PokéBattles was a major Affectionate Parody site from 1999 to around 2004, with sporadic revivals ever since, consisting of the main fanfiction PokéBattles: Red Version, a collection of one-offs PokéBattles: Blue Version, and a network of related fanfiction sites of the same sort. It parodies Pokémon, with a battle system very similar to that used in Pokémon Red and Blue, and multiple other things, including Star Wars; Luke is a character. Doompuff, the Evil Rabid Jigglypuff of Doom, is The Juggernaut and a recurring antagonist and species across multiple versions.
The original site and network were hosted on GeoCities and are no longer up. The original Red and Blue Version, in archived form, can be found here
along with the short-lived 2009 revival PokéBattles: 10th Anniversary Edition. Archives of most of the old network sites can be found here, on the revival/tribute site, PokéBattles Foxfire.
Tropes Used in the Series:
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In General
- Attack of the Killer Whatever: Anything and everything can spontaneously "want to fight", including things that in no reasonable sense should be able to, especially trees, computers, and computer programs. Doompuff, the Evil Rabid Jigglypuff of Doom, also qualifies.
- Back from the Dead: In longer running versions, there tends to be a thing where once every fifty battles someone gets revived.
- Character Narrator: The Narrator is a character.
- Coauthored Literature: The community was tight-knit enough that some of the versions were collaborations between authors. Arguably, the network's policy of one version per unique combination of authors encouraged this - Got an idea that doesn't fit into your current version but you want to do more than one battle for? You need to find a coauthor or two for it that you're not working with elsewhere.
- Self-Insert Fic: Common. Unlike many examples, these often tend to come to bad ends.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: "It's super effective!" Commonly used in unexpected and humorous places.
- Emphasize EVERYTHING: Due to the parody of the way early gen Pokémon had extremely liberal use of block caps and exclamation marks, the Narrator traditionally talks like this.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: Anything and everything can spontaneously "want to fight", including things that in no reasonable sense should be able to, especially trees, computers, and computer programs.
- Gender-Inclusive Writing: The Narrator's speech patterns are a parody of the battle text in early generation Pokémon, up to and including not using gendered pronouns.
- Interactive Narrator: It's fairly common for characters to directly address the Narrator.
- The Juggernaut: Doompuff and its spinoffs tend to fit into this mold.
- The Underworld: In longer running versions, this tends to crop up with every fifty battles taking place in the 'land of the dead'.
- Kill the God: Varies from Version to Version, but the Narrator being both a god and killable isn't uncommon.
- Massively Multiplayer Crossover: Longer-lasting versions had a tendency to become this, particularly more continuity-heavy versions that liked to pull from a wider variety of pop culture than just Pokémon.
- Narrating the Present: The Narrator is essentially a Reality Warper who narrates the present continuously, shaping it in the process with puns and double-meanings.
- Narrator Tropes: Extensively used. Possibly the defining element of the format is the red text known as the Narrator. While the Narrator describes everything that happens in each fanfic, it is never a neutral entity, and typically twists attacks and other events to humorous or otherwise progressing intent.
- Unreliable Narrator: Rare, but known to happen. Typically, this means that whomever or whatever the Narrator is unreliable about is more powerful than the Narrator or resistant to narration.
Red Version
- An Arm and a Leg: Red Doompuff bites off the New iRab's hand.
- Apocalypse How: Several times. Red Version is deleted when Red Doompuff snaps its server in half, and destroyed again when The Nothing claims it as a result of infrequent updates.
- Arch Nemesis Dad: Luke and Darth Vader, early on, temporarily. The Reveal from The Empire Strikes Back.
- Blood Knight: Green Valkyrie.
- Glitch Entity: Missing No. is a periodically recurring antagonist, particularly against Butch Urrh.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Doompuff and Red Doompuff trapped in the portal between Earth and Red Version. Midgyoto, after John Movius shoves it in the Large Steel Cage of Holding.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Green Valkyrie and John Movius.
Network Sites
- Colony Drop: The final arc of Aqua Version involves an enormous Xbox falling towards the version.
