Fanfic / Brave New World (Pokémon)

Brave New World is a fanfiction written by Ri2, and the sequel to Latias' Journey. In this world, many, many years have passed since the events in Latias' Journey, sending our main protagonists, Ash and Pikachu into the familiar world of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.

The plot is heavily inspired by the Paper Mario game, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. Although, not so much inspired as it is a Darker and Edgier retelling with Pokemon Ash, reborn as a Lucario, and Pikachu, reborn as a Pikachu, travel to find the Crystal Stars before the Big Bad.

Like Ri2's other fanfiction, this one has its healthy share of comedy, romance, action, psychopaths, and stuff that WILL keep you up at night.

Can be read here. No relation to Aldous Huxley's novel, the Iron Maiden album or the Final Fantasy VI ROM Hack, despite the name.

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The story includes the tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Blackarachnia has one in Tarantulas. "...Is this seriously happening? Am I seriously being propositioned by a creepy evil cyborg Ariados using unbelievably cheesy and outdated pickup lines?"
• Abusive Parents: Bellum not only abused Lily for a good portion of her life (Or unlife, based on how Ghost Pokemon work), but she's been verbally abused, mentally, constantly crushed, but the worst has to be when Bellum attaches magical chains to her, meaning, no matter how hard she tries, she can NEVER LEAVE. She shaped Lily while she was in the egg to look and have the same powers as Fantina, her hated rival. And the chains were to bind Lily's soul to Giratina the Fallen, so her soul would belong to Giratina when she evolved into a Mismagius.
• Actually a Doombot: Chobin/Arackaiser makes this excuse for his failure in the Tree of the Beginning arc. Leo says it's a lame excuse but that's actually what happened, sort of.
• Affably Evil:
  • Admittedly, while Tarantulas may seem like a total psycho, he does have the occasional gentlemanly side with the patients he's horribly mutilated. It's mostly based on his mood.
  • Oblivion's Shadow also has shades of this. He's fairly notable as being the most polite, well-mannered and reserved person in the entire series. He's fairly comparable to Deoxys from Latias' Journey, except that he has shades of being a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • Barbedo is unusually for this trope not an antagonist; he was the most vicious and monstrous pirate to ever live, and he got worse after he and his crew were cursed with immortality. To everybody's surprise, Barbedo's friendly enough to Team Aurabolt when they meet him, handing over the Star Badge animating him without any fuss, agrees to a fight for his ship and takes his defeat to Tiny in a drinking contest with good humor. He's unapologizingly brutal and loves being the worst sort of pirate, but his friendly demeanor and fondness for his crewmates make him likable in spite of that.
  • If you can get past the fact that Ford is a sinister creature who has taken fighters and been draining their powers over the course of years, he's really nice and charming.
• All Part of the Show: Pueltown assumes this when Team Nightshade star in Hayzee's production of Maria and Draco, and the performance goes horrendously off-script due to the untimely intervention of Team Perdition.
• All Webbed Up: Ash, Richie, Tiny, Cruse, Cherry and Rebecca at the talons of Denchu the Galvantula.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • If one were to believe Sasha this is the case among Absol to such a degree that they mate first and get to know their mate later. She can't get her head around doing opposite, and the rest of the team find this as weird as her eating their dead enemies.
  • The Temple of Mew is staffed by Good Bad Girls. Lily is unnerved by it but Fantina and Bow are very pious. After her marriage to Leo, Lily changes her mind.
  • The Sisterhood of Bountiful Gracidea is about as 'strict' as it in regards to sexual practices.
  • Pikachu has to get horrendously drunk before he'll mate with his love interest (who had been dropping hints for some time) and even then it takes some coaxing. He seems to be in the minority as people like Aaron are only too happy to oblige their wife's desires.
• Ambiguously Gay:
  • Palkia during the Creation Story. Dialga certainly seems to think so. Between his colouring and pearls, thinking that the Guardian of Hope (the very-much-male reincarnation of Latios) is hot and Palkia reacting with a textbook example of Not That There's Anything Wrong with That to Dialga's comment, it's obvious where Dialga is coming from.
    • Chapter 64 says that Palkia is actually a Gender Bender who chooses which gender to be when s/he wakes up in the morning. Either way, it's good enough for the Guardian of Hope.
  • The mortal Latios himself. Of course, given that he is the Guardian of Hope just as much as the Guardian is Latios...
  Latios: Aaron's mon enough to have ten girlfriends! And maybe a boyfriend or two... how do you think he feels about mons?
  Latias: Brother, are you actually sexually attracted to Aaron, or do you just have a... what do they call it... guy-crush on him?
  Latios: To be honest, I'm not sure either.
• And I Must Scream:
  • Ford's ultimate fate at the end of the Mt. Battle Arc. He's given to a Golem Troll as a Red Herring. To eternally sit on the mantle place... and Mrs. Golem's Bad cooking.
  • Everyone who gets soul-eaten by Leviathan or killed at the hands of the Nihilators is trapped in a awful place indefinitely.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Aeon of Team Quantum. The rest of his team are already here, but he pushes the trope far when he puts Team Ebony through a downright horrid Training from Hell. It grants them time-based powers and fearlessness at the cost of traumatizing them. Even his teammates were disgusted.
  • General Nuken is a sociopath who is all too eager to go around killing things. Yet he is well-intentioned, and his sociopathic tendencies are due to a Heroic Sacrifice with his brother Koga when they were a Nincada.
• Anti-Villain: According to Richie, Light of Justice is a type III; a Nice Guy with a noble goal who wants to be Richie's best friend. He just happens to be a Knight Templar. Thus, it isn't surprising that he is the reincarnation of N, King of Team Plasma. Also, when the Light of Justice hears of the true extent of the Nihilator's crimes, he wants to put aside the gathering of Arceus' plates to focus on the Nihilator's destruction, and is certain that his organization and Team Getem can put aside their conflict to defeat an organization that is truly evil.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Frequently, but one case in particular stands out in relation to Lily and the above trope.
  Leo: That bitch! Depriving you of video games growing up! That's going too far!
  • And...
  Darkrai: Yeah, aside from being an all-around asshole, the bitch called Cresselia a slut and a worthless waste of moonlight on multiple occasions. And she cheats at cards…
• Ascended Extra:
  • Most notably Lily and Briney, who were only bit characters of the day in the cartoon but are a good deal more pivotal here.
  • Raiki was originally only mentioned in Latias' Journey (and may or may not have existed), but becomes a recurring character in Brave New World.
  • As the story goes on, the main characters in Pokemon Square tend to fall into this trope; in the second chapter, Matthias first appears to show the monstrousness of the barbarians and demonstrate Ash and Pikachu's awesomeness. His role is then expanded throughout the story in order to get some nice character studying in and show him growing as Pokemon Square is explained to him.
  • Max ran an entire subplot behind everyone's backs, and is now part of a Rescue Team.
  • Most of the Pokemon in this fic that aren't either main characters (like Ash or Gary) or original characters (like Leo or Raiki) are Characters of the Day from the anime (like Lily or Briney). So you could say that most of the cast is this an example of this trope.
• The Atoner: Father Yamiri, who was a rather unsavory sort before his undeath and joining the Arcean Order. The fact that it happened four hundred years ago may have given him the time to get over any angst.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Maelstrom has the unfortunate weakness of having the orbs that are the source of it's divine power and immortality be in an exposed ribcage on it's chest. It's Lampshaded by the heroes.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Chobin.
  ChobinOh! Oh! Can I rape her and molest her body just as a Beedrill molests flowers to harvest their sweet, sweet honey nectar of sweetness that is deliciously delicious and enjoyed by Ursarings, especially if those Ursarings are being Pedobears and harvest other kinds of honey too that is from another kind of flower that is not a plant but a Pokemon unless it is a Grass type which can often be flowers and isn't actually honey at all? Her horrible disfiguring disfigurement of ugliness is turning Chobin on,"
  • Tarantulas, Bellum, Marianne, and the entire Nihilator high command. Summed up in a ridiculous exchange where Tarantulas sits there, laughing maniacally and eating popcorn, while Viers horrifically violates Bellum, and Chobin and Marianne (who just became a couple) do... whatever it is those two would do. Don't try to imagine it.
• Badass Boast:
  • The trolls accidentally think that Briney is someone called Wodin One Eye, a one eyed deity of death and terror. Briney's response? "Oh, I'm not him. I'm much worse."
  • Darkrai taunts Oblivion's Shadow, and live.
  Darkrai: I know the demons you have locked in your skull, and trust me when I say that I can make them real and even more horrifying than you've ever imagined...
• Badass Bookworm: Leo once he works off some basement fat — even before then, he managed to beat the crap out of Ash via Confusion Fu.
• Badass Preacher: Father Yamiri, who between the friendly-but-wise demeanor, explosive ofuda, and hugeass mace, seems to be a fusion of a Western Good Shepherd, a Shinto shrine priest, and a D&D battle cleric.
• Battle Butler: Butler, naturally.
• Berserk Button:
  • The very sight of Oblivion's Shadow to Ash. Yes, even broadcasts or illusions. This is a very, very bad thing.
