#churomu

I didn’t really get in the circular aspect of the design and i’ll blame that on me coming up with and doing this in 24 hours 😅

It didn’t go through my regular creative process but it was a fun challenge and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy to have something that feels like it fits with Dazai and Chuuya

As for what’s happening i like to think i was goofing off on my way into the Christmas party and slipped and fell only for someone to open the door and look right at me.

The ribbon i’m wearing is meant to go with Dazai’s though it’s not identical.

Chuuya's team was a bit easier at least to start!

His first pokemon was a shiny wooloo that he acquired during his time in the sheep! It remains a steadfast in his team and evolves into dubwool. It's the shiny form because that feels more metal to me and that's very aesthetic for Chuu. (I knew going in he had to have wooloo/dubwool)

Another early pokemon of Chuuya's is fidough/dauschbun. Chuuya Lovers if you know you know. Bread. Also related to lore from his time in the sheep.

A pokemon he acquires from Mori as a sort of welcome to the job pokemon is a poochyena that'll evolves quickly to mightyena spurred on by Chuuya's strength and courage as a trainer, desiring to keep up with him.

a bit of an oddball seeming for Chuuya's team but a shout out to the WAN! comics- Swablu! A fluffy bird friend for Chuuya. They also like to sit on their trainer's head like a hat. (There's a chapter in the wan! comics where chuuya has lots of bird friends) Eventually they'll likely evolve into an alteria but chuuya doesn't often use swablu for battle so it'll take a while.

Rock ruff! Just.. such precious puppy. Chuuya finds him and knows he's meant to have this lil puppy pokemon. It's meant to be. When he finally does evolve it takes on it's midnight form. It feels fitting of chuuya's personality in battle and leans toward his corrupted state in aesthetic.

And finally for his main team! Lucario! His sparring partner. The pokemon that symbolizes him as a top martial artist. A short king of a pokemon. You get the idea.

BONUS for a pokemon not really in his party but with an attachment to Chuuya that is truly symbolic of his corruption and somewhat tied to the activation phrase for it within canon. Given how powerful Chuuya is I think a connection to a legendary is acceptable

"I ask of thee, grantor of gloomy corruption...may ye never .. awaken me again."

Darkrai

While it is said Chuuya Nakahara does not dream this could be argued to be misunderstood as him simply not remembering his dreams. As he often wakes up in a cold sweat, heart racing, haunted by something just out of grasp. (I actually considered several legendaries that could feel some sort of connection to chuuya, ranging from mew or mew two, a more fiery aligned one perhaps but this is what my roommate and i landed on after speaking on it for a while.)

Dazai Osamu team

OKAY! Dazai was admittedly a bit harder! You might notice a trend that dazai's pokemon tend to find/choose him or are given to him. He's not really a motivated trainer like chuuya is.

Going in I wanted to give him a duskull So he has one! At least for a while! It does eventually evolve into dusclops! Bandages. In my gymleader selfship art with him i actually make the gem on his bolo tie look like a duskull face. he does not evolve his dusclops further. Duskull is one of Dazai's earliest Pokemon though it's not his first.

That title goes to a Zorua given to him by Mori technically. It is a fitting pokemon of Dazai I feel in personality and I think a pokemon Mori would find fitting to give him. However Zorua does not stay with Dazai for more than a couple of years and is more an honorable mention as he gifts her to Akutatgawa (much like his own coat)

The earliest Pokemon in dazai's party that he keeps is an espurr he finds wandering lost around Mori's clinic. It has the same wide eyed stare as his young self and while espurr are normally skittish this little one did not run from dazai. On the contrary it followed Dazai right into the clinic. Eventually he just gives it a pokeball. Like many cats it chooses him.

another earlier pokemon for his team was vulpix, it was the ice varient! A shout out to how in official art when they make dazai a kitsune they make him a silver kitsune. When he's younger he evolves her into ninetails rather quickly, a bit of an exception since he doesn't always bother to evolve his pokemon and isn't especially battle focused. Probably would have preferred a fire type since he gets cold easily but things happen.

Trubbish. Naturally found it's way to the container he chose to live in as a teen. He decided to feed it scraps. Not so much a team member as a passing friend of sorts. Never choose to "catch it" unlike espurr. But i wanted to mention it.

Floatzel! A pokemon Dazai acquires after it saves him more than once from his own attempts to drown himself. It just thinks he's a very incompetent swimmer. He's stuck with it.

Oranguru! An incredibly intelligent pokemon. So much so it can train other pokemon. Perhaps could be considered Dazai's ace in some ways. Will only respect an intelligent trainer. The two of them play chess and other games together.

Applin eventually finds a place on his team. Okay snowwhite.

Ahhhh this is getting so looong I apologize!!! As for myself I Say my team skews more toward grass/ghost as a gym leader when i become one! My gym team being distinct. I will say though my starter will forever be

Pikachu The true og. Eventually i do evolve my pikachu into raichu. (This is in part because when i was younger my grandma gifted me both a pikachu plush and then a raichu plush and i loved both of these to absolute death)

A pokemon that i believe would come to me very early in my journey is a small pumpkaboo! A ghostly friend. I never evolve it.

A magikarp that I rescue! It eventually evolves into a gyarados in order to return the favor.

Delmise One of my gym pokemon! ghostly seaweed that has attached itself to an anchor. Was actually a gift from Dazai, another friend he acquired in the water that decided to save him.

Gardevoir

She's here because she's ended up being my ace of sorts in the newest pokemon game so i feel she deserves to be here (i almost gave Chuuya one i won't lie)

Trevenant

big haunted tree friend. It's a given come on. both for my gym and in general. (I want a shiny...)

Honestly this piece other than color palette even was a lot of me fussing with it. Like so much fussing. I redid both dazai and chuuya’s faces twice and i redid my own face probably four(?) times. I also put in and completely rebdered certain details only to take them out later because i decided it looked better without them. If you’ve been following the wip updates you may even notice this!

I enjoyed coming up with chuuya’s coat pattern which is inspired by corruption. He has a more standard calico coloring otherwise (i head canon chuuya as trans typically but it’s not super clear here with the way his chest is covered despite being topless)

I have a dilute calico coat

And dazai is a black cat who gotten time in the sun and taken on a more brown or “chocolate” tone

Oh and i did a very last minute change of having chuuya tuck his thumb under my chin.