Taking On Kanto is an AU Pokémon fanfic by RarepairKai22 which chronicles a mute, battle-scarred Ash who, after unexpectedly returning to the present day after being sent back in time on the whims of a heartless deity who thrives on his suffering, takes on the Indigo Conference with a Froakie by his side and Aura burning away in his soul.
Let’s just say, the region, as well as the world’s champions, are woefully unprepared for the chaos that Ash is going to wrought upon the land.
It can be read on Archive of Our Own here
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This fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Particularly, the lore around Aura is expanded from what canon has revealed about the spiritual power. While the story is faithful to the core information about Aura, the author does include several creative liberties to up the ante and dramatics whenever Ash uses his Aura:
- Aura in the canon series is manifested as a blue energy with no singular shape or form. Here, though, Ash’s Aura manifests as blue fire which primarily serves as his means of attack against unsavoury characters.
- Aura’s spiritual origins are also expanded to include a religious layer, as observed when Ash prays for the Spearow that he and Froakie killed, allowing their souls to move on peacefully.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Ash is far from the hot-headed, brash and naïve brat his canon counterpart started off as. Being thrown backwards in time to the badlands of Hisui and dealing with Legendary bullshit has turned Ash into a battle-scarred, traumatised veteran.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Delia doesn’t have a good time here. First, her husband leaves when she was pregnant with Ash. Second, Ash is born mute and struggles to communicate at first. Then, he inexplicably disappears without a trace for 5 years, only to suddenly reappear, but scarred both physically and mentally. It is only due to the unexpected arrival of Mimey, who acts as Delia’s primary caregiver, and Froakie, that her life didn’t completely spiral down to rock bottom.
- Ash too has had a hard time. Not only is he mute and friendless, but he also got sent back in time at the age of only five to Hisui by Arceus, quote, simply because the creator is an asshole who gets off on his suffering, where he had to fight for his life against Alpha Pokémon and suffer at the hands of a less-enlightened town and their paranoid, psychotic leader, on top of battling crazed Legendaries and said creator who then proceeded to throw him back into the present day without any warning whatsoever. Talk about a rough childhood.
- Speaking about rough childhoods, Brock’s backstory with regards to his parents takes on a darker note when compared to the canon anime. While Flint’s reason for leaving his family behind is the same as in the anime, Lola’s reason…well, there was no reason. Brock reveals to Ash that after Forrest was born deaf, she and his father gave birth to the rest of his siblings in a bid to have, quote, less defective children. She then just left without a word, forcing Brock to raise his younger siblings by himself.
- Adaptational Badass: Far from the Small Name, Big Ego brat that is his canon incarnation started off as, this battle-hardened, scarred version of Ash not only has years of experience in the field, courtesy of being sent back in time to the unforgiving wilderness of Hisui by Arceus, but he also has strong grasp of his Aura, which he won’t achieve until much later in the canon series.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Both Ash’s Froakie and Mimey have appeared much earlier than their canon incarnations, with the latter especially showing up unexpectedly at Delia’s house and effectively becoming her caregiver while she was struggling with depression following the search for her then-missing son being called off. Downplayed with the League champions from around the world, as they only appear on the chat group that Arceus forced them into and have not made actual physical appearances yet. Additionally, Sinnoh character Riley is set to appear in Kanto, based on the listed story tags.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Again, far from his canon incarnation who often dove head-first into things without stopping to think about the consequences, Ash displays far more rational thought and critical analysis, especially when battling. Rather than bumbling about and winging it, he directs his Pokémon to end battles efficiently, using skills he learnt, presumably, when he was stuck in the past in Hisui.
- Another example is when he meets Charmander. To see whether or not his trainer had actually abandoned him, Ash tosses an empty Pokéball at Charmander, with the hypothesis that if it is a successful capture, Damian had really released and abandoned the Fire-type lizard. Unfortunately, the capture is a success, proving Ash's worst fears.
- Adapted Out: Ash’s iconic partner, Pikachu, is nowhere to be seen.
- Aura Vision: As expected, one of the many ways Ash is able to use his Aura.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Brock, understandably, freaks out when Ho-Oh appears to Ash and gifts him with three rainbow feathers. Ash, on the other hand, having dealt with Legendaries’ bullshit since he was 5 years old is merely annoyed with this latest incident.
- The Chosen One: Ash, because who else, really?
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Basically, any battle that is not League-sanctioned, and where Ash and Froakie are involved, usually end up becoming this. Those foolish enough to be on the opposing end usually find this out the hard way.
- Dark Is Not Evil: While he is a battle-hardened veteran and has no qualms against physical violence and using his flame-based Aura against others, Ash is by no means a bloodthirsty monster. He only engages in violence as a form of self-defence and protection.
