Ashes Of The Past / Tropes T to Z

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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T

• Take Me to Your Leader: A Deoxys says this in Chapter 221.
• Take That!:
  • Ash and others frequently hold up Tobias as a person that they have no desire to emulate, viewing him as an arrogant man who swept all the gyms in his area with what is essentially a literal God of Death. Part of the reason Ash is so reluctant to use the many Legendaries he has is because he doesn't want to be like him, stating that he wants to win on his own terms and give his opponents their chance for a good showing, not by using Olympus Mons all the time.
  • The canon decision of disqualifying a sleeping Squirtle from Ash's canon league battle with Ritchie is stated by a Battle Judge (Pokémon Referee) to be a blatantly incorrect ruling, as is the fact that the match wasn't postponed due to Ash being delayed after being kidnapped.
  • Dr. MacGuire, one of the Scientists at the Mossdeep Space Center, has a lot to say about Hollywood solutions to getting rid of giant incoming asteroids, and it's not very complimentary.
  • In Chapter 256, Mewtwo and his space company state that they're not going to put a car into space for a publicity stunt. Given what Elon Musk was up to at about the time the chapter came out...
• Take a Third Option: If Ash and Co. are not Stating the Simple Solution or Cutting the Knot, they're usually doing this.
  • The pacifistic Tyrantrum runs into one after befriending Ash and Co. He wants to stay with his new friend Mawile, but he's too big to keep traveling with them as an uncaught Pokémon, it would be unfair to make Mawile stay at the ranch for too long, and he's uncomfortable with being a member of Ash's team since he hates battling (and doesn't want to be the odd man out). Ash proposes another option though: He can be Mawile's Pokémon.
  • When Infernape says that what he, Gible and Gliscor are doing is either going to be really impressive or really stupid, Gliscor responds with "both", saying that it doesn't have to be an either-or thing, especially with them a lot of the time. Infernape admits that she has a point.
• Talk Like a Pirate:
  • Just about all of Team Aqua. Including the oath they have to say to join Team Aqua.
  • Sea captain Briney speaks this way while transporting Ash and friends, but admits at the end of the trip that it's just an act.
    Briney: Wouldn't you talk like that if you had a boat?
• Talk to the Fist: Ash has pulled this on a few human villains, such as Cipher Admin Nascour, Rocket Operative Annie, and Colonel Hansen of the Mirage Kingdom incident. For the former two, the punch pretty much ends their battle; for the latter, it kicks the battle off.
• Talking with Signs:
  • Raikou does this when trying to communicate with humans. They even work as Wood Hammer. Somehow.
  • Barry gets a Smeargle that does this, when his Big Ol' Eyebrows aren't doing the talking.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: A non-lethal example: one of Casper's pranks is adding an Enigma Berry (that May was saving) into one of her Pokéblock mixes to futz up the recipe. Also inverted with Munchlax sneaking berries from May's previous mixes to produce differently-colored Pokéblocks.
• Tangled Family Tree: The reason Bulbasaur and later Ivysaur has such a varied movepool is due to a very long, convoluted series of chain breeding in his ancestry.
  "I know of a Charmeleon, a Sableye, and a Skarmory in there somewhere. It's more of a family Kudzu..."
  • After being asked about it, the author had only one thing to say:
    "I have a proof upthread that any breed-able Pokémon in the game could be part of it if you go back far enough."
  • In Hoenn 17, Nicolai's Zangoose mentions that he has a Linoone for a father, and the Linoone's father was a Seviper (you know, a Zangoose's bitter enemy). Ash confirms this, and that Zangoose and Seviper are both in the same egg group, much to Zangoose's surprise.
• Tastes Like Chicken: Because a hidden Munchlax keeps stealing the ingredients, May's attempts to make its favorite Purple Surprise Pokéblocks keep turning out weird colors, one of which is acid-green and tastes like chips.
• Taught by Experience:
  • After a few ill encounters, Team Magma and Aqua are fully aware of how powerful Ash is, so instead of finding new ways to battle him, they come up with new ways of getting past him, achieving their goal as quickly as possible, and making sure that he can't follow them when they escape.
  • The Phantom Pirates do keep improving their tactics with each time they attack Ash and Co. to go after Manaphy. None of them work, but at least they're learning.
• Tears of Joy:
  • May gets these when Manaphy considers himself her Pokémon, no questions asked.
