What team are you on for where Murphs slopoke went after he got moved to pr? Personally ive always been team it retired to its best slopoke life at home and eventually evolves to a slobro (also live its best life obviously).
That's such a real hc, I think personally I've always thought that Murph actually becomes a trainer!! Perhaps not in the same sense as "those who go on the gym challenge or often engage in battles" but definitely in the "uses Pokéballs and Has A Team" sense. Slowpoke would definitely still be living its best life either at home or napping in a pokeball, maybe Murph catches some other Pokémon as he's running around in r2 and r3, etc. He does not whip out his team to help you in the games because he would probably lose, tbh, and more pokemon on the field would just be a distraction.
I know there's some general tension in how Rangers in the series don't use Pokéballs at all, but honestly theyre so common in the wider Pokémon world and other games the Ranger trainer class does. I choose to think of it as rangers going "when in rome" about it, if they're in a region where pokeballs are common they might decide to use those too for a bit, etc. Since in general the pokemon world uses pokeballs pretty commonly I figure rangers would HAVE to get used to it somehow especially if they worked in those regions, though individuals would probably have their own varied opinions about pokeball use as it affects pokemon and sustainability and all that.
Murph is silly and comedic relief, but honestly I love thinking about how to make him more three dimensional and to me a part of that is thinking about him not being a ranger anymore. He wasn't a very good ranger—but I doubt most people would be. He's lazy and kind of a coward in the other two games—but he helps you out anyway. And somehow learns how to drive a boat. His flaws don't mean he can't be competent in other areas, he had to land the PR job somehow, and I like to think he'd be a decent trainer if not one up to the. World-ending standards the ranger games put you up against.
Tl;dr: that slowpoke is in a luxury ball having the greatest naps ever, in my opinion
After much deliberation I have decided that SoA's "all top rangers have a designated operator" statement was complete and utter bullshit and possibly a mistranslation given how the game says it and then debunks it numerous times over.
As I completed SoA main story, felt like to draw Mr. Hall, but also drew Murph first by accident and went on.
I hope Murph look like himself here, I drew him for 1st time.
Oh, I did make mini HCs for Mr. Hall:
Since we never got to see Mr. Hall's eyes in any form of fashion among Team DIm Sun's crew, maybe because "eyes are windows to the soul" and shades obscure his eyes. It's okay
I headcanon Wyatt's eyes always have been lavender-ish (or blue-ish), but when he because Blake, the shadow crystal's effects changed his eyes into deep dark purple with dead eyes look, with the shards glimsping in them. When he redeemed and returned to his Wyatt's identity, his eyes also return to lavenderish color and more lively,
Don't get me started the fact Hall's hair are implied to be shoulder length (I wanna draw Mr. Hall with loose hair again.)
I recently started a rewrite of the R1 Groudon mission on a whim, one thing led to another and I got an idea on how to rewrite the Rayquaza mission as well...
So I rewrote the Kyogre mission too to make a proper trio but I just can't get the ending to join up nicely to the Groudon mission. So rather than waste a full blown fic, I'm just gonna post it here. May throw it onto AO3 too, who knows.
Words: 1,977
"Mornin'."
Admittedly he probably shouldn't have accepted this mission, or at the very least should have cleared his schedule prior to spending the night at the professor's. Professor Hastings, it seemed, aside from being one Hell of a talker, was one Hell of a drinker to boot, and the combination of several glasses of hard spirits and only a few hours of sleep had left Lunick feeling more foggy than he'd have liked as he entered Fall City base. At least Hastings had the decency to send him on his way armed with a cup of aggressively strong coffee. "Heard you have a mission for me?"
"Ah, good morning Lunick." Joel always seemed like a busybody on a normal day, but today he appeared particularly brisk. "Apologies for calling you in, I know you're probably sick of doing work for me, but this is rather important, as I'm sure you'll appreciate."
He took a swig of coffee. "All ears, sir."
