This is a fic based on the users of Bulbagarden. It portrays Bulbagarden as a quaint little town, which as everyone knows is a good backdrop for any story. Enjoy.
—Jabberwocky
Imagine a world where, until recently, Pokémon battling was a banned activity in many regions, and where several Pokemon species are banned or restricted to own. It's a world much like our own, in fact... but with Pokemon thrown in.
This is the world of Bulbagarden!, a fanfic by Jabberwocky, which satirizes the Pokémon fandom, Bulbagarden Forums in particular. The characters are almost all Expies of various Bulbagarden users. The story is divided into "seasons." So far, two seasons have been completed, and a third is ongoing. Five seasons are planned.
Jabber Wocki is an Ordinary High-School Student living in a town called Bulbagarden, somewhere in south Kanto. He attends Bulbagarden High School alongside his friends Dan See Emm, Tyler Winchester, Aaron Ryuu, and many more. The mayor of the town is named Archaic, and he is helped in his leadership of the town by his council of Admins.
- The plot of season one: A new girl named Alison Sanford moves to Bulbagarden. She and Jabber hit it off immediately, and start dating. On the night of the high school's Homecoming dance (concurrent with the nebulously-described "Bulbasaur Festival"), the town is invaded by an army of militants led by one Joe Serebii, who has mysterious connections to the town's past and to Archaic himself.
- The plot of season two: The Pokemon Prince becomes the mayor of Bulbagarden, and immediately begins ruling the town with an iron fist. Jabber and company flee the town, but Feli is left behind to form a resistance movement.
- The plot of season three: Season three is a bit of a Breather Arc after the drama-heavy Pokemon Prince storyline, and features the core cast in a tour around the world, hunting for legendary Pokemon. While in the Isshunote region, the gang was accompanied by Burgh Entemo, the Gym Leader of Castelia City. Season three also features the decriminalization of sport Pokemon battling. The ramifications of this have yet to be seen.
You may read the story here
. And always remember: It's satire. Damn good satire (to quote Ryuutakeshi), and you really shouldn't take it seriously.
This work contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Zigzagging. Saturn is not useless, that's a given, but where are the teachers and professors at the Homecoming Dance, anyways?
- They were taken out first.
- Aerith and Bob: Jabber Wocki, Dan See Emm, and Alison Sanford... Really?
- Alternate Universe: The so-called "Bulbaverse" is just one world in a multiverse of worlds, one of which was home to the Pokemon Prince.
- Author Appeal: Alison's parents own a green Camaro because those are the author's favorite color and car.
- Berserk Button: Don't hurt Tyler when Smugleaf is around. Just... don't.
- Blatant Lies: "These banishments, or 'bans,' are never permanent..."
- Character Blog: Jabber, Dan, Aaron, Feli, Saturn, Tyler, and even Simon all have Twitter accounts.
- Christmas Episode: The first Christmas special was guest written by Tyler's inspiration, Hide in Plain Sight. Additionally, a mid-quel chapter between Season 1 and Season 2 was written by Ryuutakeshi and is set during the special. There will be one each season (even if it isn't actually Christmastime when the special rolls around). The second is being written by frequent Bulbagarden! guest writer Ryuutakeshi.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Max King not only beat the main characters of the story, but also SEREBII and ARCHAIC.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The Mayor is at Dan's house, which is where the Mayor is currently at and Dan lives in. Seriously! (played for laughs, actually)
- Evil Overlord:
- What Archaic was led to believe Serebii wanted to become.
- And the Prince in season two.
- Expy: Almost every character.
- Leitmotif: The "soundtrack" gives several characters one, including Aaron, Serebii, and Saturn. All of these songs are given fic-specific names.
- Official Couple: Jabber and Alison, Dan and Kitty, and now Aaron and Feliciano.
- And they're all trying to get Tyler and Jay together as well.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "See away then." Lampshaded in that it's written that the line is badass, and would have been more so had they actually won
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Are. You. With. Me."
- Punny Name: Saturn's Koffing is named Koffman, punning on the name of LSD's inventor, though he affectionately calls it Koffey.
- Shout-Out:
- Tyler's Tsutarja is named Smugleaf.
- Bulbagarden's (now defunct) college is called Smogon University.
- The title of chapter five, "The Homecoming Invasion," is a reference to the title of the first Doctor Who Christmas special.
- Sonichu gets one. Makes Sense In Context.
- Jabber's Shimama is named Marty in reference to the Madagascar series of films.
- Aaron's Houndoom, Victor, is a shout out to Victor Von Doom of the Fantastic Four.
- Karen Starr is meant to be Karen of the Elite Four, but also happens to be Power Girl's alias.
- N. Night has to be the least subtle of all the shout outs.
- Jack makes mention of using sand and gunpowder to make explosives. We're not sure what that references.
- Snow Means Love: It starts out as a light snowfall, and then Feli and Aaron have to camp out at her place when it gets to heavy.
- Tactical Withdrawal: When the main cast flees from Bulbagarden.
- Take That!: Aaron gets to make one against M. Night Shyamalan. Apparently Ryuutakeshi still hasn't forgiven him for the The Last Airbender...
- Tempting Fate: Tsutomu really got what he deserved for walking into a room full of powerful Pokemon and two guys who know how to use them.
- The Cameo: As of now, a lot of the Bulbagarden members who wanted to be featured (and those who didn't) have only gotten small cameos. In the case of Cypher, his is practically unrecognizable unless you read his blog.
- The Man Behind the Man: Max to Serebii. And potentially, for season two, the Pokemon Prince may be this for one of the first season's villains.
- The Movie: The author jokingly made up a plot for one. it's actually going to be season two's plot.
-
The Other Darrin: Ryuutakeshi had to upload the chapters for a time due to Jabberwocky being unable to. - Real Life Writes the Plot: During the writing of the Christmas chapter, Ryuu and Feli actually began dating in real life, something their characters were already doing.
- Too Dumb to Live: Seriously, would you attack a town full of pokemon trainers and not expect some form of counterattack?
- Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: Looks like Serebii prefers to, indeed, just shoot.
- Word of God: Serebii isn't the villain. Or something like that...