  • Jessie's vision goes blurry when she wins the Kanto Grand Festival and becomes a Top Coordinator.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cinder and Casper, Max's Mightyena and Shuppet, end up like this during Max's gym battle with Tate and Liza, due to all of Casper's pranks on a highly-annoyed Cinder. After it causes them to lose the first time, Max tells them to get their act together by practicing on the rest of the group's team.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Jasmine is perfectly fine hosting her gym battle with Ash inside — after all, the walls of her gym are made from spare steel battleship plating which can't possibly be destroyed. Of course, given that this is Ash...
  • When Lucario does this in 213, Max is savvy enough to dive for cover.
  • Chapter 256 has a Gliscor gang leader make these comments about Electric attacks, while facing Pikachu.
    Gliscor: No Electric-type attack can harm a Ground-type! May lightning strike me down if I lie!
  • When Arceus warns that the next world has a harder difficulty level, Sir Aaron takes him seriously. Palkia is more skeptical.
    Palkia: But it's a Sunkern.
    Aaron: Right, which means it's a Grass-type. And that means-
    Palkia: It means it's not nearly strong enough to hurt me, that's what. Sure, maybe the Charizards or the Luxrays or the Aegislash would be tough enough to hurt one of us, but—AAAARGLE!
• "Test Your Strength" Game: Whenever Ash and Co. come across a festival with one of these, some companions have to ask him and several of their Pokémon (e.g. Lucario, Blaziken) to not try them because their strength may break the machine.
• Theme Naming:
  • Fred Farrel and his whole team have Alliterative Naming down pat, such as his Feraligatr Floodwater, his Forretress Fuchida, and his Flaafy Felicity.
  • Subverted with Dexter and his 12 Porygon offspring/clones. It was planned to give them all Zodiac names, but that was vetoed, and in the end they all just chose a mishmash of names.
• The Power of Friendship: All over the place. Friendship is a stat in the games, and some Pokémon evolve through friendship. In a more traditional sense, there's the move Return, and Mega Evolution works through the trainer's bond with their Pokémon.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Lugia gives one to the three Shamouti Birds after the Power of One incident, saying that his son Silver is more mature than they are.
  • In chapter 200, Rayquaza, sick and tired of Groudon and Kyogre's squabbling, tells them off for their immature behavior and forces them to do the jobs they're supposed to be doing with maintaining the climate.
  • Reshiram gives one to Team Plasma after being summoned.
  • After being reminded, Infernape finally gets a chance to call out Paul for his attitude in the previous timeline, specifically when he told Chimchar off for not beating Cynthia's Garchomp. Paul, not understanding Poké-speech and misunderstanding the context, believes that he sent out Chimchar against Cynthia's Lucario due to type advantage and thus was justified if Chimchar didn't manage to do enough, but after Infernape gives him a note with context, he himself wonders what his previous self was thinking.
• Those Two Pokémon: Ash's Squirtle and Ivysaur have this kind of friendship.
• Three Laws-Compliant: Mirage Mew/M-001 seems to have adopted a version of these laws, with Pokémon written in of course, apparently at least partially by its own choice, even citing the first one. This causes Yung to replace it with Mirage Master/M-002 because the latter had no such problems with breaking the first law and harming others in the name of following orders via the second law.
• Three-Point Landing: Ash arrives at his first Indigo League battle by jumping off Pidgeot at the bottom of a dive, dropping twenty feet into a crouch.
  Ash: Morning. Ten AM, right?
• They Called Me Mad!: Part of Professor Yung's motivation for extracting Pokémon memories to complete his Mirage system: to prove to the world the capabilities of his new technology. This from the person who demonstrated it to the press before the scientific community...
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Ash has done this a couple of times, once during a Battle in the Center of the Mind where he broke the Shadowification over a Shadow Lugia with a dreamed-up sword, and several other times later while using his Honedge Kari, including one where he threw her to break through a Shadow Lucario's shield and then knock him out about the head. Word of God is that it's a special quality of Ash's version of Secret Sword, which is apparently based on Caliburn.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • After all the trouble he went through in Kalos, most of which was from his Chain of Deals to get his Alakazam to relearn Teleport, Gary finally gets one in the form of a Keystone and a piece of Blastoisinite.
    • And then he wins the Kalos League, proving that while Gary's a Butt-Monkey, he's also a competent Butt-Monkey.
  • After fully turning over a new leaf, TR not only gets a Legendary, but also a Pikachu!
  • Brock finally gets a break from his reputation as a Rock trainer that doesn't have many Rock-types, by getting a Rockruff for his team. Even if the first one was a disguised Zorua.
