Fandom Specific Plot / Pokémon

Fandom-Specific Plot examples for the Pokémon franchise.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. Examples shouldn't be added until one month after release, to avoid any knee-jerk reactions and allow time for fanfic to be written.

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General

• The default for Pokémon-centric fics are for them to take place in a nondescript forest in a nondescript region.
• Any character, be it an Author Avatar, an original character, or even an existing fictional character from any sort of media, waking up in either the standard Pokémon continuity to make the trainer's journey, or in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon continuity transformed into a Pokémon themselves. Cases of the latter, and sometimes the former, often have some of the main character's family, friends, or even enemies transported into the world along with them. Sometimes the "trainer is late so they end up with a nonstandard starter Pokemon" plot is quite common thanks to many a writer using Ash's own acquisition of Pikachu as a basis for their character's beginnings. Otherwise, the classic "one of the three traditional region starters" is used. Fics that try to avoid both have their most common methods be the character receiving their first partner by finding them injured and bringing them to health or have the Mon given to them by a family member.
• In Pokémon fanworks of all kinds, the idea of Pokémon fusion has been a very popular idea for a long time, thanks it being a feature in other Mons series like Digimon, while the Pokémon video games would only play with it twice (the Gen V trio of legendaries in Gen V has Kyurem able to fuse with Reshiram or Zekrom to become more powerful, and the Gen VII trio has Necrozma able to fuse with Solgaleo or Lunala) after going five generations without it (if one discounts Slowbro), the Pokémon Adventures manga did this right from generation one by fusing the three legendary birds.
• Manaphy using Heart Swap on characters is another fairly common plot. This tends to happen between two human characters, especially in fics based on the anime that usually have Manaphy switching Ash and one of his companions, though that isn't to say that Pokémon-Pokémon swaps or even human-Pokémon swaps (in any of the continuities) aren't fairly easy to find as well.
• A popular crossover idea is to take character(s) from Series X and figure out what Pokémon they would have if they were a trainer. Would they have only one or two, a full team or an entire storage system full of teams? Would their team reflect the powers and abilities the character has in their home series, or would it be based on their personality, character theme, etc.? This is most often seen in the form of fanart, but fanfics that amount to "Series X but with Pokémon" or "Series X characters in the Pokéworld" are just as common.
• Pokémon being portrayed as slaves and rebelling, a deconstruction/alternate interpretation of the premise of the series. Many of these fics may make use of the ending of the anime as originally planned by Takeshi Shudō, and thus find themselves based more on that continuity.
• Childhood fics for any of the Childhood Friends in the franchise are a dime a dozen.
• The protagonist being villainous or at minimum dark. The game version of Dawn is especially associated with this plot due to her design making for an Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, combined with her source game's relationship with Darkrai, Giratina, and Team Galactic.
• The protagonists and their rivals turning into a Dysfunction Junction after the events of the games. This is most common in games with darker plots like the Sinnoh, Unova, and Alola games, but it applies in general.
• Fanfiction, particularly those centered around an original trainer, will often use elements from both the games, such as the character facing the Elite Four after earning eight badges (not a tournament), and the anime, such as professors routinely handing out the starter Pokémon to new trainers, or the concept of Pokémon only being able to say their names.
• Fanfics of various properties will either drop certain limits from the game mechanics, such as the six-party limit or four-move limit, or explain them to be a legal or competition rule thing instead of an unexplained rule of the universe. In the latter case, 'experienced' trainers can apply to carry more than six at a time.
• Fanworks about "Pokemorphs" (human characters who either have the ability to turn into Pokémon or have had their DNA spliced with Pokémon DNA) also show up from time to time. Often, particularly in the "spliced DNA" scenario, the story involves a criminal organisation such as Team Rocket kidnapping a bunch of characters and turning them into human-Pokémon hybrids as part of a scheme to create "the ultimate Pokémon." The appearance of these hybrids ranges from those who still look mostly human (but may have anatomical features such as ears, wings or tails from the Pokémon they are crossed with) to those who look like anthropomorphic Pokémon.
• A popular shipping fic formula that usually uses characters and pairings from both the anime and the games involves putting the characters into an AU where they're put into two different (often rival) groups of high schoolers/secret agents/idols/chosen heroes/etc, usually divided by gender. Naturally, they clash a bit as the plot goes on before eventually falling in love with each other. Pokémon tend to be pushed to the sidelines or nonexistent in these fics, usually so more focus can be placed upon the romantic shenanigans. Expect at least a couple of the characters to have a Dark and Troubled Past as well (e.g. a Lonely Rich Kid, someone with Abusive Parents (possibly combined with the former), or someone going through the Orphan's Ordeal).

