It’s been a year and I’m late to the bandwagon as usual but I decided that I really like these beta pokemon so I changed up a few teams. The origins of these unusual pokemon vary so I’ll be posting about how each character met their strange little friends.

Ethan and Tangel/Gelanla

The first beta pokemon I decided to add was this funky little fellow. I was reworking Ethan’s team and gave him a Tangela since he mentions having one in HGSS. Then I got to thinking about how my Ethan is a bit… odd and has a knack for bonding with pokemon (even if he doesn’t catch many) and decided that having this alternate Tangela line would suit him very well. 

Tangel was Ethan’s second pokemon, after his Marill. They met when Ethan was around 6 years old and he was visiting his grandparents, the Daycare Couple, with his father. While he usually loved playing with all the pokemon at the daycare, today Ethan wanted to go exploring a bit. His father let him run off down Route 34, knowing Ethan had Marill to look out for him and telling him not to go further than the edge of Ilex Forest. Ethan happily runs off, exploring the tall grass, chatting with passing trainers, and eventually reached the edge of the woods.

Now, Ethan knew he wasn’t supposed to go in, but he really wanted to see what other kinds of pokemon might be living there. Surely, a little peek wouldn’t hurt? He wouldn’t go far and Marill was right there with him, so he’d definitely be fine. His mind set, Ethan carefully makes his way deeper into the forest and while he initially makes sure to keep the edge of the woods in sight, eventually he wanders a bit too far and finds that he no longer knows which way is the way out. At first, he doesn’t want to panic, he’s only a little bit lost, so surely if he just picks a direction and walks he’ll find his way out. He also decides that Marill has a better nose than him, so he surely can smell the right way home. So, Ethan asks Marill which way to go and little Marill, also quite lost but not wanting to disappoint his trainer, picks a direction that feels right and the two set out.

After about half an hour of walking, the trees are still as thick as ever and Ethan is starting to get scared. What if they never make it out and become forest spirits? He’s heard stories about children who get lost in the woods and turn into ghost trees… Just as he’s starting to really panic, the trees clear and he and Marill find themselves on the edge of a vernal pool. It seems Marill’s nose led them in the direction of the nearest body of water rather than out of the woods. At this point, Ethan breaks down for real. He’s never getting home, is he? He’ll be lost in the woods forever and ever. As he’s sitting at the edge of the pond crying, Marill doing his best to comfort him but on the verge of tears himself, they hear a rustling in the bushes and Ethan looks up just in time to come face to face with a little pokemon that looks like a small, less vine-y Tangela. The Tangel seems shocked to see a human so deep into the woods and scurries back into the bushes almost immediately. Ethan’s not quite sure what he just saw, but then realizes that even the local pokemon are running away from him and he’s all alone and just starts crying again.

Tangel, now feeling a bit braver after seeing how small this human is, and that they’re with another pokemon, decides to try going back to the pool to investigate, being quite the curious pokemon. When she emerges again to find Ethan in tears, she’s a bit confused by what’s going on and approaches him, concerned. Ethan is still a bit too upset to notice the Tangel much but Marill decides to ask the little pokemon for help, communicating that he and Ethan are lost and need to find their way out of the woods. Tangel, wanting to be helpful and also still very curious about this first ever human she’s seen, tugs on Ethan’s sleeve to get him to get him to notice her, then runs a little way into the woods, gesturing to him and Marill to follow. Ethan quickly wipes his tears then gets up to follow Tangel, not really worrying if she actually knows the way or not, since this is at least a chance. After a while of following Tangel through the trees, eventually light begins to break through and the trio find themselves near Azalea. Tangel is quite pleased to have guided this human out of the forest but poor Ethan realizes this is the wrong side of the woods and begins tearing up again, causing Tangel to hop up on his shoulders in concern, emboldened by her little adventure.

Ethan and the two pokemon are eventually found by Kurt, who brings them to the Pokemon Center, Tangel now tucked into Ethan’s shirt and peering out his collar while Marill is being carried. Once they’re at the center, the nurses give Ethan a checkup while calling his father to tell him that his son’s safe and sound. When Nurse Joy asks to see Ethan’s Tangela, she’s in quite a shock when he pulls out… not a Tangela. When she asks Ethan where he met such an odd little pokemon, he looks up at her in confusion “She’s not weird, she’s just a baby Tangela! Don’t be mean!” and then refuses to part with Tangel since the grownups were “being mean to her”. This continues even when Zack comes to pick Ethan up and in the end, Tangel just ends up going home with them. Ethan remains convinced that Tangel, who he names “Gela”, is just a baby Tangela for a long time, especially when she evolves into one, despite actually seeing Tangela and not Tangel hatch from eggs at the daycare. Even when Gela evolves into Gelanla and not Tangrowth when he’s a teenager… nope, still a normal Tangela you all are just being mean. So what if she’s a little different? Don’t call her weird you’re hurting her feelings! 

Gela on her part loves her new life with Ethan and happily plays with Marill and eventually the other pokemon Ethan catches, though she remains closest with Marill, the two even evolving into Azumarill and Gelanla together. People often double take when they see her and realize she’s not just a … small Tangrowth, but neither she nor Ethan care. She’s perfect just the way she is. It’s only years and years later when he meets Faller Noelle for the first time that Ethan finds out his friend might actually be from another world like her. Noelle’s world is one where those beta pokemon are common and she’s very surprised that her sort-of step-father has a Gelanla when she was sure they don’t exist in this world. Gelanla herself hadn’t even realized she was in a different world! Ethan’s quite happy with this explanation after years of people assuming Gelanla was some kind of mutant. He was right all along that she was perfect and not broken. Not to mention, at this point Ethan had learned that he and his father came from another world themselves, so in a way, he and Gela are kindred souls.