• Time Abyss: Many Legendary Pokemon, but especially the ones like Arceus, have been around for anywhere up to billions of years. The Deoxys in the Delta Episode meteor was last awake about 50,000 years ago.
• Time Crash: During Voice of the Forest, the Iron Masked Marauder orders Celebi to "Get rid of them by any means necessary"^note which she does by trying to throw them through time at the same time that Sammy works out that he's Professor Oak. Needless to say, things get a little... wonky.
• Time Police: The Celebi have this role, making sure that things unfold the way they should, like ensuring Ash runs into his canon Pokémon again, and making sure the timeline remains consistent after the Cosmic Retcon.
  • At one point Celebi even recruits Ritchie to help her with events she can't directly interfere with.
• Time-Travel Tense Trouble: In a 'verse where Time Travel is a real thing and the main plot is a Peggy Sue, this happens often, especially to new characters that have their memories of the previous timeline restored.
• Too Dumb to Live: Joseph, a Rocket Goon with a Koffing, wants to capture Molly's Shiny Eevee. He tracks her to Ecruteak City, where she is meeting with the Kimono Sisters, and bursts in on them as they are having tea... with League Champion Ash and no less than four Legendary Pokémon in attendance. And even when he sees what he's up against, he still tries to go through with it.
• To Win Without Fighting: This is the solution to stopping Marcus in the past in the right way that avoids the resulting chaotic Bad Futures. Only by focusing their attempts towards avoiding outright conflict, removing the controlling armor from Marcus's Pokémon forces and convincing Marcus himself of his errors, do they manage to change the past in the right way to preserve the peaceful present.
• Training from Hell:
  • Having Pikachu determine which of Porygon's Double Team duplicates is the real one doesn't seem like it will be too bad. Even if he can't use his electrical senses. And then they all start to glow.
    Dexter: You will, of course, be under Zap Cannon attack.
  • After Iris leaves the Opelucid Academy to try becoming a Dragon Master another way, another master named Denae becomes her mentor. Her idea of good training is using mountain-climbing as warm-ups.
• Tranquil Fury: What can only describe Ash's Pokémon team after they witness their trainer be reduced to dust by Original Team Galactic. Special mention goes to Lucario, Charizard and Pikachu.
• Translator Buddy: Certain Pokémon that can communicate with humans as well often serve as this for their trainers and teams, such as Porygon, Riolu and Lucario, and any Pokémon with Psychic/telepathic capability.
• Trap Is the Only Option: Happens during the Doctor Namba arc, when Lugia chooses to stick around with Ash for a while, because if they prevent Dr. Namba from abducting Silver then, he might do it at a time when they aren't prepared.
• Trauma Button: Downplayed example; during the Chocovine Contest, Zoey's new Mismagius puts on an illusory show that uncomfortably reminds Dawn of the Shadow Zoroark they recently faced, and in particular, the recent Team Galactic attack where Ash almost got sniped, and she ends up making a mistake that costs her the Contest Ribbon.
• True Companions: All of Ash's traveling companions, and their Pokémon.
  • Honorary True Companion: Team Rocket. Ash knew them well enough to bring back their memories and that of their Pokémon — in spite of all that's transpired between them, it becomes very clear that on some level, he regards the trio as very close friends. As the fic goes on, Team Rocket eventually stops attacking Ash altogether and is content hanging out with him, Misty, and Brock whenever they cross paths, any previous hostility having long-since dissipated... which usually leaves new Pokémon who were with Ash in the previous timeline to be rather confused when Team Rocket shows up, and instead of reciting the motto and attempting to steal them, instead sit down for a chat.
• Trust Password: Ash convinces Professor Oak about the nature of the time reset despite not being able to Remind him about the previous timeline by bringing up the incident with Celebi. Since Ash shouldn't know about Celebi for several years yet, Oak believes him. And then pulls out a flask to drink from.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Although Team Rocket stops being on the receiving end of this early on, they actually inflict this on the Phantom Pirates when they try to snatch Manaphy. They've even developed an escape strategy that invokes this.
  • The Invincible Pokémon Brothers aren't as lucky, when they get on the wrong side of Misty, the newest member of the Elite Four.

U

• Uncanny Valley: In-Universe. When Ash first encounters a Mirage Pokemon, his Translator Microbes can't translate its speech, and he's kinda weirded out. Misty and her Milotic are also a little unnerved by a Mirage Milotic's realism.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • A few times, someone has been unfamiliar with the gang and their reputations or not recognized them, much to their later chagrin.
