's friendship so much!

but going back to Mairin and Lysandre's relationship- i feel like Lysandre cared about Alain in his own twisted way (the way he said he was disappointed in Alain when he turned against him def meant something) but he didn't care for Mairin and only saw her as a way to control Alain. He didn't bother mentioning her directly to Alain so at the end of the day, Lysandre never cared about Mairin even though she cared about him. Like if that grunt did manage to abduct Mairin and bring her to Lysandre (and he said he was under orders to bring her straight to Lysandre), he would've used her to make sure Alain didn't turn on him.

Mairin likely would've convinced Alain to turn against Lysandre anyways but it would've been much harder since Mairin would've been in the direct line of fire.

Now I have the mental image of Mairin yelling at Lysandre while Alain and Ash are in the background witnessing this shouting match while the city is being destroyed.

Mairin deserved to yell and/or battle someone during the xyz arc.

[canary-warrior]

Mairin and Bonnie with the Legends ZA Plotline

Wanted to do a version that focuses on the anime characters instead of including the player characters. Mairin and Bonnie would be the leads in this because I love them and they deserve the spotlight (and because there's no sign of Sycamore or Clemont in the game).

-Mairin is 15-16 and Bonnie is 12-13. Mairin already won all of her gym badges while on her journey with Alain and Bonnie has half of hers. Both of them find themselves in Lumiose City because Mairin heard rumors of Alpha pokemon in the city and wanted to conduct her own research on it. Alain and Professor Sycamore made strides with their mega evolution research, which she helped with, but she wanted to make her own name.

-Bonnie is the temporary gym leader while Clemont and Clembot are away, but she has to use a different building as a gym because Quasartico took over Prism Tower. Bonnie lives at home with her dad while she's temporary running the gym. Both Clemont and their dad thought it would help Bonnie grow as a trainer and see if she likes being a gym leader so she could have an idea of what she wants to do in the future.

-Clemont said he would try to get Prism Tower and the gym back, so Bonnie assumes he is speaking to other gym leaders and the Pokemon League.

-When he's not helping Professor Sycamore and Mairin with mega evolution research, Alain is a member of the Elite Four (specializing in Dark type Pokemon with Charizard as his ace/wild card), replacing Siebold after he retired to focus on his culinary career. He was offered Malva's position but declined because it was too soon after everything that happened with Lysandre. He was offered Siebold's spot a year and a half ago and he accepted it.

-Professor Sycamore is in another region doing research with Trevor (according to the game), so Alain is spending more time with the league and Mairin told them she was going to travel throughout Kalos. She didn't want to tell them that she wanted to research Alpha pokemon because they would get worried about her, especially her going back to Lumiose City despite all of the bad memories they have there.

-Once Mairin got there, she learned about Wild Zones and immediately disliked them because she believes Pokemon shouldn't be caged.

-She runs into Bonnie in the city and they have a happy reunion. Bonnie takes her to Hotel Z where Mairin booked a room and they meet AZ and Team MZ (Urbain, Lida, and Naveen). They recognize both Bonnie and Mairin because of their connections to Clemont, Sycamore, and Alain.

-AZ and Team MZ see that Mairin has a key stone around her neck and realize that she can mega evolve pokemon. They try to recruit her but she insists that they accept Bonnie too, and they agree because Bonnie is a strong trainer in her own right and the temporary gym leader. The five of them become close friends.

-Bonnie convinces Mairin to participate in the Z-A Royale with her and Mairin accepts. The two of them become like sisters. The two of them also venture into the Wild Zones together for research (Mairin) and to take care of the Pokemon (Bonnie). They've had some close calls with wild pokemon and even managed to catch some as well. Bonnie personally loves her alpha Mareep.

-Zygarde aka Squishy follows Bonnie around, and she's excited to see Squishy again. However, when she sees that Squishy is with Lysandre, she gets scared and angry and immediately tells Mairin that Lysandre is alive but seems different.

-Bonnie eventually catches Zygarde/Squishy and they battle Ange with Mairin while Urbain is in the tower with AZ's Floette. Bonnie has her key stone and Zygarde's mega stone at this point.