Anime

• A fic type that existed before the implementation of more real-life educational facilities in the series is an expanded school curriculum before Ash and co go on journeys. Along with setting the age of being a trainer farther along, it typically does include Pokémon somewhere and is often presented as a recent shift, often being within Ash's living memory. Naturally Ash will complain he can't be a trainer at age 10 anymore at some point in the first few chapters.
• The most popular set of plot points for fics related to the anime: the characters growing/being older, and Ash is/or will become a Pokémon Master (whatever the author decides that means, usually being a Pokémon Master and being one of the Pokémon Champions is treated as basically one-in-the-same). This isn't specific to any single fic plot, but most of the fanfics tied to the anime, regardless of the broader plot, rely on the conceit that the characters can/do age. Particularly any shipping fics, because the idea of 10-year-olds hooking up (frequently followed by sex, shown or implied) is a bit much even for most hardcore shippers to accept. So it will quickly be established that time has been passing as Ash engages in his adventures and the plot will go from there. In more recent non-AU fics, which usually consider the most recent seasons, Ash and the other characters will usually be somewhere around 16-19, rather than canon-declared ten. Ash becoming a Pokémon Master is so common it's usually just a given with any fic with him as the main character. Frequently it will be a major part of the plot and his goal, other times he'll have already achieved the title.
  • Fics will often adjust the age to become a Pokémon Trainer to a later age. This is frequently done with the intent of not only allowing Ash to be shown as smarter and a better trainer, as it naturally would follow that Ash would be smarter and a better planner if he's older, but also to enable the fic writer to write romance and sexual relationships quicker. This is a very common change in particular for Pokeshipping and Amourshipping (as Misty and Serena would be the female companions most easily set up in this scenario to be with Ash), and is also common in Advanceshipping and Pearlshipping (as the two are shown to be starting as Pokémon trainers at the start of the series).
  • Regarding the aging of Ash, pretty much every fanfic ignores the 'Ash is still 10' statements in some way or another. The only time that they don't it usually has some plot relevance, and 99% of these tend to be either trying to be angsty (such as having Ash have some sort of family condition that keeps him from aging) or is usually followed by some entity keeping him at said age (like Dialga or Ho-Oh) undoing it and thus altering the setting to remove the trope or instigating a Peggy Sue plot to do the same.
• Tons of Ash/Misty fics are set up by Team Rocket kidnapping Misty and Ash saving her (or the other way around), leading them to discover their true feelings for each other.
• Variations on plots where Ash is betrayed by his friends and loved ones and he goes off on his own with only his Pokémon (except in variants where even his Pokémon also betray him), becoming more powerful are unnervingly common. These fics tend to involve Ash vanishing for years before resurfacing at a tournament and defeating everyone with his newfound strength. Also don't expect the betrayal part to make much sense or be in character. At all. With anyone. The "Betrayal Fic" is diffused enough it has finally started gathering parodies such as Reunions Can Be Good and Bad, and is generally considered horrible by a countless writers and readers up to the point of outright mockery in many circles.
• Fics involving Ash getting serious with his training and goals. This usually involves Ash not behaving like Ash and basically being an author avatar for competitive battling. One specific variation of the "Ash Betrayed" plot is Ash being framed for some crime, being forced to go on the run and survive on his own, effectively forcing him to train harder just to survive and then meet up with the traitors at some League. Naturally these fics are Darker and Edgier than canon but also at least make an attempt to make sense beyond the characters betraying Ash because the plot requires them to.
• Fics involving Ash's father and Ash's backstory. Some have his dad abandon his family when Ash was younger, others have him never even knowing his dad, and others have Ash's dad on a journey. There's also the sub-category of "Ash finds out that his dad is Giovanni".
  • Fics that imply that Ash's canonical lack of romance is because of Ash having father issues and fearing repeating his issues, instead of the more canonical reason that Ash is (officially) ten and thus not particularly romantic, are not uncommon.
  • Ash's father being used as a way to make Ash feel bad about something the author wants changed, like Ash's team rotations, are also not hard to find. In canon Ash did not react positively or negatively in the rare occasions his father comes up and otherwise shows no sign that he has any issues on the topic one way or another.
