#summitshipping

[pkmn-downtheline]

happy valentine's day!! here are some quick doodles from the ship meme i posted a while back!

[pkmn-downtheline]

Hi! I made these memes. I have plans to make more for Valentine's Day, but I'm sending these now because otherwise there will be too many. (I have a weakness for Nick x Briar, sorry)

[pkmn-downtheline]

I made these memes for Valentine's Day! hope you like them. "Yes, they are a bit poorly edited, haha."

[pkmn-downtheline]

New Fanchildren Shipping Names

We've decided to make some changes to the shipping names between our fankids. The main reason for this is some of the names are over seven years old at this point, making them a little dated. We know our characters better now and thought it might be good to change some of them to things a little less superficial.

We know a lot of actual Pokemon names are pretty superficial as is (contestshipping, pokeshipping, etc.), but since this is our story, we want to give things a little more substance. That being said, here are some changes we've made! Not all of them have changed, but I'm including them on here anyways in case you guys were ever curious about what they were or meant.

Skye + Lizzie: Formerly Championdaughtershipping and is now Summitshipping. There are a couple reasons why we're changing it, the first reason being it's a name that focuses on their fathers more than it focuses on who Skye and Lizzie are. The second reason is "championdaughtershipping" is just such a mouthful lol We have @doridoripawaa to thank for the name Summitshipping! Here are some reasons why it's called this now:

- The first place where Skye and Lizzie actually meet (around 5/6 years old) is at a Champion's Summit (a formal event hosted by a different region each year; it's attended by all Champions).

- A summit is the peak of a mountain where many Champions are found in-game (namely Red in GSC or the player in SuMo). Reaching the summit of a mountain signifies a massive achievement. Skye's goal of becoming Champion one day is her aiming for the summit. Not to mention, Lizzie being a summit in Skye's life as her rival that Skye needs to overcome.

- Lizzie, on the other hand, has lost her faith in the Champion. She fell down the mountain and is stuck in a landslide. But thanks to Skye, she's able to look to the summit and believe in the strength that's there and keep going upward again. In April's words, "The summit is the place where she is closest to the sky(e)."

Cade + Sorrel: Formerly Prettyboyrockshipping and is now Fretshipping. The main reason for changing this one is similar to why we changed Skye and Lizzie--it's kind of a mouthful lol We also felt it didn't capture who Cade and Sorrel are as characters very well. So here's where Fretshipping comes from:

- "Frets are strips of metal—generally, an alloy of nickel and brass—embedded along a guitar's fretboard, which makes up most of the guitar's neck. By depressing a string against the fretboard below a fret, meaning away from the guitar body, the vibrating length of that string changes, and a specific note results."

- An alternate meaning of the word "fret" is "a state of anxiety or worry". Sorrel lives in a constant state of worry that if he doesn't put up a mask then people will think his true self is ugly. He frets the opinions of others so much that he will not allow himself to be who he truly is.

- Fret can also mean "gradually wear away (something) by rubbing or gnawing". Cade acts very much like a fret in Sorrel's life--being the person to wear away the mask Sorrel wears. Cade wants to see Sorrel for who he truly is and wants others to see the same.

Lia + Tempa: A new ship name! They didn't have one before! They are now Lunatoneshipping. Big thanks to @tixca for this one!

"Luna" is derived from the moon and is in reference to Lia's love for space. "Tone" comes from the literal word "tone" relating to sound, connecting to Tempa's love for music. And Lunatone itself is an actual Pokemon (one that Lia herself owns)!

[pkmn-downtheline]

Soccer date!

[pkmn-downtheline]

Cute

Lizzie liked reading; well, that much about her was obvious. To be more specific, one of the reasons she liked reading was because it served as a deterrent for unwanted attention. She could easily sit in a Pokemon Center lobby with a book in hand and expect that no one would attempt to bother her. After all, most people respected the private leisure time of others.

Skylar Ketchum, as it turned out, was not one of those people.

The feeling of those painfully familiar teal eyes drilling into her was becoming increasingly obnoxious. Lizzie attempted to focus on the book in her lap, but the doltish look she was getting from the girl seated opposite her made it an impossible task. Her brow twitched in annoyance and she flicked her gaze upward. 

“...What?”

Skye jolted in alarm, clearing her throat. “What?”

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“I was staring?”

“Yes.” Lizzie deadpanned. “Do you need something?”

“Oh. Uh. No.” Skye rubbed at the back of her neck. “You just seemed really into that book.” With a shrug and a laugh, she added, “I guess I thought you looked kinda cute.”

For a moment, just a moment, Lizzie wondered if it was possible to go brain dead without warning. Because if it was possible she was almost certain that was what happened to her. There was absolutely no way she had heard Skye correctly. It was a mistake. It had to be. But every part of her knew it wasn’t.

Skye had just called her… that.

Her throat shriveled in on itself.

“...Excuse me?”