  • In Chapter 209, the Phantom Pirates, while smart enough to scout ahead and make sure they know what Pokemon they're dealing with ahead of time, didn't think that Blaziken could be as fast as their getaway car, nor did they expect Brock's new Zorua to have taken Manaphy's place.
    • The Phantom Pirates attempt in 212 has them wisen up a bit, and temporarily disable the groups, but this time they underestimate not only the human characters (especially Ash), but Manaphy himself.
    • The next time, early in 218, they come with a bunch of Dunsparce to freeze them all at once, and a Master Ball... but didn't spot Ho-Oh, and even after he shows himself, one of the Phantom Pirates keeps ordering his incredulous Pokemon to attack.
  • Gary warned Gardenia about Molly, but she didn't believe him, and the result was Molly and Eevee/Vaporeon having to put out the fire they accidentally started in the Gym.
  • Probably the Pokémon most frequently underestimated is Ash's Butterfree; even knowing his trainer's record, Chuck's Machoke laughed and Tobias even demanded if Ash was taking the battle seriously when Butterfree was sent out. But this butterfly's battling record is downright stellar, considering he soloed one trainer in the Indigo League 3-0, brought the ceiling down on said Machoke/Machamp, and was the one to beat Tobias's Darkrai via dust explosion.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: Brandon's Dusclops can create one, and the fact that it only has some of the traits of a normal black hole is lampshaded in universe.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Invoked by Gary's Blastoise and Sableye, pitting the former's Triple Horn Drill Maximum against the latter's Mega-Evolved gem shield.
• Unusual User Interface:
  • A Regigigas encountered by Mew and Aaron's Lucario has to be given instructions in pseudo-computer code... verbally.
  • Dexter is able to get Alice to play Oracion manually, via a hard-light leaf-whistle interface.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • Why didn't Ash question why Jessie and James were the Viridian Gym Leaders in the original timeline? They've literally been everything else.
  • Brock lampshades how too much time with Ash has made it so that May's amazing performance in a Battle Frontier arc Contest is a bit underwhelming.
  • When the Battle Pyramid lands outside of Pewter City, Flint and Forrest barely react, save noting that it chose a good location and making a note to take a closer look.
  • A Master of Illusion Mismagius tries to pull its Lotus-Eater Machine hypnosis trick on the group, but they are so unimpressed with everything it comes up with (and turn out to be more interested in the talking Rotom fridge that comes out to protest it all), that it eventually gives up and leaves in exasperation.
• Unwinnable Boss Fight: Misty intended her gym battle, with a team handpicked to counter Ash, as a lesson in humility for him. He wins anyway.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Deoxys piloting the Delta Episode meteor into a collision course with Earth.

V

• Verbal Backspace:
  • After Psyduck's headache is cured with a Calm Mind TM, Misty says that now they can work on his swimming. Psyduck tries to backtrack and claim his headache is still there, to no avail.
  • In 219, with the God Squad having completed the PMD storyline, Arceus says that his planned Post Game Content might include the chance for evolution. When Giratina questions what they'd evolve into, he backtracks and says that he might make it possible for Aaron to evolve.
• Villainous Breakdown: What happens to Cyrus from the Original Timeline, as his perfect plan to invade the new timeline, eliminate the interloper, and finish his Great Work falls apart before his eyes. It almost works out when Ash Ketchum is vaporized by Dialga's Roar of Time, then it starts to crack when Ash's Pokémon actually succeed in staggering his Primal Legendaries, and then it really starts to fall apart when a Mawile proves to be completely immune to his Legendaries' attacks. Ash Ketchum coming Back from the Dead is just the breaking point.
  Cyrus: No! That's just too much! I've tried to be patient, I know that not everyone understands how much better the world will be once the Great Work is complete, but this shouldn't be possible and it's completely unfair! If I have you killed, you're supposed to stay dead!
• Visual Pun:
  • Brawly's Conkeldurr announces "I am going to hit a birdie," before swinging its clubs at Swellow.
  • Houndoom (who is a flaming dog) is amused by the opportunity to eat a hot dog at a funfair.
• Vot Ocksent?: Apparently Meowth is totally unaware that he has an accent, given his reaction to Lucario asking why he has one.

W

• Waxing Lyrical:
  • Dexter the Pokedex has a go at this.
    Ash: Okay, let's try another use of Rain Dance. This time, you're trying to make it as big as possible.
    Entei: (sighs) Of course you are. Why does it always rain on me?
    Dexter: Is it because you lied when you were seventeen?
