Pokemon Tempered Sword and Mended Shield

In this thread I am going to attempt to fix the atrocious story in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and make it a little bit more inline with all of the other entries. I should clarify that I am not the biggest expert on Pokemon, I haven't played Sword and Shield, and I will be looking up various things to try and make this work -- so if I get a few things "off", that's why.


The beginning of the game is fine. Hop shows up and lets the Protagonist know about Leon coming to visit. You get your starter, the battle commences, and he endorses the two of you to go do your Gym Challenges. I briefly thought about having something about earning the right to do it, but really, it's fine that Leon is doing this because Hop is there, and he would take issue if Leon only gave one of you endorsement and not the other.

Everything up to the first Gym plays out the same.

And we come to the first issue in this game. We have four people that want to become Champion; the Protagonist, Hop, Bede and Marnie. Each has their own reasons for wanting to do so. But the standard is that the Player becomes Champion in the end.

There's a few ways to handle this, but here is the changes I would make, and drop hints towards:

After you clear the Second Gym, you are introduced to a Pokemon Ranger. They explain that their role is to calm and control Wild Pokemon, use them to solve ecological problems, and even put a stop to criminals that are using Pokemon for nefarious purposes. They also target Pokemon Poachers.

After the brief explanation of what it is they do compared to Trainers, they then express to the Protagonist that they would like to find someone else interested in becoming a Pokemon Ranger; because Galar needs more of them.

After this meeting the player is then able to continue on their journey. After getting the third Badge and encountering Bede again, the confrontation between him and Hop happens. Later you find that Hop has lost that confrontation and is losing his confidence.

From here, a bit of a divergence happens. Hop still tries to compete with the Protagonist and improve himself. But now you actually get an opportunity to help him. Getting some dialogue choices to encourage him -- but the biggest opportunity is when you reach the city for the Fifth Gym. Here, you'll encounter a different kind of roadblock preventing progression.

The path has been completely wrecked and blocked off. To such a degree it's a problem for people and Pokemon -- especially the wild ones. It's affected their home pretty severely. Even after clearing the Gym, this doesn't go away. The Protagonist is then prompted to spend some time in town.

Eventually you meet up with Hop and the Pokemon Ranger. After a discussion between the three of you, you quickly set out to rectify the issue. The Protagonist is happy to help out here, but Hop REALLY shines at it. Something the Pokemon Ranger takes notice of.

With the path fixed up, and Pokemon now able to settle back in safely where their homes are, the Ranger pulls you and Hop aside. Where the Ranger then admits that Hop has a real knack for this kind of work. It's at this point that Hop admits his revelation towards there being a whole new way to immerse himself in the world of Pokemon.

And he really vibes with it, too. But he recognizes that he's still endorsed for the Chamionship Challenge, and he knows that the Protagonist is very much on that journey still either way, so he declares his intentions from here on out:

"If I win, then I'll become Champion. If you win... Then I'm going to be a Pokemon Ranger!"

His confidence is restored, and his depression is gone. Now he takes to training with gusto, still putting his all into trying to best the Protagonist, but no longer feeling like he'll have lost all purpose if he can't keep up. At this point, either he's realizing his dream, or helping you realize yours.

As for Bede, his arc is honestly handled pretty well as is. So we'll leave that alone.


So I've yet to bring up Marnie, and that's because this is a character that needs a much larger rework. Hop and Bede both have arcs that just needed a little bit of expansion and touching up. But poor Marnie? Sheesh, they dropped the ball hard for her here.

So as we know, Spikemuth started to fall out of popularity because it wasn't on a Power Spot for Dynamaxing. Piers went out of his way to try and rectify this, but ultimately it's out of his power. Thus, Marnie's dream to become Champion in order to help her hometown.

As for Team Yell, Piers, and Marnie, I think most of that can be left as is. But let's make Chairman Rose a little bit more aggressive in his "recommendation" to move faraway to a Power Spot.

Marnie starts to open up about this after the Fifth Gym, and we also see the Chairman's goons sprinkled here and there providing hints to the fact that not everything is just a kind recommendation from Macro Cosmos.

Eventually, Marnie asks for the Protagonist's help. Which comes to a head when finally going towards Spikemuth. Now you two have a reason to work together here. The Protagonist still fights through Team Yell, and faces and defeats Piers, but then the plot takes a turn.

