Ashes Of The Past / Tropes P to S

Tropes A to C | Tropes D to F | Tropes G to K | Tropes L to O | Tropes P to S | Tropes T to Z

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P

• Paranoia Fuel: Multiple, In-Universe, connected to the Team Galactic Perception Filter:
  • After the first new timeline run-in with Team Galactic and their weird amnesia effect, Ash looks through Aaron's notebooks for an explanation but can't find any, and even worries that he might be unable to perceive it if it is there.
  • Everyone is unsettled at the thought that thanks to Team Galactic's Perception Filter, the Shadow Lucario that they had never even realised he was being corrupted until it was done.
• Paralysis by Analysis: When approaching an island surrounded by whirlpools, Ash and Co. take so long trying to figure out the best solution to get around them from all their available options that they end up drifting into a whirlpool.
• Pardon My Klingon: Pokémon tend to have their own takes on cussing.
  • After Ash's Tauros charges at a Dugtrio, but the target pops back underground.
    Tauros: ...well, bullocks.
  • And when Ivysaur is trying (and failing) to get the attention of the Pokémon at Oak's ranch.
    Ivysaur: Right, spud this.
• Parental Substitute:
  • All but stated to be the relationship between Keldeo and the other Swords of Justice, who adopted him as an apprentice after his parents died. The author justifies there being other Keldeo at one point, as Canon!Keldeo had to come from somewhere.
  • The Shiny Entei and Suicune served as this for Molly while her real parents were gone.
• Parrying Bullets:
  • Any Pokémon with a suitable blade move can do this.
  • Ash can do it too, thanks to his Aura-charged ceremonial sword. Even against Legendary attacks.
  • Lucario catches a bullet in his hand shortly after evolving, much to Hunter J's astonishment.
    Lucario: Steel type.
• Pass the Popcorn:
  • When Professor Ivy is monitoring the tense unfolding situation between the Legendary Beasts and their Unown-created counterparts, her assistants bring her coffee — and popcorn.
    Assistant: What? This is awesome, you can't deny that!
  • When the Legendary Beasts and their shiny counterparts come by to watch Ash battle Morty, Suicune asks Entei to make them all some popcorn.
  • James does this while the TRio watches Ash meet up with Dawn for the first time this timeline.
• Passing the Torch: During the Johto saga, three of the Elite Four decide to step down from their positions: Lorelei (so she can focus on her writing career), Agatha (due to her age), and Lance (so he can fully take on the responsibilities as Grand Champion of the Kanto and Johto leagues instead of playing double-duty as an E4 member). Subsequently, Karen, Will, and Misty (who beat out Koga due to her heightened skill as a result of the time travel) are admitted in to take their places. Ash is also recruited as an opponent for exhibition matches with the old line-up, including Bruno, the only one who's staying.
  • Koga doesn't protest not getting the E4 slot, as he's still working to train up his successor for the Fuchsia Gym, his daughter Janine.
• Pedestrian Crushes Car: May's Blaziken has done this more than a few times, especially after unlocking his Speed Boost ability.
• Peggy Sue: The basic premise of the story.
• Perception Filter:
  • The old Ninetales that Brock's team encounters is so good at this, she can camouflage an entire house and make it so that people actively change direction and go around it and not notice anything's wrong.
  • For some reason, when Team Galactic first appears, non-Reminded characters like Zorua, Kari and Suicune can't even see them or register being hit by their attacks, and even the memories fade fairly quickly. Even indirect information like written notes don't help, as the affected fail to remember why the notes are even important. It turns out that Original Team Galactic and their captured Lake Trio were responsible.
• Percussive Maintenance:
  • In Chapter 1, when Dexter fails to register Ho-Oh, Ash hits the machine with his hand to restore its memories. It registers Ho-Oh… and reports that it has data on pretty much all Pokémon in existence up to this point… and then reveals himself to have become a fully functional Artificial Intelligence.
  • How Ash and the Tree of Beginning trek group stop the glitchy Regi golems.
    • And it's also how Regigigas updates them. As it turns out, punch "card" was a mistranslation.
• Pirates vs. Ninjas: Mentioned when Tyson's Meowth appears.
  • Also mentioned in 210 when the group runs into a ninja training group after the Phantom Pirates attack again.
• Plot Tumor:
  • Ash having Legendary Pokémon. Sure, Ho-Oh gives him his Poké-ball as soon as Ash goes back in time, but this stays in the background throughout all of Kanto and the Orange Islands and the first third or so of Johto, much to the phoenix's chagrin. After the "Spell of the Unown" chapters comes the subplots of Keldeo and then the legendary beasts joining up with Ash, and much of the action other than Gym battles and fighting evil organizations is about Ash and his other Pokémon interacting with the legendaries. Granted, most of canon Johto is filler, and the author needed something to contribute to the plot instead, even if that meant going temporarily Off the Rails.
    • More specifically, this is the Johto Beasts and their challenge to see if Ash can catch them- given that Ho-Oh allows himself to be captured in the first five chapters, it's very much only present in the middle of Johto. Past that point, while Ash does pick up the occasional Legendary they are mostly treated as very strong normal Pokémon, save by anyone not familiar with Ash.
  • In a similar vein, events in Hoenn are expanded to incorporate Mega Stones and Mega Evolution, but this isn't as egregious due to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
• Pokémon of Mass Destruction: Charizard learned Blast Burn. Also Victini used V-Generate/V-Create against Hiroshima and Nagasaki/Slateport in the last World War.
  • Ash keeps blowing up Gyms.
  • Pikachu and his new Hyper Beam-tier Signature Move: Volt Crash.