    • By extension of the above, plots about Ash hating his father for abandoning the family are not hard to find even when they are not used as means to have Ash do something differently. In canon Ash rarely brings him up, the one time he did positively being in Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle which is another continuity, but when characters with father issues have discussed the idea (such as Brock and Roark), Ash has never shown an inclination to chip in anything in solidarity.
• "*Enter Pokémon Here* Becomes A Human" fics are not uncommon, especially to work around Interspecies Romance.
• Jessie reuniting with her Missing Mom Miyamoto is a popular concept in Team Rocket fics, as are Hurt/Comfort and angsty fics related to Jessie's trauma over Miyamoto's disappearance.
• Ash becoming a Frontier Brain is a common plot that often comes with Ash/Anabel shipping, typically coming in two flavors with Ash either as an eighth Frontier Brain or, particularly in later set stories, replacing a retired or deceased Spenser.
• There a lot of fanfics that include terms like "Smart!Ash" and "Powerful!Ash" in the summary (Naruto has a lot of similar fics). These are re-tellings of the anime featuring an Ash that isn't an Idiot Hero. They also very often either include the writer's favorite Ash ship (usually Ash/Misty or Ash/Serena) or are outright harem fics. An even larger number of these fics will have Ash basically being an author avatar and have little to any trace of his canon characterization. These fics share a lot of similar makeups to the 'get serious' type of fic mentioned earlier, mainly diverging in a lack (or at least fewer) pot shots at parts of canon the writer doesn't like and when the change in attitude starts.
• Most fics about the Pokémon themselves are set in the games universe, however those that aren't tend to be about what the character's Pokémon do when they're not battling or training.
• Fics that go into depth on Jessie's relationship with Cassidy are commonplace in TR-centric works.
• In the Original Series days there were many fics about Oak and Delia have Unresolved Sexual Tension and having to come to terms with their feelings despite their large age gap (and usually baggage due to the loss of their previous lover). These haven't disappeared but are far less common than before.
• A previous female partner meets up with Ash and it causes tension with Ash's new traveling partner. The most common set-up is Misty meeting Serena and either Serena realizing that Ash likes Misty or Serena otherwise being jealous of Misty's (romantic or platonic) relationship with Ash.
• Thanks to Pokémon Live!, there's several works on Delia having a Dark and Troubled Past as a Team Rocket member.
• Misty being brainwashed/blackmailed to join Team Aqua or temporarily returning to help Ash defeat them. This comes from an old rumor that Misty was going to do either one.
• An example not relating to the main series anime: Episode 15 of Pokémon Generations ended with Hilbert (the male protagonist of Pokémon Black and White arriving to help N defeat Ghetsis. Inevitably, fans (especially a certain subset of fans) began writing stories about what happened after N and Hilbert defeated Ghetsis. These usually involve N and Hilbert kissing.
• Prior to Ash's Pikachu being confirmed as male, many wrote it as female. In many of these works, Ash would be under the impression that Pikachu was male until given an Unsettling Gender-Reveal. Oftentimes, Ash was the only one of his friends who didn't know this.
• Reversing Lusamine's Adaptational Heroism and presenting the more villainous, obsessive Lusamine from Pokémon Sun and Moon in the anime's 'verse.
• "What if [*insert companion's name here*] didn't leave Ash's group and remained with him for [*insert region name here*]?" Very common plot for shipping fics, for obvious reasons. Said companion will always be the one the author ships Ash with, and they will usually end up together not too far in. Usually these fics will just Handwave away whatever reason the anime gave for said character leaving Ash in the first place.
• Patchwork Fics using the game's or Pokémon Adventure's characterizations for undeveloped characters in the anime's continuity.
• It's not uncommon for fanfic writers to add to Ash's party several Pokémon he befriended but never officially caught, two of the most popular being Lucario from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, and the Aura Sphere Riolu from Diamond & Pearl, or otherwise getting one of said evolutionary line. The latter became a bit of an Ascended Fanon in the Pokémon Journeys anime, when Ash caught a Riolu for real.