  • Paul is this for Dawn. Merely catching a glimpse of him causes her to completely flip out.
• Beyond the Impossible:
  • Sam and Max can do this by virtue of Rule of Cool, like when Mewgle trapped them in a game (a JRPG Turn-Based Combat) and the pair of them triggered a Limit Break each, despite the fact that Mewgle deliberately avoided adding them in his game.
  • Articuno can freeze fire. Being a lower-tier ice goddess, this should be impossible for her, according to Lily. The power of shadow allowed her to surpass that rule.
  • Pikachu used to think that one could not push sound waves back with one's one sound waves.
  • Justified with Fichina's landscape: the mages there like screwing over the laws of physics because they have the magical clout to do so.
  • The Rubber Pants Commandos have flaming projectiles underwater.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Ash and Pikachu are introduced this way when they rescue Mathias from barbarians.
  • In true Sam and Max fashion, their car when they're caught in treasure town.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: T-Bone/Iron Masked Marauder. His wife and child were captured by Hunter J and sent to the Nihilators, and Team Rocket blackmailed him into betraying Team ACT to the Monkey King (which resulted in Allen killed and Charlie maimed) in order to infiltrate them on the Rockets' behalf.
• Bland-Name Product: There are alot of shows and games in this fic that are riffs of actual works.
• Blood Knight:
  • Bruno. Knowing in advance that his security detail would involve fighting evil gods and enormous fleets would only make him more excited. "This is some of the most fun I've had in ages! Yesterday I ripped my way out of the intestines of a frost giant. A frost giant! Do you know what would have happened if I'd refused the job and stayed at home? Absolutely nothing."
  • Nuken, especially during the Mt. Blaze arc.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Averted. Arceus didn't immediately strike down the Ruler of Evil during the Crisis Wars. He settled for sealing the guy in a can.
• Break Them by Talking:
  • Every single villain. Some of the heroes too. It rarely takes.
  • When Gal tries this on Team Auraforce, Charla gives him a positively stomach-turning To the Pain in reply.
  • One succeeds. Tarantulas is the victim of one, given to him by Professor Oak.
• Brick Joke: The identity of Lily's imaginary friend B is hinted to be someone who hasn't been seen or mentioned since the majority of the book ago. Specifically, the Guardian of Light's daughter Bea.
• Bring My Brown Pants:
  • Given the high level of mind-bending horror going on, this is bound to happen occasionally.
  • You know the good guys are at up to the task when Ash and Pikachu kick enough ass in the very first main chapter to induce it in the bad guys. Bonus points for making a Monferno and the Rapidash he's riding lose control simultaneously.
  • See the rather literal approach to Mass "Oh, Crap!" below.
• Bullet Hell:
  • Paradox the Celebi pulls this on Wes and Rui by using several instances of herself to spam Ancient Power through recursive time portals.
  • Leo calls the barrage they flew through during the battle with the Arachnoblast.
• Call-Back: Lugia's cycle of nightmares that's keeping him Shadow is highly similar to the one in the prequel, but it's not induced by Deoxys this time.
• Care-Bear Stare: Aura Purge. It consists of bombarding the enemy with so many happy feelings they give up being evil.
• The Cavalry: Also in true Sam and Max fashion, The Rubber Pants Commandos.
• Chaste Hero: Special mention must go to Pikachu, who has Dawn in permanent servitude to him, and both she and Leo have explicitly mentioned that she will do anything he wants. He doesn't take her up on this until a What Did I Do Last Night? incident happens...but it turns out even then he was a perfect gentleman.
• Chew Toy: After being defeated, Brodie never gets back into his groove.
• Church Militant: The Arcean Order are genuinely very nice people. They're also, like everything else in this story, very heavily armed.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Nihilators' modus operandi. Oblivion's Shadow sometimes uses it as a power source.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Always Lampshaded, doesn't always work.
  • Used by Evan as an explanation to why they lost to an army of mummies, even with Janine on their side. The rest of Team Nightshade dismiss it as stupid.
  • Unlampshaded, played straight, and definitely NOT subverted with Captain Briney against the frost Creatures, Though it may have less to do with Conversation of Ninjutsu, than, well, being Captain Briney.
  • About half of the rest of the people on the Enchanted Express get in on it as well... they just don't do it as impressively as Captain Briney.
• Cool Old Guy: Don't mess with Briney if you value breathing.
• Cool Shades: Leo's entire family lineage is most well known for the awesome sunglasses. SO awesome in fact, that combined with Leo's smarts, they manage to not only survive the Anti-Life Equation that has driven the others insane, but declare that it is a mathematical and logical impossibility.
• Cool Ship:
  • Briney's Peeko, has enough firepower to be a threat to a fleet.
  • Barbedo's Golden Dream has advanced Magitek weaponry and a frigging rail gun.
• Corrupt Church: Judgement, the Nihilator expies that Team Getem is dealing with. However, Eviler than Thou kicks in and Richie admits that Judgement is a club for Knight Templars who ultimately think they're helping the world, while the Nihilators are Omnicidal Maniacs. It is later revealed they are led by the reincarnated members of Team Plasma. Within the organization, the Light of Justice, who was N in his human life, believes in the goals purely, while the seven Sages undoubtedly have more less-than-holy goals.
• Cosmic Retcon: This is how the Fairy-type was introduced. It was the Doctor's fault when he broke through the defence Team Quantum set up to prevent other time travellers from stopping them, causing a few chronal hiccups along the timeline.
• Crapsack World: TREASURE TOWN. It's says something that it makes places like Rapture and Pandora look livable, but it's not as bad as Genocide City...
• Crazy-Prepared: Half the cast, Leo in particular but of his Chekhov's Armory.
  • Lily is getting in on this with shameless exploitation of Substitute.
  • Fantina and Bellum show us how it's really done for about three freaking pages.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Most notably, Ash and Raiki. Team Rocket gets a little of this. However, given the setting, one has to assume that any first-glance moron who's still breathing is probably one of these.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Have fun seeing this happen to almost every major protagonist from the series, the Legendary Birds, Darkrai and Cresselia during Ash's flashbacks. Things don't get better during the story proper.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Latias vs Redwing. Latias reveals that she removed all of Redwing's flight feathers during his monologue.
  • Brodie tries to face off with the passengers on the Enchanted Express; this consists of Team Aurabolt, Team Getem and some of the most powerful mages in the world. It goes about as well as you would expect.
• Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: It's why everyone was reincarnated as Pokemon.
  Mayor Whiscash: Let me put it this way. If you put a button in a cave somewhere at the ends of the Earth and hung up a sign saying, "WARNING. PUSHING THIS BUTTON WILL CAUSE ARMAGEDDON. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHATSOEVER, TOUCH IT," some human would find it and push it just to see what would happen before the paint had finished drying. Humans aren't necessarily any less or more capable of committing acts of evil or stupidity than Pokemon, but their boundless curiosity often causes them to look into things that really should be left alone.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Several. From Hissa's Yamatorochi power which makes her shadow grow six heads, to a Magitek supercomputer beneath Pokemon Square that could cut the continent in half.
• Darker and Edgier: To both Pokemon, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
• Dark Is Not Evil / Don't Fear the Reaper:
  • Darkrai, the god of death and bringer of nightmares (and many, many other things) is more than willing to help the Heroes if it's within his power.
  • Averted when it comes to Giratina, who is Darkrai's predecessor as God of Death. It comes with the territory of being both the Ruler of Evil's second-in-command as well as someone vile enough for Bellum to swear eternal servitude to.
• Dead Fic: After the release of an (according to Word of God) incomplete chapter 66 on 31 October 2014 as a buffer, the author stated that it would be placed on hiatus until the completion of Sonic Origins (Ri2), with assurances that the story would be completed in due time. However, with several years having now past since that story saw completion in 2018, and several other stories having been started instead, it seems more and more likely the odds of work resuming on the story are slim to none at this point.
• Deader than Dead: The Legendary Birds, after they have their Orbs destroyed, are so dead they can't reincarnate.
• Deadpan Snarker: Several. Usually Pikachu or Leo. Briney seems to have a habit of this, what with his lack of personal mental space and all.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: It's actually called "Death of Seven Hundred and Seventy Seven Cuts" in this case and it is Palmer's ultimate Ninjutsu, the Seventh Slash.
• Deconstructed Trope: The aforementioned Team Nightshade Grimmification puts a much darker spin on the Amusing Injuries and Butt-Monkey tropes.
• Demoted to Extra: Tons, both compared to the anime and in comparison to the first fic.
  • Ash's Crawdaunt, a major character in the first fic only gets one line here. He is mentioned though.
  • Brock only gets into one arc and serves no purpose in it.
  • Latias went from the main character of the first fic to a supporting character here.
• Description Cut: Several and usually for laughs and usually commented on by Leo.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • Ash, pre-cataclysm, when his mother is killed by the Legendary Birds; he turns into a void creature and slaughters everything in sight.