-Both are devastated when AZ dies. He was like a grandfather to both girls. Urbain gives Mairin AZ's Floette since it always got along better with Mairin and Bebe, Mairin's own Floette. AZ leaves the hotel to Mairin and Team MZ. Between caring for Floette, looking out for Bonnie, cleaning up the city, grieving for AZ, and figuring out how to run a hotel, Mairin forgets to check in with Alain and Professor Syacmore for a while.

-After the Ange plot, Mable asks Mairin for help involving Lysandre Labs, and she begrudgingly agrees because she needs to take her mind off AZ's death. Mable sends her to investigate something at the lab. Mairin has to battle several pokemon to get to the specific lab room Mable wants her to go to, and catches a few pokemon for her friends (including an alpha Beldum for Steven).

-That room has Mewtwo, which Mable called Project M.

-Mewtwo uses telepathy to talk to Mairin, which startles her at first. Mewtwo explains that they were stuck here in Lysandre Labs for years after being captured by Team Flare. They have the ability to read everyone's minds, and told Mairin that everyone at the lab had minds with bad intentions, except for Mairin. Since Mairin was at Lysandre Labs a lot to visit Chespie, Mewtwo somehow sensed her and saw her goodness and she unknowingly became the one person Mewtwo got attached to before her presence disappeared from the lab 5 years ago.

-Mairin cried at Mewtwo's story and told them that they were free to go. Instead, Mewtwo wanted to stay with her for the time being and let her catch them.

-So now there's two powerful legendary pokemon in Lumiose City with their emotional support humans. Bonnie and Mairin did not tell their big brothers about it yet.

-Mable is surprised to hear that Mairin actually caught Mewtwo. She recalls that there were random moments when Mewtwo would seem calmer but no one ever connected the dots that it was Mairin's presence at the lab that caused that.

-Mable and Mairin develop an interesting friendship, since Mairin sees that Mable is actually trying to reform. Mable does grow to care for Mairin a lot but doesn't know how to show it (thankfully Mairin is used to that considering she's been friends with Alain for over 5 years. In Alain's defense, he has gotten much better).

-Mable encourages Mairin to publish her research about Alpha pokemon and she submits it. Mairin doesn't expect anyone to actually publish her paper so she's surprised when she gets the good news.

-Since Bonnie and Mairin both forgot to tell Clemont and Alain what happened in Lumiose City, they're totally unprepared when they both show up to Lumiose City with Professor Sycamore and Steven Stone to check on them when they hear about Prism Tower on the news. It's not a fun conversation.

-(Based on the leaked info that Clemont was 12 in the anime, he would be 17 during this plotline. Bonnie definitely tries to convince Clemont to ask out Mairin much to his chagrin when he gets back to Lumiose.)

-Mairin's team: Chespie (unevolved), Bebe (Floette), Rita (Meganium, can mega evolve), Rosie (Roselia), Lulu (Altaria, can mega evolve), and Mewtwo (somehow finds Mewtwo's mega stones at some point.) She is looking after Floette and has its mega stone too.

-Bonnie's Team: Dedenne, Emolga, Ampharos (Uses those three as a gym leader), Kirlia, Litwick (caught in Lumiose), and Zygarde/Squishy (can mega evolve).

[canary-warrior]

What if the final villain of the series isn't Spinel but Friede???

All of the villain Friede posts are stuck in my head but it would be so intriguing if Friede went from the charming, endearing hero to the final bad guy of the series somehow.

(It would break my Frieorla heart but Orla does deserve better than post-timeskip Friede)

[canary-warrior]

I hope we see more of the gym leaders again. I know the Elite Four believes the RVTs are innocent and are helping them but I also loved their interactions with the gym leaders! We know that Katy and Iono believe the RVTs, and the latter has been helping them more, and we can assume Grusha also believes them since he greeted Liko politely at the Nidothing/Iono event and saw Liko battle Sidian when the Explorers broke into the school. I wanna see the three of them more along with Brassius and Ryme.

[canary-warrior]

A small canon divergence scene about Lysandre and Alain hearing that Mairin got away from the Team Flare member Lysandre sent to get her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're destroying the city and hurting people," Alain said, trying to reason with Lysandre. "Is this really what you think world peace is about?" His voice got louder. "You said you're protecting us!"

