3-2 waiting room

Malamar

(TCG Artwork by kawayoo)

It is unclear the relationship Malamar has with his trainer Hiyori. Malamar seems to have his own agenda and motives, though he obeys Hiyori's commands without question. He delights in battles, and Hiyori often let's Malamar battle on his own, which results in disastrous casualties for the opponent. After one particular event, Shin is never able to look Malamar in the eyes again.

There are a couple of pokedex entries detailing the fact that these pokemon were used to influence major world events. I think I've read somewhere that it's believed Malamar is the only pokemon that is capable of being straight up evil, though take this information with a grain of salt. It's known that Malamar, out of all psychic, ghost, and dark type pokemon, has the highest and most efficient ability to hypnotize others using its bioluminescence. And if you remember, the lantern in YTTD essentially showed the truth behind the manipulated memories of the participants, implying that they might've been hypnotized or messed with in some way. I think Hiyori would absolutely take advantage of this pokemon's hypnosis ability to do whatever needs to be done for Asunaro.

Hisuian Zoroark

(TCG Artwork by Kouki Saito)

Shin isn't really sure how Hiyori got this pokemon. By all means, it should be extinct. Whenever Hiyori calls out this pokemon, she remains standing in place, hunched over, and completely unresponsive unless given a command. The blank dead eyed stare it always wears sends a chill down Shin's spine. Illuso, Shin's Zoroark, completely freezes up when battling H. Zoroark. Shin has a feeling he knows why.

Hisuian Zoroark is the result of ancient Zorua being shunned and forced to move to Hisui, only to die due to the harsh environment. Their spiteful souls were reborn into a new pokemon, capable of manifesting illusions and hallucinations so powerful and full of malice they physically damage both the victim and the pokemon itself. Hallucinations are such a huge part of YTTD, especially since Hiyori is the cause of quite a few characters' trauma. Additionally, the thing with this pokemon dying and then coming back to life, yeah who does that sound like? Additionally, this pokemon is said to very vividly evoke the image of death, and we all know that's Hiyori's greatest fear. And to top it all off, Shin "copies" Hiyori by having his own Zoroark, just like how in the game Shin mimics Hiyori in order to survive (although in this case, it would be to become a stronger trainer).

Spiritomb

(TCG Art by Shin Nagasawa)

Malamar and Spiritomb seem to be the only pokemon on Hiyori's team that actually interact with one another. Shin finds this one particularly creepy and scary, as it changes personality and demeanor very fast. Hiyori assures Shin that all pokedex entries about this pokemon are just ghost stories, but Shin swears he sometimes hears the faint cries of pokemon and people coming from the Keystone...

Spiritomb is said to be the result of 108 spirits cursed to be locked inside an Odd Keystone. This pokemon is said to have caused various misdeeds and mischief which resulted in it getting cursed. This pokemon is somewhat of a homunculus, which I feel is very close to the whole process Asunaro has done to the dolls. Specifically it calls to mind what Hiyori did to Maple and mixing her with other AIs. Additionally, it's one of the few pokemon directly associated with death and spirits and having another body, which I feel fits Hiyori with his humanity being tied to being half a doll.

Iron Moth

(TCG Art by Kouki Saitou)

Shin has only seen this pokemon once out of pure chance. He had walked into a random room while searching for Hiyori, only to find what appeared to be a Volcarona hooked up to various parts of machinery. Shin stood still as the creature's head slowly turned toward him while the 6 wing-panels behind it started to glow. The sounds of mechanical humming and a furnace burning echoed throughout the room, the creature's lower half gyrating as it turned towards Shin. The temperature of the room shot up immensely, sweat rolling down Shin's neck as various screens started popping up with various error messages and warnings. Shin ran out of there before anything could happen and found Hiyori shortly after. Hiyori has never acknowledged Shin about what happened, and always shuts down conversation about it whenever Shin tried to bring it up.

Iron Moth is a completely artificial pokemon that appears to look like the very real Volcarona. Volcarona is tied very closely to the sun, as during a period of darkness, it served as another source of light and warmth in ancient times. There is not much information available for Iron Moth however, as the only real info we get is that it appears to look similar to a UFO sent to observe people. Although I have my own headcanons for this pokemon, I'm trying to go off of what we know in the general pokemon canon. Since it's modeled after Volcarona, you can still get the sense of the sun themes here, especially with the solar panel/heat panel like wings it has. We all know about Hiyori's association with the sun. Additionally, it being essentially a "robot" Volcarona reminds me of the dolls and Hiyori, as Iron Moth is like a "doll" of Volcarona. As a bonus, this pokemon's second typing is poison. I feel like Iron Moth could be a good representation of like an "evil" sun, as we typically associate the sun with happy times, too much sun brings drought and eventually destruction and eradication of all life.

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If there's one thing that bothered me the most when playing through YTTD, it was the survival rates for all the candidates. I feel as though most are relatively reasonable, and could be thought out fairly well.

