So I Wrote A Little Thing With Dark Arven In It

so i wrote a little thing with dark arven in it

Hyperfixations really make things happen, Dark Arven based off of this

also featuring my oc momo, with area zero spoilers

Reflections

It all started with an unfortunate stumble. A follow up trip to Area Zero that had Arven somehow disappearing into the crystal he bumped into, leaving only his shadow. And then, his shadow got up.

"Dark Arven…?"

It all sounded like the evil doppelganger trope Momo's seen in stuff she read about before. There was definitely no way this was real. There was no way her boyfriend stumbled through those mystical crystals like it was actually some funky magic portal. There was no way this shadowy-looking clone of him happened to stumble out in his place. But yet, the words escaped her lips, and they were heard.

"Well… at least this universe still has a Momo in it…" He rubbed at his head. "And what's with the name? It's just Arven, y'know."

His frown was authentic, and so was the judgemental look that whipped towards her. He still had that teal colored stare, but everything else almost seemed like a trick of the light of the research station's roof. His hair, clothes, and even his backpack carried pitch black hues, making for a bold aesthetic Momo never expected from her Arven.

Her thinking cogs got turning as she stared at him, and he seemed to be doing the same as he stared back. He almost seemed to be looming over her as he gazed at her, with a presence so imposing that Momo felt the need to lean back and gulp.

"Okay, you're definitely not Arven."

"And you're definitely not my Momo. Too bland." His tone was unsurprised, unimpressed even. He looked back towards the crystal he just stepped out of. "Great, and now that gateway's out of power. I'm going to have to find a new one."

"Too bland? Gateway? Huh?" Momo looked to the crystal, which had lost its glow. She had all too many questions, but there was one that was at the forefront. "Did that… crystal really just suck up my Arven and leave me with… you?"

He scoffed as he turned away. "Guess I stumbled into a universe that doesn't have this. I'll make this quick for you, Not Momo. The multiverse is real, my poor excuses for parents got themselves killed looking into it, and now I'm pretty much stuck in your universe for now. Riddle me this, did your professors here trifle with dimensional travel? That's what these crystals are supposed to power, right?"

Though a bit overwhelmed, Momo found herself slowly shaking her head. "No…"

"Ain't that typical." He rolled his eyes, before taking a book out of his backpack. Momo glimpsed at its sleek black cover before the guy stepped away from her. "I'll get out of your hair before long. Just need to find another suitable crystal and I'll be able to send myself back. Judging from how totaled this research station is, I'm guessing they're sprouting like weeds here too."

And just like that, he had left the research station. Still, as bizarre as this encounter was, Momo definitely wasn't letting this Dark Arven guy out of her sight. She had questions.

"Yikes, that's bright." 

Momo found him sneering under the light of the glittering bottom floor of Area Zero. He didn't seem to pay her much mind, but she still stomped after him. She had a worried outburst she needed him to hear.

"Hold it, Darven!"

"Arven, but whatever."

"So you mean to tell me my Arven is stuck in some sort of other dimension? Wherever you're from?"

"That's right." He licked his finger and flipped a page.

"Why does that book of yours have a bloodstain on it?"

"No comment."

"Okay then." Momo huffed. "Am I… ever going to get my Arven back?"

"If he ever gets the same idea that I'm getting, maybe." There was a smirk on his face as he spoke. "You don't sound too happy about that."

"Of course I'm not happy!" Momo exclaimed in the face of his frown. "That's my best friend and boyfriend I just lost! If I can't get him back, then that'd just leave me with… with…"

"With who? Me?" He was looking directly at her now. His stare was taunting, and under the sheen of the crystalline lights around them, it was all the more striking. "I mean, haven't you ever wanted to see what being with someone from another universe is like? Someone… tall, dark, and handsome?"

His voice had lowered into mere breaths. Breaths that were hot on her face.

"What do you say… little buddy?"

Momo could only her herself gulp alongside her racing heart. There was no denying those words, his unexpected boldness, seeing that face and voice of his taunt her like so. It was just like Arven to leave her breathless, but even then… not like this.

"You're not my Arven." Momo nodded with certainty, defiantly standing her ground.

Dark Arven raised an eyebrow, narrowed his eyes at her, and backed away laughing. "Man, you got me there. My Momo always lost it whenever I did that. Don't think I'd ever get along with anyone from a universe like this. I'd hate to see how your Nemona or Penny ended up. Least this timeline has a pretty cute Momo. Speaking of which, I gotta get back home to mine."

"Hmph." While Momo wasn't all too pleased by that bluff he just pulled, she couldn't deny the curiosity that perked up when she heard her name. "Your Dark Momo's probably nothing like me if she can put up with this stuff."

"She's passionate, mainly. Really passionate. And definitely my ray of sunshine, that's for sure…" For once, a sentimental smile bloomed on his face as his gaze tilted upwards. "The burning… devilish fires of the sun. Just the way I like it."

"Yeesh. I like to think of myself as devilishly mischievous, but that's a bit much." Momo wasn't sure what edge was worse, the steep cliff drops, or this guy's.