  • Mewtwo, prior to the cataclysm, when his clone Pokemon friends were annihilated by an army of legendaries led by a Mew impostor. His mind split in two, with the dominant dark half becoming Lord Null and then Oblivion's Shadow.
• Deus Exit Machina: Denchu captures Ash and Richie so they can't purify Lugia. It stops them from taking part in the beginning of the battle as well.
• Deus ex Machina: Many times, and sometimes directly invoked once Sam & Max teach them how.
  "Oh no! We're all gonna die! If only there were some convenient plot device to save us!"
  • Defied by Mack Salmon when he removes every factor that Sam and Max could call upon, in order for Max to summon Leviathan.
  • Leo is a high-ranking ordained cultist nun. Raise your hand if you saw that one coming.
  • You are lying if you expected the DeSoto to be a Decepticon.
• Didnt Think Thisd Through: During Ash's fantasy in Chapter 54, Ash and Pikachu find out how charging energy into wooden swords would really turn out; not well.* Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • Max inverts this by BECOMING Cthulhu and kicking Leviathan's ass. He does it again during the battle of Dusty Ditch.
  • Ash killing Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Darkrai and Cresselia prior to the cataclysm.
• Digging Yourself Deeper:
  • It's Ash, everyone, this is naturally going to happen.
  • Mewtwo has this happen when talking with Gardevoir. He realises this, though, and immediately shuts up.
• Disney Villain Death: Redwing, after his flight feathers are pulled out by the Guardian of Light.
• The Ditz:
  • It's gonna take a lot more than the rebirth of the universe for Chimecho to get any brighter. Then the reveal shows that he's a Ditto named Mondo and fairly intelligent.
  • Ditziness isn't just limited to Team Rocket members. Ash, Latios and Azelf all have moments of this.
  • Lovrina goes from a hyperactive child Genius Ditz in XD to... a hyperactive child-like Skitty who has some really bizarre theories. For instance, Oblivion's Shadow is secretly in love with Gardevoir. She's half-right.
• Divine Ranks: The celestial hierarchy, as Darkrai calls it. Arceus and Mew are the highest up, then the Firstborn (Dialga, Palkia, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf). Giratina the Fallen used to be here, but betrayed the Guardians because Arceus loved Mew more than her. The Guardian of Light, the Dragon God-King and the Guardian of Hope would be somewhere around here. To put this in perspective, Darkrai, the God of death, darkness and whatever crap he picked up this week, is only just above middle management.
• Doom Magnet: Team Nightshade, more often than not, ruins people's lives instead of helping them and bring trouble in their wake.
• Doorstopper: This fanfic is so far at 65 chapters and 2,324,326 words.
  • For comparison, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the thickest book in the Harry Potter series, was only about 255,000 words.
  Ri2: We are getting closer and closer to the endgame. How many more years it'll be till we get there, I don't know…but we're GETTING there, dammit, one way or another.

  • For a better comparison, the whole series, beginning to end, is about 1.1 million words. This story is more than twice as long as the entire Harry Potter series combined.
  • At this point, every chapter is roughly 50,000 words by itself. That's about the length of an average novel per chapter.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In-universe example. Zachary does a lot of things with illusions that his adopted siblings don't think are funny. Collette even calls him out on it. "Zachary! NOT COOL!"
• Dysfunction Junction: Team Aurabolt; all of them.
  • ^Ash  is a transplanted human soul in an animal's body, adopted by members of another species (one of which he knows is supposed to actually be his mom), has three adopted children before admitting he even has a thing for the girl said children consider their mother, [[spoiler:and regained the memories of watching all his friends systematically killed and his own Unstoppable Rage that wiped out a couple of innocent deities, including Death himself, during a previous apocalypse.
  • ^Pikachu  is a swordsmon who basically knows full well that his job description inevitably ends in "killed in action", has a stick longer than his sword jammed up his ass when it comes to the samurai code, is probably the Only Sane Man in a team full of — let's be honest here — wackos, and is being gleefully shipped by one of his teammates with a deadly assassin.
  • ^Leo  is an overweight, underage nerd with delusions of grandeur and a desire to attain immortality. He sees the world as an extension of video games (and is often right to everyone else's horror), exhibits masochistic tendencies, and has a thing for a dead girl.
  • ^Sasha  has No Social Skills — little grasp of civilized social conduct, and has little patience for what she does know. She sees no problem with eating the team's kills, or racking up a slightly higher body count than strictly necessary.
  • ^Tiny  is an infant whose mother was killed right in front of him and his egg dropped from an airborne rocket onto a Steel-type's head. His traumas have rendered him halfway into a perpetual Shadow state, and he screams loudly if anyone other than Ash approaches his bubble of personal space. It's hinted on more than one occasion that he actively hates everything with the exception of Ash. He got better thankfully.....And then discovered that his father betrayed Pokemon Square and his mother is now a Shadow Pokemon. He didn't take it that badly though.
  • ^spoiler  Lily... Freudian Excuse doesn't even begin to describe her childhood; joining a cadre that faces unspeakable horrors on a nigh-daily basis is a step up for her. She's slowly learning social protocol since joining the team, but her most persistent teachers in this are Leo and her imaginary (?) friend B.
  • ^spoiler  Briney's wife was murdered by thugs, and he has since torn out one of his eyes and replaced it with hers to aid his long-running Roaring Rampage of Revenge. He is deeply paranoid enough to psychically intrude on the thoughts of everyone around him on a regular basis — and one must realize that he hangs out in Treasure Town, so he's probably not getting anything G-rated there.
  • ^spoiler  Dawn had her vocal cords torn out at birth, was raised to be an assassin, betrayed by her best friend, had her entire clan and family slaughtered by said betrayer, had half her skin burned off and was left to die by said betrayer, has done a few... favors to unsavory characters while tracking him down, and was put through weeks of indescribable torture which ended with a mathematical equation that crushed her will to live and turned her Shadow. She is now in unending servitude to Pikachu; as with Lily, this is a considerable step up from her life thus far.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Even more so than the first book, it seems. Keep in mind the world has already been annihilated and rebuilt once, so as long as the right deities are still intact by the end...
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • Team Aurabolt has fought a few, like Yamatorochi and one of Tarantulas's creations. Giratina is still an Eldritch, and other beasties like the Gaiavore are sure to show up later.
  • Now there's Maelstrom, Leviathan, the Deep Ones, Cerberus, one of Legion's creations, and the Bittercold.
  • Lily's "imaginary friend" B is not only quite real, but some sort of extradimensional...something that can directly see love, but at least he/she/it appears to be a friendly one. This friend is the nearly forgotten main character from the very beginning, Latias's daughter Bea.
• Emotionless Girl:
  • Lily HAS emotions, she just doesn't know how well to use them.
  • The ninja Buneary has no expressions. though even she's starting to loosen up a bit since she joined The Team.
• Enemy Mine: Invoked by Light of Justice. He thinks Team Getem isn't so different in their goals but they refused every offer to join forces. Once the Nihilators are exposed he believes he will be successful this time. "It is not unreasonable for enemies to join forces against a common foe, is it?"
• Enfante Terrible: Chobin. Judgement ranks him as the 3rd evillest person in the world for being a depraved psychopath since his infancy. He's ranked worse than Tarantulas!
• Enhance Button: Chobin wants one but a mook says cameras don't work that way.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Gardevoir, which is different to how she was in Latias' Journey.
• Everyone Calls Him Pikachu:
  • Where all other Pokemon have regular names, Pikachu is named "Pikachu" (family tradition — he has to earn his own name).
  • Gardevoir for unknown reasons.
  • Pikachu's little brother Pichu freaks out when Delia is pregnant with a third egg, because unless he earns his name quickly there'll be two Pichus running around and he doesn't want to be renamed Pichu One or Pichu A.
• Evil Plan: Every villain worth their story arc has one but the one which drives the plot is that of Oblivion's Shadow, which involves collecting the Star Badges before Team Aurabolt and opening the door containing the Ruler of Evil underneath Treasure Town.
• Expy: Nearly everyone from the series (and many from random other places) at ONE point is reborn as a Pokemon here. So be sure to see a lot of familiar faces...kind of. Considering how the work is essentially a reskin of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, it doesn't take Pennington to figure out which member of Team Aurabolt corresponds with which member of Mario's party (or for that matter some of the story's antagonists and the main antagonists from the same game)...
  • Captain Briney is also heavily themed by Whitebeard of One Piece fame; it starts with him being a terrifying badass in the second worst city in the world and a VERY familiar mustache, and as the chapters go by, he comes constantly close to matching Whitebeard in raw Badassery.
  • Ritchie shows up, and just like the anime he's a shameless carbon copy of Ash. Like everything else, this is taken to its logical conclusion by having Ritchie's entire teambe Expys of Ash's, and they're on a parallel quest to save the world from another crazy apocalyptic cult. Ash and Tiny are not amused. About the only difference is that the Big Bad of Ritchie's arc is much nicer.
    • On another note, Lu, Dawn's counterpart on Team Getem, is a hooded italian assassin who used to belong to a noble family that was killed by a 'Rodrigo Borjia'. Sound familiar?