- Darker and Edgier:
- While Hisui has been established to be far more dangerous than other regions in the mainline games, things are taken to several new levels where it has been revealed that Ash not only courted death repeatedly in dealing with Alpha Pokémon, lost an entire team of Pokémon after he was exiled from Jubilife Town and they sacrificed themselves so that he could live, and being threatened with death by Arceus at the end of everything, all before he was unceremoniously thrown back into the present.
- As established in Dark Is Not Evil above, Ash will not hesitate to cause grievous harm if it means that he and other innocent beings are protected. Unfortunately, this often results in casualties. See Death by Adaptation below.
- Death by Adaptation:
- The Spearow flock which attacked Ash and Pikachu in the canon anime meet a rather gorey untimely fate when Ash and Froakie are forced to fight them. Let’s just say that by the end of it all, the entire flock has been decimated, with a good many being turned into rotisserie meat.
- Damian, Charmander's former trainer, is tied to a stake and burnt alive by Ash as retribution for betraying Charmander's trust and leaving the Fire-type to die.
- Disabled in the Adaptation:
- Ash is mute, which is one of the defining features of this story. Although, unlike the typical causes of muteness in humans, the reason for Ash’s muteness is unknown. That said, with his Aura and the skills he picked up, presumably while he was in Hisui, Ash is quite the Handicapped Badass.
- Forrest, the eldest of Brock’s younger siblings, is born deaf in this AU, and communicates exclusively in sign language. This, understandably, makes Ash an immediate favourite in Forrest’s eyes, since Ash is in a similar situation as he is, and up until the latter’s arrival, Forrest could only interact with Brock, who knows sign language due to League requirements, as his younger siblings are still too young to properly learn.
- Explosive Results: The fate of Team Rocket’s mecha robot when they attack the Pewter city gym. So honestly…nothing out of the ordinary there.
- Facepalm: Ash buries his head into his hands out of pure exasperated annoyance when Ho-Oh gifts him three rainbow feathers, while ominously warning him of dangers to come.
- Groin Attack: Forrest kicks his father in the nether regions after punching the man’s face in when he returns home after years absent.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Lance is in desperate need of something alcoholic after he discovers that Ash was the boy who disappeared from Professor Oak’s summer camp five years prior, and that Brock’s father, who is supposed to be the Pewter Gym leader, had gone AWOL.
- Innocently Insensitive: Children say the darndest things at times. One of Brock’s younger sisters bluntly asks Ash if he is deaf, since he only communicates in sign. While Brock admonishes his sister for being rude, Ash patiently explains, with some translation help from Brock, that he can’t speak, so he has to use sign language like Forrest.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Ash is stopped by the Officer Jenny on duty outside of Viridian City for having his partner Pokémon out of their Pokéball, just like in the canon anime.
- The Team Rocket Trio of Jessie, James and Meowth attack the Viridian City Pokémon Centre in a bid to steal the Pokémon staying inside, just like how their canon counterparts did.
- Brock joins Ash on his journey through the Kanto Gym circuit after his father returns and relieves him of his gym leader duties.
- Ash's Charmander joins his team like in the canon series.
- Internal Reveal: Ash’s tumultuous childhood is revealed to Brock the evening after Ho-Oh gifts the rainbow feathers to Ash, with Brock witnessing the spectacle and very understandably left with more questions than answers.
- Jerkass: Arceus, period. It has been established that the creator has no qualms against sending a five-year-old into the past, right into a time and region where Pokémon are untamed monsters which do not hesitate to maim and kill, putting through said kid through hell over the subsequent five years, and then throwing him back into the present simply because he was bored. Additionally, Arceus forced the regional champions from around the world into a group chat without their consent, where they are made to watch livestreams of Ash journeying through Kanto. Even when Ash gets into trouble from ruthless criminals, no one is allowed to intervene, lest they face consequences. So far, Lance’s computer has exploded in his face, and Steven was nearly run over by a bus.
- Mythology Gag: After Ash and Froakie deal with the Team Rocket trio and send them off in an ambulance, he apologises to the Nurse Joy about the damage their fight caused to the lobby. Joy waves them off, casually joking that, at the very least, he didn’t blow up the centre to smithereens, which is what his canon counterpart and Pikachu did in the anime.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted, as five years had passed since Ash was sent back in time to Hisui and when he started his journey.
- Touched by Vorlons: Played with, as Ho-Oh appeared to Ash and gifted him with three rainbow feathers, with an added note to call for him should Ash require assistance.
- Violence Is Not an Option: Inverted with Ash and Froakie, as both do not hesitate to use violence against those who either deserve it or mean harm to innocent beings.
