Being a Reference Overdosed fic, a page of shout-outs is no surprise here, including enough music references to rival Hirohiko Araki!
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Fly Me to the Moon
- The main story's subtitle comes from the jazz song.
- Tank's last name is Pepper and his dad is a sergeant.
- The Hawkwind Corp is named after the British band.
- Holly's Pokemon team get these for nicknames: JoJo the Blaziken, Makoto the Gardevoir, Kenshiro the Lairon, Asuka the Gyarados, Freiza the Manectric and Coffret the Altaria.
- Beau and Fauna Buckingham, a pair of fraternal twin deer who work for Dobie.
- Dobie's plan for the Hoenn region is called Project Sinatra.
- Julian is based on Earl Dorian Red Gloria, being a flamboyant thief with long curly hair.
Rustboro Arc
- Coco's Geodude is named Giorno, while her Nosepass is nicknamed Outlandos.
- The first chapter is named after Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
- Chapter 2's title is a reference to Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
- Chapter 3's title is The Yellow Brick Roads of Rustboro.
- Tank reads a manga depicting a wolf and tanuki sitting on a rooftop.
Dewford Arc
- Chapter 6's title is a reference to lyrics to I'm on a Boat
- Chapter six has Tank and Holly singing Rio while on the boat to Dewford Town.
Slateport Arc
- The two Team Pastel grunts in chapter nine are named Daryl and Toni.
- Meow nicknames her Pokémon Luz, Willow and Gus.
- Lucy (one of the contestants in Slateport's Contest)'s last name is Diamondsky.
- Raymond's last name is Halpert.
- Flora McGee, a perky teenage girl and one of Holly's friends from Castelia City.
- The trio order a number eight party platter, which serves twelve.
- A rabbit and a fox go together in a 'love hotel'. Hmmm.....
- Chapter eight's 'Hotel Corsola' is directly based on Hotel California. A one-off character even dies here ("You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave")
Mauville Arc
- Chapter 10 is named after lyrics to the song Buttercup.
- Mauville City's aesthetic is based on the Vaporwave style, including neon lights and slowed down music.
- Chapter 12's title: lyrics to the song Self Control
- Chapter 13 is titled Earth Moves under my Feet.
- Chapter 14 is titled Sound of the Underground.
- Cheeky Wyndon's is one to restaurant chain Nando's.
- Several locations in Mauville City have these for names: Sing Blue Silver Cafe, Spacer Woman Suite, Pink Project Inn, and Hotel Color Love.
- Tortimer mentions a Mayor Canadendrum of Nimbasa City and Mayor Bourgeois of Lumiose City.
- Tank gets a copy of the manga Cherry Star Wolf.
- Holly shouts "Show me your moves!" at one point during her gym battle against Static.
- Static yells "Zap to the extreme!" when sending out his last Pokemon.
Team Cottage Arc
- Chapter 19's title includes No Mountain High Enough
- Chapter 21 is called The Rising Sun of Team Cottage.
- Chapter 22's title is Don't Worry, We're Miles Away From Nowhere!.
- The Kachinekos are fond of this for their Theme Naming. Rudy (the dad) has a Taillow and Zigzagoon named Mordecai and Rigby, Olivia (the mom) has a Roselia named Terabithia, Purrl (the daughter) has three female Pokémon named Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, while Monique (the grandmother) has a Medicham named Jeannie.
- The Zangoose clan take name inspiration from a certain series about felines.
- In contrast, the Seviper clan have Italian mafia names.
- Tank catches a Zangoose and Seviper. He names them Oscar and Andre.
- Monique mentions several other trainers who challenged the Kachinkeos: Spinelli, Noriaki, Usagi and Sandyna.
- Tank and Kidd watch a video with a dancing cat. No, it is NOT the Ankha Zone video.
- One of the Seviper yells GET YER STINKIN’ PAWS OFFA OUR GIORGIO at a Zangoose.
- After discussing Star-Crossed Lovers, the boys bring up a cartoon about an alcoholic horse, with Frank shutting them down.
- Dobie's note to himself: Have I gone that soft? No, it's the other trainers who went soft
Lavaridge Arc
- Kenneth's gym tagline is "Starting the fire that’s always burning", while Phoebe's is "I'm your phoenix, I'm your darling".
- The Crossfires get their last name from either Crossfire Hurricane or a Magician's Red attack.
- Chapter 23's title, Lava's All is a pun on Love Is All You Need.
- In the restaurant, Kidd reads a tankobon about two guys with daddy issues fighting over a mansion and one of them turns into a vampire.
- The song Plastic Love plays in one of the Lavaridge Town restaurants.
- Holly mentions that she read a fanfic about a whiny goth chick.
- Chapter 24 is titled Heating Up, No I Won't Cool Down.
- Libra's performance in the contest is directly based on Harry Houdini, right down to escaping a tank full of water.
- Cherry's last name is Jett.