Joel nodded curtly, calling Aria over. "I've already gone over this with Aria, but long story short; we've had numerous reports of wild Pokémon down by the docks behaving abnormally all morning. The lighthouse has also reported an infestation of Staryu in their basement, apparently they've not only damaged some of the electrics critical for keeping the light running, but they're also far too aggressive to be approached safely. I'd recommend checking that off first, as you can probably imagine they're quite anxious to get the light repaired as soon as possible."
He adjusted his glasses, shuffling through the armload of papers that Lunick assumed were this morning's report. "I've already sent a few Rangers down there this morning to try and resolve the situation, all of them have reported being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Pokémon on shore or dangerously close to the marina. I know it's not tremendously professional of me to ask a Ranger from another base to do this when I already have a full base here, but I could either send the entire base out and have nobody around to cover the rest of the day, or I could just send you two knowing either one of you is more than capable of handling this solo. I'm sure you both can see the pragmatism."
"And I'm sure you could have just sent one of us." Aria was not as quiet as she clearly thought she was, as Joel appeared to muse at that statement.
"And I'm also sure you don't want me to go over why I prefer sending Rangers out in pairs again. Besides…"
He fought to hide what may have been a smirk, or possibly a grimace. It was hard to tell. "I don't want to admit it, but Lunick's better at captures than you are."
"Aw, cheers sir." He was sure to direct his beaming smirk straight at Aria, who huffed before returning to her usual composure. Lunick, thus, returned his attention back to Joel. "So, head down to the harbour, clear out the Staryu at the lighthouse, and then… tackle everything else?"
Joel nodded. "More or less. And try to figure out what's causing all of this, if you can. I'd like this resolved as quickly as possible."
*
"And you should probably get a gate or something, just to stop this from happening again, yanno?"
The mechanic gave a noncommittal grunt, before sliding down the ladder into the manhole that led to the basement. Lunick snorted once he was presumably out of earshot. That toolbox he'd brought wasn't gonna be of much use. Pft, good luck down there, mate.
He stooped to allow his Minun to hop back onto his shoulder, surveying the harbour and wondering where on Earth Aria had gotten to. It was bad enough she'd refused to enter the basement, something about an alleged "higher risk of electrocution if there were more than one of us" (as well as the awful fishy smell), but disappearing entirely was a new low, even for Fall City's base.
"Looks like we're on our own for now, eh Sparks?" He gave Minun a scratch behind his ears, feeling a staticky nuzzle against his cheek in response, and he wandered towards the dock. Though the weather was still and windless, the sea was choppy and frothy, with waves crashing up the sea wall and the boats in the marina rocking precariously around. Further out at sea he could see the ferries and cruises that frequented the area moored perpendicular to the harbour, apparently waiting for conditions to improve.
"Hm. Weird." The cause for the phenomena was definitely unnatural, that's for sure. Whether they would prove to be a job for the Rangers was yet to be seen, however.
A hiss from behind caught his attention, and he turned around to the sight of a massive hoard of Krabby emptying from the visitor centre, followed by a thoroughly soaked and utterly miserable looking Aria. Huh. That's where she'd been.
He couldn't help but snicker as she approached. "Fancied seeing what sights Fiore has to offer then, eh?"
Her pained expression didn't change. "There was a huge swarm of Krabby in there, the lady on the front desk couldn't escape and was basically trapped in her office. I had to…" She paused to slop the excess water off her sleeve with a pitiful whimper.
Lunick snickered. "Be her knight with the shining styler?"
"Very funny." She fixed one of her signature curls, which had fallen limp from water weight. "I was hoping to try and find some clues as to what's going on too, I've never seen something like this before."
"So you also don't know what's causing all this?"
She thought for a moment. "If I had to guess, I'd say maybe there's a large predator somewhere close to shore that's scared everything else out of the water, but that's just speculation really-"
"Works for me." He strode down onto the jetty, towards the area where the tamed Lapras were usually kept. After all, if Aria's assumption was correct, and there was indeed a large Pokémon lurking close to shore, it was certainly in his job description to capture it.
