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What are your game headcanons?

I have many headcanons, but the main one that I've been thinking about a lot lately is that Pokemon that can't be found in the wild in their native region in the games simply exist in the off-screen areas of the region map. For instance Beldum which aren't found in the wild in R/S/E are actually in Hoenn after all, just in the inaccessible islands or spaces in between routes and cities, so we just never encounter them since we can't reach their habitat. This can apply to a lot of other Pokemon in all of the games.
 
- The only Legendary Pokémon cannonically caught are Zekrom and Reshiram due to the story of BW and Lunala/Solgeleo because of SM. This is because there is a bond between the trainers and Legendaries that is beyond that of trainer and Pokémon and goes back to the original brothers.

- Gold didn't beat Red necessarily. I kind of more see it as the duel between Yugi and Juudai at the end of Yugioh GX. See it as a 'never ending battle for eternity'.

- Cynthia hails from a region yet to be revealed. (Her text in BW implies this.) She says she comes from Celestic Town because her grandma lives there and she's a pretty private person. Since she is one of the most popular Champions of the world, having her home region and her actual home be revealed to the public would mean a lot of media and fans on her doorstep.

- Team Rocket/Giovanni kills and cover up the cases of anyone who refuses to budge to them. Giovanni planned to do this to the head of Silph. Co until Red interfered. The reason Giovanni never killed Red is because Giovanni saw his youthful self in Red before he walked down the path of crime.

- Ghetsis has killed your father in BW because he knew too much about Ghetsis' personal reasons somehow.

- Colress is one of the scientists who worked on the enhancement of Genesect. As someone who researches how to bring out the full strength of Pokémon, mechanical enhancement to ancient species was one of his research points. It is also where Ghetsis knows Colress from and why he made him 'head of Team Plasma' in BW2, because he assumed Colress held a grudge against N and N' splintered Team Plasma faction because N shutdown the Genesis project.

- Fairy-typing is a typing that has resurfaced with the re-awakening of Xerneas. It's re-awakening caused its power to surge into the ecosphere, 'reawakening' the 'Fairy-type genes' in the Fairy-types.

- Sycamore knew about Lysandre's plans but didn't do much about it because he couldn't stand his dear friend getting in jail should he be stopped.

- In an alternate universe, Serena's insecurity about not being able to beat the rival and the fact she constantly loses that 1 thing that can't be shared (The Mega Ring, Champion's title, you name it) combined with the fact she has a fascination for fashion/beauty, caused her to be convinced by Lysandre to join Team Flare. With her skills, she naturally assumes the highest position underneath him.

- While Kahili is said to be a pretty strong trainer, we never heard about her before in other regions because the power level between the trainers from Alola and of the trainers of other regions is pretty big because of the league set up where Alola has a pretty laidback way of reaching the end of their set-up and have only gotten a league recently compared to the other regions where you fight 13 elite trainers (The Gym Leaders, Elite Four and the Champion) and Trainers who have fought some of those 13 elite trainers, which means that Kahili is just around the level of an ordinary trainer from a non-Alola standpoint.

- Agatha and Oak didn't only have a rivalry going on but also a relationship. Agatha's disdain for him doesn't just come from their rivalry going non-existent, but his shifting interest from battling to researching, also went at the cost of their relationship.

- When you place a Pokémon in the box, it works similar like in the anime. Instead of them becoming data and being stored in the pc, basically their information gets stored there, while the actual Pokémon get sent to the professor where they live in the 'forests' behind the lab/around the hometown. (Which is also why you can't access it or the grass around it.)

- The Fire-type that was revived by Ho-Oh is actually an Arcanine. Both are said to race at highspeeds and are based on canines and have tiger/lion influences in their design. This is also the reason why Arcanine is called 'the Legendary Pokémon' as species. (This one is quite funny coming from me since I don't really like Entei and thus kind of feels like shitting on my favourite Pokémon.)

- Hilda is the creator and owner of the Pokéstar Studios. Her favourite movie is one that she wrote herself, based off of the story of Hilbert and N's battle of idealogy in BW. She never made it public or took it in production feeling the story wouldn't do either side justice.

I have some other probably, but these jump to mind.
 
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If Bulbapedia is to be believed, Professor Oak seems awfully young to be Daisy and Blue's grandfather. My only conclusion can be that he must not have been an ideal father figure (likely due to getting wrapped up in his work), leaving his child without guidance and causing them to act impulsively. This probably also ultimately led to the vehicular accident that left Daisy and Blue in Oak's care.

What's more is that Agatha appears much older than her supposed past with Oak would suggest. The best explanation I can come up with is that her career as a professional Pokémon trainer must have been stressful enough to age her prematurely.

The moral of this story is, it pays to do the math. :p
 
Prototype Pokemon are either extinct species or older forms of existing Pokemon.