There are a few on here I would contest, but those will be saved for a later analysis. My biggest concern here would be Naomichi's. He barely beat's Keiji's by a whopping 0.4% but I personally feel like something is amiss here. There's the very obvious fact that Naomichi can singlehandedly beat every single person on this list on a 1 on 1 fight (He supplexed Qtaro for crying out loud. No one stands a single chance). However aside from this I do not think it would warrant such a high survival rate.

Think about it for a second. Do you really think, if Naomichi had survived his first trial, that he would've had a good chance of beating the death game? We know from not only his minisode but throughout moments in chapter 3 that he's not the brightest. Obviously he's not dimwitted, but we know from the game that he is rash, quick to action, and easily angered. He does not fully think through his actions before going with them.

Case 1: The Maple Fight

Throughout this fight, we must not physically engage with Maple whatsoever. She is a complete and utter danger to the group, with no current way to defeat her the only option is to reason with her. During the fight, whenever we choose Naomichi to act, we see him agonizing over the fact he just can't straight up fight her. Naomichi is a man of action, we know this as from his minisode and his career as a boxer, he thinks of actions as his way to interact with others and engage in conflict.

That's why at the end of the fight, when Sara is unable to reconcile with Maple and the group is at a complete loss as to what to do, he doesn't think twice to go up and try to crush her head. He reasoned that, since her attacks come from behind her, this close range means he's not in danger. He doesn't stop to consider the fact that she might have another means to attack, or that she could even lock him in a similar move he did her using the black tendrils coming out from her. The entirety of this time he's been itching to just get in and deal with her the way he knows how to, and ultimately pays the consequences for not thinking it through.

Case 2: Revenge against Gruusem

During Naomichi's early career as a boxer, we find that he highly respected and admired Kobushi, the mentor that introduced him to the sport. After witnessing the defeat of his fellow boxer, Naomichi was understandably upset. Although it's after beating the boxer that incapacitated his mentor that something in Naomichi was set off.

Put yourself in Naomichi's place for a moment. You have just defeated the boxer that had brutally beaten the mentor you had looked up to since you were in middle school. A mentor who had teased you about being first rate and second rate fighters, something you've already internalized. A mentor who previously had beaten you and showed you up in power. You have internalized these ideas of being strong and weak for years, and now, just now you are riding the high of a fight and the context of it. You are a hot headed, quick to action punk with adrenaline coursing through your veins and anger deep in your heart.

Naomichi only takes a moment to think, but he does not think over whether he should or shouldn't. He thinks only of his next action. He makes the fight personal and beats Gruusem without a second of hesitation. This goes beyond just being an unsportsmanlike act, this is downright cruel and unjust behavior. Naomichi loses complete control of himself and as a result, completely cripples someone.

Though, it's during this act that we get what convinced me of Naomichi's character and survival rate. The lines that follow him beating Gruusem go as follows.

This kind of line gives me chills, specifically coming from him. Because as of before the episode release, I refused to believe he had the second highest survival rate. And to an extent I still do, but I'll get to that in a moment. What's important here is we finally get to see the unwavering spirit of Naomichi's strive for strength and power. He is fully bought into the line of reasoning that the strong eat the weak, and that by being strong he is in that position of power. This line makes it so interesting that he gets paired with Kanna/Shin, two candidates who are known for their weakness. Additionally, this line implies that he saw himself as weak before, which is why he so urgently and passionately sought the path to strength. If given the right push he would absolutely overpower anyone in his way, hence the nickname Convertible of Destruction. How right this nickname would be.

However, despite having such a strong spirit and me being convinced of his chance in surviving the death game, I still refuse to believe he'd have such a high percent. As proven in my two cases, Naomichi is a rash decision maker. He wouldn't be able to fully rationally think through the schemes and lies other characters would enact. He would respond as he normally would, with action and threats. However, I refuse to believe that he would, if given the chance, get away with fighting and beating the other candidates and participants to incapacity or death. If the Memorandum Theory is to be the route Nankidai is taking, there is no chance Naomichi would've gotten away with violently winning the death game. The death game was set up so intricately and carefully, the floormasters are all there for a reason. Even without considering the Memorandum Theory, it's difficult to think that they'd let him win like this. For as much as Midori endorses a bloodbath of a game, in reality there could be no such case. The death game must be played, the death game must adhere to the strict rules that have been put in place.

Which brings me to my final point. The survival rates for all the participants have been toyed with in some way. This isn't a new idea, as the Memorandum Theory suggests the same thing. I would like to suggest that rather being some sort of interference either with simulations or otherwise, it was a simple case of switching around the rates. There's the possibility of some being deliberately written wrong, but I think it's more likely the case that a few were switched. Given everything I've laid out here and what we know in canon, I personally would assign Naomichi a survival rate starting anywhere from 7% and as low as 5%, so putting him in the range from no higher than Mai Tsurugi and as low as Ranmaru Kageyama.

Miss Voir the Gardevoir

(TCG Artwork by Yu Nishida)

A gift from his mother and the first pokemon on Shin's team. She's rather nervous, but always ensures Shin's safety, as its in her nature and his mother requested it of her. She loves her trainer dearly, as they grew up together.

