OK SO! I was inspired by a post by @complaintsdonttakeitseriously. THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, I will try to put most of them under a cut but do not read down there if you don't want to be spoiled. also, this is going to be a long post, so buckle up.
if you scroll down to the bottom of this post there will be cute pictures using this template specifically for the bachelors and bachelorettes later, but for now, here's the general rundown:
you, the builder/protagonist, start off choosing between growlithe, horsea and budew for a starter that you bring with you from Highwind (maybe via Professor Luo? that could be fun). eventually, you'll build your team up to six pokemon that you catch in Sandrock's desert biome and the surrounding areas
most people in Sandrock do NOT, in fact, have six pokémon. I'm giving all of them at least one partner pokémon and most of them will have three chosen specifically to help them out with their work, but very few will have six
even though all of Sandrock's residents have at least one pokémon, many of them are not suited to battling or any sort of competition. they're more like lifelong companions and, like I said before, helpers
these are my headcanons for the pokémon that non-romanceable adult characters in sandrock have:
Vivi: Audino. It's her partner pokémon and the only one in her party. Both its color scheme that matches her dress and its ability to use its feelers like stethoscopes to listen to other pokémon's heartbeats in order to assess their physical and emotional wellbeing were big deciding factors here. You'll rarely see this pokémon roaming around town, instead, it typically chooses to stick close to the shop, where it often helps out at the cash register. Its split fairy/normal typing may make it less susceptible to scares from ghost types as well.
Hugo, the town blacksmith, would also probably want to keep it simple and just have one partner pokémon. My money's on a fire/rock type like Carkoal to keep the furnace hot and ready to forge.
Rocky: Timburr, Machoke and Primeape. This guy needs hot-tempered hard hitters that can help him out for hours during work at Eufala Salvage's scrapyard. Okay, well, he doesn't need them to be hot-tempered, but you can't tell me he wouldn't naturally gravitate towards those.
Krystal, on the other hand, would only have a Teddiursa. I think she'd want something cuddly that Pebbles can play and snuggle with, but also capable of evolving into a real mama bear of a pokemon that can protect her family.)
Dan-bi and Rian are inseparable so they'd always be a double battle encounter. I feel like they'd have two pokémon each: Rian gets Stunfisk, don't ask me why it's just pure vibes, and Tandemaus (which of course evolves into Maushold after the birth of Linden), while Dan-bi would have Mienfoo to match her fighting spirit and Flittle solely because I really want to see what she does when it evolves into a psychic ostrich.
Jensen: Shieldon. It's adorable AND has a steel typing that would come in handy defensively when he has to protect the train and its passengers from a certain outlaw who's on the loose.
Mabel: Milcery. It would eventually evolve into a caramel swirl Alcremie who's more than happy to help out with the dessert stand and sprucing up Mabel's latest recipes. If she ever stumbles upon an injured Fidough, though, rest assured she'll take it in.
Cooper would have a trio of Drowzee (don't even question me, that man probably put little Elsie to sleep with his ramblings alone), Chatot, and a surprisingly powerful Tauros. Because, you know, that's as close as we can get to a yakmel.
Yan: Sandile. Something about its beady little eyes unnerves me, like it's daring me to underestimate it, and the same can be said for Yan. (Conversely, Wei would probably have a male Combee, because he's a busy little bee. I haven't decided if it's male or female but either way, I think it fits him pretty well.)
Mort definitely has at least three pokémon. He probably had more in the past, but well. Y'know. My personal picks for him are Dhelmise and Brambleghast as his hard hitters, along with a Phantump and Greavard that he's raising. (If you don't know Phantump's lore but you do know Mort and Martle's lore, look it up, that info makes this selection all the more poignant.) I think he'd be sort of like a ghost type pokémon magnet everywhere he went due to his quiet, wise nature and it'd be adorable.
Zeke: he definitely strikes me as the kind of guy who'd go out of his way to procure grass types to help out with his farm work and research, so I'm gonna go with Turtwig, Cacturne and Breloom. I think Turtwig would be his first real partner pokémon whereas he found and caught a Cacnea himself when he was younger and his parents gave him a Shroomish for his 10th birthday.
Trudy would have a Drifloon whose job is to round up any lost children wandering around town (you know, rather than kidnapping them), a Rufflet that always tries to boss her around, and a scary strong Altaria with both Dragon Dance AND Dragon Breath. Something about this lady just screams "flying type" and I'm fully leaning into that. Maybe it's the fluffy hair?
