A Pokemon trainer’s Insights

My name is Ray Clayton. I have been an avid trainer, battler and coach for around twenty years. A niece convinced me to try this whole social media thing. ‘Spose I’ll just share things that come to mind and answer questions? Is that how this works?

[veterantrainerray]

Hello. My name is Ray Clayton, and my ten year old niece convinced me to try blogging for the benefit of trainers out there.

My experience encompasses pokemon care, battle tactics, training regimens and trainer coaching. Ran the Kanto League back in the day, took part in a few others. Decided the whole champion schtick ain’t for me, but the League life is.

I’ve worked with gym leaders, aspiring trainers, professors and even Elite Four members.

I am NOT qualified to offer input on medical matters beyond the dos and don’ts of training safely. I am not qualified to diagnose or assess injuries on any form of remote platform. See a veterinarian or other qualified professional for that.

My niece says yall can send me questions directly on here. I’ll answer all of ‘em I can.

I’m Mara, one of the ranch hands. Me ‘n my sister Maya help keep things runnin’. Takes a lotta grit and even more muscle to handle this kinda work! My partner is Alexander, a Nidoking. He’s the twin brother of my sister’s partner.

My name is Maya. I’m just about the one elegant thing about this dusty old backwater! Me and my Nidoqueen, Rose, do what we can to class up the place, but there’s only so much that can be done…

Already this blog has been the subject of a bit of toxicity. All I’m gonna say to you Negative Nancys is that I ain’t gonna give ya the time of day, and be sure to read and comprehend somethin’ before you mouth off about it. Odds are you’re criticizing an answer to a question you only imagined was being asked, when the answer was to the question that was actually asked.

Since folks want my Pokemon written here, here ya go:

Pyrite - Rhyperior, first partner. Protective.

Piezo - Magnezone, First wild-caught partner, retired from battling to pursue crisis response for fulfillment reasons.

Bruce - Emboar, adopted from being a pet. Loves battle for sport, hates violence otherwise.

Old Spooky - Dusclops, followed me home from Hoenn, older’n my grandpa, retired from battling

Wright - Yanmega, retired from battling due to injury

Gala - A shiny Hydrapple, was in a crate of apples and adopted. Currently undergoing battle training.

Nimbus - Dratini adopted in Paldea. Wants to learn Thunder.

Beethoven - Poliwag from a Kitakami river, gets along with everyone.

Boris - Galarian Slowking. Helped get me on my feet shortly after catchin’.

Aria - A Lapras wounded in Blueberry Academy’s Terarium, adopted at Director’s reccomendation. Really likes roasted Aspear berries.

Girafarig - Hatched from an egg Pyrite picked up somewhere in Paldea and guarded fiercely. Curious and energetic, name pending.

“Loyal” Three Trio - Undecided how to handle them. Caught them just to get them outta the locals’ hair. All three got attitude problems.

The ranch is also home to several Rhyhorn herds, a herd of Galarian Ponyta up north, and a gaggle of other wild Pokemon I ain’t gotten around to getting outta here yet.

//ooc time. So, this is a roleplay blog, in case you hadn’t guessed, regarding the goings-on on a fictional Rhyhorn ranch in the mountains between Galar and the Crown Tundra. A cold, dusty place, but it’s his, and that’s enough to be happy with it. Ray coaches Pokemon Trainers, particularly from the Galar League’s gyms, but anyone who comes recommended by an officially recognized League Association is welcomed. Maya and Mara are the twin ranch hands that help keep things running. As stated above, their text will be color coded. The short version of the point of setting things up this way is to be able to offer, in character, my own pointlessly varied pool of knowledge about things ranging from muscular biology to chemistry to best workout and training practices to animal behavior and, of course, around two decades now of playing Pokemon competitively. (in a casual fashion, anyway, my interest has always been exploring outside the meta to see what works that people aren’t doing yet.) In general, if it’s Ray speaking, it’s in the interest of helping anyone who wants it. Be that with worldbuilding, worldly wisdom, or fleshing out hypothetical Pokemon behaviors/medical practices. In short, I try to help fill any gaps to enrich the roleplay experience of others. If that isn’t welcome, politely decline either in or out of character. Both me and Ray will respect it and back away. I’m not looking to impose, after all. People who’ve followed the blog for a while may have seen some longer term RP collabs with others. Feel free to send DMs if your character needs a battle coach for some reason, even just as a passing thing. What I don’t have a taste for is stressful, needless drama. As in, I’d really rather not be drawn into petty or high-minded arguments or embroiled in some scandal by association or something.