The guy who usually accompanied the harbour's tamed Lapras was unusually nowhere to be found, however the Lapras was still in its pen, circling and chirping frantically until it noticed Lunick approaching. "Hey buddy…" Lapras headbutted his outstretched palm, with enough force that he was pushed back slightly. "Where's your owner eh? Not like him to leave you on your own."
"Our leader ordered a full evacuation of the harbour just before you arrived at base this morning." He turned around to see Aria still standing on top of the sea wall, leaning over the railing. "If you were wondering where the handler is."
Lunick frowned. "You not coming down?"
He could see her scowl even at a distance. "Absolutely not, with waves like that. I'm shocked that you even went down."
"Suit yourself." He jumped onto Lapras' back, easing down onto its craggy shell, making sure to sail past her before heading out towards the churning open sea. "Just don't come crying to me when I get to do something cool and you don't."
*
Well, he'd managed to do something cool alright. Not everyday you got to not only see but also capture a Kyogre, after all. Lunick hadn't even heard of them ever leaving Hoenn before, let alone travelling as far west as Fiore.
And judging by its condition, it had brought company.
"Yeah it was in pretty bad shape." Not that he or Minun were in any better shape, mind; his styler felt uncomfortably hot against his cheek, the droning beeps, blood still dripping from his nose and splitting headache reminding him just how close he'd come to it blowing up in his hand, and Minun was still passed out across his shoulders. "Unless there's somehow another Kyogre lurking out here, I'd say it probably encountered a Groudon. Only thing I can think of that'd be able to rough it up like that."
"That's a concerning thought." The sheer amount of water damage on top of his nearly depleted styler made Aria's voice almost unintelligible. "But you said it's fine now?"
"Hopefully. Managed to get some Kanto Potion on it at least." Like most rangers, he wasn't one to resort to trainer equipment so easily, but it certainly beat towing a several hundred pound behemoth back to shore for the base vets to handle, and that was assuming they'd even been trained to treat critically endangered exotic megafauna in the first place.
He heard Aria muse. "And yourself? You actually dropped off radar for a few minutes there. I was getting pretty worried."
"I did?" He wiped his nose on his hand, accidentally triggering a new bleed. Great. "Eh. Could be better, I guess."
"Understandable, given the circumstances. I've already forwarded a message back to base letting them know you might need to return to recharge your styler, but I will say the situation has quietened down here on shore."
"Oh really?" He probably shouldn't sound so surprised, Aria had theorised the anomalies were down to a large predator lurking just offshore, and if Kyogre didn't match that description then he didn't want to think about what else could. "So, think we can just head back to base then?"
"I'm gonna stay behind a bit longer, there's a few Carvanha still trapped in the marina and I'd like to make sure they get out safely."
"Think you'll need a hand with that?"
"What percentage is your styler on? I can hear it beeping from here."
"Eh…" He glanced at his screen and grimaced. "Touché. I'll see you back at base."
*
"Goodness, are you alright?"
He probably should have anticipated that reaction before stepping into Fall City base. That nosebleed still hadn't let up after all. "Better than I look, I guess. Could probably use a recharge too."
"I'll bet…" Joel fussed over him, effortlessly claiming his styler and tossing it to the operator, who caught it with equal trainedness. "Wait, where's Aria? Is she alright?"
"Stayed behind, just to clear up a few loose ends. Would've stayed and helped out, but-"
"No, no, you made the right decision coming back here." A handkerchief was thrust up against his nose, his hand guided to hold it in place. "Just pinch it at the bridge-"
Lunick laughed weakly, dutifully taking the handkerchief. "You seem to have done this before."
"Ten years of knowing Spenser will do things to you, trust me." A rare laugh, before his face settled back into the mild concern from earlier. "What on Earth happened out there? I saw you dropped off radar for a good few minutes."