    Beat
    Flygon: What?
    Dexter: Sorry, sometimes I forget that not everyone knows all the songs. In the world.
  • In Chapter 153, Arbok and Seviper share a dialogue full of references to Gilbert and Sullivan.
• Weather Dissonance:
  • The crazy weather Ash and the others have to put up with on occasion is implied to be a result of Butterfree disrupting the weather patterns when he used Sunny Day in the middle of a rainstorm to save Charmander's life. Another possibility that gets suggested is that temperamental Legendaries are to blame. Given that some of the legendaries are genuinely insane (as shown in the segments with Aaron), this is entirely possible.
  • Mewtwo causes a massive storm that threatens to wipe out humanity and the Legendary Birds cause one even worse, but that was already canon.
  • Normal Pokémon sometimes get in the game, with moves like Rain Dance and Sunny Day. Lapras' use of Rain Dance altered the weather in a resort island... And had no effect on the match because they were indoors.
  • When Misty fights Entei, she makes sure to have one Pokémon out whose sole job is to perform Rain Dance any time that Entei tries to perform Sunny Day, cancelling them out.
  • The Scuffle of Legends was bad enough with Kyogre's Drizzle and Groudon's Drought, but here it's worse with Primal Kyogre's Primordial Sea and Primal Groudon's Desolate Land. The volcanic eruption is just the icing on the cake.
• Weirdness Magnet:
  • Misty actually calls Ash this. Ash accepts.
  • It's bad enough that in Chapter 38, Misty resolves an issue that originally took an entire episode without violence in a few minutes. Ash dives for cover, and even when he gets out he still prepares for an airship crash or Legendary encounter or suchlike. Considering the chapter ends at Shamouti, which had both happen...
  • Lampshaded by Ash's Houndour, who asks if his trainer is constantly followed by an Absol, a Pokémon that appears before disasters happen. At least one fan suggested that there might be an agreement between Absol that following Ash was off limits for the Absol, as every Absol would follow him otherwise.
    • When Ash meets Karen's Absol, the opposite is instead proven true. One look at what she sees as a Walking Disaster Area, and she tries to pull a defenestration exit. Shame the window was too strong.
  • Ash is described at least once as "Catnip for Legendaries."
  • This is so much the case that what would normally be a random excuse (Team Rocket attacked Elite Four member Drake because they thought his Salamence, which was sparring with Latios, belonged to Hunter J), is completely understandable.
  • Iris, upon being reminded, is a bit surprised to realize that the weirdest months of her life were because of Ash.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 261. Ash and co. suffer a massive, unmitigated defeat, as Team Galactic is able to snatch the three Lake Guardians despite their effects to stop them. This eliminates Ash's ability to Remind others of the original timeline.
• Wham Line:
  • In the middle of the Delta Episode with no meteorite to Mega Evolve Rayquaza, when Ash's Absol Mega Evolves the first thing she does is body check someone and demands Brock to voice his fleeting thought.
  Brock: What? I was going to say, uh... I think it was just that it's a pity we can't get Rayquaza a meteorite. I mean, I've seen them in… museums?
  • In Chapter 265 (Giratina and the Sky Warrior 2), Azelf gives Ash a "memory packet" to remind someone after the Memory Trio Got kidnapped by Team Galactic and thus Ash can't remind anyone else and Ash finds out who after touching Giratina...
  Giratina: Aagh! (inhales some Heal Pulse spores and calms down) When did you get – never mind, that's not important, I'm grateful you're here, now we need to… stop...
  * Giratina's voice stops*
  Giratina: Why is that moron's airship in one piece again?
  Ash: What?
  Pikachu: What?
  Shaymin: Huh?
  Ash: What do you mean, again?
  Giratina (mumbling): Oh, great work Dialga, Throw me back in time, great get-out clause if I don't know a thing about… wait, shouldn't I be in the sidereal world? And how come you can understand me?
  Pikachu:...no way, Ash, I thought you couldn't do that any more?
  Ash: So did I, but when I touched him Azelf said something… or maybe he hid something in me that would speak to me when I touched him, or… I don't know!
  • At the end of Chapter 291, a call goes out to all of Ash's Reminded friends about Team Galactic at Spear Pillar. Gary, having to end his training with Molly finds out this bit of information:
  Gary: Oh, great... *dismisses Dee's alert with a swipe of his fingers.* Molly, I'm afraid we have to stop training now!
  Molly (sighing): Aww...Why?