[veterantrainerray]

/ooc Haven’t forgotten about this blog. Tumblr’s obsession with politics is still bad for my mental health, go figure. I keep holding out hope that it might change, but then I try scrolling a little to see what the blogs I used to keep up with are doing, hit yet another politics post from someone I’ve never seen before that somehow ended up on my dash, and I feel my proverbial HP bar start dropping. Maybe someday I’ll log in and things will be fine. But I’ve put in more than enough effort to justify just not putting any more into making this damned website something besides depressing doomerism for myself. So either Tumblr will eventually change in some way, or this blog will be on hiatus eternally. Guess we’ll see. A shame, too… I really enjoyed writing here until the political doomerism shitstorm became incessant.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

pokèmonize yourself!!!!

spin this wheel to see your pokemon type

spin this one to see how you'll look like

how did it go!!!

literally dream scenario

it's good!

i can live with that

could be better

hate. let me tell you how much i've come to hate this since i began to live.

Voting ended onFeb 18, 2025

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

also smth smth reblog and tell me what you got im very curious

[pokemonopinionpoll]

I got a fighting type that looks like, and I quote, "something fucked like idk a coral or a sponge"

[trainer-dashiela]

Normal/Ground Ferret. Furret regional form ⁉️

[veterantrainerray]

Steel humanoid. Betcha I can make that close to the reality if’n I get on Mara’s workout routine…

[veterantrainerray]

/ooc post time!

I have been aggressively purging my following list off and on for a while. If I see a politically charged, hateful or overly negative post that isn’t something like “I have (insert condition here) and it sucks so I’m gonna vent” I’ve been hitting unfollow without even looking at the URL.

I don’t mind people venting. That on its own is fine, it’s healthy. I can handle people talking about their problems and encounters. I’m just violently sick of the politics. Sick of everyone these days being so mired in political discourse that they end up easily manipulated by the politicians. Sick of the people who take every opportunity to turn a topic into a political issue when before they chime in it’s just an anecdote. But if I go any further on that topic, I’m liable to get into hypocritical territory, so let’s leave that there. Of particular note, however, I am fine with FICTIONAL politics as long as they they do not mirror or depict real world figures, events or purely political problems (I’m not gonna get bent out of shape if someone mentions the Devon Corporation doing something morally ambiguous at best or talks about the Umbrella Corporation or something) so don’t worry about that.

Once I’m very sure I’ve fully purged the follow list I’ll get back into the swing of things writing Ray. Gonna frame the blog’s activity as him being on the tail end of his recovery from his traumatic leg injury and getting back into everything himself.

The following is addressed directly to this blog’s followers.

As an apology to everyone who has waited, as I see my follower count hasn’t gone down and many of you are still active on my dash despite the purging, here’s a little insight on Ray as a character.

First off, he shares my age, birthday, and many of my beliefs, but he’s not strictly a self insert. He’s more like… What I could’ve been had the circumstances been different. I don’t think myself or Ray are definitively the better person, to be clear.

Second, his knee injury was written so he’d better mirror my own left knee. I have to wear a brace under my uniform at work and often use a wooden cane to get around at home, and decided that representing the use of such utility aids may help others like me feel seen… I don’t personally get much from seeing my struggles represented, as I have very close friends who make me feel understood, but others don’t have my good fortune and I want to remind them that someone out there gets it.

The twins were originally an experiment in writing good female characters for me. I wanted to see if I could capture a sense of femininity in such vastly different women, and I feel like that’s gone pretty well. Maya is a more “traditional” depiction of a woman being feminine, but I refused to write her as anything less than intelligent and capable. Mara is perhaps more of the opposite; She has strong masculine personality traits, but I feel I’ve kept her as having a noticeable feminine identity through it, and I’m kind of proud of that. Ray trusts both of them completely after years of working with them.