Macro Cosmos goons enter the Gym, and Piers figures nothing good is coming from this. He heals up your Pokemon real quick and asks you to help him if things go south.

Sure enough, they aren't there just for negotiations. They're trying to muscle in and kick Team Yell out and force Piers to relocate his Gym to a Power Spot. The Protagonist now teams up with Marnie and Piers and fights them off. When the dust settles, Piers thanks you for the help and suggests that you and Marnie go wrap up the Championship quick. He'll take care of things in Spikemuth in the meantime.

As you set out towards the final Gym. The sequence where Pokemon start Dynamaxing and going on a rampage occurs. Leon still runs off and settles the matter. But now the Protagonist, Marnie, and Hop get to overhear an exchange between Macro Cosmos members.

"That Champion really beat those things..."

"Not surprising. He keeps nosing into our business."

"Thinks he's better than Chairman Rose... He's just making things worse for everyone."

-- basically, nothing good.
Hop is understandably upset to hear his brother insulted like this. But with Marnie and the Protagonist, he's kept from confronting them just yet.

The three then set out to the final Gym. Along the way, Marnie decides to ask the Protagonist to help her out with Spikemuth. Things with Macro Cosmos are going out of control, and it's too much for one person - even a Champion - to deal with.

Hop offers to help too, since it's pretty clear that Macro Cosmos is involved with the rampaging Dynamax Pokemon. The Protagonist is willing to help out for plenty of reasons.

After the final Gym, the three of you team up, along with the help of Team Yell and Piers to then storm Rose Tower. Leon didn't show up to the dinner as promised, and there are too many unanswered questions for everyone involved.

After a lengthy sequence with everyone battling their way up to the tower, finally everything with Leon and Chairman Rose is revealed. Although the trio only manages to catch the tail-end of the conversation about the energy crisis.

As usual, Leon apologizes for the delay but was willing to help, even if he didn't understand why Rose was making such a big deal out of something that could be taken care of later.

After returning to the hotel, and on the next day, the Championship begins. But like in the original plot, just before the final match can begin, Rose interrupts and declares that he has enacted the second Darkest Day, and places the blame squarely on Leon.

Leon apologizes once more for not settling the matter, and goes to confront Eternatus. The Player and Hop go with Leon to the Power Plant.

After fighting with Rose, the details are laid in full;
He did this because in just two generations, there would be an energy crisis that leaves all of society in the Galar Region unable to function.

He hoped to harness Eternatus and it's power to resolve this -- and he originally wanted Leon's help. But Leon refused, and simply kept pushing the matter aside as if it were not a concern. Thus Rose was left to act on his own.

The Protagonist and Hop go up to see Leon is fighting Eternatus -- and while he is doing well, and even makes an attempt at capturing it, Eternatus is simply too strong for him, and will not bend to him.

The Protagonist and Hop fight Eternatus together. Although it is incredibly powerful, the combined efforts of the duo is enough to grind it to a halt. Partly out of their own strength, and because Eternatus has settled it's gaze onto the Protagonist.

Eventually, the Protagonist is prompted to capture Eternatus, and does so successfully. Hop realizes that Eternatus had just seen the Protagonist as being worthy, and congratulates them.

Because of their combined efforts in facing Eternatus, both are also now seen as worthy by the Box Legendaries. A decision is made in the Forest to pick either the sword or the shield. Because Emerald is better than Sapphire and Ruby, so this is now a combined full game.

The DLC is included as part of the Post Game, along with confronting and catching the Box Legendaries. Although in the case of the one that Hop picks, he lets the Player have it after their final match.

The Player is Champion, Hop is a Pokemon Ranger, and Marnie was able to help put Spikemuth back on the map after Macro Cosmos and Leon were put in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

Leon is given a lighter sentence, considering he WAS trying to do the right thing, and wasn't directly involved in any of Rose's schemes. But nonetheless, he had knowledge of them and instead of acting, he let the status quo continue. This is why Eternatus didn't see him as worthy, and neither did the Box Legendaries.

Oh yeah, the Post Game also involves helping Marnie with Spikemuth as previously agreed. She basically did what you did, and earned the right to challenge you over being a Champion. So you also get a final match with her. But this is mainly out of respect, and not because she really wants the position. She knows you'll help, and you already have helped.

And that is how I would fix Sword and Shield.