  Gary: Team Galactic. *Double-checks where his Pokémon are so he doesn't leave any of them behind when Alakazam teleported them back to Kanto.*
  Molly: Oh, them, they always ruin things.
  Gary (blinking): ..wait, what?
  Molly's Flareon (nodding): Yeah, they do! Ash really doesn't like them! And when Ash is upset-
  Gary: That's not what I was surprised by, neither of you is reminded, you shouldn't even know Team Galactic exists.
  Molly's Flareon: Oh, sorry, but we do, so is that good?
  Gary: It might be, I'm just not sure yet.
• Wham Shot: During Brock's "battle" with Molly in Chapter 55 (Spell of the Unown 1), we get this when Ninetales fires a second Dark Pulse at Molly's Flareon:
  Rather than reverting to an Umbreon, though, Molly's peculiar Eevee glowed – and changed into something neither of them had ever heard of.
  The Dark Pulse crackled across her pink fur, mostly dissipating, and then the Pokémon smiled at them.
  "Sylveon!" it announced, shaking out its long furry tendrils.
  "What's that?" Brock asked.
  "Do you like her?" Molly asked. "That's a Sylveon! It's a really pretty evolution of Eevee!"
• What Are You?: Mewtwo asks this about Ash when Ash not only challenges him one-on-one, but also reveals him capable of using Ghost-type attacks via Blood Magic.
  Mewtwo: What are you?
  Ash: Just a kid trying to fill some very big boots.
• What Does She See in Him?: When talking to Buneary in the first Sinnoh chapter, Pikachu admits that he doesn't understand what she finds so attractive about him.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Sabrina's father makes a brief appearance in Chapter 12, trying and failing to stop Ash and his friends from entering Saffron Gym and challenging Sabrina and disappears after that (not even appearing at the end of the chapter after Ash has cured Sabrina with Aura Purge).
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • When facing the Grass Gym, Ash temporarily forgets that he has Charizard. The strongest fire Pokémon on his team. Who he specifically brought for this gym. Who has Blast Burn, an attack that is only second in power to the local equivalent of a nuclear strike. Ivysaur, who had just gotten done with what is lampshaded as one of the longest Pokémon matches ever (due to various moves not affecting the combatants), was not pleased at this little fact, and roughs up Ash appropriately.
  • Suicune calls out Raikou for trying to throw the battle between him and Ash just so he can learn Volt Crash from Pikachu.
  • Ho-Oh has chastised Ash more than once for not calling on his aid, even when there was a very good reason to.
  • Max calls Lucario out for Tempting Fate on Ash's birthday.
  • Tobias is absolutely incredulous that Ash has not only not used a single one of his 10 Legendaries in their final match, but is ending it with Butterfree, and demands to know if Ash is actually taking him seriously.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: In the future-bubble, Aaron and the dragons need to scale a cliff. Sir Aaron jumps up with his aura and Giratina flies up because he's a ghost. Palkia floats up by using his spacial powers to negate gravity. As for Dialga, Dragon of Time? Well, it takes time to fall^*  Basically, Dialga reversed time on falling, turning it into rising, which honestly shouldn't work unless he had already fallen..
  • When Ash catches the Beasts of Ecruteak, he immediately begins working with them on training that involves teaching them how to not have just a hammer, such as moves that aren't of their type, or how to use their types in more interesting applications.
  • Subverted in Max's gym battle with Sabrina, where Jirachi loses to Mew because all he was using was Future Sight and not much else. Sabrina even discusses it.
    Sabrina: Not every Pokémon is a nail, even if your Pokémon is the best hammer there is.
  • Juvia and Gray, Mavis's Primarina and Alolan Ninetales, tend to use a lot of Water and Ice.
  • Blaziken notes that most humans rely entirely on their Pokémon to attack.
  • May notes that Skitty using Assist works, but they should still use some TMs to get her a more reliable moveset.
  • For many of the past movie events (from LaRousse City and Altomare to Alamos Town, Gracidea Vale and even the Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon), Ash and Co.'s expanded teams, Olympus Mons members and past knowledge means that they can face their opposition with equal or greater firepower and solve their problems that way. This unfortunately is not the case during Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, as defeating Marcus by force majeure leads to a cascade effect that results in many of the past apocalypses not being stopped. It's only when they employ diplomacy that they are finally successful.
• Who's on First?:
  • Downplayed; Houndour is confused when Ash remembers that they're going to visit Mewtwo, but the joke isn't carried as far as it could have been.
    Houndour: You met who? Two Mew?
    Ash: No, only one of them is Mew. The other's Mewtwo.
