>>55936745heh, sorry bout the lack of activity, i hope imagining bibi and alto running around at a convention helps fill the void, i even made some doodles of her at the artist gathering event even though i haven't drawn traditionally in ages. not having an eraser on hand or my beloved ctrl z really beat my ass.
>>55935077>>55935408these designs kick so much ass it's unreal, i'm also a big fan of the tag team partner turned slowburn rival
>>55931238i always kinda kick myself for not giving my ocs more NFE's (kinda fixing this for alto at least since he initially had a mismagius and exploud but i'm rolling those back to misdreavus and loudred) but a lot of the time i can't help it since i tend to like final stages the most. knowing when and when not to evolve pokemon is one of the things i find hardest about writing these stories because i prefer it for it to be reserved for the most dramatic and formative moments of a pokemon's character arc, so then with 3 stagers you gotta figure out how to make it impactful *twice*.
i also don't link evolution solely to battles and it can be triggered by extreme emotion or personal growth. ex: when bibi's mienfoo officially retires from the roster because bibi realizes it doesn't actually enjoy battling, the reassurance it can still travel with its friends and that its trainer isn't mad or disappointed relieves its inner doubts and burdens leading to it becoming mienshao and of course not evolving something at all is a statement in and of itself like in your approach