Matilda: this woman absolutely has a Persian for a partner, big (and physically big feline, iykyk) cat lady vibes for sure. In addition to that, a Spoink with at least one really powerful psychic move, a Chingling, and a Dragonite. She's a born leader and speaker and I think her confidence would shine through in her team picks as well.
Howlett: even though we never get to meet him, I think he'd have a pretty well stocked team of five. Based on what we learn about him in-game, my picks for his team are Sandslash (his partner pokémon that started out as a Sandshrew), Graveler, Drapion (oh sweet irony), Cranidos (a pokémon he was raising right before he died), and Hippowdon.
now for the kids in town. I figure most of them will be allowed just one for right now, since age 10 is when kids in the pokémon world have the option to get a starter.
Linden: considering she's literally a baby it's hard to say what might be a good fit based on her personality, but I can see her parents wanting to start her off with a nice, calm normal type like Minccino.
Pebbles: when he's finally old enough to run around town unsupervised, Rockruff. Literally just give this kid a puppy dog and he will be so, so happy.
Jasmine: Mareep for sure. That combination of fluffy and adorable + strong against flying is a must for her, like have you met this girl? When it comes to pokémon battles, she has no mercy, not even against her own mother lmao. But deep down the real reason she'd pick such a cutthroat, unusual type is to help cover the weaknesses of her mom's team, as well as make it easier to grind EXP against ground types, which are strong against electric types.
Andy: Larvitar. While it might be cute and small now, its resistance to sandstorms and strong evolutionary line will make it a formidable opponent in the future. I feel like it'd be really important to Andy that his partner couldn't be knocked out by sandstorms, given his past.
Alo: a Barboach he got from his mom and a Swinub he got from his grandmother. I really do think Catori would be a bit helicopter-y about this initially, like the whole reason she gives him a ground-water type is because grass types in Sandrock are scarce and it'd give him a big advantage against the plentiful rock, ground AND fire types around. He'd still struggle to train with Zeke, though. Those 4x weaknesses are a real pain in the ass.
finally, it's time for the bachelors and bachelorettes. I'm putting them under the cut because some of the descriptions get spoiler-heavy, so click 'keep reading' if you want to see.
bachelorettes
Mi-an definitely starts out with just three pokémon, but I'm sure she'll catch more along the way. I think she'd have a Varoom because she's always speeding around Sandrock (you'll understand me if you've played ScarVio), a Cufant to help her out with collecting important materials, and a partner Masquerain that she received from her grandfather and raised from a Surskit.
Heidi strikes me as the kind of gal who always chooses function over form, meaning she won't necessarily go for the cutest pokémon over the most useful. I can see her partnering with an Aipom who's very handy (geddit, because its tail is a hand) around the store while also working with a Dugtrio for landscaping and a Ditto to just be whatever she needs it to be to help out with construction tasks. She might add more pokémon to her team in the future, but right now I think she'd have her hands full trying to wrangle these three.
Elsie was one of the most fun bachelorettes to decide on a team for. She's got such a colorful personality and she already loves the monsters of her own world, you just know she'd love pokémon! Of course I had to give her a partner Ducklett to head off her team of five also made up of Tinkatuff, Doduo, Gible, and Pyroar.
Amirah's team was surprisingly very straightforward to design. Her partner pokemon would be a Smeargle just because I think that would be cute, and she'd have two other pokemon: Yamask and Mimikyu. I just think she'd feel bad for these ghost types being shunned out of fear, especially after learning Mimikyu's sob story. It'd give her something nice to bond over with Mort, too.
Grace's partner pokémon is an Inteleon that she rarely brings out unless absolutely necessary, as in she's down to her last pokémon. 'Nuff said. I have very little to back this up but in my heart, the rest of her party consists of Zangoose, Stantler, Toxicroak and Gallade. She might honestly have a completely different team depending on whether she's undercover or not, I think that'd be completely fair. If not, though, she'd always lead with Stantler because she enjoys watching the despair in her opponents' eyes as they realize each pokémon she sends out is stronger than the last.
Venti's got more than enough going on in her life without adding pokémon to the mix, so she'll stick to just two for now, thank you very much! I think she'd have a Scraggy and a Furret, neither of them are really her partner but she has to baby Scraggy a bit more since it's the younger of the two. They quickly become adept scavengers, although she sometimes finds hidden piles of scavenged goods underneath her bed.
Catori was trickier. Personally I think she'd stick to just one partner pokémon, Pachirisu, but decided to bring along a Liligant to give her an edge on the off chance that ground or rock types back her into a corner. Why Pachirisu? Well, how else d'you think she managed to pay for all the electricity it takes to run an arcade when she's almost broke?