  • Max later starts following in Ash's footsteps. When he shows up to the Cerulean Gym, in Ash's company, Misty's sisters all start taking anything they want to save into a bunker and tell him not to use any Pokémon capable of destroying the building.
  • When the gang meets the new Kanto Fairy-type Gym Leader during the Battle Frontier arc, she mentions how her Pokémon keep damaging the Gym, leading Max to say that she's Ash as a Gym leader. We see it in the battle with Max, though May does blame Ash a bit for getting Max into the habit. Apparently Juvia and Gray were bred for excessive power, and the others got overpowered trying to keep up with them.
  • Molly is shown to be following in Ash's footsteps as well, as the results of her battle with Gardenia show.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Sabrina's Espeon evolved at sunset, with his brother evolving into an Umbreon 20 seconds later out of happiness for him.
• Power Incontinence:
  • While not an overly dangerous version, Mewtwo tends to overwhelm people when he forgets to tone down the natural aura of power he projects. He's quite sorry when he does it unintentionally.
  • Ash can control his Aura-Reminding of past Pokémon with a single touch, but awkward moments when he forgets to turn it off have occurred, especially when the Reminded Pokémon evolves. One example is reminding his Donphan's egg, who immediately evolves off the shelf where his egg was and onto his trainer.
  • Jirachi, as the Wish Pokémon, has to grant every wish he hears, whether he wants to or not. Fixed when Max wishes for Jirachi to only grant the wishes he wants to, though even then, Ash and Co. have to be careful what they say around him.
  • When Absol Mega Evolves for the first time, her disaster-sense is ramped up to the point that the sheer amount of future information overloads her mind, causing her to go berserk.
  • Suicine is unable to turn her water purification effect off. Once she purged a pool of chlorine by mistake, and the Shiny once accidentally spilled some tea on her paws while drinking it and turned the entire cup into distilled water.
• Power is Sexy: Ash's Charizard is very popular in the Charicific Valley after Mega-Evolving multiple times to fight the Unown-created Legendary Beasts — but Charla has called dibs on him.
• Pragmatic Villain: Giovanni. He wants to conquer the world by convincing the world that he should have power (thus, he has it with no trouble), but, as pointed out above, he's also making sure the world doesn't get destroyed. Also, there's what he has to say on the power to remake reality:
  Giovanni: "There are some morons out there who actually try to get this one. Don't. [...] Useful, I'll admit, but far too flashy - And dangerous to acquire. And Team Rocket does not like risk. Agents risk, the Team endures".
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • Ho-Oh, the Storm's End, delivers one against the Phantom Pirates:
    Ho-Oh I have decided that you qualify as a storm. I would suggest you land, or I will end you - as is my duty.
  • Arceus only has this to say, right after He emerges into the current timeline, suggests that Original Team Galactic surrender, and shrugging off their attacks when they don't:
    Arceus: Well, so much for the merciful approach. (Delivers divine Judgment.)
• Precision F-Strike: After witnessing Original Team Galactic vaporize Ash, all Gary can do is call them "bastards".
• Precursors: The civilizations of Pokémopolis and Pokéatlantis, two advanced ancient civilizations with an intense rivalry. The ancient Giant Pokémon sealed all over the world that Ash and Co. keep running into are the results of their genetic optimization and enhancement. They also did research into Mega Evolution.
• Pride Before a Fall: What happens to Flannery's Pyroar after she knocks out Ash's new Sliggoo (who was trying to adjust to being blind), and Corphish is sent out to replace him.
  Corphish: Aren't you going to say anything?
  Pyroar: Nobles do not speak to their inferiors.
  Corphish: Right. (Crabhammers her in the face)
• Properly Paranoid:
  Fearow: "Protect, Endure and your order to dodge there makes me think of Detect. You're an impressively paranoid fellow."
  Ash: "I try. And I've been attacked enough to make it seem the right choice."
• Psychopomp: In this setting, Darkrai (or a Darkrai at least) is considered the god of death, though he only appears to greet the dead on "special occasions." Such as someone being resurrected by Sacred Ash or a freed soul from a Soul Jar suffering Cessation of Existence.
  • With Yveltal's unveiling, it's been clarified that Darkrai works for him.
• Pungeon Master: What Jessie's Wobbuffet turns out to be. As well as Ash's Glalie with the ice-related jokes.
• Punny Name:
  • At the point where there are three sentient Pokedexes, Dexter lets slip that they privately refer to themselves as "we three pings".
  • The human soul found in Ash's ceremonial sword, which when awakened turns it into a Honedge, was once a female knight by the name of Dame Kari Burns ^* Caliburn.

Q

• Quantity vs. Quality: As an alternative to the regular gym challenge of equal-sized Pokémon teams, Gym Leaders will sometimes challenge newer trainers to face off one of their higher-leveled Pokémon with several of their own. An example is Max's third Gym Battle against Wattson - he was allowed to use a team of three against Wattson's Eelektross, one of his higher-tiered battlers.
• Questionable Casting: In-Universe, Ash is cast as Genghis Khan, of all people, in one of Cleavon Spielbunk's movies. Gary hangs a lampshade on how ridiculous this is.

R

• Race Against the Clock: Max's Gym battle with the Cerulean sisters is under a time limit.
• Rage Against the Heavens: When Arceus emerges and orders Team Galactic to surrender, Cyrus responds by hitting Him with everything he's got. It doesn't work.
• Rapid-Fire "Nope"!: Karen's Absol utters this when she first lays eyes on Ash, then tries to exit the room via Super Window Jump. Unfortunately, the glass was too strong.
