History Fanfic / LegendarilyPopular

** Ash is about to send out his last Pokemon to face Steven, when he abruptly hands Pikachu his Key Stone, with Steven wondering why. [[spoiler:Ash was given some Absolite, and ''he'' is his final Pokémon and secret weapon in the Elite Four challenge...]]

** Zorua [[spoiler:is revealed to have evolved into Zoroark in the Battle Tower, and then Ash Mega Evolves him into Mega Zoroark, with a design based on Pokemon Insurgence... then after the battle, it's revealed that Zorua was still Zorua, and it was all just an [[{{Pun}} Illusion.]]]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: Within moments of Ash entering Unova properly, an unusual Keldeo that attracts Pidoves walks up to him. [[spoiler: It's N, who has used the potion, meaning that whole sub-plot has been averted by him ''literally'' seeing the world from a Pokemon's viewpoint.]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: Galarian Articuno in canon is a cold and callous EvilCounterpart of the regular Articuno, said to be an arrogant and selfish Pokemon. Ash's Galarian Articuno is anything ''but'' this, being a rather pleasant Pokemon and a loyal ally.

** Harley attempts to use a small thread cast between him and May to poison her Pokemon so they are unable to battle effectively... only for one of May's moves to set fire to part of it, and reveal the deception to the judges, who ban him on the spot.

* PokemonSpeak: Ash knows how to understand it, and is shown to even be able to talk in the Mew dialect.[[note]]"Which is, admittedly, impressive for an Absol."[[/note]] Professor Elm groans at how he upturned scientific understanding of pokémon talk on a radio show when he points out how pokémon can understand each other, so it's not hundreds of different languages, but one language with different dialects.

--> '''Steven''': "Even Though This Pokemon Went Into Two Hoopa Rings, Hoopa Says It Was Ring Out." I think that's fair.

* SpotTheImposter: [[spoiler:Hunter J freezes and captures Pikachu, and is feeling smug]], when a duplicate of her appears with a frozen Heracross. Then a third appears with a frozen Silver. Then a ''fourth'' with a frozen Tiny Shiny Rayquaza. Then a fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth with Zapdos, Grovyle, Aten, and Galarian Articuno respectively. [[OhCrap Then the goons realize that, since only one could really be her, there is (at most) only one pokemon that is actually frozen]]. At that point, Aten's patience expires and extreme violence ensues.

* TranslatorMicrobes: Ash can understand PokemonSpeak, but for the benefit of everyone else, Vulpix devises an automatic area-effect translation using her Hypnosis; Lokoko and several other Pokemon later learn the skill, too. The people they encounter are regularly taken by surprise at hearing Pokémon talk to them, until it's explained.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight : [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokemon]] -- part of the base premise for the story, the reaction anyone traveling alongside Ash develops.

* WowingCthulhu: Celebi is a master of time manipulation, capable of feats like making seeds grow into attack plants in linear seconds, or rewinding time so that a Pokemon who dodged an attack gets put back and hit by it anyway. He's still taken aback when Croagunk uses his Avoidance Kata.

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13931794/1/Legendarily-Popular Legendarily Popular]]'' (also posted at [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/2446036 Archive Of Our Own]]) is a ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' fanfic by Tropers/{{Saphroneth}}.

The fic can be summarized as;

* ClippedWingAngel: Invoked; during Ash's Ever Grande Conference against Brendan, Phanpy throws Brendan's Aggron some Aggronite she found to make it Mega-Evolve... and make it ''more'' vulnerable to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Fire-type attacks with its now pure Steel-typing]]. Steven, who's spectating, can't believe it. (It should be noted in the games that Mega Aggron's ability is Filter which reduces all Super-Effective damage (including Fire-types) by 25%, however).

* PowerAtAPrice: Exploited by Ash when he ''deliberately makes an opponent's Aggron Mega-Evolve'' in order to change it to a type [[ClippedWingAngel more vulnerable to fire]] (which really wouldn't work in the games due to Mega Aggron's Filter ability reducing super effective damage (e.g. Fire-type moves) by 25%).

* ClippedWingAngel: Invoked; during Ash's Ever Grande Conference against Brendan, Phanpy throws Brendan's Aggron some Aggronite she found to make it Mega-Evolve... and make it ''more'' vulnerable to [[ElementalRockPaperScissors Fire-type attacks with its now pure Steel-typing]]. Steven, who's spectating, can't believe it.

* PowerAtAPrice: Exploited by Ash when he ''deliberately makes an opponent's Aggron Mega-Evolve'' in order to change it to a type [[ClippedWingAngel more vulnerable to fire]].

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13931794/1/Legendarily-Popular Legendarily Popular]]'' (also posted at [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/2446036 Archive Of Our Own]]) is a ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic by Tropers/{{Saphroneth}}.

** During Rudy's target-shooting challenge during the Orange League, Ash mentions that he also destroyed the big Magikarp-shaped explosive bonus target. When a confused Rudy says that he doesn't have a big Magikarp-shaped bonus target, Ash realizes that he just beat Team Rocket. Again.

** One Gym challenger for Goldenrod is named [[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Hector]], and he has a Meganium named Eliwood.

* WrongAssumption: Marcus is established as believing he lives in a TerminallyDependentSociety that will die without the Jewel of Life in a case of NoOntologicalInertia.

* EarlyBirdCameo: During a battle of Hoopa against Hoopa, they summon ''every single legendary possible''... including [[Videogame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Koraidon and Miraidon]].

''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13931794/1/Legendarily-Popular Legendarily Popular]]'' (also posted at [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/2446036 Archive Of Our Own]]) is a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic by Tropers/{{Saphroneth}}.

* EvilLaugh: Parodied when Dracozolt first encounters Psyduck and is excited by the challenge, first giggling, then coughing to clear its throat and letting out an evil cackle.

** Torchic has wings, so even though it's not a Flying type and doesn't normally learn any flying moves, it's at least somewhat logical that Ash teaches it to fly. But then it evolves into Combusken, which ''doesn't'' have wings, and doesn't stop.

** Ash manages to get Croagunk to hover, by simply having him jump as high as possible, then avoid the act of hitting '''''the planet''''''.

** The [[spoiler:Spiky-Eared Pichu]] is so detached from linear time, it no longer actually obeys any of the laws of temporal physics, even ''stopping'' an electric move from connecting mid-attack, and casually suggests a small scale time loop to solve how Princess Salvia can stand in for Dawn as well as do her normal duties... and goof around as a Plusle and Minun with Dawn.

** Also, there's when [[spoiler: Celebi helps Ash's Zorua, disguised as a Zoroark, disguised as one of Koga's ninja, to go back in time and give Ash her own egg]].

--> '''Zorua''': I almost wish I'd gone along to see her reaction, now.[[note]]Which becomes {{Foreshadowing}}, in that [[spoiler:Zorua was taking turns with Mew to be said Purrloin, and it just wasn't its turn...]][[/note]]

** Ash calls for Ninetales to use Solarbeam, but when her opponent charges forward to disrupt it, it turns out that [[spoiler:she actually charged up Solar ''Blade''. Once for each tail. Closing the range was the ''wrong'' move.]]