    Houndour: ...no, I still don't understand.
  • One scene involves Mawile trying to understand what Skitty means by "like", with Skitty's answers involving a lot of "likes".
• Who Is Driving?: Chapter 165: Scuffle of Legends 3 When the Team Rocket trio's in their plane and looking out:
  Jessie: Huh. I guess Rayquaza can Mega Evolve too.
  Meowth: Ya think?
  James: Yeah. And-
  Jessie: Wait. Who's flying the plane?
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?:
  • Hunter J tries to defy this trope on Ash and Lucario. It fails every time.
  • Jessebelle tries to do this with the TRio, and only the intervention of Growlie keeps anyone from getting hurt.
  • In Chapter 278, Team Galactic finally decide to do this to Ash. With a sniper rifle. If not for Absol and Mewtwo, they might've succeeded.
• Why Won't You Die?: Original Cyrus says as much when he sees Ash come back to life right before his eyes, right after he just had him disintegrated.
• Wild Mass Guessing: In-Universe with Barry and the online speculation during the Delta Episode.
• Willfully Weak: Ash for the most part tries to avoid using his Legendary Pokémon unless they specifically request it, seeing as how his team was swept by Tobias using two legendaries in the previous time line. Ash doesn't want to be the kind of guy who would just bulldoze through people with super-overpowered 'mons, and wants to help people improve and just have honest challenges. Ho-Oh calls him out on this, pointing out that as long as he doesn't go overboard it should be fine.
  • When his Lily of the Valley Tournament final match with Tobias happens and Ash doesn't use his Legendaries, Tobias demands to know why Ash is holding back, because he sees that not putting forward your best at all times, even if it means stomping your opponent, is a sign of disrespect. Ash replies with his view that if he did that, he'd feel even worse because he'd be a bully who's not even giving his opponent a chance.
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Out of all the things that Ash and Co. had changed by the time Dawn's memories are restored, the one thing she can't believe out of the Time Travel, Olympus Mons, or the Cosmic Retcon... is the fact that Brock now has a girlfriend.
• The Worf Barrage: Original Team Galactic unleashes a last-ditch Alpha Strike on the Pokémon that Ash sends out - Arceus, to absolutely no avail.
• The Worf Effect: Infrequently, due to the World of Badass measures employed by the author to prevent an overabundance of Curb-Stomp Battle. One notable example, however, is Primal Groudon oneshotting Raikou, who had previously proven himself more than capable of giving a large chunk of Ash's A-game the runaround and generally proving himself quite the tough guy.
  • In fact, Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre do quite a bit of this, taking on every single Pokémon Ash has that could make a difference, including six different Mega-Evolutions and ten different Legendaries at the same time, including Mewtwo, and are more inconvenienced by the fact that they're fighting each other than anything anyone manages to do to them, before Mega Rayquaza flattens them both in the span of thirty seconds.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • Misty manages to beat Suicune using just 2 Pokémon, even though she previously faced her brothers with a full team of 6, and still lost to Raikou and drew with Entei. This is not only because Misty's Water-type specialization means she intimately knows Suicune's type weaknesses, but also by this point, Suicune had been caught by Ash, and observing her training with Ash during their travels means that Misty knows exactly what areas Suicune is strong in and which ones she's still trying to shore up.
  • Rayquaza, not expecting or noticing Groudon and Kyogre to be in their Primal forms, is taken off guard and brutally beaten by them before Ash gives him the power to Mega-Evolve.
  • Pikachu only loses to Wallace's Greninja because he was unfamiliar with the Pokémon and his Protean ability, and his current worries about his strength did him no favors either. Wallace himself says that if Pikachu had a better knowledge of what he was facing, he likely would have won, and gives Ash the badge anyway.
  • Mike, one of Ash's opponents in the Ever Grande Conference, wasn't used to Double Battles, and neither were his Pokémon. The result was his Wailord accidentally squashing his Vileplume, forcing him to forfeit.
• World of Snark: Everyone has at least one snarky moment. Ash and Lucario are the only exceptions, as they are very prevalent snarkers.
• World's Strongest Mon: Mewtwo loves to remind other that he is this.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Mewtwo has this opinion when he stands on Mt. Silver and looks at the Kanto and Johto regions, contemplating that despite the former being more industrialized and the latter more traditional, both have a thriving society centered around and alongside Pokémon.
• World of Badass: If not this timeline's world (as stated in Adaptational Badass), then definitely the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon world created by Arceus for Aaron and his Creation Trio, where even a little Sunkern can Absorb-drain Palkia down to the dregs.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Cipher has no compunctions about holding a baby Lugia hostage to capture its mother.