• Rash Equilibrium: Team Magma has the Blue Orb. Team Aqua has the Red Orb. Both agree to trade their orb for the other. Both know that the other has the Legendary they want. Both decide to double-cross the other by handing the other leader a decoy and getting the orb they have to the Legendary the other has. Primal Reversion ensues. And so begins the Scuffle of Legends.
  Shelly: Skipper, you're an idiot. Didn't you think maybe Magma would do exactly the same thing as us?
• Reality Is Unrealistic: After being teleported to a facility on Mars run by Mirage Mew and Mewtwo, Kidd Summers notes that the planet is different than they expected, with it being explained that it's the result of an optical illusion.
• Reconstruction Fic: This fanfic basically takes much of the Fanon for the show, such as Ash training in real time, having Aura powers, and holding onto his competence, and the Team Rocket trio being Friendly Enemies, and has it work beautifully.
• Refuge in Audacity: The Rocket Trio using Pokémon balloons turns out to be partially this. The more they look like a carnival balloon, the less likely they are to be reported. They once went around three months before being reported in the old timeline.
• Refusal of the Call: Paul. Ash could give him his memories of the old timeline, but he refuses on account of not wanting to take shortcuts.
• Remember the New Guy?: How Alolan Pokémon and their variants are introduced, through comments about nature documentaries and the like.
• Related in the Adaptation: Hunter J and Lawrence III are revealed to be siblings.
• Required Secondary Powers:
  • Pikachu is very knowledgeable in the science behind electricity, particularly magnetism and electrostatics. This is how he was able to come up with Volt Crash and the many unconventional variations of his electric attacks. It also prevents the attacks from blowing up in his face without outside interference. As demonstrated with the fight with Wes in the Silver Conference, Raikou tried to use Volt Crash without fully understanding the science behind it and getting it wrong, resulting in the attack hitting him as well his opponent which led to a Double Knockout.
  • The whole purpose of the Larvitar line's Pupitar evolution is to give the Pokémon time to get used to moving and jetting via an internal pneumatic system, which becomes an integral part of simple walking and movement when it evolves again into Tyranitar. Unfortunately for Ash's Larvitar, spending only a minute as a Pupitar and going straight into Tyranitar means that just keeping his balance becomes more than a little difficult.
  • In the Valley of Steel, the group notes that heavier Flying types like Skarmory must need to use passive air manipulation to be able to fly despite their weight.
  • Uxie is part of the reason Ash can carry hold enough memory to remind everyone. When he is captured by Team Galactic, Ash loses this ability.
• Revealing Skill: When Ash first gets to the Charicific Valley, he and Charizard decide to show off all their high-powered moves for the residents, including Draco Meteor and Blast Burn. That last one gets Liza's attention, since the Charicific Valley is the only place in the world that teaches that move to Charizards, and Ash's Charizard, who has obviously never been there before, just showed off a more powerful version.
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: Oftentimes in Pokémon league battles, the battle completely destroys the field. A few seconds with a Dugtrio grounds-Pokémon and a quick use of Grassy Terrain, and the field is as good as new.
• Ridiculously Long Phone Hold: Whenever Regigigas is asked to do something, on account of its Slow Start. When Mew needs it to do system updates for the Tree of Beginning's Regi sentries, it goes from "ridiculous" to "agonizing".
• Right Behind Me: A twist - Ash says a version of the phrase about Charizard to Damien.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • Sometimes, Barry's Wild Mass Guesses hit on the right point, even if his logic is a little shaky.
    • He believes that since Ash's Absol and a lot of Psychic-types are needed during the Delta Episode, the problem must be a really powerful Psychic-type. That's not the main problem, but that Meteor of Doom did have a very careless Deoxys for a driver...
  • When Jirachi says that he ought to be able to learn moves like Draco Meteor, Meteor Mash and Cosmic Power due to his connection to the Millennium Comet, Cinder says that she can't see a problem with his conclusion, but his logic might be a little shaky.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:
  • Played for laughs when Ash causes a Time Crash during the incident with Celebi. The resulting Cosmic Retcon puts Fairy-types into existence from the beginning of the universe, rewriting the entire type effectiveness chart - and causing Max, who was already Reminded of a previous timeline, to miss the ripple effects in his memory and fail a test on the subject.
  • In a timeline where the past events in Michina somehow leads to a Bad Future where the spread of Molly's imaginary crystal was not stopped, the timeline's Molly somehow still remembers Ash and Co. despite not knowing how. And moreover, her imaginary-made-real Eevee is immune to the time-travel effect, and joins Ash and Co. when they go back to set the past right.
• Running Gag: In spades. Specific ones include:
  • Bulbasaur's screwed up ancestry, resulting in a very, very varied move pool.
  • Squirtle's obsession with Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (and the Squirtle evolutionary line's obsession with anime in general). All of which include his tendency to break space and his rivalry with Gary's Blastoise.
  • Ash's tendency to destroy gyms, enough to garner him the nickname "Gym Destroyer." It's so prevalent that his first two Johto gym battles were done outside — and by the end of the third, Whitney wishes she had followed their example.
    • Byron of Canalave City Gym deliberately exploits this, as aside from a few boxes of valuable items that he has removed beforehand, he wants Ash to destroy his gym, as it would be cheaper than having it demolished otherwise. The entire gym ends up being sent to the Reverse World, and Byron is thrilled.
  • People frequently freaking out at extraordinary things that don't even cause Ash to blink.
  • Ash's Aura making Pokémon evolve mid-battle, both his, his friends' and his opponent's. And not even exclusively mid-battle - one of Barry's team evolved in their Pokéball.
  • Ash forgetting to go back to Cameran Castle each year for their annual tournament (given that he lost the first time around).
  • Dark-types being unaffected by the useful parts of Psychic Powers, namely telepathy and teleportation.