Skye opened her mouth to speak—actually, Lizzie was pretty sure she did speak, but she had absolutely no idea whatever it was that she said. She was too focused on that other thing that had just left Skye’s mouth. That other thing that nobody except her mother, and maybe her Aunt Candice, had ever called her.

The warmth that crept up Lizzie’s neck began to color her entire face in a deep sheet of red. The heat was rapidly becoming so unbearable that she thought she might blow. She abruptly rose out of her seat and scrambled to collect her things.

“I-I have to go. Right now. Immediately,” Lizzie managed, throwing her bag over her shoulder and turning on her heel. “Good seeing you, Skylar.”

Skye called out to her, but Lizzie chose not to hear it. She walked at a brisk pace towards the Pokemon Center exit, making sure not to look back. That single sentence played on repeat in her mind like a broken record, and the more she heard it, the harder her heart pounded against the walls of her chest.

‘I guess I thought you looked kinda cute.’

Crap.

------------------

“Thunder Punch!”

A bright flash of white light erupted through the cracks of the trees in the Eterna Forest. The rubble from a boulder crumbled to the ground below. Infernape puffed out his chest in pride, flexing his arms as the remaining sparks of lighting fleeted away from his fingertips.

“Infernape!” he boasted, pounding his fists against his chest.

“That was good,” Lizzie commented, putting a hand to her chin in thought. “But you still aren’t centering your energy.” She closed her eyes. “You need to stay focused on—!”

‘I guess I thought you looked kinda cute.’

There it was again.

It had been three days—three days—since her encounter with Skye at the Pokemon Center. And yet that one comment had yet to leave the crevasses of her mind. It would come out of nowhere and hit her like a truck. Then, within seconds, she was a bumbling, blushing mess.

And that exact moment was no different.

Lizzie’s face had blossomed into about twenty different shades of red as a noise that could only be described as a faint squeak escaped her throat. Her mind was spinning as she buried her face into her hands. Infernape groaned with a roll of his eyes. He had gotten used to it at this point, but it didn’t make the training distractions any less burdensome. 

She couldn’t help it, though. Any time Lizzie gave even an inkling of thought to Skye calling her… cute… her thoughts raced with a million different questions—such as why was she even letting it get to her that much in the first place? 

Well, actually, she knew why. 

She just didn’t want to admit why. 

Either way, that still left her wondering why Skye had even said it to begin with? She was probably joking. Yes, that must have been it. Knowing Skye, she was definitely joking and Lizzie was overreacting and this whole thing was just one big misunderstanding on her part. Of course, that had to be it. There was no possible, rational way that Skye could mean what she had said.

...But what if she did?

Just when Lizzie didn’t think her face could get any hotter, it did. She knew that getting so worked up over something like this was stupid—juvenile, even. But she couldn’t stop herself. These thoughts wouldn’t leave her alone or give her any room to breathe. No matter what she did she couldn’t stop acting like a…

Like a…

...a teenage girl with a crush.

Lizzie groaned, her knees buckling in on themselves as she sat down on a tree stump jutting out of the ground. Infernape heaved a tired sigh as he made his way over to her. For a brief second, he seemed sympathetic, but Lizzie didn’t miss the way he let a small smirk grace his lips.  

She glared at him through the cracks of her fingers. “Not helping.”

Infernape snickered and Lizzie allowed a quiet wince to slip out. There was so much she still didn’t understand about the things that she was thinking and feeling. But there was one thing she was certain of: there was positively no way that Skye was as hung up on this whole situation as she was.

------------------

“Why did I say that!?” 

Skye’s bellowing was so loud that Briar was certain half the Pokemon Center could have heard her. She was sitting up on the bottom bunk with a pillow clutched tightly between her arms, burying her face deep into it. Kierra was seated beside her with an expression that was a mix of sympathy and amusement.

“I’m so stupid!” Skye muffled into the pillow. “Why’d I say something that dumb!?”

Briar didn’t look up from the Poke Ball he was polishing. “You’re still worried about this?”

Skye lifted her head from the pillow with a glare. “Of course I am! I really like her and I think I totally messed things up!” She groaned, slamming the back of her head against the wall behind her. “Lizzie probably thinks I’m a complete weirdo now!”

With a sigh, Briar hoisted himself off of his own bed. He approached his friend and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “C’mon, Skye,” he offered with a lopsided smirk. “Lizzie already thinks you’re a weirdo.”

Skye’s face flushed with anger and she growled, shoving the pillow in Briar’s face. “I didn’t ask for your opinion!”

Briar attempted to muffle a strained apology, but it was no use as Skye continued to pummel him with her pillow over and over again.

“I think you should stop stressing about it so much,” Kierra smiled, holding up a finger. Skye stopped, glancing at her friend warily out of the corner of her eye as she said, “After all, you know how Lizzie is. I bet she’s already forgotten all about it!”

End.

[pkmn-downtheline]

I commissioned the lovely @nerdinsandals to draw Skye, Lizzie, and Wartortle! She did an absolutely amazing job! They all look fantastic!

Thank you so much, Laura!

[pkmn-downtheline]

kiss