Carmen and Animon

As mentioned in my previous post, somehow all of Ethan’s children end up with pokemon from the demo. In Carmen’s chase, she has a similar experience to Draco when a previously assumed to be normal pokemon suddenly evolves into something… odd. Carmen caught her Ditto, Squishy, completely by chance. The little pink blob someone managed to disguise itself as her other pokemon for an entire day before Carmen realized something was up. She was quite embarrassed when she realized what was going on, and ended up catching the Ditto since it seemed to like hanging around. Carmen’s not a competitive trainer, so her pokemon mostly help her with her field work for her junior research program. Squishy is good at getting close to wild pokemon thanks to its transformation abilities, and also just proves to be a good friend to have around.

Carmen never expected Squishy was unusual in any way until one time she and Rosemary were exploring the old Kanto Power Plant, hearing rumors that there might be rare pokemon there. The Ditto found a Metal Coat somewhere in the abandoned building and seemed very pleased with it. Carmen paid Squishy no mind until she saw the telltale glow of evolution out of the corner of her eye. She grabbed Rosemary and asked her what was going on as the two girls watched in shock as Squishy… Evolved??? Ditto were definitely not meant to do that. And when the evolution was complete… well… Squishy sure looked different. Poor Carmen was so confused by what had just happened while Rosemary was squealing about how Carmen had a “real cryptid pokemon” right under their noses this whole time.

The mystery of Squishy is solved yet again by Noelle, when Carmen sends pictures of her new pokemon to her parents, who then send them on to Noelle as she’s the one who would know about weird pokemon. Noelle confirms that Carmen’s got herself an Animon, but unlike with Draco and his Kingdra, the entire family is stumped as to how this came to be apart from simple luck. In the end, this seems to really just be a coincidence. Carmen was initially a bit wary of how different Squishy was, but when it became clear her pokemon was its same mischievous self, she warmed to the idea of having a unique evolution very quickly.

Gal and Madame

Now Gal, as the youngest, got to see all their older siblings find themselves with unique pokemon from other worlds, and they were certainly jealous. If Noelle and Draco and Carmen and Dad got cool pokemon, they should as well! So not long after setting out on their journey, Gal makes it their mission to find an alternate world pokemon. They ask Noelle for a list of ones she knows aren’t native to this world before setting out, using it as a guide so they’d know if they met any potential teammates.

Along their journey, Gal meets many interesting pokemon, catches some, makes many friends and fond memories… but doesn’t see a single “Faller pokemon” as their family has taken to calling these lost pokemon from other worlds (borrowing Noelle’s Interpol Lingo). They’re beginning to give up hope when, while in Kalos, they start getting followed around by a Farfetch’d. At this point, Gal has a nearly full team of strong and beautiful pokemon and has no time or patience for this little drab bird. It’s Morgan who eventually convinces them to let the cute little guy tag along, since how could anyone resist those sweet eyes. Gal gives in for their boyfriend, but makes it clear they’re only begrudgingly allowing this. Nonetheless, Farfetch’d worms his way into Gal’s heart and eventually they have to admit they have some affection for the bird. It’s not long after this that Gal decides to start training Farfetch’d a bit, since even if he’s never going to be a particularly conventional contest star or gym battle ace… might as well get him up to par with the rest of Gal’s pokemon.

It’s during this training that the unbelievable happens. Farfetch’d starts evolving and Gal can’t believe their eyes. Did their superior training regimen somehow unlock new, never-before-seen, potential in their pokemon?! They knew they were good but this is on a whole different level! And when they see Farfetch’d’s new form, they feel in their heart that this was an evolution just for them. A beautiful swan. This is the True Ugly Duckling Tale and Gal is the Prince and it’s perfect and meant to be. It’s Morgan who actually proposes that Gal’s little bird friend might have been one of those Faller pokemon all along rather than this being some kind of miracle, since even Gal’s not good enough to create new evolutions out of nowhere. Farfetch’d’s evolution is soon confirmed by Noelle to be one of the pokemon from her homeworld and marks the birth of a new dream team as Gal and Madame take the world by storm.