  • Absol having Freak Outs whenever they see Ash.
  • One of Ash's Running Gags ends up Double Subverting another of his Running Gags^note Ash manages to beat Wallace without destroying the Sootopolis Gym, but after Ash leaves, his evolution aura causes the gym's population of Wailmer to all spontaneously evolve into Wailord (which are around 8 times bigger) at once, and bring down a gym wall anyway..
  • There's a running gag in the Author's Notes that, whenever Gary's adventures are shown, Saphroneth will sum up what he's doing, usually with a statement that he's in Kalos, and It Will Always Be Typed Like This.
  • Lucario used Fling.^note In the games, Fling is used to throw a Pokémon's held item at an opponent to deal damage. Lucario exploits this by throwing his teammates (usually Pikachu) at his opponents.
  • People who knew Brock before the time travel not believing him when he says that he's got a steady girlfriend in Professor Ivy.
  • A few trainers have insisted that the Orange League is not a real league, despite Ash's insistence to the contrary.
  • Two arc-long gags during the Battle Frontier:
    • Scott looking for Ash to formally invite him to the Battle Frontier, while Ash is already doing them. He finally catches up at the Battle Tower. The gag continues when he finds out the Battle Pyramid, which moves around, had relocated since he told Ash where to find it... so now he has to find Ash again to tell him its new location.
    • Dawn's Pokémon showing up early in her backyard.
  • Brock trying hard to invoke Status Quo Is God on his status as a Rock-type Trainer, and everyone Lampshade Hanging how he's done everything BUT. The consensus is that his actual shtick is illusion; he's a Rock gym leader with just a Geodude, but with both Ninetales and Stantler. His girlfriend catches a Rockruff as a gift for him, because it's a rock-type that doesn't look like a rock, matching his theme - but when he gets it, it turns out not to be a Rockruff at all, but a Zorua using an illusion to imitate one.
  • Ho-Oh not getting to battle. At one point he spars with Buizel long enough that by the time they're done, the battle with Brandon is all but over.
  • Interactions with Celebi leading to people getting headaches. "If you aren't getting a headache, you're not understanding Time Travel."
  • Barry showing up at Dawn's house, especially when he talks to her through the window. At one point he does so through her bedroom window, on the second floor, by standing on Palmer's Dragonite.
  • Ho-Oh missing very important events. He was left out for nearly all of the Johto League, the LaRousse City incident, the Battle Frontier (despite Ash promising to use him at least once), and even the Battle Finale of Legend. And he's not happy about it.
    Ho-Oh: Why is it I am always the last to know about these things!?
  • Raikou, as the only Johto Legendary Beast who doesn't put in as much effort to make himself understood to humans via Aura speech, instead makes a bundle of signs. As his gym circuit proceeds, it's clear that some of them have been reused many times, such as "Let's get on with it!" and "I don't see what you're complaining about." He also starts using them in combat, and makes a new collection after they're destroyed.
    Raikou: Wood Hammer!
  • Ash mentions that he's always wanted to train a Dunsparce, but every time he sees one, it's under the possession of someone else. His companions sometimes make jokes about it.

S

• Samus Is a Girl: Turns out Ash's Pidgeot is female. As are his Swellow, Quilava, Gliscor, Brock's Forretress, and a few other Pokémon who weren't gender-identified in canon.
• Say My Name: Mawile, who just saw Ash get vaporized by Primal Dialga, screams, "DAD!"
• Schrödinger's Butterfly: Referenced when Tobias's Darkrai asks Ash's Butterfree if he's a poet or ever dreamed that he was a poet.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Has happened on occasion. As conversed in-story, for experienced trainers, the type chart is just another challenge to overcome.
  • It's established that Brine or using salt water in Water-type moves can neutralize Electric moves, by means of short-circuiting the electricity back into the user. And that's just one of the anti-Electric tactics with water that Misty has come up with.
  • Pikachu can shock Ground-types by means of sheer power. It's eventually established that it's a new ability that Pikachu has which lowers the breakdown voltage into something that can be overcome, which Dexter dubs "Zappy".
  • Lampshaded during Ash's battle with Noland where the Frontier Brain is surprised that Ash wants to use his Glalie against Typhlosion, saying that he thought Ash would not rely specifically on Pokémon with elemental weaknesses against Noland's (Ash had beat Noland's Articuno (a part Ice-type) with Latias (a part Dragon-type) beforehand) saying that's part of the main advantage of which Pokémon of his to pick to fight. At which point Ash responds with the whole "type chart being a guide" thing.
• Screw the Rules, It's the Apocalypse!: With the Delta Episode meteor hanging over their heads, Max, Jirachi, Zinnia and Steven leave several museum storage spaces in shambles looking for a suitable meteorite chunk to Mega-Evolve Rayquaza.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Several times.
  • When Butch and Cassidy encounter Ash during one of their scams, Butch wants to fight, but Cassidy makes him abandon the whole thing.
    Cassidy: Idiot! We just saw one of his Pokémon fight three Legendaries, what chance does your Primeape have?
  • When Eusine hears that Suicune does not want to be caught by him, he sends out his Alakazam to force the issue. Alakazam sees all the other Legendary Pokémon in attendance and decides to not get involved.
  • Absols can see future disasters. Ash is a Walking Disaster Area. So whenever an Absol lays eyes on him, they immediately try to get away as fast as possible, heedless of whatever might be in their way. Ash's own Absol is the sole exception (and even she was stunned at first).
  • Ever since the Phantom Pirates came on the scene, they've had several instances of desertion:
    • The only Phantom Pirate to escape the failed attempt to snatch Manaphy in Chapter 212 calls back to base and quits after a Heart Swap-style "Freaky Friday" Flip with his Pidgeot.