. . . And yes I’ve been seeing the asks about how attractive some of yall find all three. I just haven’t gotten any I’m comfortable publishing and they’ve all been anonymous so I couldn’t message directly.

The more recent addition, Shale, as some of you picked up on, is a trans girl who was bullied. Ray knows the chairman of the Driftveil Mining Co. so he’s taking on Shale’s care for a while to help them get away and build up some confidence. Ray himself is either only recently aware or not yet aware they are trans, but the twins definitely have. They’re poised to be mentors to Shale more than Ray is. I’ve only written one other explicitly trans character since being outwardly transgender became an accepted thing to discuss publicly, which to be clear is a good thing and I will not give a platform to those who say otherwise. Shale is also the youngest member of the ranch’s crew, at 15 years old. I also have plans to eventually add a man to this group, to balance the roster a bit. Just waiting for inspiration.

AND FINALLY, once the blog fires back up in full again, I’ll finally begin writing the payoff to Ray’s feelings after the arc with @trainer-dashiela a while back! Namely his discussions of beefing up the ranch’s training gear, improving his own methods, and perhaps expanding the operation as a whole after chatting with Honey and Mustard from the dojo on the Isle of Armor. He won’t open a dojo, at least not in name, as he feels odd about using what is an eastern cultural name for an institution when he himself is essentially as European as it gets. But there is a western equivalent he is more comfortable with. So there’s all that to look forward to! The benefit of this hiatus has been the opportunity to fully plan this next chapter before committing to it in full.

[veterantrainerray]

/ooc post

Just saw a couple of posts mention this blog in the context of a “share your favorite blogs” post that’s going around and I’m very flattered to make an appearance on those lists. For whatever stupid reason, Tumblr’s freezing up when I try to reblog anything, so here’s a few of my favorites when I’m around the site.

@trainer-dashiela and I did a collaborative arc a bit back, which was a lot of fun. Lots of behind the scenes talking about training methods, in character and out of character goals for the arc, and the twins both got a good chunk of their characterization from it! Not to mention that arc becoming the impetus for further developments.

@may-maple-blog is one I don’t interact directly with often, but really enjoy seeing stuff from. There’s a certain groundedness to the research and art aspects of it that I vibe with.

@thatfailedpokemontrainer is one I’ve followed for some time, and is usually entertaining. Their posts really make Rotomblr feel like an actual thing, rather than a mass RP thing.

@pokemonranch and @pokemoncenter were some of the blogs I followed shortly after starting this blog, but before making many posts. In some ways they inspired the tone of this blog right out the gate, given that they have similarities to what I wanted to do as I was exploring the concept of Rotomblr and how to go about things.

I’m sure there are others that slipped my mind just because I’m still on hiatus from social media as a whole and have had less recent exposure to them. Mostly made this post when I saw the tags lol.

Sorry I couldn’t attach this to the reblog chain! Tumblr is being “functional”

[veterantrainerray]

/ooc

I’m very sure a few people noticed the blog suddenly go silent immediately after saying it’s back weeks ago.

The long and the short of it is, the absurdly intense ONSLAUGHT of mutuals reblogging negative, depressing, horrifically pessimistic and politically charged posts with no tags at all (which I mention specifically because I’m pretty sure that’s why the posts aren’t being filtered) around my birthday, along with having to work while sick for a week and a half now, has done a serious number on my desire to engage with any form of social media. Haven’t been on Tumblr long enough in one sitting to pin down which mutuals are the problem (though I’m sure they know who they are if they’re reading this) so instead I’ve been focusing on my personal life offline.

I’ll get around to answering asks directed at Ray or the twins eventually if you send them, but the whole ongoing narrative of the blog is kind of paused until I find both time and motivation enough to further curate what crosses my dash. In particular, asks about particular Pokemon species as far as training and/or care, as well as things like asking for my take/Ray’s knowledge of how Abilities work all kind of exist outside the ongoing narrative and are therefore the most likely things for me to answer quickly.