@Boruto Duh. It's odd that he was replaced in Emerald and ORAS.

@Glitchipedia My headcanon is that whoever wrote that DPPt line didn't know what they were doing. Oak and Agatha are around 70 as of Generation I.
 
Prototype Pokemon are either extinct species or older forms of existing Pokemon.

Oh snap. Well R.I.P Kotora. You were too good for this world.

lBpTRAn.gif
 
- Norman and his wife in canon are getting a divorced. After discovering that she put their kid (whom I see as May being the canon pro of RSE/ORAS) into the moving truck despite giving her a car, which his wife used solmenly for herself while cheating on Norman for years during their marriage.

- Volkner and Jasmine are cousins through their mothers and do not get along at all.

-Lysander has made several attempts at forcing himself on Sycamore (against his will) but never succeeds due to one of Sycamore's Assistants coming to save him.

-Birch is not liked in the Pokemon Research community. Running off without warnings leaving his assistants to pick up after him, using people while he's too lazy and generally being a fair-weathered person that uses people routinely. His kind and funny demeanor helps to trick people to doing what he wants.

-Gold never really wanted to travel or be a trainer until Elm got him to do the deliver for Mr. Pokemon. Even when older, battling isn't something that Gold really enjoys and has settled down to being a teacher in Unova.
 
* Marlon could be from Alola region if he's not originally from Unova region. Since Unova and Alola (and Orre) are in the same nation, there's no need for passports to travel between.

* As for Unova/Alola relations, the former Elite Four member Grimsley is hidden in plain sight even if he's in Alola, only to have someone found out his identity after he tossed a coin, unlike Colress, which is better in publicity after he disbanded Team Plasma before he decided to travel around Alola region.

* The Eevee species were originally never native to Pokémon World. They're rare and never been common there, but they're more common in other planets or universes.

* Ultra Recon Squad is International Police of Ultra Space. But unlike Looker (who might be retired from Pokémon battling), URS had no prior experience in battling so this could be reasonable.

* Looker was once a Pokémon Trainer before he retired after Elite Four or something.

* Hau is an ace at geography, even for a 11-year-old boy, that he knows where the Moss Rock is. He's also alot rushy despite his smart personalities, as seen in after a Team Skull battle if you pick Popplio as a starter.
 
  • Ghetsis lost his arm in the past because of the training of his Hydreigon. His Hydreigon also caused permanent damage to his left eye, which is why he wears that red mechanical eyepatch of his.
  • As a result, Black and White, the games that function as Hydreigon's first dex entry, are based off of Ghetsis' Hydreigon since it's the first Hydreigon you cannonically encounter.
  • The Harmonia familily are reincarnations of the king mentioned in the Abyssal Ruins.
  • Serena/Calem (Whoever you play as) in X actually ends up immortal through Xerneas' power being fired off by the ultimate weapon. AS a result, they end up as AZ, wandering around the world. With having outlived their friends, family and Pokémon and seen lots of bad things about the world, they return to Kalos and attempt to reawaken Yveltal, unleashing its power into Kalos once more, this time succeeding, merely so they can die at last.
  • Level-up movesets are merely a gameplay thing. Due to their genetics, species can learn all the moves in their movepool at any time through various means. However, certain moves like a Flamethrower for a Charmander, will be a lot less consistent and more difficult to handle for it than a Flamethrower coming from a Charizard.
  • Alola's description and views on Mega Evolution isn't because it actually causes harm towards the Pokémon, but because it is something that isn't in line with their culture and views, and they thus see it as a bad and evil thing to the subject Pokémon.
  • The form you see Arceus in is not its real form. It's merely a nerfed and weaker version of its real self.
  • The trainer card actually isn't just an in-game thing. Whenever a Trainer first visits a Pokémon Center, they get registered as a trainer with their Trainer Card. It contains the trainer ID, the obtained badges and personal information with a picture of yourself. The backside is somewhat customizable but it standardly contains your team at that time. Since your Pokédex, PC system and thus also the Pokéballs are all linked to each other, each time you switch around a Pokémon between party and box, the party on your Trainer Card changes along with it.
  • A Zorua that disguises itself as a human or a different Pokémon is actually pretty easily to notice. While it fully changes appearance, the tail continues to remain. It is also unable to properly mimic mannerism due to its prankster and enthusiastic nature. A Zoroark has this transformation under control much better, becoming pretty much identical to the person or Pokémon it's disguising as.
  • Contrary to popular believe and its entry, Victini actually doesn't bring definite victory. Due to the infinite energy it can generate and share it has a better grindgame for the team. A strong and skilled Trainer or Pokémon is still able to acquire victory in an encounter envolving Victini.
  • As Kyurem-White and Kyurem-Black respectively, Reshiram and Zekrom still remain conscious within said forms, which is why it can still use Fusion Bolt and Fusion Flare. Kyurem is just the more dominant consciousness, evidence by Bolt Strike and Blue Flare basically being 'replaced' by Freeze Shock and Freeze Burn. As a result of this, Kyurem-Black and Kyurem-White are the only Pokémon that can effectively have two Trainers while caught, should Kyurem and Reshiram or Zekrom be owned by different trainers each.
 