  • DAN GREEN. He doesn't last long, sadly.
  • Viers, formerly known as Midboss is an expy of Midbus from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, with a little bit of Mid-Boss from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.
• Face Fault: All the time! Mostly because of Leo.
• Face–Heel Turn: Suicune, Raikou and Entei have turned from their duties and now serve the Big Bad for power! Just like last time. They're hinted to be mind controlled this time around though.
• The Faceless: Oblivion's Shadow wears a mask made of a mirror to reflect whoever he's talking to.
• Failure Hero: Gary and the rest of Team Nightshade. Their main enemies were created by their own negligence.
• Fan Disservice: One half of Shivhel is beautiful. The other half... Not so much.
• Fire and Brimstone Hell: The cast assumes throughout the book that the Nihilators they kill go here. Turns out they do...but then Lily reveals that they end up as the aristocracy there, which inverts the trope by making it their own personal heaven.
• Flat "What":
  • Pikachu's typical reaction. Usually to Leo.
  • Ash gets a classic one when he learns that his rescue from drowning was stalled for five minutes by Pikachu and Leo talking about condoms.
  • Leo gets one out of Dawn when he reveals he's an ordained cultist nun.
  • Likely to be uttered by you at least a few times per chapter.
  • LORD NULL himself utters this when he finally interacts with Team Aurabolt.
• Friendly Enemy: Judgment to Richie's team. The former are a nice, if deluded, bunch, and one of them, Silverbolt, is praised as a 'true knight' by none other than Sparky. They show up to help fight the Nihilators.
• Gambit Pileup: This line was written during what's probably around the halfway mark of the book, and there's already a considerable amount of this going on.
  • A subsection of Team Rocket, Team Quantum, is trying to ensure the best possible outcome for the future, so far by protecting Team Rocket from T-Bone's attempted selling out to Pokemon Square. Chapter 55 reveals just how further Team Quantum's actions go; they've been manipulating events since the previous world, all so their Perfect Future can happen.
  • Within the Nihiltators there is the general 'kill everyone' plan of the mooks and high command which is somewhat different from their leader's plan and then the rebellion inside them which is aided by Darkrai for his own reasons.
• Gambit Roulette: Played for laughs. Cherry initates a long term master plan of vengance on Todd, for taking risque photos of her without paying royalties. The only reason it works is because she's a pen point oracle.
• Good Bad Girl: The Temple of Mew is staffed by these. It's their Sacred Doctrine, seeing how their deity is a fertility goddess and all.
• The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: Team Aurabolt and Pokemon Square are the Good, the Nihilators are the Evil, and Giovanni is positioning Team Rocket as the Bad.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Zorro and his crew are from a counterpart version of Spain and slip in spanish words into otherwise english dialogue.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Whatever is behind the Door in Treasure Town is far more dangerous than Obilivion's Shadow and his organization, but it is trapped and only tangentially involved with the main narrative. Giratina and the Ruler of Evil, combined with the Gaiavore and most of the Abyss.
• Grimmification: For Thousand Year Door's plot points. For example, remember in TTYD when Luigi recounted how he defeated a giant statue by throwing his partner Blooey at it, only for the partner to say he missed and fell in lava, leaving him with comical burns? Well in the fic's equivalent with Team Nightshade....It doesn't end well. And then it gets worse.
  • Misty's fear of bugs is given a terrifying explanation.
  • What Ri2 has done to Treasure Town has to be seen to be believed.
  • Matthias stories about his childhood are extremely cruel accounts of what it would be like to be a wild pokemon.
• Guy on Guy Is Hot: Rosa briefly entertains the idea of hypnotizing her fiancee and one of her foes to drop the current battle and start making out with each other.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Leo and Mewgle. Usually while playing children's card games.
• Hand Wave: Parodied.
  Leo: Yep, certainly a convenient way to explain why we had this ability all along but never talked about it or used it before now.
• Happily Adopted: Note that all of these adoption cases were by completely different and often genetically incompatible species, and pokémon seem to be able to form coherent memory while still in the egg. So it's not like the fact that they were adopted is any particular secret.
  • Ash, though he was already an adolescent at the time of his soul transplant, is happy to call himself a 'Thunderblade'.
  • Junior, Collette, and Sapphire were adopted by Ash and Misty, and are all pretty happy with this arrangement. Matthias is adjusting fairly well to life with the Thunderblades as well.
  • Given their species and that of their father, either May or Max — possibly both — were adopted. Neither have any problems with this.
  • In an inversion, that Tiny was adopted by Ash is probably the only thing in the world he could stand.
  • Dawn has clear memories of watching her biological mother murdered immediately after birth, and her adoptive mother coming to her rescue. She's pretty clear about considering the latter to be her mother for all practical purposes.
• Happiness in Slavery: It was lukewarm at first to be sure, but after one story arch Dawn becomes very happy indeed. In fact, she immediately shoots down each and every attempt of her master to free her.
• Harmless Freezing:
  • Ash, being an Aura using Steel Type, survives getting frozen solid by Bellum, as have Leo and Dawn at one point or another. Most everyone else.....aren't so fortunate. In fact, when Bellum unleashes Sheer Cold against the team, Leo notes that it will only leave Ash alive.
  • When Shivhel unleashes her ice wave, everyone caught by it came inches away from dying. They were luckily saved by the summoning of Surtrit.
• Healing Factor: It's directly stated in the book that the local Joys can patch up anything up to and including most minor forms of death. Unfortunately, most of the bad guys have even more impressive regenerative abilities, what with being undead (or Ditto) and all.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Lily started out as Bellum's minion but became a member of Team Aurabolt.
  • If you count the previous book, Deoxys the Savior is a total 180 from what we're familiar with, and was supposedly the one who rebuilt the world when it was destroyed.
• Hero Antagonist:
  • In Team Nightshade's quest, the Berry King is shaping up to be this because he kidnapped Princess Sara. He's not even an antagonist, and is gladly helping Team Nightshade to resurrect Lemewria. The Mirage King is the actual antagonist of that arc, because he was turned into a Shadow Pokemon.
  • Team Quantum appear to be this, attempting to take T-Bone against his will back to Team Rocket to ensure its safety and survival for the final battle against the forces of evil. However, they can be classified at Well-Intentioned Extremist level at absolute best, when you consider what they did to Gary and Gardevoir.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • A rather humorous involving Leo when he finds out that there's no internet connection on Zero Isle. He has a breakdown and becomes schizophrenic.
  • A more serious example when Team Nightshade, after being attacked by Team Perdition (the three people whose lives they ruined earlier empowered by the fires of the Abyss) during Maria and Draco, seemingly ruining yet another innocent person's life in their quest to get the Magnificent Compass pieces.
• Hero of Another Story: Ritchie and Team Getem have their own quest running parrallel to Ash and Team Aurabolt.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum:
  • The good guys have several deities on their side, all of whom are conveniently asleep for Hell Year, sabotaged in their summoning, captured, or held back by excessive legal entailments. Lampshaded, as usual, by Leo. To summarise (brace yourself, this is a long list), Arceus is asleep for Hell Year, Mew, Uxie and Dialga are on vacation, Darkrai is caught up in said legal entailments, Cresselia, Mesprit, Ho-Oh and Jirachi have been captured by Oblivion's Shadow, Lugia, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Lugia, Groudon, Kyogre and Manaphy are under the control of the Nihilators, Mewtwo, due to a Split-Personality Takeover,is Oblivion's Shadow, the Guardian of Light (Latias) had her summoning sabotaged, the Dragon God-King (Rayquaza) is not actually Rayquaza, but a Bagon play-acting as him for however long, Deoxys the Savior is on the opposite side of the Omniverse, the Regis were defeated by the Nihilators, Heatran is stuck at the center of the earth operating the supercomputer, and the Generation V legendaries are in either Fichina, for the Tao Trio, or the Berry Kingdom, for the Swords of Justice. Genesect is most likely with the Hive Queen, like Groudon was to Gal. Only Azelf, Palkia, Celebi and Shaymin are unaccounted for. Yes, Ri2 has neutralised all but four legendaries.
  • Even Latios gets in on the lampshading, when the Guardian of Light explains that she can't leave Kanjohenn. He says that it is inconvenient and contrived that she can't do anything useful, and when she asks how they were supposed to know that the summoning failed, he said that it is also contrived that the seer Sabrina's view of the future "isn't as clear as it should be".
  • On the note of said legal entailments, Sasha can't use her Priestess Cloak against the Nihilators because she is the High Priestess of Darkrai.