Aside from the obvious fact that Gardevoir looks fairly similar to Shin, I chose this pokemon to help represent his kind and softer side. Gardevoir are said to protect their trainers with their life, doing whatever necessary to ensure the trainer's safety. I wonder who that sounds like? Additionally, aside from being so refined, Gardevoir are intelligent and poweful pokemon. They may appear dainty and unassuming, but watch out! They can be a real threat when there's danger!

Commodore the Metagross

(TCG Art Competition Entry by Souichirou Gunjima)

Received as a gift from Hiyori, who decided to help Shin overpower his rival. It's very strong headed and calculated, and has an intense rivalry with *******. Shin wonders if it's the nature of how he received it that sparked their competition.

This one is a bit of an interesting pick, but will make more sense the more you know about my au. Metagross are said to have more intelligence than that of a supercomputer, and well, Shin is associated with computers along with his high intelligence. It's said that Metagross use this to critically analyze their opponents and take them out in the most efficient (and possibly cruel) way possible. If it knows it can't succeed, it's willing to even take itself out if that's the only way for victory. Shin, similarly, calculates his every move in the death game, and I don't think I need to explain the rest on why this fits.

Illuso the Zoroark

(TCG Artwork by kawayoo)

Illuso hides himself in illusions and deceit, although in reality he was a timid Zorua. After meeting Shin and accompanying him on his journey, Illuso's learned how to become more brave and outspoken. Still somewhat jumpy, Illuso delights in the tricks it pulls, as does Shin.

Zoroark is literally THE Illusion pokemon, known for putting up facades and tricking others with it's ability to hide behind illusions. Shin already exemplifies this behavior as he hides behind the facade of Sou Hiyori in the death game. Young Zorua often hide themselves behind illusions to ensure their safety, as most are very timid and weak. This pick also makes sense for another reason in my au that might come up later.

Lime the Klefki

(Fanart by Naoki Eguchi)

Shin doesn't really remember catching Lime. One day while traveling, he heard the distinct sound of jingling keys following him. After confronting it, he decided to let it join his team by giving it the key to his house. It's very sweet and likes to hang onto his belt loops. It has even tried to take the key from around his neck. He ended up making a copy of it so Lime wouldn't steal it in his sleep, and although it has no use, Lime treasures it the most.

Okay come on. The Key pokemon. Shin claiming to be the Keymaster. This one is so good. Aside from this, the steel fairy typing is very good as it's a very defensive, and Klefki is known for being a relatively good prankster pokemon in competitive. For those who don't know, prankster is an ability that allows the pokemon to move first when using moves that don't do damage, such as Spikes (sets up spikes on the opponent's field) or Calm Mind (Boosts special attack and defense). Shin tends to try and make the first move and plan ahead, setting up small advantages for himself in works of a bigger goal (such as the sacrifice card placement and his whole ordeal with getting Kanna to work with him).

Coldweather the Glaceon

(TCG Artwork by Gemi)

Originally, Shin had been planning on evolving his Eevee into Umbreon. Though when a trip to get a gift for Kanna goes awfully bad, his Eevee spontaneously evolves into Glaceon in order to defend her trainer. Coldweather has a very calm and collected exterior, though she still loves to cuddle and play with Shin like if she were still a little Eevee. Shin is grateful for her and often ends up being the victim of her affectionate onslaught, and he appreciates her a lot. Even if he ends up having to wear 3 sweaters to hug her.

Shin is said to get cold easily, and aside from this he's known to be incredibly weak. The Ice type is notorious for being a weak typing despite having a lot of great pokemon, so I thought it would be good to pair these two up. Additionally, the plan for Umbreon was to have it represent his whole connection to the moon and the dynamic of the sun and moon he has with Hiyori. Though after thinking it over, I thought it might be interesting to have Shin go through some trial and have one of his pokemon affected by it.

Porygon-Z

(TCG Artwork by Tomokazu Komiya)

The first pokemon Hiyori gifted to Shin. Originally Porygon was fairly neutral to Shin, acting much like a scared cat and hiding behind him when Hiyori was in the room. After evolving, Porygon2 began to show much affection and adoration towards its trainer, as it now understood speech and emotion. It helped Shin aid Hiyori in the strange research project Hiyori recruited Shin for. Undergoing many strange and harmful "training" it finally evolved into Porygon-Z. However this evolution put a strain on the relationship between the two, as Shin refused to acknowledge the corrupted mess that his beloved pokemon became. Porygon-Z was having trouble adjusting to its mutated body, but soon after began to seek the affection of its trainer once more. Shin refuses to use it, and has abandoned the idea of ever naming it.

So this one is another one that will make more sense the more you know about my au. Again, lots of complex and intricate lore. I chose Porygon to best represent Shin and his relationship with Hiyori, specifically before the death game. Porygon is a completely artificial pokemon, made up of code and only evolves when given a disk containing data. Obviously this ties in well with Shin, who learned to code thanks to Hiyori. I like to think its final evolution represents Shin's trauma and how Hiyori affected him, as it's not wrong to say that he definitely left a deep impact on Shin. Poyrgon-Z is obtained by evolving it from Porygon2 using the dubious disk, a disk containing corrupted and malicious data. You can draw the similarities (Will Shin ever reconcile with it? Well, maybe I'll explain how if anyone is curious).