Cain on left and Mabel on the right with Choccy The Pichu in the background
A Zorua and a Fennekin, living in the wild keeping away from the humans and hanging with their friends and maybe fighting some baddies along the way? You can take your pokeballs and Shuppet, Cain and Mabel don't need a trainer when they have each other. - Description on Webtoons.
Cain and Mabel is a Pokémon fan made Webcomic from Scape Goat Comics, created by Rhys Horton, and as the above descriptions states, it follows a Zorua and a Fennekin couple along with their friends living in a Pokémon reserve area of Santalune Forest where no human is allowed to catch them and all the shenanigans they get into.
The series can be read on DeviantArt
, Webtoon and Tapas.
The current comic is a Lighter and Softer reboot of an an older one of the same name focusing on the two titular characters that can be found on the creator's DeviantArt page linked above.
The current comic has received a reading by OVAS of Mew and Mewtwo fame.
Tropes:
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The original comic
The reboot
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Starting from Page 42, Mabel begins wearing a pair of lensless glasses she found in the trash as she, Cain and Choccy like how she looks in them and she hasn't been taken them off since.
- Affectionate Nickname: Zeus and Madea call each other "Chunky Thunder" and "Fire Bangs" receptively while their daughter and son are called "Chu Cheeks" and "Choccy Cheeks".
- In chapter 62, Zeus calls Cain "Shadow Claw."
- All of the Other Reindeer: Timmy, grew up receiving this treatment from his three bullying brothers due to the fact he's the only one who took after their father and was born a Galarian Zigzagoon.
- Anger Born of Worry: After the adventure in Lumiouse City, Madea tears into Cain for bringing Choccy along leading to both him and Mabel almost getting caught, until Choccy insists it was his fault he was in the situation causing her to ease up greatly but still chastises Cain, much more gently, for falling for her son's begging eyes.
- Aura Vision: Being a Riolu, Boxer naturally has this ability using it to check a strangers' true nature and intentions and to look for buried treasure.
- Baby Of The Bunch: Choccy the Pichu, as the youngest of the cast.
- Big Eater: Dasher which led to him and Boxer getting lost in Lumiouse City, Choccy even more so being able to out eat him, Boxer and Cain.
- Casanova Wannabe: Pansear frequently flirts with any female Fire Type he meets, even hitting on Mabel despite it being well known she's with Cain. Surprisingly, this actually has a positive effect later on as he's the first of the elemental monkeys to welcome Mayella the Houndour to the forest.
- Character Tics: If Boxer doesn't know a Pokémon's name he'll refer to them by their species name instead.
- Cool Big Bro: Cain fills this role for Mabel's little brother, Choccy.
- He also does the same for Timmy the Zigzagoon when he moves into the forest.
- Cool Old Lady: Professor Integra, the head researcher at the Pokemon lab on the reserve, she allows Cain, whom she believes to be a Pokepath, to work at her lab as her assistant and even pays him despite technically being a volenteer. Meanwhile, her Venusaur, Shamrock, and Decidueye, Nikko, both fall into Cool Old Guy territory having been with Integra since she was a child and being the only third stage evolution to appear in the story so far, not counting Cain's transformations.
- Curbstomp Battle: Onyx the Vulpix delivers one to Pansear.
- Dare to Be Badass: Cain is quite eager about evolving into a Zoroark one day.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Cain apparently went through some hardships before coming the forest and meeting Mabel. As of now it hasn't been revealed yet but humans were involved.
- Dark Is Not Evil: A running theme through the comic in regard to how Dark Types are seen by other Pokémon.
- Downplayed with Desoto the Houndoom but he's more of an arrogant jerk then evil.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Weedlia the Weedle.
- Weedlia: "I was thinking of calling myself "Beedrizella"."Caterpie: "Huh? Maybe I can just be Fred..."
- Dogs Are Dumb: A bit harsh but it's obvious that Dasher The Growlithe isn't the brightest member of the main cast.
- Everybody Has Standards:
- Pansage, he may be the Santalune Forest's resident trouble maker but when Boxer tells him his trainer left him in the forest to train while she travelled this caused him to comes to the not unreasonable conclusion that the Riolu was abandoned. He's is visibly uncomfortable thinking he's the one who has to break the news to Boxer, however, said reveal is suberted as the trainer wasn't lying, she asked the lab to keep tabs on him and Boxer is later confirmed to still be registered to a Pokéball, and Pansage only approached Boxer to trick him into fighting Cain.
- Panpour is a coward believes all the bad tales told about Dark Types, but after he listens in on Mayella recounting her sad backstory to Mabel and Pansear he swallows his fear and apologies to the Houndour for his behaviour and the hardship she endured.
- Fantastic Racism: Dark types are a frequent victim of this by other Pokémon, in the story it's mostly courtesy of a Panpour whose afraid of them on sight, a Pansear who picks fights with them and or a Pansage who verbally harasses them or tries to manipulate others into fighting them, more often the latter.