    • In Chapter 218, the Phantom Pirate squad leader of the latest Manaphy theft attempt orders his Pokémon to attack Ho-Oh. More than one of his Pokémon return themselves, and the others start looking at him as if he's insane.
    • Even Casey, Captain Phantom's own Chatot, defects to Ash's side when his captain picks a fight with Ho-Oh.
  • After Ash and co. defeats Marcus's forces in the past, Marcus angrily decides to leave Michina when Damos allows him to go. This has unforeseen consequences.
  • During an encounter with a very belligerent Gliscor, Ash trounces him with Pikachu and decides to give him to Paul to train (as he caught him in canon). Later during a match between Ash and Paul, said Gliscor is sent out against his subordinate (who Ash caught and Reminded), and instantly decides to Opt Out instead of finding out what Ash has taught her.
• Secret Legacy: In this story, Ash is actually a descendant of Sir Aaron through his father's side.
• Secret Test of Character:
  • Giovanni orders James to give up his beloved Growlie so the Team Rocket highers-up could use his firepower. James ultimately refuses, with Jessie and Meowth backing him up. This convinces Giovanni that the trio have what it takes to be promoted to Executive status and learn about Team Rocket's secondary goal (see Evil Versus Oblivion).
  • The Gym matches are revealed to be this - at least partway. Each is designed to teach a different lesson- Brock's is about endurance, Cerulean's is about humility, Cinnabar's is about intelligence, the Poison Gym is about tricks... (although this aspect was Out of Focus during the Johto Arc, since most of the gym leaders were more concerned with making sure their gyms weren't destroyed by Ash).
  • Max goes through his gym battle with Janine without even realizing he's in one.
• Seen It All: Very, very few things surprise Ash and Co. anymore.
  • One of the things that do, however, are Kalos and Alolan Pokémon, given that in the original timeline, Ash never made it past Unova. It's one of the reasons Pikachu ended up losing to Wallace's Greninja.
  • The Sinnoh cast in particular accept the new normal fairly easily, likely due to the weirdness in Sinnoh in the original timeline. However, they do have trouble upon learning that Brock has a girlfriend.
  • It even ends up completely exasperating a Mismagius trickster that tries to impress them with increasingly outlandish illusions.
• Self-Imposed Challenge:
  • To prove he can give Ash a good fight, Raikou decides to solo all 8 Johto Gyms.
  • At Norman's suggestion, this is Ash's attempt to beat the Hoenn gyms without destroying any of them. He succeeds... technically.
• Sense Freak: Deoxys-Orange, from the Pokémon Ranger special, finds himself going on a taste adventure, after he figures out how to consume human food.
• Sequence Breaking: Happens frequently.
  • Ash goes to Cameran to free Aaron's Lucario and collect Aaron's equipment right after getting the Boulder Badge. Compare to the original timeline where he only went to Cameran after the Hoenn League during the Battle Frontier arc.
  • Ash clashes with Hunter J before he finishes the Kanto League, about the time he was supposed to get Muk. In the original timeline, Ash clashed with Hunter J while in Sinnoh.
  • Ash captures Muk way later than the original timeline, while helping that movie director, because he forgot about Muk due to the battle with Hunter J.
  • Sometimes, Ash deliberately uses his knowledge of the future to try to take an "Idealized" path, avoiding trouble spots that he had in the original timeline. For example, his plan for Porta Vista involves grabbing Misty's Horsea and getting out immediately, while his reaction to doing the SS Anne and Maiden's Peak were summed up as "Screw that," and "Not only no, but HELL no" respectively. This allows him and his team far more time to train, and thus get a massive leg up on future problems.
  • On the one hand, all of Dawn's Pokémon appear in the right order (aside from Ambipom). On the other, they all appear during the Battle Frontier.
  • Celebi delivers Gible to Ash and Co. to be Reminded at Lake Acuity, long before they met him in canon. Of course, that could be because Team Galactic is targeting Ash and ends up inadvertently removing his ability to Remind others, something Celebi could've foreseen.
• Serial Escalation:
  • Throughout the Battle Frontier, Scott goes to more and more outlandish places to find Ash and invite him to the Frontier, even outer space. Why can't he find him? Because Ash is already doing the Frontier challenge.
  • When Ash and Co. encounter the hypnotising Mismagius that they encountered in Sinnoh, they're so nonchalant with its illusions that it escalates from Rayquaza meeting them, to an Alien Invasion, to Sentai, to Time Travellers, until their secret Rotom tagalong can't take it any more.
• Series Fauxnale: The Battle Finale of Legend (chapters 292-295). It ends with Ash and co. successfully stopping the plans of Team Galactic, with defeating the original version that succeeded as a bonus in a battle of epic proportions. With the main premise fulfilled, the author could've easily called it a day and declared the story completed after an epilogue. Cue a chapter 296 being posted that doesn't read anything like an epilogue...
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
  • Ash was sent back in time to make sure Cyrus doesn't succeed in his second attempt to capture the Creation Trio.
  • Brock's time-travel allows him to correct one of his most heart-wrenching wrongs: saving the life of his first love Professor Ivy when she was trapped in the Unown's dimension in the first timeline.
  • A minor one for Team Rocket: during early Hoenn, they're now strong enough to face down that poacher who had forced them to release their very first Pokémon in the original timeline, and beat the stuffing out of him.
  • The group has to do this during Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, multiple times when their changes in the past somehow propagate via the Butterfly of Doom into Apocalypse How-laden Bad Futures.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Gary's whole Chain of Deals ordeal leads him to talk to his grandpa for some help, only to find that the professor had the links to bypass the entire chain from the start. This is then zigzagged, though, because Gary then uses some of Oak's resources to get multiple goodies out of the whole thing with much less effort.
