What would your IRL team be?

[WyndonCalling]

One of the greatest strengths of the Pokémon franchise is the ability to express your tastes, values and playstyle through building a team, whether you prefer a host of unevolved cuties, a party of a single type, or a squad of gnarly monsters. But what if you were an actual resident of the Pokémon world, unable to travel quite so far and wide to pick up your desired partners? What species would likely dwell in your IRL area, and which ones might you have encountered on the basis of your personal life experiences? You can have as large or small a team as you like.

Obviously, your options are a little more restrained if you don't live in one of the few countries that has seen cultural representation in the games but with hundreds of 'natural' species to choose from, hopefully your local fauna and flora can be found somewhere in the Pokédex.

I grew up in a railway town in Cheshire in the UK, quite close to both deeply rural countryside and old industrial heartlands (including the town of Stoke), before getting around quite a bit with both university and work. I'd have:

• Galarian Meowth, harking back to my childhood spent with my grandparents' Cheshire farm cats
• Coalossal, based on my hometown's railway history
• Polteageist and Galarian Weezing, inspired by local industrial areas (quite literally named 'the Potteries') and my family's heritage there
• Barraskewda, from my university years in the city of Hull
• Duraludon, based on my current job in the City of London

 

[Neyo]

I’m tempted to say I would have a dozen Joltik scattered throughout my house, but here’s a more serious idea of what I might have.

Poochyena: Cute doggo.
Leafeon: I like both small animals and plants.
Yanma: I’ve always lived near areas where dragonflies live, and I like dragonflies, so this fits well.
Liepard: Cats are cool.
Lumineon: It’s my favorite fish Pokémon, and I like fish.
Sudowoodo: I like plants, and Sudowoodo is like a plant, but even lower maintenance because it’s a rock.

Looking at this list after typing it, I realize my explanations are pretty basic. Bah humbug

 

[Okido]

This was harder than I anticipated, but I think I would end up with a team something like this:

• Meowth: I've only ever owned cats over the years, and I seem to attract all kinds of kitties wherever I go. Where I am is also home to tons of feral cats, to the point where you're bound to run into at least one if you're taking a walk at night. It reminds me quite a bit of the Meowth gang that appears in the anime episode Go West, Young Meowth!, so I'm sure I'd own at least one.
• Pidgey/Starly: There's pigeons and house sparrows absolutely everywhere you look around here, and these are the closest I'm gonna get to both. I'd say Pidove, but seeing as it eventually turns into a pheasant, that doesn't really work out. Pidgeotto's JP name is literally Pigeon, anyway...
• Sandygast: Being on a small island means that in pretty much any direction, you'll find a beach. I bet I would find a Sandygast or two living down there if I looked hard enough.
• Smeargle: As an artist, I'm pretty sure I'm required to have a Smeargle, right? Maybe I could learn some watercolor techniques from one?
• Porygon: I mess around with various kinds of programming in my spare time, so I would love to have a Pokemon to help me out with finding bugs.
• Trubbish/Grimer: Well... I do live in a city, after all. These things are bound to be lurking in the more industrial areas. Not that I mind, I do think they're very cute, I just hope I don't have to head down an alleyway to get one.

 

[Silktree]

Espeon: Cute, elegant and has precognitive powers to protect me from harm. What's not to love?
Pidgeot: Majestic and big enough to fly on. People ask for free rides, but she refuses.
Blissey: With her around, everyone is always healthy and sadness is kept at bay.
Cubone: An orphan that Blissey has adopted. No ifs or buts.
Chikorita: Her leaves create a sweet fragrance and a friendly atmosphere, although she demands a lot of attention in return.
Azumarill: He works as a lifesaver for a living and is adored by many, so I rarely have to worry about money.

 

[Sheep]

Being in NYC, I can tell you there will be lots of Pidove, Patrat (not so much in my area though lol), Deerling, Emolga/Pachirisu, and Trubbish (probably only in the busier city areas), and occasional Woobat. Definitely more too, but this is what comes up in my head right now. Unova did well in representing what we can find here!