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The prototype player character from Red and Green's early development, identified as "Yūichi" in Helix Chamber's cut content analysis, is Red's father. He is still alive and continues to travel on his own Pokémon journey. One possible spelling of his name notably includes the same kanji character (勇) used to write Isamu "Red" Akai's given name in the Pocket Monsters manga, which can be translated as "brave". For this reason, I assign him the English name "Hardy", which derives from the same meaning.

Expanding on that, while I previously considered Red's surname to be "Vershon" (for the sake of a pun in the vein of "Ketchum"), I have since chosen to localize the name "Isamu Akai" as "Redmond Connolly". (Yes, this suggests that Red has Irish ancestry; who says the Pokémon nation can't be a cultural melting pot?) The surname "Connolly", like "Hardy", carries the same general meaning as the given name "Isamu", while the given name "Redmond", much like the surname "Akai", is an otherwise normal name containing the word for "red". Reversing the first and last names is my attempt to remain consistent with Pokémon Origins, where Red makes it clear that his name was given to him with purpose by his father, and does not derive from his family name.

Meanwhile, Red's female counterpart (in my head, his twin sister) does indeed go by both "Leaf" and "Green". The former is her name by birth, deriving from an Old English element that meant "dear" or "beloved"; the latter, a nickname to complete a trio with Red and his rival, Blue Oak ("Blue" apparently being, yes, a real name). Her eccentric, slightly air-headed characterization in Let's Go is either a result of prolonged exposure to the residual psychic energy in Cerulean Cave, or the product of Chase, Elaine and Trace's imaginations as Blue relates the story to them (I'm more inclined to believe the latter). In reality, she and Red are very much alike at first, though she never becomes the cold, silent recluse that Red is famous for being.

Finally, Red's mother bears the same given name as Ash's mother, Delia, for the sake of simplicity.
 
- Fairy-typing is a typing that has resurfaced with the re-awakening of Xerneas. It's re-awakening caused its power to surge into the ecosphere, 'reawakening' the 'Fairy-type genes' in the Fairy-types.

Oh my Arceus, why didn't GF run with this? It would have made so much sense. And been a lot better than literally nothing.
 
It definitely still exists, but it wasn't really re-awakened in its plot...

Headcanon:

Xerneas, too, was reawakened, but Yveltal was the only one Team Flare managed to capture. Xerneas fled off to parts of Kalos unknown and since Lysandre deemed the powers of Yveltal enough, he ceased the search for Xerneas.

With Yveltal in captivity, Xerneas also had no reason to seek out and battle Yveltal, hence why we don't see it in Y.

This, in turn, is also the reason why Zygarde just silently remains in Terminus Cave as he only comes in action when Yveltal and Xerneas duke it out and stirr up Kalos' ecosystem.

And because the game is really bad, we never hear about it or know about it, too.
 
When you see little towns with only four houses in the game, there really is <10 houses in that town.
Why? Well, the human population in the Pokemon world isn't as big as the real one, since humans are much weaker than Pokemon. Cities in the Pokemon world are comparable to smaller size places such as Reykjavik, not New York.
  • Littleroot is literally a research outpost with a few houses around it. Houses there are really cheap because of the remote location.
Other stuff:

N really is Ghetsis's biological son. N's abandonment in the forest was all part of Ghetsis's plan - he wanted N to be raised by Pokemon specifically so that N could speak the Pokemon language and empathise with them. N doesn't want to believe this and tells himself it's not true, even though deep down he knows it is.

The player character in Emerald grows up to become the well-liked head of the Battle Frontier, leaving Wally to be Champion.

The main character of Platinum is reviled in the Sinnoh region because of their connection with Giratina, who is seen as evil/demonic.

The BW character hates their status as Unova's hero and goes into hiding, using "looking for N" as an excuse. (They're still pretty cut up that N left, though). If the BW player character was going to be found somewhere by the B2W2 player, similar to Red being found by the HGSS player, then it would be inside the old Victory Road. They returned there because they felt bitterly nostalgic for the time they'd spent travelling in Unova.
 
A few regarding gyms that I have:

-In most cases, being a gym leader doesn't really pay all that well. Most of the prize money gym leaders get if they win goes mainly to the upkeep of the gym itself, and they don't really get much for themselves. The amount of trainers that challenge the league can also be inconsistent from time to time depending on factors like the season or weather, so it's also not too reliable as a source of income. This is why many leaders (like gen 4-ish onwards, at least) still have other jobs. Those that don't are either: too young to get other jobs, come from wealthy families, or are just alright with living a modest lifestyle.