• Shamu Fu:
  • Misty hits Brock with her Goldeen whenever he starts going gaga around women. Once Brock settles down with a single girlfriend, this gag is dropped entirely.
  • A Machamp-Magikarp combo shows up in the Hoenn League. That is far from the only Equippable Ally combo that shows up, however.
    • The Magikarp actually evolves into a Gyarados mid-battle, and Dawn points out the Machamp could have used it as a flail if Morrison hadn't beaten them then. Mrs. Berlitz is concerned for her daughter's mental health on hearing this.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Given the amount of Ship Tease they have, Sceptile and Meganium end up saying this a lot, mostly to Ash's Ivysaur. They're not fooling anyone, not even themselves, and eventually, they hook up and have a child together.
• Shipper on Deck: Latias to her brother and the Latias partnered to a Joy, to the point that she plays romantic music when they're together.
• Ship Tease: Sceptile and Meganium née Bayleef have shared quite a few heartwarming moments together, including one After-Action Patch-Up scene, no matter how much they deny it. Until even they can't deny it any more.
  • Between the Altomare Latios and another Latias.
  • The interactions between Pikachu and Buneary are somewhere between this and Will They or Won't They.
• Shoot the Medic First: Raikou regrets not doing this in his challenge against Ash, when he realises that Meganium is healing teammates that he thought he'd dealt with.
• Shout-Out: Enough to get its own page.
• Shown Their Work: Many of the moves shown in the story are based on real world science.
  • In particular, the author has a Geology Major, and his insight is sprinkled all over the story. One example is Geodude's Stone Edge Earthbending technique, which has to take dislocation creep into account in order to allow the stone to move without shattering.
• Side Bet: From the first chapter:
  Ash: I want to go back to the day I met Pikachu — the day my journey began, when I first set off from Pallet.
  Sir Aaron: Ha! Told you, you great lump.
  Arceus: I thought 'any day but then' was good odds.
  Ash: Wait... Were you two betting on me or something?
  Sir Aaron: Err... Nooo?
• Single-Stroke Battle: The final battle between Ash's Elite Four match with Lorelei has two One-Hit KO moves used at the same time, right out the gate. Lorelei's Jynx just manages to survive the Fissure with a Focus Sash, but Ash's Tauros is frozen solid with Sheer Cold.
• The Sleepless: Given the time difference between Poké-Japan (Kanto/Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh) and Poké-France (Kalos), many of Gary's interactions with Ash happen when he should be getting some sleep. Given the kind of things that Ash gets up to, Gary loses a lot of sleep because of this.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Cresselia went to sleep for an evening, and slept right through the Delta Episode. Considering a lunar night is approx. 2 weeks, it's unsurprising that she missed the whole 4 hours of terror.
• The Slow Path: After Ash and Co. left Michina in the past, Marcus's Heatran in the past went into buried hibernation at Michina Ruins to rejoin them in the present.
• Sneeze Cut:
  • In one chapter, Team Rocket's Meowth went looking around Hollywood for Meowzie, the Meowth that made him want to become human-like, but couldn't find her. We cut to Meowzie sneezing in the Fuchsia Gym, where it had already been established that she was living there after Janine had adopted her.
  • A second example happens when an Ambipom throws a Heart Scale at Totodile, and the scene cuts to Gary, exhausted after running around trying to get one, tossing in his sleep.
  • When Ash sends out Quilava against Pryce, she is upset with him that he saved her for last, pointing out that Charizard and Houndour are both off by themselves at the time. The scene then cuts to Charizard hanging out with Charla, and then to Houndour telling his pack about his time with Ash.
  • When Goomy makes it rain, the scene cuts to Entei (who's heading to Sinnoh with Suicune) who's feeling glad he's not in Hoenn at the moment.
  • During the trek to the Tree of Beginning, a lot of computer puns are made due to the fact that the Regis' software is outdated. Cut to Glalie, who isn't present to enjoy the fact.
  • After a Draco Meteor-based Counter Shield sends meteor fragments flying everywhere, the scene cuts to Dawn's Piplup, who is happy he didn't get flattened.
  • Uxie does this when Max realizes that Brock is the only group member with no Legendaries at that point.
    • Expectations for this one are slightly subverted when Brock's first Legendary ends up being the Heatran from Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
• Space Base: Ariadospace (the analogue to the real-life French Arianespace) begin creating one with Gary's help, so that in the worst-case scenario that the Delta Episode asteroid does make impact, there will be a safe space to send what Poké-balls and humans can be evacuated.
  • Mewtwo starts making more in his spare time, including ones on Mars and Callisto.
• Space Master: Besides Palkia, Wishiwashi apparently achieves its School Form by warping space.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Sir Aaron's Lucario. After being awakened early and learning the truth about Aaron's "betrayal", he resumes his Aura training, ensuring that he'd be strong enough to survive purifying the Tree of Beginning in the future. And then that storyline is butterflied away entirely, with Kidd Summers instead exploring the new Space Base.
  • The illusion Entei conjured by Molly and the Unown, who (along with the copies of Suicune and Raikou) was made a real Pokémon instead of fading away, albeit Shiny.
  • The Latios from Altomare.
• Speak Friend and Enter: Gary finds himself embroiled in a Chain of Deals in order to get the Move Relearner to teach his Alakazam Teleport. When he speaks to Professor Oak about it, the professor points out he still has the TM for Teleport.