- Kidd cosplays as Daria for his contest performance.
- The trio's relationship upgrade is described as being the "point of no return", named after the Exposé song.
- Chapter 25 is titled Eternal Flame of Lavaridge Town.
Wayback Arc
- Static says he got by a little help from his friends.
Verdanturf Arc
- Tom Nook's coffee is described as like making love in a canoe.
- When Raymond's posing for the Verdanturf contest, he says "Make sure you get my good side....oh wait! I ONLY HAVE good sides!"
Almost There Arc
- In chapter thirty-one, Holly calls a shiny Exploud a Pumbloom.
Petalburg Arc
- Tank's crossdressing alias is Eleanor Rigby.
- Scoot's last name is Franzetti and his Psyduck is named Vinetown.
- Mott's Dustox is named Mothman.
- Butch's Pokemon are named Zatoichi, Maverick, Cornelius, Compton and Po.
- Love Fair plays on the radio in the Petalburg thrift store, and Holly finds a Kuchibiru Network cassette.
- Holly notes several bands she's familiar with in the thrift store: Rowlet and the Qwilfish, White Seviper, Def Liepard, Atomic Litten, and Rillaboomz. She also picks up a pastel colored album with women in sheet masks and towels before putting it back when she can't fit vinyl in her backpack.
- Teddy and his Linoone plan to perform a song for the talent show.
- Coffret's performance in the talent show is compared to the popular Unovan cartoon Pecky the Pikipek.
- Frillard compares Robin to Daria for her deadpan attitude. She doesn't take it well.
- There's a kebab place in Petalburg City called Deep Purple.
- Petalburg City has a lake called Lake B-52. Appropriately enough, it's home to wild Corphish and Crawdaunt.
- During her rematch against Butch, Holly commands Coffret to do a barrel roll.
Crossing Arc
- Kidd braids Holly's hair at one point, and she likes it because it reminds her of a show about two brothers messing with alchemy.
- The Crossing Rider Go actors get their last names from Super Sentai actors, except for Clover Hart who gets hers from Kimberly Hart.
- The Teal Turtwig is based on the Green Tortoise Hostel.
- Puddles' real name is Pamela Boonchuy.
- The Weather Institute is home to a female Castform named Izora.
- One lyric of Totakeke’s song includes "with a mighty super smash".
- Tank and Kidd find an old journal abandoned by hippies, featuring the hippies seeing a band called The Dancing Bears.
- The protags walk on railroad tracks, just like some other boys in a popular movie.
Fortree Arc
- The first chapter of the arc is a pun on Wouldn't It Be Nice.
- Amber returns a copy of Fahrenheit 451 to Celia. The cover's description comes from the Japanese version◊.
- Leopold's Roserade was nicknamed Kaguya.
- While waiting on dinner, the group watch Big before stopping at the piano scene.
- Before Mega Evolving their Pokémon, Celia's battle taunt is "Like the wind we keep on running" while Holly's is "let’s rock this place to the ground".
- The last chapter in the Fortree City arc is titled after Days of Wine and Roses.
- After finding out his father's infidelity, Apollo orders a smorgasvein.
- Don claims he slept with something like thirty-six women, not including his wife.
Mt. Pyre Arc
- Frank reads Misery while waiting on his Pokémon to be healed.
- When ranting about his father, Apollo states that his dad wanted him to be the perfect heir with a beautiful house and a beautiful wife.
- The narrative mentions the group traveling as no time for worrying because they were on the roam again.
- Apollo's not the first one to be ambushed while relaxing at a hot spring.
- When Sasha gets on the stolen boat, he references several things needed for boating, including a catchy disco song about falling in love.
- Cookie claims she can drive a boat because she watched every episode of Corsola and Friends.
- Judy taunts Dobie by saying "I wouldn't want to fight myself either."
Lilycove Arc
- The first chapter is titled Seeing Deep Water Below.
- Ricky's last name is Dorian.
- Tank draws a picture of Falco and Fox while enjoying his lunch.
- The Blue Rose district has several businesses named after popular gay anthems: Gold Dust Woman's Hostel, Rebel Rebel Boutique, True Colors Art Studio, and Edge of Seventeen Bakery.
- While in a bed and breakfast lobby, Kidd and Holly watch an episode of The Nanny.
Gaidens
- The third chapter's title references a song by Miki Matsubara.
- The fourth gaiden's title comes from The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet.
- The fifth gaiden's title is lyrics from Rebel Yell
- Chrissy and Francine's last name is Diamandis.
- The sixth gaiden is a Behind the Music style documentary. Rosie (the dead actress) is based on a combination of Yasuko Endō and Yukiko Okada, being an actress who was set to be an idol singer before committing suicide and causing a chain reaction in the area.
- The seventh gaiden, Making It If We Try, is named after the song "Just the Two of Us". The later half of the story references songs from The Wall such as Run like Hell or Comfortably Numb.