eep!

in all seriousness, it wasn't exactly my choice... i follow the canon heights given by gino / zbb in one of the streams (though regect would be shortest if he didn't have a head like in canon)

still, i have liked shorter ze for a long time... the ze and regect bit is actually a redraw of one of my first doodles of them from december! peep the old designs where ze is even shorter

ze - to pokemonify his story a bit it's mostly the same but in addition to the existing reasons for sending him to boot camp, ze also didn't complete his gym challenge. this was more from lack of interest for him and his team than lack of ability, but in the eyes of his father it was a failure and another reason to toughen him up (ik the military isn't that present in canon pokemon but let's say it is for the au lol)

blastoise - i like assigning characters starters, and i thought blastoise would be a great fit for ze... i think the jarring evolution from wartortle to blastoise is a good parallel to ze and to follow that idea i think ze's wartortle evolved into a blastoise during boot camp more out of necessity than actual desire

pangoro - its pokedex entries describe it as a strong pokemon prone to fighting but kind to its companions which i think makes it another good fit. also the black and white color scheme is reminiscent of his mc skin

zangoose - okay this isn't deep zangoose is just like THE letter Z pokemon and i'm biased bc i used it a lot in pokemon black . it's got a Z shaped marking on its chest just like ze's mc skin!! also if you give regect a seviper their pokemon can fight just like them

clawitzer - another firearm-based pokemon and i feel having another water-type fits for ze due to his associations with fishing (job at the fish market! don't ask how that works in this au idk)

riolu - this one is kind of a plot-relevant pick? i think he was gifted his riolu as an egg post-boot camp... while they still have a bond things are strained due to ze's emotional instability clashing with his riolu's natural sensitivity to emotions... i like to think it helps give him more incentive to better himself

ALSO while not at all intentional i realized 4/5 of these guys have some kind of dark marking around their eyes which matches well with my mc ze design lol

moe - might change as we learn more about her canon past but for now... i think her and her friend were a pretty famous pokemon contest duo in their youth. during practice, moe tried something too risky with her brionne and her friend's torracat and it ended up burning down the place they were practicing in, killing her friend. she goes into hiding for a while, then goes nomadic and picks up the clown get-up to avoid being recognized and to make a living as a travelling performer

primarina - water balloons which parallels moe's water bottles + starter + circus performer theme!! plus primarina is gorgeous and its hair is similar to how i style moe's hair

also, i think she released most of her pokemon shortly after the fire. her brionne was also released but it refused to leave her side until she eventually conceded and re-captured it. the rest of her current team she caught after the fire

tinkaton - strong, intelligent, adorable, and carries a giant hammer... that's twin

mime jr. - another circus-themed pokemon and very cute!!

flamigo - balloon animal theming felt fitting, and i think it's ability to dance and synchronize would suit pkmn!moe's performer gig... also i wanted her to have a couple fighting types because she's tough stuff!!

stufful - its an adorable red panda and she wants 10000!!!!! yes it's also very dangerous but i think if anyone could handle that it'd be moe

regect - still unsure how i want him to exist because i'm having trouble working the entity deal into the pokemon world... thinking he might be a genetically modified human-pokemon hybrid constructed by daemon, specifically being part shiny zoroark?? though i think he hides that and whatever powers he would have from this were heavily suppressed by daemon after his defection

murkrow - alludes to my avian regect design and murkrow's love for shiny things is probably how regect gets all decked out in gold in this au. plus its association with bad luck fits regect as an entity, and it ties into one of daemon's main pokemon

obstagoon - i wanted some pokemon associated with music and i felt obstagoon would fill that while also matching regect's vibe... also, there's one pokedex entry stating obstagoon and pangoro as rivals which further sets up zegect's teams beefing with each other

gengar - his fav pokemon and it fits him pretty well! plus its mega is associated with other dimensions, which connects to his abilities in canon and my idea's for daemon's deal in this au

seviper - black and gold color scheme + it can beef with ze's zangoose

porygon z - matches well with regect's deal in canon... in this au regect isn't code, but i think he'd still empathize a lot with porygon z being a "flawed and broken" pokemon

daemon - again. still not sure what to do with them plotwise BUT they are definitely associated with giratina and the reverse/distortion world somehow? i'm thinking MAYBE they plan to capture giratina to merge it with themself so they can rule the reverse world??? which would give them a reason to be making human-pokemon hybrids besides "lol because i can"

honchkrow - daemon is The Boss and so is honchkrow! also let me leave this here: "it is merciless by nature. it is said that it never forgives the mistakes of its murkrow followers"

mismagius - daemon's canon abilities being sound-based means i gotta give them a pokemon that attacks using sound, and mismagius is perfect for that! its cries can cause headaches and hallucinations

zoroark (shiny) - powerful illusions are one way daemon could form the down under, and they're said to be very protective of their dens, so if you consider the holes a den it'd give daemon a reason to hide out in those... and yes, this would be the zoroark regect is made of so they'd be pretty plot relevant

metagross - associated with supercomputer inteligence and apparently a brutal hunter

luxray - i wanted daemon to have an electric type to counter ze and moe's water type starters and they can see through walls!! i wanted something associated with vision and this works

krookodile - another pokemon said to have good eyesight and it has some BRUTAL pokedex entries like it literally rips its prey in half!! badass!! also another pokemon i used in pokemon black hehehe

i like to think daemon has a lot more pokemon (including an incineroar that prime sim. would be made from) which they see more as tools than companions but this is their most powerful and useful 6

part of why i took so long is i originally had a whole different take on the "backstory" that i found made like. no sense so i got mad and left it for a while and eventually completely redid it... current version is still pretty ooc but WHATEVER at least it's cute i hope. go my polyship fluff

the first few panels of that old one were funny though so i'll give you those as a treat

moe prefers to have her scarred skin covered at this point in the story so "dressed down" isn't in use for canon-compliant art... but it's there because i still draw it a good deal... i like seeing her arms can you blame me

her nose stays ON!!! it actually might be a part of her even i'm not sure about that

her animal aspects are not a specific species but i was inspired by terrier dogs and sheep initially

her pupils turn red when she's mad! this is intentionally cliche lol

she sticks her tongue out A LOT either idly when concentrating or intentionally for the silly factor... girl why you so :P

her scars had no dark gradient prior to her time in the down-under in season 2 pt 4

(NOT) fun fact i'm uploading this from camping. like sleeping in a tent camping. and it's been snowing for 3 days straight.. SOS SOS SOS im going to DIE (joke)