"Alright, Not Momo." Dark Arven put his arm around her, walking her forward and deeper into the cavern of crystals. "What kind of adventures have you gone on with Not Arven? Fun adventures? Any lawbreaking involved? Is he fun to kiss, at least?"

"Yes… maybe… and… uh…" Momo found herself blushing and fidgeting at that. "Anyways! We went on the most cool and epic adventures, thank you very much! There were these miracle herbs, and we were hunting them down, and we made some real miracles happen, and… and…" She frowned at the look he was giving her. "... Hey, what's that skeptical look for?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Dark Arven's gaze fell, his locks obscuring his eyes as his hands tucked themselves into his pockets. "Just finding it pretty funny. My Momo's got a deviously overactive imagination just like you. Miracles don't exist where I'm from, y'know. Not the life saving kind, anyway."

"Oh."

Momo didn't know what to say after that. Neither did he, from the looks of things. Still, there was a familiar concern that Momo felt. The brief but utter loss of hope on Dark Arven's face wasn't something she ever saw before, but it was a despair she used to dread happening at all.

"Your universe really is a grim one, huh?" Momo spoke quietly.

"I've seen that look of worry before." His expression perked up slightly. "Don't sweat it. I still got my moments to shine despite it all. Right now I'm just focusing on finding an appropriate gateway crystal and hoping my Momo hasn't eaten your Arven up, so we can get this quick dimensional trade going."

"Um…" Momo hesitated. "You mean that eating part as a figure of speech, right?"

"Heh. Maybe."

Momo shoved him at that. He grunted and ended up bumping his shoulder against a large crystal wall, which left it humming as it suddenly pulsed with light.

"Well would ya look at that." Dark Arven placed his hands on his hips. "There's my gateway."

"About time." Momo crossed her arms. "So how does this dimensional travel stuff work?"

"Needs a bit of equivalent exchange. Me for your Arven." Dark Arven started flipping through his book again. "Once my reflection in the crystal starts looking like yours, means the jump is good to go. Now to wait until your guy gets the memo."

"He's resourceful. I'm sure he'll come by eventually." Momo nodded, tapping her foot against the ground.

"Whew, can't wait to get back. Me and my Momo can get back to doing our thing, and you and your Not Arven can go back to…" He grimaced as his eyes looked towards the grand lab ahead. "... investigating whatever this place has got going on. Don't know why your professor would need all these crystals if it's not for fueling dimensional travel."

Momo grimaced at his grimace. "If you must know, all this research was done for time travel. There's even a biggol' time machine in there that brought all sorts of Pokémon here, so we've all l been hard at work rounding them all up."

That got his attention. "Did you say… a time machine?"

"Yes, and-"

"Change of plans." He closed the book, tucking it under his arm as he tore his gaze from his reflection. "This I gotta see."

There was a devilish smile on his face. And not the mischievous kind.

Made a comic about Penny and Arven and dysphoria jackets

3 Days Left

Listen y’all I just. I jsut *clenches fists* I love Pokemon so much,

It’s just a fun game with little critters!! You can name them! And form bonds with them! And battle with them!! And you can witness a story unfold! And travel throughout so many fun and distinct regions, each with their own history! And make friends and enemies alike! And it’s a game that can be played differently by anyone! You can strategize and take on hard challenges! You can play silly minigames! You can be a completionist and fill the entire Pokedex! It caters to everyone! And the mainline games are only the tip of the iceberg! There’s so much to do! It’s so fun! It has brought the world together!! I LOVE YOU POKEMON!!!

hello everyone and good afternoon, my name is pepperochau and i am here to talk to you today about the one, the only, the futher mucker itself: dudunsparce. this will be a bit of the read, so follow the cut to see the rest!

majestic, is it not? personally i was not the biggest fan when it was revealed, but it has grown on me since then.

now, there is at current a very strong, loud refrain in the pokemon fandom that dudunsparce is a joke, and was always meant to be a joke. they say "people have wanted an epic dragon evolution for twenty years, and gamefreak has trolled them"; "dudunsparce is supposed to be a bad/lame/dumb design because it's a joke".

however! i disagree. i have been a lifelong fan of dunsparce, ever since i was a young malformed guttersnipe who thought it was a mythical pokemon, and i can safely say i've never wanted it to become a dragon. however, i also have never viewed it as a joke pokemon. so to hear people write off the design of dudunsparce as simply "a joke" has frustrated me to no end. so to you, reader, i would like to provide an explanation for why dudunsparce is what it is—a mess.

so, let's start at the beginning of the line with dunsparce.

many people will look at dunsparce's name and their mind immediately goes to dunce, sparce. and, fair enough, as it does look a bit dopey doesn't it? Other languages also give it names meaning "dumb" or "oafish" like the German Dummisel and the French Isolourdo respectively. now, I cant speak on how strong brand consistency was back in Gen 2, so maybe they were just aping off the same perception most English speakers had of the name. or it is possible that TPCi had always intended this interpretation. who is to say.

but there is a more obvious, widely overlooked aspect of its name: Dun. as in a subadult version of an insect, traditionally used when describing mayflies.

