Truth and Ideals: The Unova Chronicles is a Pokémon fanfiction written by CJ Croen 1393, as a novelization of his playthrough of Pokemon Black Version.
Touya H. Black has begun his Pokemon journey with his two friends Bianca and Cheren. But as he goes on his journey with a trusty Snivy by his side, Touya discovers that he's getting himself into something shocking. What is Team Plasma? Why do they want to separate humans and Pokemon? Who is this mysterious boy named "N" who's seemingly following Touya on his journey?
Can be read here
. It is complete as of December 18th, 2017. Several sidestories are in the works, the first of which can be read here, and the author has considered making novelizations of other Pokemon game playthroughs (which would take place in the same continuity as this one).
Tropes in the main story:
- Adaptation Expansion: Several aspects of the story are based around doing this, especially expanding on game mechanics, like the nature of TMs (as instructional DVDs inserted into the Pokedex and shown to a pokemon rather than weird magical disks).
- Age Lift: N was somewhere in his early twenties in the original game, but here he's stated to be 17, making him only a year older than Touya.
- Ascended Extra: Three Team Plasma Grunts are noted as recurring antagonists, referred to as Mara, Petr and Regina.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cheren and Bianca, though oddly enough, not to the point of Snark-to-Snark Combat with each other.
- Growling Gut: In an omake of chapter four, Cheren's dramatic speech about how he intends to defeat the Striaton gym leaders is interrupted when his stomach starts growling, prompting him to get embarrassed and admit that he skipped breakfast before showing up. The Striaton triplets offer him breakfast before the battle because the gym is also a restaurant.
- 100% Completion: Touya's main goal is to fill the Pokedex.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cheren and Sir Hiss.
- The Nicknamer: Touya nicknames all his Pokemon.
- Opposites Attract: The three protagonists and their starters.
- Touya is a Humble Hero and Nice Guy while his Snivy, Sir Hiss, is a literal Smug Snake and Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
- Cheren is an uptight, somewhat arrogant Jerk with a Heart of Gold while Tepig is a mellow, friendly Nice Guy.
- Bianca is a ditzy, laid-back Cute Clumsy Girl while Oshawott is a strict, stoic and dignified Samurai.
- Only Sane Man: Touya, toward both Bianca and Cheren.
- Pokémon Speak: Largely averted. Most of the Pokemon use normal animal noises—for instance, among the starters, Snivy (a snake) hisses, Tepig (a pig) squeals and oinks and Oshawott (an otter) barks.
- Pretty Boy: N of course, to the point that Touya could think of no other way to describe him except "beautiful" when they first met. Cheren and the Striaton Triplets also count.
- Silent Snarker: Sir Hiss. He loves snarking his trainer with hisses and smirks.
- Ship Tease: Bianca expresses annoyance that Cheren is so focused on becoming champion that he won't spend time with her and Touya. Touya's quick to accuse her of simply wanting Cheren all to herself. Bianca's reaction says all.
- Shout-Out:
- Touya nicknames Snivy "Sir Hiss", after the similarly arrogant snake from Robin Hood (1973). The narrative even claims that Touya named him after "a snake he saw in a children's movie once".
- The depiction of TMs/HMs as instructional DVDs was inspired by this comic.
- Shown Their Work: The author's interpretation of Pokemon biology shows some surprising insight on the biology of real animals:
- Snivy and its evolutions can't blink, have forked tongues that they use to taste the air, have no ears (instead hearing through vibrations in the ground) and can unhinge their jaws to swallow large prey just like real snakes.
- Straw Hypocrite: Among Team Plasma's members, only N seems to genuinely follow the "do not abuse/imprison Pokemon" creed. Subverted with some of them, like Petr and Regina, while Mara only joined because she fell in love with their leader.
- Team Mom: Professor Juniper to the kid heroes.
- Tsundere: Cheren to Bianca. Although Bianca also denies any attraction to him.
- Uncanny Valley Girl: The Nurse Joys, of all people, are depicted as such.
- Undying Loyalty: Naturally, a universal trait among Pokemon owned by the protagonists, but Bianca's Oshawott stands out.