• Stable Time Loop:
  • Explained as the reason why Ash and Co. still have to return to Michina's ancient past during their second go-around - they were integral to Arceus's timeline during those past events and all the other timeline changes throughout the story has left his timeline fragile - thus they must go back and renew their meeting to stabilize the timeline.
  • Ash's Charizard learned Blast Burn from the Charizards in the Charicific Valley. During their foray into the ancient past, Celebi borrows Charizard for a bit to help teach the ancient Charizards Blast Burn.
• Starter Equipment: May and Max get these from their parents when they first start out: May gets Caroline's old contest accessories, and Max gets Norman's assortment of old Pokémon hold items.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Some characters point out to other characters very simple solutions to problems they had during the original timeline. Vague wording due to the fact that the relevant positions are sometimes switched around.
  • By the time Hoenn arrives, Ash and Co. have so many simple solutions that they have to take time to find the simplest.
  • Of particular prominence is when the group meet Cheryl in Eterna Forest and help her with her problems, considering how prepared she was to go on adventures like her grandfather's stories told.
  • After Ash and Tobias's final match in the Lily of the Valley Conference, they realize that the rule about one Legendary Pokémon/one Mega Evolution per match was never officially waived for them, but everyone assumed that it was since these were the trainers most known for using Legendaries. As such, Lucario notes that if Ash (who only used one Mega-Evolution in the match) wanted, he could've forced Tobias (who had used four Legendaries and one Mega-Evolution) to forfeit unless he had a more suitable team.
• Status Quo Is God: Averted for the most part (see Continuity Nod above), but Played for Laughs in one episode, when Ash and Co. meet Sullivan, the fishing god. Obsessed with catching the giant Whiscath, Nero, but lacking even the knowledge of the type-chart, Pikachu finally solves his problem by overwhelming Nero's Ground-typing and capturing it himself. But after all that, Sullivan decides to release Nero because he finds that the trying feels better than the succeeding.
• Stealth Pun:
  • E4 member Will makes one while watching a Gallade face off against a Dragonair.
    Karen: Is this a knight against a dragon?
    Will: No, that would be a Gardevoir. At least, if you want the knight to be a sir. ^{Explain the joke?} Gardevoir's Japanese name is Sirnight.
  • And another one from fellow Psychic E4 member Lucian.
    Lucian: Magic was never my strong point. *Sigh* Onix is. ^{Explain the joke?} *sigh* Onix = psionics
• Stunned Silence:
  • During the Spell of the Unown chapters, both the news studio that is providing the feed for the events of the movie, and Professor Ivy, who is providing analysis of these events, are absolutely speechless when Charizard starts to Mega-Evolve back and forth between his X and Y forms, and in the process starts beating back all three of the Unown-created Legendary Beasts.
  • The E4 have this when Misty beats Ash in the Whirl Cup, who was using Suicune.
  • Ash, Dawn and Brock end up like this when Brock's Zorua pretends to be Brock's daughter from the future as a prank.
• Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: In chapter 81, Kate says this after Ash says that he's not a poacher, he's a Pokémon trainer and Raikou challenged Ash. This is due to the fact that Ash and his team's pursuit of Raikou took them to a Pokémon reserve where Pokémon catching is illegal and one of the Area Rangers spotted them from atop his Staraptor.
• Super-Empowering:
  • When Ash comes into contact with people or Pokémon that he can Remind of the previous timeline, they get all the memories, experience, and power they had when the last timeline collapsed. This sometimes means that they evolve more than one level at a time.
  • An Aura-fueled attempt to prevent Pikachu from evolving ends up giving him the electric sacs of a Raichu, along with a Light Ball.
  • Ho-Oh grants Togekiss the ability to use Sacred Fire as a birthday gift.
  • A Running Gag throughout the fic is how just being around Ash seems to trigger evolution in other people's Pokémon, even the ones he can't restore to the way they were at the end of the former timeline.
    • At one point, Professor Oak tries to justify it as Ash giving off so much Aura that exposed Pokémon are given a massive power boost and can evolve much more easily that way. Ash rejects this, as even before he mastered Aura, Pokémon would still spontaneously evolve around him (such as Caterpie, Ponyta, and Charmander, for a very abridged list of all the evolutions that happen around him in canon).
    • Morrison's Beldum, Roark's Cranidos and Nando's Budew all evolve within moments of meeting Ash, while being sent out of the Poké-ball, mid-materialization.
  • In "The Power Of One Part 4", Lugia teaches Pidgeot how to use Aeroblast, following Ho-Oh's example above.
  • May is the one empowered by Samiya's Sea Crown to defeat Captain Phantom.