  • In Chapter 278, Team Galactic finally decide to order a sniper hit on Ash. Keep in mind, at this point, Ash is still 14/15.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Played doubly straight with Lt. Surge, who initially believes Riolu's Aura Sphere is a close-range attack because of an anime he watched, resulting in his Pokémon getting knocked out. However, he later shows that his knowledge of Electric Type Pokémon is top notch when his Raichu overloads Pikachu, something even Ash wasn't aware could happen.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: After Aaron's Lucario beats Ash in a hand-to-hand spar, he accidentally calls Ash Aaron. He feels like it's a dishonor to think of Ash and Aaron as the same person, even if they are related, but Ash instead thinks it's an honor to be compared to such a great person.

X

• Xanatos Gambit: Pikachu pulls off one during his match against Tobias's Darkrai using a tightly woven electrical shield to deflect everything Darkrai sends at him, even Dark Void. Rather than let Pikachu win through attrition, Tobias and Darkrai figure out a way of expanding the shield and slipping a Dark Void through - and as soon as Pikachu falls asleep, the woven electrical currents all explosively unravel, which not only batters Darkrai with a multitude of electricity, but also knocks out Pikachu himself, meaning that Darkrai can't heal himself with Dream Eater to prepare for Ash's next Pokémon.

Y

• Yank the Dog's Chain: A comparatively harmless example: Brock has been given a lot of shade for being more of an illusion-based Gym Leader instead of a Rock-type specialist, and his girlfriend Philena has managed to find a Pokémon for him that could buck the trend: the Alolan Rock-type Rockruff. Then she turns out to be a Zorua in disguise. Brock takes it in good humor though, and he later gets an actual Rockruff at the start of the Sinnoh arc.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Reshiram uses a "thee" at one point.
• You Are Not Alone:
  • Meowth reassuring Cubone about her angst with her family's memories.
  • Ash's talk to his Absol when her berserk Mega Evolution almost causes her to hurt Ash.
  • Ash's talk to Pikachu about how he doesn't have to take sole responsibility of protecting him; he has the rest of the team to back him up.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Invoked as a strategy by Max; if he calls his Pokémon by their species name rather than their nickname, it means he wants them to do the opposite of what he tells them to. Unfortunately, he uses it consistently enough that one opponent in the Indigo League gets wise to it.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • Rocket Executive Tyson is pretty smug when he brings out Mega Tyranitar (when Megas are a new development), thinking that the only heavy hitters Ash has on hand are Charizard and Entei, and both of them are weak to Rock. But his reaction changes when Ash brings out Mega Heracross.
    Tyson: No. You're joking.
  • Brock's reaction when a Rockruff that Professor Ivy got for him transforms into a Zorua, for the second time. However, it was just a joke on Zorua's part, it really was a Rockruff the second time.
• You Meddling Kids: After Raikou fails to deliberately lose to Ash and get caught just to learn Volt Crash, he claims that, "I would have gotten away with it were it not for my meddling sister."
• You Never Asked: Invoked by Lance when a Team Magma grunt is surprised to learn that he has a Dragonite. Of course, there are good reasons he didn't volunteer the information sooner, but when Groudon and Kyogre undergo primal reversion he has nothing to lose.
• You No Take Candle: Apparently, a Pokémon trying to speak in another Pokémon's language results in some... odd accents and grammatical issues when Aura-translated. Such as a Zorua, disguised as a Rockruff, trying to Pokémon Speak in Rockruff.
• You're Insane!:
  • Aaron's reaction to the concept of a "Legendary Pokémon Three Legged Race," especially since there are so many variations on how Pokémon move - ranging from hovering (no legs) to having too many legs for the race to work, not to mention the sheer difference in sizes between them. Arceus admits that the whole idea was because he was running out of games.
  • The reaction of most of the Pokémon of the Phantom Pirate cell when they attempt to kidnap Manaphy and go up against Ho-Oh.
• Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: No actual reproduction involved, but a kid Ash and Co. run into has to be informed that his Croconaw is female. It wouldn't have been a problem, except that he'd nicknamed her Steve. She was promptly rechristened Terri.
• You Were Trying Too Hard: Apparently part of the reason Ash has No Sense of Direction is his tendency to overthink things. When he's not thinking about where he's going, he usually does fine.
• Yubitsume: What Giovanni demands from Annie and Oakley when their actions run counter to his plans.