The Stardom Series is a set of Pokémon fan fics written by Mister P, published on Fanfiction.net
. It is set in the Pokémon anime-verse, though it includes a variety of game-verse elements, such as the inclusion of Shadow Pokémon and a reborn Cypher from Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness as the antagonist group.
It is composed of two stories: From Servant to Stardom, which began January 25, 2008 and was completed January 25, 2009, exactly one year, and Tale of Stardom, sequel to From Servant to Stardom, which began February 6, 2009 and was discontinued on June 4, 2010. The series was actually meant to be a trilogy with From Servant to Stardom having a prequel detailing more of Ash's experience in the Sinnoh League, but it can no longer be done with the author having announced his retirement on his profile page.
The timeline of the Stardom series followed canon during the early Sinnoh journey, up to some point prior to the Veilstone City Gym, and was officially set after the Sinnoh League, where the main character, Ash, would be deciding his next course of action after coming up short in the final round of the Sinnoh Conference. This ultimately leads him to seek out the Battle Frontier and try out becoming a Frontier Brain.
Of course, this was only the first step on the adventures and growth that would ultimately await for him in his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, from learning about his connection to Sir Aaron and Aura to uncovering the identity of Ash's father as a side story...
Tropes that apply to From Servant to Stardom and Tale of Stardom:
- Aborted Arc: Tale of Stardom and the whole Stardom series as a whole.
- Aloof Ally: Paul, once he joins the main group at the end of From Servant to Stardom and while he was still with Ash and Anabel in Tale of Stardom.
- Author Appeal: The main characters were chosen to represent or symbolize something according to what Mister P felt important to show.
- Paul would appear to be the author's
preferred character. He mentioned in a separate author's note in one chapter that he felt he could relate the most to Paul due to their strict perfectionist tendencies. In addition, he mentioned on how much of an impact Paul's conversion would be along with Ash's personal growth, which has been part of the Stardom series gaining as much popularity as it had aside from the shipping and overall plot.
- Paul would appear to be the author's
- Big Bad: Ardos is the leader of Reverse-Cipher, and intends to Take Over the World by spread his new XDrus and turning the world's Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon which he will control.
- Composite Character: Kamon is Silver, based off from the Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal/Heart Gold/Soul Silver Versions games.
-
Crack Pairing: Drew and Zoey, in the sense that they've never met in canon. In addition to them hooking up, May was gaining an interest in Kamon. - Darker and Edgier: The plot of From Servant to Stardom, where it simply had Ash typically compete against the Elite Four after becoming a Frontier Brain, transition to saving the world from corrupted Pokémon controlled by a wicked organization in Tale of Stardom, where in the balance of life and death is being threatened. Ash also learns to take his Aura abilities seriously especially in the latter.
- Dead Fic: Tale of Stardom. It was also rumored that there was going to be a prequel to From Servant to Stardom, but was ultimately forgone.
- Deadpan Snarker: Paul, at times.
- Expy: The Stardom Series is said to derive the Shadow Pokémon elements from the Great Butler's Enigma Shadow series while given direction through the example of Matkin 22's Final Challenge.
- Fusion Dance: Introduced as an Aura technique in which the individual capable of manipulating aura (ie: an Aura Guardian, or in this case, Ash) uses his/her aura to fuse a human and a Pokémon with similar attributes together. In this case, the human remains physically the same, but the Pokémon essentially dwells within as a second mind while lending the human host its powers. This was done with Anabel and Cresselia near the end of From Servant to Stardom and with Paul and Darkrai at the last chapter of the same story.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Ash breaks up with Anabel at the end of Chapter 25 of Tale of Stardom after surviving a brutal ambush of Reverse-Cipher Peons, fearing for her safety since Paul left their group for his own pursuits while traveling around the desertlike Orre region and being wary of Reverse-Cipher's next move. However, that turns out to be a bad move on Ash's part...
- Official Couple: Ash and Anabel by Chapter 10 of From Servant to Stardom.
- Original Character: Lila and Leon Ketchum, Half-Identical Twins with Anabel as their mother. It is heavily implied that Ash is the father.
- Redemption Quest: Ash, after realizing that breaking up with and leaving behind Anabel in Tale of Stardom was a bad idea. In addition, this is what Paul begins to undertake after defecting from the group, confused on what true power is.
- Rule of Three: The series is focused on the development of the main trio: Ash, Anabel, and Paul. In addition, the Stardom series was planned to be a trilogy, with a prequel to From Servant to Stardom to be made after the completion of Tale of Stardom, but that was ultimately forgone.
- Shout-Out: Many references to Pokémon canon and fanon, as well as to other outside series, are made.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Anabel, of all people, in the insidious form of D'ana in Tale of Stardom. However, it becomes more of a case of Jekyll & Hyde in the later chapters.
- The Virus: XD Pokerus, or XD-rus, the "Shadow Pokémon" tampered form of the regular Pokerus.
- What Could Have Been: Ash's ultimate fate in Tale of Stardom.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Completely overwhelmed by opposition and fearful over the safety of Anabel after Paul defects from their group, Ash breaks up with her and locks away her memories of him in order to protect her. This, however, results in disastrous consequences for Anabel...
Trope page currently in progress... Ciao!