The fact that I have to invest so much time and energy just to have my one wish on this website honored, namely NOT HAVING DRAMA POLITICAL OR OTHERWISE SHOVED DOWN MY GULLET, is fucking absurd. All I wanted out of Tumblr is one, JUST ONE, space in my life to get away from that. I can deal with the occasional vent post about greedy corporations or how shitty Elon Musk is or what have you, but when all I see scrolling for fifteen minutes is politics and despair with now nearly 600 filtered tags on my account, I start to get pretty pissed.

If you’re one of my mutuals spam-reblogging that shit, for fuck’s sake, tag them. Any one relevant tag that comes to mind. If it still crosses my dash I’ll add the tag you used to the filtered tags. It is not a backbreaking courtesy to extend. If that’s too much for you we probably won’t remain mutuals too much longer.

[thewooloosinthewalls]

Y’all My wife ate all the snacks in the pantry again. I have to go shopping, again. anyways I’m taking suggestions for good snacks.

[veterantrainerray]

Hard to go wrong with old fashioned granola. Partial to the stuff with raisins, myself.

[veterantrainerray]

Been recovering from the injury same as I do everything else. At my own pace. Seems like I’ll probably get away with using a cane for balance once the cast is off. The ranger lass still hasn’t opened up to anyone, not that I can blame her. Sending a damn rookie to handle a known threat like Snag… I ain’t stoppin’ till whoever penned that order loses their job. They ain’t even lined up a therapist for her yet.

Shale’s set to arrive in a few days’ time. Still can’t quite pin down what’s off ‘bout the kid. I reckon I’ll figure it out in time, though. Still ain’t gotten any Mudbray or Kantonian Ponyta yet. Waitin’ on my leg ‘fore I look into that, much as Mara’s pesterin’ me. Have been browsin’ training gear online in the extra downtime. I don’t understand half of what this fancy tech is these days. Holographic training dummies? Ya need the feedback of a physical target to learn good form. Otherwise it ain’t much better’n imagining the target. Target practice drones? Why would I buy somethin’ with that many bits on it if it’s gonna get shot down? What happened to the tried ‘n tested methods? I ain’t got a need for bells and whistles on a tool, I need strong, simple and purpose-built. If somethin’ you’re meant to wallop is built to verbally taunt ya, the maker has a few screws loose, I reckon.

[veterantrainerray]

Reminder that ya gotta teach your Pokemon the difference ‘tween a battle for survival and a battle for sport.

If they don’t know the difference they ain’t gonna trust ya long term and they ain’t gonna hold anything back. You do NOT want a Garchomp to put all its muscle behind an Earthquake in the middle of a city ‘cuz it thinks the opponent’s gonna end it if it doesn’t.

[elite-amarys]

Query: What qualities make a pokemon skilled at learning how to track something by scent?

I would typically research this myself, however my schedule has become unexpectedly busy. I am currently searching from some of my specialized flying supplement which has gone missing. Given that this is a reoccurring issue, I believing having a pokemon that could track this by scent would be ideal. Steel types preferred.

[veterantrainerray]

Intelligence and a strong nose help, but the third factor’s more important: Bein’ able to separate smells in their head. Smellin’ everything for a mile at once ain’t gonna help none if the critter can’t tell where one ends and the next begins! From there it’s just followin’ the right one to its source by finding which direction the smell’s stronger in. Intelligence mostly comes in when followin’ the traces left by whatever they’re trackin’, but they still gotta be able to tell if a footprint has the same smell they’re followin’ or it’s unrelated!

[veterantrainerray]

Bein’ stuck in this chair ain’t gonna keep me from cookin’, turns out. Got a pot of chili on the fire right now, simmerin’ away. Glad to know even if the chair has to stay, I ain’t givin’ up this…

[wishmaker-astra]

Alright, not really doing a full analysis of this given the subject matter. I'm way too biased and invested to do it. So... let's just give the results

Way too damn many of you think I'm just lying about stuff or am a bit, huh? I mean, I understand why, and just... have to deal. But, damn.

Granted, I've literally had multiple individuals think I'm a cosplayer IRL, so, what can you do?