    • As of the chapter 64, the situation has changed quite a bit. Arceus is still asleep, Mew was shown not to be "on vacation" but instead is in the center of the planet, Mewtwo is inside Oblivian's Shadow/Lord Null and seemingly actively fighting him, Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno are all dead (they were evil, so no one cares), Raikou, Entei, Suicune, and Lugia have all been successfully Purified and are going to help fight the Nihilators on Mars, Ho-Oh has been rescued (though she's slightly insane still), the only known Celebi in the story is Paradox, who is of... questionable sanity (all of Team Quantum are except Hubie), Groudon and Kyogre are both bestial beings and were either controlled by Gal or the Nihilators - both have been sealed away again - the Golems have been destroyed and are being used to chain Regigigas, Latias is only going to be sealed on continent for a bit longer, Latios is going to go with her (and is getting a power up from the Soul Dew), Jirachi is captured, Rayquaza is well on the way to regaining his power (which will in turn help Latias), Deoxys is on his way (though he may not come until after the fight is over), Azelf and Uxie may be unaccounted for but both have been mentally helping Mespirit (who has been captured), Giratina is the Greater-Scope Villain, Cresselia and Darkrai are now both fully out of legal entanglements and their full army has been brought to bear, Manaphy has been reborn but is not ready for combat (Phione aren't legendary in this context, just rather powerful Pokémon), Shaymin have showed up and are likely to help in the fight for the Berry Kingdom (an important side fight), Victini and the Tao Trio are in Fichina and will be in the Nihilator fight, the Heavenly Swords and Djinn trio are in the Berry Kingdom, Meloetta have been seen in the Berry Kingdom, Genesect is probably under the Hive Queen's control, and both Yveltal and Xerneas have been mentioned as sending Power Ranger teams to help out Pokémon Square, meaning only Dialga and Palkia are unknowns at this point.. To recap: the group going to fight the main Nihilator base contains the Lengedary Dogs, Lugia and Ho-Oh, Darkrai and Cresselia, the Tao Trio, and Victini. They aren't really Holding Back The Phlebotium anymore.
• Honor Before Reason: Lucario literally have this as a genetic trait because they are a Always Lawful Good race created to be this trope. That's why they're natural aura users.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action:
  • Naturally, several times. Don't ask Briney (Metang) about Peeko (Wingull).
  • How the hell did Norman (Slaking) end up with a Combusken and a Treecko for kids? Turns out Max is an adopted illegitimate child.
  • An actual Skitty and Wailord couple are mentioned at one point.
• How Much More Can He Take?:
  • Ash takes some truly horrific injuries during his fight with Paul, and to a lesser extent, Bellum and Oblivion's Shadow.
  • Charlie actively fights against Gal after being previously left in a near dead state.
• I Am Legion: The Sorcerer turns out to be a colony of Unown.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Taken to the logical extreme with Genocide City.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: When Lily is one spell away from finishing off Bellum, she notices her friends are in grave danger and the old witch invokes this on her. If she would rather have vengeance than save her friends then she's no different from her evil mother. The prospect is so terrifying she spares Bellum.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Suggested by Leo to break Dawn the Ninja Buneary out of her evil form. Pikachu doesn't think it'll work. It kind of does, but not really.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Either Leo gushes about this upon seeing one, or he makes one.
• I'm Taking Him Home With Me!: Valerie the reporter "adopts" Grobnar son of Grobnar, a dimwitted and endearing barbarian.
• Inner Monologue: There weren't that many until Briney came aboard, but now he has way too much fun abusing psychic powers to butt in on these.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • Chobin who is insane so his logic doesn't make sense either.
  • Viers, formerly Midboss, is also like this but he'll start making sense if you think about it long enough.
• Instant-Win Condition: James realises that, in the Lu-Gi-Oh game, it's over if your Life Points hit zero. He tries to weaponise this against Mewgle... and it fails. Unfortunately for James, Leviathan the Devourer takes the effect of Dartz's Divine Serpent from the anime, and turns it up a notch - Mewgle is invincible when the card is on his field, in his hand, or even in his graveyard.
• Interspecies Romance: Mercifully, the subject is changed before we get any details of Molly/Fat Pete — a Chatot and a human skeleton.
• Intrepid Reporter: Valerie the Kirlia not only waltzes out into a pitched battlefield to interview Nuken of all people, but when he brushes her off in lieu of mauling a Mook she frees him up for the interview by slaying it herself. Her followup is to abduct an enemy soldier right off the frontline for an interview.
• It Gets Easier: Leo has this after killing a Nihilator, before quickly realising that said person really deserved it. Word of God says that it was parodying Cody and Yolei's turmoil from killing Digimon from Digimon Adventure 02.
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Ri2 has a tendency to address unimportant question in this way; one might think he's channelling Oda Eiichiro.
  • In regards to how Gonzap, in keeping with his original apperance, has a nice mustache in spite of being a Skarmory (which, being a metal bird, is completely incapable of having hair at all), Ri2 has stated that he grew a mustache 'very carefully'.
  • Have fun trying to figure out what using Illusionary Televisions to steal Illusionary Signals via Illusionary Cameras even MEANS, let alone how it works.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Oh, poor Ash...
  Pikachu: I'm sorry if you're dealing with something right now, but we have to go! We can talk about it later!
  Ash: Well, that's my cue. Putting my own issues on hold and letting them get worse and worse because I have to go save someone else. Again. As usual. That's the life of the Chosen One, huh? Thank Arceus for bestowing this infinite honor upon me.
• Just as Planned: Cherry (an oracle) is quick to remind everyone that she foresaw whatever just happened (usually) and no matter how strange the events are they are part of The Plan.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Maelstrom's three pronged attack. First it throws airships than a shadow aura with the heroes thinking that each is the real attack. No, the real one comes after when they're weakened.
• Karma Houdini: Any Nihilator that gets killed is given a positive afterlife by Giratina for their service towards her. Whether any exceptions will be made is unknown.
• Karmic Death: Manaphy is killed by Kyogre, who he enslaved with the Blue Orb.
• Killer Game Master: Mewgle, naturally. Everything, from children's card games to Dungeons and Dragons is a game of life or death for him.
• Killer Rabbit: "They were all very cute, and reminded Latias somewhat of Mew, Celebi and Jirachi... which also meant that they had to possess some awesome power, since the cute ones always did."
• Kudzu Plot: To almost ludicrous levels. The story starts with Team Aurabolt and the quest for the seven Star Badges. Meanwhile, fifty chapters down the line, we see Caserin the Luvdisc, Mack Salmon, Bruce the Oztralian Sharpedo and some other characters of Nominal Importance searching for the Aqua-Monica.
• Lampshade Hanging: Leo has a tendency to point out cliches, plot points, plot holes, and even tropes, on a regular basis.
• Laughably Evil: Chobin, Dr. Tarantulas, and Mewgle may be heartless, cruel, perverted and sadistic... but damn are they entertaining.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Briney regularly uses his psychic powers to intrude on people's thoughts...and sometimes upon the omniscient narration of their thoughts.
  How did he keep getting himself into these situations?
  Briney: Because you have a big mouth and don't think before talking.
  Leo: You don't have to constantly be reading our minds, you know.
  • Ritchie goes meta when he moans about Ash's presence makes him feel like "I'm not the real hero anymore, just some secondary character who's only tangentially related to the big picture." Salty extends the analog by assuring him, "you're still the hero of ''our'' story."
• Lemony Narrator: So lemony he outdoes the in-story snarkers.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Happens a couple of times. The following example in Twilight's Edge takes this trope and, as is status quo for the whole book, just keeps running.
  Pikachu: So...let me get this straight. You're saying that Ash is right here in this room next to you but we can't see or hear him because of the spell the Ditto cast on him, and that you're the only person who can see or hear him due to being a witch. Not only that, but you've turned your back on your mother and the rest of your family and agreed to join us — the Pokemon whom you tried to kill that beat you and your family up the last time we met — because Ash — whom, I repeat, is supposedly in this room even though we can't see or hear him — broke the curse that allowed Bellum to control you and is apparently an excuse for a great deal of the evil you've committed in the past and you conveniently know a way to reverse the spell on Ash, just when we needed that knowledge the most. And you found the way to reverse the spell by catching a chain-smoking fairy in the middle of the forest with a piece of fruit. Am I right so far?
  Lily: Um...yes...
  Ash: I guess it does sound rather unbelievable when you put it that way...
  Pikachu: Okay, I believe it.
  Leo: Totally.
  Sasha: It makes sense to me.
  Yamiri: It seems perfectly plausible.
• Lighter and Softer: Lily and Dawn's lives take a significant step up when they join the party, getting out of their respective Trauma Conga Lines and all. Both are very grateful for the change.
• Living Forever Is Awesome:
  • Anyone that joins Deoxys' crew is offered immortality. Even after traveling to the far reaches of the Omniverse and living for millennia they still enjoy it.
  • Giovanni and Mickey have lived since the Catacylsm a thousand years ago. Neither of them have any complaints.
  • Leo has been gifted with Resurrective Immortality and Darkrai has explicitly told him how to become fully immortal. He even admires Leo's work on the iron-clad immortality contract he drew up. So help us, Arceus...
• Loophole Abuse: Darkrai and Oblivon's Shadow have a non-aggression treaty, but the former sends his high priestess help the heroes, while wearing her priestess robes, and convince the latter that it doesn't break their treaty. It works because she wasn't actually fighting anyone that worked for him. All the mooks she killed worked for Shivhel instead.
• Lovable Nerd:
  • Leo's first act of heroism is beating the villain in Dungeons and Dragons.