  • In general a fanfic will have Ash and the other characters catch more Pokémon than they did in canon, from a selection of both Pokémon from the anime that the writer wishes the main cast captured to completely original captures of the writer's preference. Any story that focuses on a different take on Ash's adventures will nearly always add to Ash's canon catches, though alongside the later mentioned 29 Tauros, reductions seeing him not catch certain members of his team will also happen.
• Though it's not a plot but it appears often in fanfics. The T.R.io (Jessie James and Meowth) often receive the short end of being used by authors/writers in Anime Fanfics since they tend to get Demoted to Extra. At best they appear lesser than usual while still relevant to the plots and at worst they end up as unimportant characters, cameos or Adapted Out entirely. The later will frequently have the author express dislike of them and their motto in the story in very blatant Author Tract moments.
• Rewriting Ash as stronger and/or smarter, which in turn causes him to win controversial battles he lost. The most common rewrites are Kanto (to make him smarter at the start) and Unova (to remove the infamous character reset).
  • There are quite a few in which Ash defeats Alain and takes the Kalos League Championship.
• Ash learning to actively use his Aura abilities that came up in movie 8 alongside the Diamond and Pearl and Journeys series. As what that even entails isn't defined in canon this skillset basically becomes whatever the writer at the time wants it to do for the plot.
• Fans have taken the dub of Pokémon 2000 calling Ash the Chosen One to go beyond the confines on the movie and basically be the default explanation of why he keeps running into strange and crazy events. When the title is used, however, there is also a tendency to write Ash as having angst about the sheer level of madness he deals with that he shrugs off in canon (with one common add-on to this plot during the Sun and Moon series being that he's in Alola to be on vacation from world shattering events) and Ash having full Rage Against the Heavens and a grudge against Arceus about everything he's put through not being a hard variant of the idea to find.
  • The title often involves 'blessings', either in words or in actuality, by a variety of legendries including Arceus, Ho-oh, Lugia, and Giratina. Sometimes this involves them outright seeking Ash out, sometimes he is unaware of it. This often is a result of fics linking random events from Ash's history, such as him and Pikachu seeing Ho-Oh fly overhead in the first episode or the times he saved Arceus and Giratina in the movies to the events of the dub version of Movie 2000.
• Due to their relationship that developed in the Sun and Moon series, many fanfics about exploring Kukui as Ash's parental figure have appeared, many following in the wake of such stories as A Professor and a Student, and in reference to the story that started the trend are known as 'Papa Kukui' fics. These range from the common take of in addition to Delia to an also common, but very much Ron the Death Eater filled fics treating Delia as a bad parent that Kukui and Burnett gain custody of Ash from.
• Stories tend to note the abilities of mons more than the anime does, which tends to bring them up infrequently. Especially if the ability is not mentioned in the anime, fanfics will tend to lean towards the in-game best abilities for the mon in question, though it is not uncommon to see a canon ability replaced with the 'better' ability.
• Fanfics frequently adapt elements from the games that were not featured in the anime, such as the Rocket Game Corner and Silph Co operations, the Team Plasma plot of the first games, Silver as a rival, and the Delta Episode. In general villain teams generally become more involved in fanfics than they tend to be in the anime series.
  • A common expansion of Team Rocket in fanfics is to frame them much more heavily in the organized crime tropes than show in the series. In particular, when Ash and co end up stumbling into their schemes and foiling them, Giovanni will, attempt or succeed, in inflicting retribution upon Ash's loved ones for him standing up to them. Along with others lecturing Ash for getting involved, this is a common way of adding 'realism' to stories.
• The most common change seen to Ash in fanfics of series from Hoenn onward is the wider use of his reserves at Oak's lab. How this is implemented varies, ranging from just deciding to do so to being treated as anything from Ash being smarter to doing so on a whim to even being more moral.
  • Oak's Lab in the latter fics is often demonized where, in canon, there is nothing that suggests that the Pokémon are miserable there. These stories also frequently ignore that Ash's team can and have asked, or tagged along with, Ash to come along with him and Ash has no objections (as in the case of Phanpy and Aipom) in order to make Ash feel guilty and ashamed of himself at the expense of implying his team has no agency despite the aforementioned canon examples of said agency. These stories also assume that Ash can only decide to use reserves because of a feeling of guilt or shaming and not simply deciding to use them as he has at several points in time without treating it like a major character shift.