"Yes," Lysandre said slowing, bringing his gaze to meet Alain's, "I'm protecting the chosen ones only." Before Alain could voice his horror and ask what he meant by chosen ones, Lysandre's phone rang. The man's eye twitched at the interruption but he answered it. "What is it?"

A hologram of one of Lysandre's employees appeared. "Sir, I am sorry, but I was unable to get Mairin."

Alain's blood froze. "What do you mean, get Mairin?" The teenager demanded. Oh no, where was Mairin? She got separated from Alain when the vines started attacking more. He tried to spot her from the helicopter, but he couldn't see her familiar bright green hat and red hair. Alain assumed she ran away from the attacking vines and found safety, but he supposed he was wrong.

"I found Mairin in the streets and told her that you ordered me to take her to you," the grunt explained, "but she said she did not want to go with me. In fact, she called us the bad guys. I tried to assure her that we were the good guys, however she refused to believe me."

Alain let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Mairin was a far better person than he was, and so young too. She had a strong moral compass and didn't let Lysandre twist it. That ten year old girl who barged into Alain's life and somehow made him love her like a little sister stood her ground. The fact that Mairin saw through Lysandre's words faster than Alain did made him feel proud.

Proud, yet terrified for her. Chespie was still at Lysandre's lab. The fact that Mairin would throw away her access to get to Chespie like this made Alain feel guilty. All of the choices he made led to Mairin having to choose between burning her bridges with Lysandre and her morals. Mairin had to choose between Lysandre, Alain, the rest of Team Flare and the world.

And while Alain chose her, she chose the world.

Hot tears pricked in his eyes. Alain didn't blame Mairin for not choosing to come back. He didn't deserve her. But the world was in danger and so was Mairin.

"I told you to use force if necessary," Lysandre growled.

Alain snapped his head towards Lysandre. "Force? You're willing to hurt Mairin? I thought you cared about her!" His mind flashed back to that fateful day at Lysandre's lab when Chespie fell into the coma. Mairin had clutched Lysandre's clothes and cried, and he let her. Was that all an act to get them all to trust him?

Lysandre turned to Alain, briefly ignoring the grunt. "Care about her?" He scoffed. "I admit, I was willing to allow her to be one of the chosen ones because of her pure heart."

There was more, and Alain had a terrible feeling. "But?"

"But at the end of the day, she was nothing more than a tool to keep you focused on your mission. You've collected much more mega evolution energy once that Chespin of hers was in a coma. You got so attached to her, that you went out and battled hundreds of times for the mere purpose of seeing her smile. That's a truly noble goal, Alain," Lysandre praised him. "So noble that I thought you deserved to keep her around."

Alain swore his heart stopped. Lysandre used Mairin to manipulate him. He didn't see her as the bright, good person she was; he saw her as a means to an ends. Lysandre saw her as a thing to use to keep Alain in line. "No..." he breathed out, everything crashing down at once.

Lysandre turned back to the holographic video call. "Forget about Mairin. She made her choice, and she will die with it. Get back here." Not waiting for the grunt's response, Lysandre ended the call.

"No!" Alain yelled angrily, grabbing Lysandre's arm. "How could you just leave her to die?"

Lysandre yanked his arm away. "Mairin made her choice, Alain. I understand you're upset. After all, everything you did was for her and now she's throwing it all away to die for an imperfect, horrible world. I'm surprised at her ungratefulness, too, but get ahold of yourself. We are so close to creating our perfect world."

Alain wanted to scream. He wanted to run back into the city and find Mairin. He wanted to stop this. He needed to stop this, for Lumiose and for the world. For Mairin, too.

Lysandre then brought out Ash and his pokemon, all bound by something Team Flare invented, and then Alain truly lost it.

[canary-warrior]

there's something so sad about the fact that for the entire year Friede was gone, he was in Hoenn, the region Orla moved to when they were younger.

And surely Friede didn't spend all that time inside the space center, right? He must've had to go out for food and stuff or to just take Charizard on walks.

If Orla has gone home to Hoenn and explored the region, maybe she would've seen him...