  • Tracey geeks out with Leo every time they meet.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Every time Team Aurabolt get a Star Badge, Bellum or Tarantulas always show up to steal it from them.
• Made of Iron: Briney is a Steel-type so he really is made of iron, but even then not a whole lot of Pokémon can use Explosion multiple times in a row.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • The Monkey King's entire army when Latias breaks their shield.
  Chimchar: I think I soiled myself.
  Blaziken: I think we all did.
  Mankey: We're fucked, aren't we?
  • The Mamoswine army, the Legendary Golems and likely the reader gets this when they see The Legendary Dogs transforming into even stronger versions.
  • This is everyone's reaction to the battle of Dusty Ditch when Bellum summons three Frost Giants.
  • The heroes' reaction when Shadow Lugia turns up.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe, the Treecko line is known for being way too badass for their own good.
• Mind Screw: Your constant companion throughout the book.
• Mistaken for Gay: Lily refers to Leo as her "significant other" while he's in crossdressed disguise. Fantina gets the wrong impression.
• The Mole:
  • A tragic version, T-Bone of Team ACT was a Mole for Team Rocket (the Iron Masked Marauder, in fact), and in attempting to infiltrate the Monkey King's army for them, got Allen killed and Charlie captured and brutalized. It's hard to blame him for this, too, since Team Rocket blackmailed him into joining to save his wife and child.
  • A villainous version comes in the form of Otoro, the Link Shop owner, who turns out to be The Sorcerer.
  • May took a considerable level in badass since the first book and infiltrated Ford's tournament operation to save her father.
  • Sasha has been spying on Team Aurabolt on Darkrai's behalf since the beginning. This Mole came clean about this however, and to be fair there hasn't really been any conflict of interest.
  • The Nihilator vampire network, led by the Teacher and Gardevoir.
• Monster Is a Mommy: Tiama, the dragon who'd been terrorising Turtle Town, has eggs.
• More Dakka: The Rubber Pants Commandos have flaming projectiles underwater.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Mewgle and Mie/Molly Hale's duel through the most epic game ever of Scrabble.
• Mundane Utility: Sabrina's clairvoyance can foresee major, potentially fatal holes in town defenses, deliver cryptic yet nightmarishly corny prophecies... and get her a discount on flip flops before they're sold out.
• Mythology Gag: Among many others, Lady Bow.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Great job Legendary Birds for killing almost everyone that Ash cared about on an impulsive and heavily flawed reasoning. Too bad there was a reason that Ash was meant to be the Chosen One.....
  • Team Nightshade created their major enemies though sheer carelessness. Eventually Gary realises all the horrible things they have done due to their clumsiness, and doubts he and his Team's abilities as an actual rescue Team, an then try to change for the better.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Marianne causes Bow to evolve by mistake, making her much more powerful than before.
• Ninja Maid: Diane, who is Fatinana's maid and bodyguard. She wears the traditional Meido outfit as uniform but also because Butler likes it.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Paul to Ash during the Mt Battle Arc, who, despite his type disadvantage, removes one of Ash's leg's AND eyes, as well as blowing a hole through his chest, all while being completely unfazed by any attack that Ash threw at him due to his immortality.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever the hell happened to make him a cyborg, Tarantulas never wants to discuss it again...

  Chobin: Big Lipped Feraligatr Moment! Big Lipped Feraligatr Moment!

• No Social Skills:
  • Sasha sees no problem with eating Team Aurabolt's latest kills, and is cynical about many "civilized" customs.
  Sasha: See, this wouldn't be a problem if you would just eat your dead!
  • Tiny would be confused about social customs...if he gave enough of a Rattata's ass.
  • Lily has her own issues that cause her to have little grasp of social protocol.
• Obviously Evil:
  • Discussed by the Tarantulas and Chobin, noting one of the Seven Sages of Judgment is an evil looking Hydreigon, who looks like a better fit for their organization. BTW, this Hydreigon is Ghetsis.
  • A Persian named Giovanni who frequently breaks out in megalomaniacal laughter. Yep, he's trustworthy.
• Oddly Named Sequel: This is the sequel to Latias Journey.
• Old Shame: Darkrai doesn't like it being brought up that Ash killed him prior to the apocalypse. Ash doesn't like the story either.invoked
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. This story contains both Max Maple and another Max. So far they haven't met, but it's inevitable to happen eventually.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Bow, when Marianne unleashes her Steel Forme.
  • Pikachu, upon discovering that the last three Star Badges are on Mars.
• Oh, My Gods!: Arceusdammit!
• Only Sane Mon:
  • Pikachu. With Ash, Leo, Lily, Dawn, Sasha, Tiny and Briney to deal with, the result is inevitable.
  • Also, from Team Rocket, Wobbuffet (and Gardenia to an extent), who is immune to Team Rocket incompetence and general stupidity.
  • Team Nightshade has Jerry.
  Gary: You're the only member of this team who isn't keeping secrets, working towards their own agenda, stealing food, or Evan.
  • The Nihilators aboard the Arachnoblast were so utterly messed up that Tarantulas comes off looking absolutely sane. Then Tarantulas goes insane, and O becomes the Only Sane Man. He's killed off afterwards, as we can't have sane Nihilators.
• Our Vampires Are Different: One seems to be from another universe, and now Gardevoir has a variant of The Virus from a Boktai universe as part of a plan by Darkrai .ie They're not actually their vampires. In Chapter 41, Bellum states that the vampires native to the universe the story takes place in are extinct.
• Overly Long Gag: Close your eyes, scroll to a random point in any given chapter, and there's about 1/4 chance you'll be in one.
  • Fantina and Bellum's "I prepared for this" exchange goes on for three pages.
  • Aside from the running/flying train joke from the Enchanted Express, we have this which goes on for a very long time.
  Tarantulas: Zhu Bajie, kill Arackaiser!
  Zhu Bajie: Yes, Lord Doctor Tarantulas!
  Arackaiser: Zhu Bajie, don't kill me!
  Zhu Bajie: Yes, Lord Arackaiser!
  Tarantulas: Zhu Bajie, kill Arackaiser!
• Parental Substitute: Lily's birth mother is a bitch. The womon she looks up to, and who loves her as a daughter, is Fantina.
• Pass the Popcorn: Darkrai can conjure up popcorn out of nowhere.
• Past Me Scares Me: Ash, once he starts getting flashbacks of how the world got trashed the first incarnation around, watches himself slaughter five legendaries using Aura.
• Porn Without Plot: Lorne ^note The friend for life! weaponizes a smutfic to use against Sam & Max. It Makes Sense in Context, at least as much as anything relating to Sam and Max does.
• Power Perversion Potential:
  • Inverted. Dawn is in total servitude to Pikachu and will do anything he asks. Not only does the very idea of asking her to go along these lines not sit well on him, but she's actively suggested it on multiple occasions and is doing everything short of pouncing him to get it through his head.
  • Played nauseatingly straight by Paradox the Celebi though, who really enjoys being able to exist multiple times at a single point in time.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Mewgle shows an instance of this when explaining his reasoning for why he wants to kill Leo before he becomes more powerful due to Mewgle's furious ex-wife.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Several, but Aaron gives the most brutally simple one to Gal.
  Aaron: "You are nothing, Gal. And now...you are dust."
• Primal Scene: During the prologue, Arceus and Mew...erm...seed the universe; right in front of their lieutenants and Latias. Uxie, in spite of not directly seeing it due to permanently-closed eyes, gets the worst of it anyway since he is a being of inherent knowledge.
  Uxie: Every single moment of their passion is engraved into my brain...as well as every moment of every other time they will have intercourse, which, believe me, will be a lot...forever.
  Azelf: ...Oh. Um... I... sorry.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: This is what seperates Goku from the barbarians; a sense of pride and honor in his warrior heritage and life style.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Don Wigglytuff and Chobin both act like children with life-size and breakable toys.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Aaron in the spirit of the trope namer when Gal's heralds arrive to demand surrender. He kicks the herald's ass while reciting "This.Is.POKEMON SQUARE!"
• Rasputinian Death: Most of the villains will bounce back from progressively ludicrous punishment. Many of them have some kind of Body Horror Healing Factor going on. Mewgle has been killed several times now.
• Rated M for Manly: This fan fic and its predecessor run on high test Rule of Cool.
• Really Gets Around:
  • Mew, who as the local goddess of life and the creation thereof, is required to get plowed by something or other everywhere she goes. This isn't considered cheating on Arceus, because Arceus specifically said it wasn't.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Latias delivers a particularly classy one to Redwing about how he's nothing but a petty criminal with a few thugs.
  • Ash gives a MASTERFUL one to the Admiral who happens to be a now evil Manaphy about how he's a whinny little child.
  • Before that, Oblivion's Shadow gave one to Ash about how his obbession with revenge will kill his friends.
  • Professor Oak gives one to Tarantulas about how trite his reasons for turning evil and how he's become a failure since College. It reduces him to tears.
• Recycled IN SPACE!: Hayzee's next idea for a reimagined play is I Want To Be Your Natu IN SPACE!!