As far as teams though, gosh... honestly there are many. It's hard to say. But I've often headcannoned my self-insert OC with:

1) Flareon (f), nicknamed Ruby. I love Flareon so much and this sweet girl in particular means a lot to me. <3
2) Wartortle (m), nicknamed Krile. Got the nickname idea from FFXIV and it has stuck really strongly since haha.
3) Raichu (undecided m or f), no nickname yet. Similar behavior to the shy Raichu Ash borrowed in the DPPt anime. Still ironing this one out!

Have a few more but they're a little underdeveloped... but these three mean a lot to me

 

[Okido]

Being in NYC, I can tell you there will be lots of Pidove, Patrat (not so much in my area though lol), Deerling, Emolga/Pachirisu, and Trubbish (probably only in the busier city areas), and occasional Woobat. Definitely more too, but this is what comes up in my head right now. Unova did well in representing what we can find here!

oh hey, I'm in NYC too!
Yeah, I considered including Emolga and Woobat on mine as well lol. Unova really did do a great job with that, I remember being so amazed by it when it came out, because I could recognize all the things they took inspiration from around here...
~~~

After some thought, I'd also probably add a Pikachu somewhere into the mix of my Pokemon too. Not only because it's fluffy and adorable and I've always wanted one in real life - but I also have a terrible time remembering to charge my devices or swap out the batteries to things, and I think having an Electric-type walking about could remind me to do that more often. That is, if it doesn't chew through the power cords...

 

[Silktree]

1) Flareon (f), nicknamed Ruby. I love Flareon so much and this sweet girl in particular means a lot to me. <3

It's one of my favorites, but the heat might be too much...

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Smeargle, who represents my art hobby that I've had practically since I first picked up a pencil
Herdier, who represents my two miniature Schnauzers I had as a kid
Houndoom, who represents my third dog. She was actually a mutt, but she had doberman coloration, so Houndoom's the Pokemon that resembles her the closest
Glaceon, who represents the dog I currently own. She's a Siberian Husky mix, but there aren't any Pokemon based on those yet, so Glaceon will have to stand in as it's the closest approximation to my current dog so far
Hawlucha, because I'm originally from Mexico
Swellow, because swallows are migratory birds and my family used to move a lot when I was super young, plus I see a lot of them in the town we lived the longest in and still occasionally visit

 

[Max1996]

First would be Greninja, obvious #1 bias, but it makes for quite a good unseen bodyguard, I think.

Next would be Serperior, to fit with my affinity for snakes.
The same applies to lizards. However, for this one, it gets hard to choose. Possible options would be Sceptile, Hydreigon, Inteleon and Heliolisk, to name a few.

Finally, to represent the two birds I used to have as a child, the exact species of which I sadly don't remember, I'd choose Hawlucha and Corviknight.

 

[Jyo]

hard to pick only 6, will give it a try

as my ideal team would be one of each Eeveelution

Spoiler: Eevee preferred

• Sylveon - so adorable, a pampered foxy dog to have around and pet and play with
• Espeon - I'm a cat person, always will be, its so adorable looking, groom it and keep happy all day
• Flareon - fluffyeon, keep warm at cold nights
• Leafeon - always helpful with gardening and digging, helping plants and berries to grow helaither
• Vaporeon - to help with anything water, and maybe help me with learning to swim
• Glaceon - fun walking partner in the snow, or keeping cool in the summer heat waves

all 9 - are helpful in their own way

• Jolteon helps out with free electricity
• Umbreon fun to play with, and night light too, keep the ghost aways
• Eevee just so happy and silly, fun to play with, make it a litter of 6 and have them all running around making me smile

if i were to not include Eeveelutions then it would be:

*Persian - I'm a cat person, Persian does remin me of one of my cats, fun to have around

• Zorua - adorable small pet to have running around, getting into fun troubles
• Fennekin - along with the Zorua, to run around and get into small fun troubles, will have to fin away to keep separated from the felines, unless they get along somehow, doubt it
• Liepard - for my 'cat person' having a friendly leopard around would be awesome
• Arcanine - for the cold nights, a warm and fluffy big dog to keep for warmth