"Oh, yeah, uh, we found a Kyogre just beyond the harbour-"
"A Kyogre?" Joel quickly regained his composure. "Apologies, go on."
"Well we- I mean I- managed to capture it and calm it down, got some Kanto Potion on it, that's really all there is to say-"
"So you captured it too?" For the first time since knowing him, Joel actually looked genuinely impressed. "Hm. Nice."
"Yeah, it was uh…" Playing it cool was pretty much impossible given his current state. "Hard. As you can probably tell."
"I'll bet…" He finally stopped fussing, stepping back with a look of exasperation that suggested his day had been equally stressful in its own way. "Well, hopefully that's everything cleared, at the very least I got a report from the lighthouse saying they're able to start repair work now, which was my main concern… I should probably wait for Aria to return before I officially let you go, but honestly if you want to return to Ringtown-"
"I can just go now?"
"Of course, and I'll forward a message to Spenser. I think you deserve a few days off."
you know what was nice. not remembering the drapion fight of ranger 2. nothing against it, that section of the game is very cool!!
it just. it may have, by the rules of this au, thrown a wrench into my original plans. but that’s okay! we’ve kind of gotten past it! not all of the rangers did, but that’s probably fine.
also, thank you so much for all your support thus far on the fic! i really appreciate it, and i hope you enjoy this new chapter <3
@fiore-region-appreciation NOOOO YOU'RE RIGHT I JUST FORGOT ABOUT THAT. uhm. i mean. haha! i may have never brought it up once but i was,,, definitely aware of it and it was definitely a part of later plans! (i wasn't and it wasn't </3)
in all seriousness thank you for letting me know though!! i have some ideas for how i can work that in now actually, but it involves adding/rewriting some parts of the first two chapters so.... unless i get to that at some point: yeah! yeah it got knocked out of her hand.
and I'm so happy you're enjoying the fic so far!! sometimes i'll lurk in the pokemon ranger tag and i've always loved loved loved your headcanons and thoughts and everything, it means a lot to me that you're enjoying the fic <3
you know what was nice. not remembering the drapion fight of ranger 2. nothing against it, that section of the game is very cool!!
it just. it may have, by the rules of this au, thrown a wrench into my original plans. but that’s okay! we’ve kind of gotten past it! not all of the rangers did, but that’s probably fine.
also, thank you so much for all your support thus far on the fic! i really appreciate it, and i hope you enjoy this new chapter <3
Consider: there's two other legendary beasts to deal with before the entei fight in the original pokemon ranger games. what if, hear me out here, your ranger partner ACTUALLY GOT TO CONTRIBUTE and you take one each??
(This is also art for my ranger fic, which you can find here!)
Ruthlessness one of my top guardian signs third act/climax songs. like arley saying he didn’t deal with you in rasp cavern like he should have bc he didn’t think you were a legitimate threat, “Cause you fight to save lives, but won't kill and don't get the job done” <- a line that fits v well w my characterization of Ed. “You are far too nice, mercy has a price” + “Unlike you, I've got no mercy left to give” dialogue parallels between Ed the doctor warning summer that her kindness may have a price vs. Ed on the sky fortress stating he has no more mercy left for those that would oppose him. “The line between naïveté and hopefulness is almost invisible / So close your heart, the world is dark” dude is there anything you want to talk about. “And now it is FINALLY time to say goodbye, today you die” hello purple eyes glad you could join us
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
and what if i said pokemon ranger fanfic (chapter 1 of 8) in the year of our lord 2024
Me, watching hardcore nuzlocke challenges: hey i wonder what a nuzlocked pokemon ranger would look like
Me: that's literally a whole different game- wait hold on what would that look like?
It turns out that it looks like a reimagining of several encounters across all three games in a 7+1 format where the canon rangers get hurt, somehow live, and the power of friendship and friendship loops gets to win every time. probably.