[veterantrainerray]

It’s probably better for folks to make those assumptions. They can be pretty mean ‘bout folks bein’ different from themselves, so folks thinkin’ it’s a costume is probably safer. The ones who matter won’t mind it, of course. Can’t say I rightly understand your situation myself, but I know humans can be as cruel as they are kind over even small differences. Curious how you’d take to some campfire cookin’. I gather folks in similar situations have odd tastes.

[veterantrainerray]

//ooc For those who noticed and wondered, yes the blog is back. A friend graciously helped me by applying almost 400 tag filters to my account, and the political commentary is finally mostly off my dash. Feel free to reach out, in or out of character. Ray’s got a few irons in the fire at the moment but he can always make time, and I’ve no shortage of opportunities to respond due to the nature of my work.

[veterantrainerray]

Pyrite’s been depressed since the dust-up with Snag. Not only did he lose to his own rival, he’s takin’ my injury as his failure too.

For the newer folks followin’ my rural ramblings, Pyrite’s been ‘round me since we were both pretty young. He was the runt of the litter when I was five or six, but didn’t just compensate for it… Little bugger actually enjoyed scrappin’ even back then. Always had a new crack in his plates when I saw him. When I decided to run off to challenge the Kanto League when the Galar League wouldn’t give me a letter of recommendation, I took him with me. Called us both fools, my momma did. But I knew he’d still shine. That’s where his name comes from. Fool’s gold. I mighta been a fool, but I knew I had the perfect partner.

Since then… Well, we’ve both taken our share of knocks on the other’s behalf. Pyrite takes my physical safety extremely seriously, since he knows humans ain’t half as sturdy as he is on a bad day. I’m sure he knows I ain’t too happy ‘bout my own failures in that fight, too. If Maya hadn’t been ridin’ by to see what the rumbling was, Snag probably woulda… Well, Pyrite wouldn’t be here to feel bad about it.

You can tell he’s upset because he hasn’t stopped trying to get folks to spar with him… I told ya he’s the perfect partner. Always jumpin’ to tryna get stronger if he thinks he came up short. ‘Course I can’t leave it on him to improve; I gotta work on my focus in battle. If I got any clients or a certain student readin’ this, I bet this all seems a tad shocking. I ain’t really one to show cracks in my stoic side when I’m trainin’ folks. But I’m human, too.

Got three more comin’ in from Spikemuth next week. On the vid call they all seem rough, but that’s Spikemuth for ya. But I ain’t gonna turn away gym trainers that are goin’ outta their way to beg for trainin’ so they can better support Gym Leader Marnie. Didn’t even ask ‘em for a recommendation, much as I probably shoulda. I know Marnie would grumble and still write one anyway. Instead I just emailed Marnie ‘bout takin’ a few of them Team Yell fells off her hands for a bit.

To be honest, I always liked Spikemuth. Rough neighborhood, sure, but the folks there… As popular as Dark-types are in Spikemuth, the folks there are honest and straightforward in battles. And Marnie’s like a niece to me. I knew Piers way back, attended one of his pop-up concerts with his band at the time while stayin’ in the area. Can’t remember why me ‘n my grandpa were there, but that’s beside the point. I owe it to him to look after Marnie where I can. I’d say makin’ sure her gym trainers are the best they can be counts. Gonna be a pain in the wheelchair, though.

Shale’s gonna be in as soon as the day after tomorrow. Maya ‘n Mara keep tellin’ me to stick to referring to Shale by name for now. Ain’t too sure why, but I know a matter of respect when it stares me in the face. Surprisingly, Shale wants to train, rather than just work on the ranch. Guess that explains why Shale was sent to me to get away from everything. Still, gonna take it easy on the kid for a while. Let them get to know everyone before we settle into a routine. Officially, this is bein’ done as an exchange program; Shale’s pa went ‘n made sure this counts for early credit at that school up in Paldea. I respect a kid that aims high. As a side note, the look on the kid’s face when I mentioned we got a small herd of Galarian Ponyta rescues up here… If Shale can get that excited to visit a stable, there won’t be any problems fittin’ in.