Nia is 100% about having the cutest pokémon so I can absolutely see her repping a Happiny, a Snubbull, a Flabébé and a partner Azumarill to help irrigate those plants on Moisture Farm!
Jane strikes me as the kind of person who would like to keep things as simple and focused as possible, so I can really only see her having two pokémon - a fluffy little Eevee to play with her students and a sharp-eyed Starly to help her stay on the lookout for trouble both inside and outside the classroom. Rest assured, both of these two cuties are also little thespians.
bachelors
Justice deserves to ride into battle in style, so he gets a Mudsdale for his partner pokémon, as well as a Bisharp and Decidueye to fight alongside him. His team is too overpowered for a small town sheriff, you say? Well considering all the shit he constantly puts up with, I think it's only fair. Also you're dead wrong if you think this man isn't the type to overprepare.
If there's one thing we all know about Unsuur, it's that he loves rocks. Rocks of every shape, size and color. I think he would exclusively use rock types and be perfectly happy with that. He's got a Rhyhorn partner, an Onix, and also a Carbink because Justice insisted he have at least three pokémon to join up. He might be convinced to add more to his party, as long as they're all rock types.
Qi would be a big fan of electric and steel (especially electric/steel) types and you just know immediately after realizing electric types only have one weakness, he'd go out of his way to raise electric type pokémon that are immune to ground type moves thanks to levitate. I gave him a team of four: Tadbulb, Rotom, Klink and Magneton, the last of which is his partner.
Pablo's pokémon are just as glamorous as he is. He doesn't have any interest in expanding it beyond the two he has - Glameow and Hatterene. They're wonderful, really, but they're enough of a headache as is. Very good at stirring up drama, too, that's for sure, which is a welcome boon for everywhere except inside of his boutique.
Miguel is one of the rare few bachelors who would only ever consider having one pokémon, and it'd be his partner, maybe he feels like having more sort of cheapens the bond or invites unnecessary aggression from others. Personally I think Dewgong would complement his personality really well. Plus, can you imagine that man having to raise a silly little Seel?
Burgess goes all-in on conserving water in every aspect of his life, so he'd be sure to go out and partner up with a Psyduck. I can also see him getting confident enough to befriend a Maractus and a spring variant Deerling later on when he takes on the role of a pastor. He trains his pokémon with environmental conservation, not battle, in mind, and their moves reflect that.
Arvio seems like the kind of guy who would have both an eastern and western variant of Shellos. I can't say why. Maybe to represent himself and his sister? His partner, though, would be Tsareena. He raised it from a Bounsweet and now he and Amirah never have to go hungry when they're peddling their wares on the road. He also has a grumpy Lombre that finally smiles and dances when it evolves into a Ludicolo, so there's that!
Ernest gives me electric type vibes, I don't know why. I can see him partnering with a low-key form Toxtricity (his sister has an amped form), as well as picking up a Joltik and maybe Blitzle along the way. None of them have levitate so he's gonna have a tough time adjusting to battles in Sandrock, poor guy.
Fang is a little complicated. I guess we could have X be a Toucannon in this universe? I really don't think he'd want more than X, but maybe he stumbles upon a lost, injured Larvesta during a particularly bad sandstorm and takes it in. He likes its grumpy little face.
Owen is absolutely partnered with a Dachsbun, there's no way around it. Food is his entire life. He also has a baile-style Oricorio, a Ninetales (seriously how the hell did he get one of those?!) and a Salazzle that Grace is totally not jealous of.
Pen has an interesting relationship with his pokémon. On one hand, he's got a full team of six highly-trained pokémon starting with Malamar, Accelgor, Hydreigon, Mightyena and Haxorus, but on the other, his partner is Milotic. Like Grace, he rarely lets his partner pokémon see battle, even if it is his strongest. However, he claims Hydreigon is his ace. Is this just another battle tactic, or is he just embarrassed of the vulnerability he feels about it?
Last but not least, our favorite yakboy, Logan. He has a Cubone (for exactly the reasons you think, sorry), Gliscor, Lucario, an Aegislash, and his father's Cranidos which he hopes to someday evolve in his honor. His partner pokémon is a Luxray, raised from a little Shinx, and he's always on the hunt for items to buff the hell out of it so it's not as vulnerable to ground types. He refuses to consider any one of them his ace; to him, they're all valuable assets to his team and extremely reliable individuals. He constantly has to remind them to be careful when they roughhouse with Andy, bless him.
haha so yeah that's everything, thanks for reading
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