• Chatot - the parrot to make noise, an see them fly around, making me smile, parrots are so much fun to keep and interact with

 

[Frozen Fennec]

Based on where I live / have lived in my life:

Milotic - There were a lot of rivers where I grew up with a lot of fish, snakes, and other aquatic animals
Umbreon - I have always been more of a night owl in life, regardless of where I live or what occupation I have, also because I love cats and foxes
Mismagius - I had a period of time in life I read creepypastas a lot (would waste whole weekends sometimes as a teen just reading various creepypastas)
Smeargle - Because I drew a lot growing up, not as often these days but I still do, but I often like to practice beatboxing for fun
Talonflame - I grew up in a wooded area with a lot of birds, snakes, and other woodland critters
Gardevoir - Always been a somewhat emotional but reserved person

 

[PinkIceFox]

Considering the types of animals where I live my pokemon team would probably be something like

Thievul, Sawsbuck, Persian, Honchkrow, Lopunny, and Raticate

Other options would be the lillipup line, literally most small birds and small rodents, zigzagoon... yeah boring animals.

But in reality I would probably just have at least one of all the cat pokemon lines plus a Thievul and Honchkrow. I ain't BATTLING with all the cats they're family pets its fine. It's fine. Nanu would approve and he's a police officer. Totally acceptable. It's fine.

 

[RubySapphire]

Nebraska is closer to New York which is the city Unova is based off of, so I would live there.
Garbodor since there’s trash everywhere. Vanillite since I eat too many popsicles. Liepard since in the real world I own a cat.

 

[RuinManiacNero]

Since I am in Eastern Europe and was born in a mining region I'd say Bisharp because his helmet looks like that of a miner plus I really like Bisharps (my favorite pokemon). Plus you know, war... Something Eastern Europe is widely known for, unfortunately, so it's like a soldier's helmet too.
I live in a HEAVILY urban area,like most of you have no idea - 14 floor buildings from one side of horizon to another and little to no trees. It's actually pretty stressful (and loud). I'd say Skarmory (because the buildings are so high only birds reach them and I've been ordering takeout groceries cause of Covid) would help me to survive there and Musharna would lull me to sleep through all that noise of the big city (because I am a fairly Ill person who needs relaxation). Stray cats aplenty, but not the friendliest kind so perhaps Liepard? Garbodor aka most common modern pokemon. And Rotom since my neighborhood is very dependent on electricity and brightly illuminated but still not particularly safe and because I mostly live surrounded by gadgets!

 

[EmCeeChupi the Undying]

Pichu - Because he is the smol bean and I love him, the random discharges may be useful, who knows
Cinccino - Clean and another of my favorites, and by clean I mean keeps things clean, very useful
Golurk - He Protec, he Attac, but most importantly, he kic bad guys out
Magnemite/ton/zone - 3rd favorite, also good at keeping power bills down and finding screws I drop when making things
Ludicolo - Dancing boi **Mirror B.'s theme plays**
Alakazam - Smart, helps me study and an actual opponent in SSBU

 

[EmCeeChupi the Undying]

1) Flareon (f), nicknamed Ruby. I love Flareon so much and this sweet girl in particular means a lot to me. <3

How funny that she's named after a game

 

[RexMissingno]

I live right near a wetland area and used to/still sometimes do explore it semi-regularly and irl do enjoy catching crabs and observing wildlife. So I would probably have a large amount of Pokemon.

Lombre - Lodad feels like a Pokemon that would fit right in here. I do actually love Lombre since it was one of my first Pokemon in Emerald and like it more than Ludicolo. I could see it being my first given how exploratory I was as a child. I'd probably catch a Lotad with my bear hands to scare the other kids knowing first grade me.
Crawdaunt - I love Crawdaunt and I could probably catch one here. Especially if I had a Lombre.
Cradily - There is actually a decent amount of people here who collect fossils and I go to rock conventions to check them out so I could get my Lileep. A root fossil was also technically First Pokemon with the TCG and it does seem like a wetland Pokemon whose fossils you could find here.
Kabutops - I love Kabutops and I've seen people selling trilobite fossils here. It's something I could see myself buying if I saw one at a convention.
Sceptile - There's also a lot of lizards here and I could see myself catching a Treeko for probably pest control if we assume real-world bugs still exist.