• Reference Overdosed
  Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me. I'd list what I've appropriated/referenced/ripped-off, but it would take forever and I'm not sure it's worth it.
• Refusal of the Call: In the climax of the Zero Island arc, Ash reveals that He was approached in his prior life by Riley to start up Aura Training so he could save the world from the apocalypse. Ash, understandably tired of being the only person who can save the world a few hundred times, turned him down. Shortly thereafter, every Aura Guardian is eliminated by Lord Null. Ash's guilt stemmed from the fact that by becoming an Aura Guardian he thought that Null would have spared them due to their affiliation with him and the fact that mastering Aura would have made him able to save his friends
• Reincarnation Romance: Due to the nature of the multiverse and its continuous reincarnation, this is bound to happen to most of the pairings to some degree. Dawn/Pikachu is a new one.
• Remember When You Slaughtered A Pantheon And Caused An Apocalypse?: Despite the memory of such causing Ash tremendous tramua Leo sees it as the most badass thing he's ever done and never lets him live it down.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
  • Team Nightshade make a LOT of enemies that want them dead...
  • Ash, whenever he sees Oblivion's Shadow, or when the Legendary Birds kill his mother during the apocalypse.
• Rousseau Was Right: This trope is the basis behind the Aura Purge; everyone will choose good when given the chance and shown that Good Feels Good. Even Chobin felt remorse for his actions when Oblivion's Shadow gave him a conscience.
• Rule of Cool: The book alternates between this and tons of terror.
• Rule of Funny: Sometimes things happen just because they would be funny or can provoke a funny reaction from Pikachu.
• Running Gag: Several, but most notably...
  • Team Aurabolt reactions
  Event happens.
  Ash: Reaction!
  Other party members: Alternative views on event.
  Tiny sucked his pacifier.
  • Every time Darkrai appears, he seems to have become the god of something else. As of Chapter 60:
  Sasha: Okay, listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. I am Sasha, High Priestess of Darkrai, god of darkness, death, nightmares, deserts, desserts, cigarettes, and as of last Wednesday, independent films.
  • Tiny's drinking problem, which becomes a Chekhov's Skill.
  • No matter how bad Treasure Town gets, it's still not as bad as Genocide City
  • A literal Running Gag regarding whether the Enchanted Express runs or flies.
• Saintly Church: The Arcean Order. Lampshaded by Leo, who remarks that the Corrupt Church stereotype is a little old and offensive, and stories need more of these. "We're a lot more diligent in weeding out corruption from our ranks than many give us credit for."
  • Then Judgement comes along, which thinks it's this trope but more closely fits Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Leo causes this in Pikachu pretty often. Leo's brief identity crisis as Monscrub Fourplank induces this in Sasha as well.
  • Mondo has a spectacular one when he witnesses what the Rubber Pants Commandos can do.
  • Ash, the further the journey progresses, becomes more unhinged due to past life trauma.
  • Could happen to you at any point in the book.
• Scarpia Ultimatum: Oblivion's Shadow threatens to kill Misty if Gardevoir won't let him have what is the Psychic equivalent of sex with her.
• Schedule Slip: As you would expect, given that the story is over 2,000,000 words long with only 60 chapters (with the chapters seemingly getting longer).
• Scrabble Babble: Between Mie and Mewgle, with words such as "kwyjibo" and "sqzlxxx" used freely.
• Seinfeldian Conversation:
  • While being bombarded by an enemy fleet. It almost causes Pikachu to have an an aneurysm.
  Pikachu: No! No more explanations! No more stories, no more arguments or debates or lengthy digressions about completely random subjects! We don't have time for this! Let's get out of here before we get blown to Kingdom Come!
  • Addressed in the Fichina arc.
  Melanie: Weren't we just talking about Lily's father a minute ago? How'd we get on the subject of magical diseases?"
  Dawn: "This thing tends to happen a lot around us, trust me"
• Self-Deprecation: There are multiple cracks about how humans becoming Pokemon is a concept only used in bad fanfiction.
• Self-Made Orphan: Bellum did this to her whole family; that's why her daughters and herself are the only Yukihimes left.
• Senseless Sacrifice: The Rubber Pants Commandos when they try to take down Leviathan with a kamikaze run. While firing a nuke no less. Sadly, Leviathan survives; happily, as do the Commandos.
• Sentai:
  • It's an Ri2 fanfic. What did you expect? Although one can be forgiven for not expecting Arceus' plates to be morphers.
  • There is also actual Super Sentai/Power Rangers parodies in the forms of the Musirangers.
• Serial Escalation: Whether your jaw dropped first at the grossness or the absurdly epic fight sequences, don't bother picking it up from the floor. It just keeps getting better and worse.
• Serious Business: Bow is very determined to make Marianne pay for ruining her birthday cake. Then it's revealed that Bow's best friend was hiding in the cake as a surprise, and was killed when Marianne ruined it.
• Shapeshifter Showdown: Chapter 34 is called this and contains the team's fight with Brodie.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend:
  • In contrast to the first book, Ash and Misty are not a couple early on —they vocally claim not to be, in spite of three Pokemon who consider them in specific terms to be their parents.
  • Pikachu and the ninja Buneary get this a lot too with Pikachu insisting she's his 'vassal' and nothing more. His parents didn't tolerate this and arranged a marrage for them. Dawn didn't object.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Looks like Briney's trying to push Leo and Lily together, and Pikachu with Dawn. Possibly because he considers it "fun." Oh that crazy old bastard...
  • Before Briney came aboard, Ash and Leo were shipping Pikachu and Dawn because of a kiss.
  • Similarly, Pikachu and the entirety of Pokemon Square were shipping Ash and Misty.
  • Darkrai is shipping all of the above. He gives Dawn a healing spell for her voice that will only kick in when she's happy enough to evolve, confirms for Leo that his idea to sever Lily's slavery to Giratina can work, and is very glad to assure Ash that Misty is alive. So despite the whole nightmares and terror thing, he's kind of a WAFFy guy at heart.
• Shout-Out: Many. Many many. Several in particular to Yugioh The Abridged Series.
  Sabrina: That's right. I can break necks with my mind.
  • The Zero Isle arc is one big excuse to make Monkey Island and Lost or Misplaced jokes. The chapters of the Zero Isle arc are even NAMED after the games in the Monkey Island series!
  • Then there was the Monty Python and the Holy Grail bit in the Turtle Town arc...
    Random Townsperson: She ate me just last week! ... I got better.
  • The despotic, ruthless, Social Darwinist Gal, who has a thing for fire is called the Fire Lord.
  • SANTA CHRIST exists in this world
  • One of many to the various Pokemon games.
    Ash: Stantler have always existed. It's not like they were spontaneously discovered some time afterwards along with a hundred other new species of Pokémon and then everyone pretended that they'd always known about them and they'd been around forever or something, that would be silly.
  • Chrono of Team Quantum. Now it's been revealed that Paradox and Aeon's real names are Marle and Janus (Magus) and Hubie's is Glenn.
  • Kragok Vulkanus is one giant Shout-Out to the "Winter" segment of the Samurai Jack seasons episode, meeting the same fate as his counter part and then some.
  • Meowth has a jar of dirt!
  • Butler's ancestor was the first to wrestle a troll into submission with his bare hands. Where have we heard this before?
  • The Legendary Birds PokeXros together. This was also meant to reference a similar moment in Pokémon Adventures that predated DigiXros by over a decade.
  • Leo renacting the famous scene from Zero Wing.
  • Discord and Celestia make an apperance to aid Mewgle and Mie respectively. Even the theme song is refered to as a 'catchy song about ponyta'.
    • Sasha, High Priestess of Darkrai, has Luna's chariot to get around, along with two Ponytas as her bat guard, one named Sunshine Smiles and the other named Frolicsome Meadowlark.
  • some guy tried to kill the collossus guarding Fichina thinking it would revive his dead girlfriend. He got stepped on. Darkrai called him a loser.
  • Gooey invokes Grahf from Xenogears when he recruits allies in his revenge quest against Team Nightshade.
  • Many to Power Rangers; every season makes a cameo.
  • Amp Zord turns its dial up to eleven
  • Surely it's no coincidence Ash and Misty's Togetic daughter is named Collette?
  • Princess Boa's full name is Boanna Contessa Louisa Francesca Nanab-Fanna Angelina Besca Fichina the Third.
  • Bruno's fight with a Frost Giant is very similar to the fight with Cronos.
• Spanner in the Works: Someone tampering with Latias' divine intervention.
• Species Surname: Surprisingly averted; each (Pokemon) character has a given name rather than being called by his / her species name. Pikachu will have one when he earns it. His name is Tenjin.
• Spell My Name with a "The"
  • "Son of Grobnar"
  • The Brock
• Story-Breaker Power:
  • Sasha's Darkrai Priestess Robes make her untouchable AND unkillable. She states that she dislikes wearing them and Darkrai doesn't really know if they will fare well against Frost Giants.
  • Have fun trying to properly fight a person that can explode your head with zero effort and use Dark Aura to stop a Void Pokemon at limited power.