Still workin’ on findin’ some Mudbray and some Kantonian Ponyta to bring up here. I remember hearin’ about some research efforts to bring back some Crown Tundra variants of Pokemon, and I know from the locals there used to be a special Mudsdale breed up there… Maybe I oughta reach out. The ranch has the tundra’s climate, and we got plenty of space for ‘em to run. Good mud at the river, too. ‘Spose if any of yall know anyone involved in that project, go ahead ‘n drop me a line!

Oh, and ‘fore I forget, Bea’s decided she’s comin’ up here later too. She heard about… Or rather saw the ranger bodycam footage of my battle with Snag. Dunno if she’s humorin’ me because of the injury or somethin’ impressed her but either way is fine by me. She’s bringin’ five of her gym trainers when she comes. We’re hammerin’ out schedules now. Gotta work ‘round Allister’s school schedule too, since he’ll be handlin’ the gym in her absence and I ain’t gonna ask him to compromise his education over this.

[elite-amarys]

I hear it was a Steel-type specialist what stepped in and stopped my Rhyperior’s rampage during my visit to the academy a while back. Guessin’ that was you? Ain’t many can take him on even with the type advantage.

Sorry ‘bout that, by the way. Big guy got so worked up when that Skarmory hit me in the noggin that he outright broke his ball on the way out. It’s a failure of mine that my partner would go on that kinda rampage. Shouldn’t fall to a student to stop that, even if I did just take a whole Skarmory to the skull.

Greetings. You are correct, I did aid in preventing a Rhyperior from sewing destruction within the Terrarium. In the hopes of putting your mind at ease, I would like to offer the following fact: I am not just a typical student, but also Student Body President and member of the Blueberry Elite Four. Caring for and responding to help within the Canyon Biome is a part of my Elite Four duties, and given my battling prowess, this encounter was in fact an excellent training opportunity for Linux, my Metagross.

It was fortunate that you scheduled this rampage during a time when I was out in the Canyon Biome. I concur that further training is required to prevent a repeat occurrence.

I wish the best to you, your skull, and any other bones which may have found themselves involved in this incident.

[veterantrainerray]

Plum forgot I sent that ask. Awhile ago, that. My skull’s fine, got away with just a concussion. Sorry again ‘bout that.

[veterantrainerray]

Any of yall have any Pokemon abilities you’d like dissected? Been wantin’ to make more posts about ‘em like I did with Mold Breaker and Intimidate, but I just ain’t sure what.

[veterantrainerray]

Nimbus finally went ‘n learned Thunder like he wanted. The other day, ‘fore the fight with Snag went down. Beethoven’s all fired up for trainin’ suddenly, too. Till now the little squirt’s only trained with everyone because he wanted to be involved, but now he’s really tryin’. Maybe he’s scared of bein’ left behind now that Nimbus has evolved. Boris has also been gettin’ in on it. The Girafarig ain’t quite ready for trainin’ I reckon, much as she wants to… All in due time, though.

For now she likes hangin’ ‘round the Ponyta herd. I’m in talks with getting some Kantonian ponyta brought in to fill the rest of the stables, only ‘bout half full now… And if I’m gonna be entertainin’ the idea of havin’ a proper school of sorts runnin’ I’d best make sure them students can get around the ranch as needed. Galarian Ponyta are real picky with their riders. Might get a few Mudbray too. Mara’s been wantin’ one ever since Maya had a Ponyta take to her, but they’re likely to get lonely if we only got the one. Ain’t able to deal with any of that till this cast comes off.

For the folks sendin’ asks about the details, I’ll spare yall the grisly bits, but this cast isn’t the only thing they stuck me with to heal. Lower leg’s also got a pair of these metal pins in it to keep the pieces in place while it heals. They say that bone’s gonna fully recover, though, but it gives ya an idea at how bad it was when it happened. I was on some painkiller I can’t pronounce, but Boris took to makin’ these little purple tablets that work a heck of a lot better, and while the doc prefers I stick to the prescribed stuff, she said so long as I ain’t in pain it’s fine. Dunno what kinda sorcery he’s workin’ but Boris seems talented when it comes to medicine, even for a Slowking.