IN FACT this is such an underacknowledged aspect of its name that even on Bulbapedia, one of the most important secondary sources of information on pokemon next to serebii, i was hard pressed to find any mention of it at any point earlier than 2022, in an article revision that SIMILARLY went unnoted and uncommented on.

future editions of this article maintain both definitions of the word "dun".

but with this aspect of its name in mind, you'll notice that the rather un-tsuchinoko-like aspects of its design become more coherent, like its near-useless bug wings and stripey back. because its not just a snake with a fat tummy, but a fat bumblebee as well! wow!!! so cool!!!!!

now that this preamble is out of the way, we can finally move onto the mon of the hour: dudunsparce

pokedex entries for dudunsparce's 3-segment form mention that "the number of segments a Dudunsparce’s body has is determined by the Pokémon’s genes." at first glance it feels like a bit of a lore cop out for a formchange with no effect on gameplay. but remember how dunsparce has some partial insect inspiration? with this in mind, dudunsparce reveals itself to be, first and foremost, a reference to the Drosophila fruit fly's bithorax mutation:

as you can see, sometimes the genes for the termination of the thorax are copied accidentally, resulting in a copied thorax in the afflicted insect! and with "dun" meaning a subadult insect, we can reconceptualize dudunsparce from a simple joke, to a pokemon species whose inherent genetic mutations have kept it from reaching its true adult form! it even has the stripey butt that a fruit fly has!! so cool!!! a bit sad though, don't you think?

but there are still yet unexplored depths to the design of dudunsparce. for example: why does dudunsparce have a two-layered drill tail? why is there a random spiral on its first segment? well, allow me to introduce you to yet another muckerfuther: the cuélebre.

now i know what you may be thinking: this looks nothing like dudunsparce. and certainly, the resemblance is minimal. but allow me to share with you some mythological information about the cuélebre:

The cuélebre is a multi-winged serpent from Cantabrian and Asturian folklore, both of which are regions of modern-day spain.

The cuélebre's impervious scales grow thicker with age

The cuelebre's only weak spot is its throat

The cuelebre lives in deep caves

The cuelebre retreats to Mar Cuajada in old age, a place with diamonds covering the bottom

sound familiar? it should, because you will notice that dudunsparce mirrors all of these traits almost to a T:

Paldea is based on Spain, and Dudunsparce is a fat snake with multiple wings; or, a winged serpent.

Dudunsparce has much bulkier defensive stats than its preevolution Dunsparce (125/80/75 compared to 100/70/65), and has an extra hard "cap" layer on its tail

There is a seemingly random spiral pattern on the underside of Dudunsparce's first segment, or on its throat, regardless of form

Dudunsparce is mentioned by the pokedex to make sprawling nests in the bedrock, and is only find in the wild in Area Zero

The lowest point of Area Zero is covered in large, diamantine crystals

and for the people who still want dudunsparce to be a "joke": the cuélebre isn't even a very impressive dragon in itself: it hoards treasure and fairy women, and if you encounter it on the night of Midsummer, then you can kill it by tricking it into eating a bread or cake that's full of pins or hot irons. the worst thing it does in folklore that i can find is that it floods a town once because they weren't able to give it its daily cow head. the cuélebre is a nuisance first, and a (sort of) dragon second.

now, i don't want to be raining on people's fun, so i'll take a moment to take my lumps: i wasn't able to find very much information on the cuélebre, so there's a strong chance i am misrepresenting the creature here. aso, people are allowed to view dudunsparce as just a joke pokemon, and to like it as sich, and that's fine! i'm not here to tell you how to engage with your hobbies!

but, when i see that being the only reason that people give for liking the design? when i see that being given as the only reason given for why it looks the way it does? when i see pokemon videos on youtube that quickly bring up and then dismiss dudunsparce as a joke as if that was the only reason behind its design at all, without any kind of additional explanation or exploration of the design? it gets a bit frustrating, and tiresome. i mean hell, i maybe spent about three hours total in researching for this post, and i can confidently say that's far more time than all poketubers have spent on it combined.

the short of it os, that there is always more to be uncovered with fictional material. even with something so seemingly simple as a fat, goofy snake.

it is my mission to spread my Raihan+Gordie as absolute besties for life agenda

They are both social media influences with a huge fanbase, so I love to imagine them as online-rivals, real world-besties, though Gordie is certainly aiming for the Strongest Gym Leader title

They are also both fashion icons. Tell me they haven't spent hours shopping for high-end clothes together.

Pokemon Masters EX read my mind and have also made them besties and it just. works so well?

there's no reason for this one i just like raihan's pretty profile here

and they both Fear Melony which just TICKLES me

AND they work together during the Special Day with the Guys event to make some fanservice, AND they team up first during the Galar Neo Champion event, AND Raihan cheers on Gordie in a battle against Piers, AND

please just join me in my besties agenda i am dying alone