There are quite a few interesting references to other famous franchises in this fic, including;
- As Celebi prepares to send Ash back in time, it states "when this bubble hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit".
- When talking about Cyrus, Pidove observes that she plans to peck his eyes out if they ever see him, comparing it to a film with non-Pokemon birds they saw at Oak's lab.
- In the Director's Cut, after the Kalos Pokemon find Serena's new house, Goomy considers this a sign of "a serious malformation of the timeline, like with that freaky eyeball guy from that old game".
- In the Director's cut, after Ash wins a tournament, he muses that if the prize is 'honor and glory', it sounds like something that would involve "imminent doom and drowning", a reference to the in-development video game Titanic: Honor and Glory.
- While Tepig, Snivy and Pidove are searching the Desert Resort for Ash's other Pokémon, Snivy quotes a film to display her disgust at the sand, which Tepig asks her not to bring up as he considers the film terrible apart from the action scenes (never explicitly naming the film in question).
- The Jaws theme somehow plays whenever Gible is digging through the ground, with Chimchar explicitly deciding not to analyse how that works.
- King Aaron believed if the king does not lead, how can he expect his subjects to follow?
- When Ash's Squirtle was reunited with him after helping fight off some Team Rocket grunts, the Pokemon said, "No one expects the Squirtle Inquisition!"
- Delia's Corviknight says "Kni" when it appears, which Word of God confirms is a reference to 'the Knights who Say "Ni"'.
- Sabrina's fighting style has been compared to a psyker from Warhammer 40,000, particularly an Eldar Farseer with psi-fire and lightning.
- Sabrina uses the term 'mundanes' for non-psychics, which is a direct reference to Babylon 5, where the Psi-Corps used that term when discussing normal humans.
- Sabrina's rants about "UNLIMITED POWER!" as electricity crackles around her are a direct reference to Palpatine from Star Wars.
- When discussing Ash accidentally causing Kaiser's death, Pikachu observes that "Arceus' decree on violence was fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps." Ash had shot Kaiser in the knee, only for him to fall into a nearby body of water where a school of Basculin proceeded to rip him to shreds.
- When Ash gives Misty Togepi's egg, her interaction with her previous timeline's mental ghost is compared by Ash to Misty 'pulling a Baltar'.
- The Ranseian Gible is basically meant to be based on Pac-Man, to the point that it is yellow. It being an Electric-type may have something to do with it.
- Pikachu's observation on the burnt-out lab disguised as a mansion is a reference to Resident Evil.
- Upon seeing how obsessed with Ash Serena is, Kyoji quickly compared her to Yuno Gasai. The yandere persona later adopts that name, while the tsundere one gets named Asuka (to her chagrin).
- During the persona-naming sequence the currently-active one gets into a sequence straight out of Dragon Ball Z Abridged, complete with pool table.
- Upon realizing that he was staring at Sabrina, Kyoji quickly started thinking the lyrics to Never Gonna Give You Up followed by Baby Land Shark to try to drown out any perverted thoughts.
- Celebi comments that Ash can turn even certain defeat into "a fighting chance to live", and when Giovanni's Kangaskhan emerges from its Poke Ball, it yells out "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!
- After telling the Ketchums about New Island, Kyoji finds a very angry Red and Yellow chasing him. He escapes by hiding under a cardboard box.
- Ash paraphrases the original intro ("You teach me and I'll teach you") when talking with Kyoji about how they'll help each other deal with certain issues in terms of women and training Pokemon.
- The Natu flock Ash encounters in Orre that attacks Pernon is intended to be based on the cuccoo swarms from The Legend of Zelda.
- A Xatu makes reference to how Arceus was betrayed by a human until 'The One Who Walked Through Time' showed them the price of that arrogance.
- When first meeting the Meltan, Ash compares it to "that killer robot in that Unovan movie about time travel".
- Word of God confirms that Sceptile's use of Frenzy Plant was intended to be a shout-out to Godzilla vs. Biollante.
- "There is no innocence in Orre, only varying degrees of guilt" is an almost exact quote from Warhammer 40K.
- The captain of the Heart of Indigo is named Haruo Nakajima, the original actor to play Godzilla (as in the man who wore the original suit).
- The confrontation when Yveltal and Shadow Lugia are confronted by Ho-oh is confirmed to be a reference to some of Godzilla's films.
- Ash's first date with Serena is confirmed to be a reference to Lady and the Tramp.
- When Pikachu mentions getting "scooped up like that city in that sci-fi show", Ash muses that the 'later ones' just got increasingly darker, which Word of God confirms is a reference to Star Trek, particularly the later, bleaker shows such as Star Trek: Discovery.
- Hunter J's crew say "SO SAY WE ALL!" when affirming their decision to remain with her as her ship starts to crash.
- Astral Misty warns her other self not to think "I'll be in my bunk".
- The Rotan uniform Ash is given to wear is intended to be a fancier version of the Colonial Fleet uniform.
- In Rising Tide, when Kyoji's ship is attacked by a swarm of Gyarados, it's intended to represent the Gyarados attack after the S.S. Anne sunk.
- Characters in Rising Tide are named after actresses from various Godzilla films.
- Reference to a "religious militia" are intended to reference the army featured in the opening flashback of Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
- Kyoji's Gible is compared to the Energizer Bunny as it keeps going on and on.
- The 'armor' used by the Ransei has been compared to the armor of Mobile Suit Gundam.
- At one point Kyoji's Natu orders the others to "Fly, you fools!" (The Fellowship of the Ring).
- The conflict between Gigantamaxed Hydregion and Primal Groundon has been compared to Godzilla versus King Ghiddorah, with Groundon as Godzilla and Hydregion as King Ghiddorah, such as Groundon using Overheat pulses in place of Godzilla generating nuclear energy.
- As of Johto Arc, the fic acknowledges Sinnoh's old name of Hisui, as established in Pokémon Legends: Arceus; Word of God observes that Irida is likely the ancestor of Serena.
- Word of God confirms that Misty's situation- psychically broken by a Shadow Pokemon and eventually forming an emotional attachment to another- was essentially inspired by Harley Quinn, with the obvious difference that Misty's chosen "fixation" (Ash) wants her to get better where the Joker just wanted Harley broken.
- Word of God affirms that Yellow's personality, possessing a detailed spiritual knowledge despite her young age, was intended to be a reference to Dune, where characters such as Alia, Ghanima and Leto II Atredes were born with the memories of their ancestors.
- Dialogue between Ash, Kyoji and Ash's mother about Ash's female companions all wearing skimpy outfits was inspired by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; specifically, "Let He Who Is Without Sin...".
- When Ash visits a haunted house, the only human living among the Ghost types present is a woman that Ash compares to "a more living version of that lady that came out of TVs and killed people", a reference to the film series The Ring (and hopes that film series doesn't exist in this reality).