• Due to how extremely unpopular the decision of having Ash catch 30 Tauros in the Safari Zone is among most of the fanbase, many fanfic writers change it, so he only ends up with one Tauros (and some fanfic writers even note that their reviewers actively demand or request such a change):
  • If the fanfic is set before the capture episode, Ash will only catch one Tauros. There will or will not be a Take That! at the anime's decision of making Ash catch 30 Tauros. Ash will also catch other Pokémon during his visit to the Safari Zone, with Scyther and especially Dratini being popular choices.
  • If the fanfic is set after that, a very frequent plot idea is Ash trading 29 of those Tauros for other Pokémon, generally done without explaining why Ash, who developed a dislike of trading following his first trade on the Anne, would be so quick to decide otherwise where Ash would more in character to catch new Pokémon instead of obtaining them from strangers, though it should be noted that this is done mostly for the sake of getting rid of the other 29 Tauros rather than giving Ash new Pokémon. These stories often come with the same sort of melodrama that Oak Lab demonization fics employ, treating it as more moral despite no sign that the Tauros are unhappy. In fact, you never see the other 29 Tauros's opinion on the matter raised in these stories.
• Anime-Game fics that feature Ash, sometimes alone and sometimes with other characters like various companions, being sent to Hisui are common, which frequently drop the implications of amnesia and frequently depict him as an Outside-Context Problem for the Galaxy Expedition Team and the Clans.
• A common premise of Ash/Serena fics is Grace and Serena moving to Pallet Town after Ash meets Serena at the Oak Summer Camp, so she and Ash begin their Pokémon Journey together. Her starter is usually Charmander, also making her a stand-in for the unknown trainer who picked Charmander in canon.
  • While these fics at first had Serena explore a variety of possible paths, the stories eventually settled on the idea that Serena would be a Pokémon Coordinator while Ash campaigned for Gym Badges.
  • A few variants of the above format have Ash instead go to Kalos to be with Serena after the summer camp, starting in Kalos instead.
• A common theme in many fics based on Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon deal with Ash having PTSD from the the events of his journey, most of the centering on what happened after the Kalos League, going as far as to have Ash be haunted by nightmares of Lysandre and the torture he suffered when Lysandre tried to take control of him and Greninja.
• Several quick fanon ideas for an Ash in Paldea story, predating an announcement of an Scarlet and Violet anime that would see Ash succeeded by a new pair of protagonists.
  • Ash as a professor, either as a guest lecturer or permanent, emerged as a way to place him in Paldea without rehashing Sun and Moon. Typically he'd cover world traveling and long term training in contrast to Battle Studies, taught by Dendra.
  • Ash and Nemona getting along swimmingly quickly came into the fandom zeitgeist, Nemona's similarities to Ash were quickly noticed by the fanbase. Among the variants of said general idea include incorporation of Nemona into the World Coronation Series, allowing Nemona battles among skilled peers as well as an easy incorporation of Nemona into a variety of plots.
• For fans of Chloe, many fanfics have her start off with Yamper as her starter, instead of her canon partner, Eevee. This doesn't mean Eevee isn't captured, but Yamper becomes her partner and she has adventures with Yamper prior to meeting Eevee, who in canon is the origin of her going on more adventures.
• If a story has a Galarian Ponyta and Chloe in it, chances are that the latter will gain ownership of the former, whether it's through battling, befriending one, or a trade.
• It is not uncommon in expanded Kanto stories to have Paul show up. In canon Paul had traveled through Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn prior to Ash's arrival in Sinnoh and the Battle Frontier in the anime is set in Kanto, and Paul was there at the start of his journey to see Reggie's battle with Brandon, so it is not inconceivable from a in-universe lore perspective to add Paul into Kanto as a rival to supplement or supplant Gary. There is simply no confirming that this happened in the anime, or even that Paul challenged the regions in the same order as Ash did.
• Having Ash be a Zorua disguised as a human is a small but developed niche of fanfics, exploring what it means to be a Pokémon training Pokémon.
• A version of an alternate Ash journey with Ash focusing on a single type of Pokémon, such as Dragon or Bug, known as Type Specialist Ash stories, began to emerge in the fandom during the 2020s.