Porygon - I do love programming and I've kind of headcanoned for some time that it's possible to create modded Porygon in the Pokemon world - which is something I'd probably attempt at some point even if following guide. If it's not extremely prosecuted like piracy is in our world I would pirate a Porygon.

 

[KitGundy]

One of the greatest strengths of the Pokémon franchise is the ability to express your tastes, values and playstyle through building a team, whether you prefer a host of unevolved cuties, a party of a single type, or a squad of gnarly monsters. But what if you were an actual resident of the Pokémon world, unable to travel quite so far and wide to pick up your desired partners? What species would likely dwell in your IRL area, and which ones might you have encountered on the basis of your personal life experiences? You can have as large or small a team as you like.

Obviously, your options are a little more restrained if you don't live in one of the few countries that has seen cultural representation in the games but with hundreds of 'natural' species to choose from, hopefully your local fauna and flora can be found somewhere in the Pokédex.

I grew up in a railway town in Cheshire in the UK, quite close to both deeply rural countryside and old industrial heartlands (including the town of Stoke), before getting around quite a bit with both university and work. I'd have:

• Galarian Meowth, harking back to my childhood spent with my grandparents' Cheshire farm cats
• Coalossal, based on my hometown's railway history
• Polteageist and Galarian Weezing, inspired by local industrial areas (quite literally named 'the Potteries') and my family's heritage there
• Barraskewda, from my university years in the city of Hull
• Duraludon, based on my current job in the City of London

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I would probably seek out a zorua, because I love them a lot. Foxes live around my grandma’s house, it’d just be a matter of managing to find one that happens to be a Zorua
As for Pokémon I would probably have around my house, there would probably be an ekans, as I live in a place with rattlesnakes. Sandshrew? Maybe? I mean, I live in a desert-y area. There’s also caves around here, and I like nighttime, so I would probably have a zubat. Cactus exist here, so probably a cactus pokemon would be here somewhere, and otters have been seen in the river where I live, so I might have a buizel.

 

[CuboneKing]

Cubone - Not just because it’s my favorite Pokémon, but because I have a lot in common with it. I may not have a dead mother or a skull helmet but I do have a lot of trauma and barriers between myself and the rest of the world. It’s always felt like an avatar to me. My family takes fairly regular trips to Hawaii so I’m sure in the Pokémon world, we’d be going to Alola and he would maybe evolve into Alolan Marowak there.
Boltund - It’s the closest Pokémon to a labdrador retriever and I’ve had one for almost 13 years now.
Toxtricity - I’m a musician and I got my start playing guitar. I also used to be in a punk-influenced band that performed at a lot of local venues.
Mimikyu - I’m sure on one of my hypothetical Alola trips I’d find and bond with this little guy. I’ve spent a lot of my life pretending to be something more universally acceptable so I didn’t have to show my real self. There’s a little common ground there lmao.
Abomasnow - I live in Washington. We’re not exactly known for our snow (though we do get it), but we are known for our pine trees. I’m sure there’d be plenty of Snover hanging around my area during the winter months.
Honchkrow - Representing my unintentional but somehow natural tendency to end up in leadership roles, especially in my friend groups when I was growing up. I’ve literally been compared to Honchkrow before with varying degrees of favorability. We also get plenty of crows here lmfao

 

[R1ke]

This was kinda hard but

• Incineroar: My favourite mon but tigers are also the national animal of my home India, so it seems fitting
• Copperajah: A more concrete indian region mon
• Pelliper: I’ve lived near the coast for a long time, so I’m used to seeing seagulls and pelicans
• Ariados: Gotta have some massive, overly intimidating, venomous spider to rep Australia, cause apparently that’s all people think live here
• Rotom: Mainly the smartphone form, I can see myself using it a lot for day to day uni life
• Alakazam: I commute a lot so teleportation would be great, would probs use its IQ to help me study as well lol