  • With Team Quantum, Paradox can use her powers to render every action taken against her null and void, as well as unleash Bullet Hell through time portals. Crono can inflict wounds IN YOUR PAST to you. Aeon can suck you into his portal and make you suffer a Fate Worse than Death. Both Ash and Wes' group each suffered a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at the hands of Shadow and Quantum respectively when they were holding back.
• Straight Gay:
  • Maren. Shortly after it's revealed to the reader, most of the secondary characters in that arc either find out or guess and her partner, Janine, naturally.
  • Again from Team Nightshade, Jerry.
  • Zachary from Pokemon Square.
• The Strategist:
  • Max orchestrated his sister's infiltration, uncovering, and downfall of Ford's scam during the Tournament Arc, as well as working Ash and company into the plan on the fly. We're to assume he's about ten or younger.
  • Darkrai isn't half bad at this. Such as turning Gardevoir in to a vampire to ruin Oblivion's Shadow's plans or sending his High Priestess to aid them.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Summoning Surtrit. If Fantina hadn't been there, he might not only have kept the Flame Plate but replaced Shivhel as their primary enemy at the moment and turned Dusty Ditch into Muspelheim instead of Niflheim.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Void Pokemon Ash. This is something absolutely everyone does not want to happen, from Ash himself to Oblivion's Shadow to Darkrai. Considering Void Ash can kill the three legendary birds, Darkrai and Cresselia easily, that makes sense.
• Sweat Drop: Often. Usually due to Leo's inane ideas.
• Take a Third Option: When Team Aurabolt discovers that the monster that's been plaguing Turtle Town is actually a necromantically raised Garchomp that's only extorting the townsfolk to feed her children and eats people in order to keep herself 'alive' so she can feed them, they're reluctant to kill her and condemn her babies. Leo comes up with a solution that he proposes to her; have Turtle Town raise her babies! The turtles of the town are skeptical at best until Tiamat reveals that the skeletons under her command (the dead bodies of adventurers, mercenaries and the townspeople's relatives) retain their souls and personalities when she lets them. The deal is thus: 'Raise my babies, and you get your relatives back'. It works.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Lampshaded to hell and back; it's Leo's unofficial catchphrase.
• Tempting Fate: Played straight on most occasions, though the amount of times Genocide City is mentioned probably guarantees they'll be going there at some point.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right:
  • Leo, most of the time, his weird ideas about plot events and other people are spot on.
  • Lovrina is a ditz who lives in the clouds but she is partially right about Oblivion's Shadow and Gardevoir becoming a couple. She immediately lapses into fangirl mode after discovering this.
  • Similarly, Evan of Team Nightshade was right about one thing. The Mirage Kingdom is not to be trusted, even though the Mirage King is the untrustworthy one rather than Colonel Hansen and Chancellor Eggmun.
• The Reveal: Oblivion's Shadow and Lord Null are both Mewtwo, who was driven into an apocalyptic fit after his cloned friends were murdered.
• They Were Holding You Back: Paul tries to invoke this on Dawn when her Frustration attack fails to kill him. Palmer convinces her otherwise.
• Time Abyss: Latias from the previous book wasn't part of the big soul-crunch when the universe ended. This makes her older than both the current multiverse and its supreme deity.
• Timed Mission: No exact amount of time is given, but Oblivion's Shadow is well aware that he must complete his plan before the Planet Seed matures.
• Time Police: The Temporal Knights, a branch of the Guardians, are responsible for preventing paradoxes and otherwise ensuring a smooth flow of time in all parts of the universe. Team Quantum may or may not have gone rogue.
• Too Dumb to Live: There is a reason Chobin has been cloned repeatedly; he does things like jump into a swarm of ravenous robo spiders....
• Took a Level in Badass: Any recurring member of the cast has dual-classed permanently to badass because of the danger that is inherent with being a reoccurring character.
• Too Much Information: Frequently. It helps that a good deal of the cast are either Cloud Cuckoolander or Crazy Is Cool enough to volunteer these things.
• To the Pain: Charla gives a pretty damn epic one to Gal about just how badly she she is going to crush him and his legacy.
• Transforming Mecha: THE DESOTO. A Decepticon to be exact. We are as surprised as you.
• Troperiffic:
  • Sometime between Latias' Journey and here, Ri2 became a troper. It shows. Considerably.
  • On a equally meta note, Leo is a troper too. He's directly referenced many of the above tropes, as well as predicting half the plot turns thus far.
• Tsundere: Outlaw. Once she's revealed to be a Decepticon, she makes it clear that she does not care about the 'meat bags' in her seats while she's protecting them. She's distraught about losing Max to Bellum but, as is standard for the trope, denies and makes excuses.
• Twitchy Eye: Several characters when assaulted by gratuitous weirdness, but most notably Pikachu.
• The Unpronounceable: Leo has been occasionally known to shout "!", an impressive linguistic feat.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Buzz to Jessie; the latter had no idea that her long time admirer was a girl.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Oblivion's Shadow is going through one; doubting himself, having conversations with what is possibly an hallucination of his mother, etc.
  • Tarantulas' culminates in being reduced to tears by Professor Oak in Chapter 62.
• Wacky Racing: One of Team Nightshade's arcs. Bonus points for literally being based off of Wacky Races; the racers include Team Nightshade and the Mach Six, Penelope Perfect and Peter Pitstop, the Volbeat Mob, the Sledge Brothers and, of course, Rick Recreant and his sidekick, Chumley.
• Wedding Episode: A nice one in Chapter 55, weddings were performed by Latias for a lot of people, probably most significantly Aaron and Zorra.
• Weird Aside: Er...frequently. Conversations tend to take the scenic route.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: Poor Pikachu was drunk out of his mind when he consumated his relationship with Dawn.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Misty berates Ash for whining that he does not want his life to always have him needed to save the world when Annihilation is destroying every living being in sight.
  • The entirety of the Ash vs Oblivion's Shadow fight, where Oblivion's Shadow constantly calls Ash out on becoming obsessed with killing him.
  • Paradox and Chrono (Celebi and Grovyle from Explorers) give this to Aeon (Dusknoir) when he puts Team Ebony through an utterly horrible Training from Hell.
• The Worf Effect: Leo is afraid this happened to Ash in the Mt. Battle arc when he gets knocked out first. He even describes it for everyone's benefit.
• Worf Had the Flu: When Dawn is amazed to hear that Pikachu and Ash defeated the real Groudon, Pikachu qualifies it with "it was only because he was still groggy due to just waking up from his long slumber, Team A.C.T. got there first and weakened him for us, and we had the help of just about every other major Rescue Team and hero in Pokémon Square, including my dad. Even then, it was still awfully close."
• World of Badass: Let's face it. A Ctrl-F search on "badass" yields 19 things on this page at last count (including this example), so if you read this far down, you were probably thinking it. You're right.
• Wretched Hive:
  • Treasure Town puts the previous book's rendition of Lilycove to shame; backstapping, rampant crime, debt slavery, prositution, The Farmer and the Viper, etc.
  • It isn't as bad as Genocide City but apparently it's getting close.
• Xanatos Gambit:
  • Mewgle's unwinnable boss fight.
  • Chobbin's tale of Tarantulas trying to induce a pyschic link in non-psychic pokemon; he place two halves of a brain in two bodies but only succeeded in driving them insane. Despite the failure, he remembers it fondly because it was fun.
  • Darkrai's Loophole Abuse; regardless of what Oblivion's Shadow did at that point, Darkrai stood to gain something.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: The whole cast.
  • Max was running a pretty impressive game behind the entire Tournament Arc.
  • In relation to everything else, every faction involved is balancing a delicate game of screwing each other over and spying on each other (even if they end up being on the same side), and Team Rocket is trying to sway the war such that the world is saved but they control it at the end.
  • Bellum and Fantina have an utterly spectacular moment of this in Dusty Ditch with each reacting to the other's preparation.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In chapter 53, Ash and Dawn come inches away from killing Articuno and Paul respectively, only for the ice wave to freeze them and Bellum to take them away before they can do the job. When Lily has Bellum on the ropes, she's tricked into letting Bellum go as well to save them.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: It has been made explicitly clear that Oblivion's Shadow will succeed in reviving the Ruler of Evil.
• You Have Failed Me:
  • Weirdly, inverted for the most part — the Nihilators being an apocalypse cult and all, Oblivion's Shadow does kill you if you succeed. He makes you wish for death if you fail.
  • The same applies for Giratina the Fallen. Where else would Bellum learn her tricks?
• You Never Asked: Lily initially forgets to mention several important plot points, including the identity of one of the Big Bads, because her new friends didn't ask. Being Genre Savy, Leo tells her that if something "doesn't seem important" that means it is very important and she should tell them right away. So she does.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Subverted when Ash and company use Aura to project their spirits into Dawn's heart. Leo assumes this trope is in effect, and Ash's response is along the lines of, "What? No, that's stupid. Why in the world would the Aura Guardians set up their own advanced technique that way?"
• Zombie Apocalypse: Courtesy of Jurgen during the Twilight's Edge arc, there are a lot of zombies causing trouble.

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