Manga

• Pokémon Adventures: Red/Yellow fics where Red finds out that Yellow was the girl he rescued when he was ten.

Video Games

Red/Blue/Green/FireRed/LeafGreen/Let's Go

• Red accidentally kills Blue's Raticate and this either traumatizes Blue or makes him snap. The Trope Maker is likely Poor Rival.

Gold/Silver/HeartGold/SoulSilver

• Silver's mother being Ariana is a common fanon, so works about Ariana's relationship (or lack of one) wIth Silver and Giovanni aren't uncommon.

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

• Zinnia frequently has plots that involve her being the last Draconid, usually discounting her grandmother. Said grandmother is usually discounted because several of these stories invoke Only You Can Repopulate My Race. This is not a universal setting though, and Adventures style stories where Draconids are not so reduced are not uncommon.
  • Before Aster was confirmed to be Zinnia's friend/predecessor Aster was frequently written as Zinnia's lost child, usually dead at a young age by some tragic circumstances. After the Word of God this has reduced, though it is still occasionally seen.

Black/White/Black 2/White 2

• Hilda and N being reunited. Rarer is the alternative of using Hilbert instead of Hilda, though as mentioned above, this became a bit more common after Pokémon Generations.

Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

• Lillie returns from Kanto a few years in the future and pairs up with Selene/Eilio.
• Red and Blue are on a honeymoon or date during the Alola games. Hijinks and romance occurs.
• There are many fanworks on Lillie and Gladion's childhoods with Lusamine.
• Post Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, fics involving the Selene and Gladion pairing has stories of Gladion's travels in Kanto and Johto and how he got his Kanto starter, since it's Gladion who leaves for Kanto in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon instead of Lillie.

Sword/Shield

• A side-quest in the game that lets you obtain the apples needed to evolve an Applin to a Flapple or Appletun involves an urban legend that giving an Applin to someone they like would ensure a happy relationship between them. This has become a subject in various shipping fanworks where one gives the Applin to the other party.
• Post-apocalyptic AUs where the Darkest Day happens but doesn't end.
• Mixing elements of British mythology into Galar fanfics. Stories involving ghosts and fairies are especially common.
• Bede having emotional baggage and trouble getting close to other thanks to a Dark and Troubled Past.
• Going more in-depth into Hop's desire to be better than his brother and rival.
• Pre-canon works where Nessa, Sonia, and Leon were rivals as kids.

Legends: Arceus

• Pre-canon fics about Ingo's time in Hisui before the playable Rei/Akari shows up are abound.
• For some fans who think Kamado got off lightly for his unjustified banishment of the Player Character out of Jubilife Village, they write and/or make fanworks involving Revenge Fic plots where Kamado sends the Player Character off to harsher environment areas like Alabaster Iceland instead of the Obsidian Plains, have the Player Character die and when Kamado, Adaman and Irida later comes to the area to find the missing Player Character once Kamado realized that the Player Character dying does nothing and that he had been wrong, they instead found the Player Character having come back wrong as a vengeful spirit on the verge of becoming a Hisuian Zoroark to give Kamado some form of Karma for his Improperly Paranoid act of banishing them and ass-kicking for the banishment.

Scarlet and Violet

• Thanks to popular Fan theories, stories where the Paradox Pokémon are actually Tulpas created by the minds of Professors Sada and Turo interacting with Area Zero itself are surprisingly common. The rather odd cutscenes featuring Turo/Sada implying that dimension travel was involved didn't do much to stop them
• Giving greater involvement to Arven, Penny and Nemona in Dlc's story is incredibly popular. This is thanks to a) the other three students being generic NPCs with no real impact on the plot. b) The Teal Mask releasing months after most of the playerbase finished the main plot.