G: Hello everyone! Fact Checking Gardevoir here, on a trip to Snowpoint City, in Sinnoh’s region!
Did you know the temple at the north of this snowy city is home to Regigigas, who is said to have pulled the continents into place and created the Legendary Titans?

In this cozy house a generous elderly man lent us, we will interview Yume Tsuki the Froslass!

Y: Hello there.

G: So, Yume Tsuki, can you tell us when did you get into PokéCommunity?

Y: I was a pretty young Snorunt when I discovered PokéCommunity. I was pokégoogling random pictures and looking through them. What piqued my interest was an edited Pokémon sprite. One with body parts mixed with other Pokémon. It looked so clean and yet seemed so simple. At least, simple enough to make me try to draw something similar and then share my own results on the forum. So I decided to stick around. I guess you could say PokéCommunity is what marked the beginning of my ambition to be a digital artist.

G: How did you feel as a Pokémon on a forum made by humans, for humans?

Y: On top of being a Pokémon, I was a bit of a socially awkward oddball back then. My knowledge of human language wasn’t perfect and I was still getting the hang of interacting on forums. I highly doubt many people in the community actually know me at all, since I tend to stay into the art gallery section. I’ve been in the ROM Hacks section a few times when I was invited for projects, by people who appreciated my drawing skills, but most of them would not even make any sort of move after recruitment to lift off. Plus I had been gone for a good few years before coming back.

G: Where did you go?

Y: I’ve wandered between many other places, mostly frequenting DurantArt and other Social Media outlets that weren’t forum-related. Though I also definitely went down a rabbit hole spending a lot of time on video games as well. I even got to spend some time making pixelart for a Pokémon MMORPG. As of now, I’m mostly dedicating my time on PokéCommunity posting my ongoing comic series.

G: I am happy to see you still found people interested in your drawing skills! I have had a look at your arts, and I must say, you are really talented at it! I certainly enjoyed discovering your comics’ style, the action, the emotion, and the suspense!

Y: Thank you!

G: Can you show us some of your arts?

Y: Sure!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

G: Gorgeous drawings! You certainly are a skilled artist! Is this what you do for a living?

Y: Funnily enough, despite how invested I got in art, I always viewed it more as a side hobby. That said, my interests are actually pretty broad. While art was something that I definitely loved doing, I couldn’t ever imagine myself actually having a job in that field. At first, I was oriented towards the game industry and I attempted to make a career path in that direction, but… Well… I’ve come to terms with the fact that, despite everything, I’m usually not that good at advertising myself or whatever services I may provide. So, even if I could be considered a good artist, I would probably have a hard time generating an income.

G: I know the feeling… It can be quite hard for different people or Pokémon to find the place they want to reach. But we have got to keep looking and trying, until we succeed!

Y: You are right. So, instead, I tried to focus on some of my other interests, which comes down to IT and Biology. I did try my hand in the software department, but really… I am in awe of the people who don’t lose their mind to programming. Tinkering with hardware is a skill I will definitely keep close though, because it’s very handy whenever I need to perform maintenance on any of the old consoles I own… Not that I am much of an retro-gaming nerd! But these things are my childhood and I am very attached to my belongings, so I preferably keep them functional for as long as possible.

G: Oh! A fellow gamer, like me? Hehe! I do have a good number of video games back home, including some old ones I’ve been playing since I was a little Ralts! The power of nostalgia…

Y: Definitely! I also do love taking things apart to look inside and see what makes them tick.

G: I can relate! I can’t count how many hours I spent looking inside a Pokéball to try and figure out how it works! I can say I was already fact-checking things!

Y: Indeed! In any case, to get back to the question of what I do for a living, I am a fieldwork ecologist. I study Pokémon’s behavioral patterns, habitats of Pokémon species and collect that data for all kinds of reasons. In some way, I suppose you could say I work in a very similar way to how the Survey Corps used to back in Hisui, minus the capturing and battling aspect. It is about as grindy as you would expect, and generally the locals watch me with suspicion while I am working… but you get to travel to all kinds of places and explore them for yourself. It’s pretty exciting!

G: That is neat! I agree with you about the need to know more about Pokémon in the wilds, in order to respect their behavior and protect their way of life. Also, let’s hope more and more humans will grow used to seeing Pokémon doing things which, until recently, were mostly done by humans! Cities, Gyms and Pokémon Centers are nice and all, but not all of us necessarily want to live in a Pokéball or in a building! You have all my support in protecting Pokémon species and their natural habitats!
Anyway, thank you, Yume Tsuki, for your time!

Y: And thank you, Gardevoir, for having come to interview me.

G: And that’s it for today, everyone! See you later, for our next interview! Stay tuned!

Header image and inserted images by Yume Tsuki.
Link to Yume Tsuki’s arts and comics – rated Mature.
Edited by angie_4444 and bobandbill.