• Super Mode: The author writes in the concept of Mega Evolution further down the line, and starting in Johto, we see several examples, good, bad, and neutral. Spoilered Rotten, but if you care... ^Overall As of chapter 261, 43 of the 47 canon Mega Stones have appeared or been mentioned (along with Mega Rayquaza, the 48th canon Mega Evolution; Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y also made cameos in the Pokémon Conquest game that Arceus set up in his dimension, meaning that only Diancite and Cameruptite have yet to appear or be mentioned in any way.^{Protagonist-wise,} Ash's Charizard evolves between both X and Y forms during the Greenfield incident, without the use of Charizardite, the Unown proving to distort reality enough for that (and later, his girlfriend Charla from the Charicific Valley can loan him her Charizardite Y). Pidgeot has evolved twice, both times in a Battle in the Center of the Mind, without a Pidgeotite. Using the actual Mega Stones, Ash's first usable one is a Heracronite, which he obtains from Chuck; he learns what it is shortly before taking on the Mahogany Gym. His Squirtle creates Squirtilite, and while the stone explodes after one use, it works effectively for that use, and he knows how to make more. Then he obtains Latiosite and Latasite from the Altomare incident, and the two dragons take turns training with him; he also relieves Annie and Oakley of their Beedrillite, which he gives to Casey. Much later, Gary gives him an Absolite after an Absol native to Forina chooses to join Ash, the Rota Kingdom loans him their Lucarionite, Baron Alberto gives him a Charizardite X after saving Alamos Town, Steven delivers some Mawilite to him in exchange for an ancient Key Stone, and Gary again gives him some Houndoomite in the Sinnoh League. Apart from Ash, Misty obtained a Gyaradosite from the Lake of Rage, Brock obtained a Steelixite from Steven in Granite Cave, Max discovers that he had been carrying a Manectite after his starter evolves, the group finds a Banettite in the ruins containing the giant Claydol (which Casper managed to use by Cerulean), and May is trying hard to get her hands on a Blazikenite, and she does manage to find an Altarianite, though she only managed to use it during the Grand Festival; she later got a Venusaurite while in Johto. Gary has in his possession Blastoisinte, Sablenite, Alakazamite, a Lopunnite that he hasn't found a permanent use for yet, and it's implied that he has or knows where to obtain a Sharpedonite and Houndoomite. Ash and friends also discover an Audinite, which they give to the Team Rocket trio for their recently acquired medic/chef after the Groudon/Kyogre clash. They repay the favor with a Sceptilite that they picked up from the Team Rocket armory along with their keystone. In the Ever Grande Conference, Ritchie was briefly seen using Galladite. Professor Oak also borrowed Tyranitarite, Pidgeotite, Houndoomite, Glalitite and Mawilite for an experiment.^{Antagonist-wise,} Tyson, the Rocket Admin at the Lake of Rage, had a Tyranitarite, and the antagonist from the Mirage Kingdom, Colonel Hansen, used a Gengarite. Annie and Oakley attempted to use a Beedrillite on a borrowed Pokémon; it didn't work, as they had no bond with it, and Ash ultimately took it off their hands. Cassidy has an Aggronite, Butch has a Charizardite (unknown which one), and the agents under them (Ariana, Proton and Petrel) have an Abomasite, a Slowbronite, and an Aggronite. One Phantom Pirate had Kangaskhanite, but he couldn't use it on account of being unable to send out his Pokémon. Team Galactic also has a Gardevoirite.^{and Other} Gurkinn, a.k.a. the Mega Evolution guru, has a Lucarionite. Jasmine has a Steelixite, Clair and the dragon clan have in their possession an Ampharosite, Sceptilite, and Altarianite, Agatha has a Sablenite, Lance has a Salamencite, Steven has a Scizorite, Mawilite, Steelixite, Aerodactylite, and Aggronite, Mr. Stone and Winona both have a Pinsirite, Tate and Liza have a Galladite and Gardevoirite, respectively, Giovanni has a Kangaskhanite, Greta has a Medichamite, Spencer has a Venusaurite, Anabel and Tobias both have Alakazamite, and Misty's sisters have a Slowbronite. One Silver Conference contestant used Blazikenite, Metagrossite and Garchompite, Rebecca, a trainer Ash met in LaRousse City has a Tyranitarite, some participants in the Indigo Conference have Kangaskhanite and Sharpedonite, and the man who looked after the Mudkip where Brock got his Marshtomp has a Swampertite, though it's implied he has no use for it currently. During the Groudon/Kyogre clash, Rayquaza swallows the meteor Ash got from Mt. Chimney, enabling Rayquaza to go Mega.
• Sure, Let's Go with That:
  • Stated by Charizard when Squirtle goes Large Ham about his training.
    Charizard: – oh, hey, Squirtle! I see you've been training too!
    Squirtle: We move beyond the people we were a minute before, each revolution of the Earth driving us to improve more than the last!
    Charizard: ...yeah, let's go with that.
  • The stated reasoning for Arceus creating the Fairy-type at the beginning of time, since thanks to a Time Crash, Molly's self-created Sylveon was present and her typing became the originator of the Fairy-type.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • The group needs to name their Porygon's evolutionary forms because no one's seen them before, and they don't just know it.
  • Getting rid of an asteroid, especially one the size of a mountain (the ones Rayquaza deals with are usually much smaller), by blowing it up doesn't make it go away; the fragments will just hit the Earth in multiple places, heat up the atmosphere, and burn all life on Earth to a cinder. The only real solution is to push it out of the way, which is a truly monumental job even for a planet full of superpowered creatures and living forces of nature.
  • If a single Sonicboom attack could knock the tower containing the Spiritomb over, then a strong gust of wind could do the same. After all, it was built centuries ago and obviously not maintained much since.
  • Since Giratina spends all of his time in the Reverse World, he has no one to train with or against, so his skills have stagnated a bit.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  • The way Dexter denied that the three Porygons have a silly nickname for themselves.
    Dexter: You heard nothing. I most definitely did not mention a silly nickname we have for ourselves.
  • Sceptile asks for Meganium to watch him battle a Steelix in order for her to heal him afterwards. Pikachu isn't convinced.
    Pikachu: Is there any particular reason why you want her to...
    Sceptile: Healing. I said.
  • When Latios discusses supersonic flight training with the Latias belonging to the Nurse Joy they met, his sister can see right through his intentions.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Invoked. Whenever one of Ash and Co.'s Pokémon either has to leave family to join the team or decides to leave the team for another reason, they can still rejoin the team or visit their family whenever they want to due to Professor Oak's portable transceivers.
• Sword Beam: A common tactic among Ash and Co.'s Pokémon. Keldeo accidentally discovered it, expanded it to other blade moves, then later taught it to the rest of the group's team who could use those moves.