- Pansage is also prejudice against fox Pokémon in general as he has harassed Mable and her friends before Cain settled into the forest.
- Glamour Failure: Cain's human disguise is usually flawless, unless he's startled which makes Zorua years popped out of his hair.
- Played for laughs in the latter half of page 39, when in spooked in a haunted house.
- Good Parents: Zeus and Medea, contrary to their namesakes, are caring parents to their children.
- Halloween Episode: While the first half of page 39 is part of the main story arc, the latter half is a one of Halloween hijink of the group going into a haunted house at a fair, in human disguises thanks to Cain, getting spooked by a Haunter.
- Has a Type: Pun aside, Pansear will flirt with any female Fire Type he meets, this actually overrides his dislike of Dark Types.
- Human Disguise: Cain is introduced as having one allowing him to work as a volunteer at the Pokémon lab on the reserve. The Halloween omake on page 39 shows him doing the same for Mabel, Choccy, Boxer and Dasher as well.
- Humans Are Flawed / Humans Are Bastards: Another recurring theme is how the Pokémon view humans, specifically trainers.
- Between our leads, Cain leans towards the former knowing there are good and bad humans, however, upon learning the fate of Timmy's father thanks to a careless driver and the lack of reaction over it he confides in Mabel he hates how it seems the bad humans are the ones who seems to have more of an affect on the world. Meanwhile, Mabel is more towards the latter justified as her family has protected the forest for generations, her little brother is at high risk of being captured being both a Shiny and being able to use Fire attacks and Cain's backstory. Mabel's view is so strong that it puts a serious dent in her fledgling friendship with Onyx when the latter's trainer comes to pick her up.
- Boxer and Onyx lean towards the former justified as they're both Battle Pokémon raised by caring trainers.
- Interspecies Romance: The titular Cain, a Zorua, and Mabel, a Fennekin.
- Also, Mabel's parents Zeus and Medea, a Pikachu and a Braxin respectively.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: When things go bad Pokemon tend to say "Karp it!"
- As is common in Pokémon fan projects they also tend to invoke the names of Legendaries.
- Ironic Name: Zeus The Pikachu. While on one hand it does fit, see meaningful name below, on the other as summed up by the creator.
- Rhys Horton: "The only being named Zeus who is a good father and husband."
- Meaningful Name:
- Choccy The Pichu is named for his love of chocolate.
- Zeus The Pikachu, Mabel's father, is named after Greek god of lightning, father of many heroes and ruler of Olympus which fits his species, his status as father two of the main cast and leader of the Santalune Forest Pokémon.
- Medea The Braxien, fitting giving the witch motif of her species and like her namesake is not someone whose ire you wish for. She's shown to have a surprisingly vindictive side in plotting against the Dedenne that wronged Mayella.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Zigzagged, Mabel is in no hurry to evolve into a Braxien, as she's comfortable with her body as it is. Though the series establishes that a Pokémon's evolution stage doesn't reflect their maturity as her parents are both second stage evolutions, with her father briefly going through a midlife crisis.
- Required Secondary Powers: While Cain can copy the appearance and mass of a Dragonite he can't fly, having to use Copycat to learn Fly from a passing Fletching.
- Power Copying: Cain knows Copycat.
- Ship Tease: Dasher has a crush on Onyx.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: The titular couple, they're just precious together.
- Seems to run in the family for Mabel as her parents are the exact same way if not more so.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: As part of his disguise when working at the lab, Cain claims to be a "Poképath" to explain why he can understand Pokémon.
- Speech Impediment: Timmy The Zigzagoon speaks with a lisp.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Choccy can breathe fire thanks to his parentage, it also allows him to tolerate Tomato berry spice.
- Cain: "Oh right, Braxien mom."Boxer: "How do we always forget he's part Fire Type?"
- Sweet Tooth: Choccy loves his chocolate, evening asking the reader to support the creator's Patreon to help him get more at the end of every page.
- Cain: "Each new pledge helps us get more chocolate bars for Choccy."Choccy: " Yes, Yes! Support the choccy for Choccy cause."
- Tempting Fate: Fittingly, the title for page 97, Most of the Gang head to the desert for some treasure hunting and the idea of finding fossils is brought up. This causes Dasher excaliming he wants to find a dinosaur and when he starts to dig up another item in the sand he finds a live Tyrunt.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Zeus and Medea, being a Pikachu and Braxien the latter is over twice as tall as her husband.
- Translator Buddy: Cain acts as one between Clara and Onyx, her Vulpix.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Being a Zorua, Cain can shape shift and takes human form to work as a research assistant a research lab. He can also transform into other Pokémon based on what he's read working at the lab which he often utilises to act as sparring partner for Boxer.