-The exception is if the gym itself has a direct way of obtaining money, like through admission fees for spectators à la Galarian stadiums or gym memberships or something.

-Gyms are government-funded, and the Pokemon league is equivalent to a nation-wide sports program. The government gives the leaders things like the prize money/TM handouts, and lets them design their own badges and gym building as they please.

-Gym leaders choose their own in-gym working hours. It depends on what they specialize in, and what any of their other jobs are. They don't need to be present all day, every day, but they need to check in at least a few hours every week to battle any challengers and give guidance to any of their gym trainers. If a leader has a day job, they can check into the gym for 2-3 hours after work to do their gym leader duties. It is not uncommon for some of them to be gone for several days at a time (For example, Skyla being a pilot, or Clay leaving on business trips or something). Others are in their gyms almost every day. In general, there are schedules that they post so challengers know when they will be in. However, the most common reason for gym leaders quitting their gym leading is to focus on their other job. Being a gym leader is generally a side job that tends to complement their actual job.

-The actual importance and roles of gyms varies from city to city. In some places like Fuschia, Ecruteak, or Blackthorn Cities, the gym and its leader are heavily linked to traditional fighting styles or folklore of the area. In other places (like Veilstone or Cianwood cities), it's a more literal gym, where people can just visit to work out their Pokemon and themselves. Others are linked to local industries, some are schools, etc. It's inconsistent, but general requirements to be a leader are to be good and knowledgeable at Pokemon battles, have a unique fighting/training method, and to be a well-respected person in their area.

-GLs don't need to live in the city where their gym is. In some cities, there are not very many strong trainers fit to be leaders, so the league may get a new leader from elsewhere. It's common in rural areas, like in Petalburg city for example, where Norman lives in Littleroot instead.

-The league itself doesn't give leaders and their trainers any other duties besides battling and giving badges out. Any other duties, like guarding temples or learning myths, are solely expected from the city where the gym is located due to tradition.

Non-gym stuff:

-Valerie is the secret eighth kimono girl from Ecruteak, who got picked up by a modeling agency. There are also sixth and seventh sisters for Glaceon and Leafeon, we just don't see them.

-Steven runs a blog online where he shows off all the cool rocks and minerals he's found through his adventures. He also runs a forum where people talk about their own discoveries, too. A few gym leaders who like rocks and fossils participate in it.

-The Sinnoh gym leaders and Elite 4 are the strongest out of all the regions, but this is completely countered by the fact that they also collectively have the shortest attention span out of every other roster. Whenever they meet up, Cynthia always has to go out looking for a few of them who don't show up because they got distracted by a tree or a cake or a hole or something on the way there.

-There is a dinosaur paradise/hell located very far beneath the ground. There, all the fossil Pokemon thrive in their original, pre-fossil forms, along with a bunch of other prehistoric Pokemon we have yet to see. Their life is sustained by some as of yet undiscovered fossil/dino legendary that lives down there, too.
 
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Xurkitree and Blacephalon come from different sections of the same Ultra Space and are born from Gigantimaxed Pokémon. Each Gigantimax Form spawns at last a handful of other species. Yes, I believe that particular Ultra Space is the Pokémon equivalent of Xenoblade Chronicles.
 
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I have my own headcanons involving the different gym leaders and where there origins could lie!

Elesa was probably from somewhere in Kalos. Her attachment to fashion and the like probably was originated from how Kalos felt so fashion forward (being based on France all). However, her style clashes with that of haute couture, so she moved to Unova where she can freely express herself more and show off her electric style more attuned to the Unova people.

Valerie feels like she originated from Johto. Dare I say she might even have been trained as a Kimono Girl in Ecruteak City? She exhibits such old-fashioned elegance and even with fairies, she definitely feels like she was trained in the classical arts back in the days!

Clay probably originated from Sinnoh, working with Roark and Byron in the Oreburgh mines and the Sinnoh mining industry. Down the line, he probably expanded into Unova where he is the boss of his own gym now, and the mining operations in Unova. They probably are still in contact and acts like a mentor to Roark, as well as a drinking buddy to Byron.

Crasher Wake feels like he originated from Alola. I mean, this man has such an attachment to the natural side of things and even the whole waves thing just screams Alola! Not to mention he is a wrestler, and what do we have in Alola? Battle Royales! He probably is now in Pastoria to spread his love of it all!

Winona probably had visited Kalos in the past. Fortree City is literally an aerial city from a point of view, so she probably is a huge proponent of Sky Battles and trying to promote it back in Hoenn too!

I got so many more, but here is some